“We can’t bait it across the bridge, there’s no way it can hold the weight,” she spoke as the troll’s red eyes bounced from him to her, debating which to lurch after first.
“Cross the bridge, Ailsa. I’ll take care of it, but I need you out of the way,” he whispered.
“Like Hel I’m leaving you to fight this alone.”
“Ailsa—” he growled, but the troll had grown impatient with their banter. With a deep wail it sent the log down between them, splitting them apart. Vali rolled to his feet and looked over at Ailsa through raining drops of earth as the troll lifted his club. She was already scrambling to stand upright, her hands unsheathing the weapon at her thigh.
The troll swung the club straight for her, and she only had time to spin to the side and dodge his swing with the grace of an assassin. While the beast was distracted, Vali thrust his great sword into the fleshy meat of the troll’s thigh, a crippling blow that sent the creature down on one knee.
It roared into the sky, a furious boom that trembled the ground beneath his feet. In an angry reply, it swatted him with his hand instead and caught his cloak, and the troll lifted him by the cape. The beast growled in delight and reared back to swing the log toward his dangling figure caught helplessly between its fingers.
It shrieked suddenly as something whizzed by Vali’s head. He looked up in time to see a gilded dagger jutting out the beast’s hand, the same one Ailsa always kept at her side. The troll dropped him to shake out the splintering blade, and as he shook the stars from his vision, he saw Ailsa approach from behind.
She lashed at the creature’s ankles, tearing at his calves and the tendons lining its heels. A green liquid sprayed across her face as she relentlessly attacked, and Vali was awestruck at the skill in her fight. To see a woman as small as her, barely passing the troll’s kneecap, stab the beast where it hurt the most and spraying her skin with its boggy blood—it drove him mad with want.
He snapped out his trance and vaulted to his feet to assist her. The troll groaned from the pain she dealt before kicking its back heel, the force throwing Ailsa until she landed on her back some feet away, skidding across the soft earth.
“Ailsa!” he shouted, not tearing his eyes away from her body until he saw her move. The troll turned his attention back to Vali, and the elfin lunged to the side to dodge another swing from its club.
“I’m okay!” she gasped. Satisfied, he danced in front of the troll, dodging the quick hands of the beast until he had its full attention and slicing the thick skin until its forearms were disfigured with gashes.
It was growing tired, and the superficial wounds made it angry and desperate. The troll swung clumsily in his direction and stumbled to the side. Creatures born from darkness were immune to enchantments, but the world around him still answered his call. Vali swung his blade over his head and lunged towards its wrist as it swung past him. His magic willed the blade to cut with the force of a falling tree, and the sword cut clean through a meshwork of skin and tendon and bone.
It wailed a wet howl as his fighting hand was dismembered from its arm, blood spurting from the severed site. Vali slipped in the oily liquid and stumbled while trying to retreat, and the vengeful troll used his only hand to snag him before he could stand, his body now wrapped in its giant fist.
The troll squeezed, and Vali felt the air push free from his lungs, the blood surge to his head as the beast crushed his ribcage. Just before the headrush made his insides collapse, a little figure climbed over the troll’s soldier. A breathless Ailsa sat perched on the crest of its arm like a raven, her figure so light and stealthy it didn’t even feel her.
She banged the creature on top of his bald head with the hilt of her blade. It gave a startled cry before turning its triple gaze on her. She spat in one of the eyes before thrusting the sword deep into its neck, cutting clean through a field of blood vessels.
The troll uttered a strangled choke, his grip loosening, before falling with a shudderingthudacross the earth. The world became quiet once more, and Vali hurried to his feet, pushing free from the dead weight of the troll’s fingers. He looked across the bank but did not see Ailsa, nor did he hear a single movement besides the hissing waters of the river.
Panic closed his throat, and he scrambled over the beast to find Ailsa on the other side, sprawled across the earth where she landed from the troll’s fall. Vali ran to her, dropping his sword to lift her in his arms. A thin trail of blood leaked from her lips.
“Ailsa!” he shook her. She moaned from his rouse, but it hardly made him relax. She was not wakening, her eyes remained shut and her muscles were limp. He looked to the river just yards away from where he held her and dragged her close, knowing its healing waters would be enough to heal the concussion.
He cupped the water between her lips, running his fingers down her throat to make her swallow. And after a few agonizing minutes, her eyes fluttered awake.
“Thank the Light,” he murmured, stroking the tangled mess of her unbound braids.
Ailsa shifted in his arms. “Did I get him?” she groaned.
Vali laughed, feeling oddly light after a great weight released from his chest. “Yes, Ailsa, you got him. You killed a troll.”
“Good.” She smiled, a peace settled over her features. “My father always saidfight like you are already dead.But I prefer to fight like I cannot die. And in those brief moments of fighting, I am immortal, and it feels good.”
“You are made of steel,sváss.” He kissed her forehead before pulling back. “I’m going to carry you back across the bridge, and youwillstay awake until we get to the hospital.”
“Master Greer is going to kill you,” she said.
Vali grinned. “Good thing I have you to protect me.”
She beamed up at him, her smile filling the hole in his chest with its perfection. “Always,elskan min.”
Vali stayed with her that night, convinced it was anecessary precautionto have someone there in case her head injury revealed the worst of itself in the late hours of the evening when no one was around. But her body felt fine owing to the healing waters of the river. Drinking directly from the source proved to heighten its effects and mitigate her symptoms. She remained in a deep sleep until something disturbed her slumber—a nip at her shoulder. She swatted it away without opening her eyes.
“Not now, Vali,” she mumbled as she rolled to her side. Just as she was about to fall back asleep, something sharp lanced her palm.
Wide awake now, Ailsa shot up and discovered the offender was not an elfin but a falcon. Its black talons curved into the linen sheet she clutched to her chest as it cocked its head at her. Its beady eyes held a hint of intelligence not belonging to a normal bird.