The Lost Valyrie

Author's note: This fantasy story contains very little sex, and the sex it does have is more romance than erotica. There is no sex in this chapter, though there is sex-related violence.

If the threat of sexual violence or discussion of it offends you, proceed with caution!

******************

When Valkyries aren't out battling demon hordes, bringing the bravest of the slain warriors to Valhalla for their special version of the afterlife, or training to learn how to use their abilities, do you know what they do?

They serve Odin's warriors at the feasts in the halls of Valhalla!

"Really?"

Yes. REALLY.

"Isn't that a little - I don't know - DEMEANING? Mighty woman warriors defending all of Creation against demonic destruction, reduced to mere serving wenches for a bunch of drunken, brawling, lazy-ass, dead men?"

You know what they say: "a Valkyrie's work is never done!"

"Well. Fuck."

It's funny you should choose that particular word...

*******************

Rune had never been to a Valhalla feast, and she was pretty excited about it! It sounded like a fun party! Maybe she could get some of the warriors to tell the tales of their mighty battles! Maybe there would be bards! And singing! And horns of ale and mead!

Rune didn't mind the serving girl part of the experience: she just wanted to be there!

The older women were a lot more pragmatic about it, of course, but they enjoyed Rune's enthusiasm as they all prepared for the feast in a few hours. Even Helga warmed up to Rune somewhat as the young Valkyrie asked question after question, chattering on about how fun it was all going to be.

"Is it true that fights break out, and the warriors go at it right there in the feast hall?"

(Answer: Yes, for certain. One man will loudly claim to be the greatest warrior of all time, and another will say he's a liar and a fraud. Then something will be said about somebody's mother, and soon all hell will break loose.)

"Can we have a drink? Or some food?"

(Answer: Yes, just don't keep the men waiting.)

"Do you think the bards will teach me to sing and let me play their instruments?"

(Answer: to be close to a Valkyrie for an hour or two, the average bard would do almost anything, including letting you say anything you liked about THEIR mothers. And they'd certainly let you handle their "instruments" all you wanted!)

Rune giggled as Helga and Hildi patiently answered all her questions and more. "I want to sing! And dance!" She'd completely missed the double-entendre about the bards and their instruments.

As Rune started singing (badly), Hildi commented in a low voice to her best friend Helga.

"She's so cute. I hope she enjoys the feast half as much as she's enjoying the prelude."

Helga nodded with a little smile. Rune had been going out of her way to be exceptionally nice, lately, and her warm, open enthusiasm was thawing the older woman. If the girl was going to try THAT HARD, Helga didn't have the heart to continue to shut her out.

"I fear it may disappoint her. I hope not."

Hildi smiled at her friend's reply and took hold of her hand, giving her a squeeze of affection. It was nice to see Helga this way. It reminded Hildi of the old Helga, the friend she'd known before the demon invasions had robbed the other woman of so much of her joy, and she was glad.

"Hope looks good on you, sister," the other woman told her friend. "You should try it more often."

"Oh, shush, you," Helga replied with a smile, but her eyes were shining with tears.

Her expression turning wistful as they continued watching Rune, Helga continued, "You know, I never had a LITTLE sister. Or a daughter."

Rune stopped singing and dancing (also badly) and came over to the two older women, still smiling. Radiant, actually.

"What are you two talking about," she asked, brightly but curiously.

Hildi turned to the young girl as Helga turned away, hastily wiping her eyes.

"It's nothing. But let me tell you about the three Fs." Hildi took Rune by the shoulder and led her a step or two away from Helga subtly.

"The three Fs? What are they?"

"Feasting, fighting, and fucking," Hildi explained. "That's what the brave warriors of Valhalla can expect in their afterlives."

"Fucking," the younger Valkyrie repeated with a shy giggle. "Really?"

"Yes, really. And who do you think they fuck?" Hildi looked at the girl meaningfully and waited for what she was saying to sink in.

Rune looked flustered as she processed what she was hearing. "Wha... you mean... you're saying..."

"I'm saying to be careful. You can say, "no," but some of the men won't want to hear that."

"They fuck US???" Rune asked the question in disbelief. "I've never... I don't want..."

She looked terrified but continued after a moment. "I've never even KISSED a guy, I'm NOT doing THAT."

Helga walked over next to the pair, slipping an arm protectively around Rune's shoulder.

