Thrall (Daniel Black Book 4)

by E. William Brown

  “...and today, we gift you our freedom!”

  The steel chains that still wrapped Fenrir’s body exploded off of him. A hail of broken steel filled the air, and Tyr was forced to stop and raise his shield to deflect the lethal shower. A heavy length of chain struck my golem, putting another dent in its armor.

  As for Gleipnir, the mystic bond that the gods had originally used to trap Fenrir? It just evaporated, misting away into nothingness like a fading dream.

  The Fenris wolf stood up, and shook himself like a wet dog. A shower of broken magic cascaded off of him, ancient curses and bindings from a dozen different sources. Tyr cursed, and backed away.

  Fenrir’s voice was a bass rumble so deep it was more felt than heard, like an earthquake given speech. “Finally!” He growled. “A thousand years lost to the treachery of the Aesir, but now at last I walk free again. The hour of your doom is at hand, deceiver!”

  He lunged at Tyr, the great jaws that could snap up a dinosaur gaping wide. The god dodged aside with an impressive burst of speed, and flicked a whip of green fire at Fenrir. But the fell magic that had brought Aphrodite to her knees with a single hit barely singed the great wolf’s fur.

  Tyr fled, running for the portal he’d arrived through in the moment it took the great wolf to recover from his lunge. I opened up with my plasma cannon again, firing a long burst through the portal in hopes of wrecking whatever mechanism was maintaining it. But it must have been too sturdy for that, because it held together long enough for the god to dive right through the beam and vanish.

  The portal closed a moment later. I cut the plasma beam, and Fenrir glared at the spot where his enemy had escaped.

  “Troublesome worm, your tricks will not save you. I shall follow your trail through every trap and hiding hole in this cursed city, until no stone is left standing on another! Run and hide, little cowards. Fenrir walks free, and nothing will save you from my jaws!”

  His booming voice was so loud I was sure the whole city could hear it. For a moment I was worried that he was going to go berserk, and we’d have to watch him run off on some crazy attempt to take on all of Asgard single-handed. But then he chuckled, his voice dropping to a more reasonable volume as he started to shrink.

  Mara had collapsed at some point, but she managed to find her feet again as the Fenris wolf shrunk from a city-trampling monster to a mere elephant-sized wolf. She wiped the sweat from her brow, and looked up at him with a triumphant grin.

  “That will send them running,” she said. “Our armies are gathering on the Golden Field, brother. Will you join us there?”

  “Reckless girl,” Fenrir growled. “What would you do if I didn’t return your aspects?”

  She shrugged. “When I just freed you from eternal bondage? I don’t want to live in a world where my own brother would do that to me. Besides, I know you better than that. Jormungandr and Hel have told me a lot about you. ”

  “Have they, now? Did they explain why father left me here for so long, after promising he’d have me free the moment they relaxed their guard?”

  “You don’t know?” Mara said, astonished. “They bound him too, Fenrir. They murdered Narvi and used his guts to make the bindings. They put him in a cold, wet cave in the depths of the Earth, and conjured a serpent avatar to hang from a stalactite above him and drip venom on his face for the rest of eternity. Then they made Sigyn sit next to him and catch the venom in a tiny little bowl, so she’d have to watch him suffer every time it overflows.”

  “Those sick fucks,” Fenrir growled, his tail lashing in outrage. “But then, where did you come from?”

  “They bound his power and his limbs, but not his dick,” Mara explained with a smirk. “Gaea knows everything that lies beneath the Earth, so she could get to his prison even when no one else could. She wants Asgard destroyed, too, so she made a deal with dad. She raised me in her hidden kingdom, and as soon as I was strong enough I snuck back to dad’s prison and freed him.”

  “Sigyn must have loved that. Alright, kid, I’ll play along with father’s schemes for now.”

  He stuck out his enormous tongue, and gave her a lick that swept from knees to eyebrows. Mara giggled in delight, and I saw something pass between them. Deep magic washing out of the great wolf to return to its rightful owner, and something more that passed with it.

