literature

Ch 5 Odin's Judgement

Deviation Actions

KashimusPrime's avatar
Published:
564 Views

Literature Text

The tunnels were dank, dark, and deep. They smelled of sewage and the tang of rust. Burke was none too happy but it was in her job description to go where few dare tread. Her flashlight flickered briefly as she scuttled through the sludge film on the floor. She held up her phone as she tried to read the photo of the map she took. On the walls, old signs were barely legible, faded over time and graffiti.

The further she entered the tunnels, the weaker her wifi signal. Making it difficult to track her route path.

She smacked the butt of her flashlight again as the light flickered more frequently. She didn’t want to get lost down in ancient abandoned tunnels. That wasn’t her plan at all.

It was too late as she found herself in pitch black nothingness save for her cell phone light that barely lit the area ahead of her. She was on a fifty percent charge and knew she couldn’t last long down there.

“The things I do for a paycheck..” She complained as she trudged onward. She glanced up as she passed under a manhole cover. Worst case scenario she can always climb her way out. It wouldn’t be a total loss.

She continued onward down the tunnels for several hours. Going down one, then backtracking to the main tunnel once it turned out to be a dead end.

The deeper she went the more she caught sight of human occupancy. Freshly strung lights and the briny smell of fish.

“Who willingly seeks out fish…?” She asked herself, nose scrunched up at the smell as she entered a lit tunnel. She glanced up at the strategically placed lighting as they hummed in the quiet.

The sound of  voices echoing in the tunnels soon caught her attention as she quickly dove down a dark side tunnel. She hugged the wall, crouching as low as she could so as to mask her shadow from the lighting. She peered around the corner to see who was coming her way. One voice sounded familiar.

“All goes according to plan. The swarm grows with each passing day.” Carlo Navarro. Her captain spoke to a tall cloaked figure that walked leisurely at his side. This new figure was completely masked from head to toe.

“With the Baxter child dead, we can finally carry on.” The figure spoke. A woman’s voice.

Burke gasped, but held her hand over her mouth as she laid against the floor. A tear threatened to escape the corner of her eye as her hand trembled. Baxter couldn’t be dead. But why was her captain down below? She strained to listen to them.

“Pity. I would have loved to end her myself.” The mystery woman spoke as she drew nearer.

Burke peered around the corner. The mystery woman was indeed covered in a black cloak. Embroidered silver dragon wings hugged her waist. While a bizarre broach, a Monstrous Nightmare head impaled by a long blade, faceted her cloak tightly at her chest.

“Return to the alpha. Wait for further instructions.” The woman ordered.

A sudden clatter of the flashlight echoed off the walls as it fell out of her hand and rolled to a stop just before the woman, flickering to life. Burke had backed off, pulling her gun out as she pressed up against the wall.

Watching the flashlight, Navarro whipped his gun out and quickly snuck up on the corner. He quickly turned around to find Burke holding onto her gun as she aimed it at him.

“Do you honestly think you can get away with shooting me? Without proof?” He smugly spoke. He shouldn’t be surprised that the Dragon Queen’s protege had found her way down in the tunnels. But he was perturbed by this never the less.

The mystery woman rounded the corner, seeing the intruder for herself.

“You told me you had all of your precinct under command.” The woman stood behind him. A frown could be heard in her voice. Burke looked between Navarro and the cloaked woman, gun still held at point.

“You heard her. There’s no one to vouch for your shooting of a New York cop. A captain no less.” Navarro stated, watching as Burke hesitated before lowering her weapon.

Navarro raised his gun before bringing the butt down hard on Burke. The woman fell over, unconscious.




Baxter stirred awake to the feeling of water spraying against her face. Her body refused to move. It was an effort just to shift herself onto her side before she coughed up water. She bit back pained screams as she lay on the floor, panting heavily once she shifted.

She felt like a bus slammed into her. She ached in places she didn’t even know she had. She felt feverish as she shivered against the cold wet stone. Through heavily lidded eyes she surveyed her surroundings. Judging by the salty smell and the sea grapes that collected against the rocks from the rushing waters, she figured she had to have been somewhere near the ocean.

