Fury's Mantle Page 14

  “Thank you, Jerako. I hope I can always count on you as a friend and ally. As soon as we have wakened the Frostlings from their paralysis, we’ll ask them to send word to you. We’ll meet whatever this new force is together.”

  Zhan led us into another chamber where the rest of our party waited. The little girl was clinging to Shawna, but when she saw us, she ran up to Elan and wrapped her arms around Elan’s leg, clutching her tightly. Elan looked over at me.

  “She’s really taken to you,” I said. “We can’t go on calling her ‘she’ or ‘the child.’ We need a name for her.”

  Elan knelt by the girl and held her by her shoulders. “Do you have a name?”

  The girl paused, looking confused. After a moment she nodded.

  “If you can’t tell us what your name is, until we can find out, do you mind if I call you ‘Hope’?” Elan looked up at me and I nodded. It seemed a fitting name.

  The little girl wrapped her arms around Elan’s neck and hugged her tight. Elan stood up, lifting her in her arms. As we headed toward Thor’s chariot, it occurred to me that we had gone into Seattle with one hope, and come out with another.

  And you could never have too much hope.

  WE TOOK ADVANTAGE of the ferry from the Arbortariam over to the Wild Wood to sleep. When we woke, I realized that I wasn’t sure how many days had passed since we first left Willow Wood.

  “We’re nearing Wyfair. I let you sleep through the night. It’s nearly morning.” Thor motioned us out of the chariot. He had started a fire, and I put on a pot of porridge to cook. The rain was sleeting down so hard that it almost felt like hail. The ground was muddy and wet, and I realized we had hit the thick of autumn. I pulled my cloak tightly around me, huddling under one of the trees for shelter. Elan, Shawna, Kendall, and I took Hope with us into a nearby patch of bushes to relieve ourselves. Given the situation with lycanthropes there was no way anybody was heading out on their own.

  When we returned to the fire, I saw that Thor had heated up a pot of water along with the porridge and had also made a large pot of tea. Elan scooped a bowl of water out of the cauldron for us to wash our hands in. Shawna and Wheel handed out bowls of porridge, and we huddled under the trees, trying to keep as dry as we could while we ate.

  “How far are we from the village?” I asked.

  “About half an hour’s ride. I stopped here because I smell lycanthropes up ahead, and I wanted you awake and prepared in case we meet them. I’m hoping they haven’t been in the village, tearing things up.”

  “Whoever is marshaling them must have a tremendous amount of power in order to take control of them. Lycanthropes don’t bow to anyone except themselves. And even then, it usually takes fang to the jugular in order to produce submission.” The thought of anyone strong enough to marshal all the lycanthropes under a banner was frightening. Over the past eight years they had grown in number, with fewer to thwart them.

  We finished eating in silence. The knowledge that a group of lycanthropes was near was sobering, and nobody felt like talking much. There wasn’t really much to say, and the less noise we made, the better. Finally, we climbed back in the chariot, and set out again. I held the scroll tube tight my hand, praying that it would be as easy as Jerako had said.

  AT THE BORDERS of Wyfair, Thor told us to stay by the chariot while he checked out the village. I was nervous, wondering if the lycanthropes were near, but by the time he got back, we had seen neither hide nor hair of them.

  “Everything looks much as we left it,” Thor said. “Are you ready, Your Majesty?”

  I nodded, stepping over the border into the village. “Here goes nothing.”

  I opened the scroll tube and shook the scroll out of it. Elan took the tube from me as I unrolled the parchment. It truly did look like a series of unintelligible glyphs, but as I stared at it, words begin to form out of the runes. I waited until the scroll had entirely translated, and then, taking a deep breath, I hold the scroll up and began to read.

  What was bound, let be unbound.

  What it was frozen, let be set free.

  From sky to ground, from ground to sky,

  Magic leap and magic fly.

  That which slumbers, waken now.

  What was stunted, let now grow.

  By power of Oak and Holly tree,

  that which I will, so mote it be.

