Frey’s eyes grew wide, and he looked between Gwydion and Starkad. “Fuck. Why didn’t I see that sooner?” Frey’s question was soft, as if he were asking himself.
“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Gwydion prompted.
Frey hovered his hand over Starkad’s arm, never making contact. “The thing about being a twin is it’s given me a unique perspective on how everything—everyone—is connected.”
“Okay, so, Urd already told us that about the two of them,” Kirby said flatly.
“What she didn’t tell you is that they’ve been fighting it.” Frey stepped back. “I’m making an assumption, but its based in experience. Starkad is immortal. That’s Kirby’s gift and Odin’s curse. The bullet couldn’t kill him. Wouldn’t have killed him. But it would have kept devouring his flesh if he hadn’t pushed the way he did.”
“When I shifted, after I was shot, I felt something inside snap,” Starkad said.
Frey nodded. “That wall you put up that keeps the two of you apart. You broke it. But you didn’t know it was there, so you repaired it again the instant you could. You stopped the decay, but the damage was done and your immortality, your power, isn’t life.”
Understanding flowed through Gwydion. “When I opened the connection again, the connection I share with nature made a change.”
“Exactly. And now the energy is flowing however the two of you allow it, which is currently manifesting itself in the strength in that arm.” Frey shook his head so hard, Gwydion expected to hear something rattle. “I don’t give a shit about the lockers. Bring everyone back safe, and we’re good.”
Part of Gwydion, the bit that was ingrained with centuries of fighting is the only way to save what I love, hated the idea of sitting this out. But he wasn’t really. Like Min, he’d be here when they returned, to comfort. Heal. Protect in a different way.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Brit
There were so many variables in this plan, and no way to resolve them before arriving. If they were going now though, there weren’t a lot of other options. The only thing making it seem like the ritual couldn’t be done without Kirby was that it hadn’t been yet.
But Lance also wanted Kirby dead. Would he kill the gods and find another way to her? What if the other gods weren’t there? What if this group was killed the instant they appeared? What if they were completely wrong about this entire thing?
Too many variables.
Brit stood in the still cleared space in the middle of NEON, with Kirby, Magnus, Starkad, and Fen.
“Their plan is complicated. Ours is simple,” Kirby said. “I’m the bait. Magnus will drop us in the room Starkad and Fen are in. If the gods aren’t there, she’ll take Brit, blip through the caves. No gods? We leave. Otherwise, we destroy Gluskab and Lance. Questions?”
Brit kept her avalanche of concerns to herself. Asking them aloud wouldn’t serve any purpose.
“Wait.” Magnus sprinted toward her bag where it sat next to Dahlia. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this.” She pulled out a full magazine for a Glock. She thumbed out the top bullet and handed it to Dahlia, then jogged back to hand the clip to Brit. “These are TOM’s secret weapon. What they used on Kirby and Starkad. And the only ones I have left.” Which was why she’d given one to Dahlia—reverse engineering.
God killing bullets. Brit was bringing two guns, but had planned to stick mostly with the AUG on full auto, but these couldn’t be wasted. She re-loaded her Desert Eagle .40 and chambered a round before tucking it back into the holster on her right hip. Normally she’d hide the miniature arsenal. No reason today.
“Thank you.” Kirby gave Magnus a tight smile. “Anything else?”
Nope.
Everyone reached for someone else’s hand, so Magnus could teleport them.
The tension in Brit’s gut coiled to impossibly tight. Every mission she’d done for TOM, she said a quick prayer to Vidar. Kirby had done the same, but in Freya’s name. Brit would never again pray to a god to guide her or secure her path.
Instead, she focused on Aya. On her face and power and how glorious she’d looked firing off magical spears in Salt Lake as Brit called out targets. We’re coming. Be ready.
“No one lets anyone die,” Brit said as she took Magnus’s hand.
They appeared in a vast cavern. An immersive, invisible weight pressed in on Brit, crushing her toward the ground. Her joints creaked under the pressure. She kicked her legs out, toes and palms on the ground, to make herself as small a surface as possible, but still allow her to get up quickly.
