Amy Sumida - Tracing Thunder (The Godhunter Series Book 13)

by Unknown

  “Take my magic,” he set his intense eyes on me. They were a dark, earnest blue at the moment. “You'll give it back when you're done. We know you can take enough to fill the space without killing me and you need to do this, Vervain. I need you to do this. Then we can put Alfheim behind us and not worry about your ties to a Viking world.”

  “He's got a hell of a point,” Hades drawled. “And I know all about hell.”

  “Very funny, Sizzle Butt,” Sephy rolled her eyes. “You know you have the comedic timing of a caterpillar?”

  “I have a dry humor,” Hades defended himself.

  “Whatever you decide,” Dionysus added, “I think sooner would be better than later. Now that you've fulfilled one part of the prophecy, it will be anxious to complete itself.”

  “The prophecy will be anxious?” I scoffed.

  “Hey, don't be a hater,” Dionysus shrugged. “Prophecies have a way of self-fulfilling if you don't do your part.”

  “He's right,” Silenus stumbled into the room. “Best to see it through as soon as you can. Or you might find yourself handling it in an unexpected, unwanted, and uncomfortable way.”

  “That doesn't sound good,” I set my gaze back on Odin. “Too many un-words in that sentence.”

  “Go home and get some rest tonight,” Odin offered. “Then come to Asgard in the morning. You can take my magic and Trevor can go with you into Alfheim.”

  “No, no way,” I shook my head. “The whole reason I'm protecting my magic in the gold band is that doing this may destroy them. I'm not taking your magic for the very same reason. My love and lion magics are both safe, I can risk the land magic if I have to.”

  “Why not just take Freyr's?” Torrent offered in his simple tone that he used to state the obvious.

  “Freyr's magic,” I started to smile and Odin smiled back. “Now there's a thought.”

  Chapter Forty-Four

  We got home and found Kirill asleep in our bed but he was curled up into himself, as far on his side of the bed as possible. Trevor and I exchanged concerned looks. This wasn't normal. There had to be something wrong with Kirill and it would have to be dealt with. Just not right then. Sometimes it's best to let sleeping lions lie.

  So we went to bed. My dreams were filled with thunder and blood. I kept seeing Azrael falling. That look he gave me, so sweet and sad. Like he hadn't regretted a single moment leading to his death. It hurt to see it, a cold ache in my chest, like frostbite on my heart. Then his face shifted to Odin's and I realized why Azrael's expression was haunting me. It had been the same one Odin had worn when he'd sacrificed his life for mine.

  I tossed and turned in my sleep, shying away from the truth that I'd almost lost another lover. That Kirill was pulling away from me, even as I slept. It felt like the foundation of my life was shaking. Then images of Alfheim overpowered everything else and my world really did start to shake.

  The ground was vibrating, causing the grass to shiver against my bare ankles. It tickled my skin as the scent of unknown flowers tickled my nose. I walked through the trees, trailing my hands over their glowing trunks, and delighted in the way they brightened at my touch. I found a path and followed it to an open meadow. As I stepped beyond the trees, the forest dimmed and then went dark. My heart started to race and my eyes shot open.

  “Are you awake?” Trevor was up on an elbow beside me, peering down into my face.

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “I didn't sleep so good.”

  “Neither did Kirill, I guess,” Trevor transferred his gaze to the other side of the bed. The empty side.

  “Where is he?”

  “He went for a run,” Trevor frowned. “In lion form. I tried to talk to him but he said it was just some internal shit he had to deal with.”

  “He used the word shit?” I widened my eyes at Trevor.

  “Yep,” he sighed. “Not something you hear too often from him. I decided to let him be. He said he'd be back in time to go to Alfheim with us.”

  “Well at least there's that,” I sighed.

  “Kirill would never abandon you when you needed him” Trevor took my hands. “But there's something wrong, even I feel him pulling away.”

  “It can't just be dreams of Demeter,” I sat up and rubbed the sleep away. “I don't know what to do. I can't help him if he won't tell me what's wrong.”

  “I know. I'm at a loss as well but we'll figure it out after we take care of Alfheim,” he nodded. “I don't foresee anything bad happening but I've called Azrael to come with us and he said he can take some time off in a few hours.”

