“What’s he doing?” Phoenix hissed. Marcus didn’t reply. His eyes were slitted in hatred.
They found out when Truda entered the room – with Loki striding beside her. If Loki was there, it had to be the real Truda but why was she with him? Phoenix started to rise. A guard pushed him roughly back down. Jade cast an anxious look back at them but Phoenix could only shrug his own disbelief. She bit her lip, frowning at Truda and Loki. Then she tilted her head to one side, stared harder. As Phoenix watched, Jade’s eyes narrowed and her jaw firmed. Something magical was going on if he read the signs right; but what?
Odinn greeted his granddaughter with a gentle smile and a request to tell him exactly what had happened over the last few months. Phoenix and Marcus listened with increasing horror as the girl described an entirely fictitious abduction, months of imprisonment in Albion and a harrowing trip back to Svealand.
“Then,” Truda’s lip trembled and a tear slid down her cheek as she pointed to Phoenix and Marcus, “those two found Grendel, the troll, had died in the sunlight and they pretended they had done it, so Hrothgar would be nice to them. That’s why Hrothgar gave them Blódbál. Then they left the village so Grendel’s mother could come along and kill Hrothgar as they’d planned together.”
Phoenix wished he could strangle the kid – or give her the Oscar for best actress. After all they’d done for her she was betraying them! Frowning, he remembered the Binding spell Jade had put on the companions back in England. She’d said that if any of the group betrayed them, they would all get a sharp pain in the hand and the vine she’d used to ‘bind’ them would reappear. So where was it?
Sick realisation hit. Truda hadn’t been part of their group when Jade had done the Binding ceremony. She wasn’t constrained by that particular magic. There was nothing to stop her deceiving them.
Had she been working with Loki and Zhudai all along? Was this all some elaborate trap? Phoenix’s head spun as he tried to wrap his brain around all the ‘what ifs’ and ‘but thens’ of the situation. It just didn’t make sense.
“My lord!” Jade shouted over the hubbub that followed Truda’s testimony. Truda now sat quietly beside her father, looking the picture of injured innocence. Loki sat next to Zhudai, neither speaking nor moving. Odinn frowned at Jade but waved the audience quiet again. Phoenix wondered what on earth she could do after that little performance. As far as he could tell, they were so toast it was a wonder they hadn’t already been sliced up.
“That is not Thrudr,” Jade pointed at Truda.
This time, Odinn quelled the uproar before it even started.
“Explain yourself, mortal,” the king of the gods growled. Thor laid a protective hand on Truda’s head.
Jade drew a deep breath. “If I can prove I speak the truth, will you listen? If you bring me two small items, I promise you will see what is real and who is lying.”
Odinn hesitated, obviously annoyed.
“Please,” she begged, “This girl is not who you think she is.” Phoenix held his breath. So did the entire room. Odinn glanced narrowly back and forth between Truda, Jade and Thor. Thor shrugged slightly. Odinn nodded.
“Very well. What do you need?”
“Just one small seed and a handful of wet soil,” Jade’s lips drew back in a fierce, glittering smile. Truda gasped. Phoenix and Marcus exchanged puzzled looks. What on earth did she need a seed for?
After a flurry of discussion and argument, a guard brought a bucket of soil and some sort of seed and dropped it into Jade’s hand. She gestured toward Truda, who shook her head and shrank back against her father.
“Come, daughter,” Thor prompted. “You are well protected here. There is nothing to fear from this mortal. Let her fail her little experiment and we can get on with sacrificing them.” He pushed her in the small of the back and she stumbled out into the room.
Jade knelt on the floor. She tipped dirt out and poked a finger into the top of the pile. Understanding began to light up Phoenix’s brain. Marcus nudged him and pointed toward Zhudai and Loki. While Loki still sat like a statue, Zhudai was frowning, clearly unsure what was going on.
Jade dropped the seed into the hole and patted it closed. She stood up, glaring at Truda. “Make it grow,” she ordered.
The assembled gods gasped as enlightenment hit. Truda was a goddess of spring growth. If this girl was Truda then she should be able to make the seed grow into a plant.
