Page 6 of The Last Valkyrie

The students switched from apprehensive to nodding, angry soldiers. I looked around as hundreds of students rose to their feet, shouting, filled with vigor and bravado, repeating the mantra until it became a booming chant.

“Long live Vikingrune Academy! Love live Vikingrune Academy!”

The entire time, I stayed quiet, seated, as a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach yawned and grew cavernous.

Chapter 3

Ravinica

EVEN A DAY OUT FROMour destination, our army could see great clouds of gray and black billowing from the peaks of the Telvos Mountains. Smoke, or disheveled dirt and grime from the mountains being moved or used for the jotnars’ purposes.

My company under Hersir Axel Osfen’s command consisted of my mates, Dagny, Randi, and countless other cadets I recognized from my classes. I wondered how many of us would make it out of this alive, if any of us.

Our middle-tier unit was tasked with staking straight through the heart of Delaveer Forest, at a northwestern route. I had no qualms since I’d traversed this vast expanse of woodlands numerous times in my adventures outside the academy walls. Other cadets who hadn’t had the luxury of experiencing Delaveer were more skittish and cautious.

The front-tier unit led by Gothi Sigmund and Thane Canute took a north-to-west route, skirting around Delaveer before planning to march onto the Selfsky fields from an eastern pass. As the front vanguard group, they would get there before any of us. I was fine with that since they had all the Huscarls.

The back-tier unit led by the two studious female powerhouses, Thorvi and Gudleif, traveled at a direct western route from Academy Hill, past Isleton, making their way through the swampy Niflbog before cutting north to reach the Selfsky Plains. They would get there last—probably for the bestsince they had a bunch of green initiates in their ranks. With them coming in from the west, the strategy was to create a circle of soldiers in all three directions so we couldn’t be flanked.

I worried for the rear unit the most. My mates kept reminding me that even initiates were the best of the best outside of Vikingrune Academy.

“They’re not children who will get rolled over by the first sign of a fight,” Grim told me. “We have to put faith in their abilities, like Sigmund does. Otherwise, like he said, they wouldn’t be here.”

Sven walked up alongside us. “The bear is right, much as I hate to say it. This is a cruel world, little menace. We can’t protect everyone. They’ll fight or they’ll cower and die.”

Part of me wanted to smile, because even though Sven led with a customary “hate to say it” about agreeing with Grim, they seemed to be in agreement more and more lately.

Look how far my rival shifters have come. And not to get too self-indulgent, but they’d be the first to admit I was the one who brought them together. They’re no longer looking to rip each other’s throats out.

I dropped the subject, content the initiates would be all right and would have skill on their side.

Our group continued marching through the thin pass of flat woods around us. The shuffling of boots and rustling of armor carried on the wind, our hundred-fifty-man company stretching back as far into the trees.

We neared the end of the second day of our march. We’d arrive at the plains and the northern edge of Delaveer by nightfall.

Traveling without any snow burdening your movements was a blessing I would never take for granted again. The trek through these very woods to get to the elf encampment portal site had been perilously dangerous, cold, and dismal.

With spring here, the woods were teeming with new life, chittering insects, fauna, and fresh wildflowers. The sun shone bright and chilly in the shadows of the canopies. The forest smelled lovely, like crisp dew after a thunderstorm.

I couldn’t get lost in the hazy daydream too much. Therealthunderstorm awaited us on the other side of these trees.

My guys were hemmed in around me. We wore travel gear and light armor underneath, all of us preferring to favor swift movement over stilted protection. Our weapons were on our backs, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice.

Dagny and Randi marched behind us, talking. In front, a few ranks ahead, Hersir Osfen and his chosen deputy, Hersir Kelvar the Whisperer, led us.

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