by Katrina Cope
“I’m the new girl.” Without gazing up, she shoves another fry in her mouth.
Hildr’s auburn eyebrow rises, and a hint of impatience flashes through her green eyes. “Yes. We gathered that because we haven’t seen you before. Are you in your first year at the academy?”
“I guess so.” She looks up at Hildr and smiles broadly. I think I see amusement flash through her eyes.
Hildr frowns, looking perplexed over the lack of information she is receiving. “Well, you look rather old for a first year in the academy. Are you older than fifteen?”
“No. I’m fifteen.” The Valkyrie’s head twitches to the side before she shoves another fry in her mouth.
I have never seen a Valkyrie twitch before, and I frown in confusion. She doesn’t seem like an ordinary Valkyrie.
“Well, welcome.” Eir is the only one of us who smiles broadly.
“Thanks.” She pulls a book from her lap, places it on the table, then flicks through the pages.
Hildr casts me a bewildered look. “Look. It’s not unlike Kara. She reads everywhere she goes.”
“I’m not that bad,” I say. “I haven’t had a chance to pick up a book in a while. After all, I’ve been stuck in the wilderness. I’m getting withdrawals.”
The new girl ignores us as she munches on some more fries and turns a page. It’s weird behavior for a dining hall, but I’m not one to judge constant reading. I’ve lost count how many times I didn’t want to put down a book.
I slide my plate along and scoot closer. “What are you reading?”
She shrugs and continues picking at her food. “Just a book from the restricted section.”
“Do you mind if I have a look?” I try to sneak a peek past her hand.
“Yeah. Kara loves books,” Eir says.
The girl shrugs, so I shuffle a bit closer and look at the book from the odd angle. The strange tingling sensation runs up my left arm. I don’t know what happened back there in the bathrooms, but my arm hasn’t been the same since.
As I gaze down at the book, she flicks the page, and my hand freezes its rubbing, pausing over my upper arm. My mouth drops open.
The newest page shows a picture of the creature that has been flying around Asgard for the last three years—the one that marked my arm and gave me the scar. I point at it in disbelief. “I have seen that creature.”
The girl keeps her nose buried in the book and shoves another fry into her mouth. She shrugs and says with her mouth full, “That’s a zmey.”
“Does it say how many there are? Are they rare?” I edge forward, trying to get a better look.
“I believe this is the only one.”
“Does it say anything else?” I search the page from the odd angle, trying to work out the upside-down writing.
“Only that they live for a very long time,” she answers, sounding bored.
“Are they normally vicious?” I ask. “I was attacked by one while I was chasing it away from something it was trying to steal.”
“They are vicious if they really want something and something stops them from getting it.”
I remember how it attacked Heimdall at his gate when I escaped to Midgard. If the creature would only have attacked because it couldn’t get to something it was after, it didn’t make sense why the creature would attack Heimdall. Unless… I stop my thoughts on their tracks.
There is no way the zmey would have done what I thought a second ago. I shake my head. It’s a fantasy to think that the creature was purposely distracting him so I could escape from Asgard. “How do you know so much about these creatures?”
The girl shoves another fry in her mouth and gives me a bland look. “Because I read.”
I frown then glance at my neglected plate before taking another mouthful of steak and chew it slowly. As much as I love reading and the knowledge it brings, that wasn’t a believable explanation. I’m starting to think this girl is hiding something.
Chapter Three
Getting the feeling that I’m invading her space, I scoot a seat away from the strange Valkyrie and watch her flick through her book. I am dying to rip the book out of her hands, but that would be an unforgivable crime to a bookworm. She casually turns more pages that reveal all kinds of creatures, some in the shape of humans. I can’t quite see the pictures correctly from where I am sitting, but I can’t imagine that any of the images would spark my interest like the creature did.
Trying my best to ignore the Valkyrie, I face Hildr and Eir, focusing on my meal.
