ASOIAF - Chapter 1 Part 3

- Lagertha -

They continued their journey in silence, waiting to find their prey for the day, or at least reach one of their hunting spots before separating.

Lagertha suddenly gestured with her hands for the others to stop. She'd heard something, most likely a nearby animal, and did not wish to scare it away. She crept slowly forward to the source of the sound, and the others imitated her movements, trusting her as the leader of their group, having proven herself capable over the years.

* WHOOSH *

* WHOOSH *

* WHOOSH *

Three arrows tore silently through the air with purpose, to the surprise of the unsuspecting hunters. Their joyous anticipation turned to ashes in their mouths in an instant, as they became prey instead of predators. The first arrow embedded itself in the throat of the boastful young man, Svedol, whose eyes were filled with disbelief as he choked on his blood. The second pierced the thigh of another of their companion, reducing him to a screaming mess on the ground, struggling to get up but failing miserably to do so. The last one robbed another of his life, breaking through his rib cage to impact his heart with extreme precision, having been shot by an experienced marksman.

The young hunters were not used to life and death struggles, as they never had to fight a human enemy before. The area they lived in was quite harsh and usually deterred other tribes from venturing there. Not to mention their numbers were nothing to scoff at. Save for Lagertha who fought with a few of her elders before, they were all green in that regard.

Lagertha quickly recognized the attack as soon as the first arrow hit its mark, as she masterfully rolled on the ground to dodge an arrow-headed for her leg.

"Shields up!" Lagertha shouted at them, shaking them out of their short-circuited states. She herself reached for her ironwood shield and took out her bone sword, a weapon that proved efficient despite its primitive design.

Their assailants, knowing that the jig was up, as it would be very difficult to hit them when they were prepared for their attack, giving them ample time to move and get undercover, or simply use their shields to stop their projectile, decided to reveal themselves. Eight burly men revealed themselves in the distance, holding different weapons from spears to axes, made of wood, stone, or bones.

The group of young hunters recognized their numerical disadvantage, having three incapacitated fighters out of the original ten. That isn't to mention the difference in size and experience. Though all their worries were thrown out the window once they noticed the fangs red fangs worn arranged around their necks, replaced by boiling rage and pure hatred instead, their eyes reddened at their mere sight, indicating a grudge that's been held for thousands of years, generation to generation.

"Fucking heretics!"

"Animals!"

"Traitors!"

"Forsaken!"

Slurs and insults were hurled at them with venom, having met their worse enemies. And they were. Those people were truly the free folk's worse enemy, worse than even the crows, men that had been killing their brethren for thousands of years, dishonoring them in unimaginable ways.

"Hehehehe" Their insults fell on deaf ears, the other party finding them amusing more than anything else. What do they care what words come out of the mouth of soon-to-be-dead men. Their leader, a tall bald man, licked his lips at the sight of his prey, noticing the tall strong girl at the front.

"We're taking the girl." He said to the others, who didn't need to be told twice to understand his motivation.

"AAAAAAAARGH!" With a war cry, he charged at them, followed by the rest of his men. Lagertha and her group did the same, albeit Lagertha did so at a more moderate pace than the others for a very simple reason.

Albeit Lagertha was physically capable to contend against men, she knows they are inherently stronger, a lesson she understood over the years of sparring with men in physical contests. But physical strength is not the only determining factor in the outcome of a fight. And Lagertha was the farthest thing from a brute who only swings a weapon mindlessly. No, Lagertha was much more than that. She was a technical fighter, focusing on turning her opponents' mistakes against them instead of meeting their physical prowess head-on.

As the two groups collided and exchanged hits, Lagertha sidestepped her enemy's charge, before bringing her shin down on the back of his knee joint to destabilize him. And albeit he tried his best to retaliate, his momentum did not do him any favor, as he could not react fast enough to stop the blade from piercing his throat as he fell.

