Chapter 34
RASHA
Walking away from Shaw, I remind myself that I’ve known Joanna since the very first day I came to the clan. We have been through awful nights and sweet berry-filled summers together. My brother should not be the reason we fight.
Joanna sees me coming. Her brown eyes have changed in the past few months. Instead of darting all over, looking for threats, she is staring at me like I am her adversary.
“We should keep moving,” she says sternly.
“Five minutes for the horses and we will be.” I come around to the boulder she is sitting on. Saying a prayer, I plant myself next to her. “I never thanked you for showing me the way home.”
Letting the fight out of her lungs, Joanna says, “I didn’t believe there were other realms and no longer had any faith in the gods. But Shaw was so certain, and of course, his brother is very persuasive.”
“Vidarr is a charmer.” I think back to his sweet face, and the strangest pang of missing him strikes me.
“Did you know they were different?”
“No, I didn’t meet Vidarr till I escaped my own sacrificial funeral. Realizing I was capable of loving Shaw, didn’t happen until recently.”
“Katrine is correct in saying you two are wed?”
“We weren’t wed in the normal ways of the clan.
But yes, I am his wife.” It’s the first time I’ve said the word wife out loud, and the bond buried inside my bones shakes to life with the acknowledgment.
“I understand that you love my brother, I do. But, Joanna, how can you support him when he condemned me to death?”
Joanna runs the edge of her heavy coat through her red, blistered fingers. Constantly being worked by my brother or other men, Joanna is always willing. She believes pleasing them will prevent her from being left behind. This whole situation should be showing her otherwise.
“You died. Or so we thought. I watched the boat burn, and I didn’t think you were ever coming back.
You told me it was okay to fall for Jorvik days before the Wild Hunt.
For a month, I thought I was making the best of the worst situation.
I lost my closest friend.” Joanna presses her lips into a hard line.
The guilt in my chest creeps up in a nauseating wave, and I stand to shake out my hands.
Our party is mounting the horses, and Shaw is bringing my reindeer over.
“I am so sorry. I left you, and I am going to do it again.” I tell her the truth, now knowing what following Shaw means for my life. Joanna looks over at me, her eyes searching for that girl who always does what she is told. I am not that girl anymore.
“I won’t listen to my brother to make nice, or Harald. I am sure as fuck not going to kneel to a King who is prepared to eradicate our gods. But I won’t stop you from trying to change Jorvik’s mind.”
“That’s all I ask,” Joanna replies. I find Aslaug nudging the back of my knees.
“You and Katrine know how to communicate with Rasha.” Shaw carefully chooses a moment to come between us.
“You said in the Dísablót that we were Valkyries calling for the goddess? That will work again?” Joanna asks both of us.
“It is always worth a try until I set my own family problems right,” Shaw admits what he can and extends a hand to Joanna to help her on her horse.
“When we were in Harald’s stronghold, I should have helped the women get out from under his rule before Rasha was sacrificed.
You have my sorrow for my lack of judgement. ”
Joanna stares at Shaw with her mouth open. I know this is the first time a man has apologized to her. Settling into the saddle, I break the silence between them, calling to our three scouts.
“We need to ride fast to find Harald by sundown.”
Taking off, Shaw and I lead, using our connection to the underground routes of the mountain river to guide us.
Shaw cannot use his star map until it is dark, and we won’t risk using any of my magic around the scouts.
They might be happy to help me, but in the face of Harald, it would be too convenient for them to switch sides.
Aslaug blends into the mountainside. Sometimes I see flashes of her fur high on the ridge above us.
After another hour of riding, she’s fallen behind, wrestling with a vole in the snow.
I stop at one point when I see tracks made by a single horse near one of the freezing rivers.
Jorvik must have stopped to give his horse a drink, which means we are going in the right direction.
Underneath the crust of crunchy ice, the middle is melting, causing the land to shift beneath us and on the side of a mountain. One wrong move will start an avalanche.
“We are catching up.” I motion to Shaw to see the path that tracks up a narrow break in the mountain path. “We will have to go one at a time.” His reindeer takes a chunk of bark off a tree as he surveys the options.
“If Jorvik understood how to read the map and Harald has a planned route, they will end up where the herd might be.”
