Heroes (Eirik Book 2)

by Ednah Walters

  “Want to trade places?” Ranger shot up.

  “Sure. At least Nara would be in front of me.”

  “If that sexist comment is supposed to impress me, you are slipping, Dreadlocks.”

  “Just wanted to hear your voice, sweetheart.” A grunt followed, then, “What in Hel’s Mist was that for?”

  Ranger laughed. “She asked me to plant my boot on your face.”

  Niorun turned, touched her lips, and indicated we wait. We sat, everyone sweaty and on edge. She crawled on ahead, then stopped and pointed at the floor of the tunnel. Since I was in the rear, I couldn’t see what she was pointing at. Nara was in the lead and crept forward. She waited until Niorun moved to the end of the tunnel, then engaged her strength runes, lifted her feet, and pushed open the trapdoor. She disappeared inside the room.

  “By the gods, Nio,” a voice yelled. “What are you doing…? You are not Nio.”

  “Very perceptive of you,” Nara said. “Come down, boys.”

  We filed in.

  Nara had her dagger pressed against the Dwarf’s throat. Gray eyes stared at us, not in the least bit scared. He wore his brown hair long with sections of it braided, and had a full beard. I’d say he was only mildly irritated. The room had a low ceiling and was tastefully decorated with lots of floor rugs and cushions on a giant bed, but it was high enough for us to stand comfortably upright. After crawling down that shaft, the last thing we needed was to stand hunched over.

  “You are the people who escaped from the marketplace after littering it with dead bodies,” he said calmly, as though discussing the weather.

  “Am I missing something here?” Echo moved closer and leaned in low so he was face-to-face with the Dwarf. “Why aren’t you scared?”

  “Of Helheim reapers and Hel’s son? Nah. I know why you’re here, and I couldn’t care less. I hate that old Jötun, Angrboda. She messed up my cousin and turned him into a crazed fan. My aunt died of a broken heart.” He lifted his head and yelled, “You owe me a trap door, Nio. I know you can hear me.” He waited. “Change that to a kiss.”

  Niorun’s head appeared in the opening. “In your dreams, Lavion. Later.” She hurried past.

  “The orphans are in the hall, so get them and leave before my father returns with her. There are about twenty guards keeping an eye on them.” Lavion stepped back. “I wish you hadn’t involved Niorun. She’s going to be grounded for months for this.” He grinned. “Then again, if she doesn’t get in trouble once a week, we’ll know something is wrong with her.” He stood straighter, lifted his chin, and stared at Nara. “What are you going to do to me, sweetheart? Snap my neck so I can tell Father you overpowered me? Or do we pretend I didn’t see you and just fix my roof?”

  “How about you visit Hel’s Hall and you come find me?” Nara said.

  “Damn, no one around here behaves like they’re supposed to,” Echo mumbled. “You decide, Baldurson.”

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Lavion, son of Drathyn. Sorry I missed your party. My father raved about it. I can’t stand the cold.” He glanced at Nara. “But I’ll be there next time.”

  I chuckled. “Okay, Lavion. We’ll leave you alone, but we still have to know you’re out in case you’re not as nice as you claim.”

  “I don’t claim to be nice, Baldurson. I just don’t care. Are you the one doing the honors?” he said, eyeing Nara.

  From her expression, Nara wasn’t going to hurt the Dwarf playboy. I gave Rhys the nod.

  “One more thing,” the Dwarf said. “What do you plan to do with Angrboda when you catch up with her?”

  “Kill her,” Echo said.

  I ignored him. “Throw her in the dungeons on Corpse Strand,” I explained.

  “Then you’ll need an iron chain forged with magic to hold her.” He opened a cupboard and pulled out a chain so thin it looked like a necklace. “After my aunt died, we forged this for the day we’d trap Angrboda. I thought about doing it when she came here with the orphans, but she left too soon. Throw it at her, and it will coil around her and lock. If she struggles, the chain tightens and cuts deep.”

  “Thank you.” I took the chain, which filled both of my palms, and handed it to Karle. His tunic had a large pocket. I shook Lavion’s hand.

