“Will we make it out of here today?” Druan asked as we made our way across the cavernous ruin of an ancient hall.
“I hope so. I’m starving.” My trail mix had run out hours ago and I didn’t relish spending another night inside the Broken Isles. And I was still so worried about Ben. I didn’t like leaving him with the others. “We should reach the first bridge soon. Then it won’t be far. It just depends on how long it takes us to get across.”
“Why would a bridge slow us down?”
“You’re about to see.”
“What’s that noise?” Druan peered ahead.
“The roughest waters of the Queen’s Bay.”
Druan came to a halt just around the bend. Ice cold, salty sea air greeted us along with the roar of the raging waters below.
“That is not a bridge; that is a deathtrap.”
I examined the hanging rope bridge through his eyes. “To be fair, most of our kind can fly so these things aren’t as important.”
“Your men don’t fly,” he reminded me.
“Despite what you may think of Valkyrie men, they are strong and brave. Most of them, anyway.”
“Your soldiers are. I’ll grant you that. But your civilian men are… very Fiske-like.”
“I know.” I stepped from the tunnel to the edge of an icy cliff. “I’ve never understood why our matriarchal society insists on putting men down in order to build women up. In my perfect world, we’d all be equals.”
I gazed down into the depths of the churning glacial waters below. This wouldn’t be easy. The bridge across barely qualified as a rope scattered with bits of driftwood. I needed to change that. Soldiers routinely patrolled the Broken Isles and they needed safe passage through these tunnels.
“You up for this?” I turned to find Druan still inside the tunnel.
“I suppose.”
“How about a pact? If I fall, you have to rescue me. If you fall, I have to rescue you.” I extended my hand.
“Deal.” He grasped my hand, staring at the wide spaces between planks of driftwood. “Think it’ll hold my weight?”
“Only one way to find out.” I took the first step, releasing his hand to place a death grip on the rope railing. “Don’t take a step forward unless you have a good grip on the rope because that’s the only thing that will save you if you slip.” I wished I could shift back to my human form. My heavy wings dragged behind me, snagging on rusted nails.
“Typical Valkyrie cluelessness,” Druan muttered. “Forgetting those of us who can’t fly.”
“Agreed.” I kept moving forward, one precarious step at a time. I refused to look past the plank in front of me. “You still with me?” I called over my shoulder when we were more than halfway across.
“Right behind you and eager to get off this rock.”
A loud shriek echoed above us.
“Sameerah is laughing at me. She thinks it’s hilarious that I’m trying to fly with my useless human wings.”
I glanced up, nearly losing my grip on the rope bridge at the sight of the giant gyrfalcon soaring above us. “She’s a falcon?” My jaw dropped.
“What did you think she was, shrieking like that all night?”
I shrugged. “I was dead asleep and didn’t hear her after the first time, but I did expect something enormous and toothy.”
“It’s highly unusual, I know. My father was humiliated when I bonded with Sam. Most Berserkers bond with fierce predators like wolves, panthers, or bears. But Sam is as fierce a predator among the skies. I trust her with my life. Although she thinks I’m helpless without her. She was not amused when I left her to travel to the human realm.”
“She’s beautiful. And I’m down with her sense of humor.”
“She does not like you, by the way. I wouldn’t approach her any time soon.”
“I’m a perfectly lovely person; why wouldn’t she like me?”
“She blames you for my leaving.”
“And what did you tell her about me?” I chanced a glance over my shoulder.
“Let’s just say I’ll have to do some damage control.”
“You do that.” I took the last few steps quickly, grateful for the distraction Sameerah brought.
“Here she comes.” Druan joined me in the crumbling ruins of the cavernous tunnel on the other side. “And it looks like she went hunting for us.” Druan grinned at the pair of rabbits clutched in her talons. The great white gyrfalcon dropped one at his feet and swooped to the other side of the tunnel with the other.
“Sameerah.” Druan growled at his kindred. “You just ate. That rabbit is for Thea.”
Sam snapped her beak and tore into the rabbit with her talons.
“Sam.” Druan gathered a pile of broken branches for a fire. “I’m sure the three of us can share two rabbits.”
“Of course.” My stomach growled at the thought of roasted rabbit for lunch. I was all too willing to share with the bird.
Reluctantly, Sameerah brought the second rabbit to Druan, nipping at his ankles to voice her irritation.
“You can have the guts. That’s your favorite part anyway.” He made quick work of the fire while I looked for longer branches to serve as a spit for the rabbits. I chuckled softly as I listened to the grown man argue with the sassy bird.
“She is not useless, Sam. She has an injured wing. You know what that’s like.”
Sameerah tossed her head back with a testy huff.
“No, I do not think she’s prettier than you, you crazy bird. She’s just hungrier than you.”
I walked back toward the fire, but Sameerah stood between me and Druan and she looked like she was ready for a fight, spreading her wings and fluffing her feathers. The gyrfalcon was huge. Her wingspan had to be at least five feet.
“I can play that game too, you know.” I spread my uninjured wings, fluffing my feathers in response.
Sameerah let out one of her signature shrieks, and I thought about doing the same.
