The Valkyrie Queen Pt. 01

"Committed actor." Ragnheidr said. Then the two of them set off, trying their best to mimic Tatton's heavy breathing. Tatton hit the gate, slamming his fist against it and shouting.

"Open up!" He shouted. "Come on!"

There was cursing from the other side, then a small window opened in the gate. A man peered through.

"Tatton? Where's Osborne?" The man asked. Ragnheidr and Liv kept to the side, partially out of the man's line of sight. Under the gatehouse there was little rain to hide in.

"Hurt, slipped and broke his ankle. Stanford with him. Need help." Tatton sold the lie well, he sounded as if he'd just run for help. The guard behind the gate cursed again and shut the window door.

"Come on then!" He shouted and there was the sound of wood against metal as a beam was lifted out of place. Then the door began to swing open. Liv pushed Tatton aside and Tatton did as he was wordlessly instructed.

"Alright then, come - hey!" The guard behind the gate opened his mouth to shout but Liv was there, a dagger thrust up through the soft underbelly of the man's mouth and up into his skull. The second guard stumbled back and fell into a puddle of muddy water. Ragnheidr was there, a spear in hand and she drove it through the second guard's chest. Then it was done.

The others jogged up and slipped inside the gate. There were voices and lights from inside the guardhouse.

"How many?" The wolf asked. Tatton mentally counted. With the five on patrol, two at the gate, that would leave...

"Five." He said. "At most."

The wolf woman nodded, snatching a sword from one of the gate guards. Then she stalked to the guardhouse door and pushed it open, stepping inside alone.

"What the fuck!" Someone cried out. There was a cacophony of noise that followed, the sounds of metal ringing against metal and cries of pain. A table crashing over, throwing tankards and plates to the floor. Wood breaking. Then, silence.

The wolf stalked out a moment later, panting and holding a sword that was now slick with blood.

"Done." She growled.

"Larder, smithy, stable, armory." Kára said. Tatton pointed out each and one by one, the group split off to where he pointed. Ragnheidr to the larder, Brokkr to the smithy, Liv to the stable, Ylva and Geir to the armory. Kára and the raven remained by the gate with Tatton. The raven watched Tatton carefully, then leaped to his shoulder.

"Muninn likes you." She said, idly.

"Muninn?" Tatton said. "That Muninn?" Kára nodded as if that was a silly question and Muninn cawed gently, eyes gleaming.

They waited there a while, listening to the rain. Ragnheidr returned first with bundles of food supplies and a wooden cage of chickens. Then Ylva and Geir with an assortment of weaponry, including bundles of arrows. Liv brought a group of horses, following her without leads. That only left Brokkr.

"Where is that fucking Dwarf?" Kára said, watching the dark sheets of rain for any sign of the trundling Runesmith. He had one job to do. Finally he appeared through the rain, a link of iron chains looped around his neck.

"Did you...did you smith that?" Kára asked, looking at the Dwarf. He ran a finger over the links, each one holding a small version of vital forge equipment. A small anvil, bellows, hearth, rack of tools, all of it in minuature. Each link glowed with a rune.

"Yes. I needed something to carry it all." Brokkr said, tugging at his beard harder.

"Carry...it all. It's tiny!" Liv exclaimed. "Oh gods it's adorable! Do you work a little bitty forge all the time?"

Brokkr glared at her. Kára ignored it all.

"Come on." She said. "We have one stop to make before we sail back to the fortress."

The group slipped out of the monastery, leaving bodies and little other evidence they had been there.

Dean stalked the forest, bow in hand. This unnatural place had appeared almost overnight, acres and acres of gnarled trees and underbrush. Mushrooms and deer and all other sorts of bounty lay beneath the green canopy and under the coverage there wasn't much rain slipping through.

Dean knew he should be ecstatic about the bounty just beyond his town. This wasn't the type of hunting he was used to but he could feed the town for a lifetime under these trees.

So he stalked, even though the place gave him the shivering creeps along his spine. He stepped carefully, tracking a deer.

Hello Hunter

Dean froze. There was a voice on the wind that drifted into his ears, a sharp whisper that made him shiver. He must be imaging things under these trees, this place wasn't right. There hadn't been a forest like this here in anyone's memory and half the town claimed it was cursed.