  “I am in your debt, little sister,” Fenrir said. “Woe betide any who would do you hard. Now, introduce your companions to me.”

  “Surely I don’t need an introduction,” Aphrodite put in. “Oh, and thanks for all the help with that soulfire, everyone. Not like it’s a big deal, or anything.”

  Aphrodite’s clothes were torn and ragged, with big patches missing where Tyr’s flame had burned them away, but the skin beneath was unblemished. Mara looked guilty for a split second until she looked back and saw her companion’s state. Then she rolled her eyes.

  “Drama queen. Brother, this is Aphrodite, the last survivor of the Dodecatheon. The Aesir have been keeping her as a thrall since the they sacked Olympus, but she’s escaping with us now. Oh, and my little golem is Sunstrike. He’s smart enough to follow orders if you call him by name.”

  “That’s a mighty weapon you’ve crafted, especially at your age,” Fenrir said. “Well met, Aphrodite. Healing is beyond my talents, but I see that you’ve managed. What was the plan for escaping from Asgard?”

  “Our distraction is still tearing up the city,” Mara said. “We just need to move fast, and crash the gate before they can get a war party ready for us. They won’t dare follow us too far, not with the force we’ve got assembled out on the Golden Fields.”

  “So it’s speed and fury, is it? Then mount up, little ladies, and prepare to do battle. We shall show these fools the error of their ways.”

  Mara wasted no time leaping onto Fenrir’s back, and grabbing a handful of fur. Aphrodite wasn’t so athletic, and resorted to becoming a swan again momentarily to reach her perch. She settled into place behind Mara with an eager smile and a saucy wiggle.

  “Ah, it’s been so long since I had such a mighty beast between my thighs,” she purred. “But how will you escape this prison of orichalcum, Fenrir? Can you really make the leap to reach that hole in the ceiling?”

  “They’ll have an ambush up there by now,” Mara objected. “Sunstrike, why don’t you show my protective brother how badass you are?”

  “You got it, Mara. Cover your ears and shield your eyes, because this wall is coming down.”

  I deployed my force shield to guard against backblast, and fired up the plasma cannon again. My weapon hammered through the magical stone in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics, and then made short work of the maze beyond.

  When it broke through I set the golem moving, with the force shield still deployed. The barrier plowed our path clear of the debris and molten rock that covered the floor, and Fenrir followed close behind. I kept the cannon blazing away until my golem reached daylight, and then swept the beam left and right to cover the plaza in front of the prison.

  My attack devastated a band of troops who had been drawn up outside, and then Fenrir came bounding out behind me. He immediately began to grow, doubling in size in the few seconds it took to cross the open space.

  “Turn left!” Mara called from his back. “The big street with the fountains running down the middle. It goes straight to the south gate.”

  A volley of arrows rained down on them from the troops on top of the prison building, but Aphrodite called up a wind that blew them away. Then Mara expanded her personal force field to protect both women, and I swept the beam of my plasma cannon across their position.

  The whole edge of the roof came apart in a rolling explosion of broken, half-melted stone. The archers who’d been caught directly in the beam just vanished, their flesh boiling away in an instant. Men at the periphery of the destruction were sent flying, and a fireball of expanding plasma enveloped most of the roof.

  This was definitely one of my more succe
ssful weapons to date. Too bad I wouldn’t get to keep it. But the enchantment factories I’d used to make it were safely tucked away in Alanna’s bower, ready to churn out the parts for a new version whenever I needed it.

  By the time I made it back to Mara’s side Fenrir had grown again. Now he stood four stories tall, looming over the buildings to either side as he galloped down the avenue. Mara held on to his fur with both hands, laughing gleefully and breathing jets of fire into buildings as they went by. Aphrodite was right behind her, with both arms wrapped tightly around the young demigoddess and her blonde hair streaming behind her like a banner.

  “Having fun?” I said.

  “Fuck, yes! Run for your lives, little ants. Hide in your cellars, and hope we kill you last!”

