Page 166 of Valkyrie Unknown

Zeke could throw balls of flame and I was struggling to stay on my feet?

“Davyn.” Kirby’s irritation drew my attention. She never paused in her fighting. “What the fuck are you doing, bringing her up here? Get her out?”

Bear-Davyn was lost in the battle.

Fury at her speaking to him, not me, joined my frustration. “You can address me directly.” I swung at more beasts.

“Don’t answer to you.”Davyn’s response to Kirby was in my mind. Another fireball obliterated the cloud he was fighting, and he stepped beside me, letting us have each other’s back.

The woman in the center of the room, the not-me, turned in our direction. “Sister.” Her voice was sweet. Kind.

That was far worse than if she’d screamed. So was knowing she was talking to me.

How did I know that?

“They’re not supposed to harm you,” she said in a sing-song tone.

In an instant, the attacking hoards turned away from me, and focused on everyone else in the room.

“Get her out of here,” Kirby shouted over her shoulder in our direction.

How dare she?

We could leave. Davyn, Zeke, and I could walk out now, because the fight was no longer focused on us. Kirby obviously thought she had this under control, and hey, fuck that bitch.

But the women around her—Valkyries—were giving this fight their all. And they weren’t strangers, even if I didn’t know their names. They were… sisters?

That was what the woman in the middle of the room called me. This was happening because of me. I couldn’t walk away.

The entire string of thoughts took seconds. I rushed the closest pack of monsters, and Davyn stayed at my side without a word. Fireballs flew past us, courtesy of Zeke, in a similar dance to the one he and I had performed when we fought Draugr. No conversation was needed—they both knew their parts as well as I did mine.

The waves kept coming though. When we destroyed one group, there were more to take their place. My arms ached and my legs were heavy. With each swing, it got more difficult to dodge or lift my weapon. It didn’t matter how much training I had—there wasn’t enough endurance in the universe for this.

And my injuries weren’t healing. Blood slicked my palms and soaked my clothing.

Zeke and Davyn showed no signs of slowing down. The warriors around us were engrossed and glorious. They would all reach an exhaustion point soon enough, but I was at the end of my rope now.

A lifetime of training, and this was what I was reduced to when my strength was needed. I crouched on the floor, gasping for air. If I could just summon a little more strength. Enough to stand. Enough for one more attack.

The not-me in the middle of the room was open. Laughing at us. Why didn’t Kirby see that? Why didn’t she send someone in and end this? What kind of leader ignored such an obvious opening?

Why was I waiting for her to do the work?

Because I could barely move. Because I didn’t have an opening. Because rushing the villain could get me killed.

This was a being who could summon metamouras and sceadugenga in countless quantities. She could kill any of these fighters.

Oxygen burned in my lungs, carried on acrid smoke. My limbs didn’t want to move.

Zeke looked right fighting with everyone else. Cool. Focused. Capable of so much. Davyn was free. Fighting. Do what he was created for and what he craved.

If I were gone, their paths were clear. That was defeatist thinking, but someone had to stop this thing. If she lived, if her master lived, the world was fucked.

How did I know that?

The same way I knew anything else in here.

You could beat her. The voice in my head was the same I heard in the drawing room.Take her place. This test, this siren’s trap, is no match for you.

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