"Nothing here but animals and my mind playing tricks." He muttered.

No tricks

The voice whispered again. Dean knelt, making himself small, scanning the trees. Something was moving out there. Flitting between trees. Dean nocked an arrow and drew it halfway, his mouth suddenly dry. The wind was whispering to him now, without words. He heard leaves shifting behind him and he whirled, loosing an arrow that sailed off into the forest and thudded into a tree. There was nothing there.

Tsk, tsk, Hunter

The voice whispered and he felt the wind on his ear. He shivered and turn to find the speaker. Her hair was like vines and leaves that fell about her face and neck. Her ears were sharply pointed back in the greenery that was her hair. Her skin was a pale green and looked almost sun dappled. She look at Dean with bright, green eyes. She was beautiful and Dean choked out a noise when his eyes drifted down. She was entirely naked. Dean was staring now, her pinkish nipples stood erect in the cool forest air.

She tilted her head and cupped a breast with her hand, rubbing the underside softly and then using a finger to play with her nipple. Dean was certain he was dreaming, that the forest had poisoned his mind.

Do you not like it?

The wind asked. Her mouth did not move when the wind spoke for her. She waved a hand and she fell backward and the forest caught her, creating a sort of reclining chair for her. She spread her legs and Dean's mouth went dry at the sight of her pussy. She reached down with her fingers and spread herself, dragging a finger over the wetness there. She moved her hands again and Dean watched as she laid in her reclining chair of branches and leaves and the forest rose up to pleasure her. Luminescent, green growths shaped like cocks sprouted around her. One of them played it's tip against her pussy lips, she gripped another in her hand, her fingers barely able to fit around it. She tentatively licked the tip of the one near her mouth, then she groaned as the one rubbing her pussy lips entered her.

Dean didn't remember when he'd lowered his trousers but he had, and now his hand was wrapped around his own cock and busy stroking it to the sight of this green skinned nymph before him. She motioned toward him with a finger.

Hunter

The wind whispered. He stepped toward her, guided by some unknown force. She took a hold of his cock and then her tongue circled the head of it. She took the tip between her lips and the wetness of her mouth coated his cock as she slowly sucked it. His hands found the leafy vines of her hair and she took his whole length into her mouth. He groaned and shuddered and she moved her head, all while the growth she'd sprouted fucked her from below.

Yes, Hunter, yes

The wind whispered. She moved her head faster, drool and precum dribbling from between her lips. Dean shuddered. His hands tightened as he felt her shuddering too, her orgasm approaching alongside his. The cock between her legs thrust more eagerly now and she bobbed her head along with his thrusting hips.

Cum for me, Hunter!

The whisper demand and Dean couldn't hold back. He grunted and the first spray of cum jetted out just as she came with that luminescent cock. Dean came again inside her throat, then again and again. His cock pulsated with every spurt until he was spent. Then slowly she released his softening cock, dribbling the cum that was left down her chin until it dripped to her chest.

She breathed hard, dipping her finger in the cum on her chest and sucking it from her finger tip. Dean felt himself wrapped by the branches and roots of the forest, growing up around his legs and waist and suddenly he felt fear again. The forest felt strange and mystical again, his mind cleared. She stood, still naked, the forest falling back into place around her. The branches and roots tightening around Dean's chest and held him fast in place.

Hunter, you can stay.

The wind whispered the words and Dean felt his fear fading again. He felt the forest around him, like a living thing with a beating heart, drawing breath.

Then someone else spoke.

"Asta. Am I interrupting?" Dean's eyes darted and he saw the speaker. She was a woman with blonde hair and a raven perched on her wolf fur adorned shoulder. She carried a formidable looking spear and rested against it casually, looking at the skogsrå standing nude before her.

"Kára?" Dean's eyes jerked back to the skogsrå, Asta. She spoke with her mouth this time. Then she giggled and threw herself at the newcomer, Kára. Kára caught the skogsrå in her arms and they fell into a rising set of branches and leaves together. The green skinned nymph raised her head and planted a kiss on Kára's forehead.

"Good to see you too, Astrid." Kára said, then she looked down at the nymph's bare chest. "You're looking stunning, as always."

"You know these hunters." The nymph jerked her head towards Dean, still firmly held in place. Then she cupped her breasts and rolled them at Kára. "They can't ignore these. You should know."

