Her power is limitless, but only for the light.
I armed her with everything good in my heart. Every wish I had for her. The life she deserves.
I gave her nothing of darkness.
A roar of frustration builds within me because I made her vulnerable, and now Thaden has her. It will take me weeks to find her, and I’ll only bring the Einherjar with me.
I have to deal with them. And quickly.
My father’s creed has become part of my soul: Protect the people you love at any cost.
I make the only decision I can. “Take me to the Einherjar,” I say to the dragon. “I will make them join your army.”
If I don’t kill them first.
Chapter 29
Vargo carries me into the deep north, his crimson wings and body casting a daunting shadow across the mountains, forests, and plains we pass over.
Before we left the city, we stopped briefly in the forest in the west to retrieve my warm clothing since I’d need it where we’re going.
As for Catalina, she didn’t seem fazed by being without Vargo. When we left, she and the other riders were already escorting prisoners through the western gate. Each of them was in chains, and even from a distance, I recognized Braddock, the human who once looked out for my brother and me but came to hate me.
Within seconds, they were mere specks behind me, as tiny as the treetops we pass over.
By the time we reach the edge of Einherjar territory, the sun is setting, and the freezing wind plucks at my hair and chills my face. I can’t feel my nose. It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced cold like this, but it’s the least of my concerns.
Arriving at night should be to my advantage since my eyesight is even sharper in the dark, but the Einherjar guards will be more suspicious of strangers arriving in the night, and as such, more inclined to kill me on sight.
We approach the first village, nearest to the south, where Vargo finally descends to a clearing within a rocky outcrop. The strongest clan always lives closest to the border. They can experience more attacks, fight more battles, and grow stronger in their deep light that way.
A vast plain stretches out in front of me with a gentle incline to a slightly higher plateau in the distance. The village sits on that plateau, surrounded by a wooden wall. The wall is high but still only half the height of the wall that surrounds the human city, which was built by Blacksmiths and reinforced with metal.
This was my father’s old clan. The most powerful clan.
If I can persuade them to join the humans, the other clans will follow.
My father described this place to me, and it doesn’t appear to have changed since he was here.
Barren fields stretch out on either side of a well-trodden path that is lined with spikes. Every spike has a head on it, some of them now skeletal.
In the distance is a high wall made of wood, with wooden spikes jutting from it. Neither the wall nor the spikes will be a problem for me, but the men patrolling the wall will be.
From this distance, I count at least twenty. The urgency of their movements tells me they’ve already spotted the dragon, although they can’t possibly attack him from this distance.
If I kill even a single one of them, any alliance with the humans will be impossible.
I have to subdue, not kill.
“You will either emerge from behind that wall or you won’t,” Vargo says to me, his voice a soft rumble. “You’re on your ownnow, wolf. If I get close, they will see the chance for a glorious death, and Catalina wants them alive.”
I give a soft snort. “Understood.”
If I appear weak, they will try to kill me out of contempt. If I appear strong, they will try to kill me for the sheer glory of it.
Pulling up my hood, I step out from behind the rocky outcrop and proceed along the wide path, ignoring the gruesome spikes along the way.
It doesn’t take me long to identify every weapon the men on the ramparts are carrying or how much of a threat they pose to me. Each of them has a bow and arrows with multiple daggers at their waists and a sword at their backs. They’re all dressed in furs, but not all of the furs are from wolves.
