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But I was surprised when Danny grabbed the spear after hitching a sword to his hip.
I looked at the weapons, glistening with power. They wanted war. They craved death. Each sang to me like the aether did. I understood the notes now. They weren’t just a hum anymore. Each told a story of vengeance with its own melody.
I listened, backing away from the wall. All of the weapons were heavy songs, full of sorrow. They would weigh me down while fighting. I needed to choose wisely which ones I put on my body. I wasn’t sure I had favorite; each was hauntingly alluring, but I was partial to the bow and the sword. Their harmony made my aether spark.
My hand reached for the last bow and arrow hanging on the onyx stone. I took two daggers, knowing they were for close-range kills only. Their tune was different altogether—deadly, yet slight enough to maneuver with.
I searched the wall for the one weapon I was missing. My hands ached for it. My soul reached for something else. My eyes strayed to where Ales took a second broadsword from the wall. It was the sword from my dream, our dream.
Thatwas Ales’ preferred weapon?
Ales already had two swords, one strapped to his back and a second to his thigh. He held a golden scythe in his right hand. He extended the sword to me. “You won it fairly, if you remember.”
He grinned. I nodded and gripped the hilt of the sword, easing the weight from him while flipping it in my hand.
The song felt good, but it wasn’t perfect. The markings along the blade weren’t right. They weren’t familiar. There shouldn’t be harsh lines, thick with bold streaks; instead there should be swirls and ties. The same with the notes of its melody. They needed to be twisted together—the ancient with the new, the fierce with the calm, the ecstasy with the pain.
I turned the blade over in my palm. It gleamed in the torchlight as I concentrated on the feeling pulsing from my hand to the sword.
The obsidian symbols swirled and straightened and the melody became as I desired. I tilted my head, encouraging them. Effortlessly, they turned, floating into new brilliant shapes and sounds, the ones I chose. Then they seared in place.
I changed the blade.
I sighed with its power and sheathed it to my side.
I hoped Ales didn’t want the sword back. Now it was mine. As much a part of me as my own hands.
When we finished checking our weapons, the two gray-eyed men joined us, letting us know the tunnels at the ocean entrance were sealed.
We made our way out of the cavern, pausing on the cliff. The opening at the side of the mountain gave us a view of half of the island, including the coastline and the forest below.
Ales turned to me. “What direction will they come from?”
I pointed to the eastern coastline that led to the village. It was more of an instinct than exact knowledge. It was where the darkness seemed to seep from.
Ales pointed to Talon and Danny. “Guard the mountain pass from the coast. Converge them and then pick them off.” Then he looked at Cri and Leo. “We will defend the coast. Deter them from advancing past the tree line.”
Ales’ gray-eyed friend, the blond-haired man I’d met on the shore of Eir the day we arrived, reached for Ales’ arm. “We will guard the tunnels from the coastline entrance to ensure none pass through your line.”
“Thank you, brother,” Ales said to the gray-eyed Einherjar.
Ales turned to me and Logan. “You two stay in the mountain and guard the tunnels from this side. Don’t leave until I retrieve you, unless the Raiders make it to the vault. Then you leave with Logan. Create a new portal, and then another, and another, until you find other Einherjar. Remember what I said—an army will give you more strength. Make them bind to you—hundreds, as many as you can.”
That’s why Ales had given up the run-and-hide strategy for me so quickly. I should’ve known better. He had a plan B escape… for only me and Logan.
Son of a bitch! He’s planning on dying on that beach. Without me.
