The Legends of Orkney

by Alane Adams

  “Okay,” she said, sheathing her sword. “We’ll do it your way.”

  Sam eyed the stiff back of the Valkyrie as she marched ahead of them. Part of him resented her bossiness, but the other part, the intelligent part, recognized her usefulness. Geela radiated power. And wisdom. Something he sorely lacked.

  They continued until a dim circle of light appeared ahead—an opening with thick iron bars. The trail turned to the left. Creeping forward, they peered through the bars. They were looking down into Jormungand’s prison, a large underground cavern with rough-hewn walls and a vaulted ceiling that rose two stories. Long stalactites with sharp pointed ends hung down like jagged teeth. A circular pool of water was barricaded by more iron bars that stretched from floor to ceiling.

  The water roiled and bubbled in a frenzy of feeding. Sam searched for a glimpse of the creature, but he must have been drifting under the surface, devouring his latest catch. After a bit, the water calmed. Sam could make out a dark shape slithering underneath.

  He gripped the bars, standing on his tiptoes to peer down for a better look when suddenly the serpent reared upward, rising fifty feet in the air. Vicious jaws snapped at the bars, sending Sam sprawling backward. Mavery screamed, ducking her head.

  A set of red eyes glared at them over a long green snout. It was capped with a set of flared nostrils over a row of spiny teeth. The serpent’s body was covered in thick emerald scales. He let out a roar that rattled his iron cage. A forked tongue slithered through the bars, seeking prey to snag. Sam could feel the spray of his foul breath as he shrugged off Jormungand’s grasping tongue. The sea serpent battered himself against the iron bars. Then he dropped back into the water, circling around.

  They risked another glance. A fat padlock hung from the gate below.

  “There it is,” Geela whispered.

  Yeah. There it was. Fat lot of good it was going to do them. The lock was blackened with age and rusted over. Barnacles crusted the keyhole. Even if the key he’d taken from Fenrir fit, it was so rusted that it probably wouldn’t open. Not without some effort. And if he spent any time fiddling with it, Jormungand was sure to devour him.

  Sam looked at Geela. “Any ideas?”

  The Valkyrie stared intently at the lock, her golden brow furrowed. “None that guarantee I survive.” A cheeky grin brightened her face. “Finally, some real action. Be ready when I give the sign.”

  Before Sam could blink, she was gone, her sword held before her as she picked her way down a narrow trail carved into the side of the wall, just wide enough for one person.

  “What is she doing?” Perrin hissed.

  “I think she’s the bait. You and Mavery help distract Jormungand while I get the lock open and find the map.”

  “Where do you suppose it is?”

  They studied the beast’s lair. A rock shelf ran behind the pool under an overhang, marked with the worn indentation where Jormungand rested.

  “There.” Sam pointed to the back wall. He could just make out a set of markings in the recesses of the overhang. “If I can get through the gate, I’ll be able to read it.”

  “Why don’t you transport yourself the way you did with Fenrir?” Mavery asked.

  Sam flushed. “I’m not exactly sure how I did it. I can’t control it yet. I might end up inside its jaws.”

  “Look at her,” Perrin interrupted. “Is she crazy?”

  Geela had climbed down and stood outside the cage. She began to run along the edge, clinking the bars with her sword as she shouted, “Jormungand, you ugly sea monster, come meet your destiny!”

  The water bubbled and turned frothy. Geela came to the end, where the bars met the stone wall. She waited, holding her sword out while she waved at Sam to move with her other hand.

  “Go on, then,” Perrin urged, giving Sam a shove. “We’ll stay here and give you cover.”

  Sam began running down the trail, hoping he didn’t slip and break an ankle.

  The beast rose out of the water and towered over Geela. Glowering eyes like hot coals stared fiercely down at her. His forked tongue slithered out of his mouth, striking at Geela through the bars.

  Sam paused, transfixed by the sight of Geela pressed back against the wall. For a second, he thought she was going to be snatched up, but she ducked and rolled under the beast’s tongue and came up on the other side, driving him back with pointed jabs of her sword.

