23
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“This doesn’t look familiar,” I whispered. “You told me to visualize where I’d been before. This definitely is not it.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Yggdrasil takes your thoughts and directs you accordingly.”
“Well, it didn’t, because we’re not in the main cavern.” I began to move forward cautiously, unsheathing Gundren just to be safe. “We’re in a tunnel of some kind.”
“Maybe the cillar protected us,” Fen said. “You told me that you were dangling from the edge of the wall when you created the last portal. It might not make sense for us to come tumbling out there. It would be dangerous.”
I crept forward. “Are you telling me you think cillars are intelligent?”
He snorted. “No. But Yggdrasil is. A cillar is just an offshoot of the tree. If you are graced with creating portals, an ability no other has, I would think Yggdrasil would have a hand in that and seek to protect you.”
He could be right. “I think I see something up ahead,” I whispered. “Let’s go check it out.” We moved forward silently, Fen beating me in the stealthy department after years of practice. At least I didn’t sound like an elephant crashing through the tundra anymore. The tunnel led to an opening. “This is it! You were right,” I whispered. “Yggdrasil let us out nearby, but not right in the middle of danger.”
“What’s your plan, shieldmaiden?” Fen asked.
“I’m not really sure,” I said. We’d left the room quickly, not taking time to formulate anything solid. “I have to find the spirit who helped me. If he didn’t take the stone, I bet he knows who did.” We poked our heads cautiously into the large cavern. The souls were at work, busily doing whatever it was they did.
“I had no idea that those who come here had to spend eternity doing mindless work,” Fen said.
“Yes, it’s completely depressing. Oh”—I clutched Fen’s forearm—“there’s Matus.” Something hung around his ghostly midsection. “He’s got the stone!” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “Look, it’s hanging from his waist, which looks odd, because he’s not solid and his body tapers to nothing.” The velvet bag was suspended by an invisible force. “Honestly, why would he want it? He clearly can’t do anything with it.”
“Gems and gold hold status, it seems, even in the underworld.”
“He is proudly displaying it,” I agreed. “Now we just have to get it back. Our weapons won’t work against him, and he has physical strength. That makes him a hard foe to defeat.”
“He doesn’t know I exist,” Fen said. “Two of us will be unexpected, unless he has spoken with my sister, which seems unlikely. You distract him, and I’ll grab the stone.”
“Before we spring into action, we need to figure out where we’re going once the deed is done. We can’t be caught searching for a way out. That’d give Matus too much time to retaliate.”
“We can’t go out there and find a portal,” Fen argued. “We may have to take our chances.”
“Possibly,” I said. A howl interrupted my thoughts. Then another and another. Oh, no. “Hel has to know we’ve escaped. She’s sent her beasts after us.” Fen began to tug me back the way we’d come. “Wait. What are you doing?” I resisted his efforts. “We can’t leave without the stone! Then everything we’re working toward is doomed.”
“Valkyrie, we can’t risk it.” His expression was pained. “We can’t fight against things we cannot defeat, especially with my sister trying to intervene.”
I dug my heels in. “Fen,” I protested, “we can’t leave. We have to get that jewel. You can morph into your wolf form and take care of the beasts, and I’ll deal with Matus. It’s the only way.”
“How do we get out once it’s over?”
“I’ll find us a cillar.” I was confident I could. I just didn’t know how long it would take.
“That’s a risky plan, shieldmaiden, as we just discussed.”
More howls erupted, closer this time.
“We’re running out of time. Risky is going back to Hel empty-handed,” I countered. “We’re not going to get another chance. At best, your sister will separate and torture us if we go back. At worst, she’ll kill us. It’s obvious she knows everything that goes on around here. This is it. Whether we like it or not. You shift, and I’ll steal back the jewel.”
“Okay,” he finally conceded. “I agree to your plan.”
“Good, you go first. I’ll follow. With the chaos the beasts will bring, it’ll be easier to get to Matus, especially if he’s focused on you.”
“If things go badly”—his tone turned serious—“I want you to get out while you can.”
“Don’t even suggest such a thing,” I said. “There’s no way I’m leaving without you. Where would I go anyway? If I left this realm, Frigg would find me and kill me. There is no safe harbor. We fight together, we die together.” To emphasize my point, I made Gundren sing with energy as I stepped back, giving Fen ample room to shift.
Fen’s eyelids lowered to half-mast. The man was sexy, even under extremely dire circumstances. “Valkyrie, you amaze me. When this is over, I plan to tell you exactly what I think of your decision to stick around.”
“Looking forward to it.” I shot him a look of my own laced with intent. “Now shift, the beasts are almost here.”
Fen crouched, and as I watched, he smoothly transitioned from human form to wolf in about ten seconds, growing three times in size. He was almost too big for the tunnel.
He was glorious.
His dark fur glowed in the low light. He gave a mighty roar, one that echoed throughout the cavern, making my ears ring. He gazed at me for a few moments before he pounded out of the tunnel.
I followed, Gundren held aloft. I scanned the room, spotting Matus making a beeline toward Fen, who was already wrangling the beasts, penning them in next to the wall.
Perfect.
The plan was to sneak up behind him and swipe the jewel before he even knew I was there. I crouched low as I ran. I wasn’t sure how the stone was attached to his nonexistent waist, but I was hoping a quick slice with an energy-charged blade would sever the holding mechanism. Unless it was magic. Then what? Gundren also held magic. I just had to hope for the best.
I lofted my blade, and right before I was about swipe it down, a shadowy figure zipped in front of my face. “You will not…retrieve your prize…that way,” the young male ghost who had helped me before whispered in my ear, chilling it like an ice cube.
I stopped abruptly, not knowing if I should trust this spirit.
