Page 14 of Alien Viking's Plunder

He heard the sounds of clashing blades and the yells of boarders and defenders from the deck above him. He had to get back there.

But with Josie loose on the ship…

He ran forwards, kicking at every unlocked door to check if she was inside.

There was no sign of her, and he couldn’t start searching the cargo hold or the bilge for that small female. There were many places she would be able to hide, and he had to lead his warriors in the fight.

As he emerged on the deck, he drew his sword and yelled the short battle poem he had made for it.

“Sharpest steel

Cleave the foe

All will know

Brisingr is out!”

Despite the terrible noise from the battle, some of the enemies turned when they heard him. But Bragr was quick and cut down one, severing its head from its body with a single blow.

“Brisingr is out!” his crew chanted as one, greeting his sword.

“Myherjere!” he thundered in response, egging his warriors on.

With a trained eye he realized his crew was doing well, and the enemy had not made much headway onto their deck.

Grasping Brisingr with both hands, Bragr swung the long blade as if cutting corn, clearing big arcs and mowing down the attackers.

He had no problem shedding the sparse blood of these opponents. They were not really alive. Gornt had taken up witchcraft in his banishment, taking dead men and other creatures and bringing them back to some kind of nightmarish life. It was only their bodies, moved by some dark, ungodly force. The men whose bodies they had been were long gone, to Helheim or Valhalla or wherever they belonged. Now their bodies were mindless and soullessskrymtironly.

Still, they were dangerous enemies because they cared not at all for their lives. They would throw themselves at his blade, overwhelming him. But Bragr was aware of it and sought higher ground, using ropework and railings to get above the fray.

After he’d cut down a half dozen enemies, he became suspicious. The enemies were not fighting as fiercely as they could. They were simply wasting time.

Bragr turned and ran to the bow. Here the boarders had knocked holes in the deck and were milling down into the lower decks. What were they doing?

The next moment they started to come back up, carrying the lighter of the items that Bragr’s party had plundered from the station.

He cut down a couple of them when he heard a familiar sound.

“Getyur dam hands afme, ya ogur!”

That had to be Josie. Bragr spun around.

There she was, held by four of Gornt’s mindless brutes.

He grabbed a loose rope and swung himself over to them, thrusting Brisingr straight through one and then cutting the arm off another. He didn’t dare to swing at the two others — he might hit Josie.

She pulled at her arms and legs, but the two remaining skrymtir had a good grip on her and didn’t react to her kicks and punches.

Someone yelled a hoarse command, and more skrymtir came running to grab her, the other pieces of loot dropped and forgotten.

Bragr cut them down, but more and more of them came at him. Finally he roared in fury and cut down three of them in one slash, his vision tinged with red. “Stay away from her, unholy monsters!”

Limbs and heads and bodies fell to the deck, but the skrymtir were still coming, forgetting everything else and throwing themselves at Bragr.

He slashed and thrusted, seeing Josie being slowly carried away towards the enemy ship.

“Bragr!” she called, her voice the brightest and clearest sound of the battle.

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