sword and sliced Andronicus’ calf.
Andronicus stumbled and cried out, and Thor rolled back to his feet, as the two faced each other, each wounded.
“I’m stronger than you, son,” Andronicus said. “And more experienced in battle. Give in now. Your Druid powers will not work against me. It is just me against you, man to man, sword to sword. And as a warrior, I am better. You know this. Yield to me, and I shall not kill you.”
Thor scowled.
“I yield to no one! Least of all you!”
Thor forced himself to think of Gwendolyn, of what Andronicus had done to her, and his rage intensified. Now was the time. Thor was determined to finish Andronicus off, once and for all, to send this awful creature back to hell.
Thor charged with a final burst of strength, giving it all he had, letting out a great cry. He brought his sword down left and right, swinging so fast he could barely contain it, Andronicus blocking each one, even as he was pushed back, step by step. The fighting went on and on, and Andronicus seemed surprised that his son could exhibit such strength, and for so long.
Thor found his moment of opportunity when, for a moment, Andronicus’ arms grew tired. Thor swung for his axe head and connected, and managed to knock the blade from Andronicus’ hands. Andronicus watched it fly through the air, shocked, and Thor then kicked his father in the chest, knocking him down, flat on his back.
Before he could rise, Thor stepped forward and placed a foot on his throat. Thor had him pinned, and he stood there, looking down at him.
The entire battlefield was riveted as Thor stood over him, holding the tip of his sword to his father’s throat.
Andronicus, blood seeping from his mouth, smiled between his fangs.
“You cannot do it, son,” he said. “That is your great weakness. Your love for me. Just like my weakness for you. I could never bring myself to kill you. Not now, not your entire life. This entire battle is futility. You will let me go. Because you and I are one.”
Thor stood over him, hands shaking as he held the sword tip at his father’s throat. Slowly, he raised it. A part of him felt his father’s words to be true. How could he bring himself to kill his father?
But as he stared down, he considered all the pain, all the damage, his father had inflicted on everyone around him. He considered the price of letting him live. The price of compassion. It was too great a price to pay, not just for Thorgrin, but for everyone he loved and cared about. Thor glanced behind him and saw the tens of thousands of Empire soldiers whom had invaded his homeland, standing there, ready to attack his people. And this man was their leader. Thor owed it to his homeland. To Gwendolyn. And most of all, to himself. This man might be his father by blood, but that was all. He was not his father in any other sense of the word. And blood alone did not make a father.
Thor raised his sword high, and with a great cry, he swung it down.
Thor closed his eyes, and opened them to see the sword, embedded in the soil, right beside Andronicus’ head. Thor left it there and stepped back.
His father had been right: he had been unable to do it. Despite everything, he just could not bring himself to kill a defenseless man.
Thor turned his back on his father, facing his own people, facing Gwendolyn. Clearly he had won the battle; he had made his point. Now, Andronicus, if he had any honor, would have no choice but to return home.
“THORGRIN!” Gwendolyn screamed.
Thor turned to see, with shock, Andronicus’s axe swinging at him, coming right for his head. Thor ducked at the last second, and the axe flew by.
Andronicus was fast, though, and in the same motion he swung back around with his gauntlet and backhanded Thor across the jaw, knocking him down to his hands and knees.
Thor felt an awful cracking in his ribs, as Andronicus’ boot kicked him in the stomach, sending him rolling, gasping for air.
Thor lay on his hands and knees, breathing hard, blood dripping from his mouth, his ribs killing him, trying to muster the strength to get up. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Andronicus step forward, smile wide, and raise his axe high with both hands. He was aiming, Thor could see, to chop off Thor’s head. Thor could see it in his bloodshot eyes that Andronicus would have no mercy, as Thor had had.
“This is what I should have done thirty years ago,” Andronicus said.
Andronicus let out a great scream, as he brought his axe down for Thor’s exposed neck.
Thor, though, was not done fighting; he managed one last burst of energy, and despite all his pain, he scrambled to his feet and charged his father, tackling him around the ribs, driving him backwards, onto the ground, on his back.
Thor lay on top of him, wrestling him down, preparing to fight him with his bare hands. It had become a wrestling match. Andronicus reached up and grabbed Thor’s throat, and Thor was surprised by his strength; he felt himself losing air quickly as he was choked.
Thor grasped at his waist, desperate, searching for his dagger. The royal dagger, the one King MacGil had given him, before he died. Thor was losing air fast, and he knew if he didn’t find it soon, he’d be dead.
Thor found it with his last breath. He raised it high, and plunged it down with both hands, into Andronicus’ chest.
Andronicus shot up, gasping for air, eyes bulging in a death stare, as he sat up and continued to choke his son.
Thor, out of breath, was seeing stars, going limp.
Finally, slowly, Andronicus’ grip released, as his arms fell to his side. His eyes rolled sideways, and he stopped moving.
He lay there frozen. Dead.
Thor gasped as he pried his father’s limp hand from his throat, heaving and coughing, rolling off his father’s dead body.
His entire body was shaking. He had just killed his father. He had not thought it was possible.
Thor glanced around and saw all the warriors, both armies, staring at him in shock. Thor felt a tremendous heat course through his body, as if some profound shift had just occurred within him, as if he had wiped some evil part of himself. He felt changed, lighter.
Thor heard a great noise in the sky, like thunder, and he looked up and saw a small black cloud appear over Andronicus’ corpse, and a funnel of small black shadows, like demons, whirl down to the ground. They swirled around his father, encompassing him, howling, then lifted his body high into the air, higher and higher, until it disappeared into the cloud. Thor watched, in shock, and wondered to what hell his father’s soul would be dragged.
Thor looked up, and saw the Empire army facing him, tens and tens of thousands of men, vengeance in their eyes. The Great Andronicus was dead. Yet still, his men remained. Thor and the men of the Ring were still outnumbered a hundred to one. They had won the battle, but they were about to lose the war.
Erec and Kendrick and Srog and Bronson walked to Thor’s side, swords drawn, as they all faced the Empire together. Horns sounded up and down the Empire line, and Thor prepared to face battle one last time. He knew they could not win. But at least they would all go down together, in one great clash of glory.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Reece marched beside Selese, Illepra, Elden, Indra, O’Connor, Conven, Krog and Serna, the nine of them marching west, as they had been for hours, ever since emerging from the Canyon. Somewhere, Reece knew, his people were on the horizon, and, dead or alive, he was determined to find them.
Reece had been shocked as they had passed through a landscape of destruction, endless fields of corpses, littered by feasting birds, charred from the breath of dragons. Thousands of Empire corpses lined the horizon, some of them still smoking. The smoke from their bodies filled the air, the unbearable stench of burning flesh
