by Amy Sumida
I didn't bother to defend myself; I was too busy waiting for an opening—looking for the perfect moment to start singing. Kyanite was already prepared, and I knew the music would begin with my voice. “Release” by She Keeps Bees doesn't have an intro; it goes straight into the lyrics. And its words were perfect for what I had in mind.
The song was one of those that was hard to interpret. It was obviously cruel, but what wasn't so clear was whether it was pointing out the truth to be helpful or simply to be callous. It didn't matter to me; a song was what I made of it, and I needed this song to be ruthless. I needed to infuse the lyrics—about a woman tearing apart a man's life—with the cold actuality of it; the evil of a wicked lover who didn't care one whit for the man she destroyed. And I needed Mimir to feel it—to know it as the absolute truth.
Mimir eased his grip on Freya. I saw my opportunity and seized it. I began to sing; slashing at Mimir's heart and mind with lyrical insinuations of betrayal and cold calculation. Kyanite played the groaning guitar, and then added the abrasive strike of cymbals as I sang low and slow; my voice seeping into Mimir's mind like ink into water. The almost-bluesy music dropped with my voice and then rose to stab at Mimir insistently. Eileen doesn't love you; it said. She wants you for what you can do for her, and that is all.
Mimir's eyes went wide, and his hands began to shake. Freya's stare shifted sideways, and she watched him like a snake waiting to strike. She may have been bound in ropes—which were most-likely warded—but I knew she'd try to defend herself if given a chance. She was one tough broad. If my song worked, however, she wouldn't need that chance.
“You fucking hurt her, and I will kill you slowly!” Cerberus shouted.
My best friend was losing his shit. He'd stood aside while Odin and Mimir exchanged barbs, but now that I had instigated an attack—even though no one was moving—Cerberus was done waiting quietly. He started forward, but I waved him back vehemently. Calex saw my motions and grabbed Cerberus. Cal restrained Cer; whispering something in his ear. Cerberus finally nodded and went calm as I continued to sing.
Meanwhile, Eileen was backing away from Mimir and us; her gaze darting around the room anxiously. Her hand was starting to move toward a chain at her throat, and I was about to alert the others of her potential escape when Torin stepped up behind Eileen and grabbed her. Torin snatched the necklace off Eileen with one hand as he restrained her with the other. A traveling stone hung from the gold chain that he pocketed. Torin smiled grimly at Eileen as she tried to fight him.
“What do you say we trade?” Torin asked Mimir.
But my song had already worked itself too deep into Mimir's mind. My eyes widened in horror as Mimir pointed the gun at Eileen... and Torin. I had succeeded in undermining Eileen and Mimir's relationship, but I'd endangered Torin in the process. I stopped singing abruptly, but it was too late; I could feel the success of my spell.
Mimir pulled the trigger just as I screamed for Torin to duck.
I was too late, but Gage wasn't. My griffin mate grabbed Torin around the waist and dove with him. Unfortunately, Eileen went with them. There was a scramble as Mimir kept firing, and Gage rolled away with only Torin. Eileen was screaming, but her screams were cut short by a bullet. Mimir let go of Freya entirely as he strode forward; glaring at Eileen's corpse as he kept firing into Eileen's face—beyond the number of bullets he had. The empty gun clicked over and over.
Cerberus had used the opportunity to grab Freya, and the goddess was safe; ungagged but still bound. I waved Cer away, and he went running out of the room with his girlfriend tossed over his shoulder.
“Put me down, Cerberus!” Freya shouted as they left. “And get me out of these damn ropes! I'm going to kick that motherfucker's ass! I'll claw his eyes out and give them to Odin! I'll—”
Freya's voice faded as Cerberus ignored her completely and kept running. Smart man. Once you have what you're fighting for, stop fighting. It's simple, but so many people don't grasp the concept. There were enough of us there to take on Mimir; we didn't need Cerberus, so Cer left with what mattered most to him.
“Eileen?” Mimir's broken-hearted voice stopped us all in our tracks.