"We'll look after you. We won't let anything bad happen to you." Helga spoke firmly, looking at Hildi for confirmation.

Hildi nodded and smiled. She noticed Rune looked less upset already as Helga reassured her.

"The young Valkyrie is amazing," Hildi thought to herself, and not for the first time. "She could destroy any of us in a battle. And yet, she's never kissed a man. And she believes whatever we tell her."

Since the "new Valkyries" had started to appear, helping fight the demons, Hildi had noticed they appeared in various conditions. Some were ready to fight immediately, others needed training. Some seemed wise in the ways of the world, and others were like Rune. Why was it?

Hildi didn't know. If any of the heavenly powers knew, they were not saying.

What she did know was how protective she felt of the girl, suddenly. Her little sister.

"Of course, we won't. Don't you worry about a thing. We'll take good care of you," she responded to Helga with conviction.

Hildi just hoped she and her friend were right.

*********************

Now, there was in Valhalla a kind of hierarchy of warriors, from the toughest and most fierce at the top to the least of the heroes at the bottom. The victories and defeats of every brawl were tracked meticulously to determine the relative ranks of every Valhalla warrior, with the higher ranked earning better positions in the feasts: generally seated closer to Odin, better-quality ale, and more access to the beautiful Valkyries.

And astride the very top of this pyramid of power rode the mighty Asger, the biggest, fastest, toughest, MEANEST of them all. Asger had never lost a battle in Valhalla, not in over two hundred years. So greatly was he feared that nobody challenged him in combat. Second only to Odin, the Allfather himself, it was even whispered that some of the heavenly powers would hesitate to challenge Asger in a fight.

Although nobody challenged him, this did not mean that Asger never battled. Whenever the top warrior saw another hero of Valhalla rising to the top, he'd go out of his way to challenge that man to a brawl. Bully? Yes. Coward? No way, unlike so many bullies.

The warrior's dominance extended over the Valkyries, as well, and Asger had bedded almost all of them at one time or another. Often two at once! And if a woman was hesitant, he'd just throw her over his shoulder, carry her off, and have his way with her.

And so, even for the Tenth Century, this guy Asger was a creep and a scumbag. He'd actually CHANGED Valhalla, making it meaner and more brutal.

Many of the other warriors followed his lead, and some of the heavenly powers whispered that these men were not worthy of the prize of Valhalla. The Valkyries were divided, some of them enjoying whatever diversions they could find in the unending monotony of the afterlife, while others came to loathe the debauchery and violence of the feasts.

For his part, Odin remained silent, brooding on the demonic invasions and their meaning in the larger fate of Creation bound up in Ragnarok. The Allfather had concluded that the demons were on the side of Fenrir and that their appearance made the strength of his army of warriors even more important. If they were a band of pillaging rapists, then so be it, if they could help in the last battle.

And so, Asger's harsh rule over the three F's of Valhalla continued without Odin's interference, and the other heavenly powers were slow to try to intervene.

************

Asger arrived at the evening's feast late, moving through the crowd and responding minimally to the shouted greetings and claps-on-the-shoulders of his fellow heroes. Making his way to his seat at the table on the low dais, near the seat of Odin himself, the mightiest warrior of Valhalla glared out over the assembled crowd, seeing who was in attendance, and who was missing.

Asger felt irritable and on-edge, tonight. When he got in such moods (more often than not, it seemed, lately), he was more dangerous. The man would notice who was in the feasting hall, and who was NOT. Missing a feast was risky, as Asger might take offense at an absence. Epic beat-downs had happened over less of an insult!

The hall was pretty full on this occasion. And yet, the man still felt out of sorts. Casting his gaze over the throng, Asger looked for something that might entertain him. No new or up-and-coming warriors looked like targets, tonight. Maybe a good fucking would help. The Valkyries were well-represented, he saw, looking as insanely lovely as always, and he felt a stirring in his loins.

Oh yeah. Some fucking. That's what Asger needed!

He looked around the rowdy crowd again, this time looking specifically at the Valkyries serving tonight to see whom he might select. He had his favorites, of course. The girls he liked best fought him hard, either for fun or because they hated him. It didn't matter much to him, as long as it was a real fight.

