Treachery : book 2 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Present time: Nidavellir

The three goddesses sat in a line all holding hands. They all had their eyes closed and looks of deep concentration on their faces. Sweat poured from their brows as they worked a great magic. Tiberius frowned at the goddesses in concern then looked at the space directly behind them. They were deep inside a huge mountain and yet the old druid could see grass and blue skies. Trees and birds, it was quite a lot to get his head around. Cassie and Alexia were herding a never ending stream of dwarf women and children through the portal. The line flowed up from the doorway in the side of the great hall and stretched out into the grasslands of Asgard. Tiberius scowled at the doorway, there was still no end to the line of refugees and thought. Just how many damn dwarves can one mountain hold? Tiberius walked around the portal and looked at the empty hall behind. From this side there was no trace of the portal and the dwarves walking towards him just seemed to vanish into thin air. It was certainly impressive magic but it was clear that it was taking a lot out of the goddesses. Just how long could they hold it?

A stream of wounded soldiers soon joined the flow of refugees adding to the general chaos. There was no sensible queuing or any kind of order, they all wanted to get through the portal at once. The three druids soon had to form up protectively around the goddesses just to stop them from getting trampled on.

"This is madness!" shouted Cassie "We need to find a better way to organise this!"

"Do you really think so?" shouted Tiberius in a sarcastic tone. "And just what do you propose? Everyone take a ticket and get in line?"

Freyr who was standing nearby actually laughed at that. He couldn't help it, just the thought of all these dwarves who were fleeing for their lives, pausing to line up to get a ticket and que to go through the portal was comical. He laughed harder then looked at Tiberius

"Oh cheer up old man! At least things can't get any worse!"

As if to answer that, a deep explosion came from beneath their feet, it was followed by a couple more that shook the floor and walls. Tiberius glared at the god and said

"Do I really need to say it?"

Freyr put on a look of shock and total innocence and said

"Why surely you are not going to blame me for this are you? Are you going to say this is my fault?"

The hallway was rocked by another explosion, putting the whole place into even more chaos as the dwarves began to panic and push for the portal.

The three druids desperately fought to protect the goddesses. Tiberius cursed the whole dwarf race. Not one of them had the wit to realise that if the goddesses lost their concentration then the portal would close and they would all be stuck here. The old druid curse endlessly as he shoved an elderly dwarf through the portal. The detonations continued deep in the ground, cracks began to appear in the floor and walls.

Freyr began hustling the line of wounded dwarves, they were being to slow for his liking. He yelled and cursed at them, driving them on. One warrior stopped in front of the god. One side of his face was a crimson mask, only a bloody ruin existed where his eye had once been. He looked at the god and growled something deep and guttural in his own language before moving on. Freyr couldn't speak the dwarf language but he guessed from the tone that it wasn't a sincere thank you for saving us. The god muttered under his breath

"Your welcome!"

The detonations were becoming more frequent and the hall was shaking a lot more, dust and small debris were beginning to work lose from the ceiling. Tiberius swore as a chunk of rock dropped and landed on his head