The Hunt.

As Kate ran, her feet scrabbling against the rough twigs and soft moss of the forest, she thought, though it was heard to focus, with the deafening war cries and yells of the Valkyrie seeming to come from the very sky and ground itself.
Her Asgardian knowledge wasn’t as deep as she wished. But she knew of Hela - the Goddess of ****, Thor’s sister. Knew she had killed Odin, conquered Asgard, and herself been supposedly killed by a gigantic fire demon.
She was also pretty certain the reason the other Valkyrie beyond their leader weren’t around in Kate’s time - was the very Mistress they followed, having perished to stop her.
Kate wondered, as she heard the yells of chasing Valkyrie, how far away that was. Weeks? Years? Centuries?
How far, exactly, had she fallen back?
Kate leapt across a crooked root, and used the momentum to curve around a trunk, before sprinting away towards a river.
In her time, Brunnhilde was a hero. She’d stood against Thanos, almost died saving the Asgardians, and took the mantle of King to spare them more pain.
Kate didn’t know how different that Valkyrie was from the one here. But it was possible she was her only chance of returning home - or knew someone who could.
Asgardian magic. If Kate hadn’t been carefully controlling her breathing, she’d have snorted. Far less reliable than a bow in her hands - and fuck, did she miss that.
She continued to run, before leaping into the river. It wasn’t deep enough to swim in, but she moved as fast she could through it. If she could get downstream, she could mask her tracks - and hopefully, without pollution and trash being pumped constantly into waterways yet, it would be safe to drink.
Perhaps she would have made it, too, had she not caught her foot on a rock, gasped in pain, tripped, and fallen onto the bank.
She scrambled up, fast as she could, doing her best to ignore the sharp sting against her ankle.
But it was enough to lose the edge.
As she stood, the Valkyrie surrounded her, swords in hand, pointed at Kate’s **** body. Very suddenly, the forest fell silent.
“A good chase, tribute.” Brunnhilde looked at Kate, and she tried to imagine her as a hero. “You should be proud. But now… Your fate awaits.”