The Hammer of Thor Page 9

  She swallowed hard a couple of times then let her hands relax. She nodded.

  “But where do we go from here?” She asked hopelessly. “We don’t even know how to get to Asgard or Bilskirnir.”

  “Well, let’s work on getting out of here first,” Phoenix shrugged, “then we can worry about Asgard. Besides,” his lips twisted in a knowing smile, “I’ll bet Truda can tell us how to get there.”

  “Why should she know?” Jade sounded defensive.

  “Well, to start with, it’s her home,” he pointed out mildly. She was being very touchy. “Plus, I’ve noticed she’s pretty darned good at springing little surprises on us at the most inconvenient times. Watch.” He caught Marcus’ eye and waved the others over.

  The group sat in a tight circle on the packed earth floor, huddling around a small, central hearth fire that provided meagre warmth. Phoenix looked around.

  “So, any ideas on how we can get out of here?”

  Truda shook her head solemnly, as did Marcus.

  Brynn shrugged and, with a wicked gleam in his eye, picked up a stick from the fire. “We could set the place alight and escape in the confusion.”

  Phoenix tried to think of a tactful way of telling him what a bad idea that was. “It could be tricky to avoid being burned ourselves,” he pointed out. “Besides, I think Marcus and I have had enough fire for awhile - and they still have all our gear and weapons.”

  Brynn threw the stick back into the fire and slumped with a defeated sigh. “No idea then.”

  Phoenix raised an eyebrow at Jade, flicking her a knowing look.

  “Anyway,” he asked in a deliberate, disappointed tone, “even if we could get out, how on earth are we supposed to get to Asgard to return Truda to Thor? I mean yes, we know we’re in Svealand but we don’t know which way to go from here.”

  Marcus cast him a puzzled look. Brynn blinked in confusion but Truda’s blue eyes lit up and she gave them all a blinding smile.

  “Oh, don’t be silly. Everyone knows that all we have to do is get to Uppsala, find the Yggdrasil and go down the Urdarbrunnr into Asgard. Of course,” she added blithely, “we’d have to be careful to stay away from the guardians: Nidhogg, Graback, Grafvolluth, Goin and Moin.”

  “Ha!” Phoenix grinned triumphantly at Jade. “See, I told you she’d spring the answer on us.” Then he frowned at Truda’s bright, dirt-smudged face. “Of course, it would help if anything you just said made any sense at all. I understood about the first ten words, after that it was utter gibberish.”

  Jade chuckled. Brynn clutched at his stomach and howled with laughter.

  Truda pouted and opened her mouth to argue with him but she never got the chance. The door to the hut flew open, crashing back against the wall. All five companions jumped in shock, hands automatically reaching for absent weapons. Little bits of disturbed thatch fell on their heads as they sprang to their feet.

  Silhouetted in the afternoon light, a strange, hideously-deformed man-thing stepped toward them. They couldn’t see its face clearly but it seemed to have a long snout and pointed ears on top of a furry, vaguely man-shaped body. It growled something in a low, harsh voice and began limping forward, leaning heavily on a thick ash staff.

  Truda gasped. “It’s the Lífbjóðr!”

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Oh, man,” Phoenix muttered, “stop it with the gibberish, already.”

  Truda gurgled a laugh. “No, silly, he’s the village lífbjóðr: the lifebringer.” She didn’t seem the slightest bit afraid of the thing walking stiffly toward them but then, she was a goddess.

  The shape moved into the gentle orange glow cast by their fire and its frightening features resolved into something much less scary: an older man, wearing loose furs and carrying a staff. Draped over his head and back, a wolfskin; complete with head, fangs and sunken, empty eyes created the illusion of monstrosity that had startled them. Beneath that gruesome relic, was the much more normal face of the Lifebringer. He raised thick, white eyebrows and said something incomprehensible.

  Truda translated. “He asked if he can sit down.”

  Marcus and Brynn hastily moved aside to make room around the fire. Their unexpected guest eased himself creakily down to join them. He laid his staff on the ground and held out his hands in a gesture of peace. Cautiously, the companions sat as well.

