—✧—

How far did Maya make it with one shoe on her and an asthmatic Valkyrie at her side while chased by the undead? You guessed it. 

NOT. FAR.

Sure, the Draugr were slow and clumsy, but not like the girls were any faster. They were one arm-length away from being caught and getting slower. Val was in no condition to fight, nor was Maya since she was a mortal. 

“I don’t need to be special to fight,” thought Maya. She glimpsed at the shield hanging from Val’s arm. The idea that came to her head was both bold and stupid. A perfect combination for a reckless endeavour. “Val, I’ll need you to make us put some distance between them. Can you do that?” 

Maya felt horrible for asking. Val was short on breath and struggled to not stumble over her feet, yet Maya wanted her to do more. 

Val looked at her, her blond hair falling over her pale brown and sweat-drenched face. “Hold. Tight,” she said. Pulling Maya closer to her, she jumped. 

The jump wasn’t very far, or high, but they landed in the bushes. Val turned herself around mid-air and took the brunt of the landing, protecting Maya. 

Val lay there, looking grey with her clothes sticking to her, making her feel weak and yucky. 

“Maya,” she coughed for air. “What’s. Your. Plan–”

Maya unstrapped the shield from Val’s arm. Val caught her wrist. “What. Are. You. Doing?” 

“Helping you.” Maya smiled and yanked it free. “Sorry, I’ll be back.”

Maya ran with the shield in hand.

Clasping it against her chest, Maya tried to syphon some of its strength to her. Sadly, it didn’t quite work like that, but merely holding it gave her some, knowing it belonged to Val. 

“I need to do this quick and get back to her. How hard can it be to fight off some Draugr, anyway? Haha.” 

The answer won’t surprise you, but Maya needed some more convincing. 

She slammed shield-first against one, sending it flying into the nearby lake, and fell too—skittered across the ground with the shield. The tall Draugr stopped her ride with its foot, staring down at her. 

“Hey there,” Maya meekly leaned against the shield. “Can we talk, please?” she asked the Draugr, batting with her eyes. It snatched her up by the neck like a kitten. “Oww, oww, oww, watch out for the hair!” 

“Gruuuurgh,” groaned the Draugr, releasing a toxic green breath. Maya gagged in disgust. “Death. Useless, woman.” 

Maya’s eyes widened with shock when the Draugr brought its axe closer to her neck. She squirmed in its hold, and kicked against its chest, but couldn’t pry herself free. 

In her mind, Maya was already dead. She had hoped to take out at least one of the Draugr but watched how the one she knocked away was coming out of the water—a plastic bag hanging from its shoulder. 

Having killed one a week ago, Maya was confident that she could deal with them easily. “Oh my hubris,” Maya muttered. “I didn’t want it to end like this.” 

Her only sliver of hope was that at least Val could make it out and recover on her own, without Maya running straight to her death. 

“Timber!” 

She heard someone yell. Roots snapped from the ground. Maya landed with her butt against the ground, hissing and cursing as two Draugr got pinned down by a large oak tree. 

The remaining small Draugr was less lucky to be taken out. Val came up from behind and put it into a deadlock, lifting it up and choking the living dead out of him. 

The veins on Val’s muscular arms bulged. The Draugr didn’t necessarily need to breathe, but Val’s strength was more than enough to decapitate it for good, sending the head flying into the sky with a plop before Val collapsed to her knees, panting. 

Maya immediately gathered herself to run up to her. “Val, talk to me. Are you alright?” Maya put her ear against Val’s chest, trying to hear her breathing. 

A pained wheezing was all that she could make out. Val took her hand in Maya’s. “Home. Safe. For us.” 

Maya nodded, biting her lip. Failing to suppress a tear. “Of course, let’s get home.”