As they stepped on to the battlefield, Freya’s mother approached them. ‘I am sorry, my daughters. I have tried to talk Odin out of this madness, but he refuses. He says the Dark Searchers demand justice and he will grant it.’
‘But we didn’t do anything wrong!’ Maya insisted.
‘And Odin called them off,’ Freya added. ‘It’s over.’
‘It’s not over for the Dark Searchers. You didn’t surrender to them. To a Searcher, that is crime enough. You must use all your skills to keep away from them. We will do all we can to keep you safe, but we each have a Searcher to fight.’
As Odin continued to address the crowds, all eyes turned to him except for Freya’s, and one Dark Searcher’s. He was focusing only on her.
‘The rules of this Challenge are simple. Each combatant will be stripped of their protective armour . . .’ Odin paused and corrected himself, ‘though for anonymity, the Searchers will be allowed to wear their cloaks and visored helmets.
‘Each of you will be given one weapon: a wooden sword. But this is no ordinary sword. It has been created and enchanted by the dwarfs so that each time the sword bearer makes a lethal strike against their opponent, it will call out. After three such lethal strikes, the sword bearer will be declared the winner and their battle will be over.
‘Now, take your positions and prepare to begin.’
The Valkyries stood in a long straight line and they each received a wooden sword from a dwarf. Across the field, the Dark Searchers were doing the same. Standing beside Maya, Freya watched their Dark Searchers move into positions directly opposite them.
‘It’s going to be a slaughter,’ Orus protested. ‘Everyone knows the Searchers are stronger. Freya, you and Maya must fly away as soon as you can.’
‘We tried that in Chicago, remember?’ Freya said grimly. ‘It didn’t work then; it won’t work now. We must be cleverer.’ She gave her raven a kiss on the beak. ‘Orus, please go to Archie. I don’t want you hurt.’
‘I’m not going anywhere.’ Orus refused to move from her shoulder. ‘We started this together, we’re going to finish it together.’
‘And don’t try to tell me to go either,’ Grul cawed to Maya before she could speak. ‘If Orus is staying, so am I!’
At the sidelines, Archie pushed his way to the front.
‘C’mon, Gee, you can do it!’
Freya could barely see him as he stood among the Dark Elves. Standing behind them were the Frost and Fire Giants, with trolls sitting neatly on their shoulders. The tension grew as they waited for the battle to begin.
Azrael arrived beside Archie. His expression revealed his disapproval of the Challenge. He nodded an acknowledgement to Freya.
Thor marched into the centre of the field between the rows of Valkyries and Dark Searchers. ‘On my mark, you will start!’
The Thunder God raised his hammer high in the air and a large streak of lightning exploded from it, followed by a booming crack of thunder. Bringing it down, Thor signalled the start of the Challenge.
The Valkyries raised their wooden swords and let out their loud howls as they charged into battle. The Dark Searchers growled and roared as they ran towards them. Almost immediately most combatants opened their wings and took to the sky.
Freya and Maya remained on the ground. With memories of their flight through Chicago still fresh, they knew they could never outfly the Searchers. Their only hope was to be faster on the ground.
A chilling roar came from the Dark Searcher charging Freya. This was no game or Challenge to him. His honour was at stake and he wasn’t going to be held back by foolish rules.
They met halfway across the battlefield. Wings open, swords raised, Freya was determined to take him on with all the fury she possessed.
Wooden swords clanked against each other. Though he was much bigger and stronger, Freya soon discovered that when the Dark Searcher turned his head suddenly, his hood and helmet visor obscured his vision. She learned quickly to dart from side to side, forcing him to turn his head faster than his cloak’s hood would allow.
As he came down with a swing that would have broken her bones, Freya dashed to the side, away from the Searcher’s sword. Using his momentary blindness to her advantage, she darted behind him and drove the tip of her wooden sword deep into his wings and back.
Her sword sounded out the lethal hit. Freya had won the first point.
The Dark Searcher growled and swung round quickly. The tip of his wooden blade whooshed past Freya’s face, missing her by a fraction.
