WOLVERINE'S WORLD - THE END OF LAUFEY SIGMUNDSON
The next morning, Rahne waited until the others couldn't overhear us.
"Who was that?" she whispered under her breath. She was referring, of course, to our midnight visitor.
"The queen of the vampires," I answered. "She's my godmother."
Rahne gave me a disgusted look.
"Ho. Ho. Very funny," she growled. Then she stalked away, her back stiff with anger.
Sometimes it seems as if there is little point in telling the truth.
We were forced to wait as a southward-bound column of dark-elves passed by our hiding place. The core of the column was composed of several hundred dark-elf warriors, but there were also scouts and quite a few other-worldly fighting-beasts. They weren't a search or scouting party. They were going to war.
Once they finally passed, I looked at Emma. In deference to the others, she reported verbally.
"Their officers are worried - they are under increasing pressure," she said. "Resistance is rising everywhere, and the dark-elves are being forced to send out reinforcements to keep us at bay. However, they do seem to feel that the south is their biggest problem. They know the Point is raising an actual army. And the Blood militia on that front has radically increased in size. That's your doing, of course."
I nodded. It all made sense.
"That place Emma saw in Ingrid's mind is only an hour or two away," I said quietly. "When we get close, I'll give the signal and we'll split up. Rahne and I will find Laufey and end him. The rest of you wait behind, but be prepared to support us if anything goes wrong."
The looks Anna, Emma, and Olivia gave me held various levels of agreement, but they all nodded their heads.
"Remember, the goal is to kill Laufey. Not to fight the Destroyer."
Everyone nodded again.
Then Anna spoke up, "One thing bothers me: we really don't know what Laufey is doing. He has the Destroyer. He has his damned circle of stones. And for some reason, he's still in the area. But why? What's he planning?"
I just shook my head. That had been bothering me as well.
"He's making mischief," Olivia said suddenly.
We all looked at Olivia.
"Remember that Laufey is of the blood of Loki," Olivia continued, "To us his actions may sometimes seem incomprehensible, or even insane. And he's probably telling himself that he's seeking power, or discomfiting Asgard, or gaining revenge against a world that's somehow wronged him. He probably has some plan he thinks will do one or more of those things, but he's really just causing chaos. Chaos for us, for the dark-elves, and for Asgard. That people die in the process is not important to him."
We were all silent as we considered what Olivia had said.
"When you get down to it, Laufey is simply honoring Loki," Olivia finished with a shrug. "That will destroy him eventually."
"We should accelerate the process," Emma said dryly.
Emma had some final, private, questions for me.
*James, I'm worried,* she told me. *What if we kill Laufey and the Destroyer doesn't go dormant? Or what if it does - and then the dark-elves show up and take it from us? We could simply end up giving them what they want.*
*We have a way to call Asgard,* I answered. *They'll want to retrieve the Destroyer.*
Emma's eyes flickered towards Olivia.
*Olivia knows the old ritual,* Emma admitted, *but she might balk at casting it. She would feel it a betrayal of the goddess to call upon Asgard.*
*I know,* I responded, *and I won't ask her to do that. I have something else in mind.*
Ironically, back when we were on the run from dark-elf pursuit, we were at one point within a quarter-mile of Laufey's camp. Or course, Laufey wasn't there at the time.
The camp was as Emma had described it: two battered log cabins on an escarpment overlooking the Huds. The cabins were falling apart, the once-cleared ground around the cabins was steadily growing back, and the rock-fall at the foot of the cliff formed a natural dock.
Actually, I knew the story of that place. Originally, it had been a trading post. A pair of ronin brothers ran it, but it was never particularly profitable. After a decade or two, the brothers moved on.
Laufey and the Destroyer weren't in sight, but Rahne and I could smell them.
"Laufey's in the better of the two cabins," Rahne whispered.
I nodded. "The Destroyer is around back, hidden in that clump of trees."
*I can't get a psychic lock on Laufey,* Emma admitted via telepathy. *I can't attack or read him.*
I didn't like that. Laufey was demonstrating a lot of odd and inconvenient abilities.
*Do you want us to come up?* Emma asked after a brief pause.
*No, but be ready to have Anna bring in Olivia.*
*Very well.*
I glanced at Rahne. She nodded at me, her blue eyes cold and determined, then she began drifting forward.
I slipped off to the side.
Rahne and I were ghosts - testing each step, carefully taking and releasing each breath, moving from cover-to-cover in the wooded shadows. The wind was mild, but in our faces. We would catch the scent of anyone in the camp before they caught ours.
