Gears of Mischief (The Valhalla Mechanism Book 1) Page 19

  But a howl shook the walls and forced me to nearly cover my ears until it stopped.

  “Time’s up,” Loki murmured, reaching out to adjust my skirt before helping me to stand.

  Thor followed, adjusting himself, and I shot him a grimace in apology. He answered with a quick kiss and a crooked smile. “No need, Valkyrie. Next time, I’ll show you exactly why I’m the God of Thunder.”

  A startled laugh burst out of me as I steadied myself with their shoulders.

  “Please tell me it involves your hammer,” I replied, and his answering smile brought more laughter to my lips. I glanced at Loki, at the power dancing along him. “So, what do we do now?”

  He grinned and held up his hands, the chain jingling, and I watched as his green power snapped out at the metal. The manacles melted away, as if it was so simple, they were like sugar in water. He touched a finger to Thor’s chains around his wrists and then his feet, with the same result. My mouth hung open, but I only knew it did when Loki’s long finger closed it for me, his power still buzzing along his skin.

  “Just potent power you elicit,” he murmured, pressing a chaste kiss on my lips. “I wonder what it will feel like when you’re screaming my name at the altar of pleasure.”

  I reached out and stroked my own fingers down the inked snake across his body, tempted to follow it with my tongue, but we were suddenly out of time.

  The wall behind us ripped free as if it was no more than a curtain, sending dust and debris shattering, pinging against the skin that Loki didn’t protect with his body. Both Gods had moved too quickly to track, blocking the worst of the shattered concrete and steel from hitting me.

  Loki looked up, and up, and I followed his eyes, my breath sticking in my throat.

  “Fenrir,” he breathed.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I would have stumbled if I wasn’t sandwiched in between Thor and Loki when I saw Fenrir in all his glory. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, but the giant black wolf in front of me, taller than most buildings around us, was not it. Golden chains hung off him in tatters, the remaining lengths jingling with his movements.

  The giant wolf blew a breath of hot air at us, the wind of it stirring up my hair. Green, intelligent eyes met mine, and I saw Loki’s cleverness reflected there.

  I glanced over at Loki, at where he smiled fondly up at Fenrir, as if he was nothing more than an adorable babe, but when he met my eyes, he shifted, nervousness dancing in his gaze.

  “Tillie,” he said. “This is Fenrir.” He glanced at the wolf. “Fenrir, this is Tillie.”

  I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, not because I feared the wolf, but because he was so glorious, I didn’t know what to say at all. Beautiful did not seem to describe the wolf.

  Loki must have taken my silence as fear, because when he started to speak again, I felt the anxiousness there. “I know he’s not—”

  I stepped around Loki and over the rumble toward the wolf that could kill me with a single snap of its jaws.

  “Tillie,” Thor murmured, but I ignored him. I knew, in the depths of my soul, that Fenrir would not attack me, just as I knew that Loki would never allow me to be hurt.

  I held out my hand when I neared, letting his giant nose smell it. I never expected him to loll out his tongue and bump his head against me hard enough to make me stumble, a request to scratch him. I chuckled and did just that, scratching in the direction that Fenrir directed me as he tilted his head, as he encouraged me to scratch harder.

  “Glorious,” I murmured up at him, those beautiful green irises seeming to wink at me. I glanced back once to see the shock on Loki’s face as I pet his giant wolf son.

  Something inside Fenrir’s chest began to rumble and I grinned up at him.

  “Are you. . .” Loki blinked. “Are you purring?” Fenrir chuffed at him, his tongue lolled out in the most adorable way, before Loki was shaking his head. “Just like you to fall for the pretty spy, Fenrir. She’s spoken for.”

  In answer, Fenrir turned his head for more scratches, as if to say, “see, I do what I want.”

  Someone came stumbling over the stones to our right and we all dropped into fighting stances at the same time, expecting a fight. Instead, a woman as pale as snow vaulted over the frozen concrete and skid to a stop in front of me, her two white wolves dancing at her sides.