  “Another thing,” the Dwarf added. The others groaned. “Do me a favor and try not to kill my father’s guards. Most of them are distant relatives. I’m ready now.”

  Rhys went into hyper speed, runed him, and caught him before he hit the ground. We left him on his king-size bed, fast asleep.

  “What a charismatic man,” Nara said, and Rhys groaned and shook his head.

  “There’s no accounting for your taste in men,” he said.

  Nara chuckled. “What are you talking about? Lavion is delicious.”

  “Let’s not kill his relatives,” I said.

  “But what if it’s a trap?” Echo asked.

  “You have trust issues, man.” I slapped his back and received a glare. “No killing the guards. One, it will only make the orphans fear us. And two, I’ve met Drathyn. He’s a hustler, an opportunist. He’s not evil. Not like my grandmother.”

  We followed the sounds of music and laughter. Half the guards were eating while the others stood in groups, chatting. Six of them managed to pull out their weapons, but the rest didn’t even notice us. We knocked them out and disarmed the last six.

  “We just want to take the kids back home to their parents on Earth,” I said. “So don’t do anything stupid.”

  “You killed our cousins,” one yelled.

  “No, they’re asleep. We used runes.” I studied the children. There were about thirty-seven boys and girls in ages ranging from preteen to maybe early twenties. They stared at us with a mixture of fear and hope. I wondered which one of them was my sister. There were several blondes. If only I could collect hair samples or swab their cheeks for DNA testing, this would be so easy. The problem was their DNA markers might show they were alien and start a panic in the medical world.

  “Did you say Earth?”

  I found the person asking. It was an older woman, and seated beside her was a man in dungarees. Something about them was familiar.

  “Yes, Earth. We’ve been searching for you for the last twenty-four hours. Hayden came with us from Windfall, Louisiana.” Excitement rippled through the kids, some standing and others hugging. “Where’s Tammy?”

  “The goddess took her and one of the girls,” the woman said. They were the couple at the last home we’d visited while searching for Tammy. They’d lied about not knowing where Tammy or the children were.

  Rage flashed through me. I wanted to accuse them of working with my grandmother, but from the woman’s expression, she’d long since regretted it. Her husband looked like he’d aged a decade. I guessed godly realms weren’t what they’d expected. If it weren’t for the boy seated beside them and hanging on the woman’s hand, I would have left them behind. I remembered their names now. Hayden had called them Mr. and Mrs. Webber. She must have realized I’d recognized her because she sat and hugged her boy, who didn’t look a day over ten.

  “What’s the name of the girl she took?” I asked.

  “Anne Marie Carpenter,” several kids called out, but a few confused ones yelled a different name.

  Anne Marie. Sounded like a corrupted Einmyria.

  “The goddess pulled me aside and asked me a lot of questions about my parents, how old I was when I was adopted, and if my hair was real,” one blonde said and made a face. She could be anywhere from seventeen to twenty-one and spoke with confidence. “It was weird and scary.”

  “And your name is?” I asked.

  “Miriam Sorenson.”

  “She asked us the same questions,” another girl, who looked around seventeen, said and pointed at the one seated beside her. They were both blonde. “I’m Irina and she’s Marianna.”

  Hel’s Mist! Who gave them these names? It was probably the Norns and their attempt to
confuse anyone trying to find the real Einmyria. I was tempted to ask them how old they were, but the Norns had altered birthdays to hide their real identities too. And now they were looking at me expectantly when all I cared about was finding my sister. Locating a bunch of kids traveling with an army was a lot easier than locating one with a crazy old woman, especially when she had a head start. It had taken me nearly a week to find Celestia when she’d soul-napped her.

  I turned to the nearest Dwarf. “Where did they go?”

  “To join her army. They talked about leaving tonight.”

  “Karle, you’re coming with me.”

  “Please, don’t leave us,” the blonde who’d spoken first earlier said, and the other orphans echoed her words and scrambled to their feet. There was mass movement as they inched closer.

  I raised my hand, and they stopped. “My friends will take you back to our realm, and from there, we’ll take you home. Like I said, we’ve been searching for you for days and barely missed you at Mr. and Mrs. Webber’s cabin.” I shot the couple a hard look. “And FYI, Angrboda is not a goddess no matter what she or her followers would like you to believe. Karle, let’s go.”

