32 Betrayal

Macha woke to the loud sound of iron bells ringing. She looked out of the window and saw people running around outside. She jumped out of bed and ran out of her room. Macha wanted to make sure there was not a fire in the hall. She could not smell smoke and no one was around. It was not unusual for her area to be empty because she occupied her own floor away from the other guests.

Unsure what the bells meant, she changed into her traveling gear. If it was a fire, she did not want to run around in a dress. She also wanted to have her daggers and mount that she bought. Losing them to a fire would be costly.

The loud clanging sound confused Macha, and she went to look for Tyr or Luna. She ran across the house but stopped when she saw some guests. She recognized them because they were the ones who gossiped about her the night before at dinner. They lay on the ground, gagged and tied. The women made muffled cries for help.

Macha still had ill feelings towards them, but she could not leave them there. She stopped to cut their bonds free. While she worked on their ropes, her heart raced. She sensed something was not right. Macha freed them all, but none of them thanked her. One man berated her because she did not save him first. Part of Macha wished she had left him tied up.

The ringing stopped, and the house became silent. Macha did not know if whatever danger was happening had passed or not. She kept to the shadows, hiding behind furniture or corners. Macha remembered what Mia and Tyr taught her. She was small and it would be best for her to surprise her enemy for now rather than fight head-on.

Macha crept along the halls, making sure she controlled her breathing. If her breathing gave her away, there would be no point in hiding her body. Macha turned a corner and a commanding female voice yelled, "Some got loose over here! Quick round them up!" Footsteps sounded down the hall she had come from. Macha put a hand on her heart and thought about how she narrowly missed them.

Up ahead footsteps echoed down the hall. Macha pressed her body behind a pedestal that had a vase resting on it. She prayed that they would not find her. Although she trained daily, she still did not have confidence in her abilities yet. The sound of footsteps stopped and turned around before retreating.

It took a while, but Macha made it to the family's suites. It seemed like the invaders did not monitor this side of the house. She looked down the hall and found bloodied bodies littering the wooden floor. The walls and paintings had gashes from the fighting that broke out earlier. She flipped the bodies over to check if any of them survived. All of them lay cold and breathless.

Tyr's door was wide open, and she snuck into the room. The smell of iron invaded her nose from the pools of blood that covered his floor. Tears stung her eyes, and she felt a cold lump caught in her throat. She wanted to cry but fear stopped her from uttering a sound.

She moved quickly, going through all the bodies. Once again, she did not recognize any of the people. The corpses were still warm, and she suspected the deep wounds had been inflicted from Tyr's lances. Some of the corpses had burns on them and Macha realized Aži put up a fight.

After confirming that Tyr was not in this room, she continued down the hall searching all the rooms. The doors were all opened and the same bloody scene of death greeted her in each room. Each time she turned a corpse, she worried that one of them would be a friend.

A loud cry sounded from the chamber at the end of the hall. The door hung off its hinges from being kicked in. Macha snuck towards the battered door and pulled out her daggers.

Luna's voice cried in anguish, "Why would you do this? We're family!" Tears fell from her pretty green eyes and her nose was red. Her face looked as if someone hit her and blood dripped from her mouth. She still wore her nightgown because the fighting woke her.

A woman replied, "Don't be like that sis. It isn't personal. I just want a better life for my husband and son. The family rarely lets me visit. This was the only chance I had for quite a while."

Macha peeked her head into the room and saw Luna, Tyr, Hrod, Hrod's husband, and Freyr on their knees. Someone had bound their hands with ropes. Tyr and Freyr bled from multiple wounds in their chest and legs. Aži lay with his eyes closed on the ground not far away. His small body gave out shallow breaths.

There were bodies around them and it looked like they were cornered into this room. Skadi and three men stood in front of them. Macha remembered seeing Skadi at dinner, sitting next to Luna.

Tyr and Freyr each had a sword pointed to their neck. Skadi pointed a loaded crossbow at her father. Tyr looked up at his elder sister and noticed Macha's face in the doorway. Fear gripped his heart. If Skadi knew Macha was behind her she would kill Macha. His eyes grew wide, and he looked at his sister.

Macha took in the situation. She could not think of any other way to help them besides trying to kill Skadi. If she killed Tyr's sister, the other men would turn on her. Her friends would have a chance and she could run. Skadi looked like she was in charge and her back faced Macha. Macha didn't hesitate. The only reason she learned to fight was to help her friends and defend herself. Tyr and Luna gave her so much, she had to help them.

