Page 48 of The Last Valkyrie (Vikingrune Academy #4)

Chapter 48

Ravinica

EIRIK’S EYES WERE BLACKENED , showing no whites. Worse than that, the two “comrades” at his side had the midnight-black faces of dark elves.

My brother drew his blade and ran at me without a single word or hesitation.

“Eirik, no!” I cried out futilely.

My brother was on me in seconds, and the acolytes behind us gasped and squealed with sounds of shock.

Eirik brought his sword down in a sweeping arc meant to separate my torso from my legs.

I spun my spear, batting away his blade at the last second, earning a new notch in the worn wood of my haft.

Then I was fighting my elder brother for the first time in my life. Damon had always been an issue and always wanted to challenge me growing up . . . but Eirik Halldan was the half-brother I had admired. He was the one I looked up to when he was first admitted to Vikingrune Academy—the initiate I saw as everything I wanted to be; my future, when he returned to bring me to the academy.

Now he was a Drengr with a heart blackened by tainted magic. A warrior and the best of his class.

And he was good .

I had no time to speak or try to help him resist the enchantment controlling him. He was too fast, too precise in his attacks, and put me on my back foot.

Meanwhile, Randi cut in close to one of the Dokkalfar, putting up a swift fight against the bastard. Two acolytes—trained fighters besides being Mimir Tomes librarians—went for the second dark elf. One of them was cut down in an instant, her blood spilling across the grass with a gurgle.

Fuck. We’re going to lose this.

I danced around Eirik, my thighs clenching and burning from all the activity of the day and last night with my mates.

He grew frustrated, letting out inhuman grunts and sounds as his blade swung and met air while I bobbed around him.

I finally found my words once I managed to bring him further away from Dagny and Corym so she could work in relative peace without fear of getting a sword in her back.

“Eirik, it’s me! It’s Ravinica, your sister ! Please, I know you’re in there!”

Whoosh—

I barely avoided a strike aimed at my neck.

It was like talking to a brick wall. An evil sentinel Helbent and fully focused on ending me.

My heart hurt as I fought my brother to a standstill, but he had the dark energy inside him to never give up. He would fight to total exhaustion, as long as I died.

For my mates, I can’t let that happen. For my friends—Dagny and Randi and all the others. For myself , I have to fight.

I went on the attack.

Digging my back foot in, I launched forward in a lunge, rocketing toward him with my spear extended.

He lifted his shield and took my hit across the center boss, but I was already spinning and flipping the end of my spear up against his face.

Eirik avoided the whiplash with a deceptively quick flick of his wrist, showing me how he’d earned the title of Drengr warrior, and our blades clanged together and sparked.

I reeled my spear back, keeping my reach short while letting the wood glide easily through my fingers, until I was choked-up on the haft closer to the spearhead than the end.

I used it as an overly long sword, parrying and striking at Eirik in quick strokes.

He was a defensive fighter, as if he’d learned his trade from Thane Canute rather than Axel Osfen, and was more than a fair match for me.

As my arms tired and he showed no signs of slowing down, a desperate thought came to me.

My power . . . Dahlia . . . the snowy place.

The Tomekeeper was right: We didn’t understand the power inside me. Not fully. But I was starting to learn a few things about what the Runesphere had awakened, and now it was time to utilize them. To get deliberate with my mission, because I couldn’t let my mind-warped brother be the end of my story.

Focusing on his face, I chopped away a few errant test-swings of his sword meant to gauge my defenses.

I loped back a step, feinting retreat and tiredness, and he charged headlong into my guard. His shield lifted to smack into me as a weapon—to push me onto my ass so he could kill me—

And I raised my hand and siphoned the rage and heartbreak inside me, slapping my palm against his shield with an attack that stung my flesh.

His shield erupted in fire, embers shimmering orange and crackling at my fingertips.

Eirik’s mouth fell open in shock and he quickly discarded the flaming shield before its fire could crawl up his arm.

Even without the shield, he was far from defenseless. He had a slightly confused tilt to his neck now, brow threading, as he realized I could Shape without actually doing the motions.

He came at me again and I spun, pirouetting around his body like a ballerina on the balls of my feet.

At his side, he lifted his arm to advance a parry on my impending attack—

But I didn’t bring the spear at him like he expected. Instead, I put my hand on his face, lightly touching his forehead—

And closed my eyes.

It all took a split second, yet it felt like eons that I had my eyes closed, red and yellow lights blaring behind my lids.

“Rav!” Randi shouted from somewhere far away, and I knew she was in trouble.

Lost in the snowy place of my mind, I heard snow crunching behind me.

Well that’s new .

I spun around, away from the high valley walls.

