The First Born Stheno, Queen of Svartalfheim fell, shuddering, and Shannon twisted the blade brutally, before looking up at Itax. He was standing halfway up the broken pyramid with the Scepter. Kiera crawled up next to Shannon. Both were exhausted, battered, and nearly at the end of their undead lives.
“Congratulations,” Itax said. “A successful Ruugatha! In fact, you took all the thrones! An incredible feat, my Queen. Some kind of a record, no doubt. Alas, it is time to take a step back and restore the Throne to the one who is actually a svartalf. As Nött intended. She’ll be pleased.” He pointed the Scepter at Shannon. “Kill her.”
Shannon stood up weakly. Her many wounds were terrible, her powers almost spent, but defiantly she faced the rushing horde of foes. Arrows fell and impaled her and Kiera, and that’s when I put the mask on.
I heard nothing. I barely saw a thing. My head and chest ached, as if someone was trying to rip out my bones, and fire filled my skull. I saw Gutty, his eyes horrified, and Itax was turning. I realized I was screaming.
Fire rolled out of the gauntlets. It felt like a molten stream of death, like a river of lava, and it burned the dust and stones as it flowed down. It didn’t ask for permission as it went for a kill. It roared down at the enemy, large and merciless as a dragon. Itax cursed and shrieked as it passed him. Gutty rushed and grabbed him, and they rolled to the side as the molten inferno raged over them. The Scepter glowed, and they were left alive, if smoking and pained.
The snake ripped into the mercenaries. It roared its joy, and hunted for the enemy. They fell into glowing pieces, their magnificent weapons pools of molten metal and magic. The snake hunted them amidst the ruins, and burned indiscriminately everything that moved. I remember little of it. I was on my knees, and where I looked, the thing killed. In the middle of the Pit, in the balcony, in the corners. The Pit was alight with fire, nearly end to end, as my Hel-powered blood gave the artifact such joy, such unholy malice, such power, I could not be sure what would happen next.
Did I kill innocents? I don’t know.
The snake was on top of the balcony, and who remained there, died.
Did I kill Itax? No.
Instead, I saw Dana releasing a spell at the figure that was trying to creep away with Gutty on the side of the pyramid. I saw Thak loping after him, and slapping Gutty across the room. I saw Dana’s spell roar around Itax, who held on to the Scepter with mad hope, and survived.
He laughed with mockery, and then he slipped and fell from a stone, and the mighty thing fell from his hands. Like he had mocked Stheno for losing it, he lost it. I saw Dana rushing after him, and I turned to hunt down some hiding foes.
Then, nothing moved. The snake looked right and left, yearning to burn the whole tower, and I nearly rushed down the pyramid, then past Shannon and up to the tower, killing everything. I stood there, laughing, my head and ears rushing with power, sick with the malice of the thing.
I looked and found my mistress. I saw Shannon slumped on the Throne of Scars, her terrible wounds on the mend, exhausted.
She stared at me. “Well, Ulrich. Here we are,” she rasped.
I laughed at her, barely aware she had addressed me. “You lied to me. Do you like your new throne?”
She smiled weakly. “Yes and yes. And you must know, friend, I cannot resist Hel. And we needed you and the Iron Trial. You nearly failed me, Ulrich. For her.” Her eyes turned to Dana. “Now, are you going to slay me? You might, right now.”
“Nearly failed you,” I roared. “You failed me, you selfish bitch. You are worse than Dana ever was. Hel’s will or not, you are. And so, I shall seek other options.”
She shook her head. “We succeeded, Ulrich. Let Hel reign supreme for a while in Aldheim, in Svartalfheim. If we find the Horn, and we will, in the rest of the worlds. Let her do what she will. She has suffered, and the suffering of a mad goddess is a thing the Nine will pay for. Yes, I lied to you. I did so because I’m the Hand of Hel.” She went quiet. “But I also did it because I had a war to win, and that war could not be won in Aldheim. It
can
be won here. A queen, Ulrich, cannot be a friend. A queen is to rule, to survive, to defeat her foes, by any and all means.” She stopped, her face full of sorrow. Gone was the Shannon I knew. “Now I am the mistress of the land. I shall fill the thrones, and some will be draugr, if you didn’t burn them all.” She looked around the corpses, and some of the dead royals were still more or less intact. “You handed me Dark Waters, and a way to surprise the bitch. You saved me, perhaps now. You did. I forgive you. And now, you will give her to me.”
Dana was standing near me, holding the Scepter. She looked at me, and I looked at her, the fire roaring in my head, suggesting she should die. They all should. I fought the fire, and it was hard not to attack the lot.
Shannon went on. “Give your new Queen of Scardark a present, Ulrich. Give her the sister she curses, the sister who caused her to die, the kin slayer, the true murderer of innocents.”
