Chaos God 8, page 14
part #8 of Chaos God Series
“Pppphhhuu!” The female giant’s mouth sputtered open from the impact, and spit went flying into the air.
Anger blazed to life in her red eyes, and I added a rough right hook to the combo before she could regain total balance. One of her pointed teeth went flying from her mouth, and her eyes seemed to spin inside her skull for a moment.
She was close to going down, so I crouched low, shifted my weight, and swept my leg out behind her calves. The Jötunn’s expression changed to one of surprise as the ground disappeared from under her feet, and she fell backwards.
“Umph!” she grunted as her head hit the ground hard.
A tiny spark of worry pierced through me as she clearly fell unconscious, but I reminded myself Hersir hadn’t said anything about that. She was still alive, I could see her pulse drumming in her throat, and her chest rose and fell steadily, so I turned to my next target.
Unconscious and incapacitated giants lay all over the ground, and I saw that many of my warriors had taken to ganging up together to take down one giant at a time.
Innay was using her connection to the realm’s plants to ensnare and tangle her opponents, and three giants were tied up like rabbits in traps.
Elora darted around in the sky and had taken to using the handled end of her spear like a golf club. She swung it around and knocked the giants in the head with it.
Several of Hersir’s tribe members were on the ground as well, and it was hard to tell who was coming out on top at the moment.
Hersir and Progt were locked in a wrestling match of gigantic proportions, and they were well matched to fight one another. When I stopped for a second to look at them, Hersir was on his back with the other leader straddling his torso.
The other giant’s shoulder muscles bunched as he prepared a hard right hook to Hersir’s face, but Hersir saw it coming. Our Jötunn host reared his thick leg up and around the opposing leader’s chest, and Hersir rolled his enemy over to gain the upper hand.
I didn’t have time to see what they did next as another giant with one long braided mohawk lunged at me with a left hook. The punch took me by surprise, and I only managed to evade the majority of the strike.
The Jötunn’s fist connected with my face enough to ring my ears and send sparks of light flaring in my eyes. My skin stung, and my jaw ached from the impact, but I’d pulled away enough to prevent any serious damage to the bone.
Only a long history of training and hits to the face kept my anger in check as the throbbing ache worked through my skull. But the rage must have shown in my eyes because the braided-mohawk giant’s red eyes went wide, and he took a half-step back.
I gave him a menacing smile as I pursued him with small shifting steps, and a series of left and right jabs until he was scrambling to block them all. Then I went in for the kill, so to speak.
I threw all my power into a left hook and followed it with a front kick to his left hip joint. The combination sent him completely off balance, and I finished him with one more solid punch with my left as he fell toward the ground.
His red eyes rolled dazedly in his head, but he didn’t completely lose consciousness. I paused for a second to make sure he didn’t try to get back up, and then I turned around, ready for my next opponent.
I couldn’t help but notice the general sense of good sportsmanship among the opposing tribes while they fought. Other than a broken nose or two and one pretty nasty facial laceration from a good kick, there was no bloodshed. The giants moved on quickly from their downed targets, and there was an unspoken agreement to avoid trampling the unconscious fighters.
I also realized that the largest giants went for opponents close in size to themselves. Everyone seemed to find a target they were well matched with, and it reminded me of the weight class divisions in MMA. Even my warriors were given the same respect, and though my fighters teamed up in pairs and trios, none of the largest Jötunn tried to single out my people.
The longer the fight went on, the more it reminded me of war games for sport and healthy competition. It was clear the giants of Jötunnheim had honor even if they were a bit less civilized than my people.
The fight carried on, and I met another worthy opponent in a bald-headed giant with only one good eye. His left had been damaged at some point in his life, and now his entire eyeball was a milky white color, and a long scar ran vertically through his forehead and down to his jaw.
The loss of one eye must have left the Jötunn with poor depth perception, and he’d learned to overcompensate since the injury. He swung hard and reached far with each of his strikes, and he got two good hits through my defenses.
The first was a right jab that caught me hard in the gut, and it knocked the wind right out of me. Only pure instinct and years of training kept my body moving and my arms blocking. It took me a good thirty seconds to recover from the punch, and my vision started to turn black around the edges as I fought to expand my lungs.
“Aahh!” I gasped as I finally sucked in a deep breath once more. “Fuck.”
I ducked under another overreaching strike from the one-eyed giant, and I went to sweep his legs out from under him.
But he must have anticipated my move because he stopped me before I could make contact with his ankles. His right foot came down hard on my upper thigh, and the pain exploded inside my quad.
“Sssss!” I sucked in a sharp breath between my teeth at the searing pain.
I knew there would be a nasty bruise there tomorrow, and it would take weeks for the ugly coloring to fade away completely. All my weight shifted to my other leg, and I pushed myself back to my feet. The giant hadn’t stomped hard enough to break the bone, but I struggled to put my full weight on the injured leg.
This Jötunn was a better match for me, and I knew if it was a fight to the death, I would have taken him down easily. But he was used to this non-lethal kind of fighting, and I’d been out of that game for a while now.
I stepped back, and I kept the one-eyed giant in front of me as I circled backwards to buy myself a moment to recover.
