by E. G. Foley
“I think…I may have an idea,” Jake answered uncertainly.
Earlier, back on the boat, he recalled the giant white arms of ice that had wrapped around the cliff-like gate of Valhalla, all the way down to the water.
With all the trouble from the Valkyries, he had barely paid attention to the playful penguins frolicking around the glacier.
“Well, what is it? Don’t keep me in suspense!” Archie cried as they reached the edge of Valhalla and slowed their blowing horses.
“There!” Jake pointed at the penguins sunning themselves on the top of the glacier.
As Archie glanced over, furrowing his brow, one of the penguins hopped over to a smooth, silvery-blue hole in the upper end of the glacier.
The comical bird flopped onto its belly and slid into the hole with an eager squawk.
Archie turned to him. “The penguins have an ice slide!”
“Exactly,” Jake said in relief. He flung himself down off his horse and ran to the hole in the glacier, Archie right behind him.
“Go!” Jake waved his younger cousin into the ice-slide first. There was no time to lose. “Yell loud on the way down so Red and the giants hear you coming. They’ll catch you.”
“If I don’t break my neck,” Archie muttered as he climbed feet-first into the penguins’ slippery ice tunnel.
“Beats getting eaten by those dogs.”
“True.” In a seated position, Archie folded his arms across his tool-bag, hugging it protectively against his chest. “All right, I’m ready. Give me a push, coz.”
Jake planted his hands on his cousin’s shoulders and shoved him hard; Archie let out a yelp as he went slip-sliding down the luge on his back, feet-first.
Archie whooshed out of sight into the ice-tunnel, his hollers, half-excited, half-terrified, streaming out behind him.
Meanwhile, the barking of Odin’s hounds and the footsteps of the angry Thor were getting louder. In another moment, they’d be upon him.
Jake waited as long as he dared to give Archie a head start so they didn’t crash inside the glacier, but he had to get out of here now. The penguins squawked indignantly as he cut in line ahead of them and jumped feet-first into the hole at the top of their ice-slide.
He gave himself a push, shoving off from the top of the round hole with the ice stinging his bare hands. But in the next moment, he was zooming down the slippery aqua-blue tunnel at impossible speeds, arms folded.
Whoosh! Whoom!
He slid up the walls a bit as he went careening toward the sea. His heart pounded. The wind whipped his cheeks and blew his hair as he hurtled down the twisting, turning slide through the middle of the glacier.
Jake could not decide if this was the most terrifying experience of his life or the most fun he’d ever had. He was moving so fast he could hardly see anything. Tears from the wind of his speed stung his eyes. He felt totally out of control.
Then he glimpsed daylight ahead, and in the next second, came shooting out into the empty air.
“Caw!” Red saw him coming and realized he was going to overshoot the boat. The Gryphon flew swiftly to intercept him, grabbing the back of Jake’s coat just in time to save him from a tumble into the frigid waves.
Red dropped him in the Viking boat beside the waiting Archie, who was already wrapped in a blanket and beaming now that he’d recovered from the terror. Jake knew exactly how he felt.
Snorri and Kaia were still battling the Valkyries. By now, even the powerful giants looked exhausted. “Go, go, we got the answer! Let’s get out of here!” Jake yelled to them.
“Sounds good to me,” the princess muttered.
“How long have we been gone?” Jake asked her as she whacked another clawed hag into the waves.
“About an hour and a half. See all the fun you’ve been missing?”
Jake snorted, but Red took Snorri’s place in the battle with a roar so that Snorri, in turn, being the strongest, could take up the oars again.
With all his remaining strength, Snorri began to row, pulling the long-ship away from the flock of vicious harpies.
Thankfully, Odin’s angry battle-maidens did not pursue them past the narrow strait between the tall cliffs. As soon as Kaia’s royal dragon-boat hit the open seas, the Valkyries let them go, content that the intruders were finally retreating.
And so, they escaped Valhalla with their lives—and with the answer to Loki’s riddle.
As the ship barreled through the tossing waves, Jake kept looking over his shoulder, waiting for Thor to appear, but he never did. At least not yet.