  There was a rumble under my feet as the earth began to quake.

  Startled, I dropped the scroll and wavered as Zed reached out to steady me. As I clung to his arm, a wash of magic rolled through the village, rolling like a wave coming in from the sea. It crested around the houses and the frozen Frostlings, rising up to spiral around everything within the borders of Wyfair. It was as though a giant hush had been broken, and the village yawned and stretched its arms, wakening to life. I caught my breath, swept up in the swirl of magic, rising high on its currents. The power of the Greenlings swept around me, refreshing everyone and everything in its wake.

  In that fraction of a second, everything shifted and the Frostlings awoke. Some tripped, falling to the ground, they had been so intent on an action when they were frozen. Others looked around, and the feeling of confusion raced through the streets, though no emotion showed on their frozen faces.

  It was then that one of the Frostlings turned toward me. I recognized him.

  It was the Guardian, the watcher over the village. He strode forward, and if I had not known what the Frostlings were like, I would have been terrified of the great creature that came toward me.

  “Gracious Queen of UnderBarrow, Queen Kaeleen the Fury, what are you doing in our borders? What happened to the wandering one? Where did he go?”

  The Frostlings never sounded angry, but I thought I detected the nuance in his question.

  “We were passing through and found your village frozen. We had to leave, but when we returned we stopped at the Greenlings and they gave us a scroll to free you from whatever spell was put on your village. Do you know what happened? Do you know who it was who attacked you?”

  The Guardian nodded, glancing at the rest of the party. “Come, you must get under shelter. It is dangerous to travel on the roads when dusk is falling.”

  Thor brought the chariot up behind us as we followed the Guardian into the village proper. He led us to one of the log cabins that were scattered among the ice crystal buildings. Opening the door, he guided us into a large chambered room, bidding us to wait for his return.

  As he left the building, shutting the door carefully behind us, I dropped into one of the chairs, enjoying the warmth of the cabin. While there was no visible source for heat, it was warm and cozy. Just as I had remembered, there was a small but functional bathroom off to one side. I peeled off my wet cloak, spreading it over the back of a chair, wishing for a towel to dry my hair with.

  “How long do you think he’ll be?” Zed asked.

  “I don’t know, but I’m grateful to be out of the rain, I’ll tell you that. And I’m grateful that the scroll worked.” I looked over at Hope, who was staring out of the window with wonder in her eyes. It suddenly occurred to me that she had probably never seen the forest, never seen trees like this. Present-day Seattle was a mishmash of rubble and vegetation that was quickly covering the old structures, but there were no tall trees left there. Once there had been, but the tsunami had taken care of that, sweeping them away like so many toothpicks.

  “We’re not far from home, at least,” Jason said. “Given all the talk of lycanthropes, I’m hoping that Willow Wood hasn’t been attacked in our absence.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that too,” Elan said, her hands pressed on his shoulders.

  I realized they were thinking about their daughter, worried about her safety.

  “Aila is safe enough. UnderBarrow is highly protected, and as long as she’s inside, she’ll be all right. You know that Tam and Damh Varias keep a sharp eye on everything that’s going on in the village.” I did
n’t want them to worry. They risked so much in our service, and I wanted them to feel secure.

  Elan was about to reply when the door opened, and the Guardian entered again. He was followed by two other Frostlings I didn’t recognize.

  “You will understand if I don’t stand on ceremony,” the Guardian said.

  I nodded. “There are strange things afoot in the woods. We don’t have time for small talk.”

  “You understand, then. The Alezakai Neshera and our Soothsayer have given me leave to speak for them. They are busy attending to business, and you will soon find out why.” He took a seat at the head of the table, and we all gathered around.

  “Please, tell us what you have to say. But first, I want to make sure you know that the lycanthropes are gathering. We don’t know who’s in charge of it, but there have been several attacks—vicious, brutal ones. And we know they are behind them.” I leaned forward.

  The Guardian stared at me for a moment before answering. “Yes, we do know this. And we know whose banner they gather behind. A man came off the World Tree. He comes from distant lands, although you will recognize the world of which we speak.” He turned to look at Thor.

