Chapter 42 #2
Not until we know which to attack, I reply. Just be ready.
‘We’ve got this, guys!’ I call out as the jotnar’s feet thunder on the ground. ‘We’ve got weapons and a deadly dire wolf on our side. Benny, your assessment please! Any weaknesses?’
‘Yeah. That one on the right,’ he says. ‘It’s got a limp. Its left shoulder is down slightly too. Another old injury, I’d guess.’
‘Right. Then you take that one,’ I say. ‘I’ll see if I can’t slow it down a bit first.’
A flurry of snow erupts from my hands. I was hoping for something the size of the day before, which nearly toppled the mountainside, but it’s hardly a breeze against the giant.
‘Let me out!’ Stefan shouts, his dim cry ringing out of the well. ‘I can help!’
‘Fuck you, Stefan!’ I yell back in frustration. I’m half tempted to pull him out of the well and make him fight with us. We could definitely use the extra firepower, but I don’t trust him not to aim at me.
I’m pretty sure this is the type of heroic battle that dire wolves become legends for, right? I say to Fen.
Are you implying I’m not legendary already, Little Raven? he huffs.
My apologies. I let out a laugh, half from amusement, half from hysteria.
‘How are you doing on the other two, Benny? Got any weaknesses yet?’
‘It’s not good news. The other two are Grendas.
’ Benny’s voice trembles. It’s not a term he’s ever used before with me, certainly not in battle, but I know exactly what he means.
Grenda was a Rettling. One of the oldest. One of the best. A former knight who just wanted to see her sons again.
And when it came to fighting, she was flawless.
No weaker side. No weapon that she struggled with.
Not a single fucking weakness. Not that Benny could find, regardless of how many hours he studied her.
For him to say this about the jotnar… Suffice it to say, it doesn’t make me feel good about our chances.
My heart clenches as fear threatens to take hold, but I refuse to let it. This isn’t the same situation at all. I was magicless when I first fought a jotunn. We had neither a fire wielder on our side then nor a dire wolf.
We’ve got this. We have to.
‘Ruben, you take the larger one,’ I order. ‘As soon as you know it’s in range, go for it. Not before, you understand? I don’t want you running out of magic. Not when I’m not sure how much I can pass to you safely.’
‘Got it.’ Ruben stretches his neck from side to side, popping out an audible click.
‘I’ll see what I can do with the middle one. Fen’ll work the other with Benny or wherever he’s needed. They do not get past us. Not to Isthyr. You understand?’
Their silence is all the confirmation I need.
You ready, Fen?
Ready, Little Raven? I was born ready! I am eagerly anticipating more jotnar trachea.
Tracheas? I ask. Trachei? What is the plural of trachea?
Fen laughs in my mind. Delicious, that’s what.
I would laugh if it wasn’t for the terror holding me locked to the spot as my eyes remain fixed on the horizon. On the three encroaching giants. And they are definitely giants. Colossal. Gods, were the Rettling jotnar half-grown teenagers? It certainly seems like it now.
Just stay out of the way until I tell you it’s time to go, I order Fen. I don’t want you getting caught in the crossfire.
I am perfectly—
That’s an order, Fen. Something happens to you, it happens to me, then we lose Ruben too. You stay back until I tell you. You’ll get your trachea, trust me.
His grumble rumbles through me, but so does his acceptance. He wants to fight, I understand that, but he also knows I’m right. We need him ready to rip when the giants are down, not have him kicked across the ice and crippled in the first moment.
‘Not sure how you guys are feeling about this,’ Ruben says tentatively, stepping forward. ‘But I really don’t want this big one to get any closer to me. I think I’m in range, so I’m going for it.’
‘All yours,’ I say. ‘As long as you’re sure you can hit it.’
‘As if I’d miss in front of my man.’ He grins, winking at Benny, but I don’t miss the way his hands shake as he lifts them to create the fireball.
Ruben has always believed in making love, not war. He’s fought, he’s killed, but he’s not a battle-hardened soldier, not like Kyor.
What I wouldn’t give to have Kyor here, pulling lightning from the skies and roasting the giants from the inside out.
Thinking of Kyor makes me think of the others. Makes me think of Loch.
‘LOCH!’ I scream at the top of my lungs. ‘IF YOU CAN HEAR THIS, THE J?TNAR ARE COMING. READY ISTHYR!’
It’s a long shot – a really fucking long shot – but it’s worth a try.
A massive fireball erupts in Ruben’s hands. For a split second, he stares at it, frozen to the spot as though he can’t believe he’s actually created something of that size, and then, without a hint of hesitation, he hurls it towards the nearest jotunn.
