It seemed like we would be fighting forever, but he was pushing me back up the slope.

 

The tree.

 

If we damaged the tree. Some symbolic thing there, something bad would happen, and it caused me to redouble my efforts.

 

I was bleeding, and my blood felt like fire, and I saw red. Yet, I still could not get all the way through his guard, nor he through mine. How long could two such as us fight if we were this evenly matched.

 

Then, abruptly, he broke off. He stared at the sky for a moment, then turned and ran.

 

I could not help but follow his gaze.

 

A star hovered above us. Watching. Threatening and promising. I knew it was the one from the vision.

 

And he ran.

 

“The king is the land is the king,” I said upwards.

 

I got no response in words.

 

I got understanding. He was running, though. Once the others realized, they ran after him. Well, the six that were still alive.

 

“What…” Thruor looked up at the star.

 

“I think we got a bit too much attention.”
Then I set off after Surtur. I had to. I could not let him get away. Could not bring myself to admit that he had escaped. I was already exhausted as I ran down the mountain, as swiftly as I could over the strange terrain.

 

I saw Thruor drop past me, envied her the wings for sure right now. She could get ahead of him that way.

 

Was it her task after all? I had certainly softened him up for her if so.

 

The star hovered above us, but then I dropped into a wall of giants.

 

They could only come at me one at a time, the first with an axe, but I had no way to get around them and what was true of them was true of me…my backup could not assist either.

 

All I could do was fight and wish he had not run. This was supposed to be the place.

 

Or perhaps it was supposed to be the place for something else, perhaps my mind had confused visions with each other. I was no Norn to keep such things straight.

 

Maybe they couldn’t either and that was why they were so cryptic.
The giant’s hand, and her axe, went falling off the mountain, followed by stones.

 

I could not keep this up much longer.

 

My best hope was that they were under orders not to kill me.