Arthur and the Fenris Wolf (27 page)

Ellie and Ex were gone. In their race to be free, they hadn't noticed she wasn't behind them any more.

Ash prepared to hit the ground hard, but instead she landed on somebody's lap. A pair of strong arms coiled around her and she twisted her head to see that it was Drysi who had knocked into her and was now holding her in an iron grip. She could feel Arthur's hammer between them on the girl's lap.

‘Let me go!' Ash struggled to get away, but the wolf-girl was far too strong.

‘You're going nowhere, Ash!'

Suddenly, two hands were on top of Drysi's, pulling her arms away from Ash. Both girls looked back to see Fenrir standing there – back in his human form and naked save for a pair of too-small black trousers that had been discarded in the battle. ‘Drysi my daughter, let Ash go,' he said calmly. ‘She has done you no harm.'

‘Perhaps not,' she replied, trying to resist his grasp. ‘But you did, though. When you wouldn't let me help Wolf-father Loki all those years ago. You made me this way: damaged.'

‘Don't do this, Drysi,' he said. ‘The best part of you, of me, of all of us, is our humanity. Don't forget that.'

Drysi stopped struggling and slumped in her chair, as if in defeat. Fenrir let go of her arms. Suddenly her face contorted with rage and hatred and she shoved Ash to the ground. As Fenrir helped Ash to her feet, Drysi wheeled herself out the door and into the elevator. They could hear the crank of the gears as it started to rise. Ash looked up at Fenrir.

‘Thank y–'

‘Get out, Ash, now,' Fenrir cut her off urgently. ‘Run!'

She did as she was told, finally racing through the exit. Ellie and Ex met her on the steps, both of them running back down to see where she'd gotten to. As they turned and bounded back up the stairs, Ellie took one last, fleeting glance into the hall. The battle was still raging, but the numbers seemed to be decreasing. Many of the fighters seemed to be escaping through tunnels hidden behind tapestries, while others were lying dead and broken on the ground. And Fenrir, in the middle of it all, was picking something up from the floor – it looked like a small black ball – which he placed in his pocket.

Arthur had never felt more alone than he did at that moment, standing on the top of the tower with Loki. He could hear the fighting and carnage from deep below as the wind swirled around him, chilling him to the bone. And he was here, with the god of mischief, about to face who knew what. He could run and try to get help, but what was the point? Time was running out and he had to stop Loki while he could. Or at least try. He stared at Hati's Bite glinting in the moonlight, desperately trying to come up with a plan.

‘Come along, Arthur,' said Loki. ‘You've got the best seat in the house for the show of a lifetime. You may as well enjoy it.'

Arthur spun towards him. ‘You can't do this!' he bellowed, then, grabbing his pendant from his neck and holding it in his outstretched hand, ran at him. Loki sidestepped and thrust out a hand, knocking Arthur backwards with a lazy swing that had all the force of a god behind it. Arthur hurtled across the roof on his back then slammed into the perimeter wall, where he lay dazed. The pendant, which had flown from his hand on impact, skittered across the roof. Loki was now standing between Arthur and his last defence against the god and his magic.

‘
I
can do what I want, Arthur,' sneered Loki, spittle flying out of his lips as he enunciated every syllable. ‘After tonight, the people of this world will truly know fear. They'll truly know pain. And destruction. And mayhem. And death. And mischief. Midgard will be mine. And then I'll take Asgard.' He threw back his head and screamed, ‘And then I'll destroy it all!'

Suddenly, a tiny flicker of green lightning shot out of Hati's Bite behind him. Loki turned and watched, seemingly transfixed, as another bolt burst forth; it lit his face with a sickly green colour momentarily and the corners of his lips turned upwards.

‘It's starting,' he murmured, mostly to himself. He swivelled back towards Arthur, his arms raised triumphantly. ‘It's starting!' He dashed to the edge of the roof and surveyed the land before him, roaring, ‘My future army! Relish the pain. Drink it up!'

He started chanting something then, at the top of his voice, that Arthur couldn't understand. It was an ancient and dead language he'd only heard in his dreams of Asgard. The same three words over and over.

‘
Fenreiq bjorlam disldo, fenreiq bjorlam disldo, fenreiq bjorlam disldo
!'

Besides producing the miniature bolts of lightning, Hati's Bite was starting to glow with the same mysterious green aura that always surrounded Arthur's pendant and preceded one of Loki's transformations. More and more lightning exploded and the green glow started to flow from the stone, spreading slowly outwards, carrying its evil curse with it.

