Shield Maiden Read online

  Chapter Sixteen - Brisingamen

  Snarling and hissing in their rage, the dark elves hurtled towards the children, each of them seemingly trying to outdo the others to reach the humans and dwarf first. Lar released his arrow and it flew straight and true to kill a dark elf. Ellette grunted as she let fly with her sling and a stone clattered into the skull of another svartálfar sending it senseless to the ground. Two down, but twenty-eight more charged onwards. Lar had time for one more shot, which caught an enemy in the arm and knocked the creature back into another, the two elves landing in a tangled heap.

  But it was not enough: the enemy was upon them!

  The first dark elf darted towards Anna, swinging his short, curved sword like a scythe. She dodged away and stabbed back with her seax. The knife clanged onto the elfin blade and sent the dark elf hopping back to regain his balance. But others quickly replaced him and were reaching for her, snarling their fury as she lashed out with her seax.

  Wilburh’s hands were moving in a blur and his lips almost as quickly as he conjured a silver bolt of light and hurled it at the elves, not even bothering to see what damage it had done before repeating the incantation. Close by, Gurthrunn was roaring as he hacked back and forth with the axe, just as if it was the hammer of the thunder god, Thunor, and not something used to chop wood. Each blow that connected meant another dark elf killed or wounded, but still the enemy swarmed around them, rushing in to attack and then jumping away if a child or the dwarf turned against them, only to leave a gap for another dark elf to dash into. Anna slashed out at one, her seax opening a deep wound all down its arm and the creature, howling in outrage and pain, scampered away. But then two others moved in, calling to her in their strange language: laughing and taunting at the same time.

  “There are too many of them!” she shouted.

  “I know, but we must reach Kendra soon or it will be too late,” Gurthrunn yelled back. “You go and see if you can get the necklace off her, Anna. Take your little friend with you. We other four will try to hold these pesky elves.”

  “We can’t leave you!” Anna protested.

  “You must. If the villagers return whilst Kendra still holds the Brisingamen and before whatever help the horn has called arrives, then all is lost.”

  “I suppose you are right. Very well then. Ellette, you come with me,” Anna ordered. “Quickly! Kendra will still be in the hall.”

  They set off at a run back the way they had come, passing the shattered storeroom door from which they had so recently escaped. On the far side of the food store was the rear entrance to the kitchen, so as to allow the cook easy access to the supplies. This led through to the headman’s hall. Reaching the kitchen doorway, the two children hesitated as they waited to see if the room was occupied by dark elves. Ellette snuck forward, almost hugging the rear wall of the hall to peer around the back door. Anna held her breath, expecting at any moment that one of those vicious curved blades would stab out at the little girl. But nothing happened and Ellette turned to grin at Anna, who then moved forward, pushing past Ellette into the kitchen.

  The cook was usually a tidy woman who kept her tables and cooking area clean and free from clutter. On an ordinary day a fire would always be burning in the hearth and a pot of broth boiling upon it. Nearby there would be dough being kneaded into flatbread, and herbs being prepared to flavour the meat ready for boiling or roasting. Today none of this was happening. The hearth fire was long cold. There was dough on the table, but it was neglected and almost dried out. A pair of uncooked chicken carcases lay abandoned on a nearby platter, flies buzzing round it.

  “Looks like even the cook has joined the hunt for Raedann,” Ellette whispered. “She is a bit fat and slow though, so I don’t think the tinker has much to worry about from her.” Anna nodded, raising a finger to her lips to hush her companion’s chatter.

  They had reached the inner door that led into the main hall and the two girls now paused and exchanged anxious glances before peering into the room beyond. There were no tapers burning and the fire, which had been raging earlier, had been allowed to die down. The room was dark with foreboding. At first it seemed empty, but after her eyes had adapted to the dim red glow given out by the embers, Anna realised someone was there.

  The noise of the battle outside: the screeching and cackling of the dark elves; the clang of metal on metal and the screams and cries of the wounded, filtered into the hall. Yet here, safe inside, Kendra sat alone. Anna had to look twice to be sure her eyes were not deceiving her. Seemingly oblivious to the fighting, the Valkyrie was combing her hair whilst gazing at her beautiful face in a silver mirror. The necklace was still at her throat, sparkling with a ruby glow. Outside, the svartálfar were dying for her and yet here she was, worrying more about her appearance than their lives.

  Anna moved towards her, so taken aback by the sight that for a moment she did not realise Kendra had seen her reflection in that same mirror, was fixing her with an intense glare and speaking to her.

  “You would sneak up behind me whilst I make myself ready to rescue my Lord?”

  “I ... I ..., ” stammered Anna. She tensed with alarm as Kendra put down the mirror, rose gracefully to her feet, turned and stepped forward. It seemed the Valkyrie was not making any threatening moves, however. On the contrary, she was smiling as though welcoming a guest.

  Anna gaped then glanced across to the doorway, where only a moment ago Ellette had been standing beside her. She was startled to find that the little figure was nowhere to be seen. Had she slipped away or was she somewhere in the hall, hiding in the shadows that filled every corner, preparing to attack Kendra? If so, Anna had to keep the woman talking in order to give Ellette an opportunity to sneak up on her.

  “Your Lord? Do you mean Loki? Is he not chained up for betraying the other gods ... at least, so the story goes,” Anna added quickly, seeing the smile wiped off Kendra’s face to be replaced by a dangerous expression that reminded Anna of the snake in the ruined villa, the way it had looked as it prepared to strike.

