by Jocelyn Fox
“Yes.” Luca nodded. He, Merrick, Duke and Ross had held a quick conference in the kitchen when Vivian went to put her backpack in her room and change out of her traveling clothes after breakfast. Ross had vouched for Vivian’s trustworthiness, and they couldn’t see any way other than telling the truth, which, as Ross had pointed out, sounded more fantastic than any story they could come up with anyway.
“You got thrown through this portal during an epic battle, and now you’re being hunted by this bone wizard.” Vivian ran her fingers through the end of her long, curly ponytail, her habit when she was deep in thought.
“Bone sorcerer,” corrected Merrick. He’d quickly reclaimed the shirt Duke had lent him after Vivian’s appraising glances during the preparation of breakfast.
“This sounds like it would be a fantastic novel, doesn’t it?” Vivian asked Ross with a cheeky smile. “Just the right amount of smoldering heroes and dark magic.”
“Something like that,” Ross agreed. “Vivian is a writer, among other things,” she explained to Luca and Merrick.
Vivian watched Luca and Merrick thoughtfully for a long moment. “You know, my grandmother used to tell me stories. Her grandmother was from Ireland. Immigrated during the Potato Famine.” She smiled and shrugged. “Or so the family lore goes. In any case…I’ve heard about the Fae and your tendency to view mortals as playthings.” Her eyes rested on Merrick. “You look like you’d be Unseelie.”
Surprise flickered for a bare instant across Merrick’s face. Then he drew his shoulders back. “I was born Unseelie, but I’m Vyldgard now.”
“Vyldgard. Never heard of that one.” Vivian thought. “Sounds Norse. Viking or something.” She shifted her focus to Luca. “And what about you? You don’t look Sidhe.” The words rolled from her tongue with aplomb.
Merrick shot Ross a look that plainly said, How does she know all this? Ross shrugged. Duke watched the whole exchange with a bit of amusement – he hadn’t expected Vivian to accept the story so completely, much less start throwing around her knowledge of Fae folklore.
“I am ulfdrengr,” replied Luca. “Also Vyldgard, at this point.”
Vivian hummed in thought. “Ulfdrengr.” She wrinkled her nose and then grinned. “Got it. Thought it sounded familiar. Wolf warrior, or something like it.” The redhead widened her eyes innocently at the nonplussed expressions of Ross and Duke. “What? I took an ancient mythology course at Tulane. More than one, actually. And an Early Western Literature course. You’d be surprised at the depth we went into with Beowulf and some of the other Viking sagas.” She crossed her legs and then folded her hands atop her knee. “This is fascinating. So the stain on the door is blood?”
“From the gas station clerk,” confirmed Duke.
Vivian raised an eyebrow. “From what?”
“The gas station clerk,” he repeated.
“No, I got that part. I mean, did you stab him? Shoot him?”
“Jeez, V, Ross never told me you were this bloodthirsty,” the wiry man replied.
“I just want to know the details in case I’m asked about it.” She looked at Ross. “I mean, I’m your roommate. It makes sense you’d tell me the whole story, especially since you called me after it happened and I rushed home to be at your side.” Her impish grin reappeared.
Ross couldn’t help but smile. “As far as anyone knows, I shot him in the shoulder with the Glock.” Her smile faded. “He clawed his fingers bloody on my bedroom window.”
“That’s not creepy at all,” deadpanned Vivian. Then she took a deep breath and looked between the four of them. “All right. How can I help?”
Duke blinked in surprise, but Ross just smiled again. Leave it to Vivian to swallow their story whole and then demand a part of the action. It was part of why they had become such good friends after Ross had answered the ad for renting a room. “You could start by letting them stay here.”
Vivian waved a hand. “That’s already a done deal. Of course they can stay here.”
“Aren’t you both renting?” Duke looked at Ross. “I mean, I just don’t want your landlord to get his knickers in a knot.”
“I’m renting. Vivian owns the place,” she explained with a smile.
“And I won’t be getting my knickers in a knot.” Vivian grinned. “Grandparents willed it to me along with the coffee shop,” she elaborated. “Besides that, anything else I can do, you just let me know.” She nodded seriously.
