Treasures of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 3)

by S. M. Schmitz

  But one of the greatest warrior goddesses in the world’s history had been standing by Selena’s side, and she hadn’t come to Earth to watch one of her closest friends die. Athena ran toward Echthge, a blur of colors in her unnatural speed, and Echthge lifted her own sword to deflect the blow Athena dealt. Selena risked looking away from the battle between the goddesses to see if Badb had been captured by the water horse, but with Echthge distracted, the water horses seemed distracted and disoriented as well. Even the monster that had pinned Ares to the ground had moved and paced nervously on the shore, waiting for orders from Echthge.

  Selena ran to his body and dropped to her knees by his side. She placed a hand on his face but she recognized this sensation of emptiness, of nothingness. This vessel had been emptied.

  “No,” Selena whispered. “It’s not too late. You can come back, Ares. We need you.”

  She pushed a few curls of golden blonde hair off his forehead and sensed someone approaching her. She didn’t look up at Anita as the psychic lowered herself to the ground by Ares’ lifeless body.

  “Stop taking your time, Ares,” Anita scolded. “Badb and your sister have all but killed Echthge and we’ll be walking into Asgard soon. We can’t do that without you.”

  Selena cradled Ares’ head in her arms and looked over her shoulder at the death throes of Echthge, the traitorous goddess of the Tuatha Dé. She had tried to retreat into the safety of the lake, but Athena and Badb had followed her. Echthge no longer had a weapon. Badb lifted her sword, held firmly in both hands, prepared to swing it toward Echthge’s neck. Even Selena knew that the swords of gods were sharper than those of mortals but decapitating a human or god still required quite a bit of force. Part of her didn’t want to see this goddess’s beheading but she also couldn’t look away.

  Badb swung her sword, stepping back to rebalance herself, and Selena gasped as the head of the goddess dropped into the lake. The body sagged and fell into the water and Athena kicked it away from them then nodded toward the water horses still waiting on the shore, which seemed more confused and disoriented than ever.

  In Selena’s complete entrancement over the events unfolding, she hadn’t been paying attention to the war god she cradled in her arms. A hand touched hers gently and she jumped and looked down. Ares smiled at her and sat up. “Thank you, Selena,” he said softly. “I think they’ll need my help now.”

  Selena looked over her shoulder again. The bodies of the water horses were morphing, shrinking and changing until the shore was dotted with ten blue men, each armed with an identical sword. The sound of waves crashing against the surface of the lake warned her that the remaining two water horses were coming to help the others defend the entrance to Asgard.

  “Will this work?” Selena asked. “With Echthge dead, can you kill them now?”

  Ares shrugged and picked up his sword. “Only one way to find out.”

  The Greek war god charged the nearest blue man, and Selena held her breath as she waited for a sign that the water horses turned men could be killed. Athena spun around and drove her sword through the side of the man her brother had distracted, and a brownish blue water leaked from his body where Athena’s sword had left a gaping wound. The man touched his side, his face disbelieving, then he turned, still terrifyingly fast, on the war goddess who had done the unthinkable.

  Athena deflected his swing and Ares pierced him again, but they were running out of time. The other blue men were hurrying to their wounded comrade’s aide.

  “We’re outnumbered and we don’t have a firestarter anymore!” Selena cried.

  Anita pulled on her arm to get her attention. “Then let’s build one. I know Doug and Jasper are armed with something a hell of a lot more effective than a sword. They’ll slow these bastards down. We just need the dry wood.”

  “Dry wood…” Selena breathed. She looked around but she was at a mostly man made lake in central Texas. The shore wasn’t exactly lined with driftwood. Her eyes settled on a dock in the distance and she glanced at Anita and almost smiled. “That’ll work.”

  Selena blew the dock apart and propelled the wood toward them, allowing it to collapse in a pile by their feet. Anita dug a lighter out of her pocket and knelt beside the wood.

  “I won’t ask,” Selena said.

