FAYE

The clansfolk huddled under their tents whispering to each other, gnawing on their meager scraps of food. Faye didn't need her senses to feel the distrust in their resentful glares. From their clamoring, she could make out one name uttered over and over like a curse. Like a warning.

Hvítur Dauði, they said amongst each other, eyes following Kratos. Heart sinking, Faye knew what this meant. Translated literally it meant the 'White Death'. These people wouldn't remember that it was the name Jotunns gave to their ancestors for the worst of the winter storms. The kind of storms that decimated whole villages as they'd try to scratch an existence from the harsh land. But generations of war, raiding, mistrust and terrorizing by reavers taught them that 'stranger' was just another word for 'death'. The clansfolk called him the Pale Stranger - the one that brings destruction and chaos wherever they go. Faye gave Kratos a worried look.

He was watching the people too, as if he was waiting for one of them to come running at him with a knife. Even if he didn't understand what they were saying, he was smart enough to know where he was not welcome.

"Ti léne?" Kratos rumbled.

Faye blinked, her distracted mind churning over the words. Then -

What are they saying?

The two northmen followed close behind like wolves baying at the door, waiting for the blood that they were promised. The foreign language startled Sten and Hallr into silent outrage. Seeing the dismayed expressions of the northmen, Faye understood that it was a way for her and Kratos to speak privately. Except Faye was still somewhat limited in Hellenike.

"Eseís … kakós oionós ," Faye managed in broken Hellenike. You bad omen . But maybe it wasn't too late to change their minds.

The god raised a sharp brow. She swore he almost seemed amused at her clumsy attempt at his language. It was probably the closest she'd get to a smile. Faye sighed and slung her bow across her chest, eyes brushing past the sullen clansfolk huddled in their tents. Maybe Revna was right - maybe they just wanted something or someone to tear apart.

Kratos and Faye passed the tree where Ivar had still sat hunched and bloodied. The noose that had been meant for his neck swayed gently above him in the chilly breeze. His wide, desperate gaze crossed hers and everything she'd felt when she'd touched him came rushing back. The humiliation, the terror, the hopelessness. A shiver crawled up Faye's spine.

There was a small figure standing in the shadow of the tree, just at the edge of her vision. Faye tipped her head to get a better look, a cold feeling settling in her bones. It was a child, but not one from the clan. It was the boy from her visions. She caught his eyes first, as crystal blue as the fjords in spring. But when she blinked he was a russet wolf, its hackles raised and teeth bared in a vicious growl - then a child again with a lonely, longing expression as he gazed at her. Boy and wolf, one inseparable from the other. He was trying to tell her something, his mouth moved and she could just barely make out the word.

Mi...tér…

Panic rushed her veins. Faye clenched her jaw and looked away, hairs prickling at the back of her neck. Not now. It was becoming harder and harder to push these visions away. She remembered the bag of rune-etched bones sitting on the mantle of her fireplace, no doubt collecting dust in the weeks that have passed. Even now, they called to her. To face down the destiny she'd been hiding from for so long. She wasn't ready for that, not yet. For now, she had to focus.

Faye stalked behind the tent where the larder would be, Sten and Hallr following close behind.

"No," Kratos growled, holding out Leviathan to block their paths.

"It's my property she's meddling with. I have a right to supervise!" Hallr whined.

"Then you will do so at a distance," Kratos said and Leviathan responded with an icy growl. A curt but effective warning. Sten and Hallr begrudgingly kept their distance while Faye proceeded to investigate.

The hatch of the larder had been left open. Ivar had probably forgotten to close it in his drunken stupor and the scent of the meat would have attracted a hungry animal no doubt. The only problem was that there weren't any telltale signs of an uninvited guest. No scratches in the wood, the hinges perfectly intact, no bits of fur. It certainly smelled like an animal had been there but it wasn't the heavy musk of a wolf or a bear. Faye's stomach churned, nose wrinkled at the curdling scent.

" This is not a creature I am familiar with , " Kratos said.

" I, unfortunately, am." Faye sniffed. "It's the smell that gives it away. Like tanned leather that's been shat on and left to rot in the hot sun of a summer's day." Kratos gave a repulsed look.

"You are, perhaps, too familiar."

"Uncanny, isn't it?"

"But what is it?"