Arthur was the closest and so the first to experience the transformation as the light washed over him. It began with an unusual sensation of every fibre in his body constricting and tightening. It wasn't exactly painful but was hugely uncomfortable. If that was all that had been involved, it would have been bad enough. But as that sensation quickly wore off, Arthur discovered it was all about to get a whole lot worse.

His jaw started to expand forward, jutting outwards into a canine snout. He wanted to shriek with the agony, but couldn't get a sound out of his transforming mouth. He put his hand to his face and felt fur sprouting all over his cheeks as the muzzle continued to grow. Then his legs shortened, folding in on themselves with joints realigning to create a wolf's hindquarters. He could hear bones snap and scratch off each other inside the limbs as they continued to reshape.

The pain was unbearable.

This had to be a dream.

The whole thing.

There was no way this could be happening to him now.

There was no way that he could withstand this level of pain. A sound that was part howl, part scream tore from his chest and filled the night.

If only I would black out, he thought as the joints in his arms loosened then tensed and restructured themselves. If I black out, I won't notice the pain. I'll wake up a wolf and it'll all be over. Anything to stop this agony.

And then his back broke.

Ash was the first to start convulsing.

Drysi was watching as the green light swept out and down from the tower. After escaping from the battle, she hadn't been sure what to do next, but knew it was best not to bring the hammer back to the roof. So, when she saw Ash, Ellie and Ex emerge from the tower moments later, she smiled to herself. She watched with glee as Ash told the Lavenders to get to safety while she turned to re-enter the tower and help Arthur. But before she could take a single step the green light enveloped her and she fell to the ground in agony, followed seconds later by Ellie and Ex.

Meanwhile, Fenrir had run upstairs. He glanced through the open door to see the children on the ground and he knew instantly what was happening. The green light was spreading ever outward, floating eerily across the still water. Upwards, he thought. I have to go upwards.

Arthur was hunched over on the roof when a man he didn't know stepped up next to him. The bones in his spine were rearranging themselves, crunching and grinding as they did. Somehow, as if through a distant fog of pain, he noticed that the light didn't seem to be affecting the man.

Loki turned when he heard the scuffle of feet on stone.

‘So,' he said, ‘the Prodigal Son returns. Come to join me finally, Fenrir?'

‘I've come to stop you!' With one great stride, he was next to the pole and reaching a hand out to Hati's Bite. But before he could touch it, Loki was beside him, standing on the steps. The god picked up the topless man by the neck and slammed him back down on the cold stone floor, shaking the very foundations of the tower.

‘You're too late, Fenrir,' Loki said, walking around the man who was struggling to his feet, clutching his side. ‘You should have destroyed the Bite centuries ago, when you had your little change of heart. But you didn't because deep down you were afraid of what I'd do to you when I came back if you did. Pitiful!'

Fenrir suddenly pounced, wrestling Loki to the ground. He held his arms and pinned his legs.

‘You don't control me any more, Loki,' he said, with a notable shake in his voice.

‘Is that right, Fenrir? Then why are you so scared of me?'

With a burst of green light, Loki was gone, replaced by a golden wolf. The sudden transformation sent Fenrir rolling across the rooftop.

‘I'm scared because I have something to live for,' Fenrir answered him, back on his feet, hunched over and ready for another onslaught.

‘What?' spat the Loki-wolf. ‘The daughter who hates you?'

‘Drysi is one thing,' said Fenrir. As he spoke, they started to circle each other in tight arcs around the pole, keeping their eyes fixed on each other. ‘She's good, deep inside. I know she is. And I think I can reach her. But there's more.'

‘What else is there? I'm curious.'

‘My humanity.'

‘Ha!'

Arthur was rapidly losing consciousness. He could no longer concentrate on the proceedings; he couldn't even feel the pain. His sole thoughts were of the hunt, of meat, of flesh, of obeying Wolf-father Loki.

‘You gave me all this power to make you an army,' Fenrir continued, ‘but you never thought of how powerful being human could be.'

‘A human is a flea compared to a wolf or a god,' Loki said with bile. ‘Transform now and fight me.'

‘No, Loki. I won't. I won't transform any more.'

‘Pathetic! You always were a useless wolf!'

And, with that, the Loki-wolf attacked.

The spell was spreading. Drysi could feel it, she could sense the dark magic radiating out from the tower. It was over the water now and soon it would reach land, transforming every last wretched human. She was looking down at the contorted bodies of Ash, Ellie and Ex, gloating, when the hammer stirred in her lap. At first it gave the smallest of tremors, so slight that she wasn't even certain she'd felt it. But as she took a tighter grip on the handle, she could feel it start to pull upwards. Eventually, it was struggling in her fingers as the entire hammer strained to get free, to fly upwards. But Drysi's fingers were strong and weren't letting go any time soon.