The Jötunn seemed to take pleasure in my pain, and he stalked after me like a cat with a mouse.
“Come,” he taunted me, and he waved at himself with both hands. “Fight.”
I wasn’t one to fight dirty in the kind of honorable fight this battle appeared to be, but I wasn’t about to let this fucker win. With one more step to the side, I urged the skin on the knuckles of my right hand to harden into bone, and I swung with all my might.
“Uh!” I grunted with the effort of my punch.
The shifted state of my fist rammed into the one-eyed giant like a battering ram, and I heard the crack of his cheekbone fracturing under my hand. I pulled back at the last possible second to keep from crushing his skull, but I immediately knew I’d won.
The giant’s one good eye rolled back in his head as blood trickled from the broken skin of his cheek, and he dropped to the ground like a sack of rocks.
“Fucker,” I growled as I rubbed at the sore lump that was my leg.
My toes were tingling from the impact, and I was relieved to see the battle was mostly over at this point. All the tribe members from both sides and my warriors were either unconscious, incapacitated, or had laid down in defeat.
Hersir and the opposing tribe leader were the only ones still fighting, and they were so well matched, I had no idea who would win. Every one of the Jötunn that was still able to, watched the two leaders as they traded punches and rolled across the ground. They were both covered in a thick layer of dirt from the ground, and each of them had more than a few bruises.
Hersir’s right eye was swollen shut, and Progt’s bottom lip was purple and split in the middle. A slow trickle of blood dripped down onto Hersir’s face as the upper hand changed once more.
Finally, after at least three more rolls and switches, Hersir got his knee on Progt’s throat.
“You are defeated,” Hersir growled menacingly. “Yield.”
Progt grimaced up at Hersir for a long moment as his blue face turned an unpleasant shade of purple due to the lack of blood circulation. Just as I anticipated that Progt would allow himself to be knocked out, he slapped his hand on Hersir’s forearm to tap out.
Hersir grinned down at his defeated opponent for one more second before he stood up.
“Aaahhh!” Progt gasped for air, and his face returned to a more normal shade.
The opposing Jötunn leader coughed and sputtered as Hersir extended a hand down to help him up.
“Good fight, Progt,” Hersir complimented the other leader.
“And you, Hersir,” Progt replied.
“Did we win?” Gorn asked in a curious voice.
“Victory is ours,” Hersir chuckled.
“Who are your new friends?” Progt asked as he gazed around at us.
His red eyes happened to land on me as I allowed my shift to fade away, and his expression became one of amazement as I returned to my normal self.
“What on Jötunnheim?” Progt muttered.
“We have an Aesir in our camp,” Hersir said in an almost boastful tone. “And a boar on a spit. Join us for our feast, Progt.”
“Very good,” the opposing leader accepted the invitation. “It will be a while before they all come around anyway. We might as well enjoy ourselves.”
“So tiny,” one of Progt’s tribe members said with a curious tone as he stared at Azariah and Arlindra.
Both of the blonde sisters walked with a slight limp and cradled their sides gently, and I wondered how many colorful bruises my companions would have tomorrow. None of us were used to such restrained fighting, and it looked like more than a few hits from the Jötunn had landed.
“So did Odin finally send a messenger to clean up his mess?” Progt asked as we moved toward the fire.
“The rumors of Ragnarok are true,” Hersir said. “So say Levi and his people.”
“Indeed?” Progt’s eyebrows raised with interest as he looked at me.
“All the Aesir are dead,” I said. “Other than myself and Vidar.”
“Odin finally got what was coming to him, eh?” Progt mused. “I wish I could have seen that for myself. Vidar, you say? I am unfamiliar with this god, and I do not recognize you…”
“My name is Levi,” I said. “In my former life you may have known me as Loki. Vidar is my half-brother.”
“Loki?” Progt seemed particularly interested in that. “I always liked Loki. I suppose it surprises me very little to see you found your way back here. You always did have a thing for the Jötunn!”
Progt and Hersir shared a deep belly laugh, and I had to think they were referring to Loki’s desires for the giantess who birthed Hel.
“Tell me,” Progt said after he settled down. “How was Odin finished?”
“I have no personal memories of it,” I explained in an apologetic tone. “I was killed before the end, but I believe it was Fenrir who killed Odin.”
“The boar is ready!” Geer announced in a loud voice.
The giants on both sides grinned and chattered about the good meat to come, and I wondered about the relationship between the two tribes.
Hersir had made it sound like none of the tribes were friendly with one another in any capacity. I was impressed by the good sportsmanship and honor with which they’d fought one another, but this was well beyond what I’d expected.
The giants all sat down around the fire together, and I couldn’t help but notice how the two tribes mingled easily together. One of Hersir’s tribe members sat comfortably beside one of Progt’s, and the two played a friendly game that reminded me vaguely of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Three of the members from Hersir’s tribe were busy walking around seeing which of the downed giants were starting to wake up, and they didn’t appear to treat either side differently.
Lert and my ladies who’d hidden in one of the giants’ barricaded buildings came out, and Freesia had a look of immense relief on her face.
