The Draugr

There were three of them.

Rather than divide his attention, he decided to focus on one. For now, he knew that Brigid wouldn't do anything to him. Not when he was showing that he meant no harm. When he looked at Bevan, all he could see was growing conflict on the man's face. There would be little help from that side. Which left Epona.

He looked at the person who trusted him the most among the three at that point. Though the title was strongly held by Bevan up until recently. She had taken a step towards him. Her hands were at hip level, with her palms facing up. "Give me the weapon, Maitho."

No matter how he looked at the situation, Maitho found little hope in relying on a conversation. Yet he still wanted to make one more attempt. His hands were at his side, but he didn't drop the gun. Neither did he give an excuse for Brigid to raise her weapon and take a shot. He knew she would have loved to take any opportunity. She might be waiting for one. "I just went from being kidnapped and having my apartment blown up to controlling a draugr army? Does that make sense?"

"And yet everything turned out well didn't it?" said Brigid. "Without a place to stay, you knew we would keep you here. Perfect for your plans."

Maitho did not look at the leader. His eyes were locked onto Epona's. Yet he understood the impact of the words thrown at him. A quick glance at Bevan showed that the man was struggling so much with his thoughts, that his eyebrows were almost going to meet each other in the middle.

Epona took another step further. "Please. Let's stop this."

Despite everything, Maitho managed to offer a weak smile. "If a surrender meant an end to this, I would have already done it."

Changing her direction, Epona took a step to the side, towards the wall of weapons. She reached out with her hand and grabbed her crossbow.

Maitho pleaded with his eyes. "Seems like a peaceful option isn't what you want."

"I'm just preparing myself," said Epona.

"For what?"

She had no answer. The crossbow was already in her hands. For a moment, she stood there without making another move. Her eyes seemed to consider Maitho. But it was only for a moment. Whatever mental spell she was under relinquished its hold on her. She raised the crossbow and pointed it at Maitho. Her lips pressed together and a look of sadness splashed itself on her face.

Maitho could take a moment to wonder about the fact that he had lost a good friend. He could worry about the fact that he would fall into whatever plans Brigid had for him. There was also the fact that he was back to where he had been a day ago, alone in his own company, even though he had finally managed to make some connections. He could ponder about any one of those ideas. Yet he forced himself to place his focus on the present. The time for regrets and griefs would come eventually. Right now, he needed to find an opportunity.

He evaluated his surroundings without moving his head. There was the door to the hallway that led to many rooms. But that was hardly an option right now. Behind him was the walled armory. The more he thought about the weapons, the more he realized that his best chance of escaping from the basement would be if he armed himself.

Yet his chance of escape meant that he needed was to make his way out of the room, towards the elevators, and then what?

It occurred to him that even if he did walk out of this room unscathed, he would still need to activate the elevators. They needed the right commands. He knew what words to speak, but he had no idea if it was only up to the Celtic team to activate the elevators. If that was the case, then no matter what he did, he would be trapped here in the security room.

There was no easy way to find out except try it out for himself. If he failed, then he knew that there was nothing left to be done except await whatever fate came for him. At least at that point, he knew that he would have done everything in his power to try and escape. He wondered if he should reach for his phone and play the recording. He took a quick glance at Brigid. Her hands gripped her weapon tighter. She seemed to be waiting for the slightest reason to fire a killshot.

He turned back the wheels of his memory as though he had just hit the rewind button. The farther back in time he went, the lower the quality of the picture. But he didn't need clarity. Rather, he just needed an advantage. He thought back to all the items on the armory wall. Submachine guns, bulletproof vests, axes, swords, grenades. Then his eyes lit up with hope.

Perhaps he might just have a chance.

All that remained was trying to get the three Celtic Guardians focused on something else for just a few moments.

"Then let me surrender," said Maitho. "After I have played an audio file on my phone." He didn't want to make any sudden movements. He wasn't going to give Brigid an excuse to use her weapon. At the same time, he wasn't about to just wait for the right moment to arrive. "That shouldn't be unreasonable right?"

"You are tryin—" started Brigid.

"Yes," said Epona. "But you surrender after that. No questions asked." She took another step forward.

"You're trusting him?" Brigid's voice was filled with genuine shock.

Maitho backed away. He checked the row of monitors. He noticed one camera looking into the security room. On the monitor, he spotted himself. There was a long dark object suspended horizontally next to him. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that it was the assault rifle. That only meant that the grenades were right next to it. He backed away again. "Stay where you are," he said to Epona and slowly lifted his smartphone into the air. "I'm going to play it now."

"What are you planning to do, Maitho?" said Epona. "You are cornered."

For a second, Maitho considered offering a vague response. But then he spotted the look in her eyes. There was something there. Curiosity? No, something more than that.

"When the time comes, you can close your eyes and ears or choose to keep them open," said Maitho. It was as close to a clue that he could give. He only hoped that she understood. If there was something that she wanted to do, then it depended on her being cognizant of his message.

