Genie Chronicles - Gemini Ch. 09.2

The beast launched at the einherjar who managed to catch it by it's immense shoulders and swing it over, slamming it into the ground, the beast howled and seemed seriously hurt for the first time since the fight began but as the immense warrior released his grip to follow up, Zarakynal saw his opening.

The scene was one of horror as a surprise burst of power from the beast's hind legs launched it at the einherjar's neck, immense teeth sunk deep into the warrior's throat, blood spilled out and the warrior suddenly staggered, the force of the attack knocking him back as the demon landed on top of the immense warrior's corpse, the torn throat gushing crimson and the beast seemed to smile, a toothy grin of psychotic satisfaction.

John saw that the the rider at the front of the column was still charging, unflinching, still intent, but with the einherjar out of the fight it seemed that they didn't stand a chance, John knew he had to do something.

Fortunately the demon had momentarily forgotten about him and his djinn, caught up in the heat of battle. So it failed to notice him charging forwards, grabbing a fallen spear and running headlong for the beast's immense head, he had no idea what he was going to do.

As Frieda neared she saw the beast's head lower to catch her, but she also saw what the demon hadn't, the human running towards it's side with a spear, she eased off very slightly to coincide, realizing there may be an opportunity here.

The beast's eight eyes glowered down it's snout at the charging rider, licking it's maw with glee as the horse came within striking distance, it's lunge was cut short though as pain shot through it, it had failed to see the human charging, it still couldn't with it's seven remaining eyes.

John held on for dear life as the beast's head reared up in agony and it howled in pain, it's front legs pushing off the ground as it tried to grab at the as-yet unseen attacker, as it did so Frieda charge between where it's front legs had just been and using all her strength thrust her spear between it's ribs, puncturing something important, the beast, dropped back down and swung around, managing to grab the front legs of Frieda's horse and swing it about, reaching forward with it's other hand to pluck the rider from her steed.

John managed to jump from the beast's shoulder and grab Frieda from her horse carrying her out of harm's way just before the demon tore the frantically neighing horse in two.

They hit the ground and tumbled, as they came to rest, John was on top, Frieda looked at him, wide eyed and amazed the man she was meant to be protecting was risking his life to save hers, this was not how she'd expected this to play out.

He moved to stand only noticing the huge clawed hand swinging down at the last minute, he managed to side-step avoiding the claws but the immense fist knocked him flying, he landed front down on top of the einherjar's corpse, his face dipping into the gaping wound.

He recoiled, his face drenched in the blood of the ancient warrior, he didn't get time to think as an immense hand came down on his back, pushing his face once more into the wound and as he breathed he found himself swallowing the blood.

The pressure was released as the Valkyrie's charge caught the demon's attention, the beast relinquished it's grip, and there it showed it's ignorance, this would cost him the battle and indeed his life.

John felt a strange sensation inside, as the Valkyrie managed to draw the demon away, losing more of their number with every charge, Rose and Hazel ran forwards to grab their master and take him out of harm's way.

As he got up he saw Sara and Heather run across the road to help an obviously limping Frieda, apparently the tumble had done more damage than he'd first thought.

As the genie's reached him he looked at his fingers as a strange tingling sensation ran through his entire body.

"What's happening to me?"

"We have to get you out of here now," Hazel insisted, "that thing is not going to be held off for long and when it gets through with the riders there will be nothing standing between it and us, it's power is already such that we can't use our powers in it's presence, it's far more powerful than when it attacked Sara and Harry."

"I can't run," John said, "I can't let others die for me and then run like a coward."

"Master your benevolence is fantastic, it's one of the reasons we love you so much but you need to know when to back down, this is not a fight we can win here and now, we have to run," Rose was determined, hers and Hazel's powers had already been nulled by the beasts mere presence now they had to deal with the stubbornness of their master with no genie-tricks to get around it.

"What's happening to me I feel weird, I feel like something's in me, what did the demon do to me?"

Heather saw the state of John and approached, "I don't think it's the demon, did you swallow that thing's blood?" she gestured to the einherjar's corpse.

"Yes, now I feel weird, what's it doing to me?"

"There's an ancient myth, if you swallow the blood of a dead warrior and are judged to be worthy, his strength will be added to yours."

John and the genies all looked shocked, this was something outside all their areas of expertise and they took a moment to absorb the information.

John looked back at his hands as he felt new power flowing through them, suddenly knowing with more confidence exactly what was happening in his blood, what was happening to his body, he realized what he had to do with the power.

"So I'm going to be like him?"

