Mimir's Well (The Oracles of Kurnugi Book 3)

by Martinez, Gama Ray

  "But you're hidden from her," Henry said.

  "Hidden from her vision, but not from her reasoning. If I were to help more overtly, she would know."

  "What happened to her?" Henry asked.

  Odin looked at Andromeda. "Can you tell him? I've been away from Asgard too long, and Idun will be suspicious." Andromeda nodded. "Oh, one more thing. Though Idun has commandeered it, this is still my keep. I have a steed in the stables. Take him, and he will serve you well."

  "Won't Idun know?"

  "She will know that you got him from the stable at the same keep you saved Andromeda from. Why should she be suspicious that you stole a horse?"

  Odin bowed to each of them and turned to walk away. He rounded a corner and disappeared behind a hill of coins. They went after him, but the king of the Norse gods was nowhere to be seen.

  "I knew he wasn't just an old man," Henry said, "but I never suspected that."

  "He has a history of going about in disguise," Andromeda said.

  "So tell me what happened to Idun."

  "Andvari did it."

  "The one that turned us into fish?"

  Andromeda nodded. "It wasn't his fault exactly. Odin and Loki were going to see King Hreidmar. On the way, Loki killed an otter and carried the body over his shoulder. When they arrived, Loki presented his prize, only to find out, the otter was actually Hreidmar's son. Hreidmar was enraged and trapped the gods."

  "How could Hreidmar trap a god?"

  "In the heart of his realm, Hreidmar can do whatever he wants, and even Odin can go there only at his sufferance. It's the main reason Idun's forces haven't been able to claim Nidavellir. Hreidmar could've held the gods there forever."

  "How did they get away?"

  "They made a deal. Odin offered to give Hreidmar whatever he wanted in exchange for their freedom. Hreidmar asked for as much gold as it would take to cover his dead son's hide."

  "That doesn't seem like much."

  "That's what Odin thought. Hreidmar allowed Loki to go retrieve the gold, but what neither of them realized was that the hide could stretch infinitely. Loki brought more and more gold, but it just stretched larger and larger. Finally, they determined only Andvari's horde would be enough."

  She spread her hands out to the treasure around them. Henry's eyes went wide. Some of these mountains of gold went higher than the light reached, and his mind reeled at the effort it would take to transport such a hoard.

  "Where did he put it all?" he wondered aloud, but Andromeda went on as if he hadn't spoken.

  "Loki went to find him, and eventually trapped him in a net. Andvari gave him all this gold in exchange for his freedom. Loki was about to leave when he saw the ring on Andvari's finger. He jumped on him and ripped it off."

  "He did that for a ring?"

  "Dwarven rings are rarely just rings. In this case the ring, Andvaranaut, had the power to make gold, but Andvari cursed it to corrupt and destroy whoever owned it."

  "I think I see where this is going," Henry said.

  Andromeda nodded. "It passed through a number of hands before ending up with those brothers I told you about."

  Henry thought for a second. "You mean the Brothers Grimm?"

  "Yes, they were here before they were in Argath. They found the ring in some long forgotten treasure horde. When they encountered Idun, Jacob was smitten by her. He gave her the ring, never knowing what he had, before its curse had a chance to work on them. Idun put it on her finger and hasn't removed it since. The ring's power over gold corrupted her apples even to the point of cursing the tree they come from."

  "Hera's golden apples," Henry said, almost under his breath. "The Moirai said they were corrupted."

  Andromeda nodded. She walked over to a shield inlaid with gold sitting among half a dozen gems. The image of a tree had been carved on it.

  "And the apple tree in Zuab's garden," she said. "You have to understand, Idun is the apples, and the apples are Idun."

  "She became corrupt."

  "Not entirely," she said. "Odin saw what was happening and used powerful enchantments to stop it. He was almost too late. A bare handful of the apples remain uncorrupted, and it's been those that the gods sustain themselves on."

  "Why the uncorrupted ones?" Henry asked. "Wouldn't she want the rest of the gods to be corrupted too?"

