Regina let loose a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as they finally entered the Crossings. The portal pathway had spun beneath their feet and over their heads, descending into a star-filled void. She'd seen more than a few freaky things in her time, but walking that swirling stone path into the Crossings had given her a queasy vertigo. She swallowed hard and forced herself to concentrate on the prisoner walking in front of them, mulling over how best to get useful information out of the man. She might not survive this trip into Asgard, but she'd be damned if she gave up an opportunity to question an enemy combatant. Somehow, she might be able to get information to her people that could tip the balance of the war.
The Asgardian was performing his part well, thus far. They had entered the portal at his heels, Rhys leading the way with his glowing orb key held aloft. Emma had her own hidden away in her pocket, but for now, they needed to appear like defeated prisoners being led into Asgard. Regina's wrists chafed at the rope looped around them. To outward appearances, she and Emma were securely bound, but a proper twist of the rope would free them easily. They were also convincingly bedraggled after their day spent fighting Sentinels and busting Ruby out of the Dark Palace. Had that really just been this morning? thought Regina, tiredly.
Ruby trotted in wolf form at the man's side with her usual easy grace, as though it were her natural place in the world. Given that she had already spent months at his side in this way, she wouldn't raise any suspicions by accompanying Rhys on a trip to Asgard. Regina rolled her eye as she watched the pair, continuing to be irritated by her lieutenant's piss-poor choices where this Asgardian was concerned. Emotions coursed between the two of them too strongly for Regina to be able to predict what either would do in any given situation, and they could not afford unpredictability. But she had little choice in the matter now. They were on their way into Asgard itself, on what was likely to be a suicide mission. Beggars couldn't be choosers.
"You're making me nervous, Swan. What are you expecting to attack us, exactly?" she murmured to Emma, who was glancing behind them frequently enough to make Regina twitchy. The Crossings were a strange place, even by Regina's tolerant standards. They were striding through an ocean of stars, their boots ringing dully on an ancient-looking stone path. They seemed to be alone in the vastness of the universe. It was…unnerving.
"Last time we came through, there was a huge troll guarding one of the crossroads. We were lucky to get out alive."
"That's it?" asked Regina, derisively. "You're really off your game these days if you can't handle a single troll."
Emma shot her a dirty look.
"Wasn't exactly your average troll."
"Anyway," interrupted Regina, "Ruby said she came through here with Rhys without a problem. Maybe the way we're going is safer than where you traveled."
"Hope so."
"Is that a crossroads ahead?"
"Yeah…looks empty," said Emma, hopefully.
The crossroads was marked simply with a dusty pillar erected in the center of a broad circle where four paths intersected. Regina startled at seeing the carvings on its faces. They looked suspiciously like the symbols she'd seen the Norns cutting into the bark of that horrible tree. She searched her memory for any familiar symbols, but couldn't be sure she recognized any.
Without pausing at the pillar, Rhys began leading them down one of the pathways, but Ruby sat back on her haunches and growled. Regina tensed.
"Hey Asgardian, I don't think Ruby agrees with your choice of directions," said Regina, threateningly. She loosed her bonds and reached for her chest, preparing to pull out his heart and give it a good squeeze. The Asgardian stopped, cocking his head questioningly at the wolf. He raised his hands slightly as though in surrender and returned to them. Ruby growled again, sounding a bit peeved. She turning her back on him, tail lifted in high dudgeon, and trotted toward another of the pathways.
"Clever girl," he murmured to Ruby as she passed, as though impressed against his will.
"Just where did you think you were taking us?" asked Regina, still contemplating taking out his heart and reminding him what was at stake for him if he betrayed them. She wasn't really surprised that he would try something. Of course he'd be testing their boundaries, trying to find a way out of his predicament. She'd do the same.
"A shortcut," he replied, with a small shrug, as though to say it made no difference to him which was they went.
Regina approached the pillar and studied the markings. She pulled her field notebook from her pocket and made a quick sketch of each of the symbols along with a rudimentary map of the Crossings they'd traveled thus far. Ruby knew which fork took them to Asgard, so Regina made a note identifying its symbol, which was a trio of linked triangular shapes that reminded Regina of mountains, followed by another nonsensical string of markings. The road from which they'd come was marked by a serpent eating its own tail and a cluster of indecipherable squiggles. The symbol for the road that Rhys had tried to lead them down was an eye inside a triangle inside a circle.
