I risked a glance at Mika beside me. She'd been right.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause trouble." I dared to look up. And my heart gave a little leap at the hint of softening in the eye of the All-Father. But the time for apologies was over. I had to tell them the rest. "Something terrible has happened, and I had no choice but to gather as much vital information as I could before I came to you."
A shuffling behind us announced a new arrival.
Odin turned his attention somewhere over my shoulder. "Ah, Fenrir. We have your two missing warriors here, safe and sound." I didn't dare turn to face him.
Fen walked around us to Odin's side and turned to face us. When he met my gaze, the blood in my veins iced over at the depth of anger and disappointment in his lupine eyes. His emotion must have been hard to control if he hadn't noticed that partial transformation.
He crossed his arms, his muscles bulked and threatening. "Explain yourselves."
My heart thudded insistently against my ribs, but when I spoke my voice was clear and strong; I hadn't done anything wrong. Not really. "While we were in Vermont, I received a visit from the Nidhogg."
Odin and Fen shared a concerned glance. Well, at least that got their attention. I gave them a rundown of everything that had happened, from the black goop on the Warrior in Vermont to Steinn's arrival and our travels to Muspell to poor Siri in her inexplicable coma, to the moment we left with Lady Tyra's instructions to find the cure. But I kept two pieces of information to myself: the dragon eye and the cold fact that the dragon matriarch had put my life on the line. Fen's face remained stony throughout my monologue.
When I fell silent, drained after everything I'd been through and overwhelmed by everything I still had to do, the All-Father sat back and sighed. "Lady Tyra is no fool. And if you say the child's symptoms are remarkably similar to Aidan's, then perhaps we do have a case of poisoning to consider." Odin leaned an elbow on the ornately carved hand rest of his throne, the expression in his single grey eye warmer, as if placated by my explanation. I hoped he would forgive me.
The All-Father looked toward the entrance of the hall, and I turned to watch my friend Sigrun enter. She paused as she drew abreast of me, her eyes flitting back and forth between my face and Odin's and Fen's. She must have made some decision in those fleeting moments. Her jaw hardened and she smiled at me, leaning in for a great big squishing hug. I grinned, blinking away heated tears of gratitude. Sigrun had definitely been worried about me.
I glanced at Fen and Odin. Could it be that much of the anger that they'd directed at me was a result of how much they cared for me? Mika's mention of desertion had prepared me for a solid reprimanding, if not punishment, but I'd forgotten that my relationship with Odin and especially with Fen went way beyond the simple teacher and god parameters.
Odin gestured to Sigrun, a frown plastered across his face. She released me and went to the dais.
"Valkyrie Sigrun, when you arranged the Mead for Brynhildr and Aidan, did you handle the Mead yourself?"
Talk about a leading question! Did he suspect Sigrun?
She shook her head. "No, my lord. I asked my personal Huldra to order the Mead from the kitchens."
Odin rose from his throne and paced a few steps on the dais. "So your Huldra and the kitchen servants would have had access to the Mead?"
She nodded, a frown darkening her face as she looked from Fen to Odin. "What is wrong?"
"The Mead which you gave to Bryn was poisoned," said Odin.
"Oh my!" The color drained from Sigrun's face, her skin unnaturally pale against her dark hair. It had taken a while for the truth to penetrate Sigrun's shock. "Poisoned?"
"Yes, child. We will need to speak to your Huldra."
But Sigrun was shaking her head, the movement stiff and denying. "She has been gone for a while now. Ever since Brody disappeared." Sigrun frowned. "I never questioned what happened to her. I presumed she had decided to move on. And I have a new Huldra now."
Sigrun looked straight at me, and I knew what she was thinking.
Her Huldra must have tipped Astrid off when Sigrun and I had snuck into Valhalla to see Aidan, Joshua, Aimee and Brody after their arrival. I'd been so desperate to see my friends that Sigrun had found a way to get us in and out safely. In the end, Astrid had seen us and fed her information to Freya.
"What about the kitchen Huldra?" asked Fen.
Odin called his servant to his side, and she scurried away to find the kitchen Huldra. While we waited, I drew closer to Sigrun and whispered the whole story to her. As she listened, tears filled her eyes at the poor dragon-girl's predicament.
