Mia signaled the others to be careful as they approached the butte. She whispered, “We’re being watched. Six…no, seven.”
Astarte had also felt the eyes of others upon them. “Yes. Large and strange by human standards. They will attack. Be ready.”
The group moved cautiously, steeling themselves for the moment. They were going to have to fight without their armors. At least they’d be able to summon up some power from the Sentinel Armors. Three big rock creatures moved out from behind the butte. Four more came from around the other side.
Mia took in all she could. “They’re not human-sentient. More like…bees in the way they carry out single-minded functions in groups. They’re the food gatherers. We’re dinner.”
“Oh, yeah? Well they’re goin’ hungry tonight.” As usual, Kento jumped in gung-ho. He’d have to rely totally on his own physical strength and ability since the Ronin armor couldn’t be used when it wasn’t active. With a flying kick, he nailed one of the rock things square in the face. It shook off the blow and kept coming. “Oh, man! My foot feels like I hit the side of a building! What are these guys made of?” He grabbed its arm to flip it and let go with a yelp. “Guys! Don’t touch ‘em either! They’re like fire or something.”
Zoe couldn’t help but smirk. “Maybe we should always let you attack the bad guys first. That way we’ll know what not to do.”
Kento frantically blew on his blistering hand. “Hey! I’m providing a useful service here.”
“I know you are and that’s why I love you.”
Kento blushed. “That’s more like it.”
“Less talk, more fighting.” Gilgamesh grabbed one of the creatures in a vice-like grip and held it fast.
“Weren’t you listening? I said those guys are hot to the touch, man!”
Gilgamesh grimaced in pain then smiled with bared teeth. “I heard you.”
Trace shook his head. “Show-off.”
Kento shook his head. “Nutcase.”
Gilgamesh closed his eyes and concentrated. The rock creature began to vibrate and shake violently. It shattered into a million pieces.
“Whoa! I didn’t know you could do that.”
Gilgamesh nodded at Zoe. “I was inspired by you and your brother’s constant attempts to improve your control over the Armor of Tundra’s powers. For many years I relied only on the brute force of my Armor of War. I have recently come to realize that I have been shortsighted. Astarte and I have been working on using different frequencies of my sonic attack for different effects.”
Kento snorted and in a teasing-mocking voice said, “Less talk, more fighting.” He ducked a rock man’s swinging fist. “Man, that is so unfair that you guys can use some of your power without being armored up. I want Sentinel Armor, too.”
Trace was sweating like crazy. He was concentrating on calling up a plant, but the area was almost barren. There! A tiny sprout. He used his power to make it grow and harden until it was like steel. It burst up through the ground to ensnare one of the creatures. It wrapped itself around the thing and crushed it like a boa constrictor squeezing its prey. The rock man crumbled apart. Trace felt wobbly. No way he’d be able to do that again.
One of the creatures tried to grab Jack’s arm, but he spun out of the way. He held up his hand and pointed it at the monster. It stepped closer and closer. Concentrate. Concentrate. The air crackled with electricity. Three small bolts of lightning struck around Jack. One of them hit the rock man who, convulsing, dropped to the sand right in front of him. Jack let out a relieved breath.
Kento jumped when one of the bolts struck the ground near him. “Hey! Watch where you aim those things, Jack!”
“Sorry. Need more practice.”
Kayura held out the Staff in front of her. The rings glowed and clinked. A beam of power shot from the Staff to knock one of the creatures so far away, they couldn’t even see it.
Without her shadow katana, Mia’s abilities were mostly defensive. She could sense what the rock things were going to do, but that would only help her until she got too tired to dodge their blows. She concentrated on finding a weakness. Something…she could almost see…
“Oh, not much. Odin, the ruler of the gods of Asgard wants to torture me in the morning.”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can. We ran into some trouble. I hope you can explain all this to me.”
“I’ll try. I see
you’ve met the rock things. They’re
vulnerable on the…”
Mia shouted. “Sides! Hit them in the sides! They’re soft there.”