Kára slapped the nymph's hand away from her own chest, grinning broadly. The forest raised both of them to their feet and Astrid's face grew confused.

"Why are you here?" She asked. "You couldn't possibly have come all this way just to see me."

"I did. I wanted to know how you felt about coming home." Kára asked her old friend. The nymph raised an eyebrow.

"To the island? Why?" Confusion gave way to suspicion and the nymph settled her hands against her hips, pursing her lips at her old Valkyrie friend. "What the fuck did you do?"

"Why would you assume that I did something?!" Astrid's eyes went to the spear, then back to Kára. She opened them wider as if to say 'what about that?'. Kára smiled awkwardly and shrugged her shoulders.

"I might have found out that Odin was keeping Valkyrie imprisoned beneath the fortress and broke them out because I couldn't stand the thought of my sisters being left like that, then I killed Magni because he was trying to rape Ragnheidr, then we made a deal with Odin where he will try to murder us all but not right now and we could really use your help in bringing the island back to life because it will really help us prepare for Odin's wrath when he decides to come back."

Dean's eyes went wide but he was being ignored by the two women. Astrid stood there silently for a long time, unmoving and unflinching. Kára waited. The wait was excruciating.

It went on.

And on.

"Yes." Astrid said, clapping her hands. Then she walked to Dean and kisses his cheek softly. She caressed his face with soft hands and she looked genuinely apologetic when she spoke. "Sorry, Hunter, bad timing."

The roots tightened until Dean could not breathe. He began to panic and tried to struggle but it was no use. The forest had him and slowly his vision faded out to black.

"None of that on the island." Kára said, watching the hunter's eyes drain of life. Astrid waved a hand and the forest dragged the man's body down into a hollow tree that swallowed him, then the tree trunk swirled and grew until it covered him completely. It was one of many such trees in her forests.

"They come to me and I give them gifts, but those gifts are contained to the forest." Astrid said, swirling a form fitting dress of leaves and branches onto her body. "As long as we remain in the forest. So don't let Odin take the island away and there will be none of that."

Kára nodded. Astrid was blunt, powerful, and she would bring the island back to life. She was also...eccentric with the lives of those that entered her domains. They walked together through the forest, Astrid dragging her hand over the lush greenery and the wind whispering a soft goodbye and an even softer thank you. Then there was silence as they walked, the green already fading and the leaves beginning to fall from the canopy overhead. Without it's mistress, the forest would fade away. It could not survive without her.

"That thing...that you were doing with the forest?" Kára stumbled her way through the sentence and Astrid took pleasure in the blush that crossed the Valkyrie's face.

"What about it?" Astrid asked, a cheeky tone to her voice. She hooked her arm through her friends and leaned against the Valkyrie while they walked, eager to hear what the Valkyrie wanted to discuss about it. Kára cleared her throat and shook her head, focusing on the walk instead.

"Nothing." Kára finally muttered. "Nothing at all. Let's just get home."

Muninn cawed, apparently glad to be free of the conversation about what Astrid had been doing, hopping to her shoulder. She stroked the feathers under his beak and he fluttered his wings happily. She produced a pile of brightly colored berries from thin air and the crow snatched them from her palm, greedily gulping them down and cawing at Kára.

She assumed her was telling her that this was how you fed a godly crow.

"Home." Asta mused, forgetting her amusement about Kára's question and stroking Muninn's back. "Home sounds good."

Chapter Four: Home

Kára stood balanced against the prow, ravenless. Muninn had decided that he was fond of Astrid now, fluttering from shoulder to shoulder in a game they had devised during the trip. Astrid was a popular addition to the crew. Tatton had averted his eyes but had carried himself well, throwing his weight into rowing with the rest when the wind died. Kára was warming up to the man, he was exceptionally observant and gifted with excellent eyesight that served them well. He spotted their destination before anyone else and this was a ship full of demi-gods, including Ylva who was sulking that she had not seen it first.

Geir guided the ship into the cove again and they began to unload their spoils, even if they were meager enough. It was a long journey up the carved stairs to the plateau, under a clearer sky now.

"Thor must have left Midgard." Geir said, looking to the sky with fewer clouds in it than before.

"Good news for us." Brokkr mused.

"And bad." Ragnheidr added, toting her cage of chickens. "He and the others will be conspiring against us."

