Empty Altars (19 page)

When she finished the wind chant, Asdis shook her head. "Enough for one day. I can't retain any more. And you have more, don't you?"

"So does Heid. These won't save you, but they might buy you some time."

Asdis frowned. "How can someone buy time?"

Freya, who'd stayed in the background listening, smiled. "Diana lives in modern times. It's the lingo of today's world."

"And it means?" Asdis' dark brows drew together into one, solid line. A uni-brow. Not a pretty sight, but appearances meant little to Diana. The witch's spirit was strong and good. Diana intended to do much to help her.

"It means that if you use these spells, you might slow Heid down long enough to live," Freya said.

"Ahh. And then we can help others." Asdis glanced at Ormr. Her expression changed. It softened.

Freya glanced at Diana with a knowing smirk. The witch was besotted by the giant.

What in Hades? Did everyone around Freya fall in love or lust? Was it part of her aura? At first, Diana couldn't imagine such a match, but then she realized that neither Asdis nor Ormr fit in anywhere. A giant who sided with the Aesir gods undoubtedly ostracized himself from many. Asdis was…what? Half-giant, half-dwarf. An odd mix. Neither of them could be described as the least bit attractive. But what did she know? Maybe in their eyes, humans and gods were ugly. Beauty, she knew, was in the eyes of the beholder. She smiled too.

The gates opened again, and Tyr strode toward her. "I saw that your lessons were finished. Can we all join together to decide what needs to be done next?"

His thoughtfulness caught her off guard. He'd considered what she was doing to be as important as his own plans. She stared.

"Have I offended you?" he asked.

"No, you've surprised me. Again."

He grinned. "You notice me that way."

Ormr's brows rose, and a smile lifted his lips. "Our sky god wants you?" he asked Diana.

"For Zeus' sake!" It had to be Freya's doing. Couples were lusting all over the place. "We have important matters at hand!"

Tyr held Diana’s gaze as he answered Ormr. “The sky god does, indeed, want her, but goddesses are hard to impress.”

It was Freya who got back to serious subjects. "We need to find a way to offer you more protection," she told the giants and witches. "You can't sleep out here, in the open. Heid could send a storm or more enemies. We got lucky this time. Our losses could have been great."

Jorunda frowned at the size of his allies. "What can we do?"

"Would salt work?" Tyr asked.

"It would protect them from magic. Wolfbane would protect them from hellhounds." Diana motioned for Freya and Inga to join her. "The three of us will go to the woods to look for that. Can you do the salt?"

"We'll have the area circled before you get back."

"
Really
?" She raised an eyebrow. "And how are you going to do that?"

Tyr motioned to the giants, who made a bucket brigade. Along with the witches and Griswold’s warriors, they formed a line that wove past the village fences, all the way to a large body of water that stretched from sandy shores to the cliffs at the edge of the floating meadow, before it was rimmed by a rocky ledge. A good thing, so that ships didn’t fall over the lip and crash down to Midgard. The same sea Diana, Freya, and Inga had slogged in to collect salt.

Together, Tyr’s team moved sea water to their campground and splashed it in a wide circle. Tyr nodded upward at passing clouds. Winds shook the treetops and evaporated the water, leaving salt. "I
am
the sky god," he said.

Diana grimaced. "You're showing off."

"Are you impressed?"

"For the moment."

They split up to do their separate jobs. By late afternoon, the campground was surrounded by salt and wolfbane. Diana cursed silently under her breath.

“A little grumpy, aren’t we?” Tyr teased.

“You and the giants accomplished in a few hours what it took Freya, Inga, and me most of a day to do.”

“We had one circle, close to the shore, to protect. You had farmlands scattered all over the area.”

He meant to mollify, and he did. She could feel some of her frustration drain away.

"Now, the real problem." Tyr looked at the group of giants and half-giants. "What are we going to feed you?"

Hrafn gave a careless shrug. "No worry," he told them. He and his friends walked back into the water. It was too big to be a lake, not big enough to be an ocean—more like a bay. Hrafn took a fishing net from a deep pocket, handed it to the others, and they spread it wide. As they waded farther, they hurled it into the deeper water. When the middle bulged, they pulled together and carted a whale back to shore.

Diana felt her jaw drop. The whale was a magnificent creature, but giants had to eat. Ormr plunged a long,
long
sword through the struggling mammal to kill it, then began to de-bone it, like people from the village would de-bone a fish.

Inga trembled and looked away.

Jorunda placed his arm around her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Her words were clipped.

“You?” Tyr asked Diana.

She shrugged. She was the goddess of the hunt, after all. She knew the rules of nature and survival.

Tyr gave a quick, approving nod. "I suggest we return to your house," he said, unwilling to take them into the village to meet Griswold. He knew the chieftain annoyed them, and he could sense that Diana wasn't in the mood to deal with him. "I could use a lunch today, but I'm not fond of blubber."

"Good idea." Inga turned her back to the massacre on the beach.

Jorunda laced his arm around her waist and led her toward the woods. Every Norse celebrated the death of a beached whale. They ate the blubber and used the oil. Many could eat for weeks from its flesh. But comparing a whale to a herring was too much of a leap for her.

Freya hesitated. “How can you think of food right now?”

“Gathering salt is hard work. It made me hungry.” Tyr’s gaze darted to Inga, then he reached for Diana’s hand to lead her on the path.

Diana tilted her head to study him. Lunch was unusual for the Norse. They usually ate only two meals a day—breakfast after chores had been started and a late supper when the day was finished. He wasn’t hungry. He was trying to distract Inga, and she liked him for that.

“What?” he asked, catching her watching him.

She shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Are you sizing me up?”

“For what?”

“To see how I’d fit in your life?”

“You don’t. You live in this meadow and Asgaard. I live in New York. Two different worlds.”

He grinned. “We’re gods. Anything’s possible.”

“And I thought the Norse were practical.”

A low chuckle rumbled in his throat, but he let her comment pass.

On the narrow path, Jorunda stayed by Inga's side, and Freya brought up the rear, content to be on her own. Probably watching the two couples ahead of her, Diana thought, enjoying her supposed handiwork. They were almost to their marble house when a young man stumbled out of the woods toward them. He wore faded blue jeans and a stained, white t-shirt.

"Hello?" He looked around, confused.

Freya pulled her short sword and aimed the tip his way. "Come no closer," she warned. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

He looked at Diana, dressed in jeans as he was, then stared in bewilderment at the others in their Norse garb. "I was mowing my yard, and all of a sudden, I was in a woods. Where am I?"

"Your name?" Freya insisted.

Inga took a step toward him. "Are you all right?"

Diana grabbed her shoulder. "Let Freya handle this."

The man rubbed a hand through his spiky, brown hair. "Peta Smith. Can you help me? I think I'm lost."

Freya held her ground. "Where do you live?"

"Midgard."

Tyr pulled his broadsword and took a step toward him. "We, in the meadow, use that name. No modern mortal does."

When Peta realized his mistake, his lips curled back in a snarl. His straight, white teeth turned to sharp points. As Diana watched, his body elongated into a long, serpentine shape on short, sturdy legs. His neck stretched, and his face lengthened. In less than a minute, she was looking at a dragon.

"A shape shifter," Freya said.

"A what?" Diana couldn't believe her eyes. She rubbed them, as though she could blink the young man back into his human form.

Peta opened his mouth to belch fire at them. Diana threw up a hand to form a protective shield. Tyr waited for the flames to die, then sprang forward and slashed at the dragon's throat. An angry wound opened. Jorunda jabbed at the dragon's leg. Blood oozed from the hole. Peta snapped at them, but Diana cast a spell and bound his jaws. Peta whisked his tail, trying to knock the warriors to the ground. They dodged out of the way. Diana threw energy at the dragon's chest.

Peta staggered backward. A char mark brought blisters. He unfurled leathery wings, but couldn't fly. The trees were too thick. Before Tyr could attack again, he turned, knocking down trees, and ran for it. Tyr chased after him, but as soon as there was enough space, the dragon took to the air and kept going. Peta flew to the cliff line, then dove.

"One of Heid's pets," Tyr said. "She won't be happy with him. Or her hellhounds either, for that matter."

"Poor her." Sarcasm dripped from Freya's voice. "What will she come up with next? Sea serpents?"

"What was its natural shape—a man or a dragon?" Diana asked.

"Dragon." Freya clucked her tongue. "The old ones have magic of their own and can shift. We Seidre learned from them, when gods and dragons co-existed in peace."

Diana had tangled with dragons before, but she'd never met one like Peta. "How many old ones are still around?"

"Not that many, but Heid obviously found one."

Tyr slid his sword back into its scabbard. "Most dragons keep to themselves. I haven't seen one for centuries."

And a good thing, too. Diana asked, "Why would this one lower himself to work with Heid?"

Freya had no answer. "Perhaps she's convinced the dragons that if she rids the world of mortals, their lives will be better."

"Maybe." Diana wasn't convinced. "Dragons are intelligent creatures, far superior to mortals. It's hard to believe they'd listen to or trust a dark witch."

"Things have changed," Freya said. "Giantland is in turmoil. Some of the other lands are in chaos too. Who knows what Heid told them?"

Diana made a mental note to check on the island she'd provided for them, to see if it was still a safe hold for their breed.

Tyr looked satisfied with himself, regardless. "The thing is, so far, no matter what Heid's thrown at us, we've stayed one step ahead of her. She can't be happy about that." He turned to Diana. "If you were Heid, what would you try next?"

She said the first thing that came to mind. "I'd have a shape shifter turn into someone you know, someone you trust."

Inga stared. "Can Heid do that?"

"
She
can't, but she could easily have the dragon return as someone else," Freya said.

"Not if she waits until tomorrow morning." Diana's voice was firm. Only one spell performed that kind of magic, and she could block it.

Tyr grinned. "You can protect us from that, right?"

"It'll take a minute. I have to make a wafer for each person in the meadow to eat, but it can be done. Who's ready to help me bake?"

"I used to help my mom with her bread when I was a small boy," Jorunda said, breaking his silence. Diana admired the fact that the warrior was a man of few words. At the moment, he sounded almost happy to pull kitchen duty.

Tyr looked at his one hand. "I can stir. I suck at kneading."

Diana laughed. "Then we'd better get busy. We have a lot of wafers to make." Anticipation bubbled inside her. She hated waiting. She chafed at playing guessing games. This was something she could
do
. And it would piss Heid off. She loved it!

Chapter 18

Diana had forgotten how satisfying it was to spend a day doing ordinary things. And she learned how distracting it was to have five people working in a kitchen together.

"No eggs?" Jorunda complained. "My mother always put eggs in her bread."

Diana sighed. "These are wafers—flat. We don't need eggs."

He looked at Inga's outdoor oven, made of stones. "Do you bake bread?" he asked.

"A loaf a day."

His shoulders relaxed. "Do you put eggs in yours?"

"One egg, yes."

He smiled.

Tyr rolled his eyes. "Can we concentrate? Inga, you're in charge of flour."

"I measured ten cups."

"What else do we need?" Freya was busy gathering ingredients.