7 Understanding Fear

The moon would not settle down and never cease to leave the sky as the demons were still abroad. In Lagertha's eyes, she would not kill such a powerful foe until she knows what he knows about his master. She and Malcus fought each other and did not turn away from each other's eyes, and they did not let go of their weapons. Lagertha held onto her longsword and either deflected Malcus's ax or swung back at him to make him stumble. Such a thing might be impossible for an ordinary human to accomplish as he traverses the world at his peril.

Malcus swung his ax like a feather and longed for the blood of his enemy to stain the blade, but he kept missing. Lagertha and her father were too fast to simply stab to death because of their techniques with swordplay. Lagertha also swung her longsword like leather because of how many times she has used it by her side. Malcus did not move away to dodge it, yet he blocked as much as he could try against the Wolf Queen. Then, with all of her strength and fury, Lagertha uses her blade and slices Malcus in his stomach.

The night creatures watched on with a lot of fright and terror as their leader fell so quickly. None of them expected the duel to last this short; none of them expected for their master to taste his blood by his enemy. Then, Lagertha strolls to Malcus and picks him up by the throat, and has the nerve to kill him without having a second thought. If an opponent was too dangerous to be kept alive, she would put him or her out of their misery. Instead of doing that, she kept her longsword onto her foe's scarred body and looked at him straight in his eyes.

"Your master, King Malcolm, tell me where he is! I know it is your life you value at the moment. I'm not afraid to take it from you if you don't give me an answer. Where's your master?" Lagertha asked. Before Malcus could say anything, one demon stepped forward with his sword to kill Lagertha.

But she was not keen on dying at the moment, and she would never tolerate such insolence from the night creatures.

"Come further and I kill him! Stay back! One more foolish move from any of you and I take his head!" Lagertha shouted. For a moment, the demons feared the Wolf Queen and did not want to suffer a dark fate in her hands.

The hordes of oblivion usually fear many things that their lords and masters unleash upon them if they disobey what they say. But they knew who the Wolf Queen was and knew how many of their kin have died by her hand.

"Where's you king?" Lagertha asked.

"I'm already losing too much blood. Why would I tell you anything?" Malcus asked.

"You will tell me everything. You will do it or I will bring death to all who oppose me," she answered.

"He's in the castle of Varkas. Just two miles away from here. Keep going straight and you will find him!"

"You sure seem to know a lot. You will understand why you're all abominations. It is time you understand the error of your ways."

"You will never win, Wolf Queen. The death of King Mephiles means the death of us all. Soon enough, the earth will bow down before him. Even the gods themselves will know him as the world's true protector. Killing us won't end your journey. What will you plan to do, now that you know the truth?"

"What I ought to do."

Without hesitation, Lagertha uses her longsword and cleaves Malcus open, and she forces him to watch as his foe will make his servants suffer. The demons watch as lots of blood splatters everywhere and lots of guts fall onto the ground. A few of them step aside and vomit as the rest of them prepare to avenge the death of their leader. They all fearfully hold their weapons and try to keep themselves together as they had to kill Lagertha where she stood. She tosses the other half of Malcus's body aside as she stares at the night creatures getting ready to fight her.

"I bring death to all who serve the night!" Lagertha shouted.

"You'll pay for that... with your life!" The demons shouted.

"When you all die, you will all be forgotten!" She shouted. Lagertha held nothing back as her blood-stained longsword became prepared to taste the flesh of the remaining beasts.

Two demons rush to Lagertha and raise their swords to cut her down and tear her apart at the same time. Lagertha gets across them, and she swings her longsword and cleaves them both open in a single blow. The night creatures watch as the upper half of their friends' bodies fly into the air and land on the ground with a thud. Lagertha did not resist slicing all of them into pieces and watching them bask in their pool of blood. Neither she nor the demons would flee from each other as the night continued to run its course.

Lagertha holds onto her longsword and dashes to them, and she never relented from doing what needed to be done. She uses her blade and dismembers many of their body parts as her wolf-blood gave her enough strength to survive. Her time on earth would not be short as she swore she will hunt down both the night hordes and her father. Most of the demons did not even have time to defend themselves as Lagertha killed them in such a violent fashion. Of course, she blocked every blow a few of them gave her to prove they have a tad bit of strength.

Lots of blood began staining the trail and the grass, and so much gore started raining from the trees. Lagertha would never back down from such an intense fight to the death, and she always had many things up her sleeve. The Wolf Queen's sword always took the souls of its enemies and always lingered to taste their blood. Before she could make it to the castle of Vargas, she sliced down every night creature that made eye contact with her. She fought back until she could not see any more beasts coming her way to kill her for what she did.

Before she knew it, she did not see any other creatures coming her way and trying to do what their master should have done. Sometimes, a massive battle would be over and she would not realize it because of how many times she swung her sword. It all depends on how much she has killed in the evening; if there were way too many demons to kill, she would just lose her mind. Lagertha understood that the castle of Vargas was not far away from where she stood and knew she could not waste any time. She refused to stand idly by and watch the demons unleash their vengeance upon her.

"King Malcolm, you will not see the end of this night," Lagertha said. During the night, Lagertha held onto her longsword and kept it beside her in case some other demon tried to stop her.

It will be likely that a large legion of creatures will stand in her way until the morning sun ends the night. As she walked, she could still see blood running down from her blade, yet it did not affect her. A few minutes later, she could see the castle from an enormous distance and knew she was getting close. The trail to the castle was easy to follow, but it could be hard to tell from where it might lead to. That mostly has to do with the fact that some roads and trails can deceive common travelers and adventurers.

A strange feeling was that the castle could be walked into without having to pull a lever to open or close anything. It would be unpleasant if the gates were locked and nobody came through to explain the error of her ways. Lagertha walked to the gates of the castle without fearing the outcome of what might happen. The things that surround her in the night have a big possibility of returning to tempt her. Lagertha looked up at the castle and became surprised at the fact the foundations of the court still stood.

To her surprise, Lagertha saw no creature with a weapon try to kill her; she assumed the king made all of his servants hunt her down and expect her to be dead. Without hesitation, she opens the doors of the castle and enters inside as the midnight moon shines behind her back. Everything was dark for a short while until every candle lit up and made the main hall visible.