She looked up from her sketches to find Rhys staring at her. He seemed to find her puzzling over the markings to be amusing.
"It's really not surprising how easily conquered your world was, given how little your kind has remembered of the old ways."
Regina repressed the urge to pull out his heart simply for the joy of forcing him to smack himself in the face. She settled for giving him a withering glare. She'd enjoy making him hurt, when the time was right. For now, the mission was all that mattered.
"Let's go," she said, pointing at the path where Ruby sat waiting.
Rhys complied, and they set off again.
"You said my son is in a place called the Temple of Questioners. Is that some kind of church?" asked Emma.
The Asgardian ignored the question, instead asking with a puzzled expression, "Curious that both of you call the boy your son. Perhaps my understanding of human anatomy is lacking."
"Answer her question," snapped Regina.
"The Temple is the seat of power for the Order of the Sun."
"What's the Order of the Sun?"
Rhys turned his head and gave them a questioning look, as if to judge whether they were joking. He snorted with disbelief at realizing they truly didn't know.
"Cut the 'ignorant human' crap and just tell us," growled Emma.
"Marching right into Asgard without even knowing what you're up against," he muttered, shaking his head. "I thought you were mad, but it seems you're just foolish."
Ruby growled unhappily at this, and Regina thought she saw a flash of apology on Rhys' face as he glanced down at the wolf.
"The Order is the most powerful force in Asgard. They're something akin to warrior monks."
"Magically powerful?" asked Regina.
He nodded. "Indeed. All the most powerfully gifted boys are culled from the populace at a young age and sent to the Tower. They are the power behind the throne."
"Throne? Our intel says there is no king or queen in Asgard," said Regina.
"There has been no royalty since the Long War. Fifteen centuries ago."
"But there's still a throne? How does that work?"
"A prophecy was made by the last great Seeress at the time of our defeat. It said that the throne would sit empty until Odin's return. The throne has since been held in trust by the Order. They have quietly ruled Asgard ever since, albeit via the proxy of the aristocracy. They have very deep coffers."
"Odin? Isn't he a god or something?" asked Emma.
Rhys's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "So you aren't completely ignorant, then," he said, then continued before she could reply. "Yes, though demigod might be the better term. There are beings in our world, like Odin, who live mortal lives with unimaginable magical power. They die, and live again, an unending circle. The Order is devoted to worship of these beings. Though some would say they are more devoted to-"
He stopped himself, as if he'd said too much.
"More devoted to what?" asked Regina, her interest piqued. This was more intel than they'd ever gotten in the last five years.
Rhys remained silent.
"You keep saying we're fools who are going to die on this quest, anyway. What's the harm in telling us?" she prodded. "Besides, you know I can force you. Might as well come out with it."
He sighed, but began again, resigned.
"There are some who say the Order is too powerful. That they use their connection to the demigods to augment their own control over Asgard."
"Assuming there really is such a thing as demigods, why does the order have this connection to begin with? What makes them so special?"
"They are the ones destined to find and raise up the Wanderer when he returns."
"This Wanderer is Odin, I take it?"
"Yes. And twelve years ago, they found him," he replied, sounding less than thrilled about it.
Regina missed a step. "What? He really exists?"
"So they tell us. In truth, the demigods have been something of a distant memory for Asgardians. We are much longer lived than humans, but even for us the Long War is ancient history. It has been an age since any of Odin's ilk walked among us. Mostly, we forgot about them and rebuilt our world from the ruins of the War. Only the Order remembered, and waited for the Prophecy to come to pass. I never thought I would see it myself."
Rhys sounded weary, almost regretful. Was it possible that not all Asgardians were happy with this conquest they were making of other worlds? Ruby had reported to her that Rhys seemed sympathetic to their plight. Or he had, at least, before her betrayal was revealed and they took him prisoner.
"So the ruler of Asgard is a twelve-year old?" asked Emma, confused.
"Fifteen actually, since he was three years when they discovered him. Technically he is ruler, though he has not yet been publicly revealed. The Order has had him closeted somewhere, training in secret since his birth."
"Then how do you know he's really who they say he is?"
"There have been signs. Things foretold have come to pass."
"Like the opening of the Crossings? Soria Moria?" asked Emma.
Rhys glanced back at Emma with another surprised expression.