The pair of Huldra arrived, and the kitchen maid moved toward the dais. She looked familiar, and I swallowed a gasp as I recognized her as Lifa, the fox Huldra who'd helped me sneak in to see Aidan. I found it hard to believe that she would've been the one to poison him after going through all the trouble to help me see him in the first place.
Lifa moved to the dais, a shiver rippling through her body as she looked up at the god. "Huldra Lifa, we have questions to ask of you," Odin's voice rumbled softly.
"Very well, my lord, I shall do my best to answer them." She gave a quick curtsy, the bright orange of her tail sweeping the marble tiles behind her.
"Please can you tell us about the day the Valkyrie Sigrun requested Mead for the Valkyrie Brynhildr and the Warrior Aidan?" Odin's voice boomed around the hall.
The Huldra stared at the floor, and my stomach dropped. I hoped her reluctance to meet Odin's eyes just meant she was being obeisant. I really didn't want her to be guilty. "I do recall my sister making that request of me," she said. "I prepared the Mead in little leather pouches and gave them to my sister to give to Valkyrie Sigrun."
"Was the Mead unattended at any time?"
"No." She shook her head. "I dispensed the Mead and then passed it directly to my sister."
Odin, Sigrun, Fen and I shared worried glances.
"Where is your sister now, Huldra Lifa?"
Lifa shrugged. "I do not know. We hardly see each other, and I have not seen her at all in the last few weeks." As she looked around at the gathered warriors and gods, eyes flicking nervously from face to face, I registered for the first time that Thor had put in an appearance. He stood quietly off the side of the dais. I wouldn’t have thought that Thor could be a melt-into-a-crowd kinda guy, and yet there he was, observing the proceedings in silence.
Lifa's eyes narrowed, her expression now edged with anger instead of confusion. "What is happening? Is something wrong?"
Sigrun touched the Huldra's arm, a gentle smile on her face. "The Mead was poisoned, Lifa, and we are trying to find out who would do such a thing and why."
"What?" Lifa backed away, shrugging off Sigrun's hand, her face grey and rock hard. "You dare accuse me of tainting the Mead?" She screamed the words. Her lips twisted and curled in contempt, and her face colored with fury. The beauty that had drawn my eyes to her face just minutes ago now dissolved as we watched.
"My sister and I have given our loyal service to the All-Father, and this is the way we are thanked? With accusations of poisoning?" She glared from face to face, her features now so hideous, her skin grey and speckled with moss. Her forehead appeared ridged, almost wooden. She spun away from Odin, her rage palpable. And although the shocking act of turning her back on the All-Father without leave was bad enough, it compared little what she did next.
As she stormed away, she ripped off her clothes, flinging them to the marble floor. The very act of her revealing her nude body to us all should've shocked me, but I was too distracted by the sounds of tearing fabric as they echoed within the hall. The brimming fury our questions had called forth struck a chord of fear within me.
And then I gasped.
The sight of her as she neared the doorway ripped the breath from my lungs. Her tail I had expected. But now I stared in horrified fascination at the Huldra's back, skin hard and thick and brown like the bark of a tree, indenting her body as if she were really a tree masquerading as a girl.
At the threshold, she spun on her heel and glared back at us, her anger at its zenith, where control no longer existed. She screamed again, throwing her anger at us. I ached to cover my ears against the shrieking of her voice, but her eyes held me spellbound.
Huge, black and demonic eyes.
Chapter 24
Lifa's shrieks echoed around the hall, each note clanging in my eardrums, until they faded into a tense and worried silence. Warriors, Ulfr and Valkyries alike shared uncomfortable glances before turning their eyes back to the All-Father, who was yet to react to the blatant disrespect.
From what I knew, Huldra were a law unto themselves; they owed nobody their allegiance, served Odin of their own free will and therefore had the right to up and leave whenever they wished. Still, I waited in the dead silence with the rest of the room, dreading Odin's fury. Finally Odin broke the strained hush. "I believe this may be the handiwork of your brother Loki." He strode to Thor, who still stood beside the dais, as shocked as the rest of us.
Thor nodded. "It is a pity he managed to escape his prison here. But it seems that he has many who are on his side."
"He certainly had plenty of our people on his side to poison the Mead, to abduct einherjar Brody and free himself." Odin shook his head. "We will need to be very, very careful. There are traitors among us, and they will be found in the least likely places."