by Alan Early
‘Like this nation of Ireland herself, everything changed in 1916. Many of us were living in Dublin at the time – we had to move towns regularly over the years before our lack of aging aroused suspicion. Drysi had never given up hope of Loki’s return and one day, while walking through the narrow streets next to the River Liffey, she sensed him. She could hear him crying out in agonising pain under the city itself, the sound echoing up through some dried-up drains. It was so faint that no human would have heard it. She told me all about it but I wouldn’t believe her. Or, rather, I didn’t want to believe her. I forbade her to go near the place again.
‘Easter rolled around a couple of weeks later and the Irish started to fight for their independence. I’d fought in many battles against many foes over the centuries and wanted to fight alongside the Irish again. I believed strongly in their cause. They’d been my constant companions for a thousand years and I yearned to see them achieve their freedom. But as I prepared to go and join the fighting, I noticed that Drysi was missing. I knew instantly where she’d gone.
‘I ran to the place where she said she’d sensed Loki. In the distance, I could hear that the fighting had begun; gunshots and mortar bombs were going off all over the city centre. As I got closer, I could sense him too. I could even feel his anguish coursing through my veins. I knew, then, that she was right. Loki was bound under the city, somewhere nearby.
‘I saw Drysi in an abandoned shop. I saw her walking past a window, her eyes fixed on the floor. She was concentrating so much that she didn’t see that the fighting had spread. She didn’t hear the Irish rebels on the second floor of the building. Some of the British forces … they …’
He closed his eyes, squeezing a pair of tears out that rolled down his cheeks.
‘I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if it was a bomb or a shell or a grenade. Or if the foundations were weak to begin with. But either way, the ceiling fell in on Drysi before I could reach her.’
He stopped and turned away. Ash could picture the scene. She’d read about the Easter Rising in history the year before and had seen photographs of the aftermath of the fighting.
‘I raced into the wrecked building,’ Fenrir continued. ‘It was difficult to see. There was smoke and dust and rubble everywhere. I could hear the rebels calling out in pain but I didn’t have the time to save them. I just had to get Drysi out of there. I found her under some debris. I could tell from the awkward angle her back was twisted at that her spine was broken. Her legs were limp and lifeless. I knew instantly she would never walk again. But her heart was still beating and she was alive.
‘And then I heard him again. Louder this time. Screaming in anguish under the wreckage of the building. Under the ground. Loki.
‘I brought Drysi to safety and made a decision that day. A couple of weeks later, I gathered all the remaining wolf-people. I knew that if Loki ever escaped, then he’d expect his army to help him conquer the earth. But I no longer believed in his cause and realised that I had to get my people away from there, hide them somewhere he wouldn’t find us. So we moved here. And we’ve lived here since then, underground, hiding.’ He broke off for a moment and sighed. ‘As you can see, my plan failed. I should have known you can’t hide from a god.’ His voice trailed off and for a moment there was silence.
‘What is this place anyway?’ Ash asked, looking around her, unwilling to let Fenrir lapse into despairing silence again.
‘It’s an old round tower. The Vikings killed all the monks who lived around it centuries ago, so we took it for ourselves. We had strength and a bit of magic on our side so we were able to turn it into what we needed. We built great halls – similar to the ones the gods have in Asgard – right underneath the tower. We lived here for a couple of centuries before moving to the city. When we needed a hideaway, this island was the perfect spot to return to. We even put in our own additions as we needed them, like a clockwork elevator for Drysi. This is our home. We’ve lived here largely peacefully since 1916 – that is, until Loki returned.
‘Of course, many of the wolves were angry about having to live in hiding and I think secretly half of them had been hoping Loki would return. The others, like me, hoped he wouldn’t. Drysi always prayed most fervently for his homecoming. She believed that the god would heal her of her disability. And then, a few weeks ago, Loki finally found us. He was furious when he saw the small size of the army waiting for him and had me thrown in here. Since then, I’ve only heard whisperings of what has happened. Drysi has been helping him. And half the wolves have pledged their allegiance to him. The others are held captive in other cells. That’s it. That’s all I know.’
