Shoots and Tatters

by Sara C. Roethle

  He snorted. “Now are you referring to Loki, or to me?” he asked jokingly, knowing I’d meant the latter.

  I chuckled. “Both.”

  “Ah,” he sighed. “Some day I’ll win you over.”

  As I began to drift off, I leaned my head on his shoulder, nestled in the curve of his arm. I distantly felt him place his free hand on my belly as he laid a kiss on the top of my head, but I was too far gone to really consider it.

  7

  “Fascinating,” Freyja muttered, watching Faas as he stood in the middle of the dark trees bordering their property, his arms held out to either side. “I had no idea the Vaettir had developed such interesting abilities.”

  “So you truly could not see us at all?” Aila questioned, standing a few paces away from the goddess.

  Freyja shook her head, tossing her flaxen hair from side to side. “When Yggdrasil was destroyed, we lost all access to this realm. We could see nothing.”

  Alaric pondered her answer, watching Faas as he paced around searching for the direction of Marcos’ energy. “So,” he began, an idea coming to him, “before Yggdrasil was destroyed, did this land have magic like it’s experiencing now?”

  He turned to Freyja as she shook her head. “The World Tree’s trunk originally resided in a neutral space, slightly parallel to this realm, but closer to it than any others. Your kind should not have been able to reach it, nor should any magic have leaked through.”

  “Then I don’t understand,” Aila interrupted. “I thought the World Tree was originally destroyed by the Vaettir.”

  “Indeed it was,” Freyja replied, “but they had help from a goddess. They were aided by Hecate.”

  Faas stopped his search and turned toward them, his face a pale oval in the minimal moonlight. “But then why did Hecate want to regrow the tree, if she was the one to originally destroy it?”

  Freyja smiled ruefully. “She did not foresee the power vacuum the tree’s destruction would create. She had hoped to sever the old gods’ connection from this realm, while she remained behind with her precious women worshippers. Instead, she was sucked through the vacuum and into a nearly dead realm, along with her female followers. She has been trapped there ever since,” she frowned, “though apparently her realm is not far off, if she’s able to communicate with her descendent.”

  Suddenly everything made sense. The women in Hecate’s realm must have been those who originally helped her destroy Yggdrasil. Now, Hecate wanted to return to this realm and have another try. She would use the tree, then destroy it, trapping Madeline in another realm forever. With Madeline’s energy in Hecate’s realm, the power vacuum might not exist.

  His heart sunk at the notion. He could be wrong, but it was the only reason he could think of for Hecate to lure Madeline to her realm.

  “I have an admission,” he sighed. He was still wary of telling Freyja the truth, but he could not risk Madeline being forever trapped in another realm.

  Freyja raised a blonde eyebrow at him. “Go on.”

  “I do know who regrew Yggdrasil,” he admitted. “I lied because it is someone I love very much, but now that I know the possibility of Hecate destroying the World Tree once more, I feel it is pertinent I tell the truth.”

  Freyja’s eyes widened. “And where is this special someone now?”

  Alaric’s shoulders slumped. “Loki took us to Hecate’s realm. Hecate sent most of us back, but kept Madeline and one other. We have not seen Loki since. He may even be in Hecate’s realm with Madeline and Mikael.”

  “Fools,” Freyja hissed, then took a deep breath. “This Madeline, what are her gifts?”

  “She was connected to the Morrigan, but not in the way Aila is connected to you,” he explained. “In fact, we are not even sure of Madeline’s origins. She is pure energy in human form.”

  “The Morrigan?” Freyja gasped. “You’re telling me this Madeline has the same energy as Hecate?”

  Alaric nodded.

  Faas had stopped his search and instead walked forward, listening intently to their conversation, while Aila balked at Alaric behind Freyja’s back.

  Freyja began to pace across the crunchy fir needles littering the ground. “All worlds have balance,” she explained. “They need balance. If what you say about this Madeline is true, she was the anchor that provided energy balance in this realm. She has been born again and again, with her energy never truly leaving. When she traveled through Yggdrasil, she created a vacuum to pull magical energy into this realm. That is why the magical flood increased.”

