"Go, I'll be right behind you," he said pushing her back.
She slithered towards the edge of the hole on her bottom and sat at the edge with her feet hanging down. She took a deep breath reached back squeezed Alex's hand and then pushed herself off the side. Matt quickly followed and then the others until it was just Alex left. By this time he was flat on his stomach and the ceiling was pushing against his back. He used his elbows to shuffle forward and looked down the hole.
Here goes nothing, he thought to himself. He used the rough edge of the hole to shift his body forward but he was stuck, he couldn't move. The ceiling was pressing too tightly against his back pushing him into the floor. He began to panic and pulled harder with his arms, he wiggled to and fro and finally managed to squeeze through. He fell down the hole head first, his shoes hitting the ceiling as it crashed down with a bang over the top of the hole.
Alex slid down, flying around corners and hitting the sides uncontrollably. It was pitch black and it felt like the hole was going on forever. He tried to hold out his hands to slow himself down but he just seemed to go faster and faster. Suddenly he went flying out of the hole and landed in a heap on a stone floor.
"Ouch," he cried rolling over several times.
An arm grabbed him by the shirt stopping him roll any further. He looked around and saw that his leg was hanging over a deep chasm. He rolled back away from the edge and carefully sat up. He looked at his hand as it was stinging. A large gash bled from the palm.
"Damn it," he said wiping at the blood with the bottom of his t-shirt. "That was close, I nearly went over the edge," he said shakily.
"Here let me see," said Becca reaching out and taking his hand. "It's really deep, I think you are going to need stitches," she said.
"Well that will have to wait, I doubt there are any hospitals near here," he said, looking around.
Dvalin held up the torch which he was still holding and from the dim light Alex could see that they were in a circular stone cavern and were standing on a narrow ledge at the edge of a massive chasm.
"We need more light," said Alex peering into the gloom.
"There's another torch over here," said Matt pointing to the wall beside the hole they had fallen through.
Dvalin held his flame to the torch and it burst into life. A smaller flame ran along the wall lighting another torch, which then lit another torch further along the wall. The line of fire continued around the circular cavern until the cavern was ablaze with a hundred flaming torches. The additional light revealed a stone pillar rearing out of a black abyss and on top of the pillar there was a large wooden chest bound with iron bars.
"There," shouted Dvalin pointing to the chest. The sound echoed around the chamber.
"That's all very well but how do we get over there?" asked Pete looking over the edge. He couldn't see any bottom to the pit. It was pitch black.
"Ok what would Indiana Jones do?” asked Matt.
"Use his whip and unless I'm mistaken none of us has one of those," said Pete sarcastically.
"In the Last Crusades he stepped out onto what looked like an invisible pathway," said Sasha throwing gravel into the pit. The gravel just fell down into the hole. It was so deep they couldn't hear it hitting the bottom. "No, oh well it was worth a try," she said grinning.
Dvalin and Sven were conferring together quietly and turning out their pockets looking to see what they had on them. Alex saw them nodding enthusiastically.
"Hey I hope you guys have a plan because you do realise we are stuck here," he called over.
"We are going to build a bridge," announced Dvalin proudly.
"Right, what with thin air?" sneered Pete.
"No with rocks dummy," explained Sven.
"Er there are no loose rocks lying around, you might want to rethink that one," said Alex.
"We are surrounded with rock, we just need to mine it. It may have escaped your notice but dwarves are very good miners," said Sven indignantly.
"Ok what are you going to mine with then, your bare hands?" asked Alex looking thoroughly confused.
"Sven here has a portable pick with him," said Dvalin pushing Sven forward. Sven held a tiny pick in his hand.
"Well that will get you a few pebbles. Did you get it out of a Christmas cracker?" laughed Matt.
Sven grinned waved his hand over the pick and it unfolded itself over and over until it became a full size pick.
"I've got a better idea," said Alex grinning. "You want rocks? I'll get you rocks. Stand back everyone."
