Serpent Mound - 17. The Bear, the Serpent, and the Demigod

“Yes, Rieka,” Rodney said as he strolled through the village, observing The People as they made the final preparations for the sacrifice, “I feel it in my bones. This is going to be a good day for The People and the Tuath Dé.”

The frail-looking wolf with the red hair streaked with gray followed behind the big bear.

“Yes, Rodney,” Rieka agreed. “You know what is best for The People.”

“I’m so pleased that you have come around to my way of thinking,” Rodney said, looking down at her. “I was afraid that another demonstration of the power of the wights was going to be required.”

Rieka winced at Rodney’s comment.

“No! No sir. That will not be necessary.”

“They are capable of so much more than your feeble mind was able to summon,” he commented. “Perhaps someday you will have the opportunity to see me unleash their full power.”

“Please, sir,” Rieka pleaded, “The People are mostly peaceful. We only wish to serve the Tuath Dé and make sure that they are pacified for another hundred years.”

“Pacified?” Rodney bellowed, turning his rage upon Rieka, “Are the Tuath Dé children to you, who must be swaddled and fed and put back to bed? I see now that we left you in charge for far too long. You have forgotten the power of your gods.”

“Forgive me!” Rieka cried, throwing herself on the ground at Rodney’s feet. “I misspoke. We are here to serve you, great one, not to pacify you. The People are your children. Lead and we will follow.”

“I think that it is for the best that I have taken control of this vessel,” Rodney said, kicking the groveling wolf away from his feet. “Perhaps my other three animal-god companions would do well to follow in my lead and take three of The People to become their vessels as well.”

“If the Tuath Dé wish it, it will be done,” Rieka said, kneeling with her face to the ground.

“Perhaps…” Rodney said, trailing off, “For now, I wish you to bring the other two captured bears to my cabin. I need to confirm their loyalty to me and to the Tuath Dé.”

“There are but a few hours until sundown,” Rieka replied. “Will you…”

“I have not forgotten the ritual, woman!” Rodney raged. “There is ample time for me to convert these bears before sundown! Go now and follow my orders!”

“Yes, Rodney,” Reika cried, scurrying away, “As you command!”

****

Bill and Marcus were shoved roughly through the door of a cabin by a pair of boars. They quickly scanned the room and saw Rodney sitting on a soft, upholstered chair on the far side of the room. The door was quickly shut and bolted from the outside behind them.

The bears looked at Rodney, sizing him up. They had not seen him since the feast the day before when he revealed his power to control the wights and assumed the leadership of The People. He was cleanly groomed, his hair oiled and pulled into a tight man-bun at the back of his skull. His beard was styled and trimmed with more precision than he had ever worn it in his life, and his mustache was waxed into perfect handlebar curls, framing each side of his face. He had never retrieved his clothing from Karhu’s old cabin where Bill and Marcus continued to be held, instead now wearing the linen trousers and tunic of The People dyed a royal purple, with soft deerskin boots.

“Rodney,” Bill said cautiously, “What’s the game, brother? Are you putting on an act to fool these wackos so we can grab Bernie and make our escape?”

“Ah, you are the one that Rodney knows as Bill, are you not?” Rodney asked. “This vessel has been quite resistant at giving up its knowledge. Some things come through easily, like your name, and other things it keeps locked away from me, like why you came here and what you have planned.”

“What have you done with our Rodney?” Marcus asked, clearly worried now.

“He is still in here, with me,” Rodney replied. “But he is not in control of the vessel at this time. He is but a silent observer if you will.”

“What should we call you, then?” Bill asked.

“You should call me God,” Rodney replied.

“I’m not calling you that,” Bill said coolly, “Try again.”

The Rodney-god sighed, and gazed at the defiant bear.

“You will learn soon enough who is God upon this mountain. Until then, you may continue to call me Rodney as the rest of The People do for now.”

“What do you want with us now?” Bill asked impatiently, “There must be a reason that you’ve summoned us here to this cabin with you at this time.”

“Quite right,” Rodney replied. “In a few hours we are going to perform the sacrifice which will ensure that the other Tuath Dé and I are sustained for the next hundred years. We will be sacrificing the traitorous elder bear Karhu to the Serpent in order to bring about the time of sacrifice earlier than the equinox. At that time, I will need to ensure that at least one of you is a loyal follower of the Tuath Dé.”

“Well, tough shit, asshole,” Marcus replied. “If you think either of us are going to help you take over our friend’s ‘vessel’ and sacrifice Bernie and Karhu, you’ve got a screw loose in that pea-sized god-brain of yours.”

“Wights!” Rodney called, and immediately, a cloud of white mist hovered behind him in the cabin. Rodney’s eyes began to glow a bright green, and an instant later bolts of electricity curved around his body emanating from the wights, and struck Marcus in the chest, sending him flying into the back wall.

