Erik eyed me with interest as I brushed my fingers over the runes which were carved into the golden instrument. The essence of the horn washed through me and the runes spoke inside my head.
“This is the Gjallarhorn,” I murmured and Erik’s eyebrows rose in recognition. “Andvari must have stolen it from the god Heimdall. It will call every warrior in that hall to our aid.”
“You would rouse every warrior in Valhalla into battle before Ragnarök?” Erik asked.
“If the gods can use mortal souls to build their army then a mortal should be free to call on their aid in return,” I growled, lifting the horn to my lips.
I blew on it and the most triumphant cry rang from the golden instrument. The hill trembled with the power of it. The air around us seemed to vibrate as the trumpeting call carried on and on.
A great roar came from the hall behind us and I turned just as the doors were thrown open.
Every warrior in Valhalla charged towards us in an endless line of men and women holding weapons high and bellowing a battle cry.
They parted around us like a tide divided by a great rock and I stared on as they rushed by. I caught sight of my clansmen, my parents, Warren and Miles. Even my old war horse, Baltian, sped past with Aelfric and Elissa screaming for blood upon his back.
My heart lightened at the sight of so many great warriors clamouring to aid us against the evil of Andvari.
As the warriors slammed into the battle, they carved a great path into place along its centre.
I set the horn down at the top of the hill and we started running for the gap between the fighting warriors.
The sound and stench of battle overwhelmed me as we were engulfed in the midst of the unending war and we charged between the ranks with a conflict of our own in mind.
Each step we took was bringing us closer to Andvari. And I could scent his death on the wind.
The cry of battle died away behind us as we approached a wall that stretched into the distance across the expansive plain of land. No end was in sight and I sensed we wouldn't find one even if we searched for years. It was so high it rose into the clouds and disappeared into eternity. It was as black as night, smooth as glass and there was no way we could climb it.
I pressed my palm to the surface, a deep frown gripping my features as I faced this impossible roadblock.
“How do we get past it?” Magnar snarled, pacing up and down as he hunted for a way through.
There was no gate, no tunnel, no possible way forward. I sank down to a crouch, eyeing the dirt and sifting it into my hand.
“Fuck,” I snarled, tossing the dirt away and bracing myself on the wall instead. I rested my forehead to it as I begged for what I wanted. What I needed more than anything.
Nothing happened.
Magnar released a deafening roar as he slammed his sword against the stone. A boom sounded in response, but the wall didn't shift, not a crack, not a dent.
Magnar struck it again and again, but it made no difference.
He dropped the sword to the ground then lunged upwards, trying to find a handhold in the wall. He soon gave up, dropping to the floor beside me as we contemplated our predicament.
“What do we do?” he begged as he took his sword up and sheathed it on his back.
I shook my head, having no answer to offer.
A trickling noise caught my ear and I tilted my head up, spying a line of blood rolling down the wall in a steady stream. I backed up, gazing up at the huge wall as a phrase was painted across it in my native tongue.
Ingen dødelig skal passere.
“No mortal shall pass,” I translated and Magnar's eyes grew dark with some decision.
“Then it's time we shed these bodies,” he growled.
My heart thundered in response to his words as if its final beat was imminent. And it was. Nothing could stop us getting our revenge, even death.
I took the golden dagger from my hip and Magnar moved closer. I flipped it in my hand and held the hilt out to him and he took it as I unsheathed the gods' sword at my hip.
Dainsleif, it purred in my mind and my heart stalled as I recognised the name. This was the sword of Odin, a blade which couldn’t be sheathed until it ended a life. But that seemed fitting now, as it was exactly what I was going to offer it.
“You always did want to kill me,” I said with a heavy sigh.
“Though now it pains me to do so, Brother.” Magnar rested a hand on my shoulder and I drew closer to him. Suddenly the two of us embraced because we knew this was the end. That we might not come back from this. That it was a gamble that might lead us to our revenge or to an eternity in hell.
If we made it beyond this final hurdle, then the time of our vengeance was close. And when it was done and we cast whatever remained of our souls into eternal darkness, I knew that if any piece of me still existed it would search for Montana's life force in vain. Hopelessly lost and forever without its mate.
Magnar pressed the tip of the gods' dagger to my back and I inhaled, resting my forehead to his. I gritted my teeth and he gave me a sorrowful look.
“Together,” I said, lifting Odin’s sword and resting it against his back where I'd momentarily drive it through to his heart.
“See you on the other side,” he growled and drove the dagger under my ribs.
I forced my hand against the sword as pain ripped through my body. I snarled through my teeth, driving the blade towards Magnar's heart as he shuddered with the agony of it.
His dagger drove home and my heart was forced to an abrupt end, pierced and outraged by me taking away its newfound life so soon.
My lasting breath was filled with the taste of blood and I crashed to the ground, feeling Magnar falling with me as the two us took each other's lives in a way we could never have imagined.
I woke to an existence that was anything but natural. My body felt as light as air as I dragged myself to my knees, finding the wall now behind me and a huge cavern surrounding us.
