Love's Choice

by Renee Jordan

“Yeah, I figured that,” I answered, gripping my sword before me.

  An articulating foot, like an ape's, gripped the edge as it leaned out. The monster's body was almost all skeleton—blackened rib cage, charred spin, burned pelvis clinging with flesh. It crackled as eyeless sockets fixed on us.

  The creature leaped. Flames engulfed it as the monster hurled to the ground. The shotgun roared beside me. I flinched. My ears rang and I stumbled away. Snow hissed around me as I shook my head. If Magnus hit, his shot did nothing. The monster landed before me in an explosion of steam. The air danced around it as the skeleton burst out of the cloud.

  His fingers were tipped with claws reaching for my flesh. They were long, sharp, and would pierce my flesh as easily as a pin pricking a balloon. I swung my sword. He was so fast. He would find my flesh. My side still ached from the last monster.

  I needed to armor myself. I must be able to.

  My blade swept down in an arc. The monster's arm reached out. Silver light flashed around me. Claws screeched against metal. My sword bit through brittle bones. Fire exploded before me, washing over me as I cut the creature in half.

  The blast threw me back. Metal crashed. Arms caught me. Magnus grunted.

  The fire snuffed out, leaving dark smoke behind that drifted up into the sky, slowly diffusing into a pale haze. My heart thudded in my chest. I moved my arm and metal creaked. Shining steel covered my wrists up to the elbows. A breastplate covered my chest and a skirt of mail fell down to my knees, brushing the tops of the metal guards covering my shins.

  “What?” I gasped.

  Magnus helped to keep me upright. I shifted in the armor and almost hit him in the face with the helmet's left wing. His eyes were wide with awe. A heat filled my cheeks as he stepped back and looked at me.

  “Valkyrie,” he whispered.

  “Don't say it like that,” I groaned, my cheeks growing redder. “It's so embarrassing.”

  “You're majestic. The beauty of Boudica clad and girded by the silver of the moon.”

  My cheeks managed to burn hotter as a smile crossed my lips and tears beaded my eyes. I moved to him and threw my armored arms around his solid frame and kissed him. My stomach twisted with guilt. He was thrown into this world because he loved me. I chose him. I brought him here. He didn't ask for this.

  And he wasn't angry with me. He didn't hate me. He loved me. How did this happen? Who was this man? How could he be a poet and a warrior all at the same time? It didn't seem right. They seemed like two separate people. One who only destroyed and the other who only created.

  I broke the kiss as Fenrir howled again. The smile faded from my lips. My face hardened. I was a Valkyrie, like my mother. And the monster that killed her was around the corner. I couldn't stand here kissing Magnus.

  The flaming sword appeared in my hand.

  Magnus nodded. “Let's kill a wolf.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Magnus

  Raven was magnificent as she blazed a trail through the snow in her shining armor. Her black hair spilled out the back of her winged helmet, cascading about her shining armor. It wasn't made of steel. It didn't have that dull-gray shine. The metal was far too brilliant. I would say it was made of actual silver, but silver didn't have this metal's strength.

  It didn't matter what metal girded Raven. She walked with the moon's silver. What a woman. Dying was worth it to have her.

  We reached the edge of the Armory and peered around its corner. A field of snow led to the fountain I had seen from the skyscraper. A thick, white root grew out of the center of a large, metal hemisphere covered in frozen water. The root buried into the snow around the sphere. A man stood before it, glowing in golden armor. He wielded an ax that shimmered like the dancing aurora. Every time he swung it, sheets of color rippled through the air.

  And Fenrir, the massive wolf, flinched and jumped back.

  “He's scared of the weapon,” Raven hissed. The flames burned hotter on her sword.

  I studied Fenrir. He was a gray wolf and, based on the size of Heimdall, easily the size of an elephant. The wolf snarled as he dodged and charged on the snow, trying to get past the guard of Heimdall's swinging ax and find the flesh of the god. Other monsters prowled around the edges of the fight. There were more of the charred skeletons, and each left a melted path through the snow as it stalked the fountain.

  One leaped at Heimdall, and the god cut it down with a fluid motion, pivoted, and sent his crescent ax head swinging for Fenrir's face. The giant wolf snarled. Snow flew about Fenrir's furry paws as he leaped back.