  Andromeda shook her head. "Idun went from being a gentle goddess of life to a cruel goddess bent on spreading death. She doesn't have the raw power to oppose any of the other gods, and if the corruption were to change any of the gods so they no longer feared death, they might well destroy her, so instead, she rules them with fear."

  "How do I stop her?"

  "I'm not sure," she said. "I don't think she can be stopped while that ring is on her finger."

  Henry's mind flashed back to a much more recent story of a cursed ring, one that had required the ring bearer to lose his finger. It had possibilities. He ran his hand over his hilt, but the thought made him feel sick. He looked at Andromeda. A drop of blood had run out of her nose, and she was holding her forehead again. He clenched his teeth. He could stand to be a little sick if that was what it took. Still, maybe he wouldn't have to. If dwarves made the ring, his sword might be able to cut it.

  Andromeda looked up and smiled as she wiped the blood from her face, and she looked at her hand. Her eyes swept over the cut on her wrist and for the first time, she looked down to examine her torn dress.

  "It's like the first time, isn't it?"

  "What first time?"

  She narrowed her eyes. "The first time we met when my wrists were cut by the shackles holding me to the cliff and the rock had cut my dress." She wiggled her toes. "I was barefoot then too, before you gave me those ridiculous shoes." She ran her fingers through her red hair. "Even this is the same color as when you met me."

  Henry stared at her for a second. "You remember your hair?"

  She raised an eyebrow. "Of course I remember my hair. It is mine after all."

  He gaped at her. While she'd always been able to remember generalities about other worlds, but she'd never known that she was different. He wasn't even sure how to ask her about it, but in the end, he put it out of his mind. They had other things to worry about, such as how to get off this mountain.

  "Come on," he said. "Let's see if we can find you something to wear that won't let you freeze to death the moment we step outside."

  She looked at her dress again. "That's probably a good idea."

  CHAPTER 22

  The fortress was deceptively empty. Every once in a while, Henry caught sight of someone darting from shadow to shadow, and occasionally, they found footprints on the dusty ground, but they never actually saw who made them. The first door they opened led to a stark room that had obviously been used recently. A curved sword leaned against a wall, and a full chest of clothes sat at the foot of the bed with a pair of leather boots next to it. Andromeda pulled out a plain green tunic and brown pants along with a heavy cloak. She held them up to herself and nodded. Henry left the room while she got dressed. When she came out, Henry raised an eyebrow at the sword on her belt, but she only shrugged.

  "I hope we're not leaving some poor elf without a change of clothes," he said.

  Andromeda grinned. "They can live with it. What now?"

  "We should find the stables. Odin said there's a horse there."

  "Do you really trust him?"

  "Not really," Henry said, "but at this point, I'll take any help I can get."

  They searched and discovered something strange in the first few minutes. Almost every door in the stronghold was locked and passages that Henry would've sworn had been fine a few minutes ago had collapsed. There was only one-way to go, and before long, Henry caught the scent of hay and horseflesh in the air.

  "I guess you really did convince them," Henry said.

  "Convince who?"

  "The elves," Henry said, "unless you think someone else led us here."

  Andromeda thought
about that for a second. Her hand began to move to her head, but she stopped it when she noticed Henry watching. Instead, she nodded.

  "Maybe you shouldn't do that anymore," he said.

  "Do what?"

  "You were looking into the past to find out who collapsed the tunnels and locked the doors, weren't you?"

  She started to shake her head, but stopped halfway through the movement and nodded.

  "We need information. That's why we had to go to the well."

  "Maybe, but finding out who closed a bunch of doors isn't exactly the most important thing in the world. If you're not careful, you're going to have an aneurism or something."

  She looked at him quizzically. "What's an aneurism?"

  "It's..." Henry thought about it for a second. "I actually don't know. It has something to do with the brain, I think. Look, it doesn't matter. Let's just agree that you won't use the Oracle's knowledge unless you absolutely have to. Odin said it wasn't meant for a mortal mind."