Rahne was within ten yards of me, but I could not see, hear, or smell her. Actually, I was quite proud of Rahne. The Old One was so strong in her.
The plan was that I would enter the cabin through the door. Rahne would come in via a shutterless side window. I would have preferred to attack at night - by that point, I had no compunctions about killing Laufey in his sleep - but I was worried about time. We had to settle this as quickly as possible.
I finally arrived at the crude front stoop of the cabin. Putting my hand on the door, I gave it the slightest test. The door moved a bare fraction of an inch. It wasn't barred, although it was possible that a strap or chain was securing the door from the inside and I wasn't at the end of its play. That didn't matter. I planned on hitting the door so hard that it would tear loose from any mounting.
Through the door, I could sense Laufey's position. He was in near right corner of the cabin, less than two yards from where I was standing. He wasn't moving. When Rahne came through the window, she would be about a yard-and-a-half from him.
A squirrel made a brief, interrogative, chitter. That was Rahne, letting me know that she was ready.
I would enter first. Rahne would enter as soon as she heard me move. If all went according to plan, Laufey would be dead within a matter of seconds.
Baring my claws, I slammed my shoulder into the door and it flew open.
I immediately turned the corner and lunged for Laufey. Rahne was already coming through the window. I wanted Laufey's attention on me so Rahne would have a clear approach.
Laufey was sitting on a wooden stool, with his back against the wall. He didn't react to my entrance.
As I buried my claws into Laufey's upper chest, he did nothing except to stare stupidly at me. Twisting my claws so that they bound in ribs, I pulled him upwards and twisted him around so that his back was presented to Rahne. Rahne came at him from behind and jammed her claws into his lower back, just below his kidneys. Then she yanked upwards, splitting Laufey's back open on either side of his spine.
Blood gouted out of Laufey's body and splattered over us. But it wasn't human blood, it was too dark.
The illusion of Laufey melted away. In his place was a dying dark-elf warrior. In his emptying eyes, I only saw confusion. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know why he was dying.
That's the only time I have ever regretted killing a dark-elf.
On the wall where the dark-elf had been sitting, a symbol was roughly scratched into the wall. It was the old runic symbol for "fool".
Laufey's illusion had even deceived our sense of smell. He was good. Very good.
I felt regular trembling under my boots. Something massive was running towards us.
Rahne, blood dripping from her face and claws and soaked into her clothes, was looking at me with eyes that were wide and fearful. She understood that we had been tricked.
"Run," I told her, my voice oddly calm and level. "Go to the circle. Find Laufey."
Then I turned to face what was coming.
Rahne bolted for the door. She was almost outside when the Destroyer smashed through the back wall. The thick logs didn't even slow it down. Through a storm of flying wooden debris, it lunged for me, it's armored hands reaching eagerly...
Behind me, from out in front of the cabin, there was a rush of displaced air and the stench of brimstone.
Then the Destroyer was on me. I managed to avoid its grasp by dropping to the ground and rolling to the side, but one of it's legs still slammed painfully against me. As I scrambled away, I raked my claws across its huge knee. That was more to keep it's attention than anything else. By then, I had little hope that I could injure the Destroyer.
I think it remembered me. This time, it almost immediately dropped its strange visor and eldritch energies began building up around its head. Then the head began tracking me. I suppose I could have taken that as a mark of respect, but at the time I felt it meant that the remainder of my life would be measured in just a few more seconds.
Then Anna teleported into the room, right behind the Destroyer. Leaping upwards, she jammed a sack over the Destroyer's head.
I'm serious. Anna put what looked like a grain-bag over the Destroyer's head. Then she immediately turned and dashed out of the gaping hole that used to be the cabin's back wall.
The Destroyer actually froze. Its body language - so strangely human sometimes - indicated confusion. The odd energies focused around its upper body seemed to flux uncertainly and then began dissipating. I don't think anyone had ever used that particular tactic against it before. In whatever passed for the Destroyer's mind, it was trying to assess a strange new situation and come to a conclusion.
Staying in a low crouch, I scrambled around the Destroyer until I was behind it. Then I slammed shoulder-first into the back of its knees. The Destroyer staggered as it finally tore the bag away from its head.
Anna appeared back through what was left in the back wall and leaped at the Destroyer, impacting into its upper body feet-first. Then she bounded away.
In between us, we managed to overbalance the Destroyer. I barely scrambled away before it toppled backwards onto the dirt floor.
