[djo]

Here's turn 12, a little action thing with Vethru. Side note: the battle described did not actually take place, in the game.

Vethru

I have my small ship, but there's no star to steer her by. You pick a cloudy night for what we're up to. I've got an old Van navigating instead. They say he's been sailing the shores of the gorge since he was a boy, twelve hundred years ago. That sounds pretty good, but I heard another Van mumble that it didn't really matter, because that earthquake four hundred and fifty years ago changed all the shoreline, anyway. Either way, between him and me (I'm a damn good navigator myself), we have no trouble finding our way across the gorge to Cimri, at night, in silence. The Vans are good at that, too.

Quellian Ji lands in my boat and says, "Grey team and white team are both in position, boss." I nod to Hallixene, and he gives the order. The men at the oars pick up the pace.

One huskarl stares at the bird. He's new. Another man says, "Yeah, the bird talks." The first man shrugs. They're all veterans. Not much worries them, and they're not much for small talk.

We reach the shore and they have the boats up on the beach, quietly, quickly, as if their ancestors have spent several millennia turning ocean raiding into a high art form, which they have. The only one having trouble is Kor, the dwarf. By the time he's stumbled out of the boat, the scouts from team green are into the forest, and those from team blue are down the beach, keeping an eye on the nearby fishing village.

I'm an old man, and it takes me nearly a half hour to get up the hill to where the temple is. Of course, team green is way ahead of me; there are bodies all around the two buildings on the hill by the time I get there. The first is a modest stepped pyramid. Even in the dim torchlight, I can see bloodstains on its stones. Hallixene tells me our target is the other building.

From the outside, it looks like a wooden stockade, but once inside, I see that the wood is a facade; the building is solid stone. We pass through the main worship area, where the statue of a twelve-foot tall stag stands. In an inner room we go down some stairs, past broken doors and more bodies, before reaching the vault.

There's an unarmed old man standing in front of the door. "Blasphemers! Unholy! He will trample you, and your necks will know His sacred antlers!" His back is pressed to a thick, ornate oaken door. He's pretty feisty for being surrounded by men with sharp steel things pointed at him.

My men part, and he gets a good look at me. "You," the man snarls. "You are an abomination, and He will never suffer you to exist." He gestures, and a bright, searing light flashes. It's painful--very painful--but it's not enough. I step forward, and he says, "You cannot harm me, unholy thing. His blessings will shield me."

"Don't believe everything you read," I say, and I touch him. He cries out in surprise, then he wails in pain. He shrivels until his complexion is worse than mine, then he crumbles into dust and bone. As the echo of his screams fade, even the einhere and huskarls are silent. They have that stunned "and I thought I believe in god's power before" look. I tell Hallixene to take them upstairs to plunder the temple.

"Kor!" I say. "Open up this door!"

He scuttles forward, mumbling. He begins tapping on the door with his hammer. "Skar mar lrr grror ar!" he says.

"Well, I didn't tell you to leave your gauntlets in the boat," I reply.

He grumbles again and makes a great show of limbering up and swinging the hammer, but the door falls at the first blow. Wussy dwarves.

Inside, as you would expect, is little of any real value. Religious types chronically overvalue sacred scriptures and undervalue gold and jewelry. The one area we both agree on is old stuff. I locate the two items I'm looking for. A thick leather-bound book, with five stars on the cover, and a length of dark wood, cut into a long prism, sort of like an obelisk. I like obelisks. On this one is inscribed letters I have not seen in a dozen worlds. I wrap the items in a cloth and tell Kor to grab a few other things to mask what I came for. He's got sense; he grabs what little shiny gold and silver stuff there is.

"Let's move," I say, and we're up the stairs and into the temple proper. "What in Hel are you doing?" I ask, when I see my men gathered around the statue. With ropes.

"We're pulling down the statue, my lord. It is an affront to you," Hallixene says. He looks confused, as if his actions were self-evident.

Worshipers--who can figure them out? I'm trying to steal something, and they think I'm worried about a statue?

But it'd take longer to dissuade them than to convince them to do it quickly. I take a good look at the statue. After you've seen a hundred worlds, the patterns start to look pretty familiar. Standard nature deity. "OK," I say. "This fellow is all about birth and death. His coming in the spring represents fertility, and his death in the autumn represents the harvest. All you need to do is break off his antlers; they represent his manhood. Without them, he is impotent. So do it, and let's get out of here!"

One of them manages to climb up the statue and do the deed without breaking his neck. As he comes down, there are shouts from outside, and I hear animal noises. Howls and roars. And clangs. In what seems like an instant, Hallixene is outside and back in again. "We're cut off," he says. "Men and animals, coming out of the forest to the west. A dozen men, lightly armored, bows and swords. I saw wolves, boars, and bears. "

Outside, there's not much light, but I see my Vans and huskarls fighting woodsman and wildlife. Some of my guys were wounded. More men and animals are coming out of the forest. We're outnumbered, and certainly outmaneuvered.

A female shapes suddenly appears next to me. "Sir, grey two is under attack from the village. They have reinforcements--about twenty light infantry in addition to the village's twenty militia. The einhere are berserking, but they are holding. For now."

