Brother and sister continued reminiscing about their childhoods. While there was nothing to do but wait, Heimdall appreciated the distraction from the current situation, and he suspected Sif felt the same.
Finally, Uschi set her winged steed down in the courtyard once again. Although the respite and the nostalgic conversation had done Heimdall some good, as he stood up his pulse beat in his neck, and his nerves felt taut as bowstrings. Because he knew it was time.
Uschi dismounted and gave her steed over into the keeping of one of the grooms. She and her warriors then formed up around the prisoners and marched them among the lesser buildings of the citadel toward the central keep.
“I hope,” Heimdall said, “we’re headed for the throne room.”
“As opposed to the dungeons or the block,” said Sif.
“The queen will hear you,” Uschi said. “Sly as she is, Lady Amora couldn’t come up with a convincing reason why she shouldn’t. The rest is up to you.”
The splendor of the throne room reminded Heimdall of his and Sif’s dirty, disheveled appearances. The scowls on the faces of the guards and the way the grips tightened and shifted on their spear shafts attested to their conviction that the prisoners were dangerous traitors who’d already murdered one of their comrades.
This time, although Amora was present as expected, there were no scribbling clerks or gaggle of petitioners in attendance, presumably, Heimdall thought, because Frigga hadn’t planned to be here today. The mud on her shoes and the hem of her gown suggested she’d spent her time outdoors inspecting troops and the ongoing efforts to bolster Asgard’s defenses. He and Sif each dropped to one knee before her and the All-Father’s empty throne, and she frowned down at them.
“My inclination,” Frigga said, “was to throw you in a cell and deal with you after the war ends. But Uschi tells me you saved her and the company, which I admit is odd behavior for traitors. She’s also under the impression you have something of importance to tell me. Stand up, then, and speak.”
“Thank you, Majesty,” said Heimdall, rising. “I know you have urgent matters to attend to, but I ask that you give us sufficient time to tell what happened when we entered the vault of the Odinsleep and some of what happened after.”
“And so the lies begin,” Amora said. “You couldn’t get into the crypt. We know because the warriors who discovered you standing over the sentry you murdered saw that you couldn’t.”
“We’d already been inside,” said Sif. “We couldn’t open the door a second time because your witchcraft sealed it.”
“Ridiculous,” Amora said, “I wasn’t even there.”
“We didn’t see you,” Sif replied, “but then, people don’t always see you unless you want to be seen, do they?”
The sorceress turned to the queen. “Majesty, I don’t mind if the traitors slander me and tangle me in their web of falsehoods. No one will heed them. I’ve proven my loyalty time and again. But I believe the instinct that warns you there are better uses for your time than listening to this nonsense is telling you only the truth.”
Amora’s lies brought more of Heimdall’s anger boiling up in his mind. But he judged that agitation would serve him poorly in the effort to convince the queen, and he took a deep, steadying breath before speaking again.
“Please, Majesty,” he said. “Sif and I will be as brief as we can, but it’s vital that you hear us. Let us tell our story as it unfolded. Perhaps it will make the most sense that way.”
Frigga frowned. “I promised Uschi I’d give you a hearing, and I will. Just get on with it.”
Grateful that the queen would at least listen to the story, Heimdall first offered an account of what had happened in the vault of the Odinsleep. Amora took the opportunity to declare once again that the two warriors couldn’t possibly have entered, but that simply by trying and by murdering the sentry, they’d committed treason and sacrilege and deserved to die.
Still holding his anger in check, Heimdall ignored her and went on to relate some of what had happened after he and Sif fled the citadel of Asgard. He greatly abridged such matters as their wanderings in the Realm Below and omitted entirely the hnefatafl game with Nidhogg, but still, as he heard the tale coming out of his mouth, he heard unlikelihoods that put the extravagances of Wardell the poacher to shame.