  “So we bring Madeline back, and the flow stops?” Faas questioned.

  Alaric could have hugged Faas in that moment for suggesting such a notion. The magical leak might just be enough motivation for Freyja to help them.

  “It’s not so simple,” Freyja replied, continuing to pace. “I’d wager Hecate wanted Madeline in her realm so she could take her place. When Hecate destroyed the World Tree the first time, the vacuum was created because her energy no longer belonged here. There was no room for it, as it existed elsewhere in this realm. Yggdrasil is made of similar energy, which is why it took root in a realm very close to this one. When it was destroyed, the excess energy joined with similar energies in this world and formed the Morrigan. With the Morrigan’s birth, there was too much of that type of energy here, forcing Hecate out.”

  She took a deep breath, pausing her lecture. “This time, with that energy, Madeline, already trapped in the realm where Hecate was originally transported, she could destroy Yggdrasil without being pulled through. Yggdrasil will release a measure of that energy once more, but it will likely not be enough to force her out. She could once again sever the old gods from this realm, but this time, she would remain behind, the only godly power to rule over the mortals. The only positive of that situation is that Hecate’s presence will likely stop the flow of magic into this world, since she would take Madeline’s place.”

  “Very good,” a voice said from behind Freyja and Aila.

  Alaric whipped his head to the voice, witnessing Marcos emerge from the trees.

  Tallie and Sophie came trotting up behind him, having tracked Marcos’ energy back to them.

  “Found him,” Tallie said weakly, holding a limp finger in the air.

  Freyja turned on Marcos. “Hecate’s descendent,” she observed. “Give me a single reason not to kill you.”

  He grinned, the expression made eerie on his pale, thin face. “Because I’m going to help you defeat Hecate.”

  Alaric’s heart nearly stopped. Had this been Marcos’ plan from the start? Had he played them all this whole time?

  He balled his hands into fists, wanting nothing more than to kill Marcos himself. Yet, he could not risk it. He could not risk killing an enemy who could perhaps double as Madeline’s salvation.

  “I think it’s time for you to divulge your plan,” Alaric growled.

  Marcos nodded. “For once, you are correct.” He flicked his gaze to Freyja, then back to Alaric.

  Tallie and Sophie moved to stand near Faas, both crossing their arms while they awaited Marcos’ explanation.

  “It was many years ago that Hecate first reached out to me,” Marcos began. “She was just a tiny voice in my head that grew loud when I really listened. She began to tell me of her plan to return to this realm. At the time, I was in the employ of Aislin, but Hecate showed me a better path.”

  “You planned to betray Aislin from the start?” Tallie gasped, the only one among them who had also been one of Aislin’s people.

  “No,” Marcos answered blandly, “but neither was I loyal to her. I have always been kept on the outside, you see. Both as an executioner of the Vaettir, and as a necromancer. I belong more with the dead than the living.”

  “And we’ll gladly put you there in truth if you do not hurry up your explanation,” Sophie snapped.

  Marcos smirked at her, then continued. “I can skip over much of my explanation, since you seem to have figured out Hecate’s pl
an. For that, I commend you. It took me a while to divine her true motives.”

  “And yet knowing them,” Faas began, “you continued to help her?”

  Marcos shrugged. “How do you fight the voice inside your head, a voice that can reach you no matter where you go? She could speak to me so much in my sleep that I would never sleep again. I had nearly gone mad by the time I decided to devise my own plan.”

  Freyja narrowed her eyes skeptically. “You were able to devise a separate plan while a goddess resided in your head.”

  Marcos smiled. “I’ve always been adept at shielding. Even Madeline could not pry away the layers to my true emotions.”

  Faas nodded. “She always claimed to feel very little from you. She just assumed you were a psychopath.”

  Marcos nodded. “Like I said, I’m very talented at shielding. I began to devise a plan of my own to kill Hecate, knowing it was the only way to remove her presence from my life.”

