Dead Embers(34)

Oh yeah, she'd be plugging into her Ulfr sight right now. What I wouldn't give for a pair of wolfy night vision eyes.

Minutes went by until my eyes adjusted, and at last I managed to just make out the edges of the smoothed rock walls and a carved archway supported by two carved pillars, so similar to the pillars in Valhalla. Myriad-colored jewels blinked happily at us from little cracks within the black rock walls. Odd how they seemed to shimmer with an eerie light even when Mika and I remained plunged in darkness.

Beside me, the shadow of Mika assumed a more human shape.

"Come on, Bryn," Mika whispered, urgent and impatient. I swallowed an annoyed sigh. She was right of course. We were here for a reason. But first, I needed some answers.

Grabbing Mika's arm, I pulled her to a stop. She glared at me, her lupine pupils flaring, glowing brighter in the dark passage. "What?" she snapped, trying to tug her elbow away.

I frowned at her prickly response but didn't release my grip. I had to ask. "What did you do to them?" I shivered, very afraid she'd say she'd had them for a snack.

Mika laughed, though at least she was still aware enough to keep the volume down. "Never fear, dear Valkyrie. They are still very much alive. The most they suffered was perhaps the worst fright they have received in a while. They are tied to a tree right now. Perhaps they are struggling to free themselves. Perhaps they are bickering, as brothers do. Or perhaps they are in a fit of terror for failing their hellish mother." She sneered, ripped her arm free and strode off.

I didn't run to catch up with her, although it did annoy me that she'd taken the lead. Better not to upset her, though, considering she'd just managed to get us inside this black dungeon. I pondered her abrupt response. What had I done to evoke such a visceral reaction? Following her, I studied her as she scanned the walls and the handful of tiny passages we passed, making a note of the slope of her shoulders, the stiff way she held her back. All signs that I'd done something to piss her off.

I didn't have time for Mika in a snit. Shrugging off my worries, knowing they'd probably come back later, I matched the Ulfr's pace until we walked almost abreast.

A moment later, we both came to a skidding stop. Up ahead, light flickered, this way and that.

The light at the end of the tunnel. Ha ha, Bryn the wise-ass.

Mika squinted, concentrating on the passage ahead. "What's that? Some kind of torchlight?"

"Or possibly another guard," I whispered. "Who knows? The princes may have a whole army of guards helping with security. There have to be more of them around here somewhere."

We crept along, our feet barely raising the fine dust covering the floor. And as we approached the stuttering, buttery light, the strangest thing happened. Warm air bathed my face and hands—a soft, seeking warmth that patted my skin lovingly, more comforting than searing.

Our gazes met so suddenly that it took me a few seconds to comprehend that I could see. No more shadowy gloom, no cloying darkness. I could actually see clearly for the first time since arriving in this awful realm of the dwarfs. Mika's wolf eyes stared back at me, and I swallowed hard, trying to appear nonchalant. The only other pair of Ulfr eyes I'd ever stared into from this close had belonged to Fen. The same Fen who'd skin my hide when I finally crossed paths with him again.

The light swayed only a few feet ahead. Mika whispered, "I will surprise them. Knock them out before they raise the alarm." She stepped forward.

But something didn't sit right. I grabbed her arm again, finally certain what was bugging me. "Wait. Can you hear that?"

A rhythmic pounding reverberated from deep within the walls and floors, so low I'd barely registered it before. And as we approached the flickering torchlight, the beat intensified. It pulsed now, through my bones and ears; it even pounded alongside my heart.

Mika's eyes widened. "Yes," she said, nodding. "The forges. I had forgotten about those. No doubt why it is so hot here."

"Forges?" I felt stupid.

Great, Bryn, why not barge right into the kingdom of the dwarfs, knowing pretty much nothing about it. Why the hell not? I gritted my teeth. Even if it was on Thor's recommendation, it didn't mean it was a smart thing to do.

Why do people assume I know more than I really do about Asgard and its many realms?

If anything, my ignorance justified Mika's presence, something that irked me more now than it did when we'd left Asgard. I hadn't wanted her along in the first place, and now I had to admit I needed her. No friggin' way.

Mika inclined her head, her eyes on my face as if pleasantly contemplating my ignorance. "The dwarfs are talented metal smiths. They run the forges night and day. I am surprised we did not hear them sooner." She smiled, clearly loving the fact that I'd missed Dwarf Culture 101.

