WOLVERINE'S WORLD - THE GIANT
The dark-elves who had survived our recent battle were retreating back across the river. And Emma assured me that there were no other pursuers. There's a tremendous advantage to having someone on your side who can mind-scan the region around you.
We took a moment to regroup.
The arrow in my arm had to be dealt with. Emma and Anna seemed particularly disturbed by it. The non-Blood often don't seem to really understand that such wounds are actually minor to my kind.
Benjamin offered to help and I didn't hesitate. First, he broke off the fletching and then the broad-headed point of the arrow. Taking a firm grip of my wrist, he yanked the shaft loose. He was quick and very efficient. The procedure didn't hurt anywhere near as much as the last time.
Anna was still incapacitated and I was worried about her. She needed time to recover from the strain she'd put on herself and so far she wasn't getting it. At the moment, she was curled up with her head in Faye's lap. That would help, but she needed a lot more rest.
Emma pulled the map from my pack and examined it closely.
"The Point has a river outpost just a dozen miles south of here," she reported. "I remember passing it when we came up this way. That would be a good place to take refuge."
I nodded as I continued applying pressure to the perforation through my arm. The wound was closing up, but it would take a minute or so to finish healing. Deep through-and-through injuries like that are irritatingly slow to regenerate.
Benjamin frowned at Emma. "South, you say?"
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Benjamin shook his head. "When I was hunting those flying critters, I chased them through the tree-tops. It was quite a view. There's something on fire to the south of us."
By then, while my arm still ached and was oozing blood, I could finally make some use of it. Benjamin was waiting for me by the time I finished climbing to the top of a nearby tree.
He was right. Off to the south, not too far from the river, a tendril of dark smoke was rising out of the forest.
"Its unlikely to be a lightning fire, it wasn't been dry enough," Benjamin observed.
"But that's not the fort," I said to Benjamin. "That fire is only about five or six miles away."
"Perhaps a farm-hold?" Benjamin suggested.
"Maybe," I replied thoughtfully. "But that would be a rather isolated farm - not at all a safe place for a single holder and his family. However, there are mining, logging, and fur-trading camps all up and down the valley. It could be one of them."
"Should we skirt around?" Benjamin asked. It sounded like he favored the idea.
I paused and examined the landscape around us.
A flight of birds - a breed of sparrow more common to the mountains of the north than to the local river valley - rose out of nearby stand of trees and flew off. The path of their flight was directly towards the smoke.
On the other side of the smoke, I saw a flicker of heat-lightning on the horizon.
"We'll take a look," I replied slowly.
Actually, it turned out to be an old mining camp. The tall and crumbling tailings pile was unmistakable. However, every building was wrecked and ablaze. Even the headframe - constructed of two foot thick timbers that were now oddly splintered and shattered - had been knocked to pieces and was burning.
To say the least, it didn't look like a natural fire.
The others kept to the trees while Rahne and I scouted the perimeter of the mine. We quickly found a trail leading from the camp and into the bluffs beyond.
"Have you ever seen anything like this?" Rahne asked me worriedly.
The trail consisted of felled, uprooted, and torn-apart trees. It was as if something immensely powerful had moved through the forest, smashing anything that was in its way out of existence.
"A particularly powerful Green Bastard might be able to do this," I responded.
I crouched to examine a track. It was from a booted foot - and was at least twice the length of my foot.
Rahne and I exchanged a look.
Then the wind shifted and we could hear distant voices.
The others joined us. Hiding on tree-covered hilltop, we watched the strange scene below us.
The trail of wrecked trees ended in a clearing between two hills. In the middle of the clearing was a huge, man-like, figure. It was lying on its back, arms by its sides and its legs rigidly stretched out. It reminded me of a statue that had been knocked from its pedestal.
The strange figure was about eight foot tall and broadly built. It was completely clad in banded metal armor. I estimated its weight as being at least five hundred pounds - and probably closer to eight hundred. A full helmet concealed any face and featured a strange metal flap on its brow. There were no eye-slits or other openings in the helm.
I wondered momentarily if it was some unknown form of Iron Men armor, but then dismissed the thought. The Iron Men had their secrets, but there was no good reason for a hitherto unknown suit of their very rare armor to be abandoned in the middle of nowhere. Besides, it simply didn't look like the Iron Men's kind of technology. The metal work struck me as being very different - the style seemed more old-fashioned.