“Oh. Look who it is.” The spite in Hildr’s voice carries over the din of the dining hall, and I search over my shoulders, looking for the person drawing her interest.
I spot Rota, with Prima aiding her into the room. Mist follows not far behind, twirling her beautiful blond locks. I swallow my food with difficulty, and the lump sits just under my esophagus. Rota’s perfect face is pale under her blond locks, and her eyes are haunted as though she has been pretty shaken up. Prima’s eyes narrow as she glances around the room. It is uncanny how all the winged Valkyries look almost the same, with only slight variances that distinguish them. Although their mannerisms often help tell the difference between their perfect faces, blond hair that falls to their shoulders, and majestic white wings protruding from their shoulder blades. The wingless Valkyries lack these things, along with their esteemed uniform of the tan leather jacket and the long, tight medium-blue leather pants.
Seeing Prima assist Rota is a strange sight. Valkyries are supposed to be tough and rarely in need of assistance. Because of this, they are trying to hide the fact that Prima’s arm is hooked around Rota as she aids her through the food hall.
“What’s wrong with her?” Eir asks. “She almost looks like she’s ill.”
My tongue lies frozen in my mouth. I don’t know what to say. Explaining what happened will be hard.
The new girl looks up from her book. “I hear she was struck by magic today.”
The three of us stare at her.
“Magic?” Hildr scoffs. “There is no such thing here, unless you are talking about her pride getting handed to her. That’s what I would call magic.”
The girl shrugs, her hand still holding the pages. She looks nonchalantly back at the book then at Rota then at me. “You’d be surprised what could be floating around. A single scratch or touch—they could be life-changing.”
Her dark-brown eyes bore into me, and a shiver travels up my spine.
“What are you talking about?” Eir asks. “You almost sound as crazy as me.”
Hildr scoffs. “Yeah. She’s a peacemaker that’s living in a Valkyrie academy. Go figure! That is one crazy idea.”
The peculiar Valkyrie’s eyes do not leave my face, and her hands still clasp the pages of the book. A strange knowing look passes across her face. “It is just as I said. I will let you work that out.”
She closes the book and tucks it under her arm with the back cover facing out. Still keen to know the title of the book, I search the cover. Nothing is written on the back cover or the spine. She stands and walks away without saying a word.
I study every feature of the book as she walks past. I’ll have to go search for that one in the library—it has me intrigued. I want to find out more about that creature and if it resides anywhere else or is mentioned anywhere else in the library books. She said it was a zmey. I’ve never heard of it.
When she is gone, I search for Rota again. Whatever happened to her certainly knocked her about. Valkyries heal quickly, yet she still needs to be aided by Prima.
Eir stares at Rota with concerned eyes. “What did happen to her?”
I weigh my options, wondering how much I should tell them. I can’t explain it myself, but these two have been through a lot with me. They have been there supporting my theory on the dragon alliance and befriending dragons. They have even taken it further and have been locked up because of me. I think they deserve an answer, and because of this, I will give them the best I can.
&
nbsp; “When I met with Mistress Sigrun, she sent me to clean the bathrooms as one of my penalty chores. Knowing that this chore would be allocated to me, Rota, Prima, and Mist made a disgusting mess throughout the bathrooms. They wanted to watch me clean it up, so they came and, as usual, started fighting me. They even secured me so that they could give me a swirly.”
Eir screws up her nose.
Hildr slams her fist on the table, making me jump. “How dare they!”
I nod. “But not just that. While they grabbed me, the old woman that I met in the wilderness walked in and touched me. She said something weird and nicely told them off, and then she walked back out again.”
“That is weird.” Eir pulls back, looking at me strangely. “You would have thought she could’ve stepped in and helped, or at least told someone.”
