“Shannon is the Hand of Hel!” I yelled. “She is a servant to—”
“I know,” the dragon chortled. “I know very well. But when she is gone, I will be the Hand of Hel. And I will kill and slaughter until Hel is happy, and be the mightier for it.” He nodded, his hooded mouth twisted in a smile under the magical fabric. “Now, I only have to recruit some friends and kill her. Some will join, others will flee. I will get many. We might very well succeed. I’ll risk it.”
“You were going to give the Horn to me,” I said bitterly. “If I had given you the Scepter, what would you have done? You would have had to honor the Pact. Nött would have made an end of you.”
He snorted. “I know my Pacts. I would not have taken the Scepter from you. I would have killed you and picked it from your corpse. So you see, you are actually lucky your Dana here had it.”
Silence. We stood there, enraged by the deceitful snake.
“So, will you let us go?” I asked him. “We are beneath your caring.”
He growled at me. “I decide what is beneath my care, and I am a petty one these days. Didn’t I also languish in Euryale’s imprisonment for thousands of years, feeding on rats such as you, while giving away my powers to Euryale? All my magic in Euryale’s hands and I was withering? Oh no, I’m not above hurting maggots.”
Kiera was pulling me back, but abandoned the attempt. I kicked a chair. “You are no different from any of them. All of them are lying, thieving turds in the vestments of kings and queens and worms, ripping a piece for themselves of what the gods made.”
“The gods,” he snapped, “are no better—”
“At least they are gods,” I growled. “Not larvae from their armpits.”
Kiera took a step away from me. Dana as well. The dragon sat there, stiff as a stone statue, not moving an inch. The only movement was its breath sucking in the black mask, in and out, and the glowing eyes in the shadows. Finally, it shifted. “I’m saving my rage for the battle, you little speck of dying, rotten meat.”
“And how will you ever give the Horn to Hel? You cannot use it,” I said tiredly. “You cannot take it anywhere.”
He chortled. “When it’s all over, and I’m bored with ruling everything, perhaps I’ll make a Pact with Nött. I have time. She may blow it then, when everything is over. And now, I have to go.”
“Go,” I answered bitterly. “I cannot stomach you. And I suppose you’ll lock us in some tower and have someone clean up the bones in a thousand years?”
“I’m tempted,” he chuckled, “Very much so. I, however, have no wish to do so. You go. You go and fight for whomever you like, you simpering creatures. I said I’m petty. Not above killing ants.” He shook the Scepter. “But in fact, I’m also happy. I haven’t been happy in ages. And so, I will keep a part of my promise. I’ll send you on your way.” He snapped his fingers and the chains around Dana’s wrists fell open.
We stared at the dragon, disbelieving every word. “You are letting us go?”
He waved towards the door. “That is my gift to you. Leave.”
“And go to Aldheim, where the dead rule and elves hate us?” I asked.
“Do what you want,” the Masked One said icily. “While I prepare the army and open some doors, you have time to ponder it. If you wish to live, go and hide in a hole.”
Thak shook his head. “You will open the Talon’s Guard?”
He nodded. “I’ll release the Unlit Legion,” he chuckled. “Svartalfheim and Aldheim will suffer the wrath of the Dukes and Duchesses of Svartalfheim. Long have they slept. They will be starved, weak, but not for long. The dragons shall fly again. Many will fall in the battle, but they will rip the bitch apart.”
“You bastard,” Thak muttered.
The Masked One slammed the Scepter to the floor. “I’d truly find my way to some nook or hole in the land. Find the dverger deep below, or go to Aldheim and beg for mercy from the elves, when they finally take Himingborg. Your friend will be gone and the new Hand of Hel, me, will pour his armies after you. Run, hide, and don’t let me see you again.”
Kiera nodded at the great mirror. “Will you let us use that?”
He shrugged. “You put a dragon in a hard place. I must admit I cannot. It was tied to the gorgons, and a gorgon’s blood is needed to open it. The small mirror merely allows one to return to it. Alas, I cannot open it or use it.” He grinned. “You will have to walk out of here, and find your own way. There’s the door. Or take the window. I care not.”
