Malfunctioning Draugr

Fey remained uncrushed. 

With her caretakers disintegrated, she lay prone on the ground and unable to move. Maya whipped her head around. And instead of saving herself, she wrapped her arms around Fey's torso and leapt with her out of the way as far as she could.

The foot of the giant Draugr levelled the cemetery. The earth quaked, stone got crushed and trees uprooted from the soil. It all came down on them like an avalanche. The girls found themselves covered in mud and dirt, and peppered with small stones.

But they miraculously came out relatively unscathed.

Maya pulled Fey back up on her feet, careful not to touch her injured hand. Her arm wrapped around the witch's hip. "I know you can't walk properly, but please try."

She heaved Fey away from the rumbling footsteps of the Undead Giant Viking of Uncontrollable Doom and hid behind a tree as more earth exploded all around them. The Draugr rumbled aggressively.

"What do we do now?" Maya asked, covering her head from rogue stones zipping overhead. She shook her head, her afro wiggling to get the dirt out. "Do you have the slightest idea how long it will take to get all of this out? Ages! What were you thinking about summoning this Godzilla thing?"

"I don't know where I went wrong," Fey confessed, shell shocked. "The alignment was perfect. The tests were flawless. They should have been—" 

"Focus!" Maya clapped her hands on Fey's face. "Help me get Val out of there." 

They looked at the side of Val still being tied away. The ground was splitting away more and more as the Draugr rampaged.

"Forget about her," Fey spat, rubbing her wrist. She flinched, and hoped it was just dislocated and not broken. "Think about our own safety. We can't save her." 

Maya slammed her hand against the bark of the tree, startling Fey. "I'm not leaving without her. You either help me or leave on your own." 

"You can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious," Maya replied with narrowed eyes. 

Fey grimaced, feeling her face tinge ashamed.

A strident groan of a normal-sized Draugr startled them out of their argument. It looked their way with blue eyes glowing menacingly. 

Maya whispered to Fey. "What does it want?" 

"Not sure." Fey waved her arm, weaving a command. "Obey me!" 

The Draugr unsheathed its axe instead. 

"Is that supposed to happen?"

Fey grumbled. "It's not. ISA!" 

The Draugr stopped and struggled to move. Fey grinned, but her victory was short-lived as more rose from their graves and shambled towards them. 

"Something's not right. They won't listen." Fey looked gravely at Maya. "We have to leave. I can get us two out, but—" 

"No." Maya grasped Fey's arm. "I won't leave without her." 

"Are you listening to me?" Fey furrowed her brow. "Y-you can't just- we can't—" She flinched when Maya's grip tightened on her arm. Her expression was undeterred and severe. Her lips pursed.

It was all too clear she wasn't leaving without Val.

Fey relented. "Fine, you win! But help me walk… please."

Maya smiled in relief and put her arm around her pen pal. 

"Thank you," mumbled Fey.

They made her way in the direction of the shambling Draugr.

Fey held up her hand to shoot a wave of her magic through the Draugr. A chain reaction followed and they stopped advancing at them. 

She didn't know why, but Fey had lost control of her underlings. Now she had to rely on Maya to walk. 

And she couldn't help but be ashamed. Not because she needed help from her, but from what she had roped her in, did to her letter friend, and now relied on her. It dawned upon Fey what else she had put her through. 

I never thought it was her.

Despite the chaos, they arrived at Val still tied to the large runestone. She was falling in and out of consciousness as the white wisps relentlessly zapped her like a swarm of flying eels. Fey didn't really know what exactly they were, outside of the fact they were fragments of Val's divinity as a Valkyrie.

Some of them even zapped the dazed giant Draugr who was standing by idly. At least for now. They had to get Val out before it restarted its rampage. Unfortunately, Fey did too good of a job restraining her. 

"How do we get this off?" Maya complained, breaking her nails on the golden rope. "What are those made out of!?"

"It's dwarven work." 

Maya gave her a confused look. "There are dwarves!?" 

Fey rolled her eyes, fiddling at the rope with her good hand. "Careful, the fibre is incredibly sturdy since I also reinforced it with Seidr magic. I need a minute to get it undone." 

