Valhellions by Tim Akers

Author:Tim Akers [Akers, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Urban, Action & Adventure, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781982125950
Google: JBKHzgEACAAJ
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2022-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

Stunned silence settled over the kitchen. The only sound was Lillie, working furiously at cleaning the stains off a jam jar.

“Wait. So the woman in charge of protecting the sword also gave it to Freya in the first place?” I asked. “Explains why she was a bit dodgy back there.”

“How many people know this?” Tembo asked. “Esther and I have discussed the end of the war many times. She has never mentioned Runa’s role beyond her betrayal of the valkyries, and the signing of the peace.”

“That’s because Runa has tried to bury her past, just as she buried my friends,” Hildr said. “Not even Esther knows of her role in the forging of Totenschreck. I would not be surprised if she already knows who is doing all this. In fact—”

“There is a man in the garden,” Lillie said, quite suddenly. She was standing straight as an arrow, the jar forgotten in her hands.

“Of course there is a man in the garden. It is that zombie man, the Brit,” Hildr reminded her.

“No. A different man. He looks very . . . dramatic,” Lillie answered. “Like a dirge in the shape of a man.”

Knight Watch stood as one. Tembo rushed to the window, with Bethany at his side and Gregory close behind. They crowded Lillie out of the way.

“It’s him,” Tembo confirmed. “How did he find us?”

“You probably led him here. You or that damned draugr,” Hildr said as she swept the shotgun off its stand. The old valkyrie cracked the breach, checked the load, then snapped it shut again. “I’ll see the bastard off.”

“Let the heroes do their jobs,” I said, stepping forward. With a shrug I slipped my shield off my back. It crawled down my arm on leather legs that spun around my wrist, securing it in place. “If he gets past us you can fill him full of buckshot.”

“Magic shield, eh? Never thought much of magic shields,” Hildr said. “You can only protect yourself for so long before you must strike. I prefer a good sword.”

“The lady knows what she’s talking about,” Gregory said with a smile. He whipped the zweihander from his back, the silver blade slithering like a razor sharp snake in the kitchen’s harsh light. “Let’s get out there and cut this moron down to size.”

“Patience. There’s no way he’s alone out there,” Tembo said, flicking the kitchen curtains aside to get a better view of the garden.

“He looks pretty alone to me,” Bethany answered. “In that kind of performative loneliness sort of way.”

I shouldered my way to the front of the small mob that was crowded around Lillie’s kitchen window. The view was entirely rural, except for the looming profile of a swordsman standing in the middle of the garden path. He wore the same black, hooded cloak that I had first seen at the Mickleville Convention Center, but now it seemed to fit him better. A glimmer of steel around his eyes revealed that the cheap Halloween mask had been upgraded again, and I could see more traditional armor plating at knee and elbow.

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