Dark Deceit (6 page)

He remained where he was. Frowning, she ran a hand through her long
hair and lay back down again, forcing her body to relax.

Sleep.
His command was whispered
directly into her subconscious. Bryn obeyed, her eyelids drooping slowly, her
breathing levelling out. He had done enough. She would wake up wondering
whether his visit to her had been real, whether he had actually been in her
room.

The answer was both yes and no. The dream realm was real when he was
the one manipulating it. She would remember the encounter, but still try to
pass it off as a side effect of an overactive imagination.

Korvain left her to sleep’s drugging influence and opened his eyes in
his room once more. Rolling his head to one side, he looked at the little neon
numbers staring back at him patiently from the bedside table. It was almost
five in the morning. With a groan, he flipped over onto his other side and went
to sleep.

O
din paced his
house in Beacon Hill, the slap of his Tom Ford loafers hitting the dark marble like
a hammer against his skull. The news he’d just received had left him in a
damned cold sweat.

Only two of the three Norns had answered his summons. Odin had been
taking their council since the beginning of time. They knew all that has been,
all that is and all that will be.

‘You’re sure?’ He had directed his question to Skuld, one of the
females that continued to remind him of his limitations as an immortal.

‘Be in no doubt about what we saw, All-Father,’ she replied meekly.
‘Loki has broken free of his bonds.’ Skuld fingered the ash tree pendant at her
throat as she spoke, the nervous gesture not going unnoticed. Her hair shone
like burnished copper, falling down her back in glossy sheets while her green
eyes glowed softly from beneath her heavy mahogany fringe.

‘That’s impossible,’ he snarled back, dragging a hand through his
hair then loosening his tie when that wasn’t enough to still his nerves. Unbuttoning
the top button of his jacket, he added, ‘The only way he could have broken free
was if someone set him free. Those bonds were unbreakable, and that snake...’ He
had breathed his own immortality into that snake. ‘That snake...’ he faltered
again. He hadn’t been able to see through the snake’s eyes—to know its
thoughts—in about a week. He hadn’t wanted to consider what it had meant at the
time, but now...now there was no doubt in his mind.

Skuld’s sister touched her arm and sat forward, poised to add her
two cents to the conversation. ‘It would be advisable—’ Odin shot Verdandi a
dark look. Her choice of words was no accident. She sighed. ‘You may need to
take some measures to protect yourself, Odin.’ Where her sister had fiery
auburn hair, Verdandi’s was pale. It was bound tightly to the back of her
skull, stretching the skin across her forehead tight.

‘You think I don’t know that?’ he replied. ‘If you’re going to
advise
me, at least give me something more helpful than that.’ The savagery in his
voice was beginning to surface, to morph into all-out rage. Taking a few
moments, he let the rage melt and drip away. The woman’s eyes darted between
his real green eye and the obsidian glass sitting in his right socket. Her eyes
caught on the black orb, her throat working past the lump that had caught
there.

Odin paced a tight line, cutting backwards and forwards along his
oriental. His immediate thoughts were he might have the advantage given it
would take Loki a while to find him, but presumptions were dangerous things.

At the height of his power, Odin wouldn’t have cowered at the threat
of anyone, but times had changed. Since the Fall, the gods and goddesses of the
Nine Worlds had spread far and wide. The gods didn’t wield the same powers
anymore—the Aesir weren’t as feared as they had once been, and since losing his
Valkyries, Odin knew he had become somewhat of a joke.

He had to find Loki before he could find him. Yes, Loki would be
lost in this new world—friendless, knowledgeless, powerless. It shouldn’t be
too difficult to locate him.

my spies,’ he
announced, thinking out loud.

Verdandi cleared her throat delicately. ‘There is no one who would
stand by you now.’

The truth of her words stung, wounding him. ‘Don’t presume
anything,’ he replied, letting her see his real rage for the first time.

‘Perhaps there is a better way?’ Skuld said softly, drawing Odin’s
attention away from her sister. Odin looked over at the woman and cocked an
arrogant brow.

‘Pray, tell, what is that better way?’

Skuld’s eyes dropped to the hands in her lap. ‘Might I be so bold as
to suggest you look to reconcile with Brynhildr? That is who Loki will
ultimately look for.’

Odin squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Of course Loki would be coming
for her. She was his only weakness—even before she became his Valkyrie.

