The Accidental Archmage - Book Five: Loki's Gambit

by Edmund A. M. Batara

  “What is it?” he asked Habrok. Tyndur and Kobu were listening close by.

  “Two undead drakes, sire. Make that two large skeletal drakes. They're on the road. And right now, they’re just below us,” reported the man.

  “Why can’t they go bother some other stretch of the road?” blurted the exasperated mage.

  “This part of the road does connect with the hunting trail we used,” said Kobu.

  “The thick woods on either side of this trail present a problem. And we don’t know where we might find a way down,” observed Tyndur.

  “So the best way is down into a fight?” remarked the irritated mage.

  “It seems that way, sire. The possibility of broken bones and cracked skulls resulting from traversing unfamiliar, rough terrain covered with large trees and thick underbrush would be the other option. I can’t say what Tyndur said won't happen,” answered the ranger.

  “There’s only two anyway,” contributed Tyndur helpfully.

  “Ah, the hell with it. Let's go down and fight. But keep your heads down. I prefer facing those bony relics on flat ground,” finally decided Tyler.

  Guided by the ranger, the party made it undetected to the ground below the bluff. It did help that the drakes were roaming the far side of the road at that time. But Tyler knew that once the group left the cover of the trees, the unnatural predators would head straight for them.

  “Ready?” he asked in a low voice. Nods answered him.

  The four stepped out of the covering trees and walked in the direction of the now visible road. The two skeletal drakes saw them after several moments and as one, turned and directly went for them.

  “Stop,” Tyler told his companions, “prepare for the bony bastards.”

  “They don't look hungry,” said Tyndur. “They’re not charging.”

  The large undead drakes were approaching at a steady fast walk. It was difficult for the mage to imagine how they looked when still alive. From what he had seen, numerous kinds of creatures could be found on Adar, and subspecies do exist, and he had already seen different varieties of drake.

  “Prepare for a sudden rush. This kind of drake must have its own hunting behavior. Though they appear to be flightless versions. Multiple horns, though,” advised Tyler.

  The distance between the group and the two predators steadily narrowed. Then Tyler saw the telltale beginnings of a charge from both creatures – the head lowered and the four skeletal legs became slightly bent, positioning themselves for a burst of speed. The now familiar verdant glow in the bony eye sockets blazed with an unnatural radiance.

  Suddenly, a massive bolt of lightning struck the ground between the two undead creatures, momentarily stopping them in their tracks. Where the lightning struck, a large ball of coruscating light remained, and from it, swiftly emerged a huge mace, wielded by large armored hands.

  The studded round metal head of the weapon quickly smashed into a skeletal head and then into the other. The creatures immediately fell apart after their heads flew to pieces. The sphere of light disappeared, revealing a tall man wearing full body armor of a strange design. The ornate winged helm was of an open-faced version, revealing the seasoned facial features of a veteran warrior with an eye-patch.

  It was Odin.

  ***

  “By all the stars, it's the Alföðr himself!” Habrok exclaimed with awe. Normally, the ranger was not easily daunted and surprised at the same time, but Tyler thought the unique circumstances warranted such a reaction. The ranger might have seen Odin in his Gangari persona, but there was nothing more startling than meeting your personal deity, in full glory, in the middle of nowhere.

  But the mage's reaction was totally different. Apprehension gleefully wrapped itself around Tyler's mind. The arrival of the powerful head of the Nordic pantheon was unexpected, and to a mage already beset by several major dilemmas demanding careful thought and reflection, the deity's presence was disturbing. From experience, Odin’s appearance was a prelude to a nasty and difficult request.

  The group was quiet as they watched the powerful deity approach. As Odin walked toward them, his armor and weapon slowly faded. When he reached them, it was in the form of Gangari, the wanderer.

  The powerful deity looked at the companions as he came closer. Habrok was on bended knee, Kobu gave a formal bow, but Tyndur merely nodded. If the god was insulted, he gave no such indication.