  “Ukko used to tell me to keep two things on me at all times: a lighter so I could start fires in an emergency and the 9mm he gave me for Christmas.” Anita picked through the wood until she found a small, splintered piece that she might be able to use to build their bonfire. Gunshots startled them both and Anita dropped her lighter into the pile of wood, cursing at her own clumsiness then at the water horses who were too stubborn to die like regular supernatural creatures.

  “We had to go see Jasper’s uncle to get you another gun,” Selena observed, helping her dig through the pile for the lighter. “Guess you only took half his advice.”

  “I still had it,” Anita told her. “It’s in my house in Larken. Or it was. Who knows if the Norse left anything.”

  She found her lighter and held it up triumphantly then Selena blocked the breeze as she looked over her shoulder again to watch their progress against the water horses. “This won’t be enough,” she said skeptically. “The plan was for Cameron to enclose them in fire so they couldn’t escape. How can we do that?”

  Anita placed the piece of flaming wood beneath the pile and watched the fight that continued on the shore in front of them. The blue men’s injuries slowed them down, but a water horse could only be killed by fire and they wouldn’t be getting any volunteers to jump onto their bonfire.

  “We have to do something to help,” Selena insisted.

  Anita gave her a puzzled look and demanded, “Like what? Three war gods and two strong demigods can’t defeat them. What are we supposed to do?”

  “I don’t know!” Selena shouted. She grimaced as Jasper was knocked to the ground and rolled to his side, just missing the tip of the sword from the changeling trying to kill him.

  “We need more help,” Selena whispered.

  Anita gave her another strange look and snapped, “You think?”

  Selena blinked at her and grimaced again. “Sorry.”

  Anita’s eyebrows pulled together as she began to ask, “For what?” then understanding hit her and her green eyes widened and she shook her head quickly.

  “No, no, not again,” Anita pleaded.

  “Too late,” Selena said with a shrug. “I’d rather two of my best friends not die.”

  Ukko grunted at her then crossed his arms defiantly. “Now you’re doing this, too?”

  “Apparently,” Selena responded.

  “I’m starting to dislike you,” Ukko said.

  “That’s ok. I haven’t liked you for three years.”

  Selena couldn’t help noticing how hard he was trying not to look in Anita’s direction, but he finally caved and his light blue eyes flickered in her direction before returning to Selena. “You think you’re going to kill twelve water horses with a bonfire?”

  “Um, no. We wanted to kill twelve water horses with a powerful sun god, but in case you don’t remember, he disappeared on us and I’d rather we not all die now.”

  Ukko threw his hands up and sighed loudly. “Why did you even come out here without him? You should have waited.”

  “For what?” Selena shouted. “I spent a day and a half in the Otherworld waiting for him. Do you know how long that is here? He didn’t come for me!”

  “Impossible,” Ukko responded. “If you were there that long, it would be weeks later now. Months maybe.”

  “Ukko!” Athena yelled. “Argue later! Do something!”

  Ukko narrowed his eyes at Athena and hissed, “This doesn’t involve me. Stop dragging me into your civil war.”

  A shrill cry from Anita made Selena’s heart fall into her stomach. She caught a streak of blue as it rushed past her then something pink and white and seemingly far too small to be a grown woman’s body crumpled to
the ground. Selena fell by her side, her hands hovering over the psychic’s hunched back as she clutched her stomach. Anita’s hand pulled away and Selena stared at the blood that covered her palm and fingers.

  “It’s ok…” Selena whispered. “You’ll be ok, Anita.” She put her hand on Anita’s arm and immediately felt the regenerative power leaving her body as it healed the psychic’s for the second time in only a few weeks. Anita groaned and rested her head against Selena’s arm as the sky darkened to a deep, angry gray and lightning crackled and sizzled above them.

  Selena shivered and pulled Anita closer, suddenly unsure if she were more terrified of the water horses or the vengeance of an angry weather god. Ukko walked into the battle and lightning followed him, sending blindingly white streaks of light toward each blue man. The sharp crack of thunder that followed each flash of lightning was deafening and Selena pulled Anita closer.

