Jotunheim Part 2

"Don't try to beat me by force, or you'll end up on the ground faster by yourself!" The Olympian calmly explained, pressing one hand on the red-headed boy. The boy was still green, but by the standards of the lords he was very strong. To have so much power at such a young age would have startled many. But not by a barbarian who had fought all his life against the hordes of the abyss. Vidar's muscles and bone structure were more focused on instantly crushing an opponent than on a long, exhausting battle. "Against larger opponents, you don't have to go head-on, or you'll be stupidly run over!" Letting the boy go, the warrior assumed a very strange pose never before seen by the boy. Bending his knees and spreading his arms, the Olympian jumped up and instantly grabbed the boy's legs. As he pulled him toward him, the boy instantly lost his balance and fell like a rotten tree. Standing over the boy, Haemon held out his hand, and the boy joyfully grasped it and stood up. "What I just showed you back home is called wrestling. It is usually taught by fathers to their sons as a means of strengthening their spirits. This method can help you overpower an opponent larger than yourself by knocking him down." Smiling softly, the warrior slowly stroked the young man's head.

"I see you're having fun here without me!?" Near the threshold stood Ulfrun with her arms crossed over her chest. "I noticed Vidar practicing alone outside, so I thought I'd help out with a few tips" Haemon gently explained what was going on, carefully inspecting the eye patch on the girl's eye. "Ha-ha the main thing is not to overdo it, want to treat you later!" Good-naturedly Ulfrun said as she stroked the young man on the back. "How are you feeling?" The Olympian inquired as he entered the house. "Honestly I'm a little dizzy, but that's probably normal after you know" She smiled and innocently scratched the back of her head. She felt uncomfortable talking about yesterday's incident, for few people in her life had done such things. Sacrificing her own flesh for a girl she didn't know. Something truly worthy of the songs of the Skalds. "Are you coming?"

"Ah yes of course!" With a quick shake of her head, she followed the Olympian and the boy into the house. So began a brief but very happy chapter in the life of the madman that lasted for five months. Not a small string of happiness for someone who all his life received only scraps from the table of his family. Vidar and Ulfrun accepted him into their family, trusting him completely. For Vidar, the Olympian replaced his older brother teaching him everything useful for survival. From simple skills in hunting to ways of dealing with enemies. Haemon was not a bad teacher when required, a little strict but not overly so. He didn't want to make a child lose his naivete completely, even if it would cost the boy a lot in the future. Ulfrun was also quite interested in the Olympian, she wanted him to consider them a full part of his family as well. And determined to achieve this, she tried several times to entice him to share a bed with her. Once it was a slight hint, but very clear for a grown man, and the Olympian instantly simply refused her idea. Without even trying to explain anything, he simply went outside and spent the night there. The second time she decided to be more aggressive and frank. But even so she could not achieve what she wanted, the barbarian remained as cold as ice in the world of the dead.

Deciding that it was better not to bring it up again and enjoy what she had. Ulfrun gave up her attempts and just tried to be herself, doing her chores. How beautiful was their life full of joy and peace, the long accumulated pain and fatigue slowly began to recede, allowing new feelings and emotions to slowly manifest themselves. But this could not last too long, for since you have become the master of nightmares, you must suffer yourself as your enemies suffer. Such is fate, and sometimes there is nothing you can do to change it.

During dinner when they were all sitting at the table and about to eat their peaceful family decided to be visited by uninvited guests. It all began with a thunderous roar and then the whole forest was shaken by the sound of thunder. Ulfrun instantly reacted by signaling both of them to quickly hide in the cellar, while she herself quickly engaged in the dishes. The rumbling thunder quickly subsided as quickly as it had begun, foreshadowing something dark. Then the silence was broken by a light knock on the door. "Ulfrun are you there?" A soft female voice was heard from behind the door. Strange as it was, it didn't sound threatening, just anxious and worried. "Ulfrun, may I come in? I promise I won't do anything to you!" The voice became more insistent with a touch of nervousness. Slowly approaching the door and hesitantly opening it, Ulfrun turned hopefully to the girl's sweaty side, "He's not with you, is he?"

"You don't have to worry, he's not here," the woman at the door answered softly. Thereby slightly reassuring Ulfrun. With a deep sigh the woman, unable to resist, slowly opened the door, thus letting the strangers into her home. "Please come in Mistress Freya! My home is your home, and please forgive me for looking so unseemly!" With her head bowed, the giantess took two steps back, and with a gesture of her hand invited Ásgarða to sit at the table. Nodding her thanks, the tall blond woman in noble robes entered the house with regal gait. "It's been a long time, I hope you are well Ulfrun?" Freya didn't express an ounce of arrogance, she really did want to know how her longtime friend was doing. There was a certain pain in her eyes at the fact that she had to do this to her former warrior friend. "Praise be to all my father, there is always a fire burning in my house and a pot of soup boiling, so I can't complain." The giantess grinned gratefully, and smiled. "I'm glad you're doing well. Oh I see you're still growing flowers, you know I miss your herbal concoction so much! The servants in the palace have tried so many times to make it exactly according to your recipe, but they never succeeded. Ha-ha maybe you could boil it for me right now and we could sit and talk about the old days?" The queen smiled weakly with her palm pressed to her heart, her blue eyes looking longingly at her friend in whom the fire of hatred burned.

