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heavy craft away from the looming cliffs.
The brazen prow buried itself in dark water and came up dripping as vast black
waves smashed and lifted us. Cold salt spray dashed our faces. Through the roar
and swing of the storm-piled sea, the ship strained southward with increasing speed.
The high cliffs of Asgard dropped behind, I glimpsed torches flaring around
Valhalla castle as the alarm spread.
We surged past the strait between Asgard Island and the mainland, Midgard. Far
overhead, on our left, gleamed the arch of Bifrost Bridge. Then Asgard and Bifrost
dropped from sight behind us as our speed quickened. We shot along the mighty
cliff coastline of Midgard.
"Can you see them, Thor?" Frey called anxiously to the yellow-headed giant.
His beard glistening with spray as he stood in the plunging and rising bow, Thor
was peering ahead.
"Not yet!" the Hammerer roared back against the howling wind.
"What will they do with Freya?" I cried.
Frey shook his head. His handsome face was drawn and desperate beneath his
gleaming helmet as he shifted the tiller.
"What will they do to us all, Jarl Keith, if they succeed in using the key to loose
Loki? That devil will lead the hosts of the Jotuns in the last terrible attack on
Asgard."
"It is all my fault," I said bitterly. "If I had not brought the rune key with me, this
never would have happened."
The flying clouds had again obscured the Moon, and black shadow shrouded the
stormy sea. Close on our left rose the sinister cliffs of Midgard, soaring sheer from
the water. Frey was keeping our ship hazardously near the precipices, to lose no
time in the pursuit. So close were we that each mountainous wave threatened to
capsize us. The howling winds were bitter cold, freezing the salt spray on our faces.
Each time the ship buried its brazen beak in the waves, we shipped water and
Frey's warriors were bailing furiously.
A high black promontory jutted from the cliffs ahead, and Frey swung the rudder
to carry us outside that rocky point. As the ship heeled around in answer, a
smashing mass of icy water almost tore both of us away from the helm. Then we
rounded the point, and the Moon broke forth again.
"There they go!" roared Thor's great voice from the bow as the giant Aesir
pointed with his hammer.
Far ahead on the wild, moonlit waters, a single ship was flying south along the
ominous coast.
"They're heading straight for Jotunheim!" Thor shouted. "We can catch them "
"Ware ambush!" yelled one of our warriors at that moment.
Simultaneously a shower of arrows rattled down like hail into our craft, instantly
killing two of our men. I swung around, appalled. From behind the sharp rock
point we had just rounded, a dozen long-ships were darting like ravenous monsters
toward us, propelled by bending oars. They were Jotun ships, crowded with huge,
black-headed warriors and rowers. Their archers loosed another shower of arrows
the instant we discovered them.
"A Jotun ambush!" shouted Frey, swinging the tiller hard. "They knew we'd
follow. They waited here for us!"
"Port helm, or they'll grapple us!" bellowed Thor.
It was too late. Next moment, the carved beak of the foremost Jotun ship hit our
starboard side with a shock that sent us all staggering. As I scrambled up, I saw
steel hooks fly over our gunwale and bite deep into the wood.
"Out swords and cut free!" yelled Frey. I rushed with Frey, stumbling to the side
where yelling Jotun warriors were boarding us. We met them at the head of our own
men. Swords and axes clashed in front of my eyes. I glimpsed a hairy, brutal face
raging toward me behind an upraised ax. Crouching, I thrust hard, felt my sword rip
between the lacings of a mail brynja, and bite past into unresisting bone and muscle.
Thor reached our side. Bellowing, he whirled his hammer and crashed it down on
Jotun helmets, smashing them and the skulls inside.
Our ship was still being drawn southward by the wind that filled its sail, dragging
the Jotun craft that had grappled us. The other Jotun ships were straining oars and
sails to grapple with us. The roar of waves under the shuddering ship was drowned
by the clash of sword, ax and the terrific clang of Miolnir as the huge hammer
crashed down on helmets. Over all rose Thor's terrible battle-cry.
The flat of a Jotun ax struck my shoulder and sent me to my knees. A sword in
the hand of a yelling enemy gleamed high above my head. I gaped up, helpless. But
Frey stabbed in like a striking serpent. He helped me to my feet as the screaming
Jotun toppled overboard.
But a second Jotun craft had maneuvered alongside us. Enemy soldiers were
hurling grapples over our port side. Frey sprang to cut them loose, before the
hostile reinforcements could board us.
"The Hammerer! Kill the Hammerer!"
Shouting Jotuns leaped upon Thor's towering form like dogs trying to pull down a
bear. Miolnir flashed in his hand, almost a thing alive. But two axes crashed on his
helmet and he fell, stunned. I was seeking to cut the grapples of our first attacker.
My sword slashed the hide ropes. As the Jotun ship was drawn away from us by
the waves, I heard a choking cry of despair.
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Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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