  The psychic had healed but Selena had never seen Ukko like this, displaying the full potential of the power he could yield. As she watched the water horses dissolve into puddles at his feet beneath the lightning he commanded, she realized she had misjudged him about one thing at least: he was far more powerful than she had realized and had he wanted her in his control badly enough that he had been willing to hurt her, she would have been taken by the New Pantheon three years ago.

  The war gods and demigods backed away from the Finnish thunder god as he passed through the water horses, his hands held out slightly by his sides, energy visibly sizzling from his fingertips. Selena watched in awe as the sky opened up again and three more brilliant streaks of light broke across the slate gray dome, striking the only remaining water horses who had frozen in shock at the spectacle approaching them.

  Ukko didn’t seem to trust there were no survivors. The sky didn’t lighten and the charged atmosphere didn’t break apart. He stood at the far end of the shore near Ares and Doug, staring at the lake as if more water horses would emerge to challenge him.

  “You have to go tell him they’re all dead now,” Selena whispered to Anita. “Calm him down. He almost has the same look Cameron had…”

  Selena swallowed and let go of Anita’s arm. She expected Anita to argue with her, to give her a hundred different reasons she shouldn’t reopen wounds that she’d at least pretended had healed, but Anita only took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

  “Come with me,” Anita urged. “I’ve only seen Ukko like this once before. I want to show you that even gods can lose their temper and lose control of themselves.”

  Selena let her lead her toward the Finnish god she’d long feared who had never looked as fearsome as he did now, his face cold and steely as he searched for anyone else willing to hurt the woman he clearly still loved. Anita stopped by his side and reached for his hand.

  “Don’t!” Selena cried. “Look at it! He’ll shock you!”

  Ukko finally looked away from the lake, his light blonde eyebrows drawing together as he studied Selena then glanced at his hand. “I’ve never hurt her.” His eyes settled on Anita and he slowly added, “Not physically.”

  “No,” Anita agreed. “I was never worried you would either. Not even like this. But it’s time to rein in your power, Ukko, before the wrong people get hurt.”

  Ukko looked at the lake again and shook his head. “You’re planning on walking into Asgard with them.”

  “Yes,” Anita said quietly. “I told you. I’m going to help them, even if it kills me.”

  Another hot, white streak of lightning flashed across the sky followed by that ear-piercing crackling thunder. “No!” Ukko yelled. “Not today!”

  Selena felt an invisible hand push her down and as she fell to the ground, she saw Ukko reach out for Anita’s wrist then the Finnish thunder god disappeared, taking the helpless Irish psychic with him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Selena scrambled to her feet and tried to search for Ukko again, to summon him and force him to return her friend, but in his current state, still enveloped in so much fear and anger, he was impossible to reach. Selena could sense him, but she didn’t have the power to force him to return to Waco with Anita Granger.

  “No,” Selena moaned. “I can’t get her back!” She ran her fingers through her hair and watched the dark gray clouds break apart, revealing a sunny blue sky behind them.

  Jasper paced furiously beside her, his hands balled into fists as he glared at the sky. “That bastard just kidnapped her! We have to do something. We have to get her back!”

  Selena nodded and was about to try summoning him again when Badb put a hand on her shoulder and spoke her name softly. “Selena, perhaps Ukko is right. Let her go for now. If we live through this and he doesn’t return her, we’ll go looking for her and we will find her.”

  “But she wants to be here! She wants to help us and that’s her decision to make, not his,” Selena protested.

  Jasper nodded in agreement and folded his arms over his sculpted chest in a defiant stance. “He’s been screwing up her life for thirty years! We’re just going to let him get away with this?”

  Athena stood in front of Jasper, mimicking his stance, and scowled back at him. “Yes. Selena brought him here. She and Cameron keep dragging him into our affairs. He didn’t come looking for her, and once here, he saved our lives… even if it was only because he acted to protect Anita. If that’s what it takes for now, she’ll have to play the part.”

  “You’re sacrificing one of the sweetest women I’ve ever known!” Jasper yelled.

