The Wild Hunt

by Thomas Galvin

  “You are kind of underestimating the role the three men with guns played in all of this.”

  “No, I’m not. They came here because of me. Took you hostage to distract me, so they could steal something I brought into your home. All of this is my fault.”

  Miranda set the plate down on the counter, then bent down to collect one of its matching shards. “I think I might be able to glue this back together. It’ll have a crack, but hey, that’ll give it character.” She turned back toward me. “We’d be in danger even if you weren’t here, and there wouldn’t be anyone to blow up the bad guys.”

  “I don’t think your grandmother feels the same way.”

  “This is hard for her, Caden.”

  “That’s an understatement.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” Miranda said. “You don’t realize the effect you have on people, do you? What you mean. My grandmother has been a praying woman her entire life, but she’s never seen a miracle. Not until you showed up. And that’s hard. She suddenly has to face the fact that this world is a whole lot bigger, a whole lot weirder, than it was a few days ago. All of this,” she gestured around the room, “these are just things. She’s a tough old lady. She’s been through a lot, and she’ll get through this. But you, what you are, that’s gonna take some time to process.”

  “A miracle? You think that’s what I am?”

  Miranda laughed. “Let’s not get too full of ourselves. But Jesus, Caden, you can literally call down fire from the sky. Do you have any idea what would happen if you went on television and did that?”

  “Yeah, I have an idea,” I said. “A bunch of people would claim that I’m proof their god is real, and a bunch of other people would claim that I’m the Antichrist, and then there’d probably be a war.”

  Miranda gave me a weird look. “You don’t have a whole lot of faith in humanity, do you?”

  “I’ve known too many people to have faith in them. What about you? Why are you taking this so easily?”

  Miranda placed another fragment of plate on the counter, sliding it into place like a piece of a puzzle. She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess … my world is really small, Caden. I’ve lived in this town my whole life. Grew up here, went to college here, dropped out of college here, and now I run a hotel and a restaurant in the house my parents grew up in. I kind of thought my life was going to be like Gray’s Anatomy, get my medical degree, live in a big city, save lives in between banging hot doctors. Instead,” her voice got quiet, “here I am. And you, well, like I said, the world got a lot bigger when you showed up.”

  I laid a gentle hand on her arm. “You aren’t trapped here, you know.”

  Miranda wiped her eyes. A speck of dust, probably. “It doesn’t always feel like that.” She finished assembling the plate and turned around, forcing herself to smile. “See? Good as new. Ish. So what are you going to do about Ashlyn?”

  I leaned against the wall and thought for a moment. “Ashlyn, as far as I can tell, is gone. She’s possessed, and I’ve never seen an exorcism that doesn’t kill the victim.”

  “What about the rest of the girls?”

  “I’m really not sure. They aren’t possessed, they just have familiar spirits. But I’m not sure how long that’s going to last, either. Regardless, Holda is the one I have to worry about.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “I’m going to track her down and punch her until she gives in.”

  Miranda just kind of stared at me for a minute. “That’s … kind of a plan, I guess. A stupid plan, but it’s a plan.”

  “Hey, it’s gotten me this far. And I can punch really hard.”

  “Would you like some company on this little adventure? Or at least someone to take you to the hospital when it goes horribly, terribly, inevitably wrong?”

  “Thanks,” I said, yanking out a fork still embedded in the wall, “but tonight is a one-man show. I expect fireworks, and that isn’t a good environment for civilians.”

  Miranda perked up. “You could show me more of that warding magic.”

  “I will,” I promised. “After I confront the Viking hell beast double murderer Mean Girl.”

  “You’re no fun.”

  I waved my hand around the room. “Miranda, this is what happens when I have fun. It’s better for everyone when my life is boring.”

  ***

  The Asatru were pretty consistent about staying hidden until nightfall, so I spent most of the day helping Miranda in the kitchen. I began to prepare myself an hour or so before sunset, summoning the Æther, letting it wrap around me and infuse me. I bet Miranda would have loved to learn that trick, but I didn’t want her getting any ideas. I made one final adjustment to the armor, an enchantment that would hopefully counteract Holda’s telekinesis, and headed out.

