Defender (Night War Saga Book 2)

by S. T. Bende

  It looked like we’d found our night elves.

  “Hurry up and open the portal!” a snarly voice hissed. “The girl will arrive any moment, and I want that bounty.”

  “Opening a portal in a light realm isn’t easy!” the second voice spat back.

  Tore’s hand clamped down on mine so hard, I nearly yelped. He pulled me closer to him while crunching rocks above us drew my attention up. As I craned my neck toward the summit, I sucked in a sharp breath.

  This mission had just gone from bad to way freaking worse.

  “Tore,” I whispered. “Tell me I’m imagining that thing.”

  “You’re not imagining it,” he whispered back.

  Crap.

  Tore and I held hands as a black dragon with glowing red eyes stared down at us. Calculation flared in those fiery slits, and I had zero doubt it intended to eat me. This was so not the same kind of dragon I’d met before. Big Blue had wanted a belly rub; Black was fixing to floss his teeth with me. And what Blue offered in invitation, Black doubled down in repulsion. This beast was absolutely crawling with thick, dark energy. Ice-like fear skittered across my back. Black was definitely bad news. We had to get out of here, and fast.

  Before we could do anything to warn the rest of our team, the dragon tipped his head back and roared. A stream of fire filled the air, singeing the trees that lined the mountaintop and alerting the night elves to our presence.

  “Retreat!” Mack yelled. He didn’t have to ask me twice. I turned around and bolted back down the hill, away from the dragon that now flapped toward us. We hadn’t made it twenty yards when the dragon landed on the path in front of us, blocking our escape route.

  “Un-retreat!” I screamed, turning and running back up the hill. Mack, Bodie, Johann, and Milkir raced up the path, but Tore didn’t move.

  “Go ahead of me, Allie,” Tore shouted as I raced by him. “I’ll hold it off.” Tore drew his sword and brandished it at the dragon.

  “No way.” I skidded to a stop. “I’m not letting that thing turn you into charred demigod.”

  “It’s not going to hurt me,” Tore argued. “I’ve slain a lot of dragons in my day. I can take a weakling like this one.”

  The dragon snorted twin fireballs. Weakling, yeah right.

  “Are you kidding me? Your hair will go up in flames in two seconds flat. The guys can handle the elves—I’m not leaving you alone.” I drew my sword and took my place at Tore’s side. Our blades glowed blue as the souls of Valhalla’s finest infused them with their power. We stepped slowly toward the dragon, moving our swords in unison. The beast’s eyes zeroed in on the whirling blue lights, and he emitted another set of fireballs from his nostrils. He dug his taloned feet into the rocky trail and puffed his chest, drawing in a deep breath.

  Terror mixed with awe as the dragon reared his head back. Something about the dragon’s movement was familiar—as if I’d seen it before. Obviously, I hadn’t; I’d spent the majority of my eighteen years on Earth, and from what I’d seen, flame-throwing, winged beasts weren’t welcome there. And Eir had seemed like someone who’d be a decent mother, not the kind to let her infant daughter play with dragons. I shook off the thought as smoke streamed from the dragon’s flared nostrils.

  “He’s going to blow,” Tore warned.

  “To the left! That boulder—go!” I flung myself at Tore, pushing him behind an enormous rock as heat singed my boots.

  “Allie!” Tore’s fingers wrapped around my forearms. He pulled me into him, drawing me behind the boulder as a second wave of fire struck the exact spot I’d just occupied. Heat radiated at my back, and I pulled my feet to my chest to avoid unnecessary boot melting. I’d only brought the one pair on this pleasure cruise, and I hated to ruin them. Not to mention that I was kind of partial to my feet.

  “New plan,” Tore murmured in my ear. “We charge the dragon and just kill it. You good with that?”

  I dusted the ash from my pants and stood up. “Don’t know why we didn’t go that route in the first place.”

  Not that I was dying to add dragon slayer to my resume, but I did want to survive this day.

  “We won’t have much time. I’ll go high and aim for his throat, and you slide low and go for his gut.” Tore had his battle face on. He was all clenched jaw and narrowed eyes. Everything from his shallow breaths to his bulging biceps screamed, ‘I will slay you, dragon.’ It was all kinds of sexy.