"Drákontas," she whispered in the Hellenic tongue, eyeing the northmen. A far more elegant sounding word than would suit the mountain-crawling ogre. Kratos surveyed the area, checking again for signs of a large beast. She crouched and inspected the earth for tracks but, surprisingly, for such a large creature - there were none. And the surrounding foliage was undisturbed.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," Faye said. But she had also been positive that there weren't any dens nearby when they had made camp here. It was very unlike an ogre to go so far out of its way when they typically kept to their territories. But if it was an ogre then it was exceedingly more strange that it didn't attack. Maybe it was their luck that it wasn't a more territorial ogre.

"What exactly did Ivar tell you?" Kratos questioned. Faye didn't miss the heavy dose of suspicion in his tone.

"He'd gone foraging in the morning. He saw something in the woods, became frightened, then ran. The venison was already gone when he returned."

Faye's attention darted between the suspicious northmen, to Kratos, and the cliffside reaching above them. She moved to the steep wall and ghosted her palm over the surface. The scent was even stronger there against the wet stone.

"It climbed ."

"You said that Ivar saw something in the forest, not climbing the stone." Kratos grazed his hand over the rocky surface, intensely focused, but he wouldn't feel what Faye could. She could sense the residual hunger of the ogre still upon the stone, its fatigue and anguish for a meal. It was injured, too. There was no blood but she could feel the miserable ache of it in her bones like her still-healing ribs. If it was already injured that would explain why it didn't attack.

"Maybe he ate a bad mushroom."

"If the creature climbed then surely someone would have noticed the beast…."

"They're coloring makes them blend in well. The men were too busy looking for Ivar so they didn't bother looking up ." Faye said. "So keep your wits about you."

The sun was just beginning to dip below the treeline. The shadows of bare, leafless trees stretched into haunting, spindly shapes. The wind whipped through the trees and their bare branches clacked together like the snapping of teeth.

Danger, the trees groaned lethargically. They must be going the right way, then. Faye looked over her shoulder to Kratos following diligently behind her.

"You didn't need to come along, you know. I'm healed enough to defend myself." Faye said. "Besides, I think Sten and Hallr were just getting to like you."

"It is my responsibility," he said. A word she never thought she'd hear him say. This couldn't be the same Farbauti who'd seen children tied to a tree by slaving, murdering reavers and nearly walked away. "I became distracted and the ogre slipped my watch."

He was referring to training Reidun. He'd been running drills with her until late afternoon, around the same time as the ogre incident must have occurred in camp.

"Caring about people isn't a distraction," Faye said. She remembered when she thought kindness was a weakness or something to be exploited.

"Had I not strayed from my duty-"

"Then I share the blame too," Faye cut in and Kratos gave her a puzzled look. "When you didn't come back, I thought something might have happened so I left my post," she explained. She thought she might have spoken in a different language by the way he was looking at her. Then again, compassion wasn't a language he seemed well versed in. She figured he didn't have many people that cared about his well being. So why did she ?

"You forget what I am, kynigos." he said. Faye scoffed.

"You're a god, not invincible."

"I can take care of myself."

"Whatever. That's not the point." Faye threw her hands, knowing this conversation would give her a splitting headache later. "Forget I said anything."

"If the point is to lose sight of the task at hand then you are succeeding."

"It's just…," Faye grasped for the words, pinching the bridge of her nose. She didn't think she'd need to describe how empathy worked. "When we met, you were sick. Really sick. Is that normal? Can that happen again? Because when you didn't come back I had to assume the worst."

She let herself ramble off some of those questions that had been gnawing at her since she'd dragged him back to her homestead. He walked silently for a moment, the way he did when he was thinking deeply about something.

"I heard you speaking to the witch," he said. Faye's chest tightened for a moment, heart racing.

"And?"

She'd been speaking to Hrothga about the child in her visions, the Jotunns and the fact that she was the last of them, everything that would unravel her secrets to this god. She should have been more careful -

"You know that I bear a curse from the gods of my land," he explained. His hand brushed over his bandaged forearms, a pained look crossing his face. Right , she'd also been discussing the nature of his curse with Hrothga: what the nature of it was and how it could potentially be broken. She remembered the old woman's warning. He'd been cursed for a reason. But was that all he had heard? Faye tried to breathe over the tightness in her chest.

"Is the curse what's making you sick?"

Kratos came to a sudden halt. He was shaking.

"The curse makes me unable to die." Golden eyes flared with molten rage. "Not from age, starvation, exhaustion," his breath shuddered, his hand going to the scar at his abdomen, "Injury, drowning, immolation, or any other method I've tried."

A knot lodged in Faye's throat.

" Tried ?"

Kratos' jaw tightened and his eyes flickered from hers, ashamed.