“Why do you say it with doubt?” I ask, keeping our conversation away from the rest of the riders.
“Because the reindeer will circle for me, for you even, and that can be wherever we call the ritual to a close.”
Taking the antler map out of his pocket, he slides off his reindeer, and I follow as we kneel in the snow near the small rolling river.
Shaw dips the smooth antler into the water, his skin so warm with the constant pull from my side of the bond that steam evaporates as he takes the antler out of the water and lays it in the snow.
We watch as the water drops connect over the embedded, silver stars to make a web covering the curved edges.
“That’s the way, isn’t it?” I ask, brushing my body against his – I can’t stand not touching him.
“It is, but the gorge could be a dangerous path for the scouts and Joanna. It’s narrow, and we’ll need to go one rider at a time. If Harald has his own men watching us, we won’t have much in the way of defense.”
“Joanna won’t leave now no matter how dangerous it is.
” I look over to my friend. We’ve never fought like this.
I appreciated our conversation, but I don’t know if it made me feel any better about what she wants to do.
Shaw’s hazel eyes are steady on mine as I wish I could make the choice without so much concern for my former home.
“We have a few days before the full moon, so we go after Jorvik like we promised. But if they are already herding the reindeer, I won’t have a choice. We need to connect the last link and circle the reindeer to ascend,” he responds.
“I know.” I give him the assurance that I am with him.
We head down the narrow path, through the gorge in the mountains.
Jorvik or someone’s horse bolted through here recently; the tracks hit the ground hard and deep.
Unfortunately, I am struggling to keep my reindeer moving fast when she’s concerned about her antlers knocking into the loose rocks.
Shaw is in the lead when we see the edge of the blue and gray, rocky trail.
Overhead, rocks skid down, falling on our shoulders with pieces of ice.
I scan the top of the crevice we are guiding our animals through, searching for the shadow of a man or the raised curve of a bow.
I am bringing up the rear of our party, which is too far away for me to say anything to Shaw.
The snow shimmers in wet, melting piles on every ledge and surface.
As if the sun knows the King of the Vanheim has found his bonded partner and is on his way home.
The earth itself is warming to our arrival.
Melting snow is not good for traveling, but I force myself to calm down with each pained breath as I make it to the end of the tight trail.
“The tracks stop?” Joanna questions.
“How is that possible?” a scout asks. But I gaze up at the cliff, looking for the reason why the snow and rocks were falling on our heads.
Shaw is almost at the end of the trail, and I hear too much movement for it to be animals, especially this late in the day.
Joanna moves her horse horizontal to block the last few paces of the trail.
Patting my vest down to find the link, I have the sudden urge to expel the power in my hands.
The cold trickle of snow across the back of my neck makes my heart plummet.
The link is in Shaw’s pocket; I didn’t even question it when he packed our things.
“Wait!” I shout, but it is too late. Arrows fly down into the gorge, and I barely get off my reindeer to slide against the rocky wall. Shaw is moving out of the gorge to turn his reindeer around, but the sunlight reveals the edge of an axe, and I feel his body break open.
My knees give out as arrows hit the three scouts around me. The horses try to run or back up as their riders dismount, looking for shelter amid the chaos. One pushes past me and runs out the way we came with an arrow in his arm.
“JORVIK!” Joanna screams, pulling a banged up shield off her horse to protect herself as she crawls to me.
“Did you bring her?” I hear my brother’s voice as I throw up in the snow. I don’t have the link, and Shaw’s blood is spilling out of his chest. My ribs crack from the pressure of pouring the fragile power I’ve built up over the last months into keeping our bond alive.
“She’s here,” Joanna yells back. I need to move before she gets to me. I push my reindeer back, pleading with the creature to run away, but I can barely speak through the pain of Shaw’s injuries.
Barreling toward Joanna, I drive my shoulder into her shield to knock her off balance and run past.
“Stop shooting!” Bjorn’s voice is next. One of the scouts is bleeding out, slumped over in a pile of crimson snow and rocks. Keeping my feet moving, I see Shaw on his knees at the entrance with his chest torn open in a terrible way.
Behind me, Joanna screams, throwing her shield into my back, and I topple over. She jumps on me, wrestling me into the icy mud.