Chapter 14
The roads were empty. Most of the exodus out of Seattle had already happened—at least via motor. There were a fair number of travelers walking by the side of the road. We stored what we thought we’d need for the journey to Reflection Lake in the van and Jason’s car, and divided up the same as before, though this time Greta was with us, riding with Hans.
The trip to Bend only took us about an hour inland, southeast of the city into the Wild Wood. Since the World Shift, the suburbs no longer existed—not in terms of bedroom communities.
Once, we had been told, there were vast stretches of city that stretched a hundred miles or more, but now there were a few major cities and a number of small towns and villages with expanses of forest and grassland between them. The prairies and woodlands had reclaimed a great deal of the world, and now, with the toppling of our government, they would reclaim far more.
The forests between Seattle and Bend were mostly fir and cedar, with oak, birch, and aspen. The undergrowth was thick and lush, but it all lay buried under a blanket of snow. Deep ravines lined the sides of the road, and at the bottom there were streams, iced over from the frozen weather, silently waiting for spring. The ravines themselves were dangerous, filled with cougars and bears, with Geemo animals that had come out of the laboratories of the Conglomerate. Because hunting was for the most part illegal, the bionetwork thrived, with a healthy food chain that ran the scale from amoeba to predator.
The day had been fairly clear, but the clouds were driving together again and snow started to fall. At least on this trip, we were inside and sitting down, not at the mercy of the elements. As the miles wore on, I stared at Jason, who was focused on driving. He had, as usual, put the car on manual override. He told me once that he didn’t trust the self-driving mechanisms and that he thought the government was tracking where people went with it.
“If I drive it myself,” he said, “they can’t hijack the car and take me elsewhere.”
I had thought at the time that he was being overly careful, but now I thought he was smarter than most of us. My thoughts jumped again as a wave of sadness swept over me. Tam loved his computers and gadgets. Deep in the Wild Wood, he wouldn’t have access to them. And they didn’t work in UnderBarrow regardless of location, so he had probably lost something he loved dearly. Possibly forever.
As we entered Bend, I remembered what Tigra had said. “We need to stop by…” I consulted my notes. She had texted me his address shortly after we had talked. “424 Andover Road. I promised Tigra I would check in with her brother.”
“Tigra’s a weretiger, right?” Elan asked.
“Yes, that’s right. She’s one hell of a smart woman.” I grimaced as we eased off the main road, onto a side road. The last time I had been in Bend, we had encountered a bunch of astrigators—psychic leeches—attracted by the weather magic the Order of the Black Mist had conjured up. A massive tornado had destroyed a swath of the town, and the destructive path was still apparent as we drove through the small hamlet.
Jason found Carson’s house and, while the rest waited in the cars, he and I knocked at the door. The man who answered looked a lot like Tigra—he was about five-nine, with pale yellow skin and had faint black chevrons running along his arms and legs. His hair was golden blond, streaked with black highlights, and he was muscular and stocky.
“Yes?”
“Carson? Your sister Tigra asked us to stop in. She said she might have left a message for us. I’m Fury, and this is Jason.”
Recognition flooded his face. “Right. Come in, please. I printed out her letter.” He motioned for us to follow him into a living room about the size of my own back in Seattle. Grateful to see the lights were working, I let out a sharp breath.
“You still have power?”
“Yes, we still do. I imagine a number of the smaller cities do, since we aren’t hooked up to the same grid as Seattle. If this were in days long past, we would all be on a nationwide infrastructure, but thank the gods that isn’t the case now.” He offered us hot cocoa and we gratefully accepted.
“We can’t stay long, but…”
“No problem. Here you go.” He handed me a few sheets of paper.
“Are you a member of Lightning Strikes, too?” Jason asked.
Carson shook his head. “No, but I’m a research scientist for a small independent laboratory. We fly under the radar because not all of the Corp-Rats appreciate unapproved competition.”
As Jason and Carson continued to chat about his job, I carried the letter over to one of the lamps for easier reading. It wasn’t long, but it was right to the point.
Dear Fury:
I’m writing this on the fly. We are heading down to the outskirts of Seattle. We’ll probably stay in the northern part of the Greens tonight, then go in tomorrow to see what damage the waves have wrought. By now we know that the Asiatic Empire has lost every village for a 200-mile swath along its coastline due to the massive swell behind the tsunami. There’s nothing we can do now, because our communications with them are spotty at best. The waves will travel mostly along the Cascadia coast on our side of the world. We hope that the Baha-Cali District will remain untouched, but models aren’t clear on what will happen there.
