by Alan Early
‘This is our third proper date,’ she told Arthur.
He had a million questions he wanted to ask, not least of which was how Stace felt about her ‘new’ boyfriend having been dead for a millennium under the city, but he bit his tongue when his mother called him from the kitchen.
‘Arthur! Come on! We’re waiting for you!’
Stace and Eirik stepped into the house and hurried past him into the kitchen. He shut the door finally and went after them.
A banner hung in front of the kitchen cupboards. It was a birthday banner that Rhona had had printed up years ago. It used to read ‘Happy Birthday, Arthur!’, but someone had covered up the first two words and replaced them with handwritten words so the banner now read: ‘Thanks for Saving the World from Certain Destruction, Arthur!’ The breakfast table was covered in party food of every description: cupcakes, finger sandwiches, cookies, sausage rolls and bagel pizzas. And they all surrounded a three-tiered chocolate fudge cake in the middle.
A cheer rose from everyone in the kitchen as Arthur entered, startling him slightly.
‘What’s this for?’ he asked when the cheering petered out.
‘It’s for you,’ said Joe. ‘We wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for you.’
‘That’s not true,’ said Arthur. ‘It wasn’t just me. It was all of you. I couldn’t have stopped Loki without you.’
‘Now, Arthur,’ said Mrs Barry, ‘there’s no need to be humble.’
‘I’m not being humble,’ he said. ‘It’s the truth. We stopped a god, we saved the world, but we did it together.’ A few nods and smiles went round the kitchen. ‘Now, let’s have some cake!’
Another cheer.
The party went on into the evening and still Arthur hadn’t had a chance to talk to Ash, Max, Ellie and Ex alone. Eventually, when the adults (and not-quite adults Stace and Eirik) were settling down to some coffee in the kitchen, Arthur and his friends sat on the porch steps and breathed a united sigh of relief. The sun was going down now, casting the estate into a fiery red.
‘So …’ Ash started, staring meaningfully at Arthur.
He proceeded to tell them all that had happened in Asgard and how he’d finally managed to trick Loki.
‘The well is bottomless,’ he finished. ‘The rock and the ribbon will just keep dragging him down forever. He’ll never find a way out.’
‘That’s perfect,’ Ellie mused. ‘He’s trapped for all time.’
‘So the Norns really did help you then?’ asked Ash.
‘Yeah. Back in the throne room, I figured out that they must have been sending me the dreams all along. And I guess they gave the world the dream about Hel to try and warn everyone about what was coming. But they were helping us long before then, centuries before.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘The Norns helped Fenrir escape from Asgard. I’d always wondered why, but I think I worked it out. When Fenrir was in Asgard, he really was a monster. But when he got to our world, he saw the good that mankind can do, so he actually became more human. Because of that, he hid Hel and then set my mum free.’
‘If he’d never done that,’ piped up Max, ‘you’d never have been born!’
‘And you were the only one who could stop Hel,’ added Ellie.
‘Exactly. The Norns sent Fenrir to our world to become more human. And I reminded my mother of her own humanity.’
‘So even back then the Norns knew what was going to happen!’ Ash exclaimed.
‘They know everything. Speaking of Fenrir, whatever happened to him after the battlefield?’
‘He phoned us the day after we woke up,’ said Ash. ‘He and Drysi woke up the same way, on his boat at the docks. They’re happy now. She’s accepted who she is. Now that they’re free from the threat of Loki, they’re going to travel the world together.’
‘That’s great!’
‘When the Vikings woke up, most of them wanted to go back to Scandinavia,’ explained Ellie. ‘So Fenrir’s offered to take them a few at a time.’
‘I can’t believe they’re actually all alive!’
‘Yeah. All of them,’ said Ash. ‘They look normal and they can talk now too. A couple of them have gotten jobs in the Viking Experience, believe it or not, as actors!’
‘They’re surprisingly chatty when you get to know them,’ added Ex, which was the most he’d said all day.
‘They still don’t know much English but they’re working on it,’ said Ellie.
‘So everything’s as it should be,’ said Arthur in wonderment.
‘Everything,’ agreed Ash. ‘Except that.’ She pointed at the eye-patch.
