The Iron Bound

by J. M. Briggs

  Thor doubted that. Something in his gut almost made him snort at the idea. In the corner of his eye, he saw a doubtful expression cross Morgana’s face and knew she agreed with him. Merlin sighed and looked between the pair of them.

  “Now we have to give them a chance,” Merlin said sternly. “While the first ones through were warriors sent to take slaves, towards the end they were prisoners. For all we know they were exiled for standing up to the lords, trying to end slavery or something else noble.” Morgana did snort now and Merlin looked at her sharply. “We cannot assume that they are evil. Now that they are stabilizing in our world we need to determine what they are going to be to the Iron Realm before we attempt genocide.”

  Thor didn’t have a response to that. There was a note in Merlin’s voice that warned him against even attempting to find a counter argument. Next to him, Morgana merely nodded and said nothing before turning and picking up her pack.

  “I’m still coming with you,” Thor said. His words broke the thick silence. “I’ll be right back.”

  He didn’t give them time to argue and quickly left the hut. As he moved back to his family’s house he was hopeful that they wouldn’t simply leave without him. He paused and looked around his home village. It was still so strange to see the houses surrounded by the wall while knowing that the fields beyond were vulnerable.

  Thankfully his father and brother were already out in the fields, leaving the house empty. It smelled heavily of the animals who were now huddling inside each night, but Thor ignored the thick scent as he collected a few supplies and his sword. Rushing outside, he ignored the curious looks once more and spotted Morgana and Merlin near the gate. They waited for him, though Thor could tell as he approached that Morgana still wanted him to stay here. Part of him desperately wanted to prove himself, but he ordered the urge to stay buried.

  Outside the walls, the animals were in pasture and Thor could see people busily milking the cows. Others were bundling up the dried hay and taking it into the village so it could feed the animals in the coming winter. Much of the barley had already been processed and only one small field of rye remained to be cut. Over the course of the last few weeks, most of the onions, turnips, and leeks had been harvested from the smaller gardens inside the walls. Still, Thor was uncertain that it would be enough.

  They hiked in silence with neither Merlin nor Morgana providing him any additional details. It took longer than he liked to realize why: the forest itself was very still and quiet. While winter was fast approaching and they’d suffered early frosts, there was not yet snow on the ground. Yet the forest seemed empty of birds. There was no scurrying of animals in the underbrush and he could see no recent tracks on the trail. For a moment he felt a flash of guilt as he understood the renewed tension in the village: the hunters hadn’t been finding any game and he hadn’t noticed.

  “We’re almost there,” Merlin murmured ahead of him. Thor nodded despite Merlin being unable to see him. “Now Thor, it is vital that you do what Morgana and I say. If you think you have a reason to disobey us then tell us quickly, otherwise do not delay. We do not know how these Sídhe… the Dark Elves will react to us coming so close.”

  “Understood,” Thor forced out around the lump forming in this throat.

  He was beginning to feel a bit ill as the unnatural silence surrounded him. The chill in the air was feeling sharper than it should and the scent of the forest itself was off. Thor shuddered despite himself at the growing sense that he really should have stayed behind. His fingers itched to be back at his forge. Magic flared in his chest in response to his fear, and Thor felt a flash of panic as he willed it away. Sparks danced across his fingertips for a moment and he glanced down to watch the tiny bright blue lightning bolts arc off his fingers and move across his palms. The momentary distraction helped him center himself even as the magic dissipated.

  “Almost there.” Merlin shifted just enough to look over his shoulder at Thor. “Be ready, just in case.”

  The older mage didn’t seem to notice that Thor’s magic had already flared up, and that was fine with the embarrassed Thor. He followed along silently, minding his footing as they shifted onto the rocky terrain of the slope. Looking over his shoulder, Thor could see his village down near the water, but he had the sense already that this settlement was far closer than he wanted it to be.

  Leading him further into the trees, they headed down into a ravine that had been carved by ice long ago, and Thor hesitated as the rocky sides of the ravine began to rise above his head. The memory of that small sink hole so long ago nagged at him, and a flash of worry jolted through Thor at his own reaction.

  Thankfully they didn’t linger in the ravine for long, but Thor was keenly aware of sweat dripping down the back of his neck despite the chill in the air. Up ahead small pockets of snow remained hidden in the shadows of rocks and trees as they moved higher up the mountainside. Then they stopped, and Thor had a moment of disorientation as he looked around.

  The so-called entrance was more of a giant crack in the side of the mountain with rock half folded over it, thanks to another layer of stone that was turned on its side. Thor had only been in a cave once before and hesitated at the entry. Before him loomed the dark stone of the earth that appeared ready to swallow him up, and the pathway quickly vanished in a sharp slope down even deeper. He wasn’t prepared for the jolt of alarm that raced through his body at the sight of the cave. The reality of his sudden problem was settling on him, and Thor hated to even give it form through thought. He was afraid; afraid of going into the ground again.

