Dead Chaos (A Valkyrie Novel - Book 3)(35)

I turned to the group. "You need to hide. Stay away from the edge. Sigrun has to come with me." Joshua and Aimee frowned and I grinned. "Sigrun is the one with the wings. It'll be easier for her to just fly us down rather than you two walking all the way as well.

Aimee nodded and scanned the path of rough stairs hewn from the rock walls that lead to the bottom of the cavern. "Imagine trying to run out of there if we got into trouble."

I handed the cloak to Aimee. "Hold on to that in case you need it." Geri whined and I sent him a stiff look. "You behave and stay with Aimee and Joshua. You can't come with us." He looked at me, liquid eyes seemingly hurt. I ignored him and turned back to Sigrun.

She followed me to the edge of the precipice and I wrapped my arms around her waist and held on tight. From our vantage point, it looked like a gigantic crack in the rock with the walls running almost parallel to each other in a rectangular shape. Sigrun flexed her wings. She spread them out and flew off the edges. We descended, the torches below casting a light on our progress into the bowels of this cavern. It felt like it took ages to get to the bottom and it probably did.

I held onto my pack, heart thudding as my feet finally touched the bottom of the cavern. The dais sat in the middle of the rectangle about thirty feet away. A set of nine torches surrounded the dais, throwing Gjallerhorn into stark clarity.

The horn lay on its side, the flickering light of the torches moving and shifting over it like golden waves. I swallowed hard. It was so large. I shook my head. "I hadn't expected it to be this big. How were we ever going to get it out of here?" I gritted my teeth. I should have thought to ask how large this instrument was. Either way, it really didn't matter. The point was to take it back to Asgard and its size was irrelevant within the context of the mission.

"Do not fear, Bryn. Despite its size, Gjallerhorn is very light. One of us can carry it with ease. We will just have to hope we do not get caught on our way out."

Relief flushed through me. Good to know. Still, it was as tall as I was. But now, we had to figure out a way to get the horn out of the cavern without being found.

"I still can't figure out why this place isn't guarded."

"I think perhaps they have checked and seen it is here. So now they may be out looking for use. We should hurry in case they return."

I nodded and Sigrun lifted off. She hovered beside the table then flew toward it as I neared the dais. We’d meant to grab hold of the horn together.

A flash of light and a pulse of energy sent us flying backward into the rock walls behind us. My head hit the jagged stone and I felt heat bloom in my scalp.

Great. All I needed is to crack my skull open while trying to save the horn.









Chapter 32




"So that's why there are no guards. They're using magic." I growled the words out, holding my fingers to the back of my throbbing head. They came away moist and ruby-stained. I wiped the blood off on my pants with a rough, angry swipe. "Now what do we do?"

Sigrun rose, a bit wobbly on her feet. Her face looked stricken, her feathers shuddering at her back. "I did not see that coming. And I have no idea what to do next."

I stared at the stone table and chewed my lip. Now that we knew the magical field protected the horn, it was easy to sense it, even see it if we didn't look directly at it. The protection wavered like a bubble of water, shifting and reflecting the light of the torches.

My head still throbbed, but everything else seemed intact. Light glimmered on gold a few feet from me and I hurried to it. The force of the magical field had thrown Gungnir from my hand. It gave me an idea.

"Who do you think is responsible for the magic behind this protection spell?" I asked the question more to myself than anything.

Sigrun answered. "The fire giants have magic but they do not dabble in the kind of strong power needed for this type of protection."

"So that leaves us with only one culprit." I raised an eyebrow at Sigrun and she nodded. "The god who is the reason Gjallerhorn is here in the first place."

"Loki." The name left Sigrun's lips one syllable at a time, as if she didn't want to say his name out loud. As if the mere mention of it would conjure him before us.

"And I'm thinking that Odin is powerful enough to counteract Loki. So maybe a weapon of Odin could counteract the trickster's magic?"

Sigrun smiled, her head bobbing up and down eager to test my theory. "Yes. It is brilliant."

I nodded, and we hurried over to the table. "I'll pierce the magic, and if it works, you grab Gjallerhorn and let's get the hell out of here."

"And if it does not work?"

"Then we'll just have to come up with plan B."

