Chapter 33 Freija
Freija
Power surged through my veins—panic and the need to protect flaring. I pulled off the clasp of my cloak and let the material pool around me.
“Shield. Now,” Halvar ordered.
In the next instant we were both on bended knee, matching stone shields formed and attached to our forearms. I drew my dagger and Halvar forged a large stone axe with his power. It looked like it could cleave through a tree in one strike.
Back-to-back, we scanned our surroundings.
“Keep that shield up,” Halvar mumbled.
“Will do.”
A twig snapped to my right, and Halvar spun toward it before I could move. He lunged as a figure appeared between the trees. Stone and metal clanged, echoing through our camp.
The horse whinnied and pulled on its reins, tugging against the branch it was tied to. I hurried over to it and, in one swift move, cut through the leather ties. The horse neighed, and I slapped its rump. “Go!”
It didn’t need any further coaxing. With a huff, Gylli galloped through the woods and out of sight.
I spun back to face the fight and found Halvar moving like a viper, dealing out swipes and lethal jabs. The axe was like an extension of him, another muscle he could use. The two men stepped closer to the fire and I gasped. The light revealed the attackers’ pointed ears.
They were fae.
But what faction? What weakness—
Movement to my left drew my attention and I spun, raising my shield just in time to avoid a fighting stick to the head.
The thick column of wood bounced off the stone and sent reverberations through my arm.
I moved before they could get in another hit, backing toward Halvar, while parrying strikes and prods.
Back-to-back again with him, my chest heaved.
“We need to get into a clearer space. We’re vulnerable here,” he muttered just low enough for me to hear. “There’s a field to our north where I found the hare—help me draw them that way.”
I nodded and refocused as another fae clad in leathers and green fabric materialized from the other side of our camp.
Halvar jabbed his axe toward his opponent, tripping the man. He stumbled, swayed, and blinked once at the weapon surging toward him. The axe cleaved through the man’s neck and the body flopped to the soil.
“Run!” Halvar yelled.
I needn’t be told twice. Scampering north, I barreled over fallen trees and moss-covered boulders. Branches clawed at my face like lynxes, while my heart thrashed against my ribs. Brief glances over my shoulder revealed Halvar and the other fae on our tail… and… Ancestors, there were more of them.
Five fae in total appeared, all with varying weapons.
An arrow flew past my head again, and I veered right to avoid the blow.
“Don’t hit her!” someone yelled. “Just maim so we can catch the bitch.”
Up ahead a field appeared, tall grass stained gold by the sun. I raced to the edge of the tree line, panting hard with every step.
“You don’t need to run!”
“We won’t harm you!”
I scoffed. “Liars!”
They’d already attacked us. Who did they think I was? A fool? Hardly.
Stepping into the field, I whirled and found two fae coming up behind me.
The others chased Halvar farther away. Which seemed foolish considering he’d just beheaded their friend in a single strike.
Then again, perhaps dividing us, getting him away from me, was their goal.
A shame I’d been trained by the General.
I faced the oncoming duo with a ferocity in my veins I’d never felt before.
The two men stalked into the grass. One held a metal scimitar, while the other was unarmed. No weapon was helpful for me, but all of the other factions had tricks up their sleeves, and Fire and Forest Fae could fashion weapons from thin air, just like we Fjell Fae could.
The weaponless one caught my assessing gaze. “Come with us and you won’t get hurt, little lady.”
“Go meet the ancestors.”
“Oh… He didn’t mention she was feisty,” the sword-wielding one said as they prowled closer.
I braced myself and widened my stance, preparing to fight.
The other one narrowed his eyes. “Unless she isn’t the right one.”
“Does it truly matter? We’ll get the reward.”
Weaponless looked uncertain.
“Did you two want to continue bickering,” I mocked, “or would you like to fight me?”
I wasn’t sure where the bravery had stemmed from, but it flowed through my veins like the royal magic that hummed within the crevasses of the mountain back home.
Both men snarled as if they didn’t appreciate being talked to like that by a woman.
“Come on then,” I goaded.
The one with the scimitar lunged.
I batted aside his advance with my shield and swiped at his exposed side with my blade, striking through the material on his arm. He snorted in shock, circled back, and flailed at me again.
Step.
Step.
Deflect.
Swipe.
