“Oh, gods,” said Loki. “Please don’t say anymore.”
“I speak as I must and cannot be-”
“You were silent enough for five hundred years,” protested Loki, who had gone even paler than before. “Why break the habit now?”
“Hang on,” said Maddy. “Bor’s son-that’s one of Odin’s names.”
Loki nodded, looking sick.
“And the dog?”
Loki swallowed painfully. Even his colors had turned pale, shot through with silvery threads of fear. “Forget it,” he said in a tight voice.
Maddy turned to the Whisperer. “Well?” she said. “What does it mean?”
The Oracle glowed in the pattern she had come to recognize as amusement. “All I do is prophesy,” it said sweetly. “I leave the interpretation to others.”
Maddy frowned. “The Ash. I suppose that’s me. The green shoot from the lightning tree. The wise-surely that’s the Whisperer. Bor’s son on a death ship-with his dog at his feet…” Her eyes came to rest on Loki’s face. “Ah,” she said. “Dogstar. I see.”
Loki sighed. “So it means I die. Do you
“Well, it doesn’t
“Oh, really?” snapped Loki. “Me, on Hel’s shore? What else do you think I’d be doing there?” He began to pace, tucking his skirts into his waistband, his shawl flying. “Why couldn’t you have told me all this before?” he demanded of the Whisperer.
The Oracle smirked and said nothing.
Loki put his face in his hands.
“Come on,” said Maddy. “You’re not dead yet. In fact-” She stopped for a moment, her face brightening. “Let me get this right,” she said. “According to the Whisperer, if Odin dies, then you do too.”
Loki made a muffled sound of despair.
“And when Odin and Mimir meet, then Chaos will come-Odin will fall…”
Loki’s eyes turned to hers.
“Unless we free Thor from Netherworld-in which case the war won’t happen at all, the General won’t die, the Nine Worlds will be saved, and my father…”
There was a long silence, during which Loki stared, transfixed, at Maddy, Maddy’s heart raced even faster, and the Whisperer shone like a chunk of star.
“So you see,” she said, “you have to come. You know the way into Netherworld. The Whisperer said it could be done-and if we keep hold of the Whisperer, then Odin won’t meet it, and there won’t be a war, and-”
“Listen, Maddy,” interrupted Loki. “Much as I’d love to save the Nine Worlds while committing suicide, I have a much simpler plan. The Oracle saw me dead in Hel. Right? So as long as I stay
He broke off suddenly, aware of a small but vicious stabbing pain just above his left eyebrow. For a second he thought something had stung him. Then he felt the Whisperer’s presence, like a sharp object raking his mind. He took a step back and almost fell.
Ouch, that hurts!
He sensed it catching his thoughts like a fingernail snagging silk. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but when Loki tried to close his mind to it, a second lance of pain, more acute this time, slammed through his head.
“What’s wrong?” said Maddy, seeing him falter.
But Loki was in no position just then to explain. Eyes closed, he took another drunken step. Below him the Whisperer sparkled with glee.
What do you want? Loki said silently.
Your attention, Dogstar. And your word.
“My word?”
In silence, if you value your life.
With an effort, Loki nodded.
I know what you’re thinking, said the voice in his mind. You are afraid, because I can read your thoughts. You are surprised at how my powers have grown.
Loki said nothing but gritted his teeth.
And you are wondering whether I mean to punish you.
Still Loki said nothing.
I ought to, said the Whisperer. But I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourself.
Redeem myself? said Loki, surprised.
In his mind he felt the Whisperer’s amusement. It’s not your soul I care about. Nevertheless, you will do as I say. Go with the girl to Netherworld. Take me with you as far as Hel. Free the gods-avert the war-
And why would you want to go to Hel? What’s your plan, you old fraud?
A last, tremendous bolt of pain went rocketing through Loki’s head. He fell to his knees, unable to cry out, as the voice in his mind delivered its warning.
No questions, it said.
And then the alien presence was gone, leaving him shaking and breathless. Once more he wondered at how much stronger it had grown; his struggle to contain the thing, centuries earlier, had lasted for days, exhausting them both and causing devastation in World Below, but today it had brought him to his knees in seconds.
Now it shone with a warning gleam, and Loki heard its whispering voice, faint but commanding at the back of his mind.
No trickery. Do I have your word?
All right. He opened his eyes and took slow, deep breaths.
“What happened?” said Maddy, looking concerned.
Loki shrugged. “I fell,” he said. “Bloody skirts.” And with those words he picked himself up and turned the full force of his scarred smile on Maddy. “Now,” he said. “Are we going to Netherworld or not?”
6
It was a most unholy alliance. On the one side the Huntress, royally clad in Ethelberta’s blue velvet; on the other, the parson, with his golden key. It was two in the morning when they repaired to the parsonage and, to Ethel’s bewilderment and displeasure, went immediately to Nat’s study and locked themselves in.
There, Nat told the Huntress all he knew-about Maddy Smith, the one-eyed Journeyman who had been her friend, and most especially about the Order and its works-and he read to her from the Good Book and recited some of the canticles in the lesser of the Closed Chapters.
Skadi watched and listened with cold amusement to the little man’s efforts to master the glamour that he called the Word. As the hours passed, however, she began to grow curious. He was clumsy and untrained, but he had a spark, a power she did not quite understand. She could see it in his colors: it was almost as if there were
“Now light it.” They were sitting at Nat’s desk, an unlit taper in a candlestick between them.
“You’re not concentrating,” said Skadi impatiently. “Hold it steady, focus your thoughts, say the cantrip, and light the taper.”
For several seconds Nat frowned at the candlestick. “It doesn’t work,” he complained at last. “I can’t work these heathen cantrips. Why can’t I just use the Word?”
“The
Nat shrugged. “I want to get to the things that matter. I’m not interested in learning
Once more Skadi laughed. You had to give it to the man, she thought-at least his ambitions were vast, if his intelligence wasn’t. She had entered their pact with the intention of humoring him for just as long as it took to gain the secrets of the Order, but now her curiosity had been aroused. Perhaps he could be useful after all.
“Tricks?” she said. “These
Nat made a sound of disgust. “I can’t,” he muttered angrily, and at that very moment, with an angry
Skadi raised a dispassionate eyebrow. “You lack control,” she said. “Again.”
But Nat was looking at the blackened taper with an expression of wild exhilaration. “I did it,” he said.
“Poorly,” said the Huntress.
“But did you
“Again, please,” said Skadi coolly. “And this time try to exercise a little restraint.” She righted the candlestick-which was still hot-and placed a fresh taper on the spike.
Nat Parson smiled almost absently. The rune
“Steady,” said the Huntress. “Give yourself time.”
But either Nat didn’t hear her or he didn’t care, for