Dead Silence (7 page)

Also, I worried about Aimee, my best friend and
einherjar
, and Suri, half-human daughter of Steinn, Dragon King of Muspellheim. The dragon princess had been left in my care and fear for her safety swirled in my stomach making me want to throw up.

A gust of wind buffeted me and I glanced to my right wondering if I'd just been hit by more natural calamity in the form of a hurricane or tornado. But my thoughts had just conjured up a huge dragon which glided beside me, her great golden eyes blinking in greeting.

Suri.

And on her back sat Aimee, all armored up with metal glinting in the sunlight. She was waving madly at me, her face a strange blend of fear and happiness and relief.

"Hey. You okay?" Aimee yelled from Suri's scaly back. The sound of her words were stolen by the wind, but I understood her anyway.

I nodded, "I'm fine. Is everyone else okay?" Aimee shifted her gaze for the moment, not meeting my eyes. "Aimee?"

She shook her head slightly, mumbling something I couldn't make out. She appeared to be listening to Suri and I frowned. What the hell were they keeping from me?

"Everyone's fine, Bryn." When she spoke, her voice was too forceful. Too reassuring.

"Aimee? What are you not telling me?" Her struggle was clear in her expression as she finally crumbled under pressure of my glare. As friends, we'd never been able to lie to each other very well, not that we haven't tried in the past.

"I'm sorry, Bryn. It's Joshua. We haven't been able to find him."

CHAPTER NINE

Fear gripped me, an incredible pressure that threatened to flatten my bones, and suck the air from my lungs. The effect was so stunning that I stopped flying in midair and dropped ten feet before I recovered. I gasped, surging upward again, this time closer to the back of the dragon.

"Where was he last?"

"Valhalla. But now it's just a pile of rubble."

Valhalla a pile of ruins? That shouldn't even be possible.

I glanced over my shoulder in the direction of where the Hall of Valhalla should be and saw nothing but a pile of stones and the remains of the great long-house's broken roof. It looked like someone had pummeled the building with a gigantic club.

My stomach tightened as I took in the ruin that was once Valhalla. Famed through centuries, it now lay in ruins. And somewhere within those ruins lay Joshua.

I had to find him.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart before glancing over at Aimee. "You and Suri go see if Njall is okay. I think I see his forge on fire. It might be the building next door, but either way find a way to put out all the fires."

Aimee nodded and Suri blinked sadly at me. Then she flew off, making a wide turn to head back in the direction of the village.

I wasted no time in flying straight out to Valhalla. And as I flew my mind went through my life with Joshua. I'd met him when I'd moved to Craven, a small town off Route 66 just outside of Illinois. I'd seen him glow, the way so many people I'd seen before had done. And this time was different.

This time I knew the glow meant that he was going to die soon. Little did I know that the golden glow told a Valkyrie which one of the living was soon to meet death, and which one of them was destined for a life as Odin's warrior.

So Joshua had died. And so too did Aimee, cancer taking her not too long before him.

I'd grown to love Joshua and his death had broken my heart. And when I'd found out he was a warrior, brought to Valhalla like me, everything changed.

Death and life, inextricably intertwined together.

And there I stood in the thick of it, surrounded by dying friends. I blinked, reminded of another task on my list. Aidan's funeral.

But the crisis in Asgard would put Aidan's funeral on the back burner. Who knew how many more funerals would need to be prepared after this horror.

I reached the ruins and redirected my flight path, lowering myself down beside the Glasir tree. The golden Ash seemed to be holding strong even in this horrible turmoil, with none of its leaves being broken loose. Perhaps it is true that Glasir does not relinquish her leaves unless it is to a person who is worthy.

Amazingly, I'd received golden leaves more than once in the past, one I'd sacrificed to a special elixir in the hope of saving Aidan's life, another I'd given to Sigrun when we'd farewelled her at her funeral. The last lay against my throat, hanging from a black cord, guarding my heart.

