*****
A voice penetrated layers of sleep and drew Phoenix slowly back from a warm, comfortable place. He groaned in protest and tried to push away a hand that stroked his forehead.
“Go ‘way, mum,” he muttered irritably. “I don’t wanna get up yet. School’s not for ages.”
There was a girlish giggle from somewhere nearby. What was a girl doing in his bedroom? Memories of the last week came flooding back: amulets; Romans; druids; Stonehenge; death; snow; wolves; giant killer troll; barbarians. Phoenix sat straight up in shock, eyes wide.
Sure enough, Jade, Truda, Brynn and Marcus were all gathered close, peering at him with varying degrees of anxiety. Well, Truda giggled, the rest peered. He put a hand to his head as it began thudding. It seemed like every muscle in his legs ached and his ribs felt bruised. He prodded them and wriggled his sprained ankle at the same time. Surprisingly, there were only slight twinges of pain. He felt amazingly healthy, apart from a headache and sore muscles.
“How’re you feeling?” Jade’s worried voice intruded.
He stared up at her then around at the room. They were in some sort of small, windowless hut with a high, thatched roof.
“Fine. Mostly,” he replied absently. “Where are we?”
“We’re in a Svear village called Olshamarr on the edge of Lake Vatn in Sweden. They call it Svealand,” Jade replied.
Truda giggled again, covering her mouth with her hand.
Jade sighed. “What?”
“You just said Lake Lake,” Truda said.
“But that’s what you said it was called, ‘Vatn’.” Jade rolled her eyes.
“That’s because the word for ‘lake’ is ‘vatn’.”
“Oh, good grief,” Jade moaned, dropping her head into her hands. She looked over at Truda with an expression of resigned irritation that reminded Phoenix strongly of how his mother looked at him sometimes.
“I never realised what a pain it is not to be able to speak the language,” Jade complained to him. “Truda’s the only one who can understand what the men outside are saying but she doesn’t know the Latin or Breton words for half of it, so she can’t translate correctly. Although,” she grinned and sat down on the dirt floor, forearms resting on her knees, “by the tone of their voices, they are probably not saying anything fit for small ears anyway.”
Brynn sniggered. Truda looked confused then giggled.
Jade sighed again, a frown pulling her slanted brows together over her nose. “The problem is, if we ever get out to see anyone, we don’t stand a chance of getting help or pleading our case to be let free. What are we going to do?”
It took Phoenix a full thirty seconds to reply as he tried to clear the last of the sleep-fog from his aching head. He was thirsty, tired, starving and bursting to go to the toilet. Now he was awake, he remembered to he was also seriously annoyed with her for going zombie on them with the lotus flower. How the heck was he supposed to know what to do about translating an obscure ancient dialect?
“Ummmm,” he stalled, rubbing his hand over his wild, smoke-smelling hair. “Couldn’t you just...” he made a gesture in the air like a magician waving a wand, “y’know, magic us some translation ability?”
Jade shook her head. “I’ve tried everything I know but I just don’t have any spells that apply to the situation. The closest I could come was to give us all my ability to understand what trees are thinking and somehow,” she grimaced, “I don’t think that will help much.”
“No,” he snorted a laugh, “I see your point. Hang on,” he frowned, trying to remember the moments leading up to his capture, “wasn’t there a guy who spoke Latin?”
Marcus nodded. “There was but he’s a trader to the lands south across the Suebian Sea. He was only here until yesterday. He left as we entered the village.”
“Helpful,” Phoenix muttered. “Look, I can’t think properly. I’m half-asleep, starving, thirsty and desperate for the loo.”
Jade apologised. She pointed out the primitive leather slop bucket in one corner and, when he’d used it, handed him some water and the stale remains of some bread and smoked meat. The others went to sit by the door, listening to their guard’s conversations in hope of gaining something useful.
After he’d assuaged the worst of his needs, Phoenix sighed and prodded his injuries again. He cocked his head at Jade, pointing to his ribs.
“Your handiwork?”
She flushed vividly red and looked away, nodding.
“Thanks.” He was extremely grateful for the healing.
“If it hadn’t been for my stupidity,” she groaned, “you wouldn’t have been injured at all! I should have been awake to help you, not lying in a drugged out coma because I was too cowardly to face my fears!”
“Errr…” He patted her awkwardly on the shoulder, not quite knowing how to deal with her in this mood. His lingering annoyance with her bad judgement faded. “You’re not a coward, Jade and it wasn’t your fault. Besides,” he added as she glared at him, “you couldn’t have helped anyway. Didn’t Brynn tell you?”
Jade sniffed, shook her head and wiped her nose on her sleeve.