  Thor frowned, his brows crinkling. “It cannot be a friend of mine. None of the gods would do this to you—at least none of those in Gudarheim.”

  “Oh,” Guardian said, “I do not believe it is a friend of yours. And this is why you must know and take this knowledge back to your village and the gods who reside near there. The man who cast the spell on our village is well known in our history. First, to understand, you must know a little more about the Frostlings.”

  I was feeling impatient, wanting him to get on with it, but I said nothing. As with the Greenlings, the Frostlings worked at their own pace, and nothing you could do would shift that.

  The Guardian sat back in his chair. “The Frostlings come from a mixture of races. Long ago, the Queen of the Winter Fae fell in love with an Ice Elemental. Somehow, a child was born of the union, and then another. It was thus that the race of Frostlings was born. Those children were cast out by both the Fae and Elemental worlds, who feared what the result of such a union might be. They were cast into Niflheim to live or die as they would. There, they clung together, and managed to survive. A frost giant found them, and took pity on them, and gave them powers from his own soul. The Frostlings prospered, and began to have children of their own. As their numbers grew, some began to leave Niflheim, crossing through the World Tree to this world. We are those who came into this world so many years ago. But when we were in Niflheim, we grew familiar with the entities who lived there. And some of them hated the Frostlings as much as they hated those who lived in Midgard, and as much as those who were mortal.”

  Thor let out a long breath. “It cannot be Loki. I know that he hasn’t returned to this world yet. When the Elder Gods left, many of us chose to stay but he turned tail and ran. And from what Odin told me, he hasn’t been back.”

  “Oh, it’s not Loki,” the Guardian said. “It’s his child. Fenrir has crossed over to this world, and it is his intention to bring Ragnarök to bear.”

  Silence echoed through the room following his pronouncement. After a moment, Thor pushed himself to his feet and crossed to the window, staring out as he crossed his arms.

  “Of course. That’s why I recognize the energy. I have dealt with the Fenris Wolf before, but not for thousands of years.” He turned, his face bleak. “If Fenrir is here, then he is probably looking to wake Jörmungandr, his brother, the serpent at the heart of the world. Jörmungandr is the only one strong enough to fight against Gaia, even in her own body.”

  I didn’t know a lot about the Norse pantheon, but what I knew was enough. “The man I dreamed of that crossed the Tremble? He had four great wolves with him. Could that be Fenrir?”

  “I have no doubt of it,” Thor said. “Fenrir can assume the form of a charismatic human, even more charismatic than his father. But he is fierce and wild, and where my brother understands the need for some diplomacy, Fenrir is feral and lives by tooth and fang. He is a danger to all who cross him. If he is looking to begin Ragnarök, then little can stop him. The lycanthropes would rush to his side, as they would understand his nature. And they will follow him as a leader.”

  “What can we do?” Kendall asked, her face bleak. She turned to Thor. “Can you enlist the other gods to stop him?”

  Thor looked as though he’d seen a ghost. “We will try. I cannot promise, because my kind are fated to go under during Ragnarök. If this is truly the beginning of the great war, the scope of death will be unimaginable.”

  I wanted to cry. I wanted to go to sleep and wake up and have everything as it was even twenty minutes ago. There’s always that moment when you find out something horrendous, when you learn of a tragedy beyond the scope of your ability to fix, where you long to reset everything, to step back in time to before you received the bad news. I didn’t know what to say. Here I was, queen of the kingdom, and I was without words to comfort. There was no comfort as far as I could tell.

  “Tell me this,” Jason asked. “During Ragnarök, it’s foretold that the gods fall. But does that mean all of the gods? Will Hecate and Zeus and the Dagda and Athena and Aphrodite and Ukko and every other god from every other culture die as well?”

  Thor shrugged. “I don’t know. I have no answers for you. But we need to get back. I have to talk to the others so we can plan how to proceed. For even during the World Shifts, the gods have never faced the end of days.”

