The heart stone’s still glowing a little, so it’s easier to make out her movements than it was before, with nothing but the glowworms to light the dark space. “Well, we can’t just sit here in this tunnel. He’ll find us on his way back for sure.” She tosses her head at my swords. “Let’s go.”
It takes a few moments of bumbling and fumbling, and I nearly drop one sword, but I finally get them put back into the sheaths Jörð made, and then I manage to stay on the ledge while Freya remounts my back.
“We’re about halfway up,” she says.
“Halfway?” If I’m groaning, I refuse to feel bad about it. I’m bleeding all over my body. Carrying someone else while I fly is just as exhausting as I expected.
But Freya patiently guides me up and out for several more turns before we hear a massive, very angry roar from below. “Shoot,” I hiss. “Looks like he found the missing stone.”
“Go,” Freya cries.
And I do.
As hard as I can possibly pump my wings, I fly. The muscles powering my wings are burning. My legs are numb. My shoulders scream where Freya’s clinging to them. But I know that the second Bjorn reaches us this time. . .it’s game over. When we finally shoot out of the opening at the top of the tunnel, there are several other vanir standing around the rim of the cavern like they’re guarding it. It’s strange, since it’s in a secluded spot in the caverns already.
“Who are they?” I wheeze.
Before Freya can answer, one of the vanir, a storm vanir, based on his dull grey scales, launches airborne and arrows toward me. I veer sharply left, aiming for the closest exit, but he’s much, much faster than me. He’s about to hit us when Freya, who has been rocking around on my back like some kind of insane squirrel, says, “Here.” She drops one of my blades. The edge of it clips my heel.
“Ow.” I dive for it, and I barely catch the end of the blade in time to twist and jam it upward. It’s all very badly handled and haphazardly executed, but the razor edge of the blade glances across his shoulder, and that sends him just a little outside of his intended path.
Enough that we bobble our way past him.
We’re only a dozen feet from the exit now.
That’s when one of the ice vanir, Brynhild I think, fires off a volley of ice. I’m mere feet from the exit when they should hit me, but just before they can, they disappear.
“What—” As we burst through to the courtyard outside the vanir caverns, I can’t help spluttering. “Why didn’t that kill us?”
“I may be stuck in this useless, powerless form,” Freya says, “but apparently I can still negate ice-attacks.”
Now that we’ve reached the courtyard, I realize how little we thought this through. Instead of the few vanir waiting at the edge of the entrance to the secret cavern, there are dozens of vanir milling around as we leave the caverns. Some of them are winging around, some are running drills, and many, many of them are staring at the winged earth child who just burst out of the side exit to the caverns with another earth child on her back, and an angry ice vanir pursuing. My right arm’s barely strong enough to keep hold on the hilt of the sword I’m carrying.
When a very small, very young moon vanir falls into the airspace beside me, where I’m laboring my way along, wheezing and panting, I realize this is it. We’re about to be killed by the equivalent of the dormouse of the vanir.
“Just do it,” I shout. “If you’re going to attack, just attack already.”
The tiny, nearly black vanir with gleaming scales tilts her small head. You smell. . .strange. Familiar. Are you Freja’s bonded?
“You know Freja?”
The vanir bobs her head. “She saved me once, and I’ve been worried about her. When her dad went after her earlier. . .”
Brynhild couldn’t fit through the small side exit, but she’s clearly looping around, because I hear her howl from the main exit, and other vanir are starting toward us. We don’t have time to chitchat.
I have an idea.
A crazy idea.
“Freja’s on my back right now. I can’t explain how that’s the case right now, but I can later. This is your chance to repay her by saving our lives.”
That’s Freja? The earth child? She looks shocked, but she’s not calling me a liar outright.
I wait for Freja to say something. Hello? Say anything.
Like what? Freya asks. Tell her Jörð changed me into this? She snorts. She’ll think we’re lying or insane.
Maybe, I don’t know, tell little Tiny Bits here that you remember saving her. Mention where you were when you did. Anything!
