Power Play: Act 1 Svartalfheim (Ragnarok on Ice) (13 page)

The arrow meant for Hargna was sticking out of my chest.

****

I did not know what to say.  One moment everything seemed to be calm.  I was finishing up searching the library to see if the would be assassin left anything behind to determine his identity.  I heard Jack push father down and when I turned around to see what the commotion was and disbelief washed over me. 

The archer had returned to finish the task at hand and Jack had saved my father from death.  The arrow that was in his chest was proof enough.  Blood trickled out of the sides of his mouth as he smiled at me.  The fool apparently did not care about his own state.  Time slowed down as he started to fall to the ground.  I moved over as fast as I could and caught him.

“Jack,” my tears were blurring my vision, “Jack, listen you are not allowed to die!”  I knew he could not hear me, his eyes were already closed.  His breathe was slow and ragged.

“Rumil, pull yourself together quick!  We need to get him to the infirmary.  I will not claim to know human anatomy but I would guess our hearts are in the same place.”

Father’s words snapped me out of my stupor.  I had to save Jack no matter what.  Carefully picking him up, I left the library and made my way to the infirmary with father directly behind me. 

As we left the library, father was able to get two search teams to continue pursuing the archer.  He had left the scene as quickly and silently as he had arrived.  I reasoned since the second assassin was injured, that this attack was the final last chance effort to complete the task.  They would find no one.

As we entered the infirmary, two shamans came over and father informed them of the situation.  They took Jack and began work immediately.  After removing the arrow, they brought two rune stones over and placed one at the entrance and one at the exit point where the arrow had been.  When they had finished, Izek, the older of the two came over to brief us on Jack’s situation.

“Hargna I do not know if this will work.  The healing runes were meant for elves, not humans.  At the moment, the human is stabilized as the arrow appears to have missed his heart.”  Izek’s face was still solemn.

Not controlling my emotions, “Something is still wrong, is it not?!” 

“The human lost a substantial amount of blood and I do not believe ours would be compatible to transfuse.  I am very sorry that I could not do more.”

He went back over to Jack and continued to observe him.  Father walked over and whispered in his ear.  Izek looked back at me, then at father and nodded.  As father came back over, his look said it all.

“I let him know what Jack was to you and how he saved my life.  I believe he will do everything in his power to help our human friend but it does not look good Rumil.”

I started to cry again.  Happiness had finally come into my life and now it was being taken away.  It was not fair; Jack had done nothing in all of this.

“Your shaman can’t do anything for him, but I can.”

I looked up at father, and his eyes were as wide as I could remember.  It was obvious he recognized the source of the voice, but was also stunned too.

“What?  Why have you finally come out and in that form as well?”

I turned and saw the newcomer for the first time.  He was a bit taller than father but shorter than I.  His hear was wild and pure white.  His eyes were the darkest brown I had ever seen.  They reminded me of a predator that was too intelligent for its own good.  His skin was not blue and his ears were not pointed, so I knew he was neither a light or dark elf.

“There is no time for questions Hargna, I can save him if you still trust me as you used to.”

If he could save Jack that was what was important.  “Who are you?  How can you save him?”

He smiled at me.  That smile, I had seen it before.  I knew who this man was; I used to visit him in his cave back when I was little.

“You never saw me in this form Rumil. Your vividest memories probably include seeing the gleipnir chain strung around my neck.  I ask you both to trust me; it is I, Fenrir, the Great Wolf of Asgard.”

“But how can you save him?  And why would you want to?”

His features softened quite a bit.  “The reason I can and more importantly why I want to are one in the same.  Rumil, Hargna - Jack is my son.”

I woke up and felt terrible.  Every breathe I took felt like someone was shooting a nail into me.  It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the dark and that is when I saw him sitting beside me.  It was dad and he had a big smile on his face.

“It’s about time you woke up.  You had us all scared knucklehead.”

I knew it was him because knucklehead had always been his name for me.  Oh great, I obviously was hallucinating.  Add that to my growing list of ailments.  “Am I dead?  Is this some sort of dream where you take me to the other side?  To be honest, I don’t care.  I am just glad I got to see you again dad.”