  “You are a fool,” Freyja growled. “You assume you can kill a goddess all on your own?”

  Marcos tilted his head, trailing pure white hair across his black-clad shoulder. “No, not alone.” He swept his arm to encompass everyone listening to his tale. “That is where all of you come into play, and Madeline, of course.”

  “You know how to get her back?” Alaric questioned, stepping forward.

  Marcos nodded. “I led Hecate to believe Mikael was the father of Madeline’s child, not you. I needed him to be there to aid in Madeline’s escape.”

  Alaric took another step forward, clenching his fists to keep from lashing out. “You trapped her there on purpose, and without me?”

  Marcos smiled, not seeming to sense his impending doom. “It was quite clever on my part, really. Mikael would plan rationally, and would provide Madeline with her best chance of escape. You are too emotional. You would have fought off the handmaidens to protect her. You would have been killed, and Madeline would have been left to escape on her own, weakened by her pregnancy.”

  That gave Alaric pause. Mikael had survived for over a thousand years through rational plotting and scheming, while he’d survived by fighting.

  “Glad to see you understand,” Marcos said with a nod.

  “Get to the part where we kill Hecate,” Freyja prompted, “lest I kill you and handle it myself.”

  Still not seeming in the least bit perturbed, Marcos continued, “Hecate will need followers for her ritual, but as she is currently guarding Yggdrasil, she has enlisted me to gather followers in her stead. The Vaettir destroyed the tree with her once, and she would like to enlist them to do so again. The women among us unknown to her will pose as her followers.” Marcos gestured to Tallie, then to Aila. “And perhaps a few others,” he added, “if there are any you trust. The rest will lie in wait for Madeline’s return.”

  No one argued with his plan. Alaric knew they all loved Madeline in their own ways, and would want to help as they could.

  “The women and I will delay Hecate’s ritual,” he continued, “buying Madeline and Mikael the time they need.”

  Freyja nodded. “And once Madeline has returned to this realm, Hecate will be weakened. She and Madeline will both share the energy that each would have full force when alone in their own realm. We will be able to kill her and send her energy back from whence it came, and with Madeline back in this realm, the magic vacuum will cease to be.”

  “Precisely,” Marcos agreed.

  Alaric met his sister’s gaze. She nodded subtly. It seemed the plan was as good as they were going to get. Madeline would be returned to them, and Freyja would keep her alive to keep balance in the realm.

  “There’s just one problem,” Faas observed. “What if Madeline does not make it back on her own?”

  Marcos simply smiled. “All great plans must have an element of risk. Without such risk, there can be no great gain. I have faith Madeline will find a way. She has not failed me yet.”

  Alaric clenched his fists again. He didn’t like the idea of risk, but knew there was little choice. If Hecate was guarding the tree, she might kill them before they could travel through with Freyja to retrieve Madeline. If he simply put his trust in Madeline, they could gain the upper hand, weakening Hecate enough to kill her once and for all.

  It was the best plan they were going to get, and Alaric intended to be on the front lines, even if he could not pose as a follower himself.

  Early morning sunlight crept across my face, waking me. I squinted up at Mikael, his arm still wrapped around me with my head cradled on his chest.

  “Good morning, sleeping beauty,” he muttered.

  I sat up and rubbed my eyes, peering blearily at the surrounding forest. My back ached where it had been leaning against the stone outcropping, and my butt wasn’t feeling much better. I sucked my teeth, wishing I had some water. We’d risked a few sips from a stream the prior day, so it wasn’t an emergency, but would have been nice. Coffee also would have been nice.

  Mikael stood, then offered me a hand up. I took it and rose as my stomach let out a loud growl.

  I blushed. “We really need to either get back home today, or hunt some of those weird little songbirds.”

  Mikael raised an eyebrow at me. “You’ve turned into quite an animal for a former vegetarian.”

  “Hanging out with feline warmongers tends to have that effect,” I quipped, then stumbled off to go to the bathroom. As I picked my way through the bushes I became quite sure that I never wanted to leave our cozy home again, even when it was overcrowded with other Vaettir.

