“I’m here now,” Thorin said. “Mjölnir is with me. Leave Solina out of it.”
Grim’s eyebrows arched high. “And let Helen have her? Oh, no, nothing has changed. The girl still has to die. It’s the only way to ensure Helen fails.”
An explosion of sound burst through the cavern. Grim blipped out of sight and appeared a few feet away from Thorin and me, but his attention was not on us. He focused on Skyla, who stood beside us, legs braced wide, frame held rigid, gun poised to take another shot.
Oh, thank God! Should have known it would take more than a bump on the head to keep her down.
Grim laughed at her. “Faster than a speeding bullet. Superman got all of his tricks from me.”
“You sure do like the sound of your own voice.” Skyla pulled the trigger a second time.
Grim moved so fast I couldn’t keep up with him. He finally came to a halt, however, when he materialized with a massive hand gripping around his neck, a hand that belonged to Baldur.
“Allfather,” Grim gasped. “What are you—” His question ended in a wheeze.
“Baldur,” Thorin said. “Get Solina out of here. Grim is my problem.” Thorin’s black eyes sparked. “I promised to keep Solina from harm, and you’ve made me break that vow, brother.”
“It was nothing personal.” Grim tried to chuckle, but Baldur squeezed, and Grim choked on his laugh, literally.
“Baldur, take Solina away from here. Please.” Thorin’s voice sounded as if it had issued from a grizzly bear, and rage oozed from his pores until all humanity left him. “We both know it will take something as strong as Mjölnir to bring him down.”
Baldur met Thorin’s eyes, held his gaze for a moment, and nodded. He dropped Grim, flickered to Thorin’s side, and took hold of me. My ears popped, and blackness whirled before my eyes. We stopped outside the cavern. Low-hanging clouds and a stiff breeze stirred snow into icy whirlwinds.
“I’m going to get Skyla,” Baldur said. “Once she’s safely out, I’ll take you away from the mountain.”
“Mountain?”
“Mount Rainier. Grim has kept you in a glacial cave for almost two days. It’s a miracle you’ve survived.” Baldur popped out of sight. I counted several heartbeats, expecting his immediate return, but the minutes of his absence ticked by without his reappearance. My impatience urged me to do something, to take action… to fight. I needed Baldur. Thorin, too. Without the gods to help me off this mountain, I had nowhere to go. I stepped toward the cave but lost my balance when the ground shuddered. The ice shook and heaved as if the glacier meant to break apart.
Skyla’s voice rose above the din, panting and cursing like a sailor. “We’re on the same side, you crazy bitch!”
“It’s too late for that,” said Skyla’s opponent, Tori.
Where did she come from?
Tori heaved a breath and said, “Grim wants Solina dead.”
“You’re his slave? Can’t think for yourself?”
The two women tumbled out of the cavern into the open ice field a few yards away from me. Neither noticed my presence as they were too wrapped up in their fight.
“It’s for the greater good!” Tori screamed. Their feet scuffled over the ice, and they panted like dogs. They darted toward each other, pivoting in circles, occasionally falling to wrestle each other in the snow.
“Screw the greater good!” Skyla gasped for a breath. “The greater good never did me one single favor.”
“You… You want to throw it all away for her?” Condensation puffed from Tori’s mouth and nose like a steaming locomotive. “You risk the world for one woman?”
“For a brother and sister who were more family to me than my own blood.” Skyla backed away and huffed out her own steady stream of frozen breath. “Mani was ripped from me too soon. I’ll be damned if anyone takes his sister, too.”
The two fell against each other again. Skyla struck out with the heel of her hand, and Tori spouted a brutal shriek as something crunched—a joint or possibly a bone.
“The world will be destroyed.” Tori panted, obviously speaking through a great amount of pain. “You’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
Baldur blipped to my side, clutching his ribs. Blood seeped between his fingers, and his breath came in rough spurts. “Tori’s appearance was unexpected. She got the jump on us.”
“What happened to you?”
“Tori had a blade, something infused with mistletoe is my guess.”
“Will you be okay?”
“I’ll manage.”
“What about Skyla’s gun?”
“Dropped in the tussle, I presume.” Baldur bent to scoop me up. He moved as if preparing to leave.
“No,” I said. “We can’t leave Skyla.”
Baldur frowned but turned us to face the fight.
“You could have helped us, Tori,” Skyla said in a raw and ragged voice.
Back on their feet again, the Valkyries were locked in a desperate embrace.
“You could have stopped Helen,” Skyla said. “You could have told me the truth about myself and let me help you lead the Valkyries on the path they were intended to take.”
“It’s no good. The Valkyries are lost. Forget them.”
