The Girl the Sea Gave Back(66)

“Tova!” he screamed as I jumped from the cart.

The sound of Hylli’s horn blared in the distance, signaling that the first of the Svell had broken through the trees. Time was running out.

Jorrund’s voice echoed out again, but when I looked up, it was Vigdis who marched toward me, pushing through the back wall of warriors. In the next instant, his knife was swinging wide, catching me in the arm. I fell backward as he came over me, finding the tear in my sleeve with my fingers. Before he could bring the knife down, I rolled to my side, covering my head with my hands. The blade ripped into my other arm, the edge of the iron hitting the bone, and I cried out.

I tried to kick myself back toward the cart and Vigdis stilled suddenly, his tall frame towering over me. I stared up at him, both my hands pressing to the wounds in my arms and he turned, looking over his shoulder. My eyes went wide as the gleaming hilt of a knife came into view, buried in the back of Vigdis’ armor vest. He reached behind him and tore it out, turning. And there, standing with the cold rain running over his leathers, Gunther stood, his face covered with a smear of blood.

With one quick motion, Vigdis swung his arm out in an arc, the blade slicing Gunther’s throat in a clean line. I sat up, the cry trapped in my chest as the blood spilled. He fell to his knees and I lifted my eyes to the sky, swallowing down the nausea burning in my throat. He landed at my feet with a heavy thud, his hand open beside me. The talisman I’d given him was tied around his wrist.

Vigdis leaned into the cart, grasping for the wound at his back, but it was no use. The blood poured out in a thick, steady stream and after only seconds, his movements slowed, the grunt in his throat turning to a gurgle.

The moment he stopped moving, the rain stopped falling. I looked up to the gray sky, blinking. Because I knew what would be there. The nighthawk circled against the clouds, tilting in the wind.

I rocked forward onto my knees and lifted Halvard’s axe over my head. The pain in my arms erupted as I brought the blade down with a crack, splintering the wood of the barrel. Jorrund still stood without moving, his mouth hanging open as I picked it up, and I snatched the torch from his hand, pushing past him. I broke through the Svell, racing toward the edge of the forest.

The barrel tipped under my arm, and I let the pitch pour onto the ground as I ran the full length of the Nādhir line. It filled puddles, soaking into the earth, and when it was empty, I dropped it. Halvard appeared before the Nādhir, shouting orders over the strike of lightning, and I stood, waiting, as they moved into position, leaving the Svell in the trees.

Halvard’s eyes found me in the chaos, and for a moment, my heart stopped beating. “Now!”

I dropped the torch at my feet.

The flame slithered away from me, shifting in the wind before the morning lit up in an amber glow. A wall of fire ignited before the tree line, the flames reaching taller than me. The Svell scrambled backward and the Nādhir followed. It was all they needed. Just a moment. A breath.

And they took it.

Halvard’s brother ran past me, leaving a trail of Svell in his wake as he made his way toward Halvard. He pulled a shield up from the ground and dropped it onto the flames, creating a break in the fire, and then another.

“Go!” he roared, throwing an arm forward, and the rest of the Nādhir waiting on the slope charged. They flooded into the forest, pushing Svell back and chasing down the running warriors. Past the flames, I could see Jorrund standing over Vigdis’ body, the hem of his robes heavy with mud.

Hot tears filled my eyes as I watched him, thinking he suddenly seemed so small. The man who’d raised me. Cared for me. Taught me. He’d lied and he’d used me. But he was the only father I remembered.

I opened my mouth to call out his name, but my words were cut off by the blare of the horn below. It blew in three short wails and the fighting slowed, every face in the forest turning to Hylli.

But what was there lay beyond the beach.

On the sea.

Boats as far as the eye could see were coming out of the black storm on the water. The horn blew again as they multiplied and white square sails appeared like a swirl of stars in a night sky. Lightning struck the beach and the deafening crack rang in my ears, making me feel like I was going to fall to the earth. I leaned into the nearest tree, my eyes on the water, where the carved heads of Naer on wooden prows pushed across the water like an army of sea serpents.

The Kyrr.





CHAPTER THIRTY


HALVARD


I stood before the flames, the axe heavy in my hands as the Nādhir marched into the trees, pushing the Svell back. The burn of smoke in my throat raked as I turned in a circle, searching the forest for my brothers.

Ahead, two men were stalking toward me with another group of Svell at their backs. I stepped over the fading fire and readied the sword in one hand and the axe in the other as the cold rain began to fall again, washing the blood from my skin.

My steps slowed, my hands growing heavy at my sides, and the forest seemed to tilt around me. I blinked, trying to focus, pulling in a long breath and watching the width of their strides before I swung, taking both down with one clumsy turn. My hand lifted to throw the axe when a woman appeared behind them. I struck her leg and she stumbled, crashing into a tree as I drove the sword behind me. It sank into the gut of a Svell man and I kicked him from the blade.

My weight teetered forward, the last of my strength bleeding from my body and I sank to the ground, trying to catch my breath. The treetops spun overhead and I looked down to the linen of my tunic coming out from under my armor vest. It was soaked in fresh blood. My blood.