  “I’ve got your back.” My words were muffled by another wave of flames crashing against the rock. Crappers.

  Tore looked into my eyes. “I know you do.”

  If we weren’t trying super hard to avoid being flambéed by a dragon, I would have kissed him.

  “Go!” I shouted. We burst from behind the boulder and charged at the winged beast. Tore darted ahead of me. He leapt into position directly in front of the dragon, dug his heels into the ground, and took a steady stance as he raised his sword high. In one swift movement, he gouged the dragon’s neck with his glowing blade. While he distracted the beast via stabbing, I slid on my shins, cruising on the gravel walkway to slide around Tore. I had a running start and so much momentum that I nearly slammed right into the dragon’s underside. Its stomach was so full—I did not want to think with what—that it nearly brushed the ground. With a heavy exhale, I slammed my blade into the dragon’s gut. It pierced a tender spot right between two scales, and the dragon fell backward with a roar. As it tumbled, smoke leaked from the hissing hole in its stomach. Tore leapt on top of the injured dragon’s body and finished him off with fierce thrusts of his sword. The whole experience was like witnessing a car wreck—I didn’t want to watch Tore gut the creature, but I couldn’t stop myself. Sweat and blood quickly covered Tore’s face as he drove his sword in and out of the dragon’s flesh, but he didn’t stop to wipe it away. He stabbed the dragon one final time, then raised his head to give me a look. A look that said he wasn’t tired and could easily kill three more fire breathers should they decide to present themselves.

  My boyfriend had literally slayed a dragon. It was official: Tore Vidarsson could not get any hotter.

  When the dragon was still and smoke no longer seeped from its chest, Tore leapt off of its stomach and took his place beside me. “You okay, Pepper?” he asked.

  “Better than you.” I sheathed my sword and was about to reach up to wipe the thick goo from Tore’s cheek when a dark shadow pulled my attention back to the fallen dragon.

  “What is that?” I jabbed my finger at the menacing black orb that floated above the deceased dragon’s body.

  Tore and I locked eyes as Mack’s deep voice shouted from behind us. If the yogi was screaming, things definitely weren’t going well. “Can you take care of the dark orb by yourself?” Tore asked.

  I nodded. “Go help the guys.”

  Tore was off and running before I finished my sentence. A low hiss from behind forced my attention back to the approaching black orb. The darkness moved in a serpentine pattern, no doubt searching for a new host. Since I was the only living body this side of the boulders, it bore down on me, dive bombing straight for my heart.

  I don’t think so, darkness.

  With one flick of my wrist, my light whip blazed to life. The orb abruptly halted its trajectory before trying to retreat. Nice. I stepped forward, pivoting my leg to gain traction against the gravel, and cracked the whip hard. The glowing rope sliced the orb in half. Its two pieces fell to the ground and twitched before rolling toward me. They were still alive? This orb was straight out of a horror movie—cut off one head, and more grew back in its place. Clearly the light-whip slice-and-dice wasn’t going to get the job done. If anything, it would exponentially increase my problems. Think, Allie. The whip didn’t work, what else do you have? A pulse at my hip reminded me of my soul-laced sword. I had no idea if Valhalla’s finest could destroy the darkness, but it was worth a shot.

  I quickly drew the blade with one hand and plunged it right into the center of one of the black blob
s. At the same time, I used my other hand to crack the whip into the second piece. Both orbs flickered, and for one terrifying moment, I feared four would appear in their place. But the simultaneous dose of sword and whip must have had some other-worldly power, because bursts of smoke emerged from the twin orbs. Black dust coated the air while my nostrils were assaulted with sulfur. The next instant, both the smell and the smoke were gone, taking whatever remained of the orbs with them.

  Thank God.

  The clang of swords at my back marked the end of my victory party. With a decisive turn, I ran back up the hill to help my boys. The small stretch of gravel passed quickly beneath my boots, and I drew a sharp breath when I skidded sharply around the bend.

  “Whoa,” I muttered. My protectors had done some major damage in the time it had taken me to end the orb. Two night elves lay dead in front of a huge hole that swirled inches above the ground. It spun in a clockwise rotation, connecting Nidavellir to an endless abyss of blackness. “What is that?”

  Bodie grunted from my right as he helped Milkir stand. “It’s a portal. Heads right back to Nott, I suspect.”

