Under A Winter Sun by Johan Dahlgren (ink ebook reader txt) 📕

the hall, Goliaths are fighting to the death. A giant tries to climb the dais, but Berengar kicks him in the face and blood sprays everywhere as the unfortunate man tumbles back into the crowd.

“Not like that.” Jagr stabs a finger at the dead Jarl.

Eirik's resolve returns. “What's done is done. Your support allowed us to advance our time frame, and for that I thank you.” He nods to Jagr.

Time frame of what?

Jagr shakes her head in disbelief. “We never sent you any support.”

“No need. Your battlecruiser in orbit was enough to convince the chieftains I have Terra's support.”

Shit.

The Goliaths loyal to Ragnwald are in majority in the hall, but Eirik's forces are armed. It's a rigged board and the loyalists will soon be dead or dying.

“You're insane, Eirik.” Judging by the thundercloud sailing up over his handsome face, that was not what Eirik Wagner, new Jarl of Nifelheim, wanted to hear.

It's time to leave.

Soledad has the same idea. Before anyone can react, she leaps across the table and kicks Eirik in the chest with all her strength. He goes over backwards into the boiling sea of fighting men, and she lands light on her feet on the table. She grabs the impaled head and yanks the spear out. “I've got it.”

Berengar jumps after his master to protect him. Geirmund the Cunning shies away from Soledad like a vampire from a ray of sunlight. Soledad hisses at him. The old man hisses back and claws the air with his thin, grey fingers.

Jagr starts for the exit. “Let's get the fuck out of here.” I go to follow her when a sudden thought tears at my guts like a rabid dog.

Finn.

If Eirik is making a play for the throne, he has to get rid of the true heir.

“Jagr, get the others to the Sundowner. I'll get Finn and meet you there.”

“There's no time, Perez.” Jagr grabs a heavy gold plate and swings it at a Goliath climbing the dais. The Goliath falls screaming back into the chaos, trailing blood. “We go now.”

“Wait for me.” I run off while Jagr calls expletives after me.

If I recall correctly, the Breeder monastery is a smaller building close to the mountainside. If I can reach it before Eirik's soldiers get there, Finn still has a chance.

I glance back at the dead Jarl. There's a look of utter betrayal on his face. The poor man never saw that coming.

When I turn back to where I'm going, Berengar the Defiler rises like a demon of hell from the fighting men before me. A vicious grin splits his ugly face.

“Where are you going, little named man?”

While the World Burns

Is he fucking everywhere?

He shakes off two men trying to wrestle him to the floor and climbs onto the dais as I skid to a stop. There's no way around him. I search for a weapon.

“Prepare to die, Asher Perez,” Berengar says and cracks his knuckles. This will be painful.

Then, out of nowhere, comes a Goliath straight at Berengar. There's a flash of red hair and fur-trimmed leather clothing. Hildr.

She tackles him off the dais, and he goes over backwards, back into the crowd.

She twists around and swipes the hair out of her face. “Give me a ride off-world, and I'll take you to Finn.”

“You got it.”

“Come with me.” Hildr waves for me to follow.

The press of men struggling to reach their dead Jarl is so hard the fighting has almost ground to a standstill. Hildr jumps onto the shoulders and heads of the packed Goliaths and runs across them like a stone skipping across a pond. She doesn't pay any heed to the curses following in her wake.

I jump after her and it takes all my augmented reflexes to keep my balance as we make our way across the sea of struggling men.

As we get further from the dais, the press of bodies grows weaker, and we have to jump to the floor. Hildr goes through the fighting men like a bulldozer. I tag along, close behind.

We reach the back wall and run along it to the nearest exit. Hildr turns to survey the hall.

“He killed Ragnwald. That little bastard killed my husband.”

She looks like she can't believe what just happened. “I always knew he would go far, but not this far.”

“What's done is done. Why are you helping me?”

“Do you think Eirik will let me live when he's Jarl? He will force me to climb on Ragnwald's pyre, the little cunt. He's always been one for honouring tradition when it suits him.” She spits on the floor and I crack the door open an inch to peer outside. My sensitive eyes register no movement in the darkness.

“It's clear,” Aeryn confirms.

“Let's get the hell out of here.” I throw the door open and dash off into the night with Hildr close behind.

We reach the nearest building and take shelter in its shadow. The wind has picked up since we landed and dark clouds obscure Nirvana in the sky. Whirling snow fills the air, and visibility is poor. Unless we bump into someone, we should be fine.

“Where's the monastery?”

Hildr points to a building barely visible by the rock wall. “Over there.”

I cast a glance around the corner, searching for soldiers. There are none.

“Follow me.” I crouch and dash to the next building. We reach it without incident, and I peer around the corner.

A dozen Goliaths armed to the teeth are heading straight for the monastery.

“Shit. They are already on their way.”

Hildr risks a glance.

“Shit. What now?”

“Do you have any weapons?”

She shakes her head, making her red hair dance. “No, I left them at the door. You?”

“Nope.”

“So, what do we do, little man?”

“We improvise. Come on, we've got to hurry.”

We set off again. The death squad is not in a hurry, and we reach the building ahead of them.

The night lights up in shades of yellow and red as an explosion shakes the ground.

Smoke billows from a hole in the roof of the Raven's Home, wide enough to fly the Sundowner