Truth's Heart (The Valkyrie's Passion Book 3): A Valkyrie/Shifter Romance (17 page)

“Where?” I asked.

Light burst like water across the purple hide and rolled across its bulk in golden streamers. The scales seemed undamaged. Winds and fires crashed into the beast from the other side. Frigg swung her wand about, causing jagged spikes of rocks to burst from the ground only to shatter like brittle porcelain against the armored hide of the Jormungandr.

Magnus and I rushed in, our weapons slashing and blocking the tentacles that lashed at us. Brynhilda, Sayyid, and Tyr joined us, trying to cut are way to the hide. Gungnir burned inside my sword. Surely I could harm the beast.

If I could only get close.

As it thrashed about, destroying more of Asgard, it used its tentacles as a shield and its weapons. They blocked us as we tried to reached the beast. The tentacles thrashed and undulated. Our weapons hacked and claws tore, filling the air with spurts of purple ichor and littering the ground with undulating ends.

But there were so many tentacles.

I leaped over a thin one, landing on the other side and swinging my sword. I cut through a thicker tentacle, ignoring the ichor that splashed about my armor. I had to get to the beast and find out if my sword would hurt it.

“Watch out,” a voice shouted.

Tyr shouldered into me. I gasped, stumbling to the torn ground. A thick tentacle crashed into his body, throwing him hard. I winced at the snap of bones. His sword tumbled from his hand, and Tyr crashed in a broken heap on the ground.

“No,” I groaned as I forced myself to stand.

I dived forward. The ground shook behind me as another tentacle tried to crush me. I came up to my feet, anger driving me forward. This creature had to be stopped. I wouldn't let it devour the worlds. My friends were back there. Haleigh and her boyfriend Kris, Big Hoss and his ol' lady Madge, the other bikers that survived Loki's trap, and Freddie and Gerdie.

“You are not devouring the world,” I snarled.

The Jormungandr didn't care about my rage. Those tentacles not attacking us seized everything, wood, dirt, trees, stone, shrubs, and more. They brought everything to its gaping maw. It bellowed as it ate, feasting upon Asgard. Tentacles shoved into the ground itself, ripping out chunks of bedrock cascading with dirt and brought the feast to its hungry maw.

Its body rippled. It grew. The more it ate, the larger it would become. It would keep feasting and growing.

“I will kill you,” I shouted.

Magnus howled with me, rushing up to my side. His ax hacked a tentacle out of my path, clearing the way. “Go,” he snarled. “Protect.”

“Yes,” I roared. I would protect the world. That was my duty as a Valkyrie. I was the sword of fire that kept back the cold from freezing mankind. My sword burst with flames. I raised it in my hands. I lunged and put all my strength into my attack.

I swung at the purple hide.

My blade connected. Dark flames erupted. The shock of the blow vibrated up my sword and into my hands. I gasped in pain as my sword rebounded back. The energy of my swing sent me stumbling back.

No wound marred its hide. My attack had failed to even put a tiny scratch in the thick, gleaming hide of the monster. How could we hurt it? I caught my balance. The bones in my arms throbbed from the jarring impact. I grit my teeth and ignored the pain. There had to be a way to hurt it.

How?

“Raven!”

Magnus's shout drew my attention. I turned. My werewolf mate rushed at me, howling in fear. My eyes widened. My legs moved instinctively. A shadow fell over me. I dived to my right as a tentacle reached for me.

I didn't dive in time.

“Magnus!” I shouted in fright as the purple appendage wrapped about my body, crushing me like a boa constrictor.

I screamed as I squirmed in the tight grip. The world spun about me as the tentacle moved. I groaned, my stomach heaving. My vision was only a blurred streak as the wind whipped past my face. My heart clutched as a giant, dark maw loomed ahead of me.

“No, no,” I shouted, struggling in vain to break free as the tentacle brought me to the monster's mouth.

Jormungandr swallowed me.

~   ~   ~

Magnus

The rage that had almost been swallowed by fear of the Jormungandr flared hot through me.

“Raven!” I howled as she vanished into the massive, toothy maw of the Jormungandr.

“No,” wailed Brynhilda.

My red-tinged vision dimmed to a focus on the maw. Raven's fear pulled at me. My Valkyrie needed me. I had to rescue her from the maw. I charged forward, my clawed feet tearing into the ground as I raced towards the front of the Jormungandr.

“Raven!” I howled over and over.

