by C. Gockel
“I know that myth!” Valli shouts, nearly deafening Bohdi with his enthusiasm.
“This is no time for joking,” snaps Nari. Bohdi disagrees, but he’s too busy shaking the ringing out of his ears to argue.
“Maybe we can find some loose stones to mark the trail?” says Amy, eying the floor. Beatrice and Bohdi begin searching too, as Valli helps Sigyn to her feet.
“I’ve got some pebbles!” Beatrice says triumphantly, holding out her hand.
Leaning against her son, Sigyn says breathlessly, “That will have to do. We had better go.”
Nari’s eyes shift uneasily. “I think we may be in Svartheimer.”
“We have to get away from the Gate,” Amy says.
Fingers to her temple, Sigyn nods. Since the spot is a dead end, there’s only one way to go. Valli and Nari help their mother up, and lead her down the tunnel. Looking over his shoulder, Nari says, “We have allies among the dwarves. If this cave leads to their caverns, they’ll help us.”
Bohdi falls into step behind them. Amy moves to his side, somehow managing to slip Fenrir into her carrier one-handed. Beatrice takes up the rear, flamethrower at the ready.
“And if it doesn’t lead to their caverns?” Beatrice says.
Bohdi swears he hears Nari gulp.
Ahead, Sigyn pants. “The World Gate is opening, quickly!”
They run, stumbling over the slick floor in the dim light of Amy’s phone. Bohdi’s not sure, but he thinks they may be heading downward. It’s hard to tell … his body feels weirdly heavy.
They round a bend. Bohdi’s not winded, but Sigyn says, “Stop!” Turning to Amy, she says, “Turn off your phone.”
The party draws to a halt, and Amy puts her phone away. Beatrice crouches, peering around the bend, flamethrower upraised. From where they just came comes a faint light, and then voices speaking in Asgardian.
Bohdi takes a deep breath and his nose wrinkles up with disgust. “What’s that smell?” It’s vaguely familiar, and disgusting—like rotten meat and body odor.
From the direction they’d been heading comes a sound like the cross between a trumpet and a snort.
“Oh, no,” says Amy.
“This is bad,” says Nari.
Around the bend, the Asgardian-speak stops abruptly. And then, Gabbar’s voice echoes through the cave. “You cannot escape this way. But we’re prepared to save you when you decide to be sensible.”
“Do I want to know what he meant by ‘save us’?” asks Beatrice.
Gabbar says some words in Asgardian, and Bohdi hears the sound of armor on stone. Peeking around Beatrice, he counts at least eight Einherjar standing guard in the tunnel, the torchlight flickering off their armor making them slightly more visible than they had been in the open. One of the warriors appears to be holding a staff instead of a spear. The mage?
“Maybe we should go back to Midgard?” say Nari.
“We should go back to Midgard!” Valli hisses in the darkness. “We should kill as many of Odin’s men as we can!”
“We can’t win against an army without an army of our own!” says Sigyn.
“Would someone tell me what’s going on!” snaps Beatrice.
“Yeah,” says Bohdi, “Me, too.”
The others are quiet. From somewhere down the tunnel comes the sound of water dripping on stones, and then in the distance an odd sort of chorus of snuffling snorts.
“What was that?” says Bohdi.
He hears Amy take a deep breath. “That …was the sound of trolls.”
CHAPTER 8
Bohdi blinks. “A troll … no problemo … Beatrice can take it out with her flamethrower. We can rush to the surface and—”
“Grandma! That’s a flamethrower?” Amy exclaims.
“The better to protect you with, my dear,” says Beatrice.
“Now you’re the big bad wolf?” cries Amy.
“I know that myth!” Valli shouts, and Bohdi winces and rubs his ears.
“Not a troll,” Sigyn says. “Trolls … we’re in a troll den.”
“How many trolls is that?” says Bohdi.
“No one has escaped a troll den to give a headcount,” says Sigyn.
Bohdi waves a hand. “And no one escaped a spider’s nest before, but Amy and I did. There must be a way—”
“Escaping to the surface is not an option,” says Nari. “It’s too hot, there is no shielding from cosmic rays, and no water. You’d die from exposure within a few hours.”
“And we’d die not much long after,” Sigyn adds.
