The druid queen, p.17
The Druid Queen:, page 17
part #16 of Path of the Ranger Series
“I’m a Crazy Crow just like you. I have a right to be in these sewers. And I have a right to challenge you,” Viggo said, pointing his finger at Klaus.
“You’re not one of us and have no rights to anything!”
“I’m not? What do you say, Lex, Sean, Mike, Brendan?” Viggo asked, jabbing his finger at each of them.
The rest of the youngsters waited expectantly. They were wondering whether to follow the order or not. Ingrid knew that Viggo did not have much time. The moment one of them attacked he would be in big trouble.
“He’s one of us,” Mike said. “He taught me what I know. He was my comrade for many years. If he’s still alive, he’s still one of our own. Once you’re in you never leave the syndicate.”
“Thanks, Mike, you were always honest and true,” Viggo bowed slightly in recognition.
“He’s a Crazy Crow,” said Sean. “One we were told was dead. He seems to be alive, so he’s one of us. Once you’re a Crazy Crow you’re a Crazy Crow forever. That’s what the syndicate rules say.”
“As you can see, the ambush Klaus set up for me didn’t turn out as he’d expected,” Viggo said, spreading his arms open and exposing his body.
“Don’t accuse me of anything unless you can prove it!”
“I don’t need to prove it. I know you betrayed me, that you sent me to my death in order to clear the path to the throne you now occupy. I know it, and the rest of the crew leaders know it. You can deny it all you want, but that’s the truth,” Viggo said with assurance. “That’s why I’m here today. I want to pay the debt that was left pending. I’m going to kill you and take away that throne that doesn’t belong to you.”
“In your dreams! Kill him!”
The youngsters began to move toward Viggo with their knives in their hands.
“I have a right to challenge you as a Crazy Crow!” Viggo cried in a firm tone filled with authority.
“Kill him, I said! Kill him and make him shut up!” Klaus shouted furiously, standing in front of his throne.
The first boys were reaching Viggo, who had not taken out his knives. The situation was getting increasingly complicated in the blink of an eye. Even so, Viggo kept his cool as if nothing could affect him, as if he had a right to be there and do what he was doing. He knew that if he initiated the confrontation, he would not be able to stop the bloody events that would follow. So, he decided not to. He did not want any bloodshed, not of those kids,’ only Klaus’s. Treachery had to be paid for, and today Klaus would pay for what he had done, one way or another.
“Stop! He has a right to challenge the leader!” Mike said.
“No he doesn’t! Do as I say!” Klaus cried.
“He’s one of us, he does have a right,” Sean said.
“They’re our rules, and we follow them. We all know them!” said Brendan.
“I’m a Crazy Crow, and it’s my right to challenge the leader. I’m challenging you, Crow Leader,” Viggo insisted, pointing his finger at Klaus.
They all turned to look at Klaus. Ingrid was afraid he would order his boys to kill Viggo again. The younger ones seemed anxious to please their leader, to show their worth and kill the stranger. The older ones though looked disgusted. They did not seem to agree with what their leader was doing. If what Viggo said was true and he had a right to challenge the leader, and so it seemed from what a number of the older ones had said, the leader would have to fight Viggo. That was not a relief at all since it put Viggo at risk once again, but at least he would not have to fight half the syndicate.
Klaus was glaring at Viggo with eyes half closed.
“If you want to die, I won’t stop you! I accept your challenge as Leader of the Crows.”
Viggo smiled. He had achieved his purpose.
“I’m glad you’re not changing the rules to suit your own convenience, that wouldn’t be very nice.”
“The rules of the Syndicate are the ones we live by and die for. I always respect them, I don’t alter them. You’ve been acknowledged as a Crow and as such you have a right to challenge me,” Klaus cried, covering his previous denial.
“You’re even more twisted than you were back in the day.”
“I’m the Crow Leader! I’m the law in the sewers!”
“And as a Crow, I challenge you, Klaus,” Viggo said coldly.
Klaus took out a long knife and showed it to Viggo.
“I’m going to take your guts out! Move away, he’s mine!”
The Crows moved back at once, leaving Viggo in the middle of the hall.
Ingrid breathed out in relief. Things had come close to being disastrous. Now, Viggo had to fight the leader. He looked tough and clever. He would be dangerous. Viggo would have to be wary.
Viggo took out one of his knives and showed it to Klaus.
The challenge was completed.
As Klaus came down from his mountain to where Viggo was waiting, a chanting started among the Crows.
“Challenge to the Leader, fight for the Crow Throne!”
The Crows made a large circle around Viggo and Klaus, who had come down from his throne and was standing three paces from Viggo.
“Challenge to the Leader, fight for the Throne!” the chanting continued, all the voices joining together and growing stronger.
“It’ll be like the old times. Only now I’ll defeat you and avenge your betrayal against me,” Viggo said with a lethal glare.
“I’ve defeated you many times and will do so again,” Klaus replied.
“That was years ago. Things change. They change a lot,” Viggo replied with a dangerous smile.
“You always believed yourself to be better than you actually were. Today you’re going to pay for your arrogance with your life,” Klaus showed him his other long knife with a bejeweled pommel.
