Fragments of your Soul (The Mirror Worlds Book 1) (27 page)

Loke looked a little older again, and stared into his mug as if there was something very fascinating to be seen. Although he still resembled the stable boy, his features were now pleasantly proportioned, and his dark hair held back in several small braids. He looked nice, especially his eyes. They were dark brown and looked peaceful and gentle, though Arvid knew exactly what lay hidden in their depths.

“I like dark hair,” she said spontaneously. “I mean… on you, it… it suits you, I think.” She paused, realizing that what she had just said didn’t make the slightest sense.

Loke raised his head and looked at her doubtfully.

“Well, I do realize that… that you always look different,” Arvid hastened to add. “But I… I like it. The way it looks now, I mean.” She felt herself blushing, but Loke just grinned.

“Are you complimenting me?” he asked.

Arvid wished she had just gone to bed. Of course it was a compliment, but she had not had the intention of paying him one. She had only put her observations into words without thinking.

“Yes, I know,” muttered Arvid, “you couldn’t care less.”

“What leads you to that assumption?”

“I don’t know,” Arvid said. “You can look just the way you want. A compliment about your appearance is… well… pretty much meaningless.”

The way Loke looked at her made Arvid nervous. He seemed to be even more beautiful than a moment ago.

“Let me show you something,” he said suddenly. He got up and sat down on the bench next to Arvid, so close their knees were touching. Arvid instinctively wanted to shy away from him, but she controlled herself.

“Close your eyes,” he told her.

Arvid hesitated. She didn’t like such games. She had a queasy feeling in her stomach; however, she wasn’t sure if she would describe it as unpleasant, and so she finally gave in and closed her eyes.

At first nothing happened. Then she noticed Loke suddenly coming much closer, so close she could smell his body odor. Shortly afterwards, she felt his hand in her hair. He gently stroked the long strands back over her shoulders, and finally touched her neck almost imperceptibly. Arvid shuddered. He began to stroke her neck in gentle, circular motions. The feeling was wonderful and tingly, but at the same time Arvid couldn’t stop wondering what he was up to. He didn’t want to… She denied the possibility vigorously but couldn’t prevent her heart from pounding heavily.

It felt wonderful as Loke’s fingertips ever so slowly wandered over her neck. He continued his way up to her collarbone, but then the touch ended abruptly.

“That’s it,” she heard him say cheerfully.

Almost reluctantly, Arvid opened her eyes. “And now?” She had to admit that she was almost disappointed that he had stopped.

“I thought you would perhaps hit on it yourself,” Loke said.

“So… you wanted to show me something,” Arvid remembered. “And what exactly was that?”

Loke didn’t answer, but instead took her hand and put something into it. As Arvid looked down, she stared blankly at what Loke had given her. It was the chain with her soul gem. For a brief moment she didn’t understand, but then she instinctively reached to her neck.

“You nicked my necklace,” she said in disbelief, not sure whether to laugh or get mad about it.

“Looks like it,” Loke said with a mocking glint in his eyes. “I don’t think the stable boy would have succeeded.”

“Probably not,” muttered Arvid.

“Beauty is power,” Loke said and rose, “but it’s in the eye of the beholder. Compliments reveal your weaknesses.”

Arvid was finally overcome by fatigue. Her eyes burned and her eyelids were suddenly heavy as lead. “We should go to sleep,” she said, rubbing her eyes with her thumb and forefinger.

“Yes, you should,” said Loke.

The contours of his body suddenly dissolved. For a moment its mass seemed to turn into a swirling liquid that within seconds gathered in a new form. Before the huge, gray wolf jumped off, Arvid caught a glimpse of his eyes.

He was still beautiful.

When Arvid awoke, she felt she had not slept for long. She was severely thirsty and knew immediately why. Two pitchers of mead had been one too many, because she wasn’t used to drinking. The memories of the previous night slowly returned and with them an oppressive heaviness in her chest.

Reluctantly, she pushed the blankets aside and left the warmth of her bed. The ground was cold, so she hurried to slip into her boots. She threw on a coat before she left the small niche and made her way toward the stairs. Everything was dark and quiet, only here and there she could hear the bright drops of water.

Arvid had planned to go to the pool in the main cave, but when she reached the first step, she heard a noise and froze. She held her breath and listened. From somewhere far away muffled voices came, not more than a murmur, but unmistakable voices.

She walked on, but at the passage to the main cave, she stopped again. The voices were now a little louder, yet still so far away that she couldn’t understand the words. They came from below. Arvid thought about what to do. Yes, she had to admit that she was scared, because what if the voices came from someone who wasn’t supposed to be here? With her dagger she would have felt safer, but she had left it under her bedding.

