She smiled and reached her long fingers toward me. It was only then I realized she only had four of them, and her hand was actually shaped more like the talons of a hawk with three fingers in front and one in the back, each ending in a gleaming black point.
Three talons came to rest on the side of my face, finally causing my pulse to quicken. I only had a moment of fear, though, as images began to flash through my mind. She might not speak my language, but she could communicate in pictures, just like the corpses.
The images flashed so quickly, I couldn't make out half of them. I saw many faces I didn't recognize, violence, and scenes of ritual. At the center of the chaos was a tiny key. The charm. Releasing it would bring its chaos upon the world, but it could no longer remain sealed away. It had to be destroyed, and it would take magic like mine to do it. Finally the images stopped to rest on a gathering of other Norns like the one standing in front of me. They were the guardians of the key.
As the final image faded from my mind, the Norn pulled her talons away and moved past me toward the tree. I turned to watch as she stopped in front of it, looking much like a tree herself with her tall, narrow form, and loose, shape-stealing robes.
I made my way to where Alaric had gone to stand, close to the wall and off to the side so we could see the Norn's face as she reached her talons out to the tree, caressing the bark. My breath hissed through my teeth as her other clawed hand dove suddenly into her lower chest, the talons cutting easily through her skin and clothing. She staggered against the tree, her spindly arm contorting to reach underneath her rib cage.
Alaric and I watched in horrified silence as she withdrew her hand to reveal her still-beating heart, perfectly removed to remain whole. Blood seeped into her robe as she fell to her knees, then extended the heart in our direction.
I rushed to her side with Alaric following on my heels. I had no idea how she was still alive, but the Norn blinked up at me, pain furrowing her brow.
Her pain shot through my chest, stealing my breath. I would have fallen, but Alaric caught me.
She held the heart up, then bowed her head. Understanding what she wanted me to do, I clung to Alaric with one hand while I stroked trembling fingertips across the heart, releasing it.
The antlers on her head touched the soil as she slumped to the side, dead, then I was hit with energy like I'd never felt. Alaric released me with a hiss of breath and I fell to my knees by the prostrate form of the Norn. Her pooling blood dampened my bare knees, but I barely noticed as I looked around frantically for some way to release the energy.
It felt like it was scorching my brain, and filling my lungs with hot steam, far too much for me to hold. Seeing no other option, I placed my hands against the nearby tree and willed the energy away. I didn't picture something happening like I normally would, I just pushed, desperate to feel normal again.
The energy left me in a steady current, and we had just a moment of stunned silence before the world started moving again. The tree shot upward with new growth, twisting like a serpent as its bark expanded, too fast for the eye to follow. I collapsed in a panting heap beside the tree, too tired and delirious to move away.
Suddenly Alaric was there, pulling me into his lap and wrapping his arms protectively around me as we both stared up in awe. Where the branches reached the ceiling of the space, they diverged away from each other and began curving back down toward us.
Thoughts of being impaled by the tree hit me just as Alaric rolled me closer to the trunk, sheltering me on my back with his body, but the branches slowed and stilled, all except for one. One tiny, hair-thin branch reached down until it was mere inches in front of my face. At its end was a small, black metal key.
Alaric and I reached out together. His hand closed around mine, as mine closed around the key. It pulled away from the branch easily, and our hands came back down. I observed the key in my palm. It felt so small and mundane in my hand, but I was pretty sure we’d found the charm everyone was searching for, far more dangerous an item than I could have imagined.
Alaric stared down at it. “Now that we have it, what on earth are we going to do with it?”
I glanced over to the Norn who had given her life to release the key. Her sacrifice had shattered the ritual binding it to smithereens.
I gripped the key so tightly the edges cut into my skin, thinking of the images the Norn had shown me. “We destroy it.”
“As my lady wishes,” he replied, half-joking, though I knew he meant what he said. He pulled me in a little closer, cradling me in the cool soil, surrounded by bones.
I knew in that moment that this whole ordeal had only just begun. It would have been easy to use the key as a bargaining chip for our own lives and freedom, but after what first the corpses, then the Norn had shown me, I couldn't just give the charm away. The tiny key had the power to cause massive wars and chaos. So much death.
Destroying it would not be easy, but I knew it was possible. That was why the Norn wanted me to have it. My particular brand of magic was needed, but I’d need power. I’d need many, many deaths. I paled at the thought, but those deaths would be nothing compared to what would happen if the charm fell into the wrong hands. It was a tool of chaos, and needed to be destroyed. The only question was, did I have the heart to do it?
Alaric kissed my cheek, his lips lingering against my skin. “How will we destroy it?”
I pulled my head back so I could look up at him. “We're going to start a war.”
He grinned, and it was a little frightening given the context. “Why Maddy,” he said mischievously, “that just so happens to be my specialty.”
“War and Death,” I breathed. “Partnership at its best.”
I rubbed my thumb across the key in my palm as I considered the possible consequences of such a plan, and all I could think was that things looked bleak, but . . . didn't they always?
5
“I break all of my nails getting down here, and you two are just lying in the dirt!” Sophie stood at the edge of the cavern, hands on hips.
