“Why should she pay the price for knowing you?” Estrid demanded. Her furious cry came out between rabid drags of air. Tiny droplets of spit scattered to the wind as she thundered toward me.
A wall of trees rolled in like fog, springing up from nothingness to create a barrier between the valkyrie and her revenge. I tore my attention from Estrid. I had one task, and I couldn’t fail. Fauna wouldn’t be safe until I had the sølje. I continued shoveling through clods for it, brushing Ella’s still-warm body as I searched for the object. I dug through hot, sticky red mud as I floundered through the space around Ella for the broach. Between the screams of battle, I began to pray. I asked Caliban, Azrames, Silas,anyoneto come. I promised I’d never fail them again. I’d do whatever they needed me to do. I’d be the perfect champion. I’d do anything they asked of me if they protected Fauna.
I lifted my forearm to shield my eyes from the spray of moss and dirt as an enormous trunk burst from the groundlike a sea serpent.
“You can’t win this, Fauna,” Estrid frothed as she dove once more.
“I don’t have to win it,” Fauna panted through her movements as she jumped from foot to foot, bounding over the cracks in the earth as it split to create an enormous chasm between me and the valkyrie. She landed on my side of the ravine, fists clenched as she shouted, “I just have to keep you away from Marlow.”
Estrid took several steps backward. It became clear she was going to jump the rift.
“Marlow,” Fauna begged, looking at me with wide, pleading doe eyes. Her face was covered in a sheen of sweat. Her thin arms trembled. She gulped for air in a way I’d never seen.
“I can’t find the broach,” I practically sobbed as I continued tunneling through the battlefield. I wanted nothing more than to wrap my fingers around the tool and drag Fauna to safety. I could do it. I could save us both.
“Please,” Fauna pleaded with me. “Live, Marlow.Live!”
“Fauna,” I croaked. I wanted her to run. I wanted her to get free. I felt so helpless. Everything became too loud. The sea itself cried out, crashing and breaking in tandem with their battle. The mountains shook. The universe cracked as they fought, insults and curses and promises for vengeance hurled as Estrid cleared the valley. Fauna threw tree after root after rock after her, but each movement cost her greatly.
My hand touched something hard and cold. I gasped as my fingers wrapped around the round, metallic object. The sound was just loud enough to distract Fauna. She tripped, stumbling backward in the fraction of a second it took for Estrid to adjust her grip.
Estrid flipped her sword for the killing blow.
Fauna barely evaded Estrid’s blade as the valkyrie plunged her weapon downward.
I clambered through the muck to my feet as a flash of white cut through the war. I scarcely registered the arctic foxas it darted between the warriors, kicking off at the valley’s edge and shooting toward me with arrow-like precision.
Fauna saw it, too. She turned to look at the animal as the silver arc of metal came down from her blind spot. I cried out in warning, throat knotted, heart pierced as the valkyrie moved too fast for Fauna to avoid.
Her copper cloud of hair snagged on the fox, obscuring her vision as the animal crashed into me. The moment he made contact, the creature became a man, wrapping me in strong arms. We fell through Álfheimr’s crust and into nothingness as Estrid’s blade embedded itself in Fauna’s throat with a wet, sickening crunch.
