by Luna Hunter
“They’re digging down, you say?”
“Yeah, into the base of the mountain itself. Hell, even if they don’t steal anything I think the Falur will be pissed off enough to hang every one of us if they know we’ve tunneled the fuck out of the mountain.”
“The Library of Freya!”
“The what now?”
“The library!” I say again. “There’s a massive, sprawling library in the many tunnels underneath the mountain. Do you think that may be his goal?”
Nathan scratches the top of his head. “Maybe. Don’t know what he’d want with a bunch of books though.”
“We have to stop them. Right now. Before it’s too late.”
“How do you plan on doing that? Just march in there and tell Boris he should knock it off?”
“I’m climbing the mountain,” I say resolutely, “and warning Fenrir.”
“It’s too late for that.”
“It’s never too late. I have to do something. We have to do something!”
“And what do you suggest I do?”
“Try and stall Boris.”
“How?!”
“Think of something. You’re the swindler here, so swindle.”
“My swindlin’ a little rusty,” Nathan says. “Ah, fuck it. You’re right. Maybe this will give me some positive karma for a change.”
I stand up and hug Nathan. “You’re a good friend, Nathan. Stay safe.”
“So are you, Abby. Now go.”
I rush out the door, adrenaline pumping through my veins, and start the laborious climb up the mountain. I just hope Fenrir is still willing to see me, after the way we parted…
12
FENRIR
I SMELL her before she’s even in the room. Abigail. For a brief second I wonder if I’m just imagining it, the madness truly taking hold of me, but no, it’s really her.
I also sense fear. Not just fear but downright dread. I rush out my room and find her running towards me, sweat dripping down her brow, flanked by two guards on either side of her.
“Fenrir,” she cries, and I rush towards her, sweeping her up into my arms. I hug her tightly, my heart swelling.
“What is it?”
“They’re, they’re, we have to,” she says, gasping for air.
“Calm down,” I say. “Breathe.” I quickly nod at the guards, thanking them for their help, and take her into my room. Luckily there is one chair I hadn’t smashed in anger, and I sit her down upon it.
I let her breathe for a few seconds, kneeling in front of her. Her blue eyes are wide and filled with panic. “What’s going on?”
“The miners, they’re tunneling into the mountain, into the library, I think,” she says. “I didn’t know, I swear, but I thought you should know.”
Icy terror grips my heart. Surely this can’t be?
“What?”
She nods, her cheeks as red as fire. “Nathan told me they’ve been digging really deep, and he doesn’t believe they’re out for soil samples. The library is the only thing I can think of. Maybe it’s not too late to stop them.”
Fuck.
If what she says is true… this could mean the end for my father’s legacy. And mine. If the humans he allowed access end up being thieves… no one is going to forgive him for that. Clan Oskar will never let him live it down.
There will be hell to pay.
I stand up with a roar, my wings spread wide, my muscles flexed. If my room wasn’t already thrashed I’d smash it to bits. How could I have been so foolish, so blind?! It was my task to keep an eye on the dig, to check in on the humans, but my feelings for Abigail have clouded my judgment. I only had eyes for her, and was blind for the truth.
“Let’s go,” I grow, my voice throaty and low. “Now.”
Abigail stands up and practically jumps into my arms. I run out of my room, down the hall and dive into the shaft with her body wrapped around mine. We speed down the many tunnels, the wind rushing past us as I dive down faster than ever before. Abigail clings onto me, but she doesn’t complain.
I thought I’d never see her again. I had made my decision, and it was final. Yet here she is, in my arms once again.
No time to celebrate yet, though.
I fly down the long, dark shafts, straight down towards the library. I swoop down, barreling through the iron gate, only stopping in mid-air to orientate myself.
Air. Fresh air. Coming from the east.
Was it there yesterday? If I hadn’t been so focused on Abigail, could I have discovered this plot much sooner?
I follow my nose and fly as quickly as my wings will take me. The scent becomes stronger and stronger with every passing second. I turn the corner and my worst fears are confirmed.
