The group ran north, always with half an eye on the silent wolf pack padding alongside like ghostly bodyguards. As long as they ran in the right direction, the animals kept their distance but as soon as they made any attempt to deviate, a flurry of snarling and growling began.
The banks of the lake steepened, turning into a rocky cliff with crumbling edges. Still the wolves pushed them on, hounding them right to the edge of a deep gorge. Skidding to a halt, the five weary travellers peered into its freezing depths without enthusiasm. Rocks, loosened by their weight, tumbled down into a stream that fed the lake. The sides were sheer and slippery, the water a jumble of black pools, swift white water and shadowed grey rocks still topped with snow and ice.
“It’s too deep and fast,” Jade yelled above the noise of rushing water. “We can’t cross here. Truda and Brynn will get swept away and we’ll all freeze in seconds. There has to be….”
“There,” Brynn clutched at her arm, pointing upstream. Sure enough, his sharp eyes had spotted a possible crossing: a thick log. Fallen in some past storm, it lay askew from bank to bank. The closest end was anchored precariously in place by a tangle of roots still clinging to the eroded bank. Dead branches protruded from the trunk in awkward directions. Moss, lichen, snow and ice covered every inch of bark. Hardly a three lane bridge, it would be a dangerous and difficult crossing.
Jade saw Phoenix glance at the tree, down into the stream-bed and over his shoulder at the wolves behind. He swallowed hard.
“Oh man,” he murmured. “I hate heights.”
She laughed nervously, perversely glad that he was showing some anxiety. Served him right for being so superior before.
“You can always stay here and play with the nice doggies,” Brynn teased.
Phoenix sent him a sour look. “Just for that, you can go first.”
The boy shrugged. “Suits me. I’d rather be on that side anyway.” Eyeing the waiting wolves warily, he edged toward the dirt-clogged rootball. The wolves backed away, giving ground. The black wolf sat on his haunches, watching them all in a disdainful manner – as though he had better things to do and just wished they’d get out of his territory.
Marcus kept an eye on the wolves as the others watched Brynn. The boy picked his way, clambering over exposed roots, onto the thickest part of the fallen trunk. There were no branches there, so he moved slowly, arms outstretched like a tightrope walker; feet shuffling inch by inch along the slippery bark.
Shadows lengthened. Jade held her breath.
Reaching the halfway point, Brynn wrapped his arms the first branch. He jumped a little, making the entire tree flex and creak. Jade couldn’t help the little sound of fear that escaped her throat. Phoenix groaned. Truda clutched at Jade’s arm, hiding her face. Brynn jumped again, grinning at them.
“It’ll be...”
His foot slipped and he lost his balance, yelling as he slid half-off the rotting wood. He held on; fingers barely clinging to end of the thin branch. It bent under his weight. Phoenix took off, outdistancing the others as they hurried to help.
Wolves forgotten, Jade and Truda watched helplessly as Phoenix scrambled onto the log. Brynn slid further, both feet now dangling high above the whitewater below, his cry for help lost in the roar. A mist of droplets clung to his hair and fur clothing, giving him a strangely ghostly appearance.
Jade wracked her brain for a spell – anything that might help. Her mind was blank. She had nothing. It seemed that every spell she knew had been wiped somehow and she was just an ordinary person again. Her body shook with fear and the effort to remember. Nothing. Despair gripped her.
Phoenix, visibly pale and sweating, wobbled his way along the fallen log, arms extended, eyes firmly fixed ahead. He reached down to grab Brynn’s arm. Hauling the boy up, Phoenix waited until he’d steadied himself then the pair continued to the other side, both breathing hard. Even from a distance, Jade could see Phoenix’s hands shaking. At least he had done something, though. If it had been left to her, Brynn would have fallen.
Numb, Jade barely heard Marcus’ low-voiced urging; barely remembered the perilous, slippery walk across the log-bridge. She had failed. When her friends needed her most, she hadn’t been able to do anything. She really was useless, just as her mother had always said.
The minute Jade set foot on the opposite side of the river, the feeling of helplessness doubled until she felt physically ill. She saw Phoenix and the others eyeing her with concern but couldn’t make herself voice words of reassurance.
