Fragments of your Soul (The Mirror Worlds Book 1) (54 page)

The last part of her journey was causing Arvid agony. So far, she had not known exactly how long the way was, but now her goal was right in front of her. Slowly getting closer and not knowing what to expect was nerve-wracking. Where was Loke? Would she find him in this huge city? And if so, would he even listen to her?

They crossed a large piece of forest. When Fenrir had left the last trees behind him, he slowed his pace and finally came to a halt. Before them lay some fields and just behind them the first buildings of the outer Temple City. Arvid instinctively knew that Fenrir wouldn’t carry her any farther.

“Thank you for your help, Fenrir,” Arvid said, after she had slipped from his back.

He didn’t answer, but only gave a short, snorting noise. Arvid took a few steps on stiff legs and then sat down in the grass.

“Do you know where I can find the halls of Valas?” she asked.

“No,” growled Fenrir. “These are not my lands.”

Arvid nodded. She had not really expected him to be able to help her. She would have to get help from the people in the city.

“My father was here not long ago,” Fenrir continued. “I can smell him. Go now, woman.”

For a moment Arvid looked at him in surprise, but then she hurried to get back on her feet. He was right. She couldn’t make it all that way and now risk coming too late because she was resting out here.

Stiffly she went on. When she turned around after a few steps, Fenrir was gone. Or maybe she could simply not see him anymore.

She crossed a few fields, then reached a paved road and felt a strange uneasiness nesting in her. Her heart had been beating hard for some time now, but this feeling was different: She was sure that she had to hurry, but couldn’t explain where this irrefutable certainty suddenly came from.

Involuntarily she increased her pace, but the closer she came to the buildings, the stronger the feeling grew. When she finally crossed the circle of protection with clenched teeth, the knowledge that she was running out of time was so intense, she started running.

The city was crowded with people. The streets were paved, the ordinary houses resembled those of Black Castle, but the temples, which could be seen in different directions, were, with a few exceptions, made of solid rock. There were carts and stalls; everywhere were pennants, flags and banners, and from somewhere music could be heard. No one took note of Arvid, although she ran so fast that she several times had to sidestep people, carts or horses at the very last moment.

The deeper Arvid penetrated into the city, the denser became the crowd and the louder the music and voices. From somewhere confetti flew through the air, accompanied by the loud laughter of children. Arvid remembered that a feast was to be held in the Temple City. In his letter Vidar had mentioned that Odin wouldn’t be present this year—this was what Loke wanted to exploit.

Again and again she looked up, trying to orient herself at the high white towers of Asgard, but she only seemed to get closer to them very slowly. A sense of panic began to spread in her. She ran along another road, then she found herself in a large square, which was bursting with laughing and noisy people. A large temple took her view. Suddenly Arvid had lost all sense of direction. Desperate, she turned on her own axis, as her eyes fell on a man who held a large bundle of small, white star lamps in his hands. Apparently he was selling them.

Without thinking she approached him.

“Excuse me, where are the halls of Valas?” She almost had to shout to be heard over the noise of the crowd.

The man looked at her in surprise. “Up there,” he said, pointing toward the inner city, which seemed to be just behind the temple. “It’s the second highest hall west of the great tower, in the very middle.”

“And how do I get there?” said Arvid.

The man stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “You’re not from around here, huh?” he asked, now with a certain mistrust. “Only gods are allowed in there. The outer ring of Asgard is open today, but only because of the feast. I suppose you’ll have to settle with that.”

“Can you bring me as close as possible?” said Arvid.

The man’s face darkened. “I have work to do,” he said gruffly. “If you don’t want to buy a star lamp, I must ask you to leave.”

Arvid felt the urgent excitement in her grow stronger. In her mind’s eye she saw the last falling grains in an hourglass, an almost unbearable sight. She had to get up to Asgard, and it had to be right now.

“How much does a star lamp cost?” she asked.

“Two coppers.”

“And how many do you sell in a day?”

The man looked angry, but replied nevertheless, “On a day like today probably about a dozen—maybe more.”