  “Ah, my favorite First Mage!” he exclaimed.

  “I am the only First Mage the last time I looked,” smiled Tyler, resigned to whatever was going to happen. “Unless somebody else got nominated, and if so, I would be very happy to give him or her all the burdens I seem to carry. For some reason, they breed like rats.”

  Odin guffawed.

  “Good. You still have that attitude of yours. Come, let's talk for a while. The shade of those trees appears quite inviting. Walk with me.”

  “Take five, guys,” the mage told the trio.

  Blank faces, including that of the ranger, greeted his statement. Habrok apparently forgot what it meant.

  “It means rest for a while. Just an expression from where I came from,” explained the mage.

  “For the life of me, and it's the second one, I never understood why the expressions of your world are phrased in such a bewildering manner,” said Tyndur as he turned and joined the two already headed toward another clump of trees.

  “How did you know I was here?” asked Tyler as they walked.

  “The ring I gave you, Havard. I did tell you it would enable me to determine where you were in Skaney,” answered his companion. “I suspected you would head to Skaney after the Void Lands. An excellent job there, by the way.”

  “Thanks. It was… difficult. One of our companions, Asem, was wounded in an ambush.”

  “I know. I was told about it. Astrid is with her. Thaut told me. But there's something about her wounds.”

  At the statement, Tyler whirled and looked at the deity.

  “What do you mean? She wasn't dead when her father arrived!”

  “Calm down, Havard. Deities of four pantheons and other beings have looked at her condition. Her body had recovered, but there's a strange wasting malaise affecting the magical side of her being,” said Odin. “We are all concerned. It’s the first time we have seen such a condition and if happened to her, we could also suffer the same sickness.”

  “Thanks. That tells me everything.” A slight sarcasm marked Tyler's tone.

  “Why do I have to keep on saying this? – sarcasm really doesn't fit you, First Mage. She's in a magical coma. And her father is understandably way beyond furious. I have never seen Thaut so angry. I fear once he learns who’s responsible, another war is going erupt in that part of the continent. The mood in the pantheon of Kemet is patently murderous.”

  Tyler could say nothing. He was in shock. Confusion, concern, and fear all mixed in a nasty cauldron of emotions.

  Magical coma? What does that even mean?

  “Zeus was right. These are troubled times, and dark clouds have gathered on the visible horizon,” continued the deity, not noticing the mage's reaction. But despite his fogged mind staggering under the emotional impact of the deity’s devastating disclosure, the mage couldn’t fail to notice the use of the word visible by Odin.

  “Can we go see her? asked Tyler, recovering some of his composure.

  “I don't see why not. But Skaney is itself at war. Hellas too. Kemet and the Dual Monarchy are also starting to be affected. You might have heard of the unholy and widespread blight which had affected the northern human realms.”

  “A quick trip? You could do that, I know,” said Tyler, his mind focused on visiting Asem.

  “I’d like to accommodate you and your companions, but Kemet is a long way from here. Quite the drain on my power, and I am in the middle of a war, as I said. My abilities are being tested. And what help could you offer? She’s already under the best healing hands this world can provide. You, on the other hand, have
to make sure she has a familiar world to wake up to,” remarked Odin as he sat down under one of the trees. The mage followed.

  “Reminds me of the time I met a young and inexperienced mage,” remarked Odin with amusement.

  “A young and inexperienced mage who nearly died. If not for those elementals, I wouldn’t be here.”

  “I was hoping you would meet them and elicit their help. Apparently, it did happen,” smiled the deity.

  “You knew? And expected it to happen?”

  This is a day for shocking — no, appalling — revelations, thought the mage. I feel so used. Again.

  “Ah, only Fate could be so knowledgeable about what the future holds. For men and gods, you roll the dice and wait with dread or bated breath what its fickle tumbling would reveal,” answered Odin. “Though Huginn and Muninn did help. A fortunate chance encounter which revealed the presence of those beings in the area. I sent them to keep watch on the mountains around Scarburg.”

