Dead Embers

by T. G. Ayer

  "Shut up and stop being such a wuss," I said, laughing at the big bad wolf-girl who was scared to fly.

  I looped my arms around Mika and shoved off the ground. Needless to say, carrying an Ulfr, all armor-clad and weaponed up, was easier to plan than to execute. We managed to lift off, and I flapped away as hard as I could. Then I toppled forward, tumbled over in midair. Mika screeched as we plummeted down, down, down.

  The sound cut off as I fell flat on my face in the soft snow.

  Right on top of Mika.

  I scrambled to my feet, dusted myself off and massaged my throbbing elbow. No broken limbs—good. No broken wings—better. I really wanted to giggle, but seeing as Mika lay spread-eagled face down in the snow I knew that was probably not a good idea. Not good for my health, anyway.

  "Come on, lazybones. Let's make the second time the charm." I grinned, aware she'd find none of my words in the least amusing.

  Mika shoved herself off the ground and groaned a groan that sounded way too much like a growl.

  Uh oh.

  I waited a few seconds, and when she didn't transform and get all furry and cranky, I stepped in and once again wound my arms around her and pushed off the snowy ground.

  It wasn't easy at all. The extra weight meant using a different technique to control the muscles on my back and my wings. But it didn't take long to master the art of flying with a passenger. Nor for my partner to want to rip my head off in frustration. The subtle shudder that pulsed through her body as we rose higher brought a wary smile to my lips.

  So the big, bad Ulfr was a bit of a scaredy cat.

  Tossing her hair out of her face with an angry jerk of her head, Mika yelled back at me against the gusting wind, "If we fall into the snow one more time I swear I will—"

  "What? Will you tell your daddy I wasn't playing nice?" I hollered back.

  Mika froze for an instant, then she burst out laughing, the sound snatched away by a stiff, powdery gust of wind.

  "Yeah, I thought that was funny too," I said, heading higher into the sky.

  I had to hand it to Mika. In the end, she didn't kill me. We rose high enough to locate the cemetery, about a mile away. I flew straight there, taking one last glance behind me to memorize my landing spot- the rundown shed with three broken windows, due north of the muddied slush our flight training escapades had made with the snow.

  I landed with Mika in the shadows of a little clump of trees. Mika stretched her legs and smiled. "Thank you, Valkyrie. I am not sure what I want to kiss more: you or the ground."

  I raised an eyebrow at her, unsure whether laughter was a safe reaction. "Let's hope we never have to do that again."

  I didn't have the heart, or the courage, to remind her that a return trip was actually required.

  As we set out in search of the grave of the newest Warrior, little fingers of a different kind of chill ran up and down my neck. I looked around, eyes stabbing the shadows. The sense of being followed or watched was way too strong to shrug off.

  "Bryn," Mika called. I flinched as her voice rang out across the field of headstones.

  "Will you keep it down? You're loud enough to wake the dead."

  "You are the one who wakes the dead, not me," she said, and I could have sworn a smile edged those words.

  "I choose the dead, I don't wake them. Get your facts straight, Ulfr," I retorted.

  As we walked, I tried to shrug off the strange feeling of being watched. We headed through the trees, scanning the snow-covered graveyard. Mika pulled a sheet of paper from her pocket and smoothed it out.

  "The name is Sebastian Blake," she said. We agreed to split up to speed up the search.

  Not five minutes later, I stood before a neat little headstone proclaiming the man's name. "Mika," I called, flinching again at how loud my voice sounded in the icy air. Two rows over, she whirled around and loped back to join me.

  I crossed my fingers as we drew closer, praying that this time we would find a live Warrior.

  Mika squinted and raked her eyes across the graveyard. "Right, work your magic."

  "What magic?" I glared at her, no patience for her wisecracks.

  "You really don't know how to do it?" Mika asked, her hands on her hips demanding an answer.

  "Do what? Can you stop wasting time and get to the point," I snapped.

  "Your magic, Valkyrie. You know, wave your hand, move the sand. That magic." Mika swept her hand in a wide arc, almost a magician's flourish. What the hell was she on about?

