Page 66 of The Girl the Sea Gave Back
She reached for another arrow but I was too close. Ibrought my axe down onto her shoulder and she fell to her knees, reaching for Fiske. He toppled backward, driving his sword up to impale the woman with it. The length of the blade shone with blood as Fiske pulled it from where it was wedged between her bones and stood, heaving.
I stepped over the woman at my feet, picking up her sword with my free hand.
“Alright?” Fiske waited for me to nod before he turned back to the three warriors running toward us.
He readied, one hand hovering at his side to steady himself, and I took a step forward, pivoting on my foot to bring the axe around me with more momentum. I didn’t look at the mark before it landed, relying on my aim so that I could keep an eye on the Svell woman closing in. The point of the axe blade sliced clean through the thick of the man’s leg and I let the handle slide from my fingers as the woman reached me. I dropped to one knee, taking the hilt of the sword into both hands before driving it upward with a snap. It sank into the center of her chest and Fiske yanked me by my armor, pulling me up and shoving my axe back into my hands. We pushed forward, to the front line.
But before we made it, a man barreled into me, knocking me off my feet. My axe flew from my grasp and as I braced for the blow of his sword, he suddenly froze, falling to his knees before me. His hands clutched at the iron point punctured through his throat. Blood spilled out between his fingers as he clawed at the arrow.
I looked past him to see Tova, standing with her bowlifted and her fingers curled around the next arrow’s fletching. She snatched the knife from the belt of the fallen Svell at her feet, tossing it into the air, and the blade sank into the ground beside me. I rolled to the side, taking the knife into my hands, and drove it back to catch the Svell swinging at Fiske. He cried out, falling forward, and I rolled back up onto my knees, sinking the blade into his side.
When I looked back over my shoulder, Tova was gone.
Another body bolted in my direction as I yanked the blade free and I fell onto my back, lifting the knife as he came down, and it cut into him, finding the soft place below his breastbone. He landed on top of me and I looked up as two shadows slid over the ground. Fiske and Eelyn stood over me, fighting back to back. I shoved the body off of me and got to my feet. The forest was covered in fighting clansmen, their screaming muted by the roar of the storm above us.
Iri tossed my axe into the air and I caught it, using the momentum of his throw to catch a Svell woman in the arm as she reared back for a blow with her sword. She stumbled to the side and I came back with the other hand, cutting into the opening of her armor vest with the knife.
She fell as Mýra appeared behind her, blood smeared across her face like war paint. She jerked her chin to the right and I turned with the axe lifted, snapping it back before sinking it into another man’s chest.
Behind him, Vigdis was pulling his sword from the body of a Nadhir, his pale face dripping cold rain.
I threw my weight forward, running as I pulled the Svellsword from my sheath. He pivoted as the blade came down and the blow missed, catching the handle instead. I flung it back, swinging again, and the corner grazed his neck. A trail of blood spilled down over his throat, soaking into his tunic. He pressed the heel of one hand into it to stanch the bleeding and brought the sword back up, charging toward me. I caught hold of his arm, swinging him around me, and we both fell, slamming into the wide trunk of a tree.
The sword left my hand and I scrambled to my feet, coming over him before he could stand. I kicked into his side and he fell back down, groaning as he rocked onto his back, panting.
He looked up at me, his hand still pressed to the bleeding wound.
I picked up the axe, looking into his eyes. I wanted him to know it was me. I wanted him to take the memory with him to the afterlife. For the shame of it to follow him for eternity. I lifted the axe over my head, ready to bring it down, and as I pulled the breath into my chest, I froze.
The sound of a scream cut through the chaos, finding me. A voice I knew.
Eelyn.
I spun around, searching the tangle of bodies for her. She was on the ground, a Svell woman bringing her sword up with both hands.
“No!” I screamed, running as every light in the forest flickered out, only the sound of Eelyn’s cries echoing in my head.
The sword came down as Eelyn bucked and it sank into her shoulder, piercing through her flesh and finding the earth. She howled, taking the woman’s hair into her fist as she lifted the sword again. I took a wide step, raising the axe above my head, and threw it, my fingers sliding from the wet handle with my heart in my throat.
The sword dropped from her hand as she lurched backward and she looked down with wide eyes at the axe buried in her chest.
Eelyn sat up, taking the knife from the grass behind her and driving it into her side.
The woman dropped, sliding in the mud, and I got down onto my knees, pulling Eelyn into me.
“I’m alright,” she said, but the words were broken on the growl in her throat. The opening in her shoulder was wide, the blood flowing in a steady stream down her armor. Her face was already going white.
Her arms wrapped around my neck as I lifted her from the ground and I set her back on her feet before I shoved her forward, toward an opening in the line. Behind us, Fiske and Iri were taking down a Svell and Mýra was running back into the fray.
I turned in a circle, searching for the Nadhir leathers. The ground was already covered in bodies, the Svell scattered in every direction. The clearing was illuminated with lightning behind us, where the rest of our warriors waited.
But when I turned back, Vigdis was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
TOVA
A crack of lightning lit the sky as I pulled the bow from my shoulders and ran. The deep groan of the storm rolling in from the sea unleashed the rain and it fell in thick sheets as everyone took off.
