He spat blood. “We have it. And House Coinar took the southern half, you bitch,” he stammered, and saw Kiera’s body to the side. His face, the few parts that still had skin, lost color. “Kiera?” he called to his daughter.
“Kiera is faithful. She’s done many a dark deed for me,” Shannon said, and looked at the daughter of Almheir. I saw Kiera move, just barely, her body badly broken. “She’ll serve me still, I think.”
Almheir staggered. “And this is the end of it, of the service, the evil. I’m here to find a new Hand of Life, and that means you
will
fall,” he yelled, coming forward.
Shannon laughed. “Oh, you’ll not find a docile elven girl who shall heal you in Frigg’s name,” she mocked him. “You will die now. But perhaps I’ll raise you and make you a servant to my slaves.”
Almheir roared. He braided together a lightning spell, which zapped at Shannon, killing many draugr, before Shannon dissipated it. His guards charged, maa’dark released spells of power, and Shannon retaliated, spell by spell, one after another, killing them one by one. Fire answered fire, lightning strike followed lightning strike, Shannon’s body was smoking and ripped, already healing in places, but the dead elves stayed dead. The standard of the regent waved as the standard-bearing elf tried to braid together a spell. Shannon’s spell burned him and the standard to a bright, conflagration.
Almheir charged Shannon unsteadily, and hacked down with his sword, which Famine blocked.
“I’ve killed Stheno, the Masked One, dragons, and now, the lord of lies,” Shannon laughed.
The shield bashed against Shannon, but exploded as Shannon tapped it. She reached out, and grasped Almheir by the throat, flinched as the fiery sword burned her face, and casually broke the Regent’s neck.
There was a scream of defiance. Tens of thousands of elves fought manically. Svartalfs retaliated. Shinna Safiroon pointed at Shannon, and hundred arrows fell, making Shannon look like a porcupine. Many draugr fell by her.
Shannon braided together a spell, burned through a champion fighter, and stopped, as a maa’dark with a whip surged at her. Instead of killing her, she grasped her, laughed in her face, and tossed her over her shoulder so she rolled amidst the stones. The fighter picked herself up, spitting and I froze.
It was Anja.
I was the Ten Tear who had left us for Almheir, when I had stayed with Shannon. She was blonde, beautiful, and afraid, holding on to her whip. “What did you become?” she whispered as she looked at the horribly deformed Shannon. “What are you?”
Shannon didn’t answer her. Instead, she turned to look at me, pointed at her, and I turned my back to the battle. I dodged the svartalfs, I pushed draugr aside, and grasped Anja. “Come! We must rush away. You must come with me.”
“We made an oath to kill her, for Aldheim!” she said, crying as I pulled her away.
I cursed and tugged at her. “You made an oath to the Regent did you? He is no better than Shannon. He only wanted revenge, and his life back! Come!” I yelled and pulled her back with a fight. We rushed from the battle, not looking back.
Then, something changed.
A voice echoed in the Vastness.
“
Enough
!”
An impatient, demanding voice.
And the battle halted.
“Ulrich,” Anja panted. “Wait, what—”
“A goddess,” I cursed. “A goddess of the night. We must run away. She won’t be happy as she tries to decide what has become of her world.”
“Goddess?” Anja asked. “Where?”
“There,” I said, and pointed towards the tower that guarded Markudin. There, on top of that tower, stood a short figure in a red tunic and a short skirt, wearing a red mask that covered her face. It was clearly a female, but also not quite, because her head was turning from one direction to another with uncanny speed. She leaned on the Scepter.
She seemed to know much, guess more, and she pointed her hand down at Shannon. “Hand of Hel?” She shook her head at the ghastly wounds of Shannon. “You look the part.”
“Queen of Scardark, Queen of Aldheim, Hand of Hel,” Shannon answered. “The one who sits on the Throne of Scars, a place won by your laws.”
Nött nodded. “My laws. I make them, I break them,” she said ominously and looked around at the terrible carnage. “Your army seems divided, oh Queen of the Two Worlds?” Nött chuckled. “Divided and killing itself. And I see dead fight for you? It seems you truly serve Hel’s will.”
“I serve Hel,” Shannon said softly.
“I see her dagger, and smell her favor in you,” Nött smiled. “And what shall I do now?”
The armies bristled. The elves were moving away and across Markudin under Shinna’s direction, slowly, silently, terrified.
Nött spoke on. “A girl woke me from my slumber. A dragon was with her. When a goddess slumbers for thousands of years, she has limited patience. Will you not answer me? What shall I do now?”
