After his encounter with Loki’s ice queen, Leo did his best to shield himself from the connection he shared with the evil creature. He crouched in the corner of their cell, not speaking, not looking at anyone. He ignored the offers from the boys to eat. He repeated the prayers, the chants of his forefathers, to drive out the ice prickles in his head.
It was bad enough that he had released Loki. He wasn’t about to double his bad choices by releasing Loki’s evil wife. Even if it meant she shredded his brain.
Be still, child, I know you are listening, she whispered in the middle of his thanksgiving prayer.
Leo dragged in a deep breath, refusing to be drawn in.
I can make you feel me. I will not be ignored.
Chanting, keeping his lips moving, Leo armored himself, but a shadow fell over him. Like a living thing, it chilled him to the bone. His jaw froze in place. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. The shadow entered his body, and then the pain began, radiating from his fingers up his arm, down his chest and torso to his legs, even down to his toes, until every cell pricked with needles. He was immobilized, unable to speak or even scream.
I can have you anytime I want. You belong to me now. I must be released. Tonight. Get out of that cell and bring a pick with you.
Icy sweat beaded his brow. He resisted, but the words were torn from him. “I can’t get out; I’m locked in,” he whispered.
The pain increased, making his back arch.
Find a way.
Rising to his feet, Leo shook his head to clear the fog.
Eithan stood in front of him, looking worried. “Are you okay? You were talking to yourself.”
Leo grabbed his arm. “I have to get out of here.”
“Now? Tonight? But we agreed we’d wait until we had a plan, or are you leaving without us?” The boy looked betrayed.
“No, there’s something I have to do. Can you help or not?”
Eithan’s eyes speared into his. “You swear you’ll come back?”
“I swear on my father’s life.”
The boy fished into his pocket and pulled out a wooden key. “It’s fragile, so be careful. We pinched the real key off the guard and put it back after we made a carving of it.”
“I’ll be careful,” Leo vowed, grasping it in his palm.
After he opened the door, he moved silently down the corridor.
The guards were arguing among themselves. They seemed to disagree about what to do with Angerboda when they found her. Some wanted to kill her on the spot; the others wanted to move her deeper into the mines.
Leo made his way back to the tunnel he’d been in earlier, bringing a pickax and a torch from the rack. The tunnels were deserted.
At the opening to Angerboda’s chamber, he knelt and started taking down the rocks until he could crawl through. He stepped into the space. The walls had been chiseled out of stone. She was encased in a block of ice that stood on some kind of pedestal.
He held the pick, hesitating, wavering.
She pulled him forward with that mental tether, but he resisted even as she sent shards of pain through him.
“What do you want?” he asked, unwilling to be part of something that would make the situation worse.
Freedom from this prison.
“And then what? When you’re free, what will you do?”
That is my business, she hissed.
He stepped back. “No. I won’t help you unless I know.” Pain lanced through him. Gritting his teeth, he held his ground. “Tell me, or turn my brain to mush, I don’t care. I already made one big mistake to save my own hide. I’m not going to make another.”
When she didn’t answer, he took another step back. Agony shot through him. He dragged his foot back, and the pain increased in his skull until he thought it was going to explode with the pressure.
Another foot. Although she was immobile in the ice, she was not unaware. Her screaming echoed in his head.
Another step, and I will kill you.
“Then we will both die here. The dwarves will find you and kill you.”
The pain ratcheted up another notch, and then stopped. Leo’s nerves ran out of him, turning to Jell-O as he sank to his knees, grateful the pain was gone.
I want to see my children one last time, she whispered in a sad voice. To kiss my husband goodbye.
Leo raised his head. “Goodbye? Where are you going?”
Home. A journey I cannot take trapped here.
“That’s it? You just want to say goodbye?”
Yes. It is all I can do. My time here is done.
Leo got to his feet and stepped closer, studying her face in the ice. He could swear a tear ran down her cheek.
Gripping the pick, he steadied himself. It might be the wrong choice, but, somehow, it felt right.
“Here goes.” Leo raised the pick and swung it.
Before it could hit the ice, a whip cracked through the air, and the handle was whisked out of his hands and flicked aside. Staggering with the effort, Leo turned, finding Altof the dwarf.
“Step away from her,” Altof called, raising the whip and flicking it again at Leo.
Leo was faster and dove to the side in a tuck and roll.
Stop them! Angerboda screamed in his head.
