Duck, Duck, Noose

by Sara C. Roethle

  Alaric’s pulse sped as he debated what to do. Would they kill Sophie if he ran, or would they just use her as a bargaining chip? He couldn’t decide if Madeline and Sophie would be better off with him in the Norn’s possession, or with him by Madeline’s side to relay what the Norns had said.

  He scanned the Norns. “One of you also told her that the only way for her to part herself from the key was to die, or to put its energy into our child,” he countered. “I really don’t think you have as firm a grasp on the future as you claim.”

  It is true, the voice began, that she has thwarted fate many times. Her very creation thwarted fate. None were to possess the power of Yggdrasil. Yet, we cannot risk certain ends.

  “Or, you could help us achieve the correct end,” he countered. “We can regrow Yggdrasil and restore things to the way they were.”

  “I vote for that idea,” Sophie added sarcastically.

  Alaric glared at her, letting her know she wasn’t helping the situation.

  The Norns seemed genuinely surprised. You would suggest we work together?

  At that moment, he was reminded of how the Norns came to be as they were now. They were originally part of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and had created the Vaettir in the image of the old gods, because they were lonely, and wanted children. Then, the Vaettir destroyed Yggdrasil, turning the Norns into what they were now, separating them from the key, and from the energy that composed the Morrigan, or so Madeline had explained to him. Once Yggdrasil was gone, the Vaettir had sentenced the Norns to a life of solitude. The Vaettir would not live amongst them, nor would they listen to their foretellings. He smiled faintly. The Norns were probably surprised that he was listening to their opinions at all, let alone offering to work with them.

  After thinking it over, Alaric nodded in reply to the question. “We’ll need you in the end regardless,” he stated. “We might as well work together from the beginning.”

  The Norns nodded their antlered heads in unison. Balance will be restored, they all agreed.

  Alaric had a brief moment of relief, then the voice added, But the banshees must still be laid to rest.

  He sighed. “Let me talk to Madeline. I’ll tell her what you’ve said, and that you’re willing to help us.”

  No, the voice said. If you leave us, she will have no reason to comply. We have been betrayed by your people many times.

  He glanced at Sophie, who shrugged, then turned back to the Norns in front of him. “What do you propose?”

  You will come with us, the voice in his mind stated. A messenger will be sent to Madeline.

  “If you harm her,” he began, ready to launch into a fight to the death right then and there.

  We will send a message, nothing more, the voice explained. You will both remain with us until an agreement can be made.

  He quickly sorted through his options. He could run, but he’d have to leave Sophie, and it might cause the Norns to attack Madeline, or he could stay, and perhaps a non-violent agreement could be made. His choice was clear, but it pained him that he’d be unable to return to Madeline like he’d promised. She was probably already worried, and he knew for a fact if he didn’t return by nightfall, a search party would be sent.

  “Fine,” he stated through gritted teeth. “Send your messenger. I will not run.”

  The Norns nodded in unison as Sophie let out a tired sigh.

  Alaric glared at her. “This is all your fault, you know.”

  She snorted. “It’s your fault for agreeing to let Maya join us.”

  Alaric rolled his eyes. No matter how many years they lived, Sophie would always be his little sister, and he would always need to protect her, no matter how much she infuriated him.

  I leaned back against the cushy chair, taking no comfort in the warm fire in front of me, or the steaming mug in my hands.

  “He should have been back by now,” I stated.

  Mikael sighed from his seat a few feet away. The fire’s reflection danced across the glass of amber whiskey in his hand. “A search party has been sent. I’m sure Tallie has sniffed him out by now,” he said tiredly. “Her tracking skills are beyond even Alaric and Sophie’s. If there’s any trouble, Aila and Frode will handle it.”

  Frode was the blond braid man who’d accompanied Maya and the others. Both he and Aila had joined in the search for Alaric. I’d tried to go myself, but had been met with a resounding no from the entire group.

