Väinämöinen blinked as one arrow whizzed past his head. Was there a hunt nearby or something?
The sound of another arrow reached him, but from the loud thump it made Väinämöinen assumed the arrow had hit the ground. Very strange. If it was a hunt, the men were absolutely terrible. They weren’t likely to bring food home tonight.
A spark - a sense - just the slightest tingling of forewarning - but Väinämöinen didn’t think there was anything really worth noting around that could possibly -
OW!
Joukahainen let loose a triumphant cry as the older man went tumbling down from horse and fell into the waiting sea below the cliffside. He had done it! He had shot Väinämöinen right in the shoulder, the old sorcerer was dead!
“This is the penalty for humiliating me, old man!” Joukahainen cried out. “And for the vile attack upon my sister, which led to her untimely death!” He hopped off his horse and strode forward into the road, holding his trusty bow high. “I, Joukahainen have defeated you here upon this plain! With bow and arrow I have slain the most powerful sorcerer to ever live!” Letting loose a loud laugh, Joukahainen threw his head back to crow to the sky, “No one shall ever beat me again!”
Another laugh was halted in its tracks as thunder rolled across the sky. Joukahainen looked about in confusion, watching as lighting joined the rolling clouds. What in the world - ?
A boom was heard, and Joukahainen jumped, spinning about to look at the source of the noise. There, over the side of the cliff, safe and sound was Väinämöinen. The sorcerer was alive!
“How?” Joukahainen cried out in disbelief. “I shot you with my bow, you fell into the sea!”
Väinämöinen didn’t even blink - gave no reaction from those glowing, luminescent eyes. They throbbed with power, as did his cloak and limbs. The wind whipped about him and tousled his hair, physical evidence of the great well of sheer power within.
“Are you the one who fired that arrow,” Väinämöinen questioned with a tilt of his head.
“I killed you!” Joukahainen protested, grabbing for another arrow and notching it. “This time for sure I’ll -”
Joukahainen made a choked sound, and then fell to the ground. The bow fell from limp fingers as the last breath left the body.
Väinämöinen floated back down to safely plant his feet upon the road, the wind dissipating and the storm dying out. With barely a thought the wound upon his shoulder was healed, and Väinämöinen shook his head to clear it. What had he been doing again? Oh yes.
Väinämöinen mounted his horse and resumed his trek west.
Gif from wifflegif)
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Notes: So, in the Kalevala the young Joukahainen challenges the older and more powerful Väinämöinen, who defeats him. To save his life, Joukahainen barters his sister in marriage. His sister hates the idea and kills herself, so Joukahainen seeks revenge. In the actual epic, he shoots Väinämöinen in the shoulder, and Väinämöinen falls into the sea and spends the next several bits sobbing and being a useless whiner-baby. I thought it should go more like this, for reasons explained in my essay.
Bib: "Joukahainen's Revenge" from the Kalevala compiled by Elias Lonnrot in the 19th century, author unknown or various.
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