43. Kain
Chapter 43
Kain
S arra stumbles forward, collapsing onto her hands and knees.
Horror claws through me. What in the name of Odin has Erik done to her?
Her spine arches as she throws her head back in a scream that sounds too close to a shriek's call.
I don't move to her—I have no gloves and can't help even if I knew how.
But then her back splits open. Wings burst from her flesh—vast, leathery membranes webbed with pulsing blood vessels, the bones beneath like petrified wood. They unfurl like nightmarish flowers, spanning ten feet, at least.
Silence stretches, broken only by Sarra's ragged breathing.
I don't know what to do. Is she a shriek now?
And if she is… what then? If I kill her best friend, Madivia will hate me for the rest of time.
I just pray she's still alive to hate me.
Sarra stands, and I draw my blade. But as she straightens, the corruption seems to retreat. Her eyes clear to gentle brown; her skin returns to human pallor. Only her fingernails remain black, and those blood-red veins now exist solely in her new wings, as if all the shriek magic has been drawn into them, leaving the rest of her human.
"Sarra?"
Her eyes snap to mine, alert with recognition and growing horror. "Oh gods." She spins, wings knocking against walls. "Oh gods, I've got… I've got…" Panic rises in her voice.
"Sarra, focus. Do you know who you are and what happened?"
She turns to me, wide-eyed. "I'm Sarra. Erik has been keeping me sedated and rubbing some sort of powder into my skin for days. It was… it was shriek magic. I think…" Her face blanches. "I think I told him about Maddy. About the vault and her memory magic, about you…"
"Never mind that now. I think maybe your body has… accepted the shriek magic."
A horrified look crosses her face. "I can't stay like this!" A note of hysteria laces her voice.
"We'll fix it." The lie tastes bitter. "But right now, I don't think you're in any danger, and I have bigger problems."
"Where's Maddy?"
"Erik took her." Rage makes the words sharp as blades. "He's working with the Frost Giants."
"Took her? Where? Why?"
Before I can answer her, beating wings fill the air, and Sigrun lands between us, Valdis touching down a beat later. The air seems to still, the sounds of battle dying out.
Her massive white wings span twice Valdis' width, and power radiates from her in waves.
She stares at Sarra, who stumbles backward until she is inside the entrance to the Snake Wing, shadows swallowing her grotesque wings.
Sigrun's gaze lands on Brynhild.
Something ancient and terrible crosses her face, and she kneels beside her fallen warrior, her movement's liquid grace masking barely contained fury.
Her hands trace runes in the air that shimmer and glow, and she speaks words so ancient that no other in Yggdrasil would know them.
Brynhild's body begins to glow. The light builds until it's blinding, then fades, taking her with it.
"She will live gloriously in Valhalla," Sigrun breathes, and when she turns to me, her eyes burn with promised violence. "The rooks will learn what real battle tastes like today." Her voice carries enough authority to make even Skoll go still within me. "Valdis, ready them all. It's time they understood exactly what they're training for."
The air crackles with her rage, and Valdis takes off without a word.
"Why?" Sigrun asks me.
"They wanted Madivia."
"You saw Erik do this?" She advances on me, and I hold my ground.
"I saw Erik and Ishild instruct a rook, Orgid, to do it," I say.
"Ishild is dead."
"No." I shake my head. "She lives on, as a Frost Giant and Erik's ally."
The muscles in Sigrun's striking face twitch. "Love. The most powerful force in this world," she hisses.
"I love Madivia." The words escape my tight lips, and she reacts immediately.
"You love her?"
"I do. Help me save her. Help me get to her." The plea comes out as though my mouth is filled with broken glass.
She takes another step toward me. "That little ice-fae has the power to change Yggdrasil as we know it," she says quietly. "And you were the only one to see that so early. How do I know that you truly love her? That you don't want to use her, just as Erik is trying to do?"
"I will make sure she is never used by anybody, ever again," I growl. "Just help me get to her."
"I can't trust you, Kain the Ruinous," she says, shaking her head. "The gods themselves convicted you."