  My expression must have been all the answer she needed. She scowled. "Well then, I do believe we need to actually dig."

  She turned and walked off between the rows of graves, her back held stiff. I blinked in disbelief. She was pissed off? Really? And what about me? Was this just another thing I wasn't taught? Or was this something a real Valkyrie would be able to do naturally?

  Mika returned with two spades, almost throwing one at me with a dark scowl. We wasted no time unearthing the grave. A while later we had a hole in the ground, occupied by a single coffin. I felt a little stab of fear as I registered one important fact. No light shone from the coffin. No golden glow screamed, "Here is a Warrior waiting to be retrieved."

  No slivers of light seeped through the edges of the lid the way they had the day of Joshua's burial. I looked across the open mouth of the grave to find Mika staring at the coffin, the same expression of worry on her face.

  "Be careful, Mika. No touching." The warning came automatically, even though I knew Mika knew as much as I did about the dangers of the gloop. But she didn't react.

  We made quick work of removing the lid, and I stood it up against the wall of soil beside me. Inside, the young man's face bore a thin film of the same black stuff we'd seen on so many other Warriors in the last few days. Beneath the blackish goo, the man's skin was pale, a dead grey, devoid of even the faintest glimmer of gold.

  Another Warrior was dead.

  Defeated, I groaned and scraped my hands through my hair. The heat of tears singed my eyes, but I tamped them down. Not the time. I dreaded returning to Asgard with the news that we'd just lost another valuable addition to Valhalla.

  Mika's urgent whisper pulled me out of my sad regret. "Don't look around and don't do anything suspicious. I think we are being watched."

  I kept my eyes trained on the ground as I continued to fill the grave back in. "Where?"

  "Behind you, somewhere in amongst the trees." Mika shoveled too, and kept going with me until we were done. The last thing we needed was to leave any traces of our failed attempt at grave robbery.

  I threw my spade aside and kept my eyes on Mika's face; her eyes transformed. From nice and normal and human they shifted slowly; wider, thinner, the pupils elongating until I stared into a pair of beautiful yellow wolf's eyes.

  Her gaze traveled across the tree line until she completed her survey and reverted to her normal state of human facial characteristics.

  "I am certain there is someone or something out there. I cannot be entirely sure they are human, though. Their scent is . . . strange."

  "Do you want to go check it out?"

  "Perhaps." She gestured toward the grave and the proof of our pointless desecration. "Or perhaps we wait. They have not attacked yet. If they mean to talk, they will come forward."

  "I'm not about to let some scumbag stalker get away with following me around and giving me the creeps," I replied, annoyed that she was prepared to allow the spy in the trees to get away if he didn't have the guts to attack us.

  "Perhaps we should approach him tog—"

  I didn't give her a chance to finish.

  I turned, drew my sword and ran headlong into the trees.

  Chapter 20

  Shadows swallowed me as I crashed into grasping branches, heading straight at the area where I assumed the creep was. I swung my sword, ready to slice open my stalker, when something large and hard knocked my feet out from under me. I fell on my back, awash with the strangest feeling of déj�
� vu.

  When I opened my eyes, I was face to snout with an enormous golden dragon. A dragon who stared at me with familiar golden eyes.

  Out of the darkness, Mika ran yelling at the top of her voice. Crazy Ulfr. What did she think? That she was strong enough to fight a dragon bigger than your average house?

  She came skidding to a halt, her mouth hanging wide open as she stared from me to the dragon and then back to me.

  "Bryn, I would stay very still if I were you," she said softly.

  "Why is that?" I huffed, wriggling as the snow slowly eked out all the warmth from my butt. "So the nice dragon won't eat me?"

  "Something like that. Don't be stupid or heroic. Be still."

  The dragon lowered his nose and swiped the side of my face with it. I flinched, but thankfully dragons and dogs weren't alike in the whole wet nose department.

  "No sudden moves, Bryn," came Mika's voice.

  "Oh, get off!" I shoved the dragon's snout out of the way and struggled to get back to my feet. I seemed to have gotten myself well entangled with wings and sword and a few odd tree branches.