Odin had been
walking among the humans on Midgard when he happened upon a small village by
the seaside. He was watching the humans as they toiled in the sun, sweat
beading off their brows. They were cleaning the nets they had used to catch
fish that morning, removing tufts of seagrass and other debris. Their knives
cut through the weeds, often catching a man’s fingers as he worked. Odin
wondered idly what it would be like to work like that, to sweat and bleed so
you could feed your family.

He was watching one man in particular. His great broad shoulders
were wider than any other man’s, his arms and chest dotted with scars. His face
was stern, his blue eyes cold. Odin recognized what he really was. He was a
warrior unable to die an honorable death, too old to live and die by the sword.

‘Fadir!’ a young girl called. The man looked up, the harsh lines of
his face melting away as he looked at the young girl running toward him. She
couldn’t have been any older than twelve. Her blonde hair was the color of the
noon sun, her eyes the exact same shade as her father’s.

The man scooped her up in his arms, hugging her tightly. The girl’s slim
arms wound around his huge neck, squeezing.

‘Brynhildr, what are you doing here?’ he asked. ‘Your mother would be
furious to know you have left the house.’

The girl’s wide smile turned into a frown. ‘She’s making me sew
hides for the winter. I
hate
sewing,’ she
replied, exaggerating her words by pulling a face.

The young girl’s father laughed at her, tapping the end of her nose
playfully. ‘You may hate it, but you’ll be thankful for those hides come
winter.’  

‘Odin?’

The All-Father shook his head slowly, shrugging off the memories.
‘Brynhildr will not speak to me.’

* * *

L
oki blinked rapidly,
his lids flapping around like they’d gone into spasm. It was so bright, and he
hadn’t even reached the mouth of the cavern yet. He had been picking his way
over the surface of the cave for an immeasurable amount of time, his bare feet
bleeding profusely; a wake of crimson smears trailing behind him.

Loki shielded his eyes with a blood-stained hand and grunted as
another sharp shard of limestone bit into his heel. He propped himself up
against the cool wall for a moment, collecting his breath and his thoughts.

‘The caves will be closing in five minutes, folks. Five minutes,’ a
disembodied voice announced.

Loki jerked upright, sliding into a cool shadow along the cave wall
before he could be seen. When he thought it was safe, he peered around the corner
and saw a man standing at the bottom of a long trail. He was wearing a
long-sleeved grey shirt with dark green pants. On his head was a large,
wide-brimmed hat.

The man began walking up the track, herding the other humans with
him. Loki forced his body to move, to give him just a little more. He covered
the small distance at a hobble. Clambering over the smooth boulders at the foot
of the walkway, he climbed over the rocky divide, rolling onto the pathway that
had been filled with people no more than five minutes before.

He lay there for a minute, letting the cold seep into his skin,
letting the knowledge that the world as he had known it was now gone. He knew
when he walked out of the mouth of his prison, he would be facing his new
future.

Climbing to his feet slowly, he climbed the snaking walkway out of
the cave, clinging to the railings while his legs struggled with atrophy. Loki
finally emerged, staggering around in the dying light, drawing in deep breaths
of fresh, clean air.

His watering eyes surveyed the landscape around him. He was still in
a depression in the earth, the cloying sensation of claustrophobia digging its
fingers into the back of his neck. Above him, all he could see was a great
expanse of pale blue sky and many steps bearing down on him, blocking his path.
The air he drew into his lungs was hot and dry.

Oh, how the world had changed.

After testing the steps, he found them to be built strong. It took
him a long time to climb them, the process exhausting his already weakened body.
With shaking legs, he finally made it to the top and slumped down to rest for a
moment when the sound of heavy footsteps approached.

Too tired to care, Loki stayed where he was—head bowed, breathing labored, the weight of the new world upon his shoulders.

‘I’m sorry, sir, but the caves are closed up for the night. I’m
going to have to ask you to leave.’

Loki squinted at the man, but said nothing.

The man put his hands on his hips, looking exasperated. ‘Sir, did
you hear what I said? I’m going to have to ask you to move along.’

Loki licked his lips. ‘I don’t know where I am,’ he said, his throat
feeling as if he’d swallowed nails.

The man’s eyes drifted down to Loki’s chest. Loki had put his dead son’s
clothes on his naked body, the cave preserving them somehow. They were torn and
stained, but at least they covered his nakedness. Loki put his arms across his
chest protectively.