Mimir dropped to his knees beside Eileen's corpse. With a sob, he yanked her body onto his lap and clutched her to his chest. It was hard to watch, especially since I had been Eileen's true killer, not Mimir. But we had all heard Eileen confess to her part in both the monster abductions and the atrocities in Primeval. There was no way we could let her live.
“No,” Mimir moaned. “No; I didn't mean to. I didn't want to. I don't understand.”
Odin moved forward, despite the emotional scene. He pulled a bottle out of his pocket as he started to chant something, and the bottle started to glow. But before Odin could launch an attack on Mimir, the giant God looked up, glared at his nemesis, and disappeared with Eileen's body.
“Mimir!” Odin shouted.
Chapter Forty-Seven
After Mimir escaped, we searched his hotel suite. We found a collection of spell components, but not the diamond. This didn't surprise us since Ilis had already declared that the Drachen Diamond had left with Mimir. He'd been smart enough to keep it on his person. But it wasn't the only rare ingredient for the planet reforming spell, and Mimir couldn't walk around with all of them in his pockets.
We collected the ingredients; the combination further confirming that Mimir was attempting to cast Odin's dangerous spell. Before that, though, Odin removed Freya's warded bonds, and she hugged the Witch elder warmly.
“He's lost his mind, Odin,” Freya said. “Mimir has this vendetta that keeps growing. First, it was you, and then me, and now he's added Elaria.”
“I think he's always been this way,” Odin said sadly. “I think we ignored the signs and let his charm blind us to his insanity.”
“Yes; your eye,” she whispered. “I can't believe he was behind that. How did we not see it?”
“Maybe we didn't want to see it,” Odin suggested softly.
Cerberus chuckled under his breath, and we all looked at him aghast.
“She asked how they didn't see it,” Cer pointed out and laughed more. “Odin's eye... see it... it's funny.”
We glared at him.
“Too soon?” Cerberus asked.
“Too dumb.” I grimaced at him.
“A gun,” Freya shook her head as she spoke. “He used a gun, Odin. What kind of a God does that?”
“A cunning one.” Odin frowned. “And now he's a grieving one. I think we may have just made things worse.”
“You freed me, so my opinion differs on that.” Freya smirked and then looked at me. “Actually, I need to thank you, Elaria. You've helped me yet again. It's beginning to become a habit.”
“Cerberus will have a bill for you later.” I winked at her.
“I would happily pay it,” Freya smiled warmly at me. “Thank you, El. Whatever you need, just name it—anytime.”
“You could help us catch Mimir,” Odin suggested.
“That I'm going to do anyway.” Freya's expression hardened. “No one ties me up and throws me in a closet! At least not without my consent.”
“Could you find the diamond again, Ilis?” I asked her.
“No; this is too much.” Odin held up his hand. “I can't ask you to keep chasing this psychopath around the realms with us, Ilis. We can find him on our own now. We know what ingredients Mimir will have to replace, and we can track him through them.”
“Odin”—Ilis shook her head with a smile—“I haven't had so much fun in years. Besides, this is an entire world we're talking about. I think I can spare some time to save a planet.”
“Thank you on behalf of that planet.” Torin bowed to Ilis. “I shall make your part in this known to all of Tír na nÓg.”
“I'm with you as well,” Calex said. “That maniac needs to be stopped, and I'm honored to be included in the hunting party.”
“Just give me a minute to find him,” Ilis added. “Th
en we can start hunting once more.”
“I'm going to contact Reyne while Ilis tracks the diamond.” I pulled out my contact charm. “He needs to be warned that Mimir may be returning.”
“I agree,” Declan said. “Tell him to have the Lesser Fey keep to their villages. If Mimir returns to Primeval, he'll probably go straight to the Amber Temple.”
“The Trinity Army,” I whispered. “Reyne needs to tell them to vacate the temple.”
“They're a fairy army,” Freya huffed. “They can handle Mimir.”
“Freya, it's Mimir,” Cerberus said. “A giant God with the brain of a scholar and the mind of a psychopath. I'm not sure of anything where he's concerned. But I am sure that he'll have something prepared to handle any obstacle that presents itself; especially fey obstacles.”