"That is not bad news, it is expected news." Kára said.

"What have you done to my beautiful home?" Astrid shook her head, looking about the barren plateau. Ahead, the gray stone of the fortress loomed out from the cliffs across the arched pathway. The remainder of the space used to be hers, with a lush forest that spanned many hundreds of acres. Treetops visible from the towers of the fortress and a fine, cobbled pathway from the gatehouse to the top of the stairs. Below, had been a grand village filled with servants and loyal subjects of sorts.

Now it was nothing.

Astrid knelt, scooping a handful of the earth up into her hand. She whispered into her hand and placed it back, seedlings already taking root and green sprouting from the ground that she touched.

"It will take months to grow it back." She said. "I will have to grow myself a home first, I will not live in that cold stone place you call a fortress."

"We will make it as it once was." Kára said. "And we will do it in spite of Odin's conspiracies and endeavors to tear us down."

"Or we won't." Ylva offered, pushing open the wooden gates to their home. "But it will have been fun anyway."

Kára stood on the balcony of her own room. Recently repaired stonework lay under her hands and she looked out over the fortress. Brokkr was a Runesmith first and foremost, but a greatly skilled mason and metalworker besides. He had broken his own runes and now his properly sized forge burned brightly, his hammer worked day and night with little rest. It was not unusual to find Brokkr, stripped to his trousers alone, working in the heat of his forge and singing an old Dwarfen song while he worked.

Kára's eyes fell on the forest beyond the fortress doors. Out there amid the sturdy saplings and young trees was Astrid. Grass had sprouted over the plateau and the repaired cobbled road cut a path through the growing forest to the stairs that led to a repaired dock, mooring their single ship. Astrid grew patches of perfectly straight trees that would serve for shipbuilding. Ylva had revealed that she was an accomplished woodworker, fletching her own arrows and crafting fine bows. She had been drafted to work on furniture and slowly the fortress was becoming furnished by her fine works.

Geir was proving to be an effective aid to Brokkr too, and an armory of their own was beginning to take shape. The island had been brought from the ocean by Aegir himself, blessed by a dozen gods to create a fierce fortress on Midgard. Everything was at their fingertips here, Kára could not want for a single thing. Ore deposits in the caves that supplied the forge with raw material.

"We could raid the coastlines." Liv traced her finger over the map that was now pinned to the table in Kára's room. "There is bound to be wealth to be found there."

"With who? Who are we going to raid with?" Ragnheidr was the voice of reason, as always. "Everyone we take from here is not working on making the fortress ready. Brokkr can't go anymore, we need him here. He's fixed half the crumbling walls already."

"What I wouldn't give for a crew of Valkyrie again." Kára said, leaning over the table and looking at the map. It outlined the many countries and places that they could find the things they needed. Three Valkyrie were not enough.

"What happened to the crew of that ship anyway?" Liv asked.

"I killed them." Kára said. "I needed their ship more than I needed them. What's stopping us from raiding with just us? It can be done."

"For a time." Ragnheidr scrubbed her hands through filthy hair. "Odin may not be able to come for us directly, but he could empower the souls of Midgard against us. We will not be unstoppable warriors among mortals forever."

"A dire thought." Kára said. "Where do we find valiant warriors worthy of joining us on Midgard? The raiders from the east, the fertile lands of the west?"

"We should return where we have been." Kára said, resting her finger on the island again. "They will surely have sent warriors to investigate and we will find worthy souls among them."

"Why not east, to those that worship us?" Liv asked, her fingers landing on the spurs of land there.

"Because they do not worship us." Kára said. "They worship who we once were. They will be our enemy now and Odin will use them against us."

"The enemy of my enemy." Ragnheidr said, nodding. "She is right. They won't expect us to return either, not so soon."

"Then it is settled. We sail back to the east. We find a crew worthy of our ship and our fortress." Kára slammed her knife home in the map, marking the island they had visited already.

"Valkyrie." Brokkr interrupted, letting himself into the room without knocking. They looked at him.

"You look...clean." Liv said, peering at his face and hair. Kára concluded that the Dwarf did indeed look clean, his face freshly scrubbed and his hair newly braided. Liv circled the Dwarf, sniffing the air around him. "Presentable, even. Did you fix the bath house?!"