Dana had released Nött. God, let her have listened to what I told her.
I stared at the goddess. Would she return the gods, and restore the worlds? Would she not?
Would she spare Shannon?
Shannon struggled and bowed. “Perhaps you should kill me?”
The goddess smiled, twirled and waved her hands around. “I rule Svartalfheim. And I do
not
need a co-ruler, Shannon.” She shook her head. “You are right. I’ll vacate the throne, Queen. And perhaps, considering your filthy nature, it is best you will not rule in Aldheim either. I sense your kin will cause much trouble for all of us yet. Die. And may rats gnaw on Hel’s filthy face.”
Her hands glowed. A stabbing light shone from them. The light stuck over the field down at Shannon, whose dagger glowed, briefly fighting the terrible, purifying power.
But Nött was a goddess, Shannon but a creation of one, and there was a golden glow, then nothing.
The dagger fell into a heap of ashes.
“She’s gone,” Anja said softly. “Dead?”
In shock, I stared down at the spot where she had been standing. There was nothing left. Nothing. The armies burst into panic. Everyone was rushing, the draugr falling as the svartalfs turned on them. I lost sight of the ashes and the dagger.
I took a ragged breath and pulled and pushed at Anja. Behind us, the chaos was total. Some were staring up at the mighty being released from her trap. Kallista was on her knees near her. The draugr and the elves were fleeing. They fled in their thousands in all directions, and ten thousand draugr were rushing after us. Anja sobbed as we rushed. “We’ll die. They’ll kill us.”
“They’ll do that,” I said and fondled my mask. “I can kill many. A great many. You go and—”
A dark blot opened up before us. A human face appeared, grinned, and pulled us into the darkness so fast we couldn’t fathom it.
We fell into the arms of Itax and Gutty.
I
tax yanked us to the side. His face was glistening with sweat and fear and he grinned at us disarmingly.
I grasped him by the throat.
He took a hold of my wrists, but I didn’t let go. I rattled him, making his teeth clack and spoke with spite. “You pretended to help Shannon, when all you hoped for was to see Nött return, right?”
“Well, yes,” he said stiffly, fighting for breath. “Nött is the Goddess of the Night, and loves thieves. I am the Under Lord, a lord of a muddy lair in the bowels of Scardark, where I should sit next to her Throne of Shadows in the Unlit City, like other thief lords before things went wrong.”
“Throne here, throne there,” I growled. “I piss on your thrones. I’ve had a lifetime’s worth of towers and thrones and liars. I’d love to burn them all in a giant balefire.”
He smiled. “I can see that might be tempting. But you see, I still want
my
place. My uncle was the last one. I should, by laws, sit and rule the thieves for Nött. I should employ bands of thieves and assassins and pirates to find dark work in all the Nine Worlds, and grow rich with intrigue and spoils. I should have the favor of the Night, the goddess. And now I shall. The Unlit City is ours,” he murmured. “And so it’s time for you to leave.”
I glared up at him. “You want us
gone
?”
He smiled sheepishly. “Sure do. Would you kindly let me down now?”
I did, but kept an eye on him. “Shannon died. I’m in no mood to be manipulated by you. You’ve done
enough
.” I noticed he looked nervous and arrogant at the same time, holding a hand to his throat. He massaged it gently. “What’s the problem?” I asked.
“Here it is,” he said. “I need something. You made a mess of things for me.”
I snorted as Anja moved closer. She was glowering at Gutty. “Who are they, Ulrich?”
“They are criminals, common scum, and villains,” I said plainly. “And they have a need of us, again.” I poked Itax and he gazed at me unkindly. “You have some problem I should know about? I’ve lost friends and have no patience for you, filth.”
“Well, yes. I hoped to restore the goddess, but—”
“She
is
restored,” I growled. “And you are my enemy.”
He shook his shoulders and massaged them. “I was your enemy. And yes, like the dragon, I would have changed the deal. I guess you understood I was going to slit all of your throats, right? Or sell you on.”
“Yes, I got it,” I said coldly.
“That is in the past now, however,” he said happily. “Now we need each other. There is a problem,” he said.
“What?” Anja asked. “Will this Nött not favor you if you attempted to restore her?”
Itax shrugged. “She should, but the blasted dragon carried that Dana there, and
she
restored her. She is there, held with the dragon in that tower next to the gate. She
stole
my glory.”
“You never had any,” I said and pushed him. “And if she is held, perhaps you should be grateful?”