“He's just one God,” I said. “Let's not give Mimir more credit than he deserves. He's gotten this far because he manipulated people using his wits, not because he's magically strong.”
“And perhaps he's not that smart either,” Ilis said smugly. “Mimir is on Drach.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
There were two ingredients for Odin's spell that came from Drach; the Drachen Diamond, and the orinthes flower. The orinthes grew on mountaintops, but only those with such a high elevation that they had snow on them, no matter what time of the year it was. Orinthes had tiny white blooms—rather hard to spot amid snow—and no fragrance. But its hardiness, combined with its beauty, made it powerful.
It also grew in the one place on Drach where even dragons fear to tread.
Ilis and Calex directed our travel to the base of one of the tallest mountains on Drach. The Drachen siblings then stared up at the snowy peaks with trepidation before they looked back at us grimly.
“We cannot attend you on this mission,” Ilis announced.
“The cold,” Odin concluded as he nodded.
“We have trained our bodies to hibernate when the cold season comes,” Calex explained to the rest of us. “As soon as we stepped foot in the snow, our bodily functions would start to slow down. Within an hour, we would be in hibernation. Even if we hurried back down, it would be enough time to start the hibernation process and once begun, it's very difficult to stop.”
“Like a snake,” Cerberus noted.
“Yes,” Calex agreed. “And like snakes, if we failed to find a warm cave by the time we drifted to sleep, we'd die.”
“None of us have been there before, but we can see the top, so it shouldn't be a problem.”
“Shouldn't be?” I asked.
“Well, if you envision the edge, the edge is where you'll be taken,” Torin said.
“Precarious,” Banning noted.
“I can see past the edge,” Gage said. “I could take us all, I think.”
“You think?” Declan asked.
“I've never carried so many people along with me,” Gage said. “But it shouldn't be a problem.”
“Unless some of us end up on the mountain and some don't,” Declan pointed out.
“We're immortal,” Freya huffed. “A fall won't kill us.”
“Unless we fall on our heads,” Declan said dryly.
“Cover your head with your arms,” Freya said. “Didn't your mother teach you how to fall?”
“My mother taught me how to not fall.” Declan smirked.
“Touche, fairy.” Freya laughed.
“I suppose going with Gage is less risky,” Torin murmured.
“I'll have a hold on everyone,” Gage said. “If half of us end up over open air, I'll pull you back.”
We all looked at each other and shrugged.
“Okay; beam us up, Gagey,” I said.
Thank goodness the mountains on Drach had relatively flat tops. We emerged in a foot of icy snow, but we were all on solid ground. Snow melted and began to soak through my boots almost instantly. I shook off the slush as I looked around the bleak apex. There were jagged bits of rock poking out of the snow, but no other features of note. I searched for the rare orinthes flowers, but couldn't find them.
It was Odin who spotted the plant. He trudged through the snow to one of the little rock tips and knelt beside it. His fingertips lightly grazed the delicate white blossoms on a tiny plant whose leaves were the same color of the rock it grew on. It was a tricky camouflage; at first glance, the blooms seemed to be flecks of snow on the rock.
“Fuck; this is fucking cold!” Cerberus stamped his feet in a puddle of melted snow.
Freya grimaced at him. “Can you focus on searching the area for Mimir instead of spraying me with icy water?”
“Sorry,” Cer huffed. “You know I'm from Hades. I'm more of a tropical kind of guy.”
“If you think Hades is tropical, this must be a true hell for you.” Banning chuckled.
“Thanks for getting me, man.” Cerberus smacked Banning's back on the way to join the other men, who were roaming the mountaintop, looking for Mimir.
I shook my head as I went to stand beside Odin. I laid a hand on Odin's shoulder and peered at the flower. He was carefully collecting some of them and placing them gently in a leather pouch. Odin looked up at me when he was finished.
“I figured that I might as well take the opportunity to gather some rare spell components.” He shrugged as he stood.
“Sure,” I agreed. “But, Odin, Mimir's not here. They're searching the mountaintop, but it's pretty easy to see the lack of Giants.”
“I know.” Odin sighed. “I don't understand. Ilis said she felt...” his voice trailed off as his gaze fixed on something.
