Tabitha was taller, with hair so blonde it looked white. Unlike the others, she was more lithe than muscled.
“A scouting party,” Mikael explained with a roguish grin.
Faas quirked his lip in reply, then looked at the rest of us one by one. His small smile disappeared when his eyes met mine, deflating my excitement about finally spending some time around another executioner.
Estus had once explained to me that when an executioner was born into a clan where the position was already filled, the child was dumped into the human world to be raised not knowing what they were. He'd said it was a needed precaution, as executioners tended to compete and often ended up killing each other. The remembered words sent a chill through my bones as Faas stared at me.
Tabitha cleared her throat, cutting the tension. “Will we move on with things as planned?”
I turned to Mikael in time to see him nod. “Indeed. Those of you not coming will join the others in hiding. You will come out for no reason. I will not have you harmed while I'm away.”
Tabitha nodded, as did Faas, though he was still staring at me. I avoided eye contact, too worried about the implications of what Mikael had said to focus on Faas. He'd made it sound like we were going to be away for a while. As far as I knew we were just going to a meeting, so why would Faas and Tabitha need to join the others in hiding?
Alaric cast a worried glance at his sister, letting me know that he shared my concerns. Sophie didn't return the look, and instead stared forward like she was pretending that she was somewhere else, maybe somewhere with Maya.
Tabitha nodded in James' direction. “You'll come with us now.”
“Now?” I asked, wondering why we would part ways before reaching the meeting place.
“The place we seek is not far,” Mikael explained.
Alaric snorted, not at all surprised. “You planned on leaving through that tunnel all along, didn't you?”
Mikael accepted a satchel that Tabitha had been carrying then turned to Alaric. “I did, though I had not planned on leaving in such a dramatic fashion.”
“And you could not have told us beforehand?” Alaric pressed.
Mikael shrugged.
“You offered Madeline a partnership,” Alaric went on. “This does not seem like a partnership.”
Mikael turned his amber eyes to me. “If Madeline would like to know my plans, she need only ask.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Okay, what are your plans?”
Mikael's lips curved into a mischievous smile. “I will tell you everything after the meeting.”
Aila smiled smugly at me.
I sighed in irritation. “Let's get this over with.”
“I don't want to go with them,” James interrupted, referring to Faas and Tabitha.
“You have no choice in the matter,” Mikael replied.
“Well if we're partners,” I interrupted, “then I have a choice.”
Mikael raised an eyebrow at me. “You really want him along?”
I didn't, but I did want to assert myself in the situation before it was too late. “No,” I replied, not sure if a small lie would constitute a betrayal that would break my oath, “but he's coming to the meeting anyhow. If Estus or Aislin get a hold of him they would find out much more information than we want them to know. I feel better with him in my sights.”
James seemed unsure of how to react to what I'd said. I almost felt bad since I was the only one that made any effort to be nice to him, but I once again reminded myself that he was still James, and I was pretty sure the real James was evil.
“He can come to the meeting,” Mikael agreed like it was no big deal.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What's the catch?”
He lifted a hand to his chest like he was wounded. “Why Madeline, you know I cannot betray you.”
I let out an irritated breath. “Fine, let's go.”
Faas gave me a final rude glare, then turned to Mikael. “We shall await your return, and guard your people while you are away.”
Mikael nodded curtly, dismissing Faas, who walked away, followed by Tabitha.
He gestured to a narrow path through the looming, snow-speckled trees. “Ladies first.”
It seemed silly for me to lead the way since I had no idea where we were going, but I was tired of standing in the cold so I obliged. The leather wrapped boots had thin enough soles that I was grateful for the loamy, well-cushioned soil beneath my feet.
The further I walked down the well-worn path, the more at ease I felt. Still, we were rather conspicuous walking through the woods together when most of us were covered in blood. If any humans saw us, they would likely call the police, but the woods were fortunately silent and empty. If I never had another close call with the cops, it would be too soon.
As the path widened, Alaric and James caught up to walk on either side of me, while the other three walked behind. I could hear a hushed conversation between Aila and Sophie, but they were far enough back that I couldn't make out the words. I could tell they weren't angry though, which was a surprise coming from either of them.
James cleared his throat as we walked to get my attention. “Thanks for what you did back there.”
I shrugged, not wanting to say that I hadn't really done it for him. “Sure.”
“You did well, Maddy,” Alaric commented quietly. “If you give him an inch, he will leave you with nothing.”
“Are you speaking from your own experiences?” I asked, remembering the story about his mother.
He kept his gaze on the woods ahead of us as he answered, “I'm speaking what I know. We cannot rely on his oath to you alone. He will find a way around it.”
“Well then perhaps we shouldn't be blindly walking into this meeting with him,” I whispered.
Alaric shrugged. “I believe this meeting is only a means to take us somewhere far away, judging by the way his people spoke. If we're to carry out your plan, we must find a way to not go through with his. We will accomplish nothing if you are not near the bloodshed, correct?”
“Up close and personal,” I confirmed, feeling a little sick at the idea.
“Remind me again what you will do once we get you there?” he asked, knowing full well that I had no real explanation for him.
