pointed at us. I quivered as he spoke, wooden and unfeeling.
‘My name is Gymir. My employers want the girls; I have no fight with you. Will you let me take them?’
Tyr growled in response, those scales spreading across his neck and face as a venomous glare curled across his burning eyes. His muscles bulged, icy spines bursting forth from his back. A primal growl parted his bloodless lips.
‘I will not.’
In an instant, Gymir spun, fingers sinking into the mahogany wood of a dice table. It must have weighed as much as two men, but he spun it around like a child and hurled it across the room. Tyr leapt forward, slicing straight through it in a single stroke as he blazed towards the man, his wide grin bearing nightmarish fangs cut from starlight.
Gymir ducked under razor strokes, punching Tyr in the stomach again and again. I shrank back as their fight whirled them closer to us, dice and cards sent flying across the room as another table was overturned. Tyr laughed, a shredding rumble that burned the air.
‘Is this it?’
The tattooed Vanir punched, kicked and struck with every ounce of strength he possessed, his titanic blows sending shockwaves of dust across the casino. But no matter what he tried Tyr remained unmoved, as much a block of stone as a man. He only seemed to grow yet taller, his hunched form gleaming bone-white.
Sweat began to bead on Gymir’s forehead. Even when his fists were wet with his own blood he beat against the impenetrable armour, the rhythmic blows now interspersed with his own gasps and curses. Tyr grasped him by the shoulders slowly, tenderly.
‘Enough,’ he snarled.
His mouth began to open, a sickly orange glow building in his throat. I spun away as a white hot inferno seared lines of colour across my eyes. It could barely be called fire; it was energy incarnate, primordial light and force in a burning column. It screeched down upon the man in a wailing scream, Gymir’s flesh glowing as he sank to the ground.
I covered my eyes and curled up against Saga. For a long time we huddled there, the noise echoing into a deathly silence that pressed in on all sides. I did not want to move at all; I wanted to stay there in my tiny ball of sanctuary until Tyr and Gymir and this whole war was gone. It was only Saga’s calming murmurs that kept me from bursting into tears.
When I finally looked up, Tyr was himself once more, brushing down his overcoat and tutting at a small scorch mark on the carpet. It was all that remained of Gymir.
He grimaced, slamming an identity card down on our table.
‘I fetched that from his wallet earlier. It seems the Yakuza have started hiring Vanir for their dirty work…’ With narrowed eyes, I picked it up warily.
It had belonged to Gymir; that much I could tell from the picture. The rest of the card was covered in Russian print, the letters curling round a white star. I wiped tears from my face, stuttering in a choked voice.
‘What is that s…symbol?’
‘You don’t need to know who they are,’ he asserted firmly, ‘but if you see one, run. If you can’t run, kill. A fate worse than death awaits those they capture. If they are in Tokyo now… You should come with me.’
Saga stood upright, folding her arms as a thin illusion of serenity returned to her. Outwardly she might seem calm and defiant, but I could feel cold waves of fear emanating across our mental link.
‘If we go with you… what’s in it for us?’
I gasped, turning to face her.
‘Saga! We can’t!’
Her face went hard as my silent speech reached her, but she did not take her eyes off Tyr. She whispered back to my mind silently.
‘If what he says is true, Tankenkuro is the last place I would want to be when a war breaks out.’
‘You saw what he did to that man...’ I breathed, ‘We could get our own place with this money.’
Glancing at me, she shook her head dismissively.
‘If war does come, it won’t help. Far better for us to be on the same side as him, Shaaya. The dragon’s lair is the safest place to be.’
‘But…’
A cough from Tyr cut me off.
‘I can provide you security. I founded it, a home in a place no man can ever reach. For a Vanir, there is no safer place on earth. I’m away most of the time these days, but if something should happen to me… Odin and the others will look after you.’
Something flashed across his face. Trepidation? Regret? Whatever it was, it was lost in a fraction of a second, smoothed away into that ageless face. He continued on, unblinking.
‘Our scientists have developed equipment that might interest you as well; a… technology to help the psychics among our number. Your powers could increase tenfold, with the right training.’
I could feel my sister’s thoughts- she was hooked on Tyr’s every word.
‘Please think about this, Saga.’
‘I have one condition.’ She announced, planting a hand firmly on the table. ‘Our little brother Riku is out there somewhere, right now. We have to find him first.’
My eyes widened; I had all but given up hope of finding him again. Tyr smiled warmly, levelling his gaze at the two of us.
‘It’s the only way,’ she whispered. ‘I think Riku is a Vanir too; we can’t leave him behind. What happened to that Gabrielle… it doesn’t bear thinking about.’
‘And if we find him?’ Tyr asked, casually swilling his glass in one hand.
‘Then… then we will join you.’
Laughing, the man leapt to his feet. He swung that great overcoat onto his shoulders and stretched his wiry body. Shaking Saga’s outstretched hand, he nodded briefly.
‘Llyrian and I will find him; you mark my words. And then I shall return for you, my cloak of glass. Dragon Creek could use a pair like you… Be ready in one hour.’
My mouth fell open of its own accord, but he was already striding for the open doorway. He stood silhouetted against the blinding light of the slums, pausing for the briefest of moments like a breath before a storm.
A sudden wave of unease ran over me like a cold knife. His form began to twist and contort, the sickening sound of warping flesh curling through my mind. I spun away, but for all my power I could not remove my own memory, those bleached scales glinting across his body.
Pale wings flashed as the beast leapt into the void.
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