Chapter 40 – So That's Why These Guys Came Here
The shackled prisoner sat across from us. He had been forced to swallow a big gulp of the spiked Veritaserum. Anti-Apparation barriers were in place and Little Ba'al's circle had been turned down, such that magical energy here at ICW headquarters was very sparse. The prisoner's rather glassy eyes now moved back and forth among Odin, Hermione, Cissy, and me, but lingered upon Odin. He looked terrified of Odin. It was almost as if he viewed the rest of us with disdain. Secretary Afshar, his three agents, Danny, Ami, Yael, Harry, and four aurors, including Ron were closely guarding the prisoner.
"Why did you come to my country? We did nothing to harm you or yours. You are an invader." Danny projected quite a bit of anger.
"It's the easiest place for us to arrive on this world. The ribbon comes closest to your world in this city. We can't access The Great Black Stone, so we must follow the more dangerous path. Your people may not have harmed me or mine, but others on this world certainly did. Our leaders and the Gods who supported us are dead. We barely retain a presence in our own capital. Before people from this world came to our world, we were in charge and there was hope for the rural Vanir. You sit with the great oppressor, Odin. That is enough to make you enemy."
"Why did you break into my headquarters?"
"It seemed an important building. We needed to learn what we could. We wanted to find those who harmed us. We wanted to find the four who sit across from me. They are my enemies. They will not leave here alive. I am willing to die to achieve that. Others will kill Frijjo and Vili. The Vanir will be free and outside interference in our affairs will end."
I didn't see how our prisoner could possibly kill us, but I did my best to dial up my defences using Black Stone back in Britain. I messaged the others to do the same. "So, your people will invade to murder us."
"Not murder, this is war - war to defend our world against outsiders who would control us. By all right that is proper and lawful. Not all would kill you. Many say we should instead capture you and force you to listen to our position. We also have ways of detecting lies. We also have magic like your Unbreakable Vow. They would have us explain the right of our quest for worldly freedom and allow you to live if you accept our freedom. We are finished being the slaves of the Aesir or of their Terran allies. I did not think it likely we could capture you - killing is easier and far safer. I promised my leader to take that added risk to give his bad idea a chance. I am loyal, even unto death."
"Well, you're in luck. You can state your position just as well as our prisoner as you could if we were your prisoner."
"Not with Odin present."
"Please?" I made my wish clear to Odin. He shook his head but didn't appear angry as he left.
"You are his agent. He seeks to reassert his control over us."
"He, or rather Yggdrasil, is the ultimate legitimate sponsor of our Quest. We do not Quest to conquer you for Odin. I am determined that Hermione and I will be proper Muse, Mother and Light Guardian priestesses and avoid fighting, except when there is no other way to save ourselves or other innocents. I see the Keepers of The Great Black Stone of Vanaheimer and the average Vanir as innocents to be helped and protected. Both Hermione and I want you Vanir to choose your own government. We do not wish to fight for any side, although both Gina and Miomor tried to kill us."
"Miomor feared that you would impose Odin and Frijjo upon us. We fought to gain our independence. We do not count Frijjo as Vanir. Vili certainly is not Vanir and Frijjo serves him."
"You sound as though you don't know. We already told the Vanir. Frijjo is dead. Vili is Odin's prisoner."
"Not all believe Frijjo is dead. Her body was never returned to Vanaheimer."
"I've seen her body. She is dead. The Council did not want the return of her body. Not our decision to make."
"We fear Odin will release Vili and he will attack us."
"We also fear that. He has already attacked us. We defeated him. He was nearly dead when we returned him to Odin. I urge Odin to never release his brother, but fear that Odin will weaken. I am trying to convince Odin that we and the spiders will be good custodians of his world and people, when he departs his body. If we fail in that, I believe Odin will convince himself that Vili is largely cured and release him. I know full well that both Frijjo, and Vili, as well as Gna, the one Frijjo presented as her brother, Miomor, and the Vanir royals dream of conquering my world, as well as Odin's. That is our primary concern with your world. That and we agreed to build circles so your world could be truly magical again. We agreed to do that despite fearing your world. We decided that as the priestess representatives of a magical people, we had a duty to help another magical people, even if it required our people to spend a lot to defend ourselves against the time you attack us."
"I can tell that you believe Miomor was a threat to your people. I don't believe that. My Captain explained that disobedient guards and renegade Gods were responsible for the attacks upon you. Gna's allies instigated the fight. Things got out of hand."
"I can accept that Miomor might not be responsible for the attack from the rooftop. She certainly was responsible for the attack in the chamber of the White Columns. Her government hid dark Gods, a powerful magical circle, and a transporter for travel between worlds."
"That is like what my Captain says. The circle, Gods, and transporter were a last line of defence against Odin. Odin was present at the dinner. You sent for him. That terrified Miomor and then you snuck off and were likely to discover our greatest secrets. What happened seemed completely unavoidable self-defence to us. The vengeance of Odin would have been terrible. Our past is proof of that."
