by Alane Adams
Then he thought of Mavery’s face, and shame rose up in him. Mavery and Perrin had risked their lives for him over and over again. How could he have hesitated for even a second? “I’ll do it,” he said, stepping forward. “I’ll give it to you.”
Geela slumped, her shoulders drooping as she sheathed her sword. “They wouldn’t want you to. They would understand.”
They might, but he wouldn’t be able to live a day knowing he could have saved them and didn’t. Sam looked at Helva. “I have your word we can leave, all of us, safely, if I give you my magic?”
She nodded. “Agreed.”
He had failed to find Odin, but he could save his friends. He nodded at Helva. “Then do it.”
The pair of canaries started shrieking, as if they were jeering at Sam. Helva crooked her finger, muttering some words to herself as the bony digit curled back and forth.
Sam jerked as she clawed his magic out. It felt as if a part of his soul was being ripped from him. His arms spread wide, his chest sucked forward, as his head flung back from the force of her attack. Waves of electric energy rolled off of him, and then a green vapor trailed out of his mouth.
His jaw widened into a silent scream as magic poured out of his veins and formed a snaking trail across the room to her. She inhaled it, sucking it deep inside her. The hazy cloud swirled around her half-open neck. He was frozen in place, unable to move as she crooked that finger over and over. It took an eternity, but the last wisp of magic left him.
She put her hand down, and he dropped to his knees, shattered, broken, as if he were alive but his heart had been removed from his chest.
Her one good eye was closed, and her hands gripped the chair tightly as her chest rose and fell.
“This is amazing,” she breathed, and then she laughed, her eyes opening as she leapt to her feet. “Look at me!” she cried, sending a blast of witchfire into the fireplace, disinte-grating the logs and turning the orange blaze to a glowing emerald. She sent another blast at the curtains, turning them to piles of crumbling ash. The windows were false, revealing solid block walls cemented over.
Geela kneeled by Sam. “Are you okay?”
He almost laughed. Was he okay? He was nothing without his magic. Not whole. Not even close, but he just gritted his teeth and nodded. “Let’s get out of here.” He rested his hand on Geela’s shoulder. “Time for you to keep your end of the bargain,” he said to Helva. “Give us our friends, and send us home.”
“Very well, come along. They aren’t far.” She glided out of the room, her dress trailing behind her. She walked as if she floated above the ground.
“Come on,” Geela said, shouldering most of Sam’s weight. “I’ve had enough of this place.”
Turning away from the entry, they followed her down a long corridor to a wide set of stone stairs that led down to a dark abyss. She didn’t slow down, stepping quickly, expecting them to follow. As she walked, torches lit up on the walls as if they sensed her presence, and they went out after she passed. There wasn’t much to see. It was a long narrow hallway lined with crumbling bricks under a curved ceiling. When Sam looked closer, each brick had a name and a date carved into it.
“What are these bricks?” he asked, touching one. As his finger stroked the surface, an eye opened up on it, and he reeled back in horror. Around them, every brick came awake, a single eye in each watching them, following them as they moved along.
“Something’s not right,” Geela muttered to Sam. “She’s making this too easy.”
Sam was too busy avoiding looking into any of the creepy eyes.
“A shame about Odin’s scar,” Geela said loudly to Helva.
The queen of the dead laughed, never breaking stride. “Losing an eye to that fool, Mimir, and then an ear to a mere boy. What’s next, an arm to my pet Garm?”
Geela stopped in her tracks. “We never told you he lost an ear.” Her sword appeared in a flash of gold in her hand.
Helva paused, turning slowly so her good side faced them.
“Didn’t you? Well, I must have heard it over the grapevine. The dead love to tell me all the dirty gossip.”
“No, you’re lying. Odin is here.” Geela took a step forward, holding the sword before her. “Where is he?”
“I really couldn’t say.” Her voice remained neutral, but the skin on her jaw tightened, signaling her displeasure.
“Can’t or won’t? What about our friends?” Sam asked, fear draining his remaining energy. Had he given up his magic for nothing? “Are you taking us to them?”
