by M. H. Bonham
“Go ahead, tell him, child.” The god looked at Luna.
“Yes, grandpa,” she whispered.
“What?” I gasped, turning to her.
“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you.” Luna hung her head. “Fenrir is my father.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Fenrir, the Wolf of Ragnarok, is your dad?” I stared at her. “That would make you Loki’s granddaughter…” I fell silent and shook my head.
Luna began crying. Which is totally unfair to decent men folk, who will do anything we can to stop a woman from crying. Yeah, I know. Terribly old fashion to the point of chauvinistic. But what can I say? We’re built that way. I stood up, took her in my arms, and held her as she bawled her eyes out. A litany of emotions ran through me. Shock. Sadness. Pity. Anger. Love. Shock. Disbelief. Confusion. And did I mention shock?
I stroked her hair. “Luna, Luna…” I whispered.
“You hate me! I know you do. I hate me…” Her words became muffled and unintelligible as she buried her head in my chest.
I looked at Loki, who watched me with calculating eyes, and my gaze narrowed. The asshole was using his own granddaughter as leverage—and I didn’t like it one bit. “It’s okay, Luna. I don’t hate you.” I whispered in her ear. I love you. I added in pack mindspeak.
She looked up at me with bleary golden eyes. Her face was all blotchy. You do?
I kissed her very human nose. Yes, yes, I do. I’ve never told you that, did I?
“No.” She hiccupped with a little laughter and rubbed her runny nose with her hand.
I conjured a tissue and held it up. “We’re still in the Forest, remember?”
She took the tissue, blew her nose, and wiped the tears from her eyes. She chuckled. “Yeah.”
I glared at Loki. “You knew you had leverage, you bastard.”
Loki shrugged. “I couldn’t have set it up better if I had tried. This was all your doing, Ironspell.”
“That’s why Alaric doesn’t want you near Trader Vic’s.”
“No, that’s not why,” Luna said. “Uncle Alaric and grandpa got in an argument a long time ago before I was born…”
“Uncle? Like literal uncle? I take it not on your mom’s side.”
“No, Alaric is my son too, out of Angrboda.” Loki held up his mead cup. “Are you sure you don’t want some mead?”
“Alaric is Fenrir’s brother?” I stared at him.
“Littermates, actually.”
“I’ll think I’ll have that drink.” I sat down and pulled Luna onto my lap, holding her gently. “The legends don’t mention a second wolf born from your mating.”
Loki shook his head. “As far as I can remember from my past lives—and mind you, they’re very hazy—I didn’t have a second wolf son.”
“Alaric is new?” I mused.
“When he was born with Fenrir, I hid him from the Aesir, because I was afraid of what they would do with him. I already knew Fenrir was lost to me as was Hel and Jörmungandr. Angrboda raised Alaric as a wolf in Jotunheim. Eventually he found his way to Midgard where he fathered a number of werewolves.”
“He was the first werewolf?” I took a drink from the mead cup that appeared on the table next to me and felt the sweet, spiced honey burn down my throat. I wondered if I could get drunk in the Enchanted Forest.
“No, not the very first, but certainly one of the first,” Loki said. “Alaric spent a good portion of his life trying to understand where he fits in this Universe. When he learned of Fenrir, he naturally wanted to save his brother. But, he couldn’t because there was no way I would expose him to Asgard and risk having them chain him up too. So, he came to Midgard in the hopes of living peacefully with a pack—something he has successfully done—until now.”
“Now, he feels duty-bound to his brother. But where is Fenrir? Certainly he’s still on Earth since we’ve started Fimbulvetr.” I focused on the mead cup and changed it to a steaming cup of coffee. I tasted it. It was as good as the coffee Loki offered. I smiled, inordinately pleased with myself.
Loki raised an eyebrow at my little technomagic display. “I don’t know where he is on Earth, and I don’t believe Alaric has him in Trader Vic’s. He’s a crafty wolf with enough hideaways that even his pack wouldn’t know where all of them are.”
“Have you asked him?”