“I'm still not sure,” I replied hesitantly, not really wanting to discuss things around James, memory or no. “The Norn showed me pictures and emotions. I'm basing my plan more off a feeling than anything else.”
Alaric pulled me close to him as we walked. “You know, Madeline, that is not at all comforting.”
I smiled sadly. “It wasn't meant to be.”
He gave me a squeeze and kissed my temple. “My offer to run away together still stands,” he said playfully, attempting to lighten the mood.
I smirked. “I'm pretty sure Mikael would view that as a betrayal, and I'd really like to avoid being claimed by the earth.”
He laughed. “Pesky blood oaths, ruining all our fun.”
I laughed in return, but it was cut short as the others increased their pace to catch up with us.
“We are nearing the meeting place,” Mikael announced, moving past James to take the lead.
“I was expecting somewhere farther,” I commented, feeling apprehensive and at the same time, a little excited.
Mikael looked over his shoulder and winked at me. “The location of my tunnel exit was not mere happenstance,” he explained.
“Of course it wasn't,” I sighed. “Will you at least tell us who we're meeting with now?”
“Nope,” he replied curtly as he stopped into a small clearing in the forest.
The clearing didn't seem as touched by winter as the rest of the surrounding earth, and even boasted a few small purple flowers.
Mikael kneeled to inspect the ground, then stood, took a few steps, and kneeled again. “Madeline,” he said, motioning for me to join him.
I only hesitated for a moment before moving to stand beside his crouched form.
/>
“Lie here,” he instructed, moving his hand across the grass to map out a specific area.
“Why?” I asked, sensing a trick.
He looked up and rolled his eyes at me. “We're going to another Salr. This is the entrance.”
I took a step back in surprise, making him sigh. “What now?” he asked in irritation.
I shook my head. “Nothing, just surprised you actually answered one of my questions.”
He sighed again, then stood. “Lie down, please.”
I did as he asked. The grass was cushy and comfortable, but there was no magic or extra energy that I could sense. If this was another Salr, it was very well hidden.
Mikael instructed the others one by one to lie in designated areas, then finally lowered himself to the ground. He was closer to me than I would have liked, but I didn't complain as the whole ordeal had already taken up a good twenty minutes, and I was ready to get it over with.
For a few minutes nothing happened, then the ground began to tremble. It took every ounce of my self restraint to not move as the soil shifted below us until we began sinking. Soon we were encased in the earth. I had a few horrifying seconds of thinking I might be buried alive, then we came out of a dirt wall, standing upright. I looked back at the wall, astonished to see that it showed no sign of our entrance, then looked down at my miraculously clean clothing.
“I will never get used to Salr entrances,” I commented as I looked around at my companions. The only one who seemed as stunned as me was James.
“How did you enter the Salr in your homeland?” Mikael questioned as he walked forward.
“Vines,” I replied, moving to stand beside Alaric and Sophie.
The room we were in was cellar-like, and reminded me far too much of the entrance to where the charm had been held. The only difference was how we got inside, a trap door versus a trip through the earth.
Aila waited for us to fall in line behind Mikael before she brought up the rear. We left the cellar room through a short wooden doorway, then continued along a narrow passageway. Our surroundings slowly began to look more like the other Salr with stone ceilings, walls, and floors, only these stones were red and brown, as opposed to gray.
“Are we visiting another clan?” I asked curiously, hoping that Mikael would continue to be forthcoming with answers.
Mikael chuckled. “Of a sort. You'll see soon enough.”
This Salr seemed smaller and less complex than the others. The halls of both Estus' and Mikael's Salr were like mazes, with countless twists and turns that were easy to get lost in. This one, though it had a few branches, had one long, straight hallway down the middle. I peeked around Mikael's broad shoulders to see a door at the very end of the hall. My heart jumped a bit when the door swung inward, but nobody emerged.
I gulped. “I take it that's where we're going.”
“How very astute of you,” Aila commented from the end of the line.
“You know what, Aila?” I said, finally getting irritated with her bad attitude. “Shove it.”
“Shove what?” she asked, truly perplexed and not at all offended.
“Nothing,” I grumbled as we reached the ominous open door.
Any other insults I might have tossed out froze on my tongue as I followed Mikael through the door and into a large room.
“Well I'll be damned,” Alaric quietly mused as he came to stand beside me.
“I think we already are,” Sophie replied, sounding awestricken.
I was fairly awestricken myself. In front of us stood seven Norns, all towering over even Mikael and Aila. They all looked similar to the Norn who'd guarded the charm, and all appeared female, but with slight variations. Some of their horns were deer-like, two had twisted goat horns, and ones horns resembled the long-horned cattle I'd seen in pictures.
The Norns stood with no emotions playing across their angular, green-tinted faces. They all wore shapeless brown robes that made me wonder about the impossibly thin, tall bodies underneath. Hooved feet could be seen at the edge of some of the robes, some looking like goat hooves and some looking more like the hooves of a horse. They all clasped what passed for hands in front of them. A couple resembled the talons of a hawk, and the rest looked like paws of lions or tigers. The only thing that all of their hands had in common were razor-sharp, long claws.
