Page 97 of Rune

“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.

ThirtY-OnE

MY CHEST RATTLED with uncertain breath, and it was only Ve’s steady arms that kept me upright as Tova left.

“This is her only chance,” Ve whispered. “You cannot fight all her battles.”

Tova never needed me to fight for her. But she fought better at my side. The idea of her in the city alone with Njal hunting her was more than I could bear, and it took all my strength to let Ve guide me away.

We crossed the garden, finding Trig laying on the ground, attempting to sleep. We each took an arm and hoisted him up, dragging him out with us.

The quickest path led us out by Odin’s home, where the stone wolves sat guard in the courtyard, their beady eyes glowing red. Besides them, it was empty. Water from the fountain bubbled while distant owlshooted, but my ears were strained for far more subtle sounds than those—the snap of twigs, the draw of a blade. Something from Tova.

Trig stumbled from our grasp and toward the fountain, where he dropped himself into the water. I rushed to the side, but he emerged a moment later, dripping wet, and far more alert.

“Which way did Tova go?”

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