Shield Maiden (The Lone Valkyrie Book 1)

by Charley Case

  Mila nodded. “I’ll just be a minute.”

  He squeezed her hand, then walked down the ruined road to where he had last seen the bike.

  Mila watched him go until it became awkward and then turned to the two women. She held out a blood-covered hand to the goth girl. “I’m Mila Winters.”

  “Oh, I know who you are.” She took the offered hand without hesitation, not seeming to notice the blood. “I’m Missy Walker, the eldest. I have to say I’m very impressed with your work here. If we had been here ten seconds earlier, we would have had him.”

  Mila didn't know if she liked the nonchalant attitude surrounding letting a mass-murdering psycho get away, but nodded to keep the peace for now. “It was a close thing.”

  “We can only stay for a few minutes. Your drain on us is quite strong,” Missy said, tossing a blue pigtail over her shoulder. “Speaking of, how have you grown in power so fast? It usually takes us a lifetime or two to fully understand our conviction.”

  Mila smiled and looked over her shoulder at Finn, who was pulling the wrecked bike from where it had been wedged under the guard rail.

  “Finn showed me the way. He’s surprisingly wise,” Mila said with a smile.

  “I had heard you were a champion of a hero, but I have to say, no one mentioned he was a dwarf. And a royal if those magical tattoos are any indication. You really weren’t messing around choosing him, were you?”

  “Oh, I didn't pick him,” Mila said, holding her hands up. “He picked me. Walked up to me sure as can be with a fucking dragon on his shoulder. It was pretty much history from there.”

  Missy gave Mila with an appraising look that far outpaced her body's experience. It was the look of what most people would call an old soul, and in Missy’s case, it was true.

  “I’m glad to have some fresh blood. Should spice things up,” Missy said, looking down the road to where Penny was using the repair spell she had learned from Howard to fix the damage to the bike. Finn was freaking out with excitement. “Be sure to watch out for that one. He’s unique to Earth.”

  Mila nodded. “Penny, Finn, and I are all unique. We’re a funny little family, but it is a family. We look out for each other.”

  The Valkyries bid them farewell and took off, with promises of speaking by phone that Friday.

  Penny was able to repair the bike completely, along with cleaning and mending their clothes, one of her handier spells.

  Finn dropped a note to Hermin and Garret that there was a cleanup on the mountain road that they would need to take care of. The two Huldus grumbled, but they knew things like that were bound to happen when evil needed to be stopped.

  Despite the fight and wreck, they were still on time to meet Danica and Phil at the Refinery. They ate and drank and sang karaoke until Mila and Finn were little better than zombies from exhaustion.

  Penny walked home with Mila and Finn, who strolled hand in hand the block and a half home. Once inside, Penny went to her room, claiming she needed to arrange her new starter hoard, bidding them good night before disappearing.

  Mila and Finn stumbled into their room, stripped naked at the foot of the bed, then fell asleep within a minute of covering up.

  Mila was having one of those rare dreams where she knew it was a dream but was able to stay in it. She didn't seem to have any control of the dream, but she was able to move about freely.

  She found herself in an open-air market in what she assumed was a Middle Eastern country, but she had never seen a place like it in real life and was amazed at the detail in the dream, from the languages to the small trinkets for sale at the stalls.

  She browsed the shops and vendors, but quickly grew bored and wondered when she was going to wake up.

  She found a large fountain at the center of the market and sat on the edge, crossing her ankles and swishing a hand through the cool, clean water.

  She was starting to think she should start doing crazy things to make herself wake up, like jump off a building or something, when she saw a robed figure passing through the market.

  Robed men and women weren’t unusual in the market. They were everywhere, but she recognized that robe. It was Azoth’s.

  Not liking where this was going, she still decided to follow him. After all, it was her dream; it wasn’t like he could hurt here.

  She kept her distance but always had eyes on the back of his gray head. He led her deeper into the city, where there were fewer people, but still enough to hide among them if he turned around, which he never did.

  The crowd on the streets thinned, then they became abandoned as they entered a bombed-out section of the city. Mila started hiding at corners and only following after Azoth turned, which he did quite often as if zigzagging his way across the city.

  She watched him traveling down an abandoned street with three burned-out cars still in their parking spaces. This time, instead of turning down a main street, he turned down an alley.

  Mila jogged to the alley’s entrance, hearing clear signs of a struggle. Mila glanced around the corner and saw Azoth, his back to her, watching a woman quickly and efficiently take out five attackers with a combination of martial arts and spell-slinging.

  The woman’s spells were particularly vicious in Mila's opinion. For example, she removed one attacker’s legs with a spell, but instead of using an explosive of some sort or a wind blade, she shot what looked like a bike chain from a bubble. The chain wrapped around the attacker’s leg and proceeded to saw it off as the chain spun and tightened slowly. The attacker had been screaming in pain the entire fight until she crushed his head with a cinderblock.

