by Brenda Drake
Why isn’t he moving? Calm down. Just one more step and he’ll be in range. Don’t jump the gun, Stevie. Focus.
Saga belted out another howl.
“She calls for Blake, but he will not make it in time to save you,” he said and took another step toward her.
“I am anything but weak.” She lunged forward—the heat leaving her fingertips in a bright light—and smashed the rock into his nose. A deep guttural groan punched from his lips and he crashed to the ground. “And that’s how David brought down Goliath. Now who’s weak?”
She threw the rock at him and darted into the woods, weaving through trees, searching for Saga. Her arm was heavy at her side as if it had fallen asleep.
“Saga!” she called.
She howled again, and Stevie turned toward the sound. When Stevie found Saga, she was chained to a tree. An ancient-looking padlock with three interlocking triangles etched into its metal secured the ends of chain together. There wasn’t anything around to undo them. Stevie tried to pull the chain apart. It wouldn’t budge. She had an idea and searched for a sharp stick.
After she found one, she stuck it into the padlock and moved it around. “Where did he get such a tough lock? It looks like it’s from another world.” She glanced down at Saga. “I’m talking to a dog, I mean wolf, like she will answer me.”
Just when she was going to give up, Blake came through the trees. She ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“You’re okay, you’re—” her voice cracked.
His arms encircled her. “We found Loki out cold. Did you do that?”
She nodded against his chest. “Yes, I was so scared.”
“How did you bring down a god?”—his breath was warm against her neck—“a human girl.”
“I think it was the horn,” she said. “It got hot then released a light when I struck him.”
He released her. “It had to be the power from the ritual circle.”
Saga whined and Blake’s eyes went to her.
“Loki hurt Saga and locked her up,” she answered the question on his face. “I can’t get it unlocked. And who carries heavy chains with them when transporting to another world, anyway?”
“Loki, must have shrunk them before transporting. He’s probably carrying an arsenal in his pockets. Here, let me try.” The chain rattled when he lifted and placed it on a nearby boulder. He slammed his hammer against it, breaking several links and cracking the boulder. Once released, Saga shot around them on hyper-speed.
“Where’s Kyle?” she asked, looking around the trees.
Blake carried the chains and walked over to her. “He’s watching over Loki. It’s this way.” His boots crushed the dry leaves scattered under the trees as he led the way back to the ritual circle.
When they returned to the clearing, Kyle was aiming his spear at Loki.
“He’s out cold,” Blake said. “You can put down the stave.”
Kyle shook his head. “Hell no, I’m not risking him suddenly jumping me.”
“Suit yourself.” Blake dropped the chains at Kyle’s feet. “Possibly you could take a break and help me lock him up.”
They dragged Loki to a tree and wrapped one of the broken pieces of the chain around his waist a few times before Kyle melted the chains together with lightning from his stave, securing Loki to the tree. Saga stood guard on Loki, her teeth baring each time he groaned.
In the woods surrounding them, women’s voices chanted in an unfamiliar language. They came into the clearing, holding their palms toward the sky. There were ten of them. Their dresses were long and the colors of autumn. Various hues of green capes rested on each’s shoulders, the hoods covering their heads.
nítján
The women kept moving until all ten surrounded the ritual circle. Huginn and Muninn flew down from the trees and landed on a thick fallen branch. The ravens rested their wings on their backs and lowered their heads.
Blake pressed his hand against Stevie’s back and leaned toward her. “They won’t harm you,” he said. “They’re völvur. They’re like shamans.”
“What do they want?” she whispered.
Blake glanced over at Kyle. “I think our grandmother sent them.”
Kyle rested his stave by his side. “Jörd? Why would she call on them?”
One of the women broke from the group and stepped lightly over the grass to them. The völvur never harmed nature. They protected lives.
“Stevie Moon,” the woman said in a soothing voice. “We are here to watch over you while completing the ritual. You need not be afraid. There are creatures nearing. All want the power you hold. We must hurry.”