He sniffled. “I need help. In return, I’ll show you the way to the Wells. They are not so easy to find, are they? And you want to get there, right?”
I ground my teeth together. “What kind of an issue are you talking about? I’m not happy to make deals with you, unless one where you never show your face again.”
“It’s hard to lie to Nött,” he said.
“Really?” I scoffed.
He let out a deep breath. “I am safe. I have lots of toys, you see. I cannot be manipulated. My mind cannot be opened like a bottle of good wine. You probably didn’t know this but stealing the Scepter from the goddess originally was no small feat. It involved—”
I laughed. “The best thief in Nine Worlds. And you found him. The dragon told us.” Then I understood. “He told Dana! The dragon told Dana about your part! She has our Dana and that dragon as prisoners, and sooner or later she will make forceful inquiries that will point a finger your way? Dana’s mind will be like an open book, won’t it?” I laughed and wheezed, and spat blood and bile. “How do you know what the Masked One spoke with us?”
He gave me a humorless smile. “I have spies all over the place. One was outside the door in armor. But yes, you got the picture. When I saw her and the dragon fleeing the battle with the Scepter, I was worried. When she tapped it on the palace of Nött, I was more than worried.”
“So, Nött will be upset with you,” I chuckled. “Might not return your love?” Gutty was looking uncomfortable.
Itax looked annoyed. “Yes,” he said unhappily. “It’s all very unfortunate. I only helped them steal the Scepter and her secrets, because I thought I could save her one day. I’d have been a hero to her. Then the fool Dana decided to risk Nött where I was supposed to.”
“You were out here hoping to capture the Scepter,” I spat at his feet. “You lost it, and figured it would come this way. Too bad there was a dragon guarding her.”
He frowned. “There is indeed that Morginthax with her. No reason to deny I hoped to get the Scepter. Anyway, rather than reward them with heaps of jewels and their freedom, she decided to keep them for a time. She is a lady of intrigue, after all, and probably will do a very thorough investigation of the matters that took place in the city some thousands of years ago. And your Dana will make my triumphant return to serve the Throne of Shadows unlikely. And I do doubt she will open her heart to me if she finds out the truth.”
I chuckled. “I doubt she would if she didn’t, you maggot. There’s an army of draugr running this way. Dozen kings and queens are dead, and there is a retreating elven host. Many dragons have fallen, a legion of jotuns is dead. My friends are dead. And still there are liars trying to cover their tracks while they hope to rest their legs on a pile of treasure as they sit on a throne, kissing and fondling a goddess.”
Gutty grunted with amusement and received a withering look from Itax. The fat man shrugged at our looks and spoke. “I’ve got a stake in this as well. I wish to get out of here. We share business with my seedy friend here, but I’d love to take a well to Aldheim. Trad, preferably, but I suppose any way is good. Himingborg is no place for me.”
“The Safiroons have a bounty on his fat head,” Itax said with a chuckle. “They’ll make him squeal. Look.” He turned us around. We stood in the shadows of a house, near the palace, deep in the Unlit City. There were thousands of buildings, the sort of dark alleys one might think gave a thief pleasure, and he pointed at the black palace, not far. “I cannot show my face there. But you can. You go in and free them from the tower, which is next to the gates. Take her, bring them out, and I’ll help you escape.”
But the wells were locked with magic
, I thought. Itax must know it. He must know you need the Scepter to open them. And that was beyond us to get. He was up to more than just sending us on our merry way. I swallowed my rage, I gazed at Anja, held my raw, infected chest, and decided.
I nodded. “Fine. I’ll go in. But don’t you think she will force the truth out of you?” I asked. “She might not need to dig into your damned mind. She might do it the old-fashioned way. She should, if she were wise. She’s probably feeling a bit paranoid these days, after such a long imprisonment. Might question all of her old cronies in a nasty manner.”
He smiled but flinched. “I have a golden tongue, my lord. I’ll lick her toes and elsewhere, if she asks me to. But get them out. You do this for me. And for you.”
I hesitated, eyeing the open, gilded doors. “Will she be there? Nött?”
“I doubt it,” Itax said sheepishly. “But perhaps she is busy?”
“If she’s not there, why don’t
you
go in?” I asked him.
He smiled inanely. “Of course because she
might
be there.”
The bastard was too afraid to take risks. “What do I need to do?”
“You’ll just sneak in there, and let them go,” he said and leaned close. “Get to her throne first. It’s a thing of shadows in the middle of the courtyard. There is a set of keys there.”
