by D. N. Hoxa
Oh. “Just a story an old man told me.”
“What kind of a story?” he insisted.
“I wouldn’t even know how to tell you. He said a lot of things that made no sense. It’s safe to say he was out of his mind.” Poor Weston. I could only hope that he remained alive until I found the masters and made them bring him back home.
“What things? You didn’t tell me this,” said Millie next.
I shrugged. “He said that the masters were looking for power—the power of all creation, not metal, just him. And when I asked who him was, he went on to tell me how the humans were Odin’s favorite creation. That we were his demise and his way back.” They were both silent. “He also said that the masters were good people, and he refused to believe that they’d made a slave out of him.”
Sim turned to look at me. His gaze burned a hole in my temple until I met his eyes. I knew what he was thinking—I’d thought it, too.
“Did you not hear me? He said the masters were good people.” Clearly the man couldn’t be trusted.
“What did the Diviners of Kall say?” he asked. “They said that Odin was going to come back to them through you. Through humans.”
“What are you saying?” said Millie.
“He’s saying that the masters are looking for Odin.” Which was stupid. Odin was dead—and that was a good thing. Imagine if Alfheimr had more power. I’m pretty sure no human ever wanted to find out what that meant.
“Think about it. Old stories always involve humans when speaking about the return of the gods,” Sim said in wonder.
“But they’re just stories. The Diviners of Kall thought that Odin’s soul was literally going to come back into one of our bodies.”
“Everyone can interpret a story differently,” he said, a sneaky smile on his face. The fact that he made sense didn’t make me feel any better.
“So you’re saying that the masters are using us to try to find Odin? The dead Odin?” Millie asked.
“Maybe they’re trying to find his body.” I mean, what else could they be looking for by digging in the ground, unless it was a grave of some sort?
“Exactly,” Sim said. His eyes sparkled. “And they make humans search because the stories say that Odin will come back through them. Through you.”
Ugh. That sounded disgusting. “Well, if that’s what they’re looking for, they’re pretty fucking dumb. How many years has it been since Ragnarok? A body would completely decompose within a year after death.”
“Not the body of a god,” said Sim. His smile pissed me off.
“Are you enjoying this? Do you think what they’re doing is right?” Because if he was, we were going to have a problem.
“I don’t,” he said without missing a beat. “But I can’t help but wonder.”
“Well, stop wondering. It doesn’t matter if they’re looking for metal or dead bodies.” Millie pointed her finger at the sky. “Mount Arkanda.”
I looked where she was pointing, and sure enough, the tip of a huge mountain was perfectly visible through the trees. My heart skipped a long beat.
“We’ve got two more hours,” Sim said. “And then we meet the dragon god.”
Those two hours passed by in a heartbeat. As soon as we reached the end of the woods, we saw the vast wasteland that separated it from the start of the mountain.
The uneven ground was covered in yellow sand that lazily blew west with the slow wind. It was dotted with small bushes and bodies of dead trees here and there. Ahead, the mountain was bigger than any I’d seen in Alfheimr. Easily a thousand feet wide that I could see. The top was almost sharp, with ragged stone that looked black against the sky covered with white clouds. Dark green trees covered its body completely, and to the left side of it stood two more sharp tips, these different from the rest of the mountain. Man made. A castle attached to the side of the monstrous mountain. The castle of Kassian, the dragon god, the master with the power to take us back home.
For the first time since we started this journey, I realized I finally believed that we would make it until the end. As ridiculous as it sounded, as impossible, we were there, we could see it, and there was nothing stopping us from getting to the finish line.
Except, maybe whoever was approaching us slowly from behind.
I drew my sword out the same second Sim pulled his bow from around his shoulders. He’d heard them, too.
The masters’ guards had found us, but it didn’t matter now. With the end in sight, I wasn’t going to give up. Death could go fuck itself.
We stepped back into the sand slowly, searching the tree line that marked the end of the forest that had saved our lives, until the figures finally came into view.
I saw the faces of five men first, and I saw their clothes. Not black. Not a uniform. Each wore something different, clothes that looked neither expensive nor cheap. They were not the masters’ guards. I almost sighed in relief, until I heard the footsteps coming from the forest. More of them.A lot more.
I risked a glance at Sim. His face was whiter than I’d ever seen it. His dark eyes were wide, his lips parted, and his hands shook while he held the bow and arrow tightly. He knew these people, it was plain to see.
And he was terrified.
Which could only mean one thing: these weren’t masters’ guards. These were the people of Ulius, the most dangerous drug lord of Vanah, and Sim’s former employer.
The third man from the right was smiling as he looked at Sim. His hand was on the handle of the sword hanging from a black belt he’d wrapped twice around his hips. He was taller than Sim, with a darker complexion, his brown hair long and tied behind his back. His eyes were filled with malice.
“I told you I was going to kill you one day,” he said to Sim, his voice deep and crystal clear. “That day is today.” And he drew out his sword. It was longer than mine, and it could have been all in my head, but the edges of it looked sharper. His other friends drew their weapons, too. Two had swords, the other two had smaller knives in their hands, and they looked ready to attack.