Stevie’s expression made Blake want to take her away from there. Keep her safe. Her heavy lashes left shadows under her eyes. But he couldn’t do that. Not only did all the nine worlds depend on Stevie breaking her bond with the horn, but also her life did. His hand went to her cheek, and his voice held so much emotion when he spoke.
“I will not leave you,” he said. “I’ll defend you with my life.”
She smiled, a bittersweet one with the tears forming in her eyes. “I thought you were going to say you loved me.”
He was laughing now. “I worried it was too soon.”
“Well,” she said. “Nothing says I love you like being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.”
“We must get started,” the woman said, sounding irritated.
“Okay.” Stevie raised on her toes to kiss his cheek. He pulled her toward him and kissed her lips, holding her there, not wanting to let her go. The fear of losing her settled deep within his soul.
She lightly pushed her hands against his chest. “We have to get started.”
He released her and watched as the woman led her to the circle.
Stevie stopped, and he thought she was going to return to him. “Oh, I forgot the stuff.” She rushed over to where they had found Loki knocked out on the ground and picked up the envelope and satin bag.
Kyle traipsed to Blake’s side. “Dude, I would have totally declared my love for her.”
“And you would have chased her off,” Blake said.
“And you have no game. Didn’t you hear what she said?” Kyle laughed before mimicking Stevie in a high-pitched voice, “Nothing says I love you like being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. She so knows how you feel.”
“Her remark only says she knows how I feel. She never mentioned her feelings.” Blake clapped Kyle’s back. “We should come up with a battle plan. It’s going to be a tough fight with just the two of us.”
The air shifted a few feet away from Blake and Kyle. A shimmer of rainbow light appeared, and Módi and Magni strolled out with a dozen warriors from Asgard trailing them. “Brothers. We heard you might be in need of assistance tonight.”
Blake took turns giving his brothers the warrior greeting by grasping their hands and bumping their right chests together. “We could definitely use the help.”
Loki moaned from his place chained to the tree, and Saga growled at him.
Magni’s eyes went to where the sound originated. “What happened to him?”
“He tried to take Heimdall’s Horn for himself,” Kyle said and laughed before adding, “The girl smashed his nose in.”
Magni joined him and bellowed. “I am certain Father would like a visit from his brother.” He motioned for two warriors to take Loki back to Asgard.
Járnsaxa stormed out of the transporter just after the warriors departed with Loki. She had her warrior gear on. “Has the battle started? Where’s my boy.” She spotted Kyle. “Oh good. I was so worried.”
“Nice to know,” Kyle said. “I was beginning to think you hadn’t a heart.”
“Oh please, you know how dear you are to me,” she said and patted his cheek, which was more of a slap.
“You tried to poison Stevie.” Blake fisted his hands and started at her.
Magni stepped between them, pushing Blake back. “Be careful, brother. She is one o
f father’s favorites. You may not touch her without earning his vengeance.”
“It wasn’t personal,” Járnsaxa said, a smirk on her face. “I no longer have need to kill her.”
Blake backed away from Magni. He was right. Thor would punish him. He glanced over at Stevie. And he’d use her to do it.
“What are we facing?” Módi asked.
“There are two leeches left in the bay,” Blake said. “Possibly dark elves. Trolls have been spotted around town, too. Not sure what else will come once the ritual starts.”
Kyle grasped Blake’s shoulder. “I’ll fill them in. We’ll secure a perimeter around this clearing. You stay with Stevie.” He tossed a look at Saga. “Come with me, girl.”
Blake gave a quick nod to Saga before crossing the clearing to the ritual circle.
Saga dashed after Kyle into the woods.
Stevie was reading the note from her aunt that explained the ritual.
“How are you faring?” Blake’s adrenaline was high, and it was hotter than Helheim.
“Okay, so I have to put the god’s runes in order.” She glanced up from the paper. “In order? How?”
