Page 14 of The Last Valkyrie

I whipped my head over, my neck going taut. “Watch out!” I cried—

Just as the draug emerged and buried its blade in the cadet’s chest. It was a theatrical sight in the shadows—a shadowy purt of blood spewing through the air as the man twitched and the draug dragged its corroded weapon up his chest cavity and into his throat.

Sweat lined my neck and face. I was stunned still, appalled as the draug moved on away from us, deeper into the trees.

It was a mere passing moment. I shouldn’t have even been looking that way. But now the sight of those two black shapes deeper in the trees, partly illuminated by moonlight, would be forever burned in my brain.

I watched that cadet die and could do nothing about it. Perhaps it was his death that filled me with a sensation I hadn’t experienced in a long time: overwhelming dread and hopelessness.

“Come on, Vini, we have to keep moving!”

I gave a dazed look to Grim, who had wrapped a hand around my elbow, pulling me toward the group.Did he say something about moving?His voice sounded far and muffled.

With a vacant nod, I let him drag me on.

I snapped to a moment later, blinking away the burn in my eyes—from the smoke, the held-back tears, the anxiety.

We waded deeper into the woods, back from whence we’d came, waiting for specters in the dark to leap out at us and end our war before it had even begun.

Chapter 5

Sven

SOMEHOW, I GOT SEPARATEDfrom my pack. My family.

One minute, Arne was beside me.Or was it Grim?

The next, I rolled out of the way of an object flying through the sky, coming up alongside a tree—smoke and flames all around.

Our camp had turned into sheer chaos. I squinted through the smoke, crouched, trying to get my bearings.

The way I had come was engulfed, impassable.

How in Hel did this happen?I didn’t mean the separation from Ravinica and the others. I meant the ambush in general, throwing our camp into mayhem. Reducing us to bees without a queen.

I had no time to think on the answer because a nightmarish draug came screaming out of the trees at me. It was one of the faster ones—the newer wights with weapons and armor and fresher flesh.

My sword moved before my mind did, cutting it off as it barreled at me with a sword raised high. My blade dug into its side, caving in the rotted flesh and age-old armor on its buckles. The thing spit blackness at me, stuck to my blade. I growled back at it, ready to unleash all my fury.

But I couldn’t get my fucking sword out of its side.

So I sawed deeper, keeping my shield up, bringing my body closer to the thing. When it kept snapping its teeth at me,slamming its sword uselessly against my shield over my head, I moved my hand from the sword handle, Shaped a rune, and blasted a ball of fire into its face.

It ignited, screeching in a loud, wet tone. My shield dropped as the draug struck a vicious hit on it, ringing up my forearm.

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