Page 30 of A Curse Carved in Bone
The woman pulled insistently on his hand, and while I couldn’t hear her words, I could hear the invitation in them. An invitation made clear as the woman lay back on the bank, spreading her thighs wide and stroking her sex with her fingers.
Bjorn only shook his head, pulling from her grip. “No.” He pressed his hand to his temple. “I…I don’t want you. I only want her. Only Freya.”
I gave myself no time to think about what his words meant to me, because he was shaking his head as though disoriented.
What was wrong with him?
What magic was at work here?
“Bjorn!” I shouted his name, but he didn’t so much as twitch.
But the woman’s eyes shot in my direction, and she scrambled to her feet with a hiss. “You said you didn’t want him!”
“That doesn’t mean you get him!” I shouted. “Hlin!”
My magic poured once again over my shield and turned the night bright as day, allowing me to see clearly.
My stomach flipped.
Because the woman had a tail.
Long and fleshy with a tuft of hair on the end, it twitched angrily as she rounded on me. As she did, Bjorn jerked as if slapped, his eyes going wide.
Fury filled the woman’s gaze, and she whirled around to face him, revealing to me a back that belonged to no woman. Instead, it looked for all the world like a hollowed-out tree, the tail below it twitching angrily.
Huldra.
The name rose from my memory, a barely forgotten myth heard in stories of my youth. Creatures that seduced men. Bedded them.
And then killed them.
“You saw,” the huldra shrieked at Bjorn, then, to my horror, began to grow. Taller and taller, her body twisting into a monstrous creature with skin like tree bark, the hooves and tail of a cow, and the teeth…
The teeth were unlike any creature born of this world. Long as my hand and curved into needlelike points.
“Freya, run!” Bjorn shouted, axe appearing in his hand. But a heartbeat later, the huldra’s tail lashed out with swift violence. Bjorn tried to move but the deep water slowed him down. The tail struck him, knocking him back into the deep flowing current.
I can’t lose him.
My anger rose, wild and vengeful and half at myself for still caring, and then I dug deep and screamed, “Hel take your cursed soul, you foul creature!” because if anything deserved to be cursed, it was this beast.
The ground beneath my feet quivered, my divine mother hearing my call, but no black roots rose to drag the huldra down.
No soul,I realized a second before the creature attacked.
I barely managed to lift my arm in time, but its mammoth arms slammed into my shield rather than my body. Hlin’s magic sent it staggering away, but I also lost my grip on my sword, the glowing runes winking out. Skoll and Hati attacked its legs, and the huldra screamed, lashing out at them and driving the wolves back.
Howling, I drew the seax, slicing at the creature. Gyda’s knife was assharp as she had claimed, and the blade cut deep into barklike skin. The huldra tried to strike me, but its hooves rebounded off the magic on my shield.
My next blow took off its wrist, the huldra screaming in pain, but before my eyes its wooden flesh knitted together, hoof re-forming. It attacked, hoof slashing through the air and forcing me to duck. I swung at its legs, but it was too quick and dodged effortlessly, striking again. Its hoof struck my arm, agony spiking up to my shoulder. I bit back a cry, nearly losing my grip on the seax.
I needed my sword. Where was my sword?
The huldra’s eyes glittered with triumph as it pressed its advantage. My right hand was growing numb, and I struggled to keep on the offensive, my movements growing sluggish.
The huldra lunged, its maw reaching for my throat. I dropped to the ground and rolled away just in time. Before I could get to my feet, its tail wrapped around my leg and dragged me to my stomach.
I kicked desperately, managing to free myself, but my shield slipped from my grasp.
