Wings of the Valkyrie

by Charley Case

  Mila frowned while thinking of the implications. She took a long drink of orange juice before replying. “It was something Azoth said at the dunes. Before he left, he said to look into the missing people so I would understand that he was serious. If he’s stealing entire towns of people and making them into thralls, then he really will be able to start a world war.”

  “It’s not possible,” Victoria cut in. “Even if he’s at full power, he wouldn’t have nearly enough to turn them all into thralls. Thralls are magically cheap for him, but they still cost something, and that magic is separated from him so he can’t replenish it unless he withdraws it, which kills the host. He can’t convert numbers like that.”

  Rebecca opened the ever-present copy of Gregory’s book and began flipping through the pages. “If I’m not mistaken, according to Missy, or whatever her name was back then, a Drude can control huge numbers of people, but only for a relatively short time.” She scanned the page she had stopped on, and her eyes brightened when she was about halfway down. “Here it is. She said that it was a form of mind control. The Drude would cast the spell over a population, and they would be his for a few weeks. Evidently, they can’t take complex orders, but simple things like attack, defend, run, etcetera were fine. But the important part is that the people weren’t harmed when the spell wore off or someone broke it. If that’s what he’s using, then we can save those people. Kill him, and they’re free.”

  Mila and Finn blew out long breaths and leaned back in their chairs. They made eye contact and traded the same concern.

  “What?” Rebecca noted the concern on their faces. “This is a good thing. Those people don’t end up as piles of cursed dust when that tentacled bastard drops dead.”

  “True, but…” Finn started, but his voice trailed off since he didn’t want to say it.

  Mila continued. “If we can save them, that means we can’t kill them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing that we get the chance to save them and don’t have to write off a cities’ worth of people, but it makes this infinitely harder. And I don’t mean a small infinity. I’m talking one of the big ones—infinity plus one kinda stuff.”

  “We need to get help,” Finn said.

  “We do,” Mila agreed, “but I don’t want to call them in quite yet.”

  “Call who in?” Lance asked.

  Danica smiled, but it was Remmy who answered. “Carl and the gang.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The plan was simple. Finn, Danica, and Remmy needed to hold off the masses of minions, while Victoria kept Missy occupied, and Mila hit Azoth with the device. Once it drained his power, Mila would kill him, setting Missy and Yaminah free along with however many people Azoth had under the mind control spell, and the minions would fall to dust with no power to sustain them. Bing, bang, boom, the whole thing would be over in less than a minute or two.

  “I love you, darlin’, but that’s a shit plan.” Finn had a painfully sad look on his face.

  They had gathered in the living room and were sitting on couches and plush chairs. Mila stood in front of the open window wall, the morning breeze ruffling the skater dress she had put back on when she woke up. A whiteboard the house had made for her when her back was turned stood on an easel, the tray loaded with a rainbow of markers. She had written the main actions of the plan in black with bullet points in blue, simply because she could.

  Grimm was blissfully unaware of what was going on as he sat between his parents,, big studio headphones covering his ears while he got lost in his game of Cupcaction!

  “I’m well aware,” Mila reassured him. “That’s why we’re brainstorming. The key points I see that need some serious thought are,” she tapped the capped end of her marker on each item as she addressed it. “One. How do we keep the masses at bay with three people? Two. What is the backup plan if the device doesn’t work? Three. What if the device does work, but it takes a long time?”

  Victoria, having spent most of her current life in a boardroom, had no trouble quickly speaking up. “You need to add, ‘How does Victoria beat down Missy?’ to the list. There’s a reason she’s the Elder—was the Elder.”

  Mila smiled. “At least that one isn’t too difficult to answer. You don’t need to beat her down. I only need you to keep her busy while I deal with Azoth. Your job is to keep her from getting her hands on the device.”

  “Fair enough,” Victoria conceded.

  “I think I might have something to help with crowd control.” Lance climbed off the couch and headed toward his and Rebecca’s office. “Give me a second to grab the plans.”

  “The mines?” Rebecca called after him.

  “Yeah, they might be perfect for this.” He went around the corner, and they heard a door open then close.

  “Okay, while we wait for Lance to return, any other ideas?” Mila opened the floor.

  Remmy raised her hand.

  The little goblin was wearing a pair of black shorts that were so tight Mila suspected they were her boyshort underwear and had on a tie-dye cropped short-sleeve t-shirt that showed off her impressive abs and said, “Polo Fest 2016.” She was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Danica, who leaned down from her club chair re-braiding Remmy’s single long braid into multiple smaller ones that incorporated yellow and blue ribbons in the weave. She was then braiding the smaller braids into one another so that all of Remmy’s hair ended up close to the scalp in a beautiful swirling design.

  “What are you two doing? We’re making a plan here, not having a slumber party.” Mila suddenly felt annoyed for no good reason. She knew the two of them were paying attention regardless of what they happened to be doing. Mila rubbed her temple, her stomach suddenly feeling like it was regretting that second helping of pancakes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I think I’m overstressed and nervous. I know you’re paying attention. Forgive me.”