  I pouted, thinking back to that moment as I stared into the fire. Even Frode, who I didn’t really know, seemed to fully comprehend the situation. He’d assured me they would bring Alaric back in one piece. I’d told him not to make promises he might not be able to keep.

  I placed my hand on the slight bump of my belly. “For some reason,” I began, “I feel like I’d know it if he’d come to any harm. Like I’d somehow sense it. Is that ridiculous?”

  I watched Mikael out of the corner of my eye as he smiled softly. “I knew when Erykah died, though I was an entire ocean away. She was in my dreams that night.”

  Gripping my mug with both hands, I gently swirled the tea around within the vessel. “You’re making me want to go to sleep, just so I’ll know. It feels wrong that I’m not out there looking for him.”

  Mikael chuckled. “I’m sure he would do his best to kill me upon his return if I let you run off into the woods in search of him. You still have many enemies, and it would do no one any good if you died running off to save him, especially when he may not be in any danger.”

  I sighed and took a sip of my chamomile tea. The scent and taste were normally soothing to me, but at that moment, nothing could compete with my anxiety. “If he wasn’t in danger, he would have returned by now.”

  “You place a great deal of faith in him,” he observed.

  “Yes, I do,” I answered instantly.

  He stood with his whiskey in his left hand, then offered me his right. “It’s late. Let’s get you to bed.”

  “I’m not going to be able to sleep,” I argued, staring up at him.

  “Then I’ll sing you a lullaby,” he joked, “just as you did for me back when you needed to learn to shield, and wanted to enter my mind while I slept.”

  I took his hand and rose to my feet, careful not to slosh my hot tea. “First,” I began, “you were drunk, and I was just trying to get you to shut up. Second, that situation didn’t end very well for either of us. I thought you were going to kill me after the key forced its way into your memories.”

  He arched an eyebrow at me with my hand still in his. “Were we successful in teaching you how to shield, or not?”

  I sighed. “Well yes, but—”

  He raised his whiskey-filled hand to silence me. “Then perhaps we’ll be successful at getting you to sleep.”

  I slumped my shoulders in defeat, knowing there was no way I was going to be able to sleep. Still, I was grateful he was at least attempting to take care of me. I almost felt bad. Mainly because if Alaric was gone for a few hours more, and I was still awake, I’d hit Mikael over the head if I had to so I could use my banshees to help me search for him. Alaric would do the same for me. That’s what being partners was all about.

  6

  Alaric leaned his back against the wall in the candlelit cellar where Aislin had met her end. There was still a bloodstain in the middle of the floor, though her corpse had been disposed of by Mikael’s people. Against the opposite wall sat the chair where Madeline had been tied up for Marcos to remove the key from her.

  He clenched his jaw in irritation. He and Sophie had been sitting in the cellar with the Norns standing guard for hours now, leaving Madeline alone in the Salr with several of Aislin’s people, including Marcos, and there was nothing he could do about it. He stifled a sigh. She wasn’t entirely alone. Mikael was watching over her, but it did little to comfort him. He hoped Mikael would be able to stop her from running off to search for him. A Norn messenger was on the way. Hopefully Madeline would soon know that he was safe, and woul
dn’t do anything foolish.

  Still, there would be conflict once she was told the banshees must be returned to the earth. Alaric wasn’t even sure she knew how to return them, even if she eventually agreed to the Norn’s terms. He imagined she didn’t, else she might have considered it already. When she was around their power for too long, she became slightly intoxicated with it, and he knew that it scared her. She’d allowed the banshees to grow weak because she was afraid of giving them fresh power. Yet, the fact still remained that using the banshees was their best chance of cornering Estus.

  Sophie let out a long sigh. He’d been ignoring her since they’d arrived at the cellar, annoyed with her selfishness when so much was at stake.

  “I’m sorry,” she muttered.

  He glanced to his left where she sat leaning against the wall, her slender body draped in a curtain of dark hair. “Huh, what was that?” he replied sarcastically. “I couldn’t quite hear you?”