  Mikael was waiting for me upon my return.

  “Yggdrasil’s branch should be roughly north of us,” he pointed. “But we must proceed with caution. It would not do to get recaptured before you can bolt us out of here.”

  “If I can bolt us out of here,” I added. “Remember, I’ve only done it once.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me as we started walking. “Are you not confident in your abilities?”

  I sighed, then shrugged. Was I? I was constantly surprising myself with what I could do, and now that I knew a little bit more about the energy inside me, I felt like more was possible. Still, I’d only been alive for a tiny blip of time compared to many of the other Vaettir, and I’d only been focused on honing my gifts recently. Faas did his best to guide me, but the Morrigan had been the teacher I really needed, and she was dead.

  “It will be fine,” he assured. “I know nothing will keep you apart from Alaric,” he added somewhat bitterly.

  Now it was my turn to raise a brow. “Do you have a problem with that?”

  He smiled softly. “No. Perhaps I just wish I had such allure.”

  I stopped walking. “I would travel realms for you too, you know.”

  He turned to me. “Would you?”

  I nodded. “And I know you’d do the same for me.”

  “And why is that?” he asked.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, suspicious of why he was bringing this up now. “Because we’re friends,” I replied. “I’d do it for Sophie or Faas too.”

  He sighed. “You’re quite dense, sometimes.”

  I scowled. “I’m just being honest, you don’t have to insult me.”

  He rolled his amber eyes and started walking again.

  I caught up to his side, baffled by his sudden anger at me. He never got angry with me, but he’d been acting weird for weeks. I grabbed his arm to stop him.

  “Why are you acting like this?” I demanded.

  He lifted his hands as if to somehow illustrate his point, then dropped them. “It’s just frustrating,” he explained with forced calm.

  “What is?” I pressed, refusing to back down.

  He sighed. “The fact that you would travel to different realms for everyone, and I would only do it for you.”

  I blinked up at him, shocked at his admission. Sure, he flirted with me ceaselessly, but that was just his personality. He cared about me like he cared about Aila and the rest of his original clan. />
  For a moment he seemed at a loss for words, then he grabbed me and pulled me against him, pressing his lips against mine.

  My brain completely stopped. Was I seriously trapped in another realm, kissing Mikael while horrible things could be happening to the father of my child? And why wasn’t I pulling away?

  He released me and stepped back.

  I gave him an expression just as dumbfounded as the one before, belying the nervous patter of my heart. “You do realize I’m pregnant with another man’s child, right?”

  He stared down at me. “Tell me you feel nothing for me. Tell me my feelings are one sided.”

  I stared up at him, my jaw slightly agape while my lips still burned from our kiss. Could I truly say that I returned none of his feelings? I was already with Alaric when I’d first met Mikael, so I’d put him squarely in the friend box.

  He smiled. “I knew you couldn’t deny it. Come now, let’s find the World Tree.” He turned and walked away.

  “You smug bastard!” I hissed, hurrying to catch up with him.

  I was about to go off on a tirade, when he pressed a finger to his lips, his expression suddenly cautious.

  I froze.

  A moment later, he grabbed me and pulled me behind a nearby tropical shrub. I was prepared to go off on him, then I heard the voices. Two or three women were coming our way, by the sound of it.

  Mikael let go of me, but remained in a crouch as he reached into the top of my boot and withdrew the dagger he’d given me the previous night. Knowing his intent, I rapidly shook my head. He raised an eyebrow at me, then sighed.

  The women’s voices grew closer. They were almost upon us. Suddenly I realized Mikael had been right. He needed to get the jump on them and eliminate them before they could alert everyone else of our location. We would never get to the World Tree branch if we spent all day running away from handmaidens.

  “I think I see something over there,” one of the women said.

  Crap, they’d spotted us, and I’d ruined our chances of a preemptive strike. As much as it pained me to hurt the women, I patted Mikael’s arm to get his attention, then nodded for him to go ahead.