Asger had to admire a girl who would fight him even though she had not the slightest chance of holding him at arm's length. The man was fully 300 pounds, pretty much all of it hard muscle, putting him at well over twice the weight of any of the Valkyries, and he was terrifyingly skilled with the blade and fist alike. Fighting came as naturally to this brute as fucking did, if not more so. So, when a girl fought Asger as he ripped her clothing from her body, and when she went on fighting as he beat her into submission or simply forced himself into her, he loved it.

Asger didn't even mind if she came at him with a sword or spear or knife. It was more fun that way, not less.

The man marked each Valkyrie he saw by name in his thoughts. "Helga and Hildi are here. Astrid... Frida... Estrid... Inga... Randi and Tova... Oh, there is Yrsa. She loves a good fight."

For the first time tonight, Asger smiled a little. And then another Valkyrie came out of the kitchen, heavily laden with a tray of meat to serve. The mighty warrior didn't recognize her!

Leaning to his left, he elbowed the warrior seated next to him and asked him, "Who is that girl, there? She looks new."

The grizzled hero followed Asger's pointed finger and then chuckled. "Oh, that one. She's the new girl, right. Rune is her name, and word is she single-handedly saved a squadron of her sisters in a demon ambush. That one's got SPIRIT, my friend."

And he clapped Asger hard on the shoulder. The heroes knew all about Asger's likes when it came to fucking.

"A demon AMBUSH?" Asger arched a brow, surprised to hear it. The man might be a brute and a scumbag, but he made it his business to know his enemy, and he counted demons amongst them. He'd been killed in a demon attack! But he'd never heard of THEM mounting an ambush. Demons couldn't be bothered with ambushes. They just came at you, and either you won, or they did.

Looking thoughtful, the brute watched Rune move around the room, clearly enjoying the feast almost as much as the men did as she smiled, chatted, and laughed with the revelers.

"Well, it will give us something to discuss afterward," he replied to the other man with a shrug and a grin. And then he stood up, moving from the low dais down into the crowded hall, headed towards Rune.

************

Hildi and Helga took turns keeping an eye on Rune the whole time, just to make sure nothing was happening that would upset their friend and keep her from enjoying her first feast. Their plan was simple: keep their young sister at the far end of the hall, serving the lower-level warriors and staying out of the sight of those who were too used to getting their own way.

And it had been working great all evening!

Helga had gone to the kitchen for a bit, so Hildi made sure to look over at Rune every minute or two. It felt good to have an assignment, and Hildi was glad to help the younger girl this way. After the way she'd saved them all from the demons, it seemed the least she and Helga could do, right? Yes, of course!

Besides, Rune's status as their little sister was firmly cemented, by now, in the minds of both older Valkyries. Hildi experienced another protective wave of emotion as she considered the idea, remembering how Helga had talked about it. She'd fight to protect the girl, and she knew Helga would, too.

That was when she noticed Asger coming through the crowd of feasters, moving directly towards Rune the way an arrow slices through the air towards its target. Hildi's heart sank. Why did it have to be HIM?

"Ohhhhhh, shit," she said to herself as she started moving to intercept Asger.

Seeing Helga had still not returned from the kitchen, Hildi knew she was on her own for the moment. And she needed to hurry!

**********************

Wow, the feasts were FUN! Rune was having a GREAT time. She'd trusted Helga and Hildi, and no one had bothered her!

it was true some of the men were a little "forward," but it was nothing the young Valkyrie couldn't handle, and some of their appreciation made her blush and giggle. She'd only had to pry one guy's hands off her, and he'd seemed more playful than serious.

Besides, a lot of the warriors were really cute! Rune would not mind kissing one of them!

She'd even had time for a drink or two. And the food was delicious, not that she stuffed herself. Besides, there was always plenty to eat in Valhalla!

And the fights! WOW. These guys were GOOD. Rune found herself watching their melee techniques, picking up pointers for herself as they beat the hell out of each other. They used swords, they used axes. They used clubs. They used their fists. The young warrior saw them shrug off blows from fists the size of her head and continue fighting.

Even better were the minstrels and bards! Young Rune stood enchanted for a few minutes listening to a song of a tragic hero and his lover before returning to the kitchen for more food. The story was so lovely and sad, she wanted to weep, her heart feeling like it might burst...

Suddenly a strong hand took hold of her wrist, turning the girl to face a huge, burly man towering over her.