  The dragon obliged and gripped the back of my coat, lifting me off the ground and giving me a good shake. Clouds of snow sprayed from my head and shoulders, where steady snowfall had gathered in soft little piles. Even my eyelashes were now flake-free.

  "Bryn, please do not make any sudden moves. That thing is going to eat you," begged Mika. Fear made her almond eyes rounder than I thought was possible.

  "For god's sake, let me down," I shouted, kicking my feet and twisting about to shake my fist at the dragon. All he did was blink those damn eyes at me, as if he were amused. What was he playing at? I wanted to laugh at Mika's unwarranted fear, but I was also annoyed at being manhandled.

  The dragon dropped me onto my feet, and I barely had time to dust myself off before Mika tugged me backward. The bones in her face rippled, her fear threatening to bring out her inner wolf.

  "Run. We have to get out of here."

  "Mika!" I yelled at her, trying to get her to let go of me. It took a rough tug to free myself. I rounded on her. "What is your problem?"

  "The dragon! He's—" She stopped in mid-speech, and her shocked mouth formed a little 'o' as she gaped over my shoulder. I struggled to hold back my laughter. Even with my back to the dragon, I knew what held her in her trance. I hoped she wasn't about to faint. Not that I could blame her though. The transformation could do that to a girl.

  I turned and grinned as my old friend Steinn, King of the Dragons and ruler of the Muspell realm, walked toward me in human guise and enveloped me in a huge bear hug—or, rather, a huge dragon hug.

  As a dragon, Steinn the Nidhogg was an impressive sight. As a human, he was even more impressive. Way more. So different from Thor's blond good looks and yet just as hot.

  Thankfully my blush was hidden against his chest as he crushed me to him. Mika choked on a gasp as she watched me return the hug, all smiles.

  "Mika, this is Steinn, the Nidhogg. Steinn, Mika." I introduced them, much to Mika's embarrassment. Her eyes widened in shock, cheeks reddening as she returned her sword to its scabbard at her waist. Stein inclined his dark head.

  She cleared her throat, glared at me and said, "Greetings, Nidhogg."

  "Greetings, Ulfr," he answered with a twist to his lips that was a mere shadow of his usual charming grin.

  I asked, "So why the whole stalking thing? If you wanted to talk, you should have just told me."

  He shook his head. "I wanted to be very certain that you were alone and that your companion is trustworthy." He threw a glance at Mika. "I am still not sure she is trustworthy. Although I have to admit she will defend you well enough in a fight."

  Mika growled, the feral sound lifting the hairs on the back of my neck. Steinn appeared unfazed, flicking snow off his golden coat with a look akin to disgust at the white fluffy stuff. The wind surged, and snow swirled around us. The weather wasn't conducive to a good, long chat. And especially not to a dragon whose home world ran with rivers of molten lava and walls just as hot.

  "Do you want to speak in private, then?" I asked, ignoring Mika's second lupine rumble. Concerned for my safety? Or was she just feeling left out? Either way, too bad. Steinn had saved my life, and I owed him. Especially when something seemed to be troubling him.

  He narrowed his eyes at Mika, then shook his head. "Do you trust this Ulfr?"

  "Of course I do. She is not only trustworthy, she—"

  Steinn cut me off with a sweep of his hand, and I grew worried. He wasn't usually given to bouts of such rudeness. "I apologize, Brynhildr. I do not have much time, and this . . . snow disagrees with me." He spoke the word snow as if it were no better than dog-poop. "Something terrible has happened, and it has to do with the Mead you gave me."

  "The Mead?" I knew I sounded dumb, but I didn't understand how the Mead I'd given him could be a problem. We'd made a fair exchange; the remainder of the Mead that I had for the last pieces of Freya's necklace. At the time, I'd felt it was a trade way more beneficial to me than to the ruler of the dragon realm, but hey, it had been his choice.

  Steinn shivered. "Yes, Brynhildr. The Mead. I fear it was poisoned."

  "Poisoned?" Part of me didn't want to believe it, but the funny thing was, as I spoke the word so many things fell smoothly into place.

  It all came back so clearly. Aidan's health failing after Freya had cursed him. The way the Mead only seemed to help him for such a short time before he needed another dose. Even the fact that the Mead hadn't seemed to help me at all when I'd drunk it after I'd been shot.