Behind her, the others talked about the departure of the wolf-pack. She ignored them, watching the forest, instead. Truda yelled something in her own language at the black wolf, stamping her little foot in anger as it bared yellow teeth at her. Phoenix made some sort of comment about the pack’s odd behaviour but Jade ignored that, too.
Something was wrong. Something worse than wolves. She just didn’t know what.
She trailed along as the others turned away from the ravine to continue the hunt for a settlement or shelter before darkness fell. What else could she do? There was nothing definitive she could go on to warn them. An all-pervading fear of the unknown was hardly a threat they could stick their swords into.
“We’d better find a safe campsite soon,” Marcus called out over his shoulder to Phoenix.
Phoenix nodded and pointed at a fallen log near the lake edge. “We need a few minutes to rest, though. Those wolves pushed us hard.”
The two youngest companions, rednosed and exhausted, lurched a few more metres to sit on a rotting log. Jade however, filled with nervous energy, strode back and forth before them, casting anxious glances in all directions. Her breath clouded the air in great, white huffs.
She eyed the sun. It sank lower. Unless the village was within a few hundred metres, there was no way they were going to reach it tonight – if it even existed. Marcus was right – they needed shelter. For some reason, the thought of being out at night sent a paralysing wave of fear through her, making her stomach lurch.
Desperate, she hauled Phoenix & Marcus to one side, her fingers digging into their arms like clamps. “It’s getting worse – that feeling, I mean,” she stuttered urgently. Letting go she wrung her hands around the smooth wood of her staff. “I can’t think. I...it’s like....like when you’re about to walk into an exam you haven’t studied enough for and your stomach is all churned up and sick – but much, much worse.” She looked away from their blank, puzzled expressions, searching for something in the woods. Something she couldn’t see but knew was there.
Phoenix and Marcus followed her glance.
“I can’t see anything, Jade,” Phoenix laid a soothing hand on her arm. She shook it off impatiently. He was right. There was nothing to see – maybe that was the problem. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. The woods seemed very bare in this part of the world. There was no undergrowth and not even any reeds around the edge of the lake – just bare earth, patches of slushy snow and brown pine needles. That could be because they had arrived before the true beginning of spring and the vegetation simply hadn’t sprouted yet. Otherwise, nothing seemed amiss.
“We got away from the wolves,” Marcus spread out his hands to indicate a total absence of danger. “What else is there?”
Jade sucked in a shaky sob and turned a wild look on Phoenix. Her hands trembled uncontrollably now, fingertips white. She ran a hand through her hair.
“I..I don’t know...I....” she darted a look around again, half-expecting an attack any second. “I can’t concentrate. There’s something.....here....somewhere. It’s…blocking my magic....it’s horrible; destructive. I…I can’t stand it much longer!” She wrapped her arms around her body and shivered.
Phoenix frowned, hesitated then shrugged. “Alright. You sit down a moment. I’ll keep watch.” He turned to peer into the empty forest as the others rested.
Jade sank onto the log next to Truda. The girl leaned her head on Jade’s shoulder and patted her leg with gentle concern.
Distracted, Jade ate automatically, watching the surrounding forest for signs or enemies. There had to be some reason she was feeling so jittery.
It was several seconds before her brain registered that what she was chewing wasn’t dried or smoked meat. It tasted like bitter lettuce. Confused, Jade glanced down at the food Truda had given her. It was a flower; its many pink petals dewed with sparkling drops of water. Large and cup-shaped, its heart darkened to the deepest scarlet, dusted gold with pollen. A vivid splash of exotic colour in this otherwise grey-green place, it rested like blood in her cold, white hand. A red water lily.
With growing horror and bewilderment, she stared first at it then at Truda’s innocent, smiling young face. Did Truda know what the chemicals in this flower did? Was she deliberately trying to sabotage Jade’s ability to function? Jade shook her head, trying to think straight. She blinked. The world began to blur. Slowly, a strange feeling of peace settled over her turbulent thoughts; muffling her fears until she couldn’t remember why she’d been so worried in the first place. Everything seemed distant and unimportant. What a relief.