My ax crashed and fell. Ichor spurted through the air. It spurted across me in hot gushes. It fouled my mouth. I didn't care. I savored the taste of its pain. The ground shook and boomed. Another building crashed to the ground. The beast fed and gorged on Asgard.

A flash of light burned a tentacle before me. Sayyid's massive form bear-hugged another, brushing it. Brynhilda cheered me on, urging me to save her sister. Wind surrounded me, throwing me towards the maw. I flew on Frigg's magic.

I hurtled right into the monster's mouth. Warm humidity engulfed me. A black gullet yawned before me. Flesh writhed and constricted as the wyrm swallowed the debris of Asgard. My Valkyrie lay down in the gullet.

“Raven!” I howled and threw myself down its maw.

~   ~   ~

Raven

I tumbled down an undulating, sticky tunnel. I bounced and gasped. I slammed my sword into the flesh. Fire erupted around me as my sword dug into the monster. I slowed and game to a stop. The flesh undulated around me. I gasped as a piece of rock crashed past me deeper into the monster's gullet. I gamed my feet and dodged a pile of broken logs that had once been a building.

A massive heart thudded above me. The life of the creature echoed around me. I peered around, trying to identify where it beat as I shifted on the constantly moving surface. The creature moved as it writhed, sending me stumbling to the right.

If its heart beat, I could kill it.

Magnus's howls echoed down the gullet as I raced toward the wall of the esophagus. I slammed my sword into the pinkish flesh. The dark flames seared. Smoke hissed as the wet flesh burned and popped. I cut deeper and deeper.

Jormungandr roared in pain.

The walls of the esophagus clenched. I gasped as they tried to crush me. I pressed against the side and kept cutting. Ichor boiled on my sword as I cut my way out of the esophagus. A slit appeared. The heart beat louder.

I would stop this monster and save the worlds. It would not devour it.

“Raven,” snarled Magnus as I pressed forward through the cut, not caring about the filth coating my body.

I struggled to breathe against the fluid boiling out as I burst into an empty sack. The flames burned, lifting up the space as I searched for the creature's heart. Jormungandr raised its bulk. The floor suddenly became the wall, and I fell forward.

A furred hand caught me.

“Magnus,” I gasped, ignoring the pain of his sharp claws biting into my hand. “We have to get to the heart.”

Magnus's blue eyes shimmered in the near darkness, reflecting the light of my sword. He nodded and pushed out the hole. His ax buried in the flesh of the creature. Rainbow sparks flew as we slid down, the ax cutting through the flesh and carrying us down towards the heart. Fluids gushed around us. I closed my mouth, struggling not to drown.

Its heart was massive, pulsing and thudding surrounded in a sea of murky fluid. We plunged into the fluid. I tried not to think what it was we descended through. I kept my mouth clamped shut as I held my breath.

Magnus released his ax, and we sank with the weight of my armor.

The wyrm thrashed. The fluid grew agitated. We swirled around in it. I screamed, the air bubbling out of my mouth. My lungs burned as I tumbled through the fluid. My hand slipped from Magnus. The world shook and tumbled.

I was turned around. I had no idea where Magnus was in the murk. The heart's thuds echoed all around us. They came from every direction, buffeting me. I twisted and turned as my vision grew fuzzy. The burning in my lungs increased.

I wanted to breathe.

I couldn't. It was hard fighting that instinct as I twisted myself about. Panic nibbled at the edges of my mind. I couldn't let it consume me. I had to find the heart and kill it before my oxygen ran out. Waves of darkness crossed my vision, and the world grew fuzzy at the edge of my sight. Stars danced in the darkness.

The heart thudded louder. The force of its beats sent waves of pressure ripping through the liquid. They struck me from behind. I twisted and turned, my feet kicking as I struggled to rise. My armor weighed at me, dragging me deeper.

I had slipped beneath the heart as the monster thrashed. It lay above me.

I kicked harder, burning through my oxygen. The world spun and my vision fuzzed again. I had to breathe. The heart thudded above me. I was so close, but I didn't seem to be rising. I was too heavy.

I dismissed my armor.

My feet kicked hard. I rose. My vision blurred. The world grew darker. My head swam. The thudding of the heart became my universe. I clung to consciousness. I just needed a few more moments. I was almost there.

I had to hold on. I needed only a few more moments.

My sword burned in the water. My vision narrowed to a pinprick. I heaved with the last ounce of my effort.

Darkness crashed down on me as the world screamed around me.

