I threw my shotgun at the man standing to the left of my initial target, and the weapon bounced off his face with a sharp cracking noise. My right hand yanked out one of my revolvers while my left claws tore open the throat of the man standing next to me. I lifted my revolver to aim at one of the men across the circle who didn’t have a mug of coffee in his hand, and my bullet tore through his eye socket before he could reach for his rifle.
I fired the revolver in my right hand at the next man in the circle while I reached for the weapon on my left hip. My second bullet hit this man in the chest, and he went down with a shriek of surprise. There was one more on my right, and I aimed my gun at him while the revolver in my left hand aimed at the man closest to me on that side. I pulled both triggers at once, and both of my bullets bore into their skulls.
There were three men alive now. The one I’d thrown my shotgun at was still stumbling backward, the man to the left of him, who had dropped his mug of coffee and was reaching for his shotgun, and the man whose leg I had kicked out from under him.
I aimed both my revolvers at the man reaching for his shotgun. One of the bullets hit him in the stomach, and he flew backward. The momentum of his fall convinced me I must have put the bullets into his body armor, but I also realized that had bought me an extra few seconds of reprieve from him shooting me with his shotgun.
I aimed the revolver in my right hand down to the man I’d knocked on the ground and pulled the trigger. He was lying right below me, so the bullet only had half a meter to go before it found his brain. The man I’d hit in the face with the shotgun was still stepping back while also trying to pull his weapon from his strap, so my left revolver put two holes in his throat.
The last man was on the ground, and I had to give him some credit because he was trying to swing his shotgun at me. He was too slow though, and another bullet from my left revolver gave him a third, and very bloody, eye.
Then they were dead, and I was alive.
A beep sounded above me, and I turned upward to see the observer drone’s red eye focused on me. Almost as soon as I heard the drone beep, I felt a vibration on my wrist.
Svartalfheim threat completed.
I let out a dry laugh and then flipped off the drone again. Then I looked down at the weapons on the corpses.
I wasted no time searching the bodies of the men I’d just killed. I left my double barrel shotgun on the street and grabbed one of the cop’s auto shotguns as a replacement. Then I grabbed all of their ammo belts, an additional three rifles, and their wallets. One of the cops was a big guy, and I calculated that his pants and boots would be able to fit me. As soon as I had my weapons and ammo belts sorted, I shifted back into my human form then went to work removing his clothes. They fit fine, and I threw all of my old clothes on the side of the road before grabbing all the ammo belts and guns. I took four steps back up the road toward where the Idonan women were parked, but then I paused when I saw the van crawling through the darkness toward me.
Uma opened the side door for me again, and I dumped all the gear inside.
“Thanks,” I said. “Saved me the trouble of running back with all this.” I got into the van after I’d dropped the last rifle on the floor, and then I threw the door closed. Hegeia drove around the police cars on the shoulder of the road, and then we were past the blockade.
“We heard lots of gunfire. Thought it meant you won. Since it would only be a few otherwise,” Hegeia said after she steered the van back onto the road.
“Are we in Svartalfheim?” I asked. “My device said I completed the threat.”
“Ya, we might be,” Hegeia agreed.
“Huh. Seems like I’ve only traveled a few thousand kilometers since I landed,” I said as I looked down at the compass on my wrist.
“Niflheim not that large. Just artic.”
“Ahh,” I said. “This rite is a serious pain in the ass. I’m surprised all Nordar do something like this.”
“Only if want to be on starship,” the redhead said.
“Really? So not everyone has to do it?”
“Ya. All Nordar warriors, so most do rite. Can’t be on starship until rite is passed.”
“Is the Idonan rite easier than the Vaish rite?” I asked.
“Ya,” she answered. “Vaish hardest of all. They are the dark ones.”
“Dark ones?” I asked.
“No joy, or fun. Don’t drink much mead, sing songs, or dance. They just want to kill.”
“Yeah. I noticed that they don’t have much of a sense of humor.” I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. It was a mistake, and I almost couldn’t open them again.
Uma and Waiola started talking, and then Hegeia translated.
“They want to know how you were given Odin’s rite. You are a great warrior. Were you captured in battle?”
“No,” I said as I reached down for one of the ammo belts. I wanted to set up my new belt and get familiar with the shotgun before I passed out. “King Vaish is just an asshole.”
“You did not want Odin’s rite?” Hegeia asked, and her question made my eyelids feel as if they weighed a hundred kilos. I was in massive sleep debt, and shifting into my tiger-man form hadn’t helped. I didn’t think I would be able to sort through the guns before I fell unconscious.
“I need to sleep,” I said with slurred words. “Can we talk about it when I wake up?”
“Ya,” Hegeia said as she bobbed her head. “Sleep. Talk when wake. We will be in city by then. Then we find ship. Then we help you.”
“Sounds good,” I said, and then I leaned up against the door of the van and fell into a dizzying pit of darkness.
It seemed like I had just closed my eyes, but then I felt fingers brush my face to wake me up. I opened my eyes and found myself back in my room on Persephone. Eve was lying next to me on the bed, and it was her gentle caress that woke me.