Arthur was focused on one photo on Ellie’s iPad. No matter how many images he viewed, he kept coming back to this one, studying it intently.
‘What do you make of this?’ he asked Ellie, showing her the photograph.
‘It’s just a green overcoat,’ she said. ‘Nothing special. What about it?’
‘When Loki escaped the museum, he was wearing this coat.’
‘So?’
‘When I saw him first he was wearing a long black coat, so he must have changed into this one afterwards.’
He zoomed out of the image and all the pictures in the album appeared as thumbnails. ‘Everything they took was old. Really old and priceless. Except that coat. According to the notes with the image, it was part of a small exhibition of items from 1916.’
‘So you’re wondering why he’d take a coat that wasn’t worth anything?’
‘Exactly. What’s so special about this coat? Maybe this is what he was really after. It’s the one really odd item in the list.’
‘But why would he steal the rest of the stuff?’
‘I don’t know. To throw us and the Gardaí off the scent, maybe?’
‘That’s possible, I guess,’ she agreed. ‘Think about your dreams. Is there anything you remember from them that might help?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said, looking back down at the iPad screen. ‘I just keep thinking about the wolf and the …’
‘The what?’
Arthur was staring at the reflection of the full moon in the iPad glass. ‘The moon,’ he finished.
Suddenly Arthur gasped and pounded on the screen of the iPad, choosing the image of the coat again and zooming right in. The pixels blurred, then sharpened every time he went in closer.
‘I don’t believe it,’ he uttered.
‘What is it, Arthur?’ Now all eyes in the car were on him. Even Ex was watching him through the rear-view mirror.
‘In my dream, Loki had a piece of glass – a chunk of the moon itself. He needed it to transform the Fenris Wolf.’
‘And?’ Ellie urged him.
He pointed to the top button on the coat. It was a smooth and round chunk of glass.
‘That’s it,’ he said grimly. ‘That button there.’
‘Which means that–’
Arthur interrupted, finishing her sentence for her. ‘That was what Loki was looking for in the museum. All the rest of the stuff they took was just to throw us off the scent. At some point the Fenris Wolf and Hati’s Bite must have been separated. But now Loki has it again and with it he can complete his army.’
Ash leaned back in her cage, letting it all sink in. Then she thought of something.
‘If Loki wants to make a bigger army, he’ll need Hati’s Bite, right? And you have it?’
‘Well, yes and no,’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘He will need Hati’s Bite. But I don’t have it. From the day he gave it to me, I carried it with me everywhere. When we lived in Dublin I used it as a button on my greatcoat. Hidden in plain sight so that none of the other wolves would recognise it. There were quite a few that I never trusted. But that day when Drysi was trapped, I was so crazed with grief that when the coat caught in the rubble, hindering her rescue, I tore it off and flung it away from me. It was only when I got home that I realised what I had done. I should
have gone back to get it there and then, but all my attention was focused on my daughter. When I finally did go back after the fighting had ended there was no trace of the coat or of Hati’s Bite. I have no idea where it is now.’
‘Could Loki have found it?’
‘I hope not,’ Fenrir said fearfully, ‘for all of our sakes.’
Chapter Twenty
‘So that’s it,’ Arthur said, admiring the round tower on the island. The great moon reflected in the still waters – now long defrosted. A few minutes beforehand, they’d arrived at the lake and parked the car in a lay-by off the main road, then warily crossed over the train track and onto the red shore. The first thing that had caught Arthur’s attention was the flames burning in some of the narrow tower windows. There was no doubt that this was the place they were looking for.
‘What’s it?’ asked Ellie, who was standing next to him along with Ex, taking in their new surroundings.
‘The tower.’
‘What tower?’
‘That tower!’ He pointed at the island.