  “This is futile,” Heimdall laughed. A charred skeleton crashed into his armored body. With a backhanded blow, Heimdall broke the creature. Fire erupted and danced harmlessly around his body. “You cannot pass, Fenrir. Take these insects and depart. Never again shall you rampage in Midgard. You were banished here. And in Utgard shall you remain.”

  “Banished?” Raven hissed. “They just banished the beast after he killed my parents?”

  Raven rushed around the corner. I caught her arm and pulled her back. She turned and fixed her fierce eyes upon me. “Why? He's right there.”

  “What's our plan?” I asked. “We cannot just charge down there without one.”

  “We attack the wolf. We help this Heimdall. We kill it.”

  I opened my mouth when a loud crack resounded. A new figure appeared, tall and gray-skinned. His body covered in folds and wrinkles that gathered at his joints. Two tusks jutted from his mouth. He looked like an elephant seal with legs.

  “Thief of Brisingamen,” snarled Heimdall. “So it was you that whipped this cur into a frenzy.”

  “Fenrir has business in Midgard,” the thief answered in a low, grating growl. “The time of the gods is over, Heimdall. Step aside and live.”

  “On the day the first sun raced across the sky, I swore by my blood to guard the Bifrost. None shall pass without the gods' blessings. And you do not have it. Fenrir was banished to Utgard for killing the Valkyrie and her man.”

  The thief stroked the fur of the massive wolf. Raven jerked in my arm. Anger burned in her eyes. Something was happening. It was too dangerous to rush down there without knowing what was going on.

  “You will not reconsider, Heimdall?”

  “And I could ever trust what you say?” sneered the god. “Only lies drip from your foul lips.”

  “What a pity,” grumbled the thief.

  With a bellowing roar, the thief charged at Heimdall. The golden-armored god swung the auroric ax, sheeting rainbows in its wake that lit up the sky with beauty. The thief's rubbery arm grabbed the ax's shaft and stopped the blow. Heimdall's golden light flared.

  I flinched back, raising my hand to shield my eyes. A horn resounded. The note was pure. The ground shook beneath my feet. Snow crashed from the tops of buildings and the boughs of trees. The golden light snuffed out.

  Heimdall lay at the foot of the massive tree root, his armor dull-gold. Blood spurted from his throat, gored by the thief's tusks. The thief tossed the ax to the snow and turned to the massive wolf. Fenrir shook his head, his fur bristling.

  “Go,” ordered the thief. “Before the connection is lost.”

  Fenrir charged at the root of the Yggdrasil as the thief vanished in a loud clap. The massive wolf raced up the white-ash root and leaped at the fountain. A path appeared, ethereal and faint, made of shimmering colors. The wolf landed and raced out of reality.

  “Come on, Raven,” I snarled. “We need to move.”

  “What?” she gasped.

  “He said before the connection is lost. The path must be about to close now that Heimdall's dead.”

  Raven nodded and rushed to my bike. We climbed on. I turned the key and kick-started the engine. The bike growled, hungry for action. Raven, still armored, pressed against my back. Her body trembled with excitement.

  I twisted the accelerator, and we roared around the corner.

  I drove straight for the root of the Yggdrasil. The skele
tal monsters leaped at us, hissing and crackling. I ducked down and pushed my bike to its limit. We drove across the lawn leading to the fountain, the snow flashing into steam before us.

  Heimdall's ax shimmered beside his body. The wolf feared it.

  I turned my bike to the left.

  “What are you doing?” Raven shouted, her sword slashing to the right and killing a monster in an explosion of fire.

  “Giving us a chance against Fenrir,” I answered.

  I leaned out with my left hand. The ax head had embedded into the ground. The handle rose at an angle. It was made of wood wrapped in leather strips. I snagged it and leaned back over to the right, the rear end of my bike fishtailing as I turned for the root. The haft hummed in my hand. Colors burst around us.

  “Hold tight,” I shouted.

  Raven's left arm tightened around me as the wheel of my bike hit the root. The shocks groaned as the bike climbed up the white root. My heart hammered. The metal sphere of the fountain hurtled towards us.

  If this didn't work...

  The Bifrost appeared, vanishing through the metal sphere. My bike drove on the bridge and out of reality. Ahead, Fenrir ran through the dark void the bridge crossed. He howled with vicious fury. I gripped the ax and answered with a howl of my own.

