A Survivor's Account of One of Grendel's Attacks

I woke up with a start. I hear his loud footsteps as he comes stomping down the path to destroy us. Why does he feel it necessary to destroy this beautiful meadhall and such a great race? What does he want? What could he possibly-- BOOM! He had crashed through our great doors once again… and is walking toward me. I do not want to die in this way, helpless and alone under the cover of night. I want to die heroically in a great battle or-- Whew! Luckily he turns to the left side of the hall and I am on the right. He is heading toward the greatest and strongest warriors. It is as if he is trying to mock us, showing us that even our strongest heroes cannot defeat him.

Almost every night he attacks us in this manner, and almost every night I have watched the whole fight from start to finish, although he believes us all to be asleep when he first attacks. It is always the same thing: he comes flying through the door with a mean smirk on his horrible face and attacks some sleeping victim who he will carry off into the night after he has won. Before he leaves, some great warriors attempt to kill him, but it never works. He probably takes his victims to his lair, wherever that is, and eats them whole and drinks their blood for dessert. What a wretched beast! CRASH! A shield is flying across the room! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! Another victim killed. Now the fun really begins!

The warriors group together and begin an offensive attack. They have decided to attack with a long pointed spear, so as to pierce the beast from afar. Other warriors are awake now and they are all gathering around our ring-leader, preparing to fight. The beast is just watching us with a large grin on his disgusting face. He has no idea what is coming for him! This night will be different. There will be a victory for the Thanes! We have planned this offensive for hours and it will work this time… I hope. The first group begins the plan by creating a diversion while the second group prepares to attack. Fortunately, I am in the third group so I have time to organize my thoughts-- CRUNCH! The first group is going down fast! We have angered the monster! All I want to do is run away. There are no clear exits in sight. We really need more doors in this place! CRUNCH! There goes another one. I can’t do this again. This needs to end soon. A great warrior needs to rise up and defeat this creature (not me, of course!). I don’t want to die tonight!

My group comes around from the back and begins our attack. Many are wounded on the floor and others have been killed. I must fight in front of my companions or else I will be shunned for life! Is no one else frightened by this horrible monster and possible death? I can only pretend I am not… The beast is now making some sort of weird cackling noise. It is a battle-cry! He is preparing his own offensive attack! And now… the horrible creature is smiling? He is picking up his victims and walking away. Has he given up?! Are we done?! But no… he goes to one man and puts his claws straight through him and carries him away. He will probably eat that one too. I am just relieved that he left. I guess we won?