Chapter twenty-six: Crashing down

Jack woke up with a start. The first thing he perceived was the discomfort of his armor. He groaned and forced himself to stand up, poleaxe in hand. The Valkyries were gone, but the artefact still lay on the table where he'd left it.

Obviously. They can't touch it without hurting themselves.

Taking the sphere in his free hand, he exited the cave through the makeshift trapdoor. He was greeted with a cool outside air. The first few rays of sunlight were emerging. They seemed to be enough to banish the Blight, given how deserted the plains and skies were. Good. The absence of Tempests and cockatrices was always a pleasant sight.

The Valkyries were talking a small distance away. Their conversation ceased as he stepped outside. He hiked over to them, his step still a little groggy.

"Morning," he greeted. "We leaving?"

"Yes. Let's go. And be sure not to drop that." Skotur gestured to the artefact.

Jack nodded and looked to Brigul, but she intently avoided his gaze. Jack didn't blame her.

The two Valkyries took to the skies. Jack followed them on foot towards the edge of the island. Once there, he took a peek down and was met with the familiar sight of Aerclouds. Oh, how he'd missed them. Even the big white Aerclouds way down below were welcome despite their mundane appearance.

He used a blue Cloud as a trampoline and had a subsequent purple one send him to the nearest island. He landed with a slight shock. Seemed like his armor being as dented as it was subtracted from its supernatural properties, though not by much. Would his jumps also be lower? He hadn't paid attention to that during the fight against the Slider.

Deciding to test it, he crossed the next island with a few leaps. Yeah, it did seem like he needed to put more strength into his jumps to achieve the same result as before, but the difference was very slight. He reached the edge and used the Aerclouds to make his way across, clutching the artefact tightly against his chest. It would be a lot more convenient if the Valkyries could carry the thing themselves. Why did it hurt them, anyway?

He landed, and immediately noticed that the ground here was at a slight incline. The edge to his left was lower than the part of the ground he stood on.

A thud rang out behind him. He whirled around.

Was that…Brigul?

He jumped over to her prone form. She lay face-down in the grass, her greatsword next to her, her wings spread out. Jack kneeled down, then froze. Wait a minute—Valkyries didn't just fall down, did they?

He sprung up, clutching his axe as Skotur landed. Did she have something to do with this?!

She barely spared him a glance, instead dropping her shield and lance and kneeling down next to Brigul. Skotur carefully flipped her over. Brigul's eyes were closed.

Jack approached, lowering his weapon.

"What happened?" Skotur asked him, a slight hint of urgency in her otherwise calm voice.

"I don't know, you tell me. You were up there with her." Jack kneeled down as well, dropping his axe and fumbling with his gauntlet. He was going to have to check for a pulse, even though he wasn't sure if Valkyries really had those.

Once the gauntlet finally came off, he reached for her neck.

Then Brigul placed a foot against Skotur's chest and kicked her away with inhuman strength.

Startled, Jack scrambled back and moved to rise, but Brigul tackled him, knocking the artefact out of his one-armed grip. He shoved her away and grabbed his poleaxe from the ground.

Brigul brandished a blue knife. One of the ones Jack had taken. She had ripped it off his belt.

Then, with a flap of her wings, she leaped back and crashed right into Skotur, who had tried to fly over to retrieve her own weapons. Both Valkyries fell, with Brigul on top. She tossed something to the side. A scroll.

The map.

Brigul raised the blue dagger and stabbed at the eye slits in Skotur's helmet. Skotur caught her arm, but Brigul yanked herself free, grabbed Skotur's helmet with her other hand and went for another stab.

Help her, Jack's mind screamed at him. If Skotur dies on your watch, you can forget Herskagul's help.

He leaped over.

Right as Brigul plunged the blue knife into Skotur's eye.

Jack froze.

Brigul immediately jumped off, turned and ran towards Jack, her hands empty.

Then lightning came down from the sky. Directly onto the dagger in Skotur's helmet. Thunder boomed like a bomb had gone off. Blue fire, much like what the Tempests spawned, erupted on the ground where Skotur lay, chilling the air and freezing the grass.

Jack watched in horror. Skotur's white-and-gold armor lay still among the blue flames. The knife had gone.

