A Valkyrie's Apprentice: Book Two

Beyond Redemption

"Is there anything you need to say to John or Kaden..?" I asked cautiously.

Her eyes seemed to consider this for a moment before she slowly shook her head.

"You're at my side. I don't just trust you with my life. I trust that I don't need to savour my last moments on the realm tonight. Anselle does." She finished in a low promise.

Her words sent warmth through me. The kind of warmth that meant everything. The words that trusted me completely and believed in more than just power. I smiled at the goddess before me. She smiled in return and then closed her fist calling off the burning power around her. She drew her hood low over her eyes and I nodded.

"About time we ended this." She snorted.

I couldn't find myself agreeing more. The gauntlets winked on my forearms begging to be harnessed. To be unleashed. 

I would oblige them tonight.

* * * * *

We crossed the empty, dark streets at a pace unmatched.

Shadows and wind as we ran the cobbles or when necessary the rooftops. I couldn't help but feel a sense of thrill running beside her. Yes, we had run from enemies and threats many times. But never as matched equals. Never working together so completely to destroy the bane of both our lives.

Even as we dropped from the ledge of another roof I considered this. What would become of us if we did finish what we had started all that time ago. Would Tayah even want what Valhalla held? Was it enough for her?

Odin had never forced a Valkyrie to return. Never had to. Immortals never had mortal memories to grow fond of the way she did... I knew what was certain. I would go wherever she went. It wouldn't matter what the gods thought of this. It never did. I disobeyed their law the moment I saw a woman lying in the mud with an arrow through her arm. 

I was powerless to her ever after.

Tayah darted down a darker alley as we closed in quickly on the looming bell tower ahead of us.

In many ways there was so little time now. If she chose to stay here, her mortals would die before her while she did not age. I knew that was potentially something that could break a person. But my immortal had grown through death before. Who was I to say otherwise? As she had wisely once told me, it was not the time spent that makes one's life significant–she wanted the quality for as long as she could get. I wouldn't fault her for it.

Tayah slowed ahead as we came a few buildings away from the tower.

She held up a gloved hand to stop us in the shadows as a pair of Royal guards marched past. I felt for her hand in the dark and gripped it tightly. She turned her hooded head back to me in question. The guard passed a safe distance.

Then I took the moment.

"I want you to know, that whatever you decide to do once this is over... If that is on the mortal or immortal realm I will be with you." I murmured, as light as the wind.

Her silver eyes shone back with a slight frown but she didn't have the moment to respond. We felt the sudden shift in power and energy. The distinct pulse of a relic. Thanatos.

I released her hand and drew on my focus. Tayah gazed at the side of my face a moment longer before darting out of the shadows and making for the entrance of the bell tower. I followed right behind her. Trying to send away any doubt that we would be separated. No matter the outcome.

* * * * *

Tayah kicked the door off its frame with little effort.

The low glow of torches lit the stone hall. The pulse of power only felt stronger. We moved as one down the dimly lit stone. Thanatos practically called out to us. Guiding us those final steps to where we needed to finish it all. Finally.

We ascended the curved stairs curling around the tower. I didn't know what to expect when we found them, only that we would. Maybe Astrid was already dead. Maybe her blood had grown cold in the time it had taken us to cross the city. Maybe Revna had even fallen to the immortal's insatiable lust for power.

With Thanatos at her side anything was possible...

We finally arrived outside a thick oak door with a dark claw of a handle. Tayah cast me one final look. One that told me she was prepared for whatever was on the other side.

She drew a burning fist and her cloak lit up the darkness too before she sent it into the wood and it exploded open.

Three faces turned to us. And not one of them had a hold of any sane thoughts. Because the same dark wrongness that had burned in Tayah's eyes once on that ship now burned in Revna's and Astrid's. Manipulated to her will by a God's ancient power.

Revna struck first.

Stone from the walls broke free and came at us quickly. I drew the gauntlets as Tayah did her shield. The power in the room was now a living thing.

A wave of white light left my arms disintegrating the incoming stone and sending a shockwave through the tower. It vaguely occurred to me that this was not the place for an immortal battle–

Astrid's fire came in hot racing a wave for our bodies before Tayah's cloak devoured it hungrily and her arms became torches. She sent both arms forward and into Anselle alone. A quick shield of rock flew up to shield Anselle.

It crumbled around the edges but held. The rest of the flame exploded out in the wall behind them. This was enough to make the demon controlling them grin in mad glee. I growled low and sent a hand above where I knew the clouds would now rage. A bolt of thick lightning broke through the ceiling and met my hand.

Astrid tried to engage with her own flame but Tayah controlled it. It gave me the time I needed to send it straight into Revna at the last moment. She couldn't call on anything fast enough to stop it. Thanatos was no longer with her.

It struck her true in the chest and she exploded out of the remains of the wall into the night below. I didn't waste a second. I turned to Astrid that fought with Tayah's own fire. Purple vines of power cracked in my hands and I sent them into her. Astrid's dark eyes whipped to me and caught them at a cost.

She barely absorbed the deadly power and had to cast another hand out to release it through her other hand. The entire tower shook under our feet. The walls compromised in too many places too quickly. Anselle however grinned like a mad, untamed creature of dark creation.

Tayah ignored the shaking stone beneath us and rushed her.

I grit my teeth and ran after her only to be stopped by a wall of fire. I snarled and ripped a fist up to claim it only to be assaulted by another wave. I ripped my eyes off Tayah and called in everything I could take from the golden gauntlets. With a loud hum and bright light I sent it all at the immortal without another thought. It struck true.

Too true. The power couldn't be stopped and I hadn't thought of what that would mean when I called on it–only that she would not stop me from helping the only woman that mattered to me.

It scorched a large hole through her chest before I could rethink anything. But I couldn't stop. I couldn't linger because the tower broke apart under our feet. I burned away falling stone looking quickly back to the spot Tayah and Anselle should have been. Should have been fighting with dark energy and bright flame.

Only they weren't there at all.

I jumped the large gap in the floor ripping itself apart and rushed to the edge. I felt the power below but I couldn't see it. I didn't hesitate. 

I jumped off the edge after them.