Dead Radiance (38 page)

Loki pouted. "It's no fun when I can't steal the necklace because it's lost. I want to give it back to her so I can see her face when I steal it from her again."

His eyes glittered and although I believed his reasoning, my gut said that the whole necklace issue went deeper than just giving it back so the trickster god could steal it again. But it didn't matter to me what happened to the necklace once Freya had it in her possession. Loki could steal it a hundred times over for all I cared. As long as I returned it in time to save Aidan's life I'd be happy.

But I remembered Hugin's words of warning.

"We'll find this Nidhogg and get the necklace back to Freya. But what do you want in return?" I asked Loki, sure he had a price to extract from this bargain.

"Who, me?" Loki's attempt at looking offended was a rip-roaring success. Except for his eyes. They turned a flat icy blue, revealing an ancient evil rather than mere mischief. "I don't want anything. You just find the necklace and return it to her Majesty. That is reward enough for me."

He wasn't budging. By now I'd tired of the additional energy required to keep up the pleasantries with the odious god, tired of the agony of my wound, weighed down with worry of how fast time was running out. I wanted very much for this conversation to be over.

The weak light of the morning had dissipated and bright sunlight now streamed into the overwarm diner. The buttery aroma of waffles and fried eggs rode the air, and the rich bitterness of cheap coffee reeked. The doorbell jingled a few times. More voices encircled our booth, more ignorant people living day-to-day lives I would give my right arm to live now. So far no one had noticed Hugin. Aidan's face looked paler in the brighter light, dark purple smudges encircled his eyes and the veins in his face and hands were clearly visible through his thinned skin.

I sighed and turned to Loki, unsure how to get rid of him.

He was gone.

Aidan raised an eyebrow and sighed. "So, let's get our stuff sorted and head to the Bridge, then. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can go home."

And that was when it hit me like a two-by-four to the skull; Asgard was home to both of us. Our lives in Midgard had reached a clear and conclusive end.

"Do we use the Central Park Bridge?" I asked Hugin, hoping for something closer to our motel.

My heart sank when the bird nodded.

***

We arrived in Muspell in a rush of heat scalding enough to burn the eyebrows off our faces. Quite a change from Greenland and New York at Christmastime. We both smiled, happy to have survived another journey on the Rainbow of the Gods.

"Right, we get in, get the necklace and get the hell outta here," Aidan said, punctuating the sentence with a few dry coughs.

Hugin scrabbled on my shoulder and put his beak to my ear. "What is it, Hugin?"

"Once you enter Muspell there is no way out. The Nidhogg will have to release you from the bindings of this world or you may never leave."

"Can't you just be straight with us for once?" I bit back, fuming.

"What do you mean, Brynhildr?"

"You could have told us that sooner." I gritted my teeth, steeling myself against swatting the daft bird up the side of his head. We were stuck here whether I skewered the bird with my sword or not.

Chapter 40

"What?" Aidan almost shouted the question when I relayed Hugin's news. "That was information we could have used
before
we decided to come here!"

As much as I was angry with Hugin, I understood exactly where we stood. "We would've come whether or not we knew about it. We have no choice but to follow every lead. If Nidhogg has the necklace, we do whatever we have to get it. And get out of here." I swallowed my outrage at Freya, who'd put me in this position.

My hurt and anger at Aidan had faded, replaced with a little understanding and a dash of forgiveness. Time heals wounds, true, but time also seemed to have cleared my vision of the haze of self-pity, too. I could see how Aidan had come to Craven, doing the job his father requested. I'd have done the same for my father.

Worse was his father's betrayal, sending his thugs out to kill his own son. I couldn't fathom how a father could possibly do such a thing to a son.

Aidan paced around, as if looking for something to kick in frustration. "This is ridiculous. We could be stuck here forever. We could very well die here. Damn that stupid bird!"

"Stop it, Aidan! It's not Hugin's fault. Damn it, it's not even your fault. It's all mine." I stood at the edge of my abyss again. Held back only by the unraveling tendrils of truth.

"Don't be stupid. It's not your fault. It's Freya's pathetic scheming. You'd think gods would be benevolent, kind beings, but no. They're just a bunch of manipulative, cruel users."

Aidan's anger seemed to aggravate the decline in his health. He skin looked so pale and thin I feared he'd rupture the surface with the slightest movement. The bruise from the bullet hole purpled his forehead, ridged in the middle of the wound so much like the day we'd found him beside the stream. Tears filled my eyes as I saw just how ill he really was. I blinked them away angrily.

"No, it's my fault you are here with me," I said.

"Look, Bryn, I wanted to come with you. You needed me to help find the necklace." Aidan placed his hands on my shoulders, locking me in place.

"No," I whispered, looking everywhere else but at his face. "You needed me more."

"What the hell are you talking about?" He shook me slightly, his patience wearing as thin as the skin on his body.

"Freya put a curse on you. A curse to force me to take on the quest. I would've refused, would've just given her the pendant and been done with it, but she pulled you into the bargain." I pulled away, but distance from him was little consolation.

"What are you talking about?" His voice lowered, dark and dangerous.

"Freya put a curse on your life. She gave you one week from the day we left Asgard. Every day we spend outside Asgard takes one day from your life, brings you closer and closer to death. If we don't get back to Asgard, by tonight, with the necklace, you'll die. Again. Forever, this time."

Silence hung in the air, dark and heavy, and it scared me. I saw all sorts of things inside that silence. Anger and hatred and blame all rolled into one vacuum of sound.

"When were you planning on telling me this?" His face was ashen.