Other battles were being fought around and above them and the sounds of lethal strikes rang out, but Freya didn’t hear them. She was completely focused on the Dark Searcher trying to destroy her.
Beside her, Maya was fighting her own battle. But it wasn’t nearly as violent. In Chicago, her Dark Searcher had won. There was no honour for him to defend and he was being a lot gentler with her sister.
It was Freya’s battle that proved to be the most vicious on the field. As the Dark Searcher pressed his attack, Freya backed into the Searcher fighting her mother. The moment they touched, Freya felt the strangest sensation – almost like an electric current shooting through her.
The Searcher must have felt it too, as he turned to her and paused. It was the short Searcher Loki had pointed out. He tilted his head to the side.
Freya could feel his powers reaching out to her. Scanning her. Then, shaking his head, he struck Freya in the side with his wooden sword. It sounded out the lethal strike, causing Freya’s Dark Searcher to roar in fury and charge at the Searcher who’d hit her. He lunged forward and caught the smaller Searcher by the arms. Lifting him high in the air, he threw him aside. The smaller Searcher opened his wings to fly.
Freya gasped. Instead of having jet-black wings like all the others, his feathers were blazing white!
Freya’s Dark Searcher roared and made it clear to everyone that Freya belonged only to him.
The Searchers around them moved away.
The Dark Searcher stood before Freya – tall, imposing and dripping with rage. Freya was sure his eyes were glowing with hatred under his visor. All she could hear were his deep breathing and growls.
‘Freya, move away from him,’ her mother called. ‘This isn’t a game to him!’
‘She knows that!’ Orus cried. He flew off Freya’s shoulder and tried to catch the Searcher’s hood to pull it over his face. But with each swoop the raven made, the Searcher’s sword flashed, barely missing him.
In a desperate attempt to protect her, Eir ran in front of Freya but the Searcher lowered his sword, lunged forward and knocked her away with a bone-crushing blow.
‘Mother!’ Freya cried as she tried to run after her.
But the Dark Searcher’s arm shot out and caught Freya by the wing. Squeezing it painfully, he dragged her back and brought his sword crashing down on her head. The sound of the wood striking Freya’s scalp mixed with the cry of the sword announcing the Searcher’s lethal strike.
Freya was driven to the ground with the blow. Her head spun and blood from the cut trickled into one of her eyes. She could feel more than see that he was raising his sword to hit her again. Instinctively she raised her weapon and plunged it deep into the Searcher’s mid-section.
‘That’s for Archie!’ Freya shrieked as her sword announced its second lethal strike against him.
Knocked back, the Dark Searcher howled.
Dizzy and half blind from her head wound, Freya knew she only had an instant before he recovered and came at her again. Gaining her feet, she dashed forward. Ducking under the Searcher’s swinging sword, she opened her wings and leaped into the air. But instead of flying away, she turned in the sky and flew directly at the Dark Searcher. Raising her wooden sword, she let her own momentum drive her straight into her surprised opponent.
They both crashed to the ground in a tangled heap of arms, legs and wings. Being lighter and faster, Freya gained her feet first. She lifted her sword high and brought i
t crashing down on the Searcher’s neck. Had the blade been real, the blow would have severed his head from his body.
‘Third lethal strike – winner!’ her sword announced. Suddenly it turned from wood into a blazing gold sword, with a blade shaped like a flame.
‘It’s over!’ Freya shouted breathlessly to the Dark Searcher. But although the Challenge was over, the fight wasn’t. The creature threw aside his weapon and charged forward.
Before she could run, fly or even raise her new golden sword, the Searcher caught hold of Freya and drove her to the ground. His massive weight pinned her down as he wrapped his gloved hands around her neck and started to squeeze.
Kicking and punching couldn’t stop him from tightening his grip. Fighting with all her strength, Freya only managed to pull one of his fingers away from her throat. With her air cut off, she felt herself growing weaker. She punched desperately at his hooded head and managed to break part of his visor. But as he pressed harder, her vision started to fade. The last thing Freya saw was the Dark Searcher’s cold blue eyes boring into her. The final thing she heard was his harsh cruel laugh as her life ebbed away.
