Perfekt Control (The Ære Saga Book 2) (13 page)

“Got ’em!” Tullah’s tiny voice sounded much
closer than I’d expected. Had she really made it to the castle wall
and back already? Maybe she wasn’t full giant. She moved too
quickly for her kind.

“Ooh!” A chorus of little girls squealed in
delight as they gathered around Henrik. I slunk back into the bush,
careful not to make a noise as the party guests circled their
“prince.”

“He’s so handsome!”

“I’ll bet he has a beautiful princess back
home.”

“How come you always get the best
presents?”

The girls’ enthusiasm bubbled to a fevered
pitch, and Henrik held up his hands. “Ladies,” he declared, his
voice halting the percolating conversations. “I am Prince Henrik
of, eh, Midgard, and I have been sent to honor the birthday girl
with a dance, at the request of… of… what’s your daddy’s name,
sweetheart?”

“Surtr,” Tullah said proudly.

The blood drained from my face. Since the
girls were hanging around the castle, I’d figured they belonged to
someone important. But I’d hoped Tullah was a senator’s daughter,
or maybe a high-ranking military officer’s kid.
Skit. This day
seriously sucks.
Tullah’s dad, Surtr, was the king of the fire
giants. He loathed Asgardians more than any leader before him, and
he’d launched more than one hundred direct attacks on our realm
just during my lifetime. Surtr was the
last
creature we
wanted alerted to our presence. We were supposed to drop in on
Muspelheim undetected, and now Henrik had an audience with the
realm’s littlest princess.

Navigational fail.

“Right. Surtr sent me. Okay then, let’s
dance. And then, I’m afraid, I need to get straight back to
Midgard. Very important princely business awaits me there.” Henrik
shot an anxious look at my hiding place, and I gave a tight nod. As
he held out his hand and led the squealing birthday girl in a
waltz, I rifled quietly though the contents of my backpack. My
weapons inventory was sadly lacking—I only had the vacuum, a
nano-molecular particle accelerator and my sheathed rapier, plus
the two daggers hidden in my boots. Correction—one dagger. Henrik
had tucked the second one into his belt when we’d taken cover.
Shoot. None of those were going to do us a bit of good. I checked
the front pocket of the pack and felt a small sphere. My fingers
wrapped around it, and when I pulled it out I had to bite back a
yelp of joy.

Thank Odin! The forgetters.

Henrik continued his dance as I mulled over
the best way to use the memory-wiping orbs. If I threw them at the
group now, I’d hit Henrik too. The effects would be immediate, and
I needed him at full capacity when we tracked down Hyro. It
wouldn’t help anyone if I were the only one on this mission aware
of its purpose. I’d have to catch Henrik’s attention and alert him
to the plan. Then I’d throw one of the forgetters at the little
giants, and Henrik and I could run as if our lives depended on
it.

In all likelihood, they probably did.

Henrik marched Tullah in increasingly larger
circles, and I realized he was guiding her near enough the bush
that I’d be able to catch his eye. Parting the leaves as gently as
I could, I settled the forgetter in my palm and held it up.
Henrik’s eyes twinkled. He led Tullah away from the bush, and
twirled her in a dizzying circle before stepping back and bowing
low to the ground.

“Thank you for the dance, sweetheart.” He
offered a wink that left several of the tiny giants giggling. “But
I’m afraid I must return to—”

“There you are!” The giants’ nanny came
rushing out of the castle wall, the ground shaking under the weight
of her footsteps. My heart came to a standstill. “I thought you
were coming inside for cake. You girls scared me half to—” She
broke off at the sight of Henrik. He rose slowly from his bow as
the girls rushed to his side, grabbing at his hands.

“Look, Nanny! Tullah got a real prince for
her birthday.”

“Can you believe it?”

“Did you know he was coming?”

The girls clamored over each other in their
enthusiasm to show off their prize. Henrik took cautious steps
backward, assessing Nanny’s reaction. As I watched, her face worked
through surprise, embarrassment, and then finally, outrage. I knew
what came next. As she opened her mouth to call for the guards, I
leapt from the bush and barked one word to Henrik.

“Run!”

Henrik parted the sea of adoring girls and
took off at a full sprint. I followed suit, turning as I ran to aim
the forgetter at the cluster just as Nanny bellowed for backup.