He held out his hands to the rock face behind them and concentrated on summoning energy. From deep within he could feel a surge of power racing through his veins. His hands started to spark and he released a ball of energy and threw it at the rock. There was a huge explosion and large chunks of rock fell from the wall. Everyone started to cough and splutter. They were covered in rock dust.
"Alex that was really dangerous, look at us," said Sasha shaking her hair out. Bits of grit flew everywhere.
"That was cool," said Matt in awe.
The dwarves looked at each other and grinned. They scurried over to the pile of rocks which had been blasted out of the wall and began hauling them over to the edge of the chasm. Sven pulled out a bottle from his pocket.
"Rock cement," he explained holding it up to show them. "A dab of this binds the largest rocks together in seconds."
Dvalin and Sven got to work fixing the rocks together from the edge. The glue set immediately and held the rocks firm as they worked away from the edge creating a bridge of sorts. They worked quickly together, completely in their element and in no time at all a bridge snaked across the chasm and they jumped across to reach the chest.
"Come on over, it's safe," said Dvalin trying to encourage the others to come over.
"We have come this far, let's open the chest together," he said rubbing his hands together in excitement.
Becca looked warily at the bridge, whilst it had held the dwarves weights she wasn't convinced it would hold them. Alex held Becca's hand for balance and he stepped onto the first rock gingerly. He figured that if it would take his weight then they would be ok. He put his full weight on the rock and it held so he shuffled across slowly and eventually reached the other side.
"Come on guys it's fine," he shouted across. They went across slowly one at a time.
Dvalin was hopping up and down in excitement, desperate to open the chest and reveal the treasure. As soon as they were all over they crowded around the large wooden chest curious to see what Thor had placed in there. Alex was just hoping it held what Dvalin wanted. Whilst it was a large chest, it wasn't quite the mountain of gold and silver he was expecting. The chest had a large silver padlock securing it and Sven was on his knees trying to pick it. There was a loud click and the padlock fell open.
"Ha, master lock pick extraordinaire," he crowed.
Dvalin lifted up the lid and a golden glow lit up the chamber blinding them.
"What is it?" whispered Becca squinting in the dazzling light.
Dvalin looked into the chest and then looked around at them. "It's hair," he said confused. "It's a load of hair. This can't be right we are not in the right place." He looked distraught.
"What?" asked Alex looking into the chest.
Dvalin was right there was a huge pile of glowing golden hair. "Is there anything else in there?" he said picking up handfuls of the hair and taking it out of the chest. Dvalin climbed into the box and felt around with his hands. "There's something here," he cried. He brought out a small wooden box, which had an elephant, engraved on the lid. He opened it carefully and peeked inside.
"Come on what's in there?" asked Sven impatiently.
"Shoes," said Dvalin confused. "Four little baby shoes, oh and there are three little teeth and three locks of hair. But where is the daylight elixir? This is just rubbish," he cried throwing the box back into the chest. "It must be here. It's a precious treasure. Where is the gold, the silver, the gems? We must b
e in the wrong chamber," he cried.
"Dvalin think, would it be precious to Thor?" asked Sasha. "It may be great treasure to you but why would Thor want it? He doesn't need money or daylight elixir," she said patting him on the back sympathetically.
"She's right. The rumours weren’t true," said Sven. Dvalin sat in the box and big tears rolled down his cheeks. "All this time," he said sobbing. "I've wasted all this time for this."
"What's with the hair anyway?" asked Matt, fingering strands of the golden hair. It was silky and very thick and continued to glow and light up their faces.
"Well at a fair guess I would say it’s Sif's hair," said Sven. "She had the most beautiful hair of all the gods and Thor loved it. He was always talking about it and showing off about how he was married to the woman with the most beautiful hair in the Nine Worlds. Loki got fed up with his boasting and snuck into her bedchamber one night. He cut off all of her hair. When Thor found out he was furious and he nearly killed Loki. Loki loves playing his tricks but he went too far that time. To stop Thor from killing him he said he would fix it and would find her even better hair. He persuaded a group of dwarves to create a new headpiece for her. The sons of Ivaldi wove her new hair and she loved it so Loki got to keep his life. I guess Thor preferred the real thing though and he thinks of it as his greatest treasure,” said Sven.
