Duck, Duck, Noose Page 21

  “No,” she answered instantly. “We have no idea what he might be capable of.”

  “We have no choice,” he muttered. “Find the remains and get back to where we started. I will meet you there.” Not for the first time, he desperately wished for a weapon. He had a feeling teeth and claws would be as useless against Terminus as they would have been against the forest beast.

  Sophie cursed under her breath, glanced at the waiting statue, then nodded. She darted away in the direction of the stone structure, while Alaric waited for the statue to charge. It did not disappoint.

  With a shrill battlecry, the statue unsheathed a massive stone sword from somewhere within his robes, lifted the blade high in the air, then sped toward Alaric.

  Alaric took on a fighting stance, ready to dodge the oncoming attack. This would not be the first time he took on an unnatural foe. Here was hoping it wouldn’t be the last.

  22

  We sped down the highway toward Woodborough Park. Silver had called Mikael shortly after we’d gotten on the highway to let him know reinforcements were on the way. I found it funny that two of the oldest Vaettir around were the ones most comfortable with cell phones, but I wasn’t in the mood to laugh about it. I wasn’t in the mood to laugh about anything.

  There had been no more mind messages from the Norn, which had me worried. Her contact with me should have only increased as we closed the distance between us. As it was, we’d be flying blind as soon as we reached the park.

  With that thought, I realized we wouldn’t need to be entirely blind. I thought of Mara and the other banshees. There was an echoing reply in my head, faint, because their powers were dimmed when the sun was out. I thought of the park, imploring them to scout ahead.

  Mara’s sarcastic voice shot through my mind. Yes mistress, she quipped.

  I couldn’t help my small smile. She was pissed about becoming a banshee, but it definitely hadn’t killed her spirit.

  “What are you grinning about?” Mikael asked, darting his eyes between my face and the road.

  I shook my head. “I sent the banshees ahead to scout out the park. They’re less powerful during the day, but can at least tell us what we might be up against.”

  “Good call,” Alejandro chimed in from the back seat. “It’s far too nice a day to go waltzing into a trap.”

  “Will the banshees be able to fight?” Faas asked seriously.

  “They can fight,” I replied, keeping my eyes ahead of us, looking for the road sign that would signal our turn off, “just not as effectively. They’re still dangerous, but at night their power is amplified.”

  I pointed as the green and white sign for Woodborough park appeared ahead of us.

  Mikael slowed the vehicle and exited onto the off-ramp. Soon we took a left toward the underpass, then continued on as the road narrowed and became shadowed by massive redwoods. I instructed him to take the first right leading toward the campgrounds as the road changed from asphalt to gravel. We pulled into a large, circular loop, bordered by heavy picnic tables, and parked. There were no other cars in sight.

  Still seated in the vehicle, I mentally reached out to the banshees. As soon as I opened myself up to them, voices flooded my head. There is no trap. Hurry. Time is short.

  I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door. “Let’s go,” I ordered as I hopped out of the vehicle.

  I rushed into the trees, directed by the banshee’s thoughts in my head. Mikael and the others shouted behind me to wait. I realized as I ran that I’d failed to tell them there was no trap, but I couldn’t take the time to explain things now. There was a sense of urgency pounding in my head. Hurry, the banshees urged me again.

  The others soon caught up to me, but no one tried to swoop me up to run more swiftly, given I was the only one who knew where we were going. Fortunately, we didn’t need to run faster. We were almost there.

  I slowed my pace, reaching a clearing in the trees. A large shape lay in the yellow grass. The tips of deer antlers glinted in the sunlight.

  I raced to the Norn’s side, along with Faas. The others hung back, scanning the woods for danger.

  “There’s no trap!” I called out to them. I reached the Norn, then gasped.

  Her robes were covered in blood. Blood speckled her narrow face, and a thin line trickled from her mouth. Her eyes turned up to me. I tried to find you, she whispered into my mind. I found the entrance of a Salr where you had been, but they found me there.