We left by the door. A pair of svartalfs stood just outside and showed us the way out. I fingered the mirror beneath my belt. The dragon had forgotten to ask it back.
CHAPTER 20
Ban’s round city was silent. The guards walked behind us down the stairs, their white crests bobbling. The black maw on white shone on tabards and on flags in the corridors. We exited the palace and took to the streets. They twisted and weaved as we made our way down towards the gates. We passed tall walls, intricate towers of dark iron, studded with silvery metals. There were guards on the walls, but not many. Orcs were running in the dark, keeping an eye on us, and probably some others followed us. Most, however, were preparing for battle outside the city.
“Where are we going to go?” Dana said softly. She looked up to me. “And thank you.”
Kiera said nothing, reacted in no way. She kept walking, her face calm as ice. Thak was looking down. Both had a standing order from Shannon to slay her.
I snorted and rubbed my face tiredly. “We aren’t friends, Dana. I just couldn’t do it. Let one more die like that. And I doubt you are all evil, either.” I frowned at her. “Besides, you created the monster. You will help deal with her, eventually.”
“I cannot deal with her,” she said sadly, hugging herself. “I wanted many things, but I didn’t want her here and then she came, and made a mess of all my plans. I trusted Euryale, and I was wrong. She died for my decision. I thought I did her a favor.”
“You were mainly doing yourself one,” Thak said bitterly.
She looked at him and shrugged. “That is part of it. Be that as it may, she is beyond my words.”
“She’s not really Shannon,” I said, “and less every day she holds that Famine. Our brave Shannon’s mostly gone. There is this terrible creature inside her that is trying to destroy half a world, or until Hel is sated.” I glanced at her. “And I don’t think Hel is easily sated. You should tell her you are sorry, before it is too late. I think it’s important, for both of you.”
“I know,” Dana said miserably. “I’ll try.” She was thinking. “She or the Masked One? Both are equally bad for the Nine Worlds.”
Kiera opened her mouth and I gave her a begging look. She closed it, and walked on, sulking.
“She is very powerful now. Stheno and Euryale were probably the most powerful creatures in the worlds after the gods. And she killed them. How one is to stop Shannon or the Masked One, is beyond me.” She was swallowing her bile and I pushed away my emerging hate of her. She had killed Ron. My brother. She had caused the death of Lex, and Dmitri and Alexei.
I hated her.
I should hate her.
Yet, the Nine Worlds were in war. And she seemed less selfish than she had been. She had lost things as well.
“Nött could stop it,” I said. “And I made a mess of it.”
Thak rumbled. “You did. Always listen to the Pact before you make it.”
We walked on, uncertain of the future.
Dana was thinking about hers. “Will you try to kill me now?” Dana asked us. Kiera and I looked at each other, not sure what to say.
“I’ve got my compulsions,” Kiera said softly, as we finally reached a long, underground tunnel, and at the end of it, there was a portcullis of great height. Beyond that, there was a field of rubble. A sea of flags swayed not far out beyond the gates. She went on. “Shannon ordered your death. But now, Shannon is about to be faced by a danger she had not anticipated.”
“Surely you
told her all about this Unlit City, eh?” I asked. “She knows there is a danger she might face now.”
Thak nodded. “She knew about Nött. She might guess what the Masked One is planning. But she will risk it. She has a terrible army of her own. And I think the dragons are weak and not as powerful as the Masked One thinks. They will fight a horrible battle.”
We reached the gate and the guards waited as the portcullis was raised. I turned to Kiera. “Will you go back to her?”
She walked on, and Thak followed her. She spoke. “Instead of thinking about how to slay her, do you have some plan to spare her the dragon’s plan?”
“I ...” I began to say, but shut my mouth.
