In the Lap of the Gods - Short Story - Finish the Story Contest

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This is my second entry in @f3nix Finish the Story Contest. The prompt, or start of the story, was written by @cyemela and is highlighted below in quotation to differentiate between their work and mine. The idea of the exercise is that I finish the story, and try to do it in 500 words. I was lucky with this prompt as I have a deep love of Norse mythology and this time I got closer to the word limit with 697 words πŸ˜‰

@cyemela's beginning:

Third Wheel Coming



Some years had passed since the Priest of Durham married The Lady of Berwickshire to her Scottish Prince.

The time drifted along peacefully as he’d settled back in his role with the people.

And so, as he had way back when, he rode his horse to the Durham seashore to watch the waves and pray.

Only far off upon the horizon, he could see a ship rowing toward him. As it got closer he could see the danger and rode away back to the village.

Ulfric Red Beard and his Viking army landed on the shore then moved inland.

The Priest of Durham made it back to the village in time to warn the constable. The constable alerted the local militia. The nobles were notified and scrambled knights on horseback.

When Ulfric Red Beard reached the village he met the English forces defending the town. The Vikings outnumbered them 3 to 1 because of the element of surprise.

Ulfric Red Beard stood seven feet tall, a giant in the 1490s, he walked onto the battlefield, raised his battle axe above his head, and yelled foaming at the mouth:

β€œI’m going to behead the first Englishman that steps within reach!”

Just then the skies opened and an alien spaceship appeared from nowhere, hovering above them.

The epilogue of these events got lost within the folds of history, due to memories being purposely erased. However, there remains the following one last account of what took place that day.


@raj808's ending:

In the Lap of the Gods

Ulfric bellowed in joyful praise to the gods. Thor's mighty chariot rode the sky parting the clouds just as the sun parted the cold mists of Niflheim. Runes of fire flashed across the flanks of the chariot, drawn not by stallion or fettered mare but in the heat of fire from Freya's eyes.

Ulfric wept blissful tears knowing that Asgard was watching. He pressed his battleaxe to his forehead in salute and looked at the ranks of shield folk before him.

"Heed me now Norsemen. Behold Thor in the sky hailed by Freya's ever burning passion. Take courage that this battle is already won. Your swords and axes will taste the blood of their yeomen and you shall plow the fertile fields of English women. Odin waits to trick the weak and reward the brave, cunning all father waiting by Yggdrasil tree. Harken to him and follow me now to battle and to victory or the halls of Valhalla."


His great axe led the charge as a thousand Norsemen thundered across the field.

The Scottish prince sat on his chestnut mare looking to the chariot in the sky, head upturned as others cowered in fear.

"What is this devilry priest?"

He turned to look at the man, small in stature but no lesser man in facing this apparition. The priests eyes flared in wonder, sparking golden light from the suns face. Unsullied or marred by fear, free of the wash of tears that struck so many others, he proclaimed loudly for all to hear.

"Good men of England pure and true. Look on the face of Gabriel archangel resplendent in heaven's field. Lift yourself from fear and dread and behold the fanfares of her trumpet."

An almighty earth shaking rumble blasted from the apparition as the priest continued.

"Lift your swords and strap armor tight as God is my strength Gabriel proclaims in her very name. Trust in this, we will win this day."

The Scottish prince stared at this man of god, so small in stature yet great of mind and a smile spread across his face like smoke from the autumn coppice. His eyes smoldered as he lifted his sword and the army charged as one man.

Breath beating a rhythm in blood-soaked heart gladdening death song. Ulfric swung his axe while singing to the gods, tongue lolling in the crack of bone and rip of sinew, forging a path of meat to meet the prince. He spun a pirouette around a pikeman's lazy thrust, cutting his calves with the axe on a downswing only to slash the face of a
knight on the upthrust. This one was in full plate, he smashed the knight in the back toppling him like a tree and called for his guard to finish him off.

Suddenly the prince's horse spurred toward him and he crouched low diving into a roll as he passed, taking a ringing blow to his ribs. He came up out of the roll to see his brother Sigurd impale the princes rearing horse with the pikeman's discarded weapon. Sigurd screamed his blood lust to Thor.

The prince toppled to the ground and Ulfric pounced on him knife in hand twisting it into his throat at the seam of plate and helmet. A death rattle escaped his lips as Ulfric drank from the fountain of blood spurting from the princes jugular. Battle lust took him fully, and he howled like a wolf gazing up to the sky arms upraised to Thor's chariot.

White light enveloped him. Flaring from the base of Thor's chariot and spreading out to engulf the world and draw him up to Asgard.

The priest stared in horror at the devil clothed in man's skin, arms upraised in howling salute to his heathen all father. Heavenly light flared in the sky and everything opened out into the bright absolute of almighty god.

Ulfric gazed around at the English knights and Norsemen standing all together in empty halls of luminous white. Unhorsed, unclothed and without weapons, they all stood there in silence as the gods emerged from the mist.

The end.

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The pictures used in this post are all creative commons pic's from pixabay.com. Please follow link 1, link 2 & link 3 to credit. If you would like to read more about viking mythology, here is the site I always visit when memory fails me, norse-mythology.org. If you have enjoyed this short fiction you can check out my other work on my homepage @raj808. Thanks for reading.


If you would like to join a fantastic community where we strive to help new steemians grow and develop, why not join me at #promo-mentors discord group which you can find here. I am one of the poetry/fiction mentors over at #promo-mentors, if you have any questions or need any guidance with either of these tags please don't hesitate to ask for me, @raj808.


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