“No,” I growl as I drop to my knees. “No no NO!”
Row after row of shelves have been ransacked. Books and papers are sprawled out all over the floor. Trampled. Destroyed. A huge gaping hole in the wall shows their point of entry. Those bastards have raided the Library of Freya, destroying millennia of knowledge, stealing god knows what.
All from right under my nose.
“Come,” Abigail says decisively as she helps me to my feet. “We have to chase them.”
“It’s too late,” I growl. “This is my fault.”
To my utter surprise, Abigail slaps me on the cheek. Not hard, but enough to get my full attention.
“Did you do this? No. So it’s not your fault. Boris did this. And we’re going to get that bastard. I’ll do it you don’t. Just fly me up there and I’ll do the rest!”
She stands in front of me, her hip cocked and her hand resting on it. Her blue eyes are filled with fire, daring me to disagree with her.
She has more spunk and fire in her than most Falurians. She doesn’t need an inner-dragon to breathe fire!
“You’re right,” I say. “You’re absolutely right.”
I open my arms and she hops on, parking her curvy body on mine. I kick off and fly through the tunneled out hole. How could I have missed such a giant operation? The only way I can redeem myself is if I bring every last one of them to justice. I speed upwards towards the light and reach the open air.
A bullet suddenly whirs through the air, and I have to barrel roll to dodge it. It grazes Abigail’s cheek, a thin red line appearing on her face. Pure, unfiltered hatred pumps through my veins. Hurt my mate and I won’t rest until I’ve turned you to ash.
“Take him out!” a voice yells.
I glance over my shoulder to see a barrel-chested, bearded man holding a rifle. A hail of bullet fire rains down on us. My body is impervious to their weak weaponry, but Abigail is decidedly not. I have no other option than to cover her with my wings and roll through the air, shielding her body with mine.
She clings to me, a mixture of fear and anger in her eyes. I hear the sound of boots hitting metal as the miners run into their shuttles.
“They’re getting away,” Abigail says. “Stop them!”
I glance over my shoulder and see four shuttles taking off, no doubt heading up towards the Observer. The loading docks are open and a multitude of guns are poking out, pointed straight at us. The moment I go to chase them, they’ll have a free shot at Abigail. I can’t accept that.
“What are you waiting for?!”
“I won’t risk your life,” I growl. “I’m not losing you.”
“Oh my god. Nathan!”
Abigail points at something over my shoulder, her voice trembling with fear. A figure lies crumples up on the ground, bloodies and broken. Nathan. Abigail tries to break free from my grasp and rush towards him, but I hold her down with all my might. I don’t let her go until the shuttles are a safe distance away, and I’m absolutely certain their guns can’t hurt her.
The moment I release her she scrambles to his side. “Please say something. Please, please Nathan, talk to me!” Her eyes are filled with tears as she hugs Nathan’s limp body. “I told him to stall them! This is my fault!”
“You didn’t
do this, it’s not your fault,” I say, repeating her words back to me.
Nathan slowly opens his eyes, and a smile forms on his lips. His nose is broken and there’s a gash on the side of his head, with blood seeping out, yet he looks almost pleased with himself.
“First smart thing you said so far, big guy,” he says with a cough.
“You’re alive!” Abigail cries.
“Of course,” he says weakly. “You think they’d get me down? Nah.”
The shuttles are now just blips in the sky – but they’re still well within my range. I loosen the straps on my armor and drop it to the ground, my entire skin rippling, the shift only a moment away now. All the rage, the fury, the anger inside of is going to unleash itself now.
It’s happening.
My body starts to grow, change, shift. Scales appear all over me as my hands turn to claws, and I can see my mouth and nose change into a dragon’s snout. Pure adrenaline courses through my vein as I finally release my dragon. I raise my head and breathe fire tens of feet high.
With a single flap of my wings I take to the air, my eyes locked on the target in front of me. In my dragon-form my vision is beyond perfect. The shuttles are minutes away from leaving the atmosphere, yet my wings are much more powerful than their weak thrusters.
