Chapter 4
Kasey's POV:
I can remember just a few things that Odin himself taught me when I was a child. One was always keep faith in a friend; they are more valued than gold and they outweigh time. The second was, never try to ride a Bildesnipe. But looking back, maybe that was a metaphor…

Narrative:

The sun was high the next day when Kasey woke. "Why didn't you wake me?" she asked, stuffing her now dry belongings back into her pack. She moved stiffly, and her side still hurt where she'd collided with something in the water.

"You needed to sleep," Thor explained, "before we go back."

Kasey stopped mid-step. "Go back?"

"You should be home, so you can recover. And -,"

"We're not going back! I didn't make it this far only to turn around."

"But he's right," Loki put in, "you need to recover."

"By the time we got back, I'd still have walked the length of Asgard. We're close to the edge now."

Thor opened his mouth to protest but Kasey put up a hand to stop him. "Look, Heimdall sees everything that happens, right?" she paused for Thor to nod, "so Odin knows what we've done by now and he knows what happened to me yesterday. We're all in trouble; it's just a matter of how deep. Might it lessen the blow if we at least try to succeed?"

Finally Thor nodded. "Alright. But you two take point."

Kasey smiled and stepped out the cave into daylight. "Are we far off track?"

"If we start climbing back up, we should meet the trail again quickly."

Kasey looked at the rocks as though they were vicious animals. She wanted to do this – for her own sake if not for completing the course and staying somewhat in Odin's good graces. But she knew the climb would be more than difficult for her.

"Look, I'll climb up." Loki offered. "We're not much further down from where we need to be. I can call back down to you two – you walk parallel to me. And we'll see how far you'll actually have to come up."

Kasey nodded in agreement, feeling relief flood her body and a peace blanketing her mind.

It was mid-afternoon when they heard Loki call to them a final time and Kasey used every bit of strength and determination in her body to pull herself from one rock to the next, until she stood beside Loki.

"There it is."

Kasey looked and saw a glimmering dagger set into a rock. When she touched it, she found it to be held tight, as if it had been melted into the stone.

"Any thoughts?"

"Hurry."

Kasey glared at Thor. "Is that it?"

"I'm only saying that if we're going to do this, we need to get at it," Thor pointed to the mountain trail below them, where they could just make out another team approaching.

"What's that on the stone?" Kasey asked, stepping closer.

Loki ran his fingers over the etched stone, "The Asgard symbol for 'worthy'."

"So one has to be worthy to pull it out? Must be one of you – the princes of Asgard."

Thor looked at his brother, and then reached out to take the dagger. But his fingers could only dip into the outline around it.

Loki tried as well, with the same result.

"Perhaps if you use your magic?" Thor suggested.

Kasey shook her head. "Magic alone is neither worthy nor unworthy; it is only a tool."

"Kasey, you try." Loki stepped back to give her room.

"Me?"

"You survived the river. And you wouldn't let us quit and go back. Surely that makes you worthy."

Kasey still had doubts, but she reached forward to brush her fingers over the jeweled hilt. Suddenly an enormous bellow ripped through the air behind them.

"Bildesnipe!" Thor shouted.

"Kasey! Run!"

As the three of them scattered toward the rocks, Kasey snatched the dagger away without a second thought.

"Kasey, here!"

She turned toward Thor's voice and jumped up at the rock he and Loki stood on. Thor caught her and pulled her up just as the beast's horned head swept past her legs.

"We're trapped by it!" Loki shouted as the huge creature tore around in front of them. It head-butted the rock they stood on and it shook violently, bringing them to their knees. "The rock won't take much more of that."

Kasey had never seen one before, only pictures. The Bildesnipe's shoulders nearly reached the top of their refuge – standing five feet tall at least – and it was covered in a tough, scaly skin. Two large horns curved around to the front of its face, while several stout horns ran along its spine. A thick mane fell between its shoulders.

"A mane," Kasey murmured, Odin's story coming back to her. "Never try to ride a…" She scrambled to her feet. "That's it!" she shouted.

"What is?" Thor asked. He had his dagger firmly in hand, though he knew it would never puncture the armored skin.

There would be just enough room between the horns for each of them to slip an arm between and hold on to a spike.

Kasey snatched the rope off Thor's pack and quickly tied it into a wide halter, much like she'd do with a horse. "We'll ride it!" she declared, crawling to the edge of the rock.

"Ride it!" Thor yelled. "Are you mad?"

"Possibly."

"We can't!"

"Do you want to stay here and have to be rescued? Or possibly be killed by this thing?"

