Animals We Made [RETURNS June 7, 2024]

Years of Strange Iron | Part 9

Gudmund reacted too late.

Knocked off his mount, he plummeted.

A tempest of hoofs and dung, the ox rampaged upon him.

Its jaws had been clamped shut by a muzzle of iron that Einar guessed prevented the animal from bellowing when lurking unwillingly in the ferns. He wondered at the odd restraining device, which had no holes for breathing.

The ox, though, did not suffocate.

Gudmund's Vikings jabbed their weapons at the monster. It received three blades in its sides. This failed to deter it, and it attempted to trample the horned king, who rolled—left, right, left—out of peril. His bow snapped. The crown left his temples, and the animal smashed it to bits.

Einar faltered.

Should he rush the king or move the child?

Bury the lad! He is useless!

"Move him!" Einar screeched in defiance of the iron, and then he turned toward the boy.

Yet Solveig was already carrying Ulf away.

The man Einar loved glanced back and yelled, "Kill Gudmund or he'll pursue us!"

Aye! Obey your lover! Now! Butcher your foe! Roast him! Devour the horned king!

"Maybe I will." Einar wondered if he was replying to Solveig or to the iron. "Maybe I fucking will."

Neighing, the antlered horse swiveled and leaped about the barrens. It resembled a massive, crazed deer. The ox had gored it in the side, exposing intestines that almost but didn't pop out since the holes in the flesh weren't ample enough.

Solveig vanished into the haze with Ulf.

The arrow still bobbed from the child's stomach, leaving behind a trail of red dots in the snow, a promise of mortality.

"Where are you, girl?" Einar stalked toward the berserk ox, which now had lacerations all over it and a pair of javelins in its flank. "Please be our angel, daughter of iron." He singled out Gudmund in the chaos. "Are you redeeming us, kind implet? May we repay you for your grace? Oh, blameless child, aren't you too young to rescue Europe? How frightful that while Ulf desires the throne, 'tis you who rule, our small queen."

The once-horned king wrestled free the mace on his belt. A vicious determination invigorated him, and he growled. His raiders continued stabbing and hacking at the ox until it toppled, the iron melting off its jaws.

Einar kissed the head of his axe.

It was a fine day to perish.

Solveig laid Ulf against a boulder in the woods. The child hyperventilated. Rog and Nils gathered around. Their sister twitched as she monitored the distance, where Einar ran at Gudmund.