His fingers went straight to it.
‘Actually, I quite like it,’ he told them. ‘It reminds me of what we went through.’
‘A souvenir,’ suggested Ellie.
‘A battle scar,’ corrected Arthur.
She laughed and looked at her watch. ‘Oh. Is that the time?’ She turned to her brother. ‘We’d better be off.’
‘So soon?’ asked Arthur.
‘Sorry. We’ve been staying at Ash’s for the past few days but our parents are due back from their expedition soon. We need to pretend like we’ve had a boring few weeks. And we need to get back to home schooling.’
‘You’re not going to stay in Belmont?’ Ash asked.
‘No. We only enrolled to investigate you, Arthur. Plus we actually live on the other side of the city. Anyway, we like home school. It gives us more freedom for our … uh … extracurricular activities.’ She winked at them and got to her feet.
Ellie put her hand out to Arthur but he shrugged it aside in place of a hug. Ex gave him a remarkably tender embrace when it was his turn.
‘It’s been great getting to know you, Arthur. And you, Ash. And Max,’ said Ellie.
‘Likewise,’ said Arthur. ‘Really, really great. But this isn’t goodbye. You’ll keep in touch and come visit us, right?’
‘Of course we will.’
‘Stay out of trouble,’ said Ash.
‘We can’t make any promises,’ laughed Ellie. ‘You know that, Ash.’
They watched as the Lavender siblings walked across the green, around the corner and out of sight. As soon as they were gone, Max whipped his head around to Arthur.
‘Wanna play some football?’
‘Sure,’ Arthur replied, laughing. ‘Why don’t you go get the ball!’
Max ran off as quickly as he could in the direction of his house in case Arthur changed his mind.
The trees of the Phoenix Park were black husks against the red-streaked evening sky. Families were walking dogs, couples were strolling hand in hand and joggers were pounding the footpaths. And none of them knew of the great deeds that one boy and his friends had carried out there in another time and another place.
A doe lapped from a lake in the northernmost half of the park. Something flashed before her eyes in the water, something dark and long and quick. But it didn’t startle her. She sensed that it was no danger. And it wasn’t.
The water snake that was once the World Serpent flitted through the water. It was home now and it was happy.
The girl watched the sun be swallowed up by the North Sea. It was cold here – it was always cold – and her breaths puffed white in front of her face. But she didn’t mind the cold. After the cold came the warmth, and that she liked. She would go inside shortly, into the cramped cabin with the Vikings, and have some of the hot chocolate that Bjorn so loved to make.
Somebody lent over and laid a blanket across her knees. Drysi looked behind her up into her father’s dark eyes.
‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ she said, indicating the sunset.
‘It is,’ said Fenrir, laying one hand on her shoulder. ‘It really is.’
The man who was once the Fenris Wolf smiled to himself. He was home now and he was happy.
Chatter continued in the kitchen but Rhona barely listened to it any more. She looked at Joe, at the way his eyes shone when he
talked, at his hands – calloused from years of guitar playing – at the little smile that he kept only for her when no one was looking.
She looked through the open door at her son and his friend on the porch. They were hardly moving and the setting sun cast them in a bronze light that put her in mind of statues.
The mother who was once Hell’s Keeper refilled her mug of coffee. She was home now and she was happy.
When they heard Max burst through the Barrys’ front door, Arthur smiled and turned to Ash. They looked at each other in silence. There was so much left unsaid between them and Arthur felt awkward. He couldn’t explain it. He’d always felt so comfortable around her but now there was a nervous lump in his chest.
‘Ash,’ he said.
‘Arthur,’ she said.
‘I like you.’
They said it together and laughed together.
Their hands met on the step. Arthur looked at the golden sky above them.
‘It was a perfect day,’ he muttered.
Ash leaned forward and kissed him once on the cheek.
‘Now it is,’ she said.
Epilogue
Loki falls.
That is his existence now. Falling.
His rage is so hot, so vicious that it could almost boil the water he falls through.
Falling. Constantly falling. The perfect prison.
Except for one thing. He is falling through the Well of Urd. The place where all knowledge that was, is and will be goes. And Loki … well … Loki is soaking it up. Loki is learning. As he falls.
