by Savino, Lee
A body plummeted to the bottom to the pit.
Sorrel, the beast growled. Vik, his body huge and shaped like a monster, grey fur sprouting from his massive arms and torso. His face was elongated into a wolf’s muzzle, his fangs long and gleaming but I felt no fear. I ran to him.
Vik!
Sorrel. It’s me. I am here.
He hefted me against his hard torso, helping me shift to his back. Hold tight, he ordered.
I clung to him as he dug his wicked claws into the sides of the pit. His feet were giant paws. He dug them into the wall and began to climb.
* * *
Vik
I pulled us from the pit just in time to meet a mob. Thorsteinn danced with a trio of warriors, spinning, thrusting, parrying their blows with his axe.
I herded Sorrel behind me, roaring as I faced another group of warriors.
“Cowards,” I raged. “Attacking our defenseless mate.”
“She tried to murder a spaewife,” a warrior’s shout ended in a gargle. He ripped an arrow from his throat, his face contorting as the beast took over his form.
Sorrel straightened behind me, her face bloodless. She nodded to me and notched another arrow in her bow.
“You shouldn’t have left my weapons so close to the pit,” she snarled, and loosed another arrow into the fray.
Laughing wildly, I waded into the fight, swinging my axe.
* * *
Sorrel
All around, warriors raged, cursing me and calling for my blood.
Thorsteinn and Vik held the line, hulking monsters covered in silver or black fur. They kept the mob from reaching me, but I was not helpless. I backed up to a rocky outcropping and chose my targets carefully, shooting over the monsters’ heads.
“Enough,” a blond warrior roared. I angled my bow upwards as he and the three Alphas joined the fight. Two dark-haired Alphas, one covered in tattoos, attacked viciously, pulling Berserkers off Thorsteinn and Vik and growling for the opposing mob to back down.
A flutter of black feathers caught my eyes. There, circling over the fight, was a raven. In its claws glinted a familiar stone.
“The moonstone,” I gasped. I was out of arrows. Reaching in my pockets, I drew out the rune stones, picked a patch of bare ground, and threw them down.
The blast shook the clearing. Berserkers fell to their knees, coughing in the acrid smoke.
My head was ringing when Thorsteinn and Vik crawled to me.
“Sorrel? Are you hurt?”
“No,” I coughed. “But there was a raven—look—”
A flash and a woman appeared between us and the Alphas. Her hair was a silver-gold braid crowning her head. She wore a simple shift that left her arms and legs bare.
“Enough,” she ordered, her low voice somehow ringing over the warriors. The shouting ceased.
“Yseult,” The Alpha Samuel greeted her, wiping grit from his red eyes.
Four huge warriors, clad in armor like I’d never seen, clanked forward and surrounded the blonde witch, blocking anyone’s view of her. Just as well, something in her face was too terrible to look at directly.
“I see I have come just in time,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Get these warriors out of here,” Samuel ordered, and the Alphas began shoving the unruly pack members out of the clearing. “Obey or we’ll throw you in the pit,” one Alpha muttered.
“Who threw balefire?” Samuel asked.
“I did,” I spoke up. “I saw a raven with the moonstone and didn’t know what else to do.”
“You did well,” Vik whispered to me. He and Thorsteinn stood squarely in front of me, protecting me just like the four armored guards protected the witch.
“I have the moonstone,” she said, holding it aloft. It glinted in the morning light, washing us in a soft glow. “One of my sisters was flying over the land and saw it. She brought it to me. I did not know of the events with these spaewives until you sent word.”
“Can she bear witness to what happened?”
The witch nodded. “Her view was warped because she was in raven form, but now she can speak of it. She saw a spaewife entranced by the Corpse King, and another rise up and strike her down.”
I winced but the witch went on. “Without Sorrel, the moonstone would have been lost. Because of her we have what we need. With the moonstone we will defeat the Corpse King.”
8
Sorrel
The Alphas bid us wait in the cave while they conferred further with the witch. Vik and Thorsteinn refused to leave my side, even when one suggested they should not leave me with two Berserkers in monster form.
