by Kristi Jones
“That’s forbidden,” I said, confused.
“Yes. Odin has proclaimed it. Odin, who hanged himself from the world tree of knowledge to gain power over us all. So he gains power and our fates are sealed? All our choices made, save for the olive branch of picking warriors from a human crop? Don’t you want something more? Isn’t it time for a woman to gain power?”
“I don’t want power.” And I didn’t. I admit I was interested in her theories. If it was true that the stone gave you the power to choose your own future, well, the possibilities were mind-boggling. Was this the reason that Skuld wanted the stone? Did she want to proclaim her own future? A new future? But if it was Skuld’s stone, she could do that already.
Anyway, none of this mattered now. The only thing that mattered was getting Jess out of Skuld’s lair.
“I can’t help you. I’m sorry. And I can’t let you have the stone.”
“Why? Because you have to save someone?”
I felt I’d already given her too much information. She was a dangerous young Valkyrie. Of that I was now sure. But she wasn’t leaving here with the stone.
“I think you must have gone mad. You’re young for it, but it has been known to happen.”
Ermhilde laughed. “I’m not mad. I haven’t been to see Skuld, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just—”
She stopped and stepped forward. She grabbed me by the arms. “But you have,” she said.
“Wait,” I said, catching the scent of perfume, a human scent. “You haven’t served the Death Duty yet! How old are you?”
Ermhilde released me. She laughed again, a nervous laugh, and tossed her hair. “Of course I have.”
“No, you haven’t. You smell of perfume. You’ve been living with the humans.”
“You’ve seen Skuld,” Ermhilde said, ignoring my questions. “You’ve seen her, and you appear to have retained your sanity somehow. She told you which stone, didn’t she?”
“No, of course not,” I said. I realized how foolish I’d been. I should have expected the Fenrir. Of course the stone would be guarded. And I should have expected that other Valkyries might be circling, hoping for a chance to claim Skuld’s stone. Gustel had warned me of the danger, and in my haste to save Jess, I had been careless.
I’d spoken long enough with this strange Valkyrie, with the strange plans. It was time to do what I came for and get back to the business of saving my hero.
I hefted my sword and levelled it at Ermhilde. “I’m sorry, Ermhilde, but I don’t have time for this discussion, interesting as it may be.”
I shuffled right, inching my way toward the shrine.
Ermhilde cocked her head, frowning. “After everything I’ve done for you? Pity.”
She reached for her gun, but I was ready. I swung my sword, aiming for her wrist, and knocked the gun away.
Ermhilde bared her teeth, hissing in pain.
“You realize that this is ridiculous,” I said in a conciliatory voice. “We can’t hurt each. Not really.”
Ermhilde licked her lips, slowly, almost provocatively. “But we can do a little damage. Might be fun. A change of pace. Don’t you get tired of the never ending predictability of our days, Sabrina?”
The girl picked up and threw the top of the shrine at me, then took the column in her hands and spun, winding herself like a top.
I threw my hips back, hoping to avoid the blow, but I was a fraction of a second too late. The stone hit me in the side, hard, and I went flying into the road. I wrapped my wings around my body to protect my skin as I rolled across the hard asphalt.
Quickly, I got to my feet and launched myself with the speed of a bullet train, slamming into Ermhilde.
She met me mid-air. We collided, the force of the blow knocking the wind out of me. Before I knew what was happening, she had forced my hand, and turned my sword against me. We fell back to earth, and I was powerless in her arms. We hit the ground, and the sword’s tip sank deep into my chest, pinning me against the soft, giving earth.
I sucked in one breath, exhaled it, and coughed blood into Ermhilde’s face. She wiped it away with the back of her hand.
“You’re not getting the stone,” she said, her lips curling into a smile.
The sword had cloven my heart. I couldn’t get my breath, for without my heart, the blood in my lungs was pooling. I needed to remove the sword, but my body felt heavy and my thoughts slowed. My eyes closed. I tried to open them, but my eyelids felt like boulders. I wondered if this is what humans experienced when they fell asleep.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move.
