“My fingers are starting to hurt.”
“See? And isn’t the fire nice?”
“Not even near nice enough. And what about a mug of cold drink? Useless here.”
“But warm soup!”
“Bah!” She waved a hand at him, putting the last of her cubed potatoes into the pan.
There was a bit of dried meat around the cured pig belly that Tove cut away and tossed into the pan. It rendered down and they began cooking the vegetables. Erik looked at Göll. Her back was to them but she was only a few steps away.
“Do you get cold, Göll?”
“I can feel the cold.”
He tilted his head. “I don’t know if that’s the same thing. Tove, is that the same thing?”
“Seems close enough.”
“What about the heat? Does that leather armor ever get unbearable?”
“I cannot remove the armor, only change its shape.”
“Sounds rough. I guess I’m probably stuck wearing these grips for a while. Taking them off seems stupid.”
Tove shook the pan, stirring the contents. “Are they uncomfortable?”
“No, not really.” Erik looked down at the grips. “I just hope they work when I need them.” He remembered the meat and put it in the pot.
Dinner was the best of the meals they’d had and, when it was done, they decided to bed down for the night. Erik couldn’t manage to sleep, no matter how hard he tried and eventually gave up. He came out of his covered bedroll to find Tove had not shared in his trouble. She was sleeping soundly, mouth open and nose bright red.
He walked to Göll. She was standing silently, as ever.
“Thanks for watching over us. I’ve never said it before, so it felt like I should.”
She looked at him for a moment, her eyes lingering as though she wanted to say something, but she didn’t, not until she looked away. “You should sleep.”
“Don’t I know it. If you know how to make me, let me know.” He took in a deep breath and let it out again, the cold air not bothering him even without the thick overcoat. “I’ve been uneasy since we got here. To Winter, I mean.”
“I have felt it as well, your unease.” She looked at the ground for a moment. “It is… strange.”
“Strange how? Are you not supposed to feel stuff I feel?”
She rubbed her fingers lightly over her chest. “I do not know. I have never…” She looked back up and across the field, leaving the sentence to hang in the air.
Erik chuckled. Looking at her, he couldn’t help but smile. “I get it. There are a lot of new things for me, too.” He looked out over the snowy valley floor. “Can’t say I hate them, though.”
The cold had finally worked its way through to his skin and so Erik went to sit in front of the fire for a while. The night was quiet except for the occasional snort or shift out of Tove. His eyes had almost grown heavy enough to convince him to retire to his bedroll when a sudden fog began to roll in. The heavy air moved in quickly and it was warm, unnaturally so. Erik stood, moving to Göll.
“What is this? Is this—”
Göll was shaking visibly, her eyes locked to the sky, scanning in a panic.
“No…”
The humid air was all around them, thick and unnatural. Erik turned his eyes to the sky, but found it empty. It was the sound that told him why Göll shook as she did. His body clenched and his hands wrapped tight around the grips.
Not just from one, but from every side of them, there came a shallow hiss circling in the fog.
chapter|25
They hadn’t yet charged for whatever reason, but one of the valkyries had begun to talk to the others. He couldn’t make out the words, but it was strange enough as it stood. They rarely talked. He slapped Göll on the back to draw her attention, holding up a hand when she looked to show the grips.
“We’ll be okay.”
“You haven’t slept,” she said, more plainly than he’d have liked.
His heart sank when he realized she was right. If they managed to kill him, they would likely also get to him long before Göll could hope to. He’d never survived an encounter with the valkyries.
“Tove! Get up!”
He heard a groan from the other side of the fire that cut itself short as Tove realized why she’d been interrupted. Erik took a deep breath and balled his fists tight around the grips.
The fog seemed to roll back and he could hear the voice of the valkyrie hidden in it clearly now.
“Seems his warband has readied itself. Go!”
The hissing flared around them all at once. Three of the four made for him, the fourth stayed behind. Göll moved to his front to intercept the nearest of them and he spun to address the other two, coming in at angles from the edge of the camp.
They were both wielding short swords. The first had blonde hair braided tight. She charged ahead of her brown-haired sister. The blonde showed no signs of slowing and Erik knew what they meant to do, the first would swipe and the second would stab at him. He had no intention of playing into their game. He charged himself, causing the trailing attacker to slow, surprised by his speed. The blonde kept her sword aimed at his chest. She moved more quickly than Göll, but it was nothing he wasn’t prepared for. He slapped the sword to the side and swung upward, catching her in the chest and sending her spiraling skyward. She recovered and flew away.
Tove had grabbed the knives they’d bought, leaping quietly at the brown-haired valkyrie and nearly managing to plant the knives into the leather armor, but just missing. Erik watched the scene, amazed at Tove’s speed. She’d never shown anything like it before. More, she was quiet, unbelievably so. The valkyrie swiped at her, recoiling away, but the swing was