  Portal? Why weren’t we using these instead of the rainbow of doom? The Bifrost took motion sickness to a whole new level.

  “Stay back, Allie. This portal is full of dark magic. See the sparks popping at its edges?” Bodie grabbed my wrist and pulled me backward. I hadn’t realized I was leaning forward, but the minute I was at Bodie’s side, I lost my view of the glowing red embers buried deep within the blackness. Wherever that thing led, it sure didn’t look good.

  “Allie!” Johann’s voice echoed from somewhere beyond the trail’s end. “The piece is in this cavern!”

  Sure enough, the armor beneath my jacket gave a slight hum. The light vibration trailed from my cuff through my shoulder piece, holding steady in my necklace.

  “Coming,” I shouted, before checking in with Bodie. “You good here?”

  “I’ll guard this thing; you just go retrieve Gud Morder.” Bodie nodded, and I raced toward the sound of Johann’s voice.

  “Where are you?” I rounded another bend and found myself staring at two openings in the mountainside. My armor vibrated again, sending a stronger pulse to my necklace.

  “In here!” Johann’s voice came from the hole on the right. Here goes nothing. I drew my sword and charged into the cave. Inside, Tore was helping Mack wrap his shoulder while Johann hovered protectively in front of a radiant, white light.

  “You okay?” Tore asked me. His eyes moved up and down my body, either checking me out or assessing me for injuries. Both options were wins for me.

  “I’m good,” I assured him. We shared a tight smile as I moved past him to get to Johann.

  “Let’s move, Allie,” Johann urged. “It’s back there.” Johann jutted his chin toward the bend in the tunnel, where a bright light beamed from around the corner.

  “Looks like it.” My armor continued to pulse as we made our way along the narrow corridor of the cave. By the time we reached the small pile of rocks that framed a blindingly bright light, the silver piece on my arm all but jumped off my skin. It wanted to bond with the next piece of Gud Morder, like, yesterday. You and me both, armor. Johann stepped aside, and I bent down toward the light, carefully scooping up the piece of the curved twin blades of my god-killing weapon. Its glow faded the moment it touched my hands. Huh. Was that its defense mechanism? Did the pieces stop glowing once they were ‘captured’ so I could unobtrusively smuggle them home? For that matter, did they only glow when I was around, so it would be easy for me to find them? If those night elves had seen the glow, why the hell were they sitting at the portal waiting to push me through instead of retrieving this thing and chucking it back to Nott?

  “It’s just laying here,” I mused out loud, “and those night elves were what, fifteen yards away? Why didn’t they grab it?”

  Tore’s voice called out from the cave opening. “I don’t think they can. I don’t think any of us can retrieve the pieces except you. Otherwise, you’re right—those elves would have snatched it up and thrown it through the portal. Or Nott would have shown up and grabbed it herself.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” I agreed.

  “Hold up,” Johann cocked his head. “Nott touched Gud Morder before, way back when she shattered it into eight pieces. Why could she touch the pieces then, but not now?”

  “Huh.” I rubbed my forehead. This whole scenario made zero sense. Nott knew I was after the weapon, and she knew I’d try to kill her with it—it was why Gud Morder was created in the first place. Surely if she could open a dark magic portal, she could find a way to transport one of the pieces . . . couldn’t she?

  Bodie’s shout derailed my train of thought. “Incoming hostiles, on foot and by air!” he yelled.

  Oh, no. I shoved the piece into my waist pouch, then pounded after Johann toward the mouth of the cave. Mack and Milkir faced the trail on my left. The light elf held his crossbow at the ready while Milkir pulled a blade from his belt. They brandished their weapons at the troop of night elves making their way up the gravelly mountain path at an alarming speed.

  “Oh, skit,” Johann swore. “I’ll go help with the night elves. You help with that.” I whirled to my right, where a threat even scarier than a battalion of night elves flapped directly above Tore and Bodie. My protectors stood at the edge of the mountain, swords drawn, facing an enormous, winged dragon. This one had deep, scarlet-toned scales and eyes that blazed a fiery shade of red like the monster that had tried to kill me back by the boulders. As Tore waved his sword from side to side, Red swooped down, digging enormous talons into the gravel to land at the mouth of the cave. His eyes darted from me to the portal and back before he chuffed, filling his nostrils with smoke.

