Helheim (The Nine Worlds Trilogy Book 2)

by Debbie Champion

  They looked over the battlefield and could see giants flying through the air in all directions. Thor was in his stride and hitting left, right and centre with Mjolnir.

  "I don't understand, if you knew they couldn't win why did you persuade the giants to join in?" asked Alex confused.

  "I wanted to get out of there, it seemed the perfect opportunity and what a fight eh? This is awesome. Look father is really enjoying it."

  Loki nodded towards Odin who was still standing on the overhanging rock on top of the hill. Odin was fist pumping the air every time he saw a giant go flying through the air.

  "Enough of this, tell me where my mother is now," barked Alex, getting right up into Loki's face.

  "Chill pill nephew. She's with King Ingwe at the back of their, oh not so large army," he said looking over his shoulder.

  He was right, there were just a few cohorts of Light Elves standing together in a tight square. Their shields were interlocked and they were moving back one step at a time in retreat.

  "You had better hurry. Looks like they are about to fly home," said Loki, brushing down his coat as Baldur set him on the ground again.

  "You're coming with us," snarled Alex.

  He grabbed Loki's arm and dragged him forwards towards the back of the Light Elf army.

  "Wait let's bring Hadron," said Sasha. "He can be our swapsies," she grinned.

  Baldur nodded in agreement; he bent down, picked Hadron up and threw him over his shoulder.

  They walked quickly to the rear of the army, following Loki's directions and headed towards a large flag with a red eagle on it which was being waved frantically. Obviously a sign for the retreating troops. Alex dropped Loki's arm and started to run. He needed to get there before they all transformed and took flight. He skidded to a halt in front of a line of heavily armed Light Elves. They must be the king's bodyguard he thought to himself.

  "Ingwe!" he shouted. "We have your son. Give me my mother or I'll put so much electricity in him he could light up a city."

  A tall, thin Light Elf pushed his way through the guards and glared at Alex.

  "If you so much as touch one hair on his head I'll snap her neck like this," he said clicking his fingers.

  Baldur came up behind Alex, supporting Hadron with one arm. He was conscious but looked totally dazed.

  "Hadron," cried King Ingwe, stepping towards him.

  "Hold on," said Alex, holding out his hands in warning. "You get him, when I get my mother."

  King Ingwe looked pained. He looked at Hadron and then back over the heads of his guards. Finally he shook his head.

  "Fine, you win this time," he snapped.

  He gestured to the guards and they parted to reveal a tall thin cage. Inside the cage was a slim woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a thin cotton summer dress and was shivering with fear. Tear marks tracked their way down her pale cheeks and bruised hands gripped the metal bars. Her eyes locked with Alex's and she crumpled to the floor.

  "Mum!" cried Alex, running to the cage.

  A Light Elf unlocked the door and Alex threw it open and clasped her to his chest.

  "What have they done to you?" he cried, holding her head in his hands and looking at her.

  "Eric, I'm ok, honestly, I'm fine," she said, tears coursing down her cheeks.

  He lifted her gently out of the cage and put his arm around her waist to support her. King Ingwe was holding Hadron up and looking him over for damage.

  "I suggest you get out of here before our army completely annihilates yours," said Baldur sternly.

  "I don't know what Odin will decide, but I think you have suffered enough this day."

  King Ingwe nodded sadly as he looked out over the field and the heaps of dead Light Elves lying there. The Valkyries were busy carrying away the brave towards Valhalla, warriors and Light Elves both.

  "There will be a fine feast tonight," said Baldur gravely. "Go home and tend to your son Ingwe and we will tend to your army. Never come back. If you do we will destroy the Light Elves forever. Immortality isn't for all, accept it and move on. The apples will never be yours."

  Ingwe turned his back on Baldur and transformed into an enormous eagle. Hadron was too far out of it to transform so his father clutched him gently with his talons and pushed off into the sky, beating his wings fiercely. He cried at his army as he circled the field beneath and they shed their weapons where they stood, transformed and flew up into the sky to join him. They stood still watching the eagles soar through the sky towards the sun. It was over.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Alex held his mum close to his side as they made their way across the bloody field. It was a horrendous sight and she pushed her head into his shoulder, trying not to look. They slipped on the ground, which was churned up with mud and gore and tripped over discarded weapons. A loud whoop of joy made Alex look over. Thor was running towards them. As soon as he reached them he grasped Alex's mum and swept her up into the air.

  "Mathilde, Mathilde! Finally you are safe my love. I'm so sorry, so, so sorry. Can you ever forgive me? They told me you had died and fool that I am, I believed them," he cried into her hair.

  She laughed and held his face in her hands. "Oh my love, I knew you would come for me eventually. I kept telling everyone, but no one believed me," she sobbed.

  "When I found out they put you in a hospital I went there straight away but Ingwe had already got you. I've been out of my mind," said Thor, placing her down gently and kissing her on the lips.

  Alex coughed embarrassed and they looked at him and laughed.

  "Oh Eric, look at you," she cried, reaching over to him and stroking his cheek. "You're a grown man, I can't believe it. The last time I saw you, you were a babe asleep in my arms."

  She wiped at the tears still streaming down her cheeks with the back of her hand and smiled at him broadly.

  "Er, just one thing," said Alex, feeling awkward.

  "His name is Alex, sweetheart, not Eric." Thor rescued him, grinning. "The man who stole him changed his name and placed a cloaking spell on him so he was impossible to find. We only found him when he turned eighteen and the spell broke."

  "Oh right," she said confused. "Alex, right, ok. Yes that's a nice name," she smiled at him. "We have a lot to catch up on don't we son?" she asked, reaching for his hand.

  He grinned and squeezed it tightly. "Yes Mum, we do."

  He couldn't believe he was standing in the middle of a battlefield with both of his parents who he didn't know at all.