“Goodness,” Sylmarie chuckled as she stepped over the thick leg of one downed Jötunn. “It must have been quite a battle.”
“It was…” I chuckled as I looked for the right word to describe the experience. “Fun.”
“I can see that,” Sassa grimaced a bit as she handed Milo back to Shalanna. “I am certain Ayen had a lot of fun.”
“I did,” Ayen said with a huge grin.
“A tiny one?” Progt asked with interest as he studied Milo’s small form. “I forgot how tiny human larva are.”
Shalanna gave the giant a strange look as she folded our infant close to her chest.
“We call them babies,” I said helpfully, and I gave Shalanna a kiss on the cheek.
We all took a few moments to introduce ourselves, and Progt seemed quite impressed with how many women I had.
“A sign of good leadership.” Progt grinned at my ladies appraisingly. “A man who knows what he wants and gets it.”
“Some of us are not so lucky to find so many women to want,” Hersir quipped in a dry tone.
The banter between Hersir and Progt reminded me of the way Ayen and Finnern competed with one another, or the friendly ribbing Vidar and I had begun to share. It was obvious to me the two felt more like friends than rivals, and I wondered how far back their relationship went.
After a bit, most of both tribes were gathered around the fire pit, and Geer had led a few of the younger Jötunn in carving the boar and passing chunks around to everyone.
“You look confused,” Progt chuckled as he sat down beside me. “Have you not seen pig meat before?”
“No, it’s not that,” I chuckled. “I have to admit, I don’t readily remember everything from my past life. Hersir said the Jötunn tribes live very isolated from one another, and that there are no alliances or friendships…”
“You both seem very friendly with each other,” Elora observed.
“I’d expected the battle to be more…” I nodded and shrugged. “Battle-like.”
“It felt more like a game,” Shalanna agreed. “I quite enjoyed the challenge.”
“Good on you for keeping up with us!” Progt laughed loudly before he bit off an enormous chunk of pork.
“Progt is a special exception,” Hersir said with a wry grin at the other leader. “I do not get on nearly as well with any of the other leaders. And our battles with the other tribes are much bloodier. Only with Progt is it more of a game than war.”
“Is it because of how close your camps are?” Ari asked.
“You are a strange one,” Progt said without answering my daughter’s question. “Are you Aesir, too?”
“No,” Hersir answered. “Levi said it was only him and the one that remains on Asgard.”
“Yes, but she is not human,” Progt said. “Nor elf or dwarf.”
Ari tilted her head slightly to the side which only added to her alienness, and Progt’s red eyes turned to look at Ker. It was clear in his expression that the Jötunn was curious about my children and that he’d noticed the similarities between them.
Not that they were hard to see. Ari and Ker stood out like sore thumbs among the rest of us with their ever-present mist.
“What are you?” Progt asked in a genuinely curious tone.
“They are my children,” I answered. “Half-Aesir, half-Völva.”
“Aaaahhhh,” Progt hummed with interest. “Fascinating the way Aesir blood mixes with other kinds. You never know what you might get.”
“Does our existence displease you?” Ker asked in an openly curious tone.
“Not at all!” Progt laughed. “I quite enjoy meeting new folk. It’s not often I get to see anyone but the members of these two tribes and Hersir’s ugly mug!”
“You are one to talk!” Hersir laughed.
I couldn’t help but agree with that. The longer I sat here with the two giant leaders, the more I noticed how similar they were to one another. At first I’d thought it was just a fact of their species, but then I started to wonder if they were related in any way.
“Not true!” Progt retorted. “You got Father’s bulbous nose!”
“So did you!” Hersir laughed.
“Oh, shit,” I gasped as my mind reeled with realization.
Chapter 11
“Levi?” Elora asked with slight concern.
“You’re brothers!” I chuckled and looked between Hersir and Progt.
From what I’d seen, all Jötunn looked pretty similar, but the two leaders had an almost identical head shape and nose.
“Ooooh,” Shalanna breathed with recognition. “I see it!”
The brothers shared a hearty laugh before they turned back to look at us.
“Does this surprise you?” Progt asked.
“I suppose I gave it little thought,” Elora mused. “From my understanding, Jötunn mated pairs rarely produce more than one offspring.”
As Elora spoke, I realized what she said matched my memories as well, and I realized my surprise came from a long-ago understanding of the giants. Loki had spent time with the Jötunn, and I was having trouble dredging up those memories.
“That is often the case,” Hersir said. “Our birth-givers were a more unusual sort.”
“How did you both end up as tribe leaders?” I asked as some of my knowledge about the giants returned to me. “It’s a role passed down through the bloodline.”
“We were both born into my tribe,” Progt explained. “But Hersir decided to go off on his own.”
“I found my mate in another tribe,” Hersir said, and he gave Geer a loving look. “It was not a choice.”
The two giants looked at each other in a way that spoke of the kind of love I shared with my ladies, and I understood exactly what he meant. Hersir had fallen in love, and I recalled, deep in my memories, that giants mated for life.
“So you left your tribe to be with the woman you love,” I summarized.
“Yes,” Hersir said. “It caused hurt among my tribe members, but thankfully, I had a younger brother who was ready to step up and lead them.”
