The Cursed Sword (The Nine Worlds Trilogy Book 1)

by Debbie Champion

Alex took a quick look around, the carriage looked very luxurious with several rows of comfy looking seats. They were the only passengers so there was plenty of room. He headed straight to the fridge. He was starving as usual and he helped himself to several packets of sandwiches and crisps.

  "So how long will it take?" he asked Sven with a mouth full of ham sandwich. He sat down next to Becca and sank into the deep plush cushions. He took another large bite of his sandwich and grinned at her.

  "Pig," she mouthed at him smiling.

  “That’s right,” he said, ‘ham!”

  "About five hours, best you make yourselves comfy and get some rest. Knowing Dvalin he really won't make it easy on you. He's one of the traditionalists, even if he will tell you where the sword is, he won't do something for nothing and he is motivated by one thing only," said Sven.

  "Oh I am sure Sasha would be willing," said Matt digging her in the ribs with his elbow and grinning.

  "Matt shut up," she punched his arm and went to move seats.

  "You can sit with me sweetheart, I'm much better company than that human," said Sven winking and patting the empty seat next to him. She sat back down quickly; there was something really creepy about that dwarf.

  "Gold motivates him, gold and precious gems. He can't get enough of them. We believe he is the richest dwarf in Svartalfheim. He is certainly one of the oldest. Him and Lit, they go back centuries," said Sven.

  "They are good friends then?" asked Becca as she dipped her hand into Alex's crisp packet.

  "Not exactly. Dvalin has never got over the fact that Lit is immortal. He cannot handle the fact that his hoard of treasure won't be his forever and that he is losing his looks. He's ancient and fading fast. Makes him a bit difficult to deal with. Oh and for goodness sake don't call him grumpy whatever you do. He might be old and miserable but he still has a few tricks up his sleeve. You really do not want to get on his bad side," said Sven settling into his seat and closing his eyes.

  Becca reached over to dip into Alex's crisp packet again and he grabbed her hand.

  "Oi get your own," he said drawing her hand up to his mouth. He smiled and brushed his lips over her knuckles.

  "You ok there?" he asked. "It's been an even weirder day than yesterday," he sighed. "I keep thinking I am going to wake up from a bad dream.”

  "I know and I don't think it's going to get any better," said Becca resting her head on his shoulder.

  Alex smiled to himself; he laid his head back and closed his eyes. At least one good thing had come out of all this. He was still holding Becca's hand and he ran his thumb over her wrist. He saw her smile from the corner of his eye and he held her hand firmly not wanting to ever let her go. The motion of the train made Alex sleepy and he soon slipped into a deep sleep with Becca's head on his shoulder. However he woke with a sudden start when the mark on his chest started to tingle and burn. He rubbed it with his hand and stood up cautiously, trying not to wake Becca. Something wasn't right, his gut instinct was telling him to get out of there quickly.

  Suddenly a loud popping noise filled the carriage and the lights went out plunging them into darkness. The only light came from irregular flashes from outside the windows. Alex scanned the carriage quickly and could just make out a dark figure crouched low in the corner. A pair of eyes gleamed in the darkness and Alex heard a deep chuckle. His chest was throbbing painfully and he felt as though the mark would burn a hole in his shirt. As he looked around he could see the others had all woken up and had leapt from their seats. They were all looking around trying to make sense of what was happening. Alex positioned himself in front of Becca protectively and she held onto his arm frightened.

  Suddenly the figure launched itself from the corner of the carriage and made contact with Matt with its foot. There was a meaty thwack as it hit Matt in the stomach, knocking him backwards into Pete. They fell in a heap on the floor. The figure stood, a scarf covered its face hiding its identity. It was the height of a child and was dressed head to toe in black.

  Suddenly, through the flashes of light, Alex saw Sasha dart forward and strike out her leg towards the figure. There was a crack and the attacker's head snapped back as she made contact with her foot. He recovered quickly and struck out a fist at Sasha. She moved swiftly to the side and whacked him on the head again with her elbow. He fell over onto his back, rolled over in one smooth motion and stood again ready to strike with his fists in the air. The eyes were directed at Alex and he stood poised ready to strike. However before he made a move crackles of electricity filled the air and snaked along the metal rails. Sparks rained down and lit the carriage with an eerie glow. Matt looked at Alex; static electricity was pulsing from his chest, fingers and even his eyes, conducting on everything that was metal in the carriage.