The scream of pain that shoots through the air is enough to rattle the mountainsides around us, and the other two creatures respond. But rather than being deterred, they snarl and quicken, yellow teeth bared as their feet pound the snow, sending up flurry after flurry as they race towards us.
‘I’ve got this one,’ I shout, praying to every God there is that I actually do.
Without giving myself time for doubt, I lurch my magic outwards.
Thousands of ice daggers splinter towards the second jotunn.
With perfect precision, the ice blades fly at its throat, one after another, hacking at the monster’s neck.
Spots of blood glisten on its grey, leather-like skin.
Spots, rather than the gushing evidence of a slit throat, but it definitely slows it down.
‘Seems like a pretty good technique,’ Benny calls. ‘Want to try it over here, too?’
The earl is still waiting for his giant to get closer to him. Without a doubt, he was right. His target is substantially slower than the others.
‘I’ll try!’
I force my magic into my hands, trying to recreate what I just did.
When I feel like I’ve got enough magic gathered, I hurl the power from my palms, but evidently not as fast as before.
Half of the shards drop before they reach the giant, and the others barely tickle it.
Turns out the first time was more luck than skill.
‘I need it to get a bit closer,’ I gasp.
‘I guess I’ll just stand here and look pretty then. Hardly a chore.’ Benny winks.
‘Rose!’ Ruben calls. ‘I need some more power. It’s working – it’s backing down, I just need more!’
‘I’ve got you!’
The magic that only seconds ago failed me is still there, flowing through the shards on the ground. Without pausing for breath, I pull it back and feed it into Ruben.
‘And some more, if you can,’ Ruben urges as the fire in his hands expands before my eyes. ‘Just a little more and that prick’s going down!’
He’s not wrong. I can see it. His jotunn is staggering forward more slowly now, as though it’s not sure it wants to keep coming towards us. A little more pain and it’s going to retreat. I can feel it.
My giant, on the other hand, is dangerously close. I twist around, ready to give it everything I’ve got, when a solid spear of ice soars through the air, straight into its sternum.
What the fuck?
Hope surges within me at the thought of reinforcements, but my optimism fades the instant I see the figure kneeling in the snow. Stefan.
He must have built some type of ice steps to get himself out of that well. I should have sealed the fucker in.
‘I’ll do what I can from here, Princess!’ he yells. ‘But my leg, it’s broken. You’ll need to help me back to the city.’
No wonder he’s helping us, I think cynically. It’s the only way he’ll live, and he knows it.
The spear wound Stefan made is gushing blood that pours down the jotunn’s stomach, but I’m starting to doubt they have any nerves at all as he continues to plough towards me.
I pull out my dagger, but support comes from two directions. Fen and Ruben. As Ruben aims straight for the face, my wolf leaps up and bites the creature straight in the groin. Blinded and writhing with pain, the monster flails its arms around.
‘The ravine!’ Stefan shouts. ‘Lead it towards the ravine!’
‘Fuck!’ I curse, hating the fact that he’s right. Still, I don’t waste any time. ‘Hey! Hey!’ I scream as loud as I can, while simultaneously pelting it with hail stones. For a second I fear it won’t work, but then it twists around, following my voice.
‘That’s it! This way. This way!’
Benny was right. The ravine is definitely narrow enough for a jotunn to traverse it, assuming it could actually see where it was going.
But blinded… It stumbles one foot in front of another until its toes catch the edge of the gap.
It’s hovering there, arms wheeling, trying to turn around, when Fen launches himself onto its back.
The surprise weight on its spine is the final push the creature needs, and it plunges downwards into the ravine.
Fen rebounds from the giant’s back towards me.
One down, he tells me like I wasn’t already aware.
‘Maybe you can send a bit of that firepower this way, Ruben!’ Benny calls. ‘Because this one has unhelpfully thick skin.’
At some point, Benny’s jotunn has come close enough to fight, and the earl is definitely fighting.
Benny’s face drips with sweat as he hacks at the creature’s legs.
I don’t worry about him getting hit. He can see the strikes quick enough to avoid them.
But in terms of bringing the jotunn down, he’s just hacking at the skin.
The flesh wounds around the creature’s ankles and calves have little chance of bringing the thing down.
‘Ruben!’ I call. ‘Help Benny!’
‘On it!’ Ruben twists around, the fire hurtling out in that direction, although the size of his fireball is substantially diminished. The jotunn lurches back, struggling to stay standing.
‘Yeah, that’s it!’ I breathe. ‘Ruben, that’s it. Can you keep going between the two of them? I’ll try doing what I can.’
‘As long as you keep supplying me with more magic, yes,’ Ruben promises breathlessly.