"And yet, your present shows that there has been no vengeance of Odin, even though we were attacked, and he knows all of the secrets hidden beneath the White Columns. I think he has surmised that enough of the White Columns have survived to still retain their function. My government and I certainly have concluded that. We travelled back from Hel through a White Column which was far more shattered than any of yours are. It makes no sense that your White Columns don't work."
"I have a duty to kill you for that secret alone."
"There are those not here, who also know that secret. It's buried a little in their minds, but they know and will remember. As a safeguard, I have just messaged all of the details I know and my logic to dozens of people."
"You can't... oh you can do that. You are very powerful. There is almost no magic here."
"You were chosen for this mission, because you are a truth-teller, weren't you?"
"Yes. I read truth but suspect you may have sufficient skill to lie to me."
"I might. I think I can get away with lies to some. I fooled the British lie machines and our government's court truth-tellers. I know that I couldn't get away with lying to Hermione. I know not being sure you can detect lies drives fear. I always distrusted Frijjo and Vili, more because I couldn't detect their lies than because of their actions, although there were a lot of bad actions."
"You could take our version of the Unbreakable Vow."'
"No!" A very alarmed Harry shouted. "I won't permit it."
"If we did, it would have to be a very carefully worded vow - almost a treaty-length vow.
"If you tried to destroy The Great Black Stone or murder its Keepers, I would intervene if I could. If you invaded Asgard, I would fear that we were next and feel obliged to help defend our world against yours. Obviously, if you tried to invade us, we would chase you back to Vanaheimer and continue the fight in your home."
"What if we fought against our royals?"
"I have no love of royals in general and I especially dislike yours. My brother has tried to lead a negotiation among your factions to produce a transition government which can lead to an elected government, which most Vanir can support."
"Transition governments can be very dangerous. Members of a transition government tend to die mysteriously."
"Well, what do you want?"
"In all honesty, which I can't avoid as drugged up as I am, my side believes that Miomor was the legitimate ruler and is willing to fight to maintain that rule. We might compromise a little, but we won't compromise a lot. If it comes to a fight just among us Vanir, we will win. How much compromise would you make in that situation? We will not give our royals a foothold. I'm happy that you and Frijjo killed so many of them. They should not be a part of the transition government. Is that a problem for you?"
"Not for me. I can't say if it's a problem for my government. I don't know if my brother Percy will be able to negotiate a peaceful transition without agreement from the royals. We don't even know who the royals are. Neither did Frijjo. I'm sure Percy would have tried to negotiate with their representative if he knew of a representative from that faction. They were all in hiding."
"That's all to the good. Your husband is here. He's your government. What does he think about the rights demanded by our royals?"
"I lead the government, but the Wizengamot also has a lot of power. I am not at all happy with your royals. They attacked the Keepers and my wife and friends. We certainly would not fight for them or insist that they be a part of negotiations, if you and the other factions don't want them. However, if they start fighting, because they object to being excluded, we certainly will not fight against them. If they attacked us in a place where we were present, like the pyramid, then we would fight. Otherwise, it's not our fight. So, if you and the Council, and the Keepers think you can form and maintain a government without royal support, we certainly have no reason to oppose that. It's not our world. We realize that. We have enough problems at home. I don't need yours."
"Do you trust and respect the Keepers of The Great Black Stone?" Hermione asked our prisoner. "You've somewhat transitioned from captive to your side's ambassador."
"I do. They've been religious figures who keep the magic going. Up until now, they've stayed out of politics. I know that you know that there are rival Keepers in the Village Vana. They oppose the Keepers of The Great Black Stone. The Village Vana Keepers support the royals as their first loyalty but would probably support us if we were in charge. That would be a problem, if the Keepers couldn't work out their differences.".
"Ah, we were stupid. We should have brought Arce with us. She is still here as the Vanir ambassador to our world. Are you willing to negotiate with her? Also, we need Percy. Harry: you shouldn't be here. You and Ron go home. Ron can bring back Arce and Percy."
"Yes, I will talk to them," the prisoner agreed.
I messaged Harry that if there was a way that the prisoner really could kill us, then his life could not be risked, since he was Minister. He messaged back that he was not willing to just hide behind me. A very disgruntled Harry departed with Ron.
"You come home, before you go anywhere else," Harry demanded. "I mean it!" I could tell from the angry tone that he was dead serious. I agreed. It was a compromise. He was honouring my wish that he leave. Well, really the wish of his aurors in addition to my wish.
I asked Secretary Afshar to please leave the Apparation barriers off. I knew they were lowered to allow Harry and Ron to depart. If not left down, they would have to be lowered by pre-arrangement to allow Ron to return with Arce. I had been mentally probing the barriers and thought I might well be able to defeat them if I Apparated to Durmstrang or back to our Black Stone - not a comfortable Apparate, but in a pinch I felt I could pull it off. I still felt a lot less suffocated and safer, when I sensed that the barriers were gone.
Unfortunately, our prisoner took that opportunity to Apparate out of his shackles and across the room. I dropped him with a wandless 'Off! His magic really wasn't very good. He badly splinched a foot. I hastened to help Hermione stop the blood and do what we could for the foot. I called over my shoulder to the Secretary "I know, I know, but I still want the Apparation barriers off."