“Marcus!” Bill yelled and began to move to his side but found himself paralyzed by a layer of mist swirling around his body.

Marcus moaned and tried to sit up.

“Shit! Somebody get the license plate on that truck!” he mumbled as he struggled to stand.

“Wights,” Rodney said again, “Put Marcus in the void.”

A portion of the mist streaked from behind Rodney across the room, and absorbed Marcus’s body into nothingness.

“Please Rodney,” Bill cried, “Don’t torture him with an eternity in the void! He won’t be able to take it!”

“Don’t worry, little bear,” Rodney replied. “He is simply in the void right now. I have not told the wights how long he should imagine being imprisoned there. That… is up to you.”

“What do you want?” Bill asked, hanging his head, “My allegiance? Fine. You have it.”

“That is all well and good,” Rodney replied, “But I will need a more… physical means of ensuring your allegiance. Rodney still resists my attempts to access his memories, but I know his feelings for you, little bear…”

Rodney rose from his chair and walked over to where Bill remained paralyzed by the wights. He stroked Bill’s face with his palm, tenderly.

“Yes, Rodney lusted after you, didn’t he? And you would tease him, wearing revealing clothing to run by him each day, just out of reach, smelling of sex and arousal. Yes, I think that I know how you will demonstrate allegiance to me now.”

Rodney returned to his chair and sat down, loosening the drawstring on his linen pants, and producing his thick, erect penis.

“Come here, little bear. Suckle upon the manhood of your bear-god and receive the gift for your subservience.”

The wights released Bill and he was free to move again, but Rodney’s eyes beckoned.

“Come now, little bear. Do not hesitate to demonstrate your loyalty to me. Your friend has been in the void only a minute now, but with a word, I can make the next minute last a century. Choose wisely.”

Bill lowered his head in defeat and walked over to Rodney’s chair, dropping to his knees.

Rodney grabbed Bill by either side of his head and guided him to his stiff member.

Bill winced as Rodney pushed his head down until the thick cock was buried in his throat. Tears squeezed from the corners of his eyes as Rodney held him by the hair and proceeded to face-fuck him with little concern as to his comfort.

“Ah yes!” Rodney cried, “I see why you mortals enjoy this activity so much. Once I have made you subservient to me, I shall enjoy using your body for my pleasure often!”

Bill tried to relax and allow Rodney to have his way, but he felt the anger rising within him.

“I sense the resentment toward me, little bear,” Rodney said as he continued his assault. “All will be calm soon. Prepare to receive my gift!”

Rodney pushed Bill’s head down one final time and let out a deep cry as his eyes glowed green with power. The bear-god’s semen burst forth from Rodney’s cock and into Bill’s throat, burning and scalding him as it entered his belly and spread throughout his insides.

Rodney released Bill’s head, and he fell backwards, gasping for breath and wincing at the pain in his burning throat.

“Wights,” Rodney said, panting, “Release the bear.”

Marcus suddenly appeared beneath the hovering mist and fell to the floor of the cabin.

“That’s all you got, asshole?” he raged at Rodney, “Your void doesn’t scare me!”

“Bill,” Rodney said. “I am finished with the two of your for now. Please take Marcus back to your cabin. Along the way, ask one of the females for an appropriate set of clothing for each of you. I don’t want to see Marcus in those filthy clothes again. Understood?”

“Yes, I understand, Great One,” Bill replied, standing up and pulling Marcus up by his shoulder. “Your will be done.”

“The ritual begins precisely at sunset at the mountain peak,” Rodney said as Bill marched Marcus to the door. “See that you aren’t late.”

“Yes, Great One,” Bill said, bowing. He knocked at the door, and the boar guard opened the latch, letting him pull Marcus along back to their cabin.

****

All was in place as Rodney, the living embodiment of the bear-god had instructed. The People had massed at the mountain peak and stood outside of the circle formed by the four cardinal mounds. Bernie and the other humans were dressed in the white linen trousers and tunics of the sacrifice and were bound upon their respective mounds. Karhu wore the sacrificial white as well, and was bound in the center, upon the head of the Serpent.

Rodney and Rieka stood above Karhu at the head of the Serpent, waiting for the right moment to begin the sacred ritual. Rodney had instructed Rieka on the words that she must say before Karhu’s blood was to spill onto the head of the Serpent. Once the Serpent accepted the offering, the four cardinal Tuath Dé would rise and assume their forms. They would release the empty husks of the sacrifices given to them a century ago, and those husks would join the ranks of the undead; new wights at Rodney’s command. Rodney would then speak the words of offering, and the Tuath Dé would claim their new sacrifices, descending back into the Earth for another hundred years.

Unless I call upon my brother and sisters to join me within living vessels, the Rodney-god thought to himself, and he smirked, casting a sidelong glance at Rieka who would certainly make a worthy vessel for his sister wolf-god.