“He won’t talk to me.” Loki shrugged. “It’s better that way, anyhow. Odin is less likely to suspect Alaric is my son, even if the birdbrains figured out that he may be hiding Fenrir.”
“But he swore an oath.” I shook my head. “He won’t be able to get around that.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. He is, after all, my son.” Loki took another swig of mead. “I think at this point, you’re going to have to watch yourself. There are too many players who are looking to capture or kill Fenrir. You will have to be very careful.”
“Who is after him besides the Aesir and the angels?” I asked.
“Any pantheon that has an end of the world story.” He shook his head. “The Judeo-Christian religions are similar enough in their end-times beliefs that you can guarantee the angels are involved. The Aesir, certainly. The Mayan have an ugly apocalypse too.”
“Mayan? You mean like the whole hubbub about the Mayan calendar ending?” I scratched my head.
“Yeah, and Vishnu is supposed to ride a white horse and carry a flaming sword.” Loki refilled his mead cup.
“Dude, Vishnu is a Hindu god,” I said.
“Whatever.” Loki waved his hand dismissively. “There are a bunch of gods from different pantheons all trying to grab him, either to stop the apocalypse or hasten it to their liking. None helps Fenrir. Except you.”
“Me?” I squeaked. Look, “Verthandi just tasked me with finding him. Now you want me to fend off other pantheons?”
“Well, you do have one angel’s favor.” Loki smiled slyly.
I facepalmed. Luna nuzzled me gently, despite being in human form. “You’ve got to help my dad.”
I took a deep breath. I knew Luna would never forgive me if I didn’t try. “Loki, I will try to help Fenrir on one condition: swear by your power you’ll come and help me if I call for you.”
Loki blinked. “You’re demanding that I serve a mere mortal?”
Luna stood up, crossed her arms, and glared at the god. “You will help Ironspell out. End of discussion.”
Loki almost cringed from her glower, but caught himself. He scowled at me. “Not fair.”
“Hey, if I’m getting roped into this, so are you.” I shrugged. “Now swear.”
“I swear on my power that I, Loki, will come to your aid, Ironspell, and help you find and rescue Fenrir, should you call on me.” He let out an exasperated sigh. “But be aware that I can’t do much with Thor or any of the heavy hitters.”
“You can do enough,” I said, standing up beside Luna. “I will hold you to your oath. Now, where do you think I can find Fenrir?”
~ * ~
Unfortunately, time in the Enchanted Forest runs exactly like time on Earth, which is why I really didn’t think the Net within a Net—NwaN, for short—could possibly be in a different plane of existence. I returned back to my corporeal self and got up. Technically, I never left it, having been in my body the entire time, and just accessing the Enchanted Forest, like a login in an intense video game. I stumbled out of my lab and into my bedroom, where Luna already slept. She was curled up on the end of the bed on top of the blankets, fast asleep in her mostly-wolf form. I got undressed and crawled beneath the covers. Her warm body had already preheated the bed
Her nose twitched and ear flicked my direction when I came in. She no doubt knew I was there and her body recognized me, so it didn’t bother to wake her up.
I lay in bed for a while and thought about Fenrir. The story of Tyr and Fenrir was one of the most told stories when it came to Norse mythology. It was a story of ill-placed trust, sacrifice for the greater good, betrayal, and a cautionary tale of oath breaking. The one god whom
one would never expect to break an oath did, with expected results.
What happens when the god of truth and law lies?
I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep faster than I thought possible.
~ * ~
I dreamed, but it felt remarkably real. I found myself walking along a city block that could’ve been anywhere—and nowhere. I didn’t recognize the skyline, which towered higher than any high rises I’ve ever seen. That suggested that I was in the Enchanted Forest, rather than RL. I walked along a shopping strip that had a department store with women’s fashions, a drug store, and even a couple of coffee shops. Looking around, I saw I was alone—I tried to remember the day since I had rescued those people. Was it now Sunday? A quick glance at my smartphone confirmed it. The sun was in the East, just over the horizon; its streamer-like rays coated the buildings’ mirrored surfaces in oranges and pinks.