What had she been doing?
Oh yes, eating something. That’s right. She was very hungry. Vaguely, she lifted another petal to her lips.
*****
Phoenix turned to glance over his shoulder at Jade. She seemed a little calmer, at least. As he watched, she placed something pink into her mouth and chewed slowly. Truda sat beside her, patting her hand and nodding like a wise old lady. Jade blinked, the frown clearing from her smooth brow, her expression turning blank and serene. He looked more closely. What on earth was she eating?
Two long strides brought him to her side. With an angry exclamation, Phoenix snatched the flower from her hand and tossed it to the ground. It lay there, a broken, bleeding heart on a patch of dirty white snow.
“What is that?” he demanded angrily of Truda. The child shrank from him, her big blue eyes wide.
“Just a waterlily,” she said fearfully. “They just make you happy when you chew them. Everyone knows that. Jade was all worried and look,” she pointed at Jade’s beautiful, now-calm face, “see, she’s fine.”
Catching Jade’s face in his hands Phoenix slapped her cheek gently. She turned glassy green eyes on him.
“Oh!” She smiled with childlike delight, her words slurring almost unrecognisably. “Red water lily! Of course. Now I know where we are...” She giggled and her eyes drifted closed.
“Jade!” Phoenix shook her slim shoulders. Her head rocked a little but her blissful expression remained unaltered. When he let her go, she simply sat there, smiling. He rounded on Truda, fear lending sharpness to his voice. “You drugged her! She said she knows where we are!”
Truda ducked behind Brynn, who half-turned as though not sure if he should protect her.
“But Uncle Loki gives it to my brothers, Magni and Modi, all the time,” the god-child wailed. “He says it settles them down. Jade was getting so upset.....” she bit her lip, burst into tears and hid her face in her hands. “I’m s...sorry. I didn’t know it was bad. It usually takes heaps to make Modi go quiet.”
Phoenix stepped forward, reaching out a hand to throttle her. He checked himself, threw up both hands and made a noise of sheer exasperation. Girls! Why did they have to cry at you?! How did he explain to a six year old that a worried, anxious, alert Jade was better than a peaceful, stupefied one who couldn’t do anything now to save herself – or them.
Aaarrrgh!
Taking several long, slow breaths, he tried to calm himself. OK. Truda was just a kid. She didn’t know any better. So, with Jade in la-la land, they would have to be extra cautious and really watch out for whatever she had been scared of. Knowing exactly where they were would have to wait until Jade was back to normal.
“Is there an antidote? How long will the effect last?” He demanded, trying to speak calmly when he wanted to shout at Truda.
The girl shrugged. “I dunno but it won’t hurt her.” When Phoenix scowled at her, she hastened to add more. “Unca Loki gives Mag and Modi two or three flowers each and it just makes them kinda dopey for a little while.” She gave a sheepish little smile. “He hates it when they make a racket and tease him. He says he just wants them to stop being pests.”
“I know how he feels,” he muttered, glaring at her. “But,” he frowned at Jade’s blank stare. “She only had a small part of one, so why should she be so out of it?”
“Perhaps,” Marcus’ deep, thoughtful voice intruded, “she’s more affected because she’s a half-elf?”
“You could be right,” Phoenix agreed. Elves were closely bound and connected to all things natural. It made sense that Jade would be more affected by a natural sedative than the children of a god. “Dammit!” He slapped his hand on a tree trunk. “Talk about bad timing! OK,” he drew a long breath and tried to think logically. “Brynn,” He laid a hand on the youngster’s thin shoulder. “You’ll have to keep us heading northeast as planned. Think you can? Keep an eye out for any kind of shelter, though.”
In a flash, the young boy’s troubled expression cleared. Giving Phoenix a mock-salute, he skipped a few steps in the right direction. “Of course. Follow me.”
Phoenix grinned at the youngster’s infectious enthusiasm. “Marcus, you go next with Jade.” The Roman nodded and took Jade by the hand. She moved without resisting, like a sleepwalker.