I pick up speed and chase them down, like a hawk chasing its prey. Even from half a mile away I can see the shock on their faces as they see me approach, the panicked debate taking place inside the shuttle, the readying of their weaponry.
All pointless.
If I take down a shuttle, I risk losing the documents they stole. Who knows what knowledge will be lost? However, in my current state, I can’t worry about that anymore. I’d rather watch every single one of those shuttles crash and burn than have the information fall into the wrong hands.
They came here with a purpose. I do not know it yet, but I am certain it is a nefarious one.
The fact that they hurt Nathan and tried to kill Abigail only adds more fuel to my destructive fire. There’s no saving themselves from my wrath now. They’re going down.
Within thirty seconds I’ve caught up with the first shuttle. I scrape my claws across the side, tearing the metal walls right off. I glance inside, but no Boris Krupin to be found. The vehicle goes down in smoke, but I continue on. In two flaps of my wings I’ve caught up with the next shuttle, and I see through the front window the bearded face of the man whose bullet grazed Abigail’s cheek.
The fire rumbles in my stomach at the sight of him. My eyes see red as the fire builds into a raging inferno. I open my maw open wide and douse the shuttle in flames. The metal walls buckle under the intense heat, and the killers inside are cooked to a crisp. The empty husk tumbles down towards the ground, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake.
Two more shuttles are ahead of me – yet they’re almost out of my reach. The air is getting thinner, making it harder for me to generate enough lift. As powerful as I am, even I cannot fly in space.
I take a deep breath and spit fire as far I can, singing the tail end of one of the shuttles, but it’s not enough. The two shuttles break away, leaving the planet’s atmosphere, and head up towards the Observer.
I failed. Again.
Diving down back towards Audur’s surface I curse myself a thousand times over. I thought myself infallible, invincible, but the conniving humans have outsmarted me.
It will be the last time.
13
ABIGAIL
“STAY WITH ME, Nathan, come on. Stay with me!”
I hold him tightly in my arms, tapping his cheek to get his attention. “Keep your eyes open!”
He tries to talk, but only manages to cough up more blood. It’s dark, and the sight of it makes my stomach turn, but I have to stay strong.
“Save your strength,” I say. “They’ll be here any moment for you. Help is on the way.”
“W-wait,” he says, with great pain. “H-h-humans…”
“Humans?”
“F-f-first.”
“Humans First?”
He nods. “Y-yeah. Saw their t-tattoos.”
Those bastards are behind this, then. Humans First. That same xenophobic terrorist group was behind the cowardly attack on the Observer, that nearly incited a war between mankind and the Intergalactic Alliance. I’d thought the Federation would have rooted them out by now.
Fenrir swoops down from the sky, landing in front of me with a giant crash – though it’s not the Fenrir I know. Right now, he’s a giant, ruby-red fire-breathing dragon, with yellow eyes, and scales covering every inch of his body.
Yet, despite his menacing appearance, I can still see him in those gigantic eyes. I don’t see a big beast, but I see Fenrir. In a different, awe-inspiring form, but it’s still him in there.
He roars in anger, breathing a lance of fire tens of feet high, before shifting back into his humanoid form. It happens so quickly that if you blink, you just might miss it. One moment he’s a towering, imposing dragon, and the next he seems to shrink, and change, and suddenly he’s a very naked Falurian man.
No less imposing, by the way.
Other Falurians come flying down the mountain towards us, alerted by the battle that just took place. Fenrir managed to down two shuttles, but two more escaped. The sky is filled with smoke as the shuttles spiral down towards the surface. Try as I might, I can’t feel sympathy for the men on board. Not knowing that they hurt Nathan, my friend, nearly robbing him of his life.
If help doesn’t arrive soon, he’ll die right here, in my hands.
Jarl Dagur is first to arrive at the scene. When I first met him, in his throne room, which feels like a lifetime ago, he had a regal sense of calm. None of that is left now. His eyes are opened wide and filled with shock, the crown on his head askew.