“I’ll give you twenty silver coins,” Arvid said quickly, “and all you have to do is to bring me as close to the halls of Valas as possible.”

For a moment the man was speechless, staring at her with his mouth half open, but Arvid had no time to waste. She pulled out the bag she wore on a leather cord around her neck, and grabbed a handful of money. It was a wild mixture of copper, silver and some gold coins. The merchant’s eyes became wider and wider.

“You’ll get ten now, the remaining ten when we get there,” Arvid said. “If you are willing to run all the way, I’ll give you a gold coin in addition.”

It wasn’t hard to see that the man struggled with himself, but in the end he nodded.

“Let’s hurry,” he said firmly. With a hasty, concise explanation he handed his star lamps to a dealer next to him, took Arvid’s money and ran off without any further hesitation.

To her relief, the man seemed to know the city like his hand. He rounded corners and houses and crossed streets and squares, without pausing even once. He ran so fast that Arvid soon was completely out of breath. Although they had to dodge crowds again, they now quickly got closer to the inner city.

Soon they left the last houses of the Temple City behind and reached the open ground that lay directly in front of the city wall of Asgard. From a distance, the grassy strip had looked narrow, but now Arvid realized that it had to be at least fifty meters wide. The city wall itself was huge and towered high in the sky. Far above them the magnificent towers rose, bearing huge banners in white and gold. Directly in front of them the paved road led toward a large, upwardly tapering gate that stood invitingly open. Arvid and the merchant were not the only ones who headed for it.

First, however, there was another obstacle to overcome.

Approximately in the middle of the green stripe there was a low wall, barely ankle-high and made of reddish stone. Arvid immediately knew that it was another circle of protection, but it was unlike any she had ever seen. It was bigger. Not only its radius, but the rune spell itself. The circle looked like it would consist of a triple line of runes. Arvid had the dull fear that its effect would be much stronger also.

She was right. Although Arvid was prepared, she could barely suppress a cry and stumbled hard. A violent pain shot through her body like an exploding fire. It was so overwhelming that she felt surrounded by blackness for a moment. As her vision cleared again, her heart was racing so much that she was overcome by nausea. She had fallen to one knee, hands buried in the wet grass, struggling not to fall over. The merchant had stopped and looked at her, startled.

“I’m fine,” Arvid came up panting, then pulled herself together and pushed herself back onto her feet.

They went on more slowly, because several guards in white tabards were patrolling to both sides of the gate, watching the people.

Inside narrow alleys led steeply upward. Arvid was overwhelmed by the mass of people who crowded the spaces between the white buildings, laughed and chattered excitedly. Even if they had wanted to, here they couldn’t run anymore. They had to make their way through the crowd bit by bit, sometimes almost by force. More than once people threw them angry glances as they simply pushed them out of the way.

In front of every doorway stood at least a guard; at the larger gates it was two or three, more went up and down between the people, trying to keep them off the middle of the street.

“Will there be a parade?” Arvid shouted to the merchant, when they briefly stopped between two buildings.

“I wouldn’t call it that,” he said. “All the gods go through the city and visit the temples dedicated to them. Most speak to the people; some give away small gifts. Although they also come to the outer areas of the city, many people can’t help it and come up here.”

They continued their way, and it felt endless. Arvid’s anxiety and tension almost ate her up. The merchant led her along more alleys and up a staircase, where they reached a semicircular space at the base of an imposing, high tower. There was another huge gate, which sat in a high wall. It was closed and guarded by two dozen white-robed soldiers armed with lances. Although this place was completely overcrowded, too, people were keeping a respectful distance from the gate. Obviously the inner ring of the city began here.

The merchant pulled her against the wall. “I can’t get you any closer,” he said. “The halls of Valas are within these walls. No one gets in there. I don’t know what you’re up to, but should you play with the idea of sneaking in there, I would advise you to give up this plan immediately.”

“What I do from here doesn’t have to be your concern,” said Arvid, and handed him the promised coins. The man took them, gave her a brief nod and  disappeared in the crowd.

