Son of Thunder (Heavenly War Series)

by S. C. Mitchell

  Before they could get into the details, Val joined them. The woman was a bit red-faced.

  “I still can’t believe you are taking a mortal to Svartalheim.” She did seem to be looking more kindly on Meghan. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? I could close the shop.”

  Jord shook his head. “Thanks for offering, Val, but we’ll be fine. I’ve got a whole battalion of bright elves to back me up.”

  Val‘s gaze swept to Meghan. Her eyes softened.

  “Look, I had this all wrong, Meghan. I’m really sorry. But if you knew Jord like I do, well . . . In any case, I’m sorry.”

  The woman shook her head, then continued, “A prophecy, wow. That’s big stuff. Please be careful. I’d really like to see you both back in one piece.”

  Jord clapped the woman on her shoulder. “Party at my place when we get back. You’re bringing the pizza. And I mean real pizza, not that veggie thing you like.”

  Val just shook her head and sighed at him, then turned and walked away.

  Jord chuckled as Val retreated. “She’s not really a bad sort, once she gets to know you, and she has bailed my butt out of jail on a number of occasions.”

  Chapter 7

  Cold winds whipped around them. Jord saw Meghan shiver, despite the jacket she’d gotten from Freyr. It was so tempting to put his arms around her. His mind came up with a number of ways to keep her warm. The woman continued to dominate his thoughts.

  He still wondered about Freyr’s interest in Meghan. Freyr had vehemently argued with Odin to not let Meghan come on this journey. Why? What was Freyr’s stake in all this? He’d never been particularly political. Hell, he’d never been particularly responsible. Freyr was, after all, a fertility god, and Meghan was an extremely attractive woman.

  Still, a god had no business thinking of any mortal in that way. The pairing of a god with a mortal was doomed from the beginning to be heartbreaking. ‘It is better to have loved and lost . . .’ did not apply when the one you loved grew old, withered, and died in such a short span of years, while you stayed young and vital.

  On the other hand, looking at Meghan, Jord could understand the attraction. Her beauty, her spirit, should have been immortal. It would be easy to desire a woman like this, if he’d let himself. Easy to fall in love with her. He’d seen it happen, and the god or goddess was crushed for centuries after the mortal died. Jord wasn’t about to fall into that trap.

  “So the entrance to another dimension is in the basement of the Mall of America?” Meghan’s question interrupted his thoughts. Meghan’s first jump through a dimensional portal had unsettled her and Jord could tell she was still a bit nauseated, but she’d never complained and had pushed herself to keep going.

  “One of them, yes.” Jord loved answering Meghan’s questions. The way her eyes sparkled, the way she cocked her head as she considered what he was telling her. “Right next to the aquarium. We set it up when they built the mall. It’s only a one-way portal, though. We can’t have a bunch of dark elves invading a shopping center, so we’ll have to exit another way. But it’s convenient when we need to get here fast. Most of the other portals to Svartalheim are quite remote.”

  They were making their way through a thick pine forest down the side of a mountain. Snow hung heavily on the branches of the trees and was piled high on the ground. The pathway down was treacherous, and the going slow.

  “Is it always this cold here?” Meghan pulled her jacket in closer. Jord could see she was freezing. Even though he felt the urgency to rush before the dark elves had time to move his father, he knew they would have to stop soon to rest and warm up. There was just something about this area of Svartalheim that pulled the heat from one’s body.

  “We’re high up in the mountains. It will get warmer as we descend. There’s a cave, just up ahead a bit, where we can rest and warm up.”

  Jord tried using the goat-drawn chariot to move faster, flying above the trees, but the icy winds here were so fierce even his weather control proved useless, and Meghan would have frozen in minutes. So they continued on foot using the protection of the trees around them. Here he could keep them in a slightly warmer air pocket using his ability to control weather but, even with that, the chilling magic of the area seeped in over time.

  Jord found the cave he’d been making for. It felt good to get out of the cold winds. Meghan had to be freezing by now, but she had not complained once. The spirit and acceptance of this mortal continued to amaze Jord.

  As he’d hoped, there was a stack of dry firewood at the ready and he soon had a little blaze going.

  “That should help warm you up a bit.”

  Meghan sat before the fire and unzipped her jacket, soaking in the heat. Jord could see her starting to relax as the chill left her. She pulled out the necklace his mother had given her.

  “Your mother said you’d teach me how to use this.”

  The red stone glowed in the fire’s light. It was one of his mother’s most prized possessions.

  “That necklace is known as Ansfrida, the Jewel of Nidavellir. It has some very powerful magic attached to it. Let me show you.”

  Jord held out his hand. Meghan pulled the chain over her head and handed the necklace to Jord. He watched as the thick curls fell back over her shoulders and found himself wondering what it would be like to run his hands through those strands. His body hardened as he watched her. It was a reaction he hadn’t expected, yet had no power to resist. As her green eyes gazed up into his, all he could think about was grabbing her and crushing her to him.

  His mouth salivated, as desire gripped him. He had to stop thinking like this. He took the necklace, and forced his eyes away from her. He regarded the faceted red jewel and touched its perfection. It was extremely beautiful. Yet in that moment, shining brilliantly in the firelight, its beauty was so much less than hers.