Fen was busy with the beasts, doing a remarkable job holding them back. Matus was still focused on Fen. I ducked quickly behind a nearby boulder. “If I can’t get my prize with a magical blade, please tell me how I’m supposed to do it,” I whispered urgently. “I have to retrieve the stone, or all is lost.”
“You cannot take things…from a soul. But another spirit may do so,” he answered a little cryptically.
“Are you telling me that you can steal it for me?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yes.”
No good deed came without a payment. “If you do this for me, what’s it going to cost?”
“You will take me with you,” he whispered on an icy breath.
“I don’t think that’s possible.” I didn’t understand the laws of this place, but it seemed highly unlikely that I could take a soul from here without Hel’s permission. And after this I would be lucky if she agreed to let us go, much less a random spirit.
“You will negotiate my release, along with the god of light’s,” he said with finality.
This ghost knew more than he was letting on.
“You knew that Matus took my jewel before I awoke, didn’t you? And that’s why you let me out. You knew I’d be forced to come back for it. Why not just tell me everything before and save me the effort?”
“It was not the right time,” he stated.
“Who are you?” I asked. “You seem to know a lot of what’s going on here, which doesn’t seem typical.”
“I am Rory,” he whispered. “A demigod…I do not belong here.”
“Well, Rory, the only promise I can make is that I will plead your case in front of Hel if you get me the jewel. I can’t make any promises.” The ghost hovered in front of me for a moment, seemingly undecided. “I’m not sure you’re going to get a better offer.” I glanced around the vast gorge, where most of the spirits were continuing to work despite the chaos of Fen and the beasts and all of Matus’s yelling. “Hel called me an anomaly, so not many others are going to be showing up here to help you out. I suggest you take the opportunity while it’s presenting itself.”
“I will retrieve…your prize”—my earlobe felt like it had an icicle dangling from it—“and distract Matus. In return…you must not forget me.”
“Deal,” I said. “I won’t forget you. I swear it.”
The spirit floated away. I stayed where I was, concealed by the boulder. Behind me was the rock wall. Now was probably a good time to start looking for access to a cillar. Fen’s loud growls drowned out the beasts’ yelping. If Hel knew what was going on, she would arrive soon.
Reluctantly, I sheathed Gundren. I needed my hands free to scope out the stone. I laid my palms on the cool rock, flinching as cold consumed me. “Come on,” I murmured. “You have to be here someplace.” I traversed a ten-foot section with no luck.
That’s when I heard Matus.
Rory was engaged with the foreman, the two of them locked in a ghostly scuffle.
It was immediately clear that the smaller spirit was no match for the angry leader—whatever he was—because Matus was not actually a ghost. He was something in between. I stalked forward, retrieving my swords once again, drawing them out with a satisfying zing.
Rory had said that I couldn’t defeat Matus with a regular weapon, but maybe the spirit demigod didn’t know I possessed Gundren. I infused the weapon with all the energy I could spare, the blades crackling.
“How dare you disobey my orders?” Matus boomed. “You will be severely punished for this! It’s down in the mines for you for an eternity.”
Rory was scrappy, I’d give him that.
The spirit repeatedly rammed into Matus, evading being caught by the leader’s large fists, saying nothing, or at least nothing I could hear.
I crept up behind them, ignoring the beasts as they spotted me and began howling in earnest. Fen ramped up his battle with them, snapping his jaws at their legs, managing to keep them back.
Matus was too enraged to notice me.
I lifted my blades, ready to strike, when Rory caught my eye. The demigod whispered, “She comes for what…is hers.”
Matus whipped around, his eyes close to bulging. “You!” He came at me. I held steady, Gundren crossed in front of me, electricity bouncing along the blades.
“I’m ready to take you down, Matus—”
He sliced through my blades, his fists extended.
Rory was right behind him, a look of triumph on the ghost’s face. For a moment, I didn’t know which side Rory was on, but as Matus began to strangle me with his ice-cold invisible hands and Fen’s roar rose louder, I watched as the demigod spirit clutched the invisible tether that attached the jewel at Matus’s waist and plucked it off of him.
The stone was ours.
Now I just had to figure out how to stop Matus from strangling me to death, and we could get out of here.
Fen’s face suddenly loomed in front of me. I could see him through Matus’s misty body. Fen’s jaws snapped forward as he tried to attack the ghost with his enormous canines. His teeth went straight through, doing nothing to harm the spirit.
Fen lifted his snout and howled his frustration.
“Don’t shift back,” I managed, barely getting enough air out of my esophagus to form words. “Take care of the…beasts.” They had crept closer while Fen’s back was turned. I could see the conflict in Fen’s eyes. “Go…I’ll be fine.”
Famous last words.
As Fen rounded on them, I focused my attention back on Matus. I knew Rory had the jewel, but Matus didn’t. I just had to get the leader to stop choking me for a moment. “I think you lost…something,” I squeaked. “You might want to check your waist.”
Matus glanced down, his grip loosening.
That was all I needed.
I slipped out of his grasp and bobbed along the wall. I managed to sheathe Gundren, placing my palms against the rock wall as I ran. “Fen!” I yelled. “I found our way out.” My hand had finally hit a hotspot, white light kindling immediately.
My skills were improving. This time, the cillar opened almost instantaneously.
Fen howled, shifting back into his human form as he raced toward me, the beasts close on his tail. I couldn’t let go of the wall, or I’d lose the spot. I glanced frantically around for Rory. “Rory! I need the jewel!” I yelled.
Matus was in pursuit, a look of stark hatred on his wavering face. The foreman had chosen to go after Rory, who had disappeared.
Right as Fen reached me, his hand joining mine, Rory appeared next to us with the stone. He dropped it into my open palm. “Do not forget me…” he whispered.
“Not a chance.” That was all I could say before the cillar sucked Fen and me inside.