Eirik looked at me, resplendent in armor of silver like mine. He looked down at himself and smirked. “So this is what being a Drengr should look like, eh?”

A black orb, not much different than the golden orbs of Elayina’s and Damon’s spirits, shone in the center of his forehead where he couldn’t see.

I marched to him, saying, “Give me that,” and my hand swept through his face as I grabbed at him—like a ghost or an apparition that was not fully allowed inside my mind.

My hand came away holding the black orb, and I crushed it in my hand. It crinkled like glass, vanishing in a puff of mist.

“Follow me,” I told Eirik. I tried holding his hand to lead him, but again my fingers ghosted right past his.

I ran toward the valley walls, Eirik following closely.

“Vin, where are we going?” he called out.

“To your salvation.”

The walls started to close, that telltale sign that things were ending here and I needed to be on the other side of the valley passageway once they slammed completely shut.

“Hurry!” I yelled.

Eirik picked up his speed, sprinting now, our armor clanking in the soft snowfall.

We reached the other side of the pass with seconds to spare, Eirik only just able to slip his arm through the crack of the closing crevice before it rumbled shut.

I turned to him—

And faced my half-brother in real time. The chill breeze of Tyr Meadow’s hills, the scent of burning wood and steel lit up my senses.

He blinked at me in confusion. “. . . Vini?”

His eyes were dark still, but more importantly the whites were back. Only his brown irises showed me his confusion.

Relief flooded my system.

I looked over his shoulder and saw Randi on her back, yelling incoherently at the dark elf standing over her.

I gasped, shoving Eirik aside—

As the blade came down on Randi, I clenched my fist and punched the earth—

And Randi vanished in a magical sinkhole, appearing half a heartbeat later at my side on her back, in my shadow.

I had used the dark elves’ tricks against them, like Kelvar had done with Magnus.

“H-How did you know how to do that?” she gasped, staring up at me with reverence. “That it would work?”

“I . . . don’t know.”

The dark elf looked confused. His head snapped up, silver-white hair flopping left and right.

I snarled and cocked my arm back.

The dark elf charged at me, Eirik, and Randi—

As green tendrils of energy wrapped around his legs like rope. He began to pitch forward, more confused than ever, and wheeled his arms to stay standing—

Giving me a perfect target as my arm snapped forward and I threw my spear at him.

It landed true, punching into his chest and bursting out the other side.

The dark elf’s eyes bulged, he blinked, and then he died.

I spun around—

Corym was sitting upright, arms extended with green magic wisping from his fingertips.

He gave me a tired smile.

Hands shoved me and I let out a squeal, pitching sideways—

As a cruel blade shaved off the ends of my hair.

The clang of steel rang out, swords matched together.

Spinning onto my back, jaw falling open, I looked up at my protector.

Eirik gritted his teeth, locked in a fierce standstill with the remaining dark elf. Two robed bodies lay behind the elf, both acolytes who had charged him slain.

“Not your sister, not your circus, asshole,” Eirik spit out.

With a roar, he went into full-attack mode, moving even faster than when we’d fought. He sliced and diced, kept the confused elf on his heels, and then buried his blade into the bastard’s chest.

I swallowed over a lump in my throat, breathing for the first time in minutes as the dark elf dropped dead.

Falling onto my back, a huge sob and ragged breath ripped through me. I stared up at the sky—

And started laughing. It sounded hysterical in my own ears. Eirik and Corym, both alive. Randi and Dagny, both alive.

My luck was changing. Against all odds.

Eirik reached down to help me up with an outstretched hand. He smiled warmly down at me. “I’m sorry, Vini, for . . . whatever it is I did.”

I clasped his forearm and groaned as he lifted me up.

After a quick embrace, I said into his ear, “You’ll always be my brother, E. Even when you’re lost, I won’t give up on you.”

“I promise to never give up on you either, Vini. Never again.”

Our hug tightened. My hands dug into the tunic of his strong, muscled back. Then I pushed myself away with a tearful smile and rushed over to Corym.

He was starting to stand with Dagny’s help, dusting himself off. “You’ve . . . learned well, Largul.”

“You were a good teacher,” Dag answered. To me, she said, “He’ll live.” Her face was pale, waxy, covered in sweat. “Don’t know if he’ll be any good in a fight though. Not until he gets some rest.”

Corym grunted, wincing in pain. He was bruised and wounded yet Dagny’s magic had closed up the worst of the cuts—including the one in his chest, which would leave a lovely, deep scar. “We . . . have to keep moving, lunis’ai . The others are . . . in danger.”

I kissed his bloody lips, running my hand over his sharp cheek. “I know, love. Do you think you can move? Fight?”

His smile was wistful yet wry as he melted into my palm and closed his eyes. “All that and more . . . for the right people.”