In the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Olivia. She was standing stock-still in the doorway, with her hammer-staff in her hands. A corona of electricity was playing about her head and shoulders. She had fought the Destroyer before. Olivia knew how this fight would end if she didn't intervene as forcefully as possible.
Anna appeared beside me and yanked me to my feet. Right beside us, the Destroyer ponderously rose from the ground.
There was a despairing look on Olivia's face. And for a split-second I felt guilty for putting her in that situation.
The Destroyer wasn't looking at us, but our intervention had apparently temporarily aborted the build-up of energy required to fire that strange and awesome beam from its blank face.
Dropping to one knee, Olivia raised her polearm high and slammed it butt-first into the ground. Anna and I simultaneously leaped for the window.
An explosion of wind, thunder, and lightning threw us out of the disintegrating cabin.
Anna and I tumbled away from what was left of the cabin, crashing through a stand of saplings. I grabbed her and used my body as much as possible to shield her from the flying debris of the cabin. I felt a dozen painful impacts as chunks of flying wood slammed into my body.
We hit the ground together. Debris fell all around us. For a stunned moment, we just held one another. Then I held Anna at arm's length, examining her carefully, but quickly. She was cut, scraped, and bruised, but hadn't suffered any major injuries.
"What was the FUCK was that business with the sack?" I snarled. The words just came out of my mouth without any particular volition on my part. I wasn't angry. I was amazed.
"I couldn't think of anything else to do!" Anna protested.
"OW!" I yelled.
Anna was holding a length of jagged, blood-soaked, wood - easily a foot long - that she'd yanked out of my side. I hadn't felt a thing until she pulled it loose.
I gritted my teeth and got to my feet as the injury began to knit together.
Back in what was left of the cabin, Olivia and the Destroyer stood in a cloud of swirling dust and smoke, facing each other.
Olivia was at least a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier - and she hadn't been a small woman before. She was wearing bright plate and chain armor that was flawless and bright. A cloak of black and gold flared behind her. There was a helm on her head that was much like the one she had lost days ago, but there was something alien and bulky about the design. Her hammer pole-arm had also become larger and more massive. White and blue runes glittered along its length.
Above us, the sky - in just a matter of seconds - had turned dark with ominously twisting thunderclouds. Strange formations were visible among constant flickers of lightning. Thunder growled and muttered from above, like words in an elder language that was beyond mortal beings.
Olivia had finally accepted both sides of her family.
The Destroyer leaned forward, its huge hands formed into massive fists. Olivia snarled angrily. Then she and the Destroyer lunged for each other.
Their impact seemed to rock the earth.
Anna dove for cover. I sprinted - well, limped is more accurate - towards Laufey's stone circle. Rahne was already there, crouched on the far periphery of the circle. She was obviously blankly amazed by the show Olivia and the Destroyer were putting on.
Behind me, Olivia and the Destroyer struggled against each other. All around them was devastation. The cabin they'd been in was demolished ruins - nothing more than the torn fragments of worked logs and a crude stone foundation. They traded blows as electricity and the strange red energy of the Destroyer swirled about them.
I staggered directly into Laufey's stone circle. As I crossed the boundary stones, I felt the whisper and tingle of active mystical energies.
Hopefully, Laufey was within his circle. If not, I had no idea how we would find him.
*Emma!* I called in my mind - hopefully she could spot Laufey psychically. There was no response.
I took a wild chance and ran through the center of the circle, my arms wide and claws extended.
At the last moment, I could sense that Laufey was there. He was invisible, but definitely present. I suppose my approach had startled him. However, I still didn't have a very clear idea of where he was.
Laufey was trying to run when the tips of my right claws caught him. Laufey screamed in surprise, and the rich copper smell of blood filled my nose. Laufey was still invisible, but I'd managed to cut him.
Rahne yelped like an eager young wolf and entered the circle, her eyes savagely focused on the splatter of blood trailing along the rocks and earth. Laufey's illusion flickered. In the momentary glimpse, I could see him. He was still dressed as I first saw him - as a common Folk worker - and he was clutching at his bleeding arm.
Rahne and I couldn't see Laufey clearly, but what we had was more than enough. We knew where he was.
We had him.
Laufey screamed something in a language I didn't recognize.