Three people were clustered around the armored giant, rigging a block and tackle. They had an ox-cart and were obviously planning to pull the giant into the back of the cart. They were so busy that they took no notice us.
I examined them for a long moment. There were two men and a woman. They were Folk as near as I could tell.
"Emma?" I asked quietly.
"They don't seem hostile," she answered immediately. "Just preoccupied with getting that thing into their wagon. One of them - I think its the younger man - has a very erratic mind. He might be unpredictable."
"Is that a statue?" Faye asked curiously. "Why would such a thing be way out here?"
Emma shrugged. "Whatever it is, those people have a strong sense of reverence for it. It's important to them."
I considered my options. Common-sense suggested we should ignore this strange scene and continue on south to the outpost. Unfortunately, I'm not always allowed to heed the call of common-sense. Still, there was no need to drag everyone else into whatever might come.
I looked at Emma. "Continue on to the south. Take everyone else with you."
"No," Anna, Emma, and Rahne said simultaneously. Benjamin and Faye blinked in surprise.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a long moment. Some fools like to describe Blood culture as "patriarchal".
Then I opened my eyes and looked at Emma - who was the natural ringleader of that lot.
"I have to talk to those people," I said. "Emma, you should get back to civilization. You need to talk with Olivia and get in contact with Dare. You can tell them about the dark-elves and get them on our side. They'll help you muster the Blood. We have to hit the dark-elves, hit them hard, and hit them soon."
"It will be easier if you're with us," Emma replied stubbornly.
"You have plenty of witnesses," I pointed out, "and you can call upon the authority of... of what you are."
Several eyebrows rose among the others at my cryptic comment.
Anna looked at the Benjamin and Faye - she was still leaning on Faye for support. "Emma's really a Fire Priestess," she said helpfully. "I'm thinking she's maybe even a Graymalkin. So don't piss her off. She can kill you with her brain."
Emma gave Anna an irritated look. "If that were true, you wouldn't be here."
"She also gets kind of turned on by pretending to be a slutty Folk servant-girl," Anna finished as she glared back at Emma.
The look on Emma's face wandered out of "irritated" and into "lethal".
"Enough," I said hastily and with as much emphasis as I could manage without shouting and giving away our position. "Emma, you have responsibilities and so do I. We should be heeding them."
Emma considered that for a moment. Then she nodded abruptly. "On one condition, Rahne stays with you. I don't want you to be alone."
I hesitated. Actually, that was reasonable. But I wanted everyone gone... and safe.
"If you let me out of your sight, I'll run back to town and screw David all day and all night until I'm pregnant," Rahne told me flatly. Her eyes dared me to challenge her while she simultaneously gulped nervously.
Benjamin and Faye exchanged a long look. "Just for the record," Faye asked interestedly, "who's David?"
Everyone ignored her.
"You are nowhere near too old to spank," I warned Rahne.
"He means it, kid," Anna warned with a wicked smile. "James has a firm hand when he's mindful. He's demonstrated that to me a couple of times. Although I have to say I probably did deserve it."
Rahne suddenly looked uncertain. Emma rolled her eyes and let out a long hiss from between her teeth.
"And now she's jealous," Anna said after glancing at Emma.
"I am hardly jealous," Emma replied stonily.
"Do you people always have conversations like this?" Benjamin asked. He was leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest. He seemed fascinated.
"I'm James' wife," Anna said. "Emma's his concubine. Rahne is his adopted daughter. He's gathering a lot of women around him lately."
"Concubine?" Emma asked dangerously.
"Daughter?" Rahne said in surprise.
Anna nodded. "C'mon Emma, you like this grizzled old bastard. He's gotten under your skin. Believe me, I understand. And I'm okay with you and him as long as you understand that I have seniority. If I want to jump his bones, you just sit back and quietly wait your turn."
Emma took a dangerous step towards Anna.
While everyone was watching Anna and Emma, I slipped away.
*Coward!* Emma called out to me telepathically.
*Are you waiting for an argument?* I sent back irritably. *Get on your way and... and... see to Anna.*
*I'll take care of her,* Emma promised archly. *It's the least a loyal concubine can do for your wife.*
I was trying of come up with a response to that when Rahne caught up to me. She came sprinting up my back-trail in bare-footed silence.