"It is the attempt that brings on the illness."

She thought back to the savage brute she'd found smashing a stag's head in with a rock. How starved and ragged and sick he'd looked. She felt like an idiot for not seeing it before, and after all her talk about 'wide open eyes' and yet she'd been blind to his pain. Faye's hands itched at her sides. She wanted to reach out to him, offer him the comfort that there was at least one person who didn't believe that he should suffer.

His hand lingered over that enormous scar on his stomach. She had wondered about that scar before and where he'd gotten it. She had her answer now, or part of it at least. The matching scar at his back told the story of being run through with a massive weapon. She couldn't imagine the kind of despair that it would take to make someone do that to themself. There was no shame in it, she only wished he'd told her sooner rather than carry that burden alone. Faye didn't know what to do with her damned hands.

"I know we're not exactly friends and you have no reason to listen to me," Faye said quietly, clenching her hands to fists. "But please don't hurt yourself."

"I tell you this so you do not needlessly risk yourself for my sake," he said then sighed. "You will do as you wish, regardless."

His hand dropped from the scar, a grimace on his stern face. Like he'd gotten far too close to those painful memories. Faye felt like she should say something to him but the words wouldn't come. Silence seemed to suit him best, and she thought that perhaps he'd waited a very long time for someone that would listen. The softened quiet between them was more than words could convey.

When the night deepened, Faye stopped Kratos when they came to a small clearing where that opened up to the starlit sky. Faye pointed to the brightest star overhead.

"That one is called leiðarstjarna, the guiding star," she said, "It is always to the North. Use it to navigate if you find yourself lost or we become separated."

Kratos leaned in close to look down the length of her arm, to the star that seemed to rise off the tip of her tattooed finger. Faye sucked in a breath, tensing at his sudden proximity. The sharp, woody scent of pine and smoke enveloped her.

"It is part of the woman's chariot, Kvennavagn ." Faye pointed out the stars that made out the constellation. "She rides it across the sky. See?"

"Cynosura," Kratos said, seeming to recognize it. Faye turned into him with her eyes alight with surprise.

"You know it?" she asked. His heavy, assessing gaze fell on her, and that unnatural heat radiating from him. Her expression fell when she realized just how close they'd been standing. His eyes swept over her face, her lips. Faye swallowed thickly, heart pounding in her chest. Kratos reached up to her wrist and guided her hand to an adjacent cluster of stars, mapping out another two constellations. Faye's cheeks flushed and she was suddenly grateful for the darkness.

"When my men and I were at sea, we would use this star to guide us home. It is part of Arktos Mikra - the small bear. He is joined by his mother, Callisto, the great bear."

Kratos stepped away and Faye's skin prickled with goosebumps in the frigid air. The warmth of him clung to her skin long after he'd let go. Faye flexed her wrist as if she could shake away the memory. It didn't work.

"Do your people have other stories woven in the stars?"

"They did."

Faye nodded up the trail that meandered higher and higher into the mountainous territory.

"It'll be some time until we reach the den and there are worse ways to pass the time…" she trailed. Kratos raised a brow.

"You wish for stories?"

"The kind for fools and children."

"Hm. Very well," He said, then mulled over the sky. Kratos pointed out the shape of a man. "This is the hunter, Orion."

A hunter? Faye attempted to hide her smugness but that impish, dimpled grin tugged at her mouth.

"He drew the attention of the goddess of the hunt, Iokhǽaira, the archeress. She favored him as her hunting companion. But he became too boastful and declared that he would kill every creature in the realm. Hearing of this, the goddess of the earth sent a great scorpion after Orion…."

KRATOS

Kratos found that as spoke more with Faye, came a longed-for ease like the relief of relaxing a tensed muscle. So much so that he found himself slipping in and out of the northern tongue and Hellenike. At first the words were difficult, strained, and he couldn't speak without feeling that familiar twinge in his chest that Kratos didn't know what to name. He'd catch himself now and again but Faye insisted he tell his stories in his own language.

"It will help me learn better," she said. With each new word, she savored the syllables as if it were something precious she was delicately stowing away for safekeeping. Pleasant hours alongside the hunter passed like that as night fell heavily in the forest.

Pretend to be everything you are not , Athena's voice lingered at the edge of Kratos' mind. Her voice echoed over and over, punctuating every absent thought, occupying the space between breaths.

" Quiet ," he snarled inwardly but he couldn't help believing that maybe there was some truth to her words. Maybe it was useless to fight the very nature of himself.

