Wings of the Valkyrie

by Charley Case

  Blue and green magic swirled at the cube’s center before quickly spiraling out to surround her and Mila.

  Gram came up as Mila stepped forward. She pressed the sword’s razor-sharp tip to the hollow of Yaminah’s neck. The other woman didn’t flinch, as if she knew it would happen but hadn’t had a choice.

  Hesitating at the lack of reaction, combined with the worried look on Yaminah’s face, Mila glanced around and saw that the interior of the green and blue swirls showed a slightly transparent 360-degree view centered above Azoth. Mila looked down and saw the top of Azoth’s hood below her.

  The Drude sat on a throne made of solid stone, unmoving with his back straight as a board and hands resting on the thick armrests. She watched for a few seconds, but he didn’t move. He was so still that Mila thought it might be a still image or a trick. She was about to demand that Yaminah explain when she saw Azoth’s long gray finger tap on the stone.

  “He can’t sense us?” Mila slowly pulled Gram back, a bead of bright red blood rolling down Yaminah’s collarbone where the tip of the sword had punctured a tiny hole in her ruined skin.

  Yaminah swallowed and shook her head. “His body is infused with infernal magic to the point that it makes it impossible to even try and read his aura without him noticing, but his robes are mundane cloth. By casting the anchor to the robe, he can’t feel it in the slightest. Technically, we’re spying on his robes, not him.”

  Mila raised an eyebrow at the enthusiasm she heard in Yaminah’s voice for the spellwork. It was a clear change from the zealot she’d originally met in the Market all those weeks ago. If anything, that was what convinced Mila most that Yaminah had broken free of the curse.

  “Clever.” Mila leaned back and dropped Gram’s tip to her side. “But turn it off. I have questions for you, and I don’t want this to distract us.” In reality, she didn’t want Remmy or Finn to have a blocked view of the two of them and decide to attack.

  The image vanished as the green and blue energy faded to mist and quickly dissipated into the air. Yaminah tossed the cube down at Mila’s feet and stepped back, giving them room to talk.

  “Keep the cube. It’ll be useful even if you don’t want my help.”

  Mila glanced down at the thing sticking half out of the sand and wondered if it would be a mistake to take it back to the condo. What guarantee was there that it didn’t have a tracking spell embedded in it? Mila felt the stone button she still held in her free hand. If Yaminah wanted to track her then she would have enchanted the stone, but the wards Penny put up would have broken any such spell and warned them that someone had tried to sneak it into the building. Nothing like that had happened.

  If shit were going to go down, it would be best if it happened out in the dunes. That’s why they’d come out here in the first place. Mila made up her mind, reached down, and picked up the cube, half expecting to have her arm blown off by some booby trap, but nothing happened. It merely felt like a glass cube with a good heft to it.

  Yaminah stood holding her hands in front of her like a shy child.

  “How did you break the Geas? Shouldn’t you be dead for giving me this?” Mila tucked both the stone and the cube into her jacket pocket.

  The corner of Yaminah’s mouth twitched up into a dark smile. “That fucking thing took me the longest to overcome. In the end, a Geas is a contest of wills, mine against his. I realized early on that I couldn’t break the Geas while he focused on it, but the more he trusted me the less he did to maintain the curse. But the truth is that I owe you a debt of gratitude for doing this to me.” She touched the motley skin at her throat.

  Mila raised an eyebrow at that. “Thank me? I figured you would want to kill me for doing that.”

  A snorting laugh turned into a cough that ended when Yaminah spat on the sand, leaving speckles of blood. “Because you had reduced my body to barely more than a husk, Azoth wrote me off as weak and broken. He wouldn’t allow me to take a healing potion as punishment for my failure with you. Instead, he’s making me heal slowly and painfully. I’ll be scarred for life if I let it go too long, and he knows that. He is cruel for cruelty’s sake. But, he no longer thought of me as capable and turned his focus on breaking Missy completely. My body was broken, but my mind was still clear. The moment he turned his focus from me, I cast a counter-curse that snuffed out the Geas and freed me from its repercussions.”