“You aren’t dead or dying for that fact Jack.  Nice one by the way, taking that arrow for Hargna like that.  Just like the time you took that puck to the face thinking you were saving a goal.  Mind you that shot was going at least five feet wide of the net but you dropped anyways.” 

Oh he would never let me live that down.  Coach Clayton nearly wet himself and the next practice told the team that he wanted to see that out of everyone.  The team hated me few weeks afterwards.

It hit me just then, he said Hargna like he knew him.  What the hell?  “Dad, how do you know about Hargna?  And how did you get here?  The way they acted, I was the first human to ever make the trip here.”

“Oh you are, and the fact my son was the first one to come over is quite hilarious to be honest.  I guess it is time for you to get the whole story of my life.”

“Time to fess up, just what’re you getting at here?  None of this makes any sense.”  I was getting worried.  “Is there something wrong?”

“You can decide after I tell you everything.  I had hoped we would never have to have this conversation, but here we are.  Son, most people on Midgard know me as Fredrick Skelton, but here in this realm I’m known better as Fenrir, the Great Wolf and harbinger of Ragnarok.”

Dad’s story went on for awhile.  He started at the beginning and told me about how his father was an Aesir who was disgruntled with his lot in life and had gone to Jotenheim on a whim.  While there, he fell in love with an ice giantess and they lived very happily for a long time. 

During the course of that time, they had three children – himself, Jormungandr, and Hel.  Most considered them to be mistakes due to the mixing of Aesir and ice giant blood had never happened before.  They were a family though and they were happy. 

After a while, the Aesir found out about what happened and Odin passed judgment.  The ice giantess was killed, the three children each imprisoned, and the Aesir was tortured for his perceived crimes.

“Dad, what they did to your family, our family, is terrible.  Why would they do that?”

“My father was not well liked and to this day still is more feared than anything.  Odin acted out of that fear and rage of what we represented.  He thought he could show my father who the true Allfather was and that would end this, but it did not.”

“Your dad is still alive then?  Who is he?  Who is my grandfather?”

“I’ll answer any question you have after I finish the story.  Once I do, if you still want to know who he is, I will tell you.”

Dad was stuck in his cave for a long time.  He said after awhile he stopped trying to figure out how long he’d been there and just waited for his end.  One day though something interesting happened.  A dark elf had wondered into his cave and at first he was tempted to eat him.  As he said, “I’m a wolf after all and that’s all I’d known at that time, so I hope you don’t judge me too harshly.”

The dark elf showed no fear of him.  They were told it was off-limits to go this deep into the cave for the monster that was back there was the destroyer of worlds, so the legend went.  This elf though didn’t believe such nonsense and wanted to see what was so scary.  The dark elf started talking to dad and after a while had to leave but said he’d be back.

Over many cycles the dark elf returned just about every day.  Some days he even brought others with him and over time dad was adopted into their clan of sorts.

“The elf that showed me kindness and friendship changed me.  No longer did I believe fate was cruel and my only purpose was to bring the end of this realm.  For the first time in a long time I felt peace in my heart.  So for that, Hargna will always be my friend.”

So it was Hargna who humanized dad, at least emotionally.  Maybe fate wasn’t so strange after all considering my current state of affairs with his daughter.

“One day Hargna came to my cave with a visitor.  It was the dwarf who made the chain that bound me to the rock.  He said Odin didn’t tell him what the chain was for, only that is was to keep a great threat in place.  He never imagined it would be used on one of their own.”

“The Aesir didn’t consider you one of their own did they?  Your mother was an ice giant so it didn’t matter who your father was.”

“You got it Jack.  My father could’ve been Thor himself and all three of us would have been considered abominations.  The other races of the remaining realms disagreed.  Hargna, the dwarf who made the gleipnir chain, and myself though came up with a plan to save me.”

The dwarf, Alviss, was a master builder and asked dad for one of his teeth.  He said if he could make an unbreakable chain then he’d find a way to break it.  Hargna went to his shamans and asked for a rune that would enchant the wearer to look however they wished.  Dad’s part would then be to go to Jotenheim and work to discover the locations of his brother and sister to free them.