I shake my head. “She just walked in and touched me on my arm. The scar the creature gave me a couple of years ago went berserk with tingling, but it plays up now and then, so I didn’t think anything of it.” I stabbed a fork into my food. “The weird thing is, not long after the old woman left, I touched Rota, trying to defend myself, and she fell to the ground unconscious. None of us know what happened.” I throw down the fork, and it clatters against the plate. “Prima dropped her hold on me, and I took one look at Rota. Then I ran. Mist was only worried about looking at herself in the mirror. I guess she thought the other two had it covered.” I shrug.
“Where did you go?” Eir asks.
“I ran straight out the door to Elan. I wondered if Rota was hit by magic, but after running it through with Elan, it sounded crazy. So to help me ease my worries, Elan told me to touch her with the same arm and see what happened.”
“And what did happen?” Eir takes a sip of water from her glass.
“What do you think happened?” I asked her.
“We don’t know.” Hildr’s freckly face screws up with impatience. “It was only a few days ago that we thought talking to a dragon was impossible.”
“Nothing happened. She didn’t feel a single thing. So it had to just be the timing. There’s obviously something wrong with Rota, and she passed out right when I touched her.”
We watch Prima as she sits Rota down and helps with her food. When she finishes looking after her, she sits next to her to eat. Her eyes search the room then land on us. They narrow.
“Now what?” Hildr huffs. “That girl hasn’t left us alone since we came back from our flight.”
“I don’t know.” I lean over my plate, no longer interested in my food. Prima doesn’t take her eyes off us as she shovels food into her mouth and chomps down hard. I wish she would leave us alone. One day without them annoying us would be a godsend.
My eyes wander over the dining hall. From what I can see, nearly all the Valkyries are in the room, getting their meal. Valkyries are few, and the academy caters only for the younger generation. Because Valkyries are immortal, to stop the population from expanding too much, they are rarely able to bear young.
“How many Valkyries do you think are in the academy?” I ask.
“About forty,” Eir says. “There’s about ten for each grade.”
“Why’s that?” Hildr asks.
“Just curious. How many wingless Valkyries are there out of all those?”
Eir counts them on her fingers. “About ten.”
“So we’re completely outnumbered,” I say. “It’s like they’re the blessed ones and we’re the ones that are disabled by the curse of a weird mutation—we lack wings.”
“Yeah. That’s been obvious from the start. What’s your point?” Hildr asks.
“My point is that it is easy to pick on the ones that are fewer in numbers,” I say.
“And if your headmistress is constantly putting you down and encouraging the majority…” Hildr’s eyes travel to the far corner of the room, and her face screws up with annoyance.
I spin around to see what caught her attention. Mistress Sigrun stands at the entrance of the dining hall. She claps her hands together three times in a loud staccato.
“Attention, Valkyries.” She repeats the staccato clap. “I have an announcement to make.” Her eyes land directly on me and tighten.
Chapter Four
It takes all my effort to look at her. “What have we done now?” I ask.
“I haven’t done anything. Perhaps it’s the ones who didn’t finish their chores.” Hildr nudges me lightly and smirks.
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Eir grins with her.
“This is because she gives us so many stupid chores.” I slam my back against the chair and cross my arms. “And I’m always in the firing line.”
“You’re always the one racing off and causing trouble.” Eir beams.
“I second that.” Hildr grins like a Cheshire cat. “But I have had a taste of it now, and I like it.”
“Valkyries! Attention!” Mistress Sigrun calls out again. “I have demanded your silence.”
A loud clatter pierces the room as the cutlery hits the plates, and the hall falls into an eerie silence, waiting for Mistress Sigrun to begin.
The mistress tilts her chin to the group, acknowledging the silence. “It has come to my attention that a few wingless Valkyries here think they’re more important than the winged Valkyries. So much so that they don’t finish their chores.” Her eyes circle the room and land on me. “This is not tolerable, and my patience has run thin.” She crosses her arms and paces a few steps in front of the doorway. Her tight leather pants creak with every movement, and the clack of her shoes on the hard floor echoes through the silence. “And no matter how much I try, these Valkyries will not pull into line. And it is appalling.” She paces more, then stops abruptly, spinning around to face the Valkyries in the room.