“Oh, that. Well, to be honest, I lied.” She turned with a shrug, revealing that row of rotted teeth. “I could have just taken your magic, but it was more fun to have you give it to me.”
“What?” Sam tasted bile as his stomach turned over. “You can’t. You gave your word.”
“My fingers were crossed.” She waggled her bony hand at him. “A little trick my father taught me.”
Sam raised his hand to throw a ball of witchfire at her, but nothing happened. Looking down at his palms, the emptiness in his veins hit him. He had grown used to having magic at his fingertips. Without it, he felt hollow.
The goddess of death just laughed and raised her good hand. “Looking for this?” She ran her hand in a circle, drawing a ball of green fire, and sent it at Sam’s head. He ducked, and it hit the wall, incinerating several bricks. The ear-piercing screams of the lost souls made his skin crawl.
“This is so much fun.” She did it again, sending the blast at Geela. The Valkyrie grabbed Sam’s arm and pulled him around a bend in the tunnel. “You can’t run from me,” Helva called. “This is my playground. I know every inch of it.”
Geela ran down the corridor, taking turns and twists, dragging Sam with her. He was numb and getting number. He’d lost his only chance at fighting Helva by giving her his magic, and now there was no way they were ever going to rescue Perrin and Mavery, let alone Odin.
Helva’s voice faded away as Geela dragged him on. After a never-ending series of turns, Sam dug his feet in, peeling Geela’s hand off his arm.
“Just stop, okay? It’s over. She wins.”
Geela shook her head. “A Valkyrie never quits.”
“Well, I’m not a Valkyrie. I’m not even a witch anymore, and being a Son of Odin isn’t getting us any closer to finding him.”
She shouted in his face, “How do you know when you haven’t even tried? We can’t give up now. If we fail, everything will be lost.”
“We’ll find another way to defeat Surt.”
“It will be too late. Frigga is going to destroy Orkney. She won’t let Surt get close to Valhalla.”
Sam reeled at her words. “What do you mean, destroy Orkney?”
Geela looked shattered as she said, “She will wield Odin’s Belt of Destiny and erase every trace of it. Nothing will survive.”
Despair and grief tilted Sam’s world. “So this was all for nothing? A fool’s journey?” He slumped against the wall. “And now I have nothing left, no magic, no way to fight Surt.”
Geela shook him roughly. “Snap out of it. Helva was lying. Odin is here. Find him. You alone are connected to him.”
Sam’s fingers went to the useless lump of rock around his neck. “This is a piece of Odin’s Stone. My father gave it to me. Hermodan used it to save Orkney from the witches.”
“Then surely it is imbued with Odin’s blood. Use it before that death queen finds us and embalms us into one of these bricks.”
Sam lifted the pouch over his head and weighed it in his hand, wondering if he should swing it around. He did that to call on his magic, but he didn’t have magic anymore. Remembering how Hermodan had held it up high, Sam decided to give it a shot. Undoing the drawstring, he dumped the small chunk of rock into his palm. It looked like a plain old piece of granite.
Holding the rock up, Sam planted his feet, closed his eyes, and thought about his visit with Odin in the Yggdrasil tree. Odin had been strong and vital then, his legs t
hick as tree trunks and a blue twinkle in his eye. He’d shaken Sam’s hand with great strength. Sam recalled the rough palms and the callused skin. “Mighty Odin,” he whispered, “show yourself to me. Guide me with your stone so that I can bring you back.”
Sam stood with his eyes closed. Nothing happened. No fireworks. No sudden dizzying drop. Nothing. Geela would have to accept their fate.
He opened his eyes to apologize and almost fell to his knees.
Geela was gone, the dark underworld replaced with a barren landscape of swirling winds that made his skin sting. Fine sand blew into his eyes. He couldn’t see a thing, but his heart soared. Odin had done it. Wherever he was, he had brought Sam to him. Heading into the wind, Sam trudged forward, clutching the stone in his hand.
“Odin,” he called out, his words taken away by the gusts, “I’m coming.”
