my home.
What could wreak this kind of havoc on Asgard of all places? Maybe I was naive but I'd expected Odin's realm to be immune to such things as natural disasters. And it certainly looked like some kind of natural disaster to me. A quake so strong that it felled a palace of stone, split apart pools that had existed for millennia.
I inhaled harshly as my gaze went further out to the lake where we'd sent my best friend Sigrun on her voyage to her final resting place among the stars. At least the lake remained intact, ensuring the realm had sufficient water to sustain all the people that lived here.
On the other side of the valley, beyond the palace, the townspeople scurried among the remains of long-houses and huts. From this distance I could see buildings on fire and my first thought was Njall.
The blacksmith for the town had been a friend since he'd first given me Brunhilde's sword, which he'd kept safe for centuries. The thought of anything happening to him sent me speeding in his direction.
And as I went I searched the teeming throngs of rushing bodies for Joshua. I'd thought of him while I'd been in that dusty old basement, wondering how badly he'd scold me for running off without warning, and now as I scanned the valley I wondered if he was safe, if I'd ever see him again.
Where are you?
I'd tried this long to put it out of my mind, because even just contemplating the possibility of losing Joshua made me want to scream in terror. I could not lose him. Not when our love was growing and flourishing and not when I'd finally allowed myself to trust him with my life.
Also, I worried about Aimee, my best friend and einherjar, and Suri, half-human daughter of Steinn, Dragon King of Muspellheim. The dragon princess had been left in my care and fear for her safety swirled in my stomach making me want to throw up.
A gust of wind buffeted me and I glanced to my right wondering if I'd just been hit by more natural calamity in the form of a hurricane or tornado. But my thoughts had just conjured up a huge dragon which glided beside me, her great golden eyes blinking in greeting.
Suri.
And on her back sat Aimee, all armored up with metal glinting in the sunlight. She was waving madly at me, her face a strange blend of fear and happiness and relief.
"Hey. You okay?" Aimee yelled from Suri's scaly back. The sound of her words were stolen by the wind, but I understood her anyway.
I nodded, "I'm fine. Is everyone else okay?" Aimee shifted her gaze for the moment, not meeting my eyes. "Aimee?"
She shook her head slightly, mumbling something I couldn't make out. She appeared to be listening to Suri and I frowned. What the hell were they keeping from me?
"Everyone's fine, Bryn." When she spoke, her voice was too forceful. Too reassuring.
"Aimee? What are you not telling me?" Her struggle was clear in her expression as she finally crumbled under pressure of my glare. As friends, we'd never been able to lie to each other very well, not that we haven't tried in the past.
"I'm sorry, Bryn. It's Joshua. We haven't been able to find him."
CHAPTER NINE
Fear gripped me, an incredible pressure that threatened to flatten my bones, and suck the air from my lungs. The effect was so stunning that I stopped flying in midair and dropped ten feet before I recovered. I gasped, surging upward again, this time closer to the back of the dragon.
"Where was he last?"
"Valhalla. But now it's just a pile of rubble."
Valhalla a pile of ruins? That shouldn't even be possible.
I glanced over my shoulder in the direction of where the Hall of Valhalla should be and saw nothing but a pile of stones and the remains of the great long-house's broken roof. It looked like someone had pummeled the building with a gigantic club.
My stomach tightened as I took in the ruin that was once Valhalla. Famed through centuries, it now lay in ruins. And somewhere within those ruins lay Joshua.
I had to find him.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart before glancing over at Aimee. "You and Suri go see if Njall is okay. I think I see his forge on fire. It might be the building next door, but either way find a way to put out all the fires."
Aimee nodded and Suri blinked