This is definitely the Order of the Black Mist’s doing. There’s nothing we can do to punish them, given the demise of so many governments through the world. But there is yet even more disturbing news from the nation’s capital. The Devani are fighting against the Order of the Black Mist and have won several strongholds, but now they are holding them against everyone and are claiming that city for a home base. What this entails, I don’t know, but it can’t be good.
I’ll check back with Carson later on. Please leave me a note as to where I can find you—or at least steer me to someone who can tell me, if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.
As the world falls around us,
Tigra
I handed the letter to Jason, who silently read it, then handed it back. I hesitated to tell her just where we were going in case the news should fall into our enemy’s hands, but then it occurred to me that I could point them to Verdanya. The Woodland Fae would be able to ascertain if it was friend or foe asking, and I’d leave Tigra’s name with them.
“I’ll point her toward Verdanya, you think?”
Jason nodded. “Good enough.”
I wrote out a return letter, merely stating that we were safe and to ask in Verdanya for our whereabouts. Then I handed the letter to Carson.
“If you would give this to her when you see her, we’d appreciate it.” I paused, then asked, “What’s your specialty? In your job, I mean.”
Carson laughed, but there was no mirth behind it. “Plague control, ironically enough. The Corp-Rats didn’t appreciate that we had a vastly different approach to the subject. We looked for ways to prevent pandemic diseases in the first place. They wanted a solution in a pill. They did their best to shut us down and we’ve barely managed to survive as a business over the years.”
“Well, given you can keep the electricity going here, can you continue the work? There are one hundred thousand dead in Seattle, partially due to the rise of dithfevia and bogwort plague. Most of the population has cleared out and those who haven’t run the risk of the tsunami hitting them in a few hours. Nobody knows how bad it will be. Tigra said they couldn’t be sure because so many systems are off line, and it’s becoming impossible to reach their colleagues in other countries.”
“We’ll do what we can, but I think we’re going to need to go back to the healers among the Shifters and the Fae, because civilization as we know it is over. But it was bound to happen. When a corrupt government holds power too long, it rots the system from within. It’s only a matter of time till everything falls.”
We chatted a while longer and exchanged numbers, just in case some of the cell towers remained working, and then we headed back out to the cars. Within a few minutes, we were on the road again, aiming for the campground south of Bend.
We reached the wooded spot by 5:45. Fifteen minutes until the waves are supposed to reach Seattle, I thought.
The campground was in a large clearing, with the campsites tucked in and around the trees. Each campsite was big enough to fit a group of ten to twelve people, so we opted to stick together. Hans and Jason gathered wood to build a fire, as Elan, Laren, and I began to set up the tents that Tam had given us to bring on the journey. Greta and Kendall sorted out what we were going to eat for dinner, and Tyrell fetched a bucket of water from the nearby hand-pump. Before long, a bright fire was going, and potatoes and corn were roasting in the flames, and Greta was skewering sausages to roast on a grate.
Hans and Jason set up several tarps at an angle to protect us from the falling snow, and we huddled under the makeshift covering, close to the fire to keep warm.
I stared at the food, suddenly realizing just how much things had changed. We were living on what we had taken out of the city, but pretty soon, we were all going to have to learn how to forage, and in winter, that wasn’t an easy task. As my mind began following that thread of thought, the night seemed to loom in on us more and more.
A noise interrupted my thoughts. A movement in the nearby bushes alerted us, but then Hecate, Thor, Sif, and Freya stepped out of the shadows. The fire blazed higher and a wave of relief swept over me, so much so that I realized I had been pushing my fears to the side more than I thought.
Kendall looked around. “Where’s Athena? I thought she was coming with you?”
“She decided to go on ahead to our final destination up north. She said for you to just come with us and she’ll see you there.” Hecate shivered. “It’s going to be a chilly night. I hope you have shelter?”
“Of course they do,” Thor said. “Food is more important, though.” He looked at the food over the fire. “Well, that’s not going to be enough for everybody.” He let out a sharp whistle and two goats, bigger than any goats I’d ever seen, emerged from the woods, pulling a large chariot. “There we go. Tanngrisnir, Tanngnióstr, come here.” He patted their heads. “No need to give your lives tonight for food.”
“You’d kill your goats?” Jason sputtered.
“They return to life the next morning. Many a time they’ve provided a feast one night and the next day, they spring back to action.” Thor laughed and motioned to Greta. “But tonight, I bring plenty of food, even for my appetite. Add a haunch of ham to the flames, and more potatoes, and bring over the wheel of cheese and bread. You’ll also find mead in the chariot, along with a large table. Perhaps the menfolk can set that up and I will find us a couple logs for benches.”