"You know more than I would've guessed, Emma Swan. Yes, these among other things are signs that were predicted at the end of the Long War. The Order has maintained an invisible grip on the levers of power for centuries, readying for the day the Wanderer reappeared."
"Were you always a soldier?" asked Regina. She needed to feel him out on the capabilities and training of their military, to find weaknesses.
"No. I was not always a soldier," replied Rhys, curtly and with a tone that said this was a topic he would prefer be left alone.
"Were you a merchant? A farmer?" pressed Regina. "Fisherman? Courtier?"
He stopped mid-stride and half-turned his head, glaring at her from the corner of his eye. A muscle twitched in his jaw.
"My past is my own. Do not question me further on this."
Regina sensed she'd struck a sore spot. Good. She could use this. She shifted tactics, keeping him off-base.
"Tell me about the Temple. How is it guarded?"
Rhys' postured loosened at the change in subject and he began walking again. "It is a fortress. Every man in it is a living weapon."
"How many?"
"Acolytes in training, perhaps five hundred. Their numbers have surged since Odin's re-emergence. Fully trained Brothers…there are likely fifty at most within the Temple. They are dispersed throughout Asgard and the outer worlds finding new recruits and coordinating the war."
"Anything else? Sentinels?"
"Undoubtedly. Most are deployed at the fronts, but there will be a number within the Temple."
"And where do they keep their future ruler?"
Rhys shrugged. "He could be in the Temple training as an anonymous Acolyte, or hidden with a family in plain sight. Only the Order knows for sure, until they make his debut when he comes of age."
"Why is Asgard conquering other worlds?"
Rhys hesitated before answering. "That is…complicated."
"Enlighten us," drawled Regina.
"Yeah, we'd love to hear your justification for slaughtering innocent people," added Emma pointedly.
"You'd have to know the history of the Long War to understand. The worlds were all closely linked before the war. Commerce, art, languages, people…all of it flowed easily between our worlds via the Crossings. There was a time this place was full of caravans of merchants and politicians and travelers of all descriptions," he said, gesturing at the desolate avenues around them. There was a tinge of sadness in his voice. "There was also strong magic tying all of the races together, a connectedness. The war severed all of this."
"What started the war?"
"Again, it's complicated. The demigods always played out their own dramas and intrigues amongst themselves. The histories tell us that the Wanderer had a falling-out with another demigod, one who was like a brother to him. The ripple effects of this conflict swept up the mortal races in their wake, and splintered them. When the war was over, all were crippled by it and magic damaged forever. The mortal lives of the Wanderer and his nemesis were ended, though the details were lost to time. They were foretold not to be reborn for centuries. Asgard was torn asunder, our people decimated. It took generations of toil to rebuild our strength. Some would say we would've been better off to remain as we were with all the worlds separate, but at peace."
"Why couldn't you?" demanded Regina angrily.
"The Order has the weight of prophecy behind them, and they say we are destined to reunite the worlds. And to rule them all."
"And you just do whatever this Order tells you to do?"
"Don't presume to know anything about my motivations!" snapped Rhys angrily. He refused to tell them more, short of torturing him, so they let him be for the moment.
She shared a curious glance with Emma. Maybe not all Asgardians were happy about this war, and perhaps this could work to their advantage. They walked in silence for a time, Regina's mind racing with possibilities. So much had been a mystery to them for five years, their people suffering and dying at the hands of Asgardians without even understanding why. Now she had information, and that was going to help them win this war. She just needed to figure out how to get this intel to her people.
They traveled silently for the better part of an hour. Finally, the path began to rise and curve until they found themselves atop another spinning portal. As they wound into its center, the infinity of space winked away. Around them stretched a moonlit field, stalks of wheat rustling gently in the silver light. Regina drunk deeply of the thick, sweet air. Every breath she'd taken for the past five years had been tinged with acrid smoke and the taste of burnt forest and death. There was none of that here. Just soft evening air, clean and pure. She shook herself out of a daze. Despite the loveliness of this place, she had to be on guard. Emma beside her was also taking stock of their surroundings, hands out and ready to summon magic. Asgard, Regina realized with a shock, was absolutely thrumming with magic. She closed her good eye, marveling at the potency of it pressing in on her skin like electricity in a storm. Her lips curved in a wicked smile. The Evil Queen had arrived in Asgard.