Mimir's Well (The Oracles of Kurnugi Book 3) (18 page)

CHAPTER 36

            
 
H
enry and Andromeda walked down the path. Sheer walls rose up on either side of them. Through the opening ahead of them, he could see the peak where Bifrost ended, where Thor and Hephaestus fought. Fire and lightning flashed atop it. Henry and Andromeda came out on a large ledge overlooking the valley between worlds. Wingless dragons moved through the sea of men toward the mountain. If Henry squinted, he thought he could see a couple dead on the field. Dozens of men and women stood on the ledge looking out over the battlefield. They were talking softly, and none noticed the two intruders. Henry tried to move quietly, but kicked a loose pebble. It skidded across the ground and clanked into the armored leg of a one handed god. Instantly, conversation ceased. As one, the Norse gods turned to look at him. Henry's hand fell to his hilt, but he let it fall away a second later. There was no way he'd be able to fight all of them. There was the sound of rasping steel as the gods drew their weapons. Henry took a step back. The crowd stirred and parted. Odin stood in the center. He carried a long spear in one hand. Flowing robes covered his body, and he wore a hood that didn't quite hide is one-eyed face.

              "It seems we have guests, my friends."

              "Impossible!" someone cried out.

              "They couldn't have defeated Heimdall!"

              Other gods shouted, and their voices blended together into a thundering roar. His head felt like it was going to explode. Dimly, he realized his hand had closed around his hilt. Odin banged the butt of his spear into the stone. Though it was only a gentle tap, the whole mountain shook at the impact. Most kept their balance, but a few fell. When those had gotten up, the gods went silent and looked at their king.

              "They did not defeat Heimdall. The boy is hidden from my sight, but the girl is another matter. I see her being thrown off Bifrost. Judging by the tattered condition of the boy's clothes, he was with her. They survived Jotunheim itself to reach us."

              A gasp rippled through the gods. A woman who was little more than a girl stepped out next to Odin. Unlike the others, she bore no armor or weapon. She wore a pure white dress that shimmered as she moved. Patterns of woven gold ran across her bodice, and her golden hair was tied in twin braids. Her alabaster skin looked like it had never seen a day of sun, but her face was red with anger. Henry had seen her before, when he'd asked the magic mirror who was responsible for the war. Idun, the holder of the golden apples.

              "Allies of the giant king," she shrieked.

              "No, Idun," Odin said. "Enemies of yours do not mean allies of Thrym."

              "Have you gone senile, old man?" she asked. "He bears a frozen blade. How else would he get one if not from the giant king?"

              "The boy's recent past is obscured, but what transpired before he crossed into this realm is not. He once turned an army to stone with the head of a vanquished foe. Given what else I see of him, I could well imagine that sword as a prize won from an enemy rather than a boon from an ally."

              "Foolishness," she said. "I can see the past as well as you and-"

              "Then you know the path he's walked is hidden from us."

              "His past is but Thrym's is not. I see that beast of a king bestowing a blade and testing its bearer to make sure he was capable of killing us. I see the girl there too. Who could it have been but this boy?"

              The gods grumbled. A woman with snow white skin and icy hair raised a bow. A faint blue tinge colored the arrowhead and several of the gods backed away, but Odin raised his hand.

              "Lower your weapon, Skadi. I can see that as well, but this would not be the first time a hero obtains spoils from an enemy with trickery."

              Skadi looked from Odin to Idun. For a moment, Henry thought she wouldn't listen, but Odin cleared his throat. Skadi released the tension on her bow and lowered her arrow. Idun grew even redder. She stamped her foot, but it seemed a pitiful thing after what Odin had done.

              "Enough of this," Idun said. "These are the ones I've been looking for since the beginning. I preserved the girl for her knowledge once, but not again. Kill them, old man."

              Odin's expression never wavered. "No."

              Idun's jaw dropped. It took several seconds before she could find her voice. "What?"

              "I said no, Idun. I'll not fight your battles for you."

              "I'll forbid you the apples," she said. "You'll grow old and die."

              "We'll see."

              Idun gaped at Odin as if unable to accept his defiance. Odin just started at her, his face devoid of any emotion. Eventually, she looked away, as if unable to bear the weight of that one-eyed gaze. It took her a second to recover, and she turned to the other gods.

              "Kill the mortals!"

              Two gods leapt forward, one was the one handed man Henry had seen earlier, looking no less fierce for his handicap, and the other, a man in chain shirt and iron helm. Both carried long swords. Henry lifted his weapon, but he knew he couldn't stand against two of them. For a second, however, he didn't care. The sight of them filled him with a cold rage. Before he could do anything, Odin's voice rang through the air.

              "Tyr, Hermod, hold!"

