Primordial. Beyond ancient.
Trees snap. Rocks the size of houses tumble.
A sound rips through the night, tearing at my heart.
I run around Ylvin to look down from the ridge.
The air vibrates with the roar of combat. But I can only hear one thing.
My poor Ari’s shrieking howl.
CHAPTER 81
The wind bites my skin, cooling my sweat and causing me to shiver. Or maybe the chills come from the scene I’m observing.
The forest below us is a nightmare of broken trees and shattered stone. No training or story prepared me for the violence of giants. Awestruck, I wonder, has any mortal seen a fight like this before?
Ari and Elof tear into each other. Two forces of nature finally unleashed. Frost explodes from Ari with every strike. Elof’s stone cracks with every blow. But they both just seem to rejuvenate instantly. Neither one falters. Neither one sways. Ari has sharpened his senses, losing the clumsy gait that hindered him earlier. He moves like he’s born for this. I should be terrified, and part of me is. The other part is spellbound. Such raw power. Nature’s power.
“Men,” says Ylvin, her deep voice a mix of speech and growl.
I don’t have the mental capacity for humor. Neither does Eidunn. Ylvin is way too calm considering the situation. The two Jotnars’ roars echo against the mountainsides. The forest, the stones, the rivers—they shake. The air in my lungs is rattled.
Elof drives his shoulder into Ari’s gut, lifting him like he’s nothing. Ari slams backward into a cluster of pine trees, snapping them like sticks. Shards of ice fling off his skin, glinting in the moonlight.
“He’s winning,” I whisper. “Elof’s winning.”
“That’s the plan,” replies Ylvin.
Elof jumps on Ari, planting a knee into his chest. His stone fists slam into Ari’s face again and again, cracking off icy plates of flesh. Ari howls, frost billowing in a blizzard around him.
It hurts to watch. My heart is about to explode. Gods, how it hurts to watch. I’ve seen him bleed for me, but this… and against Elof…
“Stop,” I gasp, taking a step forward. “I’m going?—”
An enormous snout, white and warm, blocks me.
Ylvin stands before me like a wall.
“You’re not going,” she rumbles.
“He’s hurting him! Elof’s going to kill him!”
She snorts.
“He won’t kill him,” the she-wolf says, gaze fixed on the battle. “He’s wearing him down. Ari is in his first transformation, he’s?—”
I try to push past her massive form. Every instinct screams for me to help him. I’m not sure how, but I have to try. His pain claws at the depths of my heart.
“But I can’t just?—”
Ylvin brushes me with her side, knocking me to the ground.
“Sit, girl!” snarls Ylvin. “You’ll get us all killed. Just listen.”
My pride stings. Her strength reminds me of how small I am in all this. I’m just a helpless thrall girl again, like this morning.
A hand lands on my shoulder. I turn to see Eidunn, tears streaming down her cheeks. It’s not up to me. I can’t risk everyone anymore. How many more need to die? Eidunn strokes my cheek with her soft hand.