  Relieved, Sam hurried to the gate. The lock hung rusted and dull. He pulled the key from the pouch, but his hands shook so badly he dropped it. Bending to pick it up, he came face-to-face with the creature as he rose out of the water in front of him. Jormungand lunged forward, gnashing at the bars so hard the whole place shook.

  Perrin sent a bolt of green witchfire that bounced off his scaly head. Jormungand bawled and pulled back. Sam snatched up the key and shoved it into the lock, twisting it. The key didn’t budge. There was too much rust. As Jormungand circled back, he bumped up against the gate, shaking the bars of his cage and rattling Sam.

  “Watch out, witch-boy,” Geela called.

  Then she did an amazing thing. As she ran along the bars, she transformed herself into a swan, a beautiful white bird with a helmet of gold and matching breastplate.

  She slipped through the bars and flew straight up into the red eye of the beast. Geela’s swan form clawed and pecked at his eye, her sharp beak making Jormungand yowl with pain. The sea serpent snapped at her, chasing the nimble bird around his pen, one eye oozing a sticky green blood.

  “Come on, come on,” Sam muttered, jiggling the key. Stepping back, he sent a blast of magic at the lock.

  Nothing.

  He pulled on it, tugging with all his might. Frustrated, he let it drop. He needed something more.

  Closing his eyes, he centered himself. Sam imagined the key in the lock, the key that he needed to bring Odin back.

  Father Odin, he said as he quieted his mind, help me help you, help me open this lock.

  The chamber went silent. All Sam could hear was the beating of his heart. When he felt certain, he stepped forward, put his hand on the key, and turned it.

  With a click, the lock fell apart, shattering into pieces onto the ground, and the door swung open. Sam took two steps into the pen and then stumbled back as Jormungand roared out of the water, launching his long body toward him, screeching like a foghorn.

  Pushing his hands out, Sam called on his witch magic. He sent up a spray of water, blinding the creature and sending him backward until Jormungand hit the back wall.

  Geela landed on the ledge, transforming back into her human form. “Go. I’ll take care of this beast.”

  Sam ran, careful not to slip into the roiling pool. He bent low under the overhang. The back side of the lair was empty, except for scattered bones.

  On the far wall, he found the map. He ran his fingers over it, tracing the lines etched into the stone.

  It reminded him of a subway map with lines connecting to circles running in every direction. There were symbols and markings, like ancient hieroglyphs at each stop. Before he could make sense of it, a raspy tongue wrapped around his ankles and swept him off his feet.

  Jormungand dragged him across the ledge toward the water. He shouted for help, struggling to get free as he bounced over the rocks. Then Geela was there, stabbing her golden sword downward into Jormungand’s fleshy appendage. The serpent screamed in pain, releasing Sam and thrashing about in the pool.

  Overhead, the cavern rumbled and shook as the giant beast hit the bars hard enough to shake the floor. A stalactite fell from the ceiling and dropped into the water. The beast cried out again, whipping around in a circle in the water, and another spiked column fell, knocking Geela to the ground.

  “This place is coming apart,” Geela said, pushing off the debris. “You must hurry and read the map.”

  Sam turned back toward the map, but Mavery’s scream spun him around. The girls were huddled against the wall as one by one the bars fell into the water.
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br />   Jormungand surged upward, snapping his jaws at them. Geela was still struggling to free herself. Drawing the dagger at his side, Sam launched himself into the air onto the back of the creature. His jagged spikes were sharp, but Sam grabbed hold, scrambling up toward Jormungand’s head.

  Sam reached the spot behind the serpent’s small slitted ears and plunged the dagger down into his skull.

  Dumb idea.

  He should have aimed for a soft spot. The blade snapped in two as it penetrated the flesh and hit solid bone. Jormungand shook himself like a wet dog, flinging Sam off.

  He went sailing in the air and tumbled on the ledge. The serpent turned back to the girls. He reared his head back, opening his spiny-tooth-filled mouth wide, preparing to snatch them up. Perrin shielded Mavery, a ball of green witchfire in her hands, but it wouldn’t be enough to stop him from eating them both.

