Shield Maiden (The Lone Valkyrie Book 1)

by Charley Case

  Mila, Danica, and Penny gasped when her body crumbled to dust, the shackles dropping to the concrete with a resounding clang.

  “Take the town. This time do it right, Seline. I require more sacrifice.”

  Seline bowed low. “As you command, my Lord.”

  He turned to face Mila. The deep hood hid his features, but the unmistakable feeling of his eyes upon her made her skin crawl.

  “You will replace her, young one. You may not have the depth of power your older sister possessed, but you do have a lot of it.”

  He held out a hand toward her, a dark cloud forming in his palm.

  Mila didn't see what happened next. Instead, she felt Danica's hand fall on her shoulder, and they teleported away.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Mila stumbled forward, catching herself on the large round wooden table in the Red Brick Tavern.

  Harvey, who was sitting at the table, jumped up, brandishing a baseball bat and yelling in fright. “Holy fuck, Mila. I think I just shit myself.” He leaned hard on the table, taking a couple of gulping breaths.

  Mila didn't waste time explaining; instead, she hit the call button on her comm. “Carl. We had to teleport to the bar. The witch is still alive, and she’s woken some creature. I think it’s still weak, but they are sending the Rougarou to take the town. You need to get back here asap.”

  Her comm crackled and Carl’s voice came through, out of breath from running. “We’re already on the way there. The pack outpaced us, but we passed the last group of survivors as they were headed into town. We’re escorting them now. We have another couple of miles to go. ETA, twenty minutes.”

  “Got it. We’ll start evacuating people. We can't hold this bar for long against twenty of those things.”

  “Yeah, about that. Turns out, there was a second pack. When the first pack disengaged, we spotted another large group of the wolfmen moving toward the sawmill. I couldn't get a definite count, but my guess is there are another thirty of the motherfuckers joining up with the rest.”

  “Great. The hits just keep coming. Get here quick. I have a feeling those Rougarou are going to outpace the survivors pretty quickly.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Carl cut the comm.

  Mila turned to the gathered townsfolk. “Who here can teleport? Raise your hands.” Only three people raised their hands, two Peabrain men, and an elven woman. “Great. How many can you take at once?”

  “Three,” the older of the two Peabrains said, tucking his hands into his into the bib of his denim overalls and resting them on his large round belly.

  “I can probably do two, including me,” the young man said.

  The elven woman looked to be about twenty, but she could have just as easily have met Lincoln in person for all Mila knew. She had an air of rugged confidence about her. “I can do three as well. Where are we going?”

  “Well, firstly we’re getting you all someplace safe, then we can come back and clean this mess up properly. I own a condo building in Denver that’s being converted into housing for magicals. The bottom floor is still open, so we’re going to take you all there for now. Danica here will take the three of you there now, then bring you back to start ferrying the rest while we keep the Rougarou busy.”

  “What happened to the rest of us? Did you save them, or are they dead too?” the elven woman asked, her eyes narrow with suspicion.

  “Sorry, things have been happening really fast,” Mila apologized, licking her lips and realizing she was extremely thirsty. “We saved them. They’re on their way, and the first group should be here any minute. In fact, we need someone to keep watch.”

  Two girls with curly brown hair who looked to be about sixteen raised their hands. “I and my sister can do it. We know a few spells to fight off attackers if it comes down to it.” Her sister nodded, pulling a wand out of the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

  “Okay, just step outside and keep an eye out. Don't go looking for trouble, for fuck’s sake. Get back inside as soon as you spot a Rougarou.”

  They nodded and ran to the front door, pushing it open and letting in a sliver of golden late afternoon light before it closed behind them.

  Danica went to the three other teleporters and had them hold hands. After a second of concentration, a large bubble formed around them then popped, leaving empty air.

  Mila sighed, the weight of the day hitting her all at once. She swallowed, her throat incredibly dry. Penny flapped over and landed on her shoulder, giving her a compassionate look.