“Sorrel does not fear them. Why should we interfere?” The quiet blond Alpha, Ragnvald, winked at me.
Inside the cave, I submitted to the warriors pawing over me, checking for wounds. “I’m fine. You came for me before I was harmed.”
“We never should’ve left. We will not do so again.”
I swallowed around a lump in my throat. “The mob burned our home.”
“We will build another.” Vik caught my hand. “Sorrel, you reached out to us.”
“I had to, did I not?” I flushed. “It was the only way. I did not want you to think I left you.”
“I doubted for a moment,” Thorsteinn admitted. “But then I saw the arrow and knew you ran from the mob, and not from us.”
I pulled him down by his braid and kissed him madly. Vik tugged me to him and took his turn. We were all breathing heavily when I broke away.
“What of the mob? Will the pack ever accept me?”
Vik started to answer when a shadow fell across the door.
Ragnvald beckoned. “The Alphas will see you now.”
The corridor to the Alpha’s chamber seemed shorter this time. Or perhaps the torches burned brighter. The room Ragnvald led us into held four wooden thrones, but none of the Alphas sat. I hesitated on the threshold and gripped my mate’s hands tighter.
“Come, Sorrel,” Samuel beckoned me. He wasn’t exactly smiling, but his brow was smooth, his countenance lighter. To my shock he went on bended knee to speak to me. His leonine head was level with mine. “How are you feeling?”
“I am well, sir,” I answered at Thorsteinn’s nudge. If the warriors were worried I’d cause a scene here, they needn’t be. All the fight had left me after I threw the rune stones.
“There is much to say, and even more to be done. You’ll forgive us if we keep things short. Sorrel, you’re absolved of all wrongdoing. You’re free to go.”
“What about Rosalind?” I asked. “Will she be in trouble.”
“Rosalind is still recovering. Maybe, if she remembers her actions, she will have a chance to atone.”
“It wasn’t her fault,” I said. “The Corpse King tricked her, I know it. He—” I fell silent as Vik pulled me back against him.
“We know, Sorrel,” Samuel murmured. “We will not judge her too harshly.”
“And the moonstone?” Thorsteinn asked.
“Safe with the witches. They are gathering here now. If all goes well, we will soon march to overthrow our enemy.”
“The warriors who attacked Sorrel—they will go unpunished?” Vik asked.
“We will send them to be first in the line of attack,” Samuel said.
“Their punishment is light because we need them,” Ragnvald added.
Thorsteinn growled.
“It’s all right,” I squeezed my warrior’s hands. “The Corpse King has stirred up enough trouble. Let us not war amongst ourselves.”
“Well said,” muttered the tattooed Alpha.
“It will not be wise to let Sorrel free on the mountain until the march has begun,” Samuel said. “We can offer you safe haven in here. My mate will prepare quarters—”
“No,” Thorsteinn turned me to him and cupped my face. “Do you trust us?”
I nodded. Always.
“What do you mean, Thorsteinn?” Ragnvald asked.
“Alphas,
I have a solution.” Thorsteinn settled his hands on my shoulders. “If the pack will not accept Sorrel, we will leave.”
“But,” Samuel said, “We need you—”
“Send us away. All three. We will patrol the farthest reaches and will not return until the Corpse King is defeated.”
Silence fell. The Alpha’s expressions ranged from thoughtfulness to disbelief.
“You would put your mate at risk?” The tattooed Alpha asked, almost angry.
“She is well trained,” Vik said.
“She will not be at risk. She will be with us.”
“She is definitely a fighter,” Samuel mused. Vik snickered.
Ragnvald cleared his throat. “Sorrel, does this satisfy you? Will you go with them?”
“Yes. They need me to defend them,” I said.
Vik laughed again, two of the Alphas with him.
A smile cracked the head Alpha’s face. “Very well,” Samuel waved his hand. “Call us if you need aid. I will wait on your report.”
“Come,” Vik whispered, herding me towards the door.