I stared at the massive vehicle, which was a marvel by any sense of the imagination. Unable to resist, I followed Greta. I had to see what was inside of it.
The chariot was easily the size of Han’s van, but then the goats were the size of the bison that roamed the vast Prairie District in the middle of the country. The sides of the chariot were a rich red, with bronze accents, and the wheels were bronze as far as I could tell. When we peeked inside, there seemed to be an endless array of goodies. I spotted the ham and cheese, and Greta found the bread.
“This is amazing. Did you know about this? Did you know that Freya, Thor, and Sif were going to join Athena and Hecate?”
She shook her head. “No, I had no clue they were coming. And yeah, the chariot’s wonderful. On a few of our feast days, Thor brings it out and lets everybody forage in it. The food never stops. It’s like a cornucopia of goodies. The kids love playing in it.”
I laughed for the first time in a while. “I feel so much better with all of them here. To be honest, the shock of seeing Seattle go under has taken a lot out of me.”
“Me too. You, Kendall, and I are among the youngest people here. The others—even if Tyrell, Jason, and Hans haven’t seen anything on this scale, they’ve seen major shifts and changes. And the Fae? Elan and Laren have seen far more than we can ever imagine.” She paused, then as we carried the food back to the fire, asked, “Do you miss Tam?”
“Very much.” I thought about my answer—thought about right before we had left UnderBarrow. “I love him in a way I never thought I could. It’s like, I knew him the entire time I was growing up and never gave him much thought, and then, suddenly, a door opened for us and we saw each other in a new light.”
“Hans and I were supposed to get married after my flying-up ceremony, but now…”
“What’s to stop you? Why not get married here? Tonight? Freya and Thor are both here—your gods. Ask them to perform the ceremony.” I suddenly wanted to see them hitched. It signified hope during a dark time, the promise of unity and strength.
Greta laughed softly. “You think we should?”
“I would love to see it, but what matters most is whether you and Hans feel like you’re ready. For all I know, you want a big wedding or you have certain guidelines you have to go by.” I didn’t want to push her. I wouldn’t want anybody pushing me.
“Guidelines for what?” Hans peeked over the top of the chariot. “You need any help?”
In the light of the flashlights, I could see Greta blushing.
“I was suggesting that, if you both were up for it, this might be the perfect time for you two to get married. After all, both Freya and Thor are here.” I decided that sometimes, honesty was the best policy.
Hans promptly fell into a coughing fit and I grimaced. Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut? But as soon as he could talk, he turned to Greta.
“She has a point. We were going to get married after your flying-up ceremony. I know this isn’t exactly what either of us pictured, but…the world isn’t going to go back to what it was. And if we have to walk an uncertain path, isn’t it better to walk it together?”
Greta’s hand fluttered to her chest. I had never seen her look so vulnerable, or soft.
“Do you think they’ll let us?”
“There’s only one way to find out. Let’s go ask them.” Hans grabbed the baskets that I was carrying—Greta was far stronger than I was and neither one of us was going to argue the point—and we hightailed it back to the fire.
Greta and Hans cornered Freya and Thor, and they were deep in discussion as I drafted Elan to help me with the food. Kendall joined in, and before long, the massive table that Thor had brought in his chariot was laden with sturdy, basic sustenance. Bread and cheese, ham, the sausages, potatoes, and corn from the fire. Elan set the vast jugs of mead along the table while Sif milked the goats. I walked over to the golden-haired goddess and knelt beside her.
“Pardon me, my Lady, but I thought they were male goats.”
She let out a trill of laughter. “Oh, they are when we need them to be. And when we need them to give milk, they are female. Things are not so cut and dried in the realm of the Elder Gods.” She handed me a jug of the milk. “You carry one and I’ll carry the other.”
As we placed them on the table, Hecate joined me. “You adapt well, my Fury. I’m glad.”
Sif moved off so that she was out of direct earshot, rearranging a few of the plates.
“Thank you. I admit, I’m reeling with all the change. And I miss Tam. I know he’s safe in UnderBarrow, but moving an entire realm…it seems daunting.”
“It is. But he’s done this before. Your lover is far more powerful than you realize, but you will see that as time goes on. Seattle’s fallen completely, you know. The Junk Yard remains closed and who knows what they are doing, but the waves came in and inundated the city. The Arbortariam erected a force dome against the tsunami for itself, but Seattle had no such protection. I’m now beginning to wonder if there are fractures within the Order of the Black Mist. Why else would they allow a city that one of their own has taken control of to be besieged?”