“Eve?” I asked as confusion filled me. Had I dreamed about her capture?
“Adam,” she whispered but her voice sounded far away, as if she was whispering to me from across a room.
“I…” reached up to rub my own fingers across her cheek, and she smiled down at me. Relief flooded my chest, and I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. Damn. I thought I had lost her.
“Adam,” she said, but her lips didn’t match the words coming out of her mouth, and her arm went down to shake my shoulder. Eve disappeared, and I saw Uma shaking me.
“Fuck,” I growled, and the woman recoiled with surprise.
“Sorry, Adam,” Hegeia said. She was sitting in the passenger seat now, and Waiola was driving. “We are about to enter city.”
“How long have I been asleep?” I asked once I swallowed the lump in my throat.
Eve had just been a dream.
“Almost seven hours,” Hegeia said.
“Damn,” I said as I sat more upright and realized that my head was resting on Uma’s lap. I nodded at her and then looked out the side window. It was dark again outside, but I still seemed as if I had just closed my eyes. My body felt exhausted, and I probably could have gone right back to sleep.
“The city lights are ahead,” Hegeia said, and I leaned down so I could look out the front window better. The skyline had four tall buildings, maybe ten stories each, and a halo of lights filled the air above them.
“You all have been driving this whole time?” I asked.
“We stopped once for bathroom and stretch. Also switched out fuel cell and bought some better clothes and more food.” Hegeia gestured to her shirt. Her outfit was a more feminine combination of a sweater and pants. All three of the women were wearing better clothes now, but their beauty reminded me of the four friends that I needed to find.
“You stopped at a store?” I asked.
“Ya. We tried to wake you, but you sleepy.” Hegeia shrugged.
“Ahh,” I said as I exhaled. The women had all probably left the car to buy the clothes and extra food. They could have easily sold me out and would have colle
cted a reward, but they hadn’t.
“We will help you.” Hegeia nodded, and her facial expression made me think she had guessed what I was thinking.
“Thanks,” I replied. “I’d be in trouble without the three of you.”
“We also,” Hegeia replied. Then she translated for the other two women, and they both smiled.
“We’ll need to find an airport, or somewhere where there are shuttles, just something that will either let us fly out the fortress, or will let us fly to somewhere that does have a shuttle.” I didn’t see any aircraft in the sky over the city, and I felt my hopes dim a bit.
“This big city,” Hegeia said. “We will need map or waste time driving around.”
“Agreed,” I said, and Uma yawned next to me. Then Waiola yawned, and I had to fight against my own yawn. “How long have you three been awake?”
“A day. Maybe more.” Hegeia answered after she asked my question to the other women.
“We should find a place to park and sleep,” I said. “Then we can--”
“Adam!” Waiola called out, and I followed her pointed finger toward the city.
There was a massive checkpoint on the road some five kilometers ahead of us. There must have been thirty police cars, and an APC parked on the side of the road. There was a long line of other vehicles waiting to pass the checkpoint, and I saw heavily armed soldiers patrolling down the distant line. We were still too far away for me to tell what kind of rifles they held, but they looked like they were bulky plasma types.
“That can’t be good,” I growled.
“Waiola will turn around,” Hegeia said to me before she spoke to her sister. The other redhead slowed the car and pulled over to the side of the highway. There were a few cars in the traffic heading each direction, and she had to wait a few moments before she could turn the van away from the city.
“Damn it,” I said after we’d jumped to the other side of the road. “How are we going to get through?”
“We will try the caves,” Hegeia said with a confident nod.
“Caves?”
“Ya, see?” She gestured to the sides of the road.
“I don’t see anything,” I said with confusion.
“Vaish’s Svartalfheim is caves. Network deep underground. Warm there. Lots of people live there. Entrance is a few kilometers back north,” Hegeia explained.
“And the caves lead to that city?” I asked
“Ya. Then we get inside and find ship.”
“Sounds good, but I’m sure they will have more guard points in the caves.”
“Maybe ya. Maybe no.” She shrugged, and then Waiola made a right-hand turn and got onto another highway. This road had fewer cars driving around us, but it wasn’t empty.
“See? No police,” Hegeia said half a minute later. The woman pointed ahead of us, and I leaned forward to see the road.
“Shit. You weren’t kidding about a cave,” I said. The highway was lit up ahead, and I saw the road descend into what looked like the open maw of a massive monster. There was a giant illuminated sign at the top of the opening, but it was written with the same Nordar rune letters I’d seen written other places.
Hegeia was right, there weren’t any police around, and our van began to descend into the mouth of the planet.
“People live down here?” I asked.
“Ya,” she said. “Many people, but no starships. We have to get to the city and then come up.”
“Alright,” I said. “Thanks again for helping me.”
“Ya. We help you, Adam. You nice to us.”
I returned their smiles, but then I turned my attention to the descent. It felt like we were driving into hell.
The sensation wasn’t comforting.
Chapter 10
The slope of the tunnel leveled out after another minute of driving, and we came to a bridge that spanned an underground lake. The water was darker than a black ink stain, but the lights on the side of the bridge were plenty bright enough. I could see clusters of buildings on the far distant shore, but they looked like a strange cross between a barn, and those old viking style longhouses. They were made of metal but painted in bright colors.