He watched Faye, studying her features like he'd find the answers there. But she remained an enigma to him. How did she swallow all of that hate and not let it ruin her? It couldn't have all been her teacher's doing. As she said herself - she alone had to walk that path and no one could do it for her. He imagined her in her youth, all hate and fury. The vast, unbroken blue of her eyes tainted with cruelty and bloodlust. Savagery was such an easy impulse to lean into and the draw of power so intoxicating that you don't even taste the poison. She could have made the world pay for what it took from her.

"Why are you doing this, kynigos?" he asked. "What do you have to prove?"

"I can't just stand by and watch people suffer."

"These people do not deserve your kindness." He hadn't meant to say it out loud. I don't deserve your kindness.

The muscles in Faye's jaw worked

"It's not about who's deserving," she said.

If violence begets violence, then did not kindness beget kindness? She had nothing to prove, nothing to gain, and everything to lose. She had taken him into her home rather than leave him to suffer in the forest. She'd gone in the battle, alone and wounded, to save Reidun and her family from a horrific fate. Not for pride, not for power, but compassion for its own sake.

"I'm glad you told me about the curse, Kratos," she said.

Faye did not mention his sickness again after that. Kratos didn't mind. There was a part of him that felt free from the burden of that secret that he'd kept for so long. A truth that he had trouble admitting to even himself.

Protector. Teacher

Friend…

Quiet .

Along the trail, she'd stop to investigate marks here and there. Scenting the ogre on the leaves of a fern or inspecting damage to the foliage and undergrowth for signs of a trail. She pointed out the entrances to a badger dens, a creature he could hunt easily in the depths of winter. She showed him the difference between ogre territorial markings on trees and the thrashings done by other forest creatures.

"Antlers leave the wood more smooth," Faye said, running her palm over a roughly scored tree trunk. "Ogre's hide gouges out the bark like this."

"There is the scent as well," Kratos grumbled with a scowl. Faye huffed a smile.

"Yeah, that too."

As they grew closer to the den, the moon rose higher in the sky. Faye's shrewd tracking led them to an intersection of two trails made by the ogre. One trail was older, and the other had been made recently. She hunched over a massive indentation in the sodden earth. Kratos crouched at Faye's side, leaning on the knob of the axe. He watched and learned as she inspected the imprint. Faye measured a tattooed hand over the strange print- noting the depth and width to approximate the size of the beast.

"Ogres walk on their front arms, that's why it makes this shape. This one's an adult female - see the spacing between the big toe and the rest?" Faye sat back on her heels and motioned her hand through the air as if to shadow the path the ogre had taken.

"It had a hunting trail down this path to the river, but-" Faye fell quiet as she inspected the marks, cocking her head to the side.

The river was in the opposite direction of their camp, so it had gone far out of its way to scavenge for a meal. She stalked over to the older imprints with her fist to her chin, edging at the dirt with her boot. Her eyes flashed between the old trail and the fresh one that led them further up the mountain. Kratos noticed what she had found so troubling.

"There is another set of prints there. Smaller," he said, nodding to the older path.

"It's offspring. Looks to only be a few winters old," Faye said from her chin. She pointed to the fresh tracks made from earlier in the day by the lone parent.

"The drag in the footprints here shows a fresh leg injury. And it was alone. But parents and their young travel pairs…." She had a look of a fisher discovering a hole in their net, something was continuing to slip her grasp. Her expression darkened. "Something happened to the little one."

"I take it that this beast does not have many natural predators," Kratos said.

"That's what worries me."

Trees shed away from the mountainside the further up they went as they came up on the rocky foothills. The terrain became increasingly precarious across the moss and lichen-covered rocks made slippery from the icy rains.

"The den's just over this ridge," she called over her shoulder as they edged across a steep crag. She was rushing. She made a hurried step sideways and a chunk of rock slipped free of the mountainside and tumbled down.

" Careful -" Kratos warned. He barely got the word out when the rock under Faye's grip shook loose. She gasped, arms wheeling around wildly in the split second she realized gravity would take her down.

Kratos' hand flashed, lightning-quick, and caught her firmly by the forearm before she fell back into nothingness.

"I have you," he grunted and hauled Faye back to secure footing. The hunter looked over her shoulder at the height of her near-fall with a sheepish, adrenaline-high, laugh.

"Thanks," she panted. Her eyes were dilated, and he could feel her racing pulse through his hold on her. Kratos issued a low grumble, still gripping her tight.

"You have a talent for nearly getting yourself killed," he scolded, then let her go. He smelled the blood before he saw it. " Eísai travmatías. "

You're injured.