“Save your breath, Gorin,” said Sim, and even though I could see the sweat on his forehead and the panic in his rigid shoulders, his voice sounded no different than it always did. “Turn around and leave—it’s the last time I warn you.”
Gorin laughed a quick, sharp sound. “Did you really think that Lord Ulius was just going to let you get away? After everything he’s done for you, you traitorous son of a whore!”
“No, I figured he’d send his dogs after me eventually,” said Sim, slowly raising his bow and arrow toward Gorin. We were at least five feet apart. He could hit him with that thin arrow right in the forehead before Gorin could reach us with his sword.
Gorin was not amused. His beady eyes slowly turned to Millie and then fell on my face. He wasn’t surprised to see any of us, which meant he knew we would be there.
“You’re free to go wherever you want, humans. But after we’re done with this son of a whore, I can’t promise you we won’t get curious.” He grinned, and it was the most disgusting thing I’d ever seen.
“Go,” Sim whispered. “You can reach the mountain. Run—don’t stop. They won’t dare to go close to the castle.”
Stunned, I looked behind me at the mountain. It was still right there—it hadn’t disappeared. If I took Millie by the hand, we could make it to the dragon god. But if we did that, Sim would die. It didn’t matter how good he was at killing, there were too many of Ulius’s people to fight off alone.
I looked at Millie next, and the determination battling the fear in her eyes said she felt the same way. No way in hell were we leaving now, not without Sim. He’d waited for us in that forest. It was more than anyone had ever done for me in this fucking world.
“See, we would go, but I’m curious now,” I said to Gorin. My limbs had already become numb, anticipating the fight that was about to begin. “I’m curious to see what your blood looks like from close up.”
Gorin showed me his teeth. Sam shot his
arrow, and all five of Ulius’s men that we could see charged at us. With a sword in one hand and the head of a pickaxe in the other, I ran, too. There was no escaping these fucking monsters, whatever they were, and I had enough belief that we could kill them coursing in my veins to keep me going for hours.
Sim’s arrow hadn’t reached Gorin because he was still running toward us with his sword raised. I lost sight of him when another man charged at me with his knives, aiming for my chest. I was no professional in sword fighting, but I did my best to fight him off. I went down on my knees as he swung his knives at me, and I cut both his thighs with my sword before jumping back to my feet. He growled in anger and stopped my sword by crossing his knives when I tried to stab him in the chest. I spun around and kicked him as hard as I could in the gut, and he fell back half a step. I charged him again and was going to finally succeed in driving the sword into him, when one of his friends stopped me. He came at me from the side, moving his own sword so fast, I had to jump back twice to avoid potentially fatal cuts. To my side, Sim fought against Gorin and another two of Ulius’s people with what I assumed was the sword Millie had taken from the guard I’d killed at the mining site. Millie stayed back and watched, probably horrified and ready to pass out any second—but safe.
As I moved away from the two men and tried my best to kill them quick, I caught glimpses of the others coming out of the tree line. Another seven. Just great. At least they weren’t joining in the fight yet.
I moved as fast as my body let me, which was faster than my opponents, and the only thing keeping me alive. They came at me with swords and knives, and I pushed them off with my own weapons. The guy with the knives tried to cut my throat, and I fell back but didn’t see his other fist coming. He hit me with the back of it on the side of my jaw, making me see bright stars for a second—a second that cost me a stab in the gut. The pain shot through me, but its true intensity didn’t properly registered in my brain with all the adrenaline running through my veins. I didn’t move back—I let him hold his knife inside me and brought my sword down on his forearm. A clean cut—just like the head of the masters’ guard. The knife, and the severed arm and hand still holding it, fell off me as the man screamed, terrified to see the blood dripping from his arm. I spun around and reached out as far as I could before the tip of my sword cut a straight, thin line on his throat. Blood spilled, but I didn’t get to see the end of it because the other man kept coming at me, his sword as long as mine. He knew how to use his weapon better than me, but I knew how to use my body in ways he didn’t. I twisted and turned easily, moving up and down too fast for him to keep up. The wound in my gut burned, but I figured if I hadn’t lost consciousness yet, it wasn’t going to be fatal. When I finally managed to kick the man’s feet from under him, he tried to jump back to his feet right away, so I jumped on him instead. I landed with my knees in his gut and took his breath away, then rammed the head of the pickaxe onto his nose with all my strength before driving my sword straight into his heart.
Dead. He was dead. Body number…what was it? Four?
It didn’t matter.
To my side, Sim had taken down one of his opponents, but Gorin and another were still standing. No time to waste. I joined the fight just as three others who were still waiting by the edge of the forest decided now was the time to act. Bastards. I was already sweating and bleeding, possibly in more places than I could tell, and Sim was the same.
The irony. We’d done what everybody said was impossible to do—even Sennan. We’d come all the way to Mount Arkanda, we could see the castle of the dragon god with our own eyes, yet we couldn’t reach it. The cold truth froze my blood for a second as I fought with as many of Ulius’s men that came for me: we might not make it. We might not go home after all.
I was never going to find the person responsible for my father’s death.
I was never going to find the masters and make them release all the humans they kept as slaves in the mining site.