Magnar stood and I eyed the form his soul had taken. The weight of our trials had eased from his eyes and a shimmer of light seemed to hang around him. I moved to his side, reaching for my heart but there was nothing left to beat. This body felt full of light, swimming inside me like water. It wasn't bad, but it was sobering, knowing darkness was all the future held for us now.
The dagger was gone, but Magnar still had his own swords and the bow. Odin’s sword had remained with me too as if it had some destiny yet to fulfil.
We moved through the cave, our footsteps silent as we traversed the dark place which was weighed with the presence of a deity. I felt as though I was floating, like I could move with nothing more than a thought.
A snarl caught my ear up ahead and I tensed, raising Dainsleif before me. If it wanted more death, I would gladly give it to the blade.
A tremor rocked the ground and I eyed Magnar warily as we braced for whatever was coming our way.
Heavy footfalls sounded one after the other, making the earth quake beneath my feet.
This was no god...
I clutched the sword tighter, my body humming, telling me a strange spirit was nearing us.
A guttural snarl sounded and a beast burst out of the pitch black at the end of the cave. A wolf, ten times the size of a mortal creature. A row of jagged spines ran down its back and its skin was bare and smooth. Its face was a picture of horror, a hundred huge teeth bared in an elongated jaw. It had a single red eye that honed in on us as it sped our way on swift legs.
With nothing but pure rage, I lunged forward to meet it as it leapt into the air, rolling beneath its huge paws and slashing its hind leg. The sword shuddered in my hand, the blade unable to penetrate its skin.
I cursed, frustration coursing through me.
Magnar slashed at its throat with the force of his two swords, but a metallic clang rang out and no blood was spilled.
We were already dead and I didn't know what this beast was capable of doing to us, but the look in its single eye as it sw
ung to face us again told me it could do something.
It sprang into the air and I swung my blade for its belly this time, roaring as I forced all of my strength into the blow. My arms jerked backwards as the strike didn't cut into flesh and I slammed to the ground as its back legs trampled me.
Magnar caught my arm, dragging me upright and sprinting away from the wolf in the direction it had come from. If we couldn't kill it, we had to outpace it, but that hope was short-lived as it dove through the air above us and landed on all four paws. It turned sharply, stalking back and forth, whipping its spiny tail from side to side.
Its eye swivelled left and right between us and Magnar took the bow from his shoulder with a feral growl.
Tension rippled through my gut as he took aim, loosing one of five arrows he had in his quiver.
The beast snapped it out of the air, crushing it with his teeth.
I waved my arms so its attention was directed on me, then turned and fled, hearing it pounding after me. I ran away as fast as I could but the beast's jaw locked around my arm and I cried out in pain as it tossed me up into the air. I fell down on its back and the spines sliced into my ethereal body, spilling liquid light from my wounds. I might have been dead, but the pain was as real as it had been in my mortal form.
I gasped, pushing myself upright and taking hold of its neck. I squeezed with all my might and the wolf yelped, jerking its head wildly to throw me off.
“Hold it still!” Magnar bellowed as an arrow whistled past my ear.
“What do you think I'm trying to do?!” I yelled in response.
The wolf charged forward, shaking wildly so I lost my grip and flew into a stone wall. I hit the ground, pain blossoming through me. The wounds started to knit back together and I gazed at my body in astonishment at the strange power my soul form held.
Magnar loosed two more arrows, their tips ricocheting off of the wolf's face.
“The eye!” I insisted, racing to help him.
“I know!” Magnar shouted, retreating as he tried to aim once more.
He had one final shot and he had to make it count.
“Hey fucker!” I bellowed, waving my arms in front of the beast.
It came upon me like a storm and I held firm, not moving an inch as it lunged down and its teeth clamped around me. I stabbed the inside of its mouth as the wolf tried to swallow.
Panic reared through me.
Blood poured from its wounds as my sword cut into the meat of its gums.
The wolf's tongue drew me backwards and I dug my heels into the red flesh around me to stop it trying to swallow. I drove my sword upwards but it clanged against the roof of its mouth.
Fear consumed me.
Teeth sliced into my arm, my leg.
I'm going to fucking die – again!
A violent tremor rocked through the body of the wolf and I fell out of its mouth covered in slobber and blood. Blinding agony hit me but the strange light leaking from my injuries started healing over.
I pushed myself away from the creature's lolling tongue, spotting an arrow embedded deep within its eye and drew in a shuddering breath. Magnar helped me upright, surveying me with concern.
“Fucking hell,” he breathed, watching the way the golden light pouring from my body slid back into me and my skin stitched together.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “That about sums it up.” I clapped his shoulder and he discarded the bow on the ground, shaking his head.
We headed deeper into the dark cave and the drool and blood on my body slowly vanished to nothing, and my dark robes reformed where they'd been torn away.
I lifted the sword higher in my grip, a resounding power growing in the air around me as we closed in on the deity we hunted. Dainsleif burned in my hands, demanding I offer it the death it craved.
Vengeance is calling your name, Andvari.
Erik stayed close to my side as we travelled further into the cloying darkness. It was more than just the absence of light. It was the presence of something bleak and foreboding.