"We don't have that much time," exclaimed Maya, motioning to the entourage of shambling Draugr, previously unaffected by Fey's spell. They were slow, groaning, and walking laboriously, but still moving. 

Then there was the giant Draugr which occasionally spasmed and stomped the ground—incidentally taking out some of the Draugr in the process. 

They needed a distraction. 

"How much longer?"

"Ehhhh," Fey smacked her lips for words, "ten minutes?" 

"Ten!?"

"Fine, five. Five. But I have to focus and I can't do that with the Draugr on the prowl. It will take too much energy out of me." 

Maya grumbled, her hand moving towards Val. She gently placed her hand on her cheek and cupped it. Val stirred weakly at the touch and nestled her head deeper into Maya's palm. 

"Val, do you hear me?" 

The Valkyrie slowly opened her eyes, glowing hot white like the wisps. "Maya?" 

"Yes. The one and only," Maya replied reassuringly. Her expression then grew dire. "Listen to me. We're in a bit of a pinch, and I need your shield. Do you think you can deploy it?" 

"Sleepy," Val mumbled. "You look dreamy. Today. Have a smudge. On your face. Wish I could. Clean it." 

Maya gave a short laugh and caressed Val's cheek with her thumb. "Later, okay? Focus, Val, I need your shield." 

Val strained her face. The shield on her arm materialised and fell to her feet. Maya picked it up.

"What do you think you're doing?" Fey regarded Maya suspiciously strapping on the shield. 

"Buying us some time," Maya replied hastily, scratching her cheek in embarrassment. "Trust me and get her out."

—ˋˏ✦ˎˊ—

Wouldn't you believe it? Maya was actually doing much better than she did last time. She downed at least two Draugr before she got swarmed. Her shield got stuck in the jaw of the third one, and it raised its sword at her.

"Alf Seidr!" 

The sword flew off the Draugr's head, impaling another one through the cranium. Maya dislodged the shield from the jaw, and before the Draugr could let out a groan as she bashed its head in. 

Blood splattered her face. 

"Damn, that was hot," Fey whistled audibly, getting a faint nod of approval from Val.

Maya huffed wildly at the kill. She was feeling irritated, hot and wet—her shirt and pants clung unpleasantly like a second skin. "How much longer?" 

"Almost done!" Fey replied quickly and returned to disenchanting the rope. "Didn't expect I'll have to actually take off the ropes," she mumbled. "Just have to finish this one last rune and—"

The rune on the rope Fey was working on went haywire. She instinctively covered her face from the green sparks shooting at her. Val let out a pained cry, the veins on her brown skin glowed and the white zapped around them in a frenzied panic. 

One shot straight through Val and another, larger one, straight into the calf of the Draugr Giant. Val went limp, steaming with white smoke. The Draugr roared. Maya covered their ears, though her inattention put her in a direct line of danger. 

The delayed Draugr unhinged its decaying jaw, ready to take a generous bite out of Maya's chest as it pushed her down and pressed hard against her shoulder and abdomen. 

"Can't… concentrate— my ears." Fey pressed one hand against her ear and the other up towards the Draugr assaulting Maya. Dizziness blurred her vision. Blood spurted out of her ear and nose. 

Maya struggled keeping the Draugr away from her. She elbowed its head. But it would never get a taste of Maya's prodigious chest as long as Val still had something to say about it.

With dwarven rope still hanging from her wrists, Val decapitated the zombie's head with a single kick. Its head flew off and shot straight through a thick pine that would make any soccer player proud. 

"Maya. You alright?" 

The Valkyrie knelt down, taking Maya's hand into hers. "You're not. Hurt. Are you?" she wiped the dirt smudge off of Maya's face. She exhaled softly, fingers hovering over her cheek. 

Maya stuttered at the touch. Her face overheated from the sudden intimacy. Val had trouble keeping personal boundaries, but the way she caressed Maya's face with her fingers or how her knee touched Maya's hips was more than what she usually did. Her eyes and veins still glowed with a faint white light. "I- I'm- fine. A bit hot, maybe. And drenched. From sweat!" she added hastily with an awkward laugh.

