Anthem Of The Dwarf King

by Charley Case

  “Chi?”

  He growled. “I don't know what I’ll do about her. I’ll think of something.”

  She patted his shoulder. “Shir.” Penny took to the air and circled back around, staying out of sight.

  “Good luck to you, too.” Finn took a slow breath and stoked his rage one more time before limping to the shore.

  Blood squished in his boot from the knife and bullet wound.

  The Dark Star smiled with malice at him. “I knew you couldn't leave her to die. Sentiment gets you every time.” She gave Mila a shake.

  Finn closed the distance between them slowly. “Let her go, Hellena. I’m the one you want. Let her go, and I’ll come with you.”

  He saw Danica getting to her feet, although she swayed, shaken from the devastating injury. Behind her, a banged-up four-wheeler idled on the snow.

  “We are far beyond that now. I told you my people were working to get the Gjallarhorn working; I trust that they can. But I can't trust you. Not after this.” She spoke in a normal tone, but magic amplified her voice.

  “So what do you want? Give me the girl, and we’ll leave. Leave Denver, whatever you want.” He kept closing the distance, exaggerating his limp so she might underestimate him. The rage flowed, but he kept it off his face.

  She laughed. “I don't care what promises you make. You are far too dangerous to let live. All I want now is for you to watch.”

  Finn narrowed his eyes. “Watch what?”

  “Watch me kill your precious Mila.” She held out a hand and it filled with smoke that condensed into a bubble as black as her namesake. “This is the price of insolence, dwarf king.” Her face twisted into a mask of hatred. “I told you your refusal would cost your friends’ lives. Witness now what you have brought upon yourself!”

  Finn broke into a sprint, but he was too far to make it. He cocked his arm back to hurl Fragar when Mila’s head rolled forward and her eyes opened.

  “Shut the fuck up, bitch.” Mila pointed the Ivar at Hellena’s face and pulled the trigger. A blast of pure white light enveloped Hellena’s head and shoulders. The Dark Star dropped Mila and screamed. She staggered backward and fell to the ice, clutching her face.

  Finn didn't stop running, but he changed direction and scooped Mila into his arms. He bounded toward the four-wheeler as Danica climbed into it. “Danica! We need to get the fuck out of here.”

  She gazed over her shoulder, her elven eyes looking from her stone skin mask and clearing at the sight of him holding Mila. Finn slid to a stop beside the ATV and climbed on the back. He caught a glimpse of Hellena climbing unsteadily to her feet, her face a smoking mess.

  The sound of a snowmobile came from their left, and he glanced to see the twins racing across the ice away from the shed with Penny soaring above them.

  “Go!” Finn shouted, and Danica hit the gas.

  The tires spun, then the metal studs bit in, and they rocketed forward.

  Finn glanced back and saw the Dark Star standing, black smoke roiling off of her in thick streams. She raised her hands and the smoke coalesced between them, spinning faster and faster, crackling with bolts of red lightning. Her furious glare met Finn's, her red and blistered face twisted in hatred.

  Time slowed, and Finn saw the madness in Hellena’s soul. She was smart and capable and able to organize a worldwide movement.

  And she was also batshit crazy.

  She was going to kill him. She was going to kill them all.

  A powerful and low-pitched sound shuddered beneath them, so powerful they could feel it in their bones. It lifted the ice from below. Snowdrifts jumped upward. The lake cracked and echoed from all directions. Finn's chest vibrated as a shockwave passed through him.

  The Dark Star held her magic, her expression one of confusion. She gazed at the ice below her. “What have you done?” she screamed, pulling her hands apart and dispelling her magic, only to put them together again to form a new spell.

  Too late.

  The ice bucked in a dome several hundred yards wide and a good twenty feet high or more. Hellena fell to her knees, her spell disrupted. Then, the dome collapsed, sucked into the lake in a bowl. It sent a wave outward at incredible speed, ripping the ice in boulder-sized chunks. The center of the bowl exploded upward and a geyser of freezing water and ice shot two-hundred feet into the air.