"Ok that's a bit creepy. What does he do, come and play with it?" asked Matt. " What's with the little shoes and teeth? Alex I'm not sure about your dad you know."
"Four baby shoes for four children, your two brothers, your sister and I guess one of those was meant for you Alex," said Sasha looking into the box.
"Three first baby teeth, three locks of hair but not a fourth as you were gone," said Becca looking into the box too.
"That's so sad," said Dvalin weeping some more.
"Come on everyone get a grip, it doesn't mean anything," said Alex annoyed at how emotional he felt. "We’ve more pressing matters on our hands," he said. "We really need to find the sword Dvalin. I think you’ll agree that what you were looking for isn't here, it's over," he said gently.
Dvalin hiccupped climbed out of the box and dried his face on a handful of golden hair.
"Ok, a deal’s a deal. Niddhogg," he said miserably. "I gave it to Niddhogg."
"And Niddhogg is who exactly?" asked Alex. "If it's another Volva then count me out."
"It's worse than that," said Sven scuffing his feet on the stone floor. "Niddhogg is a dragon. The worst possible dragon you could ever hope to meet. He lives at the bottom of the Yggdrasil, the world ash tree and gnaws on the corpses of evil people. You know murderers, rapists, and those types. When he gets fed up with the taste of their badness he gnaws at the roots of the tree and tries to destroy it."
"He is pure evil," added Dvalin. "If he ever destroys the tree the whole Nine Worlds will collapse."
"Well that's just fantastic," said Alex dumping the hair back into the chest. He stood up straight with his hands on his hips. "You’re basically telling me we have to find the most badass dragon in history and ask him for the sword which will save Earth, or Midgard, whatever you call it. Somehow I don't think he is going to give it to me," he said glaring at Dvalin.
"No he won't give it to you, I guess you will have to steal it," said Sven.
"Stealing again? I don't believe this,” cried Matt. "My mum is going to kill me when she finds out."
"I think the evil dragon will do that for her," said Alex.
"I'm still registering that dragons exist," said Pete.
"Really? After all we’ve been through today?" Sasha looked around at all of them. "I think we have a bigger problem anyway," she said looking worried.
"What?" asked Alex, "What can be a bigger problem than stealing a sword off a dragon who eats people?"
"Getting out of here for a start," she replied.
They stood silently looking at each other. She had a good point. There were no exits that they could see other than the hole they had fallen through. Even if they could have climbed up it the ceiling in the chamber above was blocking the entrance. Alex looked over the edge of the stone column. There may be an exit down there but it was so deep and they didn't have a rope. He looked over at the golden hair and thought of Rapunzel but realised that it would never be long enough.
"I might be able to help there," said Sven pulling a piece of chalk from his pocket.
"What's that?" asked Becca.
"Maggie's chalk, the one she uses to create portals," he said looking around to see if there was enough room on the pillar.
"You stole a Volva's chalk?" asked Sasha horrified.
"No I found it on the floor, when you appeared in Dvalin's house. She must have dropped it and it fell through the portal with you," he said.
"Well why didn't you use it when we were about to be crushed to death?" asked Pete.
"I forgot I had it until we went through our pockets earlier," he said defensively.
"Don't you need to have magical powers to use that?" asked Alex skeptically.
"Guess we’ll find out," said Sven with a grin. "I remember the words she used, it was just earth, air, fire and water but in ancient Norse.
"Well it's worth a go, it's not like we have many options," said Sasha.
"Right gather around then, there should be enough room if we squeeze in tight,” said Sven.
He drew a circle on the rough stone floor with the chalk and stood back to admire his work. He then stepped into the circle and reached up to put his hand around Sasha's waist." You need to get a bit closer come on," he said grinning and winking.
Sasha sighed and moved his hand which had snaked down to her bottom. They all squeezed into the circle and waited for Sven to say the words. Alex was not convinced it would work and was frantically trying to think of another plan.
