by Eleri Stone
“Yeah.”
Aiden lifted Hallie into a bear hug and then kissed Grace one last time before mounting his big, black horse. Christian’s was a dappled gray that seemed silver in the quickly fading light.
Aiden held up his hand, half goodbye, half signal, and they moved toward the woods.
The days were short this time of year and the sun set quickly, sinking like a pebble in a pond. Raquel could almost see the shadows moving, spreading from the trees to slip over the fields. Reaching toward them like long black fingers. Frost crunched beneath the horses hooves but otherwise the hunt was silent. It was weird being with them. Ever since she was a little girl, she’d watched her father ride out at least twice a month to make sure no demons slipped through into their town. She’d always understood that he risked his life to keep her and all of the Æsir in his care safe. But she’d only ridden with them once, on her own horse, when Kathy convinced her father that a clan witch needed to know exactly what the hunt did. He’d planted her as far away from the fault as he could manage, stationing half the hounds and two huntsmen around her.
And it had still been terrifying.
The speed with which the demons moved. The ferocity of the riders. The blaze of Skimstrok and the black darts that were the hounds. And the magic, more powerful than anything she’d been exposed to, raw and bleeding from Asgard into this world. The riders were people she’d known all her life, but that night had been a revelation.
She’d understood why Kathy insisted she go. Raquel had asked to accompany the hunt a second time to try to make sense of the magic, all those small interactions. It was like an incredibly complex symphony and experiencing it once hadn’t been enough. Despite her fear, she’d wanted to witness that horrible perfect beauty again in an attempt to grasp the how of it.
Seeing the hunt in action had also made her aware of all they had lost. An ancestor of hers had cast the spell that made it possible. She could barely comprehend the complexity of the spellcraft, let alone hope to recreate something similar. Instead of giving her some insight to enable her to reach her magic, it had only made her more wary than ever—and she was not by nature a particularly humble or cautious person.
The harsh caw from a crow caused her to jump and Christian touched her knee. “Steady. It’s Rane letting us know she’s reached the portal and that the way is clear. A couple months ago, it split early and we ran right into a pair of demons heading toward Alan’s house. Elin saw them a few seconds before I jumped the ditch they were hiding in. She saved my life. Aiden’s had the crows scouting the area early and thoroughly before we ride, especially with the fault so unstable.”
That thought distracted her temporarily and she grabbed onto it. “Christian? What’s between you and Elin? Without the contract in your way, maybe you can be together.”
She felt his sigh more than heard it. He dropped back a bit and the deepening darkness gave them the illusion of privacy. The frost on the ground glinted, making it seem as if they passed through a field of stars. It crackled beneath the horse’s hooves as they rode. Christian’s voice lowered even further though they’d barely been speaking above a whisper. “Did Fen tell you that? That’s not why—”
“No,” she said. “That’s not the reason I can’t marry you. You know this isn’t right either or you would have been more upset about me breaking it off. I didn’t even get a sniffle.”
“Maybe I’m crying on the inside. Is this you trying to ease your conscience?”
“Do I need to?”
He gave a long-suffering sigh. “If I say yes, do you go back to being too scared to talk to me?”
“I was never scared.”
“Good.”
“Elin?” She prodded gently when he fell silent.
“Elin’s in love with a man who’s been dead nearly a century. She’s no more in love with me than I am with her, though I do love her dearly.”
And now Raquel felt like crap for bringing it up, not only because she again felt guilty about ditching Christian but also because her heart ached for Elin. “I’m sorry. I thought you were together.”
“We were,” he said quietly. “For a time, until I realized she was only interested in me because I reminded her of someone else.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say anything to her.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“And you don’t need to worry—” His head lifted as if he scented the wind. All the hair lifted on her body. She felt it too. “It’s starting.”