CHAPTER THREE
It was so loud. Everyone seemed to be shouting. There was movement all around her. The earthy smell of trolls filled the air and she could hear the soft, tingling voices of Light Elves.
Freya opened her eyes and saw Archie leaning over her.
‘Gee, talk to me. Are you all right?’ He waved his hand in front of her face, holding up two fingers. ‘How many fingers can you see?’
She had never felt weaker than she did at that moment. She was lying on a narrow cot and found it too much effort to turn over, even though she was lying uncomfortably on her wings. She couldn’t lift her head. Freya tried to speak, but nothing came out of her parched mouth. She could see that she was in the treatment tent where all wounded or defeated participants were taken to be healed. Beside her, an old troll was snoring loudly. Across the tent, Light Elves were visiting a wounded elf sitting up with her arm in a splint.
‘Twelve,’ she weakly mouthed.
‘Twelve?’ Archie cried. ‘Gee, I only have ten fingers! Boy, he really did a number on you!’
Orus was standing on her chest. ‘Don’t try to move, just rest.’
‘Wha-what happened?’ she rasped.
‘That Dark Searcher killed you . . .’ Archie said. ‘Everyone tried to pull him off, even the other Searchers. But he wouldn’t let you go. Finally Azrael tackled him. There was a big fight, but Azrael won.’ Archie’s face was flushed with concern.
‘Killed . . .’ Freya struggled to say.
Orus nodded. ‘You have suffered your first death. But you weren’t gone long. Your body recovered quickly.’
Everyone who lived in Asgard was vulnerable to injuries. But if they were killed or wounded, they rose the next day as if nothing had happened, which was why the human warriors fighting at Valhalla could do so without fear.
Freya knew this and had even witnessed it herself. But she had never wanted to experience it. Now that she had, she never wanted to go through it again.
‘I feel awful . . .’
‘That’s the trouble with dying,’ Orus remarked. ‘It hurts when you come back to life.’
Archie knelt down beside her bed and stroked her forehead. ‘I guess that makes us even – one death each.’
‘And both caused by the same Dark Searcher,’ Orus added. ‘But he won’t be bothering you ever again. He deserved what he got.’
When Freya frowned, Archie explained. ‘Odin promised your mother nothing would happen to you or Maya in the Challenge. But when the Dark Searcher killed you, your mother went ballistic. She demanded justice from Odin. He agreed and made a big deal of punishing the Searcher in the centre of the arena, in front of everyone. Odin cut off one of his wings and banished him from Asgard. He can never come back here and from now on is stuck in Utgard.’
‘All of the Dark Searchers have been sent home in disgrace. They cannot participate in the Closing Ceremonies,’ Orus added.
‘Sent home? No, they can’t be,’ Freya protested.
Archie frowned. ‘I thought you’d be happy about that.’
Freya shook her head. ‘No. I’m glad my Searcher was sent home, but . . .’ She tried to lift her head. ‘Archie, did you see him?’
‘Who?’
‘The small Searcher. He was fighting my mother. I backed into him and when we touched, I felt so strange. I know he did too. Then I saw his wings. They were white!’
‘All I saw was you fighting that monster. But what does it matter what colour his wings were?’
‘Don’t you see? Dark Searchers have black wings. Valkyries have white!’
‘So? You’ve got black wings,’ Archie said.
‘Yes, and that’s what makes her different,’ Orus said. ‘So that other Searcher is as different to his kind as you are to the other Valkyries.’
‘It’s more than just the colour of our wings,’ Freya insisted, struggling to get her muddled thoughts together. ‘I think I know him.’
‘How can you know him?’ Archie asked.
A healer approached Freya’s cot. ‘You two have been here long enough.’ She was short and built like a dwarf but, instead of skin, her face was covered with fine green scales layered neatly over each other. ‘It’s late. This Valkyrie needs her rest if she is to be well enough to attend the Closing Ceremonies tomorrow. Go home now, let me do my work. You may come back in the morning.’
Orus cawed in protest. But the healer wouldn’t be put off. She put her hands on her hips and stood, tapping her foot impatiently. Her golden eyes blazed. ‘Am I going to have a problem with you? You don’t want me to lose my temper, do you?’