She gathered all her courage and cautiously continued downstairs, carefully making sure not to cause any telltale noises. Soon she could hear that one of the voices was female, but had a strange, smoky sound. The increasing noise and rippling of the water prevented her from understanding what was being said, and so she crept on little by little, until she finally reached the place where the domed room slowly began to open.

She pressed herself close to the icy wall behind a rock. When she peered over to the place with the stone basin, her breath stopped.

She saw two giants—at least that was her first thought. The figures were huge, about twice as tall as normal people and of wiry, robust physique. Their skin was stone gray and shone almost like the skin of silver fish. Their hair, on the other hand, was shaggy and dull and had matted in long, thin strands.

Although the two were half turned away from her, it was clear that one of them was female. She was shorter. Her hair was light gray on one side, almost black on the other, and richly decorated with shiny, colored beads. Both were very scantily clad in lightly falling materials, which made Arvid shiver in the face of the biting cold. At first she was so mesmerized by the sight that she didn’t realize that she could clearly hear what the two were saying now.

It wasn’t Jördisch. The melody was different, strange, the sound soft, flowing, somehow monotonous, but the words sounded familiar. Finally she realized that it was Old Jördisch, pronounced in a most peculiar way. Now that she was aware of this fact, she suddenly began to understand it, but it took all her concentration to follow the conversation.

“Yes, I’m sure,” the woman with the husky voice said, “but the exact time will depend on the weather conditions. You only have a short time slot. If you have bad luck, the sky is covered all the time.”

The male giant nodded. “Still unlikely. We will simply have to act spontaneously.”

“I’m not sure if I share your confidence,” the woman said. “Your plan seems uncertain. I don’t see how the small amount of light should be sufficient.”

“That’s because you only know parts of my plan.”

“Still the secretive fellow, huh?” She sighed.

“Oh, shut up,” he said gruffly. “You don’t need to know about the details. You are far too nosy anyway. All of this is entirely my own business.”

“And the woman?”

“She knows what she needs to know.”

“If you say so,” said the giantess. “You’d better make sure that she’s properly prepared, if you want to achieve anything with your plan. She’s… just a shadow of her true self.”

“What are you trying to say?” asked the male giant.

“How come you keep expecting information from me without ever telling me anything about your life and your plans?” she asked. “I’m almost inclined not to tell you anything anymore.”

Although Arvid only could see a part of his profile, she saw how the man’s expression hardened. “Don’t forget who you’re talking to,” he hissed.

“How could I?” asked the woman. It sounded light, but the ever so slight trembling of her voice betrayed her tension.

“What do you know about her?” the man demanded to know.

The woman didn’t answer right away. Finally, she crossed her arms over her chest and said, “I have looked into the Black Waters and… like I said, she’s a shadow of her true self. A shadow of what she could be. She is still weak and fragile. Perhaps it would be better to wait. A gust of wind might carry her soul into my realm, so small and fragile she is.”

“And you think that will happen?”

“No.” The giantess’ pose relaxed. “I don’t believe so, even if it’s hard to tell. The unknown blackness in her soul is… extraordinary. I can’t see through it.” She hesitated. “Maybe Odin is right.”

“Yes, maybe,” said the giant, “but I don’t care. What about my soul, Hel?”

“Oh, Loke…” Her voice was soft and almost tender now. “For a hundred years I’ve been telling you that it will keep at the one shard. Nothing has changed.” She took his hand and he let it happen without resistance. “You don’t have to worry about yourself. But… if you really want to implement your plan that soon, you need to take care of the woman. There’s not much time left.”

“I can’t wait,” Loke said in an urgent tone, but without letting go of the woman’s hand. “Who knows when the next opportunity will arise? I don’t want to hide her for years; already now she’s constantly getting on my nerves. Her friend teaches her—it must suffice.”

“She’s getting on your nerves?” the woman asked mockingly. “And that’s why you want to rush a plan of such importance, risking it all for nothing?” She sighed and shook her head. “Sometimes you’re really difficult. You’ve always been.”

Loke said nothing. For a while they were both silent, then the woman said, “I should go. I’ve already been here for too long. You know that she’s overhearing us?”

“Yes.”

They looked in Arvid’s direction almost simultaneously. An icy shock ran through her limbs. Her heart began to race. Finally, she took a deep breath, pushed away from the wall and walked slowly out from behind the rocks.

“I… I’m sorry,” she said, trying to sound as calm as possible. “I didn’t recognize you.”

