by S. E. Babin
"The door is over there," I said and pointed.
The Morrigan grinned at me and disappeared just as the wards fell.
Twenty minutes too early.
I stuck my tongue out to the ceiling. "See! Look how embarrassing that would have been. In flagrante delicto!!"
Loki poked his head through the door, a confused look on his handsome face. "Who are you talking to and why are you talking about sex?" He rolled his eyes. "You let the dwarf get under your skin, didn't you?"
"No. The Morrigan just left."
Loki blinked. "The Morrigan?"
"Yep."
"How come she never wants to talk to me?" he griped.
"Because I'm clever and a little bit more cool."
"Why was she here?" he asked, choosing to ignore the clever and cooler bit.
"She wanted something."
"Is this the time I have to ask you fifty questions to extract any info from you?" Loki rolled his eyes. "Spill it. If you haven't already noticed Trin and Tyr broke through the barrier and are coming in to kick our asses in less than thirty seconds."
"I gave her Odin's spear."
Loki lost his balance and stumbled into the house. "Gungnir?" He gaped at me. "How did you come into possession of the spear?”
"He left it on the bed while he was cavorting in the bathtub with a blonde whose name he couldn't remember."
Loki pressed his lips together and his nostrils flared, but he couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. "I think it's amazing his arrogance hasn't gotten him killed way before now." Loki took a few steps over to me, lifted my hand, and grazed a kiss across my knuckles. "You are a saint, Freya. I would have killed him hundreds of times over by now."
"Looks like Morrigan is standing in front of you in that line now."
He blew out a low breath. "It's good to have good friends in high places. She will remember this."
"I know." A frown settled itself onto my face. "I'm not sure I want her to."
"She could potentially kill the All Father. Trust me when I say she will."
A shout of, "I'll kill all you hairy sons-a-bitches with my pinky finger" rang out through the air.
Both of us sighed.
"Should we help him?"
Loki shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he isn't killable. He could fry an egg just by glaring at it."
I snort laughed. "I bet he's fun at parties."
Loki readied himself for battle. I'd never seen him produce a weapon, though I knew he didn't really need one. I pulled my sword and let my wings out just in case I needed to get us all to safety. I wasn't the best flyer, but I could pull it off if I had to.
We stepped outside just in time to see Gravelbeard's axes flying around his face like he was a one man circus show. I took a second to gape at the sheer coordination that must have required because half the time I suspected the dwarf was drunk. Loki choked out a laugh, shook his head and stepped out in front of me.
Tyr and Trin held their magic at the ready, though no one fired yet.
"Nice of you to join us," I said to them.
"Nice trick with the wards," Trin said.
I smiled at her. "I had a nice chat with Alaria."
Trin's magic flickered in and out and her face went bone white.
"That's right. She was very interested in what I had to say."
Trin's gaze slid over to Tyr. The god of justice didn't look like he cared that the Valkyrie had suddenly lost everything.
"If you lay down your magic now, perhaps I can talk to the Valkyries about showing lenience."
Trin bared her teeth at me. "The Valkyries do not show lenience," she snarled. "Doing so shows weakness." Her magic flared again.
So she was committed. I had to admit I wasn't surprised. She'd just lost everything so whatever her goal was here today, it was even more important to reach it now. Otherwise she'd have nothing left.
I looked up at the gaping tear in the town's wards and sighed. "Do you know how long that took me?"
Tyr growled. "Where's the spear?"
My eyebrows rose. "The...spear?"
How in the world had he known I took the spear?
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Hand it over and we will walk away."
That I knew was a flat out lie. It was too late to walk away. If he didn't kill me, I was going to do my best to kill him. Even though I didn't love violence, I occasionally made exceptions for annoying gods who stuck their nose where it didn't belong too many times.
"Did you tell Odin where I was?"
"Odin." Tyr spat. “We are not here on Odin’s business. Bah. He's a feckless whoring god who only leads because of the powerful possessions he has."
"You speak of the Norns," Loki said. He kept his gaze leveled on Tyr.
"Aye. And Gungnir. Without those two things, he would not be in power."