He placed his hammer on the ground and pulled his shirt up to his face, wiping the wetness away. “You have to think like an Asgardian. We value greatness. Give me the bag and I’ll place the runes. How far apart?”
She frowned at the note. “It doesn’t say. But the greatest should inhabit the north.”
“Okay, I’ll separate them as evenly as I can.” Blake knew which rune would reside in the north. No doubt, he was the greatest ruler, even over Thor. He laid Odin’s rune on one of the jagged rocks sticking out of the ground. Then he placed Thor.
“How do you know which way to go?” she said, following him. “What if it’s supposed to be counterclockwise?”
“We go by the warrior’s hand. The right one.” He put down Frigga’s rune. He continued with all the runes until the final one was set. Glancing around at his work, he was satisfied. Each looked evenly placed. “And now what?”
“I step into the circle wearing Heimdall’s Horn with Odin’s ravens on either side of me.” She tucked the note into her pocket. “No wonder those birds have been following me around.”
“So that’s it?”
“Yep, that’s all.”
Blake stepped over the circle and between two of the women waiting around it. He rested his hands on Stevie’s shoulders. “You ready?”
“I am.”
“Once you’re in the circle and it is ignited,” the woman said, “the only way another can enter is by killing one of the völvur.”
Stevie shot a startled look in the direction of the women. “I can’t risk their lives.”
Blake took her chin in his hand and brought her head back to face him. “No one will harm them as long as I live.”
Stevie shook her head hard, breaking his hold on her chin. “I can’t do this. Why is this happening to me? I want to go home.”
He wrapped her into his arms and rested his hand on the back of her head. “Once you do this, your heart will heal. You will make it through this. Now, we’re out of time. Get in the circle.”
Touching the horn charm, she tramped over the fallen autumn leaves and into the circle. Huginn and Muninn joined her, landing by her feet. The women raised their hands higher. A bright beam shot down from the moon and filled the circle with light, then another beam shot up into the sky, illuminating a cluster of stars forming a horn.
Shouts came from the woods. The schling of swords and the thunderous sounds of metal against metal rang through the trees. Blake readied Jölnir. Frost crept up the trunk of the trees in front of him, crackling as it ran up to the branches and froze the last of the autumn leaves, hanging onto their last bit of life.
He waited. The presence of frost didn’t mean the giants had broken through the Asgardians’ blockade. The bloodcurdling scream coming from Stevie caused him to turn. Her head was back, and she was lifted to her toes. The ravens held her up by her shoulders. Heimdall’s Horn floated in front of her, the chain pulling against the back of her neck.
Frost touched his boot, and he hopped back, searching around. It crawled over the ground at his side and he spun around, throwing his hammer at a Frost Giant charging him. The hammer slammed into the beast’s chest, and it went soaring into the trees, splintering the ones in its path. Blake summoned his hammer and it flew back to him. He caught it and readied himself for the next attack.
Blake checked over his shoulder again. Stevie hadn’t moved. Her skin glowed as bright as the moon slowly descending in the hazy, dark sky. A stick cracked, and at the same time he spun around, he grabbed lightning from the sky. Two elves charged at Blake, and he sent a bolt at one. The elf slammed onto his back. Blake swung at the other one, hitting him across the face and sending him against a tree.
More rushed into the clearing and swarmed him. He got a few with his hammer before collapsing on the ground. Something sharp cut into his side, and Blake grunted as he reached for Jölnir, but it was just out of his reach. Three elves held him down as one readied to strike him with a double-headed battle-ax.
Saga sprung on the elf, knocking him to the ground and sinking her teeth into his neck. The other elves were startled enough to lose their grip on Blake. He kicked one off him and pulled his arm from the other, grabbing Jölnir. He swung the hammer around, slamming one after the other in the head with it.
Kyle raced into the clearing. “Are you okay?”
“You’re a little late,” Blake said, standing.
“What’s going on there?” Kyle nodded to the ritual circle.