“We’d met pretty regularly for a time.  I think Hargna and Alviss just wanted me to know they were working hard on their projects.  Then one day it happened.  They ventured into my cave with smiles on their face.  It was finally time to free the wolf.”

****

“Fenrir my friend, I did not think it was possible but I have a way to break gleipnir!  I warn you though, I used very old magic, and so once we break the chain the prophecy cannot be broken.”

I looked at the dwarf like he was insane.  I am pretty sure he was insane, but I liked him anyways.  “Alviss, we are doing this to escape one Odin forsaken prophecy.  What have you gone and done now?”

“The only way to do the impossible and break the unbreakable was to make something that should not even exist.  I made a dagger out of the tooth you gave me but it is something more now.  It is now the tooth of the wolf that will make it to Midgard!”

What in nine realms was he talking about?  No one can go to Midgard, Odin closed off the Bifrost Bridge when he made the pact with the light elves.  With Bifrost closed, it was impossible to get to Midgard.

Hargna picked up on this as well.  “How is he supposed to manage that?  Going to Jotenheim for the time makes the most sense.  From there, I can keep in communication with him rather easily seeing our position here in Svartalfheim and we can locate Jormungandr and Hel.”

“If he is destined for Midgard, the chain will break when struck with this dagger.  That is the only way.  As I said, to break the unbreakable, we needed something made of the impossible.”

I did not like this at all.  No one in a great many cycles had been to Midgard.  Who knew what the humans there were capable of?  Just some of the stories I had heard were enough to make my fur ripple.

“Well,” Hargna looked very happy with himself, “my shamans have done it.  We have created a rune that will not only change your outward appearance but will allow you to alter yourself in ways where no one would ever be able to detect who you really are.  This rune changes you from a wolf to a chameleon.”

No one would know who I was.  I could blend in perfectly with my environment and no one would be none the wiser.  “Can I change my appearance to match where I am?  I could be an ice giant one day and a dark elf another day?”

“Yes you could, but I would advise caution of how many forms you try to switch between.  Since you have Aesir blood in you however this rune will bring forth that appearance with ease.”

“Excellent, you have outdone yourself my old friend.  I shall never forget all you have done for me.”

Alviss had been deep in thought since Hargna and I started this conversation.  “You only have one choice, go to Midgard.  The humans look very much like the Aesir.  There you will be safe and more importantly, free.”

As soon as he finished, he slashed the dagger at gleipnir and the chain broke into pieces all around us.

“The Norns have decided on this day, Fenrir the Great Wolf will be the one who successfully goes to Midgard.”

Hargna had come into the room I was resting in.  “Telling your son about the days of old when we were a bit more carefree and saving you from eternal torment was the only task worth our skill?”

My dad laughed.  I never thought about it before but there’s definitely a wolfish quality to it.  If it wasn’t for the fact I’ve experienced quite a bit since my accidental vacation to Asgard, I would’ve thought his story was about as farfetched as they came.

“I didn’t mean to scare you earlier old friend.  Call it a father’s intuition but I felt my son was close and in danger.  I wasn’t concentrating too much when I took on this form and I am sure I looked rather monster like.”

“So you really are a very large wolf?  It isn’t just some nickname based on your terrible eating habits and overall lack of manners?”  I had listened to the story and knew Hargna had made a rune for him to change his form, but I guess this was still dad.  The man in front of me was how I always pictured him, not a giant freaking wolf.

“This is my preferred form, but yes my actual birth form is that of a wolf.  I generally only take that form when I’m alone and want to stay that way.  I hope you never have to see that side of me Jack.”

Hargna piped in, “Well are you going to finish the story or do I have to?  I am sure young Jack would enjoy hearing how his father deceived the Aesir and made it to Midgard.”

It was true.   I wanted to know how it happened.  How he really met mom and what kept him there.  And more importantly, what brought him back when he disappeared.

Dad continued on.  After Alviss broke the chain, Hargna produced the rune.  The best way for it to take hold and make sure it was never lost was to implant it into dad.  Hargna opened a small gash on dad’s shoulder and inserted the rune.  That explained the tattoo there that dad said was from his time in a foreign country when he was younger.

It took dad awhile to get used to changing his form from what I now knew as his human/Asgardian form and his true wolf self.  Finally though, he could do it at will and hold his new form for as long as he needed.  He was ready to begin his part of the plan.