I shook with rage. The snake was rolling in a molten river-like circle before me, and I wanted to send it at Shannon. “No,” I hissed.
Thak appeared. His black hand grasped the mask, and ripped it off my face. The snake disappeared, as he stood next to me. “Just sit there,” he said and turned to Dana, his sword quivering.
“You said you’d aid me if I helped you,” I hissed. “She will give Hel
everything.
”
“Don’t ask for this,” Thak said. “I’ll aid you when Shannon isn’t looking,” he said miserably and looked at Dana, who came to stand near me. She held the Scepter defiantly. “You know, Dana, that you cannot hurt me. Will you die easily?”
Dana looked at me. I cursed and nodded. I slowly touched the mirror under my belt. I looked at Shannon, whom I had loved. I tapped the mirror four times, as had been instructed. The room thrummed with noise. Shannon stood up, well familiar with the artifact.
A gate opened up next to us. I rushed, felt Thak grasp and claw the air near me and I pushed an astonished Dana with me as we barreled through the gate. I heard Kiera yelling, and Thak roaring, and they came after us.
We fell, like we had fallen the day we had escaped Euryale’s tower, and crashed to a floor.
Before us, stood the man-like creature with a masked face. He leaned down and looked at us. “Welcome to my kingdom.”
Dana leaned on the Scepter and I got up on my fours. I reached for the mirror, and tapped it four times. The portal closed. Thak was slowly standing up, and Kiera was hanging back, a shocked look on her face. She was terribly hurt and none of us were a match for the dragon.
“Let me have the Scepter, like we agreed,” the dragon said.
Dana gave me a long look. I nodded at her heavily. She walked forward and reluctantly handed the dragon the long thing.
He took it, shaking with excitement, held it in his hands, his eyes admiring it. “How did it go? How did you steal it?”
I snorted. “Stheno is dead.”
“Stheno is dead?” he asked, astounded.
“She is,” I said furtively. “Shannon is the new Queen.”
“Shannon is
here
,” he muttered. “Oh, how clever! Too bad for her. She will fall just like Stheno would have.”
“She has the army of Scardark. She is the new Queen, I said.”
He nodded. “Yes, that might be. Itax failed to bring back the past. Stheno failed when she just didn’t hand this over for the Horn. Shannon will fail, if she thinks she can keep the Throne of Scars. She will fail.”
I took a step forward. “None of it matters. Now, as we agreed, give the Horn over. Then, as the Pact demanded, you will deliver us to a place I choose. You will send us to Nött’s palace. Nött’s alive, right? Behind that door up on the wall. That’s where we wish to go, and stand before her. Then you will go and leave us in peace.”
He looked at me with amusement. Nothing happened. He spoke spitefully. “Nött’s palace with the Horn? You think
she
will release the gods? I doubt it. And yes, she is still there, trapped by the beast that stands before you. Pact would demand me to obey you, Ulrich. Even if Nött would hunt me forever. But no. That was Itax’s wish. To restore her. It is not mine. I refuse.”
“The Pact demands you do as I say,” I snarled. “Or you will die. I fulfilled my part!”
He laughed dryly. “No, the Pact failed. See, I’m alive. I refuse to take you anywhere, and still I live.”
I shook my head at it, confused. “What do you mean? The whole Pact is but a filthy lie?”
“Oh no,” he said. “It is real. But I’m under no obligations to any of you,” he said and leaned on the staff. “The Pact said
you
must hand it to me. You didn’t. Dana did. You utter fool.”
T
he Masked One chuckled. “My, what a group of misfits you are. One a confused dead elf, another a loyal oath keeper of Shannon, and then, the rogue sister who failed to serve Stheno. And the last one,” he roared with laughter, “a fool who failed just before grand success.” He tilted his head. “And what shall you do now?”
“You are reneging on our deal?” I whispered, keeping my rage under control, but only barely.
“No,” he said tiredly. “You failed. See, I live.”
I shook myself, trying to shed the terror and the pain and the fatigue. I was bleeding, my chest was on fire, and I was burnt and hurt. I spat on his fine carpet. “Do you have any suggestions what we
should
do?” I asked him spitefully.
The Masked One looked down at the spittle, apparently upset by my lack of manners. He walked to the side and plopped on to a seat that was probably Ban’s throne. The dragon caressed the Scepter and eyed the glowing top. “I’m not sure. I’m not sure at all.” He lifted his head, and listened to the horns that were playing over the Vastness. A rhythmic beating of weapons filled the great expanses, and I guessed Ban’s army was preparing for battle.
Which meant, Shannon had taken over fully and the cities would be marching with her.
