They walked for another day. Slowly but surely, their journey began to feel like an escape. Loke took on an ever-faster pace, while Arvid felt her strength leaving. Now she knew that the two pursuers were Thor and a young god named Lodor. Thor’s presence didn’t seem to particularly impress Loke.
They left the mountain behind and were soon crossing a seemingly endless plain, covered with snow and crunching ice. Through the middle of it ran a huge, jagged crack like a ravine. From its depths rose dense clouds of steam, which made it clear that they were approaching the source and their target. However, a look back showed Arvid that their pursuers had now reached the plain, too. Although they were only seen as small, dark spots behind them, they were getting closer.
“How… much farther?” she gasped at some point. Her legs felt numb, but she knew she could not stop, and her fear drove her on.
“We’re almost there,” Loke replied grimly, “but the middle of the day has already passed. It won’t work anymore today.”
Arvid groaned. “What do we do now?”
“Even if we had been there in time, it wouldn’t have helped us. Once we stop, Thor and Lodor will catch up with us in a few hours. A world transition can’t be created in a hurry, and certainly not with two pursuers breathing down our necks.”
“So what do we do now?” repeated Arvid, louder and in an irritated tone.
“I’m still thinking about it!” Loke replied, hardly less irritated.
Arvid said nothing more. For a while they continued in dogged silence. After a short time, however, Loke spoke.
“We must not lead them to the spot,” he said. “We’ll have to temporarily hide in the underground. I see no other way.”
“In the underground? What are you talking about?”
Loke pointed diagonally to the right to a point in front of them. “In the hills over there… there is an entrance. There are a large number of underground caves here.” He gave her a skeptical look. “Can you create self-sustaining illusions?”
“Maybe.”
Loke snorted indignantly. “Forget it, I’ll do it myself…”
He stopped and turned to face their pursuers. Arvid followed his example, stopped and tried to catch her breath.
Suddenly, a few steps in front of them appeared two figures, obviously illusions that should represent themselves. They were a lot bigger than them and not very detailed, but from a distance they would probably fool Thor and Lodor for a while. However, Loke wasn’t finished yet.
Arvid watched, stunned, as he closed his eyes and then created a light formation of incredible size, right between them and the first illusion. Apparently it was a reflection of the icy plains around them and stretched over one hundred steps in length and up to far above their heads. Arvid went back a few steps in order to overlook the giant mirage. The idea that it wasn’t just a simple, but a self-sustaining illusion was hardly conceivable. For a moment, Arvid even forgot that they were pursued by two gods.
“You can… create an illusion with closed eyes?” she asked in disbelief, and still spellbound, staring at the picture in front of them.
“My field of vision is only big enough in my head,” Loke said. When he turned back to Arvid, it was evident that this spell had been a burden even for him. He looked exhausted. “It won’t deceive them for long,” he added. “It’s intended only to ensure that they cannot immediately see where we are going. Come.”
Now that she could see a recognizable goal in front of them, Arvid managed to increase her pace again. Nevertheless, soon every step became torture, which wasn’t only due to her physical exhaustion. A sharp wind had risen, tugging at her clothes. The cold burned painfully on Arvid’s face, penetrating even through the thick gloves and woolen clothing.
Finally the entrance of which Loke had spoken appeared in front of them. It lay in a depression in front of the hill they had seen from a distance, and was like a long, oblique slot in the middle of the ground. Some flat, snow-covered rocks stuck out like a roof above it and cast the hole in impenetrable blackness.
Suddenly Loke uttered a loud curse.
“What?” Arvid asked, but when she looked up, she already saw what had caused Loke’s reaction.
“A god, a rider,” Loke said. “Run!”
They ran straight for the cave entrance, but Arvid knew she wouldn’t last long. The rider was already frighteningly close. It came from somewhere to the left, where some rocky hills could be seen. Apparently the gods had in fact had split up. This one was dressed in off-white fabric and, together with his white Hjorter, almost blended in with the snowy environment. After a short time it was clear that they would reach the cave almost simultaneously.
“Loke!” the man shouted from afar.
Loke slowed his footsteps, breathing heavily. Arvid did the same and watched fearfully as the rider, a sturdy man with a blond beard, approached them.
“Stay behind me,” Loke said to Arvid. His voice was steady but clearly tense. “He may want to kill you.”
Arvid’s heartbeat quickened again when she heard that. She quickly stepped behind Loke, who almost leisurely walked toward the other god. He had stopped a few meters away and jumped out of the saddle. Arvid and Loke were only thirty or forty steps from the cave entrance, yet they had no chance to reach it safely, because the god in front of them now grabbed a bow and drew it in one fluid motion.
“Ildir,” Loke called out, “what a surprise.”
“Step aside, Loke,” Ildir said threateningly. “You know what I want.”
“Why, yes. Which should make it clear that I won’t step aside.”
“Don’t make this worse. Odin wants the woman; it’s of utmost importance!”
Loke made a contemptuous sound. “I don’t give a damn about what Odin wants. Arvid is innocent. So put down the bow and let us pass, or I’ll be forced to hurt you.”
