Power Play: Act 1 Svartalfheim (Ragnarok on Ice) (2 page)

I had left the dining hall after a quick breakfast.  When I returned to my room, I found a bunch of arrows leaning up against my door with a note.

‘I updated the shafts with a steel alloy.  These should fly truer and give you more accuracy.  Not that you need it, but let me know either way.’

-Algrim

I smiled to myself.  I could only guess that this was his way of saying he was sorry for getting in the middle of my business with father.  I picked up the arrows and they were quite a bit lighter than the last batch he had made for me.  Excited, I went to my closet and grabbed my bow. 

Unlike normal long bows that most dark elf archers use, mine was quite a bit different.  A little shorter, but with a double bend at the end and a second piece of wood running parallel to the limbs gave it extra weight on the draw.  Algrim called it a compound bow.

It did not take me long to get to the training range.  There were a few of my cousins at the range, and I waved to them.  I made my way past down to the end of the range that was known as Rumil’s Corner.  My targets were not stationary, moving up and down, left to right, at high speeds.  I had trained so hard to become the top marksman in my clan.

Eager to try out the new arrows Algrim fashioned for me, I quickly went to work.  His words were true, as the arrows flew straighter, but they also hit the mark harder.  Five arrows in and I had already ruined three of my targets.  No matter, the joy of shooting arrows that produced such accuracy and power was exhilarating.

“I am not surprised to find you here at the range again.”

I jumped and my shot went way off.  I turned around, right into the smirking face of Mallerk, one of Azmodeous’s guards.  “What are you doing here?”

Just looking at him made me ill and the fact he continually tried to advance on me made it even worse.  “I thought I would see how my chosen one was fairing.”

The thought of that made me want to throw up my breakfast.  Appalled, “You overstep your bounds!  I am definitely not your chosen.”

“That is because you refuse to place your palms with mine.  The Norns will bless our union.”

“I do not think so, for I have not upset them so much that they would place me with you.”

His smirk faded.  I could only guess realization set in.  “So you are refusing to see what destiny has in store for us?”

“I have no desire to see what I already know.  We are not to be mates Mallerk and it is best if you get that through your head.”

He quickly advanced towards me, with his arm out.  Before he could grab me, I had an arrow knocked in the bow and pointed right between his eyes.  “One more step and the only destiny you will have will be with the Mistress Hel.”

“Rumil Darklighter, you dare point a weapon at a royal guard to the advisor Azmodeous?”  Anger was boiling on his face; a vein in his forehead was throbbing.

“I do more than point it at you.  My words were not a threat but a promise.  Now I suggest you slither back to the royal estate as you are currently in Darklighter territory and my word is law here.”  To make the point even more clear, I drew the arrow back to its full draw length.

Fear broke out across his face.  “I will not forget this.  So help me, one day I will give you the same humiliation that you have given me.”

“I will not be holding my breath to see if that day comes.”  Pushing the arrow closer to draw blood,  “Leave my territory and do not come back unless it is for actual business.”

I felt comfortable enough to lower my weapon.  Turning on heel, Mallerk stormed out of training grounds and towards the exit of the cave.

“Provoking him was not the wisest thing you could have done, but I do enjoy seeing your spunk.”

This voice was much more welcome.  “How much of this did you see from your shadows Ustin?”

“Enough to know that you have given Hargna quite a headache.  I am quite sad that I will not be around to see the fallout from Mallerk’s anger.  It would be a most enjoyable show to watch.”

Ustin, one of the Dark Moons, was a friend.  I knew he wanted there to be more, but the blue light between our palms proved to me that friends is all we should be.  I gathered each time we greeted each other, he hoped it would change, but it never did.

“Father will just have to deal with it like he always does.  Tell them how much of a bad temper I have and that they should know better than to wake a sleeping dragon.”

He chuckled, as he knew just how true that was.  “It is a shame that the captain of the guard for the royal advisor is such an idiot.  I will never know what Azmodeous saw in him to grant him such a position.”

I bit my tongue.  I did not like Azmodeous and saying anything against him, even to a friend could have consequences.  “It is neither here nor there.  I suspect you are getting ready for your adventure to Jotenheim?”

“This is true.  I came by to wish you well on yours as well.  Hopefully all of our expeditions go accordingly and everyone returns.”

“As do I.  Something is certainly not right with the entire situation in Asgard and hopefully I can find out some information to help us.”

He shook his head in agreement.  “And let us find out that there is nothing to worry about in Jotenheim.  If the ice giants are on the move again, it could be most tragic.”

“Agreed.  May The Norns watch over you Ustin and bring you back safely.”