I touched it now as I rushed past the golden tree to what used to be the entrance of Valhalla. The building was now a giant pile of stones, black flagstone tiles lifted into the air, broken and smashed. And in the middle, running diagonally across the length of the hall, was a gigantic crack in the earth. The ground had shifted and attempted to swallow up Valhalla, only succeeding in destroying it instead.

The same ground now remained silent, unmoving. Although, a part of me kept expecting it to happen again. What could have done this? Was Asgard built on a fault line? Was that even possible within the cosmic realm or plane?

I rubbed my forehead, trying to press an encroaching headache away as I launched myself into the air, thrusting higher to examine the ruins from above, to search for signs of life. I scoured the length of the hall, then made another turn, in the end finding nothing.

My stomach tightened and I felt bile taint my throat. What if he was dead?

No. I just can't think that way.

I didn't want to contemplate that possibility. That way led to sorrow and I'd had more than enough pain for a lifetime.

A faint sound drifted to my ear.

The sound of stones falling, of pebbles clicking against each other. I turned, trying to trace the origin of the sound somewhere in the hundreds of yards of rubble.

Ahead of me, perhaps twenty yards away, something shifted, the surface of broken stones heaving slightly as if the remains of Valhalla had begun to breathe.

I swept the stupid thought out of my head and flew directly to the movement, hoping desperately that it would be Joshua. While I lowered myself towards the moving stones, I remained hovering over it, not wanting to settle my weight onto the rubble in case I caused it to collapse.

"Joshua?" I shouted, then listened as his name echoed around me.

At first I heard nothing.

Then the softest of moans floated to me, muffled and almost indistinguishable from the sound of an animal's cries. My heart tightened, the sound so terribly plaintive. And at that moment, I didn't care what it was that I found. I just wanted that pitiful sound to stop.

I bent to lift away the stones, throwing them far to my left so they would land away from the remains of Valhalla. Good thing I had Valkyrie power to allow me to fling stones thirty yards.

As the pile shrank, more movement became visible. Someone was stuck underneath the pile, and was now finally able to move with the weight lightened. I kept at it, untiring in my need to get to them.

It could be Joshua.

CHAPTER TEN

I said those words in my mind like a prayer as I moved stones off the pile as fast as I could.

Until I uncovered the face of a girl.

She stared at me, tears in her eyes, the skin of her face pale and tight with shock. An
einherjar
, from the look of her battered armor. She lay flat on her back, with a thin splinter of wood sticking out of her left arm.

Her other arm remained outstretched beneath more rubble and she turned her head toward it. "Save them," she begged, as if she thought she would soon die.

"What's your name?" I asked softly, leaning close so she wouldn't need to strain to speak loudly.

She swallowed and I wished I had water to quench her thirst. "Lysa." She stared at me, no fear in her eyes. "Don't worry about me. Save
them
." She glanced again to her right.

I nodded. "Lie still. I'll get them, and you'll be fine too."

She gave me a tiny nod although it was clear from her expression that she didn't believe me. I didn't have time to reassure her, instead focusing my attention on removing rocks from the area beside her. Soon, I uncovered two more warriors, both conscious and uninjured apart from the solid beam that pinned them to the ground.

The beam was too large, too heavy for me to lift by myself. Although a Valkyrie was powerful, lifting beams used to build long-houses that stood the test of time, would be a near impossible thing. Even Suri, with all her dragon power, may not be up to this task.

But I knew who would.

"Don't move," I said to the three warriors. "I'll be back in no time."

Then I turned and flew back to the palace, praying that my quarters had survived the quake. The Valkyrie's rooms were in the section of the palace that still remained standing but there was no telling if the inside of the building was still intact.

I held my breath as I flew through the front entrance and through the hallways, glad I had the advantage of wings. The corridors were dark in place where the torches had fallen and gone out, but enough remained to light my way, and reveal the destruction. The walls and floors were marked by gigantic cracks and both ceilings and floors had collapsed in places.

