by Dima Zales
“Ummm … ” says Amy. “If she wants us to escape, why’d she lock the front door?”
Looking at the closed doors of the heavy metal gate, Loki’s heart falls. He doesn’t know any trick to open it — he can move small things with his mind, but this is too large, too heavy, and too fireproof. He looks down at the bag at his feet. There is one more grenade, but it won’t be strong enough … his jaw tightens. He reaches into the bag, and says, “Car, open your top window again!” Loki doesn’t remember when it even closed.
Hitting the brakes, Amy gives him a funny look. But the window opens. Standing up, Loki pulls the pin and hurls the last grenade. He pulls back into the car. Amy’s already ducking. Loki presses himself down as far as he can, his chest pressing against Amy’s back.
The blast goes off, and the car rattles. Loki and Amy both lift themselves up. The gate is closed.
“Oh,” says Amy, her shoulders sagging.
Loki closes his eyes. “I won’t be taken alive,” he says. “Not this time. I’ll fight to the death.”
There is a loud creak.
He opens his eyes and blinks. There is a shimmer of magic the color of moonlight, and then the gate creaks again and swings open. In the open way stands the elf queen, or more likely an astral projection of her, considering she floats above the ground.
In her own language she says, “Be gone from my realm, and set no more of my people aflame — or not only Odin will hunt you!”
Loki blinks. He didn’t create that inferno … did he?
“What did she say?” Amy says, hunching over the wheel.
In front of them, the projection disappears. “She wishes us well and bids us be on our way,” says Loki.
Amy puts her foot on the gas. “It sounded more like she was angry.”
“Mmmm … ” says Loki settling back into his seat. “Go quickly as you can. The armies of Asgard will be upon us quickly.”
“Armies?” squeaks Amy, turning out onto the lane that will take them to the Border Road.
“Don’t worry,” Loki says. “I’m sure you’ll be able to convince Odin that you were deceived by the God of Lies and he’ll spare your lives.”
Car’s lights become even brighter and Amy speeds up. Her voice shaking, she says, “I would rather you not die either.”
Loki looks over at her, his mouth still frozen in a frown, his brows still knit together. He brings destruction to everything he touches, and everyone he loves. He wants to die.
Amy casts a worried glance in his direction.
He cannot die now. He has an oath to keep.
Without a word he turns in his seat and begins to rummage through the makeshift sack for his armor. Beatrice is still asleep, but Fenrir eyes him curiously.
He’s got his shirt on and is awkwardly attaching his breast plate when Amy turns onto the border road. She steps on the gas and they surge forward at what feels like dizzying speed. They’re still in a relatively populous region; farmlands line the road on their left. They don’t have to worry about dark elves just yet.
He tilts his head. Over the elf queen’s lands, the sky is just starting to lighten.
He’s sure it must be taking all of Amy’s concentration to remain on the road, but then she begins to speak. “You were blue for a few moments when the fire started. Is that your natural color? I thought Frost Giants only turned blue when they were cold.”
He freezes, his hands on the buckle of an arm guard. “I don’t turn blue.” He isn’t Helen.
“You looked blue,” says Amy.
“That was a trick of the light,” Loki says, his voice coming out nearly a hiss. He doesn’t have time for this inane chatter.
“You looked good blue. Not like in the movies with pointy teeth and a giant horny head,” she says her words running together as though she’s just speaking to hear herself speak. “More like — ”
“Be quiet,” he snaps.
“I thought you weren’t sensitive about your Frost Giant nature?”
“Frost Giants are not blue!” he says. “I should know. I’ve been one for more than 1,000 years!”
“Huh,” says Amy.
“The forest is approaching,” says Loki, turning his attention to the mail links that cover his right elbow. “If you hit anything or anyone just keep going.”
“Just because the queen thinks the elves over there are bad doesn’t mean they are!” says Amy, slowing down as they slip into the forest.
Looking up, Loki blinks at her, surprised how much of Alfheim politics she’s managed to divine in such a short time. Ordering her isn’t going to work. He sighs inwardly.
