Shield Maiden Read online

  Chapter Thirteen - The Horn is stolen

  “He is not going!” Lar said, jumping to his feet and moving to stand between Anna and their father. Nerian gave him the briefest of glances and then without any warning lashed out, his hand catching Lar across the face and sending him tumbling, blood dripping from his mouth, into Wilburh.

  “Father!” Anna shouted, “That was Lar! Your son.”

  Nerian did not respond. He took two steps into the room, seized hold of her arms and dragged her towards the door. Once they were outside, one of the villagers slammed the door and barred it.

  “Papa, you are hurting me,” Anna complained, feeling Nerian squeezing her arm tightly.

  “Come!” he replied, and tugging at Anna, pulled her along towards the path that led down into the village.

  “Father you are being controlled. You are under a spell!” Anna cried out as she fought against his powerful grip. It was no use though - he was just too strong. She tried talking to him again, but it was clear that he was completely under Kendra’s influence.

  “Please!” she tried again. “It’s her necklace, Papa, it’s the Brisingamen - she is using it to control you. We have to get it off her!”

  It was useless and giving up, Anna allowed herself to be taken across the village to the headman’s hall and pushed inside.

  The fire in the hall was roaring and she could feel its heat even from the doorway. All around the firepit about twenty-five dark elves were sitting or standing, cruel grins on their faces as they watched what was happening to Gurthrunn, who was kneeling in front of the fire, his hands bound behind him. His face was red and swollen, and covered in cuts and bruises. Meccus was standing in front of the dwarf and from the blood on the blacksmith’s hands it was clear he was the one who had been striking Gurthrunn.

  “Again!” screeched Kendra and Anna could see her now, sitting at a bench behind Meccus. The big man swung his fist and it connected with the dwarf’s chin sending him tumbling onto his back. The dark elves cackled and howled in joy at the sight.

  Kendra walked across the hall and stood looking down at the battered figure at her feet. “Tell me how to control the horn, dweorgar, or you and the children will all die.”

  “No!” Gurthrunn replied.

  At this moment, Nerian shoved Anna in the back. Pushed forward into the circle of light created by the fire she stumbled down onto her knees.

  “Very well,” Kendra said, looking up and fixing the girl with a gaze that terrified her. “Perhaps there is someone here who will.”

  Anna had seen Kendra when she arrived in the village, heard her speak at the barrow, but this was the first time she had been the centre of the woman’s attention. Although Anna had been told by Gurthrunn that Kendra was a Valkyrie, it was only now at this moment, when Kendra stepped forward to stand over her, that Anna became fully aware that this being was not human. There was something in her stance, something in the power she projected and something in her gaze that carried with it a sense of immortality. This was a creature that had lived whilst untold generations of mankind were born and died. She had seen a thousand wars fought, won and lost, and she had carried the souls of ten thousand fallen warriors to Valhalla. She had witnessed incredible courage by mortal men on a thousand battlefields and yet ... she did not care. She did not see in mankind their courage and honour, but dismissed them as petty creatures whose brief lives were meaningless when compared to her own and those of the gods. Looking up at the tall creature that projected herself as a beautiful woman, Anna, in a moment of stark clarity, realised that this was the problem with the being that stood in front of her.

  ‘We humans appreciate courage, love, honour and sacrifice, for without them we are just animals. Kendra is a Valkyrie and should know all this,’ thought Anna, remembering all that she had been told about them, mostly by Raedann. The stories said that Valkyries looked for courage and bravery, rewarding those who demonstrated it with life eternal amongst the gods. But not this one! If Kendra had ever had those feelings she had long since lost them. This Valkyrie wanted only one thing: power. The god Loki had promised it to her and the triumph in her eyes suggested that today she was one step closer to achieving it.

  Then, as Kendra looked down upon her, Anna’s mind went blank and she felt suddenly ashamed at thinking such nasty thoughts about this wondrous being. She shook her head and reminded herself that Kendra was beautiful, kind and wise. Indeed, she could not understand why she had ever felt differently. She smiled up at the Valkyrie, feeling suddenly calm and no longer afraid.

  “Tell me,” Kendra said in a soft voice, which for some reason reminded Anna of how wonderful it feels to awaken on a warm summer’s day with little to do but play in the woods and meadows until evening meal time.

  Leaning forward, Kendra pulled out her knife and sliced through the rope binding Anna’s wrists. “There you are, is that better?” she smiled. “Now then, Anna dear, tell me, what do you know of the horn?” Kendra turned and gestured towards the horn, which Anna could now see sitting on a table near the back of the hall where the door to the kitchens was located.

  An immense desire to say the right thing came over Anna and she wanted to tell Kendra everything - how they had found the horn; that she had blown it and how they knew she was bound to it. She knew the Valkyrie might kill her to get control of the horn, but she did not care. Nothing mattered except pleasing Kendra. Anna was just opening her mouth to speak, when suddenly she heard a whispered voice speaking to her.

