by Gwen Rivers
“You’re going to land us right on top of them!” Freda shouts.
Just when I think that is his intention, I notice thick roots poking out from the new cracks. Like fingers gripping a windowsill, the roots widen the crevasse. Small stones fall as solid rock is infiltrated by the trees.
The shaking ends as abruptly as it began and the tree roots slither back, leaving a gap large enough for us to walk through single-file.
“After you, my Queen,” Taj says with a smile.
“I’m not a queen,” I tell him. “Not anymore.”
“Nic,” Freda begins but I hold up a hand.
“I know. The Wild Hunt answers only to the Queen of the Shadow Throne.”
“Who do you think ordered them here?” Harmony smirks.
My lips part in shock. “Don’t tell me you let Gretchen come, too.”
She shakes her head. “Of course not.”
In Harmony’s purple hand, a second flame leaps to life. “I brought her to meet with Freda and Taj in the Vanir lands.”
“She told us to do whatever it took to secure the Underground palace.” Freda nods. “She’s not you, but I like her style.”
I can’t stop smiling. Not alone. I don’t have to do this on my own.
“I need to get Addy and the others.”
“I thought you’d say that.” Freda points to a spot where the tunnel diverges. “This will bring us out above the prison.”
“You’re sure?”
She makes a derisive noise. “Who do you think you’re dealing with?”
“Then I’ll follow your orders, first of the hunt.”
Freda hands me Seelenverkäufer. “This is one reunion that’s long overdue.”
I shake my head. “It belongs to The Hunt.”
“It belongs to you, Nic.” Freda pushes the blade at me again. “Go on, take it before it gets offended.”
I accept the Soul Reaper and feel whole again with it in my hands.
“Where’s the rest of the Hunt?”
“Waiting to cross.” Freda makes a face. “We can send a ghost for them once the palace is secure.”
“Then let’s proceed.” Taj cracks his knuckles. “Soladin has waited for me long enough.”
Exactly how I feel about Aiden. “The clock is ticking. If we see any Draugar get them out, Freda. There is nothing you can do against the army of the dead.”
Freda lifts her chin. “I will do as my queen commanded.”
I open my mouth to argue then realize the futility of the gesture. “Fine, but if you die, I’m going to be really angry.”
Harmony takes the lead, her hand wielding fire directly out in front of her. Jasmine goes next, followed by Freda then Taj and I bring up the rear. We walk for what feels like days, winding up and down through the caverns in front of us.
The hole made from Taj’s tree roots widens out into an actual tunnel. There are no lights. The air is damp and chill and smells of old death.
“Quiet,” Freda hisses.
I’m about to tell her that no one said anything when I hear it. A shifting sound as though someone is moving.
“Who’s there?” I wield Seelenverkäufer out in front of me. Jasmine points one of her flaming arrows and Harmony holds out her flame-filled hand.
“You…you’re alive,” the small voice quavers.
“Who are you?” I repeat the question, not fooled by the childlike appearance. The fey make a habit of putting on an innocent façade, the better to lure the unsuspecting to their dooms.
“I know her,” Freda crouches down low, heedless of the danger. “Your brother is Alric the Spriggan, yes?”
“I’m called Rowena.” The girl has a distinctly Eastern European lilt.
“What are you doing here?” There isn’t much to recommend her hideout.
“I’m hiding from her.”
“Her?” Harmony asks.
The girl’s gaze darts around. “Underhill.”
Then it clicks. Alric’s sister was the potential heir to the Fire Throne. The one heart Underhill had left. Pharaildis would have ordered any threat to her power executed. Freda and I exchange an uneasy glance.
“How did you get down here?” Harmony asks.
“My brothers.” Her gaze goes to the floor. “They were trying to get me out. But the dead got them.”
Harmony squeezes the girl’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
Tears fill Rowena’s eyes but she brushes them away. “I’ve been hiding here ever since.”