Off in the ruins of the cabin, the Destroyer tried to break away from Olivia and advance towards us. Olivia didn't allow that, but her response was a two-edged sword. She called down her lightning on the Destroyer. A bright, three pronged bolt fell on the Destroyer and drove him to his knees. The noise was tremendous and the over-pressure threw yet more debris around
In that ferocious maelstrom of furious thunder and brilliant light, we lost Laufey again.
Rain began to fall. Thick, heavy, droplets that were being whipped by the wind. Hail was probably on the way. The rain was obscuring any blood-trail that Laufey might leave behind.
There was a repetitive blacksmith-shop sound as Olivia pounded on the Destroyer with her polearm. I don't think she was actually hurting it, but it couldn't get to its feet.
Meanwhile, Rahne and I were blinking away the bright splotches that the lighting had left in our vision. Our hearing was also dulled.
I wiped rain away from my face and desperately tried to catch a scent.
Nothing. The stench of electricity filled the air.
*Got him!* Emma - the Old One bless her - suddenly called to us. *To your front and left! Just outside the circle!*
There was nothing there except a tree, but Rahne and I both leaped to attack.
Laufey was fast, a strangely spotted and streaked form seemed to detach itself from the tree and lunge off to the side. His magical camouflage was rippling as it tried to adapt to his changing surroundings.
Rahne dove at him and took a wild slash at Laufey's legs. He squealed as she connected with this calf.
Laufey twisted away as Rahne tumbled to the ground. Then he vanished once again. He seemed to be circling off to the side.
I knew what he was doing. Laufey was trying to get back inside his circle.
I abandoned the chase and backed into the circle, only stopping when my feet were on the flat block of dark stone that was in its midst. Whatever Laufey had in mind, he would have to enter. And I would be waiting for him.
Rahne began pacing the circle's perimeter, trying to find some sign of Laufey.
The rain grew worse. And the first of the hail began to fall.
The Destroyer was finally back on its feet. It was grappling with Olivia. The two of them strained against each other, frozen like giant statues as the rain ran down their bodies in rivulets. Olivia was holding the Destroyer back, but that wouldn't last. I could tell that she was slowly, inexorably, losing her fight.
*Anything?* I desperately asked Emma.
*No,* she responded bleakly. *Laufey's near you and he's in pain, but he's back under control. That moment of distraction that let me find him has passed.*
*Anything else?* I asked.
*The dark-elves are stirring. They've seen this.*
Damn.
We were running out of time.
It was possible for Laufey to let his control slip. When he did, he became vulnerable.
"Laufey!" I called out, projecting my voice as best I could above the turbulence of the storm.
There was no response.
With a grunt, Olivia slipped. The Destroyer executed a perfect wrestling maneuver and drove her to the ground with its houlder. Olivia immediately punched upwards, her fist catching the Destroyer in its face. She rocked the creature, but didn't manage to break loose.
The Destroyer now had a massive hand around Olivia's neck.
"Laufey Sigmundson! I've seen your sister!" I yelled.
Still nothing.
Rahne ignored me as she continued to stalk the periphery of the circle. She was looking all about her, listening and sniffing carefully. Rain was dribbling from her hair in small streams. The way she looked and moved... it reminded me of the southern woods-panthers.
"The Temple has Ingrid, Laufey!" I called.
*To your left - at about ten o'clock,* Emma suddenly whispered in my mind.
I did my best not to visibly react. But following Emma's guidance, I could see a faint ripple in the otherwise seamless descent of rain and hail. Small flecks of hail were bouncing off of nothing. Laufey's control had slipped. The illusion that hid him was no longer perfect. And he seemed to be frozen in place, listening to my words.
Can a child of Loki feel shame?
*Let Rahne know,* I sent.
*Done,* Emma responded laconically.
To all appearances, Rahne hadn't seen Laufey. She continued to search. However, as she moved around the circle of stones, her path was taking her closer and closer to Laufey's position.
"The Temple knows she is pregnant!" I continued, trying to keep Laufey's attention on me. "They know she is with your child! And the Temple will deal with them!"
By then, the Destroyer had both hands at Olivia's throat. Olivia was uselessly beating at its arms and shoulders. It was clearly winning their fight. Once the Destroyer was done with Olivia, it would turn on us. We wouldn't survive that.
I spread my arms wide, as if entreating the storm. "There's only one decision the Temple can make, Laufey! She's carrying an abomination. Your abomination!"
The void in the storm wasn't moving. Rahne now was only yards from it.
"They will kill both the mother and her unborn," I continued in a softer, regretful, tone. "They have no choice, Laufey."
