Chapter 44 – What Should We Do Now?

We waited another two hours before re-checking the world outside door number one. It was dawn. There was a large plain of green grass, almost as far as the eye could see. The plain terminated in a long mountain range, which covered the entirety of the far horizon. There were dots of something, far in the distance. Not having anything to judge the distance against, I couldn't tell if the dots were buildings, people, or grazing animals. I was seized by a desire to step out and explore. My self-control won out over impulse and I returned to the floor of the pyramid to report what I had seen and to make plans to explore this inviting world.

We decided that the others would guard the pyramid and Hermione, as she communed with this alien black stone, while I led a scouting party outside the pyramid. I planned to take Barb, Cho, Adrienne, Mafalda, Catta, Aagog, and Blacky with me, but Tony wanted to send Stewart and Captain Davies with us, as his personal representatives. Dad agreed to this addition to the scouting party before I had a chance to respond. We were well armed. Cho had the Gryffindor sword and Barb the Joan d'Arc sword, ring, and shield. Captain Davies carried the grenade launcher.

As soon as we were all outside the pyramid, I closed the door behind us. I told Captain Davies that I wanted to set up a defensive position, with our backs against the pyramid, while Aagog climbed the pyramid and Blacky scouted from the sky. She willingly accepted my order. I had my astronomy telescope with me, so I scanned the horizon. The black dots were buildings. They were far closer to the mountains than they were to us. There were several dozen of them, arrayed in an arc from almost as far as I could see to my right to almost straight ahead of us. I saw the smaller dots of grazing animals, which had been too distant to see with my bare eyes.

"Do you think we dare to visit those buildings?" I asked Cho.

"I think we must, but not until we know more. We need a safe way of finding out who runs this place and whether that being is friend, foe, or neutral. We don't want to blunder up against a stronger, hostile force. This may just be a world we must avoid."

An excited Aagog scurried right from the side of the pyramid onto my shoulder. "There is big city on other side of pyramid. You must come see!"

I asked my companions to crouch around me in a circle, so that I could apparate us atop the pyramid. I didn't want to announce our presence by arriving standing. I could see where the top of the pyramid must be, but couldn't actually see it.

I asked Aagog if the top was perfectly flat, going back from the edge.

"Yes, it is flat. It is many times as wide as you are tall."

Okay, I could safely do this if I just aimed a little high. Arriving just inside the near edge of the top of the pyramid would make us less visible from the ground. I gritted my teeth and apparated us a little over a foot above where I was sure the top of the pyramid must be.

I found myself falling a lot farther than I had expected. I must have brought us in with my side a foot higher than those on the far side of our circle. I fell three feet to the ground, first jarring my ankles and then banging my knees upon the hard stone. Fortunately, Mafalda's old knees were at the lower end of the circle and she fell only about a foot and a half. Since we clung to each other's hands, our circle just fell in upon itself and we at least shielded each other's heads from banging against the stone.

Stewart had the most presence of mind, instructing us "lie on your stomachs and crawl toward the far edge, so we can't be seen from the ground."

A good tactic, but very painful to execute on damaged knees. It was only fair that, as the person responsible for a bad apparate, I got the worst of the landing, but it was torture to crawl across the almost-smooth stone. I cheated and decided that we would levitate each other to the far edge. That put our bottoms about six inches higher, but spared further injury.

I didn't know what to expect as I peered across the far edge of the pyramid. What was a large city to a spider, who lived with several dozen kin in a medium-sized cave? It wasn't London, but it was big. There were thousands of buildings, some quite large, grouped along both sides of a river. I thought the tallest buildings must be eight to ten floors high.

I pulled out my astronomy telescope and studied the buildings. They were stone, with windows and doors and gardens on the roofs. I saw a few beings on the street. They looked basically human. This certainly wasn't a world of Leprechauns, Elves, Goblins, Centaurs, Unicorns, or spiders. I was studying the beings so intently that I shouted out, when Blacky surprised me by landing on my back. I also suffered some claw scratches, which certainly justified my outcry.

"This world be Vanaheimr," Blacky told me. "It is the home of the Vanir. They be the lesser Gods. Frijjo is Vanir."

"Does that mean they are friends of Odin? Does that mean that they will treat us well?" I pumped the raven for more information. It felt strange thinking a bird could answer such questions, but then a talking bird IS strange, and I was used to Fawkes doing incredible things, so why not my Blacky?

"Vanir sort of friends. They be jealous of major Gods. Frijjo brother very dangerous, not like Odin."

I relayed all of this to the group, telling them that perhaps a visit to the city should wait until we had Frijjo with us, or at least until after we spoke to her about her brother.

"Is there any more exploring that we should do right now?" Barb asked in a way that suggested I would be a fool to answer 'yes'.

I had just declined further exploring when I received and urgent message from Harry.

{[Frightened] We're under attack. Help! One of the guys looks a lot like Odin. Some of the creatures with him look truly nasty.}

"Attack inside the pyramid!" I shouted to my companions. We have to join the fight. I'll apparate us to the rear of the pyramid."