  “We have a problem,” she said by way of greeting, and then her eyes lifted to the black wolf tilting his head at her. “Oh no,” she murmured. “The next stage.”

  The world began to shake again.

  “The Queen,” I murmured. “We have to get to the Queen.” I had to warn her, do my duty, and if she didn’t believe me, then I could say I tried everything, that I had done my best to protect my country, but if she believed me, perhaps, we could save lives.

  We turned towards the main parts of the palace, prepared to go after her. We no longer had our weapons, except for Thor. He held out his hand and his hammer slammed through a concrete wall, flying straight into his grip. Why he did not do that earlier, I would never know, but truly, we didn’t need weapons, not if our intentions were to not kill anyone. I would mourn the loss of my battle axe and short sword though. They were my favorite weapons, but they could be replaced.

  There would be no point, however, if there was no world left in which to use them in.

  I took a step forward, towards where I hoped the Queen would be, but men stepped out of the shadows, their clothing black, their faces covered against the cold.

  “Who are they?” Skadi asked, drawing her crossbow free.

  I stared at the man with dove-grey eyes that stepped free, his face so familiar, it made me want to hug him, even though he was not Thod. The Executioner was an entirely different animal.

  I glanced at Skadi, my fingers twitching for some sort of weapon.

  “It’s the Beast Guild,” I replied. “And they’re here to stop us.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  I grimaced. There were not so many of the Beast Guild standing before us that we could not take them, but these were the best of the best, those that had far surpassed the other factions, those that had special skills.

  My eyes danced over the Executioner again, at the ease with which he stood. There were no weapons in his hand, no worry in his stance. He was wholly relaxed, as if this was an everyday matter, as if he regularly faced against Gods.

  Funny how he could appear that way with the giant wolf standing behind us like some sort of avenging creature from Hell.

  I glanced over my shoulder to peer up at Fenrir. “Perhaps, you should sit this one out, Fenrir. We don’t want to kill them.”

  Fenrir chuffed at me, annoyance written on his face as clearly as any humans, but he sat on his haunches and tilted his head.

  Then I will simply watch.

  I slapped Loki on the shoulder, hard enough to startle him. The green tendrils of power dancing along his skin flared with his surprise as he looked over at me. “What in Helheim—”

  “I just heard his voice.”

  Loki turned fully to me. Even with a dozen guards before us, Loki trusted Thor and Skadi to protect us while he stared at me in confusion.

  “Whose voice?”

  I gestured to Fenrir. The wolf tilted his head and smiled.

  Tattle tails are no fun.

  My eyes widened and I nearly fell over in both excitement and shock.

  “Can’t you hear that!?”

  Loki scowled at Fenrir. “Quit teasing her, you big log.” To me, he said, “Fenrir has always been able to talk through mind links. He doesn’t do it often and he considers most food.” He squinted his eyes. “It doesn’t surprise me that he chose you after he was purring.”

  See, I will not eat you.

  “Great,” I told the wolf, shaking my head. “I was rather hoping I wouldn’t be dinner.”

  We faced forward again.

  “Are you quite finished?” the Executioner asked, raising his brow.

&nbs
p; “Are you done being an arsehole?” I retorted, crossing my arm.

  He smiled at my words, amused, as if I was no threat to him. I was really starting to reconsider my decision not to kill anyone. Surely, the Queen did not need so many guards.

  “You will not make it past us to get to the Queen.”

  “And we must warn her that her guards are imbeciles.” I grinned. “It appears we are at an impasse, Executioner.”

  “Are we?” He lifted a rifle of some sort, a blue glow flickering in its depths, and fired. . .

  . . .but I was already gone.

  I had seen the barest twitch of his hand. Thod had taught me to look for tells. What a surprise that his brother would have the same as him. I dove to the side before the weapon ever fired, lurching to where Loki and Thor were already moving, already swirling around the other guards who took the gunshot as their chance to fire. Skadi and her wolves were in the fray. The winter woman tucked her crossbow away and procured a staff from somewhere. Where she kept it, I had no idea. The large metal rod was taller than her, and that was saying something for the towering woman.

