LV:TR - 12 Valkyrie

Launa Viander: Trickster's Retribution
October 20th: Valkyrie
by Xenny Diemes

The Valkyrie, the chooser of the slain, the ones who will die in battle. Surely a real testament of the female role in battle compared to modern times and if Launa had have the chance and the timing she would be considered the rarest of the rare breed of warriors among the vikings who can burn, plunder, pillage and kill and they were women that you probably never heard of but Launa knows of their existence before being a honorary True Viking later on. The were the Valkyries. The female counterpart of the savage brethren who dominated the viking lands, constantly doing all the things mentioned before but far more brutal and before the trickster into play. Launa incidentally joined them as a "sorceress" for the horde developing strategies and even developing the edge they need to win the battles. But never once ever fought or be respected as a fight like the rest of them and for the past fifty years the sorceress had to prove herself among the mighty males before even going near with the Valkyries.

Magic can only go so far for someone whose physique in their eyes would be fitting for a virgin ripe for mating but with cold hisses and jutted claws. Launa would dare anyone come near hear for such a purpose. It happened when one rogue and horny viking wanted a piece of her dark, inhuman, maiden frame. Struggling to hold her down the viking beats and brutally subdues her to get what he wants or else she would die. Launa in a flash of memory of how she was treated the last time snaps and brutally clawed his right eye out and gets smacked down hard. In bloody rage, the viking tries to cut down Launa but proved herself too skilled and swift to take on the one-eyed warriors' hit and in a series of hard slashes and even a feral bite into his throat to rip out his jugular, Launa brutally kills the unruly viking with fanged mouth bloodied and her instincts riding on high.

The leader of the Viking horde, Vorgandurr walked in to see the damage and reveals to her that in his own demeanor is responsible for bringing in that brute to see if she's even worthy to get what she wants. Most maidens would never be allowed to near battle let alone be part of it and if she wanted to be part of the Valkyries. Vorgandurr needs to see if Launa can be stronger than the males if he wanted to see her as an equal. Even sending out one of his best men to a kill-or-be killed situation if she has what it takes and she has.

Launa, still over-psyched from the kill and blind with rage from Vorgandurr's reason, she didn't want to waste an ounce of magic on this brute and brutally grabs the large man with her hand, Choking the leader until he falls on his knees and in a furious tone close to speaking like a demon from the lowest depths of hell. Launa recklessly threatens that if he any any of his goons were to pull this mean little stunt on her again, she will do far worse than the fool he sent out to rape her. Releasing her grip she walks past him and silently gives her thanks for finally letting to prove herself but could have done it differently. As the years follow and Launa donned her armor and blade to join the Valkyries in the pillaging and plundering of various villages and towns all across northern Europe and Scandinavia. No one was safe from her wrath and when the day was done, she joined the other ladies who were bigger and stronger than her joined them chugging down beers and even wrestling with some of them. They even gave her a name to match her inhuman exterior and mastery of her sword: Svarte Blad, Black Blade.

But all those joyous times have to come to an end in one long battle when they were overwhelmed and killed one by one by other competing barbarians. Launa fought hard to keep her fellow vikings alive for long but she too became slain like the rest of them. Or so they thought for not her immortality and escapes the invading hordes. Later she had her revenge spanning over fifty years wiping out every last one of them. Launa carries with her the savage nature of those she joined. She in that time is no longer the trickster who would use deception and illusion to get her way like times before. Now if she wants to she can use brute force and blade to make her point. This was one in a series of events that would make her what the modern world knows her best: A Warrior Trickster and this was before she got her muscles. A little hidden history before she has been deemed a True Viking centuries later.


=====

Retribution #9
Dreams of a Fallen Yesteryear pt. 1

Launa fights off a horde of desperate vandals who are keen on the great prize that is the former guardian of Haelen and Gaul. From skilled archers to wild, unyielding fools wanting fame for slaying this black-pelted warrior. To her, they were easy to slay with her bare hands and the rest were just easy kill with her battle axe. Never a moment of peace was given to hear without it being filled by a fool who wanted to claim fame to slaying the beast. But Launa is too skilled in letting them take her life, not when there's still vengeance still strong her in mind for such a betrayal of trust. The lone warrior now done with the first wave of fighters needs to take a rest near a remote spot far from a nearby village and leans against a tree. She is weary from the stress and trouble of fighting those who stood in her way and needs rest.

Launa dreamed a deep dream, slowly loosing consciousness and train of thought of her surroundings and pulls her self back and farther back all the way into the beginning of her long road to her current state. She started out as a simple girl who wandered alone in the woods until she was captured by a rogue witch. Rogues have been a constant threat across the continent long before the growth of this new empire. They have been known to capture children to perform many ghastly experiments with their dark arts, others who were the lucky ones end up becoming the rogues' own little pet minions, the black cats that they always keep. Launa was just a mischevious little girl who didn't take much heed in her parent's warnings not to stray too far into the forests at night until that very night, Launa was followed and soon chased by wolves up into a shack where she encountered what she thought was a simple woman but instead the very rogue witch that would change her life forever.

Waking up suddenly to the sound a simple crack, Launa encounters a wolf creeping up in front of her. But it wasn't a young and agile type but and old and dying at least to what it appeared in Launa's eyes. She didn't move, showed no fear just gave a cold, steady stare at the old wolf. It's ragged fur, scars on parts of its body and deep moans can tell in her own heart that this creature is soon close to death. She stood up to face this age-battled beast with her axe in hand not moving a muscle to even shift it. The wolf however knows that it couldn't attack Launa, not because of instinct, and not because it's a trespasser of its territory, it was just it's own time. It slowly walked back into the woods, fading into the darkness where it came from, leaving Launa to rest again. Pondering why the wolf didn't even bother to even so much to attack but instead of pondering further, she hears the cries of a person, a person who needs help.

She would hesitate on the fact that she's on the run but this voice sounded too familiar just to leave it alone. If this were a grown man the victim would be on their own and suffer the consequences. This however was the cries of a small child, one who shouldn't deserve this fate. The ex-maternal instincts in her compels her to go after and stop whatever danger is in place. As for the old wolf who walked away from Launa earlier, little are aware of this phenomenon but when a predatory animal willfully walks away from its prey during its old age it only means one of two things: It's nearing its own time in this world or that the prey is about to face a death greater than the predator.  Nature does always have a way with making the cruelest acts in the name of its own nature of playing games to those who are out of nature such as Launa.

To Be Continued...