Chapter 21

A group of guards were coming towards them, with Eira leading in front.

" Luckily she is so new to this business." Tamsin said as she took Eira's sword with her own and pushed Eira backwards. She then punched on her face and knock her out.

" What do you mean?" Bo asked as she hit one of the guards with a helmet she didn't even know where she had grabbed from.

" If she called the Valkyries instead of the guards, we probably can't make our way out like this." Tamsin stabbed two guards at one time with her sword. Both of them passed out on the floor.

Bo and Tamsin turned around, but they found out that all the other guards were already down. Acacia was standing in the middle of them, with the bloody sword in her hand.

" Wow, you still got your moves." Bo said as she sheathed her blade. She had no idea how Acacia did it.

" Feels like 1812 running through my vein." Acacia said. She wiped the blood off the sword on one of the guards' clothes.

They ran out from the prison. The bright sunlight outside almost killed Bo's eyes for a second or two.

" Oh this is not good..." Acacia said.

" What is not good?" Bo asked.

Tamsin sighed. " The patrols and the guards are all gone. They must have followed the emergency protocol."

" The emergency protocol?" Bo was confused.

" Someone probably alerted the sisterhood of the Valkyries about us, and there are certain steps they take to deal with situation like this. For example, the guards were all going back to protect Odin's palace. And the Valkyries are coming out hunting us, with the dead warrior souls. We must hurry to the warp station." Tamsin said, " Let's go."

They started to move towards the nearest warp station, which Tamsin had told Bo about before. It was right beside the prison area, but it already had groups of Valkyries and warrior souls guarding.

" Are those blue-ish people the dead warrior souls?" Bo asked Tamsin. She had never seen them before. They looked just like normal people, except that they all have a light blue glow to their silhouettes, as if blue lights were emitting from inside of them.

Acacia looked at Bo as if she had just said something weird. " Baby Fae. Doesn't know shit." Tamsin said to Acacia. Acacia nodded and turned around.

" What are we gonna do?" Bo asked, " Are we gonna fight through them?"

" No, we can't fight all these people. Even if we could, the back up would arrive long before we knock them all on the ground." Acacia said, " We have to find a warp station further away from here."

" Well what about the one we came through?" Bo asked.

" A few hours of walk, but I think we can make it before midnight." Tamsin said as she raised her head to look at the sky. She turned around and started to walk. " Come on, let's go."

" Why do we have to make it before midnight?" Bo was confused.

Tamsin stiffened. She almost forgot that Bo didn't know about the three day deadline of hers. " Nothing, it's just it's much harder to travel at night." She lied to Bo.

Acacia frowned, but she didn't say anything. She picked up her pace so she could walk right beside Tamsin.

" Don't bullshit me about the harder-to-travel-at-night, bitch." Acacia lowered her voice, " What's going on?"

" Nothing. Nothing you need to worry about. We'll get you out of here." Tamsin said. She looked away so the look in her eyes wouldn't give her away. Not only she was afraid that Acacia might figure out what was going on, but also she didn't want Bo to hear them.

Acacia studied the look on Tamsin's face, and she knew something was wrong. " He had some new assignment for you, didn't he? And again you are trying to deal with it your way?" Acacia said sarcastically.

" Doesn't matter. It won't matter anymore after tonight." Tamsin said.

" Oh you bitch, don't you dare to play this I-have-a-secret card on me right now. I've known this shitty business long before you were even born." Acacia said, " Tonight is your deadline, isn't it? Finish your job or die?"

Tamsin sighed. Instead of saying anything, she admitted it with her silence.

" What did he ask you to do this time?" Acacia asked.

Tamsin took a deep breath. She walked faster so they could stay further away from Bo. " To deliver a potion." She said.

" Potion for what?"

" A potion to force a Valkyrie's bond..." Tamsin said, " Look, can we just focus on getting you out of here first?"

" So that's why you decided to come and rescue me, because you know you don't have much time left anyway." Acacia said. She paused for a while and added, " Just finish the fucking job! Why the hell do you want to die?"