              The command in those words was absolute. Even though it hadn't been directed at him, Henry found himself lowering his weapon. The pair of gods paused for a second, but took another step forward, though it obviously required great effort. Odin banged his spear against the ground again, and the armored gods struggled to maintain their balance as the ground shook. When it calmed, the pair glanced at Idun. Rage had twisted her expression so much Henry could hardly recognize her.

              "What are you waiting for?" Her screech made her sound more like a little girl than a goddess. "I said kill them."

              Odin stepped between the gods and Henry. He threw back his hood and shifted his shoulders. His robes fell to the ground. The figure beneath them was anything but an old man. His arms were thickly muscled, and he wore armor of interlocking scales. It glowed a faint orange. Long white hair had been tied in a single braid. He set his legs wide, and his knuckles whitened as he tightened his grip on his spear. The tip of the weapon gave off an angry red light. The mask of the wise old man vanished, and all signs of frailty melted away. This was no longer Odin the Wanderer who Henry had met on Hind Mountain. This was Odin, warrior king of a race of warrior gods, and as his gaze fell on the assembled deities, each one shrank back. Finally, he turned to Idun.

              "No, Idun. They will not touch these mortals."

              "You would dare?" She turned back to the gods. "Any who does not attack will never taste another apple. Die with the Allfather!"

              The crowd took a hesitant step forward, but Odin simply shook his head and moved his spear point from god to god. They stopped and looked at each other.

              "If they disobey you, they will die eventually. If they disobey me, they will die today."

              "You can't fight them all," she said, no longer sounding sure of herself.

              Odin smiled. "Are you so sure? Well, you may be right at that, but I wonder how many I could kill. It could be any one of them, and they know it. These are not your pet mortals, Idun. We have all lived for ages and still have an eternity before us. It is not so easy to risk that for the sake of one girl's tantrum."

              "Tantrum?"

              "Well, what else would you call it? You are one of us, Idun, and we do not shrink from combat. This is your battle. Face it yourself."

              Idun glared at the gods. Most avoided meeting her gaze. A few glanced at Odin before shaking their heads. Idun was breathing heavily, but Henry felt himself calm down. Idun shrieked again and grabbed an ivory hilt at her belt that Henry hadn't noticed was there. She drew a long, thin blade and held it steadily before her. The silvery metal hummed as she moved it back and forth through the air.

              Henry's mouth went dry. He'd always assumed that if it came down to a fight, he'd be able to beat Idun, but he'd underestimated her. She was still a Norse goddess, and the gods of Vikings were warriors all. Henry's sword hissed as he tightened his grip on the hilt. Steam swirled around the blade. Without needing to be told, the rest of the gods formed a wide circle around them. Odin took Andromeda's hand and led her to the circle where he stood next to her. A tall, blond woman stood at her other side. The one-eyed god nodded to him, and Henry set his feet and prepared to fight a goddess.

CHAPTER 37

            
 
I
dun darted at him. Henry raised his sword, but she struck low, cutting a shallow gash across his leg. He tried to strike back, but she'd already danced out of the way. She gave him an evil grin and he took a step back. In the same instant, she lunged. Henry swung his sword in a desperate arc, knocking her sword away an instant before it skewered him. He slashed, but Idun slammed her blade down on his. The tip touched the ground, and she brought her foot down on it. He felt the sword slipping from his grasp, but she hissed and drew back. He withdrew his sword. A circle of ice had formed on the ground and a layer of frost had crawled up Idun's leg. She looked down at it, and Henry lunged, but Idun moved like a snake. She twisted out of the way and tried to strike, but her frozen leg threw her off balance. Henry lashed out at her left side, and she batted the attack aside. Their swords rang against each other, the anger inside Henry growing with every blow. Idun made it through his defenses several times and delivered a number of shallow cuts. Henry's sword only made it past her parries once, but even then, his sword bounced off armor that had been hidden by her dress.

              He couldn't keep it up. The wounds Idun gave him piled up on top of the injuries he'd taken in Jotunheim. He felt himself slowing down. He had to do something risky and hope it ended better than his fight with Heimdall. Idun thrust and Henry pushed forward. Her blade pierced his shoulder, but his sank into her arm. Ice spread from her wound until her hand froze, and frost crept up her blade. Henry pulled back and slashed at her weapon. It shattered under his blow, and Idun fell back. Henry stood over her and held his sword at her neck.

              "It's finally over," he said.

              He pressed the sword into her neck. A thin trickle of blood ran down to the ground. It froze a second later. This was the one who had caused so much fear and pain. She was the reason he'd been trapped here. It would be such a simple matter to end it here and now.

              "Henry, no!" Andromeda called.

              He clenched his teeth. "She deserves it."