Phoenix looked again at Zhudai. His face was a mask of fury. His lips began to move as he stared fiercely at the small pile of dirt. Phoenix blinked in surprise. Loki had, just for a second, flickered like a bad special effect in a movie. It happened again. What the...?
Unexpectedly, Jade grabbed another handful of dirt. In one smooth move, she threw it at Loki and Zhudai. Zhudai flung up his hands to shield his face. Loki simply sat there, unresponsive. The dirt flew straight through his body, falling to splatter on the people behind and the floor around. Still, he didn’t move.
There was stunned silence as the assembled gods tried to work out what was happening.
“That is an illusion cast by him,” Jade yelled, pointing at Loki and Zhudai. “This girl is the true Loki, Shapeshifter and Master of Deceit. They are your enemy, not us!”
With a cry of frustration, Truda/Loki morphed mindbendingly back into his familiar shape. The illusion Loki dissolved. Zhudai stood and tried to slide out through the confused crowd. He came up against the huge, hard body of Thor and stopped dead. Loki snatched Jade into his arms, spinning her about and holding a long, wicked-looking blade to her throat.
Phoenix grinned. It was time to move. Jade had done her part, now it was time for his.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Leaping to his feet before the guards could react, Phoenix sprinted the length of the hall with Marcus pounding only a few steps behind.
“Stop!” Loki shouted, “or I’ll kill her!” He pressed his knife into Jade’s throat. A scarlet trickle slid down, showing bright against her white skin.
Phoenix skidded to a halt only metres away. He looked at Jade. She stared back, green eyes wide. She’d already lost two lives in this level and couldn’t afford to lose any more. He had to save her without letting her die again. An idea hit. These were war-gods. Surely....
“My lord Odinn,” he yelled, not taking his eyes off Loki. “I ask for the right to justice by combat! We have proved ourselves innocent of the charges falsely laid by Loki and his advisor but he has wronged us and I will be avenged.” That ought to be suitably dramatic for a hall full of Norse gods. Phoenix grinned nastily at the astonished look in Loki’s eyes.
“Granted!” Odinn roared, thumping the end of his javelin into the floor. The pantheon of gods sat back down, breathlessly awaiting a battle.
Loki shoved Jade aside. She stumbled, falling into the arms of a guard. Loki held out his hand. A guard slapped a sword into it. He sheathed his knife and dropped into a fighter’s crouch, circling left toward Phoenix.
Phoenix glanced about for help. Surely someone would hand him a sword, too? Marcus and Jade were both struggling in the grip of guards. No-one rushed to his aid. Great. Bare hands against a sword. What the hell was the thinking? Oh well, he squared his shoulders, at least with his aikido training, he had some chance. Hopefully. He really didn’t want to lose another life. It hurt too much.
Loki glided closer. Phoenix watched closely, trying to judge how he would attack. These people favoured broadswords, which meant slower, sweeping attacks. That might work in his favour. Sure enough, Loki came at him with a war-cry, committing himself to a two-handed, overhead strike. Perfect. Phoenix allowed his aikido reflexes to take over. Instead of stepping away or dodging, he stepped toward Loki. Swiftly, he slipped inside and under Loki’s descending arms; put his back hard up against Loki’s gut, grabbed an arm and dropped. The god sailed overhead as Phoenix fell to his knees and let go.
There was a moment of shocked silence as Loki crashed heavily on his back and slid across the
stone floor.
Phoenix jumped up and looked around, measuring the distance between himself and Blódbál, lying near Odinn’s throne. Too far. Loki rose, shaking his head. He rotated his shoulders and neck. Damn. People weren’t supposed to get up so fast after being thrown like that. Well, Loki wasn’t exactly ‘people’ in the ordinary sense of the word. This called for something more drastic.
The god came at him again, more warily this time. He’d learned his lesson and now began jabbing at Phoenix almost like a fencer. A broadsword wasn’t the ideal weapon for this technique and even a god’s arm would to tire after awhile, Phoenix hoped. He just had to stay out of reach until it did. So they danced around the room, with Phoenix spinning, twisting and trying to manoeuvre closer to where Blódbál lay, just out of reach. Twice the tip of Loki’s sword caught in his clothes, tearing them and scoring across his stomach. Both times the crowd gasped. Blood dripped and Loki’s grin became triumphant.
