33. Separated
Separated
Larissa
H er head was too heavy.
She couldn’t move, couldn’t look up to understand the clash of steel ringing in her ears. As if she could clear the fog from her mind, she shook her head, instantly regretting the wave of dizziness that accompanied it. What was happening to her? Darien’s persuasion hadn’t crippled her like this.
Darien . Lovisa’s voice cut through the dim, giving Larissa the strength to look up. Darien collided against Calder—but no, it wasn’t Calder. Aeron attacked Darien. Aeron was alive.
And he was trying to kill them.
“Larissa, focus.”
She tilted her head toward the echo of the voice. Anara’s face swam in and out of her vision. Larissa’s thick tongue stumbled over her words. “What did he do to me?”
Anara grimaced. “You’re experiencing the aftereffects of forced persuasion; it’ll fade, but we need to get out of here.”
Anara pulled Larissa to her feet, propping her against the boxes and moving to do the same for Halla.
In the center of the room, Darien and Aeron fought.
They lunged forward and darted away from one another, their swings and clashes looking like a dance, as if they’d done this a hundred times before.
They have , Lovisa’s voice reminded her. They were evenly matched before.
But fifty years had passed, and while Darien’s skill had lain dormant, Aeron had clearly been practicing. He swung and blocked with ease, while Darien grew more desperate and lethargic with each passing moment.
Anara returned with Halla leaning heavily on her shoulder. A large bump was forming in Halla’s hairline where Aeron had hit her with the gun.
“She’s awake but unsteady,” Anara said. “What happened?”
At the sight of Halla’s pale cheeks, Larissa pushed herself up, ignoring the wave of dizziness. “Aeron happened.”
“Help me with her.”
Larissa threw Halla’s other arm over her shoulders. “What about Darien?”
“One problem at a time.” But Anara’s glance in Darien’s direction betrayed her anxiety.
“I’ll take Halla,” Larissa said. “Can’t you help Darien?”
Anara glanced down. “I—”
A shriek ripped through the warehouse, reverberating off the cement walls. The echoing sound shattered Larissa’s ears, tearing into her brain. Involuntarily, she flung her hands up to shield her ears from the pain, as did Anara. Halla slipped from their grasp, slumping back to the floor.
Anara clutched at her stomach; her eyes were pitch black, and ripples of fur and feather appeared on her skin only to disappear. It was almost as though Anara was losing control of her galdr . Larissa stepped back, placing herself in between Anara and Halla.
Darien and Aeron stopped, covering their own ears, but Aeron smiled through it so fiercely that it looked more like a grimace than a grin.
From the railings above, a draugr flung itself down, landing between the brothers and Larissa’s group. It rose lopsided due to its missing wing. Although bloodied and wounded, the hatred in its eyes made up for any perceived physical weakness.
“Kill them all except Princess Lovisa,” Aeron shouted. “The Empress wants her alive!”
Bellowing, Darien threw himself back at his brother. Larissa could not follow their fight any further. Her vision was swallowed up by the massive creature in front of her, its whip-like tail searching for a victim. She reached for her hip only to find air where her gun used to rest.
“Kings and Queens,” she hissed.
It was gone, wherever Aeron had thrown it. She looked around for a weapon, anything, trying to see past her tilting vision. The draugr leapt forward. She raised her hands, reaching for the hot galdr she prayed was inside of her, but came up cold. There was nothing there.
Anara leapt past her, meeting the draugr in wolf form, her open jaws wrapping around the creature’s neck. Larissa stumbled against the next onslaught of vertigo but forced herself to remain upright.
The scrape of steel drew Larissa’s attention as Aeron yanked the sword from Darien’s grasp.
The draugr roared in delight, catching hold of Anara and throwing her through the air.
Larissa flinched at the crunch of Anara’s body as it collided with the wall.
Across the room, holding his sword to Darien’s throat, Aeron laughed at the sight of Anara’s crumpled form.
Like a match in the darkness, Aeron’s laughter sparked the rage in Larissa’s mind. Aeron, who had never enjoyed someone else’s pain, laughed as Anara struggled to rise to her feet, as he threatened his own brother with death. This man was not the boy she remembered.
Let us help you .
The voice in Larissa’s mind was not Lovisa’s, and it sent a swooping sensation through her body. Larissa knew without a doubt it belonged to the child-goddess from her dreams, the youngest of the Norn.
There was no time for doubt or questioning.
She opened her mind to the goddesses' presence. A surge of white-hot energy tore through Larissa’s body.
She doubted whether she could survive the building heat, but as it surged again, she no longer cared.
Larissa raised her hands, the pearl ring glowing on her finger.
Queen Stjarna had once told Lovisa that their galdr was energy, and that energy was meant to burn .
Everything around Larissa slowed as the draugr ’s talons plunged toward Anara’s chest and a bead of blood appeared at Darien’s throat.
The fire inside erupted, blazing up her spine, and then she was screaming words she would never remember.
She threw out her hands, and hot-white crackling energy like lightning burst through her fingers, scorching on its way out.
With immense effort, Larissa guided it, pushing a wave of her galdr to wash over the draugr and Calder.
It threw them into a large pile of crates that splintered under their weight, burying them in debris and dust.
Larissa was not done, and neither was the child-goddess who urged Larissa on, directing her to reach out her hands toward the second floor railing.
Galdr scorched through her as an electric golden hue surrounded her fingernails, crackling with unrestrained energy.
Clenching her hands, she ripped the balcony from its supports, collapsing it on top of the rubble and burying Calder and the draugr .
Chunks of concrete rattled against the splintered floor.
Darien stared at Larissa, his eyes wide and amazed.