It was then that I noticed a huge black wolf walked beside me, his fur across his legs were parted from old scars from what I guessed were fetters or perhaps chains. An older wolf, to be certain, he was bigger than any wolf I had ever seen, towering over me by several feet. Not even the big weres I’ve seen could compare with this monster. I knew I was walking beside Fenrir.
I stopped and gazed at the wolf and he stared back. Despite being as huge as he was, I could see the scars of abuse all over him. The Aesir had not been kind to him. The skin was black and ridged where the Gleipnir had cut deep and healed over. He had an odd, black scar at the bottom of his jaw where I suspected the sword that held his jaws open, cut through. He moved stiffly, as if from arthritis or injury. And I could see the misery as well as the malevolence in his eyes.
“Fenrir, Wolf of Ragnarok.” The name did not do him justice. I could see the similarity between him and Alaric’s wolf form, but Fenrir was bigger and had a lot more mileage on his frame than the Alpha’s. Looking at him, I realized he could swallow me in one bite without chewing. Those massive jaws were supposed to open so wide to swallow everything from the Earth to the heavens as he ran along dragging his jaw against the ground. He would swallow Odin whole, only to be torn asunder by Vidar’s mighty shoe. Fenrir had done so in past lives and in past Universes. Would he do so again?
“Yes, I am he. I have heard you are searching for me.” The wolf’s voice was deep and gravelly. There was something about it that made you want to run screaming for your life as fast as you could. Not that I would, of course.
“Yeah…well, people are kind of searching for you…” I stumbled over my words. What do you say to a giant wolf that will cause the end of the Universe?
“And?”
“I don’t want Ragnarok, Armageddon, or whatever people call it happen right now.” My voice steadied itself.
“I don’t either.” Fenrir looked somewhat amused. “But I also won’t go back to Asgard where they will chain and abuse me. And anyway none would dare approach me now that I am at this size.”
“They say they chained you up after you escaped before.” I looked at him hard. “How did they do that?”
“The only way they could—with magic. Only this time, I am too powerful even for that.” He considered me. “Don’t send the angels after me, either. their feathers get stuck in my teeth.”
I cocked my head. Had Fenrir made a joke? “So, how are we going to keep you from causing Ragnarok if you won’t be chained? I doubt the Enchanted Forest is an alternate dimension. It still has the time associated with Earth.”
Fenrir looked around at the empty streets and then pointed at the coffee shop that we stood in front of. “Are you thirsty? Because I could really go for one of their croissants right now.”
“Uh, sure.” I said. “The coffee here won’t keep me up, will it? Because technically I’m asleep.”
~ * ~
A little while later, Fenrir and I sat at the coffee shop’s outside table in what felt like mid-October. I had a cup of steaming coffee and Fenrir had a plate of croissants. In case you’re curious, Fenrir was able to change his size easily to fit through the doorway of the coffee shop and look slightly less menacing than he was in his normal Gigantor state.
I leaned back against my chair and quickly invoked my powers to magically silence our conversation. It was a type of cryptography I had developed when I was fiddling with the Enchanted Forest at one time. Long story short, it not only hid our conversation, but scrambled our coordinates—a nice bit of magic me and another technomage from college named Droid came up with. Only, I had improved upon it in recent months in my copious amounts of spare time between losing partners and saving the world.
Fenrir sniffed the air and nodded approvingly. “You’re good. Spaz could learn a thing or two from you about technomagic.”
“Yeah, but he’s a better code slinger,” I said. “He also architected this place.”
Fenrir nodded. “He did a good job.”
“Yeah.” I paused and looked at him. “So, when were you going to tell me you were Ragnar?”
Fenrir grinned while chomping several croissants in those massive teeth. Even in his smaller size he was quite formidable. “You figured that out, eh?”
“Ragnar—Ragnarok. Plus Loki told me you were Alaric’s bro. I was too tired to put the pieces together when Luna told me you are her dad and Alaric is her uncle.”
“I guess it wasn’t a clever disguise.” Fenrir shrugged.
“Clever enough to fool an angel,” I admitted. “And Alaric’s oath was ingenious and slippery. Of course he wasn’t hiding you. You were right in front of the angel and everyone to see.”