Perhaps Thor’s chief concern right now was finishing up his typhoon in the Pacific. But as an immortal, Odin’s fierce firstborn had all the time in the world to hunt down the intruders, and worse, he had seen Jake’s face.
Aye, after their trespass into his father’s palace, Jake had a grim feeling they had not yet seen the last of the thunder god.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
To the Victor, the Spoils
“Quarter to nine!” Archie yelled, glancing at his fob-watch.
Washed in morning sunshine, the shores of Jugenheim were in sight. The twelve hours given for the final challenge in the contest were almost expired.
“It’ll be close,” Princess Kaia murmured, hauling on the oars right along with Snorri. She had Archie’s paper with the etching of the runes tucked into the neckline of her gown. She had translated the symbols easily, revealing to them in awe the sacred name of Odin’s throne.
Snorri could barely pronounce it. Jake hoped their shepherd friend didn’t butcher the long Viking word when the moment came for him to give Loki the answer.
“It’s so far,” Snorri panted. “We’re not going to make it.” Even for a giant, he had to be exhausted after so many hours of rowing to Valhalla and back again.
“We’ll do it,” Jake encouraged him. He cast about to find within himself some of the Vikings’ type of bragging to bolster up his allies’ courage. “We’ve come this far, haven’t we? I can’t wait to see the look on Loki’s face when he realizes we’ve solved his unsolvable riddle!”
That cheered them up a bit.
“Aye,” Snorri agreed. The clock kept ticking as the giant gave a final heave on the oars and brought Kaia’s royal dragon boat up to the wooden dock.
“Just go!” She waved Snorri on. “I’ll take care of the boat! My father’s great hall is about five miles away. You’ll have to run to get there in time. Hurry! We’ll be right behind you. Good luck!”
Snorri didn’t argue. The whole ship rocked when he jumped out onto the land. Jake and Archie fell and rolled around in the bottom of the boat. Climbing to their feet a moment later, they could still hear his footfalls thundering in the distance as he sprinted off through the forest.
Princess Kaia lowered the sails, then threw down the anchor. “Let’s go, boys!”
Jake did not know where she found the strength to run after her battle against the Valkyries and their long, draining journey across the sea.
The cold alone had exhausted him and Archie.
Fortunately, Red still had enough energy to give the boys a ride. When they climbed onto his back, the Gryphon kept pace with the princess, flying beside her.
Her yellow braids whipped behind her, as thick as the ropes on a ship of the Royal Navy. Her bow and quiver of arrows bounced against her back. The ground shook beneath her feet. With the enormous stretches of ground that she covered with every running stride, Red was hard pressed to keep up.
Luckily, they arrived outside her father’s great hall just as the sundial in the middle of the village pointed a shadow onto the nine.
“Time’s up,” Archie murmured, confirming it with a final glance at his fob watch.
Kaia strode through the crowd of people who had come to see the outcome of the contest and to learn whether Gorm or Snorri would be their next king.
The villagers parted to let the princess pass. Meanwhile, Red landed on the giant handrail where Jake ha
d taken his dinner the night before. It gave them a good vantage point of all the proceedings and safeguarded them from the danger of getting stepped on.
Jake gave the Gryphon a grateful pat as the boys slid off his back, then all three of them waited to watch matters unfold.
Princess Kaia joined her father, King Olaf, on the same raised platform where the riddle had been given—and where the Ice Wizard now waited.
Loki. Jake narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the trickster god in his shaman disguise. He had better not try any funny business.
The Master of Ceremonies nodded to one of the king’s guards.
The Viking warrior stepped forward and blew into a great horn, calling everyone to attention.
The king and most of the giants looked rather groggy.
When the summoning notes of the horn faded, the Master of Ceremonies lifted his baton. “Ladies and gentlemen, the time for the final challenge has expired!” He gestured grandly toward the crowd. “Let the contestants come forward!”
They did: Snorri the Shepherd, looking nervous and exhausted; and Prince Gorm, wearing a dark scowl that barely covered his panic. He kept glancing around like he wanted to fight anybody who looked at him wrong.
