Road To Valhalla Novels & Stories

This is our one chance to stop Freya before she slips away again, or worse. I move closer to the table, my eyes scanning the routes spread out across the surface. Shadow Vale sits circled in red on one edge of the map. From there, multiple lines branch outward, roads, back trails, forest paths. Each one a potential ambush. Each one a possible death sentence if we don’t get it right.

“Unclear, Your Majesty. Their movements are… unnatural.” A murmur rippled across the room. Tyla’s fingers curled around the edge of the map table. She tried to hide the tremor. I placed a steadying hand on her lower back. Instant relief flowed through her posture. Commander Vale cleared his throat. “Your orders, sire?” I studied the map. Reynold was approaching from the east, through the Shadowpine pass—narrow terrain, steep inclines, treacherous footing. He chose the fastest route, not the safest.

Murmurs rippled through the group. "He's telling the truth," Kyle said quietly beside Natzy. She turned to him. "What?" "He's a genius," Kyle said, his gaze fixed on Naro. "He sees patterns most people don't." "A game?" Natzy repeated, skeptical. "VEDRAH is a trial ground," Kyle said. "We're judged here. Hunted by what we've done. The worst of what we are." Natzy's chest tightened. 'Hunted by my crimes.' The words echoed in her mind.

The road to Hallow’s Edge swallows us whole. Fog curls around the car in thick, dragging sheets, smearing across the windows like fingers trying to get in. The air smells damp and metallic, like pennies, or blood, and every mile we drive feels like we’re sinking deeper into something ancient. Ms. Carter hums along to the radio, tapping the steering wheel like this is just another Tuesday. Another placement. Another kid. Another town. For her, maybe it is. For me, it’s the seventh home in three years.

After going back to the correct date and time, he clicked through the videos until Vale’s truck appeared again. “Got you, motherfucker,” Voss whispered. “Where are you going?” “That’s Delgado Road,” Jaxon said while pointing at the screen. “He’s heading toward the highway. There’s a traffic light there. Pull that up. We can see which way he went.” Voss’s fingers moved quickly over the keyboard again, and a few minutes later Vale’s truck appeared on the screen. The truck took the turn fast, almost tipping onto two wheels as it ran through a red light.

Before I could fire back another aggressive, explosive retort, the heavy armored transport violently slammed into a hidden, massive mud trench in the unpaved mountain road. "Hold on!" the driver yelled through the comms, violently jerking the heavy steering wheel to avoid a massive boulder. The three-ton vehicle executed a brutal, neck-snapping swerve. The sudden, violent lurch threw Valeria entirely off her perfect balance. The heavy historical text flew from her pale hands, slamming hard against the reinforced door panel. Gravity ripped her from her seat, and her slender body was launched directly across the small gap—straight into my chest. "My goodness!"

"Before it produces the signal and before two hundred wolves get the instruction to move." "And the two hundred wolves currently between us and the fortress?" Kaelor said. I stopped and looked at the road and six wolves with Kaelor and Renna and ten contained Ashmoor operatives on a mountain road with two hundred wolves somewhere in between here and home. The math was not good. "Alternative route?" I said to Kaelor. "The high ridge," he said immediately. "North of the main road. It adds forty minutes but it bypasses the western approach entirely and comes out at the northern perimeter."

Rive's hooves clacked against the ground as they walked. Valerik had seen a great many places: the red seas of Doorin, the Asazee's haunted valleys. He'd covered distances from the Hagroove mountain peaks to the plateaus of the Merdendis and even the raging waters of Truth's tears. He had been subjected to the cold caves of Agaroth to the north and the scorching sun of the Tafirat deserts to the south. He had seen a great many people and faced a great many torments. But of them all, there was no love lost between him and the city of Dun.

Chapter Fifty Seven: Before He Gets There First The plan had been two weeks. I revised it to four days in the corridor outside the pavilion while Freya was still holding the rider's message and Kael was still working through the implications and the session had not yet fully cleared. "Four days," Lyra said, when I told her. "Three if the road is good." "The road to Valdenmere has not been formally maintained in forty years," she said. "The road will not be good."

However, above all this there was still the inscription 'Valhalla' , which in Norse mythology denoted the hall where fallen warriors were taken. It was an absolutely perfect name for this place. And my heart sank when I realized where the two little bastards must have come up with this idea. I honestly avoided all the looks that were now fixed on me and thought about what to say to that. Because I probably couldn't find the right words to adequately express the deep movement in my chest.