              His sword pulsed with every word. It thirsted for her blood. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a group of gods surge forward, but again, Odin banged his spear on the ground. Without removing his sword, Henry looked up. Several of the gods gaped at Odin, as if not believing he would stop them from saving Idun. The woman on the other side of Andromeda whispered something, but Odin shook his head and looked to Henry.

              "You must not do this," he said. "Idun alone can give the gods the golden apples that maintain their life. They will shrivel if any hand but hers picks them."

              "They were on her side," Henry said. "Thor tried to kill me, and Heimdall threw me off Bifrost."

              "Did I not save your life and guide you when you journeyed to rescue Andromeda from Idun's grasp?" Odin said. "Did I not hide you from her sight?"

              "It
was
you!" Idun cried out.

              Henry glared at her and put pressure on the blade. She recoiled and went silent. He blinked at her. Her skin had turned blue, and she was shaking. The area around the tip of his blade was covered in frost. Henry sneered at her before looking up. Odin's single eye had never left him.

              "Will you kill me too, then? I could no more survive without her apples than the rest."

              Henry paused, but his hesitation only lasted a second. "You were her king. If you'd done your job, none of this would've happened. I never would've had to leave home. My parents would have never thought I was kidnapped. Andromeda would still be..."

              There was a soft clinking. Henry looked down just as a frozen tear fell from his cheek and shattered on ground covered in frost. The pain in his shoulder had gone numb, and he was dimly aware that the blood that had spilled from his wound had frozen.

              "Henry."

              Andromeda's voice was quivering. For the first time, Henry realized the entire ledge was covered in frost. The skies above rumbled with dark clouds and a light snow began to fall. Andromeda was shaking, the cold apparently more than Hephaestus' cloak could handle. Even some of the gods shivered.

              "Stories do die, sometimes," Odin said quietly. "I know this. Thrym knows this. Even Idun begins to understand. If you kill her today, no story will ever come from this realm again. We are the memory of an entire people. Will you destroy us, and give our place to Thrym? I doubt he'd be kinder than we, and I'm not sure what it would do to your world."

              Henry looked at the gods. Suddenly, they didn't seem so fierce. More than one drew back at his gaze. Though they still towered over him, he couldn't help but see them as small.

              "How many have you killed?" Odin asked.

              "What?"

              "Not monsters, ghosts, or beasts. How many humans have you killed?"

              In spite of the cold, Henry started to sweat. "Idun isn't human. She's an idea someone came up with a long time ago."

              "So are you," Odin said. "So is Virgil."

              A chill that had nothing to do with the weather shot through his body. Virgil was the first person Henry had met when he'd crossed over into Kurnugi. If not for Virgil, Henry would have died long ago. More than that, Virgil was his brother who had never been born. He had existed only as a dream in the minds of his parents, but that had been enough to give him life in Kurnugi. Virgil had died keeping Henry alive.

              Henry tightened his grip on his hilt. Idun squirmed under the blade. He drew back and the gods gave a collective gasp. He swung but turned his blade at the last instant. The side slammed into the ground with a sound like breaking glass. The blade shattered. Its fragments scattered across the stone. They liquefied and evaporated. The ice where the blade had struck melted, and the frost vanished in an ever-growing circle. Idun's frozen limbs thawed, and color returned to Andromeda's skin.

              Henry collapsed, breathing heavily. The rage that had slowly been building in him since he received the sword vanished. Idun hissed and got to her feet. She stormed over to the gods and held out a hand.

              "Give me a sword."

              "No, Idun."

              Odin spoke softly, but the stones resonated with his voice. None of the others moved to help her. The goddess let out an ear-piercing shriek and leapt through the air. She crashed into Henry, making him roll over on his back. She set a knee against his chest and closed her hands around his throat. His vision went dark and he clawed at her hands, but it was no use.

              Andromeda screamed, and he heard sounds of a struggle. He kept hoping Odin would intervene, but Idun tightened her grip and started banging his head against the stone. Desperate, he ran his hands along her arms until he found her fingers. His fingers brushed against a metal band on her right hand. His body pulsed. An energy he hadn't realized was there flowed out of him, and his body went cold. There was a sound like thunder. A force pressed Henry into the ground. Idun was thrown aside. It passed after a second, and Henry sat up, gasping for breath. He felt something hard in his hand. He looked down. The ring in his hand was split in two. Brilliant orange lines ran through it, though their light was fading. A second later, they had gone dark. The ring crumbled to dust, and the wind carried it away.

              "Curse breaker." Odin's words were carried on the wind.

              All around, the gods looked at Henry with awe. Odin released his hold on Andromeda, and she ran to him. A few feet away, Idun picked herself off the ground. The same orange lines glowed on her skin. Tears streamed down her cheeks, each one glowing brightly. The light vanished when they hit the ground. With each tear, the lines on her skin dimmed.

              "What have I done?" she cried.

              "Now it is over," Odin said.