  The Lifebringer spoke again, his mouth almost hidden by a coarse, white beard and moustache. Above, his pale blue eyes sparkled with intelligence. He pushed back the wolfskin hood to reveal a mane of grizzled grey hair.

  Truda struggled to translate. “Ummm,” she squinted in thought, “he’s asking something about the Troll but I don’t know the words for it in your language. I think he wants to know where it is and what happened to it.” She spoke something rapidly to the old man, her high, clear voice a contrast to his gruff, deep one. The Lifebringer nodded, frowning at her. Truda smiled.

  “Yes, that’s it. He wants to know what happened to the mountain Troll.” She looked expectantly at Phoenix and Marcus.

  The two young men exchanged glances. Jade thought quickly. She was fairly sure this society was very patriarchal. The old man obviously resented having to talk through a girl-child and he probably wouldn’t appreciate it if Jade answered instead of Phoenix or Marcus. She leaned over and whispered a warning in Phoenix’s ear. His answer had to be the right one or they could be in serious trouble. He nodded his understanding but gave her a look that clearly said he thought she was nuts.

  “Err,” he began, “it depends. Is having the troll around a good thing or a bad thing?”

  Truda raised her eyebrows at him but asked the Lifebringer the question anyway. The old man blinked at her in astonishment then, to Jade’s amazement, burst out laughing. He had a nice laugh and his face creased into a thousand wrinkles, making him much less intimidating. He looked like a slightly grubby Santa Claus.

  Truda giggled, too. “I’m pretty sure it’s a bad thing to have a troll around.”

  Phoenix cast Jade an irritated, ‘I-told-you-so’ look. She ignored it. You never knew. It was stupid to own up to something until you knew if the person asking was happy about it or not. You learned that fast growing up in a family of seven kids.

  “Well then,” Phoenix waggled a finger at himself and Marcus, “he’ll be glad to know it’s gone. We killed it.”

  Once Truda translated, the old man laughed again, this time with joy. He bent his wiry body in a bow toward both warriors and rattled off a series of sentences. Everyone looked at Truda.

  “Ummm,” she frowned, “He says the village is grateful and he’s sorry we’ve been put in here. He’s going to speak to the yfirmaðr....um...the chieftain... about getting us out.” Turning back to the older man, she asked him a question.

  “It’s about time,” Phoenix murmured. Jade nodded.

  Truda spoke over the top of their soft exchange. “He says his name is Ásúlfr.”

  Jade leaned over and whispered to Phoenix, “We’d better introduce ourselves. You do it.”

  Phoenix shrugged again. He introduced them by the simple means of pointing to each person and naming them. Marcus bowed his head; Brynn gave a small wave; Truda smiled chirpily. He introduced Jade last. She pushed back her fur hood and nodded.

  Ásúlfr stopped in mid-greeting, staring at her, apparently hypnotised. “Ljósálfar!” He breathed the word reverently, as though Jade were something he had never seen and never expected to see.

  Jade looked at Truda for a translation. The girl was also staring at her strangely, as though she’d suddenly understood something important and wasn’t quite sure she liked it.

  “It means ‘light-elf’,” she said in a wondering tone. “You are, aren’t you? I hadn’t really thought about it until now but that’s what you are: one of the light-elves.”

  “What’s a light-elf?” Jade asked sharply, once again not sure if it was a good or bad thing.

  “They live in Álfheim near Asgard, under the roots of
Yggdrasil – the World-tree I was telling you about,” Truda explained. She frowned up at the old Svear man. He kept staring at Jade with awed admiration. “The Light elves don’t come to Midgard very much, so I think he’s a little surprised. Even I’ve only seen them a few times, when they take Pa along on the Wild Hunt.”

  Jade laughed uneasily. “What would he say if he knew who you are?”

  Truda shrugged. “Not much. My pa and the other gods are always turning up in Midgard, so the people are used to us. They never see the Ljósálfar.” There was a hint of resentment in her voice and Jade wondered if the god-child were jealous. She was probably used to being the centre of attention with the Druids.

