Page 68

Maude saw the despair and guilt cloud his eyes, and before she could stop herself, she moved toward him and grabbed his hand.

“It’s not your fault,” she said gently. “They were chosen, and as awful as it is, they did not seem to suffer.”

“I failed them, minn eldr ,” Herrick said, looking down at her hand and squeezing it. “I should’ve sent soldiers out here when I found out they had been struggling with their crops.”

“They wouldn’t have made it in time,” she said. “These people have been with the gods for some time now.”

Herrick looked up to the afternoon sky, quiet. When he finally spoke again, Maude didn’t know what to expect from him.

“We are taught the gods are our protectors, our guides to this world,” he said quietly. “But it seems to me that they are only playing with us. Slaughtering entire villages, pushing us into the arms of people we cannot belong to… ”

He trailed off and finally looked at her.

“I don’t know if I can burn them,” he said, pleading with her now.

“With me, you’ll never have to,” Maude said as she squeezed his hand once and let go. “Let me do this for them.”

Herrick studied her face, his eyes tracing over the scar that haunted Maude every day. She knew he had recognized the shape of her scar as his eyes flicked to the people of Amsbrook and how they had been laid out. Maude silently pleaded with him to ignore the coincidence.

He nodded once as he brought his gaze back to her, golden brown eyes burning in the evening sun, before turning to make his way down to the ground again and leaving Maude alone on the rooftop.

She heard her friends leave the town square and head back to the horses.

Only once they were outside the bounds of Amsbrook did Maude finally allow the spark that had been building inside her to ignite at her fingertips.

Maude flexed her fingers a bit, stoking the flames with the wind she controlled until her hands danced with the flame that burned in her blood. Silence fell over the city, the sounds of far-off wildlife and her friends disappearing, as if the gods held their breath to hear what she had to say.

“I do not know your names or your lives. I do not know your great loves or fears. I am only a traveler passing through this world, much like you. Know that you are not abandoned or forgotten in your corner of the world. Know that your princes mourn your passing and have seen the message from the gods that has been paid for with your lives. Know that this sacrifice has not been taken lightly,” Maude said to the citizens of Amsbrook as she created a ball of fire in one palm.

With her other hand, Maude swept up in a fluid motion, causing flames to spring up from the ground surrounding the bodies, encircling them.

“May the Valkyries guide you to the halls of Valhalla where Odin will welcome you into his hall so you may dine with the gods for your sacrifice… so you may find peace,” Maude finished, voice dropping to a whisper in the pregnant silence.

She pushed the ball of fire from her palm.

As the sphere floated to the center of the town square, Maude brought her hands together and pulled them apart, stretching her arms to either side of her body.

In response, the ball exploded into smaller fires that fell onto the people of Amsbrook like heavy rain.

Maude watched the fires grow until the flames almost reached where she stood on the rooftops.

As she was about to turn to jump off the roof, she spied a large dark shadow in the distance.

Standing on top of a great hill bordering the rivers, Maude saw what looked like a giant hound.

The creature had to be larger than a horse on all fours and had silver eyes that refracted in the sunlight.

Focusing more clearly on the animal, she noticed its edges were blurred and fluid, just like shadows. When Maude blinked again, it was gone.

“Maude!” Herrick called to her from beyond the walls of Amsbrook, breaking the silence as the sound of a roaring fire filled her ears.

She shook herself from where she had been frozen in place and made to jump off the roof, blowing a gust of wind underneath her to catch her before she hit the ground.

Without missing a step, Maude took off into the town again, weaving lines of fire behind her footsteps and shifting more air behind her to move faster.

Maude passed through the gates as the flames engulfed them and crashed down behind in her wake.

Her friends said nothing, grief etched into each of their faces.

Eydis was sitting in front of Hakon on their horse, wiping at the tears in her eyes.

Hakon’s face was impassive as he stared past her into the small town.

“It’s done,” Maude huffed, still catching her breath .

She walked to the horse she shared with Herrick and accepted the water canteen he held out for her.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, staring into the flames like Hakon.

“Don’t thank me,” she said quickly. “Not for this.”

Herrick looked at her and nodded, understanding in his features.

“We should go find a longboat before the flames catch up to us,” she muttered, jumping onto the horse.

“Things are changing,” Herrick said later as they neared the docks.

They dismounted the horses and started removing the saddles.

“In what way?” she asked, removing the bit from the horse's mouth and stroking a hand up its nose.

“Different galder is starting to show up in families now,” Herrick said. “And now this sign from the gods… I think we are headed for trouble.”

“I like trouble,” Maude shrugged but put away the information about the new galder popping up out of seemingly nowhere to inspect later.

Herrick put a hand on her arm.

“I’m serious, minn eldr . I have this feeling…”

He rubbed a hand over his fatemark, looking south to where they were headed and then again at the scar on her face.

“Whatever it is, we can handle it,” she said, loosening her arm from his grip, ignoring the burning on her chest from her fatemark.

“I like it when you say ‘we’,” Herrick said as a lopsided grin formed on his perfect mouth.

Maude rolled her eyes at him and grabbed her packs from the ground. The horses had begun to graze until Herrick led them to make their way back toward Tafeld. They got onto the boat that Gunnar and Liv had found and helped them push off from the bank.

Once they had reached a steady pace gliding over the water and they had all settled in for another long night ahead of them on the water, Maude thought about the aching from her fatemark at Herrick’s words and then at the animal made of shadow on the hill.

Indeed, something was coming, and Maude was not sure if she was ready for it.