Whatever that was, it was bad.
I looked down, hoping to see the ground beneath me, but I saw only mist and fog. Fighting my instinct to cling to the wall, I unlatched one of my hands.
I was reaching down when a shadow appeared above my head. I looked up in time to see an inky hand reach for mine. The instant its fingers touched me, my hand spasmed. I lost my grip and fell.
I tumbled, spinning. Sooty fog rushed past me, and panic snapped through my nerves.
My mind raced. This had been a bad idea. If I didn’t do something fast, I was going to die.
There was only one thing I could do.
“Fara!” I yelled.
I disappeared in a purple flash of light. An instant later I reappeared, flat on my back, bits of cloth in my hair, skidding fast across a stone floor.
Smack! I slammed into something solid. My vision flashed, and the air rushed from my lungs.
When I opened them, a dark shape hovered over me—gray shadows and beaming white eyes.
“One of the living trespasses in our realm.” His hollow voice rang in my mind.
I groaned, pushing myself off the floor. I was in a large hall, though shadows covered most of it. It felt almost like one of the Shadow Caverns where I’d grown up, but those caves had signs of life. This felt like a mausoleum.
Above me, silhouettes hung in the air as though suspended from invisible threads. I stiffened. They looked like the creature that had pried me off the wall. It took me a moment to recognize them for what they were—shades.
When I looked beyond them, my mouth went dry and my legs trembled. The corpse of a giant woman rested in a black throne, and Marroc knelt before her, ignoring me. She was the goddess Hela, I thought—one of the gods who’d died in Ragnarok. It felt wrong to see her resting place, her body slumped in gray robes.
Was this what Marroc was really after? Did liches worship the goddess of the dead?
Marroc must have sensed my presence, because slowly, he turned to look at me. His pants were torn, but he didn’t seem to notice. Instead, his eyes locked on mine.
Slowly his lips parted, and he spoke. “Ali, are you all right?” His deep voice shivered over my skin.
Chapter 45
Marroc
Ali stared at me, open-mouthed.
“Marroc.” Confusion furrowed her brow. “You can talk?”
I nodded.
She frowned. “Then why are you nodding?”
“I’m out of practice.” My voice sounded the same as it always had, though I was out of the habit of speaking. “It’s been nearly a thousand years since I last said a word.”
As I talked, the leader of the shades glided between us. His pale eyes glowed in the dim light. “Tell us why you are here,” he whispered.
Considering they had the power to control me, I had to give them a reason. I just wouldn’t give them the whole reason.
I flashed an easy smile. “We are on our way to the Nastrand. The Shore of the Dead. We have business with the dragon Nidhogg. The pale wyrm.” I shrugged. “Just an ordinary Saturday.”
The shade’s eyes flickered. “What sort of business? This realm is for the dead alone, not the living.”
I relaxed my shoulders. I wouldn’t show any unease. “I am dead, as you can see.”
“Your kind is an abomination,” growled the shade. “Cheating death with black magic.”
“What business is it of yours what I’ve done with my soul?” I asked. “That happened in Midgard. It’s none of your concern.”
The shade swept around me. “We have desires that extend beyond the walls that imprison us.” He turned from me, eyes fixed on Ali. “Night Elf, tell us why you’re here.”
Ali stood still as a statue. I couldn’t tell if she was afraid, or angry, or whether the shade had managed to fix her body in that position.
“I am here as Marroc’s—the lich’s—companion.”
Good. Ali wasn’t a puppet, and she knew better than to tell them too much.
“What have you to gain from such a vile union?” said the shade.
“The lich is helping me find Galin.” She held up her hand with the missing finger. “He has already helped me locate the sorcerer’s ring.”
Fear coursed through me like a sharpened blade, and the air seemed too thin. The shade’s pale eyes didn’t move.
“Galin is dead,” whispered the shade. “The lich is lying. Galin was—”
Panic crept up my throat. I had to stop this before they ruined everything.
“We are here to retrieve Loki’s wand,” I cut in.
But Ali