Positioned between the panther and boar mounds, facing Rodney and Rieka directly were the other two bears dressed in the gray linen tunics of The People. Bill kept a firm hand on Marcus’s shoulder as he knelt on the ground to prevent him from disrupting the ritual about to take place.

Rodney turned to Rieka and gave her a nod, handing her a ceremonial dagger. She began the ritual.

“Oh, Great Serpent, in the time before time, in the world before worlds, you were there.

“Oh, Nature’s most divine hunter, hearken to me at this time. As I come to proclaim my allegiance to you and to your consorts, protectors of the wild wood and all animals.

“I thank you for all you have revealed to your People, and that I have the means to understand. I ask that revelation continue, and that you will awaken and open your mind and essence to receive this, our great gift!

“Now it is time for balance to be restored as the cosmic clock rings thrice for those that see and hear. Know that All Gods are One God, and All Goddesses are One Goddess, and there is One Serpent! All men are Sons and Priests of the Serpent, and all women are Daughters and Priestesses of the Serpent. For this is the Sacred Mystery of the People throughout the Ages of Time and Space.”

Rieka looked down at Karhu, and stared into his eyes, speaking the final words of the ritual to him directly as she held the dagger outward for him to see.

“Love and the Law must be present for us to understand and have knowledge, and hence progress in the universal scheme of things. What is past, present, and future also has bearing. For here is the Mystery of the Serpent; what was, is and shall be. For if you have a sad life, you probably have a sad death, but at least there is symmetry. This is the harvest; the karma of life.”

As she finished speaking, Rieka heaved the dagger above her head to plunge it into Karhu’s chest and spill his blood upon the head of the Serpent…

And that was the moment that a single bullet, fired from the rifle of Colonel Susie Banshee, concealed in the forest twenty yards away, split Rieka’s skull in two like an overripe melon, splattering her brains around the field of the mounds, and causing her body to fall upon the head of the Serpent next to Karhu in a lifeless heap.

“Go, go, go!” Apollo shouted, as the ritual erupted into chaos.

Five pairs of figures burst from the forest from all directions, a bear and a wolf in each pair. The bears each ran directly toward a sacrifice with their wolf partner close behind. Adam scooped the girl atop the wolf mound in his arms as he dashed past the stunned People. Erik snatched the girl laying on the panther mound while Max carried away the boy on the boar mound. Siku grabbed Bernie while Axel grabbed Karhu from directly beneath Rodney’s nose and threw him over his shoulder.

As soon as each sacrifice was whisked away, a wolf followed immediately behind, planting an explosive device linked to a remote detonator in the center of each mound before running for cover.

Rodney raged at the chaos and confusion. His eyes glowed like two green emeralds and the wights swirled behind him like the eye of a hurricane. As Siku ran for safety with Bernie in his arms, bolts of electricity flowed around Rodney, striking the polar bear directly in the back.

Siku fell to the ground, his back a blackened mass of burned flesh, and Bernie fell from his arms tumbling across the field.

Gary ran over to the spot where Bernie landed to finish the task of carrying him to safety, but before he could reach the boy, he found himself pulled backwards and thrown to the ground. Looking up, he saw Bill staring down at him with fury and anger.

“Bill!” Gary shouted, “Help me get Bernie to safety!”

“Heretic!” Bill shouted in reply. “None shall interfere with the sacrifice to the holy bear-god!”

Gary leapt to his feet, and Bill’s linen tunic shredded as he transformed into his bear and charged at his mate. Bill transformed in an instant and met Bill head-on in combat.

As Bill and Gary slashed and bit at each other in a frenzy, Marcus finally stood and charged toward Rodney, changing into his bear form as he ran. The Rodney-god was not anticipating a direct physical attack, and was caught off guard as eleven hundred pounds of grizzly bear knocked him to the ground, pinning his shoulders and roaring in his face in the bear-language.

“Rodney!” Marcus roared, “If you’re in there, fight! Now is your chance! Fight the bear-god and come back to me!”

Amid the chaos, The People tried to flee, but any direction they ran resulted in capture by a lycan soldier.

No one noticed Rieka’s life-blood seeping from the mangled mess that was once her skull, saturating the ground of the head of the Serpent. Her blood, the blood of an elder of The People, was all that was required to complete the ritual.

The Earth shook and the four mounds began to glow an eerie green. From each mound rose a glowing figure, made flesh. Wolf, panther, boar, and bear. The onlookers not actively engaged in hand-to-hand combat witnessed each of these deities throw the withered body of a human at their feet and saw those bodies dissolve into mist. Each animal looked around its mound for a new sacrifice, and finding none, emitted a terrible roar.

“Tuath Dé!” a voice shouted, and Apollo stepped forward into the edge of the clearing.