  “Eirik…” Rhys started, but I shook my head.

  “No, Rhys. Take them home. You guys have done enough. I’m finishing this.”

  Rhys knocked out his captive, stepped over him, and blocked me. “I promised your father I’d watch your back.”

  “Me, too,” Nara said.

  “And I took an oath to serve your mother. We’re not returning home without Einmyria,” Echo shot back.

  “You may have taken an oath, Echo, but I allowed you to help me with this. Now I’m asking you to escort these people home. They’ve gone through enough and need to be in a safe environment.” The untouched plates of meat and bread looked about as appetizing as prison food. “Maera will be more than happy to pamper them and tuck them into decent beds. I’m taking this fight to my grandmother, and all I need is another dragon.” Echo and Rhys looked ready to argue. “My decision is final, guys. I appreciate all you’ve done, but I cannot put your lives at risk anymore. Do not tell my mother about Einmyria, but you can explain the orphans. Let’s go, Karle.”

  I opened a portal and stepped into the middle of my grandmother’s army.

  CHAPTER 23. CHOICES

  CELESTIA

  The tension in the room was thick. Trudy and Olea were talking in low voices a few feet away. They’d tried to include me, but given up after my monosyllabic answers. Zack and Hayden shared a settee. He’d done everything to help her relax, but nothing seemed to work. Every time my eyes met Zack’s, I felt guilty. He shouldn’t have come with us. Hayden curled up in his arms with her eyes closed, but her face wasn’t relaxed, so I knew she wasn’t sleeping. She was probably reliving everything my mother had told us. She hadn’t cried since. But then again, she wasn’t the crying kind.

  “Would you like more water?”

  “No, thanks.” I smiled at the Dökkálfr woman. I couldn’t remember her name, but she’d been nice and attentive since we’d arrived. She’d offered us something to eat and drink. I couldn’t drink or eat when all I could think about was Eirik. What was taking him and the others so long? Portals made travel much easier. They should have been in and out. Were they fighting again?

  “Oh, may I use your bathroom?” I asked the woman before she went to where Trudy and Olea sat.

  “Sure. Follow me, please.”

  I got up, keeping my cloak but leaving my coat behind. The castle was too warm for a winter coat, and the architecture was unique. It looked like it was carved out of a giant marble stalagmite. Surrounding it were similar castles connected by steps and bridges.

  Everything inside was made of gray marble, and runic writings decorated the borders—the stairs leading to the other floors, the columns, and the floor. Long, narrow windows dotted the walls on the ground floor, possibly to minimize the amount of sunlight coming inside, but the door was massive. Murals of Dökkálfar covered the walls, including one in the foyer of a woman who looked like Niorun. Like most realms, the place pulsed with magic.

  As I followed the woman, I could see the front entrance of the castle. Our people were not back, but there were more guards outside. I didn’t know if that was good or bad.

  The woman indicated a door, and I thanked her and went inside. Unlike the modern toilet in Hel’s Hall, theirs was basically a pit with a slab to sit on and a lid. Instead of using it, I splashed water on my face and stared at my reflection in the mirror.

  I looked like crap. I was scared and completely out of my element. I didn’t know how Eirik had adjusted so fast to moving between realms without missing a beat. I wanted to go back to the familiar. Helheim, where Maera fussed over me and Grimnirs worked out in a gym like the ones at home and ate foods I recognized, was the farthest I had wanted to go when I left Earth. Hopping from one weird realm to another was so not my thing. My mind shifted to Eirik.

  Were we going to date after this? How was that going to work out with him in Helheim while I had school?

  Screams reached me from behind the door, and I hurried out of the bathroom. More yelling came from the gate. I peered out the nearest window, and my stomach dropped. She was here. I ducked out of sight, my heart pounding. This was bad. Blowing out air, I peered outside again and tried not to panic.

  I recognized Angrboda in her flowing robe and scepter and long white hair. Beside her was Tammy with a blond girl around my age. Could that be Einmyria?