  “Chi?”

  Mila half-smiled; it was all she could muster. “I’m fine. I just really thought I could save her.”

  Penny patted her head and nuzzled her temple.

  She reached up and squeezed the little dragon’s shoulder affectionately. “Thanks, babe. Love you too.”

  Licking her lips again, she headed for the bar. “Hey, Harvey, I’m going to grab a drink. You okay with that?”

  He waved a defeated hand at her. “Sure. Have at it. I have a feeling the bar’s not going to be here in the morning anyway.”

  Mila wanted to say that was crazy talk, but she had to agree with him. Fifty-plus Rougarou were going to make short work of the place.

  Penny pointed to a nice bottle of whiskey. “Shir.”

  Mila read the label. “Good eye, Penny.”

  Grabbing the bottle and two rocks glasses, Mila poured two full shots and set the bottle down on the bar. Opening a cooler she remembered seeing Coors originals in, she grabbed one of the beers and twisted the top off.

  Danica reappeared with the three townsfolk and instructed them to start taking people to the condo, then headed over to Mila, who handed her a beer.

  Danica twisted the top off and took a long drink of the ice-cold beer. “Thanks. I needed that. Got another shot glass?”

  Mila smiled and poured her a whiskey. Holding her glass up, she clinked it with Danica’s, then Penny's, still on the bar top.

  “Cheers. Here’s to wishing we had the cushy job today instead of Finn.”

  “Shee,” Penny said with an exaggerated eye roll.

  “Lucky bastard,” Danica agreed, downing the shot in one go.

  Chapter Twenty

  Finn dove forward, avoiding the spikes that shot from the wall, but the jet of fire from the pillar in the tight corridor caught the back of his shirt on fire. He twisted in the air, landing on his back, and smothering the flame. Lying still, he looked for more of the traps he knew were there.

  One of the floor tiles was slightly raised, a sure sign that it was a pressure plate. He crawled forward, avoiding the plate altogether, and was about to congratulate himself on making it all the way through the hundred-meter-long corridor of death with only a singed shirt when his hand landed on a tile that clicked and dropped a few millimeters.

  “Fucking hell.”

  A click at the ceiling made him twist and roll to the wall as a huge bladed pendulum dropped from the ceiling and swung down to graze him across the ribs. He quickly crab-crawled forward when the blade swung the other way, giving him enough time to roll out of the corridor and into a large natural cave.

  He checked his side and saw that there were two shallow cuts along his ribs, one from the initial drop, the second from its return swing. The cuts were shallow enough that they hadn't got to the muscle, but they were bleeding pretty well.

  Using Fragar, he cut the bottom third of his t-shirt off, then cut two long strips from that, leaving a large portion that he folded into a pad large enough to cover the two cuts. Pressing the t-shirt scrap to his side, he awkwardly tied it into place with the two long strips., making sure to cinch it tight enough that it wouldn't fall off if he had to fight any more of the little ratmen.

  He had a healing potion left, having already taken one after he was ambushed by ten of the skulking little rat fuckers and they had stabbed him in the legs. What pissed him off the most wasn't that they got the drop on him, but that they had destroyed his jeans, leaving them in ribbons f
rom the thigh down. He had been forced to cut the dangling bits of denim off or they would get caught on all sorts of things, inevitably getting him killed.

  He loved these pants, and they had ruined them. He wished he could find another group of the rat bastards just so he could take his revenge for his murdered 501s.

  Now that triage was done, he took a look around to find the next challenge that awaited him and almost burst into song.

  The natural cavern he was in soared dozens of feet above him and was chock-full of stalagmites and stalactites. It looked like what everyone thought caves should look like, greens and blues in the stone, dripping water, the smell of earth and minerals, and right in the center of it all was a pile of gold, silver, and jewels that stood fifteen feet high and spilled out across the ground in a thirty-foot circle.

  “Holy shit.” Finn chuckled.

