War of the Realms

  “What is it with secret tunnels and pubs?” Archie demanded, brushing off elf blood. “This is just like the one in Utgard.”

  “Pubs and inns are the best places to hide tunnels,” Kai said. “Most of the patrons are too drunk to realize the tunnels are here.”

  Quinn looked up at the noise from the merrymaking. “It sounds like they’re celebrating.”

  Freya nodded. “Yes, the fall of Asgard,” she said darkly. “Dirian told me they’d broken through the defenses.”

  “Then we’d better hurry.” Loki walked over to the giant-sized stairs leading up to the main floor of the pub. The first step rose high above his head. “It’s going to take a giant to get you out of here safely without alerting the others to our presence.”

  “Why?” Archie asked. “We’re dressed like Dark Elves. We can just walk out of here.”

  “You may look like an elf, but you stink like a dead human,” Loki said sarcastically. “Don’t you ever wash?”

  Archie took a step closer. “I’ve had it with you, Loki. We didn’t ask for your help and we don’t need it. We were doing just fine without you!”

  “Yes, I can see. You were doing so fine, Dirian cut off Freya’s wings!”

  “Loki, Archie, stop it,” Kai said. “We’re facing enough danger already. We don’t need to hear you two bickering as well.”

  “Then tell the ghost to keep his mouth shut,” Loki spat.

  Archie opened his mouth to reply, but Freya stopped him. “Let it go, Archie. We don’t have time for this.”

  “Exactly,” Loki said. He turned to Quinn. “Can you work some of your magic to protect everyone from the heat and flame of a fire giant?”

  Quinn nodded. “I could, why?”

  “Because you’re all going to need it if you’re going to travel in my pocket.” Loki stepped away from the group and started to shimmer. “You’d better start casting that spell now. It’s about to get very hot in here. . . .”

  Freya took Skuld’s hand and escorted the blind Norn back a safe distance from Loki as he started to grow in size. His color changed to bright orange as his clothes started to burn.

  “Quinn, hurry with that spell!” Orus cawed. “My feathers are roasting!”

  “Everyone, grasp hands,” Quinn cried.

  While Loki turned into a full, flaming fire giant, a bubble of protection formed around the others, very similar to the one they had traveled in under the frozen sea. Inside the bubble, the air was refreshingly cool, even though just outside it was scorching.

  Loki now stood high above them, looking very much like a fire giant version of Loki, with a bulbous nose and exaggerated features. His long dark hair was ablaze and his clothes were a raging inferno. His hands were huge, and each finger was on fire.

  “I really hope he’s on our side,” Archie said.

  Freya looked up at Loki. “He is. He just doesn’t always know how to show it. But Loki isn’t the one I’m worried about.” Her eyes settled on the troll who was holding Kai’s and Archie’s hands. “You, I still don’t trust. If you let go and break the spell, the moment we feel the first bit of heat, I swear I’ll use my sword on you!”

  “No—no—no, I am your guardian,” the troll whined. “Maya told me to protect you and I am.”

  “Maya isn’t here,” Freya said.

  “But I promised. And I always keep my promises.”

  Loki bent down and put his hand on the floor, inviting them into his palm.

  “Remember,” Quinn said. “No matter what happens, we must keep hold of each other to keep out the heat. Does everyone understand?”

  They all agreed and walked as one onto Loki’s hand. As he lifted them up to his enormous giant’s face, his now golden eyes indicated his pocket.

  Freya nodded and called, “Go ahead.”

  Being surprisingly gentle, Loki pulled open the breast pocket on his tunic and placed them inside. Before they disappeared into the burning depths, he brought a massive finger to his lips and hushed them.

  “Say nothing, but hold tight to each other,” Quinn whispered. “The spell will hold, but being this close to his burning clothes means it will get hot in here.”