  It was time to show this beast how a real wolf runs.

  ~ ~ ~

  Raven

  No air whipped past us as we rode through the dark void on the Bifrost. My eyes fixed on Fenrir charging before us. “Faster!”

  The Harley's engine roared beneath us. Magnus twisted the accelerator. We raced through the darkness after the monster. I would kill it. I would avenge my parents and my childhood. That beast stole my happiness away.

  Light burst ahead and swallowed Fenrir. The rainbow bridge ended at a shimmering barrier. Magnus growled as he drove us straight for it. His body tensed. I squeezed my eyes shut. The light flared so bright it shone through my closed eyelids.

  Screams exploded against my ears in a sudden wall of sound.

  I opened my eyes as we burst out of the International Fountain. Water sprayed around us onto the red and black stones that paved the fountain. The people playing in the spray ran in fear as Fenrir raced south towards the gap between the Armory and the Fisher Pavilion.

  We were back in our world. It was warm. The sky was blue. The sun was bright. Vibrant grass and beautiful trees swayed in the breeze. I laughed as Magnus's bike soared through the air. We were free of Utgard.

  The bike hit the ground. Shocks groaned. And so did my butt. I grit my teeth at the jarring impact. The rear end fishtailed across the black-and-red paving stones. Rubber burned as Magnus fought to control his bike. The wheel found traction, and we raced off after the wolf.

  “Where is he heading?” Magnus asked.

  “Just follow! Hunt him down.” I wanted Fenrir dead.

  Magnus howled. He was a true wolf, not like the monster fleeing before us. The President of the Black Wolf Motorcycle Club would show Fenrir what it was like to be hunted.

  The warm air whipped past us as we raced through the Seattle Center. People huddled along the paths or against the buildings. Fenrir howled before us. People fled like herds of deer before the predator. Magnus followed, weaving his bike around obstacles.

  Fenrir burst out onto the busy streets of Seattle. Metal crumpled as he raced across cars. Horns honked and cars crashed. Magnus cut his bike to the left, racing between a stalled bus and a crumpled sedan.

  It was like the chase yesterday through the streets of Seattle. Only this time we were the hunters. Fenrir fled before us. He raced down streets, howling and snarling as he leaped over cars and crashed through obstacles. The wolf left chaos in his wake.

  Magnus took his bike onto the sidewalk, Heimdall's ax gripped in his left hand. Rainbow colors streamed behind us. My heart raced with excitement. I raised my sword high as we rushed by the cowering citizens of Seattle.

  What were they thinking seeing us? A tough biker in his leather and jeans brandishing a magical ax while a woman in silver armor rode bitch behind him, a flaming sword held high. Did they think we were heroes chasing after the giant wolf racing before us? Or did they think we were crazies as we barreled down the sidewalk and forced them to dive for safety?

  Either way, we were making the news. Phones pointed at us, capturing the chaos as we hunted down Fenrir. The wolf barreled through the heart of Seattle. It didn't care about making a scene. His loud howls echoed down the streets, drowning out the honk of horns and growl of car engines.

  The wolf took the next left, smashing through a traffic light. The metal bent and crumpled, falling with a crash across the hood of an SUV. Magnus turned his bike. We bounced off the sidewalk and wove between the cars. Drivers honked at us as we rushed by them.

  “Duck,” Magnus growled.

  I leaned down as we drove beneath the crashed traffic light and up onto the next sidewalk. Fenrir raced before us, trampling a display of flowers set out on the sidewalk. Potting soil and petals flew through the air. I closed my eyes as we drove through the grit.

  We were gaining on the beast.

  I grinned. “Closer. Get alongside of the beast. I want to hack his leg and lame him.”

  Magnus laughed before me. “So vicious, Valkyrie.”

  “Yes.” My blood boiled with anger. “He killed my parents.”

  The engine roared louder. Magnus dodged a crumpled, blue mailbox. A cloud of letters whipped behind us. Fenrir was back out into the road, racing across the hoods of cars. A bus loomed before him. The wolf leaped. His paws crushed the roof.

  It slowed him down.

  Magnus pulled alongside Fenrir as he leaped down into an intersection. I raised my sword. Fenrir's tail swung and struck my back. My swing went wild, missing the wolf. The blow pushed me into Magnus. The bike swerved.

