“We’ll catch up,” Leif said. His gaze shifted to me and gentled. “Are you ready to ride? You are not light-headed or nauseous from the injury to your head?”
I scoffed. “If you think me so debilitated, then you’ve made a terrible mistake in choosing me as your partner in this upcoming battle. Even with the odds of six against one, we will be fortunate to escape with our lives.”
Amusement shone clearly on his face, and spread throughout the other men, but Leif said nothing as he mounted his horse. A wave of nausea and dizziness assaulted me as I pulled myself onto Sleipnir, reminding me that I hadn’t fully recovered. I kept a firm grip on Sleipnir’s mane, furious at my body for proving Leif right.
The horses charged forward, ready to resume their steady pace. I let Sleipnir have his head, and he and the stallion Leif rode matched each other stride for stride. The pain of my throat and throbbing of my head threatened to engulf me like a wave, a burning torture with every breath, but I wrestled it back down until all I could feel was the thunder of the horses’ hooves.
God knew I would need my strength.
We caught up to the horse-faced jötunn in the dead of night, the moon high above us as though lighting the way. He’d made camp in the middle of a meadow. The cattle in the field kept their distance and stayed huddled together as if they sensed a wolf among them.
He’d lit a great fire, the smoke billowing upward brazenly. He reclined before it, his back against a tall oak tree. Like the snake-nosed jötunn I’d managed to kill, this one could pass as a regular man from afar. And from his relaxed position, it was clear he didn’t fear discovery.
Leif drew his sword, and the others readied their axes and shields. They urged their horses forward, and I followed at a distance. The thunderous pounding of their hooves alerted the jötunn, and he jumped to his feet, his face hideously twisted in the firelight.
He laughed and held out his arms. “You are too late now. We will tear you apart, piece by piece.”
At the word we, I pulled Sleipnir to a sliding halt, a warning cry to the others dying on my lips. Two other jötnar appeared from the cover of smoke. I’d taken them for trees, but now to my horror, I realized my mistake. We faced three now instead of one, and with a terrible sinking feeling, I knew we’d meet our deaths here in the darkness.
Leif’s charge couldn’t be halted in time. The first jötunn struck as fast as a bolt of lightning. He ducked out of the way of Leif’s sword and cut his horse’s legs out from under him with a battle-axe. His horse crashed to the ground, but Leif leaped off his back at the last moment. A clash of metal upon metal sounded in the night as Leif’s sword met the jötunn’s axe.
Gunnarr and Ulf hurried forward to assist Leif. One of the giants cut Ulf from his horse, his axe sending a spray of blood from Ulf’s throat. Ulf fell from his horse with a painful thud.
As the chaos of battle washed over me, I realized that we’d never discussed strategy. These were seasoned men who’d fought many battles together, and I was used to my own clansmen who knew to cover me while I sought control of the enemy’s mind.
The pounding of heavy-booted feet interrupted me before I could decide on the best course of action.
A giant with hair as dark as the night sky thundered toward me, his lips peeled back in a feral grimace. He brought a great axe down, and I dug my heel into Sleipnir’s side to dodge the attack. I feared I wouldn’t have the strength to meet his blow head-on, so I galloped around behind the giant and swung my sword into his back. He whirled with an angry yell and parried my attacks. With each blow met, he pushed back against my sword until my arm was screaming with the effort. Though I was astride Sleipnir, I didn’t have the advantage of height. The black-haired giant loomed above us, so tall that the tips of Sleipnir’s ears only reached the monster’s knees.
I wouldn’t last long in a physical battle, but I needed a moment when I wasn’t in danger of having my head cut off to reach out and take control. Ordinarily, I had to make eye contact in order to take over someone else’s mind—it was the strongest connection and ensured I had complete control—but the giant wasn’t cooperating. However, there was another way. I’d trained only a handful of times at increasing the distance from which I could control another, and my success rate hadn’t been high. Still, I would make the attempt here and now.
