His chest was bare except for skin and hair and scars. But one scar interested her the most. It was raised flesh, snaking across his chest.

Grinning, she buried her talons deep into his body, his screams of torment echoing out over the field of death.

“Does it hurt, little girl?” she asked him in his own language. “Remember when you asked me that?” She felt her smile grow even wider. “Well?” she pushed. “Does it? Does it hurt . . . little girl?”

Her talons brushed against something not made of flesh or bone. She gripped it and tore it from his chest.

She now held a blood-and-gore-covered gold necklace in her hand. It pulsed with power, giving her a momentary feeling of invincibility. She had no doubt that with this necklace, she could rule . . . everything.

She left the now-dead Jarl and walked across the field to the woman called Skuld.

Dropping to one knee, she held the necklace up for the god to take, which she did.

“Why did you not keep it?” Skuld asked. “You were right . . . with it, you could rule everything on this mortal plane.”

“I’d lost everything. Family. Home. And finally, life. But now you’ve given me what I need. Why would I want to rule everything when I can rule my own destiny?”

She sensed that behind Skuld’s veil there was a smile, but she would never truly know.

“Go,” the god said. “You and your sisters have more men to fight.”

With a nod, she who was once a slave got back to her feet and headed toward the spot where her sisters fought.

“Remember,” the god called out to her, “you have fulfilled your promise to me. So do not die on this field of battle. Not if you don’t have to. There will be other chores for you. Other battles to fight.”

She did not understand what the god meant until she reached the others. One of them pointed with a blood-covered knife. “There are more men coming.”

It wasn’t just more men. It was another army. And at its head was the father of the Jarl she’d just slain.

“We kill them all?” one sister asked.

“Or do we run?” asked another.

“I won’t run,” the one closest to her declared. “I’ll never run again.”

The sound of hooves pounding on the earth grew closer and the mass of crows that had been feasting on the dead suddenly took to the air.

She who was once a slave looked up to watch their flight . . . and smiled.

“Skuld,” one of the Valkyries demanded. “What have you done?”

Skuld placed the blood-and-gore-covered necklace around her neck. She now wore it with pride. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“What kind of powers have you given these slaves? Odin will—”

“Odin,” Skuld cut in, “isnot my master. Nor are you.”

“But—”

“And I’ve given these women nothing but what I’ve already given a few others over the eons . . . a second chance at life.”

“What are you talking about? Look at them!”

They all did as they watched the five women who were once dead kill man after man, and in so many interesting ways, too. And together. They worked together beautifully.

“You gave them talons,” one Valkyrie accused.

“And fighting skills they did not have before,” noted another.

“And strength! They are as strong as us!”

Skuld shook her head. “I gave them none of those things.”

“What are you talking about? We have eyes. We see.”

“And I gave them none of those things. I brought them back but with only one other blessing.”

“Which was?”

“To let rage be their guide. It is their rage that has given them so much. So much power, strength, and . . . talons.”

“And how long will this blessed rage last?”

“Just a few more seconds. I didn’t want to create new monsters. I simply wanted them to get me what I wanted. And they did. Now they will have blessings that will last their lifetimes . . . but the rest will be up to them.”

“Herik and his men are coming. When he sees what your pets did to his son, he and his men will kill all of them. Will you give them life again?”

“One more chance to live. That is all I promised them. What they make of that extra life is their own choice.”

“What is happening?” One of the Valkyries pointed. “What is happening to them?”

Skuld didn’t know. So she watched and waited.

Still standing, the women writhed in obvious pain as the men rode closer. Their bodies shook and their muscles contorted. They were in such agony that at least two of them urinated where they stood.

The Valkyries screamed out in shock as wings burst from the backs of the five women. Big, black wings. Like the wings of nearby crows who were circling over the dead, waiting to feast again.

Once the wings were there, the women seemed to feel no more pain. They stood straight and ready for battle.

Skuld began to laugh, long and loud, waking up the other gods who slumbered.

Skuld, a wise woman goddess, prone to portents of death and despair, never laughed. So to hear the sound now only brought fresh fear to a fearful world.

“By Odin,” a Valkyrie sighed. “Skuld, what have you done?”

“Changed the game a bit, I think.”

Still laughing, Skuld headed home to the World Tree. She had such a fun story to tell her sisters this evening as they took turns watering the tree’s roots.