They made it to the street before Erik looked back. Two buildings had gone down under the power of the hammer. He stared at the destruction, not sure how to feel.
“What is this? What’s happening?”
“I have come—”
“Ah! No! Okay.” He shook his head clear. “Are they dead?”
Göll shook her head. “We cannot die. It will take them some time to dig out from the rubble.”
“So, we shouldn’t be here when they get out?”
“We should not.”
Erik nodded intently, collecting his thoughts. “Right. Okay. Maybe the bus.” He patted his pockets, happy that at least his wallet was still there. “Let’s go.”
He started walking, deciding that trying to board a bus near the ruins of an apartment building didn’t look great. Checking his front pockets, he found that he didn’t have his keys and that his phone was smashed.
“Why are they doing that? Why are they attacking me?”
Göll seemed almost confused. “What do you mean?”
Erik narrowed his eyes, confused by the response. “Valkyries take great warriors to Valhalla, right?”
She shook her head, but then scanned the skies around them rather than expounding.
“Okay, so what do they do?”
“We guide great warriors to Valhalla.”
He clenched his teeth and took a deep breath. “I feel like that’s what I said.”
“They are not the same.”
There was a bus at the stop so he let the frustration of the conversation be replaced with a panicked run to flag the driver down. He went to the rear door of the bus, hoping that the driver would ignore them. He entered without much fuss, in spite of the slowly dripping blood coming from his arm. If anything, it made sure he got less attention than he otherwise would have. Göll entered the bus to a completely different reaction. There was immediate chatter and phones were pointed at her straight away. Sitting at the rear of the bus did little to help.
Still, in defiance of every dire expectation running through his head, the bus started moving. He let out a relieved sigh, thankful that bus drivers weren’t paid well enough to bother with what was obviously a shit situation. Erik settled down for a second, figuring if they just rode silently, they would be left alone.
The growing noise of the chatter from the seats ahead of him killed that dream before it could find a comfortable place in his mind. Göll was doing little to help draw attention away from herself. She stood in front of him, staring down at him. He’d been dealing with it all day so it had almost slipped his mind how insane it must look.
Erik stood, his voice as quiet as he could manage over the noise of the bus. “Can you do something about your… armor or whatever it is?”
“Why?” Göll was not a whisperer.
He nodded over her shoulder. “You’re attracting a lot of attention. Too much.”
She looked back at the people on the bus who had no intention of pretending not to be gawking at the scene.
“I can change them if you want.”
“Change them? I mean, aren’t you wearing anything underneath?”
She ignored the question and a silver shimmer started at her head. It ran down to her feet, replacing the leather armor with jeans, a shirt, and a thick jacket. Aside from being unseasonably warm clothing, she had just magicked herself into new clothes in front of a bus full of people.
The noise ahead of them could no longer be called chatter. They were in open awe of what they’d seen. More phones came out, this time to make phone calls. He immediately leaned over and pulled the wire to stop the bus. The driver pulled over dutifully and opened the doors.
“Go. Get off. We can’t stay on here.”
She turned and walked down the steps and Erik kept himself close behind her, stopping at the bottom step to jog back up.
“If any of you follow us, I’ll fucking cut your throats!” He stuck his tongue out and made the weirdest noise he could think of before running back down the stairs. The bus took off at speed before anyone could even stand up.
He walked over to a pitiful wooden fence near where they’d been dropped off and leaned against it, letting out a ragged sigh.
“Where can we go? How do we get to Valhalla?” She ignored the questions and Erik felt his temper begin to fall apart. “I just watched you fucking murder a few buildings worth of people, can I have some answers?”
“No.”
He spun and punched the fence. The pain radiated through his hand and that was enough to calm him down. Göll turned at the sound and looked at his hand.
“And what if I don’t want to go?”
Her attention went back to the sky. “You must go.”
“Why?” he shouted. “Why must I go? Huh? Explain it! Any of it!”
“You have been chosen.”
He groaned in frustration and shook his head. “Fine. What about those other two? Who are they? Why are they after me?”
“They are Hild and Thrúd. Since they have failed to stop you in their first attempt, they will seek anyone who might aid you in reaching Valhalla.”
“Seek them and do what?”
She didn’t even bother to look back when she said it. “Kill them.”
Erik pushed himself away from the fence, looking down the streets to orient himself. They were only three or four blocks from the restaurant. He started running toward it, Göll coming up beside him.
“There is likely no hope for your friends. They would have aided you.”
He ignored her, running as fast as he could. His legs were burning when he first saw the smoke. “No, no.” He forced himself to move faster. “Come on.” He watched the smoke rise above buildings that cruelly blocked his view.
He put his head down as he came to the edge of