All four gods turned to stare at the lone wolf who dared to address the gods so boldly.

Apollo held a small flashing electronic device aloft in his hand.

“Time’s up!” he said and pushed the button.

Instantly, each mound erupted into a fireball, consuming the gods-made-flesh in the inferno. There were pitiful screams and shrieks from the gods for a brief moment before each mound seemed to implode upon itself, leaving behind a crater that no longer resembled any animal.

Bill had Gary pinned to the ground and was about to deliver a killing blow to his throat when his eyes suddenly cleared.

“Papa?” Bill growled in the bear-language.

“Cub?” Gary growled back, bloody but alive, “Is that you? Are you yourself again?”

“Oh Papa!” Bill cried, shifting back to his human form. “I’m so sorry! I was doing what the bear-god forced me to do!”

“It’s all right, Cub,” Gary said, shifting back himself, and holding his mate in his arms. “It’s all over now. The bear-god is no more.”

Rodney and Marcus were thrown several yards away by the blast of the bombs, but Marcus shifted back to his human form and sprang back on top of Rodney as soon as he regained his senses.

“Rodney,” Marcus said, “Speak to me! Tell me that you’re still there and the bear-god is gone!”

“Marcus?” Rodney said groggily, “I feel like I’ve been asleep for a week. The last thing I remember is being taken by the wights at the Academy.”

“Rodney!” Marcus cried, weeping. “You’re back!”

“I had the weirdest dream that you and Bill were fucking in a log cabin without me,” Rodney said. “Did you get a piece of that cocky cub’s ass while I was asleep?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Marcus replied. “You’re the only one I need, now and forever. Rodney… you’re my mate, and you always have been. It took almost losing you to see it.”

“Whoa,” Rodney said. “I must have been asleep longer than I thought!”

Across the field, Karhu had been freed of his bonds and staggered on shaky legs with the help of Axel over to where Bernie sat. The two embraced and Bernie looked into the bear’s eyes.

“Is it over, Papa?” he asked.

“I don’t know, Cub,” Karhu replied. “I feel like we’re forgetting something important.”

At that moment the ground began to shake once again.

No, it wasn’t shaking, it was… undulating. Just like a serpent.

The center of the field exploded outward as the Serpent rose, ten feet, then twenty feet above the shaken and exhausted troops.

Erik and Max were helping a badly injured Siku to his feet, and all three polar bears turned to witness the monolith in scales that towered above them.

The serpent bared its fangs, tipped his head back and emitted a shriek that could surely be heard for miles. When it lowered its head, it exhaled a blast of fire that set the white pines surrounding its writhing coils ablaze.

“Thisss…” the Serpent hissed. “Isss all your fault, boy!”

It was staring with glowing red eyes directly at Bernie sitting in the arms of his Papa.

“I will make you sssuffer… an agony the likesss of which have not been ssseen for millionsss of yearsss!”

It opened its massive jaws, preparing to consume the boy and his Papa in one terrible bite, when Karhu calmly whispered in Bernie’s ear.

“It’s time, Cub,” he said, “Use your word. Save us all.”

Bernie, with a look of determination, stood in front of his Papa and faced the terrible Serpent. He raised his right hand to the sky and said the word that would bring about his destiny.

“Mjölnir!” Bernie shouted.

The sky cracked and lighting flashed. Mjölnir, the mighty hammer of Thor flew from the sky directly into Bernie’s outstretched hand.

Once united with the hammer of legend, Bernie’s body grew three times his usual size. His eyes glowed with a blue light, and he laughed, the laugh of the mighty god Thor himself.

“Foolish being!” he said to the Serpent. “You have sealed your fate. I am Bernhard Odinson! Descendant of Thor, and the heir of Mjölnir!”

The Serpent hissed in confusion, and breathed fire at the demigod who just minutes before was supposed to be its sacrifice.

Bernhard produced a shield from behind his back and deflected the Serpent’s flames. He looked down at his Papa, sitting on the ground at his feet in awed silence and gave him a smile and a cheerful wink. When the Serpent’s supply of fire ran dry, Bernhard lowered his shield and spoke to the beast one final time.

“It is time for you to go back to the nothingness from whence you came, foul worm! I send you to the void, never to return!”

With those words, he leapt into the air, bringing the mighty hammer down upon the skull of the Serpent. It shrieked one final time before dissolving into a red mist, leaving no trace behind.

When Bernhard the demigod landed on the ground, Mjölnir had disappeared from his hand, and he was simply Bernie, the eighteen-year-old bear kindred boy once more. His eyes glowed blue for a few remaining seconds before changing back to normal.

“Now, Cub,” Karhu said, with a sigh and a smile, “It’s over.”

Bernie ran into the arms of his Papa and the two cried together in relief.