“The birdbrains aren’t exactly bright.” Fenrir nudged the plate of croissants towards me. “Try them. They’re good.”
I picked out a croissant at the edge of the plate. “Chocolate croissants? I thought canines couldn’t eat these.”
Fenrir chuckled. “Enchanted Forest—you know, it’s only virtual.”
I bit into the chocolate croissant. “Assuming Spaz and Kira figure out a way to get you morphed into here, you’ll have to watch the chocolate.”
“A pity, really. I love the taste.” The wolf considered me a moment. “So what will you do now that you’ve found me?”
That was a good question. Who was I really working for now?
“I don’t know,” I admitted at last as I took a gulp of coffee. It had cooled off sufficiently in the fall breeze. The wind tugged at Fenrir’s fur as I watched the dry leaves chitter across the sidewalk and into the road. Still no traffic and very few people. No one was sitting outside with us.
“Are you really going to turn me over to the Aesir?”
“Are you going to devour Odin?” I considered the wolf. In his Gigantor state, he looked frightening enough, but was he capable of devouring a powerful god? Part of me said “yes” because of the stories, but another part of me disagreed. Odin could call up lightning, just like Thor, and could change shape at will. He had magic and wisdom beyond most gods—enough to take the throne away from Tyr—and could’ve destroyed the wolf at any time. Instead, he had allowed Fenrir to remain.
Had the gods given up on changing their futures that badly?
“I don’t want to.” Fenrir looked up at me with a croissant oozing chocolate out of his mouth. “That’s why I ran. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but as a creature of chaos who is destined to destroy the world, I don’t know if I can stop it.”
“That’s why you ran.” I studied him carefully as he licked the chocolate from his jaws. “Who freed you? Loki?”
The wolf shook his head. “No, and I’d rather not say.”
I nodded. I had a hunch who did, but if Fenrir didn’t want to say, then I could revisit that later. “So, what’s next? We hope Spaz and Kira get find a way to bring your body into the Enchanted Forest and hope it’s another dimension?”
“Something like that.” Suddenly, Fenrir’s head shot up and he stared down the street. “They’ve found us.”
I jumped up and turned. “Who?”
To my horror, I saw a large army of winged creatures appear a few blocks away. Not angels. Serpents with wings and feathers. They were colorful creatures with red, blue, green, and yellow feathers that replaced the snake scales. The largest feathered snake had forelegs and hind legs, a sinuous body, and a long, heavy tail that smashed into the buildings around it. Even from a block away, I could hear people screaming from the buildings. It turned with lightning speed and snapped at a hapless female avatar as she tried to flee from it. The long, venomous fangs lashed out and speared the avatar. The woman screamed and her avatar melted from the poison as it dripped from the creature’s mouth.
The ground shook and I stumbled, trying to regain my footing. “What the…?”
“Kukulkan and his brood.” Fenrir growled.
Chapter Sixteen
“Kukulkan? You mean like the Mayan god?” I gasped as another earthquake hit us. This one threw me onto the ground. I instinctively covered my head with my arms and hoped to prevent a smaller target for debris falling from the high rises. I heard screams from the coffee shop as the avatars fled the building. When I looked up, I noticed all the high rises were still standing. Good to know that the Enchanted Forest was earthquake proof.
Fenrir didn’t deign a response. Instead, he leapt over me and charged the god and his brood. This was precisely what I was hoping to avoid. If the Mayan god grabbed him, who knew what the fate of our universe, let alone the world, would be?
I was about to run over to stop Fenrir when a thought struck me: what could Kukulkan possibly do to Fenrir here? Fenrir was in avatar form, same as I was, which meant that short of melting an avatar or patching in a subroutine, there was little the god could do to a Supe that would harm them—especially since Supes connected magically and not with tech. A week ago, I had been in the Enchanted Forest and another Brain Dust dealer had tried to scramble my brains with a feedback loop designed for Normals who wore headsets. I sent my own feedback loop through his headset and gave him a hell of a headache and a need to change his underwear in response.
