Dead Embers (24 page)

Not long now.

Halfway there, our luck ran out. The prince turned toward
us, eyes narrowed, and took a few hesitant steps. I swallowed. Had we made too
much noise? Did the two of us not quite fit under the cloak?

He stopped a foot in front of us and lifted his face to
sniff the air repeatedly. Beneath the safety of the cloak, Mika and I exchanged
puzzled glances.

The prince lowered his nose, still taking tiny sniffs as he
followed whatever scent had piqued his curiosity. I tensed and held my breath,
then wanted to laugh. As if holding my breath would mean he wouldn't still get
a good whiff of me. I swallowed the laughter and kept a bead on him.

Gravel crunched under his boots as he approached us.

Closer, closer.

I tensed.

But when he walked right beside us and paused, following his
nose right to Mika, I had to force a gasp of shock back down my throat.

He smelled Ulfr.

Mika's eyes went wide as realization dawned on her too, and
we stared at each other, horrified. We had no plan for what to do next. The
cloak concealed us well enough, but sweat began to form on my forehead as we
waited. The lack of fresh air added to our discomfort. He'd smell us soon
enough.

If he didn't trip over us first.

We had to get away from him. Quietly. Curling my fingers
around Mika's arm, I waited for her to meet my eyes. I jerked my head sideways
toward the forest, and she nodded slowly. Together we took a cautious step
back, pretzeled together in a deathly waltz.

Something solid touched my heel and I almost screamed. I
clamped my jaw shut, just about taking a chunk of tongue with it, and craned my
neck, not sure what I expected to see.

In the shadows at my feet lay a short, broken branch.

Relieved laughter bubbled in my throat, but I swallowed it
down. I leaned over, a micro-inch at a time, and lifted the branch high enough
to swipe Mika's waist with it.

A wet, phlegmy sniff from behind Mika made me lose my grip
on the branch. Panicked, I grabbed for the dead tree limb, catching it just in
time before it hit the gravel.

The prince was now so close, we could see each individual
coarse black hair on his oddly shaped skull.

I rubbed the stick up and down against Mika's torso. She
glared at me, her jaw pumping. Boy, was she mad. Too bad. She'd know why soon
enough.

I held up the branch and parted the cloak on the other side
of us, well out of the prince's view. After flinging the stick as far as I
could, I crossed my fingers as it sailed into the trees and landed with a
resounding crack.

Mika and I grinned, triumphant as the prince spun away and
rushed off into the trees to investigate, leaving us free at last to approach
the doorway.

We waited until he disappeared into the forest of shadows.
Waited until we were safe. Beneath the cloak, the glance we shared overflowed
with relief. We straightened, ready to get the job done. I nodded at Mika.

And then I turned, almost walking right smack into the dwarf
prince.

The other dwarf prince.

The guard stood before us, almost identical to the prince
we'd just sent scurrying into the barren woods, right down to the sadness in
his face. The only difference was a glint of mean in his eyes. Eyes currently
trained on my chest. A hairsbreadth away. I wanted to wriggle away despite
knowing he couldn't see me hidden beneath the cloak.

This prince-guard had followed right in the footsteps of his
brother. Or rather the nose trail. He sniffed, his bulbous nose glinting in the
weak evening light, his nostrils flaring wide with each breath. He stared
straight at me, sniffed once, then snapped his gaze in Mika's direction.

Not another walking Ulfr detector!

I stood very still and risked a worried glance at Mika, who
wore a look of fury on her face. Damn it. The vein at her neck throbbed; blood
must be racing through her veins now, as her body steadily emitted the odor of
her adrenalin. She'd be reeking eau de Ulfr any second now.

My heart pounded, urging me to turn and run. A dwarf and
Ulfr show-down? No thanks. I backed away in one smooth, silent step. Just in
time.

The dwarf prince took a step closer. If he reached out, he'd
poke me in the gut with his stubby fingers. If I made the slightest move to get
away, surely he'd hear. I could see the blue veins in his yellow eyes. Eyes
that stuck out of his head, hooded by bushy, straggly black hair. His lip
lifted in a silent snarl as his frustration increased. He could smell the Ulfr.
So close. But he could see nothing.