“Your magic wouldn’t have worked on a Troll. They’re immune.” He smiled as her mouth dropped open. “I’m guessing being in the troll territory was what caused you so much grief with your magic. And that’s another thing: those wolves obviously knew where they were pushing us.” He frowned at the memory. “If we ever see them again…”
“You mean the wolves herded us into the troll’s territory deliberately?” Jade blinked at him. “But wolves aren’t that smart. I mean, I knew they were driving us somewhere but I thought they were just...I don’t know...I mean, why didn’t they just kill us and eat us? Why go to so much trouble?”
“Don’t ask me.” Phoenix shrugged. “There was something weird about that big black one. It seemed to me like he wanted us dead but didn’t want to do the deed himself. Maybe they were spies for Feng Zhudai? Who knows?”
Jade bit her lip then replied but with a note of uncertainty in her voice. “No. My spell - he can’t find us here, remember? Anyway, forget the wolves. The point is: I still shouldn’t have been stupid enough to eat that lily. I let you down. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you both.”
Phoenix grimaced and held up his hands. “OK, OK. You shouldn’t have eaten the flower. You made a mistake. Welcome to the real world – sort of. Build a bridge and get over it, Jade. We don’t have time for wallowing in self-pity.” He knew he was being harsh but there really wasn’t any room here for this sort of silliness. They needed Jade to be her usual capable self if they were going to survive.
For a moment he thought she was going to lash out at him in anger. Her fists clenched at her sides and her jaw clamped shut. Her brilliant green eyes flashed fire and he wondered if she would do magic on him without thinking.
“Hey,” he warned, “don’t get angry at me for telling you a truth you already knew. Remember the amulets? We have to finish this level and three more if you want to get home. Learn from it and move on, that’s my motto.” Some of the fire went out of her face, so he continued more quietly, “Let’s concentrate on getting out of this village and on our way.”
She swallowed hard a couple of times then let her hands relax. She nodded.
“But where do we go from here?” she asked hopelessly. “We don’t even know how to get to Asgard or Bilskirnir.”
“Well, let’s work on getting out of here first,” Phoenix shrugged, “then we can worry about Asgard. Besides,” he twisted his lips into knowing smile, “I’ll bet Truda can tell us how to get there.”
“Why should she know?” Jade sounded defensive.
“Well, to start with, it’s her home,” he pointed out mildly. She was being very touchy. “Plus, I’ve noticed she’s pretty darned good at springing little surprises on us at the most inconvenient times. Watch.” H
e caught Marcus’ eye and waved the others over.
The group sat in a tight circle on the packed earth floor, huddling around a small, central hearth fire that provided meagre warmth. Phoenix looked around.
“So, any ideas on how we can get out of here?”
Truda shook her head solemnly, as did Marcus.
Brynn shrugged and, with a wicked gleam in his eye, picked up a stick from the fire. “We could set the place alight and escape in the confusion.”
Phoenix tried to think of a tactful way of telling him what a bad idea that was. “It could be tricky to avoid being burned ourselves,” he pointed out. “Besides, I think Marcus and I have had enough fire for awhile - and they still have all our gear and weapons.”
Brynn threw the stick back into the fire and slumped with a defeated sigh. “No idea then.”
Phoenix raised an eyebrow at Jade, flicking her a knowing look.
“Anyway,” he asked in a deliberate, disappointed tone, “even if we could get out, how on Earth are we supposed to get to Asgard to return Truda to Thor? I mean yes, we know we’re in Svealand but we don’t know which way to go from here.”
Marcus cast him a puzzled look. Brynn blinked in confusion but Truda’s blue eyes lit up and she gave them all a blinding smile.
“Oh, don’t be silly. Everyone knows that all we have to do is get to Uppsala, find the Yggdrasil and go down the Urdarbrunnr into Asgard. Of course,” she added blithely, “we’d have to be careful to stay away from the guardians: Nidhogg, Graback, Grafvolluth, Goin and Moin.”
“Ha!” Phoenix grinned triumphantly at Jade. “See, I told you she’d spring the answer on us.” Then he frowned at Truda’s bright, dirt-smudged face. “Of course, it would help if anything you just said made any sense at all. I understood about the first ten words, after that it was utter gibberish.”
Jade chuckled. Brynn clutched at his stomach and howled with laughter.
Truda pouted and opened her mouth to speak but she never got the chance. The door to the hut flew open, crashing back against the wall. All five companions jumped, hands automatically reaching for absent weapons. Little bits of disturbed thatch fell on their heads as they sprang to their feet.
Silhouetted in the afternoon light, a strange, hideously-deformed man-thing stepped toward them. They couldn’t see its face clearly but it seemed to have a long snout and pointed ears on top of a furry, vaguely man-shaped body. It growled something in a low, harsh voice and began limping forward, leaning heavily on a thick ash staff.
Truda gasped. “It’s the Lífbjóðr!”