  “I think I'll ask some of the Intare to come too,” I added. “Just in case of falling stars.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  We met Azrael at Valhalla with fifty of my Intare. Odin had wholeheartedly approved of the decision to bring them. Vidar and Vali were planning on going with us as well but I told them I'd prefer they stayed and watch over Asgard for their father while he was gone with me. They reluctantly saw the wisdom in that.

  “Freyr sent Skidbladnir for us again,” Odin informed us. “It's waiting in the lake.”

  “Good,” I looked over the Intare who'd volunteered to go with me to Alfheim.

  Fallon had come this time. I think he was going a little stir crazy even though he loved being with Zariel. He walked among the Intare, making sure they all knew what to do when we reached Alfheim, and he looked every bit the general. I was so proud of them, how far they'd come. They really did look like a real army now, so confident and strong. A far cry from the scared, tortured men I'd first met.

  “Vervain?” Kirill spoke, jerking my attention away from the other Intare. His deep blue eyes were focused on me intently, just a glimmer of his old self shining through. But he was different. So different. He even said my name like a stranger. Cold, distant, and he used my proper given name instead of Tima, as he normally did. I stared back at him a moment, my heart in my eyes, until he looked away and broke it. “Ve should go,” he turned and left the hall.

  I couldn't speak. Nothing had really been said and yet so much had happened in that brief moment. My arms shivered with cold, it ran up them and shot through the rest of my body. A mix of terror and heartache, it was debilitating. I mentally slapped myself. I couldn't lose it now. Not there, not in that moment. Have a break down later. Just don't throw yourself at his feet and start begging. No, we're not that woman. We won't do that. Will we? Why am I talking in we terms anyway? What the hell was wrong with we-I mean me? Oh right, Kirill.

  “What's up with him?” Azrael's voice snapped me out of it.

  “No one knows,” I shook my head and cleared my throat. “Come on, everyone. It's time.”

  We marched down the hill to Asgard's lake and sure enough, Skidbladnir was there, bobbing gently at the dock. By the time I reached the dock, Kirill was already aboard, standing at the rail and staring off towards the inlet that led out to sea.

  I climbed aboard with the others and went to the helm. One spoke of my star was glowing, the same one that had been glowing whenever I visited Asgard lately, but as we made our way out into the open water, the glow diminished. It slowly faded until it died out, right at the entrance to Alfheim. It's glow was replaced by the light of another spoke, which grew brighter until it was blazing inside me.

  Freyr was standing on the dock, waiting for us with the elves. I think they were all there, there was so many of them lining the shore. They looked wary but hopeful, regal heads lifted high on graceful necks. They all stared at me as we disembarked.

  “Godhunter,” Freyr nodded crisply. “I hope you harbor no ill will towards me over what happened.”

  “I don't, Freyr,” I held out my hand to him and he stared at it in surprise before shaking it. “You did what you felt you needed to.” Then I dropped his hand. “What I do resent is the way you conspired against my mother's wishes and laid a spell over all the Norse gods.”

  Silence. The light elves gaped.

  “I...” Freyr sputtered.
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  “You will have to atone for what you did with the other gods,” I took pity on him. “They know of your deception now and I have no idea how they'll react to it. I myself, have no quarrel with you. I don't want Alfheim but I'm also unsure as to whether you're the best god to rule her. So I'll return this magic on one condition. That you agree to allow the light elves to choose their own leader and that you'll abide by their choice, taking no vengeance upon them should that leader not be you.”

  A low murmuring went through the gathered elves as Freyr's face lost all color. He glanced back at them and they stared at him hard. Oh, now that was interesting. I had a feeling that Freyr wouldn't be ruling for long. His jaw clenched and anger filled his eyes when he set them back on me.

  “Agreed,” he ground out, hands clenching into fists.

  “Witnessed,” Azrael intoned in a powerful voice. A shiver coasted through the air and I looked over at him with a lifted brow. He gave me a quick wink.

  “So be it,” Freyr growled.

  “Oh, and there's just one more thing I'll be needing from you,” I said as I grabbed hold of the heart of his magic and pulled.

