Power Play: Act 1 Svartalfheim (Ragnarok on Ice) (7 page)

With the extra weight of the body I was carrying, I knew I could not go far before I needed to rest.  With the intent of putting distance between myself and the remaining Aesir, I had gone off to the east.  I needed to find a place to hide and recover quickly, but this part of the forest was unknown to me.

The Norns were smiling on me when I found a cave carved out in the side of a hollow.  I knew Svartalfheim was a few days to the north of us, but I would take my chances alone with my prisoner.

Though I could not say for sure if this was a prisoner.  His reactions and facial expressions told me he was confused.  I do not think this person had ever laid eyes on a dark elf before.  I was taking no chances however, and I tied him up.  I did my best to make it not too uncomfortable, but I knew I had to protect myself.  Speaking of protection, we would need a fire as the cold would soon be creeping in.

I went out into the forest and gathered wood.  I had not been gone too long, but he was still out.  I set about making a fire and getting some of the boar meat into me as well.  The confrontation with Sif and the other man had taken the rest of my energy out.

The quiet was nice, but I was hoping the man would wake up soon.  It had been so long since I talked to someone that even if he was an enemy, it would be a nice change.  Looking again at him, I could feel my heart tug at me.  I wanted to put our palms together and see what would happen, but to do so without his consent would be terrible.

I had to take my mind off of him, so I went back out into the woods to make sure we were not followed.  I knew by now that Sif and the other man were probably back on their feet.  Would they look for their friend or go on to Asgard?  A thorough search told me it was probably the latter.  It was getting cold, so I made my way back to the cave and the fire.

I entered and right away noticed the man had moved from his position I left him to get closer to the fire.  I did not know if he was awake, so I carefully went up to him and touched his shoulder.  He jerked and we came face to face with each other.  His eyes were so full of warmth and light that I could not look away.  But I needed to; I had to find out his true intentions.

But I could not, at least not right away.  What was probably only a few fleeting moments in time seemed like an eternity.  His eyes told me he was feeling the same way, that both of us had found what we were looking for.

I shook off my feelings and put on my best interrogation face.  “My original intention was to capture Sif so she could answer for her crimes against my people, but you I did not recognize.  You do not seem hostile and yet the unknown is what intrigued me.  Just who are you and what is your connection to the Aesir?”

He looked confused again.  I started to doubt the intelligence of the man before me.  “Hey, I can understand you!”

“Of course you can foolish man.  Ever since that pact Odin brought down on us we have all learned to speak the Common Language as per the accord.  In fact, most dark elves now prefer the ease of Common over Druhir.  Enough stalling and out with your identity to me.”

I regretted immediately the way I snapped at him.  I remembered back at the cabin that Sif had mentioned Midgard.  It started to dawn on me that he might not be from this realm.  Could it be he was from…

“Well, I am not even sure who Odin is.  My name is Jack Skelton and I am not from this little slice of heaven.”

****

“Did you kill her?”  All three put their heads down in shame.  I was so angry that I wanted to cut all three down.

“We did not Captain Mallerk.  The trap was laid perfectly, but we were interrupted by an ice giant.  There is a very good chance that she was swept away by the avalanche he created.”

Origon’s tale may have just spared their lives.  It also explained the loud noise that echoed through the valley.  “I am to take it that you did not go and locate her body?”

“We retreated into the tunnel, but only ventured in far enough not to be seen.  At first light we left and all the snow had been melted.  It seemed impossible for that to happen, but then we found this.”  He handed me a piece of parchment.  “It was being held by a dagger stuck into the side of the mountain.”  He pulled out the dagger; it was most definitely not made by the poor excuse of a blacksmith Algrim.

I looked down and read the note:

‘Attempt to follow and you will find out the true meaning of being burned alive.’

-The Trickster

Loki, here?  Lord Azmodeous needed to be informed at once.  I left the men at their post and headed towards his chamber.  I knocked on the door and waited to be summoned.

