Fenrir's Binding: The Queen and The Barbarian

Chapter Six: Struggles

Fenrir's Binding: The Queen And The Barbarian

By evolution-500

Genres: Romance/Angst

Feedback: Always welcome

WARNING: This story contains violence, coarse language and mature themes. Reader discretion is advised.

Disclaimer: Killer Instinct" is a property belonging to Rareware and Microsoft while "The Boys" is a property by Garth Ennis and Dynamite Comics. I do not own these characters.

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Chapter Six: Struggles

"I felt myself on the edge of the world; peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night."

- H.P. Lovecraft

The cold was growing stronger.

Shivering, Maeve tucked her arms into the sleeves of her coat as she followed her barbarian companion up the cyclopean stairway.

"God, it's freezing," she muttered, her teeth chattering. "Whatever you're gonna show me, Tusk, I hope it's worth it."

"It will be," Tusk replied, nodding, unbothered by the frosty air.

More and more the pair climbed upward, with Maeve lagging slightly behind his towering muscular form. Looking back behind her, Maeve stared all the way down, then raised her eyes toward the horizon line. In the distance, she saw more crashed ships, some of them suspended on rocks.

"Are there any people here aside from you and me?" she asked.

Pausing on a step, Tusk tilted his chin upward in thought.

"...It's possible there might be a few somewhere in hiding, but if there are, I've never encountered them. I was always under the impression that I was the only man on this island," he shrugged.

"Hm," she hummed. Glancing back to Tusk, she brushed hair out of her face as the wind picked up. "From the sounds of it, you live a lonely life."

Tusk considered it for a moment, then shrugged again as the two of them continued up. "I suppose. Then again, given what I am, the things that I do, the things that occur on this island...perhaps it is for the best."

He broodily stared up ahead, his face dark and unreadable. Finally, he resumed on, his eyes focused on the path ahead.

Maeve squirmed as she kept up with him, feeling uncomfortable with the silence.

"...When we had fought earlier," she began, drawing his attention, "you recognized my namesake. Did you...know her?"

Tusk rolled his shoulder back as he adjusted the grip on his sword.

"I did," he answered. "Queen Maeve of Connacht and I had been sparring partners for a time."

"Sparring partners?" Maeve said interestedly. "Were the two of you...lovers?"

The barbarian glanced down at her, his blue eyes penetrating her.

"You were, weren't you?" she said, feeling a bit bolder.

Tusk said nothing for a moment, then looked away, staring out at the ship-riddled horizon.

"...We were, for a time," he admitted slowly, wary of Maeve's reaction. "In life, she was beautiful, but...the last time I was married...it didn't end well."