"Rune, is it? I'm Asger. Come with me." The huge man peered down at her with a lurid grin, his teeth stained, his breath stinking, his unkempt beard full of ale and bits of food.

The sweaty, stinking brute with the iron grip on her was repulsive, and he was starting to drag her off, towards one of the feast hall's exits.

"Unhand me, Sir," the Valkyrie demanded, twisting her body into his so that she was able to push against his own body outwards, using his own bulk to break his hold on her wrist. The move was smooth and quick, and the disgusting man either didn't have a chance to try to stop her or didn't bother.

When Rune looked at him again, he still had the same lurid grin. That was unsettling, and she felt the first stab of real fear she'd experienced since Hildi and Helga had promised to look after her. This must be what her two friends had meant!

**************

The mighty hero of Valhalla loved this girl already. The way she'd indignantly demanded he release her, and the way she'd broken his hold without even thinking about it was suggestive of her fighting skill as well as her fierceness. Nailing this girl to a wall out in the hallway would be FUCKING FANTASTIC, and he found himself instantly swollen to his full length and hardness, his pants feeling tight over his large bulge.

"I heard you're a fighter," the man told her. "That's good. I love a girl with spirit. Your type makes the best fuck."

Asger bent down to put his face closer to the Valkyrie's as she backed away, her sheer revulsion utterly clear. "And believe me. I know."

"My Lord," came another voice from his side, and he turned to see Hildi approaching, hands held up in placation. "Leave the maiden, I pray. If a fight is what you want, I'll give you one."

The big man frowned, considering the offer a moment as she came close and placed her hands on his forearm lightly, looking up into his eyes. Her lush body pressed to him: against his hardness, especially.

"You know I can," the woman purred, looking up at him, head cocked to the side invitingly.

Hildi was a lovely woman - all the Valkyries were - and she made a really good fuck when she was in the mood. And she looked in the mood tonight. All to keep him from THIS girl, this Rune.

What was the other woman's interest in this? He saw now Helga also rushing over, clearly planning to intervene, as well. What the fuck? It only made him want Rune all the more.

"No, Hildi," he said. Balling up a fist the size of a Sunday ham, Asger brought it around almost casually, slamming into Hildi's head and sending her sprawling to the floor, dazed. "Stay out of this."

Immediately something smashed into the man's face from the other side, and he turned to see Rune had just hit him hard with the serving tray she held. Her movement was quick, fluid, and he had just time to admire her as he saw her foot coming around to follow up the tray with another hard blow to his big, ugly face.

"Leave her ALONE, you stinking pig," Rune cried.

Staggering back a little under the combination of blows, Asger laughed in delight. This was going to be GREAT.

That was when Helga's kick landed on the side of his knee, trying to bring him down, off his feet.

The mightiest warrior of the feasts grunted in pain, staggering more. What the HELL? Three Valkyries resisting him? That had NEVER happened.

"Fear not, my Lord," Helga spoke up, bristling with anger at how she'd seen the man treat her best friend. "You can have the maiden." And she paused to let that sink in a moment before continuing. "All you have to do is kill us, first."

Asger laughed. "Don't tempt me, woman. Time for a lesson," the man rumbled threateningly at the women as Hildi regained her feet, she and Helga standing in front of Rune. He was still hard as a steel rod and aching with desire now. He'd fuck all three of them right here in the hall after he was done beating them bloody.

And he waded into the group, watching as the three girls made a coordinated defense. Helga feinted, drawing his attack on her while Hildi went after his damaged knee again, Rune attacking from the front, bringing her foot up between his legs in a vicious kick she hoped would disable him hopelessly.

Watching them work was a thing of beauty. Their hair flying, their breasts shaking, their hips rolling and legs extending. Enthralling and invigorating. Enraging as they resisted him, and absolutely lovely.

He took their blows, laughing off the pain while he grabbed Helga by her hair, making her shriek in agony as he tossed her through the air to land heavily against one of the walls. Helga fell to the floor in a heap, the wood paneling of the wall broken behind her.

He smoothly blocked Rune's next serving tray blow, the wood shattering against his raised forearm. This allowed the man to duck under her follow-up kick and quickly hoist her into the air by her hips, letting her land with an OOF sound on his broad shoulder, his arm holding her helplessly in place as he turned to avoid Hildi's attempt to strike his knee again.