He took my hand, “And you Rumil,” he gave me a knowing smile, “for I picked the elves who will be going with you.”

I looked on at the four young elves gathered in front of me.  I knew all four well and it was a relief to me that all were fairly competent in the art of stealth.  Drexler and Krang were brothers, both very good with blades.  Maya was a shaman and to be our medic, and finally Ryle was the youngest but also the best in terms of tracking.

“Ustin chose each one of you for this team based on your skills.  As your team leader it is my job to keep you all safe and most importantly figure out how to mesh our skills together.  It is late in the day, so I figure we can find out how well we do.”

I pulled out my dagger, and they all looked at me like I had a head injury.  Drexler was the first to speak.  “Lady Rumil, just what would you like us to do?”

“The four of you are to attack me.  In this exercise, I will be the opponent and you are to work together to bring me down.”

“Is there a catch to this exercise my lady?”  Maya, the medic had the least amount of combat training and her nervousness showed.

“There is always a catch!  We will play to first blood.  If any of the four of you can draw blood from me, you win.  On the opposite side, each one of you I draw blood from, is out.  If all four of you fail, then we do it again.”

Each of their reactions told a story.  Drexler and Krang had the look of excitement on their face.  Maya looked pretty scared at the thought of real combat.  Ryle’s was the most interesting; his gave off the impression he had heard a funny joke.

I brought my dagger up into the ready position.  They all looked at me and finally I just sighed, “Whenever you are ready.  Keep in mind we do not have all the time in the realms to be fooling around.”

This got their attention and each brought their weapon to position as well.  The brothers were the first to come at me, twirling their blades in very intricate pattern.  Unfortunately for them, it was too much wasted movement and after just a couple of parries from my own dagger, I was able to cut each one of them on the cheek.

“I do believe you are bleeding and are out.”

Both were startled that their attacks ended so poorly, but walked off without a word.  Maya and Ryle were both looking on, neither one had made a move during the brothers’ assault. 

Maya was clutching her staff and meekly made her way towards me.  She was an excellent healer, but I needed her to have some battle mettle.  I rushed at her and brought my blade down towards her in a slow manner.  She brought her staff up and blocked it.  I repeated this a few more times and each time she was able to block an attack, you could see her confidence grow.

“Very good Maya!  Feel free to use that staff to hit me too!”

I had been concentrating so hard on helping Maya that I forgot Ryle was still here.  It was only when I heard someone close by jumping that I looked up and saw him coming towards me.  With his dagger extended, I had to roll forward towards Maya to avoid the blow.

“Oh my!  You nearly got me there!  It looks like I underestimated the two of you!”  I was pleasantly surprised by Ryle’s ambition in attack.  It was all for naught, with their best chance gone, I quickly ended their assault by cutting Maya on the leg before she could react.  With her out and my attention solely on Ryle, it did not take long to finish the training sequence and draw blood from him as well.

I looked on at my four beaten teammates.  “For the first time working together, that was actually much better than I expected.  We will do this a few more times, but I implore you to use teamwork.  Communicate with each other and make me pay for cutting you open.”  I really wanted them to succeed and tried my best to motivate them.

It took two more tries, but by the third time the team was working much better and they were able to cut me.  I saw how tired they were and judging by the limited amount of light on the field, it was getting late.

“Excellent job everyone.  I think we will call it a day and tomorrow we will make our first field outing.  I say we do something simple, maybe just a hunting trip in the north part of the forest.  Does anyone have any objections to that?”

“That sounds most exciting!”

“Yes, a hunting trip would be an excellent way to refine our skills!”

The brothers’ enthusiasm was a bit much, but it also seemed to be rubbing off on Maya and to a lesser extent, Ryle.

“I agree, I feel much better today about being assigned field work.  It will be a good test, before our real assignment I assume?”

I nodded, “Yes Maya, we do have an actual assignment we are training for.  I will tell you more about it when the time grows closer.  For now, I suggest we go eat and rest up.  Tomorrow is going to be a trying day.”

With that, they all made their way back to the Darklighter complex.  The trip from Svartalfheim to the Great Forest would take us into the lower reaches of Jotenheim and we would all need to be on guard.  Plus, we were not heading far into the forest, but it still was filled with dangers, such as dire wolves and the rogue troll that made its way too close to our realm.  No, we all definitely needed to be prepared.

I was lost in thoughts when I entered the stronghold, so I did not even see my father standing there waiting for me.  “Rumil my dear, what am I going to do with you?”

I tried to hide my smile.  “Why father, what is wrong?”

