Dead Embers(59)

My heart tightened in my chest. Instinct told me the poor guy wouldn't recover easily from such a blow.

Thor scowled as the air beside him shimmered and a second figure took shape almost instantly. My heart hurt as emotions rushed through me: first alarm at the thought of a second attacker joining the fray, then a flash flood of relief and gratitude when I saw the newcomer's face. Fenrir sure had a way of arriving at the most opportune moments. Thor nodded at the Ulfr general and together they charged at the intruder, ready to pounce.

The stranger grasped Aidan's father by the arm and pulled him forward as if he meant to disappear with him, just melt into wisps of glimmering light and escape with him on the Bifrost.

"Father," the doctor gasped, a happy, self-satisfied smile on his face. His grin soon morphed into an arrogant sneer, which he turned on both Aidan and me.

My eyes went from the stranger to the doctor. A feeling akin to déjà vu washed over me, sending undulating waves into my head, making me dizzy. The stranger beside the doctor beamed, his teeth gleaming, and a glimmer of swirling green appeared in his smiling eyes. He stared at me with such knowing familiarity, as if we'd met before. And then it clicked. How could I have missed it?

"Loki?" I asked, my voice dull and lifeless. It was not really a question, of course. I resigned myself to another hateful meeting with the traitorous god.

"Dear Bryn, surely you must be gifted in the magical arts for you to recognize me every single time we meet." He smiled, and the funniest thing was that the expression was warm and sincere. Totally as if he liked me, cared for me, even respected me.

Then I did a double take, looking from the doctor to the god and back again. So did Aidan. We both seemed to have noticed how the doctor had addressed Loki, and realized what it meant.

I ignored the doctor and his silly grin and met Loki's eyes. "So he's your son?" I tilted my head toward Aidan's father.

"As much as I'd like to deny my human progeny, I have to say yes."

Aidan's father glanced at Loki sharply, eyes narrowed as if to ascertain what those vaguely insulting words meant. Then he turned, chin up, somehow satisfied by whatever it was that he saw in the trickster's face.

Thor, Fen and the Warriors watched and waited in a ragged semi-circle around the god and his human child. They just stood there, doing nothing yet about Loki's appearance. I assumed they were waiting, like me, to hear what the trickster had to say.

"And he's been working for you all along," I said, almost to myself.

"Yes, Valkyrie. My son has always been my representative here in Midgard. It's a pity he's human though. Such fragile creatures." Then Loki turned to Aidan. "But you, Aidan, you I am proud to call my flesh and blood."

My own blood ran cold, and Aidan flinched at the words.

It took a while for the reality of it to sink in. The cold hard reality of Aidan's heritage.

Aidan was Loki's grandson.

***

All hell broke loose. Loki grabbed the doctor's arm and yanked him away from the second Warrior, who held on tightly. The god paid no heed and merely walked on, dragging both the doctor and the stubborn and startled Warrior across the tiled floor.

The moment was ripe, and Thor and Fen fell into action. About time. They rushed at Loki, thundering toward him, Thor having grown in size just enough to look incredibly formidable but not enough to destroy the entire room with one step.

Fen withdrew a golden chain and wrapped it elegantly around his arm. He raced toward Loki, the loose end of the chain flying behind him like a golden tail. A moment that lasted the blink of an eye but felt as long as hours as I watched the mayhem around me.

An odd whirring sound reached my ears and a glint of metal shone in Thor's hand.

Thor's hammer, Mjölnir. Not the best time to ogle the legendary weapon in action, but at least I got my viewing pleasure as the god ran. Loki spun, ready to retaliate. With the trickster's attention on Thor, Fen grabbed hold of Dr. Lee's arm and passed him into the care of the Warrior who'd gotten back to his feet. The doctor hadn't even had time to think of escape. Now he wasn't going anywhere.

Thor's hammer spun through the air, gold glinting and tumbling as it whirred toward Loki's head. The sound of the collision of hammer with head reverberated through my bones. But Loki was still on his feet, and grinning. Clearly, the trickster god wasn't in the least bit mortal. He was stunned though, long enough for Fen to sprint over and tie him up before the swirly greens and purples cleared from his furious eyes.

My head lolled forward, and a small part of me recognized with relief that I could actually feel my head for the first time in a while. Fen and Thor drew the trickster to his feet; he looked pretty magnificent, bound within a coil of glinting, almost living, golden chain. But that fantastic bruise on the side of his head did nothing for his looks.