  “I demand to see General Gathrode,” Angrboda bellowed.

  “The general is visiting King Dainn,” a female guard said. She was the same one Niorun had asked to bring us to the castle.

  “Then hand over my children so I can leave,” she said.

  “We cannot allow you entrance when our master is not home,” the guard said. “And anyone in Gathrode’s Hall is under the general’s protection.”

  “You will not allow me? Do you know who I am? I’m Angrboda. No one stops me from getting what I want,” she bellowed. “Your general learned everything he knows from me, you silly girl.” She raised her staff and lightning shot from the stone, sizzled through the air, and hit some of the guards right between their eyes. One by one, they dropped. The others used runes to block the hit. The blond girl hid her face on Tammy’s shirt. She was probably terrified.

  “Where are my Witches?” she called out, and I thought she meant us. Once again, I ducked from the window and raced toward the living room, where the others were gathered. They all looked petrified.

  “Don’t worry,” the woman who’d been looking after us said. “She cannot enter the castle. It’s protected. Stay away from the window,” she warned, but I had to see what the crazy Jötun was doing now. Besides, the girl out there might be Eirik’s sister.

  I reached the window as another bolt of lightning shot from Angrboda’s crystal, creating a portal. I recognized the cabin in the woods, where we’d gone searching for the orphans.

  “That’s Mr. and Mrs. Webber’s home,” Hayden said from behind me, and I realized we were all crowded around one narrow window. Seven women in flowing white gowns walked through the opening like zombies. Some of them looked familiar.

  “Those two look just like the Witches in the sketches, Celestia,” Zack said. “The ones from your visions at the Guild meeting.”

  I heard Zack, but I was busy listening to Angrboda. She moved from Witch to Witch and said the same words. The women’s demeanor changed. They looked around, some hugging each other. Had she brought them back to life? Was that why someone had stolen bodies of dead Witches?

  “GET THEM!” Angrboda yelled and once again, I thought she meant us. But the Witches turned on the remaining guards, casting spells and rendering them unconscious.

  “Holy crap!” I whispered. “She’s brought the Witches back to life.” And now they were looking at the house.

  “Bring me Celestia,” she ordered. Tammy said something, and she snap
ped at her. “Celestia and Hayden.”

  The Witches walked toward the stairs, chanting a spell. One of them stepped on the first stair, and her body crumbled as though the life had been sucked out of her. The remaining six continued to chant. The second one made it up three steps before she dropped. The remaining five tried. One by one, they fell. The spell around the house must have been a lot stronger. Not only that, the female servant who’d taken care of us was standing near the door with her hands extended. She was countering their spell.

  Angrboda roared, grabbed the girl from Tammy’s arms, and pulled her toward her. “Celestia, this young lady here is your Eirik’s little sister, Einmyria. Everyone calls her Ann Marie. If you want her to go home, come out to me.”

  My heart pounded as I turned away from the window and faced the others.

  “You can’t go,” Hayden said.

  “I have to. That’s Eirik’s sister out there. She’s petrified.”

  “I agree with the Immortal,” Niorun said, walking toward us. She must have just arrived. Her knees were dirty like she’d been crawling on dirt. “You cannot go out there. She’s using her to get you out because she and her resurrected Witches cannot come inside. Stupid to use a resurrection spell without a soul in the body. Our homes are protected by powerful magic and she knows it.”

  “Celestia!” Angrboda roared.

  I jumped. “Is it also blocking her ability to find our energy?”

  “Yep. Eirik will be here soon. I took them to the children.”

  A scream made me peer outside. Angrboda still gripped the girl’s arm, but her hand was now scaly.

  “Stop wasting my time, Celestia,” she bellowed.

  Feeling sick, I looked away. “I have to go.”

  “No!” everyone in the room said.

  “I’ll go,” Hayden said. “Give me your cloak. I’ll pretend to be you. Tell her Einmyria should walk toward the doors as you leave. I want to talk to my mother, and this—”

  “I’m not sending you out there,” I snapped. “But I have a plan.” I pushed past them and walked to the door. Zack grabbed my arm. I shook him off. “Don’t. Eirik will come for me.”