“Only because you pushed me,” Lewis snapped.
“Oh, right,” said Greg, sneaking a hand round behind Lewis’ back. “I remember now.”
Without warning he gave his brother a shove that sent him tumbling through the air, his arms and legs flailing helplessly. Lewis hit the water with a squeal.
“Zero points for style,” Greg commented drily.
“Let’s see you do better,” said Susie. She grabbed him by the shoulder and pitched him over the edge.
“Spinny!” Greg cried as he plummeted.
“Geronimo!” Susie yelled, jumping after him.
They splashed down a split second apart and bobbed up spitting out water.
“That was a dirty trick,” Lewis spluttered as he floundered about.
“It worked, didn’t it?” Greg countered.
He and Susie swam to the edge and hauled Lewis out after them. Shaking the water from their hair and clothes, they set off down the nearest street, eager to put as much distance as they could between themselves and Odin’s palace.
As they hurried along, the warm sunshine dried out their clothes and hair so quickly it was like they had never been wet at all. On either side of them the trees, which had been tired and wilting before, now stretched up tall and proud, sprouting fresh green leaves and stretching their mighty branches out against the sky.
Suddenly Susie pulled them all up short. “Hang on, where exactly are we going?” she demanded.
“Away from Loki,” said Greg, pointing back at Odin’s palace. “Unless you want to go a few more rounds with his armoured stooges.”
“Yes, but where are we going?” Susie insisted. “We can’t get home now that the Yggdrasil has fallen apart.”
“She’s right,” said Lewis. “We can’t just keep running. This is Loki’s kingdom now. He’s bound to catch up with us.”
“Unless we can find some way to take him down,” said Greg grimly. “We should make a fight of it at least. We’ve got Thor’s hammer after all and I can move pretty fast in these shoes.”
“I don’t think that’s much of a match for all the stuff Loki has in Odin’s palace,” said Lewis.
“Maybe we could drop by Thor’s place and pick up a few thunderbolts to toss at him,” Greg suggested.
“Thunderbolts are a meteorological phenomenon,” Lewis informed him shortly. “They’re not something you can throw around.”
“Well, at least I had an idea,” Greg retorted. “I don’t hear you coming up with much.”
“Greg does have a point,” said Susie. “All sorts of gods – if you want to call them that – lived around here. Maybe one of them has something we can use.”
“Thor told us that Surtur stole the treasures of Asgard and hid them on Earth,” said Lewis. “That’s why Thor’s hammer was in our garage. There can’t be much left behind.”
Susie puffed out her cheeks and made an exasperated noise. “What about something that was nailed down or too big to move?” she said.
“A big cannon, for instance,” said Greg. “You know, like Mons Meg in Edinburgh Castle.”
“Vikings didn’t have cannons,” said Lewis, “and I’m pretty sure their gods didn’t either.”
“But if Asgard is powered up again,” said Susie, gesturing at the city, “there must be something out there we can use.”
Lewis felt a notion stirring at the back of his mind, telling him she was right. They had spotted something when they first arrived in Asgard, something that could help them.
He cast his thoughts back to the images of the city that the ring had sent spinning through his brain. There was the Avenue of Giants, the Palace of Wings, the Seven Wells, the Golden Market. A small voice seemed to whisper to him that somewhere in the city there was a way to defeat Loki, but the stream of images and facts swirled dizzyingly about him. He began to sway and both Greg and Susie grabbed hold to steady him.
“Take it easy, Lewis,” said Greg. “I don’t want you throwing up all over me.”
“Something’s coming to me,” said Lewis. “There’s a place we saw when we came into the city…”
“What?” Greg pressed him. “The wall? The gate?”
“Heimdall’s Gatehouse!” Lewis exclaimed.
“Whose what?” said Greg.
“The place on the rock, remember?” said Susie. “With the horns.”
Suddenly it was clear to Lewis, like a blurred picture coming into focus. “Heimdall was the guardian of the Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge.”
“How does that help us?” said Greg. “Thor said that bridge was smashed to bits.”