As the two rivals stepped up to the platform, Jake noticed Gorm’s band of followers huddled nearby. They were exchanging whispers, sending evil looks toward the Ice Wizard.
Jake instantly suspected they were plotting something.
Maybe the brawny bullies thought they could take on the sorcerer if, or rather when, their leader Gorm lost the contest. Which just went to show that they still had no idea who they were really dealing with.
Standing beside her father, Kaia gave Snorri a private nod, looking scared but hopeful.
“This is nerve-racking,” Archie whispered. “What if we got it wrong?”
Jake gave him a dirty look, the only fitting answer for his last-minute doubts. This was no time to say such a thing!
Ignoring his cousin, he folded his arms across his chest and continued watching the proceedings.
“Gentlemen!” the Ice Wizard called with a note of glee in his voice. “Time’s up. So I ask you once again: What has four wings but doesn’t fly, stands twelve feet above the pool but never swims, and though surrounded by wisdom, is often vacant?”
The words of the riddle now made perfect sense to Jake, but the rest of the crowd mumbled, as baffled as ever.
“Which of you will be the first to give your answer?” Loki asked in anticipation.
“Prince Gorm deserves that honor,” Kaia spoke up quickly. “After all, he is a prince. Snorri is but a lowly shepherd.”
Gorm obviously did not want to go first, but he could not escape the privilege due to him because of his high rank. Especially after the way he had been rubbing it in Snorri’s face since the day the tournament began.
The Master of Ceremonies turned to Gorm. “Very well, Your Highness. What is your answer, Prince Gorm? Speak it loudly, please, so all can hear.”
“Yes, do,” the Ice Wizard drawled.
Gorm cleared his throat with a wince of excruciating awkwardness. Indeed, the uncomfortable look on his face seemed to suggest that the warrior giant would have rather been in the jaws of Old Smokey at this moment, rather than standing there having to answer a brain-twisting riddle.
“Ahem, can I ask a question?” he said, probably stalling for time.
“If you must,” the Ice Wizard replied impatiently.
“What happens if the dummy and I both get it wrong?”
“Hey!” Kaia protested.
“Why, then, I win, of course!” Loki answered. “In that case, you both forfeit, as I said.”
“That’s not going to happen, though. Is it, Gorm?” King Olaf warned. “You promised me you’d find the answer.”
“Yes, er, sire. I believe I have.”
“Well?” Loki prompted. “I haven’t got all night! Chop-chop! What is your answer?”
“It’s, um—” Gorm faltered, but his friends started cheering him on, and he found his courage again. “The answer is… Yggdrasil!”
Jake stifled a snort.
Everyone looked at the Ice Wizard.
Who smiled from ear to ear. “No. I’m afraid that is incorrect.”
Gorm let out an angry growl while King Olaf drew in his breath sharply. The giant king wobbled a little, as though he might well faint. “My kingdom!” he croaked.
It all rested on the village idiot now.
Loki-as-Ice Wizard turned to the hapless shepherd with a sly, snaky smile. Clearly, the trickster god was enjoying this.
He’d already tricked Snorri once, after all, down in Midgarth. “And for our second contestant…”
The crowd began to whisper among themselves: “He’ll never get it! We’re all doomed!”
“Snorri, speak your answer loudly so everyone can hear!” the Master of Ceremonies instructed once again.
Snorri drew himself up with a visible gulp. Jake could see him mentally practicing how to say the complicated name. He took one last, longing glance at Kaia, as if to bolster his resolve.
She nodded at him.
“Tick-tock,” Loki said in rude impatience.
“The answer is…” Snorri took a deep breath, then shouted: “Hlidskjalf!”
Silence.
“Bless you,” someone in the crowd offered.
“It wasn’t a sneeze, it was my answer,” Snorri said. “Hlidskjalf,” he repeated, his voice sounding more confident. “The name of Odin’s throne!”
Everyone turned to the Ice Wizard, whose face contorted with shock, which quickly turned to rage. “What? How?! How do you know this? You can’t know this!” he hissed at Snorri.