“Enter.”

Doing as I was instructed, I entered to see Azmodeous talking to a man dressed in black, with his face partially concealed.  “My lord, I bring news that was most unexpected.”

“Your news can wait Mallerk.  The time has come for King Oor to be introduced to our friend Baldr.  Do you think you can handle that?”

I swallowed hard.  I knew this day would come, but never expected it to happen so soon.  If I objected however, my life would be over.  “Yes Lord Azmodeous, I can arrange a meeting.”

The man, Baldr, cracked a sinister smile.  At that very moment, the Wolf of Asgard, Fenrir, let out a bone curling howl.

****

I made it back to our home in the Fields of Idavoll, my wife Sigyn waiting for me.  The look in her eyes told me she was on to me.

“So my husband, you have been a very busy man.”

My loving wife, on point as always.  “What makes you say that Sigyn?”

“Loki,” she gave me that look, “you might think that the Trickster is the smartest person in Asgard, but remember, I outsmarted you.”

That she did!  The memory still makes me laugh.  “You are, of course, right my dear.  The Allfather gave me a task, but that did not mean I could not improvise and improve upon it.”

“Will you not share your improvements with me?”

Ahh, that look, it was so hard to resist!  “I will tell you what I can, but all will be revealed in time.  As you know, the Allfather wanted me to bring Thor home.  Well, another was needed in Asgard and with luck on my side, I was able to bring him over and make it look like an accident!”

She sighed and closed her eyes.  “If Odin finds out…”

“But he will not!  The one who was brought over should already be headed far from Asgard.  His destiny was here anyway, I just made sure they found each other.”  I loved it when a plan came together.

“Husband, you are not messing with fate again are you?”

I loved my wife dearly but she worried too much.  Maybe it was because she was married to me after all, I did not know.  “Messing with, of course not!  I am just getting the pieces into position.”  It was my turn to get serious.  “The Norns have spoken and certain events cannot be stopped.  Unless we prepare ahead and are diligent, Ragnarok will start and we will all perish.”

I did not mean to scare her, but her facial expression told me I had.  “So it is to pass then?”

“I did not say that.  The twilight of the realms is upon us.  It is now up to us to make sure we see another day.”

Welcome to Manchester, Pennsylvania, my home.  Even though the town only has two bars, three stop lights, and most of the locals have lived here since the day they were born, it’s a decent place to live.  The real calling card is it’s a great place to play hockey.  The local team, the Bears, had been here for years and on game nights everyone flocks to the arena.  Not even a blizzard with a dash of ice for fun could keep our loyal following from coming out to the game last night.  We beat the Admirals in overtime three to two.

It was a mixed bag of emotions for me.  I scored our second goal of the game late in the third period which is always gratifying.  The goal, however, made me the all-time leading goal scorer in the Eastern Hockey League which meant I had been in the minor’s way too long.  Oh by the way let me introduce myself: my name is Jack Skelton, minor league hockey player extraordinaire and captain of the Bears.  I’ve been here for three years and before that I played nine years with the Huskies.  A few times I was close to getting called up at the start of my career, but as the years have gone by most pro teams wanted younger guys on the roster.  They don’t want someone like me who at this point is the old dog that can’t learn any new tricks.

I love hockey, probably too much, and that’s why I keep playing.  Right before the Huskies traded me off, I got called into the general manager’s office with an offer of a different sort.  He wanted me to retire from the game and start coaching.  The head coach at the time was even prepared to make me his lead assistant.  Within a few years I could be a head coach somewhere, even make it to the pro’s.  I told them I was honored they thought so highly of me, but I still had a few more years left in me and I wasn’t about to give up the ultimate goal yet.  I figured they would support that and when the time came closer we could revisit this idea.