“Will do, V. Thanks,” Ross said honestly. She wasn’t one for frequent displays of affection, but she felt the strange urge to hug her tall roommate at her unquestioning acceptance of Duke, Luca and Merrick.
“No problem.” Vivian squinted at Luca. “You don’t look too good, big guy. Maybe you should lie down.”
He smiled faintly despite the bruise-dark shadows beneath his eyes. “I’ve survived worse.” But he took a seat on the couch, ensuring that his axe didn’t dig into the cushions.
Ross crossed her arms and looked at the members of their makeshift council. “So. What will this bone sorcerer do next?”
Merrick shook his head. “I haven’t encountered a bone sorcerer before, but if he was in the service of Malravenar…I think he will either try to build his power in the mortal world, or seek a way back to the Fae world.”
“This bone sorcerer,” said Luca heavily. “I believe I know of him.”
Everyone went still, waiting for him to continue. He kneaded his scarred hand, eyes distant.
“He was once a Northman. Not wolf-chosen, as he desired. He passed the age of Choosing, and he could no longer stand at the ceremonies where the pups choose their life partners.” Luca grimly traced the puncture scars on his palm. “So he decided to learn the ways of the volta.”
“I thought the volta were all women,” said Merrick.
Luca shook his head. “Most of them. The power seems to favor the girl children. And it is possible to be both wolf-chosen and volta, as with our Vyldretning, though it isn’t common and most don’t pursue both paths.”
“And volta are…?” Ross raised her eyebrows and looked at Duke, who shrugged and directed her attention back to the ulfdrengr.
“The keepers of the power of our people,” said Luca, searching for the right words. He thought for a moment. “Sorceresses, perhaps you would call them.”
“Now we’re talking,” breathed Vivian softly, transfixed. Luca seemed not to hear her.
“But just as not all are wolf-chosen, not all are volta either. In the case of this boy…the volta did not want to teach him. He had power, but he also had cruelty in his bones.”
“Let me guess, they started finding small animals that had been tortured around the camp,” said Vivian, raising a pale eyebrow.
Luca chuckled mirthlessly and shook his head. “For a boy that had been brought up to be a warrior – wolf-chosen or not – animals presented no challenge. He had been hunting with his father since he could walk.”
The sarcastic smile faded from Vivian’s face as she began to sense the direction of the story.
“The volta of his village began to teach him despite her misgivings. He was quick to learn, but his blood did not have much power.” He shrugged. “Sometimes that is the way of things. It was a constant source of anger to him. He did not understand why after he had been insulted by not having been wolf-chosen, he could not rise to the highest ranks of the volta. The old volta’s formal apprentice, Kiri, was nearly ready to take the rites that would make her an elder in the volta and begin to train her own apprentices.” Luca paused. “Kiri never took her rites. She disappeared like snow into the mountain air. The old volta had her suspicions, but nothing could be proven.”
“What did he do to Kiri?” Vivian almost whispered the question.
“They never found her. But to take her power…which is what the boy did…he would have had to carve out her heart and drink her lifeblood.”
Vivian paled and swallowed hard.
“He found that rather than work hard to make the most of th
e gifts he’d been given, he would rather take the gifts of others for his own. Two children from neighboring villages disappeared, but again nothing could be proven, even before a council of the elders.” Luca took a breath. “If a Northman is accused of a crime, he has the right to face his accuser, and the right to sjofnod.” He thought for a moment as he translated the Northern custom. “Trial by a group of Northmen in good standing in the village. Or from neighboring villages, if the accused does not think his peers will be able to judge him fairly.”
“Other than this blood-drinking and heart-carving, it sounds like you’re pretty civilized,” commented Vivian in an attempt at lightening the mood.
“Or if the accused and the accuser both agree, they may determine their fates through aenvig.” Luca grinned wolfishly. “A…duel, I think is the word.” He looked to Duke for verification. He waved a hand, becoming serious again. “But the boy grew sloppy with arrogance. He killed the old volta, but before she died she marked him with the symbol for kinslayer on his forehead, a mark that will never fade. He fled into the wilderness, knowing that he would be named outlaw. Eventually, he was taken into the service of Malravenar.”
“Does this bone sorcerer have a name?” Ross asked.
“They named him Stone Soul. Gryttrond.”