From down the tunnel comes more snuffling.
“The trolls will catch our scent soon,” says Valli.
“We should surrender,” says Nari, much too quickly.
“No,” says everyone else in unison.
“The Allfather can be reasoned with,” says Nari. “Unlike trolls.”
“No!” says Amy.
“Sometimes surrender is the best option. Where there is life—”
“At least C-3PO had an off switch.” Bohdi hears Amy huff in laughter and realizes he said that aloud. He’s suddenly very glad that Brett and Bryant insisted that sci-fi was an important part of his education.
“Do you have an idea, Dr. Lewis?” snaps Nari.
For a moment there is only the sound of their breathing, the clinking of the Einherjar armor in the distance, and the drip of water on stones.
“Bohdi,” Amy whispers. “You ever watch the Firefly movie, Serenity?”
He flicks his lighter, remembering the sci-fi epic. In the darkness the small flame seems as bright as the sun. He feels one side of his mouth pull up. “You know I aim to misbehave.”
Amy smiles back, her eyes glinting in the light of the flame. It’s the first time he’s seen her smile all day.
“What are you two talking about?” says Valli.
The flame goes out. Bohdi flicks the lighter again. He turns to Nari, Valli, and Sigyn. Sigyn is leaning against the wall. The trip through the world gate seems to have taken a toll. The cave isn’t hot, but her skin still has the sheen of sweat, and she’s breathing too quickly.
His eyes flick to Nari and Valli, “Which one of you is the fastest?”
Valli steps forward. “What do you have in mind?”
The flame at the end of his thumb goes out.
“I should go with you,” Amy says. “It was my idea.”
Bohdi turns to her. He can just barely make her out in the faint light from the Einherjar’s torch down the tunnel. “Amy …” He takes a deep breath. “The most important thing for this will be speed.” There are many things Amy has—intelligence, endurance, bravery—but she isn’t fast. If Bohdi hadn’t dragged her along with him in Nornheim, she probably would have been caught by adze.
She bows her head and clutches Fenrir’s carrier. “You’re right.”
“Could someone tell us what’s going on?” says Nari.
Flicking his lighter again, Bohdi meets their eyes. Dropping his voice to a low whisper, he says, “Valli and I are going to raise an army.”
x x x x
Bohdi hands his paint gun to Amy. She bites her lip and whispers, “We’ll be taking the trolls back to Chicago … maybe it’s not the right thing to do?”
Bohdi scowls. “Odin can’t win, Amy. If Odin gets away with this, it will just make him bolder.”
Amy takes a long breath. “The needs of the many …”
“Chicago has a lot of experience with this sort of thing,” says Bohdi. “How many trolls could there possibly be?”
Amy is silent.
Beatrice lifts her coat and unbuckles the holster that holds her Glock. Handing it to Bohdi, she says, “Here, this might not be much help, but …”
Nodding, he slings the too-small strap over one shoulder. “Thanks.” He’s beginning to have that strung out, not-quite-in-his-body feeling he gets when he does something really stupid.
“Come on, Valli. Let’s go,” he says. He turns on his cell phone for light and t
ogether they head deeper into the cave. It’s not difficult going. The cave is relatively open—for a human—but Bohdi notes the barely-a-foot-above-his-head ceiling will probably be a bit of a bummer for a troll. Trolls are as tall and broad as elephants.
They can’t have gone more than three quarters of a mile when Bohdi starts to hear more snuffling, but louder this time. He also hears what sounds like a woman singing. Flipping off his phone, he blinks in the darkness and then becomes aware of a thin beam of light coming through a gap in the cave wall. The gap is about as wide Bohdi’s shoulders and is formed by a boulder partially blocking a branch in the tunnel. The singing is very loud now. It’s pretty … in a discordant kind of way.
Without speaking, he and Valli slink forward and peer around the boulder and into the light. Beyond the boulder the cave opens up into a cavern. The ceiling looks to be about two stories tall. It’s difficult to see how wide and long the cavern is, because right in front of the gap kneels a woman. Even kneeling, she comes up to Bohdi’s chest. Her hair is long and dark green, and it falls in front of her face as she leans over something. Her limbs, where they aren’t covered by mismatched furs, are olive green.
