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In my heart, I knew it wasn’t yet complete. I needed to tell them something. I was compelled to honor what they had just done, but I wasn’t sure of the words. They seemed too ancient, too sacred to say them out loud, so I whispered into their minds.
“I will honor your sacrifice with my life. Until that day, I will serve you faithfully, mortal and Valkyrie.”
I turned as the circle of Einherjar now all looked to me. I hadn’t opened my mind to let them in, but I had connected into theirs. It felt personal. It was a little too intimate to do it more than when needed.
“You have to know something else. I promise you all I will find a way to end this war, and free every Einherjar from their bond. This is Charlie and the Valkyrie talking; We are one. The mortal lives and so does the Valkyrie, and We are not going to follow the old ways. I am different; We are different together. My aether is yours when you need it.”
I nodded to them as the last fragments of the sun set behind me. “We need to find the people of Eir.”
There was still work to do before we could rest. “Account for everyone, and then determine the extent of the damage. Talon and Leo, search the island. Make sure not a single Raider is left. Everyone else, help repair what we can tonight, so no one is left without a place to sleep.”
My Einherjar nodded to me. It was odd giving orders, but it seemed as if they expected them now. They didn’t look to Ales for instructions as they had before. They looked to me.
The gray-eyed Einherjar released the people of Eir from the tunnels at my request. Slowly they trickled out of the mountainside.
I waited on the coast until the last people of Eir entered the village, and then walked the stone path back to the heart of the village. I could overhear people entering their homes. Various women and men hugged the Einherjar, searching their armor for gaps and their skin for wounds.
“Where’s Lana?” Talon asked as the two gray-eyed men came from the distance.
I stopped in my tracks and looked at Talon. “She was supposed to be with you and Danny. She was going to meet you where the trail narrowed before the mountain pass.”
“Why wasn’t she in the tunnels?” Danny yelled while we all started running to the pass.
“She chose to fight with you,” I yelled as we searched the trail. “I let her,” I whispered under my breath.
What have I done?
If she was hurt, it was my fault. I gave her the bow. I practically encouraged her to fight with Danny and Talon.
I yelled, “Lana!”
Shit, how far did she get along the trail?
All the Einherjar on Eir searched through the forest, dozens of boots thudding over leaves and needles against the soft ground.
I took the trail from the cavern to the mountain pass. She might have decided to go back to the vault and stay there. That was possible, but it wasn’t what she had said she wanted.
I lunged over the rocks and sprinted up the trail until I reached the small opening in the mountainside. I crouched and ran inside.
“Lana!” My scream echoed off the cave walls.
I waited for a response.
Nothing.
Just silence.
“Lana, where are you?” I shouted into the cavern.
The only sound was the occasional drip of water from the cave ceiling. She wasn’t here. I felt it in my bones. No one was here.
I turned and raced back down the path toward the trail between the beach and the village. If Lana was the stubborn woman I knew, then she would have gone further up the trail to strike down the Raiders before they made it to Danny and Talon.
Damn it.
That’s what Charlie would’ve done.
Don’t panic. She’s probably fine.