  Desperate, Sam blasted a stalactite with witchfire, knocking it loose, and then, using all his magic, he brought it down with as much force as he had. The pointed rock pierced the beast’s snout, skewering his jaw shut. Jormungand collapsed sideways, tumbling down to the ledge, half his body submerged. Blood-streaked bubbles foamed at his mouth as he gasped for air.

  There was no time to celebrate. Perrin and Mavery made it safely down as more stalactites fell from the ceiling.

  “We have to get out of here!” Geela shouted, limping because of a deep gash in her knee.

  “How?” Perrin asked. “The way we came in is blocked.”

  “We’ll find another way,” Geela said, herding them under the overhang as another rock crashed down. Sam turned to stare at the map, trying to make sense of it.

  “We have to leave,” Geela said.

  “But I can’t read it.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Geela pulled at him, but he resisted.

  “It does matter!” he shouted at her. “I have to bring Odin back, and I need to be able to read this map.”

  “We need to be looking for a way out of here, or we’ll all be dead.”

  “Then look while I try to decipher it.”

  He yanked his arm free and turned back to the map. It was a maze. A dark mansion scratched at the far right was the end. That must be where Helva was.

  He started at the beginning and traced a route. The maze began with two possible paths, each marked by a different symbol, one an open eye, the other a closed eye. He traced the line of the closed eye, but it ran into a dead end. He went back and ran his finger along the open-eye line. It ended in a junction with three more possible paths marked by different glyphs.

  The walls of the serpent’s prison shook with an ominous rumble as more stalactites fell. Sam began to sweat. Time was running out.

  The second set of glyphs looked like symbols from Rego’s rune stones: a funny looking F, a three-pronged Y, and a large X. He traced the large X, but it quickly dead-ended. He tried the funny F next. Its path crossed the three-pronged Y and ended. The three-pronged Y had to be right.

  He kept going, tracing and retracing and putting the correct symbols in his memory. There was a series of familiar celestial objects: lightning bolt, sun, crescent moon, and star. Which was it? His fingers flew over the lines as he traced his way to one dead end, and then another. Finally, he reached a row of animals: ox, horse, rabbit, snake, and raven. Aargh! There were too many.

  Sweat rolled down his temples as he struggled to trace the paths. He’d eliminated three of them when the overhang split with a loud crack, and spider-vein cracks spread across the wall, shooting out in every direction.

  “No!” Sam tried to hold the map in place as the wall crumbled in his hands. “I’m not done!” he shouted.

  He frantically searched for the last set of symbols on the map, but the rock wall shattered, crumbling to the ground, exposing an opening behind it. Sam dropped to his knees sifting through the rocks to put the pieces back together.

  Someone grabbed him by the collar and threw him forward into the safety of the tunnel. Geela pushed Perrin and Mavery in behind Sam as the cavern collapsed behind them in a crush of tumbling debris. Geela was struck on the head with a falling rock as she joined them.

  From inside the tunnel, the rumbling sound of the walls collapsing around Jormungand’s holding pen echoed. The Valkyrie kept pushing them along the tunnel. Too soon they came to the end. A solid rock wall greeted them.

  The girls sat down, out of breath. Geela staggered, blood streaming down the side of her face. Sam grabbed her arm as her knees went out, and she sank to the ground.

  Behind them, a whisper of wind touched his face.

  “What’s that?” Mavery asked, noticing it as well.

  “Shh, listen,” Sam hissed. Had the serpent followed somehow?

  No, not the serpent.

  Worse.

  Water.

  Rushing toward them.

  “Come on,” he said, calling Perrin and Mavery to him. “We have to break through this.”

  The three witches stood in front of the wall and began blasting it with an emerald blaze of witchfire. The rock wall appeared impenetrable. The wall of water rushed closer, growing louder. The breeze blew harder. The sea had come in and would bury them down here forever.

  Sam let his fury build in him, not willing to give in. He wasn’t finished yet. Not by a long shot.

  “Nemaste, nemaste, kin teali.” He pushed with every cell in his body, letting his magic flow through his fingers out toward the rock. It exploded in a burst of gray shards. Half expecting the sea to come racing at them from the other direction, Sam grabbed Geela’s arm as he leapt forward. Perrin took Mavery’s hand, and the four of them tumbled through the opening onto a polished marble floor, leaping ahead of the wave that crested behind them.

