Giants of the Frost (52 page)

Up ahead somebody cried out in pain. Gunnar. I wanted to scream. The trees thinned. We were approaching the lake. I burst from the trees to see Gunnar's body lying twisted and insensible over a rock near the edge of the water. Odin stood over him with his club raised. Vidar, suddenly aware that he had created too big a gap between us, was coming back up the slope for me. Gunnar was easy prey. I didn't think, I just pulled the axe and threw it. It bounced off a branch and landed on the forest floor, at least ten feet from Odin.

He turned and snarled at me. Vidar stepped between us.

Odin began to bellow, not words, just a horrible insensible shouting that echoed around the forest. The lake was covered in wide shards of ice, and cracks appeared in them as Odin's shout went on and on. I couldn't leave Gunnar lying there. What if he was dying? I slipped out from behind Vidar and ran down the slope to him. Vidar saw me, moved to cover me, putting himself once again between his father and me. The shouting went on, just as Vidar had predicted. It was a terrifying noise, but I tried to block it out. I set the lamp on the ground next to Gunnar and felt for a pulse at his throat. He was still alive. I pulled the rune off my neck and wrapped it around his wrist. Despite Skripi's lack of faith, I had to believe the rune might be some protection for him.

Odin's shouting had turned into words now, more of that strange-guttural language they spoke. Vidar tried to reply but Odin roared over the top of him. I glanced over my shoulder. Vidar, dark-haired and gentle-voiced, smaller than his father yet bravely holding his ground. Odin, wild and fair-haired, shouting him down over and over again. Vidar raised his hand. I saw the gleaming colors of the thread. Odin howled. Then abruptly stopped.

The thread still glowed. What had caused his silence?

I noticed he was gazing over my shoulder. And smiling.

Vidar turned. Called out, "Victoria!"

Seaweed and pale fingers around my waist. I screamed. The draugr threw me in the lake. Ice-cold. My breath stopped. I tried to call for Vidar, but sour freezing water rushed into my mouth. A confused set of images: weeds and eyes and the lamplight watery in the quiet lake. I pushed upward, away from the draugr's clutching hands. I hit ice. I tried again. More ice. I was trapped. My lungs grew solid. That's all I remember.

A wide, black gap exists in my memory at that point, as if I lost myself for a short time, but then light and sound and life rushed back on me, and I opened my eyes somewhere very bright and very warm.

"I've done this before," I said, and noticed that my throat wasn't sore, as it had been the first time I had been under with the draugr.

I was in bed in my cabin. Carsten was nearby, and Gunnar too.

"She's conscious."

"Where's Vidar?" I asked.

"Victoria, you've had an accident. What can you remember?"

"Where's Vidar?" I asked again, growing desperate. I sat up and tried to throw off the bedspread.

"What's going on?"

"Rest, Victoria," Carsten said.

"I don't want to rest. I'm fine."

"You shouldn't be," he huffed. "You should be brain-dead. You were under the ice for four minutes."

"She's perfectly well," Gunnar said. "I told you."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" I shouted. "Where is Vidar?" Gunnar said a quiet word to Carsten, who nodded and left. I waited, horrified at the possibilities. It was daylight outside.

"Vidar's gone, Vicky. I'm sorry."

I couldn't make sense of what Gunnar meant by gone.

"Is he coming back? What did he say?"

Gunnar shook his head. He had a graze on his forehead. "He's not coming back."

"How do you know?"

"He spoke to me before he left. You have to let me tell you what happened." I slumped back on the bed. "How can he be gone?"

"You were dying, Victoria. He did something… I don't understand all of it." I began to cry, suspecting what had happened. "Just tell me."

"The draugr took you under the ice. I came to. I saw you go under. Vidar dived in, couldn't find you. The big fellow… Odin?"

"That's his name."

"He was laughing. They were speaking Old Norse… I couldn't make it all out. But I think he said, 'She's dead by now. It's over.' Vidar dragged you out of the water and you were blue." Gunnar glanced away, a puzzled expression on his brow.

"Go on."

"That's when the thing came out of the water."

"The draugr?"

"Maybe I imagined it. I'd had a blow to the head."

"What did it look like?"