Christian kicked his horse forward. She wanted to rub her arms to scratch away the pressure against her skin. Old magic. It called a response from inside her. Odin hadn’t created the bridge, no Æsir had. They simply were, like the stars and the planets. Her people had learned to travel them, manipulate them to some extent. But if they’d ever understood completely how the bridges worked, that knowledge was lost to them now.
Odin, to protect his fleeing people, spelled Asbrú to prevent the non-Æsir from crossing. The fire demons could cross though. The geis they were under to destroy the Æsir allowed them to pass. Their magic tied to both Asgard and the Æsir. If what she suspected was true, the demons might not survive the fulfillment of their bargain with the Vanir. And maybe that’s what the Vanir had intended all along. Who could say? Motivation wasn’t her concern. She just needed to untangle the mess left behind. It was the geis that had given her the idea to tether Kamis’s magic to hers. It should allow him to cross.
She wrapped her hands around the leather grips until her knuckles ached, forced her fingers to relax so she didn’t lose the use of them. The hunt gained speed as they approached the fault almost as if pulled to it. When the portal was open like this, there was no mistaking the location. Even the horses, bred from Asgard stock, could feel it. The horses not with them would be locked in their stalls so they couldn’t follow the call. Children would be watched over more closely than usual. Doors would be locked. The hunt thundered through the woods toward the source of the magic, frost crackling beneath their feet, steam billowing with every breath. The faint glow emanating from their Skimstrok blades grew stronger the closer they got to the portal. And they were very close now. Despite her fear, her heartbeat slowed to match the low throb of the magic. The trees passed in a blur. There was only the hunt, ancient, fierce, terrible and necessary.
Humans thought the riders of the hunt were ghosts. Raquel could see that. There were ghosts here tonight. Her ancestors, explorers who’d first crossed into this world to learn about its people, as gods and then as refugees, and every generation of her family since then, riding this hunt beneath full moon and dark, the magic of Asgard pulsing in their veins.
Christian gave a shout and she found one erupting from her own mouth when the portal came into sight, a shimmer of magic, spreading like a ripple in the fabric of this world. The crows were first through, dropping to a glide and then disappearing as soon as they touched the portal. Fen. Aiden. Christian’s body tensed and her heart skipped a beat as they were engulfed in the most powerful magic she’d ever encountered. The sliding sensation of movement even though her thighs and hands locked her to the horse. Like riding the world’s shortest, fastest roller coaster.
Then they were in Asgard.
Christian didn’t hesitate. At some point during their mad ride, he’d drawn his blade. Not two steps past the portal and something leaped at them from the right. She flinched, the horse’s step faltered briefly and Christian’s body flexed as he slashed the thing to the ground. They moved on without making sure the demon was dead. She’d been warned that speed was of the greatest importance. Get in and get out before the demons had a chance to swamp them.
Right now, there were only a few demons around them and the hunt passed easily, following Rane and Elin through the stark landscape. There was no wind, yet the cold still cut to the bone. It looked like the waste left behind after a volcanic eruption, but the jagged hills weren’t formed of volcanic rock, they were covered
in a slick black ice. Raquel was surprised to see trees—bare and twisted, possibly petrified. She couldn’t imagine how they could be alive, how anything could survive here.
She also couldn’t have imagined the hunt moving faster than it had been when they accelerated for the crossing. But now, with the demons on their heels, they flew. Hooves clattered on the brittle ice that fractured like obsidian. No wonder they wrapped the horses’ legs. She was grateful for the leather guards protecting her own. She shifted her weight when Christian leaned forward, trying to move with him, trying to stay the hell out of his way. They slowed briefly, though she didn’t know the cause of it until they surged forward again and she looked down to see the slaughtered demons beneath the horse’s hooves.
A claw tipped hand reached for her foot and she kicked out. Christian turned his head. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” she shouted, trying to get her foot back in the stirrup. “Just keep going.”