“Is warmth the only reason to live down here?” I asked as we reached the end of the long bridge.
“Water from the lake, and less creatures.” Hegeia shrugged.
“Do uiun-bair come this far south?” I asked.
“Ya. They are everywhere. Did you kill one? You wore its hide.”
“Yeah,” I replied.
“You strong,” Hegeia said with a nod. “Odin’s rite is good fit for you.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Don’t like the idea of hanging from a tree for nine days.”
“Odin lived, maybe you will.”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I sighed and then wiped my fingers over my eyes to clear out some of the sleep.
“With spear?” Hegeia asked.
“Hmm?”
“You kill uiun-bair with spear? It was the weapon you carried into the tavern.”
“Something like that,” I replied.
“See? You strong. Like the All Father, Thor, or Vidar.”
“I’m not a god,” I said, and I had a flashback of telling Madalena the same thing.
“You have powerful eyes,” Hegeia said. “My sister and Uma agree. You have their strength. You could be Odin’s Avatar.”
“I’m not Odin’s Avatar,” I said as I sat back in my chair and looked out the windows of the van. The homes looked to be made out of a unique blend of wooden logs, rough cut planks, and metal reinforcements. They looked like something out of a fairytale movie, but there were still streetlights, and hydrogen powered cars sitting in the driveways that we passed.
“How you know you aren’t? Does he speak to you?” she pressed.
“If he spoke to me, wouldn’t I know it?” I smirked at Hegeia and hoped she would leave the topic alone. Her words were reminding me of Madalena, and I didn’t want to think of the Prime Valkyrie anymore.
“He sends birds. They will have dark wings. Have you seen one?”
“I saw what looked like a black feathered eagle in the--”
I stopped talking and thought about what I had just said. Wasn’t a shadow kind of similar to black? Madalena had called Persephone a shadow eagle.
“A black eagle?” Hegeia asked with surprise. “It is rare bird. It was Odin. What did the bird show you?”
“A place to sleep up in a tree,” I admitted, but my thoughts were still on Persephone.
“The All Father wants you to complete his trial,” Hegeia said, and then she translated for the other two women.
“I have to get back to my ship and save my friends,” I said.
“Ya, but you don’t want to anger Odin,” Hegeia said with obvious concern.
“I’ll worry about that. I keep asking you three if you want to back out. You can if you want to. I’ll figure out how to get there by myself.”
“Adam,” Hegeia said as she shook her head. “You won’t. You need us, and we need you. Ya?”
“Yeah,” I said, and then I turned to look back out the window.
We drove for another five minutes, and the housing structures began to shift from the longhouses to smaller apartment buildings that surrounded shopping centers and parks. The scenery reminded me of the ancient pictures I had seen of Earth during the twenty-first century. Even the over abundance of cars seemed to match with that period.
“The city is ahead,” Hegeia said, and I looked back to the front window. The suburban area was beginning to shift to larger skyscrapers that pushed all the way up the ceiling of the massive cave. There were at least eight of these mega towers, and I guessed each of them had at least seventy floors.
There wasn’t a lot of vehicle traffic on the street, so Waiola was able to drive into the downtown district rather easily. The streets were well kept, and the organization of the cars parked on the side of the road made me think of Uraniel’s organized
citizens. Then I thought about Eve, Zea, Paula, and Kasta.
“What are you doing?” I asked when I noticed the three Idonan clanswomen peering intently out the window.
“These buildings touch the ceiling,” Hegeia said. “One must have path up the higher city.”
“Maybe there is a car lift?” I asked, but I hadn’t seen anything that massive when we drove toward the city.
“One, or many of these buildings go through the earth and into the surface city,” Hegeia explained. “We find one and then take elevator up. Then we are on surface and just need to find ship for you.”
“You make it sound easy.” I snickered, and then Uma said a few words as she pointed to one of the buildings we drove past. The other two women replied, as they nodded, and then Waiola turned the van around so we could drive by again.
“You think this one goes to the surface?” I asked.
“Ya,” Hegeia said. “We will park inside and then explore.”
“What kind of building is this?” I pointed.
“I don’t understand,” she said as Waiola pulled the van into the side parking entrance of the building.
“Are these homes or office suites?”
“Could be both,” she said.
“Hmmm.” I looked down at the auto shotgun and rifles I’d looted from the police on the road. I would probably stick out carrying any of them up through a building, but I didn’t really want to leave them behind.
Uma seemed to guess what I was thinking. She squeezed my arm and then pointed to a larger van sitting in the parking structure. There was rune lettering on the side of the van, and a picture of what looked like a steaming pie. The blonde women spoke to the sisters, and they both nodded.
“Uma points to catering truck. They might have roller trays that hold food. Maybe fit your weapons in there?”
“It’s a better idea than mine,” I said, and Waiola pulled our vehicle into a parking spot next to the catering truck.
I opened the door and stepped out of our van. It felt good to stretch my legs, and I rolled my shoulders back a bit to loosen the tense muscles.
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