  Just then, Ásúlfr made a sound of extreme frustration. He had been peering at their faces, obviously trying to follow their conversation. Now, he climbed stiffly to his feet. The companions did the same, not sure what to expect.

  He raised gnarled hands, fingers flat and splayed. In a low, gentle voice, he began to chant. Jade felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise up. Flickers of purple-blue danced around the old man, gathering in strength as his voice grew louder. His body shook. The long ash staff jumped from the floor to his hand of its own accord.

  Brynn yelped. Marcus stepped in front of Jade, pushing her and Brynn back toward the wall. Phoenix did the same for Truda. There was nowhere to go. No place to avoid the buildup of magic in the tiny hut. Desperately, Jade tried to create a shield strong enough to deflect the old man’s magic but the after-effects of the lily weakened her powers. When he finally released the spell, her thin safeguard shattered into a thousand invisible, purple-blue shards. She flinched, feeling its destruction a fraction before the enchantment struck.

  When it hit, Jade felt almost nothing. She had been expecting pain or death. Judging by the wary, incredulous looks on her friends’ faces, they had thought the same. Instead, she felt a peculiar sense of twisting inside her head. It was as though someone was fiddling around in her brain, tweaking it and altering it somehow. Then the sensation disappeared but she felt no different.

  Pushing past Marcus, she marched up to the old man. This was no time to worry about social protocols. She had to know what he had done to her mind.

  “What did you do to us?” She demanded.

  Ásúlfr raised one bushy brow, his blue eyes twinkling down at her. “I simply made it possible for us to understand one another.”

  Jade blinked at him; and blinked again as she realised she’d understood every word.

  “But how….?” she stammered. The others looked equally dumbfounded – except Truda, who sulked.

  The old man bowed. “I placed the ability to understand all languages into your minds. You will never again have this problem.”

  “But why…” she stared at him. “Why didn’t you just do it to yourself, instead? Why give us this gift?”

  “Alas,” he spread his hands regretfully, “I cannot perform even the simplest magic on myself, only on others. It is the limitation of my form of power.”

  Feeling a little shell-shocked, she hastened to thank him. “Th..thank you. It will help us immensely in the future.”

  “You are most welcome, my lady. It is a small repayment for the service you have done our humble village,” he inclined his grey head.

  Jade smiled and blushed, “I don’t think I rate being called ‘my lady’, Master Lifebringer. Please just call me Jade.”

  “You may call me Ásúlfr,” the old man bowed.

  As he straightened, he grimaced and placed a hand in the small of his back. Jade moved to help him but he waved her away. “Bone-pain is one of the many joys of old age, I’m afraid. There is nothing that can be done. Now,” He pulled the ugly wolf-head up again, “we must talk to the chieftain about getting you out. This is not the place to house Troll-slayers and a lady of the Light-elves.” He glanced distastefully around the tiny, dirty hut.

  Twenty minutes later, the group had moved into a guesting house of positively luxurious standard compared to their last accommodation. Their spare clothing already awaited them, laid out on the low beds. Jade was overjoyed to find there was even a sauna and standing bath-room. She instantly dragged Truda into the little rooms and proceeded to sweat, steam and slosh the dirt and filth of the last week off. It felt so good to be clean.

  Afterward, she changed into her spare set of clothes and made Truda put on her druid robe again. Then she attacked their clothes and scrubbed them clean as best she could in the standing tub. Finally, she hung them out to dry on a line obviously placed in the room for that purpose.

  Emerging from the bath-rooms over an hour after they’d entered; Jade sighed and fluffed out her long, clean hair. Now she felt like a person again. Marcus and Phoenix had to drag Brynn, protesting and yelling, into the facilities.

  When the boys were gone, a soft knock fell on the door. It opened and a young girl about Truda’s age came in carrying a tray of food. Behind her came several larger boys and girls, all carrying either foods, drinks, new clothing and, best of all, their confiscated weapons and the rest of their bags. They stared openly at her, whispering and nudging each other.

  Jade thanked them, desperate for them to leave. She needed to check on their gear. Was the Hyllion bagia still there? Her herbs; her knife? As soon as the door closed, Jade snatched up her pack and searched it. Sighing deeply, she drew out the ruby-hilted knife and the slippery black bag and hugged them to her chest.