  Swallowing thickly, Thor contemplated making some excuse to remain on the surface and beneath the sky. Morgana turned and gave him a questioning look that made him straighten up and march for the cave mouth. However, he couldn’t help but take in one last long breath of fresh air. Morgana conjured a small orb of light in her hands. She lifted it just enough to illuminate the small curving tunnel of the cave. There was a faint sound of dripping that was echoing up to them, and it made another shiver go up Thor’s spine.

  “Thor?” Merlin turned back towards him with a frown. “Are you alright? Have you been here before?”

  “No,” Thor answered honestly before realizing what he’d said. “I haven’t been here before.” He swallowed and tried not to fidget. “It’s been a long time since I was in a cave… ten years maybe.”

  “Oh?” Merlin asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice. “Anything special?”

  “Not really, it was more of a sink hole really. Arvid and I were exploring and not paying attention. My foot got caught and Arvid had to go and get Father to help me.” He rubbed his jaw, letting the hairs of his beard scratch his hand. “Bit embarrassing. I was hearing about it for months.”

  Merlin kept looking at him thoughtfully with eyes that told Thor this was his last chance. He all but snorted at the idea. Was he supposed to just wait for them beneath the opening because he apparently didn’t like the idea of going underground? Forcing a confident smile, he nodded down the tunnel and waited for Merlin and Morgana to lead the way. From behind Merlin, Morgana gave him an impatient look and he could imagine what she was thinking. Merlin started his descent with Morgana right behind him. After one last deep breath, Thor followed.

  Every step was difficult. The low light in Morgana’s hand was barely enough to see even a few feet, but it was enough for him to always be able to see the walls of stone around him. The small entrance quickly opened into larger tunnels with smooth looking walls glistening from faint traces of water dripping down them. Thor kept breathing as slowly as he could and kept his eyes fixed on Morgana’s long dark braid in front of him.

  “I can hear voices up ahead,” Merlin said softly.

  Thor nodded, mostly to himself as the other two couldn’t see him, and wondered again if being between them wouldn’t have been better. Glancing up at the roof of the cavern, Thor eyed the stalactites pouring out of the ceiling with a growing sense of unease. His mind flashed ba
ck to the way Merlin had made the hillside above the Sídhe tunnel crumble and he shuddered. Without thinking, Thor murmured a soft prayer to Odin that no harm would come to him in this dark place.

  They walked forever. Thor’s heart pounded in his chest and he struggled to breathe. All around him the tunnel was becoming tighter, no matter how easily Merlin and Morgana kept slipping through the crevices. From time to time some paintings on the walls or signs of the Dark Elves were able to distract him, but it never lasted long.

  Then the tunnels expanded. Rough stone and antler tools were scattered on the ground in piles of rock dust. Roughly woven baskets and awkward clay vessels were filled with larger pieces of rock, leaving Thor torn between worry and gratitude that the Dark Elves were expanding the tunnels. He breathed a little easier until he turned and eyed the pitch blackness behind them. His stomach turned and his knees quivered.

  Merlin and Morgana stopped and Thor was suddenly aware of sounds echoing up the tunnel. It took him a moment to recognize them as the sort of noise that filled his village every day, thanks to the echoing effect. They began to move again, but much slower this time. Up ahead, as the sounds grew louder there was a series of tall rocks they could huddle behind.

  Peering around the rocks, Thor wasn’t able to hold in the small gasp that escaped him. Stretched out before them amongst the rocks were wooden buildings supported against the natural formations of the cave. Dozens of the Dark Elves were moving amongst them, their paths illuminated by the low burning torches. There was a thick haze of smoke in the air and a layer of soot gathering on the rocks, but the creatures didn’t seem to care.

  “I can’t see much,” he whispered.

  “Neither can I,” Merlin said. “I can’t get a good count, but I see at least twenty.”

  “They are using torches,” Morgana added softly. “Their night vision must still require some light like the Sídhe.” She paused and then in a happier tone said, “But I see no magical lights, so they may not have any magic. That’s good to know.”

  Briefly, Thor wondered if they could simply bring this mountain down on top of the Dark Elves but quickly dismissed the idea. This was no simple rockslide like the tunnel had been. They would need to shake the very foundations of the mountain, and the idea filled him with dread.

  “I need more light than this,” a deep voice bellowed from one of the structures catching Thor’s attention. His magic tickled for a moment, but it ignored it and focused on the new voice. It lacked the musical quality of Frea’s voice or the low even tone he’d heard from the Dark Elves. Instead, it was thick and gruff. “If you expect us to keep doing your metalwork then we need better light and a better space.”

  “What the?” Merlin leaned forward curiously.

  A small figure stormed out of one of the buildings with a Dark Elf marching behind him. At first glance, Thor almost mistook him for a human. He was a little under five feet tall with warm sepia skin that had a slight hint of green and sunken dark eyes. Small wrinkles across his face made him look old, but somehow that didn’t seem right to Thor. Thick, wild black hair that faded to brown at the tips surrounded his face and flowed into a long beard that was tucked into his belt.

  “Dvergr causing trouble,” the Dark Elf said from behind the small creature as another Dark Elf moved over to them.

  “What is that?” Thor asked Merlin in a low voice. “I’ve never seen anyone like him. What’s a… Dvergr?”

