Page 124 of The Last Valkyrie

“Doesn’t fucking matter!” I yelled, shoving Magnus aside. “What did you see, girl?”

“Well, the giant black wings were a dead giveaway.” She smirked, bobbing her green hair. “They lookwickedin the sunlight by the w—”

“Where was she headed?” Dread filled me.

“She flew off, southeast. I watched her until she became a tiny speck in the sky. Not every day you get to see a dragonkin, you know. I was entranced.”

I walked off with the others, not wanting to listen to her chatter any longer. My heart pounded as the dread seeping through my veins became worse.

“Where in Hel would she be going that’s southeast?” Grim asked.

We scratched our collective heads, huddled in a circle with the afternoon daylight baking us.

“The Lepers?” Corym asked, facing Arne. “Isn’t that where their hideout is?”

The elf would know, since he had lived with them at one point, essentially as a captive.

Arne shook his head decisively. “They moved camps. I found Dieter north of there.”

“Well—”

A muffled sound behind us cut me off. Something like a gasp and a whine.

I spun around—

My head lurched. “What the fuck?”

The green-haired girl sitting against the tree trunk was gone. Where she had been, the dirt was unsettled, mats of grass uprooted. It was like the earth had opened up and swallowed her whole.

The five of us crept over, hands inching toward our weapons. Something in the area reflected sunlight and I drew my sword instinctively.

It was the glossy cover of the girl’s book, tossed a foot away from the hole. The only evidence of her existence.

I hesitated. The thrum of dread pulsing through me reached a crescendo. I proverbially sacked up and leaned over the hole to peer in.

Sheer darkness. No sign of her at all. Like she had fallen through a caved-in tunnel.

“Guys,” I croaked. “What thefuckis going on?”

The first scream of the afternoon split the beautiful sky.

We sprinted toward the sound of the screams, westward.

Or at least wethoughtwe were going in the right direction, because they seemed to be coming from all around us before too long.

Our weapons were out, shields in our hands. The cries were coming frominsidethe academy, but we hadn’t seen anything damning yet. Just a few confused-looking cadets who had also heard the sounds, proving we hadn’t gone mad.

We passed Tyr Meadow. Had we stayed longer we would have seen the man-sized gopher holes dotting the wide expanse of the prairie.

We were bee-lining for Fort Woden, that stark-black monolith looming over all of Vikingrune Academy, holding all its secrets. Because that was where the screams were coming from—the first signs of actual danger.

Dark-robed acolytes were running from the various doors of the fortress. They were surrounded by high metal gates, acting like cages, iron and impenetrable and keeping them in.

Impenetrable if you didn’t have a bear, anyway.

It was odd seeing the place without any Huscarls guarding every nook and cranny beyond the gates. When Sigmund had been Gothi, the castle wasalwayswell-defended. Roving Huscarls made it impregnable, and any student was a fool for trying.

Then again, everything was strange right now, nothing made sense.

---