  The wave gained on them as it destroyed the surface and sucked everything on the ice into the water. Bodies and snowmobiles disappeared under the wave.

  “Faster,” Finn called out.

  “I have it floored!” Danica protested. “We’re almost there.”

  Finn saw the shore coming quick. It was going to be close.

  The foaming ice-filled mini-tsunami roared only a few yards behind them.

  “Hang on!” Danica warned before they hit the shore.

  The ATV jarred them forward as they smashed into the slope, and the wave slammed into the back of the four-wheeler, hammering a couple chunks of ice into Finn's back and flung him off the vehicle. He tucked Mila into him as they hit the ground and rolled. They came to a stop, ice and slush washing over them.

  Then, all was still. Finn wiped the freezing water off his face, and saw Mila was soaked and still unconscious in his arms. “We need to get her inside.”

  Danica climbed off the ATV and stumbled around piles of ice all across the yard.

  Finn struggled to his feet and staggered to her side, Mila still cradled in his arms. “Put your arm around my neck,” he said, leaning into Danica.

  She wrapped a stone arm over his shoulders with a quiet groan, and they made their way toward the house. They came across the twins and Penny laying on the ground, catching their breath.

  “Help her,” Finn ordered, and the two selkies jumped up and took Danica's considerable weight between them.

  Finn led them up the steps, and Penny opened the door.

  He stopped and gave her a nod. “Good work, Pen. You saved our asses with that overload.”

  She gave him a guilty look. “Chir shee.”

  “Ten minutes?” he raised an eyebrow. “It was less than two.”

  “Chi chi.” She shrugged.

  He chuckled. “Yeah, you did say it was unpredictable. Let’s get a fire going and see what we can do for the girls.”

  “Shir shee chir.” Penny led the way inside.

  Finn gazed out at the broken, oscillating waters. “I don't think so, Penny. We’ll see her again.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Finn laid Mila on the couch, and Regan began stripping Mila’s wet, frozen clothes off while Penny and Ronan built up a fire in the fireplace. With Regan taking over care for Mila, Finn went to Danica, who was leaning against the kitchen island and still wore her soaked, bloodstained coat. She held her broken-off appendage close to her chest.

  “Dan...” He cleared his throat and put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get this off you and have a look.”

  She nodded and let him do it, her marble cheeks wet from the wave or tears or both. They got the bloody garment off. He tossed it in the sink, and pulled out a pocketknife, wincing when he dug his hand into the pocket of his wounded leg. Danica snapped from her stupor when she noticed he was in pain.

  Her eyes went wide. “Finn! Why didn't you say you were hurt?” She began to reach for his harness with her broken arm and stopped, switching to her left hand, and searched for his potions.

  “What happened to your potions?”

  He gave her a weak smile and opened the pocketknife. “Used ‘em. I was hoping you could stitch me up when we get one of Mila's into you.” He grabbed the long sleeve of her shirt that hung over the stump and cut it off, exposing the rough break where her forearm had been.

  She glanced at it and sniffed back tears. “I can't…” she said with a hoarse voice. “It’s…gone.”

  “That’s what the potion is for.”

  She shook her head. “You don't understand. As soon as I take the ring off, my arm will be gone. For
ever. I need the stones that made it up to get it back, but they’re at the bottom of the lake.”

  Finn's face fell. “These potions have grown limbs back before.”

  She laughed and sobbed at the same time. “This is different. The ring changes you at a cellular level. When I take it off, it’ll change me back…minus my arm. My body will think I’m not supposed to have one, so a healing potion won’t regrow it. It’s why these rings are so risky.”

  She held up her good hand with the ring on her middle finger. “Would you mind? I’m shorthanded at the moment.”

  “Really? A joke?” Finn took her hand in his.

  She sniffed. “Laughter is the best medicine or so I’ve heard. Please. Take it off. It’ll be okay. We’ll figure something out.”

  He frowned then reached up and slipped the ring off her finger. Her skin and hair began to gain color. It was odd to see her hair turn deep brown.

  “Your hair.” He held out a strand.

  She laughed and sniffed. “I told you I dye it.”

