Chapter 17
Brynn
Shrieks filled the air like a great cacophony. A dark shape rushed past, then another and another. Black specks flitted overhead, fluttering as fast as their tiny wings could carry them.
A larger shape barreled past—a horse dragging the fence post it had been tied to. Several pigs followed, along with flapping chickens, and a host of screaming sheep.
The hundreds of animals of Istra were fleeing. From the sparrows to the cattle.
Cenric grabbed Brynn. Hróarr followed and they raced along with the victors back to the burning hall to avoid being trampled. Most of the animals avoided the flaming structure.
“What is happening?” demanded Ovrek. “What madness is this?”
“Have you ever wondered why the animals never ventured near the Grandfather Yew?” Brynn asked, out of breath after their run.
The king’s bright eyes fell on her. Splattered in blood with several cuts to his cheek and upper arms, he was a terrifying sight, but Ovrek was no longer the most frightening thing on this island. “Speak, sorceress.”
Cenric shifted at Brynn’s side, his attention also on the king. Brynn didn’t doubt that if it came to it, he would attack Ovrek to protect her.
“The Grandfather Yew was planted to protect Valdar from evil.” Brynn glanced to Cenric as she spoke. “When the tree died, it let the evil out.”
Whether the monsters had been drawn here by the noise of battle, or the glut of fresh blood didn’t matter. They were here now.
Hróarr turned to Ovrek. “My king—”
“This is some trick. I don’t believe you,” Ovrek said, closing on Brynn.
Cenric inhaled at her side, but Brynn spoke first.
“You may believe what you wish, lord.” Even without the pounding of hooves and the flutter of wings, Brynn could feel the rush of animals fleeing from this place. Would Snapper and Guin flee with them?
Beyond the animals, she could sense the burning infernos that were the Wulfwir and something larger. Something bigger than any animal she had ever imagined.
Brynn had heard stories of whales, great beasts larger than ships that sprayed water from their heads with fins larger than a man. Even that did not quite do this thing justice.
How could a beast even grow so large? How was it not crushed by the weight of its own bones?
“They can be killed.” Hróarr shoved into Ovrek’s line of sight. “Blades didn’t seem to hurt them, but they can be killed.”
“You killed one?” Ovrek’s attention shifted from Brynn.
“The she-troll,” Hróarr confirmed. “We killed her.”
“How did you kill her?”
“Had to take her head off,” Hróarr explained. “No other wounds would affect her. My sword was practically useless.”
Cenric cast a knowing look to Brynn, though his question was for Hróarr. “How did you take the creature’s head off without a sword?” Her husband had seen her rip men’s heads off and even decapitate her mother using spells.
Brynn held his gaze, confirming with her silence.
Cenric’s jaw clenched in the light of the burning hall. It seemed he had figured out she’d saved his cousin’s life right before he’d pushed her into the thrall pit. No doubt the two men would have a loud and physical confrontation if they all survived this.
“You just have to behead them quickly.” Hróarr notably did not meet Brynn’s gaze.
“But we can kill these?” Cenric straightened.
“They heal from anything that doesn’t kill them,” Hróarr said. “Any blow that doesn’t kill only slows them for a moment.”
Brynn considered their options. Running away was always feasible, but even if she could convince her husband to flee, they had no clear path to the ships.
The monsters were closer to the ships than they were, and she had no idea where Esa, Kalen, Guin, and the rest of their people might be.
She didn’t want to leave them behind. “The Wulfwir is too large and too tall for most men to reach its neck.”
“A spear through the heart might work,” Hróarr suggested.
Brynn wasn’t sure, but it might.
“We attack it the way we do bears,” Ovrek offered. “Trap it and strike it from two sides.”
Brynn briefly hoped Ovrek had killed that bear he’d sent as a gift to her and Cenric. “It would be dangerous. Even more dangerous than a bear, but it might be possible.”
“And the other one?” Cenric jerked his head toward the beach.
“I didn’t get a good look at it,” Hróarr admitted. “But we might be able to kill it the same way.”
“You won’t.” Brynn watched the direction she could feel the beast coming. The being she felt approaching was too large, too tall. Its neck would be thicker than three men could reach around.
From this distance, it was hard to tell, but she could swear she saw red eyes like pits of fire flickering amongst the trees. Or perhaps it was just the burning town below. Regardless, the Wulfwir was nightmare enough. The serpent was beyond anything Brynn had ever imagined.
That one would almost certainly need to be killed with ka. Brynn would need help. If she had five or so mature sorceresses, she might be able to do it. Even if she was able to find Esa, Lena, and perhaps another sorceress thrall or two, Brynn doubted that would be enough.
Brynn had once channeled enough power to flatten grown trees and deepen a riverbed. That was the kind of power she would need to fight the serpent, but that had been after drawing ka to herself for several hours. She would need another source.
There was the field of dead bodies, their ka seeping out into the earth. But Brynn would need to be touching their blood in a great pool if she was going to draw power fast enough.
