Fey spat out concrete dust as another shockwave rattled her teeth. She right about had it with the constant rumbling, flying debris, and the incessant need to dive behind rubble.
Sure, she was a former gymnast—didn't mean she loved doing it under the constant threat of danger.
Vaulting herself over a twisted excavator arm, Fey ate pavement as the Giant Draugr split the road like the sea.
"That's it," Fey spat out more dust, and crawling behind a barrier. "Undead warriors of this size aren't sustainable. If I survive this I'll—"
Fey was sent rolling and hit a concrete barrier. She was about to curse something but yelped when a concrete mixer crashed just past her, startling her.
"By my grandfather, no more Draugr for me! No matter how convenient they are for transportation or cheap manual labour! I swear I—"
The Draugr Giant raised its sword again, carving more asphalt out and sending debris flying.
Fey instinctively covered her head as she knew she wouldn't be able to escape. There wasn't enough time for a prayer, and she wouldn't need one.
Because Val's fist obliterated the chunk right before it squashed the witch.
"Oh, thank Frigg," Fey gasped in relief before the shock settled in.
Val's hand was a mangled mess. Skin hung in ribbons and exposed the bare fractured bones of her knuckle. It was shattered beyond recognition before it started to click back into realignment.
Fey looked at this event in astonishment, but Val's steely voice grappled her out of it.
"What. Happened?" she asked.
Fey gulped nervously. "Oh, the usual," Fey grimaced, picking out concrete pieces from her curled hair. "My little creation here smashed my barrier, sending me spiralling through the recoil, and—"
Fey yelped loudly when Val seized her by the arms and lifted her up like a misbehaved kitten. Fey could barely concentrate from how easily she was picked up.
"Speak," hissed the Valkyrie, digging her arms into Fey's lithe arms.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!" Fey fruitlessly struggled against her new captor. "The Draugr took Maya when she tried to reestablish the rune circles. She's pretty smart, I'll give her that."
"Of course she is."
"Spare me the heart-eyes. We all know you like her," Fey groaned and spotted a hint of a blush on the Valkyrie's face. Thankfully, this made her soften her grip on Fey, but not enough to put her down. "Do I even weigh anything to you?"
"No. It's like. Holding. A pair of grapes."
Fey rolled her eyes.
Val's eyes wandered to the forest where the Draugr's head stuck out between the trees like a sore thumb.
"I'll go after it," she said and let Fey fall down like a sack of potatoes as she left.
"That was unnecessary!" Fey complained, but Val was already gone. "Sure, abandon the cripple witch for all I care," she grumbled, massaging her bruised butt from the fall. "I'll just prepare a trap or something. Ow, my butt."
Val tore through the path of destruction like her own force of nature.
Her body, battered and tired, pushed past any limits currently imposed on her. Diving under flying boulders and leaping over debris, her muscles screamed in protest with each desperate movement.
When she grabbed a low-hanging branch and swung herself into the canopies, her vision had already turned into a tunnel vision.
The strain on her body was too much. Her mind could barely register the obstacles anymore before a branch hit her square on the nose.
"Back to the lesson. Shall we begin?" Tamara's voice returned, bringing Val back through her memories.
The black Valkyrie held a class for her young squadron of girls, making each of them balance on the high treetops of a cedar forest in Norway.
"Question." Tamara's voice echoed in her skull as she balanced effortlessly on a slender branch. "Do Valkyries even need wings to fly?"
The girls gave Tamara a confused look. Marie was always the first to bite. Her straightened posture showed the years of dance practice she had on stage.
"Obviously we do. Otherwise we—"
The axe left Tamara's hand before finished speaking. The redhead shrieked loudly as she pinwheeled through branches, breaking her fall before one landed right between the legs.
Her sisters winced in sympathetic pain.
"Any other suggestions?" Tamara asked sweetly, catching the returning axe. "There are no wrong answers."
The young girls looked uncomfortably at each other. They whispered what to do next as Tamara fiddled with her axe in hand. Then Zhou stepped forward, the smallest and feistiest of the bunch.
Her sisters tried to warn her not to go, but ever so defying, Zhou crossed her arms behind her back, stuck out her chest and proudly said, "No—"
The next branch snapped from underneath her feet. Branches flexed and snapped her right at her chest and face. She and Marie hung right next to each other, groaning in pain.
Ava and Alice hid behind Val's frame, who remained in front and absently staring at her feet. Tamara looked slightly disappointed at the girls and threw her axe.
Like a boomerang, the weapon flew over their heads and snapped their branches. Val recovered from her daze to quickly hold on to something as Ava and Alice joined their sisters below.
"Your body is a weapon," reminded Tamara, inching closer to Val as she hung onto the branch with all her might.
Tamara leaned over to her with a smile and leaned too far out from the branch. With a gallant somersault, Tamara landed on a lower branch and launched herself through the trees. Her feet briefly landed on one branch, then another, then another, balancing perfectly and little to no effort on each branchlet.
"If we can't fly as we wish to, we use our arms and legs like flying squirrels to navigate the air. Why do you think we train so much? Use your legs and arms, cock your hip and twirl. Fly like you're meant to be."
Tamara twirled right behind Val and slapped her back so hard that she shook off her daze as the giant Draugr came back into view.
Unable to dodge any further, Val focused on her burning muscles. She tightened and strained them with every fiber in her body and landed on a branch to launch herself up and use the trees as leverage to go higher.
Without any further hesitation, Val flew like the wind itself until she saw what she came to rescue for.
And with fists blazing with divine energy, Val plummeted toward the monster, roaring from the bottom of her chest
"Give her back!"
‧. .✦ʚ♡ɞ✦. .‧
"I feel like that lady from the King Kong movie," Maya grumbled as she was squeezed inside the giant zombie's fist.
