Page 30

QUICK INVENTORY TOLD me three things: one, Trig had caught Tova. Two, I only had a shoulder’s width of space to maneuver to each side, and if I fell to the wrong side, it would be sharp rocks that found me instead of Trig’s arms. Three, and most disappointing, Trig’s dagger had found the boy, but only his shoulder, and from how easily he yanked it out, it wasn’t deep. He twisted it to point at me.

“You should not be here.”

“Why not?”

I asked. “I live here.”

He grinned like this was all some great joke. The mortal wasn’t First, which I was glad for, but he had arms like trunks and an arsenal of weapons on him to tell me he’d found good loot. His lips bent into a cocky grin like he’d won the fight already, before the first move. “Is that so? The gods are right above us. Perhaps I alert Odin his prized granddaughter is here now.”

He tilted his head and called out to them.

I lurched forward, but he was expecting that. He grabbed my shirt by the collar and tried to yank me backward, into the view of the dome. Stone grated against my bare feet, digging into the skin as I shoved back. With his other hand, he held up his knife. “Tell Odin hello for me.”

But thanks to Trig, his shoulder wasn’t as strong as it once was. I held his wrist with both hands and pried his arm backward with little resistance, until his dagger wasn’t as close to my face. Then I thrust sideways.

It nicked his skin. Red appeared, both on his cheek and in the fury of his eyes. They narrowed at me, and the meaning was clear. Enough games. I’m here to win.

He used my own momentum to drive me flat on my back, one hand crushing against the corner of the wall and the other searing beneath his weight, as he drove his knee into my gut. Somewhere below, Tova and Trig were shouting. Pointless knives flew up. With us flat, they’d just as likely hit me than him. I struggled to free myself as he ground his weight harder against me, waiting for him to make a bigger move so I had options.

He made it a heartbeat later. The boy had to let go of one arm to strike again, and the moment he did, I brought my fist over to collide with his jaw. He handled the impact surprisingly well, only staggering for a moment before striking downward. But my hand was already at his wrist, and I held it there.

As we struggled to gain control over the blade, he chuckled. My eye snapped to him.

“I’m glad I’m fighting you and not Tova,”

he said. “Because no one wants to go against a child marked by Odin. We’d heard of her in my clan. But you? I can defeat you.”

A familiar scratching noise vibrated to my right. Tova was climbing again.

With blood pounding in my ears, I let go of his wrist and let the dagger smack against the stone an inch from my ear. The ring of it echoed through my brain. Then I grabbed his weak shoulder, brough my knee up against his side, and flung us both from the wall.

As we fell, his eyes widened, only to flinch as his back collided with the ground. The fall was too hard. My weight was too much to land on him. And the life was fleeing his body.

My breath shook as I spoke into his ear. “I am Ruin, goddess of the fight, and I release you, great warrior, into your eternity.”

That was the only whisper of peace I could give him, and it wasn’t much. He deserved a warrior’s burial, and I knew he’d never get that. Worse yet, while my name was the last he’d ever hear, he died without me knowing his.

I vowed I would learn it. I’d learn every name of those who fell today, and I’d remember them as the ones who died so we could go free.

Uncertain knees held me weakly, only tightening when Tova appeared beside me to wrap her arms around my body.

“Thank you,”

she whispered in my ear.

I hugged her back, trying to erase everything else that happened around us. The kill was easy, but my guilt would not be so quickly tossed aside. I put it in a bottle to drink later, promising myself I’d feel again once this was over—once Tova was safe. That time was not yet. I pulled back.

“Go,”

I told her. “Step forward and hold up his dagger, to show the gods you got the kill.”

Our eyes trailed upward, where we were still hidden from view. But they’d have seen the boy and Tova come. They knew a fight occurred. I didn’t want them to be suspicious and find a better angle to see us.

Tova nodded, and grabbed the blade from his hand. She stepped several paces out, and looked up to the glass dome. There, she lifted the dagger above her head.

“For the gods!”

Then she dropped her hand, looked back to the city, and shifted into the shadows of the wall. With her head low so they wouldn’t see her lips moving, she spoke. “What now?”

“Five dead,”

I counted, wiping sweat from my brow. Trig was already kneeling to steal the weapons from the body. “Three to kill.”

“I say let them come to us.”

Tova planted her hands on her hips, studying the expanse of the garden.

“Or let them kill each other until one remains.”

“That’s no fun,”

Tova replied.

“We aren’t here for fun,”

Trig snapped, standing to flick me another dagger. “We are here to survive.”

“This is how we do it. We have the high ground, and we have two more fighters than they know. We draw them here and we fight.”

Without considering further, Tova made quick work of hoisting herself on top of the wall to stand on her feet and shout into the darkening night. “Here I am!”