“You could have given us some sort of warning,” I said to Mikael in a strained voice.
Mikael shrugged. “I feared that you would not want to come.”
While I understood why he might assume that, I still would have come had I known what was in store. I had so many questions that I would have liked to ask the Norn before she died, and now I was presented with seven more. If they truly were the weavers of fate, perhaps they could help.
Mikael began speaking loudly in Old Norsk, addressing each of the Norns in turn. In reply they each bowed their antlered heads.
“Old friends?” I questioned under my breath.
“Something like that,” Mikael replied.
“Why is that one staring at you?” James asked over my shoulder.
I looked across the row of Norns to find that one was in fact staring at me. The cow-horned Norn tilted her head in thought, blinking large, almond shaped eyes at me. While Mikael walked forward to continue speaking to one of the other Norns in line, the one who'd been watching me held out a feline paw large enough to cover my entire face, with claws as long as my fingers.
I glanced at Alaric, then asked through clenched teeth. “What do I do?”
Alaric looked worried. “I wouldn't keep her waiting.”
I looked back to the Norn. I'd just been wishing I could “speak” with one of them, but the long claws and sharp horns suddenly looked daunting.
She bobbed her paw slightly in the air, impatient for me to obey her request. I forced myself forward, step by step until I was only about a foot away from her. The Norn closed that final gap herself, leaving me to either crane my neck awkwardly upward, or stare at her sternum. Before I could make a choice, she placed her heavy paw on my shoulder, and images began to play through my mind.
She showed me the place where the charm had been held, with the giant tree in the center and burial mounds surrounding it. Then she showed me an image of the Norn who'd watched over that place. The images were never quite still, and played more like glitchy videos in my mind.
I focused on the images and realized she was asking me what had happened there. I did my best to replay some of the scenes in my mind, unsure if the Norn would be able to see them like I could see hers.
She bowed her head as I pictured the Norn in my memory ripping out her own heart and handing it to me. She turned sad eyes to look down into mine, then placed her paw on my chest so she could tap the charm beneath my shirt with one black claw.
I thought of the images that the last Norn had shown me, but my memory had blurred them enough that they were difficult to convey. It was much more simple to picture things I had seen with my own eyes. The Norn tapped the charm again, not understanding.
Before I could think of a better way to convey what I wanted to know, someone grabbed my arm and began pulling me away from the Norn. I lost contact with the Norn's paw, and turned to find that it was Alaric pulling me while Sophie waited by the door with a scared look on her face. What had happened while I was transfixed by the Norn?
I pulled against Alaric as I scanned the room for the source of his fear, only to find Mikael smiling and looking perfectly calm next to the Norn he'd been speaking with.
“They're going to send us away,” Alaric explained as he tugged at my arm more forcefully, throwing me forward.
“He doesn't want to take us to another place, he wants to take us to another time,” he continued, finally motivating me to run.
Sophie turned in the doorway as we reached her, and I could see James already waiting further down the hall. Had I lost time while “speaking” to the Norn? My brain felt like it was filled with cotton.
/> We all ran, though I still didn't fully understand what was happening. Yet something was wrong. Mikael wasn't coming after us. I learned why as my feet suddenly went out from under me, I hit the ground hard, and Alaric landed beside me. I tried to crawl forward, but my limbs wouldn't budge.
Sophie looked back at us in horror, and began to run back toward us, but suddenly she disappeared from sight, as did the floor beneath us and the walls around us. I closed my eyes tight in fear, grateful that Alaric's hand was still on my arm, though he seemed just as frozen as I was. We endured several moments where it felt like we were floating in space, then suddenly I could feel rough grass beneath us.
I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. We were in an expansive yellow field, and I could hear the ocean nearby. Alaric slowly got to his knees, pulling me along with him, only I felt so suddenly dizzy that I immediately pulled myself back to the ground.
“Where are we?” I groaned, fighting the urge to vomit from motion sickness.
“We are still in Norway,” Mikael said from somewhere behind us.
“And what year is it?” Alaric asked coldly.
Mikael chuckled. His voice was nearer when he said, “It is the year 820.”
I curled up into a ball on the grass, not wanting to open my eyes again. “That's not possible.”
“The Norns are the keepers of time,” Mikael replied happily. “With them, anything is possible.”
I finally opened my eyes to see Alaric shake his head. “How did you make them do it?”
Mikael came over and crouched beside me, then looked down at me curiously. “Dizzy?” he asked.
I cringed and nodded. It felt like I had the world's worst hangover. “Why aren't you two sick?”
Mikael smiled down at me warmly. “It affected you more because you're pregnant.”
Chapter Four
I sat up so quickly that my vision went black, and I had to huddle in a little ball again until I could refocus. “Come again?” I asked weakly, still on the ground.
“How could you possibly know that?” Alaric asked incredulously.
I opened my eyes to see Mikael shrug. “One of the Norn's told me. I take it this was unplanned?”
Rock, Paper, Shivers: Act Six and Seven (Bitter Ashes Book 4) Page 7