  The sky was red fading into purple when I left the bed and breakfast, the gold coin and leather satchel hanging from my rear view mirror like fuzzy dice, except they were standing at attention, pointing me toward Holda and her Valkyries. I couldn’t travel in a straight line–the Department of Public Works hadn’t been thoughtful enough to build a road that led directly to the ancient demon’s secret lair–so I spent the next hour traveling in smaller and smaller circles, eventually closing in on Tiger Mountain State Park. I drove as far into the forest as the Jeep allowed, but eventually had to abandon my vehicle and start hiking.

  The moon was still mostly full, letting me walk without a flashlight. Anything that cut down on how visible I was was a plus. One of these days I’m going to have to shell out for some of those fancy night vision goggles. I spend way too much time bumbling around in the dark, and I don’t want to get eaten by a grue.

  The tracking spell led me nearly to the base of the mountain itself. Six peaks stretched up toward the heavens, solid gray against the starry sky. The coin dangled in front of me, pointing like a bloodhound. I followed it through the woods and into a glen.

  The coin promptly flipped around, smacking against my wrist and pointing right behind me. I frowned at it and turned around, but the coin repeated its little trick, pointing behind me again. No matter how I turned or where I walked, the coin pointed toward the empty center of the clearing.

  “Damn it,” I muttered. Holda must have taken the Asatru to the Otherworld, and that meant two things. One, the ritual that had summoned her had given her a lot of power; rending the Veil is never easy, and creating a rift big enough to carry five full-grown adults through is an epic undertaking. So that was comforting. But also kind of irrelevant, because two, I had no way of finding them. There are people who can pass between worlds, but I’m not one of them. I was going to have to–

  “You’re looking for the Queen of the Snow,” a voice came from behind me. I screamed–a war cry, thank you very much, and quite certainly not the terrified shriek of a man-child who had thought he was alone–and whipped around, dropping the coin and raising my hand, ready to blast whatever was about to attack me.

  The coin skittered to the center of the clearing and sat there humming. I searched the glen with my eyes, but couldn’t see anyone else. I dismissed the ball of blue fire I had been holding and focused my magic into my armor instead. “Who’s there?”

  “My name is Esmeralda.” The voice came from behind me. I spun around again, facing the center of the clearing, and saw a small girl, maybe five or six years old, crouched over the coin. She was dressed in rough fabric, like burlap, and had her back to me. “I’m a Moss Maiden.”

  I walked forward slowly. Sure, Esmeralda looked innocent, but anyone who’s ever seen a horror movie can tell you not to underestimate creepy little girls with their backs turned toward you. “A Moss Maiden?”

  “We live in the forest,” she said, not lifting her eyes from the coin. She had a voice like phantom wind chimes. “Or we did, before the Snow Queen came.” She finally looked up at me. Her eyes were too big for her head, almost like a cartoon character, and incredibly sad. “She hunts us. For sport. My family ran awa
y, but I was separated from them. Her wolves almost got me, but I hid in a hallow until sunrise.” She looked away, toward the mountain. “They’ll be back, though.”

  “Jesus, she hunts you?”

  The girl turned her watery eyes back to me. Her hair and skin were, I realized, pale green. “She hunts you, too.”

  “Not tonight,” I said. “Tonight, I’m hunting her.”

  The girl cocked her head to the side. “You’re a fool.”

  “Probably. But I’m also the only one who can stop her. A friend of mine is in danger. Hell, this whole city is in danger.”

  “Mortal man can’t stop the Snow Queen,” the Moss Maiden said. “She has powerful magic.”

  “I’m not exactly a slouch at magic myself,” I said. “Where do you think that came from?”

  Esmeralda snatched the coin off the ground and held it in front of her face. “This led you here?”

  “Yeah, fat lot of good that did me. Holda, um, the Snow Queen, slipped into Otherworld, and I can’t–”

  “It’s beautiful. Can I have it?”