On the plains before us, the armies of Vastness were gathering. King Ban was sitting a mile away in a chair made of red metals, surrounded by a guard of female svartalfs, clutching tall fiery spears. Legions of Ban and his allies spread left and right and I noticed they were sitting on the ridge that ran across the land, not far from the Markudin, the bridge. There were fifty thousand of them. Glittering ranks of spears weaved, and archers and mages filled the gaps between them. Artillery, odd catapults with curved necks were arrayed in lines by hundreds, and thousands of orc archers scuttled behind the ranks of the svartalfs. In the shadow of the city to our right, ten thousand riders milled on deadly lizards and there was a savage reserve of milling orc tribes.
On the plains, a huge, bloodthirsty yell from hundred thousand throats could be heard. Then there was tumultuous music, wild, savage, echoing across the land.
Armies were on a march. Over hundred thousand. Shannon would be there, leading them. New kings and queens would follow her, and she’d be ambushed.
The guards surrounded us.
A tall svartalf pointed at the road leading towards Markudin, through the army, or the other way, towards the far reaches of the Vastness beyond Ban’s city. He spoke, “Take any road you like. Don’t come back here,” he said and indicated the battle. “Now, hurry. Get gone from here.”
We turned to look around. Kiera pulled me along, and she walked a road out of the battle, towards the great stone walls of the Vastness. The armies were preparing, and seemed to pay us little attention. Dana was walking after us, holding her arms around her, her eyes lost with the enormity of what was taking place in the world around us. She was limping and her back was burned from Stheno’s spells. I kept an eye on her, but I was not much better off, and even the indomitable Thak was spent. We walked up the road for an hour, and there, finally, no troops could be seen, and none would threaten us immediately. I walked to the side, and climbed on a rock, and looked out towards Scardark.
Below her walls, stretching across the lands, there was the vast army of hundred thousand creatures. A booming chanting voice echoed in the cavern, as the army, formerly that of Stheno, spread left and right and far beyond sight, marching for the ridge and the bridge and Ban’s city. The chant was a bloodcurdling noise, a wordless, rhythmic cacophony. Kiera stood next to me, her eyes on a distant figure, standing amidst ten thousand black and silver armored svartalfs, followed by the Dark Water’s army. It was Shannon, and whoever ruled the Dark Water clans now, was under her thumb. She was riding a chariot of some sort. “This is just a portion of the armies, right?” I asked Kiera.
I looked behind and saw Dana was not moving to us. She was looking around, anxious.
Kiera waved her hand. “Aldheim has a population of millions. Many millions. Same as Svartalfheim. Those are the best and most professional armies, though.”
“And if the Masked One falls, Shannon shall take the Vastness. And she’ll march that army through to Aldheim.”
“They both would,” Kiera answered. “One will.”
I looked up the White Way. The way circled around the side of the cavern, forlorn and ancient, near unused for long thousands of years. The light above the Unlit Door shone dully, speaking of what I thought would be something like midday. “And that’s where the Masked One would be going. To open up that portal.” I looked at Kiera. “Do we have a choice?”
Kiera nodded. “We have to stop them.”
Thak agreed. “We have to stop that shitty dragon.”
“We have to contain Shannon as well,” I said. “We must.”
“No,” she said. Kiera shook her head, and hugged herself.
I turned her to me. “You owe me this. You poisoned me.”
She shook her head again. “Shannon would have healed you. Against my wish.”
“If I survived long enough,” I told her bitterly. “And I don’t wish to die.”
“It’s not what you think,” she said. “Not at all.”
“It’s slavery to Hel,” I spat. “She lied and used me too many times. So did you.”
She leaned close. “I didn’t use you. I didn’t lie. I want you.”
“Preferably as an undead,” I stated.
She shrugged. “It would be best. But I obey her, and cannot go against her will. Neither will Thak.”
I bit my lip. Dana spoke. “Fine. Let’s worry about Shannon later.”
“Huh?” I asked her.
“I said, let’s worry about her later,” Dana said. “We have to follow the dragon. We have to get up there.”
I looked at her. “So, you will help us?”
She hesitated and nodded. “I will. Though they,” she nodded at my companions, “will try to kill me after. So be it. We shall see. I trust you, Ulrich.”