“You, young lady,” Phoenix shook his finger at Truda, “will stay with me where I can keep an eye on you. No more surprises like that, understand?” He growled. She bit her lip and nodded, falling into step with him.
“By the way,” he asked after a few moments, “where did you get that lily?”
“Oh, they grow in the lake,” she waved a hand in that direction.
He glanced out across the water. The lake was just as empty as before. There were no scarlet flowers anywhere. No plants of any sort; not even any birds.
He eyed the girl suspiciously. “There’s nothing there. Where did you find it?”
She blinked up at him and shook her head. “I didn’t find it,” she explained, “I growed it, silly.”
CHAPTER SIX
Phoenix stopped short, grabbing Truda by the shoulder and spinning her to face him. “You grew that lily flower?” He demanded. “When? How?”
Ahead, Marcus and Brynn halted and turned back, pulling Jade docilely along with them.
Truda scuffed a toe in the damp earth. “Just now. It’s just what I do,” she shrugged a shoulder. “You know.”
Phoenix crouched in front of her and gripped her arms. She looked back at him, her eyes huge.
“No, Truda,” he replied with barely curbed impatience, “I don’t know. You’ll have to explain it to us. How did you grow that flower?”
Brynn gasped. “The Power! Remember? The druids said something about us wanting the Jewel of Asgard for its power. The druids draw their magic from nature and they said they had used the Jewel’s power to fight the Romans. This must be what they meant. I mean,” he stared at the girl in thoughtful fascination, as though assessing her usefulness in a new way, “she is the daughter of a god, after all. She must have some sort of abilities.”
“Is Brynn right?” Phoenix demanded, straightening up. “Are you some sort of deity?”
Truda blinked in confusion. “Deity? Oh, you mean a god.” She considered it, “I guess but I don’t have any like...y’know...worshippers or anything.”
“What can you do?” He tried to keep eagerness from creeping into his voice. Perhaps he had just been presented with a weapon of mass destruction; or a way to instantly transport them all vast distances in some magic chariot of the gods.
There was a long pause as they all stared at the girl in hope.
“I can make plants grow,” she finally replied in a sma
ll voice.
Phoenix’s rising hopes fell with a resounding thud. He sighed and dropped his hands from her arms. “That’s it? You’re some sort of minor goddess of plant growth?”
“Hey!” Truda was indignant, “I help Gefjun to make Hodr go away and then I help the plants grow again.” She put her hands on her hips, “This year Gefjun said I was going to be helping the farmers’ crops grow – all on my own! And if I don’t get back to do it in time, Hodr will stay and Ragnarok will come!” She nodded sharply and raised her button nose in the air.
Phoenix sighed again, wishing Jade were alert enough to tell him who was who in Norse mythology. She was the reader. He had no idea. Thor, he’d heard of but the other two...
“And Gefjun and Hodr are...?” He prompted.
“Gefjun is goddess of fertility and farming,” Truda explained, rolling her eyes like he was stupid for not knowing. “Hodr is the god of winter, of course. Without me, Hodr keeps the snows too long and the farmers can’t plant their crops.” She looked critically at the frost-hardened, bare ground. “If I don’t get back by my birthday, the seasons will be all unbalanced. Hodr will stay and there will be Winter then Fire then Ragnarok will come and the gods will…”
“Yes, yes” Phoenix interrupted sarcastically, “We know the drill. Four more days or Gods and giants will fight; mankind and the world will be destroyed; ra-de-ra-de-ra.” He bowed. “Well, after you my lady. Must get you home so you can send Hodr packing and get those plants sprouting. Can’t have Ragnarok happening on our account, can we?”
Brynn tugged on his arm, frowning. “Truda just said something about things being unbalanced and do you remember when the druids talked about having to send Truda away to keep the ‘balance’? What do you think it means?”
Phoenix shrugged, too irritated to worry about philosophical ideas at that point. “I haven’t got a clue. Personally, I think the druids were just sick of her and wanted to get her out of their hair as fast as possible – and I have to agree with them. C’mon. We need to get moving if we’re going to get her home before the whole damned world explodes.”
The Hammer of Thor Page 5