“Stop it, you two. You’re both sufficiently impressed with the other.” Druan finished cleaning the rabbits and tossed the offal to Sam.
I carefully stepped around the falcon, never turning my back on her out of respect. Crouching next to the fire, I speared the meat on the sticks and handed one to Druan. “Thank you for providing us with a meal, Sameerah.” I bowed my head to the proud gyrfalcon.
“You’ve done this before.” Druan settled his rabbit close to the flames to cook.
“My kind share many characteristics with her kind. We appreciate respect when it is earned.”
“You should know she’s insanely jealous of my attention.”
After her hasty meal of the offal, Sameerah left us to our meal and to our journey.
“She’ll find Vendela and lead us to her when we get off these godforsaken islands.”
“We’re more than halfway there now. We might make it out before nightfall.”
“How many more bridges will we have to cross?”
“At least one more. Hopefully two.”
“Hopefully?”
“The last one will be the worst. I’m told it floods frequently. If it’s under water, we will have to swim.”
“Valkyries,” he muttered under his breath like a curse.
“That is not a bridge.” Druan stood with his hands on his hips, shaking his head.
“You said that the last two times. Oh good, it’s still here.” I came up behind him. The roar of the rocky waters below drowned out my sarcasm.
“Thea, it doesn’t even go all the way across.” Druan turned toward me, an exasperated look on his face.
“You’re kind of funny when you’re not trying to be.”
“That’s a ledge.”
I peered over the edge of the cliff at the churning waters below. The next island lay just a few steps from the ledge, though I wasn’t any happier than he was about the state of the non-bridge. “We can make that jump.”
“And then how far is it?”
“Once we make the jump, we’re on your turf, Druid.” I slapped his shoulder and turned back into the tunnel to get a running start. I didn’t relish doing this with my wing bound, but I knew I could make the leap. Charging across the narrow ledge that reached out over the rough seas far below, I lunged toward the other side, tucking in my injured side to protect it. I tumbled head over heels and landed on my right side, the breath whooshed out of me on impact. Druan landed on his feet right next to me a moment later.
“Show off.” I grumbled, accepting his offered hand to pull myself up.
“It’s about time you two showed up.” A Druid woman stood among the rocky shoals, her golden spear planted firmly on the ground beside her. Dressed in leathers and fur, she blended with the natural world around her. The golden paint along her cheeks and around her eyes marked her as royalty—as did the crown of twisted antlers she wore in her dark brown hair. Her tawny-brown skin shone like moonlight in the fading dusk.
“Morgana?” I rushed toward my friend with open arms. The threat of tears burned my throat as I hugged her like my life depended on it. “You’re so grown up.”
“I’ve missed you, friend.” Morgana held me tight. “It’s been too long.”
“I knew you’d see me coming.” She had the gift of sight. Not in the way Sylvi did. Morgana’s Druid magic allowed her to see important events surrounding those closest to her. Sylvi’s gift as a seer allowed her to read the signs of the future and interpret them—and she was an exceptional seer. But the two princesses were as different as night and day in their methods.
“I met your friends here yesterday. We have to talk about that boy.”
“I’m not marrying Fiske. Not if I can help it.” I looped my arm around Morgana, knowing full well she meant Ben. He wouldn’t be able to hide his secrets from Morgana for very long.
“The High Priestess sent healers from her temples for your wing. You’ll be as good as new by morning.”
“The Mother bless you both, Morgana. I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
“You’ll never have to know.”
Sameerah screeched from the skies, circling overhead and announcing her presence.
“That crow of yours is an irritable pest without you, cousin.” Morgana nodded in Druan’s direction.
“It’s good to see you too, Mor.” Druan tugged her into his arms and whirled her around before setting her back on her feet. “Just don’t call Sam a crow in front of her if you want to keep your eyes where they are.”
“How did I not know you two were so close?” I shook my head at them.
Druan shrugged. “This little nuisance has made it her life’s goal to irritate me and Sam.”
“And this brute has chased all the boys away from me my whole life. He was determined I would know what it was like having a big brother. And that bird of his is a demon in the skies.”
“She doesn’t like me either.” I forced a laugh. I’d known Morgana since she was a little girl, but she’d always visited me in the Citadel. On the rare occasions I visited her in Manaheim, it was for a special celebration. That she’d never before mentioned her cousin made me second guess my half of our friendship. How could I not know about the cousin who was as close to her as a brother? Maybe I was the spoiled, self-centered princess Druan accused me of being.
”She doesn’t like any woman who takes Druan’s attention away from her.”
My smile slid off my face. “I need you to tell me everything you know, Mor. How did any of this happen?”
“We will talk tonight after the healers work their magic.” Morgana nodded. “And then I will take you to my army camp in the morning.”
“You have an army?” The Druids were fierce people when they needed to be, but they were great respecters of life and peace. They did not engage in battle unless they had no other choice. They were also unquestionably human. Descendants of the humans trapped on this side of the bridge during the final battle. Any magic they now possessed had come to them through generations of marriage to those who could tap into the power of the gods.
“Times must be desperate indeed.”
“I’m afraid so. But my army is your army, my friend.”