Under A Winter Sun by Johan Dahlgren (ink ebook reader txt) 📕

side of the head. I'm not sure how effective my blows are, but he howls in pain when I punch his ear.

Pain is good, because it pisses him off, and you can outsmart a pissed off Goliath.

Unless he's got help.

Two enormous hands grab me from behind and pull me off Berengar's back and throw me across the room.

The Wolf twins pull the Defiler to his feet and all three turn on me.

Oh, dear.

The Tree of Life

The crowd goes wild as the band moves into another riveting chorus, raising it a notch. They are syncing their music to the fight. Impressive musicianship.

Berengar and the Wolf twins charge, and I have no more time to enjoy the artists' skill.

One twin goes for my legs. I jump out of his reach only to get caught in the hands of the other who pins my arms to my sides. Berengar roars and lands a fist in my face and everything goes blurry white. A split-second later I'm back and take another punch in the face. The massive blows crack my skull. By now I should be dead and Berengar knows that. He looks a little puzzled as he lands a third blow and I keep breathing.

He says something to the twin holding me, and my arms are released.

I drop to my knees, trying to gather my senses.

Now would be a marvellous time for the General to come calling.

Like a thousand ants crawling under my skin, the nanites swarm into overdrive to repair my broken face. I'm not sure they will be quick enough to save me from the Defiler.

Berengar gets behind me and puts one slab of a hand on my shoulder as if to comfort me. Then he grabs me under the chin with the other and pulls.

Oh, fuck. Not the head.

A tendon tears in my neck and I claw at his trunklike arm, slipping in the blood pouring from his broken nose.

A guttural roar tears from Berengar's chest as he pulls on my neck with all his Goliath strength and berserker rage. The crowd cheers. Something snaps in my back, and reality goes monochromatic and fuzzy at the edges.

What a sad way to die, in a miner's bar on Nifelheim, being torn to pieces by an arsehole like Berengar. The Goliaths will probably not even write a song about it.

My mind does the familiar somersault. Finally. Where the fuck have you been, general Meridian?

Berengar pulls on, and I'm worried even Meridian won't be a match for the Defiler.

Then everything flashes white and the general slips away like a cheap hooker from your bed at sunrise.

What? Isn't there supposed to be a tunnel first?

Another voice cuts through the noise of the fighting and the music. Some shape and colour return to the world and the voice comes again. Berengar releases my head and I collapse on the floor.

My cheek lands in something cold and wet.

Snow.

The bright light comes from the open door.

The setting sun shines through an opening in the low, dark clouds, straight into my eyes.

It's beautiful.

I'm rolled over onto my back and dragged through the door by one leg. One of these days it would be nice to actually walk out of a bar.

I blink to clear my vision, and after a few tries, the world swims back into focus. My neck is a nexus of pain but at least the bloody music has stopped.

I lie in the snow outside the bar. The sun hurts my eyes.

“Welcome back, Perez. I lost you for a moment.”

“Yeah, I almost died, Aeryn, remember?”

“No, before that. I couldn't reach you.”

“Must have been a glitchy connection or something.”

“I don't glitch.”

“Aeryn, go away.”

“Whatever.” It clicks off.

A Goliath leans over me, and it looks like he's about to slap my face.

“Hey, stop it, I'm awake,” I grumble.

He must have slapped me around already because my cheeks hurt like hell. “I'm awake.”

He reaches out to me, and I squint at the newcomer.

It's Wagner's baby brother, Eirik the Fair.

Baby in this context meaning younger. Eirik Wagner is far from a baby.

He's almost as large as Finn but carries himself with a different grace. Even kneeling in the snow, he looks all regal and shit.

“Eirik. Long time no see.” I grab his outstretched hand, and he yanks me to my feet. I slip on a patch of ice, but his grip is like a vice, and he keeps me upright without effort. Standing on his knees, he is as tall as I am.

“Do I know you, little man?” He gets to his feet to tower over me. His English is flawless like his silver-beaded beard and flowing locks of golden hair. If the other Goliaths are wolves, Eirik is a Lion. He is a handsome bastard. He even smells good.

“It's me. Perez.” I try to smile through my bloody and broken teeth. The teeth always take the longest to regrow.

Eirik furrows his brow, trying to place me.

I try to jog his memory. “Asher Perez? Finn's friend?”

His brow shoots up.

“Yes, I remember you.” The brow comes down again. “You look different.”

Shit. This is not the body he saw me in last time.

Improvise, Perez, improvise.

“I had surgery a few years back. My face got messed up in a fight.” Not too far from the truth.

He tilts his head to one side.

“Can't say they did any improvements to your face. I hope you didn't pay them in full.”

I smile. “Never said I was happy with the job.” My mouth hurts when I smile.

Jagr and the girls stand back, waiting. So does Berengar.

Eirik beams. “A frende of Thorfinn's is a frende of mine. How about we go back inside, I buy you people a round, and we forget about this incident? My man has a temper, is all.”

So, the Defiler works for Eirik. Interesting.

It's not a coincidence Berengar showed up right after we arrived, and it's not a coincidence Eirik showed up in time to save our sorry asses.

They planned this to test us. Eirik was always too clever for his own good.

The priest must