"Unfortunately I'm out of the right herb. And I'm afraid you won't be able to taste the herbal concoction today, my queen. But if you decide to visit me next time, I'll be sure to prepare it for you. Now, if you will please leave, for it is late and I am afraid I do not have the strength to conduct royal conversations with you" Her voice was full of pity and gaze screamed to get out of my house. "Ah yes, it is quite late. You know that I am not here of my own free will" With a sigh the queen began to explain when the conversation was interrupted by a loud but slow knock on the door. "I beg your pardon, but may I also come in?" The man's gruff, commanding voice made Ulfrun clench her hands into fists her teeth gritted with seething anger. Standing in the doorway was a huge, muscular, red-haired man. His messy, perpetually wet hair, from which droplets never stopped falling. Threw Ulfrun into her long-forgotten memories full of cries for help. "Of course lord Thor you are always welcome in this house!" Blood flowed from her palms as her nails dug so hard into her flesh and her voice trembled with madness.

"Thor we agreed that you-" Freya was about to reprimand her adopted son when he rattled to a chair beside her and interrupted her tirade, "Yes, yes, we agreed that you yourself would explain to the witch why we are here! But you know queen I don't think so, I think I can do much better than that!? Staying outside in a storm like this doesn't really appeal to me. Also, I've always wondered how freaks live when they're driven out of their own families" The words of Odin's son were imbued with disgust for Ulfrun and her kind. His cold-blooded look infuriated Jotun. "You'd better take that question to your father and not to me!?" Continuing to smile forcibly, Ulfrun replied sarcastically to her offender, to which he laughed madly: "Ha ha, oh I see the old witch is still sharp-tongued. I hope you retain that enthusiasm when every single Thrall will have fun with you as my dog!" Thor's voice resembled the whisper that overtakes the forest before the storm. Sparks glittered in his eyes, another second and he would have pounced on his next victim.

"Son! Have you forgotten we have an all-father waiting for us?" Freya commanded, slapping the table with a stiff hand. "Of course, queen we can't question our father's orders!" The madman hissed back, rising from the table. "I beg your pardon Ulfrun but we need you to follow us to the palace. Odin is eager to meet you, and I would recommend obedience since he has asked us to deliver you even by force if need be" The queen approached her friend, and taking the shackles out handed them to her. "Very well, as you wish!" Nodding, the giantess began to put them on herself, resigned to her fate.

"Where's Vidar?" Asers protector asked with a smile. "How should I know? I haven't seen this boy in over three winters, perhaps he was gnawed by wild beasts? Is an all-father interested in the fate of a dumb scum?" Calmly the woman replied as she followed the queen to the exit. "Yes sometimes the decisions made by our father seem quite cruel, but believe me he always looks out for us all first!" Thor looked around the room carefully and then smiled broadly, adding: "As an older brother I need to take care of him and that's why! Would you please order him and the stranger hiding in the cellar to come outside?" Blue sparks flashed on the warrior's fingers. "Run!" Instantly Ulfrun cried out with all her might, pushing Frey away. The house was turned to splinters in an instant, debris scattered all over the forest creating a charred black mound in the center.

"Oh so you survived?" Thor exclaimed in faint surprise, lifting his head to look at the huge dead snake in the center of the mound. The carcass of the beast disintegrated, revealing to the lords the Olympian who had protected Vidar and Ulfrun with his back. Its entire torso was charred, skin and flesh falling to the ground like leaves, leaving only black bones to flaunt in the snow-covered forest.

"Haemon!" The giantess screamed, reaching for the Olympian with trembling hands. Vidar flew into a rage at what he saw and immediately lunged at his older brother, intending to rip his head off. But the boy didn't even have time to take a few steps before the guards grabbed him and shackled him. "Wow, I see the little freak has grown fangs! Ha-Ha ha, you lousy bastard, you're out of hand!" With an angry shout, Thor struck his brother in the face, shattering his jaw. Ulfrun was about to intervene, but the collar around his neck immediately crushed her throat, cutting off her breath and preventing her from even moving. Freya appeared from behind and immediately grabbed the girl by the hair and dragged her toward the others. "It's better this way, believe me!" The queen whispered, throwing the giantess into the wagon with goats instead of horses. "Thor! We could have done without that! All-Father wanted only to discuss things with her, not to make a beating. But you've ruined everything as usual," Freya hissed angrily at her stepson, giving him a piercing look that made her want to pounce and tear him apart with all her gut. But even she couldn't go against this madman.

"Father is too soft on these freaks! This witch has brought a stranger to these lands, and a very tenacious one at that, look at the bones beginning to grow meat!" In a kind of greedy anticipation, the madman pointed to the body of the Olympian. "What but how is this possible? After all, such magic is only known to..." The queen looked on in shock as the stranger's body began to rapidly overgrow with flesh. A bloody light glowed in its empty eye sockets. "You don't have to worry about your stupid magic. This freak obviously isn't from here, so it's unlikely he knows anything about it. She screamed something like Haemon, didn't she?" Scratching his red beard, the Asir watched with interest as his adversary came to his senses. "Haemon? Hmm, wait turns out he's an Olympian! We should inform all-father maybe this is the beginning of an invasion!?" Freya was about to throw her spear at the barbarian, but her stepson's strong hand stopped her. "There is no need to hurry. Especially father does not like to be disturbed by trifles, let me first get all the necessary information out of him, and then we will report everything!" Thor smiled predatory and disappeared, then instantly appeared near Haemon and grabbed him by the head and flew high into the air.

"I heard that you Olympians live on an incredibly high mountain, you know, I kind of envy it, ha-we don't have something like Olympus here, but I can give you a tour around Midgard!" Hovering high above the clouds, Thor held the barbarian's head with one hand and sent an electric shock through him with the other. When he brought the Olympian to his senses, the thunderer laughed wildly, plummeting from the heavens to earth. Thor, like a flash, raced across the mortal world, crushing everything in his path with his warrior body. Haemon didn't have time to recover before his body was torn apart again by a collision with a rock or something else. The northerner clearly had no intention of stopping anytime soon, oh no he was going to enjoy every moment of it.