Mika opened her mouth again, as if to continue to fill in the overly large gaps in my dwarfish knowledge. But before she could start, I said, "We should get moving. I need to get in fast and get out faster." I injected a bit of spine into the words.

Mika's eyes grew large and she did a tiny double take, as if assessing if it was worth it to challenge me. Then she shrugged, gripped her sword, and slid along the wall the few feet to the corner. She popped her head around the edge, pausing only a moment before she disappeared into the light without a backward glance.

I hurried to the corner and peered around it. The deserted passage glowed bright with torchlight.

Great, we're afraid of a bunch of scary old torches.

Mika strode down the passage, her back stiff. The girl's fast, wide stride forced me to trot along after her like a little puppy. For a mean second I wondered if she was doing this deliberately, trying to make me feel weak by making me run to keep up with her.

We barely made it a few yards down the hall when a cacophony of raucous laughter and the tinny notes of some strange instrument floated towards us. Up ahead, the corridor ended in a large doorway, doors flung open into a dining hall, the source of all that noise.

Mika froze in place and looked back at me, her face expressionless and waiting. I ran to her, shook out the cloak and threw it around us, hoping we could get through the room undetected. And hoping the tension between us could handle small, confined spaces.

Dozens and dozens of dwarfs filled the room. Now we had to navigate this teeming pit of bodies. So not part of the plan. My heart thumped so loud it almost seemed to drown out the sound of the terrible music. But I swallowed the throb of fear.

"Well, pretty much looks like we have no choice," I whispered, glancing back the way we'd just come. "That's the way out and the way to the forges. Guess that is not the way to go."

Mika nodded, oddly silent. Together, wrapped within the cloak, we shuffled toward the entrance and stepped inside.

***

Inside the large, cave-like room, dozens of tables stretched out in long lines. I smiled. The tables and the accompanying stools were all so small. Dwarf size. Cute. And scary at the same time.

Two guards flanked the entrance, and we tiptoed right past them, walking down a path dividing the room into two. Of course, we were invisible, but I was still terribly afraid we'd be caught. All we needed was to step on someone's toe, or bump into someone, or trip ourselves up and we'd be dead meat.

A loud burst of laughter and a shout drew our attention to the back of the room. A rather rotund, red-headed dwarf on the dais stared out into the crowd, shock and soup plastered on his face. Clearly his audience had failed to appreciate his musical talents.

Shouts from the crowd bade him to get off the stage. Another shout went up, and a name was chanted, over and over. It sounded like "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah," but I couldn't be sure.

A group of dwarfs, decked out in garish blood-red tapestry tunics, which did nothing for their grotesque faces, escorted a girl through the crowd toward the stage. Although I couldn't see her face, my gut twisted. She was really only a tiny bit taller than her guards, but still as tall as a short human girl might be.

Once on stage they spun her to face the audience, and one dwarf guard poked the girl in the ribs. "Sing!" he roared.

The girl flinched, her eyes downcast. Dark shadows underlined her eyes, and her thin shoulders hunched over in a defeated slump. Her hands, hanging before her, were bare except for twin bands of brutal red burned into her skin.

The crowd began to chant her name again, "Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!" until the guard bellowed at them, shaking a pair of black iron shackles. The chanting subsided, and many of the onlookers eyed the shackles with almost palpable fear. A silence fell. And a melodious sound rose within the room.

The girl lifted her chin, her face devoid of all emotion, and sang—each note clear and perfect.

I blinked, startled as I studied her dark hair, high cheekbones, wide eyes.

A human girl?

I could be wrong. Glamored Valkyries looked human. So did the Ulfr in their non-wolfy form. Even Steinn's so-good-to-look-at form hid his real dragon self.

Her sweet, sad notes rose into the air and captured the attention of the crowd. Captured the guard's attention, too. Both lookouts pivoted to face the singer, transfixed by the melody. Enchanted by the voice of the poor girl, I almost forgot where Mika and I stood—in a broad aisle flanked by hundreds of boisterous dwarfs, protected only by a flimsy invisible fabric.

Right beside me, a dwarf let out a drunken laugh, liquid spraying from his wide open mouth, saliva clumping in the whiskers at his lips. He sloshed his wooden beer jug around, almost flinging it out of his hand, right at me. I was saved only from the jug.