" I-" Tamsin was cut off by Bo, who finally caught up with them. " What are you two talking about?" She asked Tamsin.

" Just the route we are gonna take towards the warp station." Tamsin smirked, " You better keep up, or we are gonna dump you here."

Acacia wanted to say something, but she looked over Bo's shoulder and cursed. " Shit! Bitches found us!" She said, drawing her sword out.

Bo turned around. She saw a group of Valkyries and warrior souls on horses coming towards them. Svafa was leading the group. She looked like she was about to devour them if she could get her hands on them.

" Fuck..." Tamsin cursed, " There is no way we can outrun the battle horses on foot."

" Well, we could use some horses." Acacia said. Then she turned to Bo and said, " Please, tell me you can ride a horse."

" I guess..." Bo murmured.

" Let's do this." Tamsin said to Acacia.

" Wait, do what?" Bo was still not sure.

" You, stay out of trouble." Tamsin shot a stare at her, " And cover for us. See anyone get close to us, put a damn throwing knife to his head."

" Ok..." Bo said. She watched Acacia and Tamsin ran towards the group of people who were after them with her eyes wide open. She was not sure what they were going to do.

A warrior soul dashed towards Tamsin on his horse, with a long spear in his right hand. He thrust the spear to Tamsin. Tamsin parried the attack with her sword, but she didn't move. She grabbed the spear in her hand tightly. The warrior soul was startled. He tightened the reins and his horse just stopped. Tamsin threw her sword on the ground and reached her hand to the side of the saddle. She pulled herself up on the horse and bashed her head into the warrior soul's chin before he could even make a move. The warrior lost his balance and fell off the horse, left his spear in Tamsin's hand. Tamsin grabbed the reins in her other hand and forced the horse to run to the opposite direction where Bo was at.

A few Valkyries approached her on horses, waving their weapons at her. Tamsin swung the spear around and fended off two swords, but she was surrounded.

One of the Valkyries waved her claymore to Tamsin. Tamsin dodge it but the other Valkyries were getting closer. Another Valkyrie waved her sword to Tamsin and Tamsin lowered her body to avoid it. When she straightened herself up, she saw one Valkyrie was lying on the ground, with a throwing knife on her shoulder blade. The one next to her was pulling her horse back so she wouldn't get hit by Bo's darts. Tamsin leaped her horse and escaped from the encirclement.

Tamsin turned around and saw Acacia had already got on a horse. A few warrior souls were lying on the ground behind her.

" Go get a horse for the unaligned succubus!" Acacia yelled at Tamsin.

Tamsin dashed towards the unmounted horses and grabbed the reins of the nearest one. She pulled both reins in her hand so two horses were running next to each other.

The other pursuers knew they couldn't stand a chance on catching Tamsin and Acacia when they were both on the back of horses, so they dashed towards Bo, who was still on foot.

" Shit!" Tamsin cursed. She had to release the other horse so she could fight. She threw her spear at the warrior soul who was getting closer to Bo. He was knocked off by it and fell on the ground. Tamsin dashed to Bo. She lowered her body from the saddle so she could reach her hand to the ground and pick up a sword dropped by one of the pursuers. She waved the sword in her hand, trying to get closer to Bo. She reached out and grabbed the brunette by her waist. Holding her tight, she pulled Bo up on the back of her horse.

More than half of the pursuers were knocked off or wounded now, but the rest were still chasing them.

" We need to get rid of them!" Acacia said to Tamsin.

" I know!" Tamsin said. She took out a rope from the bag on the side of the saddle and threw one end of it to Acacia. Then they split and ran to the left and the right side of the pursuers separately.

Acacia nodded to Tamsin. When they were about to engage them, they suddenly tightened the rope in their hands and pulled the rope hard. The pull to the opposite direction knock off all the riders from the back of their horses. They wanted to mount back, but before they could, Acacia whistled, and all the unmounted horses just turned around and galloped back towards Valhalla.

" See ya, bitches!" Acacia waved her hand to them as they dashed away.