  He knew he shouldn’t want her, couldn’t want her, but he did.

  As the warmth of the fire seeped into her frozen hands, Meghan watched Jord. A god. He was immortal. Yet he seemed so unaffected—just a normal guy. Well, far from normal. He was handsome, confident, and far too sexy for his own good . . . or hers.

  When he’d pulled those incredible gray eyes from her, just to glance down at the necklace, Meghan felt a loss, a gloom. Why did just having him look at her make her feel so good?

  Jord pursed his lips as he examined the necklace. Meghan wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips. Deep down she knew she needed to stop thinking like this, but still . . .

  “You hold it like this.” Jord had the gem in his right hand. Meghan forced herself to look at the necklace and not at him. His thumb was behind the setting and his fingers touched various facets of the jewel. “Then stroke downward, like this.”

  Meghan saw Jord’s fingers stroke the gem. What would it be like to have those fingers stroking . . .

  Suddenly he was gone.

  “Oh, I’m still here.” His voice came from somewhere in front of her, but she couldn’t see him.

  “Invisibility?” Was it any more incredible than a flying chariot, or a flashlight that turned into a club?

  “To reverse the process, do the same, but stroke up instead of down.”

  He was there again, in front of her, handing the necklace back. “Try it.”

  Meghan placed the necklace around her neck once more and mimicked Jord’s action, but nothing seemed to happen. What had she done wrong?

  Jord’s eyes widened. “Perfect.”

  She looked down and could still see herself. Then she noticed the fire was not casting her shadow onto the cave wall.

  “I’m really invisible?” She moved quietly to the side.

  “Completely.” Jord continued to stare where she had been.

  She moved around Jord, to stand at his back. H
e turned his head to the side. “You are still here, right?”

  She giggled and tapped him on the shoulder. “Nope, I’m back here.”

  She took a step back, trying to move as silently as she could, enjoying her little game.

  “Just because I can’t see you, doesn’t mean I can’t find you.”

  Jord turned so quickly Meghan didn’t have time to move away from him. He lunged and brought his arms around her, capturing her.

  “And just because you’re invisible, doesn’t mean you’re invincible. Remember that.”

  Meghan was trapped in his embrace, her arms held at her sides by his. His mouth was just inches away from hers. Later she would wonder where she found the courage to kiss him. She’d never been so brazen. Maybe it was because, deep down, she really wanted to kiss Jord—needed to know what his lips felt like on hers.

  Then again, maybe it was just that she just couldn’t think of anything else to do. She brought her lips up to his. To her surprise she found him receptive. His lips met hers and her heart skipped a beat. For just a moment his mouth was inviting, demanding.

  Then he released her, staggering a bit as he stepped back. His expression of surprise became a roguish smirk. “Having a surprise attack handy never hurts, but I doubt that would work on a dark elf.”

  Meghan reddened a bit as she deactivated the necklace, making herself visible once again. Instantly her shadow blazed to life on the wall beside her. She felt a bit short of breath.

  She needed to turn the conversation, and take her mind off of that kiss, that incredible kiss, and the feel of his arms around her.

  “So . . .,” Meghan grasped for a topic. “What did your mom mean when she said you would tell me how not to use this?”

  Jord sat down, his eyes glazing over a bit. He chuckled and shook his head. “It’s one of those stories from my youth my mom tends to bring up at the worst possible times.”

  Meghan sat herself across the fire from Jord. “Go on.”

  “I was quite young.” Jord’s voice was quiet, wistful as he began his story. “One day I decided I wanted to get a good look at Mjolnir, my dad’s hammer. He always told me I would know I was a man when I could lift it by myself. He was messing with me, of course. Even he needs the help of Megingjörð to properly wield it. The hammer is really quite heavy.”

  “But, feeling very much a man, I snuck into their bedroom when I thought they were busy elsewhere, just to try and lift Mjolnir. He usually left it in his closet when he was home.”

  “I tugged and pulled, but the thing would not move. I tried putting on Megingjörð, but the darn belt refused to buckle and just fell off.”

  He was a pompous young snot. There was no way I was letting him use me.

  Meghan had to hold back a giggle.

  “I was so focused on the hammer I didn’t hear my mother and father coming into the room. By the time I heard them, it was too late to make my escape, so I hid in the closet.”

  “Well, it became, shall we say, and intimate moment for my parents. Not something any child should, or wants to be aware of, let alone witness, even hidden in a closet. That’s when I saw mom’s necklace. I slipped it on and used it, then attempted to make my escape.”

  Meghan did laugh then. She could almost imagine young Jord creeping toward the doorway.

  “I almost made it. I was in the doorway when father decided to kick the door shut, for privacy. Even when he’s not wearing the belt, Dad’s got a lot of strength. It was all timing of the worst sort. I flew right through the wall of the room across the hall. The crash, of course, caught the attention of my parents.”

  Meghan laughed and shook her head. “Were you hurt?”

  Jord shrugged. “Not really. My brothers used to throw me through walls all the time when we rough-housed. My father raised us to be warriors.”