  Azoth began to clap as if he had just seen a great theater performance. “Wonderful, but I can help you become better.”

  “Fuck off, old man,” the woman said, going through her attackers’ pockets for cash or coin. Mila was starting to think this wasn't as straightforward as she had first believed.

  Azoth continued walking toward her, but either she didn't notice or didn't think he was a threat. He walked up behind her, standing so close that if he lifted his foot, it would hit her squatting ass.

  She stood and rounded on him, her mouth opening to yell something when her eyes widened in confusion.

  Azoth slapped a palm to her chest, then pulled it back, revealing the thread of her soul. He began to pull it out like Mila had seen him do twice now, and felt sorrow for the woman.

  Then something different happened, and Mila was fascinated.

  Azoth pressed his other palm to the woman’s chest, but this time when he pulled the hand away, there was a black thread that led from him into her. He slowly exchanged part of her soul for an equal amount of his.

  The process took forever, but when it was done, there was a maniacal glint in the woman’s eye that hadn't been there before.

  “Master.” The woman bowed to him.

  Azoth turned, and Mila found that she could no longer move. His dark hood regarded her, and she got the feeling he was smiling.

  “I haven't forgotten about you, Mila.” His creaking voice made her cringe. “I will gather my people, then we shall come, and I will take you to be my personal pet. I can't wait for all the fun we’ll have. See you soon.”

  Mila awoke with a start and scrambled away from Finn's sleeping chest, gasping and looking around the room for enemies.

  Finn was on his feet in a flash, brandishing the baseball bat they kept beside the bed. “What is it? Did someone get in?” He saw that Mila was holding her head in her hands.

  He approached her, gently putting a hand on her bare shoulder. “Darlin’, what happened?”

  She lifted her head from her hands, her face a mask of rage. She was so angry that her shoulders shook uncontrollably.

  “That motherfucking coward just made his first mistake is what happened.”

  The End

  Mila won the first round, but the Drude is waking up. His powers of infernal magic can use nightmares to drive people insane or exchange bits of their soul fo
r infernal magic and infect them to be his thralls. Will a Lone Valkyrie be enough of a match? How long can a goblin hold its breath? Read Choose the Slain to find out if Mila can master celestial magic and help save her kind.

  Get sneak peeks, exclusive giveaways, behind the scenes content, and more.

  PLUS you'll be notified of special one day only fan pricing on new releases.

  Sign up today to get free stories.

  CLICK HERE

  or visit: https://marthacarr.com/read-free-stories/

  Author Notes - Charley Case

  February 28, 2020

  Thanks for reading the first book in the Lone Valkyrie series. If you’re new to the Terranavis universe then welcome! You may have guessed that this series is a “continuation” of another series, and I recommend you check that out. It’s called The Adventures of Finnegan Dragonbender, and fills in a lot of those tiny details you may be curious about. That being said, it is by no means required reading to enjoy this series.

  For of those of you that have come from the Adventures of Finnegan Dragonbender, welcome back! It’s so good to have you back.

  So, over the last couple of months one of my cats, Bub, has become quite the cry baby. He will come into my office and yell at me for hours if I don't pay attention to him… literally hours. I timed it once; he never gave up.

  Even now he is laying on my desk, his chest and front paws draped over one of my forearms while I’m typing this, and generally making a nuisance of himself. It’s really annoying, and only slightly endearing.

  It’s annoying and disruptive and pain in the ass. I just want him to give me some space, and shut the hell up, so I can work!

  Me and my wife recently moved to a new city, and my writing has started to take off.(I know this seems like a completely random direction to take after a short story about my cat, but hang in there)

  My wife is a smarty-pants and has a good job where people call her by her earned degree. You know, a profession. She has an office with windows, and her name on the door and everything. There are even people that come to her for answers because she’s the only one in the state who can answer them. (I realize I married up. In fact, the only thing I question about her judgment is the fact that she chose to end up with me.)

  While at work she is constantly interacting with people; on the phone, people in her office, out in the field, etc. She gets more social interaction that she can handle by the end of every day.

  Me, on the other hand? I work from home. My office mates are the cats. Let’s just say that I don't exactly have meaningful conversation for a good nine hours out of the day. By the time my wife gets home I’m half mad from talking to myself. I haven't seen another human since she left that morning.

  We eat dinner. Watch some TV. Talk about her work. Talk about my work.

  Then at around 8pm she goes and reads a book, or putters around on Facebook or what have you, and I go into my office and watch YouTube, or play a video game. At 10:30 or so we go to bed and do it all again.

  This is the compromise we both came to after a particular incident that changed my view of how things work completely.

  Back when we had first moved to our new house and I was working full time from home, my wife came home and I was stir crazy. I started talking her ear off, and sitting really close to her on the couch.