"Hyrr, logr, mold, lopt," said Sven repeatedly.
Alex looked over his shoulder and could see the chalk starting to glow.
"It's working," he whispered excitedly.
Suddenly there was a large pop and the floor fell away sending them tumbling down into the dark. They ended up in Dvalin's room and the floor bounced a few times to break their fall. Dvalin's furniture was lifted up into the air again and crashed down in a heap. Alex jumped to his feet and looked around at the mess.
"Don't worry, we'll help you clear up," he laughed. He looked over at Dvalin, he was lying on the floor facing away from them.
"Dvalin are you ok?" asked Sven bending down and shaking him gently on the shoulder.
"He's dead," he cried.
Becca joined him and gently rolled Dvalin onto his back and he groaned. They all sighed with relief.
"Dvalin are you ok? Can you hear me?" asked Sasha holding his hand and rubbing it. He felt icy cold.
"What happened?" he mumbled trying to sit up. Becca pushed him back down again.
"Hey take it easy, it looks like you passed out," she said.
"I feel terrible, my head is pounding and...." He lifted his hand up to his nose and wiped away a trickle of blood. Sven looked horrified.
"This is serious. We need Maggie, she'll know what to do," he said wringing his hands.
"Can you call her like Dvalin did?" asked Becca.
"No I don't know that spell," he said miserably.
"How about using the chalk to create another portal?" asked Alex looking at Sven.
"I think that was the problem," said Sven looking at the chalk in his hand. "He was fine until we used the portal. He's so old he probably couldn't cope with what it does to your body."
"Er, excuse me, what’re you saying? Travelling through a portal damages your body?" asked Pete poking Sven on the shoulder.
"Well you are passing through another dimension, sometimes there are side effects," said Sven looking sheepish.
Pete grabbed Sven by the shoulders and lifted him up so he could look him in the eye. Sven's legs kicked helplessly in the air.
"Great and we are just bein
g told that now? We have done this like four times. Is it going to scramble my brain or what?" asked Pete angrily.
"No, no," squealed Sven clawing at Pete's hands. "You are all young, you'll be fine. Put me down."
Pete dropped Sven to the floor and he landed on his feet with a thud.
"Do that again punk and you'll be sorry," said Sven glowering and straightening his bejeweled waistcoat.
"Oh gee I am so scared, what are you going to do, nibble on my ankles?" laughed Pete pushing Sven away. Sven bunched his fists and Alex stood between the two of them.
"Cut it out you two, we have more serious problems," he said looking at Dvalin worried. He was very grey and his breathing had become wheezy as though it were an effort.
Suddenly there was a loud pop, a whoosh of air and Maggie appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the room.
"There you are you thief," she snarled at Sven pointing a gnarled hand at him. She was in her true form and looked hideous and terrifying. Her eyes were black pits and her skin was falling off her bones. Sven jumped back in fright and put his hands up.
"No, no Maggie, I found it I promise. You must have dropped it through the portal when you returned them and I kept it for safe keeping, I was going to give it back I promise," he whimpered.
"I can smell a liar," she growled. "Give it back now. You have no idea of the damage you could have done. You could have killed Alex and then we couldn't have gone on our date."
Alex gulped and stepped back a few paces.
"I'm sorry forgive me, I meant no harm. Please we need your help, Dvalin is sick, look." Sven pointed to Dvalin who was lying propped up in Becca's arms. Blood was seeping from his eyes as well as his nose now.
"You want my help again?" she hissed. "I should just put you all out of your misery. When did this happen anyway?" she asked pointing at Dvalin.
"Just now when we came through the portal from Thor's treasure chamber," said Sven. "Can you help him?"
"I knew you created a portal I could sense it. That's when I realised my chalk was missing," she said glaring at Sven. She had changed back into human form and didn't look quite so terrifying.
"So you found Thor's treasure did you? Where is it?" she asked looking around greedily.
The Cursed Sword (The Nine Worlds Trilogy Book 1) Page 13