“It’s me who’s going to make you swallow yours, and I’ll make you pay for what you tried to do and couldn’t accomplish.”
They both began to move, facing one another in a circle, showing their weapons, measuring one another.
“I’ll have to finish what I started, and I’ll do so gladly. I never should’ve let you get out alive.”
“I’ll agree with you on that.”
The chanting rose louder. No one cheered either of the contenders, they only chanted the same two sentences as if they were a dogma.
Klaus launched his attack suddenly, without warning, leaping forward and delivering a cut at Viggo’s face. The attack was so fleeting that it would have caught many unaware. Not Viggo though. He threw his head back faster than the attack and the blade brushed in front of his face without grazing him.
“Times change, Klaus. Your games won’t work on me now.”
“I’ll kill you all the same!” Klaus lunged twice, at Viggo’s stomach and neck.
Viggo avoided the thrusts easily without using his own knives, simply by shifting his weight. He seemed able to anticipate his rival’s movements, and the Crows stared in awe at what was going on.
Ingrid watched closely, a little worried. She knew that Viggo was in fact reacting to the attacks at tremendous speed and was measuring distance and risk before moving and before the attack ended.
“Your attacks seem a little slow,” Viggo said to his rival with a triumphant smile.
Klaus did not appreciate the mocking and delivered several quick repeated thrusts at Viggo’s body, seeking his heart. Viggo took half a step to the left, and as Klaus was correcting the direction of his attack to catch him Viggo made two more swift, measured movements around Klaus. The knife stroke hit nothing but air. They were always two fingers away from Viggo’s torso but fell short.
“I’m going to kill you!” Klaus yelled, enraged, and lunged forward to attack like a madman, slashing and thrusting and cutting with all his strength as fast as he could.
Viggo had to raise his arms at the furious attacks and started to block them with his Ranger knives, deflecting Klaus’s with amazing speed and coordination. But he was only defending himself, not counter-attacking. He seemed not to want to fight, only to infuriate the leader of the syndicate by ridiculing him in front of everyone. It looked like Klaus was losing his mind from the rage he was feeling because of being made a fool in his own lair.
With every failed attack Klaus grew more enraged. He let loose two bursts of irate and uncontrolled attacks driven by the frustration he felt for Viggo responding with sliding away from his reach, like a dancer doing a dance around a bonfire and avoiding the flames that tried to reach him.
Klaus went on delivering attacks and trying to reach Viggo. He quickly changed his strategy, seeing he could not even graze him. Klaus started making feint movements, leaving his guard open so Viggo would attack and then catch him with a counter-attack. Unfortunately for the leader of the syndicate, Viggo did not fall for his tricks. He saw them and ignored them. He would not take the bait. Instead, he smiled, amused, as if this were no more than a game to him.
Klaus’s frustration at not being able to hurt Viggo reached its limit.
“Fight, you bastard!” he yelled, enraged.
“I can defeat you without even trying, so why make the effort,” Viggo smiled.
Klaus took this as the worst of insults. He was being laughed at, in front of all his people. It was a terrible humiliation. He was being ridiculed, being made a fool.
Unable to bear it any longer, he renewed his attacks without control, charging like a raging bull. After a failed knife thrust by Klaus, Viggo tripped him and, unbalanced as he already was from his own impulse, he fell down.
The chanting stopped when they saw the leader of the Crows humiliated on the ground. His face was so red with rage that it seemed like it was going to explode.
“Is this the great Leader of the Crows? Incapable of delivering the slightest cut to his rival?”
“Kill him! Don’t let him live to tell!” Klaus ordered his people from the ground.
But none of the Crows moved. Not even the younger ones.
“They’re not going to intervene. I challenged you and you accepted. No one’s going to intervene. It’s against the rules. They know it. They respect the Rule. Not like their cowardly, treacherous leader.”
“A thousand gold coins to whoever kills him!” Klaus offered, pointing at one of his chests.
The money offered did have an effect. The younger ones began to exchange glances—it was a fortune. More than they would ever get. It would enable them to live a normal life forever, far from all this. A couple started toward Viggo, squinting with the look of one seeking blood.
“Everyone, stop!” Mike cried. “Nobody intervenes in the fight!”
“We’ll gut anyone who interferes!” Sean threatened.
“It’s forbidden to intervene in a challenge!” shouted another crew leader.
The young ones stopped, thought again, and withdrew.
No one intervened.
Viggo smiled.
“I see the rules…” he started to say, when Klaus threw a handful of moldy, filthy dirt at his face from the ground.
Viggo raised his arm to cover his face. Part of the dirt could not reach him, but the part that did unfortunately went into his eyes and suddenly Viggo could not see.
Klaus got up like a crouched tiger and lunged at his prey. Viggo could not see and the leader’s knives sought his stomach.
Ingrid’s heart skipped a beat. He was going to get killed!
Viggo jumped backward with the same speed Klaus had lunged with to kill. The leader’s two slashes brushed his stomach.
“Die!” Klaus yelled and threw two knives at Viggo’s heart.
Unable to see and trying to recover, Viggo took a tremendous leap backward from pure instinct. But he tripped on something behind his back and started to fall.