Chapter 30
Geela was afraid. She clutched her sword with sweaty palms, taking cautious steps forward. One moment, the boy had been there; the next, gone. He’d been erased, as if she’d imagined him. Maybe she had, her mind reasoned. After all, nothing down here made any sense.
The distant murmur of voices feathered her ears. They were singing her name, chanting it. She prowled forward toward the sounds. Something brushed her face, like a filmy cobweb. Sweeping it aside, she stepped forward into bright light.
The dank tunnels of the underworld were replaced with familiar rolling hills. They spread before her, a verdant green, split by a winding river. The Edris River. She would know it in her sleep. The red roofs of her village were just on the other side.
Geela was home.
Not understanding and not caring how this was, she ran. Jumping lightly over the stones that dotted the river, she crossed it without getting wet and ran the beaten path to her mother’s cottage. She recognized the whitewashed walls and patch of garden like she’d left home yesterday, not hundreds of years ago. A thin wisp of smoke trailed from the chimney. Vaulting over the gate, Geela saw her mother in the yard, hanging the wash out to dry. Geela ran as fast as she could, afraid the image would disappear before she could reach it.
“Mother!” she shouted. The words tasted funny on her lips, as if she were underwater. “Mother, I’m home.”
Geela reached her side, holding her arms out for a hug, but her mother didn’t respond.
“Mother!” she cried again, “It’s me, Geela, your daughter returned. How I have missed you.” Geela leaned in and wrapped her arms around her mother’s ample waist, but it was like she had no substance. Her arms passed right through as the old woman reached for another sheet to pin to the line.
“Mother?” Geela whispered bleakly. She looked ancient, wizened with age. Her lanky hair was a solid sheaf of gray. Her cheeks were thicker, and heavy lines etched her skin, as if she’d known great sorrow.
From the house, a familiar voice called out. It was Geela’s brother, Emmet.
“Mother, a storm is coming. Why do you bother with the laundry?”
He leaned in the doorway, resting heavily on a cane. He was old, too, a man of at least sixty. The last time she’d seen him he’d been a boy, only fourteen and bursting with energy. Now he was stooped with age. But his smile was the same, and Geela smiled in response. Some things hadn’t changed. That was a gift.
“Come, Mother; it’s Saturday. Time for our visit.”
Her mother sighed and nodded, putting her hand on his arm. Curious, Geela followed, treading easily as her elderly brother helped her mother along a well-worn path up the hill. Underneath an apple tree, two headstones stood side by side. The name inscribed on the left was her father.
With a rush of tears, Geela sank down in the grass, running her fingers over the date. She’d remembered the day they’d buried him like it was yesterday. Swiping her hand across her face, Geela looked at the next headstone. Choking grief made her swoon when she saw her own name etched simply with just the year of her birth.
“Do you think she’ll ever come home?” her mother whispered, laying a wreath of white alpine flowers in front of the stone.
Geela twisted to see her brother kiss their mother on the forehead. “She is a bright star shining in the sky. A warrior princess that looks over us all. At night, I see her riding across the heavens in a blazing gold chariot, her sword held high as she slays the dragons of the dark.”
Geela laughed, overjoyed at his words. They were so close to the truth. Her mother drew comfort, letting him tuck her into the crook of his arm as they turned away.
“I only wish I could have told her how much I loved her,” her mother said. “I only wished she knew.”
Geela couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. This was impossible, of course. Her family was long dead. Still, it felt so real—the smell of the grass and the feel of the sun, her moth-er’s wrinkled face, her brother’s crooked smile.
Suddenly a dark cloud passed overhead. Geela reeled in horror as a black winged creature formed in the sky, flying down over the heads of her family, breathing a trail of fire and scorching everything in its path. Geela screamed a warning as the flames incinerated the land, but the frail pair barely had time to turn before they were engulfed, incinerating them and turning them to dust.
Geela prepared to run the beast through with her sword, but it tumbled and morphed. A swirling black cloud surrounded them. When the smoke cleared, Helva stood before her, and they were back in her drawing room as if they’d never left.