I wheeled Sleipnir around and galloped a short distance away—enough to give me a breath of time. Concentrating on the dark-haired giant, I reached out for his mind. Slippery darkness waited for me, as difficult to grab hold of as water. The giant froze. Sweat beaded my brow as I struggled to maintain control. His mind was as powerful as the giant’s I’d fought in Dubhlinn—only my sense of his emotions differed greatly. The hatred was there in abundance, toward the Northmen and especially toward their strange gods, but there was more . . . a flash of a woman being carried away by a brawny man with flowing hair and a braided beard.
A part of me wanted to grasp hold of the memory and analyze it—was there more to these savage giants than mindless killing?—but I didn’t have that luxury. The giant fought me for control, managing to break free just enough to begin a slow march toward me. I didn’t have to be in his mind to know that once he reached me, he’d tear me apart.
Possible solutions raced through my mind. Could I take his life force as I’d done in Dubhlinn? But how? Both times, I’d been nearly unconscious. I tried to search within myself for the strange door of light, but all it resulted in was relaxing my hold on the giant.
The earth around me shuddered as his speed toward me increased, and I scrambled to wrestle control again. My head pounded with the effort, but I managed to slow his advance.
I could see only one way out of this: I’d have to hope my hold on him was enough to give real power to an offensive attack. With the barest touch of my heels to Sleipnir’s sides, we shot toward the dark-haired giant. I struck out with my sword, my eyes on the area of his chest above his heart, but at the last moment, the giant raised his axe.
My sword bit into his arm, cutting down to the bone. He dropped his axe with a howl of pain. I attacked again, shoving the tip of my blade up into his chest. A flash of surprise drifted across our mental connection, followed swiftly by thoughts of the woman again and intense feelings of love and regret.
His mind went dark as he crashed to the ground, leaving me standing rather dumbfounded.
All around me, the sounds of axes striking each other was nearly deafening. Gunnarr aided Leif while Olafur and Eadric battled the giant who’d killed Ulf. Most of the others had been divested of their horses. The poor beasts’ bodies lay in mangled heaps upon the ground, and a sharp, sudden fear stabbed through me as I thought of Sleipnir. Never before had I feared for my great warhorse, but these weren’t normal men.
To my right, the jötunn that Olafur and Eadric battled shook the earth with his every movement. The warriors were forced to dodge the giant’s feet like mice. A terrible, strangled yell momentarily drew my eye. Olafur had misstepped, and the jötunn had crushed him. Eadric hacked at the jötunn’s giant ankles as the monstrosity chopped Olafur’s head from his body. Without Olafur’s aid, Eadric would soon fall.
My eyes closed in concentration, I reached for the giant’s mind. I connected with nothing but empty air—the distance was too great—but Sleipnir shot toward the enemy with barely any urging. Eadric’s shield gave way under the giant’s powerful blow, and I grabbed for the giant’s mind, finally connecting in time to keep him from crushing Eadric under another hit from his axe.
But all too soon, my fragile hold slipped away. My many wounds had reopened and were bleeding freely. My muscles shook with fatigue.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Leif battling with the horse-faced jötunn. To my surprise, the monster was now as tall as the other giants.
Despite the horse-faced giant’s size, Leif seemed able to deflect his attacks, the muscles of his arm bulging as though they would soon burst free. With a loud shout, Leif executed a s
eries of attacks so rapidly, I could barely track them with my eyes. The giant, too, could only defend himself against but a few of them. A great torrent of blood gushed out from the giant from multiple wounds, but before any of us could relish our victory, the giant slammed into Leif and knocked him to the ground. He immediately seized Gunnarr and crushed him.
Three were now dead.
Again the fear raced through me, that we would never leave this battle alive.
Leif’s eyes met mine, and I watched his mouth begin to form the word retreat.
Before he could, the remaining two giants towered over us, and I felt the first dark tendril of despair wrap around my heart. Sleipnir wheeled around, taking me to safety against my will. The horse-faced giant took hold of Eadric by the arms and swung his body out toward the other giant. The other giant grabbed hold of Eadric’s legs, and both giants pulled.
