20. Maddy
Chapter 20
Maddy
I 'm late for forging, but Harald just waves me to my station without reprimand. Being his new favorite has its perks, apparently. The forge glows and flickers, the ring of hammers on metal comforting as I settle in front of my shield. I'm going to finish it today, and I pray the task is enough to distract me from Kain for at least the rest of the day.
I'm able to lose myself in my work blessedly quickly. The metal sings beneath my tools, each strike bringing me closer to finishing—for the second time.
I try to take a kind of power from the fact that even though they tried to destroy this shield once, it still exists. And it's better than it was. The frame is larger, but it is still as light, and I've added fine runes to the edges, all words for protection or resilience.
Tenacity is in the very heart of this shield, and I'm excited to wear it knowing that.
Harald bumps into me, flapping at a sparrow that has somehow found its way into the forge. I feel the familiar swoop in my stomach and barely have time to drop my hammer, stumbling away from the firepit before darkness takes me. When I come around, Tora's helping me to my feet. I mumble thanks and get back to work.
I wait after everyone else has gone for Harald to finish fussing over a broadsword Henrik is making—it's far too large for him to actually wield—so that I can talk to him about designs for a bow, like Valdis recommended.
"Ah! A bow for a berserker!" He practically bounds to a shelf, pulling down scrolls and books. "Did you know I once shot an arrow through two Frost Giants at once?" His enthusiasm is infectious as he shows me detailed designs, regaling me with tales of Valkyrie with bear val-tivars using their berserker strength to lend power to their archery.
An image forms in my mind, so vivid it takes my breath away:
Me soaring above a battlefield, wings spread wide, while Thyrvi roars below. My arrows streak through the air, ice-tipped and deadly.
The thought almost makes me dizzy with excitement.
That evening, I take my finished shield to Sarra's workshop. She examines every detail with an appreciative eye, tracing the runes I spent so long perfecting with her finger.
"Now that I know what Thyrvi looks like, we can refine the metal plate in the center," she says, already sketching. Her hand moves with confident strokes, capturing Thyrvi's fierceness with uncanny accuracy.
"You can transfer this to the plate?" I ask, watching the bear come alive on her paper.
She nods, already reaching for her etching tools. "I'll start tonight."
"Oh, Sarrra?"
"Hm?" She's still sketching enthusiastically.
"I… I took this back when I moved into the Bear Wing, but actually I think it should stay here."
She pauses to turn to me, and her eyes fill with sympathy as they lock on the compact mirror. "I haven't had any luck with it, Maddy. You should probably keep it."
I shake my head resolutely. Looking at it makes me sad, and the Bear Wing is a new start for a new me.
"We'll just keep it locked in here, in case you need it in the future," she says, and carefully stows it in one of the lockable drawers near the bottom of her desk.
The fire crackles in the pit of my stomach as the key turns in the lock.
I don't need my family here in Featherblade. I have everything I need now.
On Thursday, I work in the kitchens, learning how to gut and cook fish. The irony that Thyrvi would love this class is not lost on me as I grimace at the gross mess in front of me. Henrik and Garda are working beside me, and they are chatting constantly. I love the distraction.
Henrik tells stories from when he was a close companion of a lord of the Earth Court, and all the travels he has been on. It sounds like he's visited all but the Fire Court in his time. Garda speaks about the Shadow Court, about how the villages wind up a giant mountain, topped by a palace filled with secrets, under a blanket of permanent stars.
I burn to see what they describe with a ferocity that for the first time actually feels founded.
When I have my wings, I will see the other courts. I will see the whole of Yggdrasil .
The desire is as hot and as fierce as any I've felt, except perhaps my yearning for Kain.
Maybe the combination of finding out I'm not going to drop dead at any moment and awakening my magic is what's causing my feelings to intensify—it's like everything I think about is being multiplied by ten.
Or maybe this is how other people feel their whole lives when they think about their future? Is this excitement, this hope, normal for others?
Either way, I lean into it hard as I slice the scaly skin from my fish.
Hope. Excitement. A future.
I am going to become a Valkyrie. I will have a new family, a set of fae who have experienced what I have and are obliged to be my allies. Hopefully, they will come to want to be my friends.
I will fight, and I will win. I will keep this world safe, and become important, for the first time in my life. Not by peddling secrets for blackmail and schemes, but by being valiant and honorable.
I will earn braids for my feats.
Nobody will hurt me again, because they will fear me.
The last thought creeps in at the end, and my knife stills.
I want to be heroic, not feared. Don't I? Does one come with the other?