  “If you’re free, then why not leave?”

  “I’m free of the Geas, not of Azoth himself. I still carry his taint inside me. He can still order me to do things, and I will have to do them, but only as long as he is directly controlling me. As soon as he shifts his focus, I am free once again.” She smashed her fist into her hand. “We can use that to tip the balance. He will never see an attack coming from someone he has written off as weak. I’m a student of magic and have skills he knows nothing of. I can hurt him, but I can’t destroy him. Together, though…”

  “Won’t he simply command you to stop?”

  “Eventually, but it will take him a few seconds to comprehend what’s happening. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s not particularly smart. Only powerful.”

  “And cruel.” Mila glanced at Yaminah’s skin. “What’s your idea?”

  “When you make your move, I’ll hit him from behind. I’ll be able to stun him, if only for a few moments, but it should be enough for you to cut him down.”

  Mila considered the woman. She was practically pleading to be used as a distraction so there was a slightly better chance of gaining her freedom. Mila couldn’t say she would do anything different in Yaminah’s shoes.

  “You’re putting a lot of trust in my ability to kill him before he comes after you.”

  Yaminah set her jaw and looked Mila up and down. “I am. But, I’m betting that you might be the only one capable of pulling it off.”

  “You realize you’re betting your life on that.” Mila frowned.

  Yaminah nodded. “I do.”

  “What do you want in return?” Mila guessed that Azoth’s death was only part of the plan.

  She swallowed hard, then looked Mila in the eye. “When this is over, I want you to use the Reaper on me. I want you to take away the memories of what I’ve done. My time with Azoth, the people he made me kill—all of it. I want the chance to start over.”

  Mila could see how that would be worth the risk. She couldn’t imagine having to commit atrocities against your will and remember every detail.

  Mila nodded.

  “Behind you!” Remmy shouted, making Yaminah spin around in surprise to find the goblin five feet behind her, her daggers out and teeth bared.

  At the same time, Mila spun to see several void portals opening, and Rougarou starting to leap through.

  Mila turned back to Yaminah, whose face had gone white as her jaw worked up and down, but no words came out. “What the hell is this?”

  “I…I didn’t call them. It wasn’t me.” Yaminah backed up and opened a void portal behind herself. “He must have thought I was trying to run and tracked me here. I’ll return to him and say that I was trying to capture you, but you didn’t have the Reaper on you. I’ll think of something. Remember our deal. I’m counting on you.” Then she stepped through the portal and was gone.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Penny felt like her insides were going to implode. At the same time, she felt relief that the two eggs she’d already laid during the night were out and safely cradled in the nest she’d created atop her hoard pile. It had been a harrowing and completely mind-boggling experience that she’d already decided she never wanted to go through again.

  Unfortunately, the third and final egg was coming out right now, whether she wanted it or not.

  She had thought that when the time came to lay her brood she would want someone with her, but when they had returned from Rebecca’s and Lance’s, Penny wanted nothing to do with anyone. It was an odd sensation, but one that she wasn’t entirely unprepared for. Her mother had told h
er it would be that way, but like most children, Penny hadn’t believed her. She should write a letter to her mother saying she was sorry.

  That morning when Mila had come to the door asking for the bracelets, it was all Penny could do to answer. Not because she didn’t have the strength, but because she didn’t want to interact with people.

  That interaction, while biologically unwelcome in her current state, had let Penny know Mila and Finn had some sort of captive in the condo. That alone wouldn’t bother Penny since she’d warded her room all to hell, and Finn could take care of anything before it became a problem for her anyway. But the fact that five minutes ago, Penny had felt a surge of magic that told her Danica had teleported herself and at least three other people out of the condo, coupled with the sound of a struggle currently happening in the living room, was making Penny a little nervous.

