Queen Huld popped a bright red grape into her mouth and sat up, the light glinting off her gold-embroidered gown. "Bring her!" She barked the order to the guard who'd brought the captive women in. The guard grabbed the elf by her elbow and shoved her forward. The elf stumbled but regained her balance, standing spine-erect before the queen.
The queen rose from her bed as elegantly as she could, given that she was swarthy and no taller than four feet in height. She stomped to a chaise lounge and lay down against a pile of soft, silky pillows.
Moving to the seat, the beautiful elf-girl perched beside the queen, glancing at her captor with the most radiant blue eyes I'd ever seen. Eyes that flashed with anger as the elf's jaw tightened slightly.
Go, elf-girl. Don't let them walk all over you.
The foolish queen never saw the hint of rebellion in her captive. She just waved an imperious hand and dismissed the two guards. "Leave us!" she snarled. The queen seemed to treat her guards no better than her captives. "Guard the hall. Let no one disturb me while the music plays." They scurried out of the room, shutting the door behind them. I doubted the queen saw the relieved expressions on her subjects' faces, either. It seemed even her guards were far from happy campers.
Beneath the cloak, both Mika and I shuffled, uncomfortable from the odd position of leaning close together for so long. She nudged me. "Do you see it anywhere? The goblet?" Mika whispered impatiently. But despite knowing the goblet was the real goal of this mission, my eyes remained on the elf—another slave of these grotesque creatures.
Without pause, the elf withdrew a roll of leather from her pack and spread it out on her lap, her fingers, precise, dexterous and so elegant. Next she withdrew a bottle of a black substance that looked suspiciously like ink. A needle glinted in her hand, and she dipped the gleaming metal into the black ink.
The queen spoke again, and I didn't need to strain to hear her strident words. "Be careful now, you useless elf," the queen barked, but the elf remained serene. Not even an eyelash twitched. She leaned over the queen's face and began painting black ink onto her leathery cheek. I almost gasped as it dawned on me that the horrid old queen was getting herself an elegant facial tattoo, complete with swirls and butterflies.
Mika snorted softly beside me, and I knew she shared my not-so-illustrious opinion of Queen Huld.
The elf worked quietly, and the slave-girl sang her sad notes, while I scanned the room for the Blood Goblet. I searched the queen's boudoir, inspecting it from the golden bed, which occupied the left side of the room, to a small wooden dais on the opposite side, currently used as a stage by the frowning violinist and the sad harpist.
They stood beside a throne made of dark gold and carved with images of trees and flames and dwarfs. Next to the throne sat a small stone table, overshadowed by the gleam of the ugly queen's golden chair. A single item took pride of place upon the Roman-styled pedestal.
One oversized gem-studded goblet.
Bingo.
It reminded me somewhat of the jewel-encrusted goblet from which I'd sipped Mead during the Rite of the Valkyrie, when I'd received my wings. Only this goblet was much larger and more ostentatious; impressively blown, with hundreds of little faceted surfaces, the goblet sparkled with a million tiny reflections of the flickering torchlight. Beautiful crystal.
The hideous queen grumbled beneath the ministrations of the serene elf, and my eyes flicked back to her. The elf rose to her feet and stepped away, and one of the Huldra rushed forward with a large gilt-edged mirror so the queen could inspect the elf's handiwork.
She peered into the mirror for what seemed like a long time, examining the tattooed swirls that covered the skin beside her eyes. At last, satisfied, she lifted her head, opening her mouth to speak . . . and then suddenly stiffened and sniffed the air in front of her, her newly inked tattoos creasing as she scowled. "What is that smell?"
Around her, her captives froze, eyes darting around the room. The music faltered. The queen's bulging eyes glared and her nostrils flared, bringing to my mind an image of an angry, maniacal horse. I almost choked when she curled her upper lip, revealing her sharp teeth, just like the horse I'd imagined. She took a deep breath and waited a few moments, then shrugged and gazed back at the mirror, dismissing whatever odor had upset her.
Another bark brought forth the other Huldra, who carried a startlingly beautiful black wig. I guess the old bat wanted to hide her bald skull from the world, though I doubted the wig would help at all to improve on her appearance. The queen snatched the headpiece from the skittish Huldra, rose and pulled it onto her head. I swallowed my surprise. The fake hairdo actually managed to make the hideous crone look a little better. The wig and the swirling tattoos were a success.
