“I won’t let you sacrifice yourself,” Zack said.
“We won’t,” the others chorused.
“It’s my choice. You don’t understand what that girl has gone through. I’m not hiding here while Angrboda terrorizes her.” They each tried to convince me to stay. I ignored them and opened the door. “I will come out if Tammy brings Einmyria inside,” I called out. Of course, I knew she’d say no. “Think about it and let me know.” I closed the door and leaned against it while I fought vertigo and nausea.
Hayden touched my arm. “Don’t do it. Not for me.”
“You want to talk to your mother. You’ll get the chance. Eirik will get his sister.” I glanced at the people gathered in the room. They were looking at me like I was crazy. “She doesn’t really want me. She wants to use me to get to Eirik. He is the one she wants. Not me or his sister.”
“I know why you’re doing this, Celestia,” Hayden said. “The things your mother said were ramblings of a crazy woman. The deaths of Angrboda’s followers at the market had nothing to do with you. She wanted Eirik just like you said. And the Call is about casting a spell to protect the young Seeress. Don’t go out there.” Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “Please. I don’t care what my mother has to say. Whatever explanation she has for the lies and working with that crazy woman out there won’t make up for what you’re about to do.”
We hugged, tears threatening to fall. I refused to let them. I looked up and blinked. I had a plan, and it had better work. If it didn’t, Eirik would find me. Screams came from outside, and I wiggled out of Hayden’s arms, pushing her toward Zack.
“I’ll be okay. Eirik will find me. He always does. His dragon will help him.” My eyes connected with Trudy. She was crying, too. I hugged her and then Zack and Hayden since Hayden was in his arms. “Open the door, Niorun.”
The Dökkálfr girl gave me a weird look, but she opened it.
“Don’t close it behind me.” I lifted the hood of my cloak and wrapped it tightly around me.
“Where did she go?” Niorun asked.
“I don’t know. She was here, and then she was gone,” Hayden said.
“The cloak,” Trudy whispered. “That’s brilliant, Celestia.”
I lowered the hood so they could see me again. “Pray that it works. Leave the door open and if she yells out my name, yell back that I’m coming. She won’t know I already left the house. Once I get to Einmyria, I’ll wrap her under the cloak and run to the steps. All I have to do is get to the steps and we’ll be out of her reach.”
“It might just work,” Niorun said.
“Of course, it will work.” Despite my words, I had my doubts. Hayden didn’t speak again, but she was worried. Zack too. “Wish me luck.” I covered my head and walked slowly, so my entire body was covered. I had no idea how the cloak worked, but I really hoped she wouldn’t see me. I stepped outside and almost gave myself away.
Angrboda stood at the foot of the steps. She must have just shifted because instead of the woman, the dragon had taken its place. No wonder Einmyria was hysterical. The arched steps were many and wide, so I moved away from her line of vision and stayed at the farthest end.
“Come on, Celestia!”
“Celestia wants Tammy to walk with Einmyria up the steps while she walks toward you,” Niorun called out from the doorway while I continued down toward the courtyard.
“No. She comes down here, where the protection magic stops,” Angrboda said.
“Fine,” Niorun said. “I will walk down with Celestia and we can trade them at the bottom of the steps.”
Angrboda studied Niorun. “I never liked your mother, and you are so much like her, down to your cunning ways. You helped them escape in the market and you probably showed them where the children were staying.”
Niorun grinned. “Oh yes, I did. Because like my mother, I’ve never really liked you.”
Angrboda laughed. “One day, I will have you exactly where I want you, child. Right now, consider yourself warned.”
“So are we doing this? We don’t have all night,” Niorun called out insolently. I had reached the last step. I worked my way past the fallen guards and Witches.
“Fine,” Angrboda said, but she kept Einmyria by her side. I was close while she continued to stare at the door. “Come out, Celestia.”
Einmyria was an arm’s length away. I moved behind her.
“Are my guards dead, or did you just knock them out?” Niorun asked, obviously buying time. Angrboda must have scared the neighbors because the lights were off and no one was coming out to help us.