  “Those crows of yours? You brought them from the First World?”

  “Ravens, Havard, not crows. Not the original ravens, of course. A mischievous boy with a bow, a hungry eagle or three, misfortunes of chance. But they always have the same names,” explained Odin. “Now to the problem…”

  “Wait. Let my mind settle down first. This has been a day for distressing surprises,” said Tyler. If Odin noticed the insolent inference, the deity apparently let it pass.

  “Loved that armor though, it’s so…” the mage said as he examined the deity’s armor, but stopped himself from saying Gucci, a millennial slang his friend Karl was very fond of, thinking it made him sound cool. “I mean you look snatched.”

  Damn it, Karl! Another of your favorites.

  “Snatched?”

  “A term meaning you looked good, excellent,” hurriedly explained Tyler.

  “Mortals. Making things so complicated. It really doesn’t change, does it? I guess some group in your society came up with such things. It was the same in the past – first, it was the priesthood with their contrived terms, then royalty trying to emphasize their difference from peasants, then the wealthy, the young, secret societies, and so on. It’s all in the mind anyway. The need to shit and piss doesn’t distinguish between a king and a lowly woodcutter.”

  The mage laughed. The deity before him could be earthy in his descriptions.

  “But if you’re asking about the armor, it was mainly Ptah’s design. I told him what I wanted but emphasized it should look different. I knew he had another dimensional gate or viewing portal hidden somewhere. He’s the god responsible for your friend’s appearance in this world, if you want to know. I did mention before that I requested the pantheon of Kemet to help set it up. After he finished, the set went to Hephaestus, and then to the Sons of Ivaldi, the makers of my spear.”

  “No wonder it looked similar to what I saw in entertainment materials, fantasy actually.” Tyler was going to say science fiction, but again caught himself in time. He remembered the aversion of Adar's deities to the word science.

  “By that, I assume it meets your First World standards? Appearance-wise, at least.”

  “Surpasses it, actually, I never thought I’d see such armor for real,” replied the mage.

  Odin grinned. “My thanks, First Mage.”

  “By the way, how’s Jorund?” asked Tyler.

  “Embroiled in the fighting. We had to utilize einherji to help with the plague, though we’re on a war footing now because of the quarrel between those two mad and temperamental jotnar. No telling what would happen. That reminds me, what did you do to that fellow Jorund? He’s starting to remember parts of his past! Mainly those adventures with you! Another mystery. But it stood him in good stead. I think he learned something from those battles. Jorund is turning out to be a better einherjar than most, and by that, I meant he uses his brains. Ah, if I could only get those fellows in the House of Gimli to lead the einherjar, what a force that would make!”

  “But enough of my worries. Most of the monsters and creatures we found when we first arrived are now back as the undead. Mortals can’t handle them, and now, as it was before, we fight again for our place in this world,” continued the deity. “It’s the same in Hellas, though not as bad in Kemet. Some stirrings in the Dual Monarchy, but I heard their problem was manageable, well within mortal limits.”

  “That bad?” asked Tyler. Hearing such a dire statement from Odin was yet another upsetting revelation.

  “Worse. Before, we could claim a portion of the land at a time and campaign accordingly, pushing back our opponents one stage at a time. Now, they’re all back. All at the same time, with abilities intact. Memories too.”

  This really is a dipshit of a day, thought the mage.

  “You mentioned Hellas. How are they holding up?” The mage was genuinely curious. It wouldn’t be to everybody's interest to have an undead realm between Skaney and Kemet.

  “The same as us, fortunately; holding our own. Hades was able to keep his realm under control. And that new god of war of theirs is doing a great job. Much better than his father,” Odin winked at him.

  “And what has Ares been up to all this time? I am curious and you know the reason why,” asked Tyler.