‘Well, sir, you’re at the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.’

‘New...Mexi—’ he began saying slowly, trying the words out.

‘New Mexico. The United States,’ the human repeated. He squatted
down next to Loki, frowning under the large brim of his hat. ‘Are you alright,
sir? You don’t look so good.’

‘I don’t know how I got here,’ he replied softly.

The man took off his hat, wiping the sweat that beaded there away
with the back of his hand. He glanced around as if looking for someone.

‘You got a car here, sir?’

‘Car?’ Loki asked. He frowned, searching his memories. When he’d
taken the flesh of that snake into his body, knowledge had flooded into him. He
didn’t know how, or why, but the word sounded familiar. ‘An automobile?’ he
asked.

‘Yeah, an automobile,’ the man repeated with a strange expression on
his face. ‘You got one of those here?’

Loki shook his head.

The guy blew out a frustrated breath. ‘Well, how’d you get here
then? With a group? The last group left a few hours ago.’

‘I didn’t come with a group.’ Loki’s stomach growled angrily and he
covered the offensive sound with his hands.

‘You hungry?’ the man asked. Loki nodded. The man looked around
again, searching. ‘Look, I have to shut the front gates in ten minutes. The
phones don’t work so good out here, so how about I take you back to my place,
and you can call whoever it is you need to call so they can pick you up and
take you home?’

‘Home,’ Loki said wistfully. He didn’t have a home anymore. The
glory days of the Aesir were over.

‘Yeah, home,’ the human repeated. ‘I’m going to help you stand up
now, okay?’

‘Okay.’

The man hooked an arm under Loki’s armpit and lifted him up easily.

‘Dang it, you hardly weigh a thing. Where’d you say you were from
again?’

‘I didn’t.’

The man tipped his hat back, giving Loki the once over. He must have
decided he was non-threatening enough because he began ushering him toward a
large flat space with many lines painted onto the surface. It was called a...

‘Parking lot,’ Loki murmured, surprised at his ability to recall the
information.

‘Yeah, a parking lot,’ the human muttered. ‘That’s my truck over
there, you see it? The red one? We’ll just take it nice and easy and get you in
the cab, okay?’

Loki nodded, leaning on the man heavily. It was slow going, but
eventually they made it. Loki sat in the front of the truck while the human
walked around the hood and got into the other seat beside him.

‘My name’s Mike, by the way.’ Mike stuck his hand out in a peculiar
way. Loki mirrored him and Mike took Loki’s hand in his, shaking it firmly.

This new world was a strange one, indeed.

‘Well, let’s get home.’ Mike turned the key, the engine coming to
life with a loud roar.

Loki tried to relax into his seat, passing the time by watching the
small clock on the dashboard change as they drove away from the cave. It had
moved almost the whole way around when Mike slowed the truck and pulled into a
driveway.

Up ahead, there was a small house with a wrap-around porch. A woman
appeared in the doorway, smiling at Mike through the windscreen.

‘That’s my wife, Nancy,’ Mike told him, unclipping the strap crossing
his body and getting out. Loki followed, shivering with the drop in temperature
when he slipped out of the cab.

‘Nancy, this is...ah, say what is your name?’ Mike asked. Loki
approached the porch cautiously, unsure whether to give his real name or a
false one. Did the humans still know of the gods? Even if they did, would they know
who he was?

‘I am Loki,’ he answered, watching them both for any reaction.

‘It’s nice to meet you, Loki,’ Nancy said with a smile. ‘Won’t you
come in?’

Loki glanced at Mike who nodded. ‘Go on. You can make your phone
call and have dinner while you wait for whoever is going to come and pick you
up.’

The house was warm inside. Loki looked around, able to name all the
things contained within it. He still didn’t understand how it was possible, but
that snake knew everything there was to know about this new world.

‘Would you like some coffee, Loki?’ Nancy asked.

Loki looked at her, knowing his eyes must have been wide. He nodded.
‘Please.’

Nancy smiled warmly and disappeared around a corner. Mike took his
elbow then, turning him around. ‘The phone is right over there.’ He indicated
to a small table near the door. ‘Call whoever you need to call.’

Loki’s gaze lingered on the phone, but he took no steps toward it.

‘I do not have anyone to call, Mike,’ he finally admitted.

Mike gave him an uneasy smile. ‘And you don’t remember how you got
to the caves today either?’ His voice had dropped in volume.