"You better be right," said Epona. Then she aimed the crossbow at Brigid and fired. There was a loud twang as the string pushed forward faster than the blink of an eye. The arrow was released.

A split second later, there was a thud. Maitho saw that the arrow had whistled past Brigid's stunned face and had embedded itself into the cabinet door. While the rest of the team were still in their moment of daze, Maitho turned around. It didn't take long for him to spot what he needed. He quickly grabbed two of the stun grenades, pulling out the pin on one. He counted to two and then tossed the grenade over the sofa. The metallic cylinder containing a potent mix of pyrotechnic metal and oxidizer arced in the air before bouncing off the kitchen counter. When it landed on the ground with a loud clunk, Maitho yelled at Epona. "Now."

Maitho got down on his knees and closed his eyes. He plugged his forefingers into his ears, jamming them as deep as possible. Despite that, he could feel a gust of heat wash over him. The explosion was a faint thump, but it still managed to make him feel as though someone had punched his head hard. When he opened his eyes, he could see the ground tilting at an angle. He realized that his body wasn't at a straight angle, owing to the fact that his brain was still trying to shake off the effects of the stun grenade.

He looked up and saw Epona clutching her head while she still gripping her crossbow in the other hand. He ran up to her and grabbed her shoulders. When she looked up at him, he pointed at the door. She nodded.

Brigid was kneeling on the floor with her hands pressed to her ears. When Maitho looked at Bevan, the man was trying to shake his head as he blinked his eyes repeatedly.

Without waiting for them to recover, Maitho sprinted towards the door. He heard quick steps behind him and knew that Epona was following him. He yanked open the door and allowed the woman to run past him. When she entered the hallway beyond, he pulled the pin on the second stun grenade, counted to two and then tossed it close to Brigid. He exited the room and closed the door a second before another thumping sound, like the bass vibrations one hears from a loudspeaker, signaled the explosion of the second grenade.

"The elevator," he said to Epona. But he could see that she had already activated the button. The elevator doors opened instantly.

Maitho allowed Epona to enter. But before he could follow her, he heard a loud bang. He faced the door that he had just used to see it almost ripped away from its hinges. The middle section of the door bulged outwards like it had just formed a massive metallic pimple. The result was that there was a slight gap on its sides. It didn't offer much, but it was enough for Maitho to see that there was someone on the other side.

He didn't need to have a second guess to know who had the strength to punch a door. There was another loud bang. The door shot outwards, sent free of its frame. It came flying towards Maitho at alarming speeds, but it still wasn't fast enough for him to leap into the elevator cabin. He felt the wind brush against his back as the door missed him by inches.

"Hit the button," said Maitho.

Epona chanted the magic words.

The doors began to close.

They just weren't fast enough. Bevan had reached them and pressed his hands against the closing doors. Maitho could see him straining to keep the elevator open. His face was a mix of intense focus and emotional hurt. He looked directly at Maitho. "Why are you doing this?"

"It wasn't me, Bevan," Maitho pleaded.

"I trusted you."

Those words pierced Maitho's heart. For a second, he considered stepping forward and trying to have a conversation with Bevan. He felt his foot go forward. Whatever trance he was in seemed to snap as a mist began to form around him. In an instant a ghostly horse raised itself and brought down its hooves in front of Bevan. The hooves did not strike the other Guardian. They stopped right before they could reach his face. But they had the effect they wanted to create. Bevan's eyes flew open and he let go of the doors. He realized a split second later that he had reacted without any cause for concern. He leaped towards the closing doors but didn't make it in time for them to meet each other.

The elevator began to rise.

"Whit dae ye think ye were doing?" said Epona. Maitho looked at her. "Awthing ye haed done tae escape an ye were gaun'ae step back oot."

He didn't know why he had done it. There was a moment when he truly just wanted to reach out to the other Guardian. "I don't know," said Maitho. "For a moment, I felt as though I could try to say something."

Feeling the sense of hopelessness settling on him, Maitho eased himself back until he felt the cold surface of the elevator wall. He allowed his head to settle on the metallic surface. How he wished things had turned out differently. Even though he hadn't initially wanted to be part of the Celtic team, he began to realize what it meant to have strength in numbers. He wondered if there was anything he could have done to stop everything from happening.

It occurred to him that Epona had helped him despite not knowing too much about the situation. He opened his eyes and fished his phone out of his pocket. He navigated to the recording and slid the marker to the beginning of the important part. He showed the phone to Epona. "When you get the chance, listen to that."

She looked at the phone hesitatingly. Then she grabbed it and locked the screen. "Let's get oot o here first."

The elevator doors opened to the parking lot. Maitho understood why Epona had chosen this level. After all, the main entrance was surrounded by Draugrs and it wouldn't be in their best interest to face an army of the undead.

When Maitho stepped outside, he spotted them.

The draugr were inside the parking lot.

"Hou the hell did they get inside?" said Epona.

"Brigid," said Maitho.

The creatures outside looked up to face them. Maitho pulled out the handgun.

"No other way but forward.