Draugr

A cold winter wind bit my skin through the heavy cloak as snow swirled through the air, igniting cool skin to a fiery heat as it melted. Hail slammed against the stone and my body as I leaned against the heavy rock, panting against the storm. Low amber light was barely visible through the wet snow, and nearby cattle huddled together, waiting to be welcomed into the barn.

Farmers took to their meager livestock, grimacing at the shift in weather. The cattle lowered, heads rolling from side to side as they fought against their owner’s good intentions. A scream rang out from a man whose hand was missing a finger from a wily horse who kicked nearby. 

I grimaced, lips pursed as I watched the humans argue, decrying each other’s animals or skills. The sting of blades ringing caught my ears against the howling wind. Two women stood, teeth and swords bared, blades grinding against the others. The townsfolk jeered and cheered them on.

My brows furrowed as I leaned against the rock harder, pulling my cloak around me so that snow settled on it, hoping the villagers wouldn’t hear me. The anger that bubbled inside them spilled over and chaos broke out, bloodthirst erupting as dogs attacked the humans, cattle gored the donkeys, and children screamed in their homes.

“You!” An angered voice pierced the wind as grey eyes locked with mine, boring into my mind. I shuddered and pushed off from the rocks, slipping away and deeper into the storm.

“Where are you?”

It echoed in the storm, caught on the wind, and rang around me. The cold snuck into my bones as I crunched through the snow, hand pushing on the rock to guide me through the white haze. Shouts followed me, chasing me through the storm until my hand hit empty space. 

“Over here!” 

They wandered into the storm, their hunger for blood turned away from each other and focused on me. The crack in the rock promised darkness. I slid against it, moving through the wet cold stone to the emptiness on the other side. My ears rang in the sudden silence, eyes momentarily useless in the dark. 

I leaned against the stone wall, listening for the crunch of boots. My breath held as footsteps moved closer to the crack. Moments passed as their shadow darkened the little light that filtered into the cave. 

Finally, they stepped away, moving further East along the mountain. I breathed a sigh of relief and slid down to sit on the rocky floor, letting my muscles relax. Slowly I pushed the hood back, water and snow slipping into my hair as it melted. I shivered, listening to the darkness, peering at the few shapes I could see from the minimal light.

Runes were gouged into the stone, barely visible from where I sat. I sighed, feeling the fear of the villagers beginning to fade and my pulse returning to normal as I winced at the carvings, trying to understand the runic language. 

Frenzied bloodthirst was a rare manifestation, and while I had heard of its impact, this was the first time I had seen its effect in the flesh. If I didn’t hurry, there wouldn’t be a village when I returned. 

I pulled the bag from my side and retrieved the old lamp that had somehow survived my journeys. With a flick of the wrist, a spark ignited, catching the wick and summoning a flame. 

“Ugh,” I grumbled, flicking slime away from my hand that I had missed when cleaning the lamp. It had been weeks since I had since the mucus’ owner, yet its presence still manifested, the ooze never drying.  

Slowly I gazed around, rising with the lantern in hand to gaze at the cave. The firelight cast shadows, creating a beautiful contrast against the stone walls where the runes were carved. A well-worn floor greeted me, promising that this was no cave. 

My feet wandered forward, guiding me to the first passage where stairs led me downward. As I followed them down, a soft breeze touched my skin, smelling of stone and dampness, and just a hint of death. I walked carefully, silently, refusing to let my steps echo. 

As I turned the corner, a long corridor of carved out hollows waited, each holding an aged corpse. Shields, weapons, and armor adorned each. The runes above the bodies promised a truth I couldn’t understand, but I suspected they were warriors, bodies of the great dead, awaiting an afterlife.

The musty smell intensified as I walked through the burial mount, long forgotten in the cave. I moved carefully, ensuring I touched nothing. On the wall, elaborate tapestries hung, while beneath each body buckets and goods were laid, each delicately decorated. Refined weapons and shields sat, neatly arranged between the hollows.

They were provisioned for a war.