He reached down and retrieved his sword before the rubble could bury it entirely.
Then the ground tilted, her legs wobbled, and she crashed to her knees, cracking them hard against the stone.
In the back of her mind, she knew she had never controlled her galdr like this, even as Lovisa. Bracing her hands against the cold floor, Larissa shivered, her body bereft of any warmth. Just as swiftly as the energy had consumed her, it abandoned her. Along with the goddesses.
“Lara!”
A hand under her chin brought her face up so that she could look into those wide blue eyes she had so often tried to ignore. “Darien.”
“I’ve got you.” His body shielded her from the debris that still fell from the second floor. When it had finally stopped, Darien asked, “How did you do that?”
Though she searched for it, Larissa could not find the child-goddess’ voice anywhere within her mind. Larissa gulped and shook her head. “I don’t know. Are they dead?”
The wreckage around them shifted as the ground shook. Darien grabbed her arms. “I don’t think we’re that lucky.”
Clinging to him, Larissa rose to her feet. Halla stirred feebly behind them as Anara stumbled forward. Darien reached for her before she collapsed.
Larissa moved toward them. “I’ll help Anara if you carry Halla.” She slipped under Anara’s arm, a more difficult feat than she imagined with the way Anara clutched at her stomach. Pain clouded the Rubinian’s eyes, but there was also joy when she looked at Larissa. “I knew you could do it.”
It wasn’t all me , Larissa wanted to say, but now wasn’t the time. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Larissa leaned down, flinching against the flash of sunlight in her eyes.
Peeking out from underneath a pile of boxes was the barrel of her gun.
Snatching it up, she shoved it into her waistband.
Darien carried Halla in his arms, but his eyes locked on the pile of debris in the middle of the room.
Pain, anger, and longing chased each other across Darien’s face as he looked down on his brother.
Darien’s eyes hardened. He set his jaw, turning toward the entry door.
Larissa followed with Anara leaning heavily on her shoulder, unable to go faster than a brisk walk.
Only once they were back outside did Larissa realize how she had been choking on the smell of the draugr .
She sucked in greedy breaths of the clean evening air.
Dusk covered the streets; shadows beckoned. Darien looked to Anara.
“Get back to the truck,” Anara said. “Someone will have heard that.”
But someone already had.
The sound of dozens of booted feet announced the sentries closing in on their location.
Then came an all-too-familiar screech and the cracking of concrete from within the warehouse.
Soon the draugr would free itself, and possibly Aeron too.
Larissa’s eyes fell to Anara’s trembling form.
Halla’s eyes blinked sleepily as her head lay cradled against Darien’s neck. What could they do?
A lone sentry appeared at the mouth of the street. “You there, stop!”
“Split up,” Anara ordered. “Meet at the truck!”
Supporting Anara, Larissa ran down the street to her left. With one last glance, she watched helplessly as Darien, still carrying Halla, took the street to their right. There was no time to wait and see which pair the sentry would follow. They could only run, so run they did.
Running down streets and alleyways was agonizing, with Anara growing heavier on Larissa’s shoulder every second.
Larissa forced them both forward when Anara’s feet faltered and slowed.
They had to push through the pain. They could not stop, never knowing if the sentry was right behind them.
Anara murmured directions, but her voice grew weaker at every turn.
“Which way, Anara?” Larissa asked again when she could not hear the other girl.
“Right.” The word was less than a whisper. “Down to the right.”
“Hang on, we’re almost there.”
Larissa reached for her galdr , something to sustain her, but nothing remained to latch onto.
As she dragged Anara down the alleyway, Larissa spotted Helga in her glorious rusted blue.
For once, something had gone right. She nearly ran the whole length of the grime-coated path, then stopped.
Dread coursed through her. The boxes in the trunk had been moved, revealing an empty hole between them. The sentry was gone.
Her eyes darted around, but no sentries rushed out from the shadows to ambush her.
Had the other sentry only just managed to free himself?
Was he even now bringing back reinforcements?
Larissa froze, unsure of what to do. Should she take Helga, or would that attract too much attention?
Could they even make it out on foot? Anara leaned heavily on her shoulders.
“Anara, what do we do?” she asked.
“Start the truck.”
“But the sentries—”
“Larissa, I—”
Anara slumped forward, her dead weight propelling them both to the ground.
“Anara!”
Brushing aside Anara’s hair, Larissa reached for her neck and located her weak pulse.
The ruby pendant at Anara’s throat looked oddly dulled, the rune within it darkening.
But Larissa’s eyes could not linger long.
They were drawn to the dark maroon jacket tied around Anara’s waist. Only then did Larissa remember that the jacket should have been brown.
Her fingers frantically undid the knot at Anara’s waist as Larissa tried to ignore the warm wetness of the blood coating her fingers.
The wound was worse than she had imagined.
Blood pooled in the large gash. It was as if her stomach had been sewn back together only to be ripped open again.
Larissa gagged at the pulsing muscle underneath and replaced the jacket, pressing down hard on the wound.
She stared down the alleyway, indecision tearing at her mind.
There were bandages in the truck. If Larissa stopped applying pressure, Anara would bleed out, but if she did not seal the wound, Anara would bleed out all the same.
So focused on the warm blood gathering beneath her hands, Larissa registered the footsteps behind her a second too late.
A hand, so large it nearly covered her entire face, pressed a sharp smelling cloth over her nose and mouth. There was no escaping it. She could not breathe, and when she tried, the harsh scent of the cloth burned her throat. Stinging spice filled her nostrils and lungs.
Larissa reached behind her, dragging her nails down the arm of her assailant. A man grunted in pain, but the pressure against her face only increased. More footsteps approached as Larissa sank into the shadows.