There was no holding back in her tone. She spread her arms wide. “You want to kill me? Come and try!”

That was exactly what I was worried they would do, but the damage was done now. All would have heard her voice carry down to the sea, and if they looked for a target, she was a perfect one. She sat herself down on the top of the wall, and waited. After a few beats, she dropped to her belly and eased back down.

“I saw movement,”

she said, now back where the gods could not see.

Trig pursed his lips tight. “Spread out along the wall, keeping to the shadows. They will either enter through that gate, or by climbing this wall. My guess is the gate. When they come, you draw them to us, and let us fight together.”

Tova nodded, but Trig placed his hands on her cheeks. “Together,”

he whispered. “I do not need you to save me. We fight together.”

I looked away at the intimacy of his tone. She whispered something, and it must have satisfied him enough because he let her go. “Good.”

His gaze darted along the wall. “Spread out.”

He took off south, the direction the attack would most likely start, leaving us together in the quiet of the still garden.

Tova glanced to me. “If you die today, I’ll never forgive you.”

“If I die today, I will also never forgive you.”

When I got a small smile, I backed into the wall. “Now go on, before someone sees you.”

She shifted into the shadows like a vapor that used darkness as a doorway, until I couldn’t hear so much as a small step. I started a low trace of the garden, pinpointing which places one might enter, and which paths they might take. If they came through the gate, we’d have the best chance. If they came over the wall and saw us, they could take us out one by one.

As the minutes went on, the darkness settled in further and further, until the number of paths a person could take became the whole garden, because we couldn’t see a thing. Tonight would depend more on our hearing than our sight, and that unnerved me. I hadn’t yet decided if the night was my friend or foe.

A feeling rose like a mist, settling over me until my senses prickled. I strained to see into the night, but it was no use. Still, the feeling wouldn’t go away, and it was distinct. I’d bet anything that Ve had entered the city, and was somewhere nearby.

Half my mind told me to leave and find him, to drag him back here safely. But I stayed. Unlike me, he really was a god, and he wouldn’t fall so easily. Still, we had abandoned all caution at this point. If enough of us were spotted, a simple headcount would reveal there were ineligible players in the game. Already Trig was relying heavily on his hiding position to keep him safe, for he’d ventured far into the zone that Odin could clearly see.

We were all taking great risks tonight for the ones we loved. I didn’t want to think of how poorly this might go.

“You and Ve seemed close today.”

The voice came alarmingly close to my ear.

I almost leapt from my place. I whirled, searching through the dark to find Tova until her hand met mine. “I never left,”

she whispered.

“You always were the worst at following direction,”

I muttered back.

“This isn’t about me. Ve? Did you tell him how you feel?”

I was grateful she couldn’t see the foolish grin on my cheeks. “Actually, he told me.”

Tova wasn’t one to squeal, but she tightened her grip on my hand. “And?”

My sigh came out far more dreamy than I meant it to. “And I happen to be very taken with him.”

“Taken with him.”

She chuckled. “Admit it, you think he’s the most gorgeous thing to walk the lands.”

I’d never say something so ridiculous, but that might be true. When I didn’t give a reply, she laughed again. “It’s all working out then.”

“Minus three people trying to kill us this very moment, yes.”

She swatted me. “We will be fine.”

I wished for her confidence. I suspected she wished for some too, and only said such a thing to help me find it. Either way, the unspoken truth of today was in the air like a storm cloud that devoured every ounce of light: there could be no sure promises made.

Finally something moved outside the gate. I thanked the gods.

“Let them come to us,”

I reminded Tova, but if she was there to hear it, she made no indication.

A thin, wisp of a form took shape outside the gate, sawing through the binds. It took only a few seconds, as we’d predicted, but it was enough time they couldn’t slip in undetected. They tried, though. They opened the gate slowly to be sure the hinges didn’t betray them, and slid in, immediately getting low. There, they crouched, surveying the garden.

We could play the waiting game. Eventually, they’d come this way.

Just then, with absolutely no regard for the plan he made, Trig erupted from somewhere in the middle of the garden where he must have painstakingly slithered out, holding his blade outright to catch the mortal by surprise. From the yelp, it was a girl.

At the action, Tova and I moved in unison, peeling away from the confinements of the wall to advance. The quiet of the night shattered, splintering into spirals of stabs and shards of chaos. Trig tumbled with the girl, her scream piercing the night. Tova sprinted straight through the garden while I clung to the shadows, still holding out foolish hope that the gods wouldn’t put together a simple head count. That hope was growing fainter by the minute.

It was Trig’s scream that finally drew me from my caution. It came laced in pain, thundering through the air. He lay on his back, clutching something in his gut.

Tova hurled herself over him and clawed at the girl, taking them both to the ground.

