The Girl the Sea Gave Back(17)

I searched the glade for what she saw, but there were only the warriors standing side by side. She was staring at Bekan.

And just as the hawk called out again, Vigdis turned to his chieftain, breaking the silence. “I love you, brother. And one day, you will understand why I’ve done what I’ve done.” He suddenly reared back with the sword, launching it forward with a snap, and it sank into Espen’s stomach.

The tip of its blood-soaked blade reached out behind him where it had run him through.

My breath caught in my chest as Espen fell forward onto his knees and the wind stopped, every sound snuffed out around us. My hand drew my sword before I’d even realized what I was doing, and the sound of shouting raced through the glade. But Bekan was frozen, his hands out before him and his eyes wide with confusion. He looked from his brother to Espen and back again.

The line of Svell broke into a run, charging us, and every weapon left every sheath, blades sliding on leather in unison. Aghi called out the order and he met my eyes for only a moment before he took off in a limping run, headed straight for Vigdis, who stood over Espen’s bleeding body.

I took off after him with my boots slamming into the earth as chaos broke out between the trees. Bodies slammed into each other as the two sides collided and I kept my eyes on Aghi, raising my sword as a Svell headed in his direction. I ran faster, passing the Svell and spinning on my heel as I twisted my sword in an arc around me to catch him in the gut. He tumbled into the grass and I lifted the blade before me, thick blood dripping onto the golden grass.

Aghi threw his axe behind me and it spun out ahead of us before it sank into the chest of a Svell woman, knocking her off her feet. He hobbled to her as the roar of battle swelled, his attention still set on Vigdis, who was cutting the throat of a Nādhir on his knees.

Aghi snapped his arm back, his sword slicing into the arm of a man behind him before he raised it up over his head to bring it back down into his chest. I jumped over the body as we pushed forward, staying close to Aghi’s back.

Bekan pulled his sword from the side of a Nādhir and I took the knife from my belt, sliding to a stop as I aimed. I sank my arm back, the handle light in my fingers, and sent it forward, the blade flying. Bekan faltered as it caught him in the shoulder, one knee hitting the ground before he got back to his feet and ran straight for us. His sword rose behind him, launching toward me before Aghi plowed into his side, knocking the blade from his hand. He lifted his axe, but in the length of a breath, Bekan tore my knife from his shoulder and drove it forward with both hands.

Aghi doubled over and it wasn’t until he hit the ground that I saw it. The handle of my knife was lodged between his ribs. I swallowed a breath as bright, sputtering blood poured from his lips and when I opened my mouth, I couldn’t hear the sound of my own scream. I could only feel its burn in my throat, lighting my chest on fire as I ran to him.

I fell to the grass, catching him in my arms before he tilted forward, and his bright blue eyes looked up at me, his mouth moving around words I couldn’t understand.

“Aghi.” His name was strange on my broken voice and I tried to hold him up, but he was too heavy.

He sank to the ground as more blood dripped from his lips and his hands clutched onto my tunic. He pulled me down toward him, but he couldn’t speak. The light was already leaving his eyes.

“Don’t…” I whispered. But his gaze was unfocused, lifting to the sky above us.

He was already gone.

My mind tried to grab hold of it, frantically sifting through the raging flood of thoughts, but I couldn’t think. I couldn’t pull myself from the grass, my hands clutched so tightly to his armor that the bones in my fingers felt as if they might crack. It wasn’t until the glint of a blade shone ahead that I blinked, coming back into myself.

I looked up, focusing my vision past the hot tears in my eyes, and Bekan ran before me, taking a Nādhir down with one arm, the other still bleeding badly at his side. I stood, yanking my knife from the bones in Aghi’s chest and paced heavily toward the trees, headed straight for him. He didn’t see me until I was already gaining on him. His axe flew at me and I sank onto my heels, letting it fly over my head before I jumped back up and bolted forward, the knife clutched tightly in my hand, slick with Aghi’s blood.

I roared, the battle cry tearing from my throat as I reached him, flipping the knife in my fingers to come at him from the side. I cut into his other arm, dragging the blade down, and he fell back into the shade of the trees. Another cry broke behind my ribs as I came over him, clutching the handle with both fists as I raised it before me. I screamed as I brought it down with the weight of my whole body, plunging the blade into Bekan’s heart.

His head rolled back and he gasped, coughing on the blood coming up in his throat, and I suddenly felt too heavy, the earth pulling me toward it as a whistle rang out. I looked back to the glade, where the Svell were cutting down the last of the Nādhir standing. At the very center, Espen lay in a bed of red-painted grass.

I turned in a circle, the world spinning around me. Espen was dead. Aghi … I tried to breathe past the strangling vision of his face going slack as he died in my arms. The breath wheezed in my lungs as more Svell came from the trees across the glade and what had just happened sank into place.

The Svell chieftain’s brother had come to Ljós with a plan. We were never going to leave this glade alive.

My side hitched and I tilted, wincing against the tilt of the world around me, willing the earth beneath my feet to steady me. I clutched at my side, where a steady stream of hot blood was seeping from a cut in my armor vest I didn’t remember getting. My hand slid over the wet leathers as I pressed, trying to slow it. But a guttural roar made me look up to the glade, where Vigdis was staring at me, eyes wide, as I stood over the body of his brother.