—✶—

Fey remained uncrushed. With her caretakers disintegrated, and instead of saving herself, Maya ran towards Fey. She wrapped her arms around the witch’s chest and lept with her out of the way as far as she could.

The foot levelled the ground; it pushed the earth, stone and trees out of the way as it came down like an avalanche. They got covered in dirt and peppered with small stones, but they miraculously came out unharmed.

Maya helped Fey up. She was careful not to touch her injured hand and carefully placed her arm around the witch’s hip. “I know you can’t walk properly, but please try.”

She heaved Fey away from the rumbling footsteps of the Undead Giant Viking and hid behind a tree as more earth exploded all around them. The Draugr rumbled aggressively.

“How do we stop it?” asked Maya, covering her head from rogue flying stones. She shook her head. Her afro wiggled to get the dirt out. “Do you have the slightest idea how hard it will be to get all of this out? AGES! What were you thinking about this Godzilla thing?”

“I don’t know where I went wrong,” confessed Fey, shellshocked. “The alignment was perfect. The tests were flawless. They should have been-”

“Clearly. they were not!” snapped Maya. “It’s rampaging! We have to get Val out of there.”

“Forget about her,” spit Fey, holding her injured hand. She hoped it was just dislocated and not broken. “We have to think about our own safety. We can’t save her.”

Maya slammed her hand against the bark of the tree, startling Fey. “I’m not going without her. You either help me or not–”

A strident groan of a normal-sized Draugr startled them out of their argument. It looked their way, its blue eyes glowed menacingly.

Maya whispered to Fey. “What does it want?”

“Not sure. OBEY ME!” shouted Fey and weaved her magic. The Draugr unsheathed its axe instead. “That’s not good. ISA!”

The Draugr came to a halt, though more rose from their graves and shambled towards them.

“Something’s not right. They won’t listen.” Fey looked gravely at Maya. “We have to leave. I can get us two out, but-”

“No.” Maya grasped Fey’s arm. “I won’t leave without her.”

“I- did you listen to me? Y- you can’t just-” Fey flinched as Maya’s grip tightened on her arm. Her expression was undeterred and severe. Her lips pursed. “Unbelievable, fine!” Fey relented. “But help me walk… please.”

Maya sighed in relief and put her arm around her pen pal. “Of course.”

“Thank you,” mumbled Fey and shot one more portion of her magic at the frozen Draugr, causing a chain reaction affecting the other Draugr around it. She didn’t know why, but she lost control of her underlings. Now she had to rely on Maya to walk.

Fey knew her from all the letters they shared and felt ashamed. Not because she needed help from her, but from what she had roped her in, did to her friend and now relied on her. It dawned upon her what else Fey had put her through. “I never thought it was her.”

Despite the chaos, they found Val still chained to the large rune stone. She fell in and out of consciousness as the white wisps relentlessly zapped her like a swarm of flying eels. Fey didn’t really know what exactly they were, outside of the fact they were fragments of Val’s divinity as a Valkyrie.

Some also zapped around the dazed giant Draugr—standing idly, for now. They had to get Val out quickly, and sadly, Fey did too good of a job restraining Val.

“How do we get this off!?” complained Maya as she almost broke her nails on them. “What are those ropes?”

“Dwarven work.”

Maya gave her a confused look. “There are dwarves!?”

Fey rolled her eyes, fiddling at the rope with one hand. “The rope is already sturdy, but I also reinforced it with Seidr magic. I need a minute to get it undone.”

“We don’t have that much time!” exclaimed Maya, motioning to the entourage of Draugr shambling like real zombies towards them—slow, groaning, and laboriously. Then there was the giant Draugr, still standing idly but having spasming movements where it lifted its feet and stomped—incidentally taking out some Draugr in the process.

They needed a distraction. “How much longer?”

“Ehhhh,” Fey smacked her lips for words, “ten minutes?”

“Ten!?”

“Fine, five! But I have to focus on those restraints, and I can’t do that with the Draugr on the prowl. It will take too much energy out of me.”