  Merlin didn’t say anything and Thor crept forward to the edge of the rocks. Both Merlin and Morgana were staring at the small being with looks of utter confusion on their faces.

  “Merlin?” Thor tried again a little louder this time. “What is a Dvergr?”

  “I have no idea,” Merlin said with widening eyes. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  And somehow that statement worried and frightened Thor even more than the tons of rock above his head just waiting to crash down around him.

  28

  The Queen’s Spell

  Alex was falling through the darkness. She was untethered and yet she could feel the pull of gravity. Around her, there were flashes of scenes like she was falling past dozens of television screens. Most went past too quickly for her to see, but there were dark streets, more old fashioned ships and even stages with people lined up on them. There seemed to be no end to them as she just kept falling.

  Then her body suddenly seemed to right itself and the fall turned into a slow, floating descent. For a moment Alex thought she was a bit like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Her feet settled onto something solid, and in a swirl of colors, the world reappeared around her. Blinking in surprise, Alex dumbly took in the space she suddenly found herself in.

  She was no longer on the ship or anywhere that she’d seen in the flashes as she fell. Instead, she was in some kind of cellar with old brick walls. Sunlight was streaming down through a small high window, illuminating the space. The room was almost completely empty with a bare concrete floor, a large heavy wooden table, an old wooden cabinet and a bookshelf that had old leather bound notebooks stacked on it. There was nothing outwardly odd or magical in the room, and Alex turned slowly in confusion. Through a small doorway, she could see a large clothes washer next to a dryer along with a shelf of cleaning supplies. On the other side of the room was a staircase leading up to a closed door.

  Alex was becoming confused as to where she was and why when the door at the top of the stairs opened. Turning her head sharply, she looked up as a woman with a full pregnant belly made her way down the creaking stairs. Alex moved closer to the stairs to observe the woman, but she looked very normal in a blue maternity dress. Once again, Alex was confused as to why she was here. Between the washing machine and the woman’s wardrobe, this seemed fairly recent.

  She backed up as the woman came down the stairs and prepared to duck into the shadows, but the woman showed no signs of seeing her. As she stepped into the light of a ceiling lamp Alex was able to get a better look at her. The woman was tall with long blonde hair pulled back in a severe bun and dark brown eyes. There was a harshness to her features that Alex couldn’t quite understand, and something about her tugged at Alex’s memory. Her belly was full and pregnant, but she was looking down at it with an impatient expression.

  The woman moved across the room to the large wooden cabinet, which creaked as she opened it. Glancing around, Alex wondered if she was supposed to go upstairs for this vision, but the clanking of a chain caught her attention. Her eyes widened as the woman turned and brought a long, heavy dark metal chain out of the cabinet and dumped it on the table. For a moment Alex could only stare at the chain, trying to convince herself that it couldn’t possibly be the chain she’d just seen.

  But then she caught a faint flicker of magic inside the metal as the woman touched it. Just a tiny brush of power, but it was enough to make Alex’s knees feel weak. It was the same chain; the central chain that had been linked to all of the smaller chains in the ship. Alex eyed the chain with trepidation, but none the less inched towards it. She barely noticed as the woman removed a simple wooden box from the cabinet and placed it on the table next to the chain.

  She opened the box and Alex’s eyes were drawn towards a small shimmering piece of metal. It was iron that was a little rusted along the edges and looked as if it had been roughly cut from something larger. The woman picked up the piece of iron carefully with a pleased smirk and brushed one finger across the surface carefully. A moment later she set it back in the box and Alex crept closer, still watching the woman for any sign that she was aware of her presence.

  Then the woman picked up the chain with a small grunt, letting one end of it fall to the ground with a clatter while she wrapped the other end around her enlarged waist. Reaching over to the box, she picked up the piece of iron with a smirk. Moving it slowly, she watched it as if expecting the dull thing to shine. The smirk stayed firmly in place and she brought it down to the chain, placing it snugly between the chain and h
er belly.

  “This better work,” a familiar voice said.

  The woman pulled up the rest of the chain from the floor and kept wrapping it around her waist. Alex frowned, trying to remember where she’d heard that voice before. On some strange impulse, Alex tried to grab the chain, but her fingers passed right through it as if she was a ghost. The woman closed her eyes and whispered a series of strange words that teased at Alex’s mind. She could feel her magic pulsing as something tried to activate, but it seemed muted and distant. Alex tried pulling on her magic and felt the magic flare, but she couldn’t fully manifest the power in her hands.

  Magic flashed off the chain and the smell of burning hair flooded Alex’s nose. She coughed and looked towards the woman in concern. Her hands were burning against the flashing metal, but she was gritting her teeth and her hands remained firmly in place. Alex took a step towards her, frantically trying to understand what she was doing and why. The chunk of iron against her belly turned white and a gleaming smile took over the woman’s face. Her blue eyes widened and Alex gasped softly, alarmed by the dark gleeful look in the woman’s eyes. Magic spun through the chain and Alex’s teeth began to ache as the pressure in the room sharply rose. Her hands were shaking as she stepped back, her eyes still locked on the chain. She was torn between an overwhelming desire to reach out and grab the chain or run away.