Dead Chaos (A Valkyrie Novel - Book 3)(33)

Shuffling along as quietly as we could, we soon slowed to a halt as a sharp bend in the tunnel appeared up ahead. Hugin had landed on an outcropping of rock near the curved roof, his head tilted as if listening for something. I listened too for a moment. Hearing nothing, I poked my head around the corner.

A great roar built up slowly, as if intent on ripping into our ears and bursting our eardrums. The ground vibrated as something overly large raced toward us. I wasn't sure if it had been me or our torchlight that had given us away but I didn't plan to wait around to find out.

I turned sharply. "Run!" Even before the word left my lips, we were hurtling down the tunnel. The footsteps pounded the ground behind us and seemed to be drawing away. I didn't dare look, but my heart lifted, giving me a spurt of energy. It was possible we could get away.









Chapter 30




It looked very much like we’d gotten away from our pursuer.

But just as I let out a relieved puff of breath, something caught the collar of my coat and lifted me off the ground. I squeaked and the sound drew the attention of the rest of the team. They turned to investigate the strange noise and three jaws dropped open in shock as my friends stared up and me as I hung in midair, kicking my feet uselessly. I held on to the staff for dear life.

"Let me go." I yelled, trying to twist my head to get a better view of my captor, but all it did was make me swing like a pendulum. I prayed the soft leather wouldn't give away as I was weighed down with my bag of weapons.

The tunnel had narrowed where the giant now stood, holding me out before him. I had no space to try to stab at him with the spear. Either he was smarter than I’d expected or it was just dumb luck, but my body protected the top half of him too well for any of my team to attack. And even if they attacked, the chances are he’d let go off me and I’d fall and break something.

The wolves whined, pacing this way and that, unhappy with my treatment. Geri lowered his head, pulled back his upper lip and snarled, revealing viciously sharp and creepily yellowed teeth. Freki followed his brother, and the next thing I knew, the wolves leaped at the creature who held me aloft as if I weighed nothing more than a butterfly.

As the wolves attacked, I tried again to get a look at the giant.

Vicious growls and the skittering of nails on stone confirmed the wolves hadn't let up. A wolf yelped and my heart sank as the sound echoed along the tunnel, followed by a dull thud as the poor guy hit the jagged rock wall.

All I could do was watch my team wince at the animal's predicament.

And I'd had enough.

"Let me go." I shouted again, throwing a hand behind me, hoping to grab hold of the damned hand that held onto my collar.

"You are trespassing. The law says I can crush you and your friends if I so wish." The voice behind me rumbled, the timbre rough and loud. I couldn’t find an ounce of niceness in that voice.

I hesitated for a moment. "What do mean trespassing? We’re here to visit Steinn, the Nidhogg. He’s expecting us."

The giant roared in amusement. "Do not play the innocent with me, Valkyrie. I know your kind and what you are capable of." The giant gave me a rough shake sending my weapons tinkling in my bag. "What do you want?"

I thought of lying, thought of making up some unbelievable story. In the end I went with the truth. "I'm here to see Bal."

The fingers tightened. "What do you want with Bal?"

"I need to talk to him."

"What about?"

"I have something that belongs to him. He has something we want. I'm hoping he'll be open to a trade."

The giant burst out laughing again. He lowered his arm and let go of my collar. I fell the last few feet onto the stone floor and covered my head. The robust laughter of the fire giant shook the walls and brought down a shower of dust and grit and a good few dangerously large rocks.

Once it was safe, I rose to my feet and dusted myself off, glaring crossly at the giant who slapped a meaty palm against a monster-sized thigh as he laughed. I didn't appreciate his mirth.

Sigrun and the others came toward me. I felt them gathered behind me. The giant's laughter fell away when his eyes fell on me.

My blood ran cold when I recognized the fire giant, whose eyes flickered with living flames.

"Bal." I snapped. I was annoyed, but my stomach twisted. I didn't need to admit to myself that I was at least a little afraid. "Why didn't you tell me who you were?"

"Because it was much more fun this way." Bal's voice still held a touch of amusement. He didn't look like he was about to conjure up a flaming club and beat me to death with it. Small mercies.

