XIV. The Husband

The last armored one, followed behind, walking.

At that moment, Dag started to panic, trembling like a leaf and thinking of what they could do to Asa, and to the farmhouse. 

"What the fuck are they looking for? Why are they there?" he thought, trying to reason lucidly. 

When the first one got closer to the door, Dag took courage and came out of his hiding, yelling: "Hey, you! Stop! What do you want?!"

His voice was trembling, like his hands, pointed toward the enemy.

All four of them looked at him, who didn't know how to behave, not ever being involved in a real fight. 

"Well, what we have here…wait a second! We already met you before, you were walking on the road. Come out from there, come closer…" the man with the dagger said, with a sneaky smile on his face.

"This is my house, and I'm a warrior! I suggest you turn back and go away!" Dag shouted, clenching his fists but still trembling.

"Ahaha! Did you hear him, Alf? He is a warrior!" 

Three of them started laughing, while the last one didn't even flinch. 

"He must be Alf, their leader! What is he doing down there?!" thought again Dag, imagining what would happen next. 

"Pick that rat" Alf exclaimed, with a calm tone. 

With those words, the knifed soldier pointed at Dag, ordering the other two to catch him.

While they had a sword, Dag was unarmed and started to run towards the house, but one of them crossed in his direction and tried to catch him, extending his arm.

Dag dodged him and continued his dash, but this time against the man with the dagger, nimbly changing his direction and passing between the other two soldiers, pointing to his primary objective. 

The man tried to parry the hit, but Dag deftly punched him in the face, making him step back and slamming on the wall with his back.

In the meanwhile, the other two reached Dag and grabbed his jacket, blocking his arms and preventing him to move.

"Let me go, you bastards! What the fuck do you want here?! We did nothing wrong!"

The daggered man, after recovering from the punch, walked to Dag and punched him back, right on his face and causing him severe damage. 

"Leave m…!" he replied desperately when the man punched him again in the stomach, knocking him to ground.

"Now you die, insect!" 

When the enemy soldier grabbed Dag's hair, raising his head, and placing the dagger on his throat, ready to cut it, the door opened and somebody strongly hit him, pushing him away and making him tumble on to the terrain.

Without a word, Asa came to his rescue, positioning between Dag and the enemies, ready to fight.

The two swordsmen, without hesitation, charged toward her, shouting. 

When was still on the ground, trying to recover, Dag noticed that his mother held a sword, exactly the same one that Gridd showed him in the farmhouse's 'secret' room.

It was the sword Asa used in her battles when she fought as a Shieldmaiden.

One of the men tried to hit her, but she parried with the sword blade and hit back the enemy on his leg, cutting him on the thigh, then again on the calf.

The second man swung his sword upright and she easily dodged him moving sidewards, then turned on herself and cut him on his back, slashing it. 

Right after, with his last streght, he turned to her, willing to score the target, but quick as the wind, she cut off his head with precision, making it fall to the ground in a pool of blood.

In the meanwhile, the other one was on the ground, touching his bloodied leg and screaming with the pain.

After that bunch of seconds, Dag stood up and grabbed a sword, fell right in front of him a moment before. 

The man with the dagger attacked, but this time, Dag moved his weapon upwards and parried the hit.

Not being a good parry, the enemy stayed still in his position and punched him in his stomach, making him crouch from the pain. 

"You still don't understand, don't you? Well, your choice!" the enemy warrior exclaimed, ready to stab him on the back.

"I don't think so… aargh!" when the man raised his weapon, Dag rotated on himself and pointed the tip of his sword upwards, following his movements. 

The soldier, without having time to reason, found his throat pierced by that sword and slowly slid on it, falling on the ground and squirting his blood on Dag, who continued to scream, with his eyes closed.

The young warrior suddenly rose from the ground, in shock, thinking that he never truly killed somebody until that moment. 

Seeing his men out of combat and being the last one still on his feet, the last enemy warrior started clapping, smiling in his position. 