“Yes, but a bridge that connects Asgard to Earth can’t be an ordinary bridge made of stone and steel,” said Lewis. His thoughts were starting to connect now and with that he felt a glimmer of hope.
“You’re right!” Susie enthused. “It would have to be an energy stream tunnelling through hyperspace.”
“Yes, something like that,” Lewis agreed.
“Hold on,” said Greg, raising his hand. “Where is all this taking us?”
“Look,” said Lewis, “if Loki can get Asgard back online, maybe we can restore the Bifrost as well. And if we can, Heimdall’s Gatehouse would be the place to do it.”
“We could go back to Earth and get help,” said Susie.
“Sure,” said Greg. “We could get the RAF to come and bomb Loki back to the stone age.”
“Well, what are we standing around for?” said Susie. “Let’s go!”
“Okay, it’s this way,” said Greg, setting off decisively.
Lewis grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him back. “No,” he said, pointing, “it’s this way.”
The layout of the city was still clear in his head from when he wore the ring. He was able to guide them swiftly down the tree-lined boulevards and wide avenues to the foot of the crag where Heimdall’s gatehouse looked down on them.
As they arrived at the bottom of the path leading up the slope, a horrid clanking made them turn and look down the broad street behind them.
“Not them again!” Lewis groaned.
A mob of bodiless armour, about twenty suits in all, Lewis estimated, was marching towards them, brandishing swords, axes and spears to show they meant business.
Greg caught Lewis by the elbow and pointed him toward the rock. “Lewis, you get up there,” he told him. “Susie and I will hold them off while you fire up the beef roast.”
“They don’t look so tough,” said Susie, taking a practice swing with the hammer. “Greg and I can handle this.”
At a shove from Greg, Lewis started up the path.
“Let me have that rope of yours, Spinny,” said Greg, unzipping her backpack and reaching inside. One eye on the approaching enemy, he formed one end of the rope into a loop.
“Pretty good lasso,” Susie commented. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“Cowboy camp,” said Greg.
Susie gave him a sceptical look. “Are you pulling my leg?”
“No, really, there’s a place down in the Borders Dad took us to a couple of years ago. You get to wear big stetson hats and do all kinds of cowboy stuff.”
While the other two prepared for battle, Lewis raced up the path to the top of the crag. It was a flat expanse of rock the size of a football pitch. In the centre was a marble building with a great iron door in the wall.
There was no sign of a lock or a handle. Lewis pushed at it, first on one side, then the other, but no matter how hard he pressed, the iron slab remained stubbornly shut. He ran his hands over it, searching for a button or a switch that might spring it open, but there was none.
Down below, a tide of living armour surged forward to engulf Greg and Susie. Susie greeted their arrival with a warlike whoop.
17. Bifrost is on the Menu
The armoured ranks surged forward. Susie took a swing with Mjolnir and whacked the first warrior square on the shield. The power of Thor’s hammer sent him staggering back into his companions, bringing the
whole mob to a shuddering halt.
“You have to hit them in just the right spot,” Susie told Greg. “It’s like taking a penalty shot.”
Her next swing knocked the helmet off another body of metal, then she smashed the legs out from under a third.
Though Greg had no weapon, he was able to dodge around the armoured warriors while they reeled under Susie’s attack. The Shoes of Vidar allowed him to move nimbly but he still felt the sharp blades swishing past him too close for comfort. As he ducked and ran, he looped his lasso over the helmet of one and wound the coils of rope around the others, tangling their iron limbs.
“Nice going, Greg!” Susie cheered. “They’re on the ropes now!”
Up above, Lewis ran a complete circuit around the gatehouse, but could find no way inside. What he did discover was a marble stairway leading to the roof, so he sprinted up to the top.
Above him the twin pillars soared thirty metres into the air, their ends tapering to a point as they curved in towards each other until they were almost touching. At the foot of the pillars was a lectern of white marble inlaid with seven jewels, each a different colour.