"How did they get word?" I wonder.

"Kesselar is missing," she says. "We saw hawks overhead."

"The bastards!" says Ji. Kesselar was one of Ji's lookout ravens.

"Galameteia, right?" She nods. "Tell white team to split: one half should reinforce grey two. Tell the other half to sweep around the other side of town and counterattack to take heat off us. After they counterattack, they should disappear and to make their way back to Vanheim as planned. Deliver those messages, then get right back here." She vanishes into the night.

The fighting is getting closer. We're piling up a lot of livestock, but we're slowly getting pushed back. "Ji! Get a message to blue two. Send a gull, don't go yourself. Tell them to set up an ambush at the edge of the beach. We'll be coming in hot."

"OK, boss."

I hear voices:

"How many of them are there?"

"Take that, bastard!"

"Right flank! We need help!"

"I can't see!"

"Where's Igestus? Where's Igestus?"

Hallixene: "Sir, we're not breaking through! They're turning our flank!"

Sweet limping Vishnu, this went south in a hurry. Hallixene's phantoms are helping, but my men are falling. There's a lot more of them than we expected. I'm going to have to string up some of my intelligence operatives. "Kor! Go throw rocks at them!" I hear grumbling moving off to my right. The dark doesn't bother him.

Galameteia is back. "Stay by me," I tell her. I whistle for Ji. "You wanted to be a general, bird--let's see what your girls can do. Call in team black."

Ji squawks. "The right flank will be toast!"

"No! Hit behind their center--clear the escape route. I've got the flank."

Ji rises into the night, shrieking like a banshee.

"Lord, no!" calls Hallixene. "You can't! Stay back, where we can protect you!"

"Shut up, and do what I tell you! Be ready--hit them hard when team black comes in."

I turn to Galameteia, and I hand her my package. "Get this back to Vanheim."

"But sir, I can carry you, too. I'm strong enough."

"Do it! I don't care if they cut off my head and burn my body. Listen! I will return. I promise you that. A bunch of tree-humping greenies can't keep me in the grave. "

She's uncertain. There's that crazy worshiper thing again. She can't decide whether to obey god or protect him. "Get moving," I say, and I slap her on the ***, because that makes any woman jump. When she jumps, she doesn't come back down.

With my package safe, I turn my attention to the battle. The right flank is collapsing; Kor can't hold back the wildlife pouring out of the forest. I put a couple lightning bolts into two bears, and then I dump some flares into the forest. The woods light up. Suddenly we don't have a problem anymore; we have a barbecue.

Then team black arrives. A hundred years ago, on a distant world, I heard one composer's impression of Valkyries riding to battle. He got it exactly right. They tear through the lightly armored woodsmen who never thought to look up into the night. They die in a hail of javelins, spitted on the spears of my fierce flying girls. It's so beautiful I almost want to cry.

Their line breaks, and we push through. We scramble through the woods, wolves and rangers on our heels. There aren't as many of us as made the trip up the hill. And I hate leaving perfectly good dead bodies behind. The enemy hassles us under the trees, where our airpower can't help us. We burst out onto the beach, and our pursuers are torn apart by the ambush. Neinos has managed a two-pronged attack, blue two and grey two hitting them from opposite directions.

I yell until everyone's scrambling into the boats, because I know there's one thing we haven't seen yet. And right on schedule, the druid comes out of the woods. By himself, he wouldn't be a problem. But the two great horned serpents with him kill my rearguard and slither down the beach toward the boats.

I can see how this is going to play out. I turn to Hallixene and say, "Get everyone in the boats, and set sail. If I see one boat turn around to come back for me, I will make the rest of your life miserable, and then I will make your unnaturally long afterlife extremely miserable." He pales but obeys me.

I walk unsteadily toward the snakes in the shifting sand. The druid knows what's going on. He'll gladly let my men get away for a shot at me. He's even smiling.

I smile back. Then I drop him with a lightning bolt. He wasn't expecting that. The reason is, by casting a spell at him, I give the snakes a chance to bite me. Most people won't make that trade, but I have an unfair advantage. I'm a real bastard that way. I dodge one snake, but the other one gets me in the left forearm and hangs on. That's good; that keeps him in reach. I put my dagger into his eye and stir. He backs away quick. The poison, I don't worry about. I'm past such things. But I'll need to fix my arm later.

The second one comes on again, but by now, I'm playing electric eel. I give him a good shock, and he circles, and he gets ready for another pass. He hesitates, and that's all the time I need. I stand up as straight as I can in the sand and throw my arms in the air.

The snake is mildly surprised when I rise out of his reach. As the Valkyries lift me into the night, Ji flies by, and I say, "Good job."

"Just like we practiced," he says.

"Stay with the boats," I tell him. "Make sure they get back in one piece. Ladies, let's swing by the boat so everyone can see I'm all right. Then it's home to Vanheim."

One of them takes me in her arms so I don't have to dangle by my wrists for the whole flight. "Thank you, Kestumaia, for your assistance," I tell her.

"It's my pleasure to serve you, my lord," she says.

I wonder how much. "You have beautiful eyes," I tell her. I can't tell if she's blushing or not, but that's OK. I've got the whole flight to work on her.