Page 81 of Alien Viking's Plunder

“It’s a stalemate for now. The skrymtir have no defense against arrows, but they’re hard to kill. Thankfully no more of our men have died or been injured since you left. It’s a delicate balance, and I recommend that we deal with Gornt as soon as we can.”

Josie clutched her spear, wondering what she might see when they got to this mysterious oracle. She hoped that Aretha would be fine.

“That’s it,” Bragr said and pointed. “That building there. Inside is the stairwell that goes down to the oracle cave. Ah, there’s theDead Son. Gornt is here.”

They sped up and approached the dome on top of the hill. It was a beautiful little building, looking more like the hut with the sauna than the entrance to a cave.

“This time he didn’t leave any skrymtir,” Josie said. “He’s probably not expecting company. He said he wanted to see the future and use his knowledge to win the war, and then go on raids where he would destroy instead of raid.”

“Then this is the place to go,” Bragr said. “The oracle can see the future. But I can’t imagine that any seeress would do Gornt’s bidding. The oracle is only for use of the earl of Hjalmarheim.”

“He calls himself king now,” Prince Craxon reminded them. “He may think he has every right to demand an audience with the oracle.”

“But the seeress will refuse,” Bragr said as they came up to the gate that led into the house. “I fear he knows it, and that’s why he has Aretha with him. Only a woman could look into the crystal and see anything of value. It will blind her on the spot, but after her blinding she might actually see something that’s useful for Gornt. Until she goes insane or she dies. It’s a horrible thing to force someone to do. Let’s hurry!”

There was nobody inside the house, and the spiral staircase was dark and ominous.

Bragr looked at Josie. “Do you happen to have that wondrous light— no, of course not. Never mind, my love.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it.

They started down the stairs, Bragr first and the prince in the rear, swords drawn.

Josie was nervous about what she might discover at the bottom of those creepy stairs.

Then she heard a distant voice from the depths.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, jerk? I’m not going any closer to that thing!”

“That’s Aretha!” she hissed. “She’s still alive!”

Bragr sent her a cheerful grin. “Soon she’ll be with us—”

He barely avoided the outstretched claws of an alien skrymt that came storming silently up the dark stairs. Josie instinctively swung her spear at it and hit the monster’s side. She ducked, and Prince Craxon had just enough warning to stab his sword at the zombie’s center. He kicked the destroyed monster down the stairs, where it collided with another one on the way up.

Bragr ran down and hacked at the newcomer, then kicked it down the stairs too. The dead alien made the most disgusting sounds as it flopped down to the bottom of the stairs.

“They know we’re here now,” Bragr said.

“Aretha!” Josie yelled. “Don’t look at it!”

There was a moment of silence.

“Josie?!”

“Don’t look atanythingin there!” Josie added for good measure.

“Okay, but I may not have a choice…”

Bragr reached the bottom, where there was a flickering light coming from inside a pair of doors. “Gornt! Let the woman go and we can settle this as warriors!”

As he spoke the last word, three skrymtir came storming at him. These were different from the others — they were tall and angular and looked like they consisted of only spikes, like sea urchins. They were nightmarish creatures, straight out of a horror movie. But they were also quick in their movements.

Bragr swung his sword and hit the first one, chopping off several spikes but not doing much real damage. The two other monsters were hindered by the first, and Bragr stood fast, stopping them from reaching the stairs by swinging his sword faster and harder than Josie had ever seen.

Prince Craxon jumped the last few steps to join him on the lower level, and they both fought the three monsters with immense ferocity, pushing them back.

Josie spotted an opening and rushed down to the bottom of the stairs. She ran past the fight, towards the light.

“Josie!” Bragr thundered. “Don’t go in there!”

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