To his dismay, he could see scornful, skeptical smiles or doubtful expressions appearing on every face, even, eventually, Uschi’s. He wondered grimly if, the fight outside the farmhouse notwithstanding, the Valkyrie leader now regretted the gratitude that had prompted her to insist Frigga give the fugitives a hearing.
Sif plainly sensed the mood in the hall as well, and Heimdall could see her gathering herself for a suicidal charge at Amora. He could scarcely blame her and would join her if she did, but he had the same sense he’d had when the frost giant envoy and the trolls trapped him in the cave. He and Sif shouldn’t throw their lives away on an empty gesture, especially when it would let the enemy win. There had to be a way to turn this situation around. Somehow. While he strained to think of it, he gave his sister a glance intended to convey, not yet.
Once Heimdall’s account reached the encounter with Amora in Jotunheim, the enchantress sneered and said, “At last the lies break down completely. Your Majesty knows I’ve been at your side almost constantly, lending aid and counsel as required.”
“You have magic to whisk you back and forth between Asgard and Jotunheim,” Heimdall answered.
“And why was such an important lady of the court personally leading the effort to catch two fugitives when we were running away?” asked Sif. “Why were you so eager to see us killed before we ever had a chance to reenter the city and talk to anyone?”
“I was merely,” Amora said, “attempting to deal with traitors and murderers as they deserve.”
“Majesty,” Heimdall said, “I beg you. If we open the vault, you’ll see that all the defenses are as we described them. You’ll see the head of Mimir is missing. All of that is proof that my sister and I are telling the truth.”
“We can’t,” Frigga said. “Odin’s command forbids it.”
Even now? Heimdall thought. He felt a fresh surge of anger and struggled again not to let the emotion show in his voice or on his face. Still, his fists clenched tight.
“Majesty,” Amora said, “you’ve suffered this rubbish patiently. I have as well, even though the traitors tried to make me the villain of their tale. But there isn’t a shred of proof to support anything they’ve said. I know not why they aided Uschi’s company, but we do know they came away with stolen Valkyrie stallions to speed their flight from justice. I likewise don’t know what madness prompted them to return to Asgard. Evidently they were foolish enough to imagine their lies persuasive. But whatever they were thinking, it’s time to put an end to this.”
Frigga grimaced. “You’re right, my lady.” She turned to Uschi. “I understand you wish to believe the best of the man and woman who saved your company. But you must understand that people can’t defy the All-Father’s commands and defame a royal counselor without evidence. I accordingly sentence–”
Sif took a step forward, and, if the prelude to her attack turned a key in Heimdall’s mind, and, desperate to save her, he suddenly knew something more to do and say. He grabbed his sister’s wrist to hold her in place. “I have evidence!” he said.
The queen frowned in a way that suggested she wasn’t accustomed to being interrupted. Still, she said, “What is it?”
Smiling with the confidence he’d only just regained, Heimdall pointed. “That tapestry hanging on the far wall. There are twenty-nine little white catsfoot flowers on it. I doubt you can see them all from here, but I can. It proves Mimir’s powers have passed to me.”
“It proves nothing,” Amora said, “except that at some point you had the chance to count them.”
Heimdall turned. “The guard
standing all the way at the other end of the hall to the left of the doorway. He has a loose thread hanging from the end of his right sleeve.”
“Which you took note of coming in,” the sorceress said.
“Right now, there are three men walking on the other side of the door. Two of them are chaffing the other for mooning over a woman who doesn’t want him.”
“Let’s see,” Uschi said. She ran down the length of the hall, disappeared through the door, and in due course returned with three servants who, awestruck and stammering that the queen herself was paying them any mind, confirmed that they had indeed just been saying what Heimdall had overheard.
Surely now, he thought. Surely now the queen believes me.
“All right,” said Amora to Frigga as the servants filed out again, “It’s plain some magic has sharpened Heimdall’s eyes and ears. But so what? Did the All-Father ever tell Your Majesty that keen sight and hearing were the source of Mimir’s wisdom?”