More dwarves spilled into the chamber. Leo was backed into a corner. He had no weapon, and this ice queen had no power over the dwarves. They circled him menacingly, each holding a dagger in their grimy, meaty hands.
“Come on, boy, make it easy for yourself,” Altof said. “You got no hope of getting out of here.”
“Oh yeah? What about us?” came a familiar voice.
Leo looked up. Behind the dwarves, the cavern filled with the slave boys, led by Eithan. Some held pickaxes; others wielded rocks. They looked ready for battle. Leo couldn’t stop the grin that creased his face.
“You all right, Leo?” Eithan called.
Leo nodded. Leaping forward, he grabbed the pick from the floor and swung it at the ice queen. The solid block shattered with a loud explosion, spraying the room with shards of stinging ice and a gray mist.
As the fog cleared, a woman stood before them with long iron-black hair and a face that looked like it had been chiseled from granite. Her skin was pale, her cheekbones high and angular. Her chin jutted out as she stared at the dwarves.
Black fire danced in her eyes as if there were a furnace of hatred burning inside her. She raised her finger and pointed at Altof. A bolt of ice shot from her hand and hit the dwarf dead center in one of his eyes, killing him instantly as he fell backward.
She swept her arms across the cavern, and bolts of ice shot out of her hands, sending the dwarves screaming and running.
She stopped as the surviving dwarves cowered in the corner, and she turned to Leo. “We need to leave now.”
“What about them?” he asked, nodding at the boys.
“Oh, they know what to do,” she said, and she sailed forward.
She was right. Eithan flashed him a thumbs-up as the boys began exacting revenge on their former captors, pounding on them with fists.
Leo followed her up the dark tunnel. Every so often they would run into a pair of dwarves. Angerboda would simply raise her hand, and a shard of ice would fly from her palm, usually landing in some vital organ. The dwarf would barely have time to scream before he was impaled.
They climbed the steep path toward a sliver of light that was the sweetest Leo had ever seen. As they broke out into the open, tears clouded his eyes.
“Why do you cry?” she asked, pausing to look at him. Her eyes were like black crystal, glittering hard but curious.
“Because I didn’t think I would ever see the sun again.”
“Nor did I,” she answered, tilting back her head to take in the warm rays. “But here I am. Husband, where are you?” she shouted.
“Here, my queen.”
Out of the shrubs, a bushy head popped up.
Angerboda strode over to him, slapping him once hard across the face before pulling him into a strong embrace. “What took you so long?”
“I was delayed. But I’m here now, and I brought you a gift.”
Behind him, Leo spied a flash of color, and then someone hurtled herself at him.
“Keely!”
Feeling like it was Christmas and her birthday at once, Keely swept Leo into a hug. “I thought you were dead,” she whispered.
Leo hugged her back, his voice thick as he said, “I thought I would never see you again.”
“Break it up,” Loki said, prying them apart. He bowed to his wife. “I present you with your gift.” He beckoned Keely forward.
The woman before her was tall, with long black hair and skin like ice. She held a haunting beauty, with a thin nose and high cheekbones. Her lips were tinted blue, and her eyes held no trace of emotion.
Angerboda wrinkled her nose. “What use have I of a mere girl?”
“Not the girl, darling; look again.” Loki waved his hand at her neck.
Angerboda crooked her finger, and Keely felt herself drawn forward. She wanted to run, but her feet were dragged forward by a merciless force. The pendant began to glow brightly. Its magic made her veins sing with its power.
Angerboda’s eyes glowed in the light of the magic. “The Pendant of Helina. Where did you find this?”
“I swam with a ghost,” Keely said with just a dash of pride.
“Nehalannia. Her father was a fool, gifting her with this much power. It did her no good in the end. She perished for love.” Angerboda let the pendant drop. “Do you know what this trinket does?”
Keely shrugged. “She said in my time of greatest need, it would show itself to me. I know it’s powerful. I can feel it. It whispers to me in my sleep.”
“You are pleased, wife?” Loki looked anxious.
Angerboda ignored Loki as her gaze bore into Keely’s eyes. “The Pendant of Helina is powerful. Too powerful for a young girl to carry.” She held her hand out. “Give it to me, and I will safeguard it.”
Keely’s fingers went to it, wrapping tightly around it. Every bone in her body refused to give it up. It was important. She didn’t yet know why, just that it was. “I can’t give it to you.”