We joined hands and I apparated us… right into a big battle. Well, twenty feet to the side of where the attackers were pressing our guys back up against the black stone.

"They be demons!" Stewart declared, pointing at the attackers. They were naked, red-skinned, sort-of-men with horns sprouting from their heads, brilliant red eyes, and a flickering ethereal flame surrounding their bodies. There were half a dozen of them on the attack and two more appeared to be emerging from the small circle.

The closest attacker had Cissy backed up against the black stone and was stabbing at her with its trident. Cissy looked terrified, but was firing curses at the thing, while a soldier beside her stepped forward to fire her assault rifle right into the attacker's chest. This didn't faze the attacker, but it turned and stabbed the soldier, who collapsed towards it, impaled upon the trident. I pointed my wand at this attacker, shouting "kill!" It didn't fall, but it stopped advancing upon Cissy and tried to turn to confront me. I had no qualms about using 'kill!' here under the rules of Quest. The demons were killing my team and they seemed to me to be some sort of spirit inferi, not living thinking beings.

The weight of the dead soldier impeded the Demon, which wished to attack me. It was trying to shake its trident free of her. I was ten feet from the thing as it shed the dead soldier and turned to face me. It raised the trident to shoulder height, looking like it intended to hurl its trident at me.

I was reaching for more and more Stone-power. A second "Kill!" rocked it back on its heels. As I fired a third "kill!" at the thing, Barb appeared at my side and slashed the thing with the Joan sword. Its head was lopped off and fire spurted from the neck as the body shriveled in upon itself, becoming nothing but glowing embers.

"The swords work," I shouted. "Cho must use Gryffindor."

My eyes searched for Harry. I found him trying to fend off another demon, who was trying to attack Hermione, while she sat upon the stone floor, trying to pull something out of her magical bag.

I fired repeated "kill!" curses at Harry's attacker, while Mafalda gave it the 'Avada Kedavra!' As it turned to assess us, I saw that Hermione had succeeded in removing the monolith from her bag.

"The demons are coming from the circle. Odin is summoning them. You must attack him," Hermione pointed.

Barb slew the demon, I was cursing, allowing me to focus upon the little circle. There was a bright glow surrounding the lodestone. Odin was standing in front of the glow, staring right at me. He had only one eye! It was an overly big, malevolent eye, as if it had enlarged to make up for the loss of its companion. It was staring right at me, as if it could propel a killing curse just by looking my way.

"Mafalda, Cho! We need to do a triple curse," I commanded. Barb guarded us with her sword, while the three of us quickly knelt side-by-side, touched the tips of our wands and shouted "off!" in unison.

I saw Odin take the green lightning bolt square in the chest. I saw him stumble a half-step backwards, as another two demons emerged from the fiery glow and floated past him. I thought Odin would fall, but he steadied himself. He looked ready to attack us, as he managed to stumble a full step towards us. Suddenly, the nearest two silicon crystals of the circle exploded.

The fiery glow above the lodestone exploded outward, consuming the outer silicon ring of the circle. I felt a wave of heat and then a huge blast of air, which threw me back against Harry and Hermione.

I scrambled back to my feet. Barb was lying on the floor beside me, looking totally dazed. I picked up the Joan sword and searched for Demons to slay. Most of them looked stunned. A couple were lying motionless on the stone floor, but I saw one on its feet and advancing upon Dad and Tony. It had lost its trident. I apparated as I swung Joan's sword, putting myself in the perfect position to lop off the Demon's head.

I saw another Demon ten feet away. It was vertical, but supporting itself with its trident, as it staggered toward Pegasus and Cantring. I raised my sword to attack it, but Pegasus charged the thing. Just as she impaled it with her horn, it shattered in a burst of flaming sparks.

One of the fallen demons farther along the side of the black stone was pulling itself to a sitting position. I swung the Joan sword, and it was dead. There were no more demons in front of me. I turned toward the inner circle. I saw Cho dispatching fallen demons. Farther ahead, inside the remains of the little circle, Odin was using the lodestone to pull himself into a standing position.

I turned back to Harry, telling him we needed another triple curse. Harry grabbed Cissy and I asked Adrienne to join them. Cho and I guarded the trio as they advanced upon the still dazed Odin. "Use the 'off' curse," I told them. "Aim for the eye!" We got to within ten feet of Odin, before he was fully upright and was turning to face us. Seeing Odin's motion, Harry and the others quickly knelt in firing position. Odin's eye was staring right at me and I was ramping my defensive charms to a level I wouldn't have thought possible, when the green lightning bolt struck that eye and Odin fell forward, banging his head upon the stone.

"Lots of goop," Cissy suggested.

We left Odin's body in a white, goop-cocoon, right up to just below his nostrils. I was admiring our handiwork, when I saw Aagog crawl up his head and bite the tip of his nose.