Astarte backflipped over one of the creatures, taunting it. She waited for it to come to her. She spun low with her leg outstretched, tripping the monster. It quickly started to rise. Astarte swung her sword--forged by Father Sky of wind and rain, cloud and lightning. It was light to carry, but harder than most anything on earth…and some things not of earth. The rock creature’s head silently fell off its shoulders and rolled in the sand. Hot steam from the neck spewed out all over Astarte.
Zoe blocked a swing with her small ice sabre. She looked worriedly at Astarte. “Doesn’t that burn?”
“No. My skin is uncommonly tough. Temperature changes also do not adversely affect me. In fact, I find extreme heat somewhat stimulating.”
Kento was in the sand, a rock thing barreling down on him. “Sheesh! You and Gilgamesh are perfect for each other.” He kicked the monster off with both legs. Then he jumped up onto his feet. While it staggered, Mia jammed a sharp rock into its side. It fell to the ground moaning.
“I was gonna get him. I was just warming up.” Mia shook her head at the bad joke.
“If this place doesn’t kill us, you’re bad puns will.” Zoe spun, slicing into the last rock monster. It staggered, but kept coming. She stood still, waiting, her sabre melting fast. As it neared her, she charged and spun again, slicing it deeper in the side. It stopped abruptly--then keeled over. Zoe bent over, trying to catch her breath. She was dripping in sweat. She tried to make a little frost to cool herself, but she didn’t have the energy.
Mia saw how tired she looked. “Do you want to stop for a few minutes to rest?”
“No time. Zane’s in trouble. He’s going to be tortured in the morning.”
Kento shook his fist. “By who? Who’s doing all this and why?”
Zoe reached out to Zane again with her thoughts, then turned to the others. “I’m not sure I can believe what he said. Odin and the gods of Asgard?”
Astarte paled. “The Asgardians? But they all died at Ragnarok.”
“There’s someone here--her name’s Skadi. She says the Asgardians all ended up trapped
here because of some curse that Loki and his daughter Hel whipped up.”
“Loki?” Zoe felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. The nightmares. The acid and the snake.
Zane quickly told her everything Gudrun had said about the two of them, their dead brother, and Loki. “Odin thinks I’m Loki reborn or something. He’s really got a burning obsession with punishing Loki for all the people they lost coming through the gate and all the pain the survivors have suffered since then. Zoe? Those dreams seem too much like memories to me. You don’t think…Could Gudrun be wrong?”
“No way! You’re
Zane Baxter and I’m Zoe Baxter-- the one and onlys.”
“But what if…If I did turn out to be Loki, would I
someday forget I’m Zane? Would I become
the monster Odin thinks I am now?”
“Never! We’d
never let that happen.”
“Promise me! If
you couldn’t save me, promise me you’d stop me—anyway you could. Promise!”
“I promise. But
only if you do the same for me. We’re
in this together. The only reason Odin
didn’t come after me is because he assumed Loki would be a man and only one
person—not two. If there is a risk,
then I’m facing it as well because both of us were part of Loki’s crazy
resurrection scheme. So you have to
promise me the same. Deal?”
“Deal.” They
were silent for a moment. Zane tried to
lighten the mood. “Hurry up, will
you, Zoe? I do not want to be the guest
of honor at whatever party Odin’s throwing together tomorrow.”
Zoe relayed everything Zane had said. She noticed that Astarte drew in a sharp breath and looked intently at the ground.
Astarte stared off in the distance. “Odin is a stubborn, prideful man. He will not easily listen to reason—especially when it will make him look a fool. We may have to fight.”
Trace frowned. “Can we take a bunch of gods without our armors?”
“Remember that gods become weaker as they lose followers. How many people still worship the gods of Asgard today? Few if any. It will probably be most like fighting humans who are slightly stronger or faster. We will prevail. We must for Zane’s sake.”
Kento put a reassuring arm around Zoe. “No problem! We can take these losers.”
Zoe laughed and leaned against Kento. “You’re right! We’ve got you on our side—what do we have to worry about? Let’s go.”
They all headed off towards a strange rock structure on the other side
of the butte. Zane was there. Zoe knew it.