"I don't know. I meant to. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you. Especially when you insisted you'd come with me. Freya instructed me to take you with, and she was right. Most of what we found so far was only because you had access to the right information." As I spoke, I was shocked by the realization that Aidan's presence and his gradual decline had hindered me, too, delaying me as I cared for him. Guess it didn’t matter now. I continued, "And then we were here. And then . . . it was too late."

Aidan stared at my face, and I could see he was trying to either find something to say or trying to stop himself from saying something. Either way, I think I preferred the silence more.

He turned and stomped off. Despite not knowing in which direction we were meant to go. Hugin caught up with him, and I breathed a sigh of relief, since Aidan could easily lose himself here in the bowels of this hellish world.

 I trailed behind them in a self-pitying silence. What could have been was way too far in the past to concentrate on right now. I had to look ahead to finding a way to get out of this place alive. Especially now, after Hugin's revelation. How do we steal something from Nidhogg and then ask him to allow us to leave?

The tunnels we walked through were so hot that hot was probably too mild a description. The heat parched my throat and dotted my forehead with beads of perspiration.

Great, the sauna of the underworld?

Thankfully, we had Hugin to guide us through the darkened passageways, lit by thin streams of red hot lava, which ran in thin gutters on either side of the rock floor.

Minutes later, I was grateful he'd headed Aidan off.

The passage widened before us, almost as large as a basketball court. But I paid very little attention to the decor of the cave. My eyes were stuck on the monstrous creature that stood between us and our route to Nidhogg.

***

The giant stood no less than ten feet tall, with muscles that bulged larger than our heads, and hair that stood out in every direction as if permanently electrified. One slam of a meaty fist and it would be goodnight for us. He could have been any giant, even Jack's beanstalk climbing giant, except for his beard of living flame. And his eyes. Twin flaming orbs that twisted and crackled within his skull.

He wore flaming armor too, with huge bracers protecting his hands and manacles of fire at his ankles. I shivered despite the constant bombardment of sweat-wringing heat.

"What is that?" I whispered to Hugin.

"That is a Surt, one of the Giant Race, who guards the land of Muspell from intruders."

"And we're the intruders." I sighed, resigned to one more thing we didn't know. "Why didn't you tell us about him, Hugin? We would have at least been prepared."

"You did not ask me, Brynhildr. And it is unlikely that foreknowledge would have been sufficient to prepare you for this battle." He reared his head, unperturbed by the raw fury boiling in my veins.

Wiseass
, I thought.

I turned to Aidan, hoping he was up to the challenge of a battle with the brute. "Hankering for a good fight with a Fire Giant?"

"Can I check my calendar and get back to you?" He smiled, and I saw a glimpse of the old Aidan, despite the tightness around his eyes.

"Nope, now's the time for action," I said. My hand went to my sword and Aidan followed suit. I tilted my head at Hugin. "Okay, Blackbird, anything we should know, any tips on defeating this monster?"

"I am afraid I cannot assist you, Brynhildr. A battle with a Guardian of a Realm is a battle only you can fight. To breach the borders of a realm one must win the opportunity to enter using one's strength, agility and intelligence." With that, the raven took flight, finding a small ledge along the cave wall, well out of range of any danger.

Bloody great. So much for the purpose of the damned raven.

I stared at the giant, meeting his gaze head on, hoping I projected a confidence and strength that would have him turn and run with his fiery tail between his legs. If he had a tail. When he didn't flee, I sighed in silence and brandished my sword. The shiiing of the blade leaving the scabbard was calming. And right now I needed calm.

My heart thudded, knocking painfully against my ribs, sweat beading my face. Aidan matched my pose beside me, but my confidence slipped at the sag to his sword and the tired hunch of his shoulders. We should have paused for a drink of Mead when we arrived. Too late now.

I bounced on lowered knees, waiting to see what the giant might do. I saw the swirling ball of fire almost too late. It zinged past my abdomen, singeing the bronze of my armor as it made a full circle. The giant growled again, air pushing at the curtain of his mustache, and grabbed hold of the fireball. The flames died, revealing a ball and chain. Deadly enough in its own right, but a pure menace with all those flames.

Aidan crouched beside me as the giant stepped forward. The ground reverberated when his foot hit the stone floor. It was a waltz, a fiery dance with three participants. We avoided one strike after another from Surt's ball and chain, and his sword. Though we began to tire, Surt himself seemed filled to overflowing with energy as he continued his relentless onslaught.

I moved away from Aidan, trying to draw the giant's attention from him. But it didn't work. Surt swung his fiery ball and hurled it at Aidan, and he did something he hadn't done since we began our little battle. He let go of the chain, allowing the ball to fly at Aidan, with the chain trailing behind its round, fiery body like a comet's tail.

I watched in pure horror as the ball hit Aidan at the top of his shoulder, the tail swinging around to whip hard against his other shoulder and curl across his chest. Flames blazed bright orange against his armor and then fizzled out. Aidan sagged forward, falling to his knees, literally bowing to the power of the fire giant. He grunted as he crumpled to the stone floor, the ball and chain clanking as it rolled away from its victim.

I retraced my steps and circled around Aidan. The giant roared his victory and stamped his foot, slapping his meaty thigh. He was laughing at us.

That's it, no more Miss Nice Guy!

I picked up the ball and chain, expecting it to be way too heavy to lift, considering the ball itself was larger than my entire head. But my own strength surprised me, and I wondered if the power came with being a Valkyrie.

I held it close. An idea began to form.

Circling Surt again, I stepped away from Aidan, who still lay stunned on the ground. The giant drew his sword and thrust it at me. I jumped back, hoping he wouldn't catch me against the stone wall with nowhere to go. A trail of heat slid by my abdomen as he missed. He brought the sword back to him with an angry flick. He tried again, and again, and each time I avoided the sword's heat and bite by a mere hair's breadth.