“They’ll be fine. They’ll wake up with massive headaches in a few hours. Stop wasting time, Dökkálfr. Tell Celestia to come out now.” She pushed the blonde with her wing and she bumped against me. Einmyria felt me while I froze. She had gray eyes and the same golden coloring as Eirik’s father, but that was all the resemblance I noticed. The second I opened my robe I’d be visible. I hoped she caught on fast and joined me.
I opened and indicated that she should join me under the cloak. Her lips turned up, and her eyes changed. A chill raced down my spine. She was smirking with glee.
“Please,” I whispered. “Come.”
Einmyria reached out, but instead of joining me, she yanked the hood from my head and pushed me toward Angrboda. I lost my footing and fell, rocks digging into knees. Tammy rushed forward to help me. Her eyes were red as though she’d been crying. She opened her mouth, but someone yanked her away. I looked up, expecting to see a dragon claw or teeth, but instead, I was staring into Einmyria’s eyes. I still didn’t understand the glee or the twisted smile.
“Run to the steps,” I urged her. “Please.”
“Never,” she snapped. “My life has been a living hell because of Eirik. And now I’m going to destroy everything he’s done and built, starting with you.”
Shock rendered me speechless as runes appeared on Einmyria’s body. She fisted her hand and hit my face so hard I saw stars. Before I could recover, a kick caught my ribs and white-hot pain shot through me. I scrambled away from her and toward Tammy, who was also reaching for me. Einmyria caught my leg and pulled me toward her. I tried to kick her, but I was no match for an Immortal with runic powers. Screams filled the air, and at first I thought I was the one screaming. Through a pain-induced haze, I saw Niorun, Hayden, Trudy, Olea, and Zack running down the steps to help me, but a blaze of fire stopped them. I curled up and blocked the next kick.
“That’s enough, child. She doesn’t have healing runes.”
“Too bad. I’m just starting,” Einmyria vowed, and I tranced, hoping to escape the pain.
“Disappear, Little Witch,” Angrboda ordered, looking straight at me as though she could see me in the astral plane. Her energy swirled around me, bending me to her will. “Float away and never return, because if you do, your little sister will be waiting in Eljudnir.”
~*~
EIRIK
Karle and I reduced their camp to flames, my grandmother’s army disappearing through portals, but she wasn’t with them. I roared, so frustrated I wanted to raze everything in my path.
Then I felt Celestia. She was in pain. “Let’s go.”
I shifted back into my human form, my suit adjusting and fitting my body seamlessly once more. I created a wide portal for Karle and me, and we burst into Niorun’s courtyard. The yard was littered with bodies of guards and women wearing white gowns. My eyes met my grandmother’s before moving to the blonde crying hysterically at her feet. In her arms was Celestia. I recognized her cloak.
The blonde cradled her as though shielding her with her body. Could she really be my sister? She must be protecting Celestia from my grandmother. Celestia had better be okay.
Since my grandmother was in her dragon form, I shifted back and moved closer, careful not to step on the guards. I could hear their heartbeats now. I noticed the others standing at the top of the stairs. They’d probably been too petrified to challenge my grandmo
ther. Tammy lay in a heap a few feet from my sister and Celestia. Her heartbeat was weak.
“That’s far enough,” Angrboda warned, but I didn’t stop walking. I needed to know Celestia was alive. I didn’t care what the old dragon did to me. I needed to hear her heartbeat. I even tried to find a thread of her energy.
“One more step and they’re both dead,” the old dragon warned.
I closed my eyes and felt for her. Instead of finding Celestia, she found me. I felt her gentle tug, and my chest constricted. She was weak but alive. I tugged back, opened my eyes, and studied my grandmother.
“If she dies, you die,” I vowed.
“Oh, stop being melodramatic. She’ll live.”
“What did you do to her?”
“Stopped her when she tried to take Einmyria away from me. Now you have to choose. You cannot have both. Your sister or this empty shell of a Witch?” She laughed as though enjoying a private joke.