I sat up and pulled away from Alaric, but still didn't feel steady enough to stand. I gripped the charm in my hand, feeling oddly protective over it, and not liking the feeling one bit.
Alaric laughed. “It's about time you came to the rescue. Maddy nearly killed me.”
Sophie sighed as she glanced around the room, undisturbed by the piles of bones that had once been Vaettir. Her eyes came to rest on the Norn.
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked.
“It was,” Alaric corrected.
“She was,” I corrected on top of his correction.
I felt oddly sorry for the Norn, even though she had nearly let Diana sacrifice us. I was pretty sure the Norn knew all along what would happen. Norns were supposed to be weavers of fate, after all. Maybe she knew I would come, and knew I cared enough about the world to not want such a horrible magic to be released once more. Hopefully that meant I actually stood a chance of destroying it, since the Norn had given her life for that purpose.
“Can we please get out of here?” I asked weakly.
Alaric stood, then helped me to my feet.
“Where's Diana?” Sophie asked, eyeing us both expectantly.
Alaric gestured with the hand that wasn't around my waist to the bloody pile in the corner of the room.
Sophie’s lip lifted in distaste.
“Any sign of James?” I asked.
She looked back at us and shrugged. “I left him unconscious up above. When you guys fell in the hole, the door slammed shut and wouldn't budge. I had to dig the damn thing out and rip it off its hinges.”
Well that explained the broken nails. “Can we please get out of here?” I asked again.
“Did he attack you?” Alaric questioned, ignoring my question as well as Sophie's griping about the door.
Sophie snorted. “No. He actually acted like he wanted to help me, but I wasn't about to leave him at my back.”
Alaric smiled kn
owingly at his sister. I wasn't sure what the smile was about, and at that moment, I didn't really care. I looked at them both expectantly, hoping we could finally leave.
Sophie kicked a nearby bone. “We should search this place for supplies first,” she glanced at me, “unless you care to give me back my shoes?”
I cringed. Supplies would be nice, but I wasn't sure it was worth it if it meant I had to stay there a moment longer. I was rather disturbed by the whole ordeal, especially with the part I'd played, and what it meant for me in the near future.
I finally really looked at Sophie and realized with a start that there was now a way out of the room, since she had walked in so easily. I looked behind her to see a shadowy doorway, previously solid wall. The Norn's death must have unbarred the room.
“Let's go,” I instructed.
Sophie turned and led the way out of the room, but I gestured for Alaric to help me over to the bloody pile that was once Diana instead of following Sophie out.
His eyes widened when he realized my intent. “Are you sure she deserves to be released?”
I shook my head, thinking of the souls that had guarded the charm for far too long. “No one deserves that fate.”
With a nod, Alaric helped me to kneel beside Diana's remains. Her limbs and head had all been ripped free of her body, but her torso was still mostly intact, wrapped in the bloody fabric of her clothing and cloak. My limbs ached with the pain of her death, but it was a subtle pain, as most of her life was gone. Only the energy within her heart remained. I reached my hand out toward where her heart should be, but stopped as I felt something tickling at my bare leg.
I looked down in horror, hoping to whatever I should hope to that a mouse or some other creature had made its way into the underground lair.
My hope was dashed as Diana's hand, still attached to most of her petite arm, wrapped its fingers around my leg right above my boot and dug in. In an instant, Alaric was on my other side, prying the fingers off my leg one by one, face calm. Resisting the urge to vomit, I ignored what was happening to my leg and turned back to Diana’s torso.
Her emotions coursed through me as I reached my hand out toward her chest again. I had expected anger and hatred, but all I felt was fear and confusion. She had been alive a very, very long time, and had not expected to die, especially in such a simplistic way. She didn't want me to release her soul, because she was still clinging to whatever life she might have. Alaric pried the last of her fingers away, freeing my leg from her grasp, but I barely noticed.
I shook my head, wondering how I could read a dead woman's emotions so clearly, while at the same time hoping that this increased feeling of empathy wasn't permanent. It was bad enough feeling someone's wounds as they happened, did I really have to share in their darkest fears?
Gritting my teeth, I released her spirit, and was relieved of her emotions simultaneously. Part of me felt a little smug that even in doing what was right for her, I was able to go against Diana's wishes, but most of me just felt confused and afraid. Maybe I had only felt Diana's emotions so strongly because they so closely mirrored my own.
I stared down at the now lifeless corpse pieces, feeling melancholic about the whole ordeal.
Alaric touched my arm to get my attention, and I turned to him, feeling as if I'd just woken from a dream. “We should prepare to leave,” he said softly. “Estus' people are still out there looking for us, and the human police may be as well.”
I nodded and stood as all of our future concerns came rushing back.
We left the dark room, and I ended up waiting in the Norn's comfortable sitting room while Alaric and Sophie searched for clothing and supplies. The entire scene from the attack in the hotel room all the way up to the Norn's death played over and over in my head. For some reason, the scene that stuck out most to me was Alaric finding out that I maybe loved him, and him begging me to not let it be true.