I grimaced, wondering what battle the dead would fight when a haunting groan echoed through the cairn. I turned, looking to the only passage that led deeper, darkness awaiting down the passage. With a deep breath, I pressed forward, leaving the remains of the dead behind.

The chamber opened wide before me as I walked downward. Piles of weapons, fine tapestries of bloody exploits, and refined armor lined the chamber. In the middle sat a single dias where I assumed once a great warrior had been laid to rest.

I cast my eyes about the space, noticing a moment too late the glowing eyes in the shadows just beyond my lantern’s light. A gasp slipped from my lips and I stepped backward, heel knocking against a sword. It clattered to the ground and the eyes turned towards me, narrowing in the faint darkness.

“Thief!” it hissed. The creature stepped forward, clad in the armor of its people, sturdy frame with blue-grey skin stretched overtop. Teeth bared, human and hungry, as it lurched forward, clawed hand holding its great ax. 

I stepped to the side, careful not to touch the treasures that lined the place. “No,” I said softly,  shaking my head. “I seek shelter from the storm.”

Ice blue power shone in its eyes. Although its lips were pulled back, taut against the teeth, it somehow still grinned. A cold wind pushed against me from its direction, tinged with the lust of battle. I shivered and set the lantern down behind a shield, its light dimming in the chamber.

“You are a warrior?” I took one step forward, eyeing the ax in its hand. The armor hung off its body, once likely a man in the peak of life, broad and fierce. 

He tilted forward, faster than I had expected, near enough to strike me if he wished. “Thief,” he growled, withered hand that was impossibly powerful grabbed my throat and lifted. 

Panic rose through me as I grabbed his hand, shocked at the strength the creature had. Cold, dead skin touched my own, pushing the frenzied power into my mind. I whimpered, dangling from his hand as he stared up at me. 

“Thief,” he snarled again. “Coward.” The words were spat out, his tongue working in his mouth without wetness. He turned, throwing me with ease. II slammed against the dias and felt the wind leave my lungs. 

I crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath as he walked closer, ax resting before my eyes as I tried to sit up, my chest aflame. I shook my head, hand raised to dare try to communicate he was wrong. 

The creature laughed and kicked my hand away, smirking as he leaned down to grab my long hair in its loose braid. I looked around wildly, searching for anything I could find to defend myself. It had been years since anything had surprised me with its need for violence. My fingers grasped an old sword and rose it.

Steel clanged as the ax hit the sword, bouncing off and knocking me to the ground. I shifted, gasping as I pulled air into my chest, scrambling backward as the creature wandered around me, tapping the sword with the ax to provoke. 

“Thief!” he bellowed. 

I shrugged. He hadn’t given me much of an option. With a gasp I stood, finding I could breathe if only barely, as he neared again. I raised the blade in one hand, balancing with the other, and stepped to the side, finding my footing. “I  don’t want to fight you. Or anything you own,” I said softly, though his power continued to try to creep within, urging me to want blood to be spilled.

My feet guided me to the opposite side of the altar, keeping its stone length between us. He watched, amused more than irritated. The draugr raised his ax at me, an eager threat I refused to meet. 

The runes on the altar were different, familiar. I stole glances at it, stepping away from his swipes as we circled where his body was meant to lay. The letters were slow for my mind to read, so long had it been since runes had been learned. 

He swung again, meeting my sword with the edge of the ax. I turned, pushing the ax aside and hitting his face with the pommel. He staggered back, hand holding his face where no blood spilled. 

I stepped back, clearing space between us so I could catch the runes on his altar once more. “Air-” I muttered, glancing at him then back down to the words. Cold icy wind blew against me, knocking me back into the wall as the draugr charged at me. I shuddered and looked at the creature as he grabbed me once more by the throat and squeezed. 

The sword slid into his side with strange ease, the thin flesh barely giving resistance. Yet his hand didn’t release. He grinned, putting his dead hand over my own and pulling the blade outward. Not a wound remained where it had been.

“Stupid thief,” he growled and turned, walking me to his altar and slamming me on top. The ax raised as his hand released me so he could strike my head from my body.

I turned my head, looking up at him, as I grabbed his hand as any friend would have. “Aric!” I called out, voice raspy from his crushing grip.