I wasn't so sure about that. Odin was crafty. Arrogant, yes. But he was ancient and therefore had a plan for his plan and a backup plan just in case the first two didn't work. Although... I'm pretty sure I threw a wrench into those plans with both the theft and the release of the Fate Weavers.
"I'm not going to give you the spear," I said. I conveniently left out the fact that I no longer had it.
"Freya, my argument is not with you."
I snorted. "Really. You come in and murder one of our people and then tear down my wards and expect me to believe it isn’t personal?"
Trin's eyes tightened. She turned to Tyr. "You killed her?" she asked in a quiet voice.
“No. I didn’t. I used…magic.” He seemed hesitant to confess how he’d done it. There was no way he’d gotten in here. The wards wouldn’t have let him. “She wouldn't let it go. All I wanted was information. She refused to give it to me. So...I extracted it." His gaze flickered with something akin to sorrow. "Or tried to."
I spared a glance at Loki. He trembled with rage. "Sig didn't know anything. I didn't even know Freya had the spear until five minutes ago."
Tyr's expression was almost apologetic. "I didn't know."
"I will tear you from limb to limb and scatter your parts across the Nine Worlds," Loki said, his voice dead quiet.
Gravelbeard, strangely silent since his previous outburst, chimed in. "I'll gladly help with that," he growled. "I keep some animals out on my property that haven't had a good meal in a while."
I turned to gape at the dwarf. What the hell kind of animals ate the flesh of the gods and should I be concerned about that? I gave him a what the hell stare and Gravelbeard didn't even have the grace to look guilty. He just shrugged. "Experiment," he said. "It's going well."
"Good gods," I muttered to myself.
Trin's magic fell. "You killed a defenseless woman."
Tyr rolled his eyes. "I didn't know," he repeated. As if ignorance would absolve him of an innocent woman's death.
"It's now or never, Trin. Stay and fight or go and we will release our quarrel with you."
Tyr bared his teeth. "If you leave, you will not be welcome in my bedchambers again, Valkyrie."
Umm. Eww.
Trin gave him a long, hard stare and then turned to us. "Farewell, Freya. I hope next time we meet it is under better circumstances." She flexed her wings and shot upward and away.
Tyr let out a roar of anger but still didn't drop his magic.
"One against two angry gods and a drunk dwarf," I said mildly.
"I'm not drunk!" Gravelbeard insisted, but he burped right afterward so he'd technically kind of contradicted himself. Or he had indigestion. Both were possible.
"I can take you both down." His voice didn't sound so sure, though.
"You can try," said Loki. He waited no longer. The brunt of Loki's magic struck Tyr in the chest and enveloped him in an electric green glow.
Tyr extricated himself and pulled his spear from the harness on his back. I knew it wasn't as powerful as Gungnir, but I also knew Tyr was a battle hardened warrior whereas Loki and I were not. Loki fought his battles through deceptio
n. I avoided as many as I could these days and was usually able to defuse a situation with words.
I stepped forward and was about to try to reason with him when the ground underneath us shook. I stumbled into Loki, and Gravelbeard fell face first onto the concrete which made him unreasonably angry.
Tyr swayed, but his gaze fell behind us. His ruddy skin went chalk white.
I was never a person who would fall for the old look behind you trick, but the space between my shoulder blades was itching like crazy and all I wanted to do was look. Gravelbeard stood up, his mouth running with curses, brushed himself off, and turned to see what all the fuss was about.
"Thor's louse-ridden beard!” he shouted hoarsely.
I still didn't turn around and neither did Loki.
"Tyr, all of this was for naught. I do not have Odin's spear."
Tyr's gaze didn't waver from a spot over my shoulder, but the ground started shaking again.
"Tyr! The Morrigan has it."
His gaze briefly flickered to mine and anger colored his cheeks. He uttered a hoarse curse, dropped his spear, and turned tail to run.
I finally turned around to look.
Three absolutely massive women towered over the three of us.
The Norns had arrived.
14
"Uh," I said eloquently.
"FREYA," the ugliest one boomed. The last time I saw them, they were massive. Today they blocked out the sky.
"Yes," I said mildly. "How did you get here?"
The blonde one held something up in the air and I squinted. A man was caught in between her thumb and forefinger. He dangled precariously a hundred feet in the air and he was screaming like a girl who'd just discovered her star quarterback boyfriend was cheating on her.