The rational side of me assured that his fear and astonishment came from the fact that the revelation meant Diana would force me to kill him, but some small, scared part of me said he was afraid for other reasons. Reasons like me being a cursed death machine. I couldn’t even begin to think about the idea that I might be in love with him. I didn't have time for love, especially when it could easily be ripped away at the flick of Estus' hand.
The supply search didn't take long, fortunately, as the underground complex was small. Alaric and Sophie returned to save me from my thoughts, and they saved me from the cold as well with a pair of roughly made pants and too-large winter boots. The clothes seemed like they came from a different century, and smelled like they had been stored for just that long. It was a marvel that they even held together, but I wasn't going to turn my nose up at anything that would protect me from the harsh weather above.
There was no food to be found, even though the Norn had likely stayed in that little sitting room alone for ages. Perhaps Norns didn't have to eat, but I did. My stomach growled painfully as I put on the offered clothing and followed Sophie and Alaric back to the trap door, then climbed the ladder out into the daylight.
James was still lying unconscious in a patch of snow above. The three of us stared down at him.
“Leave him,” Alaric suggested. “I'm sure he'll find his way back to civilization.”
“That's what I'm afraid of,” Sophie countered. “He'll likely realize we have the charm, and he'll run to tell Aislin, or perhaps even Estus. The search for us will quadruple in strength.”
“Do you suggest we kill him?” Alaric asked with a smirk.
Sophie looked down at James with an odd mixture of emotions on her face.
“Or was there a reason you left him alive up here to begin with?” Alaric added like he already knew the answer.
I hoped Alaric had some idea of what was going though Sophie's mind, because I sure didn't.
“Not that you guys ever listen to my opinion anyway,” I said sarcastically, “but I really don't want to be around when he wakes up and discovers I killed his grandmother.”
Sophie blinked rapidly and shook her head as if coming out of a dream. “He's our only in with Aislin. Perhaps we might need him.”
I twisted my lips at her logic. “Diana was also Aislin's sister. I think that option is lost to us. Besides, weren't you the one who suggested we remain clan-less?”
Sophie glared at me. “And what of the charm? I imagine you have it?”
“We’re going to destroy it,” I replied, not taking a second to think about it.
Sophie crossed her arms. “What if we could use it to protect ourselves? If it could grant one of the Vaettir the power to rule, could it not grant us a little diplomatic immunity?”
“We destroy it,” I said again, unable to put into words what the Norn had shown me. “Now back to James.”
I could tell she didn't fully accept my answer, but she did turn back to the man in question. “We take him with us,” she stated.
Alaric and I both looked at each other in surprise as Sophie continued to stare down at James.
“Do you really think that's wise?” Alaric asked, turning back to his sister.
Sophie didn't look up. “We can't have him telling anyone we have the charm, or leading them back to this place,” she explained.
“And you can't kill him,” I said with a soft smile.
She snapped her eyes up to me and practically snarled. “I could,” she argued.
“But you won't,” I finished. “And here you all were thinking I was the cream puff of the group.”
Alaric held a hand up to his mouth to hide his grin.
A low growl trickled out of Sophie's throat.
I grinned wider. “I'm sorry, you're not a cream puff. You're a sweet, cuddly little kitten.”
Alaric snickered.
“If you're done being comedic,” Sophie growled, “you could make yourselves useful and help me carry him.”
Alaric did as his sister bade him, still laughing as he went. I watched as the
y lifted James to standing.
The three of them looked an odd picture. Alaric had found a shirt that was the same old-fashioned style as my pants and similar boots to mine. They clashed with his modern jeans and the modern clothing Sophie and James wore. The scene was made even more odd and slightly humorous by James' head lolling around as they moved him.
I was dreading the moment when I'd have to explain to them everything the Norn had shown me, though they would likely be more practical about it than I wanted to be. Alaric and Sophie were descended from a goddess of war, after all. What were a few more corpses for the greater good?
6
Two Days Later.
I shifted from foot to foot in my brand new, low-heeled boots. My leather pants creaked softly, making my pulse quicken since I was supposed to be quiet. I was never letting Alaric choose my clothing again. The simple, long-sleeved black top was a little more practical, but it didn't matter since it was covered by my stolen, knee-length black coat.
My long hair threatened to come loose from the braid I'd put it in as the chilly, Norway wind buffeted against me. I glanced over my shoulder, anxious for Alaric and Sophie to finish procuring whatever final supplies we might need so we could head back to the woods where we'd left James.
My anxiety doubled as I thought about James. Sophie had knocked his head too hard, because he didn't remember a thing. While his amnesia complicated things, I guiltily hoped his memory would remain lost, then I wouldn't have to tell him that I'd killed his grandmother. On the other hand, I didn't enjoy acting as though I actually liked him.
He'd been so confused when he woke, knowing who and what he was, but little else, that we'd all agreed a little bit of pretend was in order. His most recent memories occurred over thirty years ago, so he wouldn't understand if we all just let our hatred shine through.
I braced myself against a particularly forceful gust of wind, thinking that maybe it would be nice to lose that much memory. James didn't remember killing Sophie's lover, and he didn't remember all of the people he had tortured. Heck, he didn't even remember torturing me.
Collide and Seek Page 5