  It was already getting hot and very uncomfortable for Freya as her burnt skin protested and wing stumps throbbed under the heat and tight confinement. Every nerve in her body screamed to be freed from the confines of the pocket. Freya closed her eyes and leaned her head back, forcing herself to remain calm. At her shoulder, Orus pressed in tight and lightly closed his beak on her earlobe, to let her know he was with her and understood better than anyone else what she was suffering. Beside her, Quinn squeezed her hand reassuringly.

  They felt each step Loki made as he climbed the cellar steps and made it to the main floor of the pub. Loud music played, and people sang and danced.

  As Fire Giant Loki moved through the crowds, he was being bumped and shoved by the other giants around him. The mood was boisterous as the fire giants celebrated the fall of Asgard. A large hand slapped Loki on the back, and they all jolted inside Loki’s pocket.

  “Everyone keep still,” Freya hushed, and they each held their breath as the fire giant embraced Loki.

  “Have you heard, my friend?” a voice boomed. “Asgard has fallen—soon it will be ours!”

  “I have, friend,” Loki’s giant voice replied. “Odin will die and we will know a new and prosperous age!”

  The fire giant laughed, and they could hear his breathing getting louder as he leaned in close to Loki’s ear. “After Odin, we will conquer Utgard and the frost giants, once and for all. Fire giants will rule all the realms!”

  Freya inhaled and looked at Kai and Archie. She had never imagined that the fire giants had such ambitious plans.

  “We’ve gotta stop them,” Archie whispered.

  Giant Loki started to cough and pounded his chest, nearly crushing his pocket. His message to them was understood. Keep quiet.

  Soon the music faded and they heard sales traders calling out offers of goods at reasonable prices—so they knew that Loki had stepped safely out of the pub and was now walking the crowded streets of the Great City.

  * * *

  Time stood still in Loki’s pocket as he moved through the city streets and eventually out of town. When all they could hear was the crackling of burning clothes and Loki’s heavy breathing, they knew they had made it.

  Loki stopped. Light poured in from above as he opened his pocket. “Quinn, lift everyone out of there.” His voice boomed like thunder.

  The bubble of protection floated out of the pocket and drifted toward the ground. By the time they touched down, Loki had changed back to his normal form.

  “I’m sure you heard,” Loki said. “They’re already celebrating Asgard’s defeat.”

  “And they’re planning to attack the frost giants next. If we don’t stop this now, it really will be Ragnarök,” Kai said.

  “We have got to get moving before it’s too late.” Loki stepped up to the troll. “You, tell us, where’s the tunnel Dirian is using to get to Asgard?”

  The troll looked back to Freya.

  “Speak,” she ordered.

  Within minutes Quinn had them in the sky and on their way to the tunnel. The sun was high overhead and mercilessly hot in the clear, cloudless sky. Freya’s skin seared under its scorching intensity. If they somehow managed to survive this, she swore she would never return to this wretched realm again.

  As day turned into early evening, there was only a slight respite from the heat. They passed over the flatlands and a large, steaming lake. In the distance rose a series of mountain ranges covered in red- and orange-leaved trees—their destination.

  The troll directed them to touch down by a hidden cave. The entrance was almost completely obscured by giant leaves that grew on the thick vines draping down before it.

  “Look,” Quinn said as he walked to a small area of cleared vines. “They’ve been here. This vine has been recently cut. . . .”

>   Kai stepped forward. “With a hole just large enough for Dark Searchers to fit through. This is the right place.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Freya asked as she held Skuld’s hand and led the blind Norn forward. Just before she passed under the cut leaves, Freya warned Skuld to keep her hands and head down. “Don’t touch anything,” she warned. “The leaves here will burn you worse than fire.”

  “I understand,” Skuld said as she pressed closer to Freya. “You lead and I will follow.”

  Freya raised her sword and passed through the opening into the dark cave. Immediately the temperature dropped and she breathed a great sigh of relief.

  “Ah,” Archie sighed when he entered. “That’s much better. Gee, remind me never to come back here.”

  “I will,” Freya promised. She looked up at Orus. “And I want you to bite me if I ever suggest we do.”

