Power Play: Act 1 Svartalfheim (Ragnarok on Ice) (12 page)

Rumil’s dad, Hargna, was an interesting character to say the least.  The first thing that shocked me was he was shorter than me and covered in many scars.  The effect gave him the look of a battle hardened, kindly grandfather.

When Rumil introduced us, I did what was natural and extended my hand to shake his.  He looked at my hand, not really knowing what to do, so I explained the meaning of the handshake to him.  After a brief demonstration, Hargna must’ve shaken my hand every five minutes thereafter.

He’d been filled in on everything from Rumil when she first got here, so it saved me explaining how I was now his daughter’s chosen one and all that mushy stuff. 

I myself had actually come to not be too freaked out by that idea anymore.  We’d experienced quite a bit in the short, but action packed time we’d been together on this trip.  It certainly was unexpected and very confusing at first, but now it felt a bit more appropriate.  I still wanted to go home and continue my hockey career naturally with the understanding that this was important too.  I’d have to make a choice at some point I feared.

Hargna, for his part, thought this was fantastic.  Not only had his eldest child successfully completed a highly dangerous mission into Asgard, but she also safely brought back a human.  He called this a great merger of races and a fantastic opportunity for growth and knowledge sharing.  I just smiled and let him talk.  I was just happy that he wasn’t mad at me for spoiling his daughter with my human germs.

As we sat in his library, Hargna asked many questions about Midgard.  He wanted to know everything from the climate, to our culture, to our customs and traditions.  I obliged and told him about anything and everything I could think of.  The best part of this was after I explained Christmas.  They thought that everything about it was wonderful.

“So let me see if I understand this correctly.  Everyone gets gifts?  Even people you do not like still are able to participate in such activities?  Would it not be better to exile them and then not have to worry about such niceties?”

This was truly priceless.  My dad would’ve loved this guy.  He always complained at about having to buy mom’s cousin Jan a gift because, “Quite frankly I don’t want that pain in the ass anywhere near my house let alone feeling obligated to buy her something.”

“Well sir, the point of Christmas is that no matter what someone may have done or how annoying they are, we over look that and accept them.  So we give them something they can’t use or don’t want in the hopes they get the picture and don’t come around anymore.”

Having been around me quite a lot of the past few days Rumil was picking up on my jokes and sarcastic nature and started laughing.  Hargna looked even more confused and possibly even excited to continue learning but we were interrupted by a dark elf telling us everyone was here and ready for dinner to start.  Hargna was disappointed that his time for questioning was interrupted.  I wasn’t; dinner sounded good to me.

“So team, what’s on the menu tonight?  I’m starving.”

“You will see soon enough Jack, let us go and meet some more of my family.”

I’ll say this; dark elves knew how to party.  When we got to the dining hall, there were maybe twenty to twenty-five of them roaming around.  When they caught sight of me, it quickly turned into one hundred questions.  They were all so friendly that I felt compelled to answer everything.  That is also when I noticed Rumil and Hargna abandoned me and went straight for the food.  It took me awhile to pry myself free and get any myself.

When I got to the food tables and I was not disappointed.  Wild boar, breads I’ve never seen before, all sorts of different fruits and vegetables, and to my delight moonshine looking wine.  I think it was wine anyways; it sure did taste good going down.

“So what do you think Jack?  This is my home and my clan.”

I could tell she was prodding, hoping that I was happy and not disappointed with everything.  “This is amazing.  Everyone here’s great and the food’s fantastic.  I didn’t expect a party, but it sure makes for a hell of a welcome!”

“Oh no, this is not a party! This is just a small gathering.  You have not seen a party yet.”  She winked at me.  I got the feeling that a dark elf party in that case would make Mardi Gras seem tame.

“I get that this is for us though, but shouldn’t we be a bit more somber.  Your king is dead after all and we don’t know who did it.”

“That is why we celebrate Jack.  Our king would not want us to forget our customs and traditions even in a time of great sadness.  We enjoy ourselves tonight as much for the memory of his life as well as for introducing you.”

I hadn’t thought of it like that.  These elves were probably mourning right now and Rumil coming back with me probably gave them a reason to celebrate.  They weren’t forgetting their king, they were honoring him.  I know I had never met him, but at that moment I felt compelled to at least thank him for this.  I closed my eyes and raised my glass a little bit.

“To King Oor,” I murmured.

“That was very sweet Jack.  I know he would have liked the opportunity to meet you.  Now enough of this sad talk!  Let us go dance!”

Out on the makeshift dance floor, I started to realize I had way too much to drink when I broke the moonwalk out of my dance repertoire.  At first everyone was pretty confused at what was happening, I guess they were maybe moments away from seeking medical help when I offered to teach them. 

Soon it had caught on like wild fire and every dark elf turned into the King of Pop.  Even Hargna was all about it and was even improvising when a scream went up from the back of the hall.  Everything stopped when we all turned to look see an elf fall to the ground with an arrow sticking out of his chest.  I took no medical knowledge to know he was dead.

“There, up in the balcony is the archer!  Everyone get to their positions now!”  Hargna was no longer the eccentric elf I had first met.  This was the leader of the clan and the look in his eyes said it all.  Death would be waiting for whoever did this in his house.

The elves were moving around at light speed.  One elf had already been to the armory and was handing out swords and daggers to everyone.  Another one had gone immediately to the front gates and locked it down.  Search teams were being formed at a dizzying pace and they were off.  Rumil, Hargna, and I after only a few moments, were the only ones left in the hall.

“Father, this is obviously a trap to get us away from you so the assassin can do his job.  From this moment on, you are under my protection.  The best course of action right now is to get to the library and get the escape passage open should we need to leave.”