  I was excited she was home and I finally had someone to talk to that could talk back.

  She was exhausted from too much human interaction.

  It did not go well.

  The straw that broke the camel’s back came when she was sitting on the couch, trying to read a book, and I laid down and put my head in her lap.

  She exploded.

  She told me she just needed to decompress from work. I countered that I hadn't talked out loud in 8 hours and needed some human time.

  Immediately we realized we hadn't been communicating very well, and so we talked about what would work. So now I get my human interaction, and she gets her decompression time.

  Earlier today I was trying to write and Bub jumped up on my desk plopping down on my arm and started purring. I almost shooed him away, angry that he interrupted me again.

  Instead I started laughing.

  I got it. I was my wife’s Bub. Always in her business, and never giving her a moments peace.

  I picked Bub up and laid him on the floor, then proceeded to pet the ever living shit out of him. He was in heaven. Drooling and purring like it was the best thing in the world. I did that for a good five minutes until he suddenly jumped up and ran into the other room. He had had enough.

  I had a good five hours peace before he came back.

  Sometimes we have to give a little to get a little. In fact, I’ll go as far as, we always have to give a little to get a little.

  Peace fellow humans. I hope we all can find the balance in life.

  Charley Case

  (Boise, Id)

  Author Notes - Martha Carr

  February 3, 2020

  Okay, make sure you read the hobbies question – Metal detecting! Knife throwing! You never know what lurks in the heart of your graphic designer. Kayla is one of the prime examples of why it’s a blast working with LMBPN. A great graphics designer at my disposal! She’s creative and always coming up with a better twist for what we need. That’s the best kind of artist. The kind who takes my pile of ideas and adds in their own flare to create something eye-catching and original.

  Writing a good book with a great cover and a snappy blurb are just the start. Hello Marketing… That’s where Kayla comes swooping in with graphics to grab a reader’s attention long enough to take a look at that cover and a few words about the book. Or build a web site – Kayla totally redid mine at www.marthacarr.com – or a Facebook banner or create a new mug. The list goes on and on and on.

  And because Kayla is available to take care of that part of the picture, I can get back to writing. It all works out.

  Martha Carr

  1. Tell our readers a bit about yourself.

  I’m a graphic and web designer living in Nebraska with my husband and two sons. I also like to write, but I’ve put away my author hat for now to focus on graphic design. I love acquiring new skills and I love working with other creatives.

  2. Tell us a little bit about your history with writing.

  I published my first novel in 2012 with a small press. It was the first book in my paranormal romance series and I’ve published a total of four novels. I have a few things in the works, including a large epic fantasy series, but I’m just casually writing for now with no plans to publish quite yet.

  3. What genre(s) do you write?

  I write paranormal romance, urban fantasy, epic fantasy, and I also dabble in other genres when inspiration strikes.

  4. What genre(s) do you read?

  I read just about everything. Currently, I’m really going back to my epic fantasy roots. However, I’ve got horror, science fiction, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, mysteries, thrillers, and more on my bookshelf and in my kindle library.

  5. Do you have hobbies?

  I have too many hobbies…more than any person could possibly need. I like writing, drawing, painting, crafts, metal detecting, sewing, scrapbooking, jewelry making, and even knife throwing just to name a few.

  6. What is one of your goals for the new year?

  My goal for 2020 is to improve my graphic design craft and to improve my writing craft. I’ve been working at both for quite a while and I’m always learning new techniques that allow me to take my art to the next level.

  7. Do you have a website you want to share?

  My author site is under construction until I publish again, but my graphic design site is currygraphicdesign.com.

  The Magic Compass

  If smart phones and GPS rule the world - why am I hunting a magic compass to save the planet?

  Austin Detective Maggie Parker has seen some weird things in her day, but finding a surly gnome rooting through her
garage beats all.

  Her world is about to be turned upside down in a frantic search for 4 Elementals.

  Each one has an artifact that can keep the Earth humming along, but they need her to unite them first.

  Unless the forces against her get there first.

  AVAILABLE ON AMAZON AND IN KINDLE UNLIMITED!

  Other Books in The Terranavis Universe

  The Adventures of Maggie Parker Series

  The Witches of Pressler Street

  Other books by Martha Carr

  Other books by Charley Case

  JOIN THE TERRANAVIS UNIVERSE FACEBOOK GROUP

  FOLLOW TERRANAVIS UNIVERSE ON FACEBOOK

  Other LMBPN Publishing Books

  To be notified of new releases and special promotions from LMBPN publishing, please join our email list:

  http://lmbpn.com/email/

  For a complete list of books published by LMBPN please visit the following pages:

  https://lmbpn.com/books-by-lmbpn-publishing/

  All LMBPN Audiobooks are Available at Audible.com and iTunes. For a complete list of audiobooks visit:

  www.lmbpn.com/audible

  Connect with The Authors