“No, they’re not,” he says quietly. “I’ve had dealings with Dark Elves before. But trust me, any Dark Elf that would choose to attack Car merely for transversing the border road isn’t one you should stop for. Under any circumstances.”
Amy swallows and her hands shake even more violently.
Loki turns back to his armor and curses. The plate that covers his upper left arm is completely missing. He grabs the piece for his forearm and attaches it best he can, without the anchor of the upper section.
It’s only a few minutes later when a shadow seems to fall on the land in the East, and the wind and rain outside them pick up.
“Ummm … ” says Amy.
“Thor,” mutters Loki, narrowing his eyes. Is Thor Odin’s puppet once again? Or is he here for some reason of his own? To beg forgiveness maybe? Not that Loki could give it.
A streak of lightning turns the realm bright as day.
“What are those shadows in the sky?” Amy says.
“Valkyries,” Loki says, the word spitting out of his mouth. His mouth twists. “Not here to beg forgiveness after all.”
“Forgiveness?” says Amy.
“We have a few minutes,” says Loki twisting to reach into the backseat “Concentrate on the road,” he says. “I need to eat something.”
Amy is trying to concentrate on the road. Rain and wind are whipping through the sky. It might be her imagination, but both seem to be getting stronger.
She shivers. Her back is still damp from where Loki leaned over her as the grenades went off. Her eyes dart over to him. He’s still wet, armor half on, stuffing peanut butter into his mouth with a spoon, a liter bottle of Coca Cola open in his lap. He hasn’t spoken to her since grabbing some food. How can he be eating? Her own stomach is heavy with fear, and her mind is swimming with everything that’s happened this evening: the elves, the hadrosaurs, and seeing Loki in a lovely robin’s egg shade of blue. Trick of the light or not, it had been strange, lovely, and as magical as the fire, the ice, or his astral projections.
She takes a shaky breath. Loki says he’s over 1,000 years old. She can’t even imagine that.
Whoever’s chasing them is likely just as old or older than him, possibly more powerful …
That’s too much to think about. Taking a deep breath, she glances in the rearview mirror. Beatrice is thankfully still asleep. Fenrir is awake, her nose darting from side to side.
Amy looks at the clock on the dash. Fifteen minutes ago Loki said, “It’s Thor.” It feels like an eternity, and like only a heartbeat. Tightening her grip on the wheel she speeds up.
Lightning rips across the road just 50 yards in front of the car. A humanoid shadow is haloed in its light. Amy screams, hits the brakes, and tries to dodge it.
“Keep going!” Loki yells. His hand shoots to the wheel and holds it straight. Whoever it was hits the car and sinks below the hood. The car bumps sickeningly.
“Hit the gas!” Loki says.
But Amy’s foot is on the brake. “No,” she says. “We hit someone! We have to stop.” Even if it is a criminal.
“He’s fine!” Loki says, “Go!”
“No, I can’t,” Amy says.
Something bangs against the back window of the car. Amy turns and screams again. There is a huge mouth filled with sharp teeth attached to the flat plane of the back window. Fingers with suctio
n cups are at its side.
She hears the sound of a thunk as Loki drops his bottle of cola.
“Drive!” shouts Loki twisting and crawling into the back.
Amy floors it. She looks in the rearview mirror. Loki obscures most of the view, but Amy can see the thing is still there. It doesn’t seem to have eyes or nose … just that huge maw.
“Car, open the back window!” Loki says.
“What?” screams Amy.
“Just let Car do it!”
Amy hits the button at her left and the window begins to drop. Over the sound of the wind comes a horrible noise like lips smacking, and then there is a gurgling noise and an inhuman scream.
“Roll up the window!”
Amy doesn’t have to be told twice. She raises the window, and Loki pulls back into the front seat, his sword in his hand, something dark and black at the point.
Another bolt of lightning rips across the road.
“Next time I’ll just keep going,” Amy says. “I’ll just keep going.”