He kept coming and coming, while Weaponless tried to circle around and catch me unawares. But I kept them both in sight, moving so they couldn’t get my back.
Roars of pain and slashing noises echoed across the field behind me. I kept moving, kept swinging. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught glimpses of the warrior that Halvar truly was. He moved like death itself. Swipe after brutal swipe, he cut back at the enemies.
If I had time to spare, I’d stand back and watch, but as it was…
The other fae roared and ran at me from my right. I needed to use more of my powers. Raising my palm, I pulled on the magic in my sternum and brought forward an orb of royal magic to stun the oncoming violence.
Parrying back the fae with the sword, I took the momentary reprieve and launched the ball of power. It crashed against Weaponless, squarely in the chest. He dropped to his knees and fell onto his hands, gasping for air as his body trembled.
Thank goodness.
Him and my other attacker both snarled.
“It’s her! He was right, it’s definitely her!”
I sucked in a breath. Ancestors, what have I done?
“Fuck!” Halvar roared and came barreling over.
I ran toward him like he was a beacon of light in a dark tunnel, drawing on my magic and pulling stone shards from the soil behind me. The spikes pierced the earth in my wake, catching the two attackers off-guard.
I cast my arm in an arc around us and stone shards erupted from the soil. The jagged little peaks surrounded us on all sides.
The gang of fae slowed and scrambled back, careful not to get impaled.
My chest heaved, air sawing in and out of my lungs, as I sheathed my blade and rested my hands on my knees.
Halvar nodded at me as if to say, are you all right?
I nodded back.
Satisfied, he turned and bellowed, “Who sent you here?”
The one that I’d stunned lumbered forward, his tattered clothing and leathers flapping in the breeze. “We received word that a little bird had flown far from her coop.”
“Not possible,” the man beside me grumbled.
Halvar was right. No one should have known I was here aside from Ragnhild, Mads, and those closest to me in the mountain.
“Who sent you?” I yelled and straightened to my full height.
“Come with us, Crown Princess, and you won’t get hurt.”
“Oh, I doubt that very much. Now, tell me who sent you before my guard and I kill you.”
Halvar let out a proud and pleased hum at my side.
“You have ten seconds!” I added.
“Five of us remain to your two!”
The group sneered as they continued to circle us like a pack of hungry wolves.
I chuckled, the sound a light and airy trill. “What you have failed to include in that calculus is the who.”
The group leader, Weaponless, bristled and looked at Halvar anew.
“Oh,” I pressed my hand to my chest, “did your master not inform you that my guard is the Fjell Fae General? Perhaps you were sent on a fool’s errand.”
Halvar cleared his throat. “We usually do not call those circling us fools.”
I waved my hand. “Too late now.”
“If that is the legendary warsword, Halvar son of Harald,” the leader continued, “why hasn’t he killed more of us by now? Maybe he has grown too old to protect you, Princess Freija.”
Halvar grunted and gave me a brief look. “My attention was divided.”
“Perhaps you have yet to see him fully unleashed?” I yelled back.
The group snickered and waved their hands at us, goading us to try.
“Well, you are going to need this, then, because it looks like we’re fighting our way out of here.” Power pulsed around Halvar’s hand and a sword took shape. He handed it to me. The weight was significant, but also balanced, like he’d considered my physicality and preferences in its creation.
“Lower the stones!” one of the fae behind us said, and I caught sight of a bow and arrow pointing in Halvar’s direction. “We will tell you who gave us orders from within the mountain.”
“Within the mountain,” I muttered. “We were right.”
“Unfortunately.”
“We can discuss that further when we get out of here.”
Halvar nodded once. “You aim for those two. The leader has a slight limp on his left—use that to your advantage. I’ll kill the rest.”
“Is killing our only option?”
“Yes.”
It couldn’t be helped—better them than me. Ragnhild’s motto rang through my mind: No fear, no relenting, no remorse.
“Don’t die, soldier.”
Halvar wielded double-bladed axes. Twisting the handles in his grip, he gave me a blood-thirsty grin. “You too, princess.”
This was going to be a bloodbath. One I hopefully found myself on the right side of.
I raised my arms and pulled on the power around us, willing the stone spears back into the ground and drawing the magic back inside me. My chest shuddered from the effort, power flowing up my arms and swirling in my sternum like a storm being caged.
The earth trembled, and the instant the stones submerged, the gang of fae lunged for us.