  They looked up at a sea of beautiful men and women staring at them in shock. From a coral throne, a man rose, wearing a crown of seashells. He carried a staff that looked like a large whalebone. He pointed the staff at the hole in the wall as the wave rolled in. Blue fire shot out, hit the water, and sent it backward. With a dazzling burst of light, the rocks regrouped and sealed up the hole.

  Sam turned to find the owner of the staff looking down at him. His eyes blazed with a blue fire that speared Sam in place. The man was old, his beard thin and pointed. He had knobby hands that gripped the staff he pointed toward Sam, as if he were about to sizzle Sam next.

  “Hey, sorry, we didn’t mean to intrude,” Sam began, but Mavery moved in front of him, planting her hands on her hips.

  “Hey, don’t you hurt my friend. Jasper said the sea god is the god of mirth and friendship.”

  The blaze in the sea god’s eyes died down, and a smile crinkled his face, deepening the lines as he knelt to Mavery’s level.

  “So I am. I’m Aegir. And who might you be?”

  “I’m Mavery, and this here”—she jerked her thumb at Sam—“this is Sam. He’s a Son of Odin, and, you know, that whole red sun thing was him,” she whispered.

  The sea god raised a thick eyebrow. “So it was. But it turned out okay in the end, didn’t it?”

  She shrugged. “Well, it did until a witch turned him into Sam-the-crazy-guy, and he killed Odin.”

  There was silence in the room as every merman and mermaid conversation came to a halt. Aegir straightened himself. Sam waited for the blue fire to cinder him into ashes. Aegir stared at him for several long seconds.

  “I see,” he said at last. “And why were you in Jormungand’s chamber? The serpent was banished to an eternity of isolation.”

  “Not anymore,” Sam said, risking getting to his feet. “He’s dead. And we’re on our way to Helva’s underworld to bring Odin back.”

  There were gasps from the assembled crowd. Even Aegir looked surprised at Sam’s words, though he said nothing.

  Behind Sam, Perrin spoke softly. “We need to get help for Geela. She’s not waking up.”

  The Valkyrie lay unconscious on the coral floor. Before Sam could move, Aegir waved a hand, and a
swarm of attendants lifted her limp body and carried her off. Perrin took Mavery by the hand and tugged her away to follow Geela.

  “We will speak more of this later,” Aegir said. “For now, rest, relax, and enjoy the company of my lovely daughters.”

  A row of giggling girls in varying heights stood behind Aegir. There were too many to count, at least eight or nine. They looked at Sam like he was fish bait.

  “Hi.” Sam smiled weakly as they swarmed around him and carried him forward into the room.

  Chapter 17

  In his raven form, few people noticed Loki lurking about. A raven was far too common a creature. Ruffling out his feathers, Loki scanned the busy streets of Ter Glenn. The Eifalian capital city bustled with shoppers. Carriages rambled up and down the cobblestone streets. The peace-loving Eifalians were oblivious to the threat marching downward toward them from the north, a wave of frost giants so fierce and angry that even Loki quaked at their massive forces.

  The thought of bringing the wrath of the Vanir down on the heads of the Eifalians made him quiver with joy. The two races had been bitter enemies for centuries. War was inevitable. How delightful to be the one to light the fuse.

  Loki studied the fair-skinned, long-limbed people that milled about in the streets. Everyone had a kind word for his or her neighbor, politely stepping aside to let another pass.

  His heart hardened as he remembered how Frey, God of the Elves, and from whom the Eifalians had descended, had taken his lovely wife, Angerboda, and encased her in a crypt of ice deep in the mines of Gomara under the watch of the black dwarves. No, the Eifalians would pay for Frey’s part in this. Let the god suffer as Loki had suffered these centuries with only the dead for company.

  Letting out a harsh caw, Loki launched himself out of the tree and flew up into the sky. Let them enjoy their day. Soon enough the Vanir would arrive and wipe them out of existence.