Kelly walked around the corner of the building, stopping suddenly, seeing Senora Barkfall and a group of four elves standing there. They had obviously been waiting for her. Senora stood in front, two elves back a couple steps and on either side. The elves were armed, hands resting on the hilts of their swords. Senora was not. She stood, as regal as ever, with hands clasped behind her back.

  “Kelly,” Senora said. “How are you?”

  “I’m good,” Kelly said warily. “What’s going on?” she asked, pointing at the other elves behind Senora.

  “The snow is melting,” Senora said.

  “I know.”

  Senora turned, beckoning Kelly to follow. The high priestess walked toward the edge of the valley, the four elves following. They didn’t look at Kelly, but she got the feeling they were still watching her. She followed, moving to the side past the elves, still putting more space between her and them.

  She looked down into the valley where Freyja and Senora had wanted her to camp over three hundred people. Small, cramped, no shelter from the wind and the snow. The tents had never been removed, snow collapsing most of them. They had been buried, but now were revealed as the snow melted, forming large puddles in the bottom of the valley. Nothing but mud existed.

  And that was what Freyja had wanted Kelly’s people to live in.

  She turned to the far end, where better tents were erected on the higher slopes, out of the snow, puddles and mud. The portal had been there, bringing the elves over. It wasn’t active now, but Kelly could see the softly glowing stone. There were elven guards around it.

  They wore gleaming armor, which somehow through the winter had never lost its gleam. Swords sheathed at their waists, halberds in hand. They had been guarding the stone all winter. She knew that the elves cycled through the portal guards, changing the armor and weapons. The four around Senora had no doubt been portal guards at various points.

  The elves also hadn’t stayed in the tents through the worst of the winter. They’d gone into one of the nearby apartment buildings, claiming it as their own. They had expected the humans to live in the valley but hadn’t been planning on it themselves.

  “It is time,” Senora said, turning to look at Kelly, but pointing at the portal.

  “Time for what?” Kelly asked, pretending she didn’t know.

  She forced back her smile, keeping her face impassive, when she saw Senora’s eyes squint in annoyance. Senora’s impassive face returned.

  “Soon Freyja will open the portal and it will be time to join her in the new land, our new home.”

  Kelly looked over at the portal. It was happening sooner than she had planned, but she knew this moment would come. Had known for months, ever since she had returned from Northwood. She’d been planning on it.

  It was earlier than planned but she was glad it was now here. Ever since she’d read the messages in the notebook from Loch, detailing the riot in Northwood where some strange creature had mind controlled part of the Clan, she had wanted to rush to him and the girls. To comfort them, to hold them, and help them get through the trauma.

  Loch had tried to play it off, saying it hadn’t bothered him, but she knew her husband. She knew how badly he was hurting, how much he blamed himself. He needed her. The girls needed her.

  And she needed them.

  Senora was right. It was time. Just not the time the elf was expecting.

  “You’re right,” Kelly said, turning to look at the high priestess. “It is time.” Senora smiled. “And we will be going to our new home.” Senora’s smile grew wider. “But it won’t be through that,” Kelly said, pointing at the portal.

  Senora’s smile dropped.

  “What?” the elf said.

  The four around her picked up on the sudden tension, the two closest turning to face Kelly, the other two stepping around Senora, moving to flank Kelly. All four drew their swords. Kelly didn’t summon her spear, Birgha. She kept her hands down at her sides, not looking at the sword-bearing elves.

  “It doesn’t have to be this way,” Kelly said. “Just let us go.”

  “You would spurn the gifts of the Dawnmother?”

  Kelly laughed, shaking her head.

  “We’ve been through this before,” she said. “Back before winter. The Dawnmother never gave us any gifts.”

  “She sent you help that you refused.”

  “Because it came with conditions. It wasn’t help but a trap.”

  “She gave you power,” Senora shouted, pointing at Kelly. “She made you a promise and kept it.”

  Kelly glared at Senora, working hard to keep her anger down.

  “It was a lie,” Kelly said. “Am I with my family? No.”

  “You were with them.”

  “And I had to come back.”

  “You wanted to come back.”

  “You’re not that naive Senora,” Kelly said, shifting to keep her eye on the four elves. “Freyja gave me no choice. She teased me with my family, brought me back and now wants me, all of us, to go even further away?” Kelly yelled, pointing at the portal stone. “That’s not the deal we agreed to.”

  Kelly summoned Birgha, the glowing spear appearing in her hand. She didn’t lower the weapon, eyes following the four elves. She saw the expected movement behind them. They didn’t seem to notice.

  “It doesn’t have to be this way,” Kelly said.

  “You and your people were brought here for a reason,” Senora said, arms hanging at her sides, hands starting to glow. “It is time to do what the Dawnmother wants.”

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  Kelly shook her head, lowering the weapon.

  “Don’t,” she said, to one of the elves, who had taken a step closer. She held the elf in place with her glare, shifting so she could see Senora. “The Dawnmother wanted us weak, frozen and hungry. She wasn’t us to beg for her to ‘save’ us. Why? Why does she need all these people?”

  “It is not your place to question the Dawnmother,” Senora said, raising a hand. “It is your place to just do what the Dawnmother wants.”

  A blast of white energy shot out, streaking for Kelly. She had nowhere to go. Her heels were right at the edge of the slope. Stepping back, she’d fall down. It was a short slope, but there would be no way to keep her balance. The way the elven warriors were arrayed, she couldn’t go forward. Darting to the side wouldn’t get her out of the blast and diving would just leave her open to the warriors. Kelly did the one thing she knew Senora would not be expecting.

