certainly be a one way trip."
Frigga smiled. "I wish there was a way to get in touch with Odin." She sighed and wrapped her arms around her body tightly.
"I don't think we need to," I said.
"What do you mean?"
"I think he already knows," I said softly. "Wherever he is I think he's able to watch what's going on in our world. But he needs his strength. I only hope that he has the good sense not to try and materialize in Asgard because he thinks he can be of some help."
Frigga snorted, the inelegant sound drawing smiles from both the men in the room. "He is stubborn enough to do just that. But I too hope he restrains himself."
"Right, I think I will be off to the dungeons for now." I headed for the door.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Despite my doubts I headed in the direction of the dungeon entrance. The deeper I went into the palace the more destruction I saw. Walls were cracked, some ceilings had fallen revealing openings into the corridors of the level above.
As I walked, I found I needed to be particularly careful where I stepped as every so often the large blocks under my feet shifted and grated against each other. I resorted to flying the rest of the way, giving thanks that the hall ceilings were high enough to ensure I didn't keep knocking my head on rocks.
When I got to the entrance to the stairs that led to the subterranean jail, there was only one guard on watch.
A quick explanation had him opening the door but the strange look on his face was swiftly explained by the state of the stairwell. I was most grateful for the gift of flight.
The entire staircase had collapsed. Some sections of stairs still remained intact but the whole staircase needed rebuilding.
As I reached the debris-clogged base of the stairwell, I had to give thanks a second time. This time for the rather high thresholds that housed the doors to the dungeons. Broken rocks that had been stairs in a previous life, had fallen to the bottom of the stairwell and were now almost entirely blocking the doorway to the jail.
I found a space that looked large enough for me to wiggle through, and pulled my wings in as tight as I could.
Then I poked my head through the hole and squeezed myself through. At the other side I found another guard, Ross, from what I recalled, who looked a little piqued.
"Are you feeling okay?" I asked.
Ross nodded. "I just haven't seen anyone for a while. And without any communication from above I was getting a little worried."
"I'll let them know when I get back up there." I glanced around knowing there was supposed to be a second guard who watched the entrance from the outside. "Where's your other guard?"
The warrior nodded a head at the pile of rubble. "Bjorn is somewhere inside that mess." His jaw tightened. "I talked to him until he was gone. I think he was smashed quite badly by the falling stairs."
I laid a hand on Ross's shoulder. The two men were likely good friends considering all the time they spent with each other down here. "I'm sorry." He nodded. "I need to see Dr Lee."
Ross turned on his heel and led me down the corridor until we reached the doctor's outer cell door. Inside the inner guard sat twiddling his thumbs anxiously. The moment he saw us through the bars he shot to his feet and hurried over to open the door.
"What happened up there?" he asked, his eyes snapping from my face to his fellow warrior's.
"Bad earthquake." I didn't want to say much else about the cause of the quake. "A lot of damage. The palace is half destroyed, Valhalla is a pile of rubble. Lots of warriors killed and even more injured. It's mayhem."
The einherjar took a small step toward me. "I need to get up there. They need our help." He glanced nervously at the stone ceiling as if he was able to see through it to the horror of what lay up on the surface.
"No. You are needed here," I said keeping my tone soft and encouraging. "The last thing we need are dangerous prisoners creating more drama up top. You are doing an excellent job keeping the city safe and we need you to continue doing so."
The warrior nodded, his brown eyes were pools of something between lukewarm relief and concentrated dedication. He grabbed the key on the chain