Juku was on me the moment we arrived, grabbing my arm, roughly yanking me out of my captor’s grip. His face was bright red, and he was so angry I could feel him shaking as he dragged me back towards the entrance of the cave.
Kari ignored us, greeting the black haired man at the head of the army. “Ivar! So you come at last!”
The man executed a half bow, dipping forward at the waist. He leaned down to kiss the top of Kari’s hand and I felt Juku stiffen behind me. It was like something clicked into place just then. This man, this giant of a man, was most likely the one who would end up with my mother. He had “king” written all over him. I was burning with curiosity. Was he a cousin of Surtr’s or something? Did that make them second cousins? No wait, she’d married into the family, hadn’t she?
My brain was working overtime as I stared at them. Kari was leaning in close to Ivar, and he had his dark head bent next to hers. They were talking in low voices. Juku kept shifting behind me, and his fingers were biting into my upper arm. He was obviously pissed.
I turned my head slightly, so that he could hear me and said quietly, “There, see? You can bet she’s got something going on with him as well.”
Juku only grunted and pulled me against his chest forcefully. “Shut up.”
“Poor Juku. Did I get you in trouble?” I couldn’t seem to stop running my mouth off. “Did she spank you?”
His voice was low and angry next to my ear. “I said shut up.”
I was about to continue, regardless of the consequences, when there was a commotion from the gathering of jotun in front of us. They were turning toward the forest, drawing their swords. I froze. Through the woods I could see movement, men on horses heading this way.
Asher.
Kari turned and snapped at Juku, “Bring her to the front and access the link. It’s time to see what you can do.”
Juku dragged me forward, pushing me through the rebels. He stopped beside Ivar at the head of the army. I squirmed angrily as he looped one arm around my neck and pressed my back into his chest.
"You don't have to do this."
"Be silent."
"Why are you doing this for someone who doesn't give a crap about you?"
"One more word and I'll choke you to death myself," Juku growled.
Figures on horseback emerged from the trees, and my heart leapt when I saw Asher leading the elite guard. He was dressed in chainmail, astride a huge grey horse, and he held his broadsword across the saddle and at the ready. When he spotted me his eyes grew huge, and his mouth firmed into a straight line. It would have been hard to tell how furious he was if I didn’t know him so well. But I could see the way he shifted in the saddle, how his fingers tightened on the handle of his broadsword.
“Juku,” he said in an even voice. “Let her go.”
I thought maybe Juku would reply, that they would trade macho insults or something, like in the movies. Instead, Juku’s arm tightened on my throat. I felt the feather touch of something on my mind, and then it hit me like a semi truck. He was linked with me, he was inside, invading my every thought, taking over me. He controlled my breathing, my heart rate. He knew me and everything about me. There was nothing kept safe from him, no small dark corner of my mind I could retreat to.
Distantly I could hear someone yelling. I could feel my skin tingling, my knees buckling underneath me. I knew Juku was holding me up, and I wanted to stand up straight and run. To run as far away from him as I could. I couldn’t move though.
Sickness hit me in waves as Juku invaded every last bit of me. It was horribly intimate. I could feel the touch of his mind, could feel him breathing. I could tell what he was thinking.
He felt…excited.
I shuddered, stiffened in his arms. Hot anger rushed through me. I couldn’t push back into his mind, I didn’t know how yet. But if he wanted to be in my mind…
Instead of pushing back this time, instead of fighting him, I pulled him further in, seizing the essence of his being and dragging it into mine.
A jolt of shock, not my emotion, followed by anger and dismay. Juku tried to back pedal, to pull himself away from me. I was too angry to let him go. I was determined to take myself back. It was time to fight.
Power flooded through me now, so strong that it made me gasp. His magic was in me now, coursing through me, electrifying me. I curled my fingers and sighed. It felt so good.
I wasn’t sure what I was doing. It was all instinct at this point, but I knew then that I wanted that power. I wanted to keep it.
Panic from Juku, alarm as he realized he wasn’t in control any longer.
I closed in on the power and gripped it tightly, sectioning it off in one corner of my mind. Then I found Juku’s presence and pushed outwards, forcing him away from me. He could go back into his own body now.
More yelling, and this time it was from behind me. Kari’s voice. I wasn’t sure what Juku looked like, but he was clearly struggling. Finally I felt him slump back, his arm vanished from around my neck. My eyes flew open, and a ripple of surprised sound ran through the elite guard. The horses stamped and whinnied nervously. Asher’s eyes were huge, and his mouth hung open as he stared at me.
Kari’s voice from behind me made me turn. “Juku!” She screamed, “get up, you idiot!”
