Dead Silence

by T. G. Ayer

  A sword, stuck between the two sides of the chasm, like a bridge going from one side to the other. A sword still within the solid leather of its scabbard, a scabbard still buckled to the waist of a warrior who was suspended in the air, saved only by the hand-woven leather of his belt.

  And though he had his back to me, I recognized him even from this distance.

  Joshua.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  "Joshua?" I called tentatively, hoping he'd turn to me and answer with some smart-ass comment. But he didn't move.

  I glided toward him, flying underneath to gauge his position, then rising up in front of him. His gorgeous green eyes were shut, his beautiful face bruised, skin raw and purple with broken vessels. He'd probably smacked into the sides as he fell and I didn't dare to imagine how many broken bones he'd sustained.

  The side of his face and his head gleamed with fresh blood and I could make out broken tissue and a gash in his scalp revealing the white of his skull. He wasn't bleeding badly but a knock on the head that would bust the skin open could have also caused a concussion.

  I moved toward him, scanning the rest of his body but with the way he was hanging limply, head and arms dangling, pulled down by gravity, it was hard to tell if more bones weren't broken.

  I'd have to risk moving him. Otherwise I'd be waiting here, doubting my next move until the ravine decided to close in on us. If the quake hit again we were both screwed.

  With that thought, I wrapped my arms around his waist, allowing his head to fall on my shoulder, then began to glide upward slowly. I didn't want to move too fast and end up jarring him. The sword followed him, simply lifting off the cracks it had been wedged in, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the irony.

  Glancing up I wondered how he was still alive after such a long fall. So many warriors had died and yet he survived. Above him the chasm was wide from the surge, all the way to just above our heads. He must have fallen straight down, his descent stopped only when the chasm narrowed enough for his sword to stop his fall.

  The trip to the surface seemed to take forever but the only thing keeping me going was the comforting thud of Joshua's heartbeat against my chest. Tears sprang into my eyes again as relief flooded my veins, giving me the push to get to the surface. I was slowly losing energy what with all flying around for the last couple hours, not to mention being drained of my blood, and being poisoned. I had to push my wings, thrust harder to move upward.

  And then the walls of the cavern began to tremble. Rocks and sand began fell, sending clouds of dust billowing out around me. The earth groaned and a low roar emanated from beneath me, as if the center of the earth was howling in agony.

  Or in fury.

  Worse, I felt a strange pull, as if gravity had increased tenfold, attracting me more to the depths of the cavern that to the surface. But I fought against it.

  I flapped my wings, forcing them to move harder, to work against the pull. Perspiration dripped down my back and beaded my forehead and neck. And still I thrust upward, slowly gaining momentum, slowly pulling away from the strange force that worked to drag me down.

  The strange noise echoed around us, so unearthly that the hair on the back of my head rose pin-straight, while the skin on my entire body pebbled with goosebumps. It sounded like some kind of beast lurked within the depths of the ravine, crying out his anger and frustration.

  But I steeled my frazzled nerves and continued to fly until the brightness of the sunshine almost blinded me.

  And then I was soaring into the Asgard sky, at last free from the strange pull to the underground. Relieved, I flew over the city, searching for a gathering of people that may indicate medical care. Joshua was still so silent in my arms, his chest barely rising enough to calm my growing fears. I had to hurry, had to find the infirmary tent now.

  To my left, the training fields milled with people, and tents had been set up within each enclosure. I yelled for medical care and someone pointed north. I swept through the air toward a large tent that might be the kind set up for medical care on a grander scale, and touched ground in the middle of the teeming mayhem just outside.

  I stepped inside and was greeted by more mayhem. Beds were erected from one end of the gigantic tent to the other, more than fifty cots to each side. People milled in the narrow spaces as they tended to the warriors; Valkyries, Ulfr and dwarfs who'd populated the city.

  These past weeks had drawn people from all the nine realms to Asgard to show their allegiance to Odin and to lay their lives on the line for him. I made out the faces of Frigga, Eir, Vanya and Nita, all busy, bent over patients, tending to broken bones and bloody wounds.