"Dammit," Faye snarled the curse, clutching her hand. There was a large slash across her palm welling up, pooling in her hand.

"Let me see it." Kratos beckoned for her injured hand.

"It's fine-"

"The beast will sense the blood and give away our position." Kratos gesturing for her hand again as he reached for the waterskin at his waist.

"Hmph. Well, it will smell a god before it smells me," Faye said, offering him her hand. She made a pained grimace when he took her hold of her to inspect the cut. Kratos eyed her and handled her a bit more delicately. He'd somewhat forgotten what it was like to be gentle. The skin of her palm was rough and calloused from years of weathering. Archery had made toughened pads form along her fingers. She kept her gaze steady on him, as if he were about to divine some unchangeable fate from her palm. Kratos doused the cut with the water making Faye hiss as blood-pink water splashed at their feet.

"A clean cut. It will mend quickly," he said, almost reassuring.

He unwound a few loops of cloth from around his own forearm then tore off the wrapping with his teeth. Faye was fixated on him as he worked. There was a feeling again of something pressing at the edge of his senses. A presence just circling at his peripheries as he had her hand in his. It was warm, comforting even. And something about it was distinctly familiar but he couldn't quite place it.

"You are staring," Kratos murmured. He wound the wrapping carefully across her palm, over her knuckles, and in between her fingers.

"You've done this before, haven't you?"

He tied off the bandage, cinching it tight.

"Children are prone to injury," he said on instinct. His features hardened to a somber expression as the memory came, unbidden, of a child with bronzed skin and dark ringlet curls. Kratos took a sharp breath, heart aching. She was eight summers old and had barely reached his hip. It was the first time he'd mentioned Calliope since that night at the ruins weeks ago. Faye stilled and for a moment there was nothing but the sound of the bare trees clacking together in the wind.

"I still see the faces of the ones I've lost," she said softly, "Sometimes I wish they took all my love with them so that I wouldn't have to feel this way."

Their grief was love without a vessel, a river with nowhere to empty. He had no grave to mourn over, nor momentos to clutch to his heart but he could still feel the dirt under his nails from that shallow grave he'd dug on Hellada's shore, the place where he thought he laid their memories to rest. That's all they were now. Memories, shadows, and dreams.

There is one unavoidable truth you cannot escape, Athena's voice whispered as she prowled around Kratos' thoughts.

"If you ever want to talk about them-" Faye trailed.

You cannot change.

Enough.

"You have yet to explain what happened before," He interrupted Faye, "Do not think that I have forgotten."

It pained him to see the flash of hurt across her face and it made him hate himself a little bit more for it. She seemed to swallow down whatever she was feeling, bitterness searing in her gaze. He could see her barbs again waiting to strike at him with poison like Orion's scorpion. Good, he thought. It was better that way. Faye flexed her hand, testing the wrapping, and reached up the rock formation again.

"Wait," Kratos grumbled. He leaned down slightly and cupped his hands at his knee to make a foothold for her. Faye hesitated, unsure of him.

"Go on," he urged her. Her eyes flashed, the Eurotas at low tide. Faye slung her bow across her body and reached for his shoulder to steady herself. He tried not to think about that presence again, but he found it especially hard when she was touching him. It was difficult enough to be enveloped in her scent, earthy and herbal like the dried bunches of greenery she hung in her home. She had her palm on his bicep, gripping him for support, then placed her foot in his hands.

"Ready?"

"Yeah." Faye took a sharp breath and jerked her head in a nod.

Kratos dipped her, gathering momentum, then heaved her upward in one fluid motion. Once she landed smoothly at the top, he made the climb to meet her.

"I'll explain later, okay?" she said as he hauled himself over the ridge.

"Very well," he rumbled. From what Kratos had seen - Faye touched Ivar and whatever he had said had given her the impression that he was being honest. Whatever it was, it seemed to have an effect on her as well. Her eyes had been teary, face twisted in pain. If she could peer into one's heart, see into their mind, then Kratos wasn't so sure he wanted a demonstration. If this mission of hers was successful, maybe that was proof enough.

When they entered into the creature's territory, the fetid stench of it became overwhelming. There were bones scattered over a rocky clearing, a thick miasma permeating the air. The skeletal corpses were from a variety of creatures, some Kratos recognized and others he did not. Faye urged Kratos to a low crouch as they crept around its den. The bones led to a shallow cave where the sounds of snapping and slurping came from inside. Faye stopped at a pile of bones not far from the entrance, expression hardening.