  “I’m sorry,” she said sharply. “I let my emotions get the better of me. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

  Alaric rolled his eyes at her. “This seems to be a theme with you regarding Maya.”

  Even at just the brief mention of Maya’s names, Sophie’s expression hardened. “If Madeline not only used and betrayed you, then tried to kill you, you’d feel the same.”

  He met her dark eyes and the ferocity that was always there, just below the surface. “You really love her that much?”

  At that, Sophie seemed to deflate. “I did. When she left Estus’ Salr the first time, I thought she was doing it to get away from him, and that she truly regretted leaving me behind. I held out hope. Then, when Estus recaptured her and had her tortured, I thought maybe if I saved her, those hopes could come true. I thought maybe she’d held that same idea in her heart.” She took a deep, shaky breath, then slumped against the wall. “Then we escaped Estus’ Salr. I left you and Madeline behind to fend for yourselves, all for Maya. As soon as we were safe in the outside world, she admitted she was Aislin’s spy, and she left me. You have no idea how that felt.”

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “Kind of like being abandoned by your own sister after risking your life to help with her idiotic plan?”

  She glared at him. “I knew you would be fine. You always are.”

  That last bit stung, though he wouldn’t admit it out loud. He had survived many dire situations, but the idea that he was expected to survive those situations without help made him feel the slightest bit lonely. It was part of why he felt so close to Madeline. She would always do her best to save him, just as he would do for her. Neither of them had to deal with their problems alone. It was that bond that worried him now, knowing that Madeline would do whatever it took to rescue him.

  Sophie eyed him curiously as he thought things over. The Norns left to guard them were still as statues, not acknowledging their conversation, or even their existence.

  “I suppose I can understand your actions,” he eventually conceded. “Though you’ve still been a royal pain in the ass.”

  She smiled. “Isn’t that what little sisters are supposed to do?”

  He laughed. “Tabitha doesn’t seem to give Faas quite as much grief.”

  Sophie shoved his shoulder playfully. “You obviously haven’t been paying attention. They’re always arguing when they think no one is listening.”

  He smirked. “And you’ve been paying attention? I was under the impression that you only paid attention to yourself.”

  “Hah hah,” she replied sarcastically. “You’re one to throw stones. All you see is Madeline.”

  He rolled his eyes. “If that were true, I wouldn’t be sitting in an old cellar with my little sister, leaving Madeline in the care of Mikael.”

  Her eyes widened in mock surprise. “Woah, sorry, maybe you care about me a little too much.”

  There was something in the way she said the last remark that made him sense there was more to her attitude than she was letting on. His tone turned serious. “I do, you know. I’m aware that things have been centered around Madeline, and I’m sorry if that made you feel alone. We never even properly talked about James’ death.”

  “There was nothing to talk about,” she snapped instantly.

  “You cried,” he countered. “You never cry. The only other time I’ve seen you cry in the past ten years was when Maya tried to kill you.”

  She frowned. “I simply felt responsible. I had said some,” she hesitated, “things to him that made him angry. He provoked Madeline and the banshees because of me.”

  He eyed her patiently, waiting for her to give him the real explanation. He knew his sister well enough to know that she hadn’t been that upset over a little guilt.

  “Fine,” she snapped, turning her gaze away from him and down to her lap. “James was still in love with me,” she said quickly. “I thought—” she bit her lip, then began again, “I thought that perhaps he felt toward me what I felt toward Maya. He was an evil person, and didn’t really deserve my sympathy, but I couldn’t help relating to how he felt. When Maya tried to kill me, I just couldn’t understand it, because even after everything, I hadn’t wanted to kill James, and I knew he would have never tried to harm me. I suppose when James died, I saw too much of myself in him, dying because of the one he loved, who could not love him back.”

  Alaric took a deep breath, then let it out. Her explanation had been a lot more than he’d expected.

  She continued, “These feelings have been especially hard to cope with while seeing you and Madeline together, returning each other’s love equally.” As if realizing she’d admitted an uncharacteristic amount of weakness, she took on a joking expression and added, “It’s positively vomit-inducing really, the way you two go all moon-eyed around each other.”