  I could sense the pain of her wounds, plucking my nerves like guitar strings. I didn’t have to ask who they were. It had been Estus’ people. Perhaps even Estus himself, or really, the key.

  I placed a hand on her bloody chest and her pain hit me full force. Though I couldn’t see her wounds beneath the blood and fabric, I suddenly knew every injury she’d suffered. They’d tortured her. I retracted my hand, feeling sick.

  “I don’t have much energy stored up,” I explained gently, gazing down into her eyes, “but I’m going to try healing you.”

  No, her voice whispered in my mind. It is too late.

  I shook my head, fighting the first of my tears. Faas crouched across from me, his eyes on the Norn, while Mikael came to stand behind me. Alejandro and Aila stayed back.

  Ignoring what the Norn had said, I gathered my energy. I’d managed to pull Sophie back from the brink of death before, but I’d just released multiple lives. I didn’t have much juice at the moment. Still, I wasn’t willing to give up. I placed my hands on her bloody chest, taking all the pain and unpleasant emotions that rushed forward with my touch.

  No, she said more firmly. I want to join my sisters.

  “But we still have to regrow Yggdrasil,” I argued, my voice quavering. “I can’t do that without you!”

  She smiled softly. Then take my energy into you. Take it entirely. Use it when the time is right. I cannot bear this life any longer. I cannot bear what our children have done to us.

  My tears fell harder. Mikael knelt beside me and placed a hand gently on my back, offering comfort. It didn’t help.

  “I don’t know how to do that,” I whispered. “I don’t know how to take all of your energy, nor do I want to.”

  You must.

  I shook my head over and over. It was just wrong. She’d come all this way to help us. She’d been looking for us, and we’d carelessly led her right to Estus. She’d been tortured because of us.

  As if reading my thoughts, she chuckled, then coughed up blood. She took a few shallow, rasping breaths, then spoke into my mind, Do not feel sorrow. You have shown me love. That is all any of us ever wanted.

  “It’s not right,” I said, shaking my head back and forth.

  I couldn’t just steal her life away.

  Mikael and Faas were both watching me, obviously not hearing the other side of the conversation, but I couldn’t bear explaining it to them.

  Please, she said calmly into my mind. Take my life and regrow Yggdrasil. It is the only way my sisters and I will know peace.

  My body was wracked with sobs as I pushed my hands more firmly against her chest. I could feel her heart beating underneath the fabric and blood. She wanted me to stop its gentle rhythm.

  “I can’t,” I argued, even though I knew I had to. If it was truly what she wanted, I couldn’t force her to live.

  Her eyes turned up to the sky. There was so much peace in that single look, I could no longer deny her.

  I took a steadying breath and quieted my tears.

  As if sensing my resolve, her voice whispered in my mind, Thank you, and do not fear. We will see the old gods together, you and I.

  With that, I drained away her life. It wasn’t difficult. She was badly injured, and willing to give up. Her life flowed into me. Normally I focused just on the release, and I would let most of the energy return to the universe where it belonged, but I couldn’t do that this time. I pulled on her life force, refusing to let any of it slip away.

  “Madeline,” Faas said softly, his ey
es wide.

  I stared at him across the Norn’s body while the last of her life force poured into me. It wasn’t like when Mara or the key shared space in my mind, I was just suddenly more. It was a small shred of fate’s collective energy.

  “Madeline,” he began again, “what have you done?”

  “Just what she asked,” I replied bitterly.

  I stumbled to my feet away from the Norn’s body. Mikael caught my arm before I fell. I felt strange. The world looked somehow different.

  Faas walked around the Norn to approach me. His eyes looked me up and down, though I knew he wasn’t looking at my body. He was reading my energy. For some reason, I felt like I should stop him.

  Before he could say anything, the banshees approached. They were barely visible in the daylight. Kind of like looking at a shimmering outline that could easily be passed off as the wind rustling the trees and the yellow blades of grass.

  I felt Mara’s energy as she came to stand on my side, opposite Mikael. It appeared as if her insubstantial face was looking down at the Norn, but I wasn’t sure.

  “What does it feel like?” she asked softly.

