What reckless gamble are you planning this time, you maniac?
“Oh, it’s not that reckless. I just have to pull the wool over the eyes of the Aesir, manipulate the most experienced assassins in the world, and win an impossible battle or two. All in a day’s work for me, right? Bring Aphrodite back out so she can listen, and tell me what you think of this.”
Alanna was skeptical at first, but the sheer brazen effrontery of the plan won her over in the end. I wasn’t going to be sleeping much in the next couple of days, because I had a lot of work to do if I wanted to have any chance of pulling it off. But if it worked we’d be out of Asgard, and no one was going to be looking for us. Of course, if I came up short anywhere along the line I was screwed.
“I’m going to have to visit a confectioner, and lay in a supply of popcorn,” Aphrodite pronounced. “Win or lose, this is going to be marvelously entertaining.”
“I’m so glad my antics amuse you,” I told her. “You do realize that the first thing I need to do is defuse this bomb, right?”
Her smile didn’t waver. “If Alanna Firescorn believes that you can do this, then I will trust you as well. Besides, I’m pretty sure my bindings are stronger than this suction effect. So worst case it eats you guys, and then I end up back in my soul gem being interrogated by Odin.”
“What a lovely thought. Alanna, maybe you should go back to making sure she doesn’t distract me?”
Chapter 22
It was a couple of hours after dawn when I landed on the roof of the gatehouse, and told the guards there I needed to talk to Gustav. They were obviously expecting me, because the sergeant just nodded and detailed a man to show me the way.
He didn’t have an office, of course. You need cheap paper and widespread literacy to make modern bureaucracy possible, so in Asgard paperwork was still the province of a handful of scribes. But apparently meetings are universal, because the chamber my guide led me to was definitely a conference room. A big wooden table surrounded by chairs dominated the room, with a map of Asgard and the surrounding area hung on one wall. A group of heavily armored warriors was just leaving as we arrived, and Brand and Gustav were sitting at the table arguing about tactics for fighting the winter fey.
Gustav spotted me at the door, and snorted. “Looks like I owe you a crown, Brand.”
“Told you,” Brand replied. Then he turned to look at me, and laughed. “Looks like someone’s been enjoying his new toy. Did you at least remember to make her dispel that obstacle before she seduced you?”
“Yes,” I said shortly. I’d been up working all night, preparing the enchantments I needed to pull off this crazy plan, and I intentionally hadn’t used magic to get rid of my fatigue. Better to let word get out that the Atlantean mage was exhausted from his labors.
I reached into Alanna’s armory, and came out with a heavy metal box that I tossed onto the table. “We have a complication.”
Brand frowned at the object. “What’s this?”
“A bomb.”
It was funny the way Brand froze in the middle of opening the box. Both giant warriors tried to carefully edge away from the thing without being too obvious about it.
“Not the box, the device inside it. It was in the Spire, set up to kill anyone who tried to finish the repair job I’m working on. It isn’t Atlantean work, either. It’s disguised to look like a shard of crystal, like most of the Spire’s components, but there’s a mechanism hidden inside that’s enchanted in the Egyptian style.”
“The Lightbringers have managed to booby trap the Spire?” Brand said. He opened the lead box, and peered at the crystal inside.
“Impossible,” Gustav objected. “Anyone who gets close to that thing dies.”
“They’ve had five thousand years to study the problem,” I pointed out. “I can think of several ways to do it, so I’m not surprised they found one of them. But this isn’t recent. That thing has been in place for at least a few hundred years, and possibly a lot longer. Long enough to absorb some of the curse, so you don’t want to handle it too much.”
Brand slammed the box shut, and pushed it away.
“The box is lined with enough lead to keep it contained,” I told him. “Just don’t leave it sitting around open for hours at a time.”
“You’d better not be leading up to a plea for more time,” Gustav said, scowling at the box. “There was a major battle on the coast last night, and Hel’s fleet has established a beachhead. There are a thousand gate ships spewing undead onto our shores as we speak, and Gaea herself is trying to open a path for the Sons of Muspell to join them. We need results, not excuses.”