Jasmine steps forward and holds something out to the princess. “Here.”
The girl hesitates, staring at the brightly colored wrapper. “What is that?”
“Chocolate,” Jasmine says with a smile in my direction. “The best thing you could ever hope to eat.”
Rowena sniffs it delicately and then takes a tentative bite. Her eyes light up.
A pang goes through me. This is Alric’s sister. She’d been groomed to lead a court not banished to starve in the bowels of the world. I want to order Freda to take her back into the Underground palace, but that’s no safer than our route.
“Which direction do the dead come from?” I ask her.
She points with the hand not holding the half-eaten candy bar. “That way.”
I turn and spy an eerie blue light pulsing in the deepest depths of the cavern. “Stay here,” I say to Taj, Jasmine and the girl.
“Nic,” Harmony begins.
“It’s important.” I don’t know how I know, only that I do.
We move farther towards the light. The incandescence grows brighter with each step. I suck in a sharp breath when I realize what it is we’re looking at.
Underhill’s lair, the heart of the hill.
And in the water that has never seen the light of day, float bodies. Countless bodies.
Animated
I hold my breath, seeing the vacant looks in their sightless eyes. Focusing ever upwards on something they can no longer behold. Something that is the source of the light, glowing blue and gold and green which reflects off the midnight water.
“Nic,” Freda hisses in my ear. “Look.”
She points to our right. There is a sudden splash and we jerk back as two of the corpses drag another body forward. They are standing on some sort of incline. They roll the corpse down and it hits the water. They turn and pull forward another, repeating the process.
“It’s an assembly line.” At the far end of the pool, a hand flails. It grasps for something to hold, snags an outcropping and pulls itself from the water. Behind it, another of the Draugar reaches out and grasps for something to hold while it clambers to be free.
“A what?” Harmony looks at me, confusion in her eyes.
I pull her and Freda farther away. “The dead. Those glowing marks above the water. Those are runes. They need to put the bodies in the bespelled water. Otherwise, they won’t animate. The Draugar drag more corpses into the water. They aren’t just rising at the second of death. They need to be brought here.”
“But why?” Freda hisses.
“Because the magic comes from runes.” I stare at the glowing marks on the ceiling. One that means life, the other that means time. I turn to face the seer. “What do you know about runes?”
“Only that some of them were lost to time.”
“Unless you are a fate,” I say. “And I know just where we have one of those.”
We make our way back to where we left the others and fill them in on our discovery.
“This is foolish,” Harmony says. “What of Aiden?”
“If I’m right, we’ll buy ourselves enough time to fix everything. But we need Addy to do it.”
“It’s an awful risk,” the seer cautions. “What if your Fate won’t help?”
“Oh, she will. Everything Addy does is for a reason. Do you really think Underhill could have kept her here if she wanted to escape?”
The tunnel narrows again, and then opens back up. The constant stop-start of the pace is maddening. My task list
is growing, but I know this is the right thing to do. Addy knows how the magic of the runes works. She can turn back the clock, the same way Underhill had once done for me. Our army can grow from a handful to thousands if only we can work the magic right.
“There.” Jasmine points and I skid to a stop at a branch in the tunnels. The veins of moonstone glitters under the torchlight, enough to spy the enormous boulder Nightweaver had led me to earlier.
“Nic?” Freda asks.
I gasp. “Taj, can you move it?”
The Seelie king shakes his head. “No. My roots deflect off it. Only the power of Underhill can open it.”
The air shimmers and as one we are surrounded by the dead of the Wild Hunt.
“First.” Nightweaver inclines her head to Freda. “The Second sends her regards and suggests that if you can’t go through the door, you ought to make a new one.”
“A new one?” Freda looks blank.
I hold up Seelenverkäufer. “You mean we should make a tear through the stone the way we do the Veil?”
“That’s not possible.” Freda shakes her head. “The Soul Reaper cuts through spirit, not solids.”