At last, the opening Phoenix had been waiting for came. Loki overreached himself just a fraction. Stepping aside and turning fast, he grabbed Loki’s sword-hand and helped him overbalance just a little more. Then, with a quick twist of his hips, Phoenix folded Loki’s wrist back and threw him in a move known as kotagaeshi.
The god fell heavily, hopefully with a painfully dislocated shoulder or wrist. Phoenix held on to the hand and yanked the sword free. Putting his foot on Loki’s neck and the tip of the sword there too, Phoenix grinned triumphantly down at the god.
“Yield,” he demanded.
“No!” Loki snarled. From under his clothes he pulled a dagger and jammed it to the hilt into Phoenix’s calf.
Someone screamed. Several people yelled in anger.
Pain lanced through his leg and Phoenix staggered back, dropping the sword as he overbalanced. Loki sprang lithely to his feet and snatched the blade up again. He stalked closer, bloody dagger in one hand, broadsword in the other, murder in his grey eyes. No dislocation then. Man, these guys were tough!
Phoenix steadied himself and tried to put weight on his foot. The leg refused and the pain blinded him. Loki’s blade had severed the hamstring. He forced himself to stand straight and smile. Loki frowned, glancing at the blood pooling now on the floor beneath Phoenix’s foot. His frown vanished into a gloating gleam. He advanced. Phoenix stood his ground – he had no choice.
“Phoenix, catch!” A shrill, familiar voice pierced the fog of pain. Brynn! The Breton boy was holding something – Blódbál! He threw it. The blade arced through the air. With a roar, Loki launched himself at Phoenix, trying to get there before he caught the sword.
Too late. Phoenix snatched the hilt and parried Loki’s blow at the last second. Strength, power and exultation flowed through his blood from the sword. It warmed his body like a hot drink on a cold day. Vigour pulsed back into his limbs. Tentatively, he put weight on his injured leg and was surprised to find he could. The injury was either gone or irrelevant, he wasn’t sure which.
Heady and glutted with power, Phoenix crossed swords with Loki in a flurry of blows too quick to analyse. Blódbál sang in his heart, called to his mind, enticed him toward victory. Phoenix let the sword take over, flicking it in to slice Loki’s skin once, twice, three times. The blood that spattered the floor was now a god’s life-offering.
This was too easy. Phoenix grinned madly, quite enjoying the bout now. He couldn’t lose with Blódbál in his hands. Loki snarled, his face contorting, shifting, morphing into the familiar black wolf that had harried them through the woods. Razor fangs snapped at Phoenix’s left arm, latching on and slicing through to the bone. Phoenix screamed in pain. In desperation, he twisted and hacked awkwardly at the wolf. Loki released his arm and skittered away, his claws rattling across the marble. He shifted back to his human form, picked up his sword and strode casually over to where Phoenix knelt on the blood-slippery floor.
Phoenix sucked a deep, ragged breath. Heaving to his feet, he set himself for the next attack. Arrogant in his belief of victory, Loki smiled, baring reddened human teeth in a barbaric, frightening display. The god swung his sword in a furious flurry of strikes that Phoenix barely managed to deflect. Even with the sword’s magic, he could feel his body weakening through loss of blood. He had to end this and fast. At last he saw an opening. Turning aside, he sliced across Loki’s arm. Black leather parted and red showed. Loki dropped his sword from useless fingers. Phoenix lunged, stopping the point of his blade just short of Loki’s exposed throat.
“Yield,” he repeated, panting.
Loki glared. “Never!”
His eyes rolled up as his body twisted in a logic-defying, purple-blue shimmer. Startled, Phoenix backed away. Loki grew…and grew. Too late, he remembered that his true form was of a giant. Blódbál’s song faded as cold logic replaced battle fever.
Jade, Brynn, Truda and Marcus appeared by his side, all staring up at Loki’s towering shape. At a gesture, Loki’s sword leapt back into his hand – and grew to match his size. He now wielded a blade fully twelve foot long.
“Run!” Phoenix advised the others. They turned – and faced a tired, one-eyed old man.