“This sucks,” Magnus said.
A pair of growls, wolves, said Starkad and Fen agreed.
Brit was already pushing back. She had no idea how she’d shattered the fields before, but this had to be a smaller version, and if she could just focus...
“Visitors. Delicious.” Lance stood a few feet away, in human form.
Next to them was a man—god, from the presence he radiated—with wild eyes and a twisted smile. He had short dark hair that was mussed, and a sturdy, thin frame. The fact he could’ve been a super model really added to the I’m-a-Hollywood-super-villain vibe. “I know you. Most of you anyway. You were there when Loki woke me.” He crouched in front of Kirby, who was pinned in the middle of the room, in a similar position to Brit. “Now you can do the same for my sister.”
“I don’t know. My calendar’s booked for a few centuries. Can we reschedule?” Kirby’s voice was tight, as though she struggled to breathe, but she still managed flippant.
“No. I’m so tired of humanity. Over people fighting over prophecies and visions I never asked for.” As Lance spoke, the charge in the air grew. Magic, maliciousness, and madness clawed its way over Brit.
They were summoning something bigger, and as they did so, Brit felt where the fields pinning them down stopped, and the rest of the magic began. She followed it back to a blend of auras. Other gods.
Gluskab crouched next to Kirby, and Starkad’s growls grew louder. More threatening.
Brit didn’t blame him.
“I wanted to bring you here the instant Lance told me what your blood could do.” Gluskab’s voice was smooth and seductive. “I’m glad I was convinced to wait. Your power, your drive to save the world, is tangible. And the best part is, you’re here willingly. A sacrifice made of your own free will. My sister will be so stron—”
“Shut. Up.” Lance cut him off.
The charge in the air grew stronger, and some of the weight on Brit decreased. She knew how to break through. The instinct was there. But if she did so before the other gods were brought in, the mission failed. “Wait.” She need a little more time to summon her strength. “You’re supposed to tell us all about why you’re doing this.”
Lance focused a glare on her. “Insignificant. Even as an immortal. How about this? I’m tired of this world, and Gluskab and Malsumis will get rid of the irritation.”
The air was so heavy with magic now, Brit could taste it. There was no reason to draw things out once the other gods were here. She’d have the slimmest moment to act, and the others needed to be ready.
“You’re not going to give them any last words?” Gluskab asked.
Brit was going to take them regardless. “Hey. Remember that mission we did together in Salt Lake?”
Lance frowned. “What?”
“You’re such a moron.” Magus’s words were carried on a heavy sigh.
“Don’t listen to her,” Kirby said. “She doesn’t realize that you die enough times, and last words become overrated.”
They both understood Brit was about to do what she and Kirby did with Magnus. That they said anything beyond expressing confusion was enough confirmation.
“Idiotic children,” Lance spat.
The charge in the air surged. Please let her hit this at the right point.
Brit forced her will out, and felt cracks, spread, and summon chaos.
The pressure pinning them down vanished as a group of god
s appeared in the circle next to where Kirby had been.
But she was already flying directly at Lance and Gluskab.
Magnus vanished and appeared next to the gods. Then the entire group disappeared as Lance became a dragon, and slashed the air with his claws.
Blood splashed across the ground from thin air. He’d hit someone.
Two wolves, one as large as a truck and the other humanoid, charged past Brit. As Kirby ducked under Lance’s attack and drove toward his side with her sword drawn, Starkad pounced, teeth bared and aimed at the dragon’s neck.
Fen tackled Gluskab, pinning him to the ground.
“Help.” Magnus’s plea came from beside Brit. “I got everyone out but her.” Aya lay on the stone, bleeding freely from a large gash that ran from her shoulder to the opposite hip. “The shields went up again.”
Damn it. Brit hadn’t noticed in the bedlam. She pushed out, to recreate the shattering trick from a moment ago, but the pattern had changed. She needed to recalibrate?
“She’s dying. She won’t stop bleeding.” Magnus was near panic.