  She let out a breath and nodded. "You're probably right."

  They pushed open the door. Only a single stable was occupied. Henry walked over and opened it. When the horse stepped out, both he and Andromeda gasped. Its coat was the color of storm clouds, and he was as big as any horse Henry had ever seen, but the thing that drew his attention was the legs. There were eight of them.

  The horse saw them and whinnied. It trotted over to Henry and nuzzled his shoulder in a way that only one other horse had ever done. Henry's jaw dropped, and he sputtered for several seconds. Andromeda looked from him to the horse.

  "Henry what is it?" she asked.

  "Pegasus?"

  The horse neighed in delight and Henry threw his arms around the horse's neck. For the first time in a long time, He found himself laughing.

  "Of course," Andromeda said. "After being a winged horse in Greece and having matchless speed in Argath, who else could Pegasus be but Odin's own horse."

  Henry went silent and stared at her. It hadn't been so long ago that he'd argued with her about the fact that Pegasus had changed. Even when he'd convinced her, she'd forgotten about it a few hours later.

  "What happened to you?" he asked.

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean you're suddenly remembering things you've always forgotten before. Are you looking into the past?"

  "No," she said. "These are my own memories, not something from the Oracle."

  "Then why do you suddenly remember?"

  She looked away. "We don't really have time for this."

  He put a hand on her shoulder and she met his eyes. "Andromeda you don't have to hide anything from me."

  "I know," she said. "I just don't want to give you something else to worry about. It won't matter unless we stop Idun anyway."

  He stared at her for a second before nodding. He approached Pegasus and the grey horse knelt down. Henry got on, surprised at how much he'd missed riding. He offered Andromeda a hand up, and she climbed on. He threw a glance at the stable doors.

  "I guess we should have opened those," he said.

  Pegasus reared and slammed four of his front hooves into the door. With an ear splitting crack, the doors flew outward along with a shower of splinters that had been the door frame a second ago. Pegasus surged forward. He galloped down the rocky path as if it were level ground. Henry screamed when the path took a sharp turn, but Pegasus leapt into the air over the edge of a sheer cliff. It was a full thirty seconds before he realized they weren't falling. Pegasus was running on the air. Henry laughed out loud and the death grip Andromeda had on his waist loosened.

  "You knew he would do that!" Andromeda accused.

  Henry shook his head. "If you'll put your hand over my heart, you'll see it's going about a million miles an hour. I had no idea."

  Her laughter joined his as they sailed into the sky.

  CHAPTER 23

  "Do you know where you're going?" Andromeda asked after they'd been in the air for half an hour.

  Henry looked around. Clouds stretched all around them. The sun's steady presence on their left told him they were heading south, but he had no way of knowing where exactly they were.

  "Nope," he said.

  "Doesn't that worry you?"

  "It hasn't stopped me so far. Why? Do you have another dad you want to go see?"

  Her grip around his waist slacked a little. He tried to turn around to look at her, but it would be impossible without losing his hold on Pegasus. She leaned her head against his back.

  "Are you alright?" He spoke so quietly he wasn't sure she could hear over the rush of the wind.

  "I'm fine." Her tone said she was anything but fine.

  "Is there anything I can do?"

  "If you could defeat Idun, I would greatly appreciate it."

  "Consider it done," he said.

  Henry smiled a bit when Andromeda's arms tightened around his waist, but before either of them could say anything else, Pegasus turned. The horse galloped down some invisible path that descended into the clouds. White washed the world around him. Andromeda shivered behind him, and it didn't take long for them to be soaked. A few seconds later, they came out into an overcast sky. Below people ran around like ants. Tents were set up everywhere, and thick columns of black smoke rose from forges carried on wagons. Though they were too far away to see clearly, he could tell banners had been set up. Even from his height, Henry could barely see where the army ended. He had no idea how to even begin putting a number to so many.