We were nearing the end of our hunt. I could feel it in the vibrations of the air, like a breath on the back of my neck.
But instead of feeling triumph at the fact that we had finally cornered our prey, the deepest sense of apprehension filled me. Like we were hunting a rattlesnake but were about to come face to face with a mountain lion instead.
I rolled my shoulders back as I carried on regardless. We had given everything in the name of taking this revenge. And if in the end that wasn’t enough and my soul ended up as a feast for the creature who had devoured the girl I loved then so be it. I would sooner waste away in darkness where she had found her end than linger on in the light, destined to walk alone for all of time.
My foot collided with something and I stumbled as Erik caught my elbow to steady me.
A faint silver light appeared above us and I tilted my head as it brightened bit by bit until a shining black staircase was revealed before us.
I glanced at Erik and took heart from the determination I found in his gaze. We had been set apart for so many years, destined to be enemies for all of time. And yet chance had delivered our hearts to girls who shared the same blood. And though they had been worthy of men far greater than two wretches like us, they had given us their hearts and lost their lives because of it.
Somehow this man beside me had become my kin instead of my enemy and I was proud to be facing my fate at his side.
We started up the stairs and the light began to grow. I could feel the air simmering with unease as each step we took drew us closer and closer to the god we sought.
Whether he’d known we were hunting him from the moment we stole his treasure or whether our arrival in this place had been the first he knew of it, I wasn’t sure. But he could feel us approaching now.
I could hear it in the echo of our footfalls, taste it on the breeze that slipped into my lungs. Andvari was close. And he was ready for us.
We emerged at the top of the staircase in a huge, circular chamber lined with countless mirrors.
I drew my swords as I stepped forward on silent feet and Erik raised the blade he’d stolen too.
We edged forward, watching the shadows between the silvery mirrors for any sign of the deity, but all was still.
On the far side of the room a huge mirror drew my attention, its frame built from dry branches which were engulfed in unnatural flames which didn’t destroy it.
I glanced at the mirror closest to me and was surprised to find I cast no reflection. I looked down at my body to be sure it was still there and my confusion at the mirrors grew.
Erik stilled beside me and I moved to stand with my back to his as the air grew thick with pressure.
Blood red eyes appeared in the mirror directly before me and I inhaled sharply at the sight of them.
Movement to my right caught my attention and a gilded mirror resting on the floor revealed a smiling mouth lined with razor sharp fangs.
Erik snarled beneath his breath and I glanced over my shoulder to see a grasping hand reaching for him from yet another mirror. The flesh which covered it was grey and rotting and the fingernails were caked with blood. As its fingertips brushed the glass, they passed through and the taloned nails grew longer, reaching, clawing-
Erik lunged forward and slammed his blade through the arm but it turned to smoke under the strike and reappeared in a mirror closer to me instead.
The fingertips skimmed the inside of the glass as I watched it but the hand stayed beneath the surface of the mirror before fading away.
The silence was thick with promise as we waited for the next glimpse of the god we came here to end and he kept us suspended in the torment before his arrival.
“Show yourself, coward,” I snarled, growing tired of his games. We had come here for a purpose and I intended to see it done.
A haunting laughter rang out from within the mirrors and the glass vibrated as fire sprung to life in each reflection, eyes staring out at us
from every angle within the flames.
My anger grew wilder and I cried out in rage, slamming my boot into a heavy mirror before me, the frame of which was made of finest slate.
The mirror rocked back, leaning so far that it almost crashed to the stone floor before Andvari’s magic caught it and it rotated upright once more as if it were on hinges.
“Well now, Erik Larsen,” a thick voice purred from everywhere at once. “It seems you’ve brought me a savage soul to feast on.”
“If it’s a feast you want then why not come and get it?” I urged, my eyes flicking from one mirror to the next.
As I tried to anticipate his next tricks, the flames died away, leaving the reflections blank again.
Eerie laughter rang out from everywhere at once and Erik growled, drawing my attention to the mirrors on his side of the room.
A slender mirror with a frame of iron flashed with power and suddenly the god’s pale face appeared within the pane.
Andvari stepped from the glass in a long, black robe with a huge cowl pulled close about his head. Beneath the shadow of the hood, his eyes dragged over us and a trembling power built in the fabric of the dark chamber.
He stood up straight and was taller than even I could claim to be. He held his arms wide as if he’d gladly take the blow we were so desperate to deliver and I had to fight against the urge to break forward and attack him.
This foul creature had stolen all that I had ever asked of this unfair world and I gripped my swords tighter as I waited for my chance to return the favour.
Whatever followed now would still amount to the same thing; one way or another, the end of my path was close. I breathed in the scent of violence as it carried to me on a wind which should never have existed in the first place.
Andvari turned his neck and it kept going and going, far beyond the realm of what should had been possible.
I turned to stand beside Erik as we faced this creature together. The end of our hunt was here and it was time we faced our destiny.
“Your death awaits you on the edge of this blade.” I lifted Dainsleif and Andvari eyed it with a flicker of discomfort.
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 189