There was nothing masterful about this type of fighting. It wasn’t a battle field that we’d been trained for, but desperate wrestling with meager blades and a belly of fire.

I clutched a blade, but until I was closer, I couldn’t throw and guarantee it wouldn’t strike Tova. The two of them were a flurry of action, rolling together and throwing punches before Tova reached for her blade, straddling the other girl beneath her thighs.

The girl bared her teeth, and bit.

Tova hollered, but kept hold of her knife. She jabbed once, a clean hit to the chest, but it wasn’t enough pressure. The girl convulsed, throwing Tova from her perch and thrusting her own weight overtop. She drew the blade from her body. Tova grabbed for it, but the girl sliced at her hands, meeting skin. Tova cried again.

As I passed Trig, I made sure he was still alive. He breathed steadily, easing a knife from his belly. We would need to wrap that soon.

I threw myself at the girl, yanking her off Tova. Her eyes widened at a third person in the fight, and she swung blindly at me. I clawed for her fingers, avoiding her snapping teeth as we wrestled.

Over her shoulder, I watched Trig ease to his elbows and fully remove the blade from his body. He wasted no time throwing it at the girl, and it struck her back.

She arched with a hollow scream, and Tova took the opportunity to steal back her blade and finish the deed. I shoved her weight from me and stood.

Once more, silence fell.

When her breaths had stilled, I closed her eyes. “Do we know her name?” I asked.

Tova bent in pain, speaking through shallow breath. “Poruun. She had two brothers and claimed her móoir baked the finest zucchini bread in all the clans.”

I committed the name to memory. Another who would be properly honored when we returned to Danmark. I tossed a handful of dirt on her, though it was a poor excuse for a burial. It sunk into the crevices by her eyes, and onto the corners of her lips, and the last of life’s warmth still clung to her cheeks.

“You shouldn’t have run without us,”

Tova said, offering a hand to Trig. “Maybe then you wouldn’t have holes in you.”

From the corner of my eye, they stood, but I kept my focus on the girl. Something about her unsettled me.

“I’ll wrap it and survive,”

Trig said. It took him considerable effort to pry his shirt from his body to wrap his wound.

Tova offered her arm. “Two more to go.”

Then it struck me, and it struck me hard. I recognized this girl from earlier today.

She had an alliance.

I whirled around just as the second appeared, a boy with a bow, and his arrow already nocked. It let loose at the same time as my shout, and hurtled into my shoulder.

He shouted as he charged, and while there were three of us, we were all injured. He appeared in pristine condition, ravaged by the death of his partner.

Tova drew her blades and threw them, ducking as another arrow was shot. I fumbled for my knife, trying to ignore the pounding in my head and the feeling of blood from my shoulder. If it’d been lower, I’d be dead. As it was, searing pain spread through me, spiraling down my arm as I gritted my teeth together to keep calm.

Tova ran near enough, he was forced to drop his bow and reach for a blade. He’d found a longer one than any we had, which gave him another advantage, but Tova drove forward ruthlessly. The clang of steel bit the air. She clutched a dagger in both hands, favoring the leg that hadn’t been bitten, and fearless in the face of danger.

Meanwhile, I struggled to surge forward as my vision swarmed.

Trig handled himself better than me. One hand pressed against his stomach where his wound was wrapped, blood still seeping through the cloth. The other fumbled for a blade from his belt. From my count, it was his last one.

I had three, but I was worthless if I didn’t move.

My eyes shut tight as I forced myself forward. Tova fended off each blow, but he wasn’t slowing. He cut underneath, and it narrowly missed her chin. His dark eyes glared at us. “You shouldn’t be here,”

he growled. “You weren’t one of the twenty chosen.”

Neither of us gave him a response. He deflected a strike from Tova before shouting again. “This will not bring your clan any honor!”

Tova shoved against him and he fell back. Trig found his remaining strength to lunge and grab his wrist, holding his blade back. Tova lifted her knife.

“Odin will not let you live if you defy the rules of the fight!”

He might be right, but his argument was drowned out as death found him.

Instead of silence, the night was filled with heavy breathing, pained groans, and the burning question of where the final competitor was.

I crossed the final distance, and looked upon the fallen. “What was his name?”

“Briggs. He loved hunting and had a sweetheart,”

Tova replied. I committed those to memory as she eyed my shoulder. “That doesn’t look good.”

“I’ve been more comfortable,”

I confessed. “But I’ll deal with it once we kill First.”

Trig frowned. “First?”

His words were strained, and he shifted to his knees as he held his stomach like his fingers were the only thing keeping him together. Tova sat beside him and placed her hand over his—the most physical affection I’d seen from her.

I crouched beside them. “Unless the one you killed was a massive man with thick hair, then we have the trickiest one left to kill.”