Its unceasing roars left Maya's ears ringing—she feared she might need a hearing aid after this. At least the poison breath didn't melt away her skin, or worse, her clothes, though her hair felt damp and sticky.
"Could we stop the charade, please? I dropped out of theatre class years ago and this is getting boring."
The Draugr replied in indignation, uprooting another tree with its rusty sword. It stared at her with its beady white eyes locking onto her.
"Firefly," its deep voice alarmed Maya. "You're nothing but a bargain. For denying me right to Valhǫll, I'll rip apart each and every Valkyrie. Death to Asgard. Then, you're next."
Maya's face drained of colour. She was appalled.
"You can talk!?" she blurted.
The Giant Draugr rolled its massive eyes. "'Course I can talk, duhhhh!" Green spittle showered Maya, giving her the urge to bath and scrub her body for a week. "Just because I'm braindead doesn't mean I can't articulate myself, Jezebel."
"Right, sorry, Mr. Zombie Viking. Although I don't know what that word means." Maya wiped her face with her sleeve. Nausea returned when the Draugr continued its rampage.
For once, Maya was glad she skipped breakfast.
"You're good bait," it said with a wide grin that exposed his black teeth. "That Valkyrie's back."
The Giant Draugr swung its sword, unleashing a torrent of uprooted trees and shredded leaves toward Val.
But Val had already leapt aside, using a nearby tree to propel herself. And descending like a bolt of thunder, Val punched through its helmet, shattering both armour and her own arm in the process.
She landed unsteadily on the Draugr's right arm, holding Maya prisoner. Blood gushed from her ruined limb, but Val rushed ahead before the Draugr recovered.
"Val, your arm…"
"It's nothing," Val suppressed a hissed, trying to hide the injury. Sweat poured down her steaming body as her body was barely hanging on. "Hang in. There. I'll get you out…." Val turned her blood-streaked face to Maya, forcing a confident smile for her.
"Trust me, dúllan mín."
Another roar. Val jumped away before Draugr could flatten her like a mosquito. She freefalled and used its knee guard as a jumping board to get back into the trees.
"You little insect, get back here!"
The Draugr chased after Val, forcing Val back to the ground when too many trees were destroyed. The only thing she could rely on were her trusty running shoes to hold on long enough.
And all Maya could do in that situation was watch helplessly as Val panted uncontrollably, her overheated body running a fever.
The shield in Maya's hands weighed impossibly heavy in her grip. Like last time, she wished there was more she could do than be a maiden in distress.
Wait for the right moment, she told herself, hugging the shield tighter. Just wait.
"Gotta wait for the right moment." Fey crouched behind the excavator.
The ground trembled and tall trees swayed sideways. With each shockwave, the rumbling grew shorter.
Fey bit on her broken nails, gripped her staff tightly, anything to get her shaking body under control from anticipation.
"Come on, come on, get closer."
Val sprinted into view. The squeaking of orange sneakers from friction and steam wasn't easy to miss.
The Valkyrie skidded to a stop before the half-excavated tunnel entrance, raising her last good fist as the Draugr charged into the construction site.
Val's stance was poor. Her blonde braid was coming undone and plastered to her face. The Giant Draugr thundered toward her, but she couldn't budge.
Not yet.
One more moment.
"Got you!" Fey slammed her palm against the rough concrete, activating the runes covering the surface. "Alf Eiwhaz!"
Runes erupted from the ground, swirling around the Draugr. A cold, misty air enveloped the zombie, shaking its being and bringing it to a halt.
Fey's eyes glowed with manic energy. "Helheim's mist, I bind you again. Get back under my control, you stupid, braindead, mindless zombie—"
From the corner of her eyes, Fey caught Maya hastily gesticulating. Fey blinked, unable to understand what she said.
"Ansuz." she cast a spell to hear her words. "What are you trying to—"
"The Draugr gained consciousness! You can't control it!"
Fey was dumbfounded, noticing too late the smart glint in the Draugr's eyes before it lifted its massive boot.
"Bye, bye, master."
"Ah, fiddlesticks. Not again…"
With her bad leg, Fey knew she couldn't escape and resigned to her fate if Val hadn't rescued her from certain flattening.
"Hold. On. To. Me."
Fey wrapped her arms around Val's neck tightly, clinging to her like a backpack as Val zigzagged through the destruction.
"Why in Hel did he gain consciousness!? He shouldn't have!"
"You tell me. Witch," Val snapped back, somersaulting over a barricade with Fey whooping in unexpected exhilaration like she hadn't for years.
It died down quickly when an audible snap sent them sprawling to the ground.
"What was that? What was that sound?" Fey's panic spiked Draugr raised its sword. She quickly turned to Val, noticing her clutching her leg.
"Bone. Snapped." Val gritted through the pain. "Can't. Walk."
"It what!? You can heal it, can't you?"
The answer to this was a profound "maybe".
Val had pushed herself too far. Her divinity dwindled to a trickle. Her body couldn't take further pressure. They were at their wits end.
"Goodbye, former master," the Draugr rumbled with a deathly grin, raising its boot once more. "Bye little Valkyrie. Perish for me."
Val's life flashed before her eyes again, but it was different. Unlike her past, near-death flashes, this time she only saw Maya's face.
A tear rolled down Val's cheek, fearing she wouldn't see her again.
But the boot missed the mark, falling meters away from them. The Draugr spasmed, hollering in outrage. Blood squirted out from its right eye where Val's shield struck it like a boomerang and fell like a shooting star to the ground.
Maya shook defiantly in the Draugr's hold, glaring at it with bright blue eyes.
"Stay away from them, you monster!" Maya shouted, seething with rage. "If you hurt them any further, I'll end you myself."