Kirby was a little busy. And may not be able to heal a god anyway. But if she could, was Magnus capable of the same? “Heal her,” Brit said to Magnus, her attention split between this and the fight.
Magnus pressed her hands into the gash. “I can’t. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve never practiced or I don’t know how or... I’m trying.”
“Work together.” Aya’s words were as fragile as paper. Her eyelids fluttered, and shut.
So not helpful. Apparently even dying gods were infuriatingly cryptic. As Brit fumbled with the words and her frustration around them, she covered Magnus’s hands with her own.
This was how Kirby did things right? How she and Min had shared their power?
A new energy flowed over Brit. Calming. Liquid. Deadly, but in a good way? It was Aya’s magic, and it was weak. Was that keeping Magnus out? Breaking the flow completely seemed like a bad idea. Brit needed to disrupt it, like water around a rock, long enough for Magnus to heal Aya.
The battle echoed off cave walls and screamed in Brit’s ears. Lance roaring. Gluskab laughing. Fen and Starkad growling. Kirby’s soft grunts each time she was struck.
That last one was the hardest for Brit to hear. She should be part of the fight, but could do more good here.
“It’s not working. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.” Magnus was panicked.
Nobles weren’t supposed to panic, but the two of them weren’t Nobles anymore, and this was a unique situation. Brit turned inward, trying to block out the world. Difficult, given the situation. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she knew her priority was giving Magnus an opening.
“Shield.” Kirby’s shout sliced the edges of Brit’s focus.
Intense heat blasted around her, and Magnus screamed.
Brit jerked from her meditation, to see Magnus kneeling between the fight and Brit and Aya, wings at full spread and flame scorching away feathers and cartilage and skin.
A yelp reached them and Fen slammed into the cave wall to Brit’s right. He wobbled on his feet as he stood, before straightening and charging back in.
The dirt glistened with the dark red of blood. Kirby was in flight and looked uninjured, but Lance and Gluskab looked as fresh as when the fight started. As fresh as a dragon could look anyway.
“Whatever you’re doing, do it faster,” Kirby yelled.
Magnus had recovered from the burns, and she pressed her hands back to Aya’s chest. “I’m trying,” Magnus muttered. “It’s still not working.”
Chapter Fifty
Kirby
At the sound of Magnus’s scream of pain, Kirby’s insides curdled. She’d asked too much too soon from someone new to these powers. But what choice did she have?
Lance had sized themself small enough to maneuver but large enough to be threatening in the cavern the size of a two-story home.
Kirby would celebrate the fact that they weren’t as big as in the field, but size didn’t matter if they remained invulnerable.
Gluskab remained himself, but superimposed over him was a double-sized vision of decay. The twisted, transparent visage resembled the damage to Starkad’s arm before Gwydion stepped in.
A series of five magical blades sliced through Kirby, striking her biceps, thighs, and stomach. Gluskab had thrown several attacks like this at her. They were clean cuts that healed a moment after they were made, but they hurt like hell, and each slice caused a momentary falter.
Starkad charged up Lance’s tail, claws using scales for purchase and teeth bared. He dove for Lance’s throat, and was knocked aside. He slammed into the rock with a thud and a sickening crunch that made Kirby cringe.
Fen attacked Gluskab. He was flung back and whimpered as he met the cave at high speed.
Kirby needed her full team. “Whatever you’re doing, do it fast,” she shouted at Magnus. She hated to push, but again, what choice was there? The divided attacks made progress impossible, but if she and the wolves focused on one god, the other was free to strike unprohibited.
She swooped in for another attack, sword aimed at what she hoped was sensitive skin under Lance’s arm. She was flung back, and Gluskab’s blades caught her mid-air again, inflicting another round of deep wounds.
The ground rumbled and tiny rocks clattered from the ceiling and fell around them. A faint glow formed at the edges of the seal on the ground, cracks splitting out in various directions.
“You’re bleeding all over the mark,” Brit called.
