Mina drags her eyes from Harald, who’s still eyeing her like a predator would prey. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
The axe in my hand glimmers in the sunlight. The promise of action has the sharpened blade glowing as I tighten my grip.
Freya’s eyes sweep across all of us. “While we wait, how about a history lesson?”
Piominko and Tane fall silent, as do the three of us, giving Freya our full attention.
“Harald was a part of a legion of berserkers.” My eyes slide to him to see a maniacal grin cutting across his face. “So his fighting style is a bit…”
“Chaotic.” Odr finishes for her and chuckles to himself.
“Exactly.” She smiles. “A lot of their success came from not only their sheer size, but their ability to become monsters of destruction.”
Harald hammers his spear against his shield, drawing our attention back to him. He cocks his head at an unnatural angle and twitches. The pounding becomes louder and faster. His eyes are squeezed shut and his head is thrown back towards the sky.
He howls.
Literally howls like a wolf at the moon. The sound slices through me, fear drenching my senses.
His eyes flash open. But the humanity in them is gone.
Replaced with a hunger for death.
Lachlan and Evander cut through the middle of his display, their arms loaded with shields.
“Why is Harald howling?” Lachlan mock whispers, shooting me a look of mortification.
“Because he was a berserker in his human life and Freya wants us to understand that technique.”
“Ahhh, so we’re not shifting into wolves?” Evander jokes, passing a shield to Mina.
“Not today,” she replies equally sarcastically. Mina brushes my side as she raises up on her tiptoes to whisper into my ear. “I’m gonna climb that man like a tree.” She nods to Harald.
I snort loudly. The fear I was succumbing to vanishing. My cheeks burn and I cover my eyes with my hand.
“You did not just say that.”
Mina grins, her face brightening as she stares at Harald. He’s almost triple her size. One of his legs is her entire body. She really would have to climb him like a tree if she wanted to be face-to-face with him.
But with our shields in our hands, except Tane, we give our attention back to Freya.
“Fear in battle needs to be shifted from you to your opponent. I understand it is normal to have fear in your heart when faced with the possibility of death. But letting that cripple you will get you killed. So we must be fearless. The berserkers were excellent at instilling fear. As were the Maori in battle.”Freya gestures to Tane, who shies away from her acknowledgment.
My eyes lock onto Lachlan’s, who flashes me a wary glance. What the heck is that about?
“Could you give us an example of the haka?” Freya asks. A soft smile graces her face. She’s trying to be encouraging, but putting Tane on the spot is not a good idea.
He looks down at his missing limb before meeting her eyes. There’s a sense of despair there that I hadn’t noticed before.Gods.He hadn’t realized the implication this would have on that part of his past—and present.
Mathilda steps forward, drawing everyone’s attention away from a floundering Tane. “What else did the berserkers do?”
Harald, who enjoys the spotlight immensely, answers quickly. “We drank blood from skulls and made men piss themselves in fear.”
I reign in another snort. But Mina steps towards him as if she can’t help herself.
“You don’t believe me?” His eyes slide down her tiny frame.
“Not much to be afraid of,” she responds. Despite their height difference, she manages to look down her nose at him.