Bohdi or Valli must make a noise because she looks up. Bohdi blinks. As tall as she is, her face has the small nose, proportionally larger eyes, and high forehead of a child. A very pretty child with great big golden eyes.
His eyes slip down. Her body is thin and straight—definitely a child. In her hands she holds a log with a rough clump of grasses tied to the top. He blinks as she cradles it to her chest and sings—she’s pretending the log is a baby.
His eyes flick beyond the troll girl. He sees hulking shapes and hears loud snuffles.
He’s yanked back suddenly by the shoulder. Valli whispers in Bohdi’s ear. “We kill the child. That will get the adults’ attention.”
Bohdi’s head whips to Valli. “We will not kill a child!” he hisses. His mind is suddenly filled by the memory of baby spider screams and he’s vaguely aware of the girl’s singing coming to a stop.
Pulling himself from Valli’s grip, Bohdi snaps, “Would your father approve of that plan?”
Valli’s face crumples, his shoulders slouch, and he looks down. “No …”
Bohdi’s fists unclench at his side.
Valli lifts his eyes. “But that is what armies do. They instill fear, and that is how they gain control and force others to join.” He rubs a shoulder nervously and looks down. “Father … he never approved of that sort of thing … but he died … so maybe …?”
Bohdi sighs. He can’t really be angry at the idiot. Putting a hand on Valli’s shoulder, he whispers, “Do you know how Mao took over China?”
Valli shakes his head.
Bohdi’s vaguely aware of the snuffles getting louder.
Leaning closer to Loki’s son, Bohdi whispers. “Any member of Mao’s army who killed, raped, hurt, or stole from a peasant was executed. He won the goodwill of the people, that’s how he won China.” And then Mao proceeded to wreak havoc in China through tyranny and gross mismanagement … but it doesn’t seem like the moment to bring it up.
He gives Valli’s shoulder a pat. “We’ll find a way to move the boulder. That will get their attention.”
He goes to press his body into the gap and draws to a halt. The troll child is standing in the gap, her golden eyes glowing. Standing, she is nearly Bohdi’s height.
At his shoulder, Valli says, “It is alright, troll, we will not hurt you.”
The troll girl’s eyes scrunch up, her mouth opens, and she lets loose a wail of absolute terror.
Bohdi backs up. “I don’t think she under—”
The little trolless spins on her heels and runs back into the cavern. And suddenly Bohdi is staring at six sets of golden eyes set into faces wider than garbage can lids.
“See?” he whispers to Valli. “We got their attention.”
Snarls erupt on the other side of the gap. A giant thumb wraps around the boulder, and the rock grinds to the side.
“I don’t think we have their goodwill, though,” says Valli.
Bohdi can’t answer. As the boulder moves he sees more of the cavern beyond and counts at least a dozen eyes. Trolls features are very human—but they’re enormous and green. These trolls are so close, Bohdi can feel fetid breath on his face; he sees incisors wide as his palm and saliva dripping from oversized canines. The air smells like onions and rotting meat.
“Valli?”
“Yes?”
“Remember the original plan?”
“Oh, right, you mean to—”
The boulder slides away completely, and the troll tries to jam its huge shoulders into the tunnel.
“Run!” screams Bohdi, grabbing Valli’s shoulder and taking off the way they came.
Valli follows, but before Bohdi’s even at a full sprint, Valli grabs Bohdi’s wrist and yanks him to a halt.
Bohdi spins and screams, “What are you doing?”
“Do you think it can get through the gap?” Valli asks.
Bohdi looks back. The troll is snarling and growling, shoulders straining, trying to enter the tunnel. Bohdi hears the sound of a small shower of rock tumbling down from the cave walls.
“I don’t—”
There is a louder shower of rocks, and a sound like crashing bricks. Bohdi and Valli both cough as the air in the cave becomes clogged with dust and they are plunged into absolute darkness.
Wiping his eyes, Bohdi blinks. From the direction they had just come there is a roar. He blinks again and finds himself staring through the haze of dirt and rubble, back lit from the cavern beyond. In the midst of the rubble is a troll. The cave’s height is forcing it to stay on all fours, and it’s blinking just like they are. Raising a meaty hand, it wipes its eyes.
“Oh, good, it worked!” says Valli.
Beside the troll, another troll head appears.