And one day Loki hopes that he will learn that one, single, beautiful piece of information that tells him how to escape from the perfect prison.
One day.
Acknowledgements
When I was younger I would read authors’ acknowledgements and wonder why they felt the need to thank so many people. After all, the author wrote the book. Were all these names really recognition-worthy?
Well now I know the answer. Yes.
First I’d like to thank my family for their bottomless well of support; my parents Ann and Luke, my brother Paul, and all my extended family. A special mention also goes to my cousin Ciara, who was a huge help when it came to my first few (terrifying!) book events.
To my friends: I appreciate every word of encouragement, every piece of advice, every copy bought and every Facebook share. And to Paul, Dee, Ruairí, Tag and Lou in particular: you didn’t complain when I named sometimes unflattering characters after you. You didn’t even complain whenever I would drift off mid-sentence because I suddenly had a solution to a particularly tricky plot point. So this book is dedicated to you.
The help and support I got from booksellers, librarians and teachers cannot be understated and if I was to list them all, you’d be holding a book twice as long as this. But I would like to take the opportunity to thank Jane Alger and all in UNESCO Dublin City of Literature for choosing my first book for their inaugural children’s city read.
Three cheers to the wonderful gang at Children’s Books Ireland and Inis Magazine. They do sterling work both for writers and readers of children’s books and deserve all the kudos they get and more. Hip-hip! Hip-hip! Hip-hip! Hooray!
Massive thanks to all in RTÉ’s Elev8 for helping me name one of Ash’s rebels and, of course, to Orla Doyle for helping Arthur save the world!
Thank you to everyone at Mercier Press for taking a chance on me in the first place and for all the work they’ve done over the past three and a bit years. And I tip my hat especially to Wendy and the editorial team. Without their invaluable input, Arthur’s adventures wouldn’t be as exciting/scary/funny/gripping as they are.
I also wish to gratefully acknowledge the support of the Arts Council of Ireland.
Lastly, I turn to you – yes, YOU. I wrote the stories but I believe that the reader brings them to life. So, on behalf of Arthur, Ash, Loki and all the rest – thank you!
Alan Early
Dublin, 2013
About the Author
Born in Leitrim and now living in Dublin, Alan Early studied in the National Film School, Dun Laoghaire. Upon graduation in 2008, he co-founded Annville Films. From an early age he used to write and illustrate short stories about Banshees and ghost animals and whatever else struck his imagination. When he was ten, he visited Dublinia, a recreated Viking village and so began a love affair with Viking lore.
http://www.mercierpress.ie/author/author/alanearly
Also Available from Author
ARTHUR QUINN AND THE WORLD SERPENT
Part 1 of the Father of Lies Chronicles
Something monstrous is stirring under Dublin …
Arthur Quinn has problems. He has just moved to Dublin and started a new school, and now he’s having crazy dreams about the Viking god Loki. But it soon becomes clear these are more than dreams – Arthur is actually having premonitions about a great evil that threatens the world.
With his new friends, Will and Ash, Arthur sets out to investigate what Loki is up to. Together they discover that under the streets of Dublin, buried in a secret chamber, is a creature that’s been imprisoned for a thousand years, a creature that can and will destroy the world if Loki has anything to do with it.
Can Arthur Quinn defeat the Viking god of mischief?
http://www.mercierpress.ie/Arthur_Quinn_and_the_World_Serpent/575
Also Available
ARTHUR QUINN AND FENRIS WOLF
Part 2 of the Father of Lies Chronicles
978 1 85635 998 6
Arthur Quinn thinks life is back to normal. Three months have passed since he and his friends defeated the Viking god Loki and saved the world, and everything has been quiet. But then Arthur starts having the dreams again: dreams of gods, dreams of magic, dreams of a wolf. It can mean only one thing. Loki is back and only Arthur can stop him.
With the clock ticking, Arthur and his friends find themselves in a race against time to track down the god and prevent him from putting his sinister plan in motion.
But what they don’t know is that this time, Loki has help …
http://www.mercierpress.ie/irish-books/arthur_quinn_and_the_fenris_wolf_father_of_lies_chronicles
www.arthurquinn.ie
About the Publisher
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