She had many questions. Specifically how she ended up there, and soaked from head to toe. She remembers rolling down a rocky slope before passing out.

She tried to lift her head before trying to get up again. She barely lifted her torso off the ground before falling back to the floor. Groaning, she rested her cheek against the cool rock. It was a comfort, like the cool side of a pillow. Taking advantage of the peace, she closed her eyes.

The next time she opened her eyes, she had awoken to the sound of a helicopter in the distance. She concluded that it was Nathan Cross leaving her there to die of her wounds.

She forced herself up off the floor and into a sitting position by now. She had to have gotten enough sleep, she wasn’t at all drained like she had been recently.

She cringed as she lay her hand against her wound. It was shallow, it seemed the most of her worries were blood loss and hypothermia setting in. Taking out her blade, she cut her pant legs off and sliced them into long strips before she crawled over to the river. She let the cloth rinse in the rushing rapids before she pulled them out and tightly tied them together before wrapping them around her waist and her wound.

If she was going to make it out of there alive, she was going to have to climb out and find a way back to mainland. With blade secured back against her hip, she began to crawl slowly up the hill along the side of the open alcove.

She gasped when a heel of her shoe broke off, sending her sliding back down.

“Never liked high heels..” She grunted as she plucked the shoes off and tossed them into the river before continuing her trek up the rocky slope.

She looked ahead. There was a small opening that lead to an unknown cave system. Looking back down at the tiny cave she awoke in, there was no other way out. Taking a deep wracking breath, she pulled herself up to her feet weakly and pushed her way through the crevice.

Once inside the damp cave, she looked around. Cold wind rushed past her, causing her to shudder. She lowered herself back onto her hands and knees, hugging the ground as the world began to spin. She shook her head, dispelling of the urge to lay down as she began to inch her way across the floor of the cave. She knew to follow the light. But with each light she came to, it was only a hole in the roof taunting her.

She collapsed to the floor with a loud grunt. A violent shudder wracked her body again as she pulled her arms up around her chest instinctually. She was lost and felt as though she had failed. Curling up into a fetal position, she began to close her eyes.

Doom, doom. The irritating sound of drums beating on the wind echoed through the chamber she lay in, refusing her to succumb to sleep.

She felt the wind blowing through the cave system as she looked up.

“Must be the wind..” She murmured as she laid her head back down on the hard ground.

Just as she was about to fall unconscious again, the sound of a horn rocked her to her very core. Immediately she sprung up, looking around. At least she had thought it was the sound of a horn that woke her up.

“Alright, alright. I’m up.” She forced herself back up. She looked around, not sure which way to go at this point. Every light she went to was false. With no way of climbing out.

Doom, doom, doom. The sound of the drums on the wind could be heard again from a distance. Deciding against her better judgement, she followed the direction the drums came from.

She forced herself through narrow paths and past dangerous ledges. She focussed on the drums, changing her direction at every new path she took. She glanced over the ledge as she crawled along carefully, watching as she knocked a rock off. She paused, waiting for a while before she heard the rock hit the floor below. Gulping, she continued on, carefully and slowly across the shelf.

She soon found herself in a whole new chamber of the cave as she looked around. The sound of water from melting ice dripped into a pool somewhere in the distance.

“I’m a fool.. Following the wind expecting a miracle to get out of here..” She muttered to herself as she sat down. She checked her wound which seemed to hold steady at the moment. Her body still ached and threatened to shut down. She relied on adrenaline thus far to get her through.

Easing up onto her feet, she tested herself. Taking a few steps at a time. Her knees were scraped and bloodied from crawling along the cave floor. She could no longer hear the rushing river, which meant that it had changed course at some point.

She took baby steps across the chamber, carefully placing her footing until she came to a wall. She looked up and could see daylight in the chamber above.

