AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty-Eight
For Eir
“You don’t want me to fight beside you?” I asked.
“No.”
It was the ultimate dishonor to not want me in battle, and Ales knew that. He didn’t trust me to have his back.
“You’d rather I watch you fight for Eir while I wait for you and Cri and Leo to fall?” I practically screamed.
“You are more valuable. We cannot lose you.”
I could change more Einherjar—as many as I wanted in any world I chose, but none of them would be him. None of them would make the light inside me… limitless the way Ales did.
Ales cupped my cheek. “You aren’t strong enough yet. If we had more time… months, years to train, then you might survive. But today, you will not live past sunset if you don’t leave.”
They were the only words he could’ve said that would cut straight into the Valkyrie, and they did. But not in the way he expected. He thought I was too weak… and I would prove him wrong. Perhaps other Valkyries would leave if they thought the Fates were not on their side, but I wasn’t just a Valkyrie.
I stepped away from his touch.
“I understand you truly believe what you say, but I cannot abandon Eir. I am the Valkyrie until my last breath. I command you. And I will meet the Raiders on the sand, beside you.”
Ales frowned and bowed his head.
The conversation was over. Once it was commanded, he might want to object, but it was useless. My decision was my made.
“Logan can stay at the vault to protect the tunnels from this side,” I said. It wasn’t right to damn Logan with us. He was different from Ales. This wasn’t his home. Even Danny wouldn’t be on the front line with us.
“Hell no, I’m not staying up here to what, twiddle my fingers while you have all the fun. I’m more useful on the coast than here. You know that!” Logan stepped beside Ales. “He thinks so too. He won’t admit it, but he’s impressed with my swordsmanship.”
Ales grinned. “For a left-handed man, he can fight.”
Are they getting along, or am I hallucinating?
“We will be the front line then. Cri and Leo can have our flanks,” I commanded.
A wisp of fiery red hair in my periphery caught my attention.
“I’ll meet you on the coast. I need to take care of something first.”
I watched as they disappeared down the trail to the beach, and turned to search for Lana. I saw her sneaking out of the side of the cave when I yelled, “What are you doing up here? You should be with the others in the tunnels!”
She strapped a golden-winged dagger to her thigh. That wily little wraith had taken a Valkyrie blade, without permission, and wasn’t rolling in agony from the aether. A mortal shouldn’t have been able to touch that blade without feeling the pain of the aether.
Lana looked up at me with her electric blue eyes. “I will fight beside the ones I love.”
I turned to look for Danny and Talon, who were scarcely visible below the canopy, halfway to the mountain pass.
“You know that dagger is powerful. Mortals aren’t supposed to be able to touch them.”
According the creed, it could hurt the mortal, but that didn’t mean a soul strong enough, like Lana, couldn’t handle it.
The dagger sang a tight, burning note of ferocity. “Does the dagger hurt to hold?”
“Only a little,” she said defiantly.
“Lana, you have to be sure this is what you want. It is dangerous. The dagger might sear you skin if you hold onto for long. You might not even be able to strike a Raider.”