That was about the time the people at the cart noticed us. They stopped what they were doing as they watched us approach.
"Greetings," I said. Then I crossed my arms over my chest in the common gesture of peace.
The eldest of the three Folk - his hair almost pure white - returned the gesture.
"Hello," he said. I could see the calculation in his eyes as he tried to assess the situation. I imagine there was a similar expression on my face.
"My name is..." I began.
"James," the woman interrupted suddenly. She was blonde, tall, and tough-looking. Her blue eyes were narrow and hard as she examined me. She was standing with the oxen, trying to keep them calm and steady. "He's a seeker of the Old One's will."
Suddenly, I could see the family resemblance between her and the older man. I could also see it between the two men. If I had to make a guess, those three people were a father and his two grown children.
The younger man was examining Rahne with some interest. That was rather bold on his part. More than a few Blood would be inclined to lethal violence if someone dared eye a girl in their company in such a frank and insolent manner.
I quashed the urge to gut him.
"You know my name, but I don't know yours," I said mildly.
The older man gave the woman a warning look. "My name is Sigmund. These two are my son and daughter - Laufey and Ingrid. How may we be of service, honored seeker?"
"A sign led me here," I said. Then I paused to see how they would react.
All three of them stirred uneasily. The younger man stopped mentally undressing Rahne and finally looked at me. I didn't like what I saw in his eyes. There was something dangerously unsettled in them. He struck me as a man who would come to a bad end, the only question being how many others he would hurt before that end finally claimed him.
There was a look about those people. They all had a narrow-faced appearance, with sharp features. It reminded me of something, but I couldn't pin it down. Up close, I could tell they were taller than you might expect, although that was offset by a tendency to muscular slenderness. And they weren't at all acting like Folk who had encountered a pair of Blood.
And then there was a distinctive scent about them. It was of iron, magic, the sea, and distant pines. I knew it.
They had Asgardian blood in their veins.
I kept my face expressionless. According to the histories, long ago - just before the rise of the Blood - Asgard actually fell to Earth. And for a while, it hung in the sky over the hellish realm of Okie. During that time, some Asgardians took mortal lovers. There were children born of those unions and that lineage continues on to this day. There aren't a great number of that particular breed, but they are wanderers. They can be found almost everywhere.
"And now that you're here, honored seeker, what does your sign tell you?" Sigmund said with a falsely amiable smile that showed a little too much teeth.
At my side, Rahne stirred uneasily
I could see it, too. There was death in their eyes. Killing was now an option. Whatever they were doing, it was that important to them.
I ignored Sigmund's question and nodded at the armored giant. "That's some interesting equipage," I said. "What is it?"
Sigmund paused as he searched for an answer to my question. Ingrid's blue eyes flicked towards him, and then back to me. Laufey actually giggled.
Then Rahne suddenly gasped, grabbed me by the shoulder, and yanked me back. That was so unexpected that I almost fell.
The armored giant had stirred. It was a slight and difficult-to-define motion, but it had happened
The two oxen hitched up to the cart were already restive. They suddenly panicked and charged away, bellowing as they ran. The woman tried to restrain them, but was dragged several yards before giving up and jumping out of the way.
The old man was backing away, his eyes tracking back and for between his son and the giant. "No, Laufey! No! Not now!" he begged.
The giant stirred again. By now Laufey was openly chortling.
"Run!" Rahne screamed. There was raw panic in her voice. It was so unlike her.
She knew something. Something that was scaring her.
The giant began clambering to its feet. It was a slow process, filled with awesome and terrible purpose. The world seemed to be holding its breath.
There was something about Laufey's eager madness and Rahne's sudden terror that finally revealed the truth to me. I am not an expert on Asgard and the other realms of Nordic mythology. The path of my life has taken me elsewhere. But I've lived a long, long time and have heard many a tale.
My blood froze as I realized what we were facing. Now I knew why the dark-elves were here - and what they were searching for. And I understood why they were both so eager and so frightened. The prize they sought was of potentially boundless value, but it was also deadly beyond words.
Rahne was still yanking at my arm. I finally heeded her, turned, and ran.
I didn't know why it was here, or how it had come to our world, but that giant was one of Odin's deadliest creations. It was his final weapon, intended to be unleashed only at the end of the world.
It was the Destroyer.