“Did the waves reach where Lyon is holed up?” I hoped she would say yes, and that it drowned the sucker.
“Not quite. So maybe this was simply to clear out as much of the city so it would be easier for him to control. The Devani were seen heading toward the World Tree, however. Whether it was to go back to Elysium, or to yet another country, I don’t know. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. But…if you think the bodies were bad enough before, now imagine—they are all waterlogged and soaked. The tsunami will recede, but what remains will be horrific.”
I thought about the Tremble, about the Mudarani who lived beneath the surface of the reality-challenged plateau. All I could hope was that they were too far up for the tsunami to have hit.
“Why did you want us to come this way?”
“It was the safer option. While you could have gone with UnderBarrow, I wanted to be able to get in touch with you if need be. So we’ll be traveling together along the road up through the Wild Wood. I’ve arranged for horses, though. Sometimes, as fun as these automobiles can be, they are of no earthly use.” She paused. “But there is another reason I wanted to take our time. I—” She paused as Freya, Thor, Hans, and Greta returned.
“It appears that we have reason to celebrate. Our humble meal will be a wedding feast.” Thor’s eyes were gleaming and I had the feeling that, with the Elder God of thunder, any reason for a party was good with him.
Greta and Hans were beaming and I was suddenly glad I nudged her about it. Marriage always meant—or rather, should mean—that you had somebody on your side.
Sif and Freya sprang into action and dragged Greta away, mumbling something about proper attire, while the men cleared a circle near the fire and Thor rummaged through his chariot, coming up with an ornate sword. He also returned carrying Mjolnir and I sincerely hoped he didn’t ask one of us to hold the massive hammer for him.
As he passed by, I turned to Hecate. “You were about to say something?”
“It can wait. But Fury, there’s a reason we’re taking the long way up. There’s something I must show you along the way, and you’ll have to bring all of your courage to the forefront.” She shook her head when I started to ask for more details.
Within fifteen minutes we were set up. Thor and Freya stood by the fire, Hans in front of them. He was wearing a red tunic over his trousers, his head gleamed—probably freshly oiled—and he wore a bronze circlet. He was carrying a short sword that I didn’t recognize, and he was wearing an ornate set of bracers.
We gathered around, waiting.
Sif appeared from behind the chariot, walking beside Greta, whose hair was shining, as golden as the goddess’s own. It was intricately bound up in curls and ringlets, braids coiling in such a maze that I wondered if Greta would be able to untangle it all. It was gorgeous—like a headdress—but how Sif managed it in the brief time given baffled me. Greta was also wearing a silver diadem so highly polished that it sparkled. She was dressed in a simple white tunic dress that fell to her ankles, belted at the waist with a leather belt and a bronze buckle. Her wings sparkled, and I wasn’t sure whether she had dusted them with glitter or whether that was normal.
As Greta approached, Sif moved to one side. Hans reached for Greta’s hand. They stood, waiting. Freya bound a braided cord around their joined hands.
“This is not in the full tradition we usually bind to,” Freya said. “But difficult times blaze the way for new traditions. Your engagement was established five years ago, and the union is not entered into in haste.”
Thor cleared his throat. “We take your troth. Nine pledges, for the nine worlds. Answer honestly, lest the fire burn your heart to dust. Do you both enter into this union free of other oaths that would interfere or prevent you from honoring your vows?”
In unison, Greta and Hans said, “We do.”
Freya spoke next. “Do you enter this union, with love and honor, setting only your devotion to your gods higher than to one another?”
Again, “We do.”
Thor and Freya alternated, taking their vows, pledging them to an honor code that made me want to feel I could rely on someone as much as they would be there for each other. To serve each other, to protect and guard each other and their family, to honor and respect, to love and make love…the troth wove itself into the cord around their hands, a visible, palpable magic.
Finally, Freya said, “This troth is binding, under the will of Thor. Break it at your peril.”
“This troth is binding, under the will of Freya. Break it at your peril.” Thor motioned to Sif, who removed the cord and stepped back. “Now, it is time to exchange swords.”
Hans knelt before Greta and held out the short sword. “I pledge my sword to you, in protection and love. This binds you to my family.”
As he stood, she knelt and held out her own short sword. “I pledge my sword to you, in protection and love. This binds you to my family.”
They stood and exchanged the swords.
Sif moved in. “That you have pledged and exchanged your troth and your swords, from this day forward you are bound in marriage under the sight of the gods. Now, to the bedding!”
I glanced at Elan, silently asking her what they meant. But before she could answer, the meaning became perfectly clear.