  “Fuck,” Magnus snarled as he fought to control the bike.

  Fenrir pulled ahead. The wolf glanced back at us, red eyes staring right at me. Teeth as long as my arm appeared as the beast snarled at me.

  “I'll kill you!” I shouted as he kept running and raced around a corner.

  “Is he heading for your coffee shop?” Magnus asked as he regained control of the bike. “We're nearby.”

  Ahead, Fenrir took the next left. My eyes widened as I realized where we were. “Yes. The alley! It cuts over.”

  Magnus leaned the bike as he took the turn. The end fishtailed around with a squeal and a trail of acrid smoke. I held on tight as Magnus put his boot down on the sidewalk to keep us from tipping and crashing. The tire squealed and smoked behind us and then we shot down the narrow alley.

  Dumpsters lined the path. Magnus weaved through them. Garbage kicked up around us. I wrinkled my nose at the foul odors. It was dark between the buildings. Ahead, the street was bright and there was the coffee house.

  We burst out of the alley. A teen on the sidewalk screamed as she jumped back from us. I ignored her. Fenrir was on our right. The giant wolf crashed through the glass facade of the Boar Coffee and Cafe. A woman in a business suit raced out of the front door, her coffee cup gripped tight in her hand.

  Fenrir lunged at Owen. His jaws savaged Owen's side. The one-eyed man screamed in pain.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Raven

  Fenrir's jaws sank into Owen's army-green jacket, biting deep into his flesh. The old man's scream pierced through the cries of alarm of the pedestrians and the snarls of the wolf. Fenrir shook the old man as Owen's fists beat at the beast's gray muzzle.

  It was hard to think that Owen could be the same Odin that had driven off Fenrir when I was a child. He looked so weak and helpless in the beast's jaws. Could Loki have been right about Owen? Was he really the one-eyed god of death and battle? Had he stranded Magnus and me in Utgard to train us, risking our lives and potentially keeping us trapped in that frigid nightmare?

  Or was he just a weak, old man being savaged by a monster, that needed my protection?


  Magnus roared across the street, past a smoking sports car with a crumpled hood, and barreled through the shattered glass of the cafe. Freddy and Gerdie peaked over the counter, Freddy's lipstick a brighter shade of red than his wife's.

  “Fenrir,” I roared as I hopped off the back of the bike, my armor clinking as I brandished my blade.

  The wolf tossed his head and threw Owen. The old man crashed into a table. It buckled beneath him and collapsed into splinters. Owen groaned, blood smearing his white beard as it leaked out the corners of his mouth.

  Anger seized me. My parents lay dead before me. The beast stood over their body. I wasn't a scared, little girl clutching my dolls and crying in horror. I was a Valkyrie now. I had power. Fenrir would feel my vengeance.

  I charged forward past the bike, leaping over the debris strewn across the cafe's floor. Fenrir's baleful eyes fixed on me. He snarled as he turned. Magnus shouted behind me. My blood hammered too loud for me to hear.

  I raised my flaming sword.

  Fenrir swiped with a heavy paw. Metal screeched and rent. Pain flared down across my side and abdomen. Sharp claws ripped at my flesh. I flew back. My sword fell from my grip and vanished. I crashed through glass. The shards spun around me like glittering teeth before I hit the sidewalk and rolled to my back.

  Above, a perfect, summer sky burned blue.

  ~ ~ ~

  Magnus

  A great, violent anger took me as Raven was struck and thrown through the window. She trailed misty blood, a shining comet hurtling out of the cafe. The wolf howled inside me. I put on its cloak. My body changed. Fur sprouted black. My arms grew longer, my fingernails sharper. I howled from a hungry muzzle. My paw gripped the rainbow battle ax.

  I threw myself at Fenrir, howling in rage.

  There was no fear. There was no room for it. I was consumed with anger. It burned inside of me. My Valkyrie had been hurt. Nothing else mattered but the blood lust. I was the wolf, and I would savage the beast that hurt her.

  Fenrir lunged at me. I met fangs with colorful steel. The ax head leaked rainbow light as I swung it. The blade struck the beast's sharp teeth and rebounded. Fenrir snarled and I howled back. We snapped our teeth and swung our claws at each other.