"So?" I asked, my tone challenging. I didn't want him to think I was afraid of him.

"So what?" Bal frowned. "Wait a minute. I know you. You are the Valkyrie that attacked me not so long ago."

"Attacked you?" My head heated up as I glared at him. "I did no such thing. You were the one who went all kill-now-ask-questions-later on us. You didn't even give me a chance to tell you why I was here."

The ground shook as Bal stamped his foot in anger. "You survived, did you not? And I am assuming you got what you wanted." He sounded almost petulant. He did get beaten by a tiny girl, so not surprising, he was unhappy.

"I have something that belongs to you. I want to trade it for something you have."

Bal snorted. "That depends on what you have and if I want to trade." He folded his thickly muscled arms and waited, the flames in his eyes dancing ominously.

I flipped my satchel open, about to reach inside for the ball-and-chain when the wolves began to growl, their heads lowered, lips flaring. Bal stepped forward and the cool tip of a sword touched my neck. I peered up at Bal, counting myself lucky he hadn’t decided to turn the flame on his weapon before sticking it into my neck. "Calm down, big guy. I just want to show you something."

"As you wish. No sudden moves though. Unless you wish to have your head separated from your body." He spoke so congenially that the words he uttered seemed hardly fitting to his tone.

I shook my head and withdrew the ball-and-chain as slowly as I could. No sudden moves. I liked my head attached to my shoulders, thank you very much. I held the weapon up by the ball end, allowing the chain to fall over the edge of the bag, gaining momentum and clinking its way onto the ground.

I glanced up at Bal, eager to gauge his reaction, but his face remained expressionless. His lack of excitement set me off-balance. Surely he should have been thrilled to be reunited with his special weapon. But all he did was give it a cursory glance before meeting my eyes with a question curving one bushy, flaming eyebrow.

Behind me the team was becoming restless. Joshua moved to my side, hand on the hilt of his sword as if suspecting he'd soon need to defend me.

"So, what is it you want in return for my weapon?" Bal cleared his throat. "Do you not find it strange that you are bargaining with something that does not belong to you?"

I shook my head. "It's yours. I'm guessing it’s special. I'm guessing you want it back. And if you do, there's something I want in return." My heart thudded as I reached the crucial moment. "I will return this weapon to you in exchange for Gjallerhorn."

"What!" Bal's voice ripped through the tunnel, loud and violent and threatening to cave the passage down on us. Then he grunted as if the sound would calm him down. "What makes you think the horn of Heimdall is here in Muspell?"

"Let's just say I have it on good authority that it is definitely here." I didn't plan on spilling my source no matter what.

"Well, you are mistaken."

"I don't think so." My voice hardened. We had to get the horn and there wasn't time to play around with Bal. "Why don't you just give me the horn and you can have your weapon back?" I glanced at the ball and then back at Bal. I swallowed a little. The ball looked puny. Hardly the thing an oversized brute like Bal would care about.

"What makes you think I want it back at all?" Bal's lip curled in a sneer that chilled my blood.

So much for a bargaining chip. Now what?

"Come on, Bal. Don't play games with me. You know you want it back. Just give me Gjallerhorn and we'll be out of your hair." I was out of options. It was looking like the runes had misled us and the ball-and-chain wasn’t as highly prized as we’d thought. I really hoped he wanted it back.

"I am sorry, Valkyrie, but that is not the way it is going to work." Bal stepped back and placed two fingers in his mouth. He whistled so loudly that my inner ear hurt and all I wanted to do was to cover them. But I didn't move.

Footsteps thundered up the passage behind Bal and half a dozen heavily armed fire giants paused beside him to take instruction. "Throw them in the dungeons," he snarled. "The wolves too. But be careful with the animals. They belong to Odin and we don’t need to bring the wrath of another god down on us." He’d recognized the wolves. I was suitably impressed.

The guards grabbed us, pushing and shoving us past a grinning Bal. One giant blew out Aimee's torch and laughed as we were plunged into darkness. I was about to snap at the idiot. How the hell were we expected to go anywhere if we couldn't see an inch in front of us?

I blinked.

I thought I'd seen a glow of some kind but I may have been wrong. We were still moving along the pitch-black tunnel, disoriented and disappointed.