~   ~   ~

Magnus

The fires of the dead burst through the fluid as I struggled to find Raven. The world burned with dark flames. They wrapped around me but didn't touch me. Jormungandr screamed and thrashed. Raven had done it.

I swam through the fire, heading in the direction of the flames. I had to find her. My lungs burned. The need to protect my Valkyrie kept me swimming. I couldn't see anything but the dark fire. I couldn't hear anything but the screams of the dead warriors.

All I could do was follow my instincts. My Valkyrie lay in this direction.

I swam faster and faster, fighting against unconsciousness. I wouldn't succumb until I had her in my arms. No, I wouldn't succumb to my bodies weakness until I pulled us out of the dying Jormungandr's body. I would rescue us both.

I howled through the flames as my weary body struggled to swim.

A burning heart loomed out of the fire. A sword impaled into the fiery lump of flesh. Raven held onto the sword, her hair floating in the flames. Her face at peace.

Fear clutched my heart. “No. No.”

I seized my Valkyrie, I held her to my body. She couldn't be dead. I pulled her to my chest. She seemed so small, her body limp. Unconsciousness pulled at me. I had to breathe. My vision fuzzed amid the fire.

Raven kept a hold of her sword. Her grip was tight. It was the only part of her not limp.

She wasn't dead.

I fought against unconsciousness as I held her in the liquid fire. The flames grew brighter and brighter, no longer deathly but full of life. The fiery heart burned into cinders. Raven's sword came free, the flames burning on it pure. Gungnir's power had left her sword. It raged through Jormungandr.

Air suddenly washed over us. My feet touched the ground. Around us, the carcass of Jormungandr blew away into cinders. They rained down on us. Raven gasped for breath, her body shuddering in my arms. I held her as I carried us out of the flaming corpse and into the fresh air.

“Magnus,” croaked Raven.

“You killed it,” I grinned. “My Boudica.”

“Good,” she coughed. Then she opened her eyes. “What about Loki?”

“He's here,” Frigg snarled.

I surveyed the scene. Nanna, the widowed goddess, cried over Sayyid, her tears falling on the wounded Einherjer's body. Where they fell, his injuries were healed. Brynhilda stood over Nanna, her face weary. She nodded to Magnus.

The crone dragged the broken form of Loki out of the shattered remnants of the building he had been thrown into. She held him by his black hair. He groaned and gasped in pain. Frigg's face was fierce, her eyes hard. She stopped before me and threw Loki at our feet.

“This is mine,” she snarled and ripped the golden necklace off of Loki. She held the Brisingamen up, then her form flowed and shifted, becoming young and beautiful. Her eyes cleared of cataracts, her wrinkles faded. Her spine straightened and the sag of her breasts firmed beneath her robes.

“Please,” Loki begged. Blood stained his lips. His legs were twisted. He had been badly injured.

I snarled and sat down Raven. I brandished the ax, lifting it up to sever his head.

“Wait, please,” he begged.

Raven touched my arm. I froze as she stared down at the man. I snarled. My body raged to let my ax fall and sever his head. He deserved to suffer for all the pain he caused my Valkyrie. Why did she hesitate?

Would she show him mercy?

“I just wanted to be a part of Asgard,” Loki cried, his hands reaching for Raven's feet. “Please, I was tired of being alone. I just wanted to love you. I just wanted to be loved. I wanted to be accepted. I...I grew jealous. Everyone rejected me. Even you, Raven. I bared my heart to you. I opened myself up, and you pushed me away.”

A growl escaped my lips. My hand tightened on my ax's grip.

“I love you, Raven. I truly do. But I grew so angry when you rejected me.” He shuddered. “Every one rejected me. No one understood me like you did, Raven. And even you didn't want me.” His sobs racked his body.

He was so pathetic.

“Please, forgive me. I was just so lonely. It twisted me. Please, Raven. Have mercy.”

“Everything you say is lies, Loki,” Raven answered, then she turned her back on him.

I swung my ax. The blade bit into his neck. The thud of his severed head landing on the ground was satisfying.

Raven walked away. The fires had cleansed her, and me, of the filth of Jormungandr's body. Her black hair blew in the warm breeze. She held her sword in her hand, the flames bright and pure—a simple, Valkyrie's weapon once again.

I let the wolf go. I became human. I stared at Heimdall's ax stained with Loki's blood. I let it go, severing its connection with my soul. It landed by the villain. I turned my back before pity attacked my resolve.