“Njal,”

Tova said.

“That’s right.”

I struggled to my feet. “And he could be here now so—”

My vision swarmed, forcing me to my knees again.

Tova looked between us. “You two should stay.”

Trig and I both protested, but the sound of my voice dimmed as that feeling from earlier set in again. Ve was here. I looked around, searching for him. As I did, a black shadow moved along the gate. Fear thrummed inside, trying to tell me I was wrong, and it was Njal here to kill us all, but that feeling surged again, telling me to trust my gut.

My gut could barely hold the contents of my stomach in. Njal or Ve, we’d know in a moment. My body grew faint as my head thickened. I tried to stand but my knees gave out again. “Help,”

I whispered to Ve. “I need you.”

The figure moved quickly, coming upon us in an instant. We couldn’t have fought him if we tried, but we didn’t need to. I’d been right.

Ve wrapped his arms beneath me as the other two jumped. “You’re struck.”

He inspected my shoulder, checking for an exit. From his face, it didn’t look good.

“If you could do your magic thing,”

I whispered, clinging to his arms. “Now would be great.”

He felt my head, and shifted my collar to look at the skin. “It’s poisoned.”

“What?”

Tova came, and Ve regarded her for the first time.

“The arrow was poisoned. A god must have helped whoever shot her. We—”

he eyed Trig. “What happened to that one?”

“Our rescue of Tova is going well,”

I said with a faint laugh.

“She looks like the only one who isn’t hurt. Do you even have a cut?”

Ve asked, as he put his hands on me to tear out the arrow. I swallowed a scream. A moment later his healing began to take effect, and warmth spread.

“A bite to the leg and small cut on my hand,”

Tova recounted. “The other two nearly died.”

“You are fine because we rescued you.”

“You pushed me off a wall,”

Tova corrected.

The heat in my shoulder lessened, and the worry lines faded from Ve’s brow, until he released his touch from my shoulder and nodded to affirm it was healed. Tova, remarkably, took the sudden display of healing power in stride, and eagerly shifted so Ve could approach Trig. Ve knelt, and looked Trig over, who’d gone still. His eye met mine and I sobered.

Tova paled. “What was that look?”

She drew close to Trig, curling around him. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Trig is more heavily injured than Rune was.”

“So heal him quickly.”

An edge seared her tone.

Ve placed his hands on Trig’s stomach, and Trig winced. As he worked, Ve looked to me. “Remember how exhausted you were the first time I healed you? He will be worse. Organs have been punctured. He can’t fight today.”

“That’s fine,”

Tova said quickly. “Get them out of here.”

Them? I stood. “I’m not leaving until you’ve won.”

Tova opened her mouth, but it was Ve who spoke. “She’s right. You’re risking far too much already, and this darkness won’t hide you forever. You need to return with me.”

I was already shoving daggers back into my belt. “This isn’t up for debate.”

“Rune.”

Ve took his hands from Trig and sat back. “Odin is looking for you. You must appear, or Tova’s win will be invalidated.”

From the ground, Trig moaned, “I’m staying.”

“You don’t have a choice,”

Ve told him. “Rune does.”

He looked at me, and pulled out the laurel from his jacket. The leaves were crumpled and band twisted, but the beauty of it remained. The burning in his eye was impossible to miss. “Put this on, and return with me. This is Tova’s best chance.”

I hated that. I wanted her best chance to be at my side, like things had always been. But she was already helping Trig to his feet and nudging him back to the gate where we could slip out of the garden. Once he’d started walking, she turned the other way, marching passed me.

Her hand met mine before she left. I grabbed hold, never wanting to let go.

“I will survive,”

she said defiantly, as if this were a matter of will and not steel.

If I nodded, the tears would be shaken from my lids and might not stop. Instead, I passed her my best blade. “He is big, but he is patient. Ve told me he bested his last opponent by waiting until he’d worn out. Don’t let him do the same to you. You wait all night to regain your strength if you need, and only attack him when you are ready.”

She grabbed hold of the dagger and crossed it over her chest. “I will.”

“Last thing.”

Ve reached into his pocket to produce a small vial. “This will keep small wounds from hurting. It cannot protect you from dismemberment, or arrows, but it’ll be invaluable for minor cuts.”

“I won’t cheat,”

Tova replied.

Trig pried the lid open to whisper with apparent difficulty. “Drink it.”

She hesitated, but another look from Trig made her drink.

“That’s the most I can help. I pray it’ll be enough.”

“It’ll be enough.”

Tova passed the vial back.

I could hardly keep the lump in my throat from choking me. Somehow, I managed to speak. “May the gods be with you.”

She shifting her eye between me and Ve, then grinned. “Looks like they already are.”

Then she turned and sprinted away, descending into the dark of the city.