Page 27 of The Last Valkyrie

The trio of draug went flying as his tower shield swept them off their feet, launched them through the air. He slammed a foot down, ripping a tremor into the earth from his large boot. Charging draug were stopped in their tracks, thrown off-balance from the sheer force of Canute’s runic stomping. It was that moment’s hesitation that gave other soldiers time to bring the enemies down.

The one-eyed man was a menace, huge as Grim and controlled like a cage fighter in Alfheim. Where Sigmund was devastating in his offensive abilities, Thane Canute was a master of defense and using the opponents’ momentum against them.

Draug came and flew aside as he rocked them left and right off his shield, using a great spiky war mace to blow apart the bodies and bones of his enemies. It almost became comical howmany body parts were flying through the air around the deadly duo.

I watched the duo fight in tandem, slightly awed at their chemistry. I hadn’t had a partner-in-war like that since Ravinica in the forest near my camp, and that had come out of desperation. Before her, it had been my sister Deitryce who I danced with against Dokkalfar invading our home.

A sense of longing filled me, wishing I had that again—wanting my brethren to be witnessing this so they could help us in this deadly conflict.

I didn’t see the humans as enemies any longer. They were simply doing what elves had done in Alfheim for centuries: fighting to protect their homes; fighting for each other; fighting to extinguish the threat from their realm and minimize the death and suffering of their people.

With newfound respect, I went into melee with a draug and quickly silenced him. While moving onto my next foe, I vowed to speak to my Ljosalfar brethren after this fight concluded, if we lived.

Spirits, I’d speak toMaltorVaalnath if I had to, in order to implore the elves to reconsider and come to the aid of the humans fighting for their survival in Midgard.

I would use the elves’ sense of honor to shame them into assisting—honor that afflicted me perhaps worst of all. Because if the jotnar were in Midgard now . . . I knew they had no plans on stopping here. Alfheim would be next.

Perhaps Ravinica’s dream of united realms can come true after all. For everything I doubted about the naïve idea, seeing this valor out of the humans has me reconsidering my position.

Another tremor swept through the boggy swamp, sending up bubbles of black from the patchy ground, making me stumble where I fought.

I curled a smirk over my shoulder toward Thane Canute, hoping he understood I was giving him his flowers for his worthy abilities—

But my smile faltered.

Because Canute was busy fighting in close quarters, his back to me, and the unique tremor did not emanate from him.

No, it came from somethingbehindhim, in the northern distance where the plains met the mountains.

Clenching my teeth, I realized I was the only one looking in that direction, because the fighting was raging at an east-west trajectory, with the majority of the combatants south of the plains.

I raised my voice so all the humans could hear me over the clanging and shouting, my eyes bulging as I pointed toward the massive silhouetted form charging toward us.

“JOTUN!”

Chapter 10

Ravinica

I EXPECTED THE JOTUNto be huge. And this onewasbig, yet it was also slightly underwhelming compared to the grand tales and stories about them. As Thorvi had taught, jotnar came in different sizes. This giant was about twelve feet tall.

It struck a fierce, intimidating figure as it charged through the plains directly at our weak northern flank.

But it was the thing runningbesidethe giant that scared me more than the jotun himself. It was some bull-type creature the size of a fucking elephant, with two massive horns jutting out from its lowered head, each one the size of a man. Thick tufts of black fur covered its body, and it snorted clouds of mist from flared nostrils I could have fit my legs into.

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