  Birgha’s tip rose up, catching the energy. There was a bright flash, quickly disappearing. The burst of energy was gone, Birgha’s tip glowing a little brighter. Senora looked at the spear in shock, Kelly smiling.

  Senora quickly recovered.

  “You use the gifts of the Dawnmother,” she said. “The Abilities of the Class the Dawnmother granted you. You use the power of the Dawnmother and now the Dawnmother…”

  “Shut up,” Kelly said, interrupting. “I’ve heard enough. The Dawnmother didn’t want to help me or my people. She wanted slaves.”

  Kelly lowered the spear, pointing the tip right at Senora.

  “We will not be slaves.”

  “What the Dawnmother gave, she can take away,” Senora said, eyes staring at the glowing tip of the spear. “What will your people do when you and the Valkyries no longer have any power? They will come running to me, begging for the Dawnmother to save them. What has this accomplished Kelly Brady? Nothing.”

  Kelly lifted the spear, resting the butt end in the ground. She turned fully to look at Senora, ignoring the four elf warriors. Kelly looked up at the sky, lowering her head to smile at Senora.

  “You’re right. What she gave, she can take away. And you know what?,” Kelly said, the smile growing wider. “She can have it.”

  Kelly looked to the sky, raising her spear high.

  “Did you hear that Freyja? I don’t want any gifts that come with strings attached. You want to control me? Too bad. Take it. Take the Class and go to hell.”

  Kelly glowed brightly, the light stretching up toward the sky. More spots of glowing energy came from the buildings beyond, but none of the elves looked. They were all focused on Kelly. The glow was solid, from her feet to the outstretched spear tip which started pulsing brighter in the long column of energy. The light around Kelly moved up, shifting up her body, along the spear before exiting the tip, disappearing into the sky.

  The light faded. Kelly, still smiling, lowered her spear, looking at Senora. The high priestess had a cruel smile on her face, eyes alight with anticipation. The four warriors took a couple steps forward.

  “What a foolish thing to do Kelly Brady,” Senora said. “You used the power given you by the Dawnmother to push me around, to try and thwart the Dawnmother’s plans. You, a lowly human, thought she was better than me?” Senora laughed. “You have given away the one thing that would save you. You are weak now and I have long been wanting to give you the beating you deserve.”

  She raised both arms, hands glowing brightly, ready to unleash her full power. But Senora stopped, looking at Kelly, the arrogance fading, turning to uncertainty.

  “Why do you smile?”

  “You and Freyja kept forgetting one thing,” Kelly said. “You forgot that I am and always have been a member of Clan Brady. All of my people joined Clan Brady not that long ago,” she continued, blocking another blast from Senora with the spear that still glowed, still had all the power it had before.

  Senora’s eyes widened in surprise, sending another blast that got blocked. The four elves charged, but stopped as four of the Valkyries appeared, using their movement based Abilities to get in front of the warriors, blocking swords with spears. All of the women had their full Abilities.

  “How is this possible?,” Senora screamed. “You gave up your Classes!”

  “We gave up Freyja’s Class but we’re all members of Clan Brady and Clan Brady already had a Patron.”

  Kelly raised the spear high. With a sharp crack, a bolt of blue-white lightning shot out of the clear sky, connecting with the tip of the spear. Birgha’s glow changed to match the lightning, the energy dancing up and down the weapon, across Kelly’s arm and into her body. Her eyes lit up with the blue-white glow, little bolts of lightning dancing in them.

  “Interesting thing about the Divine Beings using Earth’s myths as a guide,” Kelly said, taking a step toward Senora, who backed away. They could hear the clash of metal on metal coming from the buildings around them. “They should have really paid more attention to the details. Valkyries were the choosers of the dead,” Kelly said, blocking another attack with the spear, which absorbed the energy, pulsing stronger. “They were really the servants of Odin, or the Knowing as Freyja knows him best. Valkyries never quite fit what Freyja concept is. They don’t really fit with Thor’s either, but are closer. It really wasn’t that hard to alter the Class. We did give up being Valkyries and instead chose to be Stormmaidens.”

  Kelly lowered the spear, shooting Senora’s energy back at her.

  ***

  The portal was open, the backs of the retreating elves disappearing into it. The ones that were alive. Kelly had hoped to not kill any of the elves, and had mostly succeeded. Senora Barkfall, bloodied, white robe torn, stood at the portal, glaring up at Kelly.

  “The Dawnmother will never forgive this,” Senora called out as the last elf limped through the portal, disappearing to the other side, somewhere in Rome. “I will not forget this. I will come for you Kelly Brady, you and your family.”

  “I’ll be waiting,” Kelly said. “And if you dare touch a hair on my family, it will be the last thing you ever do.”

  Senora turned, trying to walk imperiously into the portal. She had the posture and the swagger, but being covered in blood, most of the white robe stained and covered in dirt, didn’t give her the air she wanted.

  “Should have killed her,” Lisa said.

  “Probably,” Kelly replied, turning away from the portal. “Make sure someone destroys that portal stone.”

  “Don’t want to take it and use it?”

  “No,” Kelly replied. “Just in case they have some way of accessing it again. Better to destroy it, or better yet, place it somewhere so if they do use it, they’ll get an unwelcome surprise.”

  “I know just the place,” Lisa said, sliding down the slope.

  “What next?,” Carla asked.

  “Get everyone to the Talmart and start packing it up. In a couple days, we won’t be here anymore.”