The effort to climb waned. Her reliance on adrenaline was slowly slipping away. She was halfway up the climb when her body threatened to shut down again. She hugged the wall as she shivered once more.

The wind came rushing through the open chamber above, knocking debris off the ledge as it fell on her. She turned her head, avoiding dust and pebbles. But something landed on her cheek. Carefully, she shifted to where she could pull the item off. It was another black scale. By now she had forced herself up the rest of the way, hoping that what she sought was just past the ledge.

She pulled herself up and over the ledge, crawling along her belly to get to solid ground. Her hands rested up against more of the scales. She pulled herself up to her feet as she stepped further into the new chamber.

“Toothless!” She shouted, her voice echoing off walls as it disappeared in the depths of the cave system. Nothing but the sound of rocks falling to the floor was her answer.

She scuffled across the floor, continuing to call out his name only to get silence. There were definite signs that dragons had once roosted in this cave system. She could see egg shells and scorch marks now that her eyes were open and focussed.

In her hurried scuttle, her toes kicked something small and narrow. She glanced down and felt her stomach flip. Tranquilizer darts had littered the floor. Cross had to have found and taken Toothless. But what would he want the dragon for? She pray he wouldn’t wind up on the black market as spare parts.

The drums began to sound again on the wind as she looked around. Light could be seen coming from the distance. Taking a deep breath, she continued along her path, up hills and climbing over boulders before she made it to the mouth. She looked down as she passed a familiar pool of blood and faced a familiar steep slope. She steadied her breathing as she stepped out into the warm sun and began her treacherous climb.




Burke had stirred, grunting from the pain of being pistol whipped. She had awoken to the feel of a rough wet tongue brushing against her face. Before her, a purple and brown Gronkle was deftly trying to get her up.

“Gross..!” She objected as she scooted away, wiping the slobber from her face.

“Your drool better not be flammab—Uh..” In the midst of her rant, she had found herself in a caged off tunnel. Dragons of all sizes, shapes, colors and species were cramped up, arguing over space.

“Where am I?” She stood up, only to notice that three dragons had put themselves between her and the others.

She watched as a Monstrous Nightmare lashed out at a wild dragon that tried to make a lunge for her. She backed off with a yelp and bumped into the Gronkle from before.

“They’re.. Protecting me? But why?” She looked on in amazement. She’d not met these four until just then.  And she hadn’t recognized them as tamed dragons. She then glanced down as the Gronkle had sniffed at her hand before brushing its nose against her palm. She obliged as she stroked its snout.

“Do you smell Baxter?” She had looked up, watching as one of the heads of the Zippleback glanced towards her.

“You must know her somehow.” She concluded as she felt a wave of sorrow wash over her. She sunk to the floor, sitting down. The Gronkle had brushed up against her before laying beside her. She sighed as she rested her head against the Gronkle’s rough skin.

“I’m afraid Baxter isn’t with us anymore.” She choked back a tear as she hugged her new friend.

She watched the three continue their diligence to protect her. She felt that their efforts were hopeless if Baxter wasn’t there to come rescue them. But if there was no one to come, then they’d be stuck there forever. She glanced over to a group of domestic Gronkles off to the side. They still wore their custom made yellow saddles from their day job of street maintenance. They squabbled over rocks that had fallen from the walls before stuffing them into their gullet. She then looked at the walls. Sure they were thick, but Gronkles have proven that they can digest concrete and even asphalt.

“I think I got a way to bust us out of here.” She smiled as she vigorously rubbed the Gronkle’s side.




Reaching out, she grasped a rock as she pulled herself up and over the rock spire before crawling to solid earth. She panted heavily as she looked behind her and what she had accomplished. Sitting down, she regrouped to catch her breath and warm herself in the summer sun.

Her attention soon turned to a raven as it sat atop a branch above her, as if calling to her. She glanced back to the slope she had climbed. Still amazed that she had followed the sound of drums on the wind to find her way out of that underworld maze.

She surmised that the drums were her mind playing tricks in her delirious state. Groaning, she pushed herself up to her feet as she began to make her way back to the dig site. Surely she would be able to find help there.