“Gryttrond,” Ross repeated. “So what will Gryttrond do next?”
Luca smiled faintly. “He is probably sick with hunger, and we represent a great feast to him. A Sidhe, an ulfdrengr, and a mortal who has walked in the Fae world.”
“Do you think he would kill us, or use us as bait?” Merrick asked in a measured voice, his gray eyes clear and focused.
Ross frowned. “Why would he use you as bait? Or I guess, who would he be using you as bait for?” She stopped as Luca looked at Merrick and both men glanced at Duke; she let her mind digest the question, and then she tilted her head. “Tess. He would be setting a trap for Tess.”
Luca nodded wearily and Merrick cursed under his breath.
“Okay, now I’m lost. Who’s Tess?” Vivian asked bluntly.
“The Bearer of the Iron Sword,” said Merrick. “She is a descendant of Gwyneth, the last Bearer, and she recovered the Sword after it was lost for centuries.”
“It is a weapon of great power,” said Luca.
“So it sounds like this bone sorcerer shouldn’t be much of a problem for her,” Vivian said with a toss of her vibrant mane.
“It isn’t that simple,” Merrick said. “This will be the Bearer’s first journey into the mortal world. Everything feels different here.”
“Her power will be less?” Ross asked. “Will it not work at all?”
“I wish I knew,” replied the dark-haired Sidhe fervently. “But what I do know is that I cannot let this bone sorcerer set a trap for her. I will not cower in hiding while he prepares his snare.”
“How do we know that the bone sorcerer really has power in this world, if he’s from your world?” Vivian asked, brow wrinkled as she worked through the logic.
“Because blood magic is one of the few things that remains the same between the worlds,” Luca replied grimly. “Blood and death are the constants of our universe.”
“Cheery,” Vivian muttered, but she swooped down into the wingback chair again, propping her chin on her hand and her elbow on her knee. “So on the one hand, we don’t know if Tess’s sparklers will work in the mortal world, hence the concern. On the other hand…what can we do against the bone sorcerer?”
“We sit here and let him hunt us, or we turn the tables,” said Merrick. He locked eyes with Luca.
“We hunt him,” the ulfdrengr said in a low voice that was almost a growl. Mayhem appeared in the living room; there was a break in the conversation as the Belgian Malinois greeted everyone and then leapt up onto the couch, settling across Luca’s lap with a happy sigh.
“Okay, hunting him. That sounds…very bold. But again…how are your powers holding up?” Vivian raised an eyebrow.
“V is certainly throwing herself into this headlong,” Duke murmured to Ross.
Vivian pointed at Duke. “I heard that. And yes I am. Unlike you two, I’ve been stuck in the swamps most of my life and haven’t had a chance for adventure.” She smiled. “I can totally use this as source material for a book when it’s all over.”
“You would reveal our existence to all your fellow mortals?” Merrick’s eyes sparked with a Fae light and he took a step toward Vivian.
She held up a hand. “First of all, I’d let you guys read it beforehand. Second of all, not ‘all my fellow mortals’ would read it. Let’s be real, I’m not Rowling. And third of all…it would be a fantasy book. Everyone would think it’s not real.” She grinned, pleased with herself. “Isn’t that brilliant? I totally get to have a real adventure and write about it but everyone will think it’s fiction!” She put her arms up in a ‘goal’ gesture.
“I…did not fully understand that,” Merrick said in defeat, looking at Ross in supplication.
“I’ll explain later,” Ross said, silently chuckling at her roommate’s enthusiasm. “But basically she’s saying that she won’t reveal your existence, so don’t worry too much about it.”
Merrick nodded, looking suspiciously at Ross. “Good. Because it would be an unpleasant task to convince her that she cannot do this.”
Vivian seemed not to hear him, lost in thought as she stared at the chalk runes on the doorway. She tapped a finger against her lips. “So. Geek brain thinking now. Can you build your own trap for the bone sorcerer with runes like those?”
Merrick blinked. “I’m not a rune-master…”
“Modesty doesn’t do anyone any favors,” Vivian said, cutting him off. “Seriously, Ross, back me up on this.”
“On the rune plan or the modesty comment?” Ross smiled.
“Both, obviously, because I’m right.”