Fey, meanwhile, dragged herself out and shouted, "Girls, can you save that for later? We. Gotta. Go!" She hobbled over to them, using a Draugr she haphazardly revivified as support—it still tried to bite her, mind you. 

Val stood up, breaking the moment first. "Yes. We need to-" Her voice dropped when she heard the cracking of tree bark. The pine which Val shot a zombie head through broke and fell right on the little toe of the giant Draugr. 

It roared loudly, jumping up and down angrily.

Val felt a pit form in her stomach when she saw a mountain of a foot rising above their heads. She could count the welts on the zombie's foot as it came down on her. 

However, the Valkyrie didn't budge. 

With Maya right underneath her, Val squared her shoulders and stood her ground as she took the brunt of the foot. The ground split underneath her feet. Her outfit flickered momentarily as a translucent cover of her Valkyrie armour traced over her form.

"Oh my gods, Val!" Maya cried.

"Go," Val mouthed between her teeth as the veins in her muscles strained. In this position, she couldn't leave without endangering Maya. "While you. Still. Can… Go!" 

Maya shook her head. "No, not without you." 

Val smiled grimly through her flickering helmet. Her eyes dimmed in and out. "Sorry, out of luck. Would have liked. To stay. Longer. With. You." Val's knees buckled from the crushing weight. Her muscles groaned as she stifled a yell.

Maya panicked, her lips quaked. She gripped the shield tighter, feeling incredibly helpless.

"Idiot, move!" Fey shouted. Her body got thrown their way by her Draugr and she landed on top of Maya with a loud oof sound from the both of them. 

Fey recovered her bearings. "Move! Move!" she shoved Val and crawled over Maya, drawing signs on the ground. She turned to the scowling Valkyrie. "Keep the foot up, or we all die!" Then she turned to Maya. "Help me draw those runes!"

"Draw what now?" Maya asked, shoving Fey's toned butt off of her face. It shocked Maya to realise by the touch that something was missing. "Are you not wearing any underwear!?" 

"What!?" Fey exclaimed with a beat-red face. "That's not important now. Just follow my lead, or do you want to get your head crushed by a zombie instead of your girlfriend?!" 

The blood rose to Maya's face. "Alright, alright, I'll help. Stop talking nonsense." 

Maya followed Fey's instructions to a T, tracing crude lines into the dirt with her fingers. What they meant or represented she didn't know. It was weird witch magic that only made sense to Fey. 

They were almost done, but they accidentally erased a section when Val fell further forward from the constant pressure, pushing them all further together. Sprawled on the ground, Maya quickly redrew the line as best as she remembered. 

Her finger twitched.

"No time to double-check," said Fey. "We either did it right, or we'll land in Helheim."

Maya raised her fist. "Do your thing!" 

"I can't." 

"Oh, come on," Maya cried in exasperation and ducked down as Val came closer down on them. There was barely any room to breathe now. Val's arms almost burst from the pressure.

"I don't have enough energy to syphon my magic. A conduit would suffice." Fey looked over at Maya. "I need your help." 

Maya inched back a little. "I don't like that look of yours." 

"Put your hand on my chest." 

Maya blinked. "Fey, with all due respect, this is not the time for getting handsy!"

Fey sputtered a curse under her breath. "The heart is an important part of magic. We need to synchronise our waves for a resonance to amplify my magic. It's the only way." 

"Oh for goodness' sake, fine!" Maya put her hand on Fey's chest. They weren't big, which Maya was glad about. However, Fey touched Maya's left chest directly, giving it a squeeze. She gave Fey a deadpan look. "Really?" 

"Sorry," Fey replied sheepishly. "There's too much to touch. Didn't know where exactly to place my hand." 

Maya grumbled, "Whatever. Don't care. Let's get this over with." 

With their hands right above each other's hearts, Fey's eyes glowed in their characteristic green light. Mist spilled out from the corner of her mouth and gathered at their knees. 

Maya felt a tug at her chest. Like there was a rope tied around her heart to pull it out. Fey murmured some lines, and their chests opened up like a sealed dam when Fey summoned her Seidr right before the Draugr's large foot crushed them. 

"Raido Seidr," spoke Fey before Maya followed with something else in a whisper. Pertho.

Then they were gone as the entire cemetery was levelled with a quake.