“No,” said the queen. “Odin kept some things secrets even from me.”
Heimdall felt his momentary confidence start to crumble.
Amora smiled. “Then there’s still no evidence to back up any of the traitors’ lies.”
“By the Tree!” Sif cried. “Majesty, isn’t anything you’ve heard strange or suggestive enough to put doubt in your mind?”
Frowning, one hand to her chin, Frigga sat silently for several heartbeats. Finally she said, “The one thing we can be absolutely certain of is that Odin ordered that no one is to enter the vault. Accordingly–”
“Please!” Heimdall said. “Wait! The future of our people depends on it!” At that instant, he had no idea what he’d say if she did wait, but his every instinct screamed that if he let the queen go ahead and pronounce her judgment, that would be the end of everything.
“I’ll listen once more,” Frigga said. “Then it will be time to bring this matter to a close.”
For a horrible second, Heimdall’s head was empty of everything but desperation, and then a final idea came to him. “Odin can’t have commanded that no one look at the hallway and the outer face of the door leading into his crypt. There’s a sentry there, and other people pass by from time to time. If we go there now, I’ll show you the proof you need.”
“Majesty,” Amora said, “you’ve been to the door already. You’ve seen there’s nothing there. The traitor is simply stalling in the hope that something, anything, will happen to save his life.”
“You may be right,” Frigga replied slowly, “but there are things here that make little sense to me, and even with the defense of the city to attend to, I won’t send these two to the headsman without giving them a chance to prove their innocence. Not if they can do it without violating Odin’s decree.” She looked around the throne room. “Uschi, you and your Valkyries are still in charge of the prisoners. Guards, Lady Amora, you’ll accompany me as before.”
The queen, Amora, and two royal bodyguards headed up the procession. The Valkyries marched behind with Heimdall and Sif in the middle of them. As they all made their way through the citadel, and those they passed saluted Frigga and peered curiously after her, Sif whispered, “Do you truly think you’ll find something to prove we’re telling the truth?”
Heimdall’s mouth was dry with anxiety and anticipation, and he had to swallow before he could answer. “I don’t know, but Mimir’s gifts might reveal something no one else can see. It was one last throw of the dice.”
Sif laughed, drawing surprised looks from those around her. “Well, if it doesn’t work, at least we’ll finish as we’ve been going all along.”
After another minute, they arrived in the proper hallway. Two guards now stood outside the doorway to the vault where Odin slept, but other than that, on first inspection, the gloomy passage was no different than on Heimdall’s previous visit.
Heimdall looked to Frigga. “If the guards step away from the door,” he said, “that will help me find what I’m looking for.”
“Do as he asks,” said the queen, whereupon the spearmen with their shields bearing Odin’s two-ravens emblem moved farther down the corridor. When Heimdall then advanced to the spot they’d vacated, Uschi and another Valkyrie followed a pace behind. He couldn’t imagine what desperate act they thought he might attempt with both ends of the passage blocked and warriors still surrounding Sif, but evidently hovering close was part of their duty as they understood it.
The dimness was no impediment to the sight he’d inherited from Mimir. On the wall were minute flecks of blood left behind when he’d punched the sentry back into it and evidently cut his head. Tiny droplets likewise speckled the floor where the warrior had fallen. There were also particles of soil that people had tracked in.
But to Heimdall’s disappointment, none of it represented any sort of exoneration. Knowing his new gifts made it unnecessary but impelled by desperation nonetheless, he went down on one knee for a closer look at the floor. Still, he found nothing helpful.
“Majesty,” Amora said, “I say again, it’s time to bring this matter to a close.”
“I haven’t examined the door yet,” Heimdall said. “That’s where the proof is.” He hoped. If not, there was nowhere left to look.