  Most of the buildings we passed were already in ruins from the detonation of the Sunspire, and the people here were in no mood to tangle with a legendary monster. The women screamed when they saw us coming, and the men mostly ran for cover.

  There were exceptions, here and there. Sometimes an einherjar would take a swing at Fenrir as he ran by, or an elf would lob a spell or a flurry of arrows. But they might as well have tried to kill a mountain. Swords and spears bounced off of Fenrir’s fur, while fire and lightning washed over him without so much as singing it. It was a curious magic, unlike anything I’d seen before. Like Fenrir’s true vastness was somehow compressed into this smaller shape, and anything that tried to affect him would have to do damage on the same scale to make any impression.

  In the distance I could see that there was still a battle going on near the ruins of the Sunspire. A swarm of winged horses swirled around the flying jellyfish beast, their riders unleashing bolts of fire and lighting at the monster. Thor and Odin were fighting the lightning lizard, and there seemed to be a series of smaller battles going on in the surrounding district. The combatants weren’t visible from here, but every few seconds I’d see a building collapse or a magical attack erupt among the ruins.

  Good. Maybe that would keep the Asgardians busy long enough for us to make our escape.

  Somewhere in the distance, a horn blew. A single long, piercing note that echoed across the city, cutting through the din of battle. With a start I realized that I was hearing it not just through the golem’s sensors, but with my own ears as well.

  “The Gjallarhorn,” Alanna breathed. “Now all the Nine Worlds will know that Fenrir is free, and Ragnarok is at hand.”

  “So much for hoping they’d be distracted,” I grumbled.

  Alanna laughed. “Do you fear an ambush even now, my wizard? Set your mind at ease, for what you hear is the death knell of Asgard. The blowing of the Gjallarhorn calls in every debt that the Aesir are owed, renounces every obligation, and brings to an end every working of might or magic that might divert their strength from battle in the dark days to come. If he thought there was the slightest chance of stopping Fenrir, Heimdall would not have blown his horn.”

  As if to prove her point, Fenrir’s headlong charge brought him around a slight curve in the road and into the midst of what was clearly supposed to be an ambush. Teams of dwarves were laying out giant caltrops and wire traps across the road, while elves wove binding spells into the works and an artillery company set up a battery of massive ballistae. But they were long minutes away from finishing their work, and that was time they’d never have.

  Fenrir plowed through the incomplete obstacles without even breaking stride, crushing steel and stone beneath his paws. One of the ballistae got off a shot, launching a heavy bolt of obsidian overflowing with death magic that actually penetrated a foot or so into Fenrir’s flank. But such a tiny injury was inconsequential to him, and the rest of the artillery crews were still straining to load their weapons.

  Mara breathed a wash of flame across one side of the plaza, and I covered the other side with a short blast from my plasma cannon. Fenrir trampled the siege engines underfoot, pausing for only a moment to snatch up some hapless demigod who’d been directing the work. The great wolf’s jaws snapped shut, and he gulped down his victim.

  “So dies the blood of the betrayer!” Fenrir shouted. Then he threw back his head, and let loose a blood chilling howl. It was a horrible sound, filled with the rage of a dozen centuries of imprisonment, and a hunger vast enough to devour the world.

  Not for the first time, I wondered if unleashing this thing had been a wise decision. But it was too late now for regrets. Like it or not, I was committed to this course.

  The survivors of the ambush fled into the ruins, and Fenrir resumed his headlong rush across the city. The gates of Asgard came into view, standing undamaged despite the recent devastation. From a distance they looked like solid iron, standing maybe forty feet tall and about that wide in a wall that stretched up hundreds of feet overhead. But solid as they might look, I knew better than to think they’d stop this walking mountain of hate.

  “This is where I get off,” I told Mara.

  “If you’re sure,” she replied. “You could still come with us, you know.”

  “I have another iron in the fire,” I told her. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll meet again soon enough. Good luck, and take care.”

  “You too,” she said. “I… I love you, you know. Don’t get yourself killed out there.”