“Keep your mate safe,” Ragnvald called after us. “We will need her to fight with us when we face the enemy.”
* * *
Sorrel
We stood on the boundary, facing the enemies ranks. Rows and rows of draugr, pressing their slavering faces against the magical boundary.
Vik pressed a rune stone in my hand. The rest went into a pouch, ready for me to reload. He and Thorsteinn took their places beside me, axes and shields at the ready, their own packs strapped to their back. The Alphas had loaded us up with supplies to last us until we reached the first patrol station where Thorsteinn and Vik kept stores. The way would be hard and long, but with my mates at my side I would be safe. “An adventure,” Vik called it. “A life in the wilderness, just as you wanted.” Thorsteinn had ruffled my hair.
“Ready?” Thorsteinn asked. He and Vik flanked me.
“Ready,” I shouted, and ran with my warriors into the wild.
Epilogue
* * *
Rosalind
“Rosalind.” A cool breeze wafted over my face. I opened my eyes, squinting against the pounding in my head.
“I’m awake,” I croaked. My visitor was a tall blonde woman wearing a white shift that left her arms bare. Her features were too strong to be counted beautiful, but once I met her eyes, I couldn’t look away. “Why are you here?”
The past few days had been filled with visitors. My sister Aspen was the only one I’d welcomed. The rest seemed determined to ask me questions. I’d answered best I could despite the blinding pain, but I wasn’t much help. Other than a few shadowy nightmares, my memory was gone.
“Can you sit up?” the woman asked. “Do you wish for water?”
I opened my mouth to tell her to leave me alone, when she waved a hand over my forehead. Instantly, the pain eased.
“Do that again,” I gasped.
A smile lightened the woman’s features. “Most wouldn’t survive such an injury. You have a hard head. Or a strong will to live.”
My life was one determined fight to survive. I didn’t remember much, but I knew that.
“I am Yseult,” said the woman, seating herself on the side of my pallet. “I am a witch.”
“What do you want?”
In answer, she fished in the front of her shift, and drew out a shimmering stone on a silver chain.
My eyes widened as bright light bathed my face. “Get that away from me.”
“You remember this?” Yseult cupped her hand around the large stone, hiding some of its brilliance. “You seem to have forgotten everything else.”
“I remember the stone. I had to find it. I don’t know why.”
“The Alphas think you were bespelled by the Corpse King and tricked into finding it for him.”
I lay back on my pallet. “I know. I’d be named a traitor, if I were well.”
“They will not judge a spaewife so harshly,” Ysuelt waved her free hand. The stone in her other hand flashed and I looked away, my stomach lurching. “I am more interested in how you knew where to find the stone.”
“Couldn’t the Corpse King lead me to it?”
“Perhaps. But the stone has its own protections. Which is why the enemy needed you to fetch it for him.” She opened her hand and frowned at the stone, her face bathed in milky light.
I shut my eyes before my headache returned.
“I had dreams,” I admitted. “Visions. I knew where the stone would be. But the voice calling me from the mountain—that was all the Corpse King.”
“Not only him. If you had been fully under his influence, you would never had found the stone.” Yseult shifted closer. “No, Rosalind. The affinity you have for this talisman is the key we have been searching for.”
I ran a hand over my face. I was so tired. “What do you mean?”
“I too have had visions. My witch sisters and I have Seen the way to defeat the Corpse King, but in every vision, you are there.”
Somehow, I wasn’t surprised. I felt like I was viewing this conversation from afar, a bird circling overhead, a seer looking into a scrying pool at myself. Another vision. I was so tired of visions.
I licked my lips. “It doesn’t matter what you saw. I am here. I am hurt.”
“The Alphas will pass judgement on you soon. They will give you to a pair of warriors as a mate.”
I raised a hand and slapped it down. “They’ll do what they will. That’s why they brought us here—to be mates.”
“You do not want to be mated?”
“No. I will never…” I fisted my hands in the pelts. “I will never belong to any man. Ever. This I vow.”