  As we sat there in the growing dusk, all I could think about was everything that we had worked for, and how far we had come. Was it all in vain? Would Gaia be able to help us? Or had she somehow, in a desire to start over, set this in motion herself?

  Chapter 10

  WE ARRIVED HOME to find Willow Wood in an uproar. As we pulled into the village, Thor stopped and opened the door.

  “I think you’re going to want to see this, Your Majesty.” He ushered me out of the chariot.

  I looked around, startled to see so many guards on the outskirts flanking the road. They were armed and standing at attention, and I saw that Leonard was leading the unit. I walked over to him, and the entire unit dropped to one knee in formation.

  “Stand. Now, tell me, what’s going on?” I asked, casting a wary eye at the road beyond them.

  Leonard and the other guards stood. He held my gaze, a stark look on his face.

  “Your Majesty, welcome home. His Lordship has ordered us to guard all roads in and out of Willow Wood. There have been a number of attacks from the lycanthropes in the past two days. His Lordship has put a curfew on the entire village as well as UnderBarrow. No one is allowed in or out without permission, and everyone leaving the village must be accompanied by at least four guards. The only exception is for the hunters, and they are to hunt in large groups.”

  “It’s lucky we gathered the harvests when we did,” I said. Keeping a watch over the fields would have been a logistical nightmare.

  “We have news about the lycanthropes,” I continued. “Serious news. I want you present when we talk to the Sea-Council.” I paused, not wanting to say too much because I didn’t want the rumor mill starting. But then I leaned forward, up on my tiptoes, to whisper in Len’s ear. “Our entire way of life is about to change again.”

  As I stood back, he caught my gaze, a bleak look in his eyes. Len had known so many changes in his life. He had only been fifteen when the second World Shift hit, and while he had hit a rough spot at that point, he had grown out of it into an impressive young man.

  “Understood, Your Majesty.”

  “Find someone to take your place and jump in the chariot with us. We’re going into the meeting as soon as we reach UnderBarrow. It’s that serious.” I turned, crossing back to the chariot. A few minutes later, Len joined us. He didn’t ask what was wrong, for which I was grateful. I didn’t want to have to go into the whole story a dozen times over.
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br />   We headed directly for UnderBarrow, skirting the edge of the village. The moment we arrived, I sent Zed to summon the other members of the Sea-Council, and I sent Elan to ask Hecate to join us.

  “Impress on her just how much of an emergency this is.”

  The rest of us, Hope in tow, headed directly for the Blue room. Wheel had gone ahead to find Tam, but before he was out of sight, Tam came racing down the corridor. Damh Varias was right behind him. Ignoring protocol, Tam grabbed me in his arms, spinning me around for a kiss.

  “I’m so glad you’re back and safe. I was so worried about you.” He gave me another kiss, and I rested my head on his shoulder for a moment, grateful to be back in his arms. Then I stood back, including Damh Varias in my gaze.

  “I missed you too, and thought about you every minute. But we have a situation that we must discuss now. Into the Blue room, because we cannot chance word of this getting out before we decide how to proceed.”

  Tam shot a quick glance over at Damh Varias, but the two followed me without question. By the time we got to the Blue room, Sarinka and Laren were waiting. A serving maid brought in large pitchers of mulled cider, along with a tray of sandwiches and cookies. Grateful for the fresh food, I motioned for her to leave as I filled my plate. There was no time to stand on ceremony, given everything we had learned from Jerako.

  Tam crossed to my side, sliding his arm around my waist.

  “My wife, what on earth could have happened to cause this urgency? Is it about the lycanthrope attacks?”

  “Those are just the tip of the iceberg, and I use the word iceberg deliberately.” I shook my head. “What we have to tell you is going to change the entire future for this village. We have a number of decisions to make, and we have to make them quickly.” I carried my plate back to the table and took my place beside Tam.

  A moment later, Hecate entered the room, with Elan behind her. The goddess looked over at Thor. “Is what Elan says true?”