The Vittra Attacks (Trylle Bonus) Read Free Page B

you
    to bring her back. No, that’s not enough. You will do anything and everything you need to, even if that means going
    above and beyond the King’s orders.
    “Because so help me, Loki, if you let her get away again, I will not stand in the way of his wrath upon you.”
    She took a deep breath.
    “Do you understand me?”
    “Yes,” he said quietly, still looking down.
    “Loki?” Sara snapped. “Do you understand me?”
    “Yes!” He lifted his head, and he could see the conviction in her eyes. She would let the King kill him if he
    didn’t bring back the Princess.
    “Good.” She smoothed back her hair and looked away from him. “Now get yourself together. They could use
    you for their training exercises.”
    Loki did as he was told, too afraid to argue with her. The bizarre part was that he’d told her the truth because
    he thought she’d understand. He thought she’d agree with him that he’d done the right thing by letting the Princess
    escape from all this, but Sara was too blinded by her own needs.
    With no allies, Loki had no choice. If the King didn’t get the girl with this attack, then Loki would have to get
    her later.

    The Vittra Attacks (pdf)

    ~10~

    FOUR
    ~

    W e should’ve heard from them by now,” Sara said, pacing the King’s champers with Froud at her heels.
    “It’s a long drive to Förening,” the King told her, his gritty voice doing its best to come across as soothing.
    “Give them time to attack.
    The coming-out ball only started a few hours ago.”
    Loki sat behind the King’s desk, flipping through a book of Vittra lullabies. All of them were surprisingly
    disturbing, usually involving a disobedient infant being dragged off by hobgoblins or rival tribes to be eaten or turned
    into a slave.
    He found the one his mother used to sing to him, and it was the least horrific of them all. It still involved a
    human tuning into a bird to try to steal a Vittra boy, but at least the baby lived in the end.
    In reality, he’d rather be anywhere but in these chambers, waiting to see how the battle turned out, if they got
    the Princess. But both the King and Queen had commanded him to wait with them, and the whole time the King sat
    stoically in his chair while Sara paced.
    The tension in the room was exhausting, and the book of lullabies wasn’t distracting enough. He thought about
    getting the book on torture, because that would definitely take his mind off things, but he didn’t want to see all the
    horrible acts the King would eventually do to him someday.
    “What if they don’t get her?” Sara asked, turning to her husband. She wrung her hands, and her smooth skin
    was uncharacteristically ashen.
    The Vittra Attacks (pdf)
    “They’ll get her,” Oren replied, staring past her at the doors to his chambers.
    “But if they don’t?” Sara sounded as if she might cry, and Loki looked up from his book. “Oren, this might be
    our last chance to ever get her.”
    “It’s not like they’re going to kill her,” Loki tried to reassure her. “Even if we don’t get her today, the Trylle
    won’t hurt her. They’ll just hold her for safekeeping. So you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
    The King motioned to him. “Loki’s right, for once.”
    Sara nodded, but she didn’t look convinced. She returned to her pacing, with Froud practically tripping over the
    train of her gown.
    Loki went back to reading the lullabies, he didn’t get much farther in the book when they heard a commotion
    in the hall. Footsteps running, and then the door to the chamber was thrown open.
    ~11~

    When Kyra burst into the room, Loki stood up. She looked positively horrid. Her short hair had been singed.
    Dirt and blood stained her skin and clothing, except for two streaks down her cheeks that were clean from her tears.
    “We couldn’t get her.” Kyra’s voice trembled, and she shook her head. “They overpowered us. They killed
    Jen.”
    “They killed Jen?” Loki asked, surprised. He’d