ENTANGLED (#2 The Valkyries)

Chapter 41 - Don't Make A Sound

The ground blurred beneath us, faster than we'd flown any time before. Air buzzed, charged with Pazuzu's power as it streamed over my body. Each powerful flex of his wings trailed curls of black smoke from the tips that billowed to grey as it caught in our flow.

And along the front of my body where I crouched, deep vibrations periodically shook the barely contained lethal predator beneath me.

Growls.

The hair rose at my nape as I made the connection between the vibration and the surrounding thunderous rumble pitched so low it was an ache in my ears. Since Anna had joined us, Pazuzu had spent far less time in his massive dragon form, only shifting parts of himself but rarely displaying his full majestic size. Caught in his erotic wake, I'd pushed that heightened awareness of being in the presence of a top predator from my mind's forefront. Yet I couldn't ignore it now. Not with being perched like an insignificant bit of flotsam on a sea of impenetrable ebony scales with razor-sharp spikes longer than my legs to spear the idiot foolish enough to attempt to come at Pazuzu from behind.

And that sound.

As much as I trusted he wouldn't hurt me, my pulse still rose to thunder in my ears. I swallowed against the building unease that filled my throat. Shen dragons were difficult enough to battle, but still doable... that past Asgardians had successfully battled the demon dragons and other creatures of Muspelheim... well, that was a whole other level of crazy. We needed Lamashtu to be drawn out because smaller than Pazuzu or not, the sinking pit in my stomach agreed that Manannan and I could not take on an Apkallu dragon alone.

By Yggdrasil's great trunk, I hoped Anna was still okay. Pazuzu's tale of the horrors done to his previous mate and acolytes since then was all too vivid in my mind, too reminiscent of the vileness perpetrated by the Unseelie during the last war.

I gripped the slick scales tighter and squinted ahead as we swept out over the edge of the sky island into the reddish expanse. Within minutes, I spotted Manannan. He wasn't disguising himself at all. Before I could shout, Pazuzu shifted his flight toward the Sea God.

A current of air wrapped around Manannan and his eyes widened as it deposited him on Pazuzu's back behind me. As he put his arms around me, I growled, "Only to hang on, Manannan. Don't get any ideas."

His grip tightened for a moment, then loosened. "I know."

In front of us, a red-rimmed portal shimmered into being and before I'd done more than suck in a breath in surprise, we were through the opaque event horizon and emerging into a blast of heat and ash. I choked and my eyes watered, instinctively surrounding myself with a wave of mist to cleanse the noxious air around me.

"Dragon's Breath," Pazuzu rumbled, jerking his crocodile-shaped head at the approaching sky island. Plumes of volcanic cloud from the surface below hung around black craggy peaks and shades of grey. Lightning crackled. It was a dismal landscape. "Disguise yourselves. I'll get you as close as I can before I draw Lamashtu away."

Despite the heated, soot-filled air, it wasn't as hard as I'd expected to wrap a cloak around us. While filled with toxic gases, some of those clouds were building thunderstorms.

"I'll hide us both," I tossed over my shoulder.

"Yes, you are much better in the air," Manannan agreed, surprising me.

A sickly yellow shape emerged from the dark clouds, resolving into the imposing bulk of an Apkallu dragon. Not as muscled or as large as Pazuzu, Lamashtu had splashes of red marring her putrid spiky scales. A mad cackle reached us, despite the distance.

"Is that..." I didn't finish my question. Nausea churned in my belly. Blood. It looked like blood dripped from her maw, claws, streaked her chest.

"This is as far as I can take you," Pazuzu rumbled as a band of air lifted us from his back.

Manannan and I caught ourselves when Pazuzu's power released us, and with a hand on Manannan to keep us together, we drew back, circling the oncoming clash.

Pazuzu flew directly at her, a gout of black seidhr smoke bursting towards her.

Using the distraction, I tugged Manannan with me to the sky island, reaching the ashy landscape as the roar of dragons thundered above us. I didn't look, as much as I wanted to. I couldn't afford to waste time with worry or awe at their battle. We had to find Anna.

"Do you see a fortress? He said it was in the mountains." I peered through the moist ash clouds, electricity rippling over my skin and the scent of ozone strong. A sheet of lightning flashed through the space, illuminating the ground.

"There." Manannan pointed at a cliff face, and with the next flash of lightning, an opening appeared.

I flew us toward it, thickening the shield around us as several winged gorilla demons came into view perched around the opening like bats clinging to their rocky outcrop. My breath held, I didn't release it as we passed, not daring to make a sound until we'd entered the dark maw. Torches hung at periodic intervals, but the cavernous tube was long and dimly lit.

At the end of the tunnel, another pair of sentries stood, blending almost into the rock, large eyes scanning the dark. I squeezed Manannan's hand as I drew him past them, wishing he understood the Valkyrie hand code. Did he see the sentries? I hoped he'd understood my warning.

A massive sparkling grey-white carved throne stood