  Eir looked up as I walked to her with my burden. She pointed at a spare bed two feet from me, just vacated by a warrior who was limping away, his head bandaged. I bent to lay Joshua carefully on the bed, and he didn't move a muscle.

  "What happened," asked the goddess, her forehead smeared and her hands stained with blood.

  I tried to answer, but when I opened my mouth to speak, I couldn't utter a word.

  Vanya went to Joshua's side while Eir placed her bloodied hands on either side of my face. Speaking calmly, she said, "Bryn. Breathe slowly, in and out. Try to calm yourself, try to breathe your heartbeat to a slower calmer rhythm."

  I listened to her voice, the rhythm of it, the soft tone. And I began to calm down. Slowly but surely the panic began to leave, and the adrenalin too.

  Perhaps I'd been down in the chasm too long, but suddenly I could no longer hold my own weight. I sank to the ground and felt hands reach out and hold me tight. Someone urged me to sit, another voice called for water.

  A cup was placed at my lips and I drank, then pushed it away. Now was not the time to be drinking.

  I cleared my throat. "Sorry. I don't know what came over me."

  Eir patted my cheek. "It was a panic attack. All this must be a lot to handle especially coming so soon after being taken by Loki." The goddess' voice still drew calm around me and I wondered if Eir had some kind of magical power other than those of healing.

  "I'm fine. It's Joshua who needs the attention, not me." I clenched my jaw, more than annoyed with myself for taking precious minutes away from his care.

  Vanya looked up from Joshua's side. "Don't worry, Bryn. I've looked at him and apart from the gash in his head and a few broken bones, he will be fine. A concussion yes, but with the Mead, his bones will knit in no time."

  I let out a breath of relief, feeling a little lightheaded at the news. Frigga came to stand next to me, her hand on my forearm.

  "Now, tell me what happened out there? Where did you find him?" She took my hands in hers and I was aware of her inspection of my knuckles. As I recounted the short version to the two goddesses, not wanting to talk too much about it, I could feel her tending to my wounds, cleaning and bandaging them as I spoke. All the while at the corner of my vision I watched as the elf ancient Vanya tended to Joshua. He lay so still that I was terrified he'd remain that way forever.

  All the noise and rushing around me faded into nothing as I watched his face. His eyes were closed, those incredibly long eyelashes curving. I wanted him to open those eyes, show me those gorgeous greens and give me his cheeky smile. Then maybe everything would be better.

  But all he did was lie there, unmoving.

  "He is very lucky, Bryn."

  I stared around me to find Frigga watching Joshua. She drifted her gaze to me for a brief moment before watching him again. "He fell a long distance, and escaped death. The gods favor him."

  Nodding, I said, "He was lucky," thinking about his fall and how fortunate he'd been that his sword had jammed at the right moment.

  I sank to the foot of the bed and rubbed my eyes, paying no attention with what Frigga was saying until I heard the words 'Thor' and 'why this happened'.

  That brought my head up and I gazed at the goddess. "Sorry, what did you say about Thor?"

  "He thinks he know what has happened, but he wants us to
talk about it in private. He doesn't want to be accused of scaremongering." I nodded, aware too of the undercurrent to her words.

  Something else was happening and I needed to know about it. "Okay, where are we meeting?" I asked the question even though the last thing in the world that I wanted was to leave Joshua.

  Frigga's gentle smile told me she knew how I was feeling. "We meet in my chambers. Thank goodness it has escaped the worst of the quake."

  "When?"

  Frigga glanced at Eir. "We should leave now. He must be waiting."

  I got to my feet and turned to stare at Joshua's sleeping form. Eir drew closer and grasped my upper arm, giving it a small squeeze. "Don't worry, Bryn. We will take good care of him for you. And if anything happens we will fetch you immediately."

  Wrenching my gaze from his sweet face. I met Eir's eyes. She spoke the truth, and I should leave because I had responsibilities. But my feet were frozen to the ground. I didn't want to be anywhere else but at his side. Not until I was certain he was going to be okay.