I turned and followed his stare to another little rock formation. There were more flowers growing on it, and at first, I thought that was what Odin was staring at because the plant looked as if it had been disturbed. But then I saw the sparkle. The mountain glimmered with mineral deposits, but this was different. This sparkle was lighter and much brighter.
“What is that?” I asked as Odin strode over to the stone.
“I think I may know, but I'm hoping I'm wrong,” Odin said as he bent to inspect the shimmer. “Blast him to Hades!” Odin shouted as he slammed his palm into the snow.
“What the fuck, Odin?” Cerberus snarled. “Don't do that; I was focused.”
“In other words: you scared the shit out of him,” Freya added with a chuckle.
Cerberus gave her a pained expression. “I rescue you, and all you do is torture me.”
“I know.” Freya smiled brightly. “And you love it.”
“If you two are done cooing like lovebirds,” Odin said as he brushed the sparkling dust into a small leather pouch, “maybe you'd like to hear about what I've found?”
“Sorry,” Freya and Cerberus muttered as they trudged over.
“Odin, what is it?” I asked again.
“Diamond dust,” he said grimly. “Drachen diamond dust, to be precise. That wily bastard scraped some dust off the diamond and left it here to throw us off his scent.”
“That's kind of brilliant,” Banning muttered.
We all looked at him with blank expressions.
“Well, it is,” Banning huffed. “To cut a diamond, you'd need a diamond saw, and that's not something most people carry around with them.”
“He's right,” Odin growled. “Mimir had to have planned this as well.”
“Does he see every possible outcome?” Declan asked.
“That's how he thinks.” Odin nodded. “He makes plans and follows them to every conclusion, and then he prepares for every contingency.”
“Devious,” Torin muttered.
“Whatever he is, he's not here.” Gage shivered. “So, let's get back down to where it's warmer.”
“Well said, griffin!” Cerberus exclaimed.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Ilis was livid when she heard what Mimir had done. She snarled; her face transforming into something much sharper for a moment. Evidently, Drachen didn't like being tricked, and they especially didn't like anyone turning their diamonds i
nto dust. After Ilis settled down, she focused on finding the diamond again. Then she opened her eyes and started yelling in what sounded like German, but was actually Drachen.
“I can feel the stone in three places,” she finally spoke in English.
“Mimir's jumped ahead, now that he knows we've discovered his trick,” I surmised. “We don't even know if he'll be in any of those locations, or if he's already moving on to a fourth; planting diamond dust before circling back to a previous site.”
“He's playing us.” Banning shook his head.
“Pixie-leading us,” Declan huffed.
“So, let's make a new game,” Gage suggested.
“Go on,” Odin urged.
“We know Mimir's goal; to take Tír na nÓg,” Gage pointed out. “And we know the best place on Tír na nÓg for him to cast his spell; a place he's already scoped out.”
“The Amber Temple.” Odin nodded. “Its connection to the land will make the spell easier to cast.”
“Sweet Sirens,” I whispered. “That's why he got the Trinity to poison the trees. Not to help them, or even to hurt Primeval.”
“He did it as a test run,” Torin concluded. “He wanted to see how quickly a spell could move through the land via that location. The dying trees gave him physical results to monitor.”
“That giant asshole is going to die screaming,” Declan said simply.
“So, we get to the Amber Temple first,” Gage went on. “And once there, we can plan for Mimir's arrival. It doesn't matter if he collects all the spell components; so long as we don't allow him to cast his spell in the temple.”
“Poor Primeval,” I whispered. “War is coming for it once more.”
“A war that will save it,” Odin said firmly. “The forest will understand.”
Chapter Fifty
As soon as we arrived at the Amber Temple—the deserted Amber Temple—we began to bring in an army. Declan and Torin had gone from Drach to their kingdoms, instead of going straight to Primeval with us. They then began to ferry in their knights—through an annoying process of jumping over to Earth first, and then to Primeval—as well as to bring in a few of mine. I needed to stay at the temple to greet the returning soldiers of Trinity Army and see to lodgings for our growing army.