Victory?

"I am bleeding! My skin was pierced! My face! Damn you, Sigmund for wounding me! Damn you, humans, for once again escaping your fate! This will not end here! I will be back and make you suffer!"

Wasn't he overreacting? The injury he had sustained was barely a scratch. He wouldn't bleed to death from this even if he tried. Was Balder really just a drama queen?

Hoping to learn more about the situation I looked at the humans, finding them utterly shocked. Völsung looked like his lower jaw was about to hit the floor.

Was there something important I didn't know? For now, I could only wait until my spiritual form recovered. One hour had passed since the battle, only 11 hours remained. I directed the beasts to the north of the camp and decided to take a nap. And by that I mean I counted from one to 39600 to pass the time.

With my now restored spiritual body, I returned to the human camp and found Sven and Völsung in the main tent.

"Lord Eldar, you have finally returned! You wouldn't guess what happened after you left."

'I didn't leave Sven, I was merely unable to communicate with you. I was there during the whole battle. Which brings me to my question. What the hell was that drama Balder made over getting scratched by an arrow? The wound was barely visible but he treated it like you had slashed across his whole face.'

Sigmund had come over and heard my question.

"I believe this is something you do not know Eldar but Balder's body is invulnerable. No matter how he is attacked he won't be wounded by anything. Even Gramr, a legendary blade, can't cut or scratch him.

Now the thing that he was freaking out over wasn't the wound itself, it was the implication he could be wounded once again. Since his birth, Balder's biggest fear had been his own death. Seeing him suffer from extreme paranoia and anxiety, his mother visited all the things in this world and made them promise not to hurt him. After that, Balder became a shining general for the Aesir. He feared nothing and no one, making a defeat nigh impossible."

'But this time he was wounded.'

"Indeed. I fear that Odin won't like the fact that we found a way to get past Balder's invulnerability. Even if we say that we are clueless about how we did it, Odin will not take the risk. Especially with our previous history and the battle now.

You should return to your home now Eldar, I'll send someone to fetch you when you are needed."

What a condescending bastard! Now that the enemy was temporarily repelled I was sent away? They just didn't want me to be present while they discussed how to proceed. Was I just some reinforcement that could be called when needed?

'Very well, I'll be going then. Good luck, you'll need!'

None of them perceived the slightly sarcastic tone hidden in my voice or maybe they just didn't care. Either way, they'd regret it later.

If they wished to drive me away, why should I stop them? Since they couldn't even show the slightest bit of gratitude, I wouldn't need to have any second thoughts about what I was about to do. Soon these idiots would wish that they had never let me leave.

'Sven, Völsung, we are leaving!'

I stormed out of the tent heading north. My subordinates hurried after me and we left the battlefield with the beasts. When we had brought some distance between us and the camp, Völsung rode his white sky lioness over to me. He seemed intent on calming the bad mood his nephew had put me in.

"Sigmund might come over a bit harsh but he doesn't mean it. He's a good kid but the burden of being a king weighs on him."

'Don't lie to me. He meant what he said and being a king is no excuse for such a thing. He has made his decision to treat me like a pawn and I have made mine to use his carelessness to my advantage.'

"What do you mean?"

Völsung seemed a little worried about the last part I had said. Good, he didn't seem to know my plans.

'You'll know soon enough'

And with that, the beast horde adjusted its course, heading northwest.