  Someone shouted, another grunted, I leaped over a man out cold as I danced my ways towards the Executioner. I wouldn’t kill him—I could never do that to Thod, regardless if they were close or not—but I would relish causing him a little pain.

  “That man on the ground better only be knocked unconscious,” I growled over my shoulder.

  “He is!” Thor answered as he swung his hammer, catching another guard on the temple and crumpling him. I could see his muscles strain with the effort to be careful, to not break their skulls. They would most likely have concussions, but at least they would be alive.

  Loki flicked out a knife I hadn’t seen and swiped at one of the bigger guards, catching him just over his heart. I knew he had missed on purpose, but I still scowled as he winked at me, knowing how close he had been to skewering the human. Loki would be the one to kill on purpose, and though he might have a good reason for it, it was still counter-productive to our plans.

  I was so focused on Loki, on worrying that he would decide he had enough games and start stabbing everyone, that I missed the Executioner flowing through the fight. I realized my mistake the moment he appeared in front of me. I attempted to dodge the knife he swung but I was a hint too slow. It caught me across my forearm, leaving behind a thin red line. It wasn’t a serious blow, nothing that would kill me, but it was enough for blood to well and begin to drip.

  I jerked out of his reach, and we both began to circle each other like sharks. Suddenly, the other guards lost all focus on my movements, leaving me to their leader’s skills. Too bad I was trained by the one man that could have been equal to him.

  “You’re making a mistake,” I told him, side stepping, keeping him at the same length as he kept me. “We’re all going to die unless we can warn the Queen and the people, tell her exactly what’s happening.”

  “Your friends are the ones causing this,” the Executioner grunted, gesturing towards Thor where a bit of lightning snapped out and knocked another guard unconscious.

  I paused and twisted my face. “You’re an idiot. Bloody hell, you’re an idiot. Thod must have gotten all the brains in your family.”

  His lips quirked up. “He would argue the same.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Why are we not discussing this like adults?” I shook my head but kept my gaze on the man prepared to kill me if he got too close. “Loki and Thor are trying to help but by the time you figure out that we’re telling the truth, we’ll all be dead, and the world will be wiped clean.”

  The Executioner squinted his eyes. “And why should I believe a lady pretending to be a spy?”

  I scowled. “Because I’m a spy pretending to be a lady, you wanker. Because it’s obvious what’s happening. Because there’s a giant bloody wolf sitting there like a good boy instead of eating you! Are you really that stupid? If I told him to, Fenrir would eat you alive.”

  “And why don’t you, hmmm?” He narrowed his eyes but at least his rifle stayed at his hip. “Why not end this and sic your mutt on me?”

  I heard Fenrir growl and grimaced. Insulting the giant son of a God—was he also a God? —probably was not the best idea. “Because we come with peaceful intent. We’re attempting to spare lives and instead you keep standing in our way. The longer you keep me from doing my duty, the more people will die.”

  I let those words hang in the air, let them hover, but no words ever came from the Executioner’s mouth in answer. Instead, the fight was interrupted by someone new.

  “Stop!”

  We all froze at the word, at the command in it, and I turned at the same time everyone else did towards the woman walking across the lawn. She was dressed casually, in nothing more than a loose shirt, trousers and calf-high boots, but it was the eyes that told me exactly who she was, the power in them.

  I wasted no time. I bowed my head, even with the threat before me, I made myself vulnerable before her. “Your Majesty.”

  It didn’t escape my notice that none other than Thodeous Hedgecock walked beside her, a scowl on his face directed at his brother.

  “Let her speak,” Queen Victoria commanded, and I raised my head to meet her eyes.

  “But Your Majesty—”

  The Queen narrowed her eyes on the Executioner, folding her hands regally before her sternum. “I said,” her gaze fell on me, “let her speak.”

