aside and keep up with Thor whose strides were long as he marched to the top of the nearest hillock. I fell into a jog and reached him in time to see the gathered warriors below. A third of the park was packed with warriors, and not too far away from me I saw Joshua and Aimee, their stances revealing their tension.
When he caught sight of me, Joshua offered a small smile, one that spoke volumes, making me wish we'd had a chance to say goodbye properly, just in case.
At this end of the gathered troops, Freya and Frigga sat upon two Sleipnir while the god Freyr walked up and down the line of warriors rousing them up for the fight.
A shiver skittered down my spine and I looked at Thor. He gave me an encouraging nod, then hurried down the embankment to meet the battalion.
Suri and I followed him, stopping only when we reached Frigga's side. I shifted the front of my jacket, hoping to keep the gleam of Freyr's sword hidden from the gathered gods.
I barely reached her when Frigga said, "Get on the horse." She said waving at the blazingly white Sleipnir just behind her.
Ara?
The last thing I'd expected was to be riding a horse into battle, but if it had to be my Sleipnir, Ara, then I knew we'd be good together.
Also, I was well aware how weak I felt, how my eyes blurred and my limbs threatened to topple me onto my ass. A horse would be a brilliant idea.
I hurried to Ara and swung a foot over her back. Being higher up would be an advantage.
I looked down at Suri. "Are you ready?" She nodded and grinned far too happily for my liking.
Someone shouted and pointed to the pink sky and all heads turned in the direction of the oncoming creatures. The two dragons circled the gathered troops, leading in a great swarm of flying creatures, then came in for a landing beside Suri. As they landed, golden dragon's feet became legs, dragon scales reformed into golden armor and the dragon matriarch Lady Tyra and her son Steinn touched ground in full human form. They both nodded at me, before Steinn strode over to Suri, giving her a bear hug before holding her away to study her as if inspecting her entire person for one thing out of place.
After the father-daughter greeting, the two turned their attention to the sky again.
Suri began to shimmer, the air around her taking on the appearance of a mirage. Then her form shifted, changed, lengthening and growing larger and larger until a golden dragon stood in Suri's place.
And my heart lifted as I saw the swarm of dragons flying at us. Steinn had brought his dragon army and I wanted to whoop for joy. But I curbed the urge, reluctant to expend any unnecessary energy.
The swarm of dragons swooped in, wings rising from their backs, and landed behind Odin's warriors, performing the same impressive feat as their leaders, making their landing even more spectacular when multiplied by a thousand.
A horn began to blow and I swallowed hard.
This was suddenly all the more real as the final notes of the horn faded. From my vantage point on Ara's back, I could see policemen surrounding the park, guns drawn, cruisers shining their headlights onto the ruined park.
Their faces appeared stunned but they didn't fire on us. Yet.
I hoped that local law enforcement agencies would use some common sense and keep their officers out on the streets in full force, keeping the spectators away.
Bystanders surrounded the park, and the buildings facing the battleground would no doubt be filled with viewers. I could imagine hundreds of people holding out their phones and cameras to catch this strange sight for posterity.
Hopefully, after today, they would have the opportunity to put those videos on-line, that they would be alive to do it would be the first blessing.
Shifting my concentration back to the troops, I focused on the opposition, way down on the other end of the park. It was strange to think that I could see the other end of the park when all my life I'd known the place to be overflowing with trees and shrubs.
Loki stood in front of his battalion, a horde of Jotunn who'd thrown off their glamor, plus dozens of giant-sized Jotunn bearing arrows longer than your average car.
The Trickster raised his arm high, then pointed at our army and screamed out something that made the Jotunn army race