They tore Eadric in half amid agonized screams and the sounds of torn flesh and tendons, his body pulling apart at the joints as easily as a roasted duck.
Outmatched, weakened, and easily defeated, we had no chance—but I still had my horse. Beneath me, Sleipnir’s muscles quivered, waiting for my command. My heels barely touched his sides, and he shot forward.
My breaths came in pants as my heart pounded almost painfully against my chest. My hand shook so badly from fear and fatigue that I could barely hold my sword. Still, I reached for the horse-faced giant’s mind. I couldn’t use him as a bodyguard, but I could stop him. It felt like my mind would tear apart, the pain almost blinding. But I couldn’t give in to it.
The horse-faced giant froze in place. His face twisted with the effort of fighting against me, and dark spots danced before my eyes as I felt my fragile hold on him give way.
The giant raised his axe to deliver what would certainly be a death blow, and Sleipnir jumped out of the way so suddenly I lost my seat.
I landed hard, my breath leaving my lungs in an instant. With my gaze skyward, I saw a black bird making slow circles above us.
In one stride, the horse-faced giant was upon me again. It was my own mental powers that kept me breathing—I forced my protesting lungs to draw air. I rolled to the side to avoid his axe. He brought it down again, but this time, it met with a clang of metal. Leif stood between us, meeting the giant blow for blow.
I stumbled back to my feet. The earth trembled, and I jerked my head up to see the other giant bearing down on us. As fast as he was, he was slowed by obvious injuries to the tendons in his legs. I watched Leif repeat the move on the horse-faced giant before us. He slid beneath the axe’s downward swing and sliced the giant just above the ankle.
With a roar, the horse-faced giant stumbled back. Leif stood in front of me, blocking my body with his as the other giant reached us.
Up close, their height was dizzying. One’s head was so massive and deformed, it looked like a craggy mountain face. Leif charged, but the giant grabbed him like a child would a toy. He held Leif aloft, his fingers tightening around the entire middle of Leif’s body. In moments he would be crushed like an insect.
My mind lashed out, snatching the giant’s like a bird of prey. Something warm and wet began to drip out of my nose. I forced him to drop Leif and touched the tip of my finger to my upper lip. It came back red with blood.
The next instant, I was airborne.
The horse-faced giant roared in my face. His fingers were longer and thicker than my legs, and he wrapped them ever tighter around my middle. I struggled wildly, trying to gain even an inch of breathing room. His grip only tightened. I bit down on the finger nearest me, but there was no reaction.
Leif shouted as the giant who held me in his hand kicked him viciously in the ribs.
Releasing the other giant, I called again, and the power within me struggled to respond. The horse-faced giant’s fingers continued to close around me until with a scream, I felt every rib give way. With a burst of energy born of desperation, I blocked out the pain and switched my hold to his mind. His fingers lost their grip on me, and I fell in a broken heap next to Leif. If Leif had the power to heal himself of such trauma, it would certainly not be in time.
Through my haze of agony, I felt a warmth touch my fingers. Leif had reached out to me, his hand just brushing mine. I longed to grab hold, but I could no more wiggle my fingers than I could stand. My sweet sisters’ faces flashed before my mind; a pain far deeper than that of my broken bones twisted inside me. I had failed them.
A dark desperation gripped me as the horse-faced giant laughed above us. I wouldn’t lie here limply and accept my fate. I would not.
Something snapped within me, even as the blood streamed from my nose and my many wounds. My eyelids fell closed, darkness swallowing me whole. The door of light appeared once again, though this time, I could sense movement beyond the threshold.
Pull yourself through, a voice called.
Not without him, I thought.
With the last of my waning strength, I took hold of Leif’s hand. I could sense the giants looming above us. Inwardly, I dragged myself and Leif toward the door.
Agony shattered my body in a million pieces. The black nothingness of death threatened to take hold, but I fought it, my gaze fixed on the lit doorway.
I fell through, my fingers entwined with Leif’s.
In a free fall, our bodies descended through blinding white light.
And then there was nothing.
