Beyond a Darkened Shore(98)

I need the power to stop them. Will you lend it? I asked.

The Morrigan’s answering grin was more frightening than her glower. I thought you’d never ask.

The black fog that seemed to travel with her swirled around me, and then I felt it: a swelling of power, a renewal of energy, the healing of my broken body.

I thanked the Morrigan and returned through the glowing door to my body in a rush, my heart beating strong now, my strength returned tenfold.

I had an army of undead at my command, powerful goddess-given seidr, and a flesh-eating charger. I could stop them—I had to.

I called upon five of my clansmen, summoning them to me instantly. Together, we streamed toward one of the Valkyries. They engaged her in combat, separating her from her sisters while the other Valkyries battled Leif and the remainder of my clansmen.

Their black swords clashed with her golden one, and she kept them at bay, fighting them all at once, as easily as a seasoned fighter could battle a child. Still, it was enough to distract her. I forced myself free of my body and targeted the glowing golden spot in her chest that was her heart. I plunged my hand in, my triumph reverberating through my body as I grasped her life force.

Now! I told one of my clansmen, and he thrust his sword into her immobile heart.

Her face was frozen in shock as she crashed to the ground.

I had felled one, but there were five more. As I turned my attention to the next, a horrible sight greeted me.

The Valkyrie who stood over Leif raised her sword.

No! I shouted inwardly, snatching out with my mind to take control of her—to stop her before she could do the unthinkable. I was plunged into impenetrable darkness once again, but I felt her hesitate.

You cannot hold me long, she taunted. He has always been destined to add to the ranks of einherjar, and we have made sure from the very beginning that he would be the best warrior the world—and Valhalla—has ever seen.

Suddenly I remembered what Arinbjorn had said all that time ago in the stables. When he said their sister was killed on purpose so Leif would find her. I remembered learning from the Northmen that the j?tnar weren’t that different from the gods, and that some were even intermarried or related by blood.

You arranged for Finna to be slaughtered, I thought to the Valkyrie, horror washing over me.

The Valkyrie laughed, the sound eerie and humorless. We did. Leif Olafsson was already the best raider the north had seen—he would have sailed the world, bringing knowledge of our gods to many people—but we needed his power as an einherjar. His power would be better used in Valhalla to fight for the gods, and what better way than to have him train here in Midgard?

You manipulated him. You murdered his sister! And now you’ll take his life?

She answered by shoving me mentally so hard, my physical body crashed to the ground. An agonizing pain assaulted my head, so terrible in its intensity that I could only cradle my head and scream silently as I lost control of her mind, of everything, as I was myself lost to the agony.

Two of her sisters escaped my undead clansmen. They grasped hold of Leif. The Valkyrie who held Leif immobilized raised her sword.

I pushed away my pain to find Leif. Time seemed to slow as our gazes caught and held. “I love you,” Leif mouthed.

A sense of urgency exploded within my chest, and I streamed toward him. But the distance was far, too far.

The sword flashed and fell.

I watched as Leif jerked once and then was still.

Something inside me shattered. A scream tore from deep within me, so intense and powerful it was like a wave of destruction. Everyone froze.

Before I knew it, I had wrenched my soul from my body and appeared next to the Valkyrie who had killed Leif. Black anger and a terrible, soul-destroying grief rent through me, and I exploded through the Valkyrie’s mental defenses, ignoring her as she fought me like a wild animal. Her arm shook as it rose against her will, and she screamed in anguish as I forced her to plunge her sword into her own chest.

I returned to myself before I could become trapped in her death spiral.

Four remained.

I stalked toward one, darkness rolling off me like a black fog. My spirit burst free of my body and slammed into her mind, and I forced her to kill herself amid her mentally screamed threats of death and damnation.

I killed them all, one by one, tearing their golden hearts free of their bodies.

Breathing hard, I returned to my body once more, and fell to my knees by Leif’s side. Far above me, the sky darkened with storm clouds as though my emotions were being mirrored by the elements.

I had torn the Valkyries’ hearts free, but it was mine that was dying.

I leaned forward until my head rested upon his still-warm body and I wrapped my arms around him. Losing Sleipnir and my father could in no way compare to this pain . . . this emptiness inside me.

“Please don’t leave me,” I whispered. “I was a fool to think I could live without you, and I will do anything if you’ll only come back to me.”

Lightning flashed, its sudden luminance only emphasizing how dark it had become. A boom of thunder followed.

A figure appeared before us. He wore a gray, hooded cloak and gripped a gnarled staff. Bushy eyebrows hid only one startling ice-blue eye. The other was missing, as though plucked from its socket. Only skin remained. His long white beard was streaked with gray, but instead of looking old and helpless, he only appeared more powerful. A raven sat on each shoulder, watching us with eyes that seemed to contain the entire world.