Chapter 15
Fifteen
Agroup of men had lain in wait in the bushes, and my back slammed into Kilia when they came at us from every direction, pinning us against the tree.
Like the ones we’d fought on the beach, these people were gaunt—malnourished—but there were ten of them and only six of us.
Five, really, since Oscri’s partner wouldn’t be able to fight.
They also had weapons. Burls of oak, knot-heavy branches of pine, and shafts of ash.
I stared from the bludgeons to the trees towering over us as a warning, whistling breeze blew through my clothing.
The forest hadn’t given its consent for these men to use its branches.
“Fuck, the trees are angry too,” Kilia hissed into my ear.
I nodded as I shifted my weight. Driftwood was one thing—that had already been discarded by the forest, a gift for the sea, or for us to use as we saw fit—but stealing from living, breathing trees, especially here at Svartoarna? We knew better than that.
A sharp crack rattled my bones from a tree somewhere to my left, and the world around us grew a shade darker, the air a little thicker. The ground vibrated beneath our boots, and I pushed at Kilia when a root snapped at me, only an inch from gripping the ankle Darcke had just abused.
The trees began moving, shifting across the ground like a silent, deadly army of giants, leaving an opening behind the men approaching us. Silver moonlight streamed down through the glen the trunks revealed, like a torch lighting the way for something, or someone, to come for us.
“I don’t think the trees care who dishonored them,” Ottoh said as he backed up until he stood beside me, his back against the bark as a solemn melody drifted through the night. “They’re coming for us.”
“Guys,” Oscri whispered sharply.
I froze when Kilia’s hand found mine.
“Over there,” Oscri continued. “It looks like the trees called in some friends.”
He jerked his head as the captives laughed manically. The sound sent goose bumps over my skin. It wasn’t the laugh of someone who knew they’d win—of someone ready to fight for their life. No, it was the laugh of someone who didn’t care anymore.
Then my heart leaped.
Behind the line of men, a massive wolf stalked with wide, silent paws.
It lifted its muzzle toward the one patch of sky where the moon’s sliver cut through the black.
The animal was huge, the largest wolf I’d ever seen, with shimmering black fur raised on its back, narrowed eyes, and paws the size of my head. And behind it…
A rune stone with bloodied marks on it, deep claw marks raking down and ruining whatever had been scripted. Where the stone met the rich soil, a pile of something silver and glittering lay.
“The arm rings,” I breathed.
The trees stopped moving, leaving a door for us that led straight to the rune stone.
Awareness made my spine tingle.
“There’s something strange happening here,” I whispered.
“Agreed,” Kilia said.
“I don’t think we have time to find out,” Oscri hissed.
The men were closer now, only fifteen or so steps away.
“One chance,” Ottoh whispered to himself.
I turned, my blood chilling. The men on his side had moved closer to their friends, leaving an opening to escape them.
“Don’t—”
It was all I could get out before the heir wiggled his brows and dragged his partner with him, falling into a sprint toward the stone.
“Sorry,” he called over his shoulder. “But I’m not about to be wolf food. Doesn’t seem like a fitting end!”
“That fucker,” Kilia hissed.
A snarl ripped from one of the captives, and they instantly closed the gap they’d left open, moving more purposefully toward us now. I rolled from my heels to my toes, and Kilia’s hand tightened around mine as his twin spewed every curse possible in our language.
Another wolf joined the onyx one, this one gray with black streaks running down its back, and the howl leaving it made the ground beneath our boots quake. My breaths stuttered when the animal’s eyes found mine and it opened its maw, displaying teeth the length of my forearm.
“Hurry the fuck up,” Ottoh screamed when his partner stumbled.
“By Odin,” Oscri whispered under his breath.
The wolves stalked the stone as the two men reached the tree line.
Their prancing was exaggerated, paws lifting high in the air, swiping at the yellowed grass spreading out across the glen.
A yawn rounded the black one’s maw before it lunged so high into the air Ottoh’s partner screamed.
The gray wolf followed, but my view was blocked when Kilia pulled hard enough at my arm for me to yelp, forcing me to push up against the trunk.
“Time to show off that Sweengard strength,” Kilia snarled as he dragged us down, making the man swinging a thick branch miss our heads by a mere inch. “You were holding back before. Don’t think I didn’t notice you left the heavy lifting to me.”
I was glad another man lunged for us so he didn’t see the blood drain from my face. Crouching down, I managed to get our attacker on his back by hooking my boot behind his leg, but it wasn’t saying much, since he probably weighed less than my younger sisters.