“So today I have come up with a plan. Tomorrow at first light, we are going to set a challenge. For these three wingless Valkyries that think they are better than the winged—and I’m sure you all know who they are, so I’m not going to hide it.” Her eyes land on me again. “They will have to prove themselves in a competition.” She holds up a finger. “But, to make this fair, even though they don’t deserve it, I’m going to choose three winged Valkyries from within the same grade level as their opponents.”
The hairs on the back my neck prickle. Mistress Sigrun being fair to wingless Valkyries—that’s something I’ve never seen.
She starts pacing again. “This challenge will have no particular rules. And this challenge will be until the Valkyrie’s opponent is wiped out. If it ends in death, then there will be no consequences for the Valkyrie responsible.” She smirks, and her wings twitch, making her seem more pompous. “Because we all know which side that will be.” She loops her hands behind her back and paces more. “There is one catch. This fight will take place at the top of one of our mountains, and there is only one way down from the top—and that is flying, unless you are a rock climber experienced in free climbing. The only way down besides the path up will be sharp, jagged cliffs. That way, there will be no escaping.” Her smirk grows broader, and she lifts her chin. “Well… not for the wingless Valkyries.”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” one of the wingless Valkyries calls out.
Mistress Sigrun glares at her, and the Valkyrie cringes on the spot.
Despite her cowering away, I thought she was quite brave calling out like that. I thought it was only me and my little group who challenged the winged Valkyries. Perhaps there are more of us who would like to prove to the winged Valkyries that they are not superior. This thought alone gives me hope. I know I definitely agree with her. It doesn’t seem fair. If we fall, we have no means to save ourselves from our fall. The winged Valkyries, of course, have their wings.
After staring intently at the other Valkyrie, Mistress Sigrun walks over to Rota’s table. She squats and chats quietly to Rota. After a while, Rota nods, and Mistress Sigrun rises to her feet and walks back to the entrance of the hall.
“Right. As we all know who the
wingless Valkyries are...” All eyes fall on my group. “Kara, Hildr, and Eir, you are the wingless Valkyries.”
“And what happens if we win?” I ask Mistress Sigrun, tilting my chin in the air. If I am putting my life at risk, I am doing it with pride and something to fight for.
She glares at me, then her eyes soften with amusement as she dismissively flicks her hand in the air. “Pfft. I guess you’ll get some sort of prize.”
“What about being able to go to Midgard to help with the reaping of souls for Valhalla?” I call out before she has a chance to offer something insignificant.
She stops in her tracks and turns to me, her face a mixture of shock and displeasure before it morphs into laughter. “Sure. Let’s make that your reward.” She couldn’t have been more condescending. “I know you have no chance of winning anyway. So sure.” She holds her stomach and looses a hearty, belly-jerking laugh.
Despite her reaction, I feel elated. There’s a chance that I get to go to Midgard without being kicked out.
Mistress Sigrun interrupts my thoughts. “Now these three imbeciles will be going up against the best in their level. If they want to prove that they are the best, then they must go up against the best. They will be going up against Prima, Rota, and Mist. And they cannot whine that they have been hard-done-by because they are even getting an advantage—Rota hasn’t been well today and possibly won’t be better tomorrow. As much as Valkyries can heal quickly, Rota has been hit with a virus that will take longer than a few hours to disappear.” She dusts off the front of her shirt and pulls her tan leather jacket closed. “There, my kindness is done. I have given you inconsiderate wingless Valkyries leeway. And even though Rota is putting her life at risk because she is not in the best of health, she has still agreed to fight. She believes in our cause and the dominance of the winged Valkyries and putting the wingless Valkyries in their place.” The mistress walks in a slow, purposeful pace with her chin held high, peering down at all the wingless Valkyries. “Her passion alone will win the fight and ride over any of her illness.”