"I found the little one."

Kratos stopped beside Faye at the set of small ogre bones. They were still somewhat fresh, not yet bleached by the sun but picked clean by scavengers. There was scarcely anything left as it was. Even the thickest bones were cracked and sucked of their marrow, every last bit of the young ogre having been consumed. The skull was smashed in what looked to be the killing blow and the rest of the skeleton… Kratos looked between the young's teeth and the ravaged corpse.

"The parent devoured its young," Kratos deduced. There was scraping along the bones consistent with the shape of the ogre's teeth.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones desperate for food," Faye said sadly.

"A beast will do what it must to survive. It is their nature," Kratos grumbled. Faye notched an arrow from the quiver at her hip.

"Ogres aren't very smart but it'll learn to follow us as a food source." There was a fierce look to her, eyes sharp and a severe composure falling over her. "We gotta put it down."

"On that, we agree," Kratos said just as a shadow grew from inside the cave. Heavy footsteps shook the earth.

"Ég lykta af guði," came a deep, behemoth voice bellowing from inside the cave.

"Heh. Told you," Faye muttered.

"Ready yourself, kynigos," Kratos said and the axe groaned in response, ice growing along the blade's edge. He looked to Faye to quickly assess her. She had a strong pull, and lethal accuracy - that would be advantageous in battle. She said she was well enough to fight and he had to trust her word. He could see something change in her, the shift from hunter to soldier. He felt his own instincts leaning into violent impulses as the thundering steps grew closer to the mouth of the cave. That rage inside him gnashed at the bit, urging to be set free. Like fire rising up in his throat.

"Watch the arms. Their punches have range," Faye instructed, grunting as she pulled an arrow and aimed for the cave's entrance.

The ogre lurched from the cave on its massive, hulking forearms. It was at least twice Kratos' height, covered in coarse grey-ish fur and toughened hide meant to blend into the mountainside. A roar tore through the beast's throat, flashing it's toothy maw. There was purple-black bruises mottled over the knee-joint of one its legs, indicating the injury Faye mentioned before. Perhaps the ogreling fought back before it was slaughtered. The ogre raised it's enormous fists and pounded the ground in a territorial display. It was going to charge.

" Nista !" Faye snarled, releasing her shot. The arrow thwipped past Kratos' ear, singing through the air as it sailed toward the ogre. The beast stumbled back with a booming, ear-splitting wail, and tearing at its face. It refocused, panting heavily. Blood poured down the creature's face. Faye had claimed one of its eyes.

Faye scowled and held her ribs for a moment before preparing another arrow. "Won't get another shot like that, I'm afraid. Move !"

The ogre lunged on its hulking fists, far quicker than Kratos imagined a monster of its size could be. Faye split off to the side. She circled around the creature and pitting it between her and Kratos amidst the rocky clearing. The ogre roared as it came up on Kratos, wheeling it's massive fist back preparing to strike. Kratos surged forward into the ogre and brought the axe down hard across its jaw. It howled and stumbled back a step just as two arrows shot into its shoulder and neck.

Faye took off sprinting along the edge of the rocky clearing as the ogre moved on Kratos. She managed two shots in quick succession at its neck. Too whipped into a frenzy, the ogre scarcely noticed when the shots met their mark.

Thunk! Thunk!

"Watch out!" Faye shouted. Too late. The ogre wheeled around and a giant fist connected with Kratos' abdomen, throwing him back. Kratos grunted as he took the hit, slamming Leviathan into the stone to stop him from sliding off the mountainside. Leviathan sparked and shrieked as it dragged across the rocky surface. Kratos felt that feral violence clawing its way to the surface, threatening to consume him.

Kratos' heartbeat thundered in his ears. The fire welled up inside him, pouring into his blood, focusing him. He needed that hit.

"Eyes up, soldier!" Faye yelled from across the clearing, circling the beast and taking shots where she could. Kratos shook his head, recovering from the blow. Adrenaline shook his vision.

The ogre turned and charged Kratos again while Faye stayed in its blind spot, firing arrows. Anticipating the creatures move, Kratos dodged it's massive first and roared as he swung the axe in a wide sweep. He managed to thrash the ogre's chest with the axe. Faye ran up behind Kratos, looping her bow across her chest. Kratos took a quick glance at the quiver at her hip. She was halfway through her arrows.

"Faye!" Was she trying to get herself killed?

