War of the Realms (Volume 3) (Valkyrie) - Hardcover

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Kate O’Hearn was born in Canada, raised in New York City, and has traveled all over the United States. She currently resides in England. Kate is the author of the Pegasus series, the Shadow Dragon series, the Titans series, the Valkyrie series, and the Atlantis series. Visit her at KateOHearn.com.

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War of the Realms

1

“THIS IS IT,” FREYA WHISPERED to herself. “War in the realms.” It was too terrible to consider, but there was no avoiding it.

The young Valkyrie stood outside the closed barn doors at Valhalla Valley, the home of her Earth family. She and Archie had been thrown out by Thor, who was furious with her and held her personally responsible for the start of the war.

Thor was partly right, but she hadn’t intended anything like this to happen. All she had set out to do was free her twin brother, Kai, from the Keep of the Dark Searchers before he took his final vow and drank the potion that would destroy his voice forever. She couldn’t let him become one of the feared Dark Searchers without offering him the choice of another life. How could she have known that going to Utgard would cause so much trouble?

After a few minutes, the barn door swung open and a large Dark Searcher shoved Kai and their young cousin Mims outside, to join Freya and her best friend, Archie.

“I am no child!” Kai protested loudly as he tried to push his way back inside. “You cannot throw me out while the ‘adults’ talk. I am a Searcher; my place is in there with you!”

The imposing Dark Searcher said nothing, but held up a warning finger to Kai. After a moment, he closed the door and they heard it lock behind him.

“Thor is really mad.” Mims turned to Freya. “He’s blaming you for everything.”

“Seems like they all are,” Archie added. “But if the Searchers in there hadn’t followed us from Utgard, Dirian would have killed them, too. They should be thanking us, not treating us like criminals.”

Freya nodded and pressed her ear to the door. The discussions inside the barn were heating up as Asgardians, Angels of Death, and humans clashed. Thor was raging, and blaming Loki as much as he blamed Freya.

“Thor is accusing Loki now,” Freya reported. “He’s saying that Loki and I went to Utgard to cause trouble.”

“That’s a lie!” Archie said.

A fist slammed against the other side of the door, knocking it into Freya’s cheek. “Ouch!” she cried. She rubbed her bruised cheek and punched the door back.

A moment later it opened, and the same Dark Searcher who had evicted Kai and Mims poked his head out. He wasn’t wearing his helmet, and his dark blue eyes blazed in threat as he snarled, “You have caused enough trouble, Valkyrie. Leave here, now!”

“Come,” Kai said to everyone. “If we are not welcome, we’ll go.”

They moved away from the barn and headed back to the farmhouse. They climbed the three steps up to the porch and stood there, glaring at the barn.

“We should be in there,” Freya said.

Kai nodded. “They only see us as children. But we are warriors, and we are prepared for this war.”

“How bad do you think it’ll get?” Archie asked. “I mean, you don’t think this could actually be the start of Rag—”

“Don’t say it! Don’t even think it!” Freya said quickly.

Archie was being trained in Valhalla to fight and wield a sword, alongside the soldiers the Valkyries reaped from Earth’s battlefields. He was lucky enough to be personally tutored by one of Valhalla’s best warriors, Crixus, the ancient gladiator. So it was no real surprise that Archie had the Great War on his mind.

Mims looked at Archie and frowned. “What are you talking about? What is Rag?”

Freya realized that her cousin—the daughter of a wingless Dark Searcher and a human mother—had never been told any of the Norse myths. She knew nothing of her origin or the stories of her Asgard people.

“It’s actually called Ragnarök,” Freya corrected. She hated to have to be the one to tell her about the legendary war, but Mims needed to know how bad things could become. As Freya filled her in, all the color drained from her cousin’s face. “Ragnarök means the end of everything—all the realms, including Midgard,” Kai added.

“But isn’t Earth called Midgard?” Mims asked.

Kai nodded. He was taller than Freya, with eyes the color of ice. His long hair was jet black, contrasting with the brilliant white feathers of his wings. He was the only Dark Searcher with white wings, so they had caused him lots of trouble over the years, just as Freya’s black wings had done for her, among the white-winged Valkyries.

“I’m sure it won’t go that far.” Freya tried to sound reassuring.

“But it could,” Kai said.

“What a little bundle of joy you are,” Archie said. “Look, if everyone in the realms knows about Ragnarök, they’d be insane to start a war that big.”

Kai tilted his head to the side. “Are you serious? Weren’t you just in Utgard? Didn’t you see the frost giants up close? Do you really think they care, or even plan beyond their next meal?”

Freya shuddered as she thought back to their experience in Utgard, the land of the frost giants. She recalled how she and Archie had nearly been squeezed to death in the hand of a giant. Kai was right. Frost giants wouldn’t think twice about starting a war that big.

She’d never encountered the fire giants outside of the Ten Realms Challenge, but rumor had it that they were even worse. To all of them, the future was abstract. War, peace—it was all the same. Dark Elves were just as bad. Granted, they were more intelligent, but it was well known that they were as short tempered as the giants. It wouldn’t take much to set them off.

“We’ve got to stop it,” Archie said.

“Isn’t that what they’re discussing in there?” Mims asked.

“Yes,” Freya said as she jumped down from the front porch. “And we should be in there. If only they would trust us, I’m sure we could help.”

“Gee, where are you going?” Archie called, using his nickname for Freya.

“Back to the barn. I have to hear what they’re saying.”

“But that roadblock of a Searcher is guarding the door,” Archie called after her. “You’ll never get in.”

“I’m not going to the door. Look—there’s a large window into the hayloft. We can fly up there and hear what’s going on.”

“Freya, are you determined to have Thor cut off your wings?” Orus cawed from her shoulder.

“They’re talking about the War of the Realms, and that involves all of us. We have a right to know what’s going on.” She turned to Kai. “I’ll carry Archie up if you take Mims.”

Freya and Kai flew through the open hayloft window and landed on the upper level of the barn. Creeping forward over the bales of hay, they peered down upon the large gathering.

Thor’s voice boomed as he pointed an accusing finger at Azrael, the Angel of Death. “You should have warned us this was coming. Why didn’t you say something? You could have told Odin at the Ten Realms Challenge!”

“For one thing, we couldn’t be certain,” Azrael said calmly....