I wanted to rise again, to go after him, bring him down, but I couldn't. I just didn't have it in me. The enormity of it all washed over me and I closed my eyes.

Fifty-eight.

WHISPERED VOICES SLIPPED INTO MY MIND. SWEET VOICES OF young women. I thought of Katie right away, but the voices were wrong.

I opened one eye and saw a tall, lithesome blonde in scale mail and winged helm leaning over me. She had a short stabbing sword on her hip and wore a skirt of overlapping scales. For a moment I thought I recognized her. Not sure from where.

"What of this one, Rota?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder.

Another woman, taller than the first and older, glanced over from where she stood, her head turned, with a golden torque nestled at the base of her exquisite throat. Stunning. "Nay, Skuld, not that one," she said. "It is not her time." She rocked her head past me. "See to the next."

Skuld looked down at me, her face angelic. She bent lower, touching one long finger to my forehead, pushing back the hair above my left temple. "He has marked her, so he has," she said, turning. "Placed his claim on her."

Rota walked over, glancing down at my face, and shrugged. "Comely enough, but he has never been one to quibble over looks."

"Aye," Skuld said with a smirk. "He's never kept you from his bed."

A sharp smack brought Skuld upright, her hands thrust behind her.

"I am not alone in that matter," Rota said, laughing. "Leave this one. There are plenty of others."

They both scanned the field, evaluating, it seemed, the better part of carnage.

"So many valiant fallen," Rota said. "It has been many a long year since we had the like to choose from."

"Warriors there have been aplenty," Skuld said with a sad shake of her head. "They die by the thousands every year, but so few are worthy of his table."

"And fewer still, his bed," Rota added with a quiet sigh. "What I wouldn't give for another night with old one-eye."

"The greater or the lesser," Skuld said with a giggle.

Rota gasped, covering her mouth with that beautiful hand. "You are scandalous," she said, straightening. "He's been gone so long, I'm not even sure he remembers us."

They strode away, each taking a different direction, but neither moved toward the fallen giants or trolls.

Valkyries, I realized. How bad did I have to be injured to be considered by the Valkyries?

And who knew Valkyries were so randy? Katie was not going to believe this. I prayed to whatever gods there might be in the world that I would get to tell her.

I sat up, my arms and legs stiff and aching. I still clutched Gram in my left hand, though. Some small favor there.

It took me a few minutes to rise, first to my knees, then to my feet.

The farm was a blasted wasteland. Somewhere in the east, the sun was rising, I could feel it in the air, but the light had not reached us yet. Soon.

I looked around, seeking friend or foe.

Skuld or Rota, I couldn't tell them apart at this distance, stood over Susan's broken body.

"Rise," Skuld commanded. Her voice was sweeter, less husky than Rota's. Susan's spirit rose like mist. Her spirit was dressed in armor as she had been in death.

"Let's have a look at him," Rota said, waving her hand.

The visored helmet spun away in a swirl of fog.

"By the Tree," Skuld said, taking a step back. "It's a woman."

"There are plenty of women warriors," Rota said. She twirled her hand and Susan's spirit twirled slowly before her.

"But when was the last one that fell battling one of the wyrms?" Skuld asked, turning to Rota.

"Few indeed. It will be a shock to those in the great hall, I'm sure."

"What of this one?" Skuld said, crossing to Maggie. She drew her spirit up, correcting any unfortunate kinks or contortions with a wave of her hand. "They were lovers."

Rota nodded. "Aye, and worthy as any I have seen."

Skuld drew forth the spirits of their horses and directed the women onward to the great hall.

"They will put a twist in Eric's tail, don't you think?" Rota asked.

Skuld nodded with a smile. "Should rile the lot."

I turned away, leaving the Valkyries to their task, not wanting to see who died a glorious death, and who just died the final death. Either way, they were lost to the rest of us.

The barn burned feverishly, pouring black smoke into the sky.

No one moved out from the final battle line. The giants and trolls had either fallen or scattered.

The SCAdians tended to the living, as best they could.

I yearned to go to them, to see who yet lived. For a brief moment, I even considered falling into a warm bed with Katie and sleeping until winter.

But, alas-something remained undone.

As I walked, the stiffness eased and Gram's urgency began to rise. She had tasted Jean-Paul's blood, and craved more. It was not a sentient craving, more of a base need. I didn't argue with it. The sooner Jean-Paul died, the happier the world could be.

And the sword could find him. It pulled at me already, urging me to follow the long slope downhill to the stream, then onward to the river and eventually to the lake. That's where I would find him.