  I didn’t have to question what she meant. She’d been partnered with the key before. Its energy had melded with hers because they were supposed to be one. The Norn’s energy was the other missing piece, but Mara had never rejoined with that energy. Not since Yggdrasil had been destroyed.

  “Not like it was with the key,” I explained. “I feel odd, like I’m a slightly different person now, but there’s no extra presence in my head.”

  She nodded. “This step was necessary.”

  I didn’t agree with her. I would much rather the Norn had lived.

  We all turned to see several figures appear, walking toward us from where we’d parked the SUV. Silver and the reinforcements. With him were Frode, Dominic, Tallie, and to my surprise, Marcos and Sivi.

  As they neared us, their focus drifted down to the Norn’s body.

  Across her corpse, Marcos’ eyes met mine. He smiled. He could sense if a soul remained in a body just like I could. He knew I’d released her. “It feels amazing, doesn’t it? The Norns’ energy is like nothing else.”

  I felt like I was going to vomit. Marcos had participated in the murder of several Norns so he could drain their energy. I stared straight into his eyes and spat, “You’re an evil bastard.” Then I moved around the Norn’s body and walked past him. I walked past them all.

  His words had gotten to me because they were true. The extra energy did feel amazing, but that didn’t mean I wanted it. Plenty of things in life felt great, but if they came at a great cost to others, they just weren’t worth it. The fact that most of the Vaettir took so callously, killed so callously, was really starting to piss me off. Being descended from the gods shouldn’t be a get out of jail free card for immoral deeds. It wasn’t religion, or law. It was the blaring difference between right and wrong, good and evil.

  The Norns deserved justice for their deaths. Marcos would have to wait, but Estus was just begging for cosmic retribution. If I had to be the one to give it to him, then so be it.

  Alaric rolled across the sand of the coast, gracefully returning to his feet as the stone sword narrowly missed him. Terminus was deceivingly quick. Each time Alaric recovered from one attack, another was already on its way.

  He saw no method of truly fighting the creature. He had no weapons, and the man was made of oddly fluid stone. All he could do was distract him while Sophie searched for Cúchulainn’s bones. Even if she managed to complete her part of the task, his chances of escape were slim. Now that he was within attack range of Terminus, it would be difficult to escape without getting a sword in the back.

  He briefly considered the nearby ocean. Perhaps Terminus would meet a similar end to the forest beast . . . but he quickly dismissed the idea, then rolled and dodged another attack. The water would likely slow down his movement far more than it would the stone man.

  Soft footsteps raced up behind him in the sand, interrupting his thoughts. He rolled away from another attack, placing himself so he could see whomever had approached while keeping Terminus in his sights.

  Sophie threw a square canvas bundle, roughly two feet wide, into the sand, then turned to fend off her own attackers.

  Alaric rolled away from Terminus once more. Two women shot spouts of glowing energy at Sophie. One woman had golden skin and hair to match, while the other had ebony skin and pure black hair. Their diaphanous clothing sparkled like the fabric was made from stardust. White gems glittered in their long, streaming hair. Sophie narrowly dodged another burst of energy. The women wailed at her like banshees.

  Terminus took another swing at Alaric.

  “What are they!” he shouted to Sophie. He dove out of the way, landing near her discarded parcel.

  “The Zorja!” Sophie screamed. A burst of energy spewed sand in all directions, right where she’d been standing only seconds before. “They are the Morning and Evening Stars,” she panted. “Guardians of the constellations.”

  Alaric dodged another attack, putting himself back to back with Sophie. “When the hell did you learn so much about mythology?” he asked breathily as their attackers circled them.

  “I can read a book!” she shouted. Each of the Zorja attacked her once more. “Now take the bones and get out of here!”

  Alaric glanced at the canvas parcel, then back to Terminus. Their attackers now seemed to be considering their opponents, wondering how best to catch them.

  “I told you to get to the border with the remains,” he growled. “I’ll find a way to meet you.”