14
I blinked slowly into awareness. Bright sunlight beat down on my body, deliciously warm. The grass cradled me like the plushest down. A soft breeze teased my hair and stirred the leaves in the tree above me. But in a rush, I remembered.
I jolted upward as if I’d been branded, coming to my feet in a surge. I braced myself for an onslaught of pain, but there was nothing. When I gingerly touched the sites of my old wounds, I found nothing but healed skin.
A copse of trees surrounded me. They were like wardens of the woods, their leaves gently waving in the breeze. The trunks were so wide and gnarled there could be no doubt they were ancient, and for a moment, every muscle in my body tensed. Surely we had not stumbled into the Faerie Tunnel again.
“Leif?” I called, softly at first, then with increasing anxiety when I heard no response. I spun in a circle, my heart pounding rapidly. “Leif!”
The breeze picked up, drawing my eye to the softly rustling golden hair on Leif’s head.
He lay in the shade of one of the enormous trees, his limbs jutted out at strange angles to his body, as though he had been flung to the ground in a state of unconsciousness.
I sprinted to his side. Painful talons of fear held me in their grip as I watched his chest for the telltale rise of a breath. His clothing was shredded, but the skin underneath was smooth, as though already healed. After an agonizing moment, he took a breath. It was shallow, but there. Relief made my shoulders sag.
“Leif?” I said again softly. His eyes fluttered, but he did not stir.
My gaze traveled from his chest to his legs; even his leather leggings had been torn apart, yet there was no blood, no bruising, no sign we had nearly left this world. How long had we been here?
Tentatively, I moved the leather and chain mail covering his torso aside, but as soon as my fingers touched the warm skin beneath, Leif’s eyes flew open.
I jumped back as though scalded, and his lips twisted into an ironic grin. “By all means, princess, continue your intense scrutiny,” he said in a voice much gruffer than usual. “I can only hope you have found everything to your liking.”
Warring desires to embrace him and choke the life from him vied within me. I settled for glaring.
“Surely I do not deserve such a look after once again narrowly missing the chance to walk down the halls of Valhalla.”
Mollified, I softened my expression. “I was examining you for injury. Have you healed so quickly, then?”
With a groan, he rolled to his side before pushing himself laboriously to his feet. He swayed for a moment
as if he’d lose his balance, and I darted out my hand to steady him. “Not even I can recover so quickly from such a battle.” His gaze swept over me. “Though it appears you have.”
“You speak the truth, but I don’t how it happened. I don’t even know where we are.”
“I’m sure it’s somewhere with an abundance of Celtic monstrosities,” Leif said, taking in his surroundings with a wary expression. “What’s clear is that you transported us somewhere the jötnar couldn’t follow.”
Now that Leif was on his feet and, if not fully healed, surely on the way to being so, a new anxiety gripped me. “Yes, but how will we return if I don’t even know how we got here?”
“We’ll worry about that later. First, we must find water.”
He strode away as though he knew where he was going, and it was then that I heard it, too—the quiet murmuring of a brook.
We followed the sound to its source, only a short distance from where we had lain. The brook cut a path through the trees, the water so beautifully clear it sparkled like gemstones as the sunlight struck it. Leif cupped his hands and drank without hesitation, gulping greedily. Watching him drink, I became suddenly aware of my own thirst, my throat as dry as sand. Eagerly I knelt down, cupped my hands, and drank. The water was as cold as a mountain stream, and so sweetly delicious, I drank numerous cupfuls before my thirst was finally quenched.
Wiping the excess water with the edge of my cloak, I sank back on my heels.
Leif sat down heavily beside me, and for a moment, we stared at the stream and breathed. “I think it’s time we figured out where we are,” he said.
“What do you remember?” I asked, thinking of the shining doorway.
Leif’s jaw tightened. “All of my men dying. The jötnar nearly killing us both. And . . .” His eyes shifted from the water to my face. “. . . your hand upon mine.”
His intense gaze captured my attention for a moment, and I bit the inside of my cheek just to prevent my traitorous body from closing the distance between us. I glanced down at his hand beside me, the visible tendons and veins proof of its strength. And yet we had failed.
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