  Inside the bag rested the magic horn Aurfanon had given her. She really needed to keep it closer to hand. Twice now she could have used it to summon help. If she’d had her wits about her last night, she could have simply blown it to combat the Troll. Obviously Phoenix hadn’t remembered it either; or he wouldn’t have had to dash off and rescue Marcus.

  Everything else seemed to be there, too. Relieved, she and Truda inspected the new clothes. Two long skirts she put aside as being too impractical for travel. Luckily, there were enough trousers and sturdy shirts for all five companions to have at least two changes of clothes from now on. How wonderful. Jade had never really appreciated the delights of clean clothes and clean skin until now. She must remember to thank her mother for doing so much laundry when she got home. If she got home.

  Not long after, all three boys emerged, Brynn still grumbling over his enforced cleanliness. His dark hair stuck out at odd angles, reminding Jade of a wet, very irritated kitten.

  Ásúlfr knocked on the door, interrupting Brynn’s complaints. Behind him was a small boy carrying another bundle. Ásúlfr bowed and smiled.

  “There is to be a feast in your honour. You are to meet our lord, Hrothgar.”

  Jade glanced at Phoenix, who frowned a little. He and Marcus still looked like death warmed up. A feast was probably not what they really needed.

  “That’s very kind,” she smiled at the old man, “but we are very tired. Please don’t go to any trouble for us.”

  Ásúlfr shook his white head. “There has been little enough to celebrate this winter. It has been long and hard. Even now, Spring hides her head from us and refuses to melt the snows. If it lasts much longer, we will not be able to plant crops.”

  “All the more reason to husband your remaining food wisely,” Marcus murmured.

  The old man sighed. “Indeed but Hrothgar will not be swayed. He feels the news of the troll’s death must be an omen and should be celebrated. The gods must be thanked for sending you to us. Come,” he nodded toward Jade. “I am afraid that your attire is not appropriate, my lady. You must meet the Chieftain. He will not appreciate your manly garb. Please put this on.” He handed the cloth the boy carried to Jade. “It is a gift from the Queen and is far more fitting for a lady of the Light-elves.” Bowing slightly, he turned to go. “I will return to escort you to the Virki – the Chieftain’s stronghold.”

  After he left, the five companions looked at each other. Jade frowned thoughtfully at Truda. “So if we don’t get you back to Asgard quickly, these people will starve?” she a
sked the girl.

  Truda nodded solemnly. “These people and all the others caught in the snows of winter. I must get back to make Spring come - and soon,” she said twisting her hands together.

  Jade sighed, “Well, I guess we’d better go to this feast and thank the Gods or whatever. Maybe they’ll even hear us and take us straight to your parents. That would save a lot of mucking about.”

  Phoenix grinned at her. “I like the sound of a feast but I don’t like your chances of getting any shortcuts to the end of the quest. Skipping the fun bits is not how it works here.”

  Jade snorted. “Fun bits! You’re a nut, you are. That last ‘fun bit’ almost got you killed again.”

  She turned away, shook out the gown and gasped in delight. Far from the coarse woven cloths of the peasants, this was of the softest, finest wool. Coloured a deep, forest green and embroidered across the breast, hem and long sleeves with silver thread, it was a dress fit for a Queen, indeed. Jade held it up admiringly. She couldn’t hide a small smile at the thought of wearing something so beautiful. In her real-world family, all her clothes were three-times hand-me-downs; worn and tired. Even as a tomboy child, she’d longed for something better. She turned around to show Truda, only to find the others all staring at her. Their expressions ranged from Marcus’ mild frown to Truda’s outright sulk.

  “What?” She asked, worried.

  Phoenix raised an eyebrow. “Getting the special treatment, are you?” He gave her a mocking bow, “My Lady of the Light-elves.”

  Jade felt a flash of hurt and pressed her lips together to hide it. She gave an irritated, one-shouldered shrug. “I don’t care about it, if that’s what you mean. If I play along, we’ll probably get better help. Besides, I am an elf – and that’s obviously something special to these people”