Suddenly a piercing pain exploded in my left wrist. My eyes flew open, and I turned my head. A sword was embedded in my wrist, the hand nearly severed. The pain was fierce. I knew I needed to move, but the pain and the heaviness in my limbs and the inability to breathe had rendered me immobile. A second jolt of pain ignited in my right wrist, and I knew that Ermhilde had plunged another sword into my free hand.
I lay there, crucified to the ground, thinking of Jess. Thinking of his eyes, but I wasn’t thinking about the kind, compassionate warrior I’d first seen. I was thinking about the fire in his eyes, the greed, the wanting, the same wanting that I’d felt for him.
My heart was broken, split down the middle by Ermhilde’s sword, but my soul was full of Sergeant Jesse Moran.
I needed to move. I knew that if I could face the pain, I could return to Jess.
Ermhilde stood contemplating the shrine.
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me which of the stones is the right one?”
I could not answer. My heart was split; I had stopped breathing. It’s a funny thing, but no being can speak without breath. If only I could speak, perhaps I could delay Ermhilde, this girl who was ruining all my plans to save him.
Ermhilde pulled at the stones. She pulled them apart as if they weighed nothing. She finally chose one, but it was not the stone that Skuld had sent me for.
“I’ll be back shortly,” she said lightly. “Don’t go anywhere.”
She turned her back to me, holding the stone she’d chosen, and released her wings. I waited until the silhouette of her body had disappeared in the night sky.
With all of my strength I pulled my right hand free, shredding the tendons, snapping bone. Silently, I thanked the gods that I had no breath for I would have screamed otherwise and woken every immortal creature in the area. When it was free I saw that my hand was hanging on to my wrist with the last shred of tendons and a strip of skin. I felt as if my bones were on fire. Every bone in my body was screaming out in pain.
I knew it would grow back. And I knew it would take time.
The bones were already reconstructing themselves. There was a stretching and pulling sensation. There was also an incredible amount of pain. But I could not scream, and I’d felt such agony before.
Once. I was hit by a shell at the battle of Verdun.
It is a terrible thing to feel your body ripped asunder. To be blown apart. But it happened so fast that there was a quick, intense flash of pain—then nothing. For a time. Until the healing begins. That’s when the real pain begins.
The cells in my muscles were gathering in tight, hot bundles. My hand felt like it was on fire. But I thought of Jess. I pictured his eyes on me. I had no time to wait for the skin to grow.
I grasped the hilt of the sword piercing my chest.
The movement of the sword sent another shockwave of pain through my entire body. My whole being wailed, and without breath, I wailed inside. I had to pull quickly, or I would go mad with the sound. I yanked as hard as I could. The sword came out with a jolt.
I lay there waiting for the torn muscles of my heart to reach out to each other. I lost all track of time.
The nerves braided together, and the first beat of my heart began. It was like an echo in an empty chamber. It kicked along until the blood in my body began to flow again. The heavenly air rushed into my lungs. I gasped. My first breath, one of many fi
rst breaths, but this one was all the sweeter because I knew that I would get back to my hero. I would fulfill my mission.
I rolled onto my side and pulled the sword out of my left wrist. I was still too weak to fly. I needed another few minutes to gain strength enough to carry the stone. I scanned the sky. How long would it take Ermhilde to return? There was no way for me to know. I had no idea where she’d taken the stone she carried.
I pulled myself into the shadow of the trees, breathing heavily and waited for my wounds to heal. I never lost consciousness. That is a luxury Odin did not grant to Valkyries. But it was many minutes before I was fully aware of my surroundings.
When the pain had subsided and the muscles of my hands had tightened, I picked up the stone. It weighed fifteen tons or more.
I hefted it onto my shoulder and took a deep breath, pulling all reserves of strength from my body.