I don't know if Odin is even killable, but it certainly seemed like we had him neutralized, at least for the next twenty-four hours, until the 'super-off!' wore off. What happened at that time might be truly unpleasant. I didn't know what to do with Odin. I needed answers. I needed to talk to Frijjo, as dangerous as that might be.

The thought 'dead comrades!' flashed across my bedazzled mind. I say 'bedazzled', because I don't know what else to call my dazed, super-adrenalized, combat-ready, fully Stone-charged, seen-way-too-much-carnage mind. I hastened back to the black stone to help the wounded.

Hermione was tending to Tony, who had a nasty burn on his right shoulder. Three of his dead soldiers lay beside him. Commander Harkwright was seated behind him. She was bleeding from her scalp and looked dazed. I sat beside her and put my ancient priestess healer skills to use. At my present stone-revved level of power and focus, I quickly discovered a small crack in the skull beneath her forehead. I repaired this, as well as two small broken blood vessels inside her head. I vanished accumulated blood from within her head, so I could get a better look. I didn't see any other serious damage, although her brain seemed bruised. The damage was to such tiny blood vessels, that it took an hour to clean up this damage. I knew the proper potion to use. I knew Hermione would have the potion. Hermione had everything.

Hermione left Tony just long enough to find the potion in her bag and to help me get it inside Commander Harkwright's head. Then she was back to helping Tony.

I checked out the rest of my team. The British soldiers had taken the worst of the attack. Only the unscathed Captain Davies and Commander Harkwright had survived. One auror was dead and a second had his wand arm destroyed. It was still there, but so badly burned that I had no hope of repairing it. I had to remove it, to save his life. For some reason, he thanked me for this.

I went back to check on Tony. I had to ask Stewart and Dad to step aside. I could tell that Hermione had done excellent work and that Tony would keep the arm.

I moved along to check on Pegasus. She had a singed face. Fortunately, she had closed her eyes as she impaled the demon. Her sight was undamaged and it was a simple matter to erase the damage of the singed hair and slightly burned skin. I was glad to be able to restore her to pristine condition. Pegasus thanked me, but pointed to a second Unicorn in need of the same remedy. I quickly performed the same fix for this Unicorn, whom I learned was N'Atron. N'Atron had also killed a demon, by impaling it.

"We need to talk about what just happened," I told the group. "Where did the attackers come from?"

Cissy said that she had remarked to Odin that he was missing an eye. He had responded that he would ignore the rudeness of her remark.

Odin had brought with him the purple diamond I had returned to him. He had told the group that he realized that the circle needed to stay energized. Problems had been encountered elsewhere in his realm and he must now fix them. He installed the diamond in its little silver nest, rebuking my team for damaging the delicate silver lattice of the nest.

As soon as Odin stepped away from the diamond, the diamond had begun to glow. The glow spread until it covered the entirety of the lodestone. The glow intensified into a shimmering flame, which grew brighter. As the light grew so bright that Cissy had squinted her eyes, the first pair of demons had emerged.

Cissy shivered as she finished her tale. "Odin looked right at me as he said, 'Now I think you all must prepare to fight and possibly to die. Die well and a place awaits you in Valhalla. Die poorly and I shall never see you again – the mists of Beyond will swallow you up.' And then the demons attacked us. If you hadn't come back when you did, I fear we would all be dead. Our curses were almost useless. Our defensive charms delayed them little. They feared the Unicorns. That and your return are all that saved us. I won't say that this was a great adventure. Really, it was awful."

I realized that Hermione and I needed to find a spell which could slay a Demon. Beyond that, we needed more highly magical swords.

I expected a lot of disagreement as I told the group, "I think at least some of us need to return to Asgard to learn what we can from Frijjo. The Odin inside this pyramid was not the Odin we met in Asgard. We need to learn why he changed."

Dad was too stunned by the battle to object strongly. "Give it more serious thought. It won't benefit you to rush back to Asgard unprepared."

I promised to delay. I did want to take the time to see if Hermione or I could mine an anti-Demon spell from within our unsorted Light Guardian knowledge. Perhaps my Black Stone knew the answer. It made sense to stop back at Hogwarts. The danger was that we couldn't just leave Odin to recover in another twenty-two hours. We certainly couldn't bring him back to our own world and possibly watch him demolish Hogwarts and my Black Stone.

As I was considering what to do, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Adrienne presented me with the remains of the purple diamond. There were two very nice, intact but quite small purple diamonds and two larger pieces, which were cracked and scorched. I borrowed Harry's handkerchief to wrap the pieces and placed the carefully tied cloth in the pocket of my jeans.

"The little circle is destroyed," Adrienne told me. "The crystals are mainly dust and the central lodestone has split into three pieces. It will not be repaired quickly. I would hate to see it repaired."

So would I. Hermione suggested that we could leave Odin where he was for a few hours. She could weave a web of spells, which would prohibit apparation, if he somehow regained alertness and would prevent anyone else from helping him. That's what we did. As a final touch, we covered him with the two Weasley invisibility cloaks, hoping that would prevent an ally from finding his inert body.