My body is so hot I swear I'm going to combust. "Read me."
Sigrun blinks. "What?"
"Read me. Use your val-tivar to read me. You will see I speak the truth."
She tilts her head. "You know it doesn't work like that. You shielded the truth at your trial."
"I did no such thing. You saw no truth because I have no memory of what happened!" It's impossible to keep the rage from my voice.
"The only way a memory can be changed is with a minunn candle, and they were all accounted for," she says. "You are lying."
"You can't possibly know where all the magical artifacts in this world are! There are hundreds, hidden right here in Featherblade, that nobody knew of!"
She scowls. "You found the Vault of the Talekeepers?"
I falter. "You know about the vault?"
"I was the one who sealed the doors, at Featherblade's urging," she says, her tone now thoughtful. "How did you find it?"
"With Madivia. She is the one who got through the riddles."
Her expression shifts to something more calculating. "Featherblade showed her the way, while you were with her?"
"Yes."
There's a long pause, and then she speaks, quickly and clearly. "You've been a prisoner of these halls long enough to know that Featherblade is a conscious being, that its magic comes directly from the gods. Madivia can't vouch for you, but Featherblade can."
Something I never, ever thought I would feel again sparks to life inside me. Hope for justice. "You're saying you believe me?"
"I'm saying I think Featherblade does. And Featherblade can help you, not me."
I frown. "How?"
Sigrun lifts one shoulder. "If Featherblade wants you to have its secrets, it will show you."
She glances to the right, and a portal springs to life under her command, its edges crackling with magic.
"Rooks of Featherblade!" she shouts, snapping open her wings and taking off, hovering five feet above the ground. She pulls her incredible spear out of its sheath and holds it aloft as Valdis and Harald land on the path, and the rooks arrive. "We have been betrayed. One of your own has been taken." Her voice rings through the air, clear as a battle horn. "A rook has murdered Brynhild."
Gasps of horror escape every trainee.
"We do not know exactly where he is, but it is likely he is in the Frost Giant realm. It will be an arduous search, and a fierce battle. Those who would fight for Madivia's return and to avenge Brynhild, step through the portal with me. The rest, stay and rebuild what was destroyed. Nurse Featherblade back to health."
Eldith steps forward without hesitation, her green wolf restless and ready, two steps ahead of her.
Garda and Henrik follow her, the small black bear swiping at the air with huge claws and Henrik's bird spinning in circles over his head. They are both bloodstained already.
Martom moves next, ice crystals forming around his fingers. "Madivia never backed down from a fight," he says resolutely. Roge nods, and he and his wolf step forward, beside Martom.
"She told me I wasn't a coward for surviving." Staffan's massive form towers over the others as he steps up. "Time to prove her right."
Skoll howls by my side.
They'll risk their lives while I'm trapped here like a caged beast, unable to follow.
Sigrun's voice carries across the gathered warriors. "Valdis, Harald. It is time to show these rooks how to kill Frost Giants."
With a roar, she flies through the portal. Valdis and Harald echo the roar, then they all storm toward the swirling ring of light.
Sarra steps forward, out of the doorway, her new wings casting twisted shadows across the ground. She squares her shoulders and moves after the rooks.
"Don't." The word comes out harsher than I intended.
She turns to me, and her eyes hold pure human determination. "I can fly now." Her wings flex, red veins pulsing. "I can help. I have to."
"You haven't been trained to fight."
She lifts her chin. "I'll tell her you're safe. That you would come if you could." With a deep breath, she steps through the portal.
I stare at it until it vanishes, impotent rage sending thoughts careening through my mind.
Sigrun will find them. But can three Valkyrie and some trainees beat Erik and Ishild, with who knows how many Frost Giant soldiers at their bidding?
I force myself to replay the conversation with Sigrun.
She believes Featherblade trusts me. That it has more secrets to give up.
Madivia got through the last door of the vault, which means it's open.
A heartbeat later, I'm running.
Featherblade has been my captor, my prison, my sole companion, for two centuries. Now, it will be my savior, or gods help me, I will burn this world to the ground.