  Movement behind me drew my attention and I turned to see Aimee's rich brown head and Brody's much darker bobbing as they entered the tent. The first time I'd met Aimee was in Craven, the only day she'd attended school in months. Not long after that we were told she'd died of leukemia. And because of Aimee's death I'd know Joshua was about to die. It had made our last few days together all the more bittersweet.

  Things had changed when we all ended up in Asgard though, and I'd been so grateful to have familiar faces around me, Brody's topping the list. My foster brother had come to Valhalla with the rest of the Craven kids. But Loki had abducted him, imprisoning him in a cell in Jotunnheim. In the end, we'd saved him, despite the great cost.

  Just looking at him brought back both good and bad memories, but now he was a sight for sore eyes.

  Both he and Aimee looked worried as soon as they rushed toward Joshua's bed.

  "What happened? Are you okay?" asked Aimee, staring at my bandaged hands.

  I shook my head. "Nothing, I'm fine." Then I glanced at the bed behind me and said, "It's Joshua."

  "Oh, god." Her throat caught on the words. "Is he okay?"

  I repeated what Eir and Frigga had said regarding his prognosis and I could see that both Aimee and Brody, much like me, disregarded all the comfort of those words and just worried more. Aimee moved to the other side of the bed and touched Joshua's bandaged arm, while Brody sat in the spot on the bed I'd previously occupied.

  I feel slightly comforted knowing they'd be here for him. Aimee looked up and then glanced behind me at Frigga. She must have sensed a certain urgency because she frowned and met my eyes. "What's wrong, Bryn?"

  "I . . . Thor needs to discuss what happened but I . . ."

  I stared helplessly at Joshua's prone form but Aimee cut into my misery. "Bryn. You have a job to do. Don't worry about Joshua. Someone will stay with him. I'll leave Brody here if I need to leave. He can keep Joshua company."

  I smiled through a sheen of tears. "Thanks," I said softly, then glanced at Frigga.

  She gave me an encouraging nod then said, "Ready?"

  "Yes. Let's go," I said firmly, knowing if we waited too long I might change my mind altogether. And it seemed Frigga sensed my thoughts because in an instant, we disappeared from the infirmary tent and reappeared inside her chambers.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Thor was pacing the white marble floor when Frigga and I materialized in her chambers. He looked up immediately, tension and worry gouging deep grooves in the pale skin of his forehead, and eking the brightness out of his normally sparkling blue eyes.

  A glance around the room revealed the effects of the quake. Dozens of shattered marble tiles, broken stone statues and cracked walls were proof that nothing had survived the quake unscathed.

  One of the two stone pillars that had bracketed the balcony entrance now lay broken on the floor, blocking the way out. On its journey down, the column had also taken out the drapes, railing and all. They lay like a silken white pool, strewn across the tiles with the broken rail sticking out like a golden, listing mast in a sea of milk.

  Thor stopped his restless pacing and headed to the doorway. He stepped over the remains of the column but was unable to avoid the curtains, and just strode through them, straight onto the balcony. An act that I would have found unnerving, considering how unstable everything around us was. Knowing my luck, the balcony would give way as soon as I stepped onto it.

  I stayed inside and so did Frigga, both sharing a worried glance but waiting until Thor returned to the room. Perhaps he'd needed the time to compose himself out in the fresh air, but maybe the view of the destroyed Asgard valley was too much to bear. It would have been for me.

  Only moments passed before Thor returned. He ran a hand across his stubbled chin and walked to one of Frigga's white sofas, taking a seat in silence. He looked strange, his huge muscled bulk balanced on the narrow, elegant sofa. The only good thing was he'd retained his normal size as opposed to towering twelve foot tall god.

  Neither Frigga, nor I, interrupted his preparation to speak.

  The goddess moved to a small table that sat beside her working desk on the right wall. From a tall, thin pitcher she filled three glasses then handed one each to Thor and myself. I drank in silence, for the first time unable to summon even the tiniest bit of joy that I sipped the delicious golden, honeyed Asgard Mead. The magical milk of the goat Heidrun possessed regenerative powers which were incomparable. And its addictive powers were akin to Midgard's most hardened drugs. Nevertheless, it was a necessity in Asgard for repairing and regenerating wounds and broken limbs. All the warriors, einherjar, Valkyrie and Ulfr made good use of its restorative properties.