Angerboda’s eyes flared in surprise. “You would defy me?” Keely swallowed her fear, concentrating on the strength coming from the pendant vibrating under her hand. “I know you can kill me with just your thoughts,” she said. “But if it’s as powerful as you say, we will need it to defeat Surt.”
“Surt?” Angerboda grew still. Her eyes went to Loki’s. “What is that red devil up to? He’s never dared challenge Odin before.”
Loki patted her hand. “Much has happened, wife. Odin is dead. Killed by the son of a witch.”
One of Angerboda’s eyebrows rose. “There hasn’t been a witch-boy since Rubicus lost his head. Why would Surt waste his time pursuing humans?” Her eyes narrowed. “Let me guess; you had something to do with it.”
Loki shrugged. “I might have passed the word along.”
“So instead of coming straight to me, you wasted time stirring things up.” Her lip curled in anger. “You haven’t changed one bit. I thought eons in the underworld would make you grow up, but, I can see, it was for naught.”
She turned back to Keely. “Where I am going, this necklace would be of no use. For that reason, and the life debt I owe this one”—she nodded at Leo—“you may keep the pendant. But, I warn you, power like that can be tempting. Be careful it doesn’t devour you.” She turned to Loki. “You have made me wait long enough. Let us gather our children.”
Loki stepped away from his wife. His body started shifting, growing. First, his legs furred with a light coating of hair, and his feet became hooves. His torso stretched out and lengthened, growing thicker. Then his arms turned into the front legs of a horse, and his head grew until a white stallion stood before them, pawing the ground. He shook himself once, and a pair of silvery wings sprouted out of his side.
Keely had seen a lot of things in Orkney, but this was pretty impressive.
Angerboda climbed atop Loki’s back.
“Take me to dear Fenrir first.”
The horse sprung into the air and began gaining altitude.
Before Keely could ask Leo what the plan was, they were interrupted by a rush of dwarves fleeing the mines. Behind them, a swarm of boys followed, waving picks and shouting.
“I see you started a riot,” Keely said to Leo.
A tall boy made his way over to them, grinning triumphantly. “You did it!” he said, giving Leo a high five.
Leo grinned back. “We did it. Eithan, I’d like you to meet my friend, Keely.”
Eithan extended his hand. “You are an earth child as well?” he asked, gripping her hand tightly. “You look Eifalian.”
Keely had this puzzling feeling, like she knew this boy. She frowned. “You look familiar,” she said. She turned to Leo. “Don’t you see it? He has Joran’s eyes.”
Excitement made Keely’s pulse race. Her Eifalian senses were tingling like she had touched a light socket.
What is lost can be found.
Ymir’s words.
This could be him! Joran’s long-lost son. But there was no time to puzzle that out.
“We still have a realm to save,” she said. “Surt’s army will be on our shores by now.”
“Let us help,” Eithan said. “The boys and I have no home to go to. We will fight with you.”
A pack of boys had gathered around them. Their skin was pale and grimy, blackened with mine dust, but their eyes burned with a fire to do something.
Keely felt her heart lighten.
She had her very own frost-giant army. They might be young, but they were as fierce as any of Joran’s men.
“We can use the help. I’m not sure how we’re going to get there. The boat I came in can only hold a handful—”
Shouts echoed through the trees, and then Galatin burst into the clearing, sword drawn. When he saw her, his face relaxed. “Keely, Leo, you’re all right!”
“Galatin!” She hugged the Orkadian soldier tight. “How did you find us?”
“I brought him,” Reesa said as she stepped out of the trees, followed by three of her men. Her eyes locked on the throng of grimy boys. “Word reached us that the captain of your ship was thrown overboard. Knowing Loki, I guessed he would bring you here.”
She studied the faces of the boys, and her jaw tightened.
“The black dwarves kept our children as slaves.” Her voice was low and throaty, as if she could barely choke out the words. “How did we not know?”
“Some have been here for years,” Leo said softly.
Guilt and hope chased across her face. “The black dwarves will be dealt with,” Reesa said, still searching the boys. Her eyes rested on Eithan’s face, but the boy showed no sign of recognizing her. A ripple of pain flashed so fast that Keely almost missed it, and then Reesa’s chin firmed. “But first, we are going to war. Come, all of you, back to my ship. There will be time for a homecoming once Surt is defeated.” She turned to one of her men. “Find a horse and return to Rakim like the devil is on your tail. Deliver a message to my husband. Tell him to join us in Skara Brae or lose his wife.”