It was Odin.
I grinned at the Norn's. "The Morrigan help?”
"AYE," said the ugly one. "WE TOOK HIM JUST BECAUSE WE FELT LIKE IT."
"Holy balls," said Gravelbeard.
Loki let out a low whistle. "What are you going to do with him?"
The redheaded one shrugged and the ground shook again. "WE MIGHT LOCK HIM UP FOR AWHILE AND STARVE HIM."
The blonde one grinned at me. "WE ALSO MIGHT START A SOCCER LEAGUE AND USE HIM AS THE BALL."
The ugly one thumped him on the rear end. "WE ARE ALSO VERY HUNGRY. WE MIGHT CUT HIM UP AND USE HIM AS SOUP MEAT."
Odin's shrill scream unshriveled my frozen heart. "Maybe don't eat him," I said. "It might make the Asgardians angry." I shrugged. "But feel free to do the other two. None of us begrudge another creative punishment."
"HEH," chuckled the redhead.
"Freya," Loki said, "do you think this is wise?"
I leaned over. "Do you think it's wise to tell these three what to do?"
"Touche," he murmured.
"Holy balls," Gravelbeard said again. His head was tilted so far back on his head it was a wonder he didn't topple backwards.
"WE OWE YOU A BOON," the three said together.
"AND THE ANSWER TO ONE QUESTION," they said.
"Does it have to be right now?" I pointed around the town and up at the sky. "I have a lot to clean up."
The Norns peered up. "As a thank you, in addition to the boon, we will repair your wards and make them impenetrable."
Hope was a floating thing in my chest. "Truly?"
"AYE, FREYA," said the redhead. "WE WILL ALSO POWER YOUR TOWN FOR THE PERIOD OF TWO THOUSAND YEARS SO YOU CAN USE YOUR MAGIC IN DEFENSE OF HERE." The redhead's eyes glowed. "SUCH A THING IS NEW FOR OUR PEOPLE. YOU WILL EXPERIENCE GREAT HAPPINESS AS WELL AS GREAT LOSS. YOUR TOWN WILL PROSPER AND FLOURISH AND USHER IN A NEW AGE WHERE HUMANS AND GODS COEXIST."
The ugly one sighed. "YOU'RE ALWAYS SO POSITIVE," she grumbled to the redhead. "THERE WILL BE CHALLENGES TO YOUR RULE AND LAWBREAKERS WHO WISH TO DESTROY WHAT YOU ARE BUILDING." She thumped Odin again. "WE WILL BIND HIM SO YOU SHALL NOT WORRY ABOUT MISCHIEF FROM THE ALL FATHER. BUT OTHERS...YOU MUST BE DILIGENT."
I nodded and bowed low. "Such a gift shall not go unappreciated, Lady Norns. I will do my best to protect all who choose to come here."
"SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO LOWER THE WARDS AND LIVE IN COEXISTENCE WITH THE MIDGARDIANS, CONTACT US AND WE WILL ASSIST YOU," the blonde said.
I frowned. I wasn't quite sure why I would ever do that. "Okay," I said, having no intentions whatsoever of doing that.
"CONTACT US WHEN YOU KNOW THE BOON YOU WOULD ASK," said the ugly one.
I was seriously going to be deaf when they left. I know they could shrink to regular size. Loki, after all, was a frost giant, too. For whatever reason, though, they decided to stay enormous. Probably to scare the crap out of Odin. I stared up at my ex-husband.
I couldn't see him that well, but I could tell he was both terrified and furious at me. The Norns promised to bind him, but I knew if there was any wiggle room, he'd try to find his way out of it.
I smiled and waved at him. He had no idea the world of hell coming his way once the Morrigan got ahold of him. I'd have to let her know the Norns were going to borrow him for awhile, though I assumed she already suspected something was up.
"Farewell," I said. "And thank you." I bowed low and, on the way down, smacked Gravelbeard on the back of the head so he would bow, too.
"FAREWELL, GODDESS, TRICKSTER, TINY MAN OF AWE," they said in unison and disappeared. The sound of Odin's girly scream rang throughout the air.
