Page 18 of The Girl the Sea Gave Back

The Nadhir stopped in the center of the clearing and we walked until we’d met them, the line of Svell keeping back as Bekan and Vigdis moved ahead. They stopped before the Nadhir chieftain and a man with a braided beard the color of an autumn sunset. He let his weight sink into one leg, the other obviously weak, but he stood up tall, his chin lifted.

The two clans that made up the Nadhir were mixed together, their armor and weapons blending almost seamlessly in the line of warriors. My gaze drifted over them until it stopped on the face of a young man clad in red leathers. His dark hair was pulled into a braid over his shoulder, the stray pieces tucked behind his ears. His pale eyes were on the red-bearded man, his angled jaw tight.

But there was something strange about him. Something…

Bekan began to speak but a deep hum sounded in the glade, growing like a hive of bees. No one seemed to notice, their attention on the men before us, and I tilted my head, trying to listen. It reverberated like the crash of a waterfall, growing with each breath until it filled the inside of my skull.

My attention went back to the young Nadhir and as if he could feel my stare, he suddenly turned, his eyes meeting mine. A sharp prick rolled over my skin, my hands clenching into my linen skirt.

Because he didn’t look away.

His stare bored into mine, making me feel suddenly unbalanced on my feet.

“What is it?” Jorrund whispered beside me, but I could barely hear him over the sound in my head.

A hissing, like water over coals. And it was getting louder. “Do you hear that?” I pressed my palm to my ear and the Nadhir’s brow furrowed, his eyes falling from my face to the marks on my neck.

Jorrund’s hand clamped down on my arm as Vigdis unsheathed the jeweled sword, and I pulled my gaze from the Nadhir when Bekan began to speak. But something about the look of Vigdis was wrong. The coil around his bones that had been there since Bekan reprimanded him in Liera was no longer there. He stood tall, his shoulders drawn down and his face smooth. Like the still calm that settled before death.

I tried to hear their words, watching Bekan’s lips move, but the hum in the glade was now a guttural roar, drowning out everything else. When a shadow moved over the grass at my feet, I looked up to the sky, where the nighthawk was soaring over us against the glare of the sun. Its spotted feathers gleamed across its wingspan as it tilted, coming back in a circle above us.

I blinked, a sharp breath catching in my throat.

The buzzing stopped.

“The All Seer,” I whispered, stepping forward.

This was wrong. Something was wrong.

“What?” Jorrund’s hand found my wrist, pulling me back.

But it was too late. Sunlight gleamed on the blade of the sword in Vigdis’ hands and I looked to Bekan just as Vigdis spoke words I couldn’t hear. In the next breath, he was pulling the sword back behind him and driving it forward with a quick step, catching Espen’s gut.

My mouth dropped open, my eyes going wide, but Jorrund was already pulling me away, walking with quick steps back toward the trees and towing me behind him.

“Wait,” I cried, pulling against him as the Nadhir chieftain fell to his knees. “Wait!”

I freed my hand, pushing back into the tall grass, but Jorrund wrapped his arms around me. “Tova!”

Every blade lifted in the clearing and the full-throated screams of the clansmen ripped open the silence around us as we made it to the cover of the forest. I wrenched free of Jorrund’s grasp again, turning on him. “You didn’t,” I whispered, searching his eyes. “Please say you didn’t…”

But the traitorous answer was there on his face. He’d betrayed Bekan. He’d sided with Vigdis against the chieftain and sanctioned his betrayal. “You have to trust me.”

“How can I?” I shouted. “Bekan trusted you and look what you’ve done!”

“You saw it!” His voice rose. “Destruction is coming for the Svell. We have to act.Now.”

I looked back to the clearing, where battle was spreading across the grass, painting everything red. Swords and axes swung and warriors fell, Vigdis driving the charge to the far side of the glade. I pressed my fingers to my lips, watching as the the fallen Nadhir chieftain stopped moving. He lay facedown, the tip of the jeweled sword reaching up to the sky from his back.

And then without even realizing it, my gaze moved away from him, looking for the young Nadhir with the pale eyes. The one who’d met my gaze. I searched the running bodies for the red leathers, but there were too many and theywere moving too fast. My chest tightened around my breath as I realized he’d probably already been killed. But just as I thought it, he appeared, standing up out of the tall grass and setting his eyes on Bekan. He walked with heavy steps, blood smeared across his throat, a knife clutched in his hand.

Bekan threw his axe but missed, and the Nadhir broke into a run, launching himself forward to tear across the grass toward the trees.

The shadow of the nighthawk slid over us again.

“This is wrong,” I whispered.

Bekan made it to the forest but the Nadhir was too fast. I knew what was going to happen the moment he stepped into the shade of the trees. It was too late. The Nadhir drove his knife into Bekan’s arm and when he toppled backward, I closed my eyes, flinching when I heard the hollow pop of the knife plunging into Bekan’s chest.

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