18.

. . .

Kara kept her grip on the man's face, his last frightened gurgle trapped behind her leathered fingers as the last of his blood sprayed the darkest part of the wall. She wiped her blade on his chest as she shoved him into the corner with a knock of her hip, double-checking the other one to be sure he was just as dead as he'd been five seconds ago. Then her vision seemed to double, and then itch. The bodies and gore were suddenly gone, leaving behind only the cool stone.

"Last set I can do, Kara, and the illusions behind us are going to start to peel in about three minutes." The Queen snapped her hand back, the green glow leaving her fingers and running back along her armored gauntlet to rejoin her own inner fire. She glanced down the hall, and by the ferocity in a face framed by tight golden braids, Kara could see she was making the same calculations. Frigga spoke in a hushed whisper, a voice that could gutter into silence at a second's need. "We are now one minute behind. Damn that surprise patrol. I expected Karnilla to react to Amora's rushed arrival, but not so usefully."

"Won't earn it back standing here." Kara slapped her blade back into its sheath at her hip and resumed the lead, slipping herself along the walls to give herself a better view of any coming corners while using the natural gloom of the lower Nornheim halls. She kept her voice low as well. "Probably can't regardless. So we'll make do with what's left."

"There's the pragmatism I needed right now." The shadows around them both deepened again. "She still can't expect this, not so soon."

"She's never personally faced you afield, has she, Majesty?"

"No." They both paused as the shadows ahead flickered, moving on only when Kara verified with a nod that it was castle draft moving a torch and nothing more. "I did meet her once, however."

"Majesty?"

"I was much younger, and my grandfather was hosting a number of eccentrics in our small Vanaheim castle. It was a matter of some odd research, not important right now. Karnilla was among them, then already a woman long grown. Had an astounding knowledge of sorcery, absolutely enthralling speaker. It was hard not to admire her. But there was something chilling about her manner, even then. Something like hunger hung in the air when she talked. I'll tell you more another time." Frigga snapped her fingers, examining the small orb that formed in her hand. Kara didn't understand it, but didn't need to. "Three more life signs ahead. Also no magic to them." The orb disappeared in a puff and a clenched fist. "I wasn't surprised when she turned against the realms. That voice spoke for her future."

"Why are none of the closest patrollers mages? She compensates with numbers instead, as my knives know, but almost all her sorceresses stay aboveground. Only whatever she keeps at her direct hand."

"A good question, Kara." The Queen put her hand on her shoulder, instinctively using the familiar code-gestures to mark where her magic said the next patrol would come from. "I suspect it's Karnilla's own sorcerous greed - and the resting Norns."

"Always thought they were either pure lore, or they'd sleep so deep in their own realm that none could awaken them."

"Think a voracious would-be Queen is going to leave a mystery like them alone?" Frigga's voice was dour behind her. "Oh no, Kara. When we enter her sanctum, you must not attempt to battle her. Handle her attendants as quickly as you've done these men, but leave her entirely to me. She sleeps among their forbidden dreams, and that is, I think, with express intent. She cannot understand what that lore means for her, and for me, but I intend to see to it she will." Then, lower yet, a breath in her ear. "Here they come."

The shadows around them both deepened further yet. Little cost to the Queen's pool of stored magic, as Kara only used the shadows for the two seconds it took for the three mundane patrolmen to come into range. There was no room tonight for anything but a fatal strike. One needle-like blade in her left hand snapped out to pierce the man on the left flank through his spine, dropping him limp as she then cut a vital artery to finish him. He would be dead before he ever understood what happened. The second, right flanking, received the same treatment - but this one saw the needle coming, and his eyes were afraid before they went empty.

The third had enough time to begin to realize what was happening, meaning no simple death through the cord. He instead turned into a wider blade waiting for him, his eyes rolling white and terrified as he realized his blood was already pouring out of his throat. Kara held the back of his head for a moment, ensuring he lost consciousness as quickly as the loss of blood allowed. Then he and the other two corpses were shoved aside into shadows as best as she was able.

Where possible, she had little use for excess pain. It was an effective tool, but meant for specific purposes. Like the others, she wiped her blade and moved back to the walls. "Here we go. No more little breaks."

"Straight on to our traitor, Kara. There'll be two guards at her door - and they won't fall quite as easily to your surprise attack."

Kara patted her belt by way of example. Both of them knew what she carried. Vials of poison, a longer blade, the garrote, and far more. "There's always another option."

"Or four," said the Queen, dryly amused.