We all straightened up, but as we did, the air began to heat and swirl. I spun around, trying to discover the source of it, but it didn't seem like it was hurting us. I looked up and as I watched, the wound in the wards began to repair itself. The ground shook and I watched in awe as my town began to expand. The forest pushed itself farther and farther out and new buildings began to spring from the ground. Shops and restaurants, all different shapes and sizes. A park sprang toward the edge of the forest border and my bar, once tucked into a corner of the town, moved front and center and had suddenly gotten two stories larger. The sign changed before my very eyes. It still read, "Freya's Place," but underneath new writing appeared, "A place for the war torn and weary. Rooms for rent. Inquire within."
The voice of the redheaded Norn rang out. "Those with honorable intentions will find you, Freya. It is our blessing to you." The voice faded away into the aether.
"A bed and breakfast, eh?" Loki said as he scrubbed a hand over his chin.
"Aye," Gravelbeard interjected. "Seems a shame not to try out one or three of those beds, eh kids?" he said.
"Go away, dwarf."
Gravelbeard spun his axes in the air, deftly caught them, and holstered the weapons into the harness at his back with alarming dexterity. "Mark my words. There are far too many beds in this town to remain unused." He winked at us and walked away.
"I find him both fascinating and deeply disturbing," Loki said.
"Me too." Shaking my head, I walked through the newly cobbled streets of my town and began to explore. It looked nothing like the place I'd originally created, but I couldn't say I hated the changes made to it. It was beautiful. Where once everything was a solid palette of color, now there was a vivid variety. Blues and purples, reds and greens, white painted porches and deep oak siding. This made it look less like a settlement and more like...home.
"Thank you," I whispered to the Norns.
Brilliant purple lightning crashed in the distance.
15
Loki was pouting.
I'd repeatedly told him why I couldn't take him to Valhalla with me, but he insisted now that we were married, he had the right to go wherever I did. I refrained from telling him that a bond and a tattoo did not a marriage make. Mainly because I was lying, but mostly because I didn't want to think about the future of whatever this thing was.
Fortunately, though he ribbed me about Gravelbeard's advice and kept bouncing on the new beds in my new tavern/bar and leering at me suggestively, he made no other moves to take our relationship to a physical level. This was a good thing. I knew I wasn't
ready for anything like that yet, and I wasn't sure I ever would be.
It had been about five days since Tyr ran out of here with his tail between his legs. I'd inquired around and not a single person I kept in touch with had seen him.
Asgard was currently without a ruler, though I knew Baldur was working behind the scenes and would probably step in as the de facto leader after awhile. Unless Thor got there first. I cringed to think what kind of madness Thor would reign down on the kingdom. Belly Dancer Tuesday, perhaps? Or maybe Stripper Sundays? Beer Pong Wednesday? Chicken Wing Saturdays?
I sighed but then laughed. He was ridiculously dumb. And not in an I'm acting dumb but will secretly stab you through the heart while you aren't looking, but in a puppy chasing a ball that the owner currently had hidden behind his back kind of way. An adorable, though harmful way. Thor couldn't run a kingdom, but he was older than Baldur and probably had secession rights.
It had the potential to be an enormous mess and one I was glad I was not involved in for once.
A gentle shift of wind blew my hair back from my face as I turned to see who'd arrived in the bar.
Alaria stood there with a fresh-face Eyra. A shout from the kitchen had me and Alaria rolling our eyes. A massive clatter sounded from the back and Gravelbeard tore out of the door, scooped Eyra up in a bridal hold, and quarterback rushed her back into the kitchen. It looked ridiculous because he was so short her feet dragged on the floor, but she didn't ridicule him. She just let herself be carried like a winged, armed damsel in distress.
"Those two are literally the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my immortal life," Alaria declared, watching as Eyra's leg got stuck in the door and Gravelbeard tripped over them.
"I think they're kind of cute," I grudgingly admitted.
"Her mother is never going to stand for it," she said, but sighed. "Perhaps I can help her see reason if it ever comes to it. He obviously loves her."
"Gravelbeard is wicked with an axe," I admitted. "I've never seen anything like it. I hope they can work it out."
I poured the Valkyrie a tankard of the stoutest ale I had and pushed it over to her. "On the house."