She nodded and I pointed the spear at the bubble of magic. It was all or nothing so I mentally crossed my fingers and stabbed at the protective field. The point of the weapon poked into the magic like a blunt pin into a balloon, pressing into it, doing nothing. I bore down on it and flinched, expecting it to burst with a resounding pop.

Gungnir pierced the magic and a sliver of murky shadow appeared in the wavy, watery power. The magic shivered, then exploded, drops of power scattering in a wide circle, raining onto the floor and shattering into minute particles.

We stepped backward, hoping to avoid being splattered by the magic. Just in case. I didn't want to imagine how Loki's creepy dark power could backfire on us.

Look at what it did to Odin.

I shuddered and glanced at Sigrun. She nodded and flew closer to the table, hovering at one end of the horn. Using my free hand, I helped her lift it, and as she'd said, Gjallerhorn was unusually light. Sigrun hoisted it up in one arm and held the other out to me. I gave the cavern one last glance and grabbed hold of Sigrun a moment before she took off for the platform at the entrance to the cavern. We needed to get the hell out of Muspellheim now that we had Heimdall's horn.

We reached the platform just as the thunder of boot steps came rushing at us. In the split second of time we had before being caught, Sigrun and I shared a worried glance, then as one, we both looked down. As much as I wanted to get out of the cavern, we were now forced to retreat into it to save our butts.

Sigrun flew down just below the edge of the cliff and hovered out of sight as close to the rock wall as her wings would allow. My heart thundered as the group of giants headed for the stairs. As soon as they began to descend, Sigrun made a mad dash out of the cavern and I crossed my fingers that none of the Surts would look back up at the landing at the wrong moment. We paused just outside the doorway, puffing in and out. I wanted to laugh at the tension in my arms and legs. Instead, I scanned the tunnel for our team.

A portion of the opposite rock wall shimmered like light falling on a piece of cellophane to reveal Joshua and Aimee.

I sighed, relieved. And realized I hadn't given them a moment's thought while in the cavern. A little guilt niggled, making me wonder if I was becoming unfeeling and cold. But I was focused on a mission. Surely that wasn't a bad thing.

"What the hell happened to you?" Joshua scowled as he stepped to me and laid a finger on my hairline. "You're bleeding."

I shrugged, secretly glad he was worried about me. "I had a little accident, but I'm fine. We need to get out of here. Where's Hugin?" A flutter of dark feathers drew the bird to my shoulder. "Let's get out of here, Blackbird."

Hugin tipped his head to one side, his eyes seemingly scanning my blood-drenched hair as if saying I should have been more careful. Then he launched up and flew off. Without a word, we hurried after him, keeping close together in case we needed to hide. Aimee lit our way with the torch. Thank heaven I’d thought to bring it. I glanced at Sigrun, who still held Gjallerhorn close. How we would hide the great horn was beyond me.

Let's just get out of here. No sense in borrowing trouble.

We ran headlong after the raven and I prayed he knew where he was going. Suddenly, he stopped in mid-flight, then circled back toward us, flying straight at me. Then he startled me by taking a sharp right into a small tunnel leading off our path. I followed, swallowing a bubble of fear. Boots sounded in the distance, pounding the ground, coming at us fast.

We huddled in the tunnel, which turned out to be a dead end. How were we supposed to hide?

Think fast, Bryn.

But all we had was the cloak, which was actually a very large piece of fabric. An idea brewed and I nodded to myself.

I moved away from the group and dusted the cloak out, holding one end to the wall nearest me. Joshua must have been watching me because he grabbed the other end a second later, sending me a nod of approval as he pulled his edge of the fabric toward the opposite wall. The cloak would act like a curtain. We’d have to stow the torch behind us and hopefully, the cloak would hide us in this dangerous tunnel until the search party stopped looking.

Bal's voice rang out, his fury palpable as again his booming voice rumbled through the tunnels, raining dust and debris down on us. "They have the horn. Check every tunnel. I want them found." As they rushed past our tunnel, he yelled, "Check in there. I said search every tunnel, you dolts."

I held my breath as a Surt stopped at the tunnel’s entrance. He spent a few moments scanning the space. "Clear." Then he rushed off to join the rest of the giants.

As the din of the guards receded, I glanced back at my team without moving the cloak. "What do we do now? We can't risk heading out there now." Sigrun's grey eyes roiled with worry.