Chapter 5 Bjorn
The pod of orcas closed in, drawn by the magic of Njord’s blood.
“Freya!” I screamed, but a hand closed on the back of my tunic, preventing me from swimming to her.
I shoved Harald away, but he lunged at me again. “Look!” he shouted. “Look!”
A familiar silver glow flared as Freya caught hold of Tora’s still form and covered her with magic just before one of the whales struck. My heart stuttered with certainty they were both lost, then the whale flipped through the air. The rest of the pod closed in, but the glow didn’t diminish. I couldn’t see her through the spray of water and flash of fins, but with each passing second, she drifted farther out to sea. And the whales would continue attacking until she was drowned. Not because they wanted to but because the child of Njord bid them.
Fury boiled in my chest, and I turned to look past the battle on the beach to the two men standing behind the line of driftwood. One had copper hair and a beard that stretched nearly down to his large belly. The other was as tall as me and uglier than a cat’s arsehole. Both unfated. Both pointing at Freya and Tora, and I saw the words their mouths formed.
Shield maiden.
The child of Njord nodded and lifted his hands, his long beard blowing on the wind. His gaze focused on Freya and he drove the whales at her again. Willing to harm as many of the creatures as necessary to see her dead, because even in Islund, they knew of my mother’s prophecy.
“You are going to die,” I whispered. “And die badly.”
I swam for the beach, the waves flinging me toward shore as though Njord himself saw fit to end the abuse of the creatures of the sea. Skade lay still on the sand with Steinunn next to her, trying to rouse her. I ignored both and raced up the beach, picking up a fallen shield as I ran.
The roar of the sea mixed with the clash of steel and cries of warriors locked in merciless combat. The beach stretched wide before me, the sands slick with blood from the dead and dying. An Islunder swung an axe at me, but I only blocked it and ran on, weaving between comrades and foes caught in a deadly dance, my eyes on the child of Njord.
He paid me no mind, focused on the whales while Arkyn called lightning down upon those still in the water, both secure behind their guard of warriors. They believed me in Skaland, which meant they thought Skade and Tora the only weapons in Harald’s war band who could stand against their magic.
They thought wrong.
“Tyr.” I leaped over a still body, its guts mixing with the drying seaweed. The warriors guarding the pair finally took notice of me, but it was too late. “Grant me your flame.”
My axe manifested in my hand. It was cool to my flesh, but I did not miss the way the Islunders recoiled from the heat. Or the way their eyes widened, lips parting to shout, “The Firehand!”
I attacked, screams filling my ears even as the sizzle of burning blood attacked my nose. I hated the smell. It haunted my dreams, a nightmare I couldn’t escape, but in this moment, I relished it. Warriors fell beneath my blows, clutching severed limbs that did not bleed, the stink of charred flesh intensifying.
Arkyn lifted his hands and lightning crackled between them. The bolt lanced out and exploded against my axe, god against god. The impact drove me a step back, the noise deafening. The glare so brilliant it left spots in my eyes.
A helmed warrior ran screaming at my left and I backhanded him with my shield. The rim sank into his skull, the man dead before he hit the ground. Lightning flared, and I ducked instinctively even as I swung.
Arkyn screamed as my axe sank into his arm. He staggered, but I didn’t pause for the kill because the man trying to kill my Freya was running up the beach.
He should’ve run faster.
I threw my axe. The blade spun through the air and took off one of his legs. As he fell, it reappeared in my hand. I strode after him, his screams faint in my deafened ears. The child of Njord rolled on his back, a knife in his hand. He threw it at me, but I batted the blade away and planted one foot upon his chest. “Call the whales off,” I said. “Let their minds go free from your shackles.”
“Only if you let me go!” he pleaded. “Let me go and I’ll call them away.”
“Call them off!” I rested the blade of my axe against his throat. Flesh sizzled and smoked. He shrieked, loud and piercing as he gestured wildly toward the sea. “They are gone! They are gone! Stop!”
I glanced over my shoulder to discover the orca pod speeding away from Freya and Tora. Then I turned my gaze back upon the man on the ground below me. “You dishonor your blood.” I leaned on my axe, the blade glowing bright as it burned straight down to his spine.
His howl turned into a gurgle as his blood boiled under Tyr’s flame, smoke rising from his blackening, bubbling flesh. A bad way to die but fitting for this bastard, and I kicked the knife in his hand away from him. His eyes went dark, and I muttered a curse that the gods condemn his soul to the cold depths of Niflheim.
Freya.
Turning from the corpse, I took a quick step back at the sight of Arkyn only a dozen paces away. Blood oozed from the blackened wound on his arm, but lightning crackled between his palms. “You should not have come back, Firehand.”
He abruptly staggered but his lightning still shot from his hands to explode into the sand at my feet. I leaped backward and barely kept my balance. Kill him, my fury snarled, and I lifted my axe to send the ugly bastard to his death. Only to discover a blackened hole had appeared in Arkyn’s chest.
Arkyn took one step toward me. Then two. He dragged his foot up for a third step, but life vanished from his eyes and he fell, landing face down in the sand.
I immediately looked to the sea, hunting for Freya’s face. She was treading water far from shore, but next to her, Tora lowered her hands and the lightning between them disappeared. I nodded once at the woman who’d fought at my back more times than I could count—the woman I’d once named as my sister. Tora inclined her head, then began swimming alongside Freya. I allowed myself a moment to gain certainty they were safe, then I raced toward the smoke and screams coming from the village.