  “Milkir?” I called to the dwarf. “The red-eyed ones are the bad kind, right?”

  “Yes,” he shouted back. “But that my brother’s dragon. Eyes should be green.”

  “They’re red,” I replied nervously. “And it’s snuffing fire at us.”

  “Maybe it’s possessed,” Bodie muttered.

  Crappers, that’s a real thing?

  Tore stepped in front of me and raised his sword. “Whatever happens, stay away from the portal,” he warned.

  “You think?” I muttered.

  “Look out!” Bodie shoved Tore to the side just as an arrow pierced the air where Tore’s head had been. It landed atop the dragon’s front foot, and the beast gave an enormous, flame-filled roar.

  “Allie!” Tore’s shout startled me nearly as much as the fireball that threatened to singe my cargoes. I dropped on my stomach and rolled away, extinguishing the flame using textbook execution of the stop, drop, and roll technique I’d learned in kindergarten. I stopped just behind Bodie, who looked down for the briefest moment.

  “You okay?” He kept his sword raised at the once-again chuffing dragon.

  “Barely,” I muttered. “You?’

  “At the moment. Mack?” Bodie called out.

  “Not doing so great,” Mack grunted. A quick peek revealed Mack, Milkir, and Johann dodging arrows from the rapidly approaching night elves. Mack fired back, making quick shots with his crossbow. He picked off two elves before the rest took shelter behind a boulder.

  “Some assistance would be nice,” Johann called up. He had a katana in each hand and was batting away arrows like they were tennis balls. Those night elves were fast.

  “Allie, you think you can work your whip magic on this dragon?” Tore asked.

  My stomach dropped. “I can try,” I wavered. We’d taken out the last one with swords. I wasn’t sure if I had enough control over the Liv to literally whip this dragon into submission.

  “Good. You and Bodie let us know if things go downhill. I’ll just be over there.” With that, Tore raised his sword and charged down the hill into the fray of dark energy. He hacked away at night elf limbs, seeming every bit as possessed as the dragon still snorting fire in front of me.
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  Oh, God, the dragon. The beast pawed the dirt like a bull about to charge. Bodie and I both had our backs to the portal, which seemed like poor tactical positioning on our part. With nowhere to retreat, we were as defenseless as a set of pins at the end of a bowling alley. And that flaming, snorting, paw-clawing dragon was way more indomitable than a ten-pound bowling ball. This was definitely not good.

  I scrambled to my feet and stepped behind Bodie. “Do we have a plan?” I asked.

  “Yeah.” Bodie crouched down and held his sword at eye level. “Don’t fall into the portal. Also, don’t die.”

  “Sounds like a good plan.” I drew a long breath and focused on the energy that built in my chest. When I called up the Liv, my whip immediately flared to life in my palm. Looked like necessity was the mother of weapon invention after all. Thank God.

  The dragon swung his long neck around to stare at my whip. The glowing blue of the rope glinted against the red inferno of the creature’s eyes. When he let out another stream of fire, I thrust my hand out and cracked the whip, missing the dragon’s throat by a solid two feet. Dang it. Dragon beheading fail. Worse, what I hadn’t accomplished in decapitation, I’d more than made up for in infuriating my would-be executioner. The dragon roared again, sending a searing stream of heat just above my head.

  Bodie inched closer to me as I cracked my whip again. This time I nicked the dragon squarely across one eye. He howled in fury before snorting another fire stream. I jumped backward to avoid the heat and landed precariously close to the edge of the open portal. The heel of my boot nudged a few rocks over the ledge, and a jubilant hiss emerged from the hole as the rocks dropped into the blackness. Oh, God, don’t fall in. I chanced a quick glance away from the dragon to make sure I wasn’t about to embark on a one-way trip to a dark realm. But before I could make sense of the red and black blurs moving within the portal, Bodie’s shout snapped my focus straight back to Nidavellir.

  “Allie! Move!” he cried. His massive body soared through the air, arms outstretched as he flew at me like a linebacker. He crashed into me, knocking me away from the swirling black hole as the dragon reared up on his hind legs. The beast flapped his wings and leaned back onto his tail, lashing out with one scaly foot. His talons connected squarely with Bodie’s back and flung him into the space just above the portal.