Freyr watched Macha creep into the room. She stuck to the shadows and had her daggers drawn. He saw how she tremble as she took each step. Freyr already accepted that he would die today, but he did not want to watch the woman he loved die as well. He shouted, "No!" and tried to rise. The sword blade pointed at him pushed him back down to his knees.

Skadi glanced at her cousin. "Shut up. You'll die soon enough." She was sick of Freyr's outbursts. He kept trying to convince her to stop. It disgusted her how he acted as if he were good and kind. She knew Freyr could have ordered her parents to accept her marriage, but he kept silent.

Skadi looked at her father one last time before she pointed the crossbow at her father's head and pulled the trigger.

A tear fell down Hrod's face. "You were always a terrible child. Nothing was ever enough for you." Hrod tried to stay composed, but her bottom lip quivered. She could not believe her child chose to murder her own family. She thought about how Skadi never listened to her, so she decided to cut her daughter off. Hrod only invited Skadi to the anniversary party because Hymir, her husband, pleaded for her to put the past behind them.

Skadi laughed bitterly, "Like mother like daughter!" She hated her mother and wanted to save the despicable excuse of a mother for last. Skadi reached for another bolt from her quiver. She decided she wanted to kill her cousin next.

Macha came out of the shadows and stabbed Skadi in her back. Thick warm blood poured down her blade and onto her hands. It reminded her of the boar she had killed. The vision of the boar flashed in her mind, causing her to tremble from the memory.

Skadi turned around and punched Macha across her face. The force cause Macha to stagger backward. The pain pulled her mind back to her surroundings.

Skadi breathed heavily and looked down at her chest. Macha's dagger had gone through her back and exited through her chest. Blood dripped down from both the entrance and the exit wounds.

Macha took this moment to lunge forward. She used her other dagger to stab Skadi's throat while the woman looked down at her chest. Blood oozed down her throat as her breathing caused her to gurgle. The realization that death came for her was reflected in her eyes.

Macha could not tear her eyes away. She saw Skadi's pupils dilate as they lost their focus. The woman looked at Macha with anger and confusion before falling to the floor and clutching her throat. She made loud gasping noises while drowning in her own blood.

The three men turned to attack Macha, but Tyr and Freyr tripped them. The men tumbled to the ground and Tyr rolled over to Macha. "Cut the ropes!" he ordered.

The warm blood that pooled on the floor stunned Macha. Hearing Tyr's order to cut the ropes, snapped her attention back to their situation. She looked at his hands and began sawing at the ties. The men got up but Luna was frantically chanting a spell between her sobs. One man slowed his steps and turned to stone. The other two swung their blades at Tyr.

Macha damaged the ropes enough that Tyr was able to rip them apart. He smacked one blade to the side with his hands, but the other one hit him in the shoulder.

The man who's blade struck him felt his hand being crushed. Tyr had put his hand around the man's and squeezed with all his might. The man released the sword and Tyr wrapped his hand around the grip. He dislodged the blade out of his shoulder in time to parry the other man's attack. Tyr was growing weak, and the room was spinning. He turned to Freyr and cut his cousin's bonds with one swing.

Freyr took the sword from Tyr's hands and raised it into the air. Beams of light shot down from the ceiling and impaled the two remaining men. Freyr stumbled to his knees. His wounds and use of magic from the earlier fighting exhausted him.

Now that the fight was over, Freyr turned to Tyr. Tyr had fainted and the pool of blood around him grew. Freyr instructed Macha to put pressure on Tyr's wounds. He, Luna, and Hrod went to find medical help.

Macha pushed down on the wounds as best she could, but it seemed like there was no end to the blood. Macha felt alone in the room. Death and blood surrounded her and Tyr lay dying in front of her. She had killed Skadi, but her plan had failed. Macha was angry with herself. She did not run as she planned. She stood frozen when she had stabbed Skadi. Macha thought how if she had run, Tyr would still be all right. She cried. She did not want to lose one of her best friends, "Tyr, you can make it! Please don't die on me. Please!" she begged.

After endless minutes, help came. Once the medics stopped the bleeding, they moved Tyr into his bedroom. Macha followed, not wanting to let him out of her sight. She remembered to pick Aži up so he could be with Tyr when he woke up. She held Aži with care and she watched over Tyr throughout the night.