  "Alex," he shouted.

  Alex's full concentration was on the figure in front of him. A blast of energy emanated from his chest and blew the figure off his feet. It slammed into the connecting door of the carriage and slunk to the floor, unconscious and smoking.

  "Oh my god," cried Sasha, sinking to the floor and shaking. Alex stood still; electricity was still sparking off him. He was mesmerised by what he had just done and the power he had felt.

  "Alex, Alex....are you ok? Can you hear me?" asked Matt worried. He reached out and touched Alex's arm. A shock of electricity stung his hand and he leapt back with a yelp. Alex shook his head and the electricity sunk back into his skin.

  "Matt, I'm sorry are you ok man?" he asked worried. He reached out to touch Matt and Matt backed away out of his reach.

  "No way dude, back off, that really hurt. You need to ground yourself or something," said Matt.

  "I have no idea how that happened. Who is that, is he breathing, is he ok?" asked Alex pointing at the figure slumped on the floor.

  Sven pushed his way through the group and knelt by the figure. He poked him with his hand and the figure moaned. "He is alive, quick find something to tie him up with, we need to ask him some questions.”

  Sasha reached into her bag and pulled out a silk scarf.

  "Here, this should do it," she said handing the scarf to Sven.

  "Sash what the hell was all that fruit ninja stuff? That was awesome," asked Matt as he rubbed his stomach where he had been kicked.

  "Self defence classes, my parents insisted," said Sasha grinning.

  "Someone help me," said Sven frustrated. "He could wake up."

  Matt held the attackers hands together and Sven tied them together with the scarf. When he was secure Sven removed the scarf, which was covering his face.

  "Hmm a Flostheim dwarf, interesting," Sven muttered.

  "A what?" asked Alex kneeling down next to Sven to get a better look. The dwarf looked young and had a moon shaped scar on both cheeks.

  "He's from the Flostheim dwarf clan, they are notorious assassins. I reckon he was after you Alex," said Sven.

  "Christ, we’re dealing with ninja dwarves now," said Matt, kicking the dwarf's leg none too gently. "Seriously this is crazy. Why would anyone want Alex dead?"

  "Someone who doesn't want Alex to succeed in his quest to find the sword and seal the portal," said Sven who was shaking the dwarf by the shoulder.

  "Come on sunshine wake up. Let's see what you have to say for yourself.”

  The dwarf groaned and opened his eyes. Alex could see the panic in his eyes as the dwarf realised his predicament and struggled against the bindings.

  "Let me go, you'll regret this," he hissed between his teeth still struggling.

  "Who hired you punk?" Sven poked him hard in the ribs with his foot.

  "You know I won't tell you that," he sneered. "I'm a professional. I would rather die than betray my master."

  "Professional? You just got your ass kicked by a girl," laughed Matt. "Come on speak up or we'll string you up like a piñata and knock it out of you," he said.

  The dwarf glared at them all and shouted loudly, "Master avenge me." He closed his eyes and started to shake. His
face began to turn grey and he screamed in pain. His face was turning into stone. The grey spread quickly down his neck and cracks started to appear. In no time at all the dwarf had turned completely into stone.

  "Ok that was disturbing," said Pete looking over Matt's shoulder. "What happened?"

  "UV tablet. The assassins implant them in their teeth for a quick death," said Sven kicking the stone dwarf.

  "Sven get away," said Sasha shaken.

  "Sorry what do you mean a UV tablet?" asked Becca.

  "Ultra violet contained within a tablet. It is pure poison to our kind and turns us into stone. It's the reason why we live underground, sunlight kills us," explained Sven.

  "I thought that was vampires," said Matt.

  "Vampires don't exist silly boy," said Sven shaking his head.

  "Of course, how stupid of me. There are gods, witches, dwarves and monsters but no vampires, I got it," said Matt pulling Sven away. “Sven cut it out,” he said. Sven was rifling through the dead dwarf's pockets.