  They avoided glancing at her arm.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to come,” he said.

  She gave him a sad smile. “I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Besides, it wasn't like I could have stayed home with assassins crawling all over the place. Don't feel sorry for me. I’m the only person I know who can say they would give their right arm to help their friends and mean it.”

  He chuckled, and they both peered down to see a healed stump three inches below her elbow.

  “At least it isn’t bleeding,” she said. She looked at him. “Now your turn. Since you’ve already drank a potion today, we should hold off giving you another for a few hours. Take your pants off, and let’s look at your leg.”

  He did as asked and sat up on the kitchen island. Danica began washing the blood away with a clean dish towel and water. “I would use sterile pads to clean this, but we’ll have you take a potion anyway in a couple hours. Right now, we can't have you losing blood like a sieve, so I’ll glue it.” She held up a bottle of super glue procured from one of the kitchen drawers.

  “Why not stitch it?” Then he felt foolish for asking.

  “Well, besides the obvious, I can't stitch the muscle one-armed, but we need to keep it closed. You got lucky. No major arteries were opened.”

  She called Ronan over and had him hold Finn’s wounds together while she applied a thin layer of glue and sealed the edges together. Afterward, Danica went to the fridge and pulled out a beer.

  She stared at the bottle, realizing she couldn't open it, and tears sprang into her eyes. Finn hobbled to her side and opened it.

  “I suppose I’ll need to learn to use a prosthetic. I saw they have robotic ones at my last conference. Maybe I’ll get one of those.”

  That gave Finn an idea. “Holy shit. A prosthetic. That’s it. We can get you a dwarven-made one. I’ll bet the Huldu have some in stock from the original voyage.”

  Danica shook her head. “Why would dwarves make prosthetics? That’s such a niche thing for something like this.” She held up her stump.

  “Not all races can use healing potions. The empire is huge. There’s a demand for everything out there.”

  “A dwarven-made arm would be bad-ass,” Ronan cut in.

  She peered at the selkie and half-smiled, then turned her gaze back to Finn. “Are dwarven prosthetics bad-ass?” she asked, her mood lightening.

  He gave her a sly smile. “Oh, you’ll see.”

  An hour later, Hermin appeared in a bubble, his face red with anger.

  They all wore dry clothes and huddled on the couches beside the fire. The twins played their game, this time with headphones on. Finn had Mila cradled on his lap, wrapped in a thick blanket, and Penny rested on top of it. Danica was under her own blanket, resting her head against Finn's shoulder.

  Hermin glared at them. “What the hell, people? I said keep it low-key and you go and set off a magical explosion so powerful we felt it all the way in Denver. How is that low-key?”

  Finn gave him a smile. “Oh, hey, Hermin. Sorry. It wasn't like we were planning on facing off with Hellena. It just sort of happened.”

  Hermin pulled on his hair with both hands and made a noise before sputtering, “Just sort of happened? We have to erase everyone’s memories for twenty miles! Do you know how much time that’ll take? And who the heck is Hellena?”

  “The Dark Star.” Danica lifted her stump in the air. “I lost an arm.” She took a drink of beer.

  “You lost…you…your arm? Are you drunk?”

  She nodded her heavy head. “Maybe. Don't judge me.” She displayed her stump again. “I lost an arm.”

  “Oh, speaking of,” Finn said, “Any chance there are dwarven prosthetics in the cargo holds? I kinda promised to get one for her.”

  Hermin was so flustered he couldn't speak for a few seconds. Finally, he sighed. “I’ll check. There were some a few thousand years ago, and I don't know why anyone would have taken them. Give me a few days on that. Look. There’s going to be a lot of cleaning up here. Can you guys do me one favor?”

  “Sure, you name it Hermin,” Finn answered.

  “Please, for the love of god, don't blow any more shit up for, like, at least a month. Can you do that?”

  Finn bit his lip and furrowed his brow. “I promise we’ll do our best.”

  Hermin nodded. “I thought you might say something like that. Okay, I’ll be around for the next few days if you need anything. And, I’ll look into the prosthetic.”

