Knut
334 Words
Knut
With the wriggling woman over my shoulder, I strode off. She was struggling and fighting. I enjoyed the soft, pleasant feel of her body against mine.
I put a warning hand on her bottom. “Stab me again with that damn twig, and I’ll roast your bum right here. See if I don’t.” The threat made her still.
Behind us rose the clang of weapons and roars of the Berserkers facing their enemies. The draugr were everywhere, an endless stinking sea.
Leif, Rolf, I called as reinforcements swarmed near us. More vermin. Help me clear a path.
Holding the woman with one hand, I cut through the ranks with my axe. A storm had blown up overhead and a thick mist was pouring from the cave’s mouth.
The mage had woken and was fighting back.
Swiping at enemies as they popped out of the unearthly fog, I kept a mindlink with the woman I carried. A bond had opened between us, as sure and true as the bond I shared with the rest of the pack. The woman’s thoughts were jumbled and frightened and, as the fog increased, a heavy sadness settled over her, a sickness of the mind.
Dismayed, I darted into the woods and shrugged her down into my arms. Her face was deathly pale.
Cold. No escape. Despair.
“Wake up, lass,” I cupped her cheeks. “It’s a curse, only a curse. The mage is working his evil magic through this fog.”
But she didn’t respond. Whether from fear or exhaustion, she’d fainted.
A rumbling started at the base of the hill. The earthquake threw Grey Men to the ground, which was covered in thick layer of fog.
The cave is collapsing-retreat! The Alpha’s order rang through the pack bonds, a powerful compulsion that my Berserker brothers immediately obeyed. I resisted. As the ground began to shake with more violence, thick dust spewed from the cave. I threw myself down, covering the woman with my body until the worst was over. Cradling her in my arms, I ran the rest of the way to safety.
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