  They were still fifty feet up when someone noticed them for the first time. Gradually, a wave of stillness spread through the gathered people, and Henry felt the eyes of the entire army on him. They landed in front of a large tent. A standard bearing a red lightning bolt flew on the wind. Henry and Andromeda exchanged glances. They jumped off Pegasus and practically flew between the surprised dwarven guards and into the tent. Inside, startled dwarves stared at them. After a few seconds, Valin cried out in delight and Fjalar, Valin's grandfather and the king of the Nordi Mountains, let out a hearty laugh. Valin rose and leapt across the pavilion, knocking some maps off the table in front of him. He closed a tight grip around Henry's stomach and squeezed so tight Henry thought he would lose his lunch. Guards rushed in, but Valin waved them off.

  "Don't you recognize him?" Valin asked. "This is Henry Alexander Gideon."

  The other dwarves looked at him with wide-eyed shock. The guards exchanged glances then nodded. "Of course, Lord Valin. Who but he could come here on that horse?"

  They left, and Valin turned back to Henry. "By earth and stone it's good to see you. We worried after Andvari came back, and you didn't. Hreidmar imprisoned and very nearly had him killed for that."

  "It wasn't his fault," Henry said. "He offered to take us back, but we refused."

  "Yes, I suspected you'd done something like that, and I managed to convince the king. You do have a habit of diving headlong into danger that should kill you and coming out on top anyway. Speaking of which, what's that horse about?"

  "Stolen from Lord Odin," Andromeda said.

  "Wha..."

  Silence blanketed the pavilion. Someone outside must've been listening in because Henry heard the words "Odin's horse" repeated over and over again. Valin and Fjalar exchanged glances. Their mouths hung open for several seconds before both erupted into laughter. Valin pounded Henry on the back.

  "You never do things by half measure, do you?" he asked. "Tell me, can we expect an attack from Odin's forces?"

  Henry shrugged. "Not for this. He'll hold back as long as he can, but he won't oppose Idun."

  "Isn't the Allfather more powerful than Idun?"

  "As long as she gives him the apples, he is."

  Valin gave him a slow nod. The dwarven generals around the table muttered to each other. Andromeda cleared her throat, drawing their eyes.

  "This isn't all Hreidmar army, is it? What I mean is, I thought I saw men out there."

  Valin smacked his head with his hand. "Of co
urse! How could I forget? I'll send for the kings."

  He spoke to one of the other dwarves in the tent. The young warrior saluted and rushed out.

  "Kings?" Andromeda asked.

  "Yes, we met them as we were coming out of Nidavellir. At first we were worried there would be a battle, but then I saw the banner of King Frederick of Argath."

  Andromeda's jaw dropped. "King Frederick?"

  "Yes, he was with a king from land I've never heard of. King Cepheus of..."

  He looked up and scanned the canvas ceiling trying to remember.

  "Aetheopia," Andromeda supplied, her eyes to the ground.

  Valin nodded. "Yes, that was it. Are you acquainted with them?"

  Henry gaped at him. "Valin, what are you talking about? The first time we met, you took us prisoner because her father is..."

  Andromeda stepped on his foot. He looked at her, and she gave him a slight shake of her head. Henry wrinkled his brow, and she mouthed "Later." Valin looked from one to the other until Andromeda turned to him.

  "Yes, we've met them. Henry saved their kingdoms."

  Valin's hand went to his forehead in the same way Andromeda had so often done when trying to remember details from another world. Finally, Valin nodded. The generals still seated at the table mirrored the movement.

  "Of course. We couldn't have defeated Zuab without you. I don't know how I could've forgotten. If you've done a similar service for Cepheus, then he'll be glad to see you indeed. I take it from all this talk of Idun and Odin that you found your Oracle?"

  "You could say that," Henry said. "Andromeda has its knowledge, but it's not something she can get at unless we really need it. How much do you know about curses?"

  Valin shrugged and looked at Fjalar.

  "Not much," the king said. "It's not something dwarves usually deal with."