“Run,” says Bohdi, pulling his wrist out of Valli’s grasp.
“Right!” says Valli.
They spin around. It’s too dark to see, but they run anyway. Bohdi fumbles for his phone for some light. He flips it on and in the same step tumbles over a stalagmite. He’s hears Valli’s feet dash past him. The palm of his empty hand hits cold, wet grit, and the fingers of the hand holding the phone scrape across rock. He feels a sharp pain on his tongue. His feet scramble on wet stone, he hears the thunderous approach of the trolls too close, and he knows that he’s going to be caught, like he knows the warmth in his mouth is blood. He will be crushed, and they will tear into his flesh with their teeth before he’s even dead.
He hears a scream of rage. It’s coming from in front of him, not behind. He lifts his head and sees Valli bathed in the glow of firelight. A scream of pain comes from behind him. Finally finding his footing, Bohdi scampers to his feet and looks back. The lead troll is ripping a flaming fur loincloth away from its body, crying in rage and in pain, and pounding out the flame with its fist. Behind it, other trolls scream.
Bohdi’s jaw falls. “How?”
At his side, Valli says, “Sometimes, I start fires.”
Bohdi shakes himself and backs away from the beast.
“Trolls aren’t very well endowed,” says Valli, backing up with him.
Where it squats, the creature lifts its head and lets loose a bellow that causes small rocks to fall from the walls and ceiling.
Bohdi blinks … it isn’t well endowed at all. The troll’s equipment would be tiny even if it were on a human.
Grabbing Valli, Bohdi turns and runs. But between breaths he manages to crack out, “I think we just discovered the reason for their rage!”
In step beside him, Valli makes a noise that’s half a pant and half a guffaw. From behind them a rock comes hurtling, just missing Bohdi’s head. And it’s completely the wrong time, but Bohdi starts laughing, and so does Valli. They dodge round some columns of merged stalactites and stalagmites, and Bohdi feels like he’s flying—even though he feels heavier th
an normal—like maybe the gravity is greater here. His mind is clear, and everything moves so fast. The trolls are crawling, roaring and gnashing their teeth, but they’re just far enough behind that it seems like a video game … not a real life threat.
Up ahead he sees a light flash. He hears Amy’s voice, “Bohdi?”
“Now!” he shouts.
The light ahead vanishes. He hears the sound of the paint gun, and then Sigyn’s Berretta, and automatic weapons fire. In no time at all, he’s at the bend. Turning, he sees Sigyn fighting with an Einherjar warrior, Beatrice firing Nari’s M-16, and Nari hunched over Amy who is cowering on the floor.
Nari’s supposed to be opening the gate ...
The sensation of being in a game ends abruptly. The trolls are suddenly too close. “The gate! The gate!”
Two Einherjar lift spears, as though they will drive them through Nari and into Amy. Bohdi snarls. Or maybe it’s Valli. His feet pound over stones, and he leaps through the air in a move he must have learned from one of the football games Steve made him watch.
His shoulder connects with hard steel, rattling his teeth, and sending a sharp stab of pain along his neck. But the Einherjar falls, Bohdi on top of him. Light sears Bohdi’s eyes, a chill wind whips around him, and he smells grass and trees. Lifting his head he gapes. He’s back on Earth, beneath the arbor. The Einherjar beneath him doesn’t share his surprise. Before Bohdi’s mouth can snap shut, he’s flipped roughly onto his back. His shoulders hit the pavement hard, knocking the wind from him. His head lands in a patch of mud, and it’s cold. He finds himself staring upward at the face of Gabbar, his paint-spattered visor lifted above his eyes. Gabbar doesn’t look sad or angry. His face is a perfect mask of concentration. “I’m sorry,” Gabbar says.
Bohdi hears the sound of a blade being pulled from a sheath, he reaches for the holster with the Glock on his shoulder, but it must have fallen off when he fell. In less time than it takes to blink, he hears horses scream, Valli snarl, the whoosh of the paint gun being fired, and automatic gunfire. He sees Nari, still crouched over Amy from the corner of his eye, and then a bright light flashes above, and Bohdi sees a knife shining in Gabbar’s hand. Lifting his hands, Bohdi tries to grab the other man’s wrists, but the blade comes toward his throat ...
