Chapter 12:

  I turned away from the scene and jogged over to the weapons rack. Exchanging the bow for a spear, I headed to the platform where Loki's lair's entrance was. Luckily, it wasn't too far away from the circle my target used for practice with his group of friends.

  No one could see me there, so it was the perfect way not to stand out. Hefting the spear, I gauged the distance and, with a couple hopping steps, I chucked it overhand like an outfielder throwing a baseball. It wasn't a perfect throw, but it went arcing up and landed in my target's calf. I had been aiming for the upper thigh, but this was close enough. The man stumbled and fell to one knee.

  Exiting the hidden ring from the side, I ran around before coming up to the ring, along with a few other people confused at where a spear had randomly come from. Generally, people just looked and went back to training after they didn't see anything really interesting. Still, I went all the way up to check on the guy along with his friends.

  "Oh my God, are you okay?" I asked. He didn't respond. He was too busy grimacing with the spear in his leg. Some of his friends were checking up on him, making sure he was okay and looking at the wound, but most of them were focused on where the spear had come from. They were looking in vain.

  Squeezing my way between the group of people, I reached down and touched near the wound. "We need to get this out of you."

  Taking a look around the group, I picked one of his friends out and pointed at him." Give me your shirt."

  The man looked at the wound and shrugged. I ripped the linen shirt into a couple strips before reaching down and grasping the haft of the spear. Using the bundle of cloth, I hid the dagger in my other hand.

  With a smooth motion, I yanked the spear out and, at the same time, slipped my dagger into the wound just a little bit further than the spear. Before pulling it out and hiding the smaller weapon away, I flung the spear over my shoulder. The sleight of hand seemed to work without a hitch. At least, no one said anything as I tied the cloth around the guy's leg.

  "Are you okay?" I asked again. "It's gonna heal up before the challenge, right?"

  The man, this time, recognized that I was talking to him.

  "Huh? Yeah. Of course." He said, "Anyone know who threw the spear?"

  We all looked around at each other for a few moments. Eventually, I realized no one even suspected me, but I still figured it would be best to throw them off the trail. "I saw someone throwing it over there." I pointed in the general direction, but about ten degrees away from where I had been standing. "I ran over to see where it landed. Looks like you should be all good, man?"

  The now bandaged man flexed his foot and winced slightly.

  "Yeah, you should be fine. What's a few more hours of practice anyway? No big deal. You'll be good." One of his friends said, clapping him on his back as he helped him to his feet, and he hopped out of the ring.

  "Hey, thanks for the help, man," one of the trainees said. "You a medicine man?"

  Did he mean a doctor? "Something like that," I said before starting to walk away. With a wave, I called back over my shoulder. "Let me know if you need anything, but I gotta get back to training!"

  Watching from a little ways off, I saw the man go back to training like not much had happened. It only took him a few minutes to push through the pain. He was a little stiff and clearly struggling, but he fully expected that his wound would be gone in a couple hours. So he saw no reason to let it rest and was only careful not to put his full weight on it for now.

  I wasn't sure how much damage the dagger had actually done, but I think Loki would find that it was enough. If the dagger just entering the gash meant that whole laceration counted as damage, then it would be a devastating injury. He would likely bleed out very quickly in the challenge if he even made it that long. If it wasn't, and it was just the extra bit of flesh I cut inside the calf, its muscle would likely tear as soon as he tried to put any real weight on it. I kind of hoped it would be the latter because that would make it even more along the lines of what Loki had in mind.

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  Satisfied that I had held up my end of the bargain, I made my way back over to my training partners. Claiming my knee felt much better, I quickly swapped into the spar.

  Just from our one day of practice, I actually managed to raise my proficiency an entire level. With any luck, I'd be able to use that training to get even closer against high-level opponents. Perhaps I might just be able to cheese my way out of the Lesser Hall after all.

  I was moved into the challenge ring when the time came. Standing in the sand, I faced my first opponent. It was someone shivering with cold. Someone who had spent at least the last night out of the courtyard. I casually walked up to them, and before they could register at me or put their haft into a guard position, I cut them down.

  That was one of the most pathetic fights I had ever seen. Even when I had spent an entire week alone in the snow, I never gave up that easily. Though this might've been someone who had been here for thousands of years. But as much pity as I felt for them, I also felt a decent amount of disdain. There was no point in giving up. Even if he had to do some disgraceful things, he should have tried harder.

  I waited for the next challenge to show up, confident in my ability now to at least make it back to Lesser Hall. But perhaps I could make it even further with my dagger. No one would likely see this coming. The two swords had gotten me pretty far, and those didn't have the same element of surprise to the.

  However, instead of being transported, I found myself floating in blackness with Loki standing next to me.

  "You did an excellent job, my friend. I consider the dagger well and truly paid for. Now let's see what happened."

  Loki waved his hand, and I could see an empty arena below us to the right. My target appeared with halberd in hand and across from his opponent. His opponent had bright red hair and wasn't shivering like mine had been, but not someone from the Lesser Hall. At least, judging based on the slightly buzzed look in the redhead's eyes and the black tips of his fingers. No I would be he was from the Courtyard. Someone who drank all night to stay alive and warm. But was now paying the price.

  The redhead held the halberd somewhat competently and charged. My target took a step forward. And then a second step. His base foot didn't come with him.

  Looking down in shock, he stumbled. I saw his calf tear right where my knife had cut. I could see that muscle separate and curl up in his leg as he pitched forward, falling onto his face. The redhead charged in eagerly.

  He recovered slightly, turning his fall into a roll, desperately avoiding the first devastating downward strike. The redhead followed up with a kick that just missed.

  The injured man tried to spring back to his feet but only made it halfway up. That wasn't something his leg could do. Pitching over backward, his calf unable to hold him upright, he managed to avoid a dodge, but only by a hair's breadth. He was quite graceful and remarkably skilled, but fighting with only one leg while unprepared... that was another ask entirely.

  He wedged the butt of the halberd on the ground and levered himself up, only to get it chopped out from underneath him. Sent sprawling again, now only holding what was an awkwardly shaped ax instead of a polearm, he didn't give up. Still, to his credit, he somersaulted with the blow and swept out behind him with the half of a weapon he still held.

  The hope to catch his clumsy opponent off guard was for naught. His luck ran out, and the miraculous survival ended. The tip of a halberd ruptured from his chest.

  While he was on his knees, the opponent jammed a blade between his shoulder blades and ripped it to the side. A few gurgles later, he was dead.

  With Loki, I watched as a Valkyrie other than Mary came and carried him off to the snow outside of Valhalla.

  "That man had spent 523 years without once getting sent into the snow. He was this close to making it into Valhalla proper." Loki held up his fingers barely an inch from each other. "He was almost guaranteed to make this cycle. Halberds are his specialty. Now? Who knows? It won't be too hard to keep him out for a few more weeks if I call in enough favors. If I focus, I can even keep halberds from coming for another century, and he'd have to start all over again. Oh, poor Thor. What is your recent little project going to do now?"

  Loki snickered. "Very good job, Miles. I approve."

  He waved, and I vanished without being able to say a word, feeling slightly slimy from what I had just heard. I didn't want to be a part of this. I was just doing what I had to.

  Reappearing into the second round of my challenge, I got ready to fight.