A dangerous silence fell. Only the whistling wind could be heard. It was clear that Ildir struggled with himself. Arvid’s heart was beating almost to bursting. She could only hope for his insight. Even if she believed Loke to be superior, the idea of a direct confrontation filled her with paralyzing fear.
Finally Ildir lowered the bow and threw it beside him in the snow. Arvid’s feeling of relief, however, lasted for only a second. Then everything around her was devoured by roaring flames. A burning heat whipped her face and made her cry out in horror. Then she felt herself forcefully gripped and everything around her went pitch black.
It took only a second, but it seemed to Arvid like an eternity, before she realized that it didn’t just get dark. She was completely wrapped in something black, leathery, which protected her from the scorching heat. Finally, she realized that they were gigantic wings.
She winced in shock when the huge wings suddenly released her again. She realized dimly how the black, scaly creature in front of her struck with its mighty wings and swept Ildir several meters backward through the snow, where he lay gasping out loud.
“Run!” Loke shouted at her in a strange, rumbling voice.
Arvid picked herself up in panic and ran toward the cave. Behind her, she heard heavy, crunching steps and Ildir’s furious roar, then she was suddenly and violently catapulted through the air, driving the air from her lungs.
She fell softly. For a moment she saw nothing but dense, white fur, and everything around her seemed to turn. Arvid felt snow beneath her, then she watched dizzily as a huge, white wolf turned back into Loke’s human form, stepping up to the onrushing Ildir. There was a bright flash of light, then the bearded god was once again thrown into the snow with a loud cry and rolled on a few steps.
Loke whirled around to Arvid, grabbed her and dragged her with him, heading for the cave entrance, which was now directly in front of them. This time they were not stopped, even though Arvid stumbled more than s
he ran. She felt nausea spreading in her stomach. Hastily they penetrated deeper into a huge cave, dodged rocks and holes, and soon came to a kind of dome, from which half a dozen pitch-black passages branched off.
Without even hesitating Loke chose the second from the right. They reached another turn, followed a steep transition, came into another dome-shaped room and ran into the middle of three passages, which led farther down into the depths. Arvid was so focused on her steps, she noticed only after a while that Loke was no longer at her side.
When she stopped and turned around, she saw that he had fallen down on his knees a few steps behind her, panting heavily and leaning on his arms.
“Loke!” she cried anxiously. “What’s wrong?”
She ran over to him, but Loke fought her hand off vigorously. “I’m fine,” he said with difficulty, “I just need a moment…”
“Did you overstrain yourself?”
Loke shook his head and pushed himself up, moaning. “Too many… changes in temperature,” he said.
No sooner had he spoken, there was a strange grinding noise that seemed to come from all around them. Shortly after it began to crack and rumble. The entire cave trembled and shook.
“My god!” Arvid cried out. “Is this..?”
“An earthquake,” said Loke and grabbed her wrist. “Go! We have to get to the cave over there!”
They ran on, under a curtain of trickling sand, down the corridor. Something hit Arvid painfully on the shoulder, dust penetrated her nose and made her cough violently, but she ran on undeterred. When they reached the passage and moved farther into the cave, a deafening roar and thundering sounded. Arvid started when two head-sized stones crashed to the ground not far from them. Then it suddenly became quiet.
Arvid slowed her steps and looked around. In front of them appeared a huge sink, broken only by a few boulders and towering structures that resembled termite mounds. In between grew softly glowing mushrooms, some almost as big as Arvid herself. The ceiling was far above them, lit by a greenish, dimly glowing fog.
They went on for a little bit and then stopped. Here and there they could still hear single stones falling in the distance, hitting the ground with a thud, but otherwise it was suddenly perfectly quiet. As Arvid turned around, she realized with horror that the passage through which they had come had completely collapsed. There was nothing except a pile of rubble and boulders and a swirling cloud of dust in the air.
With trembling legs Arvid sat down on the ground. “How do we get out of here?” she asked, still panting.
“There are dozens of other entrances and exits,” Loke said, letting his glance wander through the cave. “But I’m afraid that the next one’s not exactly around the corner.”
“I just… need a break now, Loke,” groaned Arvid. “Are we safe here?”
“From the gods, yes,” Loke said. He did not look relieved at all, and a little later, Arvid learned why.
Loke had insisted that she get up again to go to a sheltered spot. Here, on the edge of some rocks, he told her that the situation was little cause for optimism.
“The nearest access to the underground is almost a day’s journey away,” he explained. “If we hurry, we might be able to reach it and to tackle the way back to the source, but… it’s risky—too risky. We don’t know what to expect on the way. Creating the transition is extremely debilitating. The gods hunting you won’t give up that easily.”
Arvid stared at him in shock. “You mean…”
“That we won’t make it,” said Loke. He grabbed a rock and threw it off into the darkness in front of him with an angry jerk. “We’ll have to wait until next summer. Hel was right—you were not ready.”
“What does this have to do with me?” Arvid asked, stunned. Tears filled her eyes. After all that had happened the idea of just giving up was hardly bearable. She had clung to this bright spot, had had this one goal in mind. She had been hoping to finally see her home again, and now everything had been swept off to an unreachable future.