“Just testing you,” I hissed as I closed my eyes and stomped on the man’s face until it crunched with a sickening sound under my weight. “I need to choose my iron-bound, after all.”
“I’ll never be a Sweengard,” Kilia grunted as he ripped the branch from a third attacker and slammed it so hard into the man’s face the crack must have echoed all the way to the beach.
“It’s not so bad,” I replied, ducking under another man’s swinging arm and shoving Oscri back with my foot so that Kilia and I covered him. “I’ve kept both of you alive since we teamed up.”
I felt the twins’ burning glares when I kicked back another man.
“I saved you”—Kilia struck a fifth man before continuing—“from the warrior. And I didn’t kill you, even if I could have. We’re even.”
The air was slammed out of me when the man I’d tried to stave off shoved me into the tree so hard the world flickered for a moment.
Guner had meant for Kilia to kill me—he didn’t care if he lost a karl for that purpose—but he might have done me a favor, I thought as Kilia slammed a hand against the man’s chest, dulling his eyes. His heart gave out with one strike.
“I—” I coughed. “I g-guess, thank you then.”
“What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Kilia stiffened when I couldn’t stop my hand from pressing against my gut, trying to quell the nausea from the push. “Is something wrong? Are… are you injured?”
It felt like I’d been dipped into a frozen lake as thoughts raced across his face.
I would need to kill him. I would need to kill him and his brother. As my instincts took over and I searched the ground for something to use, Oscri yelped behind us. I spun around to see him lifting an arm to protect himself from two men coming for him, makeshift spears in their hands.
Blood already trickled down his arm from the sharp points, and I didn’t think as I jumped in front of him, pulling the tether between me and Kilia taut as I crouched and punched each of the men’s kneecaps until they also went down.
“Nice.” Oscri grinned before he lifted a large boot and stomped on their arms. The snapping of bone wove through the woods, joined by the men’s pain-fueled cries. “Guess you really were holding back.”
Kilia shook his head while fighting another man. The force with which he struck him nearly tripped me, the rope pulling me backward as I tried to rise.
“Don’t”—I steadied myself on the moss—“look so happy. We still have to face those wolves.”
“We can handle some wolves,” Oscri replied when Kilia got the last man down, tugging on the rope so hard I flew straight into his chest. The former gestured to the tree line, where Ottoh and his partner were nowhere to be seen. “Ottoh did, and he isn’t half the warrior we are.”
Kilia placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping my swaying. “Or they ate him.”
“Don’t tease me,” I answered with a crooked smile.
A screech reverberated through the woods, and I flinched when the trees began moving again. The moon disappeared behind the clouds, forcing us into darkness, but even with our sight impacted, it was evident the opening to the rune stone was about to shut.
“Do you think that’s our only chance?” Oscri voiced the question already taking over my mind.
“I fucking hope not,” Kilia screamed as he began running, taking me with him. “But I wouldn’t be surprised. They don’t make it easy, do they?”
“N-nothing in life is,” I said, already out of breath but trying to hide it the best I could.
“Valhalla better be fucking worth it,” Oscri shouted, his words emphasized by his partner’s body thumping against his back. “I didn’t want this life. I wanted a girl and a hearth and maybe a ship. Being a hero better be worth it.”
I didn’t respond and neither did Kilia as we sprinted to the moving trees.
“We won’t make it!” the twin tethered to me screamed.
I bit my tongue as I stumbled over a root that I swear hadn’t been there a second before.
Fuck this. We were going to make it. I was going to get through this alive. I only needed to live a few more days. Only to the bonding.
Only until Viljan was formally my second.
“We will,” I shouted. “I refuse anything fucking else.”
“That”—Kilia panted—“Darcke was right. You heirs really don’t listen to anyone.”
“It’s not because of some fucking title,” I cried. “This is how the gods made me, and I won’t return to them until they’ve bled me fucking dry!”
“I think… I think I like you,” Oscri said as his steps thudded against the ground.
The trees shifted faster, their leaves mocking us as they whipped through the air, propelling the trunks into the empty space where the rune stone stood.
“Tell me that when we survive this,” I screamed. It felt like my lungs would burst.
Another cry burst from my lips when the woods moved faster. The taste of blood wove all the way up my throat until it filled my entire mouth, coating my teeth.
“Jump!” I shouted when there was only a sliver of space left between the thick trees. “Fucking jump!”