“What happened here, in the name of Freya?!” he breathes.
“Boris betrayed us all,” I say. “Please help him!”
“Of course, of course,” he says. “Take that man to the healers!”
Several other warriors have now landed by my side, and they lift Nathan from my grasp and fly him back up the mountain at breakneck speed. Fenrir slips back into his armor and approaches me, his eyes set to kill.
“Fenrir?! What in the blazes?!” the Jarl bellows.
“The humans deceived us,” he says coolly. “They tunneled into the Library of Freya, they stole Freya knows what, and they made off with it to the Observer.”
Dagur’s wrinkled face loses every bit of color. “This can’t be,” he gasps. He leans on his knees for support. “The library… on my watch… I have failed…”
“No, I have failed,” Fenrir says decisively. “I was supposed to track their progress.”
Dagur waves him away. “Nonsense. If I hadn’t let them start digging, this never would have happened. I trusted Ambassador Vilmar, assumed the Alliance had properly vetted them. Ah, I’m turning into an old fool. My time as jarl is up.”
He grabs his crown and flings into the grass at my feet.
“You were right from the start, my son. You should lead the clan… by Freya, I can only imagine what that russin Oskar is going to have to say about this.”
“I cannot accept,” Fenrir says. “For you weren’t wrong. Humans are worthy of our attention.” His commanding eyes land on me. “If Abigail hadn’t warned me, if Nathan hadn’t called this to our attention, we might not have known about this until they were all the way back on Earth. We were deceived, yes, but all is not lost.”
“What are you talking about?” Dagur sighs. It seems like he’s aged a decade in the span of this conversation, as if the weight of all that has transpired has just landed squarely on his shoulders. “It’s over.”
“No,” I say, stepping into the conversation. “It’s not over. I will hunt Boris down to the edge of the universe if I have to. He won’t get away with this!”
Dagur seems visibly taken aback by my fiery outburst, and this causes Fenrir to break out into a smile
.
“A fierce one, right? I am with her,” Fenrir says. “We will find these bastards, and bring them to justice. Contact Ambassador Vilmar and tell them to under no circumstance allow the Rusty Weasel permission to leave dock. The Observer is a big place, but they can’t hide forever. A human will stand out like a sore thumb. We’ll find them. Together.”
I stand next to Fenrir and grab his hands, our fingers locking together.
“Very well,” Dagur says. “I will send word. You can take my ship, Fenrir, you know where it’s parked. Godspeed to you both.”
He picks up his crown and flies off without another word, a grim look on his face.
“He’s taking the news rather hard,” I say, still holding Fenrir’s hand. To be honest, I don’t want to let go. I thought I’d squandered my chance, and Nathan’s comments made me doubt own decisions. I don’t know anything about fate, bonding, elska, or any other fancy alien words you want to use… but I do know that being close to Fenrir feels right.
I feel safe, and protected, like we can take on the world. Even though we just barely survived a hail of bullets and we’re about to plunge ourselves deeper into the hornet’s nest.
Fenrir nods. “The library has stood untouched for millennia. Protecting that heritage is one of the most important duties as a jarl. He won’t forgive himself. All the more reason for us to catch these bastards. Come.”
Fenrir flies me to a shuttle bay that lies on the other side out of the mountain, situated in a large cave. Jarl Dagur’s cruiser is waiting there for us. It’s a long and sleek vessel, its wings built to look like those of a dragon. My overall is stained with Nathan’s blood, and Fenrir has some light injuries as well, but there’s no time to lose. We strap ourselves in and moments later we’re on our way, heading towards the Observer…
Ambassador Vilmar is already waiting for us at the docks. He too looks like he aged a decade since I last saw him, with many deep lines etched into his face. When I first met him I was very impressed with his size and apparent strength, but now that I’ve been on Audur, I notice a few striking differences between him and the Falurians down on the surface. Of course, Vilmar’s lack of wings is most apparent, but Vilmar is also a tad shorter and leaner than Fenrir.
