Runebinder

One: Crimson Falling-5

“By the gods! What is it!” Nori yelled over the roar and yet his voice was barely heard. Knut readied an arrow and raised his bow to the door. The hovel trembled and shook with great fury sending plumes of dust falling to the ground and then all at once, it stopped. The roar did not recede to a howl or a whistle, it just stopped entirely as if it had vanished. Knut cautiously lowered his bow and the silence was now filled with the heavy anxious breathing of men. Hakon stood over his mother with bow and arrow in hand as she peered over the table.

“Is it gone? Is it gone?” she asked nervously. Nori slid his feet forward towards the door and turned his head to listen. As he pressed his ear to the entrance he could hear nothing save the uncontrollable beating of his pounding heart. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. His heartbeat softened and he closed his eyes to listen. There was nothing now, only silence. Deep sighs of relief could be heard throughout the hovel and the men slowly lowered their weapons.

“I think it left,” proclaimed Nori with a grin. Suddenly the door violently burst open knocking Nori to the floor and a great roar filled the hovel. The rush of air smothered the fire sending ember and smoke all around clouding their view. A scream erupted and Nori was helplessly dragged outside.

“Nori!” Eirik cried.

“Help me! Help!” Nori's screams were quickly silenced by a blood-curdling wail. Eirik ran to the door. He peered outside with hatchet at the ready searching frantically for his friend in the darkness.

“Nori!” he shouted, “Nori!” The noise roared fiercely and Eirik was hit hard by something and fell heavy to the timbers. He lifted his gaze from the cold ground to see a most grotesque spectacle: the severed and mangled head of Nori sitting upright beside him. In a fright Eirik tried to stand but his feet slipped several times on the bloodied floor. Scrambling to his feet the stout and frightened man finally stood upright. “Brace the door!” he commanded. Hakon and Knut ran to Eirik's aid lifting the timber from the floor; closing the door with all their might and moving anything they could behind it to jam it shut. Svanhild stood shaking and slowly walked over to the head of Nori. She let out a frightening scream and began trembling in place. Eirik left Hakon and Knut at the door to calm his wife traumatized by the gory scene. Gripping her tightly, he swayed her back and forth.

“Calm yourself, woman,” he urged but there would be no consoling Svanhild High-Stone this day for the thing she witnessed was so grotesque, so evil that she could not bear the very sight of it. As Hakon pressed his small frame against the door alongside his brother he gazed back and saw what had frightened his mother so. Nori's eyes had been gouged out, his tongue cut from his mouth, and his ears lopped off. With the head's mouth and eye sockets wide open he appeared to be screaming from the very depths of Helheim itself. “Watch out, boy!” Eirik grabbed the table and pushed it against the door.

“Where are the other villagers? Why has no one come to our aid?” Knut asked. Eirik's heart sunk even further into despair. Either the entire village was under siege as well or they had already perished by the thing that now terrorized them. A loud bang erupted at the door as something was thrust upon it from the outside. It hit again, and again and again, harder each time.

“It's coming!” Hakon cried in fear. First it sounded as one then two and perhaps three attackers on the other side. The door began to creak and c***k under the pressure. Then a piece of the plank was pulled away leaving a small hole in the door. Knut raised his hatchet and peered outside into the darkness where several pairs of monstrous red eyes bounced and hovered; glowing in the gloom of night.

“Monsters! Beasts! Gods help us!” he exclaimed. Knut did not know what they were but he knew that if they could kill Nori as they had, then they were most certainly monsters. From the hole in the door long bony fingers and decrepit hands emerged reaching inward and began methodically clawing away at the door.

“Get back, beasts!” Eirik yelled as he swung his hatchet striking the creatures one by one. They pulled back, presumably afraid of the hatchet wielding man. Then suddenly their hands burst through the hole again and started ripping the door apart. “Wife! Get Hakon through the thatch! They're coming through!”

“No, Father, I won't leave you!” he protested. The hole in the door widened as Knut drew his bow and began firing arrows aimlessly into the dark void. A cry of pain shouted out as an iron tip found a stray hand but the door was beginning to give way.

“Do it now, boy!” Svanhild grabbed Hakon by the wrist and pulled him to the back of the hovel. Standing atop a wooden pail next to the wall she pulled at the ceiling until a small hole emerged.

“Up now, son,” his mother ordered with tears in her eyes. Hakon burst into sobbing and shook his head violently. Amidst the panic a strange feeling came over the boy, his fingertips began to itch and burn; the sensation crawled up his hand, wrist and arms until reaching his chest. Hakon hesitated for a moment as a fire grew in his heart. Svanhild placed her hand on the boy and as quickly as the sensation came it mysteriously disappeared. Hakon was plunged back into the present.

“No, Mother! No! I won't leave you. No!” She lifted the boy up to the thatch and gripped him tightly.

“Get to river the and take a boat. Don't look back whatever you do! Don't look back!” Hakon held firm and continued to shake his head as the walls and timber were pounded upon violently.

“But, Mother?” Hakon's eyes were filled with tears. Svanhild nodded as she choked back the sadness in her heart and patted the boy several times on the chest.

“I love you, son. Now go!” The door exploded from its iron hinges knocking the High-Stones to the ground and strange dark creatures rushed in over taking Eirik and Knut in a flash of violence. “Go, son!”