I sensed that the Secretary complied with my request and kept them off. Hermione and I magically removed what was left of the shoe and sock from the half of a foot which remained. We stopped the flow of blood, yet again. It was a nasty injury. He would need a lot of work on that foot. I wasn't sure that I was up to it. Meanwhile, Hermione had found a serious problem.
"This guy does have a bomb inside him. I found it when I was reaching for his heart to give it a little magical energy to keep it beating smoothly. It's in front of his gut, right below his lungs. It's metal and about a foot long by a little over an inch in diameter. I think I can remove it from him, but I don't know if it will go off, or what to do with it once I do remove it."
Danny and Ami had been silent, all eyes and ears, throughout our interrogation and attempted repair of their prisoner. Now Danny offered "remove it and I'll dispose of it somehow."
"Way too dangerous. What if it goes off as you're moving it through the city?"
Ron was back with Arce and Percy and demanding to know "what the hell is happening? Harry and I leave for five minutes and..."
After a quick explanation, Ron demanded to personally transport the bomb to the ocean. Barb over-rode that idea, telling him two long-distance Apparates that quickly would leave him in the ocean with the bomb. The secretary furnished a strong box to hold the bomb. Hermione plopped the bomb into the box, and Barb was gone. I worried for Barb. I also wondered what use the Secretary normally made of a box, which looked designed to hold a small bomb. I didn't expect Barb to Apparate right back. I hoped for a Stone message. I waited.
Meanwhile, Hermione had fetched Odin, who went to work fixing the prisoner's foot. "I'm not at all sure he would trust me to do this, but he's in no position to object. I can't do all that good a job here. I really need to be inside Yggdrasil. This is as difficult as Frijjo's hand. That was a waste. She was barely healed before she died."
Odin muttered as he worked. I didn't respond until he asked, "Did you make any progress talking to this guy?"
"He really doesn't want you to ever return to Vanaheimer and thinks we are too close to you to be fully trusted. We did make some progress negotiating. We filled in Arce and Percy, as well as Odin, while Odin worked. Hermione checked the guy's guts, trying to determine if she had damaged them, when she removed his bomb.
I'm fine. The bomb is beneath the sea. I am resting in Greece with Phaedra. I'm going to rest for a few hours and then I'll rejoin you.
Good, that was one big load off my mind. The idea of aurors taking such big risks to keep me safe was something I was having a great deal of difficulty adjusting to.
"I've done everything I can do for him here. He needs to come to either Asgard or Terra. I'd prefer to finish his treatment inside Yggdrasil. In any case, it's time to wake him and ask him what he wants to do."
I reversed my spell. Since the 'Off!' spell causes its victim to be totally out, with no awareness of what has happened, the prisoner awoke to great confusion. The 'what happened, where am I?' The 'my foot! Where is the rest of my foot? I'm covered in blood."
"You tried to escape. I was forced to stun you."
"You splinched your landing. I was forced to finish repairing your foot, after Ginny and Hermione had done all that they could do. I hope you don't object too strongly."
"I removed your bomb. Barb safely disposed of it."
"You need to finish your treatment in a very highly magical space, where you can fully recharge yourself and heal at maximum speed. The only places we can take you to are my Asgard and Ginny's Terra. Or you can stay here and find out how well you heal in weak magic. What is your choice?"
"I can tell that Ginny isn't ready to have me in her part of this world. I'll go to Asgard with you."
We waited another fifteen minutes for Barb's return, then all joined hands and found ourselves inside Yggdrasil's parlor. I messaged Harry about a very necessary and very brief trip - just to Yggdrasil and back home within six hours. I explained what had happened. Harry was very upset when I told him about the bomb.
"Now just sit here against the cushions and drink some of this sweet tea. You are in the most magical spot in the galaxy. If you can't heal here, you can't heal anywhere. With this magical strength, I can do a little more to fix your foot, but my good friend Yggdrasil will finish the job."
"Am I really on Asgard and did Hermione really remove the bomb?"
"You are on Asgard."
Hermione pulled up his shirt in answer. "We are more magical than you. That is why your forces would be very well advised not to invade our world."
"I will promise to stay away from your world if that is what the Vanir truly wish. Make no decisions while you heal. Then you must return home and talk to your fellow Vanir. I wish you no harm and I and the Questers can help you. I admit to trusting Frijjo and Freyr too much. They fought a secret war against us in seid-space. They lost that war as well."
Elves arrived with food and drink. We all indulged. Odin kept up a stream of harmless chatter. We drank quite a bit of Aesir wine, although Odin limited the prisoner to one glass. "It seems strange not to know your name, now that we've all been through so much together," Odin finally addressed the prisoner again.
"My name is Evrrd. Are you really going to return me to Vanaheimer? What about my aide?"
"We didn't bring your aide. It didn't seem safe to put the two of you together," Danny replied.
"If you don't mind returning to the pyramid of The Great Black Stone, we can have you back home in an hour. Your foot will be as good as I can make it by then. You'll have to arrange your own transportation from the pyramid."
"Yes."
Yggdrasil transported both Arce and Evrrd to the pyramid. Arce felt that her presence might be required to explain the situation and prevent a fight from breaking out.