Ingrid could stand it no longer. She put her head through the opening and was about to go down to intervene.
“Now you’re mine!” Klaus yelled as he jumped on his prey.
Viggo threw himself to one side as he was falling, in an evasive action. Then he rolled to the left twice more like a balled-up porcupine escaping from a predator.
Klaus launched several attacks trying to reach Viggo, but he only managed to graze his right shoulder.
Viggo somersaulted forward twice, and as he did so he reached for his Ranger belt.
“Stop!” Klaus cried out and chasing Viggo as he delivered frantic thrusts that did not reach his target. Viggo would not stop moving defensively, thereby not presenting a static target.
As if he were obeying Klaus’s last order, Viggo suddenly stood still, crouched. Klaus was at his back.
“It’s your death!” Klaus yelled and stabbed Viggo in the back.
With a lightning move, Viggo turned around and deflected the knife in Klaus’s right hand, as he sought Viggo’s back, with his left knife. Klaus’s eyes opened wide when he saw that Viggo’s face and eyes were wet.
He had wiped his eyes clean!
Klaus tried to stop his advance on Viggo but it was too late. The inertia of his own attack drove him upon him. The Crow Leader delivered another knife stroke with his left hand.
Viggo moved at a crouch to let the stroke pass him by brushing his ribs, and with a movement Klaus did not even see, he stabbed him in the heart. Viggo’s knife went in, pierced the heart, and came out so fast that only a few of those present were able to see it.
Klaus took two steps forward, looked down at his chest with eyes wide open, and fell to his knees. He dropped his two knives, gave out a muffled cry of rage, fell to one side, and died.
Chapter 17
Viggo stood up.
Ingrid, half her body already into the hall, quickly backed up as best as she could so no one saw her. Everyone had their eyes on what was happening in the fight so no one noticed her presence.
Two of the crew leaders went over to Klaus to check that he was dead. They bent over him and stated the fact.
“The Crow Leader is dead!” the first one proclaimed.
“Let the new Crow Leader rule!” cried the second, pointing at Viggo.
Everyone in the hall began to repeat the proclamation at the top of their voices.
“Viggo is the new Crow Leader!” Sean cried.
The cheers continued.
“Viggo, new Crow Leader!”
“He’s the winner! To the throne!” they called.
“Put him on the throne!” they went on shouting at the top of their voices.
Viggo spread his arms wide with his knives in his hands. He turned slowly so everyone could see him well.
Ingrid was watching carefully, knowing full well that Viggo was enjoying his success. She shook her head and sighed. That was Viggo. You either loved him or hated him. She could understand that he had wanted revenge for a betrayal in his past, even if she did not approve. The risk he had taken to avenge himself had been too high. Viggo would not see it that way, she had no doubt about it, but if she did not manage to make him see the unnecessary risks he took, sooner or later they would find themselves in trouble they would not know how to get out of. She was not angry at Viggo, although she should have been. She was concerned for his inability to see the dangers he took and the dangerous situations he got into without being really aware of them, or at least not as aware as he should be.
Viggo climbed up to the throne slowly so that they would all see him. He stood at the top and looked at the two chests. He put his weapons away and knelt beside the chests, staring at their contents. He put his hands in one of the chests and then in the other. He smiled from ear to ear. In one hand he was holding gold and in the other jewels. He threw them at the youngsters at the foot of the pile of grime.
The cheering stopped. They were all puzzled, not knowing what to do.
“Take it, it’s yours!” Viggo cried.
No one dared. They were looking at one another; they seemed to think it was some kind of test or trick and that if they took it, they would pay for it with blood.
“Come on, take it! You’ve earned it!” Viggo said, throwing them more handfuls of gold and jewels.
This time one of the youngest bent down, unable to hold back, and took a gold coin. With fearful eyes he looked at those around him in case someone might attack him for what he had done. The crew leaders and the older boys were staring at Viggo as if they were waiting for an order to punish the perpetrator.
The order did not come.
Viggo threw several more handfuls of coins and valuable objects at the feet of the Crows.
“Take them, they’re yours! It’s your reward for the work you’ve done!” he shouted and continued putting his hands in the chests and throwing the contents to them by the handful.
Ingrid was watching, spellbound. If there was one thing she would never have expected of Viggo, it was that he would be throwing away riches. On the contrary, she was almost certain that Viggo had planned to take those two chests away with him. She had thought that the whole challenge to Klaus had been to take his place and keep his treasure. What she was witnessing made no sense. It would surely stop soon. Viggo was not going to squander all those riches.
But Viggo did not stop throwing away the contents of the two chests to the Crows. They all vied to get something. There was pushing and shoving but no fights so far. Everyone, younger and older, was filling their pockets with the treasure Klaus had accumulated in his rule as the leader of the syndicate. Many stared at Viggo as if he had lost his mind. This was the last thing they had expected.
Ingrid looked on, unable to believe what she was seeing while Viggo threw away the riches as if he were some mythological being who had come to this world of filth and darkness to spread riches among the unfortunate that populated it. As if that gesture could bring light and hope to the dingy sewers.