  And in the wake of the horror of the quake, such a drink was surely well needed for all our faculties. Without Odin to take charge of this disaster we had to make do on our own.

  Thor drained his glass and handed it back to Frigga without even a word of thanks. His lack of manners didn't even raise an eyebrow.

  Frigga reached for a nearby table, overturned by the quake, set it on its legs and placed Thor's empty flute on it. Then she took a seat beside him and motioned for me to take the single sofa opposite.

  Everything in the room was white and seemed to lend a certain sense of calm to my soul. So when Thor did speak the shock he gave me did not completely kick the feet from under me.

  He cleared his throat. "This quake, all this destruction . . . It is Jormungandr." His voice was raspy, as if even the thought of it was unbearable.

  I frowned. "Jormungandr? Isn't that the Serpent of Midgard?" I asked.

  I'd learned a little about Norse myths since I'd been plunged into the reality of the Nine Realms, but when someone says Serpent of Midgard my mind automatically derails into 'that's just a myth' territory.

  Thor nodded absently while Frigga remained frighteningly still, the whites of her eyes bright and almost scary. She glanced at me, taking pity on my ignorance. "He is one of Loki's children. Odin banished him a long time ago, to remain beneath the seas, where he has kept the Midgard world in balance. Unfortunately, Loki did not take it too well."

  I snorted. "I'm not surprised. If the serpent is his child, of course Loki would have been unhappy with the banishment." The words were out of my big mouth before I could think to stop them.

  Frigga nodded, not showing even the slightest concern for what they'd done to Loki. "He was. He petitioned Odin to release Jormungandr but the All-Father was adamant that he didn't want to endanger the realms. And when the serpent went against Thor, and when the oracles claimed that he would kill Thor at Ragnarok, Odin felt it was best to banish him for both his safety, and for the safety of the nine realms."

  I opened my mouth, then closed it before I said anything that would get me in trouble. I was beginning to understand why Loki had it in for the gods of the Aesir. His serpent child banished to live beneath the oceans, his child Sleipnir taken from him to be Odin's steed,
his daughter Hel banished to rule the Underworld, his son Fenrir transferring his loyalty to Odin. And he himself imprisoned in Hel with viper poison dripping down on his face.

  That he'd been granted his freedom in the first place was a wonder in itself.

  Thor laughed softly, his eyes crinkling with amusement. "I know what you are thinking, Bryn. How can we blame Loki after what we have done to him and his children? But you must understand. There is more."

  "More?" I flushed as I'd been unable to keep the skepticism from my tone.

  Thor nodded, "Do you know about Fenrir and his incarceration?"

  I shook my head, unsure of which tale he was talking. There was still a lot of gaps in my Norse knowledge considering my time in Asgard has been spent more with sword than with history books.

  "Fenrir is Jormungandr's brother. And the gods decided, dangerous as he was, and as he was predicted to be, that they needed to bind the wolf before he wreaked havoc on the Nine Realms. So bindings were made, manacles and ropes and chains. Nothing worked until Odin had the dwarfs create Gleipnir, an unbreakable length of ribbon. The god Tyr lost his hand in order to trick Fenrir into allowing himself to be tied with that ribbon." Thor laughed softly, as if the memory was mildly amusing. I was pretty sure Tyr didn't agree.

  Frigga picked up when Thor paused. "And the binding was a success. Fenrir was unable to break the bonds, and the gods tied him to the stone Gjoll. But you see, because Fenrir was brought up here in Asgard by the gods of the Aesir, Odin had already developed a soft spot for him. From a young age, Fenrir had been close to the All-Father, and knew little of affection from his own absent father. Thus, Odin felt sorry for Fenrir, and often visited him where he'd been bound. This continued until Odin became convinced that Fenrir could be trusted to do no harm and he set him free. From that moment Fenrir was Odin's man, and Loki has hated both of them for it, ever since."