“You’ll get them. But if you want this done I need you to tighten up security around the Spire, so the Lightbringers can’t sneak someone in to stab me in the back while I’m working. I’m just heading out to pick up supplies, and then I’m going to be working around the clock. I need to make sure there aren’t any other traps waiting to go off if we activate the soul binding system, and then I have to finish repairing it. I’m going to have to jury-rig a replacement for the conduit router, and if you want it fast it won’t be as good as the original. I’ll probably have to go back in there and manually point it at a different soul trap every time it gets used.”
“Maybe you should leave Aphrodite back at Moon Ghost Hall while you work,” Gustav said.
“She’s bound to be a distraction,” Brand agreed.
“No, I need her to stand watch,” I disagreed. “I can’t assume your security will be perfect, and this kind of work takes too much concentration for me to be watching my back at the same time. Besides, if I’m going to camp out in a ruin for who knows how many days someone will have to cook.”
Brand gave me an incredulous look. “You’re going to make her cook for you?”
I shrugged. “Why not? I’m sure she knows how, I just have to motivate her properly. Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to get going. I’ll check back in a couple of days to give you a progress report.”
“I guess that will do,” Gustav conceded. “Work fast, wizard. The final hour is approaching.”
I left, before they could come up with any other complications. But as I followed my escort to the exit, I activated the magical bug I’d attached to the bottom of the conference table.
There was the sound of a door closing, and a few moments of silence. Then I heard Gustav’s voice.
“I still say we should grab that guy’s women. I don’t like dealing with a wizard without more leverage.”
“You haven’t seen the fortress they live in,” Brand replied. “We don’t have any teams that could assault that place, and they never leave anymore.”
“So we infiltrate,” Gustav said.
“Oh, sure, we’ll just breeze right past a clan of dark elves to kidnap a faerie princess and a half-demon witch. I’m sure that will work out perfectly. Or did you want to go for the pregnant tiger woman? Either way, I don’t have any agents in Midgard who have a prayer of pulling it off. Do you?”
“Odin gave this op gold clearance, Brand. We can get the support, we just have to ask for it. You’re just too busy sucking this guy’s dick to do what needs to be done.”
“More like you’ve got such a hateboner for wizards that you can’t stand working with one. Come on, Gustav, you’re better than this. Right now that guy is thinking we might let him go when he finishes the job, and even if we don’t he can just wait until we’re too busy fighting to keep a close eye on him and then vanish. But if we kidnap his girls when he’s already trying to deliver that just says there’s no way to make a deal with us. Do you really want to be up against an Atlantean wizard who thinks he’s got nothing to lose?”
“Fucking wizards,” Gustav grumbled. “You really believe he’s working on it?”
“Yes. I think he’s angry about the situation, but he has enough sense to know when he’s beaten. We just need to be careful not to back him into a corner.”
“Fine. I said I’d give you a week, so
I’ll give you a week. But I’m going to start setting things up, just in case we have to do things my way.”
Asshole. Yeah, you go ahead and make your plans. We’ll see if you’re still alive in a week. But there was one thing there that puzzled me.
Alanna, why would Gustav think Elin is a faerie princess?
Isn’t she? Her comely form looks royal enough, and the power she wields is quite impressive for one so young. Ah, but you’ve been giving her power, haven’t you?
Yes, she has a ring that’s about as strong as what I’ve been feeding you. She’s not nearly that strong without it. I have the impression that her mother is some kind of noble, but I don’t think she’s all that prominent.
Well, then you’ve ensured she will face a warm welcome should she ever return to faerie, Alanna said. Strength and beauty are prized by the fey. Just don’t raise her up so high that she overshadows her mother.
Yeah, like I give a damn what her mother thinks. After the way she treated Elin, I was more likely to make her look bad on purpose just to spite her. But that was a thought for later.