With the dying screams of her family on her ears, Geela staggered forward, determined to end the life of this half-corpse.
Helva’s laughter was brittle. “Oh, come now, it was just a little fun. Surely you didn’t think it was real?”
Geela recalled the love in her mother’s voice, the pride in her brother’s. It had been real. Helva didn’t understand it because she’d never received that kind of love before. That was her weakness.
“You’re wrong,” Geela said. “It was real. Maybe not at this moment, maybe I wasn’t there, but they said it. The universe heard it and remembered. I am a Valkyrie warrior, and I have been graced by the gods with gifts of speed, courage, and heart. I can tell when someone is lying, and you, Helva, are lying. I saw a memory. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Helva looked bored as she seated herself on her couch. “Oh, believe what you like; the point is that you’re never getting out of here.”
Geela drew her sword, the flickering fire glinting off her golden blade. “I say I’m leaving, and I’m taking the girls with me.”
Helva’s eyes were glittering chips of ice. “You have no powers here. And, besides, you don’t even know where they are.”
“Don’t I?” Geela walked toward the rotting creature and then veered left, heading for the birdcage. She raised her sword high over her head and swung at the chain holding the cage, severing the silver links. The cage fell to the ground, shattering and splitting apart. The two birds flew up at Geela, as if they were attacking her.
A flash of doubt pinched her brows. Had she been wrong? Those green eyes had been haunting her. So much like a witch’s. But they flew over her head, making a beeline for Helva. They began pecking at the ghastly woman, flying in her hair and clawing at her face.
Geela smiled. No. She had been right. The smaller bird was Mavery, the larger Perrin. Now she just had to get Helva to change them back.
“Get them off of me!” Helva screamed, and then she sent a blast of witchfire as the birds flew up to the ceiling.
The green light exploded the birds in a puff of yellow feathers, and then Perrin and Mavery tumbled to the floor, gasping for air.
“Took you long enough,” Perrin said, spitting out a yellow feather.
The imp Mavery just grinned at her. The three of them faced off against Helva. The queen of the underworld’s face was scratched and bleeding along her human side.
Geela held her sword in front of her. “We can make a deal, Helva. You wish to see the light of day more than anything, but you can’t leave because
Odin cursed you to stay here. If you could, you would have left the moment Odin arrived. Even the magic you stole from Sam isn’t enough to get you out of here, or you would have left.”
Geela could see her words were hitting their mark by the glittering hatred in Helva’s eyes.
“Great, let’s incinerate her,” Perrin said, drawing up a ball of witchfire. Mavery followed. Geela raised a hand as Helva matched theirs with twin balls of green fire.
“What if I had something that could make you whole? A potion given to me by Freya, Goddess of Life. All you have to do is tell us what happened to Odin.”
Helva sat with her arms crossed, refusing to speak.
Perrin blasted her witchfire at the chandelier overhead, destroying it in shards of glass. “You should tell her,” the witch said calmly, “before I destroy this place.”
Helva looked frightened, and she flung her hands in the air. “Okay. Odin was here, for a moment, lurking about. He was looking for something. I barely caught a glimpse of him, and then he was gone. But he took something with him. Now give me what you promised.”
She leaned forward greedily as Geela reached around her neck and pulled out a vial held on a long, thin cord.
“If I am ever wounded, I am to drink Freya’s potion, and it will revive me. Every Valkyrie carries one. If you drink it, you will be restored to your natural self.”
“And end this curse?” Helva said, looking at her skeletal half.
“It will make you whole,” Geela said, holding it out to her.
“Then I will be human, and I will be able to leave.” Helva danced with glee, holding up the vial. She twisted the lid off and drank the contents down in one gulp, smacking her lips in satisfaction. Almost at once, flesh began rippling along her skeletal arm, making her face pinken and round out. “It’s working,” she cried, admiring the new flesh. Then, as suddenly as it grew, the flesh began shrinking back and turned gray. The fleshy human side of her face sunk in, the skin peeling and falling away.