He’d never really paused. She had the feeling that if she’d been injured, he would only have spared enough time to make sure she was securely strapped to the horse. Down they passed, into a narrow and sheer-sided canyon, which seemed to her to be a really good way to be ambushed, but she trusted Aiden to know better than she did. The bridge that arched overhead was delicate and far too symmetrical to be a natural formation. The road they traveled on now might have once been a thoroughfare. People, her people, had once lived here.
A mass rose up ahead of them and she craned her neck to see it better over Christian’s shoulder. Algae clung to the battered rock, glowing with a blue light that outlined the ruin beneath.
A hound bayed, and they turned sharply right when they came out of the narrow passageway. To the left a pair of hounds blocked off a group of demons coming from the opposite direction. Her head snapped forward when Christian spoke her name.
“He’s here. Up ahead near Aiden. Can you dismount?”
Forcing her shaking muscles to move, she grabbed the arm Christian offered to steady herself. He grinned at her before letting go, lifting his chin toward the front of the line. “Up there. Hurry.”
Aiden had already dismounted and climbed onto a ledge. As she approached him at a shaky run, he held out his hand. One of the crows perched on an outcrop of rock above them, the other still circled far overhead, a black speck, calm and far removed from the chaos on the ground. Maybe being a crow wouldn’t be so bad, after all.
Aiden grabbed her forearm and pulled her up. And Raquel found herself standing face to face with the most powerful witch she’d ever encountered.
There was a definite pecking order within any coven. Nonwitches, even pure-blooded Æsir, usually couldn’t distinguish levels of power unless they were of enormous magnitude. Aiden’s frown was fierce and she wondered if it hid as much fear as she felt welling up inside her. How could she hope to contain someone like this?
The Vanir was ancient, very powerful, and he was dying. Glassy gray eyes blinked open above hollowed cheeks. A face that looked to have been lean to begin with was now emaciated and pinched with pain. It wasn’t lack of food that had done this. She could feel the power draining from him. Rane was right, whatever the demons were using to steal his energy was buried beneath the rock that encased the lower half of his body. How did they channel it? She wondered if—
“Can you get him free?” Aiden demanded.
She stepped forward, dropped to her knees and pressed her face to the rock. She couldn’t see a damn thing, but she could feel the energy and it was familiar enough that she didn’t really need a sight confirmation. A piece of Gleipnir, the chain that had bound Fenrisúlfr until the last battle. Her clan had a link of it in the vaults, as did most of the others. She’d studied it extensively back in junior high.
She looked up at Aiden and nodded. “Stand back.”
Rane cawed and he leaped down from the ledge. As soon as he was clear, Raquel pressed both hands to the rock as close as she could get to the witch’s legs without actually touching him. She didn’t want to touch the chain’s magic yet. The rock first. Closing her eyes, she went to work.
A pained gasp came from the witch a moment before she felt the rock liquefy beneath her palms. She kept a portion of her concentration directed toward keeping the ground beneath her knees solid. “Can you pull yourself out?”
“I can’t move my legs.” But Kamis reached back to grab onto the lip of rock. With his right hand. He was missing his left. “I think...I can do it.”
After a few seconds of watching him struggle to lift his weight, it became clear to her that he simply didn’t have the strength.
“Aiden,” she turned to shout. When she looked back, the witch was already swinging his legs free, yanking at the chain wrapped loosely around his ankles. She lifted her hands and Aiden hauled her to her feet.
Kamis looked directly at Raquel and ice slid down her spine. “All this trouble just to kill me. You should have sent the crow to do the job.”
Aiden shook his head. “We haven’t come to kill you.”
The Vanir witch laughed, which was particularly creepy because his mouth never moved. She could simply feel his amusement through the telepathic link he used to communicate.
“I cannot cross Asbrú. Odin spelled the bridge to prevent us from traveling to Midgard. Who knows what damage this—” he cast the chain away in disgust, “—has already wrought?”