I flew back to Moon Ghost Hall instead of walking, just to make it as hard as possible to ambush me along the way. I kept my guard up as I landed in the busy training yard and made my way to my rooms, but the only ambush waiting for me was a crowd of hot redheads.
“Daniel!” Mara exclaimed as I opened the door. She rushed across the room to envelop me in a bear hug. “Where were you? I was getting worried!”
“I told you he was fine,” Fiona chided. “If he died my sister and I would dissolve back into the hall, and that would be the end of us. So you’d know right away if our dear master had taken some reckless chance, and gotten himself killed.”
I returned Mara’s hug, and then freed one hand to muss Fiona’s hair. “Enough with the guilt trips, girl. I’m being as careful as I can. Where’s Caitlyn?”
“Fetching breakfast.”
Mara discretely sniffed at my neck, and pulled away. “What have you been doing that you look that wiped out, and don’t smell of sex?”
“Working. I’ve got a plan now, even if it does have more complications than I’d like. Fiona, how would you and Caitlyn feel about doing a bit of carefully measured violence on my behalf?”
“We’ll be happy to murder any man you point out, master. But mistress Mara would be a lot more effective.”
“I know, but she’s got a different part to play. Mara, can I get you to do some social engineering for me? I need to make sure the Lightbringers hear some particular tidbits of information about what I’m doing, without making it look like we’re trying to feed them false info. Aphrodite supposedly knows all about the seedy side of Asgard, so I figured if you put your heads together you can come up with a way to make that happen.”
“Sure, I can do that. Where is she, anyway? Did you leave her back at the Spire?”
“No, Alanna has her tied up in her bower. Alanna? Time to let her out, I think.”
As you wish.
My armor melted away, leaving Alanna kneeling at my feet with Aphrodite in her arms. The blonde goddess looked around at her new surroundings, and stretched luxuriously.
“That was wonderful, Alanna. Completely different than what the Vanir do, but so deliciously primal. Ring or no ring, I’d be happy to do that for a century or two.”
Alanna chuckled, and stroked her hair. “Glutton. Ask me again when the war is over, and matters with my wizard are more settled.”
“Perhaps I will, at that. So what are we doing now?”
“Eating breakfast,” I said. “Then you and Mara here can figure out the details on the information leaks.”
“Oh, of course,” Aphrodite said, finally sitting up. “So you’re really Mara, are you? I see your mother is being a bitch, as usual. If you free me and get me out of Asgard I’ll help you claim your immortality.”
“If I succeed at this mission I’ll get it anyway,” Mara countered.
“Oh, sweetie. Do you really think she’s going to keep her promise? She pulls the same routine with all of her daughters. She’s going to tease you with a little taste of it, and laugh when it slips through your grasp because of the curse she’s put on you. Then she’ll say you have to finish growing up before you’ll be able to hold onto it, and part of that will be getting pregnant. Only your son will end up devouring all your strength in the womb, and you’ll die giving birth.”
Mara pulled away from the beautiful goddess. “How could you know all that? Alanna, is she telling the truth?”
Alanna glanced at me, and I nodded. She shrugged, and turned her attention back to Mara. “It would not surprise me. I said nothing because I have no means to aid you, and my wizard has enough troubles of his own. Aphrodite, does she labor under the same curse as Lenore, and Risel before her?”
“It’s not quite the same,” Aphrodite said. “It looks like she’s made some improvements, to make it even harder to break. But it’s obviously the same old story. Make divine daughters to bear her monsters for her, so she doesn’t have to pay the price herself. Disgusting old savage.”
“Dad wouldn’t let her do that to me,” Mara protested.
“No? Will he quarrel with her on the eve of Ragnarok, and put his vengeance at risk?”
Mara hung her head, and clenched her fists so hard her knuckles went white. “Damn it. Is my life always going to be completely fucked up?”