Millie was never going to see her grandmother again.
Sim was never going to enjoy fresh air, clean water, and the best food in all of the universe.
My eyes filled with tears, blurring my vision. I kept on moving, almost aware of my opponents’ moves even before they made them. I don’t know how long we went on, but my muscles screamed and the pain in my arms and my gut was becoming harder and harder to ignore. Sim was still standing, too, but I couldn’t focus on him for long enough to tell if he was as close to letting go as I was.
When one of the men in front of me slammed his sword against mine, my arm shook. My muscles gave. The sword slipped from my fingers and onto the yellow sand with a whoosh.
I still had the pickaxe head, but by the time I raised my arm to use it, my opponent’s sword was already coming down on me.
Until it wasn’t.
The man’s brown eyes grew wide, his arms suspended over his head, his fingers holding the handle of his sword so tightly, his fingers were completely white. He looked at me but didn’t really see me.
A second passed, and he fell to his knees. I moved back a step just in time for his face to hit the ground instead of my feet. That’s when I saw the knife buried in the back of the man’s head—a view too similar to one I’d seen not too long ago. The knife was an identical copy of one I’d held in my own hands, after taking it out of the forehead of a Diviner in the Town of Kall.
Everything stopped. Sim, Gorin and the rest of Ulius’s men were no longer fighting. They were looking at the forest, just like I was, and they saw the same thing as me: Lion-eyes with six friends, dressed in black uniforms, different from the ones Millie and I were wearing, but just as black. The masters’ guards were already here.
Fifteen
I reached down for the sword that had fallen from my fingers and for the sword of the man I’d been fighting until the masters’ guards put a knife in the back of his head. A sword was better than a pickaxe head, and I was going to need all thebetter I could get.
Lion-eyes and his friends looked calm, no weapons in their hands as they watched us.
Then Gorin growled. “You dare kill one of mine?” he demanded, turning to the side so he wouldn’t turn his back to Sim. But Sim was barely standing, his clothes drenched in blood. I slowly stepped closer to him, holding my gut that was starting to burn really badly.
“How else was I going to get your attention?” said Lion-eyes, completely unbothered by the fury in Gorin’s face. They were the same height, but Gorin was bigger. The Diviners of Kall had been bigger than him, too, yet they were dead and Lion-eyes was still standing. He then raised a finger toward us. “They’re with us.”
Fuck me.
“Do you know who I am?” said Gorin with a short laugh. “Do you know who I represent?”
“I do.” Lion-eyes nodded. “Which is why I’d prefer if we parted ways right now—in peace.”
Gorin grinned. “You’ve already taken one of mine. There will be no peace here.”
Lion-eyes acted surprised. His brows rose. “We’ve killed for them before, and we won’t hesitate to do it again, no matter who you are or who you represent. They are ours.”
“We’ve killed for far less, many times,” Gorin said. “You’ve killed one of mine.” With the sword in his hand, he turned all the way toward Lion-eyes and his friends. The rest of the Ulius’s men did the same. “Blood is paid in blood.”
Lion-eyes smiled, making my heart skip a beat. He slowly raised his hand, and two knives seemed to materialize in them out of thin air.
“Let’s get to it, then.”
Sim grabbed my arm and pulled me. “Run!”
I didn’t need to be told twice.
Ulius’s men charged the masters’ guards. Their footsteps echoed in my head as we turned toward the mountain. Millie was already running, turning back to look at us every few seconds to make sure we were behind her.
Something whooshed past my right ear, and when it buried in the ground, I recognized the knife as
one of the guards’. I risked a look back to see them all still fighting, but some of the guards were also throwing their knives at us.
Running had never seemed harder. My whole body screamed in protest, but I kept on going. We all did. Knives rained behind us, but we were already too far away and could only hear them hitting the ground. The trees that marked the beginning of Mount Arkanda were so close I could taste them. The second we reached them, no amount of thrown knives was going to stop us.
The sand made my feet heavy. It felt like it tried to slow me down deliberately, but I pushed through. Just a few more seconds and there would be no more of it—only trees to shield us, trunks to hold onto, and minutes to safety. The castle on the side of the mountain awaited, and we were on our way.
When we finally stepped onto the steep mountain, I let out a cry of joy. My body was a mess, but it didn’t matter. We were as good as gone now.
“Don’t stop running,” Sim said, over and over again, breathlessly. Neither Millie nor I intended to stop, but the mountain was much steeper than it had looked from afar. It slowed us down even worse than the sand. No more knives falling on the ground behind us. I wanted to focus on sounds other than the loud beating of my heart to find out if the masters’ guards, or even Gorin and the rest of Ulius’s men were already following us, but it was impossible. I was too exhausted, and I had to put all my energy into taking one step after the other.
My loud breathing filled my ears until I no longer heard my own thoughts. I don’t know how long we ran, but the trees helped a great deal. I held onto them and pushed myself forward when my legs felt too weak to do it.
“Look!” Millie said, looking up at the sky, and when I did the same, I saw the two towers of the castle on the side of the mountain. We were on the right track. We were going to reach the castle in just a couple of minutes.