  She would have gone out to help whoever was fighting off the unknown prisoner, but her third egg had breached, and she needed to push it out before it tore her in half.

  After closing her eyes, Penny used a mix of physical muscles to push while simultaneously using a large dose of magic to be sure the egg grew five times the size it started at before coming out. It was a delicate balance, and the loud banging and cursing in the other room weren’t helping.

  Not having a choice, Penny blocked out the sounds around her and began the process that once started couldn’t be interrupted, or the egg might break or fail to grow completely.

  Magic flowed from Penny’s core through her abdomen, and the small egg greedily absorbed it. As she pushed, she felt an uncomfortable pressure that she was unfortunately becoming familiar with as the egg rapidly grew. She pushed more, moving the growing object farther along while it continued to enlarge.

  Penny vaguely registered that the sounds of the struggle in the living room had ceased, but right now, that meant nothing to her.

  She reached the halfway point, sweat and tears making her face glisten in the low light of the desk lamp she had turned on when Mila came to her door. Stopping the magic and the pushing, Penny drew a few breaths to recover before gritting her teeth and pushing once again. Her magic was flowing quickly now, and she needed to move fast. This was the critical moment.

  Her flow increased, the egg grew, and she pushed. Flames puffed from her nostrils, making images dance through her closed eyelids.

  The clicking sound of a door handle barely intruded into her consciousness.

  She grunted while pushing for all she was worth, her magic flowing nearly out of control and making the egg grow rapidly as she reached the end.

  “Oh, well, look at that. Maybe I’ll have fried eggs before I go,” a young female voice said, madness clear in its tone.

  The sound startled Penny, making her cut her magic flow as her eyes snapped open. She immediately knew she’d made a mistake and started the flow again, adding more magic than her body was telling her to and trying to compensate for the momentary lapse, but it was too late.

  The third and final egg fell into the nest of gold coins and gleaming gems with a solid metallic thunk.

  Penny looked down at her third egg, her heart fluttering with worry when she saw that it was significantly smaller than the first two. That single-second lapse of magic had made an enormous difference.

  After taking the egg in both hands, she felt the life inside stirring. Her chick would live, but its aura was much weaker than its siblings.

  Penny gently nestled the egg into the coins beside the others and patted it lovingly, hoping it would grow to be strong despite its inauspicious birth. Only after she felt the eggs were safely in place and observed the power of the treasure hoard flowing properly, did she finally let herself come back to the issue at hand.

  The serene face Penny had for her eggs fell away to be replaced with a stone-faced mask of murder.

  As she turned to see who had dared to interrupt her birthing process and nearly killed one of her children, Penny felt smoldering flames roll out the sides of her mouth.

  The utterly insane, smirking look on Missy’s face fell away, replaced with the wide-eyed fear Penny had seen many times on prey right before she tore their throats out.

  “Uh, kidding?” Missy’s voice quivered.

  Penny slowly stalked forward, her golden eyes locked with the Valkyrie’s.

  Missy held up a bloody chef’s knife she had obviously taken from the kitchen. In her periphery, Penny saw Victoria lying on her back in the living room, a bright red bloodstain slowly spreading beneath her.

  Missy shook the knife threateningly and stepped back from the open door. “Stay back, lizard! I will slice you up and eat you like sushi,” she threatened with false bravado but took another step back as Penny continued stalking forward. “I’m sorry, I’ll go. I didn’t mean it. I need to get out of here. Please…”

  Penny kept coming, her eyes beginning to glow with a fire all their own. She had promised herself that no one would threaten or hurt her children, and this insane zealot had done it before Penny even had the egg out of her body. She couldn’t let that stand. It didn’t matter how much Missy begged and pleaded—Penny had decided.

  She was going to kill this bitch.

  Pushing off the floor with everything her back legs could give, Penny launched herself at Missy’s face.