Kirby looked down. Fuck. Lance and Gluskab didn’t have to kill her to draw her blood. They just needed to pierce her over and over, and her natural healing would provide them a potentially endless supply.
That explained why Fen and Starkad were being knocked into walls, rather than being carved up the way Kirby was.
She and her team were no more ready for this fight than they had been a few hours ago. What had she been thinking?
“Got it,” Magnus said.
Kirby didn’t dare look, as another round of knives flew in her direction. She dodged, flying under and back up, directly into Lance’s claws. As blood flowed freely from her wounds, the ground shook harder and the glow grew brighter.
An ethereal wave passed over Kirby. It was soothing and familiar, like herself, but not quite.
Gluskab roared and the illusion around him flickered.
“Incoming,” Brit shouted.
Magical spears—Aya’s—flew past Kirby and pierced Gluskab, before he could stabilize.
Magnus had healed Aya.
There was no time to stop and make a drawn out plan, but Kirby needed to regroup now that she had her full team.
She landed at the far edge of the seal, near Brit and Magnus. If Kirby was the target, she’d stay clear of the mark. One problem sorted.
“Joining the others,” Aya said before she blinked out of sight, appeared behind Gluskab, and drove a spear through him.
She, Fen, and Starkad would keep the gods distracted, but Kirby probably didn’t even have thirty seconds.
Magnus said, “So the undead in D&D—”
Kirby silenced her with a look. None of them had played those games except Magnus and Dahlia.
Magnus rolled her eyes. “God of death. Healing magic is a weakness.”
That made a disturbing amount of sense. Kirby should’ve brought Min after all. “Odds that magical immortal-killing bullets will work on him?”
“Not high.” Magnus shook her head.
Fantastic. Not. “Unless healing him hurts us, trying doesn’t make us worse off than we are now. Magnus, hit him hard. Brit, save the good ammo for the dragon, just in case. Otherwise, target practice time. Go.”
Kirby swooped in a wide arc around the circle to rejoin the others. Lance caught her with their tail and flung her over the seal as lance made of darkness pierced her shoulder and pinned her to the ground. She was immobilized for precious seconds, bleeding freely, as
she fought to free herself.
Starkad sprinted toward her, his human-wolf hand reaching for the weapon. Lance knocked him aside with a wing.
Kirby worked herself free, and the spear vanished. The damage was done. The ground shook harder now, and the glow around the seal was bright.
Gluskab chanted in a language Kirby didn’t speak, and she had to take to the air to keep from stumbling on the rolling ground.
Starkad’s normal arm was tilted as a bad angle, and he struggled to keep his footing.
Another blade, similar to the one that had caught Kirby, nailed Brit to a far wall. Her scream was agonizing, cutting Kirby to the quick.
Fen tumbled to the ground, and his wolf form flickered before vanishing. He was moving, but it was slowly.
Magnus was focused on Malsumis, but like before, she wasn’t making headway.
Kirby needed to help her. Weaken one god long enough to destroy him. Hopefully. She dove straight toward Gluskab.
Lance pierced her thigh with a claw, pinning her to the center of the seal. They’d gone through the bone, and she couldn’t move. She was bleeding worse than before.
The room might as well have been on rockers. The glow as bright as sunshine, and ground cracked all around them. The madness in the air was tangible and vile.
Could Kirby break free without tearing off her leg? Would it matter if she opened a gash large enough to spill the entire contents of her veins? They were so fucked.
Chapter Fifty-One
Kirby
Gluskab roared in pain.
Was Magnus making headway? Kirby needed to get to her. To help her.
Starkad charged toward Kirby again, teeth aimed Lance’s claws. He clamped his jaws around Lance’s finger, and tore the claw free, knocking it from Kirby’s thigh at the same time.
Gods, her leg hurt, but it healed in a blink, and Kirby was already joining Magnus.
The glow flickered, casting the room in a strobe effect.
Kirby poured her healing magic toward Gluskab, joining it with Magnus’s. The god howled as his larger visage flickered. He was more human than illusion.
Valkyrie Crowned Page 20