Maya grumbled, her hand moving towards Val. She gently placed her hand on her cheek and cupped it. Val stirred weakly at the touch and nestled her head deeper into Maya’s hand. “Val, do you hear me?”

The Valkyrie slowly opened her eyes, glowing hot white like the wisps. “Maya?”

“Yes, the one and only,” replied Maya with a reassuring smile. Then she grew serious. “Listen to me. We’re in a bit of a pinch, and I need your shield. Do you think you can deploy it?”

“Sleepy,” Val mumbled. “You look dreamy. Today. Have a smudge. On your face. Wish I could. Clean it.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Maya gave a short laugh and caressed Val’s cheek with her thumb. “Later, ok? Focus, Val, I need your shield.”

Val nodded and strained her face. The shield on her arm appeared and fell to her feet. Maya picked it up.

“What do you think you’re doing?” inquired Fey as she regarded Maya suspiciously strapping on the shield.

“Buying us some time,” Maya replied hastily and strapped on the shield. She scratched her cheek in embarrassment. “I hope I’ll do better this time. Just get her out!”

—☾—

Wouldn’t you believe it, Maya was actually doing much better than she did last time! She downed at least two before she got swarmed! Her shield got stuck in the jaw of the third one, and it raised its sword at her.

“Alf Seidr!”

The sword flew off the Draugr’s head, impaling another one through the head. Maya dislodged the shield from the jaw, and before the Draugr could say, “Groan?” she bashed its head in. Blood splattered her face.

“Damn, that was hot,” commented Fey, getting a faint nod of approval from Val.

Maya huffed wildly at the kill. Feeling irritated, hot and wet—her shirt and pants clung to her skin. She was sweaty and sickened. “How much longer?”

“Almost done!” replied Fey quickly, returning to disenchanting the rope. “Didn’t expect I’ll have to actually take off the ropes,” she mumbled. “Just have to finish this one last rune and-”

Suddenly, the rune on the rope Fey was working on went haywire. She had to cover her face from the green sparks shooting at her face. Val let out a pained cry, the veins on her brown skin glowing white as the wisps shot over their heads and zapped her in a frenzied panic.

One shot straight through Val and another, larger one, straight into the calf of the Draugr Giant. Val went limp, steaming with white smoke. The Draugr rumbled loudly. Fey and Maya covered their ears, though her inattention put her in a direct line of danger.

The delayed Draugr unhinged its decaying jaw, ready to take a generous bite out of Maya's chest as it pushed her down and pressed hard against her shoulder and abdomen.

“Can’t… concentrate- my ears,” complained Fey, holding one hand against her ear and the other up towards the Draugr assaulting Maya. Fey dropped the hand as her ear bled. She was getting dizzy.

However, the Draugr would never get a taste of Maya’s prodigious chest—as long as Val still had something to say about it. With dwarven rope still hanging from her wrists, Val kicked the zombie’s head so hard it shot straight through a thick pine—making any soccer player proud. “Maya, are you alright?”

The Valkyrie knelt down, taking Maya’s hand into hers and leaned closer. “You’re not hurt. Are you?” she whipped the dirt smudge out of Maya’s face, hovering with her fingers over her cheek and exhaling softly. “Are you hurt somewhere?”

“A-ah, I–” Maya stuttered, her face overheated from the sudden intimacy. Val had trouble keeping personal boundaries, but the way she caressed Maya’s face with her fingers or how her legs touched Maya’s hips was more than what she usually did. Her eyes and veins still glowed in a feint white light. “I- I am- fine. A bit hot, maybe. And drenched- FROM SWEAT! Ha ha…”

“Guys, could you save it for later? WE GOTTA GO!” shouted Fey, using a Draugr she haphazardly revivified as support—it still tried to bite her, mind you.

Val stood up, breaking the moment first. “Yes. We need to-” Her voice dropped when she heard the cracking of tree bark. The pine, which Val shot a zombie head through, broke and fell right on the little toe of the giant Draugr.