“You want to have a choice.”
“Yes,” I fell back against my bed. “But I have no power.”
Yseult leaned closer. “You do not think you can decide your own destiny?”
My body stiffened. “All my life I have been a pawn. Even when I fought for freedom, I was being manipulated by the Corpse King. He promised me protection,” my voice cracked as I confessed what I’d told no one. “For me and my sister. We would be safe. We would escape the Berserkers, and live free.”
“What if it were possible? You could bind the Corpse King and end his reign? The Berserkers would give you anything you ask for then. Even your freedom.”
“It is not possible. Even if I wanted to, how can I face the Corpse King? The greatest enemy the world has ever known?”
“There is a way, Rosalind. I fear it is the only way.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. The ache in my head was gone as if it’d never been. In its place was a hollow fear. If the Corpse King took over, my sister and my life would be over. If I stayed here, we would be given to Berserkers as brides. There was no good choice for us. For women, there rarely was. “What would I need to do?”
“My sister witches and I have a plan…”
* * *
Sorrel
“Come on,” Vik shouted. I raced up the hill behind him, heart pounding, legs aching. Behind us, Thorsteinn paused long enough to throw a rune stone at the draugr chasing us. The blast made me stagger. A cloud of dirt and smoke enveloped me. Thorsteinn hauled me up and propelled me up the ridge. I rubbed my eyes, coughing a little.
“Thanks,” I croaked.
“You’re all right,” he tousled my hair, and guarded my back as I took off after Vik.
“We’re close,” Vik said. “Just over the ridge.”
“Hurry,” I said. My throat screamed for water and fresh air, but I couldn’t help my grin. We’d spent days trekking the wilderness towards the Corpse King’s lair, dodging hosts of draugr, sleeping under the stars. Vik and Thorsteinn told me of their patrol station, a hidden place protected with ward runes right in the heart of enemy territory. We were almost there when we ran into the final contingent of draugr.
“How many rune stones do we have left?” Thorsteinn asked as we rested behind a crop of boulders.
“Just one,” I answered grimly.
“We’ll get more soon. For now, one’s enough.” He showed me his three and jerked a thumb behind him, a signal of where to throw. A grunting sound behind us told me the draugr were right on heels.
“On my count,” he ordered. “One, two, three—”
Rising up together, we threw the stones into the grotesque ranks of the enemy’s servants. Balefire flashed. I ducked back behind the rock, only to be pulled along by Vik.
“Run,” he said, and we made our final dash.
“Vik,” I panted, my legs pumping to keep up. We were running straight for a huge tree. “What—”
“Up,” he said, and raced the final steps ahead of me to the massive trunk. “Now.” He dropped to his knees and laced his fingers. I sprinted and leapt, my foot landing in his cupped hands. He launched me in the air, and I grabbed the branch, swinging up as quickly as possible.
“Climb,” he called and, checking his weapons, started to do the same. I launched myself from branch to branch, sparing glances to make sure Thorsteinn was coming too. Above my head, a floor board peeked out from the foliage.
“A tree lodge,” I whispered.
“Yes,” Vik grunted, grinning.
“Where’s Thorsteinn?”
A roar shook the forest. Thorsteinn tore out of the trees, a flash of black fur with teeth. Monstrous claws sank into the tree bark as he climbed.
Vik was suddenly above me, pulling me onto a wooden platform. A few boards were hammered into the tree trunk, leading to a final large enclosure nestled in the huge canopy. My feet thumped the sturdy wooden floor as Vik went straight to a hidden store and struck a flintstone to light a small brazier.
“This is it?” I asked, turning in a circle. “It’s just like Yggdrasil.”
“This is one of many Yggdrasils,” Vik told me, grinning at my delight. He went around the perimeter, lighting the rest of the braziers. The place was well stocked with waterskins, weapons, and baskets with stored food. “We build these as hiding places when we are on long patrols. Here,” he tossed me his waterskin. “Drink up. There’s a stream nearby. This tree and the waters close to it are protected by wards the witches gave us.”