I noticed Tammy on the ground to the right of my grandmother. She lifted her head and yelled, “She is not—”
Angrboda hit her hard with her wing, and I knew there was no way she was going to survive that. Hayden knew it too because she screamed and raced down the steps. Zack tried to stop her, but she was faster and stronger. Niorun caught her before she reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Choose, boy. Celestia or Einmyria.”
I sneered. “I’m not choosing. You will give them both to me or we all die here. Are you willing to die, Granny?”
“I’ve defeated death and risen from the ashes. Kill me, and I’ll rise again.”
“That was before our time,” a familiar voice called from behind me, and I turned to find Echo, Syn, Rhys, and Nara had returned. Echo continued. “We’ll personally reap your worthless soul and escort you to Corpse Strand.”
“You don’t have to be dead for us to do that either,” Rhys added. “That was actually the goddess’ plan, but Eirik convinced her to let you go because you were family. He actually believed that with time you’d see the errors of your ways.”
“He searched for you for months, hoping you’d sit down and talk,” Nara added.
“And Papa also told me he’d hoped you’d come back to Ironwood Forest and live with us,” Karle said. “Our people are lost and have grown weak since you left. The pups don’t train, and no one joins Utgard Guard anymore. I even hoped you’d teach me how to be a leader like you.”
“And I wanted to learn to be the fiercest dragon fighter like you,” Olea called out. “Karle only knows how to whip his tail and blow fire.”
I studied my grandmother’s expression as they talked. She blinked and appeared to waver. Then she glanced down at my sister and Celestia. My sister had stopped weeping and was staring at the reapers.
“No, you’re just saying all this to stop me from getting what I want. It’s not going to work. My clan fears me and my daughter hates me.” Angrboda plucked Einmyria with the claw on her right wing and Celestia with her left. The hood of Celestia’s cloak fell back and I saw her face. I wanted to howl with rage. She was bloodied, and her body was twisted at a weird angle.
“Choose one or both of them die,” she warned.
“No,” I bellowed. “You put them down and face me or we all die. I’m the one you want.” I let my berserker rage flood all my senses until I developed tunnel vision, and then I directed it at her.
Angrboda shook her head, starting to feel the effects. “What are you doing?”
“You know what I’m doing, you crazy, demented dragon.” I continued to channel the mad rage at her. Soon she wouldn’t contain herself. She’d be filled with wild fury and would need an outlet. “Come on. Fight me. Show me what you’ve got. You know I’m the one you are mad at. I bit you. I own you. All I have to do is command you and you have to obey, which I’m trying hard not to do because there’s dignity in fighting until you’re defeated. Put them down and fight me.”
She let out a roar, threw Celestia and Einmyria aside, and charged.
“Get them,” I yelled, but I really didn’t need to explain. Echo went to catch my sister while Rhys caught Celestia.
I whipped around and caught my grandmother with my tail, speed and strength runes blazing, and sent her flying across the yard. She hit the rock wall, taking part of it down and landing on the other side. I was sure I heard a few bones crack. I ran and jumped over what was left of the wall. She was up, waiting for me. We both charged at the same time. The ground shook as our bodies collided. I turned my head and took a chunk of her thigh, shattering bones. Then I flung her aside. I didn’t give her a chance to heal or recover. I shifted to my regular form faster than I ever had before, Gunnlögi leaping into my hand. I swung it, catching her on the side of her head. It catapulted her into the air, and when she came down, she couldn’t move. She shifted from dragon to her Jötun size. I raised the mace to finish her.
“Don’t, please,” she begged.
I hesitated, but the urge to ignore her was there. “I ought to kill you for what you’ve done to Celestia.”
“You must understand my position. I’m senile like you said and—”
“I don’t care. There’s no excuse for the things you’ve done.” I lowered my arm. “I’m done making excuses for you. Stay down,” I ordered her, bending her to my will without understanding how I did it. “Do not move. Karle,” I bellowed, and the dragon flew over the destroyed wall and landed beside me. He handed me the chains. “Tell Echo and Syn they will be escorting her back to Hel’s Hall.”
