Page 53 of Thorulf
“There is much between the Fortress and us,” Thor said in response to Revna not wanting Jade subjected to godly battles yet. “Much unrest.” He shook his head, obviously in agreement with the seer. “But we have no choice.” He gestured that they keep following. “We must move fast and get them to the Fortress.”
“Then go fight it,” Jade said, allowing Thorulf to help her down a steep incline. In fact, she remained close to him now rather than at a distance which suited both his human and dragon. Especially considering the danger he sensed all around them. Watching. Waiting.
“We’ll fight here,” Jade went on, looking at Thor. “You fight there.”
“Not now.” Thor shook his head, remaining close. “Not until you’ve found your whole truth. Until your powers are in-hand once again.”
Jade went to respond but never got the chance before the clouds rippled and buckled once, twice, then a third time before warping high like a mega dome then snapping back down. Thorulf had wondered why Thor and Loki hadn’t just used godly magic to transport them. Now he understood. This would have sliced through their godly transport like a well-sharpened blade through freshly churned butter.
More specifically, it would have killed anyone not full-god in an instant.
Thor and Loki flung up their arms, and the clouds warped back up violently, hovering like a great writhing beast struggling against their power. Icy wind gusted violently, and, for a split second, a great purple dragon writhed inside a cloudbank as if trapped.
“Take them,” Thor roared at Maya and Dagr. “Fly them to the Fortress. We’ll protect you as you go.”
“What about Revna and Vicar? We can’t just abandon...” Jade started to say but trailed off when the seer burst into flames and roared at her to heed the gods. She was half-demon and could take care of herself and Vicar. She would see him safely to the Fortress.
“Go!” Thor roared again. His voice reverberated on a loud clap of thunder. Lightning bolts shot off his hammer when he swung it over his head. Jagged, furious electricity whipped around him, then snapped at the dome above like a venomous snake.
“Come on, sis!” Maya shifted into her dragon and lowered her golden neck beside Jade.“Let’s go!”
“No.” If Thorulf knew nothing else, it was that he and Jade shouldn’t be separated. He nodded at Dagr when he shifted and lowered a much larger neck down beside them. “We stay together.”
Before Jade could argue, he put her on Dagr then swung up behind her.
Dagr looked at Maya.“Stay close to me, mate.”
She nodded, launched into the air, and flew directly over them, protecting them from anything that might attack from above, while Dagr did the same from anything coming from below.
“Go, big sis,” Jade exclaimed, impressed at the bright golden Helheim strength radiating off of Maya. A stunning display when combined with the dark Helheim magic pulsing off of Dagr. Between the two dragons, they were caught in a magical cove of gold and black Helheim power that few, if any, had ever experienced.
“Things are going to get a little bumpy,”Dagr warned moments before the cloudbank Thor and Loki had been holding up snapped back down, andbumpybecame an understatement.
Thorulf wrapped his arm around Jade's waist and kept a firm grip on Loki’s Dagger as black, soupy clouds engulfed them. Frigid wind whipped wildly from every direction. Dagr struggled against the turbulence, his great body jolting sharply left and right as he gained altitude. Meanwhile, Maya kept with him, creating a wind tunnel that helped stabilize them.
“Sonofa...wow!” Jade whooped. Thorulf sensed her anxiety over her sister’s safety mixed with the thrill of the adventure. The excitement of being thrust, however briefly, straight into the heart of a war he knew they weren’t ready for. Thor was right. They needed to get to the Fortress. And they needed to get therenow.
Sizzling balls of black energy shot at them from all angles, but Dagr and Maya blocked them. Pops sizzled off their scales as the orbs bounced off them and exploded. The air smelled of cloying smoke, and the wind grew icier still.
“The orbs aren’t hurting them,” he assured Jade, though he suspected she already knew via her connection with Maya.“Their Helheim magic makes a powerful shield.”
“No doubt,”she replied, surprising him again.“I hope we can harness that kind of power soon.”
Warmth blew through him at her words. What they meant. Because he sensed her thoughts. Her interest in finding that with him and no other.
Jade leaned forward, and he leaned backward when an energy ball exploded close by, and sparks shot between them. The second they sizzled away, he gripped one of Dagr’s spikes in front of her and covered her the best he could when stray lightning splintered between Maya and Dagr. Thankfully, it must have been Thor’s because it didn’t harm him.
“Hold on,”Dagr warned.“Something big is coming...from both sides.”
“You go down,”Maya said.“I’m going up.”
“No,”Dagr argued.
“It’s the only way with so much weight coming at us,”she countered.“They’ll crush Thorulf and Jade between us. You roar, I’ll blow fire, then we’ll split.”
“But—”
“Now!”