  The air whooshed out of me as those bright eyes met mine, as she smiled in encouragement. Not once did she glance at Loki, Thor, Skadi, or the large and small wolves with us, even though we must have made an interesting sight.

  “Lady Kingsford,” she murmured, moving through her guards to stand before me. “Thodeous has been telling me that you have information for me that must be heard.” She glanced towards the prison and then towards the large crack that split the street outside the iron gates. “And I’m inclined to believe him with what I’ve seen in the past few days.”

  And so I opened my mouth and let everything I had learned over the past week spill from my lips, addressing the Queen of England with all the respect she was due. When my knowledge failed, Loki and Thor stepped in, offering the rest of the legends that only they knew, the imposing Gods taking up protective stances on either side of me. The Queen’s sharp eyes didn’t miss the positions, but she also didn’t question it, not right then.

  “Is there any way to stop it?” Queen Victoria asked, her arms crossed over her chest as she listened closely.

  We all looked over at Skadi where she crouched in the snow with her wolves. I suspected Loki was keeping us all warm. As if his powers were an oven, I never once shivered as the Beast guards did. I knew Loki would never extend his powers to them, not after what they had done, but he included the Queen and Thod in his circle.

  “I found a mention of a cauldron, Odrorir, but we have to go to another realm to acquire it,” Skadi murmured, her eyes glancing up at the Queen. She didn’t bow to her, but she addressed her with respect, even if Skadi herself was a Goddess.

  “And this cauldron will stop Ragnarök?”

  “We think it will slow it, however,” Skadi paused, a frown on her face, “that will do nothing more than give us a little extra time to prepare. These first few stages have been quick, but the others, there could be long stretches between them, or they can come in pairs. We only have our own legends to go by and nothing more.”

  The Queen nodded. “What can I do to save my people?”

  Loki spoke up then, drawing Queen Victoria’s eyes. She studied him, the scars on his lips, and when he hesitated at her focus, I slipped my hand into his. “My suggestion would be airships,” he began at my touch. “The earth can crack, can splinter, can drown, but if you’re in the sky, those things cannot touch you. Our legends tell of a time after Ragnarök, a time of blackness, a realm of nothing, and my best guess is, if the world suffers, we could perhaps still live there.”

  “There are not enough
airships to house the entire world,” Thod pointed out, frowning.

  “I know.”

  Those were the words none of us wanted to hear, that no matter what we did, there would be lives lost, but perhaps, now that the Queen had heard us, now that she believed us, perhaps, we could save more than we would have otherwise.

  “You will want to be in the air before the next stage hits,” Thor murmured, grimacing.

  Queen Victoria straightened. “Tell me.”

  “Jӧrmungandr will rise from his watery prison, and with him, the seas will spill over their banks,” Loki murmured, glancing at me.

  “Is Jӧrmungandr another child?” I asked sadly at the look in his eyes.

  “Yes,” he whispered, keeping his eyes on me. “There will be tidal waves.”

  “Thodeous,” Queen Victoria turned towards the man at her side. “Go to the security room and order them to sound the imminent threat alarm.” She glanced at me, seeing the question in my eyes. “It was meant for war, but this is as good a time as any.” She looked towards her Beast Guild, at the few who still laid on the ground. “The rest of the guard, it will be your duty to ensure everyone knows to get as high as possible. If they cannot board an airship, instruct them to climb the taller buildings. Open the gates of the palace. Bring as many as you inside and get them to the roof.”

  It was a thing of beauty to watch the Queen of England, dressed in nothing more than trousers and a shirt, order so many moving pieces across the board. It was no wonder she made a fine Queen, no wonder that she was talked about with such approval.

  She whirled on me. “Lady Kingsford.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty?”

  “Get your affairs in order, survive the next stage, and I expect you to take the lead on finding this cauldron. We will need more time to build airships if we’re able to house as many people as we can. If we must take London into the skies, then that is what we shall do.” She stared at Fenrir behind me. “I appreciate you not eating my guards, great wolf.”