She leapt off a stone, vaulting high. As the axe flew through the air to make it's return to Kratos, Faye called it to her grip. The axe groaned and changed course. Faye caught the axe midair and with a battle-cry, brought the Leviathan down on the ogre in an icy blast. Shards of razor-sharp ice burst in a focused explosion at its neck. The ogre wheeled back, gripping it's throat as Faye rolled to the ground.

A skilled hunter. An intrepid soldier. A woman as fierce as the elements with eyes like the raging sea and hair spun from Promethean flame. For a brief moment, a fiery braid floated around her like a crown. He couldn't help but be entranced by her for the briefest of moments. Pyrrah , Kratos thought.

She stood, panting hard, and strands of red hair sticking to her freckled face. She held her side and groaned in pain. The ogre choked and shrieked as blood poured from the wound, flailing as it searched for her. She'd done it. She cut past the ogre's hide. But he could see that she was getting dangerously close to her limit and the ogre was going to charge again.

"Take it!" Faye shouted across the clearing to Kratos. She held out the axe. While the creature was still wheeling, Kratos opened his hand and called the axe. It pulled from Faye's grip and spun toward Kratos. On the return, it struck the ogre across the head in a dizzying hit. The ogre swung its attention on Kratos, battered and bloody. With a thunderous roar, it barrelled forward. Releasing a growl of his own, Kratos wound back the axe and heaved downward, hacking at the creature's injured leg. It cleaved through the thick hide to the bone. The creature screamed and howled and swung its arms wildly. Had Faye not blinded it in one eye, those powerful fists surely would have met their mark.

Kratos and Faye passed the axe back and forth between them in swift, controlled strikes at the ogre. Wearing the creature down blow by blow. Faye couldn't afford to waste any more arrows on the ogre. It became a war of attrition and for what the ogre lacked in intelligence it made up for in endurance. While one readied an attack, the other circled around the beast to draw its attention. When the ogre was weakened enough, Faye leapt on the beast's back. It roared and thrashed but she managed to swing her bow underneath its jaw, exposing its throat. It made a choked sound as it reached for her blindly.

She snarled, struggling against the beast to keep its weak spot open. Kratos took the opening and rushed the beast. He shortened his grip on the axe to the hilt for leverage. He leapt and sliced downward to open up the wound Faye had cut. It worked. Blood spurted from the ogre's neck. The ogre managed a choked whine as it fell to its knees. Faye tumbled from the ogre before it hit the ground. She remained lying on the ground, clutching her chest and breathing hard.

"Well done," Kratos said as he came to stand over her. He hooked the axe at his back and offered his hand to Faye. She'd fought well, beautifully even.

"I think that's the first time you've paid me a compliment," she wheezed and took Kratos' hand. He pulled her up gently but even still, she hissed and gripped her side. He brushed her hand away and braced her side with his hand to feel at the bones.

" Fuck ," she gasped and flinched away from him instinctively.

"Broken?" he asked. She shook her head, face creased with pain.

"I don't know."

"Kátse akínitos," he murmured. Hold still. Faye grasped his arm to steady herself, squeezing her eyes shut. Her breathing began to evened and she took deeper, longer breaths to test her lungs. That was a good sign. He found the healing bones and prodded them carefully, feeling along the old fractures. She shifted uncomfortably, jaw clenched against the pain

" Farbauti… " she growled through grit teeth.

"Mending but not broken," he diagnosed and backed away from her.

"Thanks," she grumbled. Still recovering her breath, Faye began scavenging a fresh pile of bones by the mouth of the cave. "I spotted the skull of the stag somewhere around here. We'll bring it back as proof."

After a few moments, Faye yanked the stag's skull free and secured it to her back with some rope. Kratos, meanwhile, crouched at the ogre's open maw.

"Your dagger," he requested, holding out his hand to Faye. She pulled her weapon from her hip, flipped it in her hand and passed it to him. Kratos cut out one of the massive incisors and tossed it to Faye.

"Here. A trophy," he said. Faye considered the tooth for a moment, then tossed it back.

"Keep it. Maybe it'll convince them that you're not so bad after all."

He caught the tooth against his chest.

"The victory is not mine alone," he protested.

"Ivar living to see the sunrise is victory enough for me," she said.

"Hm." Kratos inspected the dagger for a moment before handing it back. Something about it felt off to him. The weight and balance of it, the craftsmanship, some enigmatic detail reminded him a little too much of home. Kratos handed the dagger back to her and looked to the horizon where the moon descended. Morning, mere hours away.

"We should hurry back, then," Kratos said, "But first, you will first tell me the truth."

FAYE

"The truth," Faye echoed.