I turned around, burning with hatred, and the rebels behind me all stared. Several of them backed up a step. Kari had been moving toward Juku, who was sitting on the ground, slumped forward with his hands over his face. She froze, staring at me.
The power was prickling at my fingertips, itching to be released. My chest was bursting with it. I had no idea what I was doing, I just did what felt right, flinging my hands at her, a guttural growl ripping from some primal part of me.
Kari screamed as she was thrown backwards, crashing into the rebels behind her. They scattered, stumbling over one another, screeching and yelling. Some of them, a few at the back, vanished into the woods.
Ivar didn’t appear at all cowed. He brandished his huge sword in the air and roared,“You'll die as easily as the rest, witch!”
It was more reflex that saved me this time. As the black haired jotun charged me I flung up one hand, stumbling backwards, and Ivar was pushed back, growling angrily. His sword clattered to the ground and his arms pin wheeled as he tried to keep himself upright.
Kari was struggling to her feet, cursing, face bright red.
Movement behind me, the elite guard were rushing past me, plowing into the rebels, swords swinging. Screams rent the air and there was the dull “thud” of swords cutting into flesh.
As far as I was concerned it could have just been me and my mother. All the anger had finally come to a head. She’d been a crappy mother, she’d left me with a crappy dad, and now she was constantly trying to kill me. I was done with this.
Kari scrambled backwards, dirt staining the fur coat she was wearing. “Jessica, you can’t. You wouldn’t…”
It felt like my eyes were burning, I didn’t know if it was tears, but my vision was perfectly clear. Better than normal, it seemed. I could make out every line in Kari’s face, all the faint wrinkles in the corners of her fake smile.
“You’re my daughter, I was never really going to harm you. You must know that.”
My hand shot out as if of its own accord, trapping her throat in an iron grip. Kari’s eyes bulged and she wheezed, “You can’t…”
I don’t know what I intended in that moment. There was no way I could kill her. I wasn’t a killer, was I? But then I saw it. Her hand twitched, going for the dagger at her belt. My senses were still partially extended, the residue of the link, and I could make out what she was picturing. She saw herself plunging the blade into my gut.
Rage made me incapable of speech, and I merely reacted, throwing her backwards with all my might. She somersaulted once over the ground, screaming, arms flailing. Her scream cut off as she struck the wide trunk of a pine tree, and I winced at the dull “crack” her skull made.
My mother slumped against the base of the tree, blood trickling down her pale cheeks.
My stomach went sour. Had I killed her?
A familiar voice jerked me back to reality. I looked over to see Asher sprawled on the ground several feet away. Cold dropped down my spine when I saw the wound in his side, and I sprinted over to him, flinging myself down beside him.
“Oh my god, you’re hurt.”
Asher’s face was pale and one cheek was smeared with blood. His eyes were fixed to my face. “Your eyes, Jess. You…”
“Don’t talk,” I said firmly. “Just breathe deeply.” This wasn’t like last time, because for some reason, I knew I could do something about this. There was enough power in me, it was still there, making my skin prickle, making my heart swell. I could make him better.
“Stay still.” I pressed one hand to his chest, squeezing my eyes shut, extending the link, joining my mind with his. I felt Asher shudder underneath my hands, felt the warm, golden touch of his thoughts.His mind was so different than Juku’s. The sorcerer’s mind had been wild and dark, unsettling and dangerous. Asher’s was familiar, like we were meant to fit together. Two pieces of a puzzle.
My fingers tingled, and warmth spread from the tips, traveling over his chest, down to his side. I could see it happening in my thoughts, even though I knew if I opened my eyes I wouldn’t see anything happening. I heard him gasp, felt his flesh knit together, a puzzle solving itself.
Now that I was there, our thoughts interlocking, I could detect something in the dark recesses of his mind, something hidden. A golden spark. Asher’s torso bucked under my hands as I reached deeper, silently apologizing for the invasion. The spark was there, it just needed to be kindled, unlocked.
I reached for it, revealing it to him, bringing it forward.
His body arched, and a rasping gasp was pulled from him. Something flared to life within him then. Power.
A roar sounded in both our ears. Our eyes flew open at the same time.
Asher and I were crouched on the ground together, my arms were wrapped around him. He had one hand pressed to my shoulder. His head was tilted back as he gasped, chest rising and falling. When he looked at me his eyes were wide with excitement.
Along the surface of his skin orange light flickered. The fire flared from his hands, crawled up his shoulders, dancing on the surface of his chainmail. The flames consumed both of us, burning hot and bright, crackling and popping in the air around us.
Asher reached out and grabbed my hand, locking his fingers into mine. Together we turned on the rebel army.