I pretty much had no idea what to do. We were so dead. No
stick lay conveniently nearby that I could chuck into the tree line. I glanced
desperately around the clearing. My eyes darted to and fro, looking for a way
out.

And then I noticed Mika.

She shifted beside me, and my heart raced as I realized what
she was doing. She slinked past me toward the parting of the cloak, careful not
to jiggle armor or weapons. Mika really meant to risk both our lives. I grabbed
at her arm, bent on stopping her foolishness.

Over her shoulder, she shot me an almost vicious
back-off-I-know-what-I'm-doing glare. I let go fast enough. Her funeral, if she
wanted to be daring.

She slipped away, hidden from the prince's view by my
invisible bulk. I tensed, my eyes never leaving the prince's strange features,
but he just glared at the spot before his face that stank of Ulfr. Mika's dash
to the tree line went unnoticed. The beauty of the cloak seemed to be its
ability to reflect back the viewer's expected line of sight. So even though
Mika ran in plain sight behind my cloaked figure, she still remained invisible
to him because I blocked his view of her. At least that's how I hoped it
worked.

The prince sniffed again, a deep, disgustingly wet sound
that made me grimace. His brow furrowed, confusion dulling his amber-rimmed
eyes. He looked away from me and drew another breath, his face twisting with
frustration.

I waited.

The prince inhaled raggedly. He paused, then began to take
another step forward, right toward me. . . .

The low rumble of a savage growl erupted from the depths of
the stygian forest. The prince stiffened, his jaw almost twisting with tension
as he listened. I could have sworn I heard his heartbeat begin to race, but
surely, I must have been mistaken. More likely, I'd heard my own heart chugging
away in my chest.

Before I had time to contemplate the speed of my own heart,
a howl rent the air, followed closely by a ferocious growl. The sounds of a
struggle echoed through the dead trees. Branches snapped. A sudden thud echoed,
followed by a grunt. Then a shout broke the reigning silence of the descending
night, the vain cry for help fading into the shadows.

I stepped silently to the side, preferring not to have the
guard run headlong into me if he rushed off to save his brother.

Good choice. He barreled off into the woods, crashing
through the trees and dry brush, calling out in a strange, low voice, almost
like a bark. Gathering shadows had by now transformed the stark, ghostly
fingers of the dead trees into great shadowy specters.

A hand touched my back and I jumped, swallowing the urge to
scream. Mika slipped back into the safety of the cloak. "Perhaps we should
get inside before the brothers return."

I didn't like the hint of nasty in her smile.

Grabbing her arm, I twisted her to me. "What exactly
did you just do?" My voice unleashed a growl, maybe not as feral as Mika's
but with a respectable amount of ferocity.

She answered with a haughty curl of her lip. And maybe I
didn't want to know. We had a job to do; the more time I spent trying to get an
answer from her, the less time we had to get in and out with the goblet.

We approached the stone doors. I glanced over my shoulder,
back at the ghostly specters of trees and shadows, expecting the brothers to
race out of the forest and behead us for trespassing. But the forest remained
dark and shadowed, and our heads remained firmly attached to our bodies.

My heart thumped.

We had no idea what lay beyond the stone barricade. But we'd
come this far. And besides, it wasn't as if I could return to Asgard
empty-handed. We'd just have to deal with whatever lay beyond those doors.

But first we had to get them open.

Mika pushed against the door but it refused to budge. Her
biceps bulged and strained against her coat as she used every bit of her
strength to try again.

Nothing.

My heart sank. Was it possible that we could still be
stranded, with no way of getting inside unless one of the missing princes
opened up the door for us?

I decided to give it a go, leaning my full weight into it—and
fell forward so fast I almost hit the ground with my face. The merest touch,
and the great stone door slid open at my fingertips. Just another little
reminder that a latent power lay inside me.

One that I had yet to understand.

One I had yet to accept.

***

We shut the door behind us and plunged into solid, cloying
darkness—so solid that for the first time in my life I was overwhelmed by
claustrophobia. It felt like being buried alive.

Entombed.

I gasped for breath, even though I knew very well I could
breathe just fine.