She pulled the amulet from beneath her armor and the witch’s attention shifted to her. He stared at the amulet at first in confusion and then in dawning horror as he recognized what she held. “You think I’d rather be your pet than Surtr’s? You don’t know what powers you play with, little girl.”
“There’s a risk,” she said, and the Vanir barked out a harsh laugh.
“It’s a simple geis.”
“I know what it is,” he hissed.
She swallowed hard. “It will allow you to cross without danger to the bridge.”
“Or it might kill us both. You cannot know for certain.”
“The reason the demons can cross Asbrú is because of the geis binding them to us. They can’t leave Asgard until all of us are dead. If you’re bound to me, you can cross too. It will work.” She saw confirmation of that on the witch’s face.
“You dabble in things you do not understand, child,” Kamis said. “Even the gods did not place such things lightly.”
“It’s the only way I could think of so. Unless you have a better idea...”
His jaw clenched and she felt certain that he would deny it even though she knew she was right. Rane dropped from her ledge, landed a foot away from him. Kamis looked at her and some of the defiance seemed to drain from him. “Until Surtr attempted to use my magic to break the curse laid on his kind by mine, he believed that there was a chance he could one day return to his home. They’ve lost their connection to their world and only survive because you do. The geis keeps them alive, binds them to you and allows them to cross Asbrú. It has also...changed them. Once they were not so very different from you or I. I don’t know exactly what your geis will do to me, but it will change me as well.”
“But will it work?” Aiden repeated.
Kamis stared at Raquel as if looking into her soul. Measuring, weighing her and the price she was asking him to pay. The geis would give her complete control over not only his power but his will, if she chose to abuse the link. “It will allow me to cross Asbrú.”
“Will you accept it?” Aiden asked him. The alternative was death, he didn’t need to say it out loud. But many people would choose death over the alternative she offered.
When Kamis nodded, Raquel stepped forward to place the slender chain around his neck. At first there was nothing. Kamis touched the small stone which was bound in silver and suspended on a leather cord. She felt a flash of disappointment as she started to climb to her feet. Then the rune magic activated and dropped her to her knees. Too much. His power compared to hers—the imbalance was too great. The witch’s power wrap
ped around her body and entered her, seeking to bond to her magic, trying to find space inside her where there was none.
He was so strong. She’d never imagined...
Vaguely, she was aware of someone shaking her shoulder and then of Aiden shouting in her ear. She couldn’t swim up to the surface to answer him. It was the Vanir that kept her from drowning when he could have taken control of her magic, overpowered her through the link and leashed her instead. He...pulled back even as Aiden tossed her over his shoulder and passed her to Christian. When Christian called her name, she blinked and the world snapped back into place.
But this wasn’t her world. They needed to get the hell out of here.
The demons were beginning to swarm. The hounds were still holding them back but even as she watched, the circle tightened. They would need Christian’s sword and he couldn’t fight when he was carrying her.
“I can hold on.” By the time she was secure behind Christian, Aiden had managed to get the Vanir witch onto the horse with him. She didn’t know how Kamis was holding on. He looked half-dead, but his face tightened with determination as Aiden gave a shout. The hunt was on the move again.
She was aware of motion. At one point, she was nearly bumped out of the saddle by a sudden stop, but Christian grabbed her arm and jerked her back into place. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she shouted, but she wasn’t really. It was taking all her concentration to get a grip on the binding. Kamis was not only the most powerful witch she’d ever encountered, he also had exquisite control over his power. She was beginning to suspect that he’d nearly reversed the geis just to show her that he could. To prove a point. Not out of pride, but out of warning. It wouldn’t matter. He couldn’t remove it now that it was set, no more than he would be able to remove the amulet from his neck. He was hers, but she was having a hell of a time adjusting to the change. It was more of a burden than she’d expected and she felt like a donkey with a poorly weighted load.
“An ass,” came the amused commentary from down the link.
Oh, shit. “Get out of my head.”