A day later, I got the call that I was being traded to the Bears.  The Huskies were happy with my years of loyal service, but they needed a fresh start with some new faces.  When I told my wife what had happened, I once again was shocked by the response.  Instead of supporting my decision to continue on, she ridiculed me for thinking only of myself and that she couldn’t take it anymore.  She left that night and not too much longer later we were divorced.  She didn’t even ask me for anything, not even alimony.  Her lawyer told mine that she felt as if I had no usable assets and to make this go away as quickly as possible.

Not everything in my life though is depressing.  In the trade that sent me back to my home town, I was reunited with my best friend Stan Stansky.  Unfortunately for Stansky, his parents had a strange sense of humor and named him Stan.   Most of his life people gave him a hard time over it.  I myself was named after some cartoon movie character that my mom had liked so I could appreciate his plight.  Never once had I ever acknowledged how ridiculous his name was.  His luck (and maybe skill) was better than mine and was called up a few different times but never for any length of time, so he stuck with the Bears. 

As an organization, the Bears have always thrived on mixing the new with the old.  Their goal is to give Manchester a championship and each year since I’ve been here we have seemed to be on the right track to deliver that.

I guess I should tell you a bit about my home.  Manchester is a sleepy little town in the center part of the state, not all that far from Philadelphia.  Even being that close to a big city, a majority of the guys lived here during the season.  I bought a house here not too far from where I grew up and have come to grips that this is where I’ll probably be for a long time.

Hockey practice was just finishing up and it’d been a long four hours.  At thirty, my body was not nearly as tolerant of these marathon practice sessions as it once was.  All that was left was the power play shooting drill and it was off to the whirlpool.

“Coming up top, let it go!”  It was my turn and I lined up a fired the puck as hard as I could.  A little high but I thought it was a decent shot.  Our goalie Mike Herbert apparently didn’t and snatched it out of the air with a wicked glove save.  When it came to goalies, Mike was one of the best in our league and every day at practice it showed.

“Decent enough effort Skelton, but damnit get that puck lower for a deflection!  You’ve been around long enough to know the basics!”  Ahh, good old coach Norm Clayton was up in arms again. 

The good thing about playing for Clayton was he demanded perfection.  The bad thing about playing for Clayton was that he demanded perfection.  “You got it coach.”  I knew what he wanted to hear and obliged.   “I won’t go head hunting next time.”

“Alright Bears good practice.  Let’s take tomorrow off and then on Saturday we’ll just do a light skate around in the morning.  The Seadogs have been in a funk recently, but let’s not get complacent.  Rest up and go over some game tape before the morning skate.  Now get out of here so I can go see my wife and kids.” 

So just like that we were dismissed and hit the locker room.  Don’t believe all the stories you here about locker room mischief.  Most of the younger guys were under twenty-one and didn’t want to risk getting a negative reputation this early in their careers.  The rest were older like I was and just didn’t care that much anymore for the crap that came along with certain lifestyles.  They were a good group of guys and I was proud to have them as teammates.

“Jack get your head out of the clouds and back down to Earth.”  AS I came back to the present, “Want to join a few of us at Hooligans for a beer or two?”  That’s Stansky for you.  I guess you can’t fault the guy, what else did we have to do in this town?

“You guys go on without me.  My body needs the whirlpool and after that I think it will be a nice fourteen hour nap.  But I appreciate the offer.”

“Listen man, I know what’s going on.  Being a shut in to society isn’t going to bring her back.  You can’t keep beating yourself up over chasing a dream that may or may not lead to a dead end.  Hell we all are.”

“I guess you’re right.”

He put a hand up.  “I’m not done.  There are plenty of good women out there who would stand by you knowing the journey might be tough but in the end will be worth it no matter what happens.”

I hate it when he goes philosophical on me.  I hate it even more when he has a good point.  “Alright, I’ll go just to shut you up.  Can a guy at least shower and change before going out?  Even to a hellhole like Hooligans?”

“That’s a good idea, you smell like death warmed over.”  He then lowered his voice and got semi-serious.  “It will do you some good Jack getting out and interacting with the human race again.  Hell who knows?  You might even get out there and find what you’ve been looking for.”