Beyond a Darkened Shore(102)

I plummeted back down to earth, the wind screaming in my ears just as it had during my ascent. My stomach had slithered into my throat as the tunnel of wind I was encased in shot toward the ground. Blind and deaf to everything but the wind around me, I’d lost track of Leif.

Just before I would have smashed into earth and shattered all my bones, I slowed and landed gently on my feet. The wind dissipated at once, but this time, I wasn’t left disoriented. It took only a moment to register my surroundings: the slain giants littering the ground were indication enough. I had been returned to just outside of Skien.

My army waited in a silent formation nearby, while Sleipnir nickered a soft greeting. With a hurried touch of my hand to Sleipnir’s nose, I strode toward Leif’s body.

The sight of him lying so still upon the ground, the blood staining the grass beneath him, sent panic clawing to free itself within me, but I stamped it down. “Come on, Leif,” I said quietly, intently.

I was rewarded with his eyes rolling behind his eyelids, and the pulse at his neck throbbing. He drew a single gasping breath and then another, and then his eyes flew open. I could bear it no longer. I threw my arms around him as great, forceful sobs took over my body.

Leif’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know you could cry like that.”

I laughed and cried harder. “I can summon the dead, but I’m not dead inside.” Softer I said, “I really thought I would lose you.”

“Never,” Leif said, his eyes bright with restored life. Slowly, he stood, and I kept my arm around him to steady him. He smiled down at me. “See? I am whole. Thanks to you.”

And then his arms were around me, and our bodies were pressed so tightly together it seemed what we desperately wanted was to be one. He kissed me, and I tasted salt from my tears.

Eventually we pulled away. We still stood upon a battlefield littered with fallen giants. Nearby, my undead army watched expressionlessly. Memory returned, and with it came a wave of horror as I remembered Leif’s aunt had fallen when the Valkyrie had descended. I jumped to my feet, my eyes scanning over the many bodies, but there was no sign of her.

The sound of horses approaching made me turn, and I saw Rúna upon a blood bay charger. I let my breath out in relief.

“Leif!” Rúna shouted as soon as she was close enough to be heard. The only sign she’d been injured was a smear of blood dripping from her scalp. She urged her horse on until she was level with us, and then she dismounted so fast she nearly crashed to the ground. Leif steadied her with a hand upon her shoulder.

Rúna threw her arm around Leif’s neck and pulled him close. “Thank the gods,” she said, her voice hoarse. “How did you survive?”

Leif lifted his head and looked at me. “Ciara stormed Valhalla.” A slow smile crossed his face. “She even swore she’d do anything if only I’d come back.”

I jerked in surprise. “How did you—”

Leif’s gaze met mine. “Did you mean it?”

“Of course—”

“Then let us make a pact here and now that we will forever be allies.”

I smiled. “Just allies?”

He laughed and pulled me into his arms. “You could never be just an ally to me. Someday soon, our alliance will become much more permanent.”

His words were characteristically arrogant, but I found I couldn’t argue with them. I tilted my head back, and he kissed me again.

“I love you, meyja,” he said.

He kissed me as only someone who has dodged the scythe of death can kiss. “I love you, Leif,” I murmured. “But don’t call me meyja.”

His laughter chased the darkness from my heart.

We spent the rest of the day burning the remains of the dead. It took all our strength to pile the j?tnar bodies together in an impressive fire, but it was necessary labor. There was a danger in leaving such creatures behind, even if they were dead. Legend had always held that powerful beings could regenerate if even a finger were to survive. I didn’t rest until I tasted ash with every breath I took.

We built great funeral pyres for those we had lost, sending the burning bodies out on longships docked in Skien. I found my father’s crown, only inches away from his bones. Sadly, I drew my finger across the tarnished metal, remembering the man he once was. I carefully gathered his bones and added them to the pile, wishing I could give him more than a hasty end-of-battle funeral.

“Does this make you jarl of Skien now?” I asked as we stared at the mountainous remains of Fenris.

He nodded once. “We are slowly taking over the world, you and I.”

That same ambitious hunger reared within me, but I turned away from it. “I must return to Mide, Leif.”

“Soon,” he said, and something almost like contentment warmed my stomach.

As Leif and I stood side by side on the quay, reflections of the burning ships shining on the water, I clasped his hand in mine as my heart sang thanks for one thing.

We had challenged the gods and won.





29





Our return voyage was much less eventful than the last, which was something of a miracle for us. Still, it was long and tiring—full of hot sun and endless salty spray.

When at last we landed upon the shores of Mide, my father’s castle looming over us from above, I vaulted down from the longship I had once feared. As I took that first step on the rocky, sandy shore, I could hardly prevent myself from falling to my knees and kissing the ground in thanksgiving. But I had barely enough time to tilt my head to the sun’s warm rays before a horn bellowed far above us.