On the Count of Three

Holly watched in fascination as Ben and Mark battled the giant chicken. It was unbelievable that they were fighting such a ridiculous animal. Suddenly an arm grabbed her wrist and she let out a little yelp. She looked down into the eyes of the dwarf.

“You need… you need to get… away.” The Dwarf said. His words coming out in slow shallow breaths. “Get off of… Yggdrasil”

“We are not going to leave you!” grabbing the dwarfs hand with her own. “We’re all going to get away. We are going to take you to the doctor.”

“Baa… you’re the reason I haven’t already gone. Your pull… it is too strong. It’s what holding… what’s holding us here” The dwarf said. “Get your brothers… walk back home. Get off the tree! Don’t worry about me girl… not the first time…”

Wlfric started to push himself to his feet. He only got halfway up before falling down onto one knee. Holly tried to put one of his arms around her shoulder but he just huffed at her and gently pushed her away. Starting to breath heavy he picked up Holly’s axe and put it back into her hands.

“I’ll be fine her girl… do what I say and get yourself off the tree.” He looked out the tent. His eyes growing wider at the sight of Ben and Mark battling the chicken. “By Oden’s spear… those boys must have some giant in them.” He grabbed Holly by the back of the neck and she thought she heard a small click but at the moment all she could see was Wolfrics intense expression. “You need to think about going back to midgard… then you need to walk… walk off the tree. Hurry!”

With that he turned her around and pushed her out of the tent. She turned to see his stern face that brook no room for arguments. She felt a sting in her eyes that was the promise of tears and she quickly looked away. Gripping the axe in both her hands she started running to her brothers.

Wolfic watched Holly run toward the sound of battle. Her wild hair bouncing, his axe gripped tightly in her hand. The bright shine of silver flashed around her neck and was gone. He put a hand to his head suddenly dizzy and sat down.

“You’re starting to get old.” He said to himself. “Trying to fight a Hôniôn by yourself.” He looked again at the battle. One of the redhead lads, the bigger one, was wrapped around the neck of the bird while the other was circling it with a spear. “Seeing things you want to see.”

But he had felt it. Power coming off of them in waves, even the girl. It was one of the reasons he wasn’t surprised to see them come into his shop. And it was probably why the Hôniôn showed up in the first place. He had been confused by them not knowing anything. They must have all been abandoned. Sadly he shook his head and immediately regretted it. If the girl kept her head they should be fine. He felt a slight tug, not physical, just something he knew was there and smiled. Time to worry about himself now.

Holly arrived just in time to see Mark flying off the back off the chicken and straight into Ben. Together the destroyed another tent, one of many already marking the battleground. The Hôniôn let out another terrible scream cocking its head to the side. Holly knew that any moment it would try to skewer her brothers. Screaming she threw her axe with all her strength. This time the axe flew true. Well truer than what Holly was expecting, at least, and lodged itself in the monsters beak. The giant chicken let out a roar and started to scratch at its face with a talon trying to dislodge the axe. Holly run up to her brothers, who had already started to get to their feet.

“Where’s the dwarf?” Ben coughed. The wild look in his eyes fading away.

“He told us to get away.” Holly replied. Honestly a little miffed that they hadn’t said anything about her awesome throw. Even if it had been an accident. A loud screech announced the Hôniôn had successfully dislodged the axe. It turned its large eyes on the three siblings and started to make its way towards them.

“Watch out Holly!” Mark said reaching toward her. Holly had had enough off being protected though. Instead she grabbed both Ben and Marks hand turned and stared the oncoming monster chicken in the eye.

“LEAVE US ALONE!” She screamed, pouring all her willpower into her words. Miraculously the Hôniôn stopped dead in its tracks. Not only that but it started to back up shaking its head side to side but never breaking eye contact with Holly.

“On the count of three we are all going to imagine that we are walking off of a tree back to where we came from.” Holly said gripping her brothers hands more tightly. “One..” the Hôniôn stopped shaking its head, it looked at the three and let out a loud screaming roar. “Two…” the chicken started to run at them like a train in high gear. “Three!” and they all took a step forward.