The Verdant Prince

Chapter 12: Guttural Words

"Assuming there was no more torches, he was the only one. Chase after him and kill him before he warns the others." Orgnar spun around, facing me. He knew Bjorn was one of the fastest horses besides the Princes', but the circumstance were too dangerous to send them.

I nodded my head curtly and dug my heels into his side. Bjorn took the hint, clambering after where the light once had been. I lowered myself and kept close to his body. The fogginess of the morning disappeared and was replaced with the damp chill that of a cave.

The night's darkness had not come close to how dark it was now in the cave. All I saw was the ebony void. I only prayed that Bjorn knew what to do as he was racing through it, no hesitation or fear. Within minutes, the faint glow of torch light dusted the cave walls, and it was on the move. I urged Bjorn on to go faster, he huffed ungratefully and did so.

I reached to my side, pulling out my two daggers, they would have to do as I didn't have my bow with me- it wasn't my specialty. The torch light got closer until finally I could make out the figure running. Though it was hard to see details, the Jotun was an unusual dark blue, white warpaint stretched across his eyes to his mouth. He grunted in distaste as he spun around to face me. I slid off of Bjorn quickly, steadying myself into a basic fighting stance, pressing the back of my razor sharp golden lined daggers against my forearm.

"Which realm do you hail from?" The Jotun said his guttural choppy and uneven.

"You speak our tongue, how?" I hissed out, moving forward to meet the abnormally large figure. His hair hung in tightly bundled braids, the sides of his head shaved badly, small cuts with dried blood littering the sides. His eyes however, were a deep red, the beady black pupil barely the size of a small bug.

"We learn quick," he choked out as if it pained him to talk. He too, had drawn his sword which had been hanging loosely at his side.

"Who are you?" I responded as sharply as he had. His eyes became more narrow and he bared his crooked jagged teeth.

"You did not answer my question," he said slowly, this time taking long dominate steps towards me. I did not falter and kept my feet planted and he growled further.

"As you did not answer mine," I replied. I knew that was most likely a foolish thing to say.

With that, the Jotun threw his torch down, the embers spilled out onto the floor of the cavern, throwing me off. I just barely dodged him as he swung heavily towards me. He snapped his head towards me again, standing and turning to face me.

"Asgardian," he confirmed, his mouth twitching upwards in amusement. I knew then that no matter what he could not reach his destination for he would tell of us.

"Jute," I hissed back, he cocked his head most likely not expecting me to know of anything yet. I lunged forward, thrusting my blade to his exposed stomach. He reacted quickly, throwing up his own blade to counter my attack. Suddenly, he began pushing harder on his blade and I fought to keep up. He began to push further, making my feet slip and slide as he pushed me. The Jute grunted in effort and I knew that if he could move me with sheer strength, that one blow to me would possible bring about my death.

I took my chances and stopped fighting against his sword, slipping under his sturdy legs. His sword clashed into the rock in front of him, making sparks with the force seconds later. I spun my arm around, my blade cutting deep into the back of his leg, the upper calf muscle. He howled in anger and pain and spun around quickly. He too swung again, this time at my head.

I flung myself backwards, his blade grazing my jaw line up to my cheek. I glared at him, flipping my daggers in my hands skillfully.

"I have had enough," I whispered lowly, not to anyone in particular.