  “We’re not both getting out of this alive,” she snapped, slowly spinning along with Alaric to keep their respective opponents in view. “You have more to return to than I, and I will not be responsible for my niece growing up without a father.”

  “I will not leave you,” he argued. It killed him to say it, to sacrifice his chances to be with Madeline. To be there for the birth of his child. Yet he could not allow Sophie to sacrifice herself. He’d protected her for over five hundred years. He wasn’t about to stop now.

  Suddenly their attackers closed in all at once. Sophie and Alaric both managed to dodge the initial attacks, but it was clear they would soon be overcome. Now that they’d been herded together, they each needed to watch for attacks from all three opponents, though the Zorja only seemed to attack in unison.

  Alaric narrowly missed a swing of Terminus’ sword, then Sophie screamed. Alaric back-pedaled to see her lying in the sand, clutching at her chest. One of the Zorja must have hit her with their strange energy.

  He tried to rush toward Sophie, but Terminus spun and attacked with a backward thrust of his blade. Alaric wasn’t fast enough. He was about to die.

  “Enough!” a voice shouted, opposite the direction of the sea.

  Terminus halted his attack, his blade inches from Alaric’s chest. Sophie groaned on the ground in pain, but the Zorja did not attack her again.

  He stepped out of harm’s way, then moved to Sophie’s side.

  All turned toward the source of the voice.

  The Morrigan approached them, moving with halted motions like every step caused her great pain. Her red hair and red dress billowed around her with the coastal breeze, illuminated by the sunlight to make her look like some sort of fire goddess. Her face, though scrunched in pain, showed determination.

  “You are not welcome here,” Terminus stated.

  He took a step toward the Morrigan as the Zorja moved forward to stand at his side.

  Now that their attackers had a new target, Alaric quickly snatched up the bone-filled parcel, then crouched beside his sister. Her eyes were shut and she groaned in pain, but at least she was alive.

  “The earth will not tolerate your presence here,” one of the Zorja stated in a breathy, melodious voice. “Soon it will swallow you whole.”

  “I know,” the Morrigan said through gritted teeth, forcing herself forward
step by step. “I have come to atone for my sins.”

  Alaric wrapped an arm around Sophie’s back, under her armpits, then lifted her up to stand beside him. She hung limply, kept aloft only by his hold on her. He began walking a wide circle around Terminus and the Zorja with the parcel under his free arm. Sophie tried to move her feet along with his, but mostly they dragged in the sand.

  Ever so slowly, Alaric and Sophie reached the Morrigan’s side, while Terminus and the Zorja watched on.

  Terminus turned his stony gaze to Alaric. “You have fought well, but we have other matters to attend to. Leave now, and I will allow you to live.”

  Alaric handed the parcel to the Morrigan, then hoisted Sophie up to get a more secure grip on her. She seemed to have lost consciousness. “We all leave together, or not at all,” he replied.

  The Morrigan looked at him in surprise.

  “No offense,” he whispered, “but you’re kind of our ride out of here.”

  She chuckled, then coughed. Globs of mucous and blood spewed out of her mouth to land in the sand. It was like something was attacking her from the inside.

  His eyes widened as she coughed up more blood.

  “The earth is reclaiming her,” the darker of the two Zorja explained. “Soon she will be no more.”

  The Morrigan nodded in agreement. “Yes, I will soon perish. I will not fight my fate, but I will not leave this earth before I have righted my most grievous wrong.”

  She tried to kneel in the sand, but as her knees landed she fell forward, bowed over the parcel. Slowly, she forced herself upright, knees digging into the sand, and undid the bindings on the parcel, revealing a full set of old, yellow bones.

  She placed her hands over the bones, and Alaric suddenly realized what she was doing. He’d seen Madeline do it many times before. She was releasing the soul trapped in the remains.

  “Stop her!” the lighter of the two Zorja shouted.

  All three charged them, but they were too late. The Morrigan suddenly stood, no longer appearing to be in pain. She’d gained energy from the release, just like Madeline could. She motioned with her arm and shot a wave of energy at their attackers, casting them aside effortlessly.