Looking at the ceiling, Loki says, “There isn’t going to be a next time. Thor and the Valkyries are almost upon us.”
Amy bites her lips. “What do I do?”
“I’m going to try and make us invisible,” Loki says, his voice very calm. “You’ll still be able to hear everything … but you’ll only be able to see things outside of Car, you won’t even be able to see anything inside, not even yourself. I’ll need you to keep driving though. Can you do that?”
Amy nods. “Yes … I think so.” Not because she thinks she can, just because she doesn’t like the idea of what may happen if she can’t.
The words are hardly out of her mouth when everything in front and behind her starts to fade from view.
Her foot hits the brakes. She hears the sound of tires on pavement, the thump of rain on the roof, the engine. But she can’t see the car, Beatrice, Loki, even herself … She takes a ragged breath.
Loki’s voice comes from her right. “It’s disorienting.”
“Yes!” Amy shouts, maybe just to hear her own voice.
Loki’s voice sounds tight. “You must keep driving.”
“I can’t see the dash, the steering wheel or the pedals!” Amy says.
“You don’t even look at those,” Loki says, his voice sharp.
That’s true. Amy licks her lips, feels the sensation of her tongue, cool and wet against her skin. “I can’t see myself … it’s almost like I’m not here.”
There is a moment of heavy silence. “How can I help?” Loki says, sounding like his voice is coming through gritted teeth.
“Would you touch me?” Amy asks before she’s even thought about it, and she almost wants to bang her head on the invisible steering wheel for making the suggestion.
In a voice that is surprisingly clinical Loki says, “You’re going to feel my hand on your thigh; it’s the best place for me to touch you without obstructing your ability to drive.”
Before she even has a chance to react, she feels his hand on her leg, large and warm, and as long as she doesn’t look down, seemingly solid. And it does help; she’s too grateful to worry about the implications of it. She puts her foot down on the gas and holds the steering wheel at 3 and 9 o’clock.
“Very good,” Loki says, giving her leg a pat. It shouldn’t be as encouraging as it is.
Amy nods and bites her lip. She’s just getting to the point where she’s feeling a little more comfortable when bright lights like lasers shoot down on the road and forest in front of them sending off sparks in every direction, lighting up weird hominid shadows as they do.
The shadows leap from the trees on the dark side of the forest. Amy screams again, puts her foot on the brake, and almost runs them off the road, but Loki’s hand is suddenly on the wheel, holding it firm. “They’re magical flares,” he says. “They won’t hurt us. Try to dodge them if you can, but keep us on the road!”
Shaking, Amy puts her foot back on the gas.
“They don’t want us dead,” Loki says as though the words are a revelation to himself. “They’re just trying to flush us out.”
Amy blinks. “The sparks will hit the car, and they’ll see them bounce … ”
“Exactly,” says Loki, his hand on her leg again.
“I think I can do this.” says Amy, speeding up. As long as she doesn’t have to worry about the blasts killing them, she feels much better. Also, they’re scaring the crazy shadow things away. And that’s good.
Amy zigzags through the flares that are falling down on the road.
At one point she thinks they’re going to roll over, but a few minutes later, the road ahead of them is clear. She looks in the rearview mirror, all the flares are bursting on the road behind them.
Loki pats her lap. “Well done.”
Her heart is in her ears, and she’s panting, but she laughs aloud. “We did it!”
The words are barely out of her mouth when she hears a loud clang. Sparks cascade over her head and down the sides of the car like a waterfall. “Uh-oh,” she says.
“Drive!” says Loki.
Amy floors the pedal, but up ahead and behind them shapes are falling from the sky. Another flare is fired directly towards them from in front; it explodes on the windshield, and suddenly the car and everything inside is visible again — but Amy can’t see the road at all. She puts her foot on the brakes, gently this time so they don’t skid.
She looks to her side. Loki is next to her. His face has a sheen to it, his mouth is open, and she notices he’s breathing heavily. He’s not looking at her. His eyes are focused on the road ahead of them.