  He had only seen treasure hoards this large maybe twice in his life, and the first one had been a dragon’s hoard. Luckily, he had it on good authority that all the dragons had gone extinct on Earth a couple thousand years ago.

  He cautiously approached the pile, keeping an eye out for traps and ambushes. There were plenty of nooks and crannies where ratman could hide, but if they were there, they either were waiting for some signal or losing his favorite jeans had made Finn paranoid and the coast was clear.

  He made it all the way to the pile and nothing horrible happened to him, letting him relax just a little bit.

  He listened for a full minute, trying to pick out the slightest sound that was out of place, but all he heard was the constant dripping of water and the faint slicing sound of the bladed pendulum swinging back and forth. Convinced he was alone in the cavern, he turned to his prize.

  There were hundreds of roughcast gold bars stacked in haphazard piles, along with gold and silver coins minted in the same rough fashion spilling out between the stacked bars and forming a dome of wealth. Gems of all sizes and cuts were peppered throughout the precious metals. He marveled at the massive pile. He didn't know what he had done to get so lucky, but he wouldn't have to find another treasure for Penny anytime soon. He could just keep making trips back here and take what he needed. This was a hoard worthy of the biggest dragon in the universe.

  Actually, that wasn't true. He knew the biggest dragon in the universe: Sheena Grontel, the Great Wyrm. She had an entire planet covered in treasures as her hoard. She was also large enough to be seen from orbit and could fly through the interstellar void. Not to mention that she could personally channel more magic than the entire Dwarven Empire combined. Yeah, no one ever tried to steal any of that sweet loot.

  Finn slipped the heavy-duty backpack from his shoulders and tried to decide where to start. He could probably get two stacks of five bars each, then fill in the leftover space with coins and gems. Then again, maybe just taking coins would be better. Coins were more “hoard-y,” in his thinking.

  The problem was that he wasn't sure what Penny needed. If it was a value thing, then the gold bars with coins filling in the cracks was the way to go. Most value for space. However, it was an aesthetic thing, then coins would be more valuable.

  Finn stood there for a good ten minutes debating the issue with himself before chuckling with the realization that it didn't matter. He could just come back and get more, so the point was moot.

  Deciding that he personally liked the maximum value method most, he went to work.

  Setting the large backpack on the ground, he picked out ten gold bars, trying to find ones of similar size and weight. He quickly realized that all the bars had been cast from five different molds, making the sizes easy to choose.

  One of the casts had been slightly bigger than the others, making a brick of gold that was relatively rectangular, at about two inches by six inches and an inch thick. Feeling the weight in his hand, he guessed it was about eight and a half pounds per bar.

  He began stacking the bricks side by side, making a four-by-six-inch tower of gold in the bottom of the pack. He realized he was off on the number of bars he could get in the pack by nearly a factor of two. He had forgotten how tall the pack was.

  When he had a ten-inch-tall tower, he started to worry about the weight ripping the pack open, so he pulled out a nub of purple chalk and began to mark runes all over it. He started with what he thought the weak points might be, like the seams where the shoulder straps attached, but then realized the material of the pack might not stand up to the punishment. With a sigh, he carefully emptied the pack and methodically went about marking every single piece of material and every seam with the dwarven ruin for strength.

  When he was done and about to power the runes, he did the math in his head and decided the one rune might not be enough. It was better to be safe than sorry. The last thing he wanted was to be halfway out of the dungeon and have the bag split open, spilling his hard-earned loot in a dangerous area.

  He took another ten minutes to double-rune everything. Satisfied, he closed his eyes and began to channel power from the earth into the magically fortified chalk. The runes lit up one by one in quick succession. When all the runes were glowing, he released the powers potential and let it absorb into the runes fully. As soon as they locked in, the chalk transformed into a glossy paint like substance that would take a lot of effort to remove.

  He gave the bag a test, gripping either side of the opening and pulling it apart with all his considerable strength. The fabric didn't even strain at his abuse.