"Just like the stories say. A bloated man-monster, covered in weed. He was crawling along the ground like one of those lungfish." Gunnar tried to imitate the movement with his hand. "He was coming for me. There was an axe on the ground, and I picked it up and…" He looked up and smiled weakly. "This is all crazy."

"I know."

"I remembered that you're supposed to cut off a draugr's head. I flailed out, his head came clean off. Then it wasn't a draugr at all, just a pile of pondweed and you still lay dying in Vidar's lap, not breathing, pulse growing weaker.

"Odin left, he shouted some insults at all of us. Vidar was bent over you, trying to breathe life back into you. He was getting more and more frantic, calling your name. And then… I don't really understand what happened. He held up his hand and said something in his own language. Something about you, and about living and old age. There was a flash of color on his hand, and then it dimmed. You breathed. He laid you down in the mud and buried his face in his hands and cried."

I felt my heart drop into my stomach.

"He gave me this." Gunnar felt in his pocket and pulled out an animal's tooth. I took it from him. "He said to use it if Odin came back, that he had to go and that you'd understand why. He said to tell you to get away from the island and that he loved you forever."

I stared at Gunnar. Vidar had used his one chance to change fate to keep me alive. And that meant that we weren't going to be together after all. A wave of despair and yearning crashed over me. It also meant he had to serve the punishment.

A thousand years.

"I'll be dead before he can come back," I said.

"Vicky, I don't understand. Who were those people?"

"You know. You've read about them."

He stood up and ran his hands through his hair. "It's my fault, isn't it? If I'd never turned up, like an idiot…"

I looked at him. He was right. In a sense.

"Can you forgive me, Victoria?"

Or was it really Gunnar's fault? Or my fault for not warning him what was really going on? Or Vidar's fault for wanting too much, as those in love always do? Or Magnus's fault for bringing me to the island in the first place?

I saw the blame vanish backward into a long chain of cause and effect. Events that had seemed so casual, decisions I had made so carelessly, had actually been carving my future in stone. It seemed searingly important that I make the right decision in that moment.

"Victoria?"

"I can forgive you, Gunnar," I said, "if you'll take me to the other side of the world with you."

[Asgard]

As Vidar approached Gammaldal, two black shadows in the night sky circled him. Hugin and Munin, his father's ravens. Odin would never again let Vidar out of his sight; once was an accident but twice was a pattern, and Odin was afraid of his own fate. Vidar picked up a stone and cast it into the sky. It clipped one of the birds on the wingtip, but neither of them slowed.

Bad enough to see Heimdall's smug face at his return to Bifrost Or to hear the taunts of his assembled brothers who had come down from Valaskjálf on Odin's urging. How he despised them. If the Norns went through with it, made him spend a thousand years in the company of his family's enemies, it would not be such a bad thing.

His blood was hot and his brain was hotter. He had to find Aud, make her take him back to the Norns. He could not accept this fate. To be apart from Victoria after all he had suffered… it was impossible. The Norns would have to be forced to fix things. He would do the service in Vanaheim, even if he had to do it as an old man once Victoria was gone. They had to let him go back to Midgard and be with her. Watching her breathe again, on the shore of the lake, had been an agony. He couldn't stay to kiss her lips and tell her he loved her, for fear that the Norns would take back their favor if he lingered too long. The house waited in the dark. No smell of smoke rose. He pushed open the door. The room was in darkness, the fire had been kicked over. Aud was gone.

A moment of emptiness shivered over him. Alone.

Then a shadow moved in the dark. A woman, cloaked in black, emerged from an alcove between pillars. She pushed back her cowl.

Vidar peered into the dark. "Verda?" he asked.

"Skuld," she corrected him. "You made your deal with me."

"Why are you here?"

"My sisters felt we hadn't been clear enough in our negotiations. None of us expected you to return to Asgard."

"Things went badly for me." Vidar dropped to his knees and touched the hem of her skirt. "I beg you to give me another chance. You see, I've kept the thread." He held out his hand, the black thread still tied around his finger.