  “However, my pride and dignity did take a trouncing that day. I love my dad, but you do not want to get him angry. It wasn’t so much that I’d tried to lift his hammer, but the fact that I snuck into their room without permission. He was very disappointed in my lack of propriety, and he let me know it.”

  Meghan tried to picture what it must have been like to be in a normal family unit, with both parents and siblings, something Meghan had never known. Her family had just been her, her mother, and Grandma Larson. “Are you close to your father and brothers?”

  Jord shrugged again. “Quite close, I think. Dad takes us with him on hunting trips. We usually have a great time.”

  Meghan had a hard time envisioning Jord in the bright, hunter-orange clothing of the Minnesota hunting gangs, with a rifle tucked under his arm and a dead deer at his feet. Well, she supposed guys were guys, even if they were gods.

  “What do you hunt?”

  She hoped she wouldn’t have to sit through a hunting story, though she supposed Jord could make even that interesting. She knew some guys that hunted deer and small game, even a few women that did. She didn’t have a problem with hunting; she just preferred to buy her meat from a grocery store.

  “We hunt giants, usually.”

  That drew her full attention.

  “Jotunheim connects to Midgaard at a number of places and the giants occasionally try to cross into your world. One of my father’s main tasks nowadays is to keep them where they belong.”

  Okay, score one for the first interesting hunting story Meghan had heard in a long time. “If I hadn’t seen those giants at the museum, I wouldn’t believe you.”

  The fire was so nice and warm, compared to the deathly cold outside. Meghan was in no hurry to leave the cave, though she knew they would eventually have to.

  “Those we fought at the museum were just the smaller, stone giants. Frost giants can get up to twenty-five feet tall. They are strong as oxen . . . and about as smart. If they would just stay in Jotunheim everything would be fine and we would leave them alone.”

  “You do it to protect us mortals?”

  Jord stirred the fire with his sword’s tip. It had burned down to mostly coals. “We try. Most of the time they’re after mortals to use as slaves in their mines and work farms. Occasionally one of the smaller ones just wants to sneak past us to live in the mortal world. I can’t blame them too much for that. Their world is not the most pleasant place to live. They usually end up as football players or professional wrestlers. If they integrate okay, we let them stay, but we keep a pretty close watch on them.”

  Meghan stared into the fire, trying to picture Jord with his father, Thor, hunting giants. It wasn’t an easy picture to paint.

  Jord sighed. “Well, we’d best get going.” He extinguished the fire and they bundled back up to head out into the cold. Jord took her on a path that continued down the side of the mountain. The snow lessened after a bit and it began to warm. Meghan continued to ask Jord questions. He talked about his sister, Thrud, and his two brothers Magni and Modi.

  Then Jord stopped and turned to her. “Enough about me. Tell me about your family. Are you close to your mother and father? Any siblings?”

  It was Meghan’s turn to shrug. “No family at all now. Mom was kind of a free spirit. She passed away a few years ago. I never knew my father. No brothers or sisters, at least that I know of.”

  Jord’s eyes widened. “You’ve got no one?”

  Meghan shrugged again. She’d always envied people with large, close families.

  “I’ve got some friends that look out for me.”

  Meghan stayed close to Jord as they walked. It might have been her imagination, but it did seem warmer the closer she got to him.

  “Your father must have died when you were quite young?”

  Meghan hadn’t thought about her father in months. She didn’t even have a clear picture of what the man looked like.

  “Actually, I think
he may be still alive. I just never knew him. Like I said, Mom was a free spirit. The way she told it, she and Fred had this fling while she was on vacation one summer. Then it was over. Fred used to write to me, once in a while, and he has sent me money and gifts from time to time, but I’ve never met him. I haven’t heard from him for a few years now. I think he lives in Norway. At least that’s where most of his letters came from.”

  Jord and Meghan moved steadily down the mountain as they spoke. It warmed up quite a bit. The pines around them began to thin out, and Meghan could see a great, walled city in the valley below them. Heavy iron walls, tall thick towers, and massive buildings. The whole place had a rather sinister look.

  Jord pointed toward the dark walls. “That is Nokkurra, where Modi saw Father two days ago.”

  A chill ran through Meghan. “Looks like a tough place.”

  Jord nodded. “It is. Modi should never have tried to enter it alone. The dark elves are deadly foes.”

  And yet, here they were. A chill crept up Meghan’s spine that had nothing to do with the weather. “Are they evil?”

  “Some of them, I’m sure, are pure evil. Most, however, are just misguided, greedy, and self-serving. They’ve delved deeply into the darker parts of Norn sorcery. They don’t let little things like morality or conscience get in the way of obtaining what they desire.”

  Meghan wondered how the dark elves would differ in appearance from their bright elf cousins.

  “So where are our allies?”

  Jord stopped walking. His gaze swept the area.. “I have no idea.” He shot her a roguish half-smile, the started walking again.

  They turned to the side and followed a ridge that wrapped around the back of Nokkurra.

  Meghan continued to follow Jord, enjoying the fluid way he moved. “Then how will we find them?”

  A fallen tree trunk lay across their path. Jord jumped it then helped Meghan over.