Finaan #2
“All done?” Wregen demands, drawing my focus away from my dragon.
“It’s been a long fucking day and I need to sleep.
We’ll go back to the cavern and rest. And then, we will go to Helheim.
” He spins to scowl at Ruxi. “Wrath sleeps now, but he’ll wake soon.
If you’re still with us, he’ll shove his way out again and this time, he’ll kill you.
Follow or not, but know what fate awaits you if you’re nearby when he opens his eyes again. ”
Turning, he stalks toward the water, leaving Ruxi and me to scamper behind him if we choose. But I don’t move. Not yet.
I don’t understand. Ruxi could bring me to you. Why don’t we try to escape together?
I cannot leave here, my rider, Panta tells me in a voice full of sorrow.
My draikani alone has been able to cross the bridge between our prison and the rest of the world.
In dreams, they’ve tasted hints of their fate, the Norns’ new weave in the wake of Ragnarok.
The only path that leads to my escape starts with your mate.
Stay with him. Embrace him or not. Ruxi cannot see your fate.
But you can help the male and his beast accept my draikani, and you must.
I hate this, I grumble, as I resign myself to what she’s asking of me.
As do I, she tells me, her voice soft and gentle. We’ve survived this long, when we thought the other lost. We can survive this too.
I know she’s right. I may not like what she’s telling me, but I can’t deny it. You, my dear Panta, I murmur, are the wisest beast ever.
Perhaps, Panta tells me, the smile in her voice so clear, I can almost see her mouth tipping up at the corners.
Will I lose contact with you when I leave this cavern?
Our connection is shallow, even here. I think it will end when you walk away, although it may arise again.
I drop my chin to my chest, a hole in my gut opening at what I’m about to do. But then I throw back my shoulders and face my destiny. I love you, my lustrous beast.
And I you, my fierce rider.
“Don’t you dare give that to them.” Wregen’s snarl wakes me from a deep sleep.
For a moment, I have no idea where I am or why I’m lying on hard rock, curled in on myself, little bits of pebble digging into my side.
One blissful moment. But then I open my eyes, and it all comes barreling back.
Svend using his power to put me into a sleep deep enough for Wregen to carry me to the ocean.
Jormungandr trapping me and carrying all of us here.
The lunacy that erupted once we arrived.
Still, I found Panta. I met her mate, a glorious purple dragon who is much too good for the bastard we’re both bound to. And they somehow convinced me to stay put and help Ruxi break Hel’s grip on Wregen.
It’s a futile task, but I’m going to try anyway.
The exhaustion from a ridiculously long day had started weighing me down on the trudge back to the water, and I dropped to the ground as soon as I reached the closest wall. Even a hunger that was gnawing at me by the time I got there couldn’t keep me from sleep.
So, here I am. Wregen stands a man’s-height away, Ruxi on the other side of him with something at their feet. Sitting up, I look past him at the beautiful fish the dragon brought. It’s enormous—enough to feed all of us for days once we smoke it—and my stomach immediately grumbles its thanks.
“You will not touch that,” Wregen barks, spinning toward me to throw a haughty glare. His arms cross over his chest, and he stands to his full height. “We’ll take nothing from this creature.”
“Speak for yourself,” I respond as I push myself to my feet. “I’m starving and we need the food.”
“I will feed you.” His voice is low and cold as ice, his stance widening as if he plans to keep me physically from the fish. “If you touch that fish, you’ll regret it.”
“Stop it,” I mumble as I push past him, striding over to Ruxi to scratch behind their horn. “You have no food and we have a long trip,” I remind Wregen. “Don’t eat if you don’t want to. It’ll leave more for Svend and me.”
“I’ll throw you over my shoulder and carry you if I must.”
His constant threats have grown old, and I’m done listening. Spinning I stalk toward him and get in his face.
“No,” I hiss as I shove at his chest. He doesn’t move but I’m not done yet.
“You.” Another shove, this one harder.
