A Valkyrie's Apprentice: Book Two

"One may outwit another, but not all the others." 
― François de La Rochefoucauld

– K Á R A –

When sunlight cut through the stables and the horses started whinnying for their oats, we took our leave. Vayleron gold was as good as any. No matter how high a man's morals seemed set they were always set to change with a glinting coin or ten.

Tayah's mind had been distant to me all night. Though she was present, she wasn't all here. I feared another part of her was somewhere in Valhalla trying to come to terms with words a god had filled her mind with. It made me so angry. So damned frustrated that I could do nothing to fix whatever was breaking in her now–but I had to be patient.

John was not as nimble as he often was and relied on Kaden's support to keep to the shadows between weathered houses.

The snow shone bright in the morning light.

Tayah held up a fist ahead and we came to a stop beside her.

"There must be someone in this city more concerned with filling their pocket than hunting intruders in the city." She muttered, watching a guard pass with heavy pikes and brown furs.

"It doesn't help they think we were the ones after the damn kid." Kaden grumbled, hefting his arm under John's shoulder more prominently.

"I'm fine man–set me down–"

"If you were fine you wouldn't be wobbling down the cobbles like a wench after–"

"Enough." Tayah said, devoid of her usual irritation.

I scanned her eyes. But they had already turned back to focus across the street. Where a baker was setting her best loaves behind glass panes in her shop. Only a few patrons had gone in since in these early hours.

"Spare me some gold." She whispered.

I silently placed the entire sack into her waiting palm. I craved to meet her gaze. Sense how much turmoil was beneath the surface but she gave nothing away. She broke from the group and paced across the cobbles with her hood drawn low.

"Should we–"

"No, mortal. Wait." I said calmly, feeling anything but.

Whatever Odin had said to her that night was too damn important to be wasting time getting caught in a foreign city or ending countless more lives at the edge of a blade. I had to trust that she would tell me this in her own time. But I would not wait forever. I would not stand to see her bare it alone–

She reemerged from the baker's with her hands in her pockets and a loaf of bread in her arms conspicuously.

She threw the bread at John who struggled to catch it in time with a glare but also a hungry look. "We have lodging for now." 

John stuffed a chunk into his mouth and groaned.

"It's still warm."

I ignored the men as they tore at the morsels. "Then let's get inside quickly." I stated, levelling her with a knowing look. She finally met my eyes and something flickered in them that was closer to fear than I had ever seen her wear.

I clenched my fist and fought the urge to use the relic on my back to travel to Valhalla myself and demand answers from the god.

"John and Kaden should go first. Please keep to incognito for once." She added in a tired voice.