Freya knew this healer. She was small, but fierce. Her mother was a dragon and her father was a dwarf. She had inherited amazing strength from her mother and all the stubbornness and temper from her father.
‘I’ll be fine, Orus. You and Archie go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Sleep well, Gee. We’ll be here first thing to see you.’
Orus hopped up to Freya’s chin and gave her a gentle peck on the lips. ‘We’ll be back at dawn, and no one is going to stop us.’ The raven glared at the healer. ‘No one!’ He flew up on to Archie’s shoulder and cawed loudly.
When they were gone, the healer chuckled softly, crossing her scaled hands over her chest. ‘Not even a Frost Giant could prise those two away from you. One of the Light Elves over there tried to enchant your human friend, but his concern for you overpowered the elves’ magic. He even threatened her.’
‘Archie threatened a Light Elf?’
The healer nodded. ‘He showed her your mark on his hand and claimed his place among the Valkyries. He said he was training with the warriors at Valhalla and that he’d kill anyone who tried to separate the two of you. I believe he truly frightened the elf. You should be very proud of him.’
Freya could just imagine Archie doing that. ‘I am,’ she smiled.
The healer knelt down beside the cot, lifted Freya’s head and brought a wooden cup to her lips. ‘Here, drink this. It will put you to sleep and take away the pain while you recover.’
Taking a deep draught of the sweet liquid, Freya was about to ask the woman to help her turn over and take the weight off her wings. But the moment she swallowed the liquid, she felt herself drifting off into a deep, peaceful sleep.
‘Freya, wake up!’ Orus cawed.
Freya awoke to find the raven standing on her chest again. ‘I thought the healer told you to go,’ she mumbled groggily.
‘That was last night,’ Orus said. ‘I told you we’d be back at dawn. Now, get up – the Closing Ceremonies will be starting soon. You need to get changed.’
‘It’s dawn?’ Freya frowned.
Archie nodded. ‘It’s still early, so there’s time to get you home and dressed to compete. Remember, the Tug-of-War is today.’
Freya closed her eyes and took
stock of herself. She was in no pain apart from the stiffness from lying on her wings too long.
She climbed to her feet and yawned; stretched and extended her wings fully. Everything felt back to normal.
‘Ah, I see you are up!’ The healer peered into Freya’s eyes. ‘Good, good, all better. You may go. But try not to get killed again too soon. Next time will hurt more.’
Freya smiled at the kind healer. ‘There won’t be a next time!’
As the healer walked away, she called over her shoulder, ‘That’s what they all say—’ Suddenly she shrieked in anger. ‘Put that down!’
A large swarm of tiny Light Faeries were trying to lift a golden sword and carry it out of the tent.
‘I said drop it!’ the healer shouted. She opened her mouth and a blazing dragon flame came shooting out. The faeries shrieked as their tiny wings were singed from the heat. They dropped the sword and fled out of the medical tent.
‘Filthy faeries!’ the healer muttered. ‘I have lost so many supplies to them.’ She collected the sword and handed it to Freya. ‘You don’t want to forget this, you’ve earned it. This is your prize.’
Freya took the magnificent enchanted sword. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘And it’s all yours.’ The healer grinned. ‘Dwarf gold is very precious. You are lucky. This blade can never be used against you. It is yours and yours alone.’
‘Hey, Gee, since you’ve got your new golden sword, can I have your old one? The one Crixus gave me is chipped and bent.’
Freya grinned, admiring her new blade. ‘Sure. With this, I don’t need it any more.’
Her mother and sisters were waiting for her outside the tent. The harshness had left her mother’s face and she was beaming with joy. Maya dashed forward and embraced her tightly.
‘I’m so sorry we couldn’t stop the Searcher,’ she cried. ‘We tried to pull him away but he was too strong.’
‘They’re all too strong,’ complained her eldest sister, Gwyn.
Freya held Maya tightly. ‘No one could have. He was determined to kill me and nothing was going to stop him.’
After her sisters had each embraced her, her mother opened her arms to receive Freya. ‘You fought bravely, my daughter. I couldn’t be more proud of you.’