“We need witnesses six. Freya and I will oversee, of course. Jason and Fury, you will join us. And Laren and Kendall.” Thor let out a belly laugh. “We’ll feast as soon as we’ve seen them consummate the marriage.”
“Wait. What do you mean, witnesses?” I really didn’t want it to mean what I thought he meant.
“Come. Follow us.” He motioned to me and, reluctantly, the four of us followed the two Elder Gods, who were following Greta and Hans. The walk was short, over to Hans’s van. The door was open and there were blankets and pillows laid out. “Hop to it, you two. All of your dalliances together mean nothing now. This is the first time you bed as a married couple.”
“You mean we’re going to watch—” Jason looked more flustered than I felt.
“It’s custom,” Freya said. She shrugged, a grin on her face. “It is one part of the custom that must stand. Since you are their closest friends, you will witness with us and remember, should there ever be a question about the legality of this union.”
Hans flushed. “I suppose I forgot about this part. You don’t have to stay the whole time, just to see…”
“To make sure you’ve knocked bits, I assume.” Kendall snorted. “Get moving.”
Greta handed Freya her sword, then unbelted her dress and slipped out of it. She shivered and jumped in the van out of the snow, landing on the pile of blankets. Hans undressed and joined her while the rest of us stood around, waiting.
I wondered how any man could perform with such scrutiny, but as Hans moved toward Greta, stroking her breast, it was obvious that he wasn’t going to have any such problem in that manner. She moaned softly, and I found myself getting aroused as he lowered his lips to her breast. Irritated and slightly embarrassed, I shifted position and moved away from Jason, who was feeling all too close right now. He seemed to sense my discomfort and moved a few more steps away from me. I chanced a peek at his face, and saw that he was watching them intently, licking his lips.
Freya tapped me on the shoulder and nodded for me to return my attention to the couple, and her fingers on my shoulder sparked off a network of flames running through me. I felt like I was pulsating with energy and moved yet a little farther away, but kept my eyes on the happy couple.
By now, they seemed to have lost notice of us, fully engaged in their love play. Wistfully, I thought of Tam. I missed him in more than one way, that was for sure.
A moment later, Greta slid down on Hans’s mighty hammer, so to speak, and they were fully engaged. Freya and Thor stayed, but motioned to us that we could leave. I quickly hotfooted it back to the table to find that the others had returned the hot food to the fire, keeping it warm. I quickly sat down and stuffed my face with a piece of cheese, trying to shake off what I had just been required to witness. I understood the tradition, but that was the last thing I had expected when I suggested they get married tonight.
Jason had vanished somewhere, and I had the sneaking suspicion he was relieving himself of some tension, but even that thought made me shudder and I just focused on the food. Elan slipped onto the seat beside me.
“Was it hard?”
I stared at her. “What do you think? Oh, yes, it was hard.”
She blushed. “I didn’t mean…” Before she could continue, she burst into laughter and I joined in, grateful for the release.
“Oh man, I needed that laugh. I’ve never exactly been the voyeur type but I tell you, if I was going to watch anybody, they weren’t a bad pair to start with.” I laughed again, then let out a long breath and, for the first time in a while, relaxed a little. “I am glad they got married, though. It gives me hope. It kept me from focusing on what’s going on back in Seattle.”
“You’re right. What did Hecate say about why we were to come this way instead of going with Tam to UnderBarrow?”
“She said… I’m not sure, but it has to do with something she wants to show me. Also, she wasn’t sure we could make it clear enough of the waves rolling in. I guess…life the way we lived it really is over.”
Elan draped a hand on my shoulder. “Life has changed for me so many times I can’t even count. You’ll adapt. And you’ll remember what was, even as you grow into what will be.”
“Thanks, I need that reassurance.” I paused as Jason reappeared, looking quite a bit less tense. “You know, you really should sit with him tonight. It’s a good night to be by the side of someone special. If Tam were here, I’d be by his side now.”
Elan considered, then smiled and patted me on the shoulder again before picking up her plate and moving down the log to sit by Jason. They began to talk in low tones and I turned my attention away, not wanting to eavesdrop.
Shortly after that, Freya, Thor, Hans, and Greta reappeared, the latter two clothed again. They were flushed, but smiling, and the feasting commenced in earnest. As we toasted the couple with a river of mead and finished off every scrap of the meal—Thor could really tuck it away—for a moment, life felt good. If I didn’t think about what we had left behind, or what might be ahead, in this one moment, I realized I was actually happy, if a little melancholy.
I lifted my glass and, to myself, whispered, “To Tam. I miss you, love.” And I could have sworn I heard him whispering “I love you” back.