Both Ellie and Ex looked confused. She raised an eyebrow at Arthur. ‘There’s nothing out there except an overgrown island.’
‘You mean …’ Arthur stuttered, ‘you don’t see it?’ He looked again. There it was. Right in the middle of the island. His eyes couldn’t be lying to him, could they?
Just then, he had an epiphany. He pulled the pendant over his head, and as soon as he did the tower and the torches disappeared from sight. He smiled to himself then handed the pendant to Ellie. Still confused, she took it and put it on. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when the tower blinked into her own vision.
‘Yup,’ she said, ‘that’s definitely where we should be headed. But how will we get out there?’
They searched around the shore, looking for a way across. Finally, Ex emerged from some nearby trees carrying a row boat over his shoulders. It covered the top half of his body and made it look like his head had been transformed into the little vessel. They watched silently as he dropped the boat into the water with a splash. He smiled at them, pleased with his find.
‘Look,’ Arthur said before they all boarded, ‘we’ll go across quietly. We just need to find Ash and get her out. Any sign of danger and we’re back on the boat. Got it?’
‘Of course,’ Ellie said cheerfully. ‘Let’s go.’ They climbed into the boat, with Ex getting in last and sitting at the stern. He took an oar in each strong hand. Arthur could tell from the way the paint had worn off the hull that it was an old vessel, but it felt sturdy enough as the boy started to paddle across the quiet lake. None of them said anything as they made their way towards the island. The atmosphere in the boat was tense. They didn’t know what awaited them on the island, but they did know that it was down to them to save Ash. No one else would have believed them. Arthur watched the silent tower and clutched the pendant on his chest.
As they got closer, he could make out the beams of some flashlights glinting through the thick bushes that surrounded the edge of the island. He quietly attracted the others’ attention, simultaneously putting his finger to his lips, and pointed at the shafts of light. They nodded in understanding and sat absolutely still, breathing as quietly as possible so as not to alert the people on the island to their presence. Ex rowed the boat carefully, breaking the surface as gently as he could so there would be no splashing sounds.
The closer they got to the island, the more each of them wanted to turn back. It was more than intuition: there was a building sense of dread with each stroke of the oar.
‘Do you feel that?’ Arthur said quietly after a while. The others silently nodded at him, both of them pale in the blue moonlight.
‘We should go back,’ murmured Ellie, staring at the island. ‘We could just get in the car and drive home, snuggle into bed and shut our eyes.’
Ex’s rowing had slowed down now and Arthur looked from one Lavender to the other. They were right, of course. It would be so much nicer to go home. He could see Joe and they could go to the cinema. They could even bring Max and–
‘Ash,’ Arthur whispered. He shook his head defiantly. ‘No. We have to go on. The island is trying to push us away.’
‘You’re right …’ Ellie shook the cobwebs from her own mind. ‘It must be an enchantment of some kind. Anyone else would just turn back, but we can’t.’
‘We have to keep going,’ added Ex with a grunt.
He rowed in a wide arc around the island, taking care to avoid the area where they’d spotted the lights, and eventually ran the boat aground. They found themselves in some thick and wiry bushes on the south shore of the island. They helped each other out of the boat and Ex hid the vessel securely in the dense bush. Arthur grabbed his – or rather Thor’s – hammer and looked up at the tower. Both Lavender siblings were also staring up at it.
‘We can see the tower now,’ Ellie whispered to him. ‘Whatever magic is hiding it must be disabled once you’re on the island.’
‘That feeling of dread is gone, too,’ Arthur murmured. ‘You were right. It must have been some sort of intruder trap.’
He peered over the top of the scrub at the tower. It soared straight up to the sky, reaching for the moon, and was much larger than it had appeared from the shore – at least two hundred feet high. The torches flickered in the narrow windows peppering the sides of the building. These had been used in olden times for spotting approaching enemies. He hoped no one had spotted their approach.