  It rushed into me with the bright glare of the mid-day sun. I closed my eyes against it automatically, even though I was seeing it with my inner eye and not my physical ones. Within that glare a crown appeared and it settled inside me like it had been placed upon my head. I felt anointed, coronated. Before I could fully understand that piece of his magic, more tumbled in. A fullness in my belly. A heaviness in my arms. The cry of a baby in my ears. Fertility. Prosperity. Kingship. Sunshine. It was an odd combination of power and it distracted me a little. I pulled back just in time, before I took all of it.

  My land magic had been pushed into the gold, safely tucked away. I opened my eyes with relief, to find Freyr gasping for breath on the ground. Right, that must have smarted a bit. I went over to help him to his feet but he cringed away from me.

  “Oh don't be so sour,” I teased. “I'll give your magic back when we're done here. If it survives the transfer, that is.”

  “You'd steal my magic and destroy it?” He gasped.

  “It was either risk yours or mine,” I shrugged, “and you have to admit, you had it coming. Don't worry, I've left you enough to live with just in case. Now let's get this over with.”

  He got shakily to his feet and stomped off, splitting the crowd of elves in two. They held back so that we could follow. As I passed, they each bowed their heads to me and a murmur of Trinity Star spread among them. It raised shivers on my skin and part of me ached to respond to it. To stay there with them and claim the world my mother had intended for me. One glance at my men soothed that ache though and I took a deep breath and continued forward.

  Freyr led us deep into the forest, down a path wide enough for two to walk abreast. The forest was eerily silent, as if it were holding its breath. No bird song, no shuffle of animals in the undergrowth, not even a breeze to rustle the leaves. The land knew what was coming.

  After quite awhile of walking, we came to a clearing. I followed Freyr to the center of it while everyone else spread out and formed a circle around us. My lions looked nervous but my men looked confident. Azrael even had his wings out in their full dark glory. The elves were quietly, yet obviously, excited, watching us with intense focus.

  “This is the heart stone,” Freyr indicated a large, flat-topped boulder that sat in the center of the meadow.

  It was a light gray color with pink undertones and I noticed that it roughly resembled the shape of a human heart. It was also familiar to me, as familiar as the clearing itself. This was the place I'd been dreaming about, it only lacked a throne and a crown. I went forward and laid my hand on the stone. A tremor shook through it and radiated out into the earth. The elves shivered and murmured while my lions growled.

  “This is where your mother brought you right after you were born,” Freyr watched me take my hand from the stone. “She laid you upon the heart and bound the magic of our world to you. This is where you must return it.”

  “How do I return it?”

  “Well, I don't know,” he huffed. “You need to figure that out for yourself.”

  “I thought you had a ritual you were going to use on me?” I snapped at him.

  “Sure, the one that had a good chance of killing you in the process,” he smirked. “You wanna go with that one?”

  Trevor was suddenly beside me, snarling. Odin and Azrael flanked him while Kirill started to stalk around Freyr's back.

  “Yeah, I didn't think so,” Freyr's smirk stayed in place as he backed away from the stone. “Do your thing, Godhunter. I won't interfere.”

  “Great,” I huffed.

  “You have it inside you,” Odin's hands went to my shoulders. “You already know what to do. Just ask yourself.”

  I nodded, closed my eyes, and focused inward. Odin was right. Aednat had placed the power in Sabine and even though I wasn't exactly Sabine anymore, the power was the same and it would know how to go home. I just had to ask it. If only I could find it.

  I searched and searched while Odin's hands fell away. I looked for some connection to the land, a spark of green, a flower, a tree, something. Where was it? I snarled in frustration and felt my Nahual leap forward. It was suddenly rushing inside of me, racing down a long path that only existed in my mind but felt so real. Her impetus threw me forward, onto the stone, where I braced my palms against the warm, pulsing rock. The emerald fell forward as well and hit the rock with a loud clink.

  My Nahual kept coming, running at full speed toward the emerald and as she went, pieces of her fell away. The aspects of my dragon that had bonded with her. They faded from her and reformed into a dragon behind her, until there were two separate beasts. A white jaguar with golden spots and a golden dragon. The dragon sank back into me silently. I knew then what would happen and the knowledge pulled a scream of denial from me. Tears coursed down my cheeks as the jaguar kept running forward. Running home.