We exited the cave that led to Svartalfheim and were now at the bottom of the Dokkalfar Mountains.  A fresh layer of snow awaited us, as did the cold wind whipping down from the top of the mountain.  Knowing the ice giants could possibly be on the move, I motioned my team to move forward and make our way down the mountain trail.

My worry was all for naught as we made it into the forest with no trouble.  Once we were a little ways in, I stopped and gathered everyone around.  “Our objective is to kill a giant boar.  I figure between this afternoon and into the evening we should come across one.  Ryle, you are our tracker and it will be your job to locate a suitable target.”

He looked on and gave a small smile.  I took that as his understanding his job.

“Once we locate the boar, Drexler and Krang will be the ones to bring it down, with the three of us acting as their support.  Maya, if any of us get wounded, as our medic that will be where you come in.  If there are no questions, I suggest we get to it.”

With that, Ryle got to the front of the group and started the tracking process.  Tracking can be slow and tedious, but if done properly can save a lot of time.  Ryle was one of the best, even at his age, so I knew we would be on the trail of a boar at any moment.

“Lady Rumil, these tracks are fresh.”  And just like that he pointed to a set, a very large set of boar tracks.  “I would guess that the animal had been through this area since we entered the forest.”  His voice was very quiet, but for someone so young his composure was refreshing.

“Then by all means, lead us to our prey.”

With the track established, Ryle moved on at a much quicker pace.  Everything seemed to be going well, when he abruptly stopped.  He put his hand up, motioning to keep quiet.

I listened to the forest, what had caused him to stop so suddenly?  Once I quieted myself, I heard it; the sound of dire wolves not too far away.  Judging by the amount of different pitches, I assumed this was a pack.  Not wanting to pick a fight with a pack of angry and hungry wolves, I pointed in the opposite direction and the team followed my lead.

We continued going southwest for a few more paces until I felt comfortable enough to call a halt to our progress.  “I do believe we will have to find ourselves another boar.”

“Why did we not just fight the wolves off for the one we were already tracking?”

“Because Krang,” I had to choose my words carefully, “it was not from a lack of faith in all of you, but more about being wise.  There are many dangers in the forest and if one of us were to get injured or worse in a needless confrontation with a wolf pack, the team would suffer.”

He lowered his head.  “I am sorry for questioning your judgment.”

“Cheer up!  No need to be sorry about expressing your opinions or thoughts.”  A very cold breeze whipped through us.  The sunlight was also diminishing.  “I do not think we will be able to finish this hunt today.  I suggest we make camp quickly before night falls and the cold gets worse.”

Everyone went to their tasks.  Ryle and Maya went to find wood to start a fire and the brothers went to hunt some small game.  While they were all out on their tasks, I went out setting up our tents.  While they were not big, they would provide some shelter along with our wolf fur blankets.

Maya and Ryle came back quick enough and got the fire started.  The warmth felt good against the cold and would be very useful in getting the food cooked.  The three of us huddled around the fire, talking while we waited for the brothers to return.  But as the dusk turned into night, I started to worry.  They had been gone for way too long.

“Ryle, Maya, I think it is time we go and see what has happened to the brothers.  Hunting small game should not be taking this long.”

“I agree.  There were multiple rabbit tracks nearby.  It should have been a quick hunt.”

With Ryle’s assessment adding to my suspicions, we grabbed our weapons and headed off in the direction they had gone.

“Stop Lady Rumil, I do believe I hear them.”  Ryle pointed straight ahead.

“Everyone, get into position, I do not know what is coming along with them, but I do not believe it is good.”

The three of us took cover around the trees and waiting for the brothers.  When they came into view, I saw they were trying to flee an opponent.  Whoever they were engaged with was excellent with a sword, and having no issues pressing the attack against multiple opponents.

“They are in trouble, we must engage!  Ryle with me and Maya, act as support.  As soon as we break the attacker away, go and tend to Drexler and Krang!”

Leaving my cover, I knocked an arrow on my bow and let it fly at the mysterious attacker.  She swatted it aside with ease, but with her focus off Drexler and Krang, they were able to get out of reach.  I let go another arrow, but it also troubled her very little.

“Dark elves, these woods are Aesir territory and this is your final warning.  Leave now or perish.”

I did not know who this wench was, but she had no right to tell us who could enter the forest.  “This forest is neutral ground, as per the Pact your Allfather made the races sign.  Anymore hostility will be met with lethal force.”

She spit on the ground.  “I do not know who you think you are elf bitch, but you will not address me like that.”

“I do not care who you are, nor do my arrows!”  I shot another one at her, in defiance.

“That will be your final mistake elf.  Know that you will die at the hands of the Warrior Maiden, Sif!”