The Masked One nodded. “Yes, there will be a battle. Finally, I get to hurt that Pact Breaker.”
“Coming from a liar—” I began, but Thak pulled me back and I went quiet.
The dragon seemed oblivious to the irony of its own words and ignored mine, for a time. He went on. “Shannon’s just doing what anyone else is doing. Trying to find her seat on that scarred monstrosity. Stheno didn’t die on it? No new scars on the Throne?”
“She died in the Pit,” I said carefully. “Stheno fought well, but they bested her.”
He laughed. “And still lost this thing.” He shook the Scepter.
I shrugged. “She doesn’t
need
it. She is the mistress of the city now.”
“And with her, so is Hel,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “She’ll come for the Horn. She’ll want me gone before she marches all the armies of Vastness to Aldheim. She’ll be here soon. Perhaps she’ll do well.” He shook his head with mockery. “Here I am. Still under strength. I only have fifty thousand in my army.”
My eyes went to the Scepter. “And that is the key to your dilemma?”
His eyes glowed. “It
is
a secret
key
to my dilemma. The only thing I need to change my fortunes. It is a fine solution to the ailments of the Below. I’ll not free the former queen, but I’ll free her court.”
Kiera moved next to me. She stood there, half healed, her clothes and armor a heap of rags, holding on to her sharp sword. “Will you let us go and fight for her, then?”
“I might,” he said. “I’m in a good mood.”
I spoke. “Will you tell us more? Itax mentioned it is a key as well as a weapon and a symbol of power.”
“It is, Ulrich,” Kiera said. “We didn’t tell you. Thak knew, and Itax as well, but the Scepter was not important for us.”
“Ah, the vampire speaks,” the Masked One chuckled. “Yes, it is. It is a key.”
“Key?” I asked. “Key to what?”
He snorted. “I guess you have guessed.”
“The door by the time-keeping light?” I ventured.
He nodded. “It is the key to the Door of Unlight. That door at the end of the White Road, yes. There it lies, the door. And there beyond, lies my solution and more locks this key shall open.”
“But is it a key to defeating Shannon’s armies?” I asked, confused. “What is the Queen’s court?”
He smiled under his mask. “Why, her greatest servants.”
We waited and wondered.
He got up and walked to the window. “There, up there, behind that doorway, is the Thorne of Nött. It lies in the Unlit City, the city where the land was ruled from. Scardark is merely a playground.
There
she ruled from. There too, the dragons served her. She had her thieves who worshipped her like a child would its mother, but we, the dragons served her other needs. We counseled her. We had lived here since the beginning, and she made us the dukes of the land. The Throne of Scars, the other thrones, they were there to rule the lesser ones, and the dukes ruled the kings and the queens. Then came the war Odin caused by thrusting Hel to Helheim.”
“Go on,” I muttered.
“The giant might want to tell more?” he asked.
“Go ahead,” Thak said with a bored voice. “I care not.”
“Very well,” he said and listened to the horns playing across the land. “As she was one of the few goddesses who never or rarely visited Asgaard and Vanahaim, the two worlds of the gods themselves, and stayed here, it was not in Hel’s interest to see her interfere with the wars. So I, her close advisor, did something and betrayed her.” He clapped the Scepter to his palm. “This is what she used to craft ways to the other worlds. This is what she used to seal and unseal Unlit City. I broke my oath to her, and betrayed her and my kin for Hel.”
“You stole Nött’s key,” Kiera said simply.
The Masked One chuckled. “She should understand. She loves thieves. But perhaps not this thief. Yes. I did. And there she still remains,” he said. “In her palace, in the Unlit City, she sits. I sealed her, I sealed the court, and used her mighty defensive spells against her. She and they are trapped and cannot unravel the seals. Itax, the fool who helped trap her to begin with, hoped to release her to gain her favor. It would not please the Queen to know Itax found me the thief who stole it to start with. Itax was a brat then, but knew things already.”
“You locked her away?” Dana asked breathlessly. “How did you steal something like that from a goddess?”
“I did seal her away,” he laughed, his powerful voice thrumming in the chamber. “And I wasn’t alone. I just told you. Itax hired the greatest thief in the Nine Worlds to steal it.
That
is a story you should hear! But we have no time for that. Nött was no fool, not like Heimdall who lost the Horn for his lust.” He strummed his fingers on the Scepter. “It was very hard. Yes, I locked her in her castle. I sealed the Talon’s Guard, our Black Tower, where the dragons lived. I sealed the Unlit Door over there, and gave the Scepter to a svartalf king. He raised many troops for Hel, and I led them to Aldheim.” He shook his head. “Little did I know Stheno and Euryale, who had caused the whole war to begin with, were poised to kill the king. Stheno took the Scepter, the throne, and later, attacked the weakened elves in Aldheim. The Horn had been taken, the gods shut out, Hel had failed, and only Cerunnos had managed to strike a blow against the gorgons. I was a sad, weak prisoner of the beaten Euryale.” He snorted. “Then came Shannon, the prophesied one, and reclaimed the Eye of Hel, and the Horn from Cerunnos. It was incredible, I could hardly believe it. And now,” he said slowly. “Now I shall
finally
serve Hel’s purpose.”
