Letting out a series of high yips, the little fox in our queen’s arms squirmed, begging to get down and explore.
“Are you sure?” Helayna asked.
The fox yipped again, almost like they were having a conversation.
“Show me.” She set the fox down and she immediately trotted out into the shallows toward the waterfall. She looked back over her shoulder, black-tipped ears twitching. Daring us to follow. “I guess we’re going to get a little wet.”
“Oh dear,” Clara replied. “Are you sure you need to risk going out into the river?”
“I keep seeing glittering prisms of light dancing in the air. It’s important. Bjørg insists I need to follow her. Wait here, Clara. There’s no need for you to get wet too.”
Dörr swept our queen up into his arms and followed the fox out into the water. I quickened my pace to a trot to pass them, while Svar and Gunnarr protected from the rear. Lokken strode alongside Dörr.
Humans milled around on the shore, and someone yelled, “Don’t be stupid! You’re going to get hypothermia!”
Bjørg paused, giving me a plaintive look for assistance, though her ears twitched warily. She likely remembered the way I’d tried to grab her when I thought she was attacking our queen the first night on this soil. The water was too deep for her to continue without swimming, and the river’s current was fast enough she’d likely struggle.
I scooped her up onto my forearm. “Show me where our queen needs to go, little fur ball.”
The spray increased, drenching my clothes and slicking my hair to my skull. The water deepened to my waist, icy and fast enough I was struggling to make any further progress against the current.:I’m not sure how much further we can go.:
:Try moving to your right,:Lokken suggested.:See if you can get to the cliff.:
Moving carefully to the side, I tested each step, making sure I wasn’t stepping off into deeper water. The ground beneath my feet felt like a bowl hollowed out by centuries of pounding water. The sides were a bit shallower, allowing me to get us closer to the cliff. Though I still couldn’t see much with the water spray all around us. Icy cold water pelted my face and chest, blinding me.
:We need to get to the end of the rainbow,:Helayna said.:Take a couple of steps forward, Myrk. You’re almost there.:
I slid my right foot forward, shifting my weight slowly. Another step.
Something tingled over my face. Warmth and energy penetrated the splashing waterfall.
And my human skin thickened into cold, dead stone.
HELAYNA
Myrk’s bondweighed heavily in my mind like a boulder plummeting off a mountainside. I didn’t feel pain from him. In fact, I felt nothing. He wasn’t gone or dead or hurt.
:Myrk!:
He didn’t respond. He couldn’t. Dörr quickened his pace—but allowed Lokken to push forward through the spray ahead of us.
:I see him,:Lokken said.:He’s frozen in place like a statue.:
:Dark alfar turn into stone in daylight, but it shouldn’t have affected him in his human form. Don’t let the rainbow touch you until I’m there.:
Gunnarr and Svar pressed closer to us, using Lokken’s bond to guide us through the tumbling waterfall spray. My ears roared with pounding water, increasing my sense of urgency. The rainbow wouldn’t last forever. The play of light on the water droplets was capricious. Random. If the rainbow disappeared…
“Let the rainbows guide you,”the man had said when I touched Yggdrasil.
He hadn’t said anything about my Blood being incapacitated by them.
:I think it’s Bifröst.:Even Lokken’s mental voice quivered with excitement and reverence.:Which would explain why the dark alfar can’t use it to cross.:
All the childhood stories Clara had told me flickered through my mind like beloved pages. Bifröst, the rainbow bridge spanning the Nine Worlds. The way to Ásgarðr, the realm ofthe Aesir gods, guarded by the god Heimdallr. Fantastic stories passed down through generations. As a child, I loved the stories, but I thought they were just fairytales. Until I’d touched Yggdrasil’s branches and woke in the belly of Jörmungandr.
My hair plastered to my face, blinding me. I swiped at my eyes, straining to see as we neared where Myrk had stopped. Dörr moved around to the side, so I could see Myrk’s stone arm. Perched on top of his forearm, Bjørg yipped when she saw me. Drenched but unaffected by the rainbow. Colorful prisms still danced in the water all around Myrk.
:The man in the vision said it was forbidden for him to cross to my world, but I could bring him through.:
