Chapter thirty: What they're really defending

Jack leaped and leaped for all that he was worth, moving from island to island faster than he had ever before. The wind flew past him as Aerclouds launched him in every possible direction. Laying out a route in his head before jumping over the edge had almost become a habit.

Yet the Valkyries were still gaining on him.

Brigul must've seen this too, judging from her skittish glances over her shoulder. There was no outrunning them, and they both knew it.

Finally she landed on the ground, stopping Jack in his tracks.

"We can't outrun them," Brigul said. "We need to do something else."

"Like what?"

"We need to hide."

Jack glanced to the ever-approaching squads of Valkyries. "They're too close. They'll see where we're going."

"Then we split up. We do something—!"

Jack raised his poleaxe. "Look out!"

Brigul looked—and jumped back, preventing the nearby Valkyrie from crashing into her. This one Valkyrie had split off from the others and headed for them by themselves. She only wore light armor and brandished a longsword, which she raised at them both.

Without thinking, Jack said, "Split up."

Brigul gave him the slightest glance before speeding off to their left, using her wings for extra speed. Jack went the opposite way, to the right. Caught off-guard, the hostile Valkyrie froze, looking from one to the other.

Finally she leaped for Jack. Jack dropped the artefact in a nearby bush. The Valkyrie went for a stab. Jack moved to block and ended up trapping the blade under the beard of his axe. He rotated his weapon, winding both the blade and the axehead downwards.

Her blade scraped harmlessly against his armor. Jack wound both weapons downward and used the spike on the axehead to stab her in the leg. The spike dug into the padded armor and hit flesh underneath.

The Valkyrie grunted.

Then Brigul stabbed her in the neck from behind. The Valkyrie fell.

Jack looked at the corpse hesitantly.

"She'll come back to life," Brigul said. "They all will. Probably." She looked at the sky and huffed. Two other Valkyries nearby, each one lightly armored. That was probably what allowed them to move ahead of the others.

They flew in close, each holding a long spear. Brigul flew up and met them with a swing of her greatsword, successfully knocking both weapons aside. She tried to grab one Valkyrie, but they backed away.

The second Valkyrie regained her senses soon after. Before she could help her comrade however, Jack jumped, holding his lightweight poleaxe close to the axehead with one hand. She tried to realign her spear towards him but was a second too late, and he all but crashed into her. While she was disoriented, Jack wound his free arm around her head. She tried to wrestle her way out of his grip, but he stabbed the poleaxe's spike in her throat. She fell.

Jack fell with her and landed on the ground, Gravitite all but absorbing the impact. He got up to see the other one fall as well. Jack wasn't sure how Brigul had managed to defeat her, but he was glad she had.

Jack looked at the corpses. He was mildly bothered by the gory sight, but not as much as he'd expected. He had grown more used to bloodshed than he thought.

Brigul flew down to him. "Come on!" she cried. "We have to go!"

Jack retrieved the artefact and jumped after her, clutching his weapon. She led him to the edge of the island, where he stopped for a moment.

Aerclouds. There was a purple one nearby. It'd send him through a yellow one, followed by white that led him to the island.

It took moments for him to think of that route. Wasting no time, he immediately jumped into the first Cloud. Wind rushed past him as he executed the remaining sequence. Soon enough his feet found solid ground on the next island.

"A few more islands!" Brigul called out, pointing in the forward direction. Mountains and clouds obscured Jack's vision to the island she was referring to, but his heart leapt nonetheless. They were almost there!

Now, to hope that the portal had already appeared…

That thought made his heart sink again. If the portal wasn't there…

He heard Brigul cry out. He looked to see her plummeting down alongside yet another Valkyrie. They impacted the ground with a thud, where they continued their struggle.

Jack leaped towards the two struggling Valkyries and, dropping the artefact yet again, he hit Brigul's attacker with the axehead. The strike was powerful enough to pass through her gambeson, and she gasped in pain as the axe dug itself into her back.

He offered his hand to Brigul and helped her up. Another Valkyrie landed before them, wielding a spear. This one had more armor—metal arm and hand protection and a helmet in addition to the default gambeson. The main Valkyrie force was getting closer, it seemed.

Jack and Brigul shared a glance. Then Brigul moved to the side and closer to their new foe, waving her sword. While the opposing Valkyrie was distracted, Jack kicked the artefact like a soccer ball. It hit the Valkyrie right in the leg. Pained shrieks rang out. Jack took the artefact back, then resumed running.

He didn't get far. More Valkyries landed around him and Brigul, each with different sets of armor and weaponry. No full plate suits yet, but Jack doubted those were far off.

With poleaxe and artefact in an iron grip, his blood pumped. Despite the adrenaline, he had the mind to rejoin with Brigul, their backs almost pressed together as they faced down half a dozen enemies.

A silence fell for a moment.

"There're going to be more," Jack said to Brigul. "Aren't there? Stronger ones."

"Some of them probably don't even know what they're really defending," Brigul whispered.

"What do we do? We can't beat them all."

She remained silent for a moment. Then she sighed, shaking her head in defeat. "The artefact. Throw it away as far as you can."

Jack started. "They'll get their hands on it, one way or another…"

"It's a gamble, but it's our only chance. We'll run in the other direction; they'll split up, we'll take them down while they're divided, then come back for it."

"We can't come back for it if we're dead." More Valkyries landed, but they didn't rush. They knew they'd won. "There's nothing we can do."

"There must be," she said, but Jack sensed a hint of doubt in her voice. She fell silent for a moment, considering. "If we surrender, I don't know what'll happen to you. I won't be able to help in any way."

"You just focus on staying alive in there yourself."

She nodded. "Alright… If we have to do this, then…"

She dropped her sword. Jack followed suit, dropping his own weapon and the artefact.

The mass of Valkyries closed in. Their dropped weapons were taken, as was the blue dagger at Jack's belt. Two Valkyries grabbed Jack's arms. As he and Brigul were taken away, a remaining group surrounded the artefact, as if considering how to take it back to the Sanctuary. Jack felt the slightest spark of hope, but it was quickly erased when one of them produced a satchel. With that, they could transport the thing without touching it.

His stomach lurched as the two Valkyries at his sides flapped their wings and took to the sky, taking him with them.