“Guards! Trespassers in Muspelheim! South of
the castle wa—”

But Nanny never got to finish her warning. I
launched the tiny ball at the group and glanced over my shoulder as
it exploded thirty meters behind me, leaving a silvery film in its
wake. In the seconds I permitted myself to watch them, the girls
shook their heads and looked at each other in confusion. No doubt
they wondered how they’d ended up in party dresses, playing in the
forest.

“
NICE PLAN, BRYNN.” HENRIK
held up
his palm and I slapped a high five as we ran. My stomach barely
even fluttered at the contact.
Better
. “I can’t believe you
thought to bring a forgetter with us.”

“I didn’t.” My feet pounded against the soot.
“I guess it’s been a while since I cleaned out that pocket of my
backpack. Apparently I left two in there.”

“Well, fast thinking, then. Those were good
times,
ja
? We haven’t invented chemical tech in a while.
What do you say we get back to basics like that? We’ve been so
focused on harnessing the dark elements and developing the weapons
that can—” Henrik glanced over his shoulder and skidded to a stop.
I followed suit.

“What is it?” I asked.

Henrik grimaced. “That was a short
reprieve.”

I squared my shoulders, fists at my side, and
followed his gaze. Sure enough, a squadron of six fire giants
barreled through the forest like a herd of angry cattle. The black
scabs covering their purple skin gave off actual sparks, the
physical manifestation of their fury. They swung their arms over
their heads in a display of aggression, and one reared its head
back and emitted a stream of fire. Honest-to-goodness fire.

“What the Helheim did he just do?” I gaped. I
pulled my dagger out of my boot as Henrik studied the stream.

“Is that not normal?” he asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “Not at
all
.
They’re supposed to
live
in a realm of fire, not create it
with their mouths
.”

Henrik pulled a particle accelerator from his
backpack and threw it at me. He drew his sword and crouched in a
fighting stance. “In that case,
sötnos
, weapon up. We’ll
debilitate this crew before we find Hyro.”

“With pleasure.” And it would be. After the
morning I’d had, I needed to work out some anger. Killing bad guys
was just what the healer ordered.

“You take right, I’ll take left?” Henrik
offered.

“But the ones on the left are bigger. You
sure you can handle them, Henrik?”

“I’ll take my chances.” He grinned.

“Well in that case, I’ll let you be the
gentleman today. Righties, here I come.” I took a deep breath to
ground myself as the giants descended upon us. With thunderous
battle cries, Henrik and I sprang into action. He charged the giant
coming from the left, while I pocketed the particle accelerator and
lunged. I threw the full weight of my five-foot, two-inch frame
behind my dagger and pierced the hardened thigh of the fire giant
who had the misfortune of being first on scene. Wrapping both hands
around the handle of my blade, I pulled it horizontally, slicing
through cloth, skin, and after a forceful wrench, bone, before
pulling my dagger free. The giant fell to the ground, his leg
hanging at an unnatural angle, almost completely severed from his
body. He let out a wail and threw his head back in agony, emitting
a stream of fire that ignited the needles of the tree above him.
Navy liquid gushed from his severed limb and he twitched before
falling still.

One down, five to go.

Henrik swung his sword at the giant nearest
him, so I turned my attention to Rightie Number Two. He launched
his enormous body at me, leaping through the air in a disturbing
display of grace. I flung myself onto the ground and rolled out of
the way, fighting panic as I moved. This wasn’t right. Fire giants
weren’t supposed to be this fast. Or this coordinated. And they
sure as Helheim didn’t shoot fire out of their mouths. Had they
evolved since my last tour? It was a valid hypothesis, but this
wasn’t the time to mull it over. I needed to figure out how to
debilitate this squadron before they brought our mission to an
abrupt and unsightly end.

A flash of silver blurred by, and Henrik’s
sword flew through the air, landing neatly in the spine of the fire
giant I’d just escaped. It pierced the flesh, and Henrik leapt off
the chest of his recently departed conquest, following the
trajectory of his blade. The giant convulsed as Henrik landed on
its back and drove his sword deeper. He wrenched it from side to
side, barely flinching as navy blood spewed from the wound and
covered his face. As he drew his weapon from his victim, another
giant launched itself at his unsuspecting frame. I pulled the
particle accelerator from my pocket, unlocked the safety and fired
at the giant, who imploded on impact, leaving nothing more than a
spray of ash in his wake. The remaining giants scurried backward,
hastily retreating from their newly departed—yet still
smoking—comrade. They looked back and forth between me and the
ashes, possibly wondering if they’d be next.