I flew to my room and rushed to my jacket now hanging on a stand behind the door where Turi had left it. I carried the amber ball with me wherever I went, just in case I needed help, but in Asgard the dangers were never so great that I'd need outside help. When I withdrew it the sphere glowed as if it contained a living fire. Then something inside the ball moved, shifting horizontally until a thin slit appeared and an eye opened.

I turned and flew back to Valhalla as fast as I could, feeling the rush of air bruising my cheeks. When I reached the spot I hovered over the beam and held up the amber sphere. Gold and orange swirled again like liquid sunshine and then something moved

An eye opened, its iris living fire.

It blinked at me a few times and I knew I didn't have to wait long.

A gust of wind slammed against me, greater than the one Suri had cause. This powerful breeze pushed me a few feet from the two warriors and I had to flap my wings harder to remain aloft, shedding little blood-red feathers as I went.

Out of thin air, a gigantic golden dragon appeared. Tyra had scales of gold, accented with a shining bronze, and as she turned her face to me she blinked the very eye that had looked back at me from the ball.

I stuffed the sphere into my dress pocket -as flimsy as it was it would have to do - and waved at her, relieved. "They need help," I yelled, pointing at the two warriors. I didn't bother with greetings even though I spoke to the dragon matriarch of Muspell, grandmother of Suri and mother to the King. She was a powerful, arrogant, ridiculously loyal woman, who had somehow managed to take me under her wing. Her gift of the amber ball was her promise to be there for me if I ever needed her. And I have never abused the power to summon her.

Now, Tyra nodded to me and swooped down to the warriors, her two short forelegs aiming at the gigantic beam. As she moved she extended her claws and carefully gripped the great log, taking infinite care.

Slowly, she lifted the beam and rose into the air, flying it to the side of the building and laying it carefully on the ground. I hovered over the men. "Are you in pain?"

"I'm not," said the one on the left, red hair blazing in the sunlight. "But, I think Jin is. Broken collarbone from what I can see. Maybe ribs too."

I nodded and turned my attention to his friend whose almond shaped eyes, and olive skin gave him a distinct Asian look. Jin was in for a long recovery. But knowing he was an
einherjar
make me feel a little relieved. The people of Asgard had many ways to regenerate broken warriors.

"Jin, I'm going to move you. Do you think you can handle the pain?" I asked putting a hand to the side of his dark head. His expression seemed out of focus, but then he grinned.

"If you are doing the carrying I would suffer the flames of Hel with a smile," he said, his voice scratchy and slightly accented.

His friend snort loudly, while I just shook my head. I settled slowly on the rubble then leaned down to slip my hands carefully under him. I worried about hurting him, that any movement may make his injuries worse, or even kill him. Who knew what kind of internal injuries he'd sustained.

Gritting my teeth I took his weight and was relieved to feel his lightness. A dead warrior was incredibly heavy, that I knew from bringing my fair share of dead to Valhalla before.

I rose into the air, my wings thrusting as I flew Jin to the grass beside the building. I hovered for a moment, unsure if I should put him down here or go looking for whatever infirmary the citizens of Asgard had erected.

"What's the matter, beautiful? You can put me down now," said my injured burden giving me a sexy raised eyebrow.

I shook my head, unamused. "You have better things to think about than girls, Jin. I'm just wondering if I should leave you here, or find a place where the other injured are being seen to. I don't want you to be hurt unnecessarily."

He sighed, making me raise my own eyebrow at the dramatically long sound. "A woman after my own heart. You actually care what happens to me. Tell me, where have you been all my life?"

I wanted to laugh, and to be honest the flirtation should have been a nice distraction from the horror around us. Unfortunately the very horror of the day, coupled with my fears for Joshua, made Jin hard to appreciate.

I ignored him and flew higher, trying to see around me into the distance. Tyra rose beside, flapping her great golden leathery wings. "What is it, child?" she asked, her voice the same stern yet kind tone I remembered.

"I don't want to set him down unless it's for the last time. He has a broken collarbone and what looks like two broken ribs. I also suspect his hips are either broken or crushed too. The less we move him the better."