The green stone was an emerald, Lewis knew, the blue would be a sapphire, the red a ruby. He guessed the one that was burnt orange was a garnet, but he couldn’t name the yellow one or any of the others. What did they represent? Maybe all he had to do was touch them to power up the Bifrost.
He brushed his palm up and down then back and forth across the gems, but nothing happened. “No, it wouldn’t that simple,” he muttered to himself. There had to be a start-up sequence, but what?
The crash of combat from below interrupted his thoughts.
“Any time you can kick start that thing would be good!” Greg shouted.
“Get your skates on, Lewis!” Susie chimed in between hammer blows.
Lewis rubbed his temples and tried to concentrate. “The sequence, the sequence,” he murmured.
There were seven jewels … and there were seven letters in the name Bifrost. Maybe that was it. He tapped the sapphire, blue for ‘B’. Then he patted the indigo stone. None of these stones started with ‘F’ as far as he knew, so he tapped the unknown yellow one and carried on until he had touched all seven jewels.
Nothing happened.
Down below, Susie had forced the attacking warriors into a compact mass and Greg had managed to wind the rope completely around them.
“Right, Spinny, grab hold and help me pull,” said Greg.
Susie dropped Mjolnir and took a grip on the rope. Together they yanked at it, pulling it tighter and tighter. Caught in the coils, the metal creatures were forced together. They flailed about trying to free themselves, but in their mindless efforts to break free, they were bashing each other with their weapons. A helmet was dashed off one, an arm chopped off another, and one by one the suits of armour broke down into useless heaps of metal.
Greg and Susie let go of the rope and stepped back, panting and red-faced from the battle.
“Look at that!” Greg exclaimed breathlessly. “We demolished them!”
“Ka-BOOM!” Susie whooped.
Their glee was cut short as an angry roar shook the air.
“Now what?” Greg groaned.
Riding towards them up the broad avenue was Loki, seated on the back of the stone dragon. He dismounted and tossed a lump of coal at the dragon, who caught it in his mouth and swallowed it with a burp.
Susie snatched up the hammer and gave him the dirtiest look she had ever given anyone in her life.
Loki eyed the scattered mess of scrap metal on the ground and raised an eyebrow. “This is quite a mess you hooligans have made.”
“The battle’s over, Larry” said Greg boldly, “but you’re welcome to surrender.”
“Junior, that was only round one,” Loki drawled.
He snapped his fingers and immediately the scattered pieces of armour began to quiver and slide across the ground. As if being assembled by an invisible workforce, the boots, breastplates and gauntlets all clipped themselves back into place until the whole force was restored. With a clank they stood to attention, their weapons at the ready.
“Welcome to round two,” Loki declared, waving his troops forward.
This time the armoured figures spread out and came at them in a disciplined charge. They were no longer a disorganised crowd, but a proper military unit, guided by Loki’s will.
Greg swallowed hard and clapped a hand on Susie’s shoulder. “Watch yourself, Spinny,” he warned.
“End of the final period,” said Susie through gritted teeth. “Money time!”
Up on the roof Lewis was startled by the sounds of renewed combat. He tried his best to ignore it and focus on the problem at hand. Spelling had nothing to do with it, he was sure, but the different colours of the jewels had to be a clue.
Then it came to him. The Bifrost was also known as the Rainbow Bridge, and these gems, he realised with dawning excitement, were all the colours of the rainbow. Maybe what he had to do was activate them in the order they would be seen in a rainbow.
But what was that?
His science teacher Mr Gillespie had once taught the class a sentence you could use to remember what order the colours of the rainbow appeared in. The noise from below reminded him that the words were about somebody fighting a battle.
Lewis tugged on his lip and rubbed his ear, both of which should help him remember. Richard of York did something. Yes, that was it!
Richard of York gave battle in vain. The first letter of each word gave you the right colour.
He reached out a finger and tapped the ruby. A light immediately appeared inside the gem. He touched the orange stone next and the same thing happened. Quickly he completed the sequence: yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
By the time all seven gems were glowing, the air around him tingled with gathering force, like the prelude to a thunderstorm. Multi-coloured sparks were dancing around the pillars like fireflies and the air crackled with magical energy.
