Chapter 79
The forest swallows me whole. I stumble into its darkness.
My lungs burn like the roof of the longhouse. Leaning over to catch my breath, I peek up at the devastation I have caused. The sky is colored with the orange light of the raging inferno. This is where my choices have led. Flames swallow wood, memories, history. Men. Women.
Folk flee in all directions. Some toward me. I step forward, screaming at the top of my lungs.
“Not this way!” I wave my arms frantically. “Turn now!”
I know what I have to do. Lead him away. I have to help. The thralls. My girls. I just need to regain control of my lungs.
Ari pulls himself back from the shattered wall, his enormous body silhouetted against the flames.
For a moment, he looks confused. Lost even.
His legs buckle and he falls on his rump with a thunderous crash, sending a shockwave through the earth.
Sparks drift around him like fireflies. Frost steams off his skin in angry plumes.
“Ari!” I scream, choking. “Ari!”
I lift the hammer out of the satchel and hold it above my head. As soon as I touch it, the hammer reacts. Pulsating and hungry. A leashed wolf that smells blood. It vibrates like it wants to rip itself free of my grasp. To return to its rightful owner.
My Ari.
“Fucking thing,” I hiss, tightening my grip on the haft.
Its energy crawls up my arm like a thousand cold needles. My stomach turns. I shiver from its unrelenting chill. My teeth chatter. The hammer longs for its master. It wants him more than anything. I’ve never felt such energy.
Ari knows. He turns his head. He sees me, even if he doesn’t. He feels the hammer’s greedy lust. His eyes lock onto me. There’s no Ari in them. Only chaos.
The frost around his body returns. Shards escape his skin like haunted armor. Sharp ice, glittering like broken jewels. The ground beneath him freezes as he raises himself. He releases a shuddering growl. Lower and deeper than before.
“Ari!” I shout, stepping backward. “Come on, you troll bastard!”
The hammer pulls at him. I get the impulse to run to him. Give it to him. Give in to the hammer’s incessant demands. Its weight draws forward, like it wants to escape my fingers. But I refuse. Fuck the curse. Fuck the Queen.
He straightens his back and steps forward. Slow, lumbering. Still growing. His muscles swell with every step, then harden again. A ghastly pulse. Ice crackles along his skin. His jaw distends as his eyes flash a brighter white. He’s coming for the hammer. He’s coming for me. He’s coming.
Fuck fuck fuck.
I run.
Trees whip past me as I sprint up the slope. Deeper into the woods. Every breath is a stab in my chest. Branches scratch my face and arms. The hammer pulls in the opposite direction. Unwilling to put more distance between itself and the giant.
Wood cracks behind me. I toss a glance over my shoulder.
His massive form crashes between the trees, snapping trunks like twigs. A blue glow conquers anything he destroys, anywhere he steps. Frost blooms from his touch. His breath is frosted, like a blizzard.
“Stop!” I scream at him. “Ari! Stop!”
He doesn’t. He can’t. He is a slave. A slave to the Queen. To his mother.
I am running from the man I love. I have to. Ari will catch me. He will crush me. Squeeze me like he did that soldier.
The monster roars. A heart-wrenching call of desperation. I can feel Ari’s pain. I turn to him. He has stopped.
Did it… did it work? Is he listening? His eyes stay fixed on me. But he isn’t moving. My breathing is ragged. I don’t know how much longer I can go on. I’m fucked. Why not just—
Ari’s foreign body lurches downward. Like he’s preparing to run. Fuck. In a split second the tension in his body is released. He barrels toward me. The fastest thing I have ever seen.
I’m dead. I’m fucked. Freya, take me to—
But he stumbles. His feet entangling like some clumsy toddler learning to walk. He howls as he crashes face-first into the forest floor. The world shakes around me. Pinecones fall from trees. Branches tumble to the ground.
I blink through the chaos. This is my chance. My only one. The hammer is stuffed in the bag. Ari knows his target now.
I scramble up the mountainside, grabbing any root or rock willing to help me. Every breath slices my throat. My legs burn. My side aches.
“Ylvin!” I scream, voice cracking. “Elof!”
My shout tears through the mountain air.
I shout again. And again. My last hope. My teacher.
Below me, Ari releases a roar so loud the sky seems to shudder.
“Ylvin! Help!”
Silence.
But then. Above me.
A low growl.
The guttural sound of an animal. I freeze in terror as a shape takes form in the shadows. White fur contrasts against the pitch-black behind. My stomach tightens as I pant, desperate to breathe. What the…
Massive blue eyes shine at me from the darkness.
Strangely, it’s like I recognize them. Like I’ve held their gaze before. Like I have felt their judgment. I should flee. I should escape. Surprising myself, a wave of relief washes over me.
The wolf speaks in a deep, feminine voice, colored with maternal care.
“Kilda, my dear, what have you gotten yourself into this time?”