But my eyes are on the ghost. “I trust Nahini’s judgment. Stand aside.”
The others back away and I hold the sword with two hands. It thrums in my grasp. The buzz of power fills me, intensifying until the entire cavern seems to hum with light and intention.
I make a slice through the air. Though I am expecting the clang of metal on rock, there is no sound. Only a great bleeding gash that pulses with life magic. As one, the dead of the Hunt dive for it, stretching the cut open the way Taj’s tree roots opened the tunnels for us.
The inside is dark as pitch.
“Harmony, the light.” I snap.
The seer steps forward and extends her flames.
I spot Nahini first. She’s chained to a wall on the far side. Her head is slumped forward as though she no longer possesses the strength to hold it up.
I cross over the threshold. A gust of air rushes through the space, cooling the seared edges the ghosts and the blade left at the entrance to the cell.
“Nahini?” I ask.
Her dark head lifts, the beads on her multitude of braids clicking. “Nic? I knew you’d come. Is it truly you?”
She’s not asking out of a sense of awe or wonder. We’ve been tricked too many times by shapeshifters.
“It’s really me,” I say. “Nightweaver can vouch for me.”
Freda is hot on my heels, a small knife in her hands. She shoves it beneath the bolt that holds Nahini’s chain. “Hold on. We’ll have you free in no time.”
I scan the dank space. It smells of unwashed flesh and waste. Bard is collared to the wall. Soladin is shackled at the far side of the space.
No sign of Addy.
I shift my gaze to the soul plane once more and spot her golden signature. Addy is sprawled on the unyielding ground, curled up in the fetal position, her silver and jet braid lying limp. I’m glad to see that she wears her own form again.
“Hey you,” she whispers when I rest a hand on her arm and call her name. “It’s about time.”
Tears fill my eyes. “I’ve missed you. Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
“Can’t,” she coughs.
“Nic, hurry up.” Harmony strides closer, bringing the light with her.
It’s then that I see the blood.
Through the Man’s Eyes
Underhill’s carriage stops before the cavern. The Draugar line the path on either side, ready to close in at her command.
Rodrick tosses Aiden out onto the ground. He lands face first on the hard-packed dirt. His teeth sink deeply into his lower lip and he tastes blood.
“Why are you helping her?” Aiden spits at the fey general. “She’s going to kill everyone.”
Rodrick stares at him a beat. “Better serve the devil than get in her way.”
“You know,” Pharaildis murmurs as though to herself. “I should have just moved the castle closer to this place. Then again, you probably didn’t mind the long carriage ride, did you, Váli Sigynjarson?”
“Don’t call me that,” he snaps.
“Afraid I will wield power over you.” Pharaildis shakes her head. “Little wolf, I hold the ultimate power over you. The power of life and death.”
He stares at her. “You are about to unleash a monster you can’t control.”
She scoffs. “I’m not afraid of your beast.”
“I mean Loki.” His gaze slides to the cave. “He’s not stable. He wasn’t stable before centuries of endless torture.”
She shrugs. “Harbingers are never stable. I have the dead, I have the heart of the last queen of the Fire Throne. And I have you. All the ingredients for the perfect end of the worlds. Now enough stalling. It’s time for a family reunion.”
She waves a hand and the chain flies upwards into his mouth. He hisses at the lash of the metal against his tongue. But there isn’t a damn thing he can do about it.
Rodrick propels him forward. They move down the torch-lined cavern. It is a descent into hell, into madness, each step driving him ever darker into himself.
The wolf in him struggles and fights but Gleipnir is inescapable. If Fenrir hadn’t found a way free in all his centuries of imprisonment, there is no way Aiden will get loose.
The journey is agonizing. His heart pounds faster as they descend lower. He wants to run, knows it is futile.
Light flowers up ahead, a sickly greenish hue that dances on the walls. And then they are there. The place that haunts his nightmares.
He looks at his mother first. Her blonde head is lowered, all her focus on his father. She never looks away, never flinches from her task.
