Chapter 33 Skadi
SKADI
At the beginning of our battle, the kraken had tasted of salt and rage. Now, the flavor of his disgustingly hot blood was soured by panic.
I had felt an odd moment of fear myself, at first. The fight had begun too close to the ocean, the source of his power.
He was as much a creature of water and storm as I, and powerful as well as long-lived.
He’d left long gouges in the scaled hide I’d been forced to wear, to inflict physical damage on him.
But he was not an immortal being, as I was. Even over the sea, I’d torn more than one of his tentacles from his wriggling form and removed chunks of his gem-encrusted shell. When I finally was able to form a shell of ice from the seawater and wrap him in it, I’d thrown him as far inland as I could.
The distance from the water had accomplished my goal.
It had been many hours since the beginning of the fight, and I’d dragged him hundreds of miles and wedged him into a crater in the middle of a waterless stretch of rock and soil.
I blew the clouds away to keep him from pulling rain to heal himself.
Finally, he’d stopped struggling. He’d almost stopped breathing. No, he had.
Hmmm. I wasn’t sure I truly wanted him dead. I had… memories of his kind. They were a breed of ancient magic users who cared for the sea and its folk. There had never been many of them, though there had been far more than the handful that lived now.
I thought of the story the Omega seal man had shared. One of the krakens had been chosen as the first consort by the one they called Goddess. Hmph. That kraken had been her first mate, a mark of favor.
Stories changed over time, stretched to fit the world as it spun. But I was old enough to remember the truth. The parts I’d been awake to witness, anyway.
Weak from my battle with my brother, I had been asleep in my icy home when their goddess had emerged from the sea and walked the world. I’d woken, some snippet of music on the wind, or some scent, rousing me.
Edan had still been in his prison, though he’d already begun trying to chew his way out, spewing heat into the perfect cold of the north. I knew he was still trapped, pinned and raging beneath the sea where I’d left him, though the ice I’d placed there had melted during my rest.
Still weakened, I hadn’t left my home to be certain he was contained.
I’d given myself back to the healing sleep, but not before the soothing cold western wind had whispered of a powerful, immortal being who cared for the mortals. Who lived with them, and protected them. Loved some of them.
I had not understood. The short-lived things who hopped and skittered across the surface of the world were fleas. Perhaps they were amusing to watch, especially for the dragons and krakens who had overinflated pretensions of power. But to love a flea? I could not comprehend it.
Of course, possession was far easier to understand. My siblings all guarded their elements fiercely. I knew the satisfaction of owning the cold and all that it touched. I had touched my little enemy with my cold now, which meant she was mine.
I thought of my perfect, angry little enemy, who had also touched me with her jewel tooth. She had claimed me, too, in this way. The thought filled my cold heart with satisfaction. We belonged to one another.
But she had worn the kraken’s amulet as well. Would she be angry if I killed him now? When I’d found her, she’d been wrapped in his foul tentacles, covered with his briny scent, and had not complained.
Perhaps she liked him. She had mortal mates. The others were small, inconsequential ones, though. Unlike this kraken, they would die quickly, and leave her to me. As long as I was able to freeze out the influence of my brother…
Had he known the one they called Goddess, when She was in the world?
The thought of Edan had me lifting my snout to the wind, seeking her taste and scent. After a moment, I caught it: a hint of green and honey, with my own cold touch covering the taint of him. She was far out to sea. Safe for now.
Below me, the kraken groaned in pain. The large shell dissolved into the air, and the remaining tentacles drew up into him, leaving only two legs and two arms, though he had a small dagger in one hand that was covered in his blood.
I examined him, glad to see his lungs were working now.
His battered, limp human form was smaller than mine.
He also did not have two majestic knots on his rod, or long silver hair, or as many of the ridges on his stomach as I possessed.
To be truthful, I’d added to them after my little enemy had admired them so.
He was less impressive than me in every way.
I caught him with one clawed foot before he slipped down into the crevasse, placing him on flat ground. When he stopped breathing again, I poked him with one talon. A spurt of thick, dark blue blood fountained out.
Hm. Weak.
I froze the wound, not wanting him to bleed out before I could give him a teaching on why he lost the battle. “I will admit you fought valiantly,” I said when he began breathing more regularly. “You were a worthy opponent. But you cannot fight a god and win, puny kraken.”
His lips moved, but I could not make out his words. I leaned closer. “I fight… for her.”
“For her? My little enemy?” I sniffed, tempted to crush him with my foot. “She is mine. You may not take her from me.” I found myself amused, remembering her words. “You did not ask my consent.”
“You took her… You abused her…”
My jaw dropped wide. “I did nothing of the kind. She stabbed me in the eye with her tooth. She attacked me first. She abused me!”
The kraken’s body shook slightly, as he wheezed. Was he laughing? At me?
“I do not lie. I admit, I did use my tail to enter her…” He went still now, and his face began to turn the deep purple-black of his carapace.
Was he dying, or regaining his strength?
It was hard to tell with some of the magical beasts.
“She taught me of this consent soon thereafter. I graciously agreed to receive consent from any humans before I touched them. Unfortunately for you, you are not human.” Though he was human-shaped.
It made me nervous. Would she think this counted?
Would she consider it a promise broken, if I killed him now?
The idea of my little enemy angry at me for harming this being, if she did like him, bothered me. What if she stayed angry? What if she spurned me, as this Goddess had done to Her first consort?
Perhaps she would not put her little hand on my neck again, and play at stopping the wind. I had very much enjoyed that little game. I wanted to play more like it.
“Stab first…” the dying beast said at last, gasping at each word. “She taught me that.” He stopped breathing again, and I leaned closer, my snout a hair’s breadth from his odd face. When I exhaled, his eyes opened slowly and gazed into mine.
I waited, but he stayed annoyingly silent. “She taught you what?”
“Stab first,” he repeated, pushing up on one elbow. Then he lifted his arm and pricked my hide with the puny knife he held. “Ask questions later.”