  “Thanks, Hermin. I owe you one,” Finn said.

  Hermin gave him a hard stare. “Considering this, I think it’s a few more than one.” He formed a bubble around himself and disappeared.

  Finn's head snapped up. The fire had burned down to glowing embers, casting the room in dark red. The twins and Danica had gone to bed already, and Penny was curled up and snoring on Mila's chest.

  Mila still slept, using his lap as a pillow. He heard an intermittent buzzing sound and peered around the living room. Finn gently moved out from under Mila and replaced his leg with a pillow. After some searching, he found it was his discarded, bloody pants making the noise. He reached into a pocket and found his phone, which had been switched to vibrate. The caller ID read ‘restricted.’

  Finn hit the answer button. “Hello?”

  A raspy female voice accosted him, “Finnegan. So nice to hear your voice again.”

  “Hellena,” he growled. “Can't say the same about you.”

  She laughed, which turned into a cough for several seconds. “I must say, I’m impressed you hid your little friend’s true nature from me for so long. Had I realized there were any Valkyries left on Earth, I would have recruited her long ago.”

  “Valkyrie…” Finn started, then it all fell into place. Mila’s affinity for nature manifested in her ability to communicate with insects, her unnatural luck for winning fights no anthropologist should win, and her obsession with speed. All those things and more. She had channeled celestial power through the Ivar pistol!

  Mila was a fucking Valkyrie.

  “Oh, you didn't know?” Hellena’s voice sounded gravelly and tired yet still had its usual air. “How interesting.”

  “I suppose this is another threat then? More bounties, more men coming after us? But, let me guess, this time it’s personal and all that shit? Well, let me tell you something, Hellena. More people in more star systems than you can count have threatened me and guess what? Most of them make you look like nothing more than a schoolyard bully. You can take your fucking dark star shit and shove it up your ass. You are not coming for me, motherfucker, I’m coming for you.”

  She hummed with joy. “Oh, I knew you would be something special, dwarf king. I welcome the challenge. I was calling to tell you that, yes, this is personal now. But I have canceled the bounties on your heads.” Her tone shifted. “Because I intend to kill you myself.”

  “Well, I hope you bring your diapers then.”


  “My…diapers? What are you talking about?”

  “Because I’m going to beat the shit out of you.” He laughed and ended the call.

  “Who was that?” Mila asked, gazing sleepily over the back of the couch.

  He smiled. “You’re up.”

  She nodded, then groaned. “My head is killing me, but I think I’ll be okay.” She squinted at him in the dark. “Was it Hellena?”

  “Yeah. Bad news, she’s still alive. Good news, she canceled the bounties.”

  Mila brightened. “That is good.”

  “I guess. The downside is she’s coming after us herself.” He set the phone on the table and crossed his arms. “But you put a damn good hurt on her, so I think we have time before she’s in fighting shape again.”

  “Good. Then you can take me on that date.” She smiled.

  He laughed. “Okay. When?”

  “Right now.” She pointed at the hot tub outside. “Grab some beers. I’ll meet you out there.”

  He smiled, then his expression fell. “There’s a lot we need to talk about.”

  She held up a hand. “Is anyone dead?”

  He shook his head.

  “Is anyone going to die?”

  He shook his head again.

  “Then we can talk about it in the morning.” She stood with the blanket wrapped around her. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be out. Don’t forget the beers.”

  He held his hands up in surrender. “Okay. You win. I’ll grab the beers.”

  She padded down the hall and disappeared into one of the bedrooms.

  Finn pushed off the table and walked to the fridge. Danica must have been planning on partying when she went to the store earlier. It was stocked despite the ones they’d already drank. He grabbed six bottles and carried them to the balcony door, then awkwardly opened it with his elbow.

  It was snowing again. He crunched through two fresh inches of it and set the beers on a snow-covered table beside the built-in hot tub. He made a clear spot in the snow on the deck beside the steaming pool and kicked his boots off then pulled his shirt and pants off and stepped into the water. Finn sucked in a breath at the sudden change in temperature.