It was a word that cast a broad net over the many things she'd kept hidden about herself. Her gift with languages, her abilities, and why she could feel things that he couldn't. But the truth wasn't so simple. The truth was that she was a Jotunn, the last Jotunn. Her ancestor was the giant, Ymir, whose blood gave life to the universe itself and that same magic ran through her veins. The nature of what she was, her abilities, the power her ancestors held - entire wars were fought and hundreds of thousands were killed over that simple fact. She couldn't just give him that, not after everything she'd lost.

"What happened with Ivar… was that another one of your gifts or magic?" he asked. Faye tensed.

"Yes," she said. Kratos gave her a hard look. He crossed his arms over his chest and took an imposing step forward so he could read her face better in the thin light.

"Both then," he said, golden eyes narrowed.

"Something like that." Her eyes shifted to the horizon where the sky began lightening with the coming dawn.

"You read thoughts, then? Bewitched him into speaking the truth?"

"No, it doesn't work like that."

Her thoughts grew frantic and she knew that she didn't have time to push this off any longer. Maybe it would be better to conceal herself again, safely cloaked in all of her secrets. Then he would never trust her and he'd be right to. She'd do the same in his position. But maybe he could see her for who she truly was - if only given the chance. He didn't even know her true name, surely this was a small consolation. She knew it wasn't a good idea. She knew the consequences, the oaths that she was breaking. But to be seen, just once, wouldn't it be worth it? The sun was rising quickly and if she wasted any more precious seconds she'd return to Ivar swinging at the end of a rope.

Embros gremós ke píso réma.

" Kynigos ," he warned, fully exasperated. Last chance. She just hoped that it was enough.

"I can sense people's feelings. Their emotions. I can do it from a distance but it can be more intense if I touch them," Faye said, spilling the words quickly. "I felt that Ivar was honest which meant he was either telling the truth or what he truly believed was the truth."

She could see something intense and calculating happening behind his eyes as he glared down at her.

"You ventured this hunt on a guess ?" His voice rose, teetering on outrage.

"Either he was telling the truth or he was an exceptionally talented liar," Faye said, matching his indignation, "And I was right ."

"That does not make your choice any less reckless. He also said that he had seen something in the forest, am I to believe that was also true?"

Ymir's blood! She didn't have time for this. Faye threw her hands.

"Maybe he did but it wasn't what he thought it was, that doesn't make it any less true," Faye said, then, "I had to do something , Kratos. Some risks are worth the reward."

Kratos crossed his arms over his chest, fingers drumming his bicep. That fire in his gaze subsided to embers and he seemed calmed, albeit still unnerved by her confession.

"Why did you not mention this before? Why keep it a secret?" he rumbled.

"It didn't exactly come up." She didn't want to fight him, that's not what she wanted out of this. Faye sighed and softened her demeanor. "I decided to trust you with this. Now I'm asking you to trust me . Okay?"

He was still glaring down at her, as if scrutinizing every past interaction to wheedle out moments of deceit or trickery. Faye offered him her hand. She might have had an easier time offering him his own heart roasted on a stick.

"It might be easier to understand if I show you-"

" No. "

Faye raised her hands like she was calming a beast.

"Relax," she said, "I cannot take what is not freely given. Don't you think that if I wanted to glean your mind I would have done it already?"

He only gave one of those signature, indecipherable grunts of his and strode past her. She didn't expect him to come around right away, but he didn't have to be such a prick about it. She only hoped that she didn't just make a huge mistake by placing her trust in him, a god. Yet, the cruel irony of it was that he might just be one of the few beings in the realms that could understand her, aside from the ones that wanted her dead.

Weren't some risks worth the reward? Her own voice echoed back at her.

They made the trek back down the mountain at breakneck pace as they raced against the sun. The temperature dropped considerably as morning approached, as if they brought the winter chill with them as they descended the mountainside.

" Danger ," the trees whispered weakly, fighting sleep enough to warn Faye. But she took comfort in the fact that the threat had been dealt with. There was still the matter of their waning provisions but at least they had one less thing to worry about.

Even though Kratos seemed as bristled as ever, a weight felt lifted and Faye felt a kind of relief she hadn't felt in years. Decades, really. There was a nagging fear with it too. This was something new and she wasn't used to wearing who she was so openly, even if it was just a small scrap of the truth. And whether he showed it or not, Faye had the sense that he had confided some trust in her as well. Especially when he'd spoken about the nature of his curse. She'd said they weren't friends, and they still weren't, but...maybe this was a start.