The screams down below grew louder. The warriors around her stomped, restless. They would move soon, and she needed some way to fight the serpent, some plan, even an inkling of one.
Brynn beseeched the waxing moon overhead. Eponine, help me, she prayed silently. Eponine, help me.
The moon’s beams shone down, glinting off the waves lapping along the beach. The sky and the sea remained unaffected by the chaos and butchery on shore. Several ships bobbed in the waves as people either sought safety or perhaps some of Tullia’s men retreated.
The sea.
Ka infused the waves as surely as it infused the trees and the forests. It was a vast, seemingly endless expanse of rippling power.
Brynn had never tried drawing from the sea before, but she had never needed to. Llyr, god of the sea, and Eponine, goddess of the moon and sorceresses, were said to have a strong friendship. Brynn could only hope Llyr would permit it under the circumstances.
A roar split the night air. After the noise of battle and fleeing animals, Brynn wouldn’t have thought that anything could be heard, but the beast proved her wrong.
The clatter of hooves and the rush of animals died down. All the animals that could had fled.
A scream of fury that seemed to come from the very bones of the earth broke the sky over Istra.
Brynn was first to step from behind the shelter of the burning hall, Cenric right beside her. She peered into the darkness and saw it.
The creature rose over the huts, storehouses, and ships, the light from the burning houses casting an eerie glow on its underbelly. She could make out few details, but she saw the glint of fire off scales and the outline of a long, knobbed body. The creature had to be at least five ships in length.
Screams of terror and panic rose from every corner of Istra.
Brynn took in the sight, feeling detached, the way she had inside that burning hall. She was so far beyond fear, so far beyond terror.
At her side, Cenric stared in horror. He held onto his pilfered shield and spear, watching as a creature from his nightmares burst into Istra. “It is real,” he murmured. “Morgi tried to warn me.”
Brynn wasn’t sure what good that warning could have done.
Around them, Ovrek’s men stepped out from where they had sheltered from the fleeing animals. Gasps of shock and wonder rippled over the men. Brynn heard appeals to Havnar and prayers to at least four different gods.
Brynn didn’t want to fight the serpent. She wanted to flee from this creature with its burning malice and tainted ka. She hadn’t wanted to come to Valdar in the first place.
But if Esa was still alive down there, she was depending on Brynn.
Even Kalen, Vana, Guin, Snapper, that little girl who had admired Tullia’s temple rings, and hundreds of others.
Ovrek and his men could probably handle the Wulfwir.
It would cost them dearly, but they could do it. The serpent was another matter.
Hróarr, Ovrek, and the king’s warriors began speaking quickly, conferring amongst themselves. Even if she could get them to listen, that would take time. Every moment was precious if she was going to save the people in the town.
Brynn marched in the direction of the burning city before she could change her mind.
Cenric followed at her side, still carrying his shield and spear. Those might be useful if they faced any more of Tullia’s men, but Brynn doubted his weapons would be of much use against the great serpent.
“Where are you going?” Hróarr shouted, his massive hulk trotting after them.
“See to the Wulfwir,” Brynn shouted back.
“It’s just Wulfwir,” Hróarr corrected. “That’s its name.”
“See to it.” Brynn turned back toward the town, moving quickly as she dared.
Ovrek was distracted speaking with his men, and she wanted to be gone before he noticed her leaving.
“What are you doing?” Hróarr repeated. “Cenric!”
Cenric shouted something back in Valdari. Whatever it meant, Hróarr didn’t press the issue.
“Does the serpent have a name, too?” Brynn asked.
“Jormanthar,” Cenric said. “The Great Serpent.”
“I see.” Brynn kept walking toward the burning chaos of Istra. “You’re not going to try and stop me?” Her voice trembled, but she hoped her husband wouldn’t notice.
“I’ve seen you work wonders before,” Cenric reminded her. “Besides, my foretelling showed us together.”
Brynn wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. “I’m not sure I can do this.”
“You can.” Cenric didn’t hesitate.
“And if I can’t?” Tears stung Brynn’s eyes even as she kept marching.
“Then it’s not as if we’ll be around for the embarrassment of being wrong, is it?” Cenric sounded entirely too cheerful about the fact.
Brynn continued down the hill, past the corpses of Tullia’s men and Ovrek’s men alike. In the death, all the bodies seemed to be the same. She did her best to draw power to herself, pulling it in great golden whorls.
Power shimmered off the corpses, off the grass, infusing the summer air. Brynn didn’t know how much might possibly be enough, but she would take all that she could get.
Cenric was close, at her side, marching without hesitation. Was he truly so confident or was he just better at hiding it?
Brynn was terrified. She was walking straight toward a monster, but she didn’t know what else to do.
“Do you have a plan?” Cenric asked.
“I think so,” Brynn said. “I am going to try and draw it into the water.”
“The sea?”
“I’m not sure it will work,” she confessed. “But I have an idea.”
Brynn’s uncertainty didn’t seem to trouble her husband. “Alright.”