" If we are lucky, we can probably get to the warp station in an hour." Tamsin said. They were riding on the horses in the woods for a while now, and no one had shown up for them yet.

" I never bet my luck against him." Acacia said as she looked around to make sure everything was ok.

Bo wanted to say something, but before any words came out from her throat, she saw Acacia stop her horse suddenly. The elder Valkyrie looked alert, as if she sensed something was wrong.

Then she saw Tamsin do the same thing. " Fuck." The blonde cursed, " Is that...?"

" Howling wolves." Acacia nodded.

" Wolves?" Bo turned to Tamsin and said, " I thought you said there were only ravens and horses in Asgard."

" They are not real. They are the dire wolf spirits summoned by the druids." Tamsin said.

Before any one of them could say anything else, they saw a pack of black wolves dashing towards them. They were huge, and fierce. Their eyes were pure white with no pupils, yet they were glittering. Bo had seen Dyson shape shifting a few times before, but even his wolf couldn't compare with the size of the spirits she was seeing right now.

Tamsin and Acacia kicked their horses hard, and they started to run as fast as they could. The wolves were chasing after them closely. One of the wolves jumped towards Tamsin. Tamsin waved her sword and knocked the animal off before it dug it claws into the horse back.

" How are we gonna get rid of them?" Bo yelled. She tried hard not to bite her tongue while talking on the back of a running horse. She threw out a dart or two, but she didn't hit anything because the road was too bumpy in the first place and the horse was going to fast.

" We can't! Hopefully we can outrun them and hit the warp station first." Tamsin said.

They kept running for a while, until they felt a sudden vibration from the ground, together with some loud noises coming from above the mountain.

" Damn!" Acacia cursed. A few huge rocks rolled down from the top of the mountain as she spoke. The horses were scared by them and they jumped away.

" Fucking druids! They summoned an earthquake!" Tamsin cursed. The horses were too scared to advance. They had to abandon the horses and walk on foot.

The wolf pack was fast approaching. It looked like they were used to the falling rocks and trees. They hopped on top of them and jumped towards Bo, Tamsin and Acacia.

Tamsin waved her sword in a perfect semi-circle and cut two wolves in halves. They vanished as black smoke in the air, instead of leaving any bodies on the ground.

Bo followed Tamsin and Acacia. They slowly moved towards the warp station on the mountain while killing the wolves on the way. The rocks were still falling from above, and so were the trees beside them. For a moment, they couldn't even keep their feet on the ground because the ground was shaking so hard.

The wolf pack was getting closer and closer. They almost surrounded them. Bo killed a few wolves by using her dart, so were Tamsin and Acacia, but there were more and more wolves coming.

Eventually Bo saw two men standing behind the wolf packs. Both of them were on wolves' back with staves in their hands. They were wearing animal pelts, with helmets on their head shaped like wolf heads. Their lips were moving, like they were whispering.

" What are they talking about?" Bo asked as she stabbed a wolf which was trying bite her arm.

" They are not talking. They are using their magic to control the wolf packs!" Tamsin replied as she pinned two wolves on the ground with her spear in a row.

" If only we could stop their damn magic!" Acacia yelled.

Bo nodded. She suddenly dashed out towards the druids. The druids were a little bit startled, as if they were not expecting Bo's move. A few wolves turned around and chased Bo. One of them took a bite on Bo's boot, Bo stomped him on his head and kicked him away. Seconds later she was right in front of the druids. She hopped on one of the druids' mounts and grabbed his arm. A wolf finally caught up with her. It jumped on her back and bite her right shoulder. A sharp pain almost knocked Bo out. She could feel the sharp fangs of the dire wolf digging into her flesh, reaching for her bones. The claws of him scratched her back hard, tearing her jacked into pieces. She gathered all the strength she had to send out her charms to the druid. " You don't want to fight us. You want to fight the other druid. You want to send your wolves to him, not us." Bo whispered to him.