“Won’t.” I throw all of my strength into this one, and he drops to the ground. The first two were feints, because I knew he’d fall for them. He’s been underestimating me for a long time and still hasn’t figured me out.
He lays there, a smile emerging on his face as I step over him, my feet straddling his hips. Leaning forward, I hold his gaze, hoping he’ll actually listen to what I’m about to say.
“Panta convinced me to stay with you for now, so I’m gonna follow along until I decide it’s time to leave. But I need you to understand something. I won’t return to Helheim. When the time comes, we’re going our separate ways.”
“Oh, my feisty skjaldmaer,” he purrs, one eyebrow jutting up as he lifts himself to lean back on his elbows, “you have no idea what you’re in for.
” He pushes up, rising to stand next to me, his mouth a hair’s-breadth from mine.
“Eat the fish. I’ll give you that, because I plan to take much, much more from you in the centuries we’ll spend together. ”
I sigh. He’s a stubborn bastard. He’ll say whatever he wants and none of it matters. Ignoring his latest fantasy, I turn around and stride toward Ruxi. They grunt and nudge the fish in my direction.
“Did you eat?” I ask as I scratch behind their horn again.
They look toward Wregen, their gaze focusing as they tell him something.
He scowls in response. “Stay out of my head, cunt. I won’t be your translator.”
They grumble, narrowing their eyes at him as a trickle of flame spurts between their teeth before lifting their head and dipping their chin.
“You found a few,” I realize, a shadow of their response sifting into my thoughts. Thank the gods, I think my connection to Panta has given me a shallow connection to her draikani, beyond what my magic would naturally provide. “And you brought us the largest?”
Ruxi nods again, their gaze gentling as their focus stays on me.
“Thank you,” I tell the dragon with one more deep scratch. Dropping my smile, I turn to Wregen. “We’ll stay here long enough to smoke it.”
“As I said, I’ll give you this. Do what you must.” He speaks grandly, as if he’s offering me a valuable gift.
Part of me wants to put him in his place, but he wouldn’t listen anyway. And I’m not as bothered by his attitude as I was yesterday. I see him more clearly now. He’s broken, and I’m starting to understand why.
“Do you regret it?” I ask. “Giving her your life, your fealty?” I don’t need to name her. It could only be one being.
“She’s my mistress,” he responds, his head cocking to the side as the corners of his lips drop. “I could never regret swearing my allegiance to her.”
I scoff. “I spent as long in Helheim as you,” I remind him.
“It’s a miserable place. You can’t have liked being there.
” Glancing up, as if I could see the sky far above us if I only looked hard enough, I let my thoughts dwell on all we lost while we were there.
“Didn’t you miss the feel of the wind as it skims across your skin, the fire that erupts in the sky when night gives way to day, the chirp of crickets as the sun drops below the horizon, leaving us with the moon and a tapestry of stars hanging in the sky? ”
He watches me for a minute or more, a muscle twitching in his jaw every few seconds. When I think he’s not going to answer, he rumbles his response.
“If I’d known a life such as that, perhaps I would have missed it.
But Wrath was a difficult beast. If the wind skimmed across my skin, it was because I was naked, covered in blood, and lying in my own vomit after he pushed me aside and claimed our body for himself.
On the nights he took control, he gorged.
I woke more than once with splinters of his victims’ bones trapped in my teeth.
“If I saw a fire at first light, it was usually the torches of zealots, chasing me with pitchforks and blades, determined to save themselves from the monster who’d destroyed their town and eaten their children overnight.
“And if I heard crickets, it was through Wrath’s ears as I hunted for another meal in an attempt to sate my eternal hunger. But they never sang for long. Wrath silenced everything that felt his presence.”
He turns away from me, striding toward the closest cavern.
“She saved me from an existence far worse than anything I suffered in Helheim,” he says, not bothering to turn around.
“I’d do it a thousand times without any regret.
And I will never forswear her,” he adds before turning the corner, casting the last few words as a whisper in my ear.
I fear he’s right, that he’s hers forever.
For our sakes, though, I hope to all the gods he’s wrong.