  Athena rolled her eyes and put her sword in the sheath hanging from her belt. “We’re hardly sacrificing her, Jasper. Don’t be so dramatic. She’s with Ukko who probably has her hidden in some super-secret New Pantheon hideout and he’ll have every god and demigod who works for him protecting her. In case you haven’t noticed, letting her go is the biggest mistake that god ever made.”

  “Yeah, but… what about what she wants?” Selena protested feebly.

  Ares sighed loudly and pointed toward the lake. “Asgard. Let’s go. You’re starting to make me wish I’d stayed dead.”

  Doug snorted and walked to the edge of the water, lifting his arms above his head and waving his hand at the water. He tilted his head and called over his shoulder, “I’m waiting on that strong east wind over here.”

  Selena smiled and joined him by the edge of the water. “You’re no Charlton Heston.”

  Doug lowered his arm and smiled back at Selena. “Is that the key? That guy still alive? Can you get him over here?”

  “Uh… no. Dead. He may be in Findias though. Want me to go look for him?”

  Ares groaned and pointed to the lake again. “I want you to stop messing around and focus on parting the waters of the lake so we can find the entrance to Asgard. We have Badb, Athena, me, and you. We can do this without Moses or his god or the actor who played either one.”

  “I don’t know if there was an actor who played the god in The Ten Commandments,” Selena said.

  “That movie is like four hours long,” Jasper complained. “Who can sit through the whole thing to find out?”

  “Lake!” Athena yelled. “Asgard!”

  “Is stealth part of this mission?” Doug asked. “Because if so, we’ve totally blown our cover and should probably call this off.”

  “We got attacked by a dozen water horses and a crazy Irish goddess,” Badb retorted. “I think whomever is left in Asgard already knows we’re here.”

  “Part the waters,” Ares sighed.

  Selena glanced nervously at the gods, still feeling completely out of place among them and being asked to participate as one of them, but she did as she was asked. The water rushed to two sides, revealing the muddy lake bottom littered with beer cans and broken ice chests and broken pieces of fishing rods. Her chest squeezed painfully at the sight of the mostly intact rod and reel, and she could almost hear Cameron’s voice about the travesty of wasting a good reel or this beautiful day when he could be fishing but was hunting down assho
le Norse gods instead.

  “Damn it,” Ares muttered. “It’s not here. Let’s move farther down the lake.”

  The goddesses and demigods began to follow him, but Selena continued to stare at the muddy floor of the lake as the water slowly collapsed from the walls they’d erected. The entrance had to be here and, somehow, they were missing it.

  “Wait,” she called. “If we were in the wrong place, the water horses wouldn’t have attacked us. They reached the original Asgard by crossing Bifröst. There’s obviously no burning rainbow bridge, but what if they created a tunnel?”

  “There would still be an entrance,” Athena pointed out. “And there’s nothing here except debris and mud.”

  “Or maybe there is and we just can’t see it because we’re not Norse,” Selena argued.

  Ares sighed impatiently and shook his head, causing golden curls of hair to fall across his forehead. “They wouldn’t be able to shield it from us. Not on Earth.”

  Selena put her hand on her hips and glared at the Greek war god. She tried to remind herself that he was a Greek god, after all. He probably couldn’t help his arrogance. “You just got killed by a water horse. Stop pretending like you rule the world and just give me a minute.”

  Ares blinked at her but didn’t snap back at her. He shuffled his weight between his feet and glanced at his sister, who seemed more amused than annoyed by Selena’s sudden confidence. Selena grabbed Doug’s arm and pulled him to the edge of the lake to stand next to her, and the Norse demigod immediately protested.

  “This won’t work, Selena. I disowned them. I’m not connected to them anymore.”

  “True, but you can’t erase your genes. Even the fates can’t completely erase who we are. Look at me. I’m only supposed to be Tuatha Dé, and yet, my father’s ancestry is still there. You will always be Norse, Doug. And as much as you hate them, we need you to accept that and look for the entrance.”