****

“Are you certain that this plan will work?  Will she even help you?”

“I do not know the answer to that Hargna, but at this point she might be my only hope.  I have to see this through.”

Hargna understood.  He gave me a short nod.  “Go my friend and may the winds of Svartalfheim lead you to your destiny.”

For the first time in many cycles, I was walking out of the cave that I had come to know as my home.  The dark elves gave me plenty of supplies to last this trip, as I did not have too far to go.  The place I was looking for was in the Great Forest.  Not many knew of the location but that is where he was being held.  It was not him I was going to see however.  The only person who cared enough about him to take care of him in his time of misery was there as well.  Sigyn was still very much respected by everyone and she could help me.

It only took a few days to reach the hidden prison.  Disguised as a knot of dead trees, no one would have assumed this area would be holding one of the most dangerous beings in Asgard.  As I made my way through the trees, I found the hatch that led to the underground cell.  I descended the stairway and when I got to the bottom I could hear the screams of agony coming from the back corner.

“I will return shortly my love; I think someone is here to see you.”

I waited by the stairwell.  I was not sure how she would react once she knew who it was.  As Sigyn came into view her eyes narrowed and her hand dropped towards the sword on her belt.

“Who are you and what are your intentions here?  He has suffered enough.”

“I am not here to see him.  I am actually here to see you.  I need your help.  You may actually recognize me better in this form.”

I shifted into my wolf form just for a brief moment and then back into my Aesir form.  The look in her eyes told me she had not expected that.

“Fenrir, is it truly you?  I do not even want to know how it is possible.  The twilight of Asgard is upon us.”

“No it is not Sigyn.  I need a way out of here.  I need your help in crossing Bifrost and getting to Midgard.  I have no intention of fulfilling that prophecy.”

We stood there in silence staring at each other.  I hoped she believed the look in my eyes.  I did not want to be the harbinger anymore.  I just wanted to start a new.  Finally she relented and said she would help me.  She made me swear an oath on my own life I would not betray her trust.  She also asked me to go talk to him, that maybe it would help.  I declined, telling her that nothing could be said right now, that maybe at some point in the future we could.

“Fenrir, he wanted you to have this.”  She pulled a dagger out of her cloak.  “He said even though you had no hands that one day it might be useful.  Fate has a fickle sense of humor.”

I took the dagger and looked it over.  I had heard of it before, Hrotti, the legendary dagger of the dragon Fafnir.  I had no use of it though; I had my own dagger made from my own tooth.

“Thank you Sigyn, but I do not need this.”  I showed her my own dagger and she recoiled at the sight.  “However, I can think of a use for it.”

I stepped around the pillar blocking my sight of him.  His hands were bound behind his back and his head was tied in a way that he was forced to look up into the mouth of a viper.  Green venom was dripping off the viper’s fangs directly into his face, causing the horrible sounds of agony.  I took Hrotti and with the flick of my wrist sent the dagger towards the viper, severing its head from its body.  As the head of the snake bounced off of him and on to the floor, I turned back to Sigyn.

“Let us go, his suffering has come to an end.”

****

By this time in his story, Rumil had rejoined us.  She was so excited that I had woken up and was okay that she started fussing over me while dad was trying to tell his tale.  Hargna told her to either be quiet and listen or get out of here.  She curled up beside me and dad continued.

“Fenrir, it was you who freed him?  I had wondered what had happened.  Rumors had it that Odin was in a blind rage for days when he returned from his prison.  I can confirm from multiple sources of inquiry that he is living with Sigyn now in her home in the Fields of Idavoll.”

“All the better, but now let me finish.”

“Dad, we have Hrotti.”

His face went blank.  I could tell he didn’t expect to hear that.  “Where in the realms did you get that?  Where is it now?”

Rumil and I took turns telling the story of the assassin attack in the cave when we first got to the Dokkalfar Mountains.  I also told dad how I was able to stab him the second time we met with it.  Dad gave me a look that showered with pride.  Even at thirty, getting a dad’s approval was something every son should want.  Hargna assured dad that the dagger was safe and currently locked up in the armory.