Brigul recovered from her crouched position. She looked at Jack. Jack hesitated. She was unarmed. He could kill her then and there…

She glanced to the side. To where the map lay.

"Jack," Brigul said. "Think about this. You've got the map, and I can help you get to the portal…"

Grunting, Skotur slowly started to move. Brigul spun around to face her—an armored, winged figure, rising among a mass of blue cold flames. Skotur staggered to her feet. Half of her helmet had gone, and the other half fell off as she stood. Blood from her eye—what was left of it—streamed down her cheek.

"The…" she spoke, her voice little more than a low growl. "The artefact…"

Jack paused, then turned to where he'd dropped it when Brigul attacked him. It had started to roll down the island's declining ground, towards the edge.

He prepared to jump, but Brigul ran into him again. She reached to grab his helmet, but he knocked her arm to the side and shoved her back. With the butt of his poleaxe, he hit her helmeted head. Then he made a wide swing with the weapon, knocking her to the side with all the power Gravitite could offer.

Skotur flew past them, carried by tattered wings.

The artefact! Valkyries can't touch it!

"Skotur!" Jack cried.

The black sphere had reached the edge.

Skotur crashed into the ground and grabbed it.

And she screamed.

Jack watched in horror as Skotur's armor began to decay. White-gold plate and mail turned red as if heated. A mild warmth mixed with the blue fire's cold, but the lightning knife had somehow seemed less intense than this. The armor glowed brighter and brighter as if about to explode. Bits of liquid metal began to drip off.

Skotur's screams died down to grunts. She looked up at Jack. He recoiled upon seeing the dark veins that grew on her face. Her eyes were determined and gritty, but still very much in pain.

The artefact. Even now, she refused to let it be lost.

Snapping out of it, Jack leaped towards her, dropping his axe. Once at her side, he yanked the sphere from her grip.

Her grunts fell silent, her breathing steadied. She slowly looked up at him. The dark veins remained on her face and her blond hair had new streaks of grey in it, but the pain and grit in her eyes were replaced by calmness. She exhaled softly.

Then she limped and fell, dropping over the edge.

Jack stumbled back, breathing heavily, artefact in his arms. "Fuck…" he whispered. Skotur was dead. Skotur was dead…

Remembering Brigul, he spun around to see her having gotten to her feet, stepping towards where her greatsword lay.

Oh, no.

Jack leaped forward and landed right between her and her weapon. He raised the artefact like a weapon. She stopped.

Silence fell.

"Jack…" she said. "Wait."

"You killed her." His voice shook more than he intended it to.

"No," Brigul said. "Valkyries don't die. She'll be back. We have to go before then."

Valkyries don't die. He vaguely recalled Skotur saying the very same thing.

"Go?" Jack said. "Go?! Just what do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm doing what's right! I'm not going to let that artefact fall into Herskagul's hands."

He shook his head. "You—"

"I've got the map, now," she reminded him, gesturing to where the parchment lay. "You're no longer dependent on Skotur."

"Herskagul's going to kill us both!"

"Listen to me!" she commanded. "Your main goal right now is to return to the Overworld, you've made that clear. Now, think! We've got the map. You have a choice to make: Either risk your life in a fight with me right here, right now, or come with me to the portal before Herskagul sends her forces to find us."

Jack hesitated. Brigul was unarmed, and he had an item that could kill her with a mere touch. But the advantage he thought he had was just an illusion; Brigul could fly, and a moderately heavy sphere wasn't an efficient weapon in a fight. Jack glanced to where his poleaxe lay; if she couldn't get her sword, she'd get that, and even with Gravitite armor, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to beat her. Valkyries were strong. Better yet, they were basically immortal warriors. Who knew how much experience she had in battle.

He glanced to the blue fires nearby. They were nearly extinguished, and the air wasn't as cold as before. The grass around where the flames smoldered were all but frozen.

"How do I know you won't stab me in the back on the way to the portal?" he demanded.

"Because I can't. I need to hide the artefact somewhere—ideally in the Overworld, if not the Nether."

"And?"

"And, I still need you to actually bring it with."

She was right about that. She needed him. And he needed her to read the map.

"Fine," he grunted. "Get that map and let's get out of here."