"Hold the mirror still, you incompetent fool." The queen growled, and her reflection in the mirror made me shudder. Again she paused and sniffed the room, her eyes squinting as she lifted her nose, nostrils flaring. She turned towards us, eyes trained on the exact place where Mika and I stood, hidden beneath the cloak.
Entering Queen Huld's realm using the cloak had been genius. My only problem was Mika. The dwarfs seemed to have the knack of sniffing her out every time. As helpful as she'd been to my mission, her wolfy fragrance had been a hindrance one too many times. Not that I'd be so ungrateful as to say it to her.
Thankfully, the guards had evacuated the room.
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, tensing and relaxing muscles taut from standing still for so long. We needed the goblet, and we needed to get out of this place. Fast. The queen continued sniffing, and I cringed every time her eyes passed our hiding place.
"I smell Ulfr blood," she announced. The queen rose from her chaise, scenting the air again, almost loping across the room, drawing closer to us with each step and each sniff. "You had better show yourself, or I will have the entire palace guard in this room in five seconds."
Mika and I glanced at each other in the shadow of the cloak.
"You get the goblet. I will distract her and the guards," Mika whispered. She stepped out of the safety of the cloak before I was able to respond or make a decision. Guess she made that decision for me.
Clearly, the last thing the queen expected was for an Ulfr to appear out of thin air. Her thick jaw fell open, and a weird choking sound gurgled from her throat. Mika took another step away from me, closer to the queen, hip jutting forward as nonchalant as you please, as if she belonged here.
"Spawn of Fenrir." The queen spat the words out, and I stiffened, driven by the urge to turn back and punch the queen's lights out. Mika balled her fists at her side, barely restraining her obvious desire to do the very same thing.
While she held the queen's attention, I tiptoed to the dais, my path clear of obstacles and observers. All eyes were trained on Mika. Even poor Sarah, who stammered as she began a new ballad, had her gaze fixed on the Ulfr's face.
I stepped onto the dais, recognizing too late that the platform was constructed of light wood rather than rock. My foot slapped the wood, and a hollow echo spread through the room. The songstress faltered; her eyes darted to the spot where my foot had hit the dais.
"Sing, you stupid creature," the witch yelled, briefly turning away from Mika to glare at the girl, her painted eyebrows furrowed with fury. The girl flinched, eyes moistening with tears. She fisted her fingers and set her shoulders back ever so slightly.
Good for you, Sarah.
The girl was stronger that I would ever be. Who was she and how had she ended up captured by dwarfs, forced to sing for this odious queen?
Her song resumed, and I crept closer and closer to the goblet. The queen glared again at Mika, the flick of her hand in front of the Ulfr's face both dismissive and disgusted. "Horrid spawn of Fenrir!" Again she spat the words at Mika, flecks of saliva flying from her mouth. "What has brought your tainted blood to my palace?" I gritted my teeth again, hating her insults for Mika, but more for Fen, who was my friend and my mentor.
Mika, slowly and deliberately, wiped the queen's spittle off her cheek. "I have a proposition for you," Mika answered, her response surprisingly placid.
Too placid.
What was she thinking? We hadn't planned on what we would say to the queen in the event of capture. To be honest, the whole getting captured thing was definitely not part of the plan.
The queen snorted, an arrogant glint in her eye. "And what makes you think I will want to entertain any proposition from you or any of your kind?" Her lips rose in a cold sneer. "It was I who fashioned the chains that bound the unholy creature Fenrir. I watched and I enjoyed it each time he struggled against the metal, each time he screamed with agony when the chain burned into his skin."
The queen strutted back to her chaise lounge, clearly unconcerned that Fen's child stood at her back. She swirled around and draped herself upon the chair. The musicians behind her paused, frowning, but she ignored them.
"I enjoyed watching. Yes, I really did enjoy it." She laughed, a harsh barking that sounded like a pack of rabid jackals fighting over dinner. "Do you know that the golden chain that bound that hideous creature caused his transformation to come and go? Quite revolting, you know, watching him go from human to wolf every time the chain drew his blood. I can still recall the odor of burning fur!" The queen's raucous laughter rang through the room, and I shuddered.