“If we ever get the chance to capture this mysterious attacker, I think it would be most beneficial.  I would be most interested in hearing how he got his hands on Hrotti.”

We all kind of sat there in quiet for a few minutes.  I knew dad would finish the story soon, so I took a few moments to really let everything I heard really sink in.  There was something I was missing here.  He kept intentionally not mentioning the name of someone.  I wondered just who that person was and what part in the story he played.  I had a suspicion in my mind, but I also cursed myself for blowing my college mythology class off as a waste of time.  I probably would’ve had a lot better insight than I currently did.

“So, Sigyn kept her end of the bargain and lead me to the Bifrost Bridge.  Along the way she informed me that Jormungandr was trapped in the deepest ocean on Midgard where the World Tree has roots and that Hel was betrayed by Odin and forced to be the queen of the underworld.  She told me my only choice was to worry about myself and get to Midgard.” 

Dad took a deep breath, I could tell talking about his brother and sister and not being able to help them deeply hurt him.

“Heimdall is the Asgardian in charge of passage along the bridge so I was a bit worried how we would get passed him.  Sigyn took care of that, she seduced him and drugged him with some of the venom from the viper back in the underground prison.  With Heimdall out of the way, I was able to cross over the Bifrost and into Midgard.”

“So that is why you sought Sigyn.  It was the only way to preoccupy Heimdall and allow you access to the path to Midgard.  And she was scorned enough to help you and change the course of fate.  Our plan truly did work then.  So it begs the question, why have you returned?”

Dad continued his story.  When he got to Midgard he traveled the world over.  He took up a number of odd jobs and eventually got used to our customs and cultures. 

The story I knew of how mom and dad met was told next.  He really did meet her while they both were attending a hockey game.  She had gone there on a date with another guy and he was being a total jerk.  Dad had seen her over by the snack stand crying and went over to ask if she was okay.  One thing led to another and soon they were dating.

“After dating for awhile, I decided to bite the bullet and ask that woman to marry me.  One day I’ll tell you that story, for it’s quite something.  Anyways, about six months after we got married I found out she was pregnant.  At first I was quite distraught because I didn’t think that could happen but nine months later a very human baby boy was born.”

From here I knew the story pretty well as it was in fact my life story.  Dad told it anyway for Hargna and Rumil’s benefit.  They seemed to enjoy hearing tales of me growing up and everything.  Eventually, he got to the part that had me most curious, why he left after mom passed away in the car accident.

“After my wife passed away I was quite depressed and even living in Midgard was more of a curse than anything.  My only joy was being there to see my son grow up but then watching him go through trials and tribulations like I had caused me to think I’d cursed him.”

“Dad, that’s ridiculous; it was and is my life and only I can screw it up, not you.”

“Thank you Jack, sometimes your old man’s a fool.”  He smiled, which I took as a good sign.  “One day after I met you at your place for breakfast, I was walking home when I saw him again.  The scars on his face had healed well but I could tell he wasn’t all there, mentally.  He told me that I needed to leave Midgard, that if I wanted to save the only person who meant anything to me, that I needed to go back to my cave and wait.”

“Who was it dad?  You’re avoiding telling me something here.”

“Let me finish.  The only person who I cared about anymore was you.  I asked him why I had to leave but he said nothing.  He handed me a returner and said it would take me to the Great Forest where I once freed him.  He called this his retribution for freeing him all those cycles ago.  In the blink of an eye he was gone.”

To think that this confrontation had taken place so close to my place made me sad.  After breakfast, I had gone down into the basement to wash my practice jersey for later in the day.

“I wanted to go back and say goodbye, but I didn’t know how to explain all of this.  I just had to trust his judgment and take the chance.  It turns out he was right, you needed me here son.”

“Dad, just who is this man?  Who is my grandfather?”

Rumil finally piped in for the first time since retelling the story of us being attacked.  “He has the right to know, even though it is not the most comfortable of topics to share.  Jack is strong enough to handle the truth.”

Dad sighed and looked away.  After a minute he spoke.  “Jack, the mystery man in this whole story is obviously your grandfather.  But please remember things are much different here than they are in Midgard.”  Another deep breath followed.  “The name of your grandfather is Loki.”