As soon as she finished her whisper, she felt the bite on her shoulder eased. The wolf got off her and landed on the ground. He joined his pack, going after the wolves controlled by the other druid. Two druids were hitting each other's head with their staves too.

Tamsin ran to Bo. She looked angry, and worried. " Damn it, Bo!" She said, " What was the first fucking rule I told you about?"

" Well, technically I didn't throw myself between you and anything, so..." Bo said.

" Oh you just know how to pissed me off!" Tamsin stared at her.

" Are we really gonna talk about this right here, right now? Let's go!" Bo said. She could feel the blood running out from her shoulder wound. It was so painful that she couldn't even hold her dagger tight. She had to switch it to her left hand. She just followed Tamsin and Acacia, trying hard not to fall behind.

" How far away is it?" Bo asked.

" Probably another hour or so..." Tamsin said. Then she was cut off by Acacia. The elder Valkyrie cursed and held her sword up.

A group of Valkyries appeared in front of them. They were well equipped. Svafa was standing in front of them.

" You just keep showing up, bitch!" Tamsin said.

Svafa laughed. " Get them!" She pointed them out to the other Valkyries. They charged towards them, forcing them to fall back.

" Shit. We are not gonna make it to the warp station now." Tamsin said, " I think there is another one on the other side of the mountain. Maybe we can get there."

" Ok." Bo said.

Acacia didn't say anything. She just went ahead in front of two of them and lead the way. The other Valkyrie were running after them. Seconds later, Bo felt the arrows flying towards them. She turned around while running with Tamsin and Acacia, and saw a few Valkyries holding crossbows in their hands, shooting arrows at them.

" Fuck this shit!" Tamsin cursed. She suddenly turned around and ran towards the pursuers. With her sword waving in her hand, she parried most of the arrows. One of them shot through her shoulder, but she didn't care. She just pulled it out and threw it on the ground. Svafa charged her, but before she reached Tamsin, Tamsin had already knocked out the crossbow shooters. She rolled on her knees and avoided being stabbed by Svafa's wrist blades.

" Catch!" Tamsin yelled to Bo and Acacia as she threw the crossbows and the arrow quivers to them.

" I need you to load the crossbows for me. Hand them to me one at a time." Acacia said to Bo.

" Ok." Bo quickly loaded one and handed it to her. She wanted to ask Acacia why she couldn't do it herself, but she thought it was probably not the best time, so she just followed her orders.

With Bo loading the arrows for her, Acacia shot them out non-stop by switching between several crossbows. She managed to shoot down most of the Valkyries. Tamsin was still fight with Svafa. Acacia aimed a couple of times, but she just couldn't get a clear shot at Svafa.

Tamsin fought against Svafa for a while, until she finally stabbed her on her thigh and pinned her against a tree with her sword. Svafa struggled but she couldn't get off the tree.

" You are going to die soon!" She yelled at Tamsin.

" Not by your fucking hands at least!" Tamsin said as she headed to Bo and Acacia.

Before they could decide which way to go, two groups of Valkyries and dead warrior souls were coming from both sides of the forest towards them.

" Fuck! Fuck!" Tamsin cursed, "I guess we don't have a choice but to climb up then."

They started to climb up, with lots of people chasing after them. Bo grabbed a tree trunk, trying to pull herself up, but the pain coming from her shoulder was just too strong, that she couldn't even manage to grip the tree trunk tight enough. Her finger slipped and she couldn't reach her arm out again.

" Wow, watch out!" Tamsin grabbed her arm and pulled her up before she fell.

Acacia took a glance at Bo. Seeing her pale face, and the fact she was biting her lips, Acacia cursed. " Dire wolf bite is a fucking bitch!" She said.

The pursuers were getting closer and closer, when the sun slid behind the mountains. The moon appeared on the horizon. It looked so vague, almost invisible in the sunset.

At the same time, Bo saw a small shrine appeared in front of them out of nowhere, as if it had just flashed from some other space.

" A hell of a piece of luck!" Acacia said. She ran into the shrine, with Tamsin and Bo close behind her.