  “Ah, the god of cowardice. Of self-preservation. He's gaining a number of followers in these dangerously uncertain times. Though you might have missed something in demanding such a punishment for him,” suggested Odin.

  “Don’t you think being cast down from being the god of war to the deity of cowardice punishment enough?”

  This is going be another fucking insight after the fact.

  Noticing Tyler's consternation, Odin pushed the mage’s shoulder with a finger.

  “Don’t worry about it, Havard. What's done is done. You did it with the best intentions at heart,” said the deity.

  “I did not wish to take a life. Or lives,” maintained Tyler.

  “Not that part. But you might have forgotten that treachery is a facet of cowardice.”

  Oh, fuck. I just created the god of stab-in-the-back? The thought immediately blazed an incriminatory trail through his conscience.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it,” said Odin. “They do say cowards die a thousand deaths before they go to the underworld. It won’t be a happy experience for them.”

  “But they also run away to attempt to knife your butt another day.”

  The deity chuckled. “That they do. Put it this way; it’s good training to watch your back all the time.”

  “Let’s change the subject. This is starting to make me uncomfortable,” requested Tyler. The topic was making him ill at ease – another threat to be extremely wary about, Ares was one deity not to be underestimated. “Now, what’s this plague all about?”

  Odin didn’t look at him. Instead, the deity looked toward the faraway edge of the human territory bordering the Barrens.

  “Loki might say that Ragnarok will never come to pass. It didn't happen back in the First World,” said the deity softly. “Don't look so surprised. You're not the only recipient of his version of events. But you see, Havard, the prophecy is still alive. It will be a long unfolding process.”

  “You mean it will happen here?” asked Tyler. Odin's perspective was one he hadn't thought about.

  “Could be. Prophecies are intentionally vague, lest its actors are led into actions which might hasten it. Then again, it could be the misguided or drug-addled musings of a bored deity or a self-proclaimed seer.”

  “You do have a colorful way of describing things,” remarked Tyler with a laugh.

  “But Ragnarok will come, though not necessarily in the form people and magical beings expect the prophecy to unfold. All things must eventually come to an end, and Ragnarok merely refers to the end of a skald's tale. Whether the song is worth one's time is not for us to say. Unfortunately, gods must live or die in this adopted world of ours. There is no other place to run to, unlike before,” explained Odin. The mage thought he could feel a sens
e of resignation in the deity’s words.

  Tyler was quiet, his mind assessing the implications of what the deity just said.

  “Then this plague is more than it appears. An attempt to wipe you out?” he asked Odin.

  “Not only deities, Havard. Men too, but I noticed the more powerful revenants were the ones needing our utmost attention before. Your question indeed crossed my mind. It will be a hard and difficult war, but we do have two main advantages,” the deity answered. “The first would be the knowledge that we beat them before and second is they all appear to have the same weakness – the head.”

  “That does make sense,” wryly commented the mage.

  “Ha! You should have been here at the beginning. Every time we went to battle these creatures, we didn’t know what their weaknesses were. It's a lot simpler now – a glimmer of hope as long as one discovers the golden vein in the awfully dark morass in which we find ourselves,” grinned Odin.

  “And I assume the lessons I just heard have something to do with your sudden appearance,” said Tyler finally. “Before you showed up, I intended to visit Fossegrim first and let the companions have some days off in Maljen.”

  “That reminds me, the Gothi will have something to show you when you get there,” replied Odin with a meaningful smile. “But about my sudden appearance, I usually make it a point not to bother you. There is something about you, which makes me greatly hesitate to interfere with your path. Even giving you gifts might interfere with Fate’s plan for you. And the attention of Fate might not necessarily be a welcome one for those who meddle in her affairs. Mimir's wisdom screams at me to leave you alone.”

  “And yet here we are,” smiled Tyler.

  “Desperate times. Desperate measures. I would do anything to save Skaney and ensure the pantheon’s survival.”