  “You, little girl, know nothing,” Kendra sneered. “Loki is in captivity at present, but not for much longer. The time is approaching when I will lead an army to storm the very gates of Asgard to free him.”

  “But why?” Anna heard the faintest noise over to the side of the hall. Certain now that Ellette was sneaking around in the darkness, she carried on talking, moving past the Valkyrie to the opposite side of the hall. Kendra turned to follow, never letting her gaze drop.

  “Why are you doing this, Kendra?” Anna raised her voice to cover the sound of Ellette’s movement, saying anything she could think of to keep the conversation going. “You Valkyries are given great respect by my people. We honour you for being servants of the gods.”

  Kendra gave a mocking laugh. “Servants of the gods you say? For hundreds of years I have done as they told me to. I have flown to battlefields and taken away the souls of those who got themselves killed in their stupid wars. The Lord Loki has promised me so much more than that. When I have freed him, together we will overthrow the gods and all will bow to us as King and Queen of Asgard.”

  “But how can he marry you? Is he not already married to the Goddess Sigyn?”

  “She is nothing to me! He has promised to put her aside and take me as his wife instead. I will be queen over the gods. Now do you understand why I do all this?”

  “And you trust him? The trickster god?” Anna saw a movement in the gloom beyond the Valkyrie. Ellette had sneaked close behind Kendra and was reaching up with a knife. The little girl seized the necklace and in one movement slashed through the cord that held it around Kendra’s neck.

  The woman shrieked as the Brisingamen tumbled away from her and fell to the floor. Spinning round, she lunged at Ellette, but the small girl scampered away from her, back into the gloom. Anna took her chance and jumped forward, seized the glittering necklace and then rolled out of the way as the Valkyrie, her face a mask of white hot fury, drew a seax f
rom her belt and lashed out at Anna, missing her throat by no more than the width of a hair.

  On all fours, Anna scrambled away from Kendra’s slashing blade then jumped to her feet. She saw Ellette running for the front door.

  “Ellette, catch!” she cried, and tossed the necklace to her.

  As the treasure spun through the air, Kendra gave a cry of alarm and leapt up high in a desperate attempt to catch it. But the Brisingamen passed by just inches from her outstretched fingertips. With a shout of triumph, Ellette caught it in mid-air and ran on to the exit. The Valkyrie shot Anna a venomous glare then pursued the little girl outside.

  Drawing her seax, Anna followed. As she burst out of the dark hall into the sunlight she saw Ellette sprinting hard towards the battle that was still going on between the dark elves and her friends. She could see that the svartálfar had suffered casualties and that Lar was bleeding from a wound on his arm. Wilburh looked exhausted from repeatedly casting spells, but she could see neither Hild nor Gurthrunn.

  Running at full speed on Ellette’s heels, Kendra was fast catching up, and now her ravens joined her, leaving their perch on the roof of the hall to fly alongside their mistress. Although Ellette was the swiftest person Anna knew, Kendra was a Valkyrie and whether on horseback or on foot, few except the gods could outrun a Valkyrie. Kendra had soon caught up and stretching out a hand, clamped it down on the little girl’s shoulder. Above her, eyes glistening, wicked beaks ready to stab, the ravens circled and screeched.

  Ellette yelped in alarm, but did not panic. Holding up the necklace, she shouted at the top of her lungs, “Gurthrunn!”

  The dwarven warrior shot out from the middle of a group of svartálfar, saw what was happening and swatting dark elves aside with his axe, reached out with his hand. As Kendra leant forward to snatch the Brisingamen from Ellette’s grasp, the small girl threw it with all her might towards Gurthrunn.

  “Catch it!” Kendra screamed. The dark elves stopped fighting and turned to see the necklace arcing high above them. A raven swooped at it, but its talons closed on empty air. Eight of the elves leapt high off the ground in a desperate attempt to seize the treasure for their mistress. But one armoured fist reached higher, and with a roar of triumph, Gurthrunn grabbed hold of the Brisingamen.

  By now Anna had almost caught up and was just behind Kendra, who still clasped Ellette by the shoulder whilst screaming at the dark elves, “Stop him!”

  Gurthrunn was holding the necklace above his head. Anna could see his lips moving and knew he was speaking words in the dweorgars’ language. Suddenly, a bright golden glow illuminated him and the treasure. In that same instant a flash of light shot away from the necklace and flew outwards, crossing the land beyond the village.

  “No!” Kendra snarled, “What have you done, dweorgar?”

  Gurthrunn glanced across at her and smiled. “I have cancelled the spell you cast, sorceress. The villagers are freed from their slavery to you and even now will be rushing back here, wanting vengeance and justice for what you have done to them and their children.”

  Kendra stared at him in silence for a moment and then her lips curled into a snarl. “Very well. Then I shall have to be ready for them.”

  Turning to her ravens she spoke a few words and they flew away up into the sky, circled for a moment and then vanished into thin air. Anna gasped and hearing this Kendra swung round and smiled at her, a smile full of triumph and mockery.

  “You think you have won this day? You have won nothing! My servants have gone to Svatalfaheimr: to the land of the dark elves to summon an army of svartálfar. Soon I shall have the horn and the necklace and all will bow before me. Then I will destroy this useless place and everyone in it before I leave to rescue my lord: Lord Loki!”