Not even when she gave birth to his helpless sister.
And beyond her, chained by his brother’s entrails, is the mad god himself.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” Loki sing-songs.
Sigyn turns to empty the bowl of venom. The snake coiled above Loki hisses. Green venom drips down on his father’s face. The ground quakes beneath their feet.
Nic. he thinks. Where are you?
“How long has she been like this?” I snap.
“For days.” Bard moves forward, the chains rattling on his ankle. “She moved out of reach of the rest of us. We called for help but no one came.”
Days.
“Addy,” I lean over my aunt and take in the horrific, gaping wound. It looks as though she’s been burned with a blowtorch. The skin around the edges is chalky and flakes away and beneath I can see raw muscle and the white of her ribs “What did she do to you?”
“This wasn’t Underhill.” Fern crouches by Addy’s side.
“Did to myself,” Addy wheezes. Her hand flaps like a wounded bird.
I catch it in mine. “What?” Horror fills me at the thought.
“Can’t interfere.” She coughs and more blood spills out onto the stones. “Our law. It’s a killer.”
She laughs and the sound goes through me like a death knell.
So many things start adding up. Why Chloe had looked so sad when I’d mentioned a possible stay of execution for Addy. They’d killed a sister before, had destroyed Lachesis after the third Fate had abandoned me in the Black Forest. Had interfered with the course of my destiny.
Is it possible they had done so out of…mercy?
My aunt is dying. Before my eyes, her golden light dims. “What can I do to stop it?”
“Nothing, sweets. There will be another soon. One who will rise up and take my place.”
Take her place? Who could ever replace Addy? I shake my head. No. This isn’t possible. She’d lived for eons, has seen the secrets of the universe. She can’t die.
“Take care of Chloe, Nic.” Addy holds my gaze, hers swirling more slowly as if her magic is draining away with her life’s blood. “She will need you. Help her find her way to the others. Don’t waste your second chance, Nic.”
Her voice
trails off then rattles. “Hurts.”
“Let me give you the Goodnight Kiss.” I can spare her the pain at least.
“Won’t work,” her edge of steel is still there, in spite of the horrific wounds that are eating her alive. “Only the Fates….”
“I’m sorry.” I should have brought Chloe with me. Foolish Nic. I thought I’d been protecting Addy and Chloe both by leaving her behind. My lips tremble. There’s so much I want to say to her. But one thing I must ask before it’s too late. “Addy, the runes. How do I use them?”
“You will know how when it is necessary.” Her lips are dry and cracked. “Don’t try to stop free will. And don’t waste it.”
A last, rattling breath leaves her. The flesh rots off her bones and falls to the floor like dry leaves. Her cheeks hollow and her skin, now the texture of burning paper, disintegrates.
“No!” The scream tears something loose from my very soul.
“Nic,” Nahini is by my side, her touch gentle on my shoulder. “Nic, she’s gone.”
“She can’t be.” I shake my head, unable to believe it. Addy, the most powerful of the Fates, the Norn who cuts the thread of life, can’t be dead.
My shoulders hunch. I need her. Need her help. And she’s left me alone. She, who embraced what I am from the very beginning, who did everything in her power to protect me. Taught me just how fiercely I should love.
Like a mother bear in winter.
She knew this was in store for her, this horrible end. But she’d come anyway. Interfered anyway. For me and for Addison Sophia.
“Addy,” I breathe and swipe at the tears that are running freely down my face. “I won’t waste it. I promise.”
No time.
There’s no time to mourn Addy. No time to rescue Aiden from Underhill’s grasp. No time to wield the runes and buy more time. My plan is in tatters. The Draugar will be here soon. By unspoken agreement, we make our way to the throne room at the center of the palace. Jasmine, Freda and Taj bar the exits. I stare at the Fire Throne, numb.
The ghosts of the hunt swarm to Nahini and she whispers something to them in a language I don’t recognize.