Odinn looked at them with an expression of weary regret in that single eye then switched his gaze to the looming darkness of the god of mischief. He thumped the end of his spear on the floor once. The sound echoed hollowly around the great chamber.
“Enough,” he said quietly but his voice seemed to blank out all other noise. The world stopped. A strange, muffled silence fell on Gladsheim. Loki paused in mid-strike, his booted feet clumping only faintly on the stone floor. Everyone watched their king. No-one spoke.
Odinn waved a hand. Most of the gods and goddesses nodded and left the room with regretful, backward looks. Shortly, only Thor, Truda, Loki and the four companions remained with the king of the Norse gods.
Odinn sighed and limped slowly back to his throne.
“Loki, why must you continually stir up trouble in Midgard and Asgard?” Odinn’s face showed paternal regret – like a father who’s child has been brought before the principal once too often. “It was you, who stole my granddaughter and hid her in Albion, wasn’t it? And also you who set the wolves on these mortals and the trolls on Hrothgar’s people? Why do you wish for Ragnarok?”
Loki sneered and slouched over to sit at his ease in a chair nearby. Phoenix did a double-take. The god had reverted to human size. His body and clothes were unmarked, whole. Phoenix wished his were the same. He kept Blódbál to hand, just for its pain-numbing effect and wondered if he’d pass out soon.
“What can I say, my king?” Loki shrugged. “I’m the God of Chaos. Ragnarok is the ultimate Chaos; a chance to start afresh with a better world and a better ruler. Besides, Thor annoyed me; I wanted to teach him a lesson.”
Phoenix started to limp forward but Jade and Marcus grabbed his arms and held him.
“Let them sort it out,” Jade whispered, tearing at her shirt and winding strips around his dripping arm and leg.
Truda, however, was under no such restrictions. She stomped past them to stand before Loki with her hands on her hips. She wagged a finger at him.
“You’re a bad, bad man, Uncle Loki. First you stole me from my bed then you made the nice Druids keep me and they all got killed by the Romans; you got poor Hrothgar killed and then, when I finally got home you put my friends and me in prison. You’re not my friend any more, you hear me! I hate you!” Overwrought the god-child stamped her foot then burst into tears and threw herself into her father’s arms, sobbing.
Loki raised one dark eyebrow. “I’m devastated, I assure you.”
Thor stepped forward, his face thunderous. “I’ve had enough, too Loki. You’re my father’s blood-brother and we’ve put up with a lot from you but taking out your anger at me on a child and mortals is beyond acceptable. You’re no longer welcome in my home.” He picked Truda up and held her against his huge chest, patting her fiery hair soothingly.
Loki yawned. “Again, I’m distraught.
Not to be allowed to babysit those hell-children of yours ever again. Oh me, oh my, how will I cope?”
“Perhaps this will not bother you either, my brother,” Odinn’s soft voice cut in. “You are henceforth banished from Asgard and Midgard for a full millennium and a day. You may not come to any place of the Norse gods or man for that time or until Ragnarok does descend upon us – whichever is first.”
Loki turned an insolent look on his king and bowed his head. “Very well, old man, the petty politics of Asgard bores me to tears anyway. Just remember, though, if Ragnarok does come first, don’t look for me to fight alongside the Æsir in that final battle for the end of the worlds. You are no kin of mine any longer!” With that scornful, ringing declaration, the god of mischief and deceit turned on his heel and walked away.
“Wait!” Jade’s clear voice spoiled his masterful exit. “What happened to that man – Zhudai? What was he doing here?”
Loki stopped, glancing back over his shoulder. Everyone looked around, only now noticing Zhudai was, indeed, missing. Marcus swore imaginatively. Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief. He was so not ready to face the ultimate badguy yet, even with his new sword.
The God of Chaos raised his brows in cool hauteur. “I have no idea. He came a few days ago with a warning that you were on your way to return Truda and a charming plan for how to make her homecoming more fun. Oh, the wolves, Grendel and setting Grendel’s mother on the village were all his ideas, too. I would have let the wolves eat you. He wanted you two alive,” he pointed at Jade and Phoenix. “I don’t care who he is, where he is or where he came from. He can rot with the rest of you mortals.” He gave them a stiff, shallow bow and left the hall without looking back.
The Hammer of Thor Page 19