  "I’m just checking to see if he has any ID on him," said Sven. "He will have family out there who will want to know what happened to him.”

  "Save your pity, he was an assassin. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have minded too much about killing Alex," said Matt. "Who would have sent him though? I mean, is word out now about who Alex is?"

  "Not that I am aware of. We have tried to keep it quiet so far. Once the dwarves know that the portal is breached we'll have a panic on our hands. Most of their business comes from your world. If it's destroyed it will really impact their income. The unemployment rate will go through the roof. We'll have loans being called in, house repossessions, probably rioting, it will be chaos," said Sven mentally calculating what this could cost him personally.

  "Well someone has let the cat out of the bag. We should report this to Alan maybe he has some ideas," said Sasha as she unbound her scarf from the stone dwarf.

  "Sasha that's gross leave it, he's dead," said Becca wrinkling her nose in distaste.

  "It's Hermes and really expensive. It will be alright after a rinse," she said giving it a shake.

  "Guys I think we should look around. How do we know he wasn't alone?" said Alex scanning the carriage.

  "Oh they always travel alone, it's some sort of code of theirs. They trust no one and have just one master or mistress," said Sven.

  "Hey there's a clue," said Becca excitedly.

  "What's that Daphne?" Pete asked sarcastically.

  "Before he turned to stone he said, ‘avenge me master,’ he must be working for a man or he would have said mistress," she replied.

  "She's right, good spot. It does not really help us to narrow it down much though," said Sven.

  "I bet whoever took Alex as a baby is involved in all of this. Someone really wants you out of the picture," said Becca looking at Alex with a worried expression on her face.

  "Well they can come and get me. I'm ready for them. This built in self defence mechanism works really well," said Alex puffing out his chest and grinning.

  He went over to the fridge to grab a can of drink. He was feeling a bit drained and needed an energy boost. He wasn't going to share that with his friends though, they would just fuss. He took out his phone to check the signal and sighed when he saw a Facebook message from Cassie asking how he was.

  "My signal is really weak, has anyone got anything better? We really need to let Alan know the score," he said sitting down and opening his drink.

  "Phones won't work on the train," said Sven. "We are going to be out of contact for a while, there is no coverage in Ostleheim. As I said earlier, they are a bit old school and set in their ways down there.”

  “We had better get some rest, we still have some way to go," said Sasha. "Sven can you go scout around and check the train just in case?" she asked him sweetly.

  “For you my love anything,” said Sven grinning. He made his way down the carriage and tripped over Matt's leg, which was blocking the aisle.

  "Oh sorry mate, how careless of me," said Matt smirking. Sven growled at him and made a rude gesture with his hand.

  "Sven I saw that," warned Sasha laughing.

  Alex leant his head back and turned to look at Becca. She had dark shadows under her eyes and she looked really tired.

  "You ok?" he asked reaching over to hold her hand. A spark lit as his fingers touched her and she jumped in her seat and pulled back her hand quickly.

  "Ow, you are still charged up," she said rubbing her hand.

  "Well I always thought there was a spark between us." he joked. "Hang on." He twisted in his seat and poked Matt on the arm.

  "All gone, we're good," Alex smiled and reached for her hand again. He twisted his fingers through hers and rested their hands in his lap.

  "And what if it hadn't gone eh? I'm not your personal conductor," said Matt poking his head through the seats. "So it's ok to fry Matt now is it? Cheers dude, I'll remember that."

  "Chill out, I was pretty certain it was gone," said Alex laughing.

  "Well test that theory on Pete next time thank you," Matt sat back grumpily and closed his eyes.

  Four hours later Alex woke when Becca shook his shoulder.

  "Hey gorgeous, I was just thinking about you," he said opening his eyes lazily and grinning up at her. She blushed fiercely and hung her head so her hair covered her face.

  "Sven said we are nearly there, we need to get ready to get off," she said.

  Matt looked over at the stone dwarf. "Hey do you reckon he would fit in my backpack? He would look wicked in my front garden. My mum loves gnomes," he said.