“You are a lord of thieves, and you send a clumsy human for such a task?” I spat. “You—”
“I’m fresh out of thieves, boy,” he muttered. “We have none left. You roasted them. I have to rebuild everything.”
Liar.
I nodded at him, and began walking for the gates, Anja after me. Gutty ran after us. Itax looked shocked. “I need you here!”
“I’ll go with them,” he answered and pulled us along. He gazed at me as we closed to the gates. “You have a hunch on what will happen? You are no fool.”
I fought the urge to look behind at Itax. “He won’t take risks, will he? He has plenty of his bastards hidden out there, no? They aren’t dead.”
Gutty nodded. “He won’t take risks and he has lots of them waiting for you to exit,” he said softly. “He had too few to take on a dragon, but now there are plenty in the shadows. He is burying his shit as deep as he can. He is vermin, my friend, of the first class. And now, he is sending us to steal from goddess Nött. He hopes she is busy elsewhere. He hopes we shall manage to free the dragon and the girl, because he dares not try. Then, when we get to him, he shall kill you all. Stealing the keys off a goddess is a risky business as well.”
“Why do you tell me this?” I asked.
He smiled. “I have a gut feeling and I sometimes follow them. I think he is hanging from a thread and it is not a strong one.”
I nodded. I had a solution and it would indeed make Itax’s thread weak as a kitten.
We got close to the massive dark fort. It looked ordinary, and not something I had imagined a goddess might occupy. I peeked through the golden doors, and pushed inside. We were standing under a black portico, the courtyard yawned through one arched way in front of us, and to the left and to the right there were stairways. I turned to Gutty. “Do you know a way to these Wells?”
“No,” he said darkly. “I might find some of the tunnels, but the ways are well guarded. And didn’t I say Itax has an ambush waiting for us?”
I smiled. “Did you know the wells are locked with the Scepter?”
He looked stunned. “What? No. I came through one, but I didn’t know—”
“Don’t worry,” I told him.
“No?” he asked. “I should have stayed out!”
“Trust your gut,” I growled and slapped it. “Do you know the quest we are on? To return the Horn?” I asked him.
He nodded carefully. “A noble quest for noble people. But I’m not very noble these days.”
I pulled him close to me as I stripped off the gauntlets and the mask. I handed them to Anja, who took them, looking shocked. “The dragon has lived here for ages, no?”
“Yes,” Gutty said slowly.
“She
would
know,” I said forcefully. “She’ll take you where you wish to go. And you will guard the girls. You will keep them alive on their quest.”
“And if the dragon wishes to stay
with
Nött?” Gutty asked, sweating. “We must get through Itax, then the tunnels, and you just said the wells are magically locked! This is more responsibility that I need currently. I have to get back to home, and now I can only do that if Nött or Itax will help me, and—”
“Your Trad is in war,” I growled. “Aldheim will war for decades. Only one quest matters. Get the Horn to safety in Asgaard,” I winked. “
Imagine
what the gods will give you if you succeed.”
He rolled his eyes. “You lot have been running after this Horn for a while. And how many are left? You
cannot
fight Nött,” the man chuckled and went serious. “Wait. Who has the Horn? She? Then—”
I shook my head. “Dana hid it before she came here. Hid it well in the valley before she entered the city. And so you will have to trust me now. You won’t need the keys to get them out of the tower. You won’t need the Scepter to release the locks of the wells.” I hugged Anja, whose eyes popped out of her head. “She has a skill. There is no lock she cannot open. Magical or ordinary.”
Gutty grinned, striking his beard. “Truly? She’d make a nice burglar. Amongst other things.” He shrugged at Anja’s annoyed look. “Gut feeling it is. I agree.” He frowned. “Though I’m still not sure how you will get past Itax’s crew. They are prepared
even
for a dragon.”
“I have a plan,” I said.
“Oh, fine,” Gutty muttered. “Get to it.”
I pointed to the stairway to the right. “I will,” I told him. “And if you betray them, Anja will burn your nuts off.”
Anja frowned at him and me. “Where will
you
be, Ulrich?”
I smiled at her and shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.”
Anja took a long breath. “I—”
“Will you do this? I know you hate Dana, but this is no time to fight her. You joined our enemy, and I fought to control a Hel’s creature. We both tried to serve causes of others. We have to do this on our own.”
She frowned. “What about you, I asked.”
“I have to stay,” I said and felt a tear in my eye. “I’m dying.” I pulled down the chain mail and showed her the horrible wound on my chest. She put a hand over her mouth, horrified.