The outcome for her companions was not as favorable as hers. Contesting against men bigger and stronger than them means that many had their heads ringing like a bell because of the impact, some were thrown to the ground in the aftermath, sealing their fate. It was even worse for the one person who had two men gang upon him, as they made short work of him, filling his body with holes through endless poking with their weapons.

Lagertha jumped to the next enemy, charging at him with her sword. Noticing her advance, he smirked at her, before holding the boy he was fighting and pushing him in her direction, which she had to avoid. The man slashed at her with his axe, forcing her to use the shield to defend herself. Following the impact, the man kicked her shield, pushing her back a few paces. He pushed forward relentlessly, not giving her any ground to retaliate. Lagertha was waiting for an opportunity to strike, letting him expand his energy at her shield. As he started to get tired, she opened her guard, about to stab at his exposed throat, but it was merely a feint, one he fell too easily for. Lagertha buried her foot in his groin, hearing a distinct popping sound, then the hysterical screaming of a man whose manhood had been utterly destroyed. He tried to retaliate, but he was paralyzed by the pain, and could only watch helplessly as Lagertha stabbed him repeatedly in the stomach.

She suddenly turned to the side, another one of her enemies charging at her. In the chaos of the battle, she was too slow to dodge him and was tackled to the ground. Thankfully, he didn't seem inclined to kill her, as he did his best to restrain her, holding her fiercely from his waist around her arms, blocking their movements.

"I've got you now, bitch." He declared smugly, confident he had her fully restrained. And although Lagertha was doing her best to flail around, it wasn't working very well for her, making her struggle more desperate by the second. That is until she had a wicked idea she loathed with her entire being, motivated by her extremely desperate circumstances.

In a display of barbarity beyond measure, she opened her mouth and bit down at his throat, burying her canine teeth.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" No matter what he did, he could not get rid of her grip on him, making the situation only worse for himself should he move, though that helped him very little when Lagertha was also pulling back her head to tear apart his throat, spraying his blood all over her face, until his body went limp.

She pushed him to the side, before looking around at the state of her companions, but the sight filled her with nothing but rage. All of her fellow tribesmen were dead, and the worst part is they only managed to take down a single enemy with them, judging by the number of people still standing, though two of them seemed severely injured, the other two looked perfectly fine, including their bald leader, who was now looking at her hungrily.

They encircled her, each using their shields as a cover from her deadly weapon. Their next task was more difficult than the previous one, as it was not simple to restrain someone who was hell-bent on killing you without severely injuring him.

"How 'bout you put your weapon down, and we'll go easy on ya?" The bald leader smiled viciously, having no intention to honor even such promise should she comply.

"Hah, you want to steal me? How about you do it like a man you fucking coward!" Lagertha scoffed at him.

"We'll see how fierce you are when I have you pinned to the ground..." He smiled wickedly, before charging at her with his shield. Lagertha realized quickly that getting entangled in a fight with him would mean defeat regardless of what she did. The two men at the back had bows ready to fire, and his companion was looking for an opportunity to strike. She knew what their intentions towards her were. Funnily enough, she would not have minded their intention if they did it the correct way, by defeating her in combat with honor like a man ought to. She would have no problem following them in such a scenario. But two things ultimately stood in front of her acceptance.

Their shady method of cornering her, which would never gain her approval in the first place... and the fact they were cannibals. Eating human flesh was considered one of the greatest sins for the free folk regardless of tribe. In fact, there are two things every single free tribe hated: the crows and the heretics, the latter to a much larger extent than the former.

That is when Lagertha made a final decision. She's been taught from a very young that death was the ultimate destination. Living so close to death each day means that people had to stop fearing it to get anything done. It was not death that Lagertha feared, but dying a pointless death terrified her. She has accepted death, as nothing she does beyond this point would be of any help to keep her alive, but she would make sure her death was not pointless. She would rid the world of as many heretics as she could bring to the grave with her dying breath...