  "Seriously Matt? Have some respect," barked Sven. "Never call a dwarf a gnome. Gnomes are a menace to society."

  The train slowed down and an announcement confirmed they had reached Ostleheim. When the doors hissed open they all jumped off and looked around. They were in a very dark tunnel with rough-cut stonewalls. Fire torches flickered and gave a little light. There was just enough to enable them to see where they were going. They followed the torches to the end of the platform to some stairs, which led downwards.

  "Follow me," said Sven. "Pete you bring up the rear. Keep close together, these Ostleheim dwarves are sensitive fellows and don't take kindly to visitors. If you see anyone just keep your head down and don't make eye contact. Let me do all the talking," said Sven as he walked down the steep steps.

  Alex clasped Becca's hand and Matt reached for Sasha's.

  "Ever feel like you’re the third wheel on a double date?" grumbled Pete as he fell into line behind the others.

  "Well you’re not holding my hand you pervert," said Sven over his shoulder.

  "This isn't much of a date," giggled Sasha.

  "How about I take you to the movies when we get home princess?" asked Matt as he guided her carefully down the stairs.

  "Yeah sure, why not?" said Sasha grinning at Matt.

  "Great idea, Becca are you up for that?" asked Alex hopefully.

  "Sure, that would be nice, if we ever make it out of here," she said squeezing his hand gently.

  A normal night at the movies seemed a long way away at the moment. Becca sensed him tense and whispered. "It's going to be ok you know. We just need to get this sword, get it to the henge and then we can get back to normal. Well whatever normal is going to be for a demi god," she smiled at him but he couldn't see her face.

  It was getting darker and darker the deeper they went down the stairs. Soon there was no light at all and they had to feel their way down. They clung to each other and the rough sides of the rock walls.

  "There's light just down there, we are nearly there," Sven called up to the others.

  Continuing down the steps, Alex could see a glow emanating from the bottom of a closed door. Sven knocked on the door and they all waited. A small wooden shutter within the door swung open and an old grizzled dwarf with long messy grey hair, wearing round metal glasses poked his head through.

  "State your business," he said abruptl
y.

  "Hello we have travelled from Manhattanheim to see Dvalin. We have some business with him," said Sven importantly.

  "Right, you need to answer this riddle to gain entry to Ostelheim," the dwarf said in a matter of fact tone. "How can you get one by adding two to eleven?"

  "Damn I'm rubbish at riddles," Alex said rubbing his hand through his hair frustrated.

  "Alex use your Ironman zapper on the door," whispered Matt in his ear.

  "It doesn't happen when I want it to. It just, I dunno, happens. Anyway we can't just blast our way in there, that's not a great start is it?" Alex hissed back.

  "It's a clock, if you add two hours to eleven o'clock you get one o'clock," said Sasha walking up to the door. They all looked at her with their mouths open. Alex was impressed, she was actually a lot smarter that he’d originally thought.

  "Correct answer, now answer your next one please. What.."

  "Seriously? Come on let us in, we answered your riddle," Alex shouted at the dwarf frustrated.

  "Well the rules state one riddle per person who wants to gain entry...oh my..." he said looking at Alex. Alex's eyes flashed and sparked as he glared at the dwarf.

  "Let us pass," Alex growled menacingly.

  "Oh sir I didn't know it was you. Of course, of course please do enter." The dwarf disappeared and the door creaked open.

  They had to bend down to enter, this was a door built for dwarves after all. They entered a small round cavern with a low ceiling and Alex and Matt had to bend over to avoid hitting their heads. The cavern had several exits, which were lit with flickering torches.

  "Welcome to Ostleheim, I hope you have a pleasant stay," he said bowing low to Alex.

  "My name is Rodri and if there is anything I can do to assist you please do ask," he said groveling by Alex's feet.

  Like Sven, Rodri was covered in gemstones; he even had them sewn into the front of his grey trousers and waistcoat. He was rather large around the waist and reminded Alex of a Christmas bauble. Alex tapped him on the shoulder embarrassed to have someone grovel before him.

  "Er you know who I am?" he asked.

  "Well at a good guess I would say you are one of the almighty Thor's sons. Only his children have eyes that do that," he said.