. . .

The last two guards were nothing. Kara was not normally a stand-up fighter, but these were men that didn't understand what they faced. Her longer blade gored one and nearly decapitated the other, causing just enough ruckus in the hall that it acted as a chaotic counterpart melody to the sound of Frigga's magic throwing open the last sealed door between them and the would-be Queen of the Norns.

Karnilla stood awake, aware, and furious in the heart of her lair. She was a tall woman whose imperiously round face hid her real age. Her long, unbound black hair was shot through with twinned streaks of pure and unnatural white - the visible price she paid for her sorceries, a warning of her power. A kind of chosen crown. At her feet was the shallow pool of the Norns, a perfect mirror of dark water that carried her face in the center of it. Even at this hour, Kara saw the pieces of vital armor under her evening furs and silks, hard leather marked everywhere with ancient runes. She could feel the power roiling off this woman, and knew the Queen's admonishment wasn't one of pride. It was to save her life. This was not a target any of her blades could scratch.

She spent her first few seconds instead cutting off the girl who flung herself between them and Karnilla herself, some kind of defensive spell ending in a desperate gasp. The other attendant huddled in the farthest corner, eyes huge. If she didn't move, Kara wouldn't. Not until she was given no choice.

That same magical heat blazed behind Karnilla's gaze now fixed on Frigga. "Well, well. I remember a little girl of Vanaheim with cleverness in her eyes. I remember that same cleverness kept me from taking a prince for my prize a long time ago. And now that girl uses it to slip into my home." Furious or not, Karnilla bowed her head with ironic politeness. One worthy enemy to another. "You trailed my Amora through my wards. I should have realized. There was a nullness about her, a shadow in the aether. I dismissed it as her trembling link to her sister."

"As I intended, Karnilla." The Queen of Asgard stood at the other end of that black pool, her hands clasped delicately against her belly as if now she returned to her palace to hold court.

Kara swept the hall they'd come from with a glance, looking for further backup. When none was evident, she sealed the door shut and stuck a thin pin taken from her belt into the lock. A common hold, and not one that would last, but this was now a war between two sorceresses. She would hold the barricade and pray her Queen survived. Nothing more she could do now. Her belly was hard ice, knowing the outcome was not set.

Karnilla nodded. Then she smiled, slow and amused. "Gods be good. A single slide of belief, Frigga, and you could be as my own sister." She reached out a hand across the pool, palm up, fingers asking to be grasped. Bangles jingled softly, each one marked with the ancient stick-runes known among all the Nine. "You still could. These men that hold Asgard, they will never trust our kind. They will never respect us. They will stagnate, and magic will die under their fear, and the realms will, in time, fall forever."

"No. They will not." Frigga smiled back, and her hands never wavered, her fingers didn't pick nervously at each other. She was an icon of serenity, knowing this moment had waited for her to come, and it was her responsibility to live up to it. To say she was a Queen was often only a title. Now she stood as the rawest emblem of that nobility, armored and ready and between her realm and the enemy. "They will change. Perhaps not until nigh too late, but change sleeps in Asgard, and hope. These things will be subtle, and the moment that hope will be born will go unrecognized at first, but I believe in this. Such is the way of history, and of the future."

Karnilla's hand faltered. That regal, calm face suddenly twisted. Kara felt the air change and threw herself to the ground before the hot winds that ruptured through the room could break her bones. Yet the assault never touched her. She saw the greenish-gold shimmer of a ward around her and looked up, seeing that Frigga remained unmoved by the attack.

In the corner, the other Nornheim girl bled badly, looking stunned. The table that slammed into her was now in pieces around her form. Kara realized she hurt a bit for the girl, knowing her own allegiances were stronger than ever. Anyone that lashed out without thinking they might harm their own was no true Queen.

Frigga's own return attack was far more subtle. No growing pressure in the air. No crackle. Instead the Queen of Asgard was suddenly not there - and then again she was, close to Karnilla now, a silver athame aloft in her hand. Instead of striking like Kara might, she began to sketch a fast ritual in the air.

Karnilla whirled on her, sensing it before the ritual resolved. A slap of her hand disrupted the glowing ley lines forming, but that was all. Frigga was gone again, true invisibility cloaking her from most senses. Kara heard the pat of a single footstep, saw the trace of disturbed air across the pool. Deliberate.

She's toying with the old bitch, she realized. Frigga was drawing Karnilla out, making her fight on her schedule.