  “Don’t worry, I will.”

  “You never will come back here,” Skuld said cryptically.

  Freya looked down at Skuld and wondered what the Norn of the future meant. Was it that Freya would never return? Or was it that she had no future left in which to do it? They were about to head into a war zone. Would that spell the end for her?

  “What have you seen?” she finally asked.

  Skuld smiled, and there was a sense of mischief about her. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

  “Freya, do you and Skuld want to stay here and talk and maybe have a picnic, or are you coming with us to Asgard to save Odin?” Loki challenged.

  Freya smiled, grateful for his sarcasm. It gave her the first trace of normalcy she’d known in a long time. She held on to Skuld with one hand and raised her sword with the other. “Oh, don’t you worry about me not coming. I’ve got a very special date with Dirian!”

  34

  “REMEMBER,” VANIR-FREYJA WARNED MAYA AS they rose through the opening at the Temple of the Sun in Peru, “sing as loud and as strong as you can.” Vanir-Freyja had taught Maya the song that would unleash her powers fully. They were now back in Midgard and ready to cast their spell over the giants.

  The moment they emerged from the temple, Maya felt her new powers affecting the people who greeted them. Vanir-Freyja had had to lift them high up into the sky to keep the crowding soldiers from touching Maya and being reaped.

  “When you finish the song, start over again. Just sing and fly—that’s all you need to do. Your powers will do the rest. And when you reach the tunnel entrances that the giants are using to enter Midgard, sing even more. And when they are yours, command them to return to their realms. Make them love you, child, and they will do anything you say.

  “If we fly at our top speed and circle the globe, we should finish quickly. Then I will meet you at the tunnel entrance to Asgard—the one in northern Canada. If I am not there, wait for me. Together we will return to Asgard and stop the giants.”

  Maya felt the weight of responsibility pressing down heavily on her. “I understand.”

  Vanir-Freyja hugged her tightly. “I am so proud of you. Asgard will sing of your bravery and Odin will bow to your beauty.”

  Maya shook her head. “I don’t care about that. I just want this war over.”

  “Indeed,” Vanir-Freyja said. “Go now, my mirror twin. Go and do as you were born to do.”

  Maya opened her wings and lifted off. She looked back and watched Vanir-Freyja fly in the opposite direction. They had been together only a short time, but already Maya felt the anxiety of separation from her powerful ancestor.

  Rising high above Machu Picchu, Maya started across the Andes, keeping alert for any giants. It wasn’t until she headed farther north that she felt a familiar prickling on her skin. Giants. Taking a deep breath, Maya started to sing. At first the words of the song were unfamiliar and awkward, as they were from an ancient language unknown to her. But then a strange wave of heat and a kind of calmness washed over her, and everything changed.

  Like a dam bursting, powers that Maya had been unaware of were released. She understood the ancient words she was singing and felt the full power of the Vanir coursing through her veins.

  This power fed her voice, and the song that sprang from her became louder and reached farther. She was calling to others, enchanting them—commanding them to love her and do as she bade.

  By the time she reached the tunnel entrance from Utgard in the Florida Everglades, Maya was heartbroken. The area had been reduced to ruins. The main cities of Florida were gone, trampled under giants’ feet and revealing a steady path of destruction leading north.

  Circling over the tunnel entrance, Maya sang her heart out.

  “Come to me. . . .” Her haunting notes were filled with yearning. The frost and fire giants halted their northern march. They turned and looked back at her longingly.

  It was working! The giants were drawn toward her and were calling her.

  Maya put even more of herself into the song. “Come to me . . . ,” she sang. “Love me. Serve me. . . .” They reached up, trying to catch hold of her from the ground.

  Drawing them back toward the tunnel, Maya changed the song. As Vanir-Freyja had taught her, she kept up the melody but changed the lyrics.

  “You have been used as weapons of war!” she sang to them. “But that is over now. Go home. Return to your families and tell the others in the tunnel that they will please me by leaving this realm forever. . . .” She sang of Vanir-Freyja’s freedom, and how she had never been a prize for the kings.

