The trees stopped moving, leaving a door for us that led straight to the rune stone.
Awareness made my spine tingle.
“There’s something strange happening here,” I whispered.
“Agreed,” Kilia said.
“I don’t think we have time to find out,” Oscri hissed.
The men were closer now, only fifteen or so steps away.
“One chance,” Ottoh whispered to himself.
I turned, my blood chilling. The men on his side had moved closer to their friends, leaving an opening to escape them.
“Don’t—”
It was all I could get out before the heir wiggled his brows and dragged his partner with him, falling into a sprint toward the stone.
“Sorry,” he called over his shoulder. “But I’m not about to be wolf food. Doesn’t seem like a fitting end!”
“Thatfucker,” Kilia hissed.
A snarl ripped from one of the captives, and they instantly closed the gap they’d left open, moving more purposefully toward us now. I rolled from my heels to my toes, and Kilia’s hand tightened around mine as his twin spewed every curse possible in our language.
Another wolf joined the onyx one, this one gray with black streaks running down its back, and the howl leaving it made the ground beneath our boots quake. My breaths stuttered when the animal’s eyes found mine and it opened its maw, displaying teeth the length of my forearm.
“Hurry the fuck up,” Ottoh screamed when his partner stumbled.
“By Odin,” Oscri whispered under his breath.
The wolves stalked the stone as the two men reached the tree line. Their prancing was exaggerated, paws lifting high in the air, swiping at the yellowed grass spreading out across the glen. A yawn rounded the black one’s maw before it lunged so high into the air Ottoh’s partner screamed. The gray wolf followed, but my view was blocked when Kilia pulled hard enough at my arm for me to yelp, forcing me to push up against the trunk.
“Time to show off that Sweengard strength,” Kilia snarled as he dragged us down, making the man swinging a thick branch miss our heads by a mere inch. “You were holding back before. Don’t think I didn’t notice you left the heavy lifting to me.”
I was glad another man lunged for us so he didn’t see the blood drain from my face. Crouching down, I managed to get our attacker on his back by hooking my boot behind his leg, but it wasn’t saying much, since he probably weighed less than my younger sisters.
“Just testing you,” I hissed as I closed my eyes and stomped on the man’s face until it crunched with a sickening sound under my weight. “I need to choose my iron-bound, after all.”
“I’ll never be a Sweengard,” Kilia grunted as he ripped the branch from a third attacker and slammed it so hard into the man’s face the crack must have echoed all the way to the beach.
“It’s not so bad,” I replied, ducking under another man’s swinging arm and shoving Oscri back with my foot so that Kilia and I covered him. “I’ve kept both of you alive since we teamed up.”
I felt the twins’ burning glares when I kicked back another man.
“I saved you”—Kilia struck a fifth man before continuing—“from the warrior. And I didn’t kill you, even if I could have. We’re even.”
The air was slammed out of me when the man I’d tried to stave off shoved me into the tree so hard the world flickered for a moment.
Gunerhadmeant for Kilia to kill me—he didn’t care if he lost a karl for that purpose—but he might have done me a favor, I thought as Kilia slammed a hand against the man’s chest, dulling his eyes. His heart gave out with one strike.
“I—” I coughed. “I g-guess, thank you then.”
“What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Kilia stiffened when I couldn’t stop my handfrom pressing against my gut, trying to quell the nausea from the push. “Is something wrong? Are… are you injured?”
It felt like I’d been dipped into a frozen lake as thoughts raced across his face.
I would need to kill him. I would need to kill himandhis brother. As my instincts took over and I searched the ground for something to use, Oscri yelped behind us. I spun around to see him lifting an arm to protect himself from two men coming for him, makeshift spears in their hands.