Beside me, Mika's breath remained steady. She showed not a
hint of fear or trepidation, and that calmed my panic very quickly with a sharp
reminder that I was supposed to be a warrior and not afraid of the bloody dark.

Oh yeah, she'd be plugging into her Ulfr sight right now.
What I wouldn't give for a pair of wolfy night vision eyes.

Minutes went by until my eyes adjusted, and at last I
managed to just make out the edges of the smoothed rock walls and a carved
archway supported by two carved pillars, so similar to the pillars in Valhalla.
Myriad-colored jewels blinked happily at us from little cracks within the black
rock walls. Odd how they seemed to shimmer with an eerie light even when Mika
and I remained plunged in darkness.

Beside me, the shadow of Mika assumed a more human shape.

"Come on, Bryn," Mika whispered, urgent and
impatient. I swallowed an annoyed sigh. She was right of course. We were here
for a reason. But first, I needed some answers.

Grabbing Mika's arm, I pulled her to a stop. She glared at
me, her lupine pupils flaring, glowing brighter in the dark passage.
"What?" she snapped, trying to tug her elbow away.

I frowned at her prickly response but didn't release my
grip. I had to ask. "What did you do to them?" I shivered, very
afraid she'd say she'd had them for a snack.

Mika laughed, though at least she was still aware enough to
keep the volume down. "Never fear, dear Valkyrie. They are still very much
alive. The most they suffered was perhaps the worst fright they have received
in a while. They are tied to a tree right now. Perhaps they are struggling to
free themselves. Perhaps they are bickering, as brothers do. Or perhaps they
are in a fit of terror for failing their hellish mother." She sneered,
ripped her arm free and strode off.

I didn't run to catch up with her, although it did annoy me
that she'd taken the lead. Better not to upset her, though, considering she'd
just managed to get us inside this black dungeon. I pondered her abrupt
response. What had I done to evoke such a visceral reaction? Following her, I
studied her as she scanned the walls and the handful of tiny passages we
passed, making a note of the slope of her shoulders, the stiff way she held her
back. All signs that I'd done something to piss her off.

I didn't have time for Mika in a snit. Shrugging off my
worries, knowing they'd probably come back later, I matched the Ulfr's pace
until we walked almost abreast.

A moment later, we both came to a skidding stop. Up ahead,
light flickered, this way and that.

The light at the end of the tunnel. Ha ha, Bryn the
wise-ass.

Mika squinted, concentrating on the passage ahead.
"What's that? Some kind of torchlight?"

"Or possibly another guard," I whispered.
"Who knows? The princes may have a whole army of guards helping with
security. There have to be more of them around here somewhere."

We crept along, our feet barely raising the fine dust
covering the floor. And as we approached the stuttering, buttery light, the
strangest thing happened. Warm air bathed my face and hands—a soft, seeking
warmth that patted my skin lovingly, more comforting than searing.

Our gazes met so suddenly that it took me a few seconds to
comprehend that I could see. No more shadowy gloom, no cloying darkness. I
could actually see clearly for the first time since arriving in this awful
realm of the dwarfs. Mika's wolf eyes stared back at me, and I swallowed hard,
trying to appear nonchalant. The only other pair of Ulfr eyes I'd ever stared
into from this close had belonged to Fen. The same Fen who'd skin my hide when
I finally crossed paths with him again.

The light swayed only a few feet ahead. Mika whispered,
"I will surprise them. Knock them out before they raise the alarm."
She stepped forward.

But something didn't sit right. I grabbed her arm again,
finally certain what was bugging me. "Wait. Can you hear that?"

A rhythmic pounding reverberated from deep within the walls
and floors, so low I'd barely registered it before. And as we approached the
flickering torchlight, the beat intensified. It pulsed now, through my bones
and ears; it even pounded alongside my heart.

Mika's eyes widened. "Yes," she said, nodding.
"The forges. I had forgotten about those. No doubt why it is so hot
here."

"Forges?" I felt stupid.

Great, Bryn, why not barge right into the kingdom of the
dwarfs, knowing pretty much nothing about it. Why the hell not?
I gritted
my teeth. Even if it was on Thor's recommendation, it didn't mean it was a
smart thing to do.