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

fire. Chunks of concrete spray into the chill night. We're fucked.

But I recognised one of the Goliaths.

If I play my cards right, I could give the others a chance to reach the Sundowner.

“Go.” I point them back around the building. “Get to the airfield. I'll handle this.”

Finn grunts and leads the others back the way we came.

“Eirik,” I call. “It's me, Perez.”

Many seconds tick by. Then Eirik the Fair calls back. “Perez. Give up and I will spare your life. This is not your fight.”

A hand falls on my shoulder. I drop and turn, bringing the pistol up into the crotch of my attacker.

“It's me,” screams the priest in alarm. “Don't kill me.”

“What are you doing here? Why didn't you go with the others?”

“The Goliaths scare me. I want to be with another human.”

Another human. If only he knew.

“Did I say something funny?” he whines.

“Not at all. Shut up and leave this to me.”

Eirik calls out again. “What's it going to be, Perez?”

“I'm coming out.”

“Good man.”

I motion for the priest to stay back and step around the corner with my hands raised. The pistol is still in my hand.

Finn and the others crouch behind snow-covered crates by a building twenty metres to my left. There's no way they can reach the airfield without being spotted by Eirik and his men. I need to create a distraction.

Eirik waves for me to come closer. “Drop your weapon and come with me, Perez. You will be free to leave.”

“I don't trust you, Eirik.” I inch closer. All eyes and weapons are pointed at me. Good.

“You have my word.”

“Come on. You stabbed your father in the back. Your word means nothing.”

“Fair point. So, what now?”

“I know what you do to prisoners. I'd rather die on my feet.”

He laughs. “That can be arranged.”

“You and me, Eirik. Right here, right now.” I holster my pistol. “If I win, your men let me go.”

Eirik laughs. “You and me, little man? You have balls, I'll give you that.”

The men laugh behind him. “All right, if that's how you want to go.”

“It is.”

Eirik turns to the man on his right. It's Hrym, the old steersman.

“If Perez wins, you let him go.” Hrym grunts and crosses his arms. He rumbles something in Norse and the Goliaths all laugh.

Eirik sheathes his sword, unbuckles his belt, and hands it to Hrym. “Hold this for me while I dance with my little friend.” The Goliaths laugh.

The giants spread out into a rough circle in the snow with me and Eirik at the centre. Behind them, Finn and the others duck away unseen toward the airfield.

“All right, let's do this.” Eirik flexes his massive shoulders and gets into a fighter's stance in the whirling snow. This is not the way I saw my death, but if this is it, I guess it's a spectacular way to go.

Eirik throws a surprise backhand my way, but I dodge it.

“You're fast, Perez. Impressive.”

“You're fast too.”

I circle him, looking for an opening. He remains standing still.

“So, what's with the patricide, Eirik? You were always ambitious, but that was bold, even for you.”

I kick the back of his knee, but he blocks it. It's like kicking a rock.

“The old bastard had it coming. He's been running this kingdom into the ground. It was time for a change.”

He turns around and rushes me, incredibly fast for such an enormous man. He grabs me by the arm, spins me around and pulls me into a bear hug. “We didn't plan to do it so soon, but when you arrived in orbit, we saw our chance.”

His crushing embrace smells of sweat and blood. I've got my back against his chest, and the fur of his cloak tickles my nose.

I throw my head back and there's a satisfying crunch as my skull connects with his nose. He grunts and lets me go, and I dance out of his reach.

“You're not a bad man, Perez. I will hate to kill you.” He wipes his nose and looks relieved when there's no blood on his fingers.

“I don't want to kill you either, but here we are.”

“Yes. Here we are.”

He rushes me again, but I dodge him with a quick sidestep, and he spins around to face me again. I see my chance and charge.

He prepares to block a flying kick and lifts his arms. Before he can react, I twist and drop to the ground on my back, using my speed to slide along the icy ground. As I glide between his legs, I aim the hardest punch I can at his crotch. My fist crushes his balls.

I slide to a stop, roll to my feet and twist to face his back.

Eirik doesn't make a sound. Did I miss?

Then he drops to one knee and grabs his crotch.

The pained expressions on the faces of the audience tell me all I need.

I walk up to him and lock the crook of my arm around his neck and squeeze with all my strength.

“This brings me no joy, Eirik.” I pull tight and choke the life from him. “But it's either you or me.”

He grabs my arm and tries to pull it loose, but I've got him in a perfect chokehold. Hrym makes a move to step in, but Eirik waves him off.

“He's mine,” he croaks between forced breaths.

I pull harder, something crunches in his neck and his efforts grow more frantic.

He lets go of my arm and clamps his enormous fist around my hand and crushes it. Pain shoots up my arm, but my body shuts it off.

I pull on his neck, and Eirik crushes my hand. Come on, Meridian. Where are you? This is a slow race between Goliath physique and Terran engineering.

My hand is first to give. Damn those Terran engineers. A sharp crunch, more felt up my arm than heard, and another flash of pain spikes through my brain. Eirik twists and pulls on my hand, and the razor-sharp ends of my hypercarbon skeleton slash my flesh to shreds. He pulls the bloody mess