  “I’ll be careful,” I assured her. “Here.”

  I passed her the control link for the golem. It was an intent control link, tied to the same earring as the communicator I’d given her, and she took up control of the device with the easy confidence of an experienced sorceress. I pulled away as she did, leaving only a tenuous connection that would let me watch what she did with it.

  “Got it,” she said. Then, louder, “Brother! Shall I burn a hole in the gate?”

  “I’ll not crawl like a worm through some maze of traps and wards,” the great wolf growled. “I’ll take my own path. Hold on tight, and ward yourself.”

  Fenrir grew, swelling back to the monstrous size I’d first seen him at. But he didn’t stop there. In the space of half a mile he expanded until he was almost as tall as the wall. Then, as he reached the plaza in front of Asgard’s gates, he gathered himself and made a prodigious leap.

  He sailed high into the air, clearing the top of the wall by a dozen yards or more. I caught a brief glimpse of the open fields beyond the city, and the distant shore of the sea far beyond. Even from dozens of miles away, I could see that the whole coastline was dark with the countless multitudes of Hel’s army.

  Then they passed through the city wards, and my connection was cut.

  Chapter 26

  As I prepared to carry out the last step of my escape plan, I reflected that perhaps I should have been more specific with my instructions to Fiona and Caitlyn. When I’d sat down to grow this decoy body I’d been a little annoyed to find that the blood sample they’d given me came from an elf, but that was a minor issue. I’d disguised myself as a dark elf once before, so I didn’t think it would be too big of a problem. A little unsettling, especially since Vanir would probably have differences from their darker kin, but not too bad.

  It wasn’t until the decoy was half-grown that I realized it was female.

  By then it was too late to get another sample and start over, so I’d decided to make do. After all, how bad could it be?

  “You're surprisingly good at this,” Alanna teased, as I slowly walked back and forth across her training room. “Do you take a woman’s form often?”

  I took another step, carefully putting one foot directly in front of the other instead of walking the way I normally would. I tried not to think too much about how the movement made my hips sway, or the way the unfamiliar weight on my chest affected my balance. How did elves ever walk in high heels? They were so tiny and slender, it felt like half my body weight was hanging off my chest.

  “It’s the force sorcery,” I confided. “It gives me an innate sense of motion. I’d be falling all over myself without it.”

  “That doesn’t expla
in knowing how to walk like a woman,” my familiar pointed out.

  “Trust me, I’ve spent plenty of time watching women walk,” I said. “Besides, men getting turned into women is a popular story idea where I’m from, so I’ve seen plenty of talk about all the pitfalls. It’s really not that complicated, as long as you can avoid makeup and fancy hairstyles. The big question is, can I pass as an elf?”

  “I don’t know, can you remember to drool over every over-muscled warrior to cross our path?” Alanna said with a giggle.

  I grimaced. “Seriously? I thought it was just the young ones who were so oversexed.”

  “You look barely thirty, and for a Vanir that is young indeed. An innocent young maiden, eagerly awaiting her first opportunity to be seduced into a life of debauchery.”

  “I suppose I could try to copy that ageless look the older ones get,” I mused.

  “No, no, this will be fine. In all seriousness, today of all days there is little need to worry over subtle details. You could throw your hands in the air and run through the streets screaming, and the people would merely think you stricken with grief. Try looking sad, and worried.”

  I brushed a lock of blonde hair out of my eyes, and frowned. I’m not the greatest actor, but I suppose I could find plenty of things to feel sad about. I still didn’t know when I’d see my girls again, or what was happening in Kozalin in my absence. I’d tried to set them up with good defenses, but there were so many things that could go wrong…

  A surprise hug distracted me from my incipient brooding.

  “I rescind my suggestion, Daniel,” Alanna said. “The sheer cuteness of this visage is far too devastating. If you frown like that every man we pass is going to stop to offer you his aid. Come, let me braid your hair in a warrior’s fashion, and you can play at being a fierce young spell-slinger running errands for her mother.”