The draugr paused, eyes blazing with their intensity. 

“Aric,” I said his name again, with more force than I could muster.

“No,” he hissed, stepping backward. The ax clattered to the ground. 

I sat up, holding my throat as he crumpled, falling to his knees. I coughed, trying to regain my voice as the creature hissed and held his head. Slowly, his eyes looked back at me. 

“Astrid?” I recognized it was a name but didn’t reply. He stood, a hand reaching out to my face. I flinched, leaning back from him. “Astrid, please.”

My eyes looked up to the undead face as he caressed my cheek, thumb caressing my lip. 

“Yet you live,” he rasped. Fingers entwined in my hair, caressing rather than pulling. I shivered at the sudden tenderness.

“You could too, Aric. One last time. If you wish.”

He stepped closer and wrapped his fingers around the back of my neck, pulling me forward against his chest. Silence sat between us as he held me there,  fingers stroking my skin softly. 

I pulled back after a moment, his hands still touching my shoulder. “Why this anger? Why so much blood?”

The draugr paused, ghostly eyes peering into mine before he touched my cheek. “Batte keeps me alive.”

“Yet the others wait for the fight. Why stay you here?”

He hissed and looked at the great ax on the ground. “To live. To have you at my side once again.”

I stood, nearly pressed against him. “What would give you the taste of life so that you may find peace, Aric? That you may rest until your true  battle?”

“You,” he said in a grumbling voice. “With me. Would you stay? Rest with me?”

A cold wind caused me to shiver and I remembered the storm and the ravaging villagers outside. “I cannot. But you must rest, Aric. Return to your slumber.”

The draugr bent his head, strange undead lips meeting my own in a kiss that was all teeth and no saliva. I leaned into him as his hands pulled my body against him, the cold suddenly becoming warm beneath my touch.

Fingers slid along his armor to his neck as I pulled him in. He hissed against me, tongue teasing the skin of my neck that he had nearly broken. I moaned, feeling his fingers grope my breasts through the heavy wools I wore. 

I tugged on him and turned, pinning him against the altar before stepping back. With captive eyes I removed the layers of my clothes, nipples hard from the frozen air as he watched, life stirring in his death. 

A pile of clothes sat at my feet before I approached him again, pushing him back onto the dias. He shifted, laying down upon it, a raspy groan escaping his thin lips as I ran my hands over his arms and hips, then down his legs, gently caressing as I moved until he laid fully upon the altar as he had been laid to rest decades ago.

My fingers slid beneath the armor, pushing leather aside to stroke the quickly hardening length of his hunger. The draugr twitched, fingers grasping the edge of the dias as I stroked, eyes watching his intense pleasure at my touch. “Astrid,” he groaned another woman’s name.

I climbed atop the dias with him, straddling his body. Haunted blue eyes stared up at me as his hands wandered up my stomach to my breasts, caressing and teasing. I shifted, aligning myself with his pelvis before I lowered down, guiding him into me with my hand.

He cried out, hands moving to grip my hips, bony fingers digging into the flesh. I moaned and began to rock atop him, slow rhythmical movements that brought hissing groans from his lips. He dug his fingers deeper, pulling me to go faster atop his length.

I followed his guidance, moving up and down him as my speed gathered. My body bounced atop his, our eyes never looking away from each other as I moaned and panted, pleasure swelling within me as he slid deep inside, filling me with each movement I made. Our hips met and his dry length became covered in my excitement.

The draugr’s power swirled around us, filling the room with flickering light and snow as the wind picked up. Gooseflesh rose on my arms as I rode the warrior, slamming my pelvis down onto him, matching his rasps with my own higher pitched moans of delight.

He gasped, hands stilling as I felt him twitch deep within me, releasing nothing but his own pleasure as climax gripped us both. I shuddered atop him as his hands fell away from my hips, resting limply at his side. 

The blue lights went out in his eyes, leaving behind the hollow sockets as I caught my breath atop him. He slid out of me, body still and unmoving as I leaned down, lying atop his empty husk in the cold quiet of the cairn.