Lewis threw up an arm to protect his eyes as a blaze of rainbow light erupted between the pillars. It shot across the sky and into the distance, forming a huge arc of shimmering cosmic power. He lowered his arm and gaped in awe at the rainbow bridge spanning the sky from end to end.
His wonder was cut short when a pair of steel gauntlets clamped on to his shoulders. Twisting about, he found himself face to helmet with one of Loki’s metal guards. It lifted him up and carried him, feet dangling, down the steps to where Loki stood beaming in fiendish glee.
Greg and Susie were also in the grip of their armoured enemies. The hammer Mjolnir lay on the ground where it had been forced from Susie’s hand.
Susie struggled against the iron arms that encircled her. “Good work, Lewis,” she said through gritted teeth. “You did your best.”
Greg kicked against his captor. “Sorry we couldn’t hold them.”
Loki squinted up at the shimmering rainbow light and frowned. “I’d better shut that thing down. Then I’ll deal with the three of you permanently.”
“Don’t kid yourself,” Greg blurted out. “There’s no way you can get rid of us.”
“Let’s see if you still think that once the dragon is chewing on your bones,” said Loki with a cold smile.
The dragon took a step forward and bared its granite teeth. Greg tried desperately to wrench free of the iron grip of his captors. He could see Lewis and Susie had turned pale at the prospect of being turned into dragon food.
“Well, guys,” said Susie, her voice catching, “I guess we didn’t make it to the penalty shootout.”
Loki had only taken his first step towards the stairs when something stopped him in his tracks. It was Thor’s hammer. All of a sudden Mjolnir began to vibrate furiously, giving off a low hum as it did so.
“Spinny, are you doing that?” Greg asked.
Susie shook her head, her eyes wide with astonishment. “It’s got nothing to do with me.”
Slowly
the hammer rose into the air and rotated above their heads.
Lewis gulped. “I think something big is up.”
With a snarl Loki leapt into the air and made a grab for the hammer, but Mjolnir rose up beyond his reach. Dropping back down on his feet, Loki shook his fist and spat, “Drat that hunk of scrap!”
Suddenly Mjolnir stopped spinning and flew into the sky like a rocket, shooting over the rainbow bridge to disappear from sight.
As he watched it disappear, seething with frustration, Loki lost concentration and his control over the armour weakened. Greg, Lewis and Susie felt the iron limbs that held them go slack.
Loki made a sudden move for the stairway.
“Stop him!” Lewis exclaimed, wriggling loose. “He’s going to shut off the Bifrost!”
Greg shook off his metal captor and threw himself at Loki. He wrapped his arms around the god’s legs and brought him down in a rugby tackle. Loki kicked loose and got to his feet, grabbing hold of Greg. He shook him with inhuman strength and hurled him through the air to slam against the wall of the gatehouse.
Slipping loose of the armoured guards, Susie grabbed a shield from one of them. She thrust it out in front of her and charged right at Loki, knocking him backwards, slamming the shield into him.
Digging in his heels, Loki struck back. He snatched the shield from her and struck her a mighty blow with the back of his hand. Susie went tumbling across the ground like she had been hit with a battering ram.
Lewis was horrified, but his anger at Loki drove him forward. He rushed at the god, but reeled back when Loki flung a bolt of fire that exploded at his feet.
“That does it!” Loki screeched. “I’m going to barbecue the three of you right now!” He raised a menacing hand and fire flared from his fingertips. The flames moulded themselves into a roaring fireball, spitting and snapping.
But before the enraged god could let fly, a deep voice thundered out, “Loki, I say thee nay!”
The fireball sputtered out and Loki gazed up with a queasy expression on his thin face. Greg and Susie helped each other up and joined Lewis in gaping at an astonishing sight.
Descending from the sky on the rainbow bridge was a crowd of shining figures. The youngsters recognised Thor, though he looked taller now and held Mjolnir in his upraised hand. He was the one who had spoken, but his voice now had power and authority behind it.
Thor Is Locked in My Garage! Page 13