Aphrodite frowned, and put a surprisingly gentle hand on Mara’s shoulder. “Hey, it will be alright. I didn’t tell you that just to twist the knife, Mara. I’ll be happy to help you out. You just need a few weeks of training in how to slip the bonds of mortality, and properly embrace your true nature. With your aspects that will be easy for you, and then you can shed that curse and ascend whether she wants you to or not.”
“You’re sure? You can really do that?”
“Well, not with these bindings on me. I need to be able to touch Chaos myself before I can show you the way. But you were planning to free me anyway, right? Just think of this as an extra incentive.”
“Thank you,” Mara said, choking up a little. “I… yeah. That’s an incentive alright. One way or another, I’ll get you out of here.”
“Wow,” Fiona breathed. She dropped to her knees, and bowed to Aphrodite. “Exalted One, will you accept this unworthy mortal’s devotion? You’re going to need a champion and some priestesses and agents once you’re free, right? Or even just some pet sluts who can admire your technique?”
“Jumping ship already?” I said dryly.
“Hey, you’re just a wizard, master. She’s a goddess.”
Aphrodite laughed. “I’m hardly going to poach you right now, silly girl. Offer a proper sacrifice when both of us are free, and I’ll consider it. Unless Daniel has plans for you?”
I shrugged. “I was planning to offer them a job when we get out of Asgard, but they don’t have to take it. Stealing them from the hall should break this obedience compulsion they’re under, so they’ll be free agents afterwards. But we’ve got a lot of work to do before we reach that point.”
“Hey, um, I didn’t mean to make it sound like we were going to turn on you like a couple of ungrateful bitches, master,” Fiona backpedaled. “We’d be happy for a place in your hall. It’s just, we have to worship someone, right? Who better than Golden Aphrodite, for a woman like me?”
“I understand, Fiona,” I assured her, albeit without saying what it was that I understood.
Caitlyn arrived then with a platter of food, and I explained the plan as we ate. Well, the parts they needed to know. I didn’t completely trust Mara or the twins, let alone Aphrodite, so I went light on details whenever I could. No need to make treachery easy.
“This is going to make me look pretty amazing,” Mara said. “I like it. But how sure are you that these chained spirits are going to go on a rampage if you free them?”
“I spent a few hours in the prison chamber trying to talk to them. Most of the animal sp
irits and monsters fly into a rage at the first hint of contact, so I’m pretty sure they’ll be out for revenge. The smarter prisoners seem pretty crazy, which makes them unpredictable, but I was able to talk to a few of them. So they know where they are, and who’s responsible for leaving them in that prison for the last thousand years or so. Whatever they do is probably going to be distracting.”
“They will be weak from their imprisonment,” Aphrodite said. “But with a city full of victims to devour, the more savage ones will quickly regain their power. For the most part I’ll applaud the destruction, but there are a few people I’d like to move out of the district before it happens.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “There are people in Asgard you don’t want to see dead?”
“If anyone breaks my favorite toys, I want it to be me. Besides, I have agents. They might be useful later on, so I’d like to keep them alive for a bit longer. Please? I’ll only need an hour or two to arrange things.”
Alanna frowned at her. “Are you certain this will not make your captors suspicious? Surely they have someone keeping watch on you.”
“Oh, I turned him ages ago,” Aphrodite pronounced. “Besides, I’m not going to tell them any details. I just want to have a couple of pets moved to different playrooms, and put out one of the general alerts I’d set up in case Ragnarok caught us by surprise. When the dust settles I expect my keepers will think I was plotting with Mara.”
“That fits,” I agreed. “Alright, I think we can arrange that.”
“What will we be doing while you use yourself as bait?” Caitlyn asked. “Fiona and I need to be useful, or we might fade while you’re gone.”
“Well, first off I need you to get me a sample of someone’s blood. I don’t need much, just a spoonful or so, but it needs to be fresh when you collect it. It also needs to be real and more or less mortal, so it can’t come from anyone in Valhalla. A living human would be best, but I can make do with elf or dwarf if I need to.”
“This sounds interesting,” Fiona said. “What are you going to do with it?”
Thrall (Daniel Black Book 4) Page 32