Kasey dropped the remains of the dried meat she'd had in her pack, just beside the rock. The beast came in close to the rock and when his head came up with the morsel of food, Kasey dropped down beside it, slipping the makeshift halter over its snout. In one fluid motion, she swung an arm and a leg up between the sharp spikes and grabbed a handful of mane.

With an enraged bellow, the Bildsnipe went wild, jumping and tearing around in circles, trying to dislodge her. The sharp spike beside her grazed her face, just missing her eye. She ducked her face away and thanking the gods for the creature's short neck, Kasey pulled on the rope with all her might.

"What are you two waiting for, an invitation?"

Loki jumped off the rock while it was distracted and grabbed hold just behind Kasey.

Maneuvering the leg that rested just on the other side, Kasey found that while using the rope at the same time, she was able to turn the massive body. "Thor! For the love of Asgard, hurry up!"

Thor slipped down from his perch. Hands now free, he ducked in close beside the snarling animal, looking for an opening. Kasey pulled its head away from Thor and he jumped up opposite her side, latching on to a spike. "Do you have a plan to go with this idiotic –,"

Kasey pointed the beast down the trail that led down out of the mountain and let the rope go slack. "Hang on!" she screamed and gave a mighty kick.

Rock and dust flew everywhere as the massive feet careened down the side of the mountain. Thick claws dug into the ground as powerful muscles bunched and stretched under Kasey's legs, propelling them toward the bottom faster and faster.

"Kasey?" Thor's fearful tone called out.

Kasey heard the river fast approaching.

"Kasey! They can't swim! Turn it or something; he'll take us over!"

Kasey hauled on the rope with all she had, but the beast never slowed down. Thor and Loki could perhaps survive jumping off, but she wasn't so sure about herself. She didn't know yet how much of her Asgardian heritage matched theirs. The only option was to hang on.

"Kasey!"

"Hold on!"

In an instant they were airborne, sailing across the river. The ground rose up to meet them and she nearly fell off when the Bildsnipe hit the ground running. Her leg slipped and pain shot through it as a powerful kick landed from behind. She felt Loki reach out and grab the cuff of her boot, holding her leg up off the ground.

Reaching the bottom of the great mountain, Kasey turned the beast toward the open field and the castle beyond.

"Shouldn't we get off?" Thor called.

Tall grass and tree branches whipped across Kasey's face as she looked up to steer. "Be my guest!"

Ahead, she could see the castle walls fast approaching and a crowd gathering. For the first time, she felt her mount hesitate; then she remembered that Bildsnipes were commonly hunted, for they were fierce, dangerous animals. And here she was riding one to its enemy's front door. For the first time, she found herself having to urge the animal onward – and found that she had control of it! Her back and ribs ached from holding herself in such an awkward position and keeping her muscles tense.

A crowd parted, a mixture of fear and shock on their faces, as Kasey slowed her mount to a walk and stopped just in front of Odin and Frigga at the palace steps.

For a long moment no one said a word. Kasey, Loki, and Thor still clung to the beast like ticks on a deer; even the Bildsnipe seemed to be waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly Odin's great laugh rang out, echoing through the crowd. "I see you were right, Hiemdall – they are quite all right after all."

The gatekeeper's shadow fell across the stone in front of Kasey. When she looked up, Hiemdall was smiling at her. "When we discovered the three of you missing and Odin called upon me to find you, I do not believe anyone would have pictured this."

Kasey laughed shakily and slipped down to the ground. A cry of pain escaped her as her leg gave out. Loki jumped down and helped her stand, but her leg ached and burned. Thor came around and, taking one look at Kasey's leg, cursed the beast. At a glance from Odin, several armed guards surrounded the beast. Kasey felt the Bildsnipe shudder and she forced herself over to its head. It looked back at her as only a captive animal can. Intelligence flitted across its face; Kasey saw both fear and respect.

"I'll take him back," she told Odin.

"My dear, there is no such thing as a tame Bildsnipe. This creature was not intended to survive the trial – what warrior would do what you have done?"

"Form an alliance with one's enemy?" she challenged. "Indeed, what warrior?" Heart pounding, fearing the possibility of being wrong, she took a long look into the beast's eyes…and slipped the rope off. The massive snout rubbed against her chest and a long, low sound rang out – not a growl, but to Kasey, a sound of a resigned captive. Using the animal's shoulder as a crutch, she laid a hand across its shoulders and turned it away from Odin. The crowd parted and she led her new ally back through the now silent and staring festival and to the city's outskirts.

Once there, she turned to look it in the face. "I'm not sure, but I think you can understand me. After all, we got this far, right? Thanks for not eating us. Or attacking anyone here. You go on home now, alright? And maybe someday, somehow, I can repay you."

The creature blinked slowly, then turned and disappeared into the wilds of Asgard.