Oh, you will be.

“Four down,” I called to Henrik.

“Two to go.” He grinned. In spite of myself,
I grinned back. Ending Asgard’s enemies always gave me a rush. And
doing this right now was kind of like a really bizarre therapy.
Fighting alongside Henrik was natural, and easy, and strangely
satisfying. Maybe we’d been through enough together that we’d get
through this, too.

And maybe I shouldn’t judge myself
too
harshly for checking out Henrik’s butt as he stood up.

I wiped the smirk off my face as I angled my
body toward the remaining two giants. They still stared at the
ashes, but I doubted the reprieve would last long. We needed to
strike before they could. “It’s two to two.” I recounted our kill
tally as I pocketed my gun and drew my dagger. “Let’s make this
interesting. If I end both of the survivors, I win, and you’ll have
to bake me a pie. I’ll take your grandmother’s Dutch Apple Crumble,
takk
.”

“Not a chance, Brynnie. This round’s mine,
and when I win you’ll have to do my laundry for a week.” Henrik
crossed to my side.

“It’s on, Andersson.” I dropped into a low
crouch and brought my dagger to eye level.

“You could take them right now with the
particle accelerator,” Henrik pointed out.

“Yeah, I could.” I rocked back and forth on
the balls of my feet. “But where’s the fun in that?”

Henrik shot me a wink and leapt at our
opponents. He swung his sword in a high circle, striking one
giant’s arm and cutting it clean off. The giant howled. I darted
for the nearest tree, running up the base of the trunk and pivoting
to launch myself into the air. I aimed for the giant’s shoulders,
wrapping my legs around its neck and squeezing hard. With both
palms around my dagger, I slammed my fists into its skull so my
blade pierced the bone and struck the soft matter beneath. The
giant tumbled to the ground and I fell with him, rolling until I
struck the base of a nearby tree. My right leg throbbed, pinned
beneath the dead weight of Muspelheim’s finest, and I swore out
loud as pain shot through me.

Henrik turned his head at the sound of my
curse, and his attacker seized the opportunity. The oversized ogre
cocked his arm and struck Henrik on the side of the head with a
forceful backhand. Henrik soared through the air. He landed in a
heap beside me, still gripping his sword. A trickle of blood oozed
from his temple, and he remained still as the giant thundered
toward us.

“Henrik!” I pushed myself to a sitting
position and reached over to shake my partner. He lifted his head
groggily. “You have to get up! I can’t move my leg and—oh,
skit.
”

I ripped the sword from Henrik’s hand and
held it over his body as the giant reared his head and let out a
roar. My arms went on lockdown as I braced for the onslaught of
fire. Thanks to the grace of Odin—and the extremely strong
deflective spell Asgardian craftsmen placed on all of our
weapons—the blaze made an about face the moment it made contact
with Henrik’s sword. My muscles vibrated with the impact of the
stream, but I held tight as the fire bounced back at the monster,
incinerating the giant on contact, so he was no more than a pile of
ash atop the remains of his fallen comrade. I dropped the sword,
now blistering my hands, and leaned back against the trunk of the
tree with an exhausted sigh.

“Four to two. You owe me a pie.” I ignored
the fissures of pain in my leg and snuck a glance at Henrik. He’d
rolled onto his back, and now stared at me with undeserved
admiration. It hadn’t been
that
grueling of a battle; we’d
had way worse.

“Brynn.” Henrik shook his head. His eyes
moved to the giant pinning my leg and he jumped to his feet. “Oh,
man.” He wrapped both arms around the remains of the beast, but the
monster wouldn’t budge. “They’re
förbaskat
heavy.” Henrik
grunted.

“You’re telling me,” I muttered. It was my
leg being crushed.

Henrik picked up his sword, tossed it back
and forth between his hands until it cooled, and held it over his
head. “Close your eyes and cover your nose and mouth,” he ordered.
“They seem to spray when they’re cut, and internalizing the blood
would make unnecessary work for Elsa.”