Valkeryn 2: The Dark Lands Read Online Free

They’ll be after us soon, if they aren’t already.’
    Grim’s eyes narrowed, but there was a sliver of fear in them. ‘The Panterran will never catch me unaware again. The next time they come, I’ll cut their foul heads from their necks.’
    ‘Maybe, but not today.’ Arn reached for him. ‘Remember, your father entrusted you into my care, and that means you are to do as I tell you. Now give me your hands.’ Grimson put them behind his back, and turned his face away.
    Oh Great. Remind me never to have kids , he thought and snorted mirthlessly. Like that’s going to happen here.
    ‘Do as you’re told!’ Grimson’s eyes widened in shock at the harsh tone. ‘Now, give me your hands.’
    Grimson slowly held them out. Arn pulled his headband from his head, and unwound it. He then grabbed the young Wolfen’s hands, and tied the wrists together. After much arguing, and a few choice curses, the youth finally understood what was expected. Arn carefully knelt and then looped the boy’s tied arms over his neck. He stood up, Grimson hanging down his back.
    Surprisingly, and thankfully, light, he thought. A year ago, exercise was something the jocks did, while he just watched. Now, he lived it. Arn looked up at the rock face again, grabbed Grimson’s swinging legs and wrapped them around his waist. He drew in a deep lung full of air, and leaped up a few feet to the first handhold. His fingers stuck, and he wedged his toe into a crack.
    One small step, for a “Man-Kind” , he thought as he pulled himself higher.
    Hours passed, sometimes fast, sometimes agonizingly slow. If he was lucky he’d find a slight jutting bulge of stone that supported his entire weight, and he’d gratefully rest for a few minutes.
    He missed his headband, as rivulets of sweat ran down his face and into his eyes, and more worryingly, coated his fingers and palms. Grimson hung on tight, and gave a running commentary on where next to place his hands, or which angle to start moving across. It all helped, and he tried hard not to think about the dizzying heights right behind them.
    So far, they had made it just halfway across the raw scar on the rock face. Soon they would be able to ease down the fifty or more feet back to their path. Arn leaned in against the stone and relaxed slightly. He turned his face so the sunshine and breeze could dry some of the perspiration running into his eyes.
    Arn sucked in air and blew it out. Right now he needed to focus. They were at the most dangerous point of the climb. The stone above the rock fall, where they clung, might also slide away, and as the rock face below them was gouged smooth, there was nothing to cling onto. It would be one long fall on their way down to the ground.
    Arn stopped again and sucked in more air. His arms and shoulders screamed with pain from the exertion. He wished it was night, so the glow of the moon would fill him with the strange unnatural strength he felt every time it rose. He leaned his head against the rock, and inhaled its clean dry scent of sand, earth, and the hundred different minerals that had come from miles below the surface of the Earth.
    Whispered words came to him.
    [Give up]
    ‘Huh?’ He opened his eyes.
    [It’s all only a dream. Let go]
    It was the sly voice in his head again – the creeping demon of doubt that had first appeared when he had crossed the wasteland, and obviously still lurked in the dark corner of his mind, hoping to undermine him when he was at his most vulnerable.
    [You can make it if you let go… of the child]
    He gritted his teeth. ‘Never!’
    ‘What? What is it? Grimson brought his face around close to Arn’s, his nose cold and pressing into his cheek.
    ‘It’s nothing. Just, nothing.’ Arn closed his eyes again, and licked dry lips. His arms now vibrated from the strain. ‘It’s just… I’m stuck. I can’t…’
    Grimson leaned back an inch and lifted his head. ‘Odin, father of us all, give the great Arnoddr Sigarr your mighty