I think about my own heroes. Brynhild, Sigrun, the gods. My sister. At points, I have feared them all, I realize.
Is that how power works? If you have any, then you are always somewhat feared?
I let out a sigh of frustration as Kain fills my head. Everyone fears him, but that is because he used his power for something terrible. I want to know what he did, so badly.
My hand jerks, and I look down in surprise, muddled thoughts fleeing. Shadows are wrapped around my wrist.
I tense, and then my arm jerks again, causing the knife to nick my other finger.
I hiss and drop the knife. The shadows vanish.
Looking up, I see Orgid's smug face and Inga's hateful gaze fixed on me. The new fire in my gut leaps, and before I have a chance to think about it, I'm marching across the kitchens toward them.
Neither flinch, but Orgid's smile slips a little.
Erik is nowhere to be seen, having already given us our instructions, so there are only about fifteen rooks in the room.
"Leave me the fuck alone," I say, not bothering to keep my voice quiet. I lift the hand that has a thin trickle of blood running down from my cut finger as I reach them. "This is nothing compared to what Thyrvi will do to you if you don't leave me alone."
"Your bear won't do anything to us," Orgid says.
He's right, obviously. I can't let my val-tivar rip them limb from limb as I'd like.
"No. I can, though," I say, then close my fingers into a fist and jab, fast as I can, into Orgid's face. I catch him under the eye, which makes my knuckles scream in pain, but it's him who gives a yelp and stumbles.
Satisfaction floods my system. There are some cheers behind me, but they are drowned out by the blood pumping in my ears.
"You fucking little—" Orgid's words are cut short as screams fill the room.
Inga's bear, eight feet tall, eyes like onyx and fur flaming, is in the middle of the kitchen. She swipes with her huge paws as she rears up, sending pans, knives, cutting boards, and utensils flying everywhere.
Rooks scramble out of the way, and when the fiery bear roars, I almost join them.
Odin's raven, for all Thyrvi is mighty and beautiful, this bear is fierce . And her eyes are filled with the same hatred as Inga's when they fix on me.
Mustering all the courage I have, I look at Inga. "You will be punished if you let her hurt me. You won't become a Valkyrie, and you'll never see her again."
Inga just snarls at me, but she must know it's true.
There's a thud as the bear crashes down onto all fours. Slowly, she advances on me.
I look back at Inga, praying I'm keeping my rising fear from my face. "Call her off."
"Where's your mighty bear?" she says.
Thyrvi is out foraging, because she's far too big for kitchens, as Inga's bear is currently demonstrating by destroying everything she bashes past.
"I'm not going to call her because this is a really fucking bad idea," I say.
Control. Practice control.
Her bear is now only feet from me, and I can feel the heat. Ice forms instantly on my hands, and snow flurries over my head.
Inga doesn't have control of her bear yet. She's not able to use her fire magic, and she's not able to keep her here. Does that mean the bear could kill me without her permission?
Fuck, she might hate me enough to give her permission.
There's a bang, and the kitchen doors crash open. Erik and Kain burst through, and they don't only take me by surprise.
Inga's bear rears up and roars, and flames shoot from her fur as she swipes at everything around her.
Something crashes into me, and I'm suddenly on the other side of the kitchen, Kain's arm wrapped around my torso. Inga's ferocious bear is no match for his Valkyrie speed, and he swept me to safety before it even got close.
My skin is ice, and I cling to Kain as I turn in time to see Orgid crumple to the ground, his clothes swallowed by flames.
Inga is shouting at her bear, and Erik can't get close because the huge val-tivar is still roaring and swiping.
I could put Orgid's burning clothes out.
I lift my hand, a small flurry of snow forming above it. But I pause.
"You want to let him burn?" Kain's growl is barely audible.
I hesitate another beat, then pull myself from Kain's grasp and send the snow flurry at Orgid, who's rolling and shouting on the ground.
His shouts cease when my snow reaches him, and I can see the momentary confusion on his face.
"Please, stop!" I hear Inga scream, and then, as abruptly as she appeared, the fire bear is gone.
Erik runs to Orgid, but pulls up short. Curiosity burning, I move too. Inga is saying sorry over and over, crouched beside him.
My snow is still hammering down over him. The fire is out, but most of the top half of his clothing has burned away. His skin is red and blistering across his chest, but that isn't what has made Erik stop in his tracks.
It's the black and silver snake slowly coiling around Orgid's body.
I stare as the pieces slot together.
That's how Orgid's broken leg healed so fast. He has a snake val-tivar.