  “Do not tell her, Anna. She is not my Mistress, you are!”

  Anna turned her head to see where the voice was coming from, but there was only Nerian standing there and this voice was certainly not his. This voice was more musical, as if someone was singing softly rather than speaking. Nobody else seemed to have heard it.

  “What?” Anna asked, terribly confused. All of a sudden, her calm acceptance of a moment ago fractured back into fear.

  “Tell me, about the horn, child!” Kendra’s tone was not as soft, not quite as charming as before; a touch irritated even.

  “Do not tell her. Trust me. All is well,” the sing-song voice repeated.

  “Tell me!” Kendra shouted and this time there was just anger. She seized Anna by the arms and shook her.

  Wriggling in the Valkyrie’s grasp, her head being shaken back and forth, Anna saw a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye. Then she spotted Ellette sneaking into the hall from the kitchen door. The little girl was hiding from Kendra and the dark elves by ducking behind one of the wooden posts that held up the roof. Anna was bewildered to see her there. Somehow the little girl had got free and escaped the temple. How had she managed it and what about the others? Then Anna remembered the small opening in the wall. Agile Ellette must have slipped out of her bonds and then squeezed out of their old escape route, which meant she was probably on her own for the others were too big to get through the gap.

  Ellette’s tense little face was filled with alarm when she saw what was happening to Gurthrunn and Anna. Edging out from the post, her hand came up holding a knife from the kitchen.

  Anna had to think quickly. It would do no good for Ellette to attack on her own, brave as she was. Out of Kendra’s sight, Anna mouthed the word ‘No!’ and tilted her head towards the table upon which the horn lay. The little girl spotted it, nodded and dropped to her knees to crawl unseen behind the table. So far so good; yet if Ellette reached out to grab the horn now, one of the elves might spot the movement. Anna knew she needed to create a distraction. Still struggling against the Valkyrie’s strong hands, she shouted, “Wait - wait! I will help you.”

  Although her shout was directed at Kendra, Anna hoped that Ellette would understand the hidden message and delay her planned theft a short while.

  Kendra relaxed her grip and smiling in triumph stepped back for a moment. And a moment was all Anna needed. She leapt to her feet and ran towards the door. She did not get far. Nerian jumped after her, his strong a
rms wrapped around her and threw her back into the hall. Two svartálfar seized her and pulled her back to face Kendra.

  “Foolish girl! What did you do that for?” Kendra shouted as Anna was tossed onto her knees before the Valkyrie. Chancing a glance over to the horn Anna was relieved to see that it had vanished. She spotted Ellette scampering out of the door just before Kendra moved forward blocking the view. Everyone’s gaze was fastened on Kendra and Anna and nobody else had seen little elf. Hiding a smile, Anna looked down at the floor.

  The Valkyrie was clearly angry, but also a little surprised that Anna was not under the spell any more. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she stepped closer to the girl. “This is your last chance. I know that the horn has bonded with someone and not this dweorgar. You carried the horn. You handed it to him when we caught you. You are the oldest of the children and their leader in games and sport according to the villagers. But games are over, child. I need the horn released to me. You have resisted my powers - the powers of this,” Kendra said, fingering the Brisingamen that hung about her neck. “This is how I know you are bound to the horn. Only the powers of one of the gods’ artefacts could shield a mortal from that of another. You are linked to the horn and it has freed you from my power.

  “Now - enough delay. You must release the horn to me. This dwarf will not tell me how that would be done. So you can tell me. You can release the horn and then I will command it.”

  “I ... I don’t know how.”

  “You lie child!” Kendra screamed and reaching to her belt drew a long curved dagger from it and held the blade at Anna’s throat.

  “Tell me what you know!”

  Anna was terrified, but she wanted to give Ellette time to get away so had to keep Kendra talking. “Even if I did know - why would I tell you? You have cast a charm over my village so that my people are no better than slaves to you. You have hurt us and threatened our lives. I want you away from here, Kendra. That is my price. I will tell you what I know if you leave.”

  “I agree - now tell me,” the Valkyrie snapped without hesitation.

  “Not here and not now,” Anna shook her head. “I will go with you, away from here. You will free my people and when I can see they are free then I will tell you.”

  Gurthrunn lifted his bloodied head and spoke. “No child! You cannot trust her.”

  “Silence dweorgar!” Kendra shouted at the dwarf and then, as Anna had been dreading she would, she turned to get the horn and spotted it was not there.

  “How ...?” The woman gasped. In a flash the knife was back at Anna’s throat. Around the hall the svartálfar cackled and hissed in anticipation of the spilling of a human’s blood.

  Kendra’s eyes were bright with a fierceness that made Anna feel cold despite the nearby flames. The Valkyrie moved her hand forward and the girl could feel the blade’s sharp edge nick her skin, a trickle of blood warm on her neck.

  “Tell me where the horn is or I will kill you this instant!”