  "Let's get back to the city. Your friends will be anxious about you," said Baldur, clapping a big hand on Alex's shoulder.

  Alex nodded and swallowed the emotion, which was threatening to burst out of him. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, his feelings were so mixed up. Sasha punched him on the arm gently.

  "Come on hero, let's go get cleaned up. Becca is probably having kittens worrying about you."

  Alex nodded. "Yeah but wait a sec," he said, turning around and surveying the battlefield.

  A group of giants were gathered together, looking about confused as though they couldn't believe they had lost.

  "What happens to them?" asked Alex, nodding in their direction.

  "Heimdall will deal with them," said Baldur. "The Light Elves flew them in and abandoned them. Somehow I think that will back fire on them one day."

  "They flew them in? But they're huge" said Alex, surprised.

  "They are also very strong. You saw them carry off Tyr. I hope he's ok," said Baldur, rubbing a hand across his beard.

  "Oh, he'll be fine. A bit embarrassed maybe to be taken like that. I'll give him a good ribbing later," laughed Thor.

  "Hang on, where's Loki?" asked Sasha, looking around.

  "Damn it, he must have snuck off whilst we were distracted," said Baldur annoyed.

  "Yes, right brother," winked Thor. "If you think I'm going after him you can forget it. I have some catching up of my own to do," he said, slapping
a noisy kiss on Mathide's cheek.

  "Dad!" cried Alex horrified.

  "Get used to it son. You'll be seeing plenty more of that," he laughed heartily, squeezing her bottom.

  Both Alex and his mum blushed to the roots of their hair. They looked at each other and laughed.

  "Thor behave yourself," she chastised him. "There's plenty of time for that. I want to get to know my son," she said, looping her arm through Alex's.

  Alex laughed at the hurt look which flitted across Thor's face. He tucked his mum's hand firmly around his arm and they started to walk in the direction of the city atop the hill. Alex looked up and saw Odin standing still on the rock. There was a look of pure fury on his face which made Alex stop suddenly. Odin shook his head, spun around and leapt onto the back of Sleipnir who was waiting patiently behind him. Sleipnir reared up on four of his back legs and then took off, thundering across the earth around the side of the city walls.

  "Where's he going?" asked Alex puzzled at why he looked so angry.

  "Oh don't mind him," said Thor. "He'll be going back to Valhalla to welcome the warriors. They fought well today and will be boasting about their prowess all night. Odin won't want to miss that."

  "It's me isn't it?" asked. Mathilde in a small voice. "He hates me."

  "No, no my love. He doesn't hate you. He blames me, you're just an innocent. I know I should never have seduced you. Who can blame a man eh, when you have eyes like that?" He tipped her chin up and kissed her deeply.

  Alex coughed again and they broke apart and laughed.

  "Come, let's go into the city and leave Odin to Valhalla and the warriors. Once we find Alex's friends I'll take you all back to Midgard. Things need to calm down here and it's best if you're both out of harms way," he said seriously.

  They both nodded in agreement and started to climb the hill towards the city.

  As soon as they reached the gates Becca came running towards them and threw herself into Alex's arms.

  "Oh my god, I've been so worried," she cried, into his shoulder.

  He squeezed her to his chest tightly and caught his hand in the back of her hair. "It's ok, we're fine and look, we got my mum." He indicated to his mum who was standing behind him smiling.

  "Oh gosh, hello," said Becca, suddenly shy.

  "Hey Sasha!" called Matt, coming through the gates. "We totally saw you burn up Loki. That was awesome. I'm calling you Fire Girl from now," he said laughing.

  "Matt!" she cried, jumping into his arms and nearly knocking him over.

  He spun her around laughing and they locked eyes.

  "Nice hair," he murmured, picking up the strand of red.

  "Yeah, makes me look a badass eh?" she laughed.

  He suddenly leant down and kissed her on the lips. She froze in shock but then melted into his arms sighing. Alex and Becca looked over at them and grinned and then Alex turned Becca's head back towards his and kissed her too.

  "Er I think that's enough," said Baldur sternly, tapping Sasha on the shoulder.

  She broke away from Matt with a giggle.

  Alex rubbed his thumb over Becca's cheek gently and a movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention. Lexi was standing by the sides of the gates with Iduna and looked at him sadly. He went to walk towards her but she shook her head quickly and disappeared through the gates with her mother. Alex's stomach flipped over with guilt. He turned to Becca but she hadn't seen, she was looking at the sword which was still hanging by his side.

  "Alex, the sword. What happened?" she asked.

  "Oh yeah about that," he said, looking at the sword. "When I hit Hadron with a blast, it deflected off his helmet and hit the sword. It's not exactly destroyed though so I think we're ok."

  Baldur came over and looked at it. "I think we could be in trouble," he said gravely. "That sword has definitely had it, which means the curse is broken."

  "Which means Ragnarok will begin," said Sasha, horrified.

  "No way," said Alex. "There must be something we can do. Dvalin can fix it, then it'll be cool. I'll just go hide it somewhere where no one can find it."

  "Not even Dvalin could fix that," said Thor, studying the sword but not touching it. "Sasha's right," he sighed. "It's the beginning of the end."

  Alex looked at his father and shook his head. "No, I won't let that happen," he said firmly. "I've just found my family, nothing is taking that away from me."

  After all he had been through there was no way it was all going to end now. Somehow he would find a way to change the prophecy, even if it meant returning to the three Norns and forcing them.

  "Alex, we're with you whatever happens," said Matt, holding onto Sasha's hand.

  Alex nodded at him and sighed, the Norns had been working overtime today. It was about time they retired he thought grimly. No one had the right to dictate what happened in the world, least of all three batty women. He straightened his shoulders and looked at the others.

  "Right, let's go find Dvalin."