  She leapt through me, through the emerald, and I cried out, trying to pull her back. Not her, not my jaguar. The beast that had tamed all of my other beasts. The uniting force inside me. The magic that had come with me through death. My Nahual.

  It made perfect sense then. The dragon was mine, she was always mine, but the jaguar that I'd thought was my original magic, had actually been given to me by my mother in another life. As all heirlooms are, she was precious to me. So much more precious than I'd known. Because she wasn't just Alfheim, she was my mother.

  Aednat had put a little of herself into the bond and as the jaguar tore free of my soul and flowed into the heart of Alfheim, I felt that little piece of her leave with it. I sobbed, clenching my fingers against the unyielding stone. A child crying for her mother. Come back. Don't leave me. I'd lamented losing Aednat, losing the chance to really know her. When all the time she'd been within me, buoying me up, strengthening me from the shadows of my soul.

  And now she was gone.

  With her, went the magic inside me. It was like her exodus had made a hole and everything came pouring out. Lyngheid had been wrong, the severing hadn't hurt the magic inside me, it was simply taking it. First went Zeus' thunderbolt, flashing through the emerald and out into the rock. It was gone so quickly, I hardly had time to react. I gasped as Hera's magic bled from me and finally gathered enough wits to attempt to stop the flow. I pulled back on it but the force of Alfheim was strong. It had caught hold of a source of magic and it didn't want to let go. It wanted more.

  I wouldn't have worried too greatly but as the borrowed magic left me, my old magic rushed in to fill the void. I knew that as soon as Freyr's magic was gone, Love, Lions, and the Land would surely follow. I started to panic and dug my mental claws in deeper. I couldn't let my magic bleed away. I needed all three for the trinity or I might lose everything. I struggled and the flow slowed but Hera's magic was gone completely before I finally stoppered the fount and breathed a sigh of relief.

  The
star spoke that had shone so brightly for Alfheim, dimmed and I knew the connection between us was gone. I could sense the Great Magic of Beauty through my star but it wasn't the same. Alfheim was its own once more. I laid my face against the stone and wept, wishing for the piece of my mother to return, but she was lost to me now. A part of the world she had helped to create.

  Then a roar ripped through me and a thunderous boom shook my body. I gasped, rolling to my back. I heard voices around me as if they were very far away. Odin. Trevor. Kirill. Azrael. The Intare. They were calling to me but I was lost to the drama unfolding inside my chest.

  Without the Nahual binding them, my beasts were set loose. Upset, confused by the loss of the jaguar, and frightened, they did what scared animals often do and lashed out. I tossed on the stone, thrown about by the violence of their attacks upon one another. They were tearing each other apart and I would be torn asunder with them. I screamed as dragon claws ripped into my lioness and therefore into me.

  Blood in my mouth. In my body. On my fur. My scales. What was I? Dragon? Lion? Wolf? I didn't know. Another tear. Another scream. Help me. Someone please make it stop. Teeth biting through scales. Claws reaching for eyes. Just let me die. Let this be over. Fire flowing between sharp teeth. No! Blood aflame, bones breaking, I was dying from within. Magical suicide.

  The trees around the clearing started to tremble. Wind whipped through the branches, throwing leaves into the air. The earth shook and birds shot into the sky. The sound of their cries echoed mine. Then I felt her beneath me. Mother. The piece of her that had been with me. She'd returned, was rising up through the stone at my back. A comforting presence that calmed me instantly. Me and my beasts.

  Then there were hands touching me and singing, beautiful voices singing. Light soaked through my eyelids and seemed to penetrate down to my animals. As it passed through me, my pain abated and when it reached my beasts, so was theirs. Wounds healed, fire withdrew, and control was within reach again.

  Control. It was about control. If you can't control yourself, you can't be a dragon. I had the power within me. I just had to assert it. I roared. A combination of all of my beasts. I demanded their compliance and attention. This was it. This was us and we had to live together. We had been living together and we could once more. There was nothing to fear, we must trust each other. They backed away, each into their own spoke of their star, staring at each other warily. We were bloodied and angry but I showed them that we were only hurting ourselves because we were one and the same. They settled, closing their eyes to sleep, and I drew a full breath.