Traveled: A Valkyrie Saga Book 4

Chapter 2 - Not Only Illogical, Impossible

My clan house was quite literally packed with foreign royals. Months ago Derik and I were just a linked pair of Valkyries that were given a territory that no one cared about because no one believed that we should be distancing ourselves from our parental clans and making one of our own. Max and the twins were going through the motions, but I hadn't been convinced that we would get to keep them. I was okay with being a nobody that silently worked in the background, but those boys were meant for something more. Then Ray happened and everything changed. We changed. Our hopes and dreams changed. Our futures had changed and every single one of us was better for it.

And now every chair within my house was taken by an important royal who were all demanding answers. Answers that I did not have. I did not know where Ray was or what happened to her. I did not know when or if she was coming back. I did not know where the Hidden were or if they were preparing for another attack. I did not know what Ray would want me to do at this moment, or who I should trust.

I did know that it felt like my very soul was shredding at the very idea of never seeing her again. Of not seeing either of them again, because Nahuel was gone too.

I was lost without them and my entire clan deserved better than that. They needed me to act. They needed me to give them hope. But I didn't know where to find that hope.

--Elijah Nilsen

I only realized that I had fallen asleep because I was startled awake by a menacing cracking sound. I bolted upright into a sitting position and looked around me. Not much had changed. We were still in a cave with water trickling down the walls and we still had a wall of dancing flames around us. Nahuel was laying on his side, looking at me with a worried expression?

"What was that noise?" I asked and scanned the mouth of the cave, somewhat expecting a dinosaur or some other unworldly creature to come in here and try to eat us.

"This world has not seen heat or fire in a very long time, if ever," Nahuel said, and when it was clear that I still didn't understand his meaning he clarified, "The snow is melting above the cave. At least the lower layers are because of the heat from my fires. The top snow is collapsing on top of it. That is what we are hearing. It is possible that soon we will cause an avalanche as the heavier, wet snow falls down the mountain."

I stared at him completely dumbfounded. He didn't seem particularly worried about that possible outcome. Instead, he was matter-a-fact about it. I, on the other hand, was not matter-a-fact about it. We were in a snow-covered frozen hell. Triggering an avalanche and getting buried alive sounded like one of the only ways to make this situation even worse than it already was.

"Should we move so that we can avoid the whole avalanche scenario?" I asked in a forced calm. Like it or not, I was not in charge of this run-a-way train. Without Nahuel, I would be a frozen corpse by now. I needed him way more than he needed me. And freaking out on him over our situation wasn't a good way to show him how thankful I was that he hadn't abandoned me yet.

"We are at the top of the mountain. If the snow starts to slide, most of the danger will be below us," Nahuel said reasonably. "Plus, I do not know where to find another place to shelter you from the wind. Your clothes are wet from the melting snow. If we leave this cave, they will turn to ice in a matter of minutes. I do not think we can leave here until you are ready to Travel."

I looked down at myself and noticed that he was right. My jeans and simple tee shirt were wet, especially on the side that I had been sleeping on. I glanced down at the floor of the cave and saw that while most of the water was flowing slowly to the mouth of the cave, where I had been laying was nowhere near dry. I looked into Nahuel's face and took a moment to really see just how tired he looked. I knew that I couldn't look very good right now, but he looked more run-down than he had when I had fallen asleep. And he had thoroughly thought through our situation.