  Danica smiled at Mila and continued to work her fingers expertly through Remmy’s hair. “It’s okay. You’re doing great, babe. And this is an elven war braid. I’m always freaking out that someone will get their hand on Remmy’s hair and pull her in during a battle. She uses speed and stealth to fight. Having to fight off an enemy while having her head pulled around would not end well for her.” Danica focused on the braid work and smiled. “Plus, she’ll look like a fucking badass.”

  Mila chuckled but had to agree that the braids had an air of badassery about them. She saw that Remmy still had her hand up, undeterred by Mila’s outburst.

  “Remmy, you don’t have to raise your hand. What are you thinking?”

  “You got it, boss lady. I was thinking that if the device works, but it’s taking a long time, why not have the boss man drop Azoth into a pit and seal it up? That way no one can get to him and stop the process, but we can still focus on the fight.”

  Mila’s brows came up in surprise. “That’s a good idea. Would it be possible to do something like that?”

  Finn pursed his lips for a second while he thought. “I don’t think I can do a pit. The first time you and I fought him, I tried to spike him from below but couldn’t affect the ground he was on. It was like he created a dead space in the earth. But, I could put him in a stone box—well, a pyramid would be faster, don’t have to deal with the top of the box that way.” He turned to Remmy and nodded approval. “Good thinking, Remmy. In fact, I think we should do it anyway, even if it’s not taking too long. It would cut down on the one in a million shots.”

  “One in a million shots?” Victoria tucked her bare feet under herself on the couch.

  “Yeah. For example, a thrall throws a rock at me and I dodge, but the rock happens to hit the device and knock it away from Azoth, cutting off the effect. Or someone stumbles into Azoth and knocks him away from the device. Over the years, I’ve learned that on a battlefield, one in a million happens about thirty percent of the time.”

  Victoria’s brow screwed itself up as she looked at him. “You know that’s not how statistics work, right?”<
br />
  Finn harrumphed. “On the battlefield, statistics don’t mean shit. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Plan accordingly.”

  “I think it’s a good idea to contain Azoth while the device does its thing. With one little difference. I need to be in there with him.” She held up her hand, cutting off the multiple shouts of objection. “If we can’t see him, then we won’t know when it’s time to strike. Me being in there makes this whole thing end that much quicker. Think of it this way. You won’t have to watch my back.”

  “There is no way we can let you do that,” Danica protested.

  Victoria was close on her heels. “Agreed. What if we trap you in there with him and it doesn’t work? He could gut you in an instant, or worse, devour you.”

  “I think it’s a good idea.” Finn shocked everyone. “Mila is powerful. If she sees it’s not going the way it should, she can break herself out of the stone. She has plenty of strength to do that much. But if it’s going to plan, then she can end it that much quicker while still cutting down on outside interference.”

  Mila felt a pride she didn’t know was possible. Words like that from Finn were high praise. If he thought she would be fine, then she knew she would be.

  Lance came back into the room with a device about the size of a hockey puck in his palm. It was made of black plastic-like material, with bronze-colored strips inlaid in an intricate pattern in the top that looked like a rune but with too many lines, like there were several runes laid atop one another.

  “This is a prototype I put together. I figured it would be easier to see what it did than have me try to explain it.” He placed the thing on the floor and pulled his wand from the pocket of his cargo shorts.

  Mila saw that it was a hockey puck if the half-obscured NHL logo was any indication. Lance pointed his wand at it, and the brass-colored material absorbed the thin line of power that shot from the wand’s tip.

  “Here we go.” He picked up his empty mug from the side table and tossed it over the puck.

  A humming charge quickly built into a high-pitched tone before cutting off with a whoosh! A shimmering orb appeared above and touched the puck, making it look a little like a crystal ball. Floating in the center of the orb was the mug, hanging two feet off the ground.

  No, Mila decided, floating wasn’t the right word. The mug was stuck in the air. Like it had been wedged tight into the fabric of reality.

  “This is a stasis mine.” Finn stood and moved closer to it, slack-jawed wonder on his face. “Only the Imperial army has these. How they’re built is one of the most tightly held secrets in the empire. How did you get one?”

  “I made it in my office.” Lance thumbed back over his shoulder toward the aforementioned room.

  “You made this, just now?” Finn glanced down at the mine and shook his head in disbelief. “And you used a hockey puck?”

  “It was the most mine-like thing I could find.”

  “You made one of the most advanced weapons in the universe out of spare parts in your office, and it took you about five minutes?” Finn repeated, to be absolutely clear.

  “Yeah. Well, I did only make a small one. The inlay only holds enough power for this small field, and even at this size—”

  The field cut out and the mug hit the carpet with a soft thump.

  “— it won’t last long,” he finished. “The full-sized ones will make a field forty feet across, but take quite a bit more power.”

  Finn turned to Mila and gave her a genuine smile. “We’re going to be fine, babe.”

  “Okay, we have a start.” Mila decided how to get things rolling. “Rebecca, Lance, and Finn, you three work on getting mines made. We need as many as you can get together by tonight. Victoria and I will look at the battlefield and get back to you with a solid target number for the mines. While we’re doing that, we’ll be charging the device as much as we can. Might as well get the most bang for the buck.”