"Well, they informed me about a Shieldmaiden, but they also told me she was old and weak and nobody told me about a young kid that plays at being a warrior! Haha!" he giggled, looking at Dag, who was breathing deeply. 

"Who are you, and what do you want here?! Your allies have been killed, go away!" yelled Asa, hoping that the fight was over. 

"Brann's weapon. That's what I want" Alf stated, moving his gaze to the farmhouse, trying to guess where his quest object was. 

"It is extremely powerful and needs hands that know how to use its power! You don't have the required knowledge to keep it. Bring it to me!" he continued, extending his arm toward the two of them.

Asa looked at Dag, not knowing that Gridd already told him about Brann when they were kids.

"I asked you your name" she said, swinging her sword and getting ready to fight further. 

"I'm Alf, of the Lies Of Loki. Bring me that sword, kid and I'll not hurt you mother or anyone else… did you understand?" he asked insistently.

Alf was a skinny man, with short, grey hair and eyes as yellowish as gold. 

He had no beard on his face, that was almost fully covered by scars.

Dag didn't answer, looking at his mother and feeling a knot in his stomach. 

"If somebody real talked to you about me, he surely told you that this won't happen. That weapon belongs to this place, it's the only memory left of him" answered Asa, referring to her late first husband, Brann.

Dag clenched the sword in his right hand, remembering that name.

"The Lies Of Loki… the Clan that killed Gridd's real father! This man is looking for the big axe I saw in that chest… but why?" he thought, staring at the enemy. 

"Well, I've warned you…"

When Alf started to say the last words before the fight, they all heard a voice coming from behind the enemy soldier.

"Hey, you piece of shit! Leave my wife and my son alone!" Stein yelled, walking in rage in that direction, ready to defend his family, not unaware of whom he was about to face.

His son Eirik was on his side and both of them were coming back from the wood.

Stein picked his woodman's hatchet from his back and kept on walking.

"Stein! Stop! Go back, It's all under control! Don't worry for me, this will end soon! Be careful!" Asa shouted, frightened, fearing the worst.

Eirik tried to stop his father, placing a hand on his shoulder and feeling some powerful and evil aura coming from that man.

Just after those words, Stein charged towards Alf, yelling and loading an axe blow.

The enemy didn't move, his hands steady along his sides. 

The lumberjack tried to hit him with a cleave, but when he succeeded and the axe swung forward, Alf vanished into thin air, as if he was made of gas.

After a second, he reappeared behind Stein, in midair.

"No! No!" Asa yelled, running toward her husband and trying to save him, but with a fast move, Alf wrapped his arm around Stein's neck and cracked it, instantly killing him. 

The hatchet fell to the ground and the lumberjack fell on his knees, with his gaze pointed to the sky and a sad expression painted on his face. 

"Nooo! Steeein! Nooo!" the Shieldmaiden screamed again, falling to the ground and witnessing the death of her husband in front of her eyes, along with Dag and Eirik, that remained motionless in their position, not believing that was really happening.

Stein collapsed with his face on the ground, dead.

The wind moved his red hair among the grass and for a few seconds, silence prevailed. 

"Aaaargh! You're dead!" shouted Asa, loading on her knees and sprinting to Alf, creating a crater under her feet, due to the extremely strong push. 

"No, mother! Wait!" Dag yelled, already imagining his life without both of his parents.

The enemy disappeared again, teleporting next to the Shieldmaiden: a long black gas made-dagger appeared in his hand and he tried to end the combat for good when Asa promptly parried the hit and her sword started to glow with a heavenly light.

The parry threw Alf for tens of meters until his body impacted on a three, damaging his muscles. 

Dag and Eirik remained astonished, not knowing how to behave.

"That… that's… is that Freya's power?!" Dag thought, thinking about the Clan Asa was part of.

While the young boy continued to think, her eyes turned into a light blue and she stopped in her position, focusing on the target. 

Alf stood up, fully wounded with rivers of blood that poured down his right arm.