Kiera nodded. “We shall deal with it later. For now, we have to try to kill the dragon. And you will need—”
“The mask,” I said softly. Thak stepped forward, and tossed the mask to me.
“The dumb dragon didn’t think to strip us of our weapons and gear,” he chortled. “He was too confident, wasn’t he? Yes, we will get up there. That’s where he will go.”
I held the mask uncertainly and nodded. “It can break my mind, this thing. But perhaps it can hurt the dragon. And I need the terrible strength to defeat it.” I looked at Dana. “Thank you.”
“The dragon can break me with but a thought,” she argued. “Just like that. We must surprise it.”
“Let’s go and see, then,” I said. “Thak? You up to it?”
Thak rubbed his face tiredly. He looked up to the gate. “I’ll try.” He indicated his wounded back and the wounds to his legs and arms. “I won’t be very strong, but I’ll carry us.”
There was a flash of light by the far doorway. I squinted my eyes, and cursed. “Is it him?”
Kiera nodded. “It is him. He has the Scepter. He is touching the door. He’ll be there in a bit. The Unlit Door is open.”
I cursed. “So, shall we?”
Kiera nodded. “We are tired, torn, worn, but we can still make it work. We’ll attack the beast with all we have, and then see where we are.” She shook her head. “It will be terrible. Some will die. But perhaps you will be easier to work with, love, when we resurrect you. The Horn and the Scepter belong to Shannon. And if you wish to spare Dana, then I’ll take your corpse to her as well.”
I felt terror’s cold claws rake my back. The Horn and the Scepter. To get them to Nött, I had to fight my friends.
So be it.
“Let us go,” I said.
Thak fell forward. The change was slow, painful, tired, but in the end, one of the predators that flew high in the cool air of Vastness looked at us. Its wings were leathery and bat-like, and the thing jumped to the air, beating its wings furiously. It swooped, and flew around and grabbed us from the rock.
We hung on. He flew, straight as an arrow up towards the Unlit Door. He glided on the currents, flapped his wings furiously, and after a tottering flight of a weak giant, we arrived. He circled the doorway, tucked in his wings, and let go of us. We tumbled, cursed and turned to look at the door.
It was twenty feet high and wide, and a simple white doorway.
The gate was open, fog poured out of it, bringing with it scents shut in for thousands of years. I turned
to look down at the plain.
There the battle was joined.
A glittering wave of troops was marching for Ban’s ridge. A horde of Ban’s orcs rushed to drive chaos into Shannon’s advancing armies. There was a bitter fight for the fort at the end of the bridge. Thousands of svartalfs and orcs were falling to arrows and spells on both sides. Orcs tore to Scardark’s spears, and a vicious melee began. Ban’s main armies, the svartalfs, the riders, and more disciplined orcs took steps down the ridge, defying the foe twice their size. Ban’s army screamed defiance, the siege machinery raining a thousand trails of fiery ammunition in its wake, rolling over ranks of shiny Scardark warriors.
It was a butchery; one Ban could not hope to win.
Far away something else was taking place. Beyond Markudin and the Chasm, in the gate to the Way of Echoes, there was movement. Drums, deep and resonant were thrumming there, and there was something oddly familiar about that noise.
Thak pulled me away and I pointed that way. “Is there something I should know?”
He smiled. “You didn’t think the draugr would be left to die in Himingborg? They are here. And they shall go back with the rest of the armies, when the battle is won.”
I shook my head with disgust. “Filth follows me everywhere.”
Then, Thak stopped us. He cocked his head and even Kiera shook hers. Beyond the drums of the dead, I heard silvery notes.
Kiera gave a ghostly smile. “Well. That’s interesting. The elves followed the draugr. Almheir Bardagoon’s marching through the Way of Echoes.”
Thak shook his head darkly. “One issue at the time.” He pulled me, and we entered the darkness after the Masked One.
A massive, terrible battle was about to take place in the Vastness. And soon, it would be even more terrible, if the Masked One brought a flight of dragons into it.
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