Amy follows his gaze. About 100 yards ahead of them are women carrying spears, standing around an enormous man in front of a chariot without a horse. In the enormous man’s hands there is a hammer that is glowing with the pale blue white of lightning.
Loki takes a deep breath, and his voice comes out low, malevolent, but tinged with something desperate. “It is the mighty Thor.”
Uh-oh.
11
“What do I do?” says the girl.
Loki stares at Thor in front of his golden chariot. Valkyries stand beside Thor and are blocking the road behind Car. More are alighting along the sides of the road.
“Drive forward,” he says. “Slowly. When I tap the roof, stop.” Knocking at the top window, he says, “Car, open up.”
“You know … ” the girl begins to say.
“What?” he snaps, not bothering to look at her.
“It can wait,” she says, gripping Car’s door as the window above slides open.
Loki stands up. Heavy but sparse drops of rain fall on him. He can see trees waving madly in the distance, but around him the air is nearly still. They are in the eye of the storm.
Around Car, Valkyries raise their spears, but they do not fire. In front of him, Thor stands up straighter. His eyes meet Loki’s, then go over Car, before coming back to meet Loki’s gaze again.
Neither Loki nor Thor say anything. When Amy has brought Car within a few paces of Thor, Loki taps the roof. She obediently stops the vehicle.
“Well met,” says Thor in the Asgard tongue.
Loki does not respond.
Thor licks his lips and looks distinctly uncomfortable. “I bring grave tidings — ”
“If you mean the fire that consumed Hoenir’s hut, and all within, including Sigyn and my sons, I already know,” Loki snaps.
Appearing genuinely hurt, Thor takes a step forward. “Loki, I did try — ”
“To save them,” Loki says sharply. His body sags and he looks away. “Yes, I know that, too.” It occurs to him how devious it was for Odin to send Thor on this particular outing. Thor is possibly the only Asgardian Loki will hear out at this point. And Thor does have something to say; if he didn’t, Loki would be dead by now.
It’s uncomfortable standing half in Car, half out. Loki’s legs are at odd angles, so he slips onto the roof and sits there, legs dangling into the inside of
Car below. The roof buckles a little at his weight, Amy gasps, and Fenrir yips, but Loki ignores them. “Spit it out, Thor. What do you want?”
Thor straightens. He takes a deep breath and appears almost to go a little green, as though he has just been asked to eat something extremely distasteful. “I have been sent … to beg you to return.”
Loki stares at him for several long heartbeats. Then he bursts out laughing. The sound seems brittle and hard even to him. Waving at the Valkyries, Loki says, “You came to beg me … at spear point?”
Thor doesn’t back down. Raising an eyebrow, he smiles slightly. “It would seem I needed their help to find you.”
Loki sighs. Once he might have warmed to that; now he feels only emptiness. “Flattery will get you nowhere, Thor.”
The slight smile on Thor’s face vanishes. “Nonetheless, everything I say is true. Loki, my father needs you to come home. ”
Loki’s lip curls into a sneer. “And he would have the gall to ask me after killing Hoenir, Mimir, Sigyn and my boys!”
Scowling, Thor takes a step forward. “It wasn’t like that! The fire — ”
“Wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t tried to execute my sons!”
“Let me finish!” Thor’s voice rips so loudly through the darkness of the stormy dawn that Car reverberates. Lifting his hammer, Thor shouts, “My father tried to stop the flames — but even Gungnir couldn’t halt them. Something is growing in the nine realms, something that is twisting magic and time and will pull the World Tree asunder.” Thor swings his hammer for emphasis and a stray bit of lightning sprays off into the trees. There is a loud crack, and a small scream from Amy. The Valkyries shift on their feet.
Stepping back with one foot, Thor’s face contorts into something like disbelief or revulsion. “My father believes only you can stop it.” Loki crosses his arms. Of course Thor would feel ashamed if there was some threat to the realms he couldn’t resolve with a few pounds of his hammer.
Not that Loki believes this little story. “Would saving the realms involve me remaining in a cave doused in snake venom for a few centuries?”