“GRRRROAAAAAR!!!” roared the Draugr, and Val’s voice fell further in her stomach when she saw the mountain of a foot rising above their heads. She could count the welts on the zombie’s foot as it came down on her.

The Valkyrie didn’t budge. With Maya right underneath her, Val squared her shoulders and stood her ground. Her form flickered momentarily as a translucent cover of her Valkyrie armour traced above her body.

She caught the foot and ground her teeth as the weight came crashing down on her, but she held tight, accepting the weight before it could squash her, or even more importantly for her, Maya.

“Oh my gods, Val!” Maya cried.

“Go,” mouthed Val between her teeth as the veins in her muscles strained and the ground below cracked. “While you. Still. Can.”

“No, not without you.”

Val smiled grimly through her flickering helmet, her eyes dimming in and out. “Sorry, out of luck. Would have liked to stay. Longer. With. You.” Val’s knees buckled from the crushing weight. Her muscles groaned as she stifled a yell.

“Oh gods, no, Val,” Maya panicked, unable to move or do anything. She gripped the shield tighter, feeling incredibly helpless with the thing on her. Maya’s lips quivered. “What should I do? I can’t- no-”

“IDIOTS!” shouted Fey when she was thrown their way and landed on top of Maya with a loud oof sound from the both of them. “Move! MOVE!” she shoved Val and crawled over Maya, drawing signs on the ground and smacking Maya accidentally with her hip. She turned to the scowling Valkyrie. “KEEP IT UP, OR WE ALL DIE! Maya, help me draw those runes!”

“Draw what now!?” exclaimed Maya, shoving Fey’s toned butt off of her face. It shocked Maya to realise by the touch that something was missing. “Are you not wearing any underwear!?”

“What!?” Fey exclaimed with a beat-red face. “That’s not important now! Just follow my lead, or do you want to get your head crushed by a zombie instead of your girlfriend?!”

“HUH!?” The blood rose to Maya’s face. “Alright, alright, I’ll help!”

Maya chased Fey’s instructions to draw quick and crude lines into the dirt with her fingers. What they meant or represented, she didn’t know. Weird witch magic that only made sense to Fey.

They were almost done but accidentally erased a section when Val fell further forward from the constant pressure—pushing them all further together. Sprawled on the ground, Maya quickly redrew the line as best as she remembered. Her finger tingled.

“No time to double-check,” said Fey. “We either did it right, or we’ll land in Helheim.”

“Do your thing then, hurry!”

“I can’t.”

“Oh, come on!” cried Maya in exasperation and ducked down as Val came closer down on them. There was barely any room to breathe now. Val’s arms almost burst from the pressure.

“I don’t have enough energy to syphon my magic. A conduit would suffice.” Fey looked over at Maya. “I need your help.”

“Great! What do you need me to do?”

“Put your hand on my chest.”

Maya blinked to process this bit. “THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR GETTING HANDSY!”

“I AM NOT!” Fey shouted back in shame. “The heart is an important part of the magic. We need to synchronise our waves for the resonance to amplify my magic. It’s the only way.”

“Oh, for goodness' sake, fine!” Maya put her hand on Fey’s chest. They weren’t big, which Maya was glad about. However, Fey touched Maya’s left chest directly. She gave her a deadpan look. “Really?”

“Sorry,” replied Fey sheepishly. “There’s too much to touch. Didn’t know where exactly to place my hand.”

Maya grumbled with a red face. “Whatever, I don’t care. Let’s get this over with.”

With their hands right above each other’s hearts, Fey’s eyes glowed in their characteristic green light, and mist sprawled out from the corner of her mouth. Maya felt a tug at her chest.

It was as if a sealed dam opened inside her heart and went over to Fey as she summoned her Seidr right before the Draugr’s large foot crushed them.

“Raido Seidr,” spoke Fey before Maya followed with something else in a whisper. “Pertho.”

Then they were gone as the cemetery levelled with a quake.