Page 74 of Alien Viking's Plunder

“This is the special cave I mentioned,” Gornt said in the Viking language. His voice was dry and creaky, with no emotion in it. “It’s one of two magical places in Hjalmarheim. The other is even more powerful, and we will go there later. You have an important task to complete for me. It will be the end of you, I fear. But what an end! Go. Go!”

Damn. The end of Aretha? That didn’t sound good. The whole place had an ominous feel to it, as if its great beauty hid some deadly danger. And if Josie knew planet Gardr, it had to be a monster of some kind.

She couldn’t let that jerk hurt her friend.

She adjusted her grip on Tornado and came out from behind the crystal. Only the ship was left, as well as the aliens that had fallen. They looked completely dead, and when Josie stepped over and past them, they had a sour, burned smell to them.

She peered into the crystal cave.

It was incredibly beautiful, in a cold way. The wide tunnel was all sharp-edged translucent stones, even the floor, and if she had been barefoot they would have cut up her feet. But her boots handled it with no problem as she took the first hesitating steps inside. The stones didn’t just reflect light — it was as if there was blue light coming from the walls and floor and ceiling of the cave, not from the outside. It was so cold she could see her breath, and the stones looked like ice.

Ice Caves,she thought.Where have I heard of that before?

She went on, having to place her feet on top of the sharp rocks to not slide between them. She was ready to fight but worried about how she would destroy those skrymtir without a real ground to walk on. Keeping her balance would be hard.

The tunnel split in two, and she picked one at random. Getting back out of this cave was a bridge she had to cross when she got there. All she knew now was that she had to continue until she found Aretha.

The tunnel split again, and Josie stood still, just listening. One of the options looked brighter than the other, so she picked that one and used the same random rule as the tunnel split again and again and again. It was clearly a maze, and there was a good chance she wouldn’t find Aretha at all.

Just as she had decided to turn around and pick another way, she met the first skrymt. It stood still in the middle of the tunnel as if waiting for her. It didn’t say a word, just stared at her with three dead eyes for a moment and then came storming towards her, clawed arms stretched out in front of it.

Josie ducked under the claws and thrust upwards with the spear as the monster passed above her. It sank into the alien’s lower portion and was pulled back out as the skrymt’s legs gave out. The monster fell onto the sharp rocks and was punctured in many places, thin, green fluids oozing out of it. The dead body hissed like water dropped on a hot iron as the pressure leaked out of it.

Josie shook the disgusting fluid off the spearhead so it wouldn’t run down to her hand, then walked on. This seemed to be the right way after all, if they were leaving guards.

At the next point the tunnel split, and she again picked the brightest tunnel, noticing that the light was getting more and more intense with each split. It was becoming blinding, and the headset’s display on her retina was flashing a red-framed warning.

After a turn in the tunnel another skrymt came at her fast, startling her. As she readied the spear, the world slowed down to a crawl. It had to be the neural lace kicking in.

She leisurely aimed the spear at the zombie monster’s head, right in the middle of its three eyes. The reasoned that in Earth animals, the eyes were usually close to the brain, and it was probably the same with aliens..

The monster ran right into the spear, skewering itself completely and going limp, its horrid face just a foot from Josie’s. Its rotten smell washed over her, making her retch.

She pulled the spear out of the alien and let it collapse forwards, onto the sharp stones, still in slow-motion. Her neural lace was trying to take over, as if it had a mind of its own. It made her skin crawl, but right now, moving as fast as possible might be a good idea. She gave the lace room to work.

Continuing, she destroyed two more skrymtir. The light from the jewel-like walls of the tunnel was so bright she wished she had sunglasses to put on.

She turned a corner in the tunnel. It widened into a large crystal dome, filled with dazzling blue light as if it was the inside of Straum itself. The air seemed to be buzzing with energy, making the hair on Josie’s arms stand on end.

A human shape stood in the middle of it, surrounded by light.

“You’re too tenacious for your own good,” a creaky voice said. “But I can’t have you interfere.”

Josie shielded her eyes with one hand. It was Gornt, sword in one hand and the dark gemstone in the other.

“Josie!” came another voice in English. “Stop! Don’t get any closer!”

Josie stopped, spear held ready. “Aretha! Can you come over here?”

“Just get the hell away! This is a trap! Steal his ship and go back home! Whatever you do, don’t—”

Aretha’s voice was cut off, as if someone was gagging her. In the blinding light, Josie spotted dark shapes on the other side of the dome. They were mostly skrymtir, but one of them had to be Aretha.

Josie started making her way around the circumference of the dome. “Stay there, Aretha. I know how to take these monsters.”

“Indeed you’ve made it far,” Gornt said into the silence. “Suspiciously far. I sensed you spying outside the cave. But it fits, I suppose. Only an alien witch could be silly enough to face me here, of all places. Well, you will see.” He chuckled, a joyless sound that froze Josie’s blood with its malice.

She kept inching her way around the dome. “Aretha, talk to me if you can. On the comms. How many are there of those monsters holding you?”

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