Ex tapped Arthur on the shoulder and pointed to a door at the base of the tower. It was the only entrance that they could see: a small archway with a simple wooden door. There was a single man standing guard in front of it. Just then a pair of wolves padded from around the far side of the tower, their ears pricked, their eyes watchful. Arthur watched in awe as the man nodded a greeting at the canines and the wolves nodded back. When they were gone, Arthur crouched back down and faced the others.
‘Those were wolves, right?’ The Lavenders simply nodded, as surprised as he was. ‘I was hoping there’d only be one wolf. Did you see the way they nodded back to the guard? Who knows how many there are!’
‘What now?’ Ellie whispered urgently, as the pair of wolves circled around again on another slow circuit of the island.
Arthur waited until they were gone to answer. ‘I’m thinking this is too dangerous for us. We need to go back and get proper help.’
‘Arthur,’ Ellie said seriously, ‘Ash is probably in there.’
‘I know. Don’t you think I know that! But what can we do?’
They fell silent, weighing up their limited options. Ex just kept watching as the wolves came around for a third time. His eyes never left the beasts, narrowing. His fingers felt along the ground, running over different sized rocks. Finally, he picked up a stone about the size of a tennis ball.
Ellie noticed the movement. ‘Ex?’
Arthur turned, too, just as the wolves prowled out of sight again.
Ex swung back his closed fist. Arthur tried to stop him. But it was too late.
He launched the rock at the tower and Arthur felt like he was watching everything in slow motion.
The stone hit off the high wall, several metres over the sentry’s head. The guard stepped away from the tower and turned to look at where he’d heard the knock.
Ex was on his feet with an oar gripped between two strong hands.
‘Ex, no,’ hissed Ellie, but he ignored her and ran towards the tower.
The sentry heard the boy’s footsteps crunch on the gravelly terrain and turned, but Ex was already swinging the oar. It connected with the guard’s head with a painful-sounding thunk and the man collapsed to the ground. Ex turned and beckoned urgently to them. Ellie was on her feet almost immediately.
‘Wait!’ Arthur reached out and grabbed her arm.
‘No, Arthur,’ she said snatching her arm away. ‘We need to move now. Before the wolves come back.’
‘It’s dangero–’
&nbs
p; ‘I know it is. But no matter what we do now the wolves are going to find us. Ex has left us with no choice.’
‘We could go back to the boat–’
Before he could go any further she cut him off. ‘I won’t leave my brother.’ With that she ran towards Ex, reaching into her trench coat pocket as she went.
For a second Arthur stayed in the undergrowth, conflicted. The situation was spiralling quickly out of his control. Why would Ex do something so rash? Could he really trust the Lavenders or was this a ploy to force him into entering the tower? Yet he was sure that their surprise had been genuine when he had pointed out the tower to them and Ellie had seemed as taken aback by Ex’s actions as he had been. Whatever he was going to do, he would have to do it now, as the wolves would be back any minute. He still needed to find Ash and that tower was their only lead.
He made up his mind, grabbed his hammer and sprinted to join the others. The guard was out cold. Ex was tightening some cable ties from Ellie’s pocket around the man’s wrists and ankles, while she planted a strip of black tape across his mouth. Arthur put his ear to the tower door. All he could hear was the beating of his own heart. He pushed the door open a fraction and peered inside. The coast appeared to be clear. Together the three of them dragged the unconscious guard into the tower. Then they quickly shut the door and leaned the sentry against it as an added barrier to anyone trying to come in from outside.
After taking a minute to catch their breaths, they looked around them for the first time. There wasn’t much to see. It was just a round, bare room, with a low wooden ceiling and a couple of lit torches in iron brackets on the walls. There was a cast-iron spiral staircase running up the centre of the tower. From its design and construction, Arthur guessed it was a twentieth-century addition to the medieval tower. The steps ran around a wide central iron column, complete with a door in one side. Arthur tried the door only to find it locked. He looked at the stairs leading both up and down into more gloom.
