Marvelous Tales Contest #21 The World of the Dark Queen

Words: Viking, and tree

This is an entry to the Marvelous Tales #21 by @playfulfoodie.

This is a very late entry, but you can follow her for next week’s writing prompts.
📜✒️ Marvelous Tales Contest #21 - Announcing winners and the next contest 📜✒️

The young Viking rested his weapon down on the grassy knoll, before his leader. “We will have no honor if we continue to fight against our own people.”

The leader, Handsome Pete, sent his message of disapproval by ways of fiery eyes, which stared into the boy’s soul. “You have nothing but time on your hands lad. There is no honor in allowing them to take over our way of life either. A consuming evil plagues this land Halvar. It must be vanished before the dawn of the new season. We cannot fight them during the storms.”

“Why must we fight at all. I just killed my own Uncle. This is madness. My father would have never approved…”

“Your father would have lead the fight; and that, was not your uncle. Halvar, I love you… like my own. Therefore, I am lenient. But take head, you must choose a side. Good, or evil. The good is in your heart. The evil is in that damn tree!” Handsome Pete tossed his axe into the closest tree, that had been set ablaze days before.

The smoke over the land was traveling like a slow, impoverished ghost grasping for the air to breath. This war was in its seventh moon, and yet nothing seemed to get any better. The armies of the undead grew in number, and strength with every village they devoured.

It was no longer the fight over good or evil, it was now a matter of survival. Halvar looked over the burning land, and felt an indignation, he had not felt before. “If it’s the tree bringing forth this evil, then I shall cut it out, and burn its roots. I will kill every undead skeleton from here to it.” Halvar lifted his blade; searching for a means of escape.

“Easy lad, you will have your chance. I have a vital mission for you.”

Halvar lightly tapped the side of the Viking ship in a slow, melodious thumping to stir up the hearts of his followers.

They relied on him to guide them through this mission. Beyond the old gravel beach, and the tainted, decaying forest, lay the coveted, cursed tree, and the entrance to Hal; the realm of the dead.

This realm was guarded, by the dark queen, and her many, unearthed spawns of death. They spewed their evil, and demonic pretense with a dark cloud of despair. Their rotten flesh was at the height of the wind; not one living Viking could ignore its fierce stench.

The air chilled to below freezing. Their breath, turned to ice, and then shattered. None of them dared to look away from their leader.

Halvar motioned for them to follow as they hurried onto the beach and took cover behind a mossy grove.

“This is the land of the dark queen. She is the guardian of the gate. She will come in many forms, but she will always come in circles. If we walk in a circle, with our backs protected; we will survive her attacks.”

The other Vikings gathered side by side; their backs protectors of the next one’s. Deliberately, they stepped lightly through the icy tundra of the frigid, world of the dark queen. Halvar took watch as he coordinated steps with the others.

The wind whipped fiercely through the naked trees; chilling the Vikings down to their bones; slowing their movement.

Little did Halvar know, they were closer to the gate then he imagined.

From the northern mountains came a round of hellish shrieks. The Vikings flinched from the pain piercing the drums of their ears. From above, the bats began to dive with hallowed shrill cries; one, and then another. Their sharp claws grasped at the Vikings skin; leaving just as quickly, with the flesh of the intruders.

The men stood frozen, unsure of their next move.

Halvar beckoned the Vikings forward; steady they walked together; not knowing what to expect next.

Time passed slowly as the Vikings took cautioned steps toward what they hoped would be the gate to Hal. A trembling began below their feet, and the ground began to shake. The Vikings locked arms; holding their composure. Steadfast they watched as the earth opened, to expose the source of the disturbance.

The dark queen beckoned the vanquished serpent of Hal, to spit and hiss at their feet.

Halvar rose his sword; commanding his followers to strike aggressively at the serpent. They moved in unison; unceasingly, and rapidly cutting the flesh of the serpent until finally it was too weak to fight, and slithered away in defeat.

“What else will you throw at us, Dark Queen?” Halvar shouted.

The silence glided over the land as the wind began to still. “You test my resolve young Viking,” the dark queen hissed, “I will have the land of your ancestors. I will devour your people. And, I will consume your soul!”

“Back to Hal, you will go Dark Queen!” Halvar shook his fist in the direction of the voice.

Suddenly a dark, beastly dragon emerged from the depths of the soil and swamp. “You face me now… you die now!” The queen said, and then spitefully laughed.

The dark queen rose her head, and swung her sharp claws towards them.

As one unit, the Vikings leaned back, enough to escape the attack. She exhaled a breath of fire at their feet. Again, the Vikings shuffled together, eliminating any threat.

“You won’t win Dark Queen. You were bound to the underworld for a reason, and you will be sent back by my hand.”

With a desperate cry, Halvar commanded the swift punishment of the dark queen. The Vikings raised up their swords, and ran ferociously toward the dragon; their shields above their heads, to protect them from her flaming breath.

“You Fools!” The dark queen cried. She raised up her wicked tail; swiping the ground with all the strength she had. The tail of the dark queen took down one Viking after another. Until only Halvar remained.

“I will not be defeated!” Halvar watched as the dark queen’s tail came closer. He timed his movements. He waited for his chance. Once the tail reached the ground in his view, he ran up the tail end of the dragon with swiftness. Like a cunning mountain lion, Halvar clawed his way up the back of the dragon; piercing the scaly flesh with his sharpened blade.

The dark queen screamed in anguish; angerly flailing from side to side; frantically trying to dismantle Halvar from her back.

But Halvar would not concede.

When the others saw this heroic feat, they hailed their leader. Halvar’s courage inspired them to overcome their injuries, and fight on. With lifted swords, they too joined the fight again; striking from all sides.

The dark queen’s fallacy disappeared, and a dark glow of energy consumed the darkness of the land; before being pulled back to the depths of the underworld. Halvar and the Vikings shut and locked the gate; throwing the key into the eternal abyss.

When Halvar returned to his home, the fires began to die down, and the air became clear again. The sweet smell of the Northern wind casted its soft, but resolute undertone over the valley, and the land began to heal.

From then on Halvar’s land was protected by Vikings, and the tree remained. But the gate to Hal was forever sealed with the dark queen plotting her revenge.

The End

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