With a snarl, Karnilla boiled the room with summoned heat, filling it with the stench of Muspelheim's sulfuric core. Could have been the odor of Surtr's own sweating balls, for all Kara knew, but the worst of it still never touched her. Nor did it leave an outline of the Queen for Karnilla to fix on. A shiver went down Kara's back as the girl in the corner cried in pain, knowing what was going on. Frigga was using those odd magical paths between to slip unseen around the room. That was the other reason she'd spent so long on the blueprints of the ancient Nornheim castle. To know where secret boundaries lay.

Karnilla would burn her energy, and Frigga would shadow-dance. Until… what?

Kara remained where she was at first. Then, realizing the ward Frigga placed was probably attached to her and not the location, she sped around the perimeter behind Karnilla and went to the injured girl.

The attendant slapped at her, easily being parried, and no doubt reasonably thinking she was going to die. Had she plunged forward like her partner, she would have. But as far as Kara was concerned, this was now a non-combatant. She wasn't going to move to help her own 'Queen' now, not if such damage was her reward. So Kara shared the protective ward as best she could, and looked for wounds to bind. These were also not methods her House had taught, but they were the results of some of the Queen's first orders to her. Mercy, where possible. So, very well.

While Karnilla tore apart the room looking for her hidden attacker, who now and then slipped through the room to build up energy only to vanish again, Kara pinned down the frightened girl's wrists and bound up the worst of the bloody tears on her skin. That began to still her, though her eyes were still huge.

"I will be Queen here, girl Frigga, and you will fall. You cannot hold your invisibility forever."

"I don't have to." The whisper seemed to come from everywhere as offensive magic continued to pound through the air, hunting for her. "I am only waiting."

"For what?" No answer came. Karnilla snapped her fingers, watching where strange and venomous 'lightning' coursed through the room, finding nothing. The witch-queen's gaze passed over Kara and the wounded attendant, and for a moment those dark eyes turned to embers. Kara's hand on the girl's arm tightened.

Then Karnilla staggered. A rare and direct assault, a punch of clean air against her back from that still-hidden assailant. Kara smelled it, fresh flowers and hot sunlight. A deliberate slap against Karnilla's face here in her chosen and gloomy lair, if she'd just realize it.

She didn't. She whirled, flinging out a wave of energy. That also found no target.

Across the pool of dark water, another skip of motion broke its surface. Kara glanced at it, realizing it had gone full and unnerving black.

The Norns slept, so the legends went. It would take much to awaken them, according to the ancient lore she'd read. Sacrifice. Power. Blood.

All of that was building in this room. Hovering in the air, stirring the water, dripping to the stones of the floor. The attendant girl crawled further behind her, frightened.

Oh, Gods. Kara felt chilled. No creature that worked best by sacrifice was going to be a true ally to the living. But regardless, it was Frigga counting on their attentions and focusing all of Karnilla's ire into enough raw magical energy to draw them out. The ritual was in the Queen's hands, and by the void that now replaced the water's calm surface, she was succeeding at it.

Kara kept the attendant girl pinned, watching the water continue to ripple softly until it began a full and violent churn. Karnilla herself barely seemed to notice. Frigga had goaded her into a full and near mindless assault, by sheer virtue of impenetrable defense.

And then. Suddenly. She was there.

The Queen of Asgard was once again at the opposite end of the pool, but before Karnilla could whirl on her and resume her attacks, Frigga dipped a steel and gold booted foot into the pool. Then her other.

The water lit up, green and blue, and then a rush of other colors that hurt Kara's eyes, for they did not exist on any mortal spectrum. Black lightning sparked across it, then gold, and within it, she saw the shapes. Afterimages burned onto a retina, a gleam of a shadow across the wall. But nonetheless, they all knew what was now come.

The Norns were awake.

this we dreamed and still dream. a queen and a reflection of a queen. which of you is the reflection and which of you is true? this is the palaver. when it ends, there will be costs. answer us, and answer us full. which of you?

"I am!" roared Karnilla, her hands lowering, realizing suddenly what was now in motion, what was at stake. "I am, who have sat at the edge of your pool all these years and sung to you, pleading for the gifts of your wisdom."

Frigga looked into the churning water around her ankles. "I do not sing to you, and I will never plead. I am Frigga, born of Vanaheim, daughter of Jarl and sorceress, Queen of Asgard, and I remember you."

one pleas and one commands. which is the way of queens? is our riddle already answered?

Not to be outdone, Karnilla stepped forward, putting her own slippered toes in the water. "The old ways are remembered but they are also past. I must forge a new way, on the bones of the old."

