Read Online Valknut: The Binding by Marie Loughin - Free Book Online

you.”
    Fenrir smiled, a sight that would fill his
minions with dread over the next century. “It matters not, foul
betrayer. There are other ways. They can be made to defeat
themselves. And you cannot stop me. Not without risking the end of
all things, yourself.”
    Faster than human agility should allow,
Fenrir vaulted from the rock shelf. For a moment, he looked like
the wolf he was. Then, as a man, he ran naked into the mountain
wilderness.
    But in the moment of escape, distracted by
the elation of long-awaited freedom, Fenrir’s mind opened. One-Eye
glimpsed his plan and knew that it could succeed. In that same
moment, One-Eye also saw the seed of Fenrir’s defeat.
    “Huginn,” One-Eye called, and a raven flew
out of a tall pine to settle on his left shoulder. “Muninn.”
Another abandoned the leavings of a cougar kill and settled on his
right. One-Eye stroked each and started down the mountainside. He
would go to Homestead, where the seed grew even now, in the belly
of a woman.
    Somewhere under that red hair, smothered
under the eons that were the Allfather, a small voice belonging to
Walter “Red” Galloway screamed.
     
     

Chapter 4
     
    Daylight drove the shadows deeper into the
boxcar where Lennie slept, caught in a nightmare. She ran through
the dark, fleeing a pack of wolves with glowing eyes, their snarls
growing closer. A boxcar pulled alongside her and she dove inside.
Wolf teeth caught her jeans and dragged her back. She clawed at the
floor, finding no purchase. Then she was falling, falling. She
kicked out just before she hit the ground and awoke with a beam of
sunlight across her face.
    She cracked her eyes enough to see a dirty
metal ceiling. A distant crash of couplers and hiss of venting air
brakes suggested she was on a train, but it wasn’t moving. Her
mouth tasted like she’d been using her tongue to clean the boxcar
floor. Grimacing, she squeezed her eyes shut, counted to five, and
opened them again. Same dirty ceiling, same nasty
taste.  Yep, I’m really here.  A noise escaped her
throat, sounding suspiciously like a whine.
    Sometime during the night, Junkyard had
covered her with his jean jacket. Its collar stuck up in front her
face, smelling of campfires and diesel. A black button pinned to
the jacket’s lapel said, My brother jumps from perfectly good
airplanes. She studied the button curiously. A brother. But
Junkyard had said there was no one to miss him.
    A low, mellow voice began to hum a mournful
tune somewhere outside the boxcar. She found it soothing and closed
her eyes, not wanting to move. Then she remembered Junkyard’s
warnings and a vision of tomorrow’s headline flashed before her
eyes:  Singing Serial Slayer Strangles Stowaway . She
snorted. But she sat up—just in case.
    Her hands had gone completely numb while she
slept. One still clutched the edge of her cardboard bed as if she
might fall off. Smiling wryly, she let go and her fingers began to
tingle.
    The other hand rested palm up, fingers
wrapped around something shiny. A loop of silver chain dangled
across her thumb. It couldn't be...
    She forced her stiffened fingers to open. On
her palm lay her father’s pocket watch.
    Shocked, she poked at it, hardly believing it
was real. She raised its cool, smooth metal to her cheek and
remembered how her father used to let her wind it. “Careful,” he’d
say, winking at her. “If it’s wound up too tight, it’ll have a
nervous breakdown.”
    She popped it open to read the inscription,
though she already knew what it said.
     
           For
Jarvis—
           May
there always be enough time.
              With all
my love,
                 Kathleen
     
    Ramblin’ Red had taken the watch with him,
wherever he had gone. How had it gotten into her hand?
    The humming outside turned to song, though
she couldn’t make out the lyrics. She crawled to the door and
peered out, expecting to see Junkyard. He wouldn’t have gone far
without his