Then I saw her. Ermhilde was returning.
“Strength, Sabrina,” I said under my breath, girding myself for battle. “Strength and courage.” I hefted the sword in my hand and took to the skies.
She saw me coming. I saw the flash of her angry eyes, but I put my head down and beat my wings as hard as I’d ever beaten them before. I held the stone tight with my right arm, balancing the bulk of it on my shoulder. I should have been carrying it with both hands, but I needed a free arm for my sword.
Ermhilde came at me. We were like two knights jousting in the sky.
My only advantage was my speed.
I saw too late that Ermhilde also brandished a sword.
She swung at me, and I swerved hard to my left. Her sword missed me but slammed into the stone I carried.
Ermhilde’s sword buried into the stone, and the force of her hand swung me around. I clenched my arm tighter around the bulk of it, picturing my arm as a steel vise.
Ermhilde looked at what she’d done with unconcealed horror. This was my chance to escape. I dropped my sword and grasped the larger piece of the stone with two hands and yanked, hard. The smaller piece, the piece Ermhilde had cut, broke free and fell away.
I didn’t stop to retrieve it. If I dove for it, I knew that she would win. I turned and beat a fast retreat.
I tucked my head under my arm and saw Ermhilde hesitate and then dive bomb toward earth, apparently intent on retrieving the piece she’d stolen from me.
Chapter Seven
I stood before the elevator at Hohensalzburg trying to decide how much to tell Skuld, debating my approach. I could give Skuld the stone and hope that she wouldn’t notice a change. If she did notice that there was a piece missing, I could say that I knew nothing about it, that this was what I’d found in the mountains. Or I could tell her the truth. That a young Valkyrie had battled her own kind in order to have the stone. I decided to play dumb. All I had to do was give her the stone, get the protection spell, and leave. Perhaps it would all be over in a matter of minutes and Skuld would never know that the stone was damaged.
I would have to be careful. Very, very careful.
I descended into Skuld’s lair.
Standing in the tunnel, I balanced the stone on my shoulder with the cleaved part facing away from the light. My heart pounded, and my hands shook. I gripped the stone tighter, closed my eyes, and gave myself a moment to calm down. My hands were still sensitive, the skin still tightening, healing. I felt both anxiety and anticipation.
When I entered the chamber, Jess was sitting at Skuld’s feet, an open book in his lap. His mouth spread into a wide grin when he saw me, and his beautiful green eyes gleamed in the firelight. I felt the color rise in my cheeks. I could see the relief in his face at my return, and heat radiated across my chest.
Skuld’s eyes were closed, her mouth slack. I beckoned to Jess. He glanced at Skuld, closed the book and carefully set it down on the stone floor.
“You have returned,” Skuld said, rousing herself.
“I have.”
“Let me see,” the goddess said, leaning forward in her chair. Her eyes seemed to glow in the dim light, and her gnarled hands gripped the branches of her throne. “Come closer.”
I swallowed audibly, took one step toward her, then stopped. “As you can see, I have retrieved your stone, great Skuld. Now give me the protection spell.”
“The beast gave you no trouble then?” Skuld asked, ignoring my request.
“Not as much trouble as I gave him,” I said, “though it would have been helpful to have had some warning.”
“Pah,” Skuld said, thrusting out her chin. “I have learned to hold my tongue Valkyr, for which you should be grateful.”
I bowed my head slightly. “I am grateful, goddess. And if you will give me the protection spell, I will leave you with your precious stone.”
Skuld lifted her head and sniffed the air. “Are you taunting me?”
“I would not be so foolish. I only wish to fulfill my mission and see this warrior safely home.”
“Very well,” Skuld said, waving a hand. “Have the warrior come to me and I will bestow my gift upon him.”
I nodded to Jess, and he stood before Skuld, tall and fearless, his head held high.
“Hold out your hand, mortal.”
Jess did as instructed. Skuld pulled a gold ring from her finger and placed it in Jesse’s open palm.