“We shall not run from our home, we join the search and crush this ant for ruining this day!”  Hargna’s eyes were on fire.  I silently hoped I never did anything to earn his wrath.

“Fine you stubborn old fool, but your death will not be on my conscious should it occur.”  Rumil turned to me.  It was my time to receive orders.  “Jack, I need you to go back to the library and get the escape path open, just in case this was more than it seems.  Can you do this for me?”

“Sure, I can handle that.  What do I do?”

It didn’t take Hargna long to explain that the second to last shelf on the left was a false wall.  The problem was he gave me the title of the book that activated the mechanism so that it would open.  Unfortunately, I think he forgot I didn’t speak Druhir and before I could ask him he was already on route to the main areas of the castle.

“Rumil, I don’t know which book to pull.”  I had hoped she knew which one and could tell me.

“I think the book you are looking for ‘Dahache vir Menaces’ is going to be on the third shelf down.  I cannot give you any better insight than that, I tend to stay out of the library.  Before I go, keep Hrotti out at all times.  We do not know who is behind this or their motivation.  I will be back as soon as I can.  Do not leave the library.”  With a kiss on the cheek and one last stern look at me, she was off.

The library was pretty easy to get to.  I ran into one of the elf search teams and they pointed it out to me before they continued.  One of them had a fresh wound on his shoulder which made me feel uneasy.  Whoever the archer was, he was still here and fighting. 

Once I got to the library, I shut the door behind me and went over to the false book case.  Oh my, there were lots of books and I had no idea what I was looking for.  Using Rumil’s advice, I went to the third shelf and started pulling books out.  The tension of the events happening in the castle made time feel like it was going slower and all I wanted to do was hear the tick telling me I found the right book. 

After a few tries, I finally heard a click and the case swung out just a little.  I grabbed the edge of the shelf with my right hand and pulled thinking this would be easy.  No such luck, it was giving me plenty of resistance.  After changing tactics and putting all my weight behind it I finally got it open enough where we could squeeze in if needed.  That is when the door flew open.

“You again.”  The voice was low and gravelly, like someone decided drinking sand was a good idea.  “Where is Hargna?  You have one chance to tell me.”

I turned around.  It was the man from the cave.  Rumil was right, there are no such things as coincidences.  “Considering I’m in here by myself, chances are pretty good I don’t have a clue.  Last I checked, he was out looking for you.  I’m sure if you walk outside and call nicely, he’ll come.”  I immediately wished I would have just shut up.

“You insolent human, it is time to meet your maker.”

The man pulled out the same sword he had used before in the fight with Rumil.  I didn’t see a bow on him, so either there was two of them or he had run out of arrows and abandoned it.  I had put Hrotti away while I was searching for the book, but I wasn’t going down without a fight.  With just a hope and a prayer, I got Hrotti back in my hand and pointed it at him.

“You took my dagger did you?  This works out well for me.  I will take what is mine from your corpse.”

He leaned back and let loose a giant overhand chop with his sword.  Instincts kicked in and I rolled out of the way.  A bit of luck came into play as well and his sword got stuck in the wooden floor.  It didn’t take long for him to pull it out but it gave me enough time to put some more distance in between us.  He still blocked the path to the main door, and I wasn’t sure where the escape path led but I knew if I could get into the hallway I could find a dark elf or five to help.

“That would have been too easy.  I do enjoy an opponent who makes me work for their death.”

He jumped into the air and covered the ground between us, once again bringing his sword down like a crazy man.  He had jumped so high though, I was able to front roll and go under him.  This worked out well and brought me in a direct path to the door. 

Quickly, I got up and made a break for it, hoping I could make it.  His sword was stuck in the floor again, but he left it and took off after me.  Just before I got to the door, I felt a powerful hand grab my shoulder and pull me back.  Damn, this guy was fast and strong.  He had an iron grip on me and started to pick me up, so I did the only thing I could think of.  I took Hrotti, reach back and drove it into his forearm.  The roar of pain was loud and with a quick motion he still was able to fling me into the adjacent bookshelf.  It hurt but I was still conscious and was getting ready to fight back when I saw he had left, a trail of blood leading out the door.

Making it to my feet, I followed as best I could but before I got too far I heard Rumil.

“Jack, what are you doing?  Hel’s realm!  Are you hurt?”

“I was attacked by the same guy from the cave.  I was able to stab him, so last I saw he was bleeding pretty good.  But that didn’t stop him throwing me into the bookshelf before he left.  I’m pretty sure that I only have a few bruised ribs.”

She looked over me appraisingly.  After making sure I was not covering up any serious injuries, the tension seemed to ease up.

“We never found the archer, father is still out looking, but it seems he was just a distraction while the Aesir was the real threat.  Let us head back into the library while we wait for my father to finish up.”

We went back in and while I sat down, Rumil went over the library to see if any clues were left behind.  After a few minutes Hargna came back in.

“Gone!  That coward fled after being driven out of his little shadows.  A full investigation needs to be held.  I will go see Azmodeous first thing…”  He stopped and looked around his library, truly seeing the mess for the first time.  “What in Garm’s name happened in here?”

I told him about the attack in here.  He listened to every detail, making sure not to miss a thing.  Once I finished, I got up and stretched my legs.  It’d certainly been a long day.

“I am glad that the two of you came out of this whole for the most part,” then his eyes darkened, “however Dunmer was killed in the dining hall and Eroth was seriously injured.  He has been taken to the infirmary for treatment.  He took an arrow in the…”

Hargna never finished his sentence.  I saw it heading for him and immediately moved over and pushed him out of the way.  As he landed on the floor, Rumil turned around to see what was happening.  Hargna turned over as well and gasped.  I looked at Rumil and smiled, her dad was safe.  Tears were streaming from her eyes now.  I knew it was there before I even looked down.