When he peered with the vision of any common Asgardian, the door was as he’d seen it before, arched, heavy, possessed of a golden handle, and nothing more. He felt an upwelling of excitement, however, when his new sight revealed symbols indenting the grain of the oaken surface. It was as if something had pressed against the panel with great force and precision but only stamped marks as deep as a hair was thick.
“There are runes here!” he said.
Frigga squinted. “I see nothing.”
“I’ll trace them for you.” His forefinger ached as he did so, an indication, he surmised, that the enchantment retained its power.
“Those are some of the mystic signs,” said the queen.
“But once again,” said Amora, “it proves nothing. We already knew that when it’s time for the Odinsleep, the All-Father uses magic to seal himself up in the crypt.”
Whatever Sif and I say, Heimdall thought, finally giving in to despair, whatever my new eyes and ears can discover, it’s never going to be enough. Amora will always know what to say to deflect.
Which, he thought grimly, meant Sif had been right before. The two Vanir needed to try to kill Amora. They’d almost certainly fail, and even if they succeeded, the Valkyries and guards would strike them down a moment later to be reviled as traitors and a shame to their kin forever after. But it was the only play left.
Or so he imagined. But as he gathered himself to lunge and shove through all the warriors separating him from the woman in green, Frigga said, “My husband doesn’t share all his secrets with me, but he has shared many. We’ve worked magic together often enough that I know his preferred methods. I never knew him to use these particular runes.”
“With all respect, Majesty,” Amora said, “you’re a skillful mage, but the king is the greatest of us all. I daresay he’s mastered every rune.”
“I have no doubt,” Frigga replied, and Heimdall felt elation because it appeared to him that she was at last regarding Amora with a hint of doubt in her eyes. “But it’s a matter of… style, I suppose. I doubt Odin would use this particular spell to seal a door when others would work equally well. Whereas I am skillful enough, as you put it, to know Karnilla of Nornheim frequently relies on this system of runes. I also recall that Karnilla was your first mentor in sorcery before the two of you had a falling out.”
“Majesty,” Amora said, all wounded innocence, “surely you aren’t accusing me. Not on the word of these two murderers. Not on the basis of a single coincidence.”
“I am not,” the queen replied. “Certainly not yet. But there are too many curious aspects to this matter. I won’t risk making a wrong judgment when simply looking beyond
this door will make all things clear.”
Amora’s eyes widened. “Odin’s command–”
For the first time, Frigga looked impatient not with her prisoners but with her sorceress, advisor, and lady of the court. “Perhaps I’ve been too respectful of my husband’s decrees. I rule Asgard while he sleeps, and I must do as I think best to protect the Realm Eternal. If I’m wrong and this angers him, it will be on my head.” She smiled wryly. “And if anyone can mollify him, surely it will be his loving wife.”
Amora bowed her head. “As you command, of course, Your Majesty. Perhaps, since, as you say, you are the one the All-Father will forgive most easily, you should also be the one to dissolve his enchantment.”
“Very well.” Frigga faced the door.
“No!” Sif shouted. “Don’t turn your back on her!” She rushed toward Amora, and Heimdall sprang after her. Startled and confused, some of the Valkyries jumped in the way while reaching for their swords.
Meanwhile, Amora stared into the eyes of one of the equally surprised royal bodyguards. Frigga’s other guard spun toward them, and the sorceress did the same to him. The enchantress then murmured, too softly for anyone but the two warriors and Heimdall to hear, “Kill the queen.”
Bewitched, the two men drew their blades.
Twenty-Eight
Heimdall knew what was about to happen, but he was too many strides away from Frigga and had too many Valkyries in his way to do anything about it. But, to his relief, Sif was closer, facing in the same direction, and saw the threat. She bellowed, “Vanaheim!” and bulled through the Valkyries blocking her.
Afterward, she faced two warriors with swords in hand while she had none. To keep them from cutting down Frigga – who was turning back around but too slowly for it save her – Sif whipped off her grubby cape and whirled it to entangle the weapons in its folds.
The Head of Mimir Page 24