“
Shannon
is the Hand of Hel!” I yelled. “She is a servant to—”
“I know,” the dragon chortled. “I know very well. But when she is gone, I will be the Hand of Hel. And I will kill and slaughter until Hel is happy, and be the mightier for it.” He nodded, his hooded mouth twisted in a smile under the magical fabric. “Now, I only have to recruit some friends and kill her. Some will join, others will flee. I will get many. We might very well succeed. I’ll risk it.”
“You were going to give the Horn to me,” I said bitterly. “If I had given you the Scepter, what would you have done? You would have had to honor the Pact. Nött would have made an end of you.”
He snorted. “I know my Pacts. I would
not
have taken the Scepter from you. I would have killed you and picked it from your corpse. So you see, you are actually lucky your Dana here had it.”
Silence. We stood there, enraged by the deceitful snake.
“So, will you let us go?” I asked him. “We are beneath your caring.”
He growled at me. “
I
decide what is beneath my care, and I am a petty one these days. Didn’t I also languish in Euryale’s imprisonment for thousands of years, feeding on rats such as you, while giving away my powers to Euryale? All my magic in Euryale’s hands and I was withering? Oh no, I’m not above hurting maggots.”
Kiera was pulling me back, but abandoned the attempt. I kicked a chair. “You are no different from any of them. All of them are lying, thieving turds in the vestments of kings and queens and worms, ripping a piece for themselves of what the gods made.”
“The gods,” he snapped, “are no better—”
“At least they are gods,” I growled. “Not
larvae
from their armpits.”
Kiera took a step away from me. Dana as well. The dragon sat there, stiff as a stone statue, not moving an inch. The only movement was its breath sucking in the black mask, in and out, and the glowing eyes in the shadows. Finally, it shifted. “I’m saving my rage for the battle, you little speck of dying, rotten meat.”
“And how will you ever give the Horn to Hel? You cannot use it,” I said tiredly. “You cannot take it anywhere.”
He chortled. “When it’s all over, and I’m bored with ruling everything, perhaps I’ll make a Pact with Nött. I have time. She may blow it then, when everything is over. And now, I have to go.”
“Go,” I answered bitterly. “I cannot stomach you. And I suppose you’ll lock us in some tower and have someone clean up the bones in a thousand years?”
“I’m tempted,” he chuckled, “Very much so. I, however, have no wish to do so. You go. You go and fight for whomever you like, you simpering creatures. I said I’m petty. Not above killing ants.” He shook the Scepter. “But in fact, I’m also happy. I haven’t been happy in ages. And so, I will keep a part of my promise. I’ll send you on your way.” He snapped his fingers and the chains around Dana’s wrists fell open.
We stared at the dragon, disbelieving every word. “You are letting us go?”
He waved towards the door. “That is my gift to you. Leave.”
“And go to Aldheim, where the dead rule and elves hate us?” I asked.
“Do what you want,” the Masked One said icily. “While I prepare the army and open some doors, you have time to ponder it. If you wish to live, go and hide in a hole.”
Thak shook his head. “You will open the Talon’s Guard?”
He nodded. “I’ll release the Unlit Legion,” he chuckled. “Svartalfheim and Aldheim will suffer the wrath of the Dukes and Duchesses of Svartalfheim. Long have they slept. They will be starved, weak, but not for long. The dragons shall fly again. Many will fall in the battle, but they will rip the bitch apart.”
“You bastard,” Thak muttered.
The Masked One slammed the Scepter to the floor. “I’d truly find my way to some nook or hole in the land. Find the dverger deep below, or go to Aldheim and beg for mercy from the elves, when they finally take Himingborg. Your friend will be gone and the new Hand of Hel, me, will pour his armies after you. Run, hide, and don’t let me see you again.”
Kiera nodded at the great mirror. “Will you let us use that?”
He shrugged. “You put a dragon in a hard place. I must admit I cannot. It was tied to the gorgons, and a gorgon’s blood is needed to open it. The small mirror merely allows one to return to it. Alas, I cannot open it or use it.” He grinned. “You will have to walk out of here, and find your own way. There’s the door. Or take the window. I care not.”
We left by the door. A pair of svartalfs stood just outside and showed us the way out. I fingered the mirror beneath my belt. The dragon had forgotten to ask it back.