“What was I supposed to do differently… better, Loke?” she asked in a trembling voice, but he just looked at her, silent and expressionless. Arvid was filled with an overwhelming hopelessness. Although she tried to fight it with all her might, small, hot tears started to trickle down her face. She looked at Loke and wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms, to be held by him, but she didn’t dare. She wished he would comfort her, tell her that everything would be all right, that there was still hope, but he just sat there and watched her cry.
“Nothing,” he finally said and got up. “I’ll be right back.” With that he turned around and left her alone.
Arvid had not known that the silence and inaction of someone could hurt so much. She let herself fall limply against the hard rock and surrendered herself to the pain that seemed to fill her at this moment. It seemed as if her tears slowly flushed out the past days’ pent-up fear and tension. Tiredness and fatigue overcame her like a leaden blanket. Although it was hard and uncomfortable on the stony ground, it wasn’t quite as cold as on the surface, and so she soon fell asleep.
A searing pain ripped Arvid from her sleep so violently that she shot up with a loud cry. Something heavy clung to her hip. Arvid stared, horrified, at a slimy, wriggling creature, disoriented and unsure if it was dream or reality. In a fit of panic, she grabbed the worm, but it cost her all her strength to tear it off her body and throw it away. In disbelief and with wildly beating heart she stared at the creature that now writhed on the floor a few steps in front of her.
It looked like a kind of thick worm and was a white, slightly translucent color. At its head it had two plump, pale red bags, perhaps something like eyes. Directly below them sat a round, vibrant mouth with a scary-looking stinger. The worm was at least one meter long and gleamed wetly in the dim light of the cave.
“Arvid!” a voice suddenly rang out, then she heard hastily approaching steps. She lifted her head as if in a trance. Loke’s face showed sudden horror when he saw the worm, but he hesitated only a moment. He pulled a dagger and cut its head in half in a single violent blow. Then he threw the weapon aside and knelt down in front of Arvid.
“Did it sting you?” he asked urgently.
Arvid was still so blindsided that she could only nod weakly. Involuntarily her hand wandered to her waist, where a burning pain throbbed.
“Damn!” Loke gasped and started to open her coat.
“What kind of… animal is this?” Arvid asked slowly. Her tongue felt as if it were a soaked sponge, and her head seemed so heavy, her neck could scarcely carry it.
“We call them deep-dwellers,” Loke said. “This one was just a young one; they get larger than the Rocks of the demons and have an extremely potent, paralyzing poison.”
Arvid tried to nod, but she didn’t even succeed at that. Her entire body was like a single lump of lead and her eyes could no longer focus properly. She tried to concentrate on the blurry picture of Loke, who in jittery movements freed her from the thick layer of clothing that covered her belly.
“Try to stay calm,” she heard his voice as a distorted noise. She thought she heard something about a city, but then everything around her dissolved into a sea of dancing patterns, swirling shapes and colors that were gradually swallowed up by darkness.
The Month of Refreshing Freedom
“I think she wakes up,” said a muffled female voice.
The words came to Arvid’s ears as the suffocating blackness slowly began to lift from her senses. Her sight was covered by blurred, colored mist that repeatedly melted, mingled and formed strange patterns.
“No,” she heard a man say. “She can’t see us. See? No reaction.”
The pattern before Arvid’s eyes took on darker colors. Somehow she thought to recognize fleeting, vague outlines, but they disappeared again in s
wirling clouds of blue and green.
“My lady?”
“Let it be, she doesn’t hear you,” the man said impatiently.
There was silence. For a while it seemed to Arvid as if she were floating in a vast bubble of soft nothingness, surrounded by rolling fog and dancing shadows. She heard a light noise. At first it sounded like a soft knock on glass, but then it changed, and Arvid realized that it was the sound of dripping water.
She blinked. She had the strange feeling of realizing that she had a body that pulled her down onto a soft surface. Carefully, she moved a little. She felt the weight of a blanket and noticed that she was looking at a stone ceiling, which was covered with a pattern of light reflected on water.
With difficulty she straightened up, but she managed to catch only a glimpse of her surroundings.
“Oh, my lady!” cried a frightened female voice. A woman in a brown coat came running, bent over her and looked at her anxiously. Her face was still very young. She had brown eyes and long brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail.
“Can you hear me?” she asked.
Arvid nodded lazily. Her neck was stiff and aching; her limbs felt heavy and numb. Her mouth was dry and sticky, and she felt an almost unbearable thirst.
“Water, please,” she said hoarsely.
“At once, my lady.” The woman straightened up, but at this moment another figure stepped beside her and handed Arvid a silver cup. It was a man with blond, shoulder-length hair, who also wore a brown coat and looked much older.
Arvid emptied the cup in greedy gulps, and the man immediately refilled it with water from a large silver jug. This time Arvid took more time and looked around cautiously.
She was lying in the corner of a huge bed, which was covered with dense fur and colorful, woven blankets. Far above them stretched a semicircular stone ceiling, on which from somewhere the reflection of water fell. A murmur as from a fountain could be heard; the air was filled with the scent of fresh moss. It was obvious that she was in a cave.
Fragments of your Soul (The Mirror Worlds Book 1) Page 37