The water roiled, sickly and thick. Kara could hear the attendant girl gasping for breath, horrified. Maybe it was her own breath. There were things in that water. The Norns might wear the shape of women and be their patron in the arts of magic, but they were not mortal woman or held their understanding. If they had ever been. And yet the Queen stared into the black, steadfast. "Burying the past is a crime that will be paid with the blood of a future in that very shape. Can a Queen carry her people forward knowing that all that waits for them are cold bones and no history?"

we hear you both. such words. but words are air and breath and both are gone with life.

"Then let me show you action. I would sacrifice myself for my people. Karnilla would not. Not ever. She would feed you those that trusted her to gather that wisdom and power she craves for herself." Frigga's eyes met Kara, and in them, stoic and in the deadliest part of this strange battle, Kara saw her pride. She stepped deeper into the pool, fearless, the water now lapping at her thighs. She looked at Karnilla next. "Step in further. Show them your heart, if you think I lie about you."

Karnilla breathed, said nothing, stepped further in. She had no choice, not against that barb. Her hands were dead white, knowing the trap she'd led herself into.

"They know your soul, Karnilla. If either of us lie now, they'll tear us apart." The water was now over Frigga's hips. "You wanted them awake, to acknowledge the true rulership of Asgard at last. I've given you that. They'll know who is meant to wear the crown."

"You've given me nothi-" Karnilla's voice ended in a scream. Her white hands turned red, like boiling crabs. Kara realized it was blood. Blood, pouring out through her skin in a horrific rush, the first punishment for her lie. Here in the pool, the Norns held total control over that piece of life.

she gave you a chance, said the Norns, and the multitudinous voice was conviction itself, clear over the screams. the right of queens before the supplicant and the challenger. she gave you a choice.

we see you both. we see you clear, now. the dreams stand plain. come and witness.

come and see.

come and see.

oh, come down with us, little Karnilla, and see everything you desired to see. let us love you then, for your mistakes.

The water boiled up, and took the sorceress down in a typhon's snarl, but when Karnilla was gone, the pillar of black water stood in the shape of a body. Waves lapped at the Queen. Now Kara knew she was breathing hard. There was nothing else she could do.

you used us. They sounded amused, of all things. we dreamed that, too.

"I used her hunger and her ego."

nonetheless. in the end, it was you that woke us. we take her for the darkness inside her, for her offense. but we have a debt, queen of asgard. you woke us, and we took the realm's enemy. as compact once spoke - prophecies and blood.

"I will honor that debt. But we have a problem, ladies of the Norn. We have a flaw, and it is one I nearly make myself. I must needs bring Karnilla back to my throne, alive, as my prisoner."

now that is ego.

"That is the judgment of a Queen, and you will heed it. You've consumed pieces of her already, for her sins against our craft and your home. You've slaked yourself on what was owed. Give her body back to me, and we will end the rest of this, as the living must. Your end for all of her is too cruel for me to permit."

then you must bargain for her, as if you would any living soul of your realm. you must take responsibility for her, and know our displeasure.

"So I must be responsible, Norns. So I must." Frigga spread her hands, and still they did not shake. "But I will not bargain. Again, I command you. Give me my prisoner. Name me your debt. I know what I can bear. I accept it. And after, you return to your dream until another consults you in need."

then we curse you with knowledge. we will give you this awful weight, said the Norns, and for a horrifying second, that black wave seemed to consume Frigga as well. A whisper filled the room, but there were no words in it Kara couldn't understand. The Queen and the Norns talked for crawling minutes.

Then it was over, and the pool was once again a harmless mirror. Frigga was pale, but still she stood. A second later, the mirror broke one last time, and the shivering wreck of Karnilla was splayed across the opposite stones.

"Your Majesty?" Kara couldn't keep a waver out of her voice.

"It is over, Kara." Frigga looked at the frightened girl behind her, the bone weariness in her voice kept almost inaudible. "You, there. You will help lead us out, and you will help my Kara drag my prisoner to the gates of this castle. As they see her, they will let us pass safely. Do this, and you will be given not only mercy, but the Queen's freedom and forgiveness. And of course, given to our healers."

"Y-Your Majesty." The girl bowed her head.

"Karnilla. Are you conscious?"

The head of the fallen sorceress shook as it lifted, facing the Queen. Frigga looked down into her, pitiless, and Kara couldn't see what passed between them. "Good. Then let us step out, unafraid, and see this war end at last."