  The Valkyrie brought the knife up to slash at Penny’s guts, but she saw it coming a mile away and reached out with her left hand and grabbed Missy’s fingers wrapped around the knife’s handle. Her talons sank into the flesh as she pulled herself forward, bringing her back feet up so they were the first thing that contacted the screaming Valkyrie’s face.

  Penny felt the skin of Missy’s cheek and lips peel open as she raked her razor-sharp claws across them. Missy stumbled backward, throwing her head back to get away from the attack, but by then Penny had a handful of her short blue hair and was straddling the fallen Valkyrie’s face.

  Folding her free hand’s talons into a single point, Penny jammed her fingers into Missy’s left eye, driving through the eyelid and not stopping until she’d buried her entire hand in the bloody eye socket.

  Missy’s scream landed on deaf ears as Penny pulled her hand out, flinging blood and bits of eyeball into the air. She sucked in a breath and blew white-hot flame into the hole, cauterizing it instantly and filling the condo with the smell of cooking meat.

  The knife clattered across the floor, and Missy reached up to grab Penny around the chest and rip her free. Using both hands, Missy threw her away.

  Penny was faster than the magically dampened Valkyrie, though, and dug her front talons into the meat of Missy’s forearms right below the elbow. The momentum of the throw caused Penny’s claws to dig deep furrows down her arms and over her wrists.

  Blood splattered to the ground in gouts as Penny’s talons severed the arteries in both wrists. Unfortunately, that also meant her claws caught on the golden bracelets, and as their creator, they recognized her as one who could take them off the prisoner. The bands opened and slipped off Missy’s gushing wrists, freeing her magic.

  Penny hit the mats lining the floor of the dojo and rolled end-over-end, the golden hoops still in her hands.

  A popping noise sounded, and Penny saw Danica appear in the living room then look around in surprise at the bloody melee. Spotting Missy trying to staunch the flow of blood from both wrists simultaneously, Danica immediately jumped into action. Penny watched as she vaulted over the couch and sprinted around the corner, heading for her room.

  Penny didn’t wait to see how it would all play out. She wanted to determine how it would play out. Penny launched herself at the stumbling Missy and shot a jet of white-hot flame at Missy’s chest.

  Missy dodged most of the flames by falling backward, but her blue hair burned away on the right side, leaving angry blisters that formed before she hit the floor.

  To Penny’s surprise, Missy flung out a hand and hit her with a weak blast of black-tinged celestial magic, sending the little d
ragon soaring across the room to impact the far wall and fall to the floor.

  Blood poured from Missy, and Penny knew she only had a few minutes to live, Valkyrie or not. Bleeding out killed anyone with a body, so it shocked Penny when Missy seemed to ignore her plight and shakily rose to her feet. The Valkyrie held out a limp hand, gathering as much power as she could in the sad-looking appendage, determined to blast Penny out of existence.

  Penny flipped to her feet and charged, determined to dodge whatever the dying woman threw her way, but it turned out she didn’t need to do any fancy footwork.

  An arrow slammed into Missy’s shoulder blade, making her spin to the left as she let the magic fly. The orb of power slammed into a rack of wooden practice swords, bursting the expertly carved replicas into splinters. A second arrow hit the thin woman in the kidney, punching all the way through and continuing across the room to lodge itself in the brick wall.

  Missy must have finally realized how fucked she was because instead of fighting back, she created a void portal and fell through it, vanishing from the condo and Penny’s wrath.

  Danica sent four arrows through the portal before it closed, but they were literal shots in the dark. As soon as the portal snapped shut, Danica dropped her bow and the handful of arrows and ran to the small safe in the living room.

  She punched in the code and quickly opened it, then pulled out a wooden box and threw open the lid. Nearly fifty vials of healing potion nestled in foam cutouts. It represented hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of the precious fluid.

  Danica pulled out a vial before she practically leaped the five feet to Victoria from her knees. She pulled the stopper and poured the red fluid into the unconscious woman’s mouth, then began massaging her throat, trying to get her to swallow.