To all appearances, Rahne hadn't noticed that slight gap in the rain. By now, it was moving very slightly. I had the impression that Laufey was slowly rocking from side-to-side, as if he were unsure and off-balance.
"Damn you, Laufey, you've given them no choice!" I screamed into the storm.
Rahne exploded into motion.
It was over so quickly. Rahne moved the purposeful exactness of a dancer. There was a splash of red as she ran past the gap in the storm that was Laufey Sigmundson.
The gout of blood vanished immediately in the rain.
And then Laufey appeared. More blood was pouring from his mouth and body and there was a shocked, disbelieving look on his face. He collapsed to his knees as Rahne rounded on him. One side of his lower torso was neatly sliced open - a long lateral gash just below the ribs that went all the way through to his spine. Bisected organs were bulging out of the wound. It was a killing blow, delivered with quick and neat precision.
Rahne got behind Laufey, twisted his head up with one hand, and opened his throat with the other. By that time, all she was doing was speeding up Laufey's passing.
Over near the cliff, Olivia wasn't moving as the Destroyer continued to strangle the life out of her.
Anna appeared next to Olivia and the Destroyer. She put a hand on the Destroyer's back. Then they both teleported away.
Olivia writhed and convulsed as she began to breathe again.
Anna and the Destroyer materialized in mid-air, between the circle and the wrecked cabin. She and it crashed to the ground. The Destroyer landed with a dull clang - sounding oddly hollow. It didn't move.
I ran to Anna and pulled her away from the now-motionless Destroyer. Anna wrapped her arms around me. She was shivering from cold and exhaustion.
Emma appeared out of the rain and the darkness. She'd been a lot closer than I'd realized.
Olivia crawled painfully to her hands and knees, trying to catch her breath and get to her feet.
Rahne was stock still, staring down at the butchered body at her feet. Then she seemed to shake herself aware. Walking exhaustedly over to Anna and I, she gently pulled Anna away.
I moved back into the center of the circle.
In the middle of the circle, I pulled off my necklace and held it high over my head. The wind caught it and there was a rattle of teeth and claws.
Overhead, the storm continued to flash and rumble. The rain was as hard as ever. Now that the fight was over, and I had time for such minor things, I could feel the sting of the falling hail.
The mystical energies of the circle seemed to whisper to me. I tried not to think about what Laufey had done to make it work. I tried not to consider that I was now the one using that power.
There was a flash of light as Olivia slammed the butt of her polearm into the ground - and suddenly she was back to normal size again. Forlorn and empty, kneeling in the middle of the wreckage she and the Destroyer had left, Olivia let her weapon fall to the ground and buried her face in her hands.
Emma ran over to her.
"Powers of Asgard," I began softly. "Hear me."
Then I paused. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen.
Then I felt tendrils of mystical energy coiling around me. It was like being in a pit of snakes.
I'd opened a door. Something was slithering out. And perhaps it was entering me.
I took a deep breath to continue. We had to get the Destroyer out of there.
"STOP!" Olivia half-screamed and half-gasped. Emma was holding her up. Olivia was holding a pleading hand out to me. The look on her face was shocking in its anguish and terror.
I froze, still holding my necklace high.
"Get out of there!" Olivia pleaded. "You're throwing away more than your life!"
For pity's sake I thought impatiently. What was that worthless quim worrying about now?
Emma also looked terrified. Anna was looking back-and-forth between me and those two.
Rahne seemed...
There was something in her eyes...
She was frightened of me.
Then I shook that all off and disdainfully turned my face back to the sky.
"Stop him!" Olivia screamed as she began staggering towards me.
Emma held her hands to the side of her head and lashed psychic power at me. Oddly, I could see it. It reminded me of a powerful wave pushing up a narrow inlet. However, it just washed around me, having no effect. Laufey's circle had protected me.
No - that wasn't quite right.
Actually, my circle had protected me.
Then Anna and Rahne, moving as one, slammed into me and knocked me backwards. Rahne slashed my necklace out of my hands, raking a good deal of skin of one of my hands in the process.
Keeping to my feet, tangled up in my two attackers, I extended my claws. I was going to gut those two bitches...
Olivia slammed into all three of us. She was no longer in the form of a true scion of Asgard, but she was still much stronger than any normal Wilder woman. Her flying tackle knocked all of us out of the stone circle.
We landed in a heap, sending up a splash of rainwater. Anna flipped completely over me and ended up on her feet.