  Satisfied, he re-stacked the gold bars, and not finding any more of the same cast bars within easy reach, he switched to coins and began dumping them into the bag. He used his hands in a cupping motion like he was getting water from a pool. He had to be careful with his prosthetic hand since it had slenderer fingers than his normal one, even after he had expanded the adjustment on the digits to their maximum. Finn had large hands, even for a dwarf.

  He couldn't believe his luck at finding such a huge hoard of treasure. He guessed it had probably been a dragon’s hoard before they had gone extinct. The fact that this treasure had been sitting down here for thousands of years and no one had found it was hysterical to Finn. It had taken him just over eight hours to get where he was. Hell, he knew he had found the treasure when he’d found that first massive room. At that point, it was just a matter of traversing the dungeon.

  The bag was nearly full, the bars well-buried at this point. And he had made a nice divot in the side of the treasure mountain when he remembered a detail that Mila had said about the treasure.

  She had said that the city above him used to be a lake before it was drained. That meant that this cavern used to be at least partially submerged in water. Dragons didn't mind water, but he had never heard of one living in the water. Well, not a proper dragon. Leviathans lived in water, but they weren’t really dragons, more like an evolutionary cousin to dragons, a bit like monkeys were to humans.

  He scooped another handful of coins and gems up, dropping them into the bag. Two or three more scoops would fill the bag.

  He tried to remember his schooling. What did a Leviathan do when its water source dried up? He was pretty sure they moved to a new water source; they were able to move and breathe on land, after all.

  He scooped up another handful and was about to dump it when he saw one of the coins had been minted, not just cast. He dumped the coins and fished out the stamped one he had spotted.

  Looking it over, it was in remarkably good condition. On one side was the imprint of two men facing one another, with writing around the edge he didn't recognize. On the flip side was a shield with what looked like a turkey coming over the top. It looked pretty modern to be in a pile thousands of years old. Finn wasn't sure what had happened after Earth broke down, but he did know there had been a long period when the world descended from modernity.

  Then something else Mila had said about this treasure fluttered through his mind.

  1520—that was the year she said the gold was dumped in the lake, not thousands of yea
rs ago. If there were no dragons left when the gold was dumped, then who had gathered it into a hoard?

  Finn swallowed when something caught his attention in the pile. The last scoop of gold had uncovered a sky-blue material. He dropped the coin in the bag and slowly zipped the top closed, not taking his eyes off the patch of sky blue.

  The closer he looked, the more he recognized that material. It was bulging upward as if there were an orb under the blue skin, a suspicion that was confirmed when the eyelid opened, revealing a golden-yellow iris with a vertical-slit pupil. The eye blinked once, then swiveled to look directly at him.

  The voice of his old teacher echoed in his head. “A leviathan will go into hibernation if its body of water evaporates or is drained. They are patient creatures and know that weather patterns will eventually change, filling their lake once again, even if it takes a thousand years.”

  The pupil opened wide, changing the mostly golden eyeball to a black deeper than the void.

  The mound of coins shifted and began to rain down as the giant head of the coiled Leviathan lifted thirty feet into the air, almost touching the roof of the cavern. The beast began to uncoil, spilling the mound of treasure around it, revealing that the vast bulk of the pile had been the massive snake-like body of the sea serpent.

  Finn gulped and discreetly looked at the exit. Ratmen were pouring out of the corridor he had used to enter. Glancing around the cavern, he saw ratmen coming out of the nooks and crannies he had spotted earlier.

  “So it was a signal after all,” he muttered.

  He spied a cave leading out of the cavern, but he couldn't know if it would eventually lead to the surface. He shrugged; a dwarf was never trapped underground. He would find a way.

  He looked up to see the serpent regarding him, and he hoped that maybe it was an actual dragon, with intelligence and reaso—

  The leviathan convulsed and breathed ice in a long, powerful spray.

  “Nope, just a dumb snake,” he yelled, snatching the bag of gold and leaping out of the way of the frost breath.