Arvid felt their gazes resting on her and felt herself blushing. The gray eyes of the two giants were like shiny polished stones and had seemingly pupil-less, deep black irises. Arvid remembered having seen Loke like that before, only he had been female then. Despite his strange appearance and his intimidating size he instantly seemed familiar, but the woman who was still holding his hand, she had never seen before. In her eyes Arvid saw nothing, not the slightest feeling, nothing that constituted a being, a soul. She saw only blackness and one single, great void, so neutral and undefined that it caused her discomfort.

To Arvid’s surprise Loke didn’t react with anger, but with a barely perceptible smile. “Go to sleep, Arvid,” he said, now again in Jördisch. “Your training will be more demanding from tomorrow.”

Arvid was so confused that she just nodded and hastened to go. When she looked back again on her way up, she saw Loke kissing the woman on the forehead.

The next morning Arvid found Nod at the fire pit, where he was frying fish.

“Loke left them here,” he explained. “He went off early in the morning and said he would not be here for a few days.”

“Strange,” mumbled Arvid. Had Loke not just last night talked about the fact that her training should be more difficult from now? It had happened several times before that he had stayed away for a whole day, but several?

Nod shrugged. “At least there will be peace and quiet for a few days.”

“Hmm,” Arvid said and sat down at the table, still a bit sleepy. She’d had a bad night and felt tired and sad. Nod was talking about something, but she didn’t listen properly. When he set a plate with delicious fish on the table in front of her, she was startled.

“I’m sorry, I was deep in thought,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

Nod looked at her, worried. “Were you up late last night?” he asked.

Arvid nodded her head. “Rather.” She then told him of Loke’s nighttime visitor.

“Hel was here?” Nod said incredulously. “What did they talk about?”

“I didn’t quite understand what it was about. Much of it sounded like gibberish. It was about Loke’s plan… Apparently an important element is being the right place at the right time.” She sighed. “Oh, and then they also spoke about how small, weak and helpless I am.” What Hel had said about the blackness in Arvid’s soul, she deliberately didn’t mention. The thought caused her discomfort.

“Cheer up,” Nod said. “There’s a lot they find weak and helpless, so don’t take it personally.”

Arvid took a knife and began to cut up her fish. Nod was right, but his words didn’t help. It wasn’t about the fact that this Hel had called her weak. She knew her abilities. She wasn’t weak, at least not by her measure.

“She was odd, although I guess she’s pretty for a… whatever she is…” Arvid said. “Her eyes were somewhat disturbing.”

“Pretty?” Nod asked skeptically. “Well, if you find giants attractive. I’ve met her once before and found her… scary.”

“Oh, Loke was really pleased with her,” Arvid said and flipped the skin of her fish aside. “You should have seen the way he looked at her.”

Nod remained silent. As Arvid looked up, there was a strange expression in his eyes. It was a mixture of amusement and astonished disbelief.

“You do know that Hel is Loke’s daughter, don’t you?” he said.

Arvid almost dropped the piece of fish she was about to put in her mouth. “How can that be? She is…”

“A giantess?” Nod interrupted her, then he smiled. “Her mother was a giantess, Loke’s first wife.”

Arvid took a moment to process this information. It was difficult to describe, but the idea that Loke had children somehow seemed odd and inappropriate. On the other hand, she had to admit that she still barely knew Loke. Whenever she asked him about something personal, he harshly let her know that it was none of her business, or he simply ignored her.

“How do you know all this?” she asked finally. “It wasn’t mentioned in any of the books I read.”

“Only a few people know,” Nod said, “but it’s not a secret. It has become irrelevant for most, so it’s no longer mentioned in newer writings. This marriage was a long time ago.”

“So the story is true,” Arvid said thoughtfully.

“What story?”

“You know, the one Loke told last night. He said that he and Thor had found a giantess who wanted to become his wife.”

“Oh, that one,” Nod said as he began to peel the skin off his fish. “I admit, I hardly listened. But the story doesn’t necessarily have to be true. Loke often becomes very talkative when he’s had too much to drink.”

“You seem to know quite a lot about him. More than others, anyway.”

“My father knew him better than most,” said Nod. “Loke often came to visit. On long evenings they spent hours talking and drinking.”

For a while they ate in silence. Arvid indulged in her own thoughts that soon wandered back to Loke’s little demonstration with her necklace. He had been so handsome, so attractive. Although she didn’t like it, in this situation she had unconsciously hoped Loke would want to get closer—and that had been his plan from the beginning. He had quite deliberately wanted to arouse and exploit this hope, and she had promptly fallen for it. In retrospect, she almost felt embarrassed.