“You mean he’s got the right answer?” King Olaf shouted in disbelief.
Loki couldn’t even speak. He was too furious.
“It is the right answer!” Snorri informed the whole crowd. “And I can tell you why. Odin’s silver throne overlooks a crystal pool where he can watch everything going on around the world. It’s surrounded by wisdom, because his throne sits in the center of Odin’s home, and he is the god of wisdom. The throne has two dogs and two ravens carved on it—that’s twelve feet standing above the pool. The two birds have two wings each—four wings—but they’ll never fly, because they’re statues.”
“H-how do you know this? You went to Valhalla?” Loki stammered in outrage.
“None of your business!” Jake yelled, sensing the time was right for one of the winner’s coaches to speak up on his behalf. “Snorri gave the right answer! That’s all you need to know. He won fair and square despite your trickery, and there’s nothing you can do about it now!”
“You!” The Ice Wizard turned and glared at him. “Cake…”
“That’s right, we’ve met before,” Jake flung out.
“What are you doing here? You’re not allowed in Jugenheim!”
“Neither are you! Or shall I tell them who you really are?”
Loki narrowed his eyes at him in warning. “How dare you interfere in my plans? You cheated!” he accused him. “You gave this dolt the answer, didn’t you?”
“It was a team effort, which is perfectly within the stated rules,” Jake retorted. “The contestants are allowed to work together with their coaches and advisers.”
“You’re the one who cheated!” Archie chimed in. “Giving them a riddle that was meant to be unsolvable! Why don’t you try playing fair once in a while?”
“What fun would that be?” Loki shot back. “I’ll get you for this. You think this is over? You’ll be sorry—all of you!”
“You’re just mad because you lost. Now, go away!”
“You heard the dwarves!” the king agreed. “I think it’s time the Ice Wizard returned to his home glacier.”
“Go…home! Go…home!” the giants started chanting, waving their arms in rude goodbyes, and booing the Ice Wizard until he got so angry he disappeared in a sudden Poof! of smoke.
“And don’t come back!” Snorri hollered.
As soon as he was gone, the giants’ boos turned to cheering.
For Snorri.
Jake and Archie beamed as their humble shepherd friend finally got the recognition he deserved.
Snorri smiled bashfully at everyone and scratched his baldish head in self-consciousness at all the attention.
The only one still angry was Prince Gorm, especially when the king turned to Snorri. “Well, my boy, it appears, against all odds, you are the winner. You have won this competition fair and square—”
“Fair and square?” Gorm shouted. “He was disqualified in the first round!”
“Well, Gorm…” The king looked over at him in surprise. “You’re the one who insisted he be let back into the contest.”
“Just so you could make fun of him!” Jake reminded him. “You treated him like a joke, but now he’s beaten you! Too bad!”
“Jake!” Archie muttered, grabbing his arm to rein him in. “Stifle it before you start a fight!”
“The dwarf speaks truly. Come, Snorri.” King Olaf beckoned the winner up onto the platform. “Take your rightful place.”
“This is ridiculous!” Gorm exclaimed as Snorri mounted the steps to the platform. “Sire, this is no way to run a kingdom!”
“Mind your tone when you’re speaking to your king!” Kaia warned him.
Gorm glared at her from the ground before the platform. “This is all your fault, you spoiled princess! If you would’ve agreed to marry me from the start the way you should have, all this could have been avoided! Now you’re stuck marrying a dolt! Well, you got what you deserve!”
“For your information, you braggart, Snorri the Shepherd is far superior to you!” she shot back.
“I am?” Snorri echoed.
“Oh, really?” Gorm barked. “And why is that?”
“Snorri has a giant-sized heart! All you’ve got is a big mouth.”
Gorm glared at her, then huffed away, his weapons clanking at his sides. His followers hurried after him, but he was so angry that he waved them off.
When he had gone, King Olaf turned to the victor. “Now, then. Snorri the Shepherd, the Norns have woven your destiny! You will be my successor and our people’s next king. This very night, you shall marry my daughter—”