“I’m not certain.” Blake hated seeing Stevie in that state.
Kyle clapped his back. “Get ready. There’s too many of them and they keep getting by us. You would think with the end of the gods at risk, Thor would be here.”
“He was banned from Midgard by the Norns,” Blake said.
“What did he do to get such a harsh punishment?” Kyle kept his eyes on the tree line.
“It was an accident. He was fighting Frost Giants on Midgard, and a human family got in the way.”
The witches’ chants stopped and they lowered their hands. The cluster of stars forming the horn exploded, leaving brief shimmering lights in the sky. The moonbeam retracted. Blake sprinted to Stevie and caught her before she fell.
Blake carried her in his arms and placed her gently on a patch of grass. She looked peaceful lying there, her skin still aglow from the light of the moon. He placed his hand on her chest and listened. Her breaths were shallow, and he worried she was slipping away.
The women slowly departed the clearing seemingly without concern of the creatures somewhere out in the woods battling.
“We need to get out of here before any more creatures find us.” Kyle knelt on the other side of Stevie. “Is she dead?”
“No. I don’t think so.” But Blake worried she was dying. Her breaths were slowing fast.
“Then why are there tears in your eyes?” Kyle patted Blake’s hand. “It will be okay. I’ll call May. She’s a doc.”
Blake swiped at his eyes. “Yes, call her.”
A brisk wind swirled around them, pulling up leaves and debris and shielding them from the outside world. It was as if they were inside a hurricane.
“You needn’t contact the mortal,” three women of various colors and dressed in white flowing robes said in unison, their arms outstretched as they kept the hurricane shield up.
“Who are you?” Kyle asked.
“We rule the destiny of gods and men,” they said together.
Kyle stared up at them with awe in his eyes. “You’re the Norns.”
“Remove the horn and the girl will live,” they said at once.
Blake fumbled with the clasp trying to undo it.
Kyle heaved a sigh, grabbed the chain from him, and tugged it free. The horn dangled from the chain grasped in his hand. “It’s not like she’s going to wear it again,
right?”
Stevie’s eyes flew open, and she gasped, choking on the air rushing into her lungs.
A sense of relief washed over Blake at seeing her eyes open. “Easy. Slow down your breaths.”
When her coughing had stopped and Stevie’s breathing fell into a normal rhythm, Blake pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest.
The moon’s glow had left her skin.
“I thought you—” He couldn’t even say the words. If she had died, he wasn’t sure he would ever recover. His fear of the past repeating itself would always be there. It might never go away.
“You thought what?” Stevie struggled to sit up.
Blake helped her. “Nothing.”
But the Norns knew what Blake was thinking. “Without love lost,” they said, “its value would never be realized. Now, in order to transport the horn to Asgard, it must be in the jewelry box. Do you have it?”
Blake and Kyle gave each other puzzled looks before both looked at Stevie.
Stevie’s eyes went to the Norns. “It’s in my room. At home.”
“You must get it quickly,” they said, lowering their arms. The hurricane receded and the leaves and debris fell back to the ground. “Put the horn in its box, and then Blake can bring it to Asgard. Be careful, all of Yggdrasil has descended on your homeland.”
“We’ll get Stevie somewhere safe,” Kyle said, standing.
Blake guided Stevie to her feet. “Good plan,” he said.
The Norns rose their hands to stop them. “The girl must do it. Only she can open the box.”
“Not so,” Kyle said. “I opened it once.”
“That was before the ritual. Now only Stevie can do it. It was she who began the ritual, and it is she who must end it. Once she puts it into the box and closes the lid, the horn will forever be sealed within.” The air adjusted behind them before shimmering into a rainbow. “Go safely,” they said and stepped into the portal, disappearing somewhere within the nine worlds.
Kyle brushed debris from his hands. “So, we’re out of the frying pan and into the fire. How do you want to do this?”
“You were out there,” Blake said. “What’s our best bet?”