"Not exactly," a clear, confident voice cut through the air and they all looked at Frieda, it was the first time they'd heard her speak.

"You will only have the power for a brief time," she continued, limping towards them supported by Sara, "firstly to permanently have the power of the einherjar you have to ingest his heart and secondly you have to be dead, the blood of a resurrected warrior isn't meant to be combined with the blood of someone who's never died, after a short time the changes will revert."

John knew then that he had to kill the demon while he had the chance, when the change wore off he and everyone else here would be vulnerable and there would be nothing left to combat the beast.

"The change is starting," Rose observed, taking a step back as she watched in awe, her master started to grow, his muscles expanding, his height more than doubling, his features changing, his face no longer had the soft and kind qualities that she and Hazel had fallen in love with.

His entire body hardened, he felt the power, his clothes tore and he stood there, immense, powerful and completely naked. Hazel and Rose both cocked an appreciative eyebrow, apparently the increase in size had effected his entire body proportionally.

He picked up the immense axes of the einherjar, at this time he was unconcerned with his nudity, his attention was on the beast currently slaughtering Valkyrie. He took a few steps forward and the beast noticed him, eyeing him suspiciously it swung around, it's tail taking out another rider as it lowered itself and charged, it's legs impacting the ground with a sound like thunder.

John braced himself, he'd seen what had happened to the einherjar, he knew he was powerful now but he also knew he wasn't immortal, the genies power was suppressed so that probably meant he could die, indeed he'd noticed his wounds weren't healing, he had to be careful.

But he saw his opening as the beast pounced, it flew through the air towards him but instead of taking the blow like the einherjar had, he dodged it and hammered the first of his axes into it's flank, his new strength hammering the blade deep, lodging the head of the axe deep within the guts of the beast.

It roared, a bloody roar, spurts of black viscera ejecting from it's mouth and black blood draining from it's side, it wheeled around suddenly and John dodged again, the second axe he embedded in it's head, it's skull was thick, thick enough even to withstand the blow from the great axe but the blow was precise and took out all three remaining eyes on it's left side, the beast was now half blind but John was without weapons, both had been embedded too deep for him to withdraw them while the beast was still thrashing.

As a final act of fury Zarakynal sprung at this new and powerful warrior, his maw open, hoping to tear out John's throat in the same fashion as he had the einherjar, but being half blind he didn't notice John's movements.

John's hands managed to grab both top and bottom of the demon's maw and with a sudden, sharp, deft twist, the beast's neck broke. It slumped to the ground it looked dead, it's remaining eyes looked empty and lifeless.

Arnvir was one of the few Valkyrie to survive the battle, she had started with thirty-two, she was down to eight, she saw the beast's fall and knew they had to capitalize on it's incapacitation.

John was still looking down at the apparently broken and dead demon, his head still swimming from everything that had happened.

Arnvir approached and Gabrielle followed behind on foot, she'd been dismounted but had suffered no serious damage.

"Quickly, it's heart," Arnvir shouted as a sharp order, she wasn't going to have a discussion and her tone made that evident to all present.

John looked down at the beast, reaching down he wrenched the axes from it's side and head, kicking the demon over he brought one down dead on the demon's sternum, he heard a crack and the axe stuck. He put a foot on the corpse and pulled the blade free and swung down with the other axe in the same place, this time the axe went straight through and caused a large split in the demon's ribcage.

The rest of the Valkyrie had gathered now and everyone watched as John pushed the blade deeper, he worked the other axe in beside it and used them as levers to prize the demon's chest open, revealing it's still pumping heart.

Arnvir approached with Heela at her side, both had managed to remain mounted throughout the battle, "quickly, we must remove it's heart, if left it can hibernate until it's healed and then all that's been done here will have been for nothing."

John looked down at the pumping organ, it was black, as a child he'd read stories about people with black hearts but never thought he'd see one, but he didn't pause to look, instead he started cutting arteries and veins, removing the sinews and musculature that kept the heart in place and eventually the immense organ was free.

On directions from the Valkyrie he carried it back to the clearing where they'd made camp, they already had a fire going and he stood with his genies and watched as the black, pulping organ burned and turned to dust and eventually disappeared altogether.

Dear Reader

Thanks for reading, any of you who are paying attention to details like the geography of this world please take note, I refer to Slough Forest which doesn't actually exist, if you want to look up the town of Slough on google earth then you can, I needed a large nearby woodland for the showdown and so I decided to put a forest in place of a town, I may make similar changes to the world in future stories whenever the geography doesn't work with the story I'm telling.