To the north and east . . . into the mountains. There, perched along the shores of a lake he lay, nursing his wounds and his pride.

But how to get there?

Fifty-nine.

MIST BEGAN TO RISE FROM THE EARTH, THE CHILL MOISTURE that had always reminded me of ghosts. This dawn would not dispel that fantasy.

Out farther than any other, a lone figure walked, kneeling, working. I strode in that direction.

Stuart moved among the bodies, one at a time, friend and foe alike. I watched him, shy about breaking his solitude, but pacing him. When he found a SCAdian, he checked them, desperate to find them alive.

It was painted on his face, the momentary hope then the black acceptance. He would close their eyes, cross himself, then rise, planting a spear in the ground to mark their fall.

He carried a thin bundle of short spears, each trailing a small white flag.

I don't know how many he started with, but he would run out all too soon. I glanced back along his path. The flags were thick across the field.

The enemy he bypassed without a pause, until he found one alive. The troll had been wounded. Who knows if it would have recovered.

Stuart did not hesitate. He stepped forward, knelt on the troll's chest, and drove the spear into its throat.

He saw me then, looked into my eyes, and dared me to question him.

I just nodded and turned aside. Who was I to judge him?

I paused at the wreckage of the first chopper and recovered the sling and scabbard from the giant's dead hand.

Once I had the sword in the rig correctly over my right shoulder, I walked on to the tree line, massaging my left arm. Carrying that sword for so long was tiring.

Past the tended fields, deeper into the woods that ran wild along the back of Jimmy's border, I found what I was looking for.

There in a clearing, I discovered another legend, another fantasy come true. Three winged horses were picketed there, munching on fresh green grass. They were outfitted in fine white leather harnesses and saddles of ermine. Add in a kitty cat with huge brown eyes, and I would have melted on the spot.

Of course, I was not alone. I had seen two Valkyries, but there were three horses, so there had to be another around.

She could wait, as far as I was concerned. I wanted to meet these beautiful horses. One let me approach, even nuzzled my hand when I raised it to her nose.

"You are stunning," I said, running my hand down her neck to where the wings joined her back, just below the withers.

She let me lift her front leg to inspect the hoof.

Sue me. Professional curiosity.

"Does she meet with your approval?" a woman asked, stepping from the deeper shadows beneath the trees.

I lowered the hoof gently, patting the horse on the shoulder. "Shoes are in good shape, the hoof is trimmed nicely."

"High praise from a smith such as yourself," she said, reaching out and placing her left hand on the horse closest to her. "We love them as the children we will never see again," she said, almost in a whisper.

"They are remarkable," I said, meaning it. I had never seen finer horses. And let's not get started on the whole wing thing. My inner eleven-year-old was about to wet herself.

The Valkyrie bowed, placing her right hand on her chest. "Gunnr, at your service."

Service, eh? I nodded at her. "There is a service I am in need of," I said.

"You seek the wyrm," she said, eyeing me.

I nodded.

"And you think I should let you take one of our children, one of our light into this folly?"

What could I really say to that?

She watched me, assessing. "What thinks you, mortal? What madness afflicts you to pursue this course?"

I stepped away from the horses and drew Gram, laying the blade across my right arm.

She craned her head forward, staring at the sword. I waited.

"That bears his mark," she said.

"That is not all," I said, flipping the sword up and slipping it back into its scabbard. "There is this." I took a step toward her pushing my bangs up off my forehead.

She stepped closer, tracing the runes on my scalp with one long, thin finger.

"And this," I said, turning, holding my calf up, pushing the cut jeans to either side.

"These are different," she said, kneeling. She cupped my shin in one hand and ran her hand down my calf.

Her touch sent shock waves rippling through my body. The delicate way her fingers traced the runes on my calf caused my heart to skip a beat.

"Kenaz is emboldened," she said, tracing the rune, trailing her fingers along its path.

"Hum . . . hmmm . . . ," I said, clearing my throat and pulling my leg away from her. "Mad enough for you?"

She stood, staring into my face.

Her eyes were the blue of a jay's egg, crisp like a winter's morn. If I reached out and touched her, I think she would not mind.

"You are comely," she whispered, reaching out and tracing a finger down my left cheek from the runes to my chin. "Not unpleasing in the least."

"Yeah, well . . . ," I stammered, blinking.

Nothing like getting hit on by a Valkyrie.

Her lips were the color of winterberries, red and plump. I could imagine the way they would taste. I imagined the way the muscles along her neck would feel under my lips.