At that moment the loud sound of drums and kettledrums rang out. All people around her started to cheer and clap so loudly, Arvid thought she would go deaf. The guards at the gate pushed back the people in the first row, as the huge gate slowly began to open. Arvid realized with a twinge of horror, that this was the time the gods left the center of Asgard. Not only was this the moment Loke surely was waiting for, it might also be her only chance to get inside these walls. She had to get as close to the gate as possible.

She quickly made her way through the crowd, driven by a seething unrest and burgeoning fear. She roughly pushed the spectators aside and squeezed herself between the tightly packed bodies. Many pushed her angrily, scolded or shouted after her, but at this moment Arvid didn’t care at all. The parade had already begun, and far above the heads of the people she could see the moving spearheads of the guards.

When she reached the front ranks, she was completely out of breath and bathed in sweat. She pushed away some visitors and continued her way toward the gate and the wall, only to realize that at this moment the last four guards of the formation had passed through the great arch and the mighty wings slowly started to close again.

Her thoughts were racing. She had to get in there, but she couldn’t just walk through the gate in front of the guards.

Without thinking she raised her hand and created a big ball of blazing light in the air. All guards seemed to lift their heads at the same time, and from the crowd rose a chorus of ooh and ah sounds. The people pointed and marveled, but Arvid didn’t waste a second.

She left the current of time and headed for the slowly closing gate, slipped through the last crack and immediately turned to the right. Her feet sank into soft ground. When she stopped and again returned to the normal flow of time, she found herself behind a bush with small, dark leaves.

She waited for a moment. The deafening noise of the crowd was still clearly hearable, mixed with the sound of drums, tambourines and flutes that slowly moved away. She peered over to the gate, which was firmly closed now. Apparently her distraction had been successful.

Carefully, she stepped out from behind the bush and found herself in a kind of court. In the middle of it was a wide, paved road, flanked by two magnificent white fountains. Everything was surrounded by flowerbeds, bushes, trees and numerous columns with large, round star lamps. This inner part of Asgard seemed to be completely deserted.

Arvid had no time to enjoy the beautiful sight. She ran through the next archway and entered a smaller courtyard where several passages were leading off. Arvid spontaneously chose the one to her right, because it was closest to the main tower. A wide, slightly curved staircase of white stone led up to a big, open terrace full of flowerbeds and trees. From the corner of her eye Arvid noticed a breathtaking view over the city, but she didn’t have time to linger. She came into another magnificently lit courtyard and felt panic rising inside her. She had no idea where she was. This part of Asgard was like a labyrinth of gardens, courtyards, magnificent buildings, corridors, staircases and terraces. How would she ever find the halls of Valas?

Arvid ran up another flight of stairs, down a long corridor flanked by white columns, through a garden with fruit trees and a hall with a mosaic floor and a fountain. She reached another terrace. As she stormed through the next archway, she was suddenly standing in a splendid hall and facing a woman.

Thunderstruck, she paused.

The woman seemed hardly less shocked than her. She had long, white-blond hair and eyes of an intense red-orange color, almost blending into gold. She was dressed in a long flowing robe of light blue fabric. Arvid saw at a glance that she was pregnant. It only took a moment for the stranger to regain her composure.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” she barked at Arvid.

Arvid took a deep breath. “That’s not important right now,” she said as calmly as possible. “I need to find Odin at once. His life is in danger.”

For endless seconds the woman stared at her in silence. Arvid had to fight not to lash out at her or to simply run away. She had no time for lengthy explanations and question and answer games. At the same time these golden eyes seemed to touch something inside her.

“You are Arvid, aren’t you?” the woman asked. Suddenly she sounded calm. “You’re bearing the child of a giant.”

Arvid stared at her dumbfounded. “How… can you know?”

“I am Frigg, Odin’s wife,” she said. Her face showed confusion and a touch of fear. “I have the gift to see more than others. I feel that you are speaking the truth. What is this threat?”