"There will be no other chances, Vidar," Skuld said, drawing a deep breath. The darkness moved over her face eerily. Vidar sat back on the floor. "My sisters and I have moved our residence, much deeper inside the World Tree, and we don't intend to make any more bargains with anyone. Least of all you." She crouched in front of him and tilted his chin upward so he had to meet her gaze. "I am very disappointed. We gave you great power and you misused it."

"She was dying."

"You will pay the price."

Vidar dropped his head and let the hopelessness claim him. "She is lost to me, then?"

"A second time. Have you wondered, Vidar, whether you are not meant to be together?"

"I know we are. I feel it like…" He wanted to say the Midgard word "electricity," but found no counterpart in his own tongue. "Clearer than lightning, hotter than the sun." Skuld rose and sat on a bench. "Sit with me, Vidar."

He did as she asked. His joints felt stiff and his heart felt tired.

"You made a bargain with us, Vidar," she said. "If you don't adhere to the terms of the deal, I have to take back what I've done. Victoria will die."

He set his teeth. "I know. I'll take the punishment."

"How do you feel about the punishment?" she said, and a cruel smile touched her lips.

"I do not relish being a servant to the Vanir, but I hope to find some pity and good work to fill my time." She laughed. "You're not going to Vanaheim," she said. "What made you think that?" Vidar was puzzled, hopeful even. "What do you mean? I believed I would receive the same punishment as Aud—service to my family's enemies."

"Tes, the same punishment as Aud," Skuld said. "A thousand years of service to the Aesir." His blood turned to ice. "What?"

"Surely you knew you'd be drawn back to them eventually?" She stood and pulled the cowl back over her head. "Pack your things, Vidar," she said. "You leave immediately for Valaskjálf." Aud stirred and wondered why she was awake. The sun wasn't up, she was warm. She turned over. Loki was not in bed next to her. Outside she heard the whinny of a horse.

She closed her eyes and tried to slip back into sleep, but curiosity kept her awake. What was he doing outside with the horses? Especially Arvak, who was hers to keep.

She pulled a blanket around her and cracked open the door.

"Good, you're awake," he said. "We have to leave soon." He was tightening Arvak's saddle, and leading a rope between him and Heror.

"Leave? Where are we going?" She fought the disappointment. If half a warm night in Loki's bed was all she was destined to receive, then she would take it gratefully and ask no further questions.

"I'm taking you somewhere. Somewhere you've never traveled to before."

"Why?"

"Because it's time. You can't stay here with me, I like living alone."

"But where am I going?"

He turned to her, wringing his hands and fluttering his eyelashes. "Where am I going?" he mocked. "What will happen to me?" He gave her a push. "Go on, inside. Get dressed. Timing is everything." Aud dutifully returned to the house and pulled on warm clothes. Each time her mind turned to worrying thoughts and protests, she shut it down. How many years, she wondered, until that shutting-down became a natural reflex? How many before it became irreversible? Loki knew she had to stay in service to the Aesir, so she was either heading north to the cousins Vidar had mentioned past Idavíd, or east to Valaskjálf.

"I'm ready," she said, emerging from the house.

"Come here," he said, dragging her toward him and pulling out a scarf. "I must tie this over your eyes."

"Why?"

"Because I am your master," he said, tightening the knot It caught a strand of her hair, but she didn't cry out.

He kissed her lips gently. "You are in the dark now, Aud. You must trust me. Let me help you onto Arvak's back."

Blindfolded, she found her way into the saddle and leaned forward to clutch Arvak's mane. "May all the stars have pity on us," she said to him quietly, and he whickered in response. Loki made an urgent noise and they were away, galloping toward an unknown location. As the hours passed, and Aud grew more adept at shutting down the unhappy part of her mind and its endless protests, Loki sang her songs and told her bawdy stories, although she didn't smile or laugh. She clutched Arvak for life and comfort, and wondered how much longer she would be blind to the world around her.

The sun came up. She felt the warm glow and saw through the blindfold that the light had changed. Definitely not heading east, the sun was behind her. Which meant they were heading west, and now she was completely confused because they had been riding for hours and…

"Loki," she gasped, gripped by panic, "don't tell me you've led me to Vanaheim."

"And what if I had?" he said.

"I'm not allowed back here. The old fate will be restored and Helgi will die."