Loki shimmered as he struggled. The shimmering came again, and the image of the man changed, morphing: an old ragged beggar, a giant fire-eyed wolf, a coal-black Sleipnir and then finally back into his normal Loki form. Each time he shimmered, the golden chain vibrated, singing like a tuning fork. The trickster struggled in vain. The chain seemed to make it intrinsically impossible for the god to maintain any form other than his real one. Nice move, Fen.

And Loki must have realized his struggles were pointless, as he finally gave up. The traitorous god gazed around the clinical room, bestowing everyone with a broad and cheerful grin.

"Explain yourself, Loki, son of Odin." Thor's voice boomed loud enough to rattle the steel and shatter the glass in the cabinets along the walls.

"Don't call me that," Loki roared back, his expression no longer cheerful, his cheeks mottled red and filled with fury.

"It makes little difference to me what you want or do not want, brother. Explain yourself, or I am sure Fenrir will be glad to return you to Hel and that serpent you love so much. This time you will not have your wife to save you from the agony of the viper's poison." Thor slammed Mjölnir into his palm, as if the blow would make him feel better. All it did was produce a crack of thunder loud enough to cause the earth to vibrate beneath us.

"Very well, brother," Loki answered. For a hint of a second he sneered, then a beguiling smile bloomed across his face. "I shall tell you why. But make no mistake, it's not for fear that I confess. In fact, it's time that you and the All-Father and all his followers learn the truth. It's time you all know what you're up against."

Loki swung his gaze toward Fen. "Fenrir, son of Loki, you have proved your loyalty. Loyalty to the wrong side." Loki's voice seemed to reverberate much like Thor's. Odd. "And, because of your choice, you will die along with your precious Odin."

Fen took a step toward Loki, but Thor touched his arm, enough to make the Ulfr general pause and think.

Loki shook his head, so self-assured, so confident. "You see, my son, you will fall with all of the Aesir, and I will survive. I have chosen my side, the side of the winners of this war."

I'd had enough. "Quit with the riddles, Loki. I think we've waited long enough. Talk." The words came out more of a growl against my parched throat.

"Well, Valkyrie, you won't like what I have to say."

"Thank you for your consideration, but why don't you just go ahead and tell us, and we can decide for ourselves." I lifted my chin enough to back up my big mouth.

Anger flitted across his swirling eyes, but he backed down, the muscles in his arms bunching. He had nowhere to go, no escape from his chains. "Ragnarok is upon us. And if you think Odin will prevail, you're sorely mistaken. The gates to Midgard have been opened and the Kings of Jotunnheim shall rule Midgard at the gates of Ragnarok."

"Okay, so in English what does that mean, exactly?" My voice dripped with sarcasm and scorn. What the hell was wrong with me? I dared to provoke this raging god. Despite my confidence that his chains were sturdy enough to keep me safe, the possibility always remained that he would stop talking. And then probably do something deadly to me.

But I sensed that Loki wanted this stage. Had wanted it all along. He had moved all the pieces one at a time to get us where we were right now: at his mercy, as he explained what the hell was going on in the Nine Realms.

"It means, little flightless bird, that you and your kind—all your little Valkyrie friends—are going to die. The frost giants have been in Midgard for a long time, building, learning, amassing their armies. And the genius of it all was that we used you, my little friend. You were the key, dear girl. The weapon we used to smash Odin's army to all corners of the Nine Realms. You gave us the power to kill all those Warriors. And now you have no time left."

Melodramatic much? But this time I held my tongue.

His words touched me so deeply, my heart pumped harder, thundering against my ribs. I struggled to breathe, only because I knew he spoke the truth.

"Ragnarok beckons. Can you not hear the sounds of death in the air? Can you not smell the blood of the dying and the dead?"

Loki spun on his heel, addressing the room. Triumph swirled green and mauve in his blazing eyes, and in the strong set to his shoulders. He threw his arms wide. "Be prepared, brothers, Asgardians. It is the end of Asgard. And the end of Odin."

Those words were enough to break my spirit.

And my heart.





Chapter 46




Loki's words and their grim truth wrapped around me like a blanket of frigid cold, covered in shards of ice that ripped at my flesh and tasted blood.