  She looked up at me with those big, watery, hopeful eyes, and damn it, I just couldn’t say no. I’d be a terrible father. My little girl would have a Maserati the day after she got her license. “Um, sure, go ahead. It’s not helping me.”

  “What do you mean? It led you to the Snow Queen.”

  “Well, it led me to where the Snow Queen disappeared, but I was really hoping to punch her in the face tonight. So unless she comes out and grants me an audience …”

  The Maiden stuffed the coin into her dress and cocked her head again. “Were you struck on the head?”

  “I, what?”

  She stared at me like I was an exceptionally slow sea cucumber. “The coin–oh, that’s right. You can’t see the path. The Snow Queen can see all of the folds in the Veil, so they’re no use when I’m hiding from her. I forgot you aren’t as clever as she.”

  “Hey! I–”

  “But it’s okay, I can show you, if you want.”

  “What? You mean you can help me cross the Veil?”

  “You’ve already crossed over, you just don’t know it yet. Here, let me show you.” She ran over, moving with frightening speed, and grabbed my hand. As soon as she touched me snow began to swirl around us, and when it cleared, a path had opened in the trees, leading toward the mountain. “The veil is very thin here. You just need eyes to see the holes.”

  I blinked and stared at the path. The moonlight couldn’t penetrate the canopy, leaving it in shadow. I walked toward the gloom automatically, as if drawn by gravity.

  A terrible shriek tore from the darkness. An instant later, darkness detached itself from the shadow and hurled itself at us.

  The creature was a bat, kind of. It had a ten-foot wing span, and its eyes glowed dull red, but the general shape was the same. I flinched, taken entirely by surprise, and began to summon a ward.

  I was too slow. Esmeralda moved, so fast I had trouble following her, and produced a tiny, gleaming dagger. She hurled it with startling accuracy, embedding the metal right between the creature’s eyes. The bat fell to the ground, squawked, twitched, and became still.

  “I don’t like them,” she said. “They’re mean.”

  I stared at the tiny green terror. “I can see that.”

  Esmeralda looked up at me. “Are you really going to kill her? The Snow Queen?”

  “I’m going to try.”

  She ran forward, again moving with shocking speed, and wrapped her arms around my leg. “Good luck.”

  “I, uh,” I said, trying to extract myself from her grip, “thanks.”

  The Moss Maiden stepped back and watched as I walked into the darkness.

  The path’s first hundred yards were dark but otherwise normal. It wasn’t until I got deeper into the forest that it started to change, that it became apparent that I had walked into Holda’s section of the Otherworld. The ground in Tiger Mountain State Park was covered in frosty grass, but here the ground was barren. The forest had been mostly evergreens, but here the trees were black and twisted, like they had been fed a steady diet of poison. The branches were hooked like a hag’s arthritic fingers and covered in thorns. Shining red apples hung just within reach, but I knew that eating one would be a fatal mistake.

  I summoned the Æther to light my path, but my magic could only penetrate a few feet of the oppressive darkness. Roots reached up to grab my feet and branches fought against the wind to whip my face. I raised my arm and my shield and pressed forward.

  A rustling sound came from the tree line to my left. I focused more energy into my shield, turning just in time to see a boar come rushing out of the growth. The thing must have weighed five hundred pounds, all muscle and hate. It was covered in wiry black fur dripping with pitch. Its tusks were yellow, and the corners of its mouth trailed gore. Its eyes were smoldering red.

  The creature shrieked and lunged at me, jamming its knife-like tusks at my gut. My armor blunted the attack, but the sheer weight of the beast drove me off my feet and onto my back. The monster fell on top of me, its hot, stinking breath wet in my face, its bulk pressing down on me, and snapped at my throat.

  My armor shimmered and I slammed my hand against the boar’s head. I channeled my fear and my fury into a white-hot blast of pure force. The creature howled and thrashed its head, trying to get away from my light. I came up to one knee and threw another blast of blue-white energy at it, driving it back into the trees. I could hear it moving, just out of sight, circling me, trying to flank me. And then, quiet.