“What are you planning? Don’t send me to your mother. Please.” I threw the chains at her. “You lied,” she snarled as they wrapped around her. “Where’s the dignity in being wrapped in chains like a criminal? I was doing the right thing. Avenging my family, my husband. Your uncles and grandfather, Eirik. Our family. Don’t do this. What respect am I going to get after this?”
“You lost your dignity a long time ago, old woman. And you won’t care about respect where you’re going.”
Echo and Syn appeared beside us while my grandmother continued to protest. “Escort her to Helheim, but she must not enter Eljudnir. Spare my mother the pain of dealing with her. Put her on the boat for Corpse Strand.”
“It will be our pleasure,” Echo said, grinning and completely ignoring my grandmother. She was cursing them. “The goddess already prepared a room for her.”
“Good. Chain her to its walls.”
The Grimnirs grabbed her while she continued to scream at them and disappeared through a portal. My sister left the compound and ran toward me. Through the destroyed wall, I could see the guards stirring and sitting up. The women in white gowns weren’t.
“Where did she go?”
“She’s gone and she’ll never bother you again. Are you really my sister?”
The girl nodded. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, Eirik. Angrboda forced me to do it. She made me do a lot of bad things, or I would never have hurt her. I couldn’t fight back. I tried to, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was weak and she is so powerful.”
She wasn’t making much sense. Hurt who? “It’s okay. Mother said she was powerful, so don’t blame yourself.”
Einmyria launched herself at me before I finished talking and burst into tears.
“It’s okay. It’s over.” I kept trying to console her as I walked back to the gate.
Rhys sat on the ground with Celestia when we entered the compound, while the other three Grimnirs hovered. From their expressions, she wasn’t doing well. I made my way to her, Einmyria still clinging to my side.
“You need to ease her pain with runes, now,” Rhys said.
Three runic blades were thrust in my face. I glanced at Nara, Daiku, and Ranger and shook my head. “I have mine. I want her comfortable first.” I glanced down at Einmyria. “You need to let go so I can take care of Celestia.” Tears rushed to her eyes. “Please, don’t cry. I’m not leaving you.”
“That’s what my parents said before they left me. I had
to live with a stranger, and she was mean.”
Her response reminded me that there was so much I still didn’t know about her.
“I’d never leave you, Einmyria. You’re coming home with me.” I made eye contact with Rhys. “Bring her to the house.” He misunderstood and got up with Celestia. “No, I’ll take her. Bring Einmyria.” I had to peel her off me before taking Celestia. She refused to leave my side.
The others were gathered in the hall. Trudy and Hayden immediately flocked to me, pushing Einmyria out of the way.
“Stay away from her,” Trudy yelled back.
“You did this to her,” Hayden snapped too, pushing at Einmyria.
“I’m so sorry,” she cried, her eyes welling again. “Angrboda made me do it.”
“Liar,” Trudy yelled.
“I don’t believe you,” Hayden shouted at the same time. “She hurt Celestia.”
“Stop,” I snapped, and then I looked at Einmyria. “You hurt Celestia?” I asked, finally understanding her earlier rambling statements.
Einmyria’s face contorted in pain. “I’m so sorry, Eirik. Celestia came to help me, and I ended up hurting her. I tried not to, but Angrboda controlled my every thought and action.” She threw Trudy and Hayden a beseeching look. “Blame me if it makes you feel better because I blame myself a thousand times, but right now Eirik needs to focus on Celestia. She is seriously hurt, and if something happens to her”—her breath caught—“I’ll blame myself. Please, Niorun, give us a room or a bed to use while Eirik heals her.”
Niorun pointed down a hallway. “Follow me. There’s a guest room.” I started forward, confused, but there wasn’t time for that right now. I needed to focus on Celestia.
“Thank you,” Einmyria said. “She’s going to be okay, Eirik. She must or I’ll never forgive myself.” She glanced at Trudy and Hayden, who were following us.
Einmyria had recovered quickly from her ordeal. But then again, she was my mother’s daughter. I liked her take-charge attitude. She and Celestia might knock heads because Celestia was just as bossy.
Heroes (Eirik Book 2) Page 39