  Mila turned to see that Danica was about three-quarters done with Remmy’s hair. “Danica, can you and Remmy be our everything else? Watching Grimm, making food, and maybe give more great suggestions? I know we’re going to miss things, and an extra pair of eyes or two will be helpful.”

  “We can do that.” Danica paused her braiding and looked up at Mila. “Don’t worry, Mila. We’re going to be fine. Are you feeling okay? You look a little pale.”

  Mila let out a small acidic belch, hiding it behind a hastily raised fist. “I think I ate too many pancakes. I’ll grab a water. It’s fine.”

  “Okay, but if it keeps up, let me know.”

  Mila gave Danica a warm smile. “I will. Thanks, babe.”

  Victoria followed Mila to the dining table, where Lance had left a laptop for them to work on.

  “What about Carl?” Victoria sat and opened the computer.

  Mila sighed. She’d been going back and forth all morning if she should call the G.A.E.L. team in or not.

  “Right now, I’m leaning toward leaving them out of it. With the mines working as a perimeter, we’re going to be in pretty tight quarters. The last thing I want is to put people in danger when we don’t need to. I was going to call them in if we didn’t find a solution for crowd control, but with the mines I don’t think we need them. This fight should only take a few minutes at most, and if it all goes according to plan, the only one who dies will be Azoth.”

  Victoria pulled up a program that used satellite imagery to show the entire surface of Earth, and started typing in coordinates. “What if it doesn’t all go according to plan and we need to fight our way out? Or maybe the mines fail. Then we’ll need the firepower. I can understand not wanting to put people in danger unnecessarily, but they’re professionals and know how to handle themselves. I think we need them, if for nothing more than a little peace of mind.”

  Mila understood Victoria’s concern and had to agree. But she still dreaded one of them getting hurt only to figure out that they didn’t need to be there at all.

  “You’re probably right, but like you said, they’re professionals. I’ll call Carl tonight, explain the situation, and see what he thinks. The decision will be his.”

  Victoria nodded. “Probably the best course of action.” She pointed at the screen as the globe in the app rotated. “Here we go.” The view dove into the atmosphere, and finally zoomed in on Iceland, then dove closer still. When the image stopped moving, it was near the center of the island nation in the middle of a flat field of black fine sand. Sharp pointed hills covered in green low-growing scrub surrounded the field like sleeping trolls. One side of the area butted up against a small, deep blue lake that looked cold even from a satellite.

  It looked like the very definition of the middle of nowhere.

  “Iceland? Why Iceland?”

  “Because back then, it was the only large island not booked by any passengers. We needed to keep the fight away from prying eyes. No one was supposed to know there were any Valkyries on the ship, and a huge battle would have attracted notice. Luckily, it’s still pretty empty.” She glanced over at Mila. “You ready to figure this shit out?”

  Mila drew a deep breath and shook her head. Pulling the device from the pocket of her dress, she held it up so Victoria could see it. “Let me put another charge in first.”

  Victoria groaned and stood. “Fine, but I’m making another pot of coffee.”

  By late afternoon, they’d picked their location and made the necessary measurements. Danica let the others know that they would need at least forty-five mines to get a perimeter large enough for them to move freely, but small enough that most of the enemy would portal in outside the safe zone.

  The entire time, Mila and Victoria passed the device back and forth, charging it when their powers replenished themselves. By the time they were eating lunch it was obvious that Mila was charging the device two to one with Victoria, which had bothered the older Valkyrie, but also seemed to solidify some idea she had been thinking through about Mila.

  At around f
our thirty Mila awoke with a start, as she felt herself falling out of her chair. She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands and looked over to see that Victoria wasn’t doing any better. Charging the device continually felt like they had been lifting weights at the gym for seven hours straight.

  “Come on.” Mila tiredly climbed to her feet. “We need a nap. We’re done charging that bottomless pit. If that’s not enough power to kill that ugly fuck, then we’re already doomed.”

  Victoria didn’t answer, merely climbed out of her chair and stumbled toward her room.

  Mila was only a few steps behind her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “So, that’s where we stand. The whole thing is going down tomorrow. I know it’s short notice, but do you think you and the team can help me out one more time?” Mila spoke into the phone as she paced the deck beside the pool.

  Thick clouds had rolled in during her nap. Now that the sun had set and the clouds were blocking the starlight, there weren’t even the lowest light levels beyond the rails of the deck, only a never-ending darkness. Not that Mila was looking past the rails. There was something unsettling about looking into the pitch black that reminded her too much of Azoth.

  “I think we can arrange something,” Carl said on the other end of the line. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Well, I hoped you might have some nonlethal options.”

  There was silence on the line for a second. “Nonlethal? Why?”

  “I did say that there’s potential to save many of the attackers, right?” Now that she said it, she wasn’t sure she had mentioned that fact to him in her summary.

  “Oh, right. You mentioned that. Sorry. I was a little fixated on the main target.” Carl laughed. “But yeah, we have nonlethal options. We can bring them both.”