  The only sound was my own heartbeat, the only sight the skeleton outline of cursed trees. I waited, tense, ready. The beast burst out of the trees behind me, squealing, charging, stampeding toward me, flipping its head left and right. I whirled around and threw both hands forward. The boar slammed into twin columns of burning light. It reared back on its hind legs, rolled to the side, and tried to trample me down.

  Its hooves, which appeared to be made of iron, slammed against my leg. The air around me shimmered. I rolled backward and raised my hand to assault the beast once more, but the creature rushed forward, slamming into me with its considerable bulk. I grunted and fell backwards, catching myself with one hand and raising the other to attack.

  The boar ducked under my arm and smashed into my ribs, lifting me off the ground and crashing me into a tree. The monster’s tusks slashed and hacked, and the tree branches wrapped and writhed around me. My armor shimmered like a tank full of piranha, protecting me from the assault, but I wouldn’t be able to keep the spell up forever.

  I gathered energy, pulling it deep into my core, then let it go with a shout. Blue-white fire rushed away from me, shredding the trees’ limbs and throwing the boar into the air. I landed on the dead ground, gasping for breath, and stretched my hand toward the creature.

  Magic lanced through the night and the air filled with the smoky scent of burnt flesh. Bacon, this thing was not. The boar screeched and flailed, but my light cut through it like a laser. The creature fell to the ground, bucked once, and became still.

  I brushed myself off and pressed on into the Otherforest. The trees began to clear about an hour later, and I emerged onto a barren path that led to the foot of the mountain. And there, sitting on a rock at the mouth of a cave, sat a Viking.

  The guy looked like Sean Bean in full Lord of the Rings regalia. His hair was long and reddish, and his jaw was covered with a scraggly beard. He wore thick leathers and heavy pelts, and a giant broadsword rested against his knee.

  He stood up, towering above me, and raised his massive sword.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The giant looked at me, alert and wary. “Who goes there?”

  I walked toward him cautiously. “Name’s Caden, and I don’t want any trouble. So if you don’t start none, there won’t be none.”

  “Are you lost, traveler?” the Viking asked, adjusting his grip on the sword.

  “Nope. Well, okay, kind of, bu
t I’m pretty sure that cave is where I need to be, so if you’d kindly step aside …”

  “Nay, friend. Down this path lies death, and that only for the fortunate. For this is the mouth of Frau Holda’s domain.”

  “Yeah, I was kind of banking on that.”

  The Viking looked at me quizzically. I was getting that a lot lately. “You know this is the lair of the Queen of Snow, yet you persist? Are you a fool?” I was getting that a lot lately, too.

  I shrugged. “Maybe, but I’m going forward one way or the other. Your call whether this turns into a fight.”

  “I have no quarrel with you, traveler. I seek only to warn those who would venture into Holda’s domain unaware. From this cavern rides the Wild Hunt, and within it dwell the Valkyries, friends of no man.”

  “Oh,” I said, “you’re one of the good guys. Well that makes this easier. What’s your name, buddy?”

  The Viking stood up straight, held his sword point-down in front of his chest, and said formally, “I am known as Eckhart, the Faithful.”

  “Nice to meet you Eckhart. I’m known as Caden the Well Endowed, and I plan to pick a fight with Holda.”

  Eckhart considered me for a long moment. “Many a man has wandered down this path, seeking boon or favor, but never has a man come to throw a gauntlet at the White Lady’s feet.”

  “There’s a first time for everything.”

  “And if I told you that certain death awaited you?”

  “Certain death awaits us all, Eckhart, but I don’t think she’s going to catch up to me tonight.”

  “You are either very brave or very stupid, friend.”

  “Can’t I be both?”

  Eckhart smiled and stepped aside. “Indeed. If your heart is set on this fool’s quest, I will interfere no longer. But blame me not when your doom befalls you.”

  “I hold you guiltless,” I said as I walked past him–sideways, just in case all his friendly talk was a ruse. But the Viking merely bowed his head as I passed, allowing me to enter the cave he not-so-carefully guarded.