I felt my throat thicken with unshed tears. He was safe.
Jess bowed to the goddess and turned to me, striding toward me, his handsome face suffused with the same relief I felt.
“Put it on your finger,” I said in a hushed voice, “and stand behind me.”
He gave me a curt nod, slipped the ring on his finger and put a hand on my shoulder. I had the fleeting feeling that if I weren’t holding a fifteen ton stone, he would have kissed me.
“Now give me my stone,” Skuld said, pointing at us with her long wrinkled index finger.
“Of course, goddess.”
I laid the stone down at my feet, far from Skuld’s throne. She put a hand to her throat and rose from her throne, peering at the hulking stone.
“What have you done?”
“I have brought you the stone, great and good goddess Skuld.”
“You … you did this?” Skuld shuffled toward the stone and pointed a shaking finger at me, her long pointed nails an accusation.
Jess slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me to him. Skuld didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes were now fixated on the stone.
She put her hand to her mouth, almost a kiss and then held it out to the stone. “Oh my, my darling.“
When she laid her hand on the stone it turned an iridescent blue where she touched it.
“You destroyed her,” Skuld said. “You have injured her.”
The old goddess bared her teeth, her eyes burning the same iridescent blue that coated the stone. I saw rage. Anger. Despair.
I stumbled back, pulling Jess with me.
“You are damned,” she said, screaming, her voice breaking. “I will tell you everything!” “It wasn’t me, great goddess! It wasn’t me.”
I wanted to tell her about Ermhilde and what she had done, that it wasn’t me that had destroyed her valuable stone, but there was no reason in Skuld’s eyes. She was insane with grief and fury.
“Wait, please. There was a Valkyrie at the shrine. Ermhilde. She was waiting.”
“You will hear it all,” Skuld screeched, raising her hands, her eyes rolling back in her head. “Everything about your sister and the death of your son…”
Jess threw his trench coat over my head and pushed me down the tunnel. We ran. I wrapped my wings around us, but Skuld’s words reached me as we ascended.
“Your son … will burn in the fires of Hell. I will see to it. He will suffer as no Valkyrie has ever suffered before….”
Chapter Eight
I wanted to take Jess back to The Nest. I wanted to spend more time with him. I wanted to have him without the threat of Death waiting in the shadows, but it was not to be. Jess had already been away f
rom his unit for three days. If he didn’t go back, they might not believe his story.
We stood together in the broken apartment building in Kandahar, trying to find the words to say good-bye.
Jess turned the ring on his finger around and around. I took his hands in mine.
“You’ll be okay now, Jess.”
“But will you be all right?” He asked, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“I told you,” I said, swallowing back the sudden lump in my throat, “I’m always all right.”
“But the prophecy. You heard what Skuld said.”
“It was a threat, not a prophecy.”
“What about Gustel? Skuld said your sister would betray you.”
I brought his hands up to my lips. “Anything that happens between us will get worked out. We fight sometimes, but we always find a way to forgive each other.”
Jess nodded, but looked doubtful.
“We should get going,” I said, hating the words as they left my mouth, wishing I could take them back.
"I don't know how I'm going to explain all this."
“You were ambushed. Your men saw the girl. They saw it happen. Tell them you were trapped in the apartment building, that you lost consciousness. They’ll believe that.”
"What would you do if I kissed you right now?"
"Jess,” I said, putting my hand up to his cheek, “I’d have to watch you die."
"What if I don't care?"
"I care. And I'm strong enough to get my way."
Jess smiled, shaking his head, but his eyes were serious when he said, "So you hold all the cards."
"I always have. Jess, I've lived a long, long life, and there's nothing I want more than to be with you. But if there's one thing I've learned watching battles and mortals struggling through their short lives, it's this. Mortal life is worth living. To live that life, that short wonderful burst of life, in all its glory? I can't take that away from you. I won't."