  Suddenly Alaric felt guilty. He hadn’t considered the idea that his relationship had only made things harder on Sophie after her terrible luck in love. “You know,” he observed, “Aila goes a little bit moon-eyed when she’s around you.”

  Sophie smiled with a distant expression. “I know, but Aila has even more trouble showing her emotions than you or I,” she laughed.

  Alaric grinned. “She fits right in.”

  Sophie turned her gaze back to him. “Just one big, dysfunctional family.”

  He smiled, but it was hard to quiet his sudden anxiety. After a moment’s silence, he added, “Yes, a family, of sorts. Hopefully we’re capable of saving it.”

  Sophie glanced at the Norns, then back to Alaric. “I trust Madeline to lead with her heart, and Mikael to be more pragmatic. They make a good team. It’s up to them now, much more than it is to us.”

  Alaric rubbed at his tired eyes. Sophie was right. As much as he wanted to be capable of saving the day, everything was currently up to Madeline and Mikael. Even he could admit they made a good team. Too bad he’d still have to kill Mikael after all this was over. Some crimes simply could not be forgiven, at least not by him.

  Mikael and I sat in the grass outside the Salr as the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon. I hadn’t slept a wink, and he hadn’t either, refusing to rest no matter how many times I’d promised I wouldn’t leave. He knew because of our oath that I couldn’t really lie to him, but still, he’d remained by my side.

  “I’m sure they’ll be back soon,” he assured as we both gazed off into the distance.

  I had a flannel blanket wrapped around me, but felt chilled to the bone. Not only was Alaric yet to return, but there’d been no sign of Tallie, Aila, or Frode either.

  I perked up as I noticed movement in a far off copse of trees, but whatever it was seemed too big to be Alaric or one of the others. I squinted my eyes, straining to see whatever it was.

  “Is that . . . ” Mikael trailed off, sounding surprised.

  “A Norn,” I finished for him.

  The tall shape had emerged from the tree line to reveal its antlered head, though at the distance I could make out few other details. I only knew it was a No
rn because no other creature shared that particular shape. Its humanoid body was nearly seven feet tall, and its antlers, like those of a whitetail deer, added a good two feet on top of that.

  Without a word, Mikael and I both stood to begin walking toward the Norn as she continued to make her way in our direction. I left my blanket on the ground, not wanting to be huddled in its hindering warmth should conflict occur. The Norn was alone, as far I could tell, but I couldn’t help glancing warily around us as we walked. I suddenly felt vulnerable being out in the open. The banshees had hung back out of sight, too weak to do anything but watch.

  “What do you think she wants?” I whispered to Mikael as we plodded along, our boots kicking up the morning dew from the grass.

  He shook his head, his eyes remaining on the Norn, still a good distance off. “I haven’t seen any Norns since we went back in time,” he whispered. “I wasn’t even sure there were any left after the deaths of those I knew.”

  We stopped talking as the Norn drew close enough to hear us. She took a few more long strides, then stood before us, towering over even Mikael, which few managed to do.

  The children of Bastet are with my sisters, a voice echoed through my mind. I’ve come to bargain with you for their lives.

  I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe. She had Alaric and Sophie? “What do you mean, you’ve come to bargain for their lives?” I asked.

  We require that you return your phantoms to the earth, she explained. Then we will all work together to meet your goals.

  I glanced at Mikael, who looked confused. “I take it you’re hearing a voice in your head right now?” he questioned.

  I nodded, realizing the Norn had been speaking only to me. “They’re holding Alaric and Sophie hostage,” I explained around the lump in my throat. “They want me to send the banshees back into the earth.”

  “Well we can’t do that,” Mikael replied blandly. He turned to the Norn. “Kidnapping two of our people against their will, then attempting to bargain with their lives, is a direct call to war,” he stated boldly. “If you harm them. We will slaughter all of your kind.”