She walked a few feet before the call of a raven nagged at her again. She looked up, eyes narrowed in agitation to see the same raven above her again.

“I’ve already followed one delirious illusion. I’m not going to follow another.” She argued as she continued her trek back to where she could find people.

She cussed and fumed under her breath the entire trek, only to stop when the sound of the drums started again. She groaned as she then watched as the raven came in to perch on a branch just before her. It pecked at its claws before looking up at her and shouting at her again.

Another raven bellowed from above her, drawing her attention before taking off in the distance the sound of the drums came from.

“It’s all just in my head..” She reminded herself before returning to her task of heading back to the dig site.

Before she could even pass the raven, it had shouted at her before taking off and diving at her. She stumbled back as she tried to protect herself. Her arms covered her face as the raven circled around to dive at her again, trying to get its point across to her. Soon as she turned to face the direction of the second raven, the first had stopped diving for her.

“Why not. I’m already losing my mind. Might as well get lost on an island too.” She grumped as she began to walk back across the field in which she came.

She would pause, briefly hugging against trees to rest and regain what energy she could. Surely she was mad to follow the ravens. The only explanation she had was that she was probably suffering a concussion and this was a delirious illusion. Much like the drums she heard in the distance who’s beat seemed to hasten the closer she got. But always remained just in the distance.

“I should have my head examined when I get back.. This is madness.” She huffed as she pushed her way through a bush. Ahead of her one of the ravens came in to land on a branch just a few feet away. She looked up at the raven as it patiently waited for her. Its color reminded her of why she was out there to begin with. She had to return home to find him.

Her wound had begun bleeding again, seeping through her makeshift bandages. Resting up against the tree, she sliced off the bottom of her jacket and used it to wrap around her wound. Hoping to stave off more blood loss.

“This little field trip better be worth it!” She called up to the raven as it watched her. It soon took off in another direction this time.

She huffed as she followed. Still cursing beneath her breath as she trudged through a bog in sock feet.

“Be brave. They said. Be heroic. They said.” She grumbled as she pulled her foot free of mud, losing a sock in the process. She groaned in disgust as she felt the mud riding up her bare leg as she continued.

“If I ever see them again I’m going to punch them square in their jaw..” She growled, focussing on anger to take her attention away from the pain in her side.

The beating of the drums began to grow with each pace. The intoxicating rhythm cut deep through her body as she finally made her way out of the bog and onto solid ground once more. Her own pace hurried, knowing that she was nearing where she needed to be. Eventually she broke into a run as she soared through the forest, scaling rocks and hills to get where she needed. By now both ravens had soared above her as she made distance in her journey.

She pushed her way through a thicket before finding herself in the middle of a clearing. The drums had come to a stop as did the ravens.

“Well? Where’s your master plan!” She shouted as she looked up at the pair.

“You brought me here!” She again raged. The sound of trees and bushes crunching behind her caught her attention as she turned around. Before her, a massive dragon launched out at her, roaring in contempt of her presence as he reared back.

“Is this some sort of sick joke?! You brought me to my death at the claws of the very thing I swore to protect!” She screamed, holding her arms up to protect herself. The beast seemed to stop in its tracks as it tilted its head.

Baxter had stumbled back, losing her footing as she backed up against a tree. She could hear her heart throbbing in her ears by now. Just as she had thought, the beating drums she had heard was that of her own beating heart.

She looked up through blurred vision as she slid down the tree. The dragon that had attacked, approached her curiously. The sound of the ravens cackle resonated in the distance as she slipped once more into unconsciousness.
The plot thickens! 

Who is this mysterious cloaked woman? 

Has Baxter truly lost her mind? 

Two more chapters until Mystery Woman is revealed! 
© 2017 - 2024 KashimusPrime
Comments2
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
CougarHearted's avatar
Reading some of Baxter's dialogue in this chapter reminded me strongly of what would come from Bruce Willis' mouth in a Die Hard movie. XD