  One by one, as though in a trance, the giants started to descend into the tunnel.

  Heartened by success, Maya kept singing. Following the path of devastation, she flew farther up the coast and called the giants home. She soon learned that she didn’t have to escort them back to the tunnel. At her command, they went on their own.

  Along the route, Maya saw signs of fighting. Defeated frost and fire giants lay on the ground, waiting to rise—but her heart sank when she saw the number of military vehicles and soldiers who lay among them. The humans had fought hard to defend their realm, but had failed. There would be no rising again for them, as they had been taken by the Angels of Death.

  Farther up the coast, where human soldiers were still fighting the marching giants, Maya’s song halted everyone. Giants and humans alike paused to listen. As she passed overhead, the humans called to her, while the giants turned around and followed her commands to go home.

  After Maya reached as far north as she needed, she changed direction and headed back toward California and the tunnel entrance out in the Pacific Ocean.

  “Follow my words,” she kept singing. “Return to your realms and make war no more. . . .”

  Day turned into night, but still Maya kept singing. She crisscrossed the United States and ordered the giants home.

  By dawn, Maya’s voice was breaking and she was exhausted from the exertion, but she was overjoyed. A simple song was the most powerful weapon they had against the giants. She had to keep going. As she made her way north, Maya kept singing and watched the steady stream of creatures heading south. Male or female, frost or fire giant, dwarf, elf, or troll, it didn’t matter. They all moved as though in a dream—reaching up to her, calling out to her, but always obeying her command to go back home.

  As Maya crossed into Canada, her voice was weakening and she needed to rest. She glided down into the ruins of a small northern town. Touching down in the center of the street, she spied an abandoned diner that had somehow survived the giants.

  Once her senses assured her that she was alone, Maya entered the diner. The place was eerily silent. Food and drinks lay abandoned on tables. Some meals were partially consumed while some lay untouched by those who had ordered them. Maya took a seat on one of the counter stools and reached for the abandoned food.

  In all her life, she had never felt so exhausted. Her body was shaking, her wing muscles were sore, and her throat felt raw. But it was worth it. The giants were leaving Midgard.

  Maya la
y her head down for just a moment. Before long, she drifted into a deep, much-needed sleep.

  * * *

  “Maya . . .” Someone was shaking her arm. Groggily opening her eyes, she saw the face of her mother hovering above.

  “Mother?”

  Tears filled Eir’s eyes as she pulled Maya into a tight embrace. “My beautiful girl, you’ve come back to us. We feared the worst!”

  It had been a long time since she’d seen her mother cry. “I’m all right,” she soothed.

  “Maya, I don’t understand,” Eir said. “I heard you singing, and then felt compelled to find you. What’s happened?”

  As Maya looked at her mother, she sensed a deep grief coming from her. Her mother had been through a lot; she could feel it.

  But before she could find out more, the door of the diner opened. For the first time in a long while, Maya smiled as the familiar faces of her sisters Gwyn and Kara appeared, followed by her uncle Vonni, who was being supported by Kris. Vonni’s left leg was wrapped in a thick bandage and his arm and face were cut. It felt as if she hadn’t seen them in a thousand years.

  Behind them were Dark Searchers. When their eyes landed on Maya, they rushed toward her, trying to get as close as possible.

  “Please, stop!” Maya cried, pushing the Dark Searchers away. They were pressing in so close, she couldn’t breathe. “What you’re feeling isn’t real. It’s a spell, that’s all. Please, stand back.”

  The Dark Searchers immediately obeyed her command and took a step back. But their emotions didn’t change. They loved her.

  “How did you find me?” Maya asked, reaching back for her mother.

  Vonni’s eyes were glazed, staring at her. “You called to us and we had to obey.”

  “It’s just a spell,” Maya explained. “You must get past it. Asgard needs you.”

  Vonni shook his head. “What kind of spell? Why do I feel this way?”