Page 25 of The Last Valkyrie

My eyes snapped right, and for a moment my orbs locked with the other human’s.

It was a man I recognized—vaguely, but certainly.

A Leper Who Leapt!

My jaw dropped, my sword nearly fell from my hand.

“Arne, watch out!” came a cry from behind.

Spinning, I ducked just in time to avoid a draug careening in from the swamp, trying to clamp its diseased jaws on my neck.

I dropped to my knees, crying out, losing my sword in the process.

The draug came again, and I lifted my shield with both hands. Its weight bore down on me and I couldn’t move—could only defend myself with the damn shield because trying to Shape any runes would only get my throat torn out.

Peeking over the rim, I saw the Leper over his shoulder, a mix of emotions in his eyes. Confusion, anger . . . guilt.

Roaring, I tried to put all my strength into the shield to shove the draug off me.

The Leper Who Leapt rebel was simply watching it happen, watching me struggle, doing nothing. It took the other Vikingruner hacking into the draug’s backside to get its attention. He realized his mistake too late—

The undead monster turned, sprawling off me, and lunged at the human.

They both went down in a spiral of hisses and screams.

I scrambled on my hands and knees to get my sword, rising to my feet—

And blood sprayed across the swamp as the draug bit into the initiate’s throat. I could only see the man’s twitching legs from the way the draug straddled him.

I stared aghast, unable to move. Frozen like my own ice had stolen my nerves and dignity.

The shield wall emerged from the darkness, ripping into the draug and taking it down with no less than five swords and spears smashing into it, before Gudleif Selken torched the thing and made it hiss in agony and ash.

The cadet underneath was dead.

I spun to castigate the Leper, to demand why he hadn’t acted. “Why were you fighting a—”

He was gone. I caught a hint of the suctioning sound of boots in the distance. He’d vanished into the darkness.

“. . . human?” I finished with a croak.

Why in all the realms would the Lepers be fighting Vikingruners at a time like this?!

The blood-lust that had ignited my veins now felt sour in my stomach. I took the thought one step further and realized the truth of it.

. . . Because the Lepers still see the academy as the enemy. Which means they see theothersas the allies. The dark elves, the draug, the jotnar. And it’s all because of Frida.Sheled them down that path!

Tears burned in my eyes as the fight raged on around me. Ravinica and the others got to me, with my little fox yelling, “Arne? Arne! Can you hear me? Are you okay?!”

I looked blankly at her, shell-shocked. I pointed in the distance toward the Leper. I couldn’t explain what I’d just seen. Then my eyes moved northward, up, deeper into the plains where the moon shone brightest.

A man stood atop a high hill, surveying the battle playing out in the Niflbog. He was another man I recognized from his tall stature, his midnight skin, his tuft of long silver hair blowing in the high winds behind him, with the rest of his mane piled atop his head.

The Dokkalfar leader from Elayina’s cave.

The man who killed my sister . . . but not before tainting her mind and the minds of the rebellious group I once called family.

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