  Steinn's news made far more sense than it should have, and from the expression on his face he could see I'd put all the pieces together.

  I took a step toward him and laid my hand on his arm. "What happened? Who did you give the Mead to?"

  "My daughter had been ill for a while. Well, not exactly ill, but there have been . . . complications. I expected the Mead to help her . . . to make her better. But it made things much worse."

  "Oh my god! What happened to her?" I was horrified, and terrified that he was about to tell me his daughter had died because of me.

  His eyes seemed to look right through me, as if he gazed at the face of his child. His next words were rough, hoarse with a father's fear. "She fell into a strange sleep. We had no explanation for it until we realized the Mead was the only thing she had ingested that day." Worry ran furrows through Steinn's brow, and his eyes darkened with fear and grief. "We need to find a cure for her. And we need to find who poisoned your Mead."

  In spite of the fact that my two and two had made four, I realized I'd missed one other vital piece of information. Who would've done such a thing as to poison Aidan's Mead?

  Chapter 21

  "Brynhildr, you must come to Muspell with me. Now. We cannot delay," Steinn insisted, his golden eyes shadowed with worry and fear. Two emotions that filtered through me as well.

  Worse yet, I had guilt to contend with, too. If I hadn't given him the Mead, his daughter would still be well. There was a possibility, too, that Aidan wouldn't have been weakened so much by the Mead, and then he would've been better able to resist Loki's poison.

  I didn't answer, knowing he was probably right anyway. I had to go and see for myself what the Mead had done.

  "What? Bryn, you cannot possibly be considering going with him!" Mika grabbed my arm, her fingers digging into my flesh.

  "I have to go, Mika. You must understand that."

  "But what about our responsibilities? We had a Retrieval to do, one that went wrong. Do you not think we should be reporting that to Fenrir immediately?"

  I shook my head. "I accept that I have a responsibility to my duties, Mika. And I would never abandon my job. But I'm sure they can wait a little while for us to come back."

  She glowered at me, duty and a touch of fear hardening her eyes. At that moment I sorely missed the convenience of a cell phone. How easy it would've been to text Fen and tell
him where we were going, and why we'd be late. Something I ought to broach with him, now that he seems to be embracing Midgard technology. Seeing the North African team's setup had impressed me. Very modern.

  Only hitch—Asgard had no reception. It was one thing to text Fen in our world, totally something else to ring him up in Asgard. "Bryn, this is a really bad idea." Mika's angular features darkened while her jaw tightened. The moon had ducked behind a bank of clouds, and deep shadows clung to the ridges of her brow and eyes, giving her a very lupine look. Too lupine. Was she about to go all fur and snout on me?

  "I'm sorry, Mika. You don't have to come with me." I gave her a way out, so she wouldn't feel obligated. "You can go straight to Asgard and tell Fen I'm fine. Tell him about Steinn and the Mead, and that I'll be back soon with more information."

  But she shook her head, anger flaring in her eyes. I'd just offended my Ulfr partner by saying she could go back home.

  Way too sensitive, Mika.

  She straightened her spine; her anger, almost palpable, rolled off her. "I am not leaving you alone. We are a team, Bryn, and partners do not abandon each other to go into dangerous realms with dangerous creatures that just might attack you when your back is turned."

  Mika flicked Steinn a wary glance, and I laughed.

  "Steinn is my friend. He wouldn't hurt me." I grinned, but one look at Steinn brought the horror of his current problem right back to me. We both had people we loved who were in inexplicable coma-like sleeps. Ironic, in a way.

  I blinked, registering the snowflakes that dotted my eyelashes. The white stuff dappled my shoulders too. That meant my wings would need dusting out. I glared at the sky in frustration. Did it have to decide to pelt us at this very moment?

  I flared my wings and shook the snow from them, stretching the cold muscles to ease some warmth into them.

  "Come, Mika." I beckoned a hand, ready to loop my arms around her again. "I'll take you back to the Bifrost. Steinn, we can meet you there?"

  "You silly child," he said, laughing, his beautiful golden eyes crinkled at the corners.