Olivia had me in a complex hold. Her arms were restraining one my arms. Her legs, crossed more my stomach, had my other arm locked to the side of my body. It was an interesting and useful hold. An Iron Fist I'd met long ago had shown me how to break out of it, and I'd adapted his maneuver to accommodate my claws.
Of course, getting loose would kill Olivia, but so what?
"Please, please, stop," Rahne begged me. She was kneeling off to the side and she was bleeding so badly. Her arms were crossed over her stomach as if that was all that was holding her together, and...
Wait.
Rahne was hurt?
How had that happened?
I...
Had I...
Everything suddenly seemed to twist off-kilter. Nothing made sense.
Emma's voice was in my head, whispering assurances and calming words.
Then Anna was kneeling by my head. Her face was upside down respective to mine. And she looked so frightened.
"Jimmy, come back," she told me. "Come back, husband."
Her lips met mine.
It was still raining. We were all soaking wet.
I was sitting with my back to a tree. Rahne was next to me. Her arms were around me and I had an arm around her shoulders.
Rahne was one of the strongest regenerators I'd ever met. If she'd been less powerful, the wounds I'd inflicted on her would have surely killed her. As it was, I knew it would take some time for her to recover completely.
I kept trying not to think of what would have happened if I'd put my claws into Anna instead of Rahne.
Anna was crouched on my other side, her hands in mine and her tail around my wrist. She was crying, but trying to pretend it was just the rain.
Emma was kneeling next to my feet. Her eyes had the distant look they got when she was using her powers. She was keeping watch on me.
That was fine by me.
Olivia was standing nearby, using a stray branch as a cane. She seemed to be studying the sky.
The edge of the circle was a good twenty yards away from us. It was whispering to me, but that meant nothing. I had Anna, Emma, and Rahne with me. Nothing could take my soul as long as they were by my side. They were my soul.
Without any words, Olivia walked over to a large puddle that was being stippled by rain and gazed into it. She must have seen what she was looking for, because she then undressed, tossing her armor, under-garb, and boots to the side until she was completely naked.
Disrobed, I could see that Olivia had been beaten badly during her fight with the Destroyer. She probably had some broken bones. She was certainly badly bruised. If she hadn't been in the form of a true child of Asgard during her fight with the Destroyer, she would have been killed.
Painfully crouching down, Olivia yanked a fighting knife from her discarded belt. Then she knelt in the puddle and open long wounds in her upper arms. I watched carefully, ready to intervene, but she avoided the major blood vessels.
We all watched silently as Olivia's blood cascaded down her body and vanished in the rain. Olivia's eyes met mine. They were simultaneously empty and purposeful.
"I'm sorry," I said to her. Even to me, my words sounded hollow.
Olivia just shook her head. "This is necessary. I should have seen it earlier."
I've mentioned before that Olivia wasn't a beautiful woman. But despite that, she had a dignity about her that was deeply impressive. And never more so than at that moment.
Olvia tossed the knife back into the pile of her clothes. Then she scooped a double-handful of mud from the bottom of her now blood-infused puddle and smeared it over her face and breasts. After that, she held her hands up to the sky.
The rain, mud, and blood mixed together and began washing down her body.
"Thor!" she roared into the storm. "I call upon you in the names of Ororo and Logan - who you once called comrades and friends! You fought side-by-side with them! You served causes that were great and just! You were numbered together among the brothers and sisters of the ancient and honored Avengers! You defended the defenseless and delivered justice to the unjust! I am many times the daughter's daughter of the Lady of Storms and I beg you to heed my call!"
Lightning struck on the far side of the river. Thunder cracked furiously almost immediately afterward. Then a pulse of following sound rolled over us in a fierce rumble.
Olivia held a hand out to the still Destroyer. It was laying in the exact place and position in which it had fallen. We didn't dare touch it.
"Our enemies approach!" Olivia cried. "Take this cursed creation from us! Return it to whence it came! Free our world from its menace!"
There was a long silence as the thundering storm seemed to consider Olivia's words. The world seemed to be holding its breath.
Next to me, Rhane had her Mjolnir pendant in one hand. Her eyes were closed and her lips were moving, but she said no actual words.
"Help us," Olivia whispered, her voice now an almost broken whisper. "Please. Oh, honored ancestor, please help us."
Olivia was crying by now.
"Great-grandfather, please help!" she begged.
The rain and the hail slowed down. And then it stopped.
There was no lightning. No mysterious clouds or mists. No cascade of eldritch energies from the skies. And, strangest of all, there was no thunder.
Thor simply appeared.