Merrick frowned slightly. “I’ll take your rudeness as a particularly mortal trait. The Lady Bearer is considerably more courteous than you.”
“Yes, yes, and she was the solution to all of your problems. I’m just a gangly red-headed girl who happens to own the house which is your only sanctuary right now.” Vivian smiled sweetly at the Vyldgard navigator.
Ross smiled. “She’s got you there, Merrick. But just remember…she’s mostly all bark. Isn’t she, May?”
The black dog raised her head from Luca’s lap and grinned at Ross, her pink tongue lolling out of her mouth. Luca smiled and smoothed back the dog’s ears with his huge hands, eliciting a comical expression of canine bliss.
Vivian smiled. “Well, if May says so…” She chuckled and shrugged. Merrick slowly relaxed, and then he, too, stared thoughtfully at the runes on the door.
“Luca,” he said, “If we are to attempt this, I might need your help to create this runetrap…”
The group splintered as Luca and Merrick began to discuss the particulars of the trap for the bone sorcerer. Duke went to go check the perimeter of the property; Ross didn’t protest, but she watched him go silently. Vivian touched her friend’s shoulder. “Hey. Don’t look so gloomy. He’s back, right?”
Ross smiled. “Yeah. He’s back. All of this, though…it’s a bit overwhelming.”
Vivian rolled her eyes. “You can say that again. Want a beer?”
“V, it’s not even noon yet.”
Vivian shrugged as she opened the refrigerator and surveyed the selection. “So? We’re setting a trap for a bone sorcerer and stuff. Requires libations.”
“Libations.” Ross shook her head and chuckled, accepting the craft beer that Vivian opened for her. “You already sound nerdy. Hanging around these guys isn’t going to help your case.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Vivian replied with a grin. She popped the cap off her own beer and held it up. “Here’s to trapping the bone sorcerer.”
“To trapping the bone sorcerer,” Ross agreed gravely, clinking her bottle against Vivian’s and taking a long swig of beer.
Chapter 19
Opening a Gate was not as simple as Tess had thought it would be. It seemed like hours since the Queens had gathered around the silver bowl in the center of the pavilion and begun their incantation. She’d tried to take advantage of the time by conferencing quietly with the company who would be following her through the portal into the mortal world: Niall, his pale hair tied into a neat ponytail at the nape of his neck, wearing a breastplate emblazoned with the Seelie sigil; Ramel, who hadn’t so much as smiled at Tess when he greeted her; the three Glasidhe, Forin, Farin and Haze; Calliea, with her golden whip coiled at her hip; and Molly, her cat-like eyes observing the proceedings attentively, her hands brushing the hilts of the slim twin daggers at her belt every so often. Jess observed the other fighters with his flinty eyes, and Kianryk stood uneasily at Tess’s side.
They obediently arrayed themselves in a crescent around her, but Tess noticed that Niall stood as far away from Ramel as he could, and Calliea kept an eye on both of them. Just as Ramel hadn’t smiled, Molly didn’t say a word, but her pale face was alight with keen interest.
“We’ll be wearing concealment runes,” said Tess in a low voice, just loud enough to be heard over the incantation of the Queens. The voices of Vell, Titania and Mab twined together in a strange harmony, reminding Tess of snakes wrapping about each other with sinuous elegance. They were chanting, not quite singing, but the congruence of their voices sounded almost like a hymn. The air in the pavilion rippled with power, compressing and releasing in time with the rhythm of their chant.
Niall nodded and pulled up his sleeve, baring his forearm. “I’ve already inked mine, Lady Bearer, and I’d be happy to assist any others who require it.”
“We have no need of concealment runes,” said Forin calmly, speaking for the Glasidhe as a whole. “We have a long history of remaining unseen when we wish it.”
Tess nodded. She wasn’t about to start questioning the Glasidhe’s judgment moments before diving through a portal into the mortal world. She turned her attention to Calliea, Jess, Ramel and Molly.
“I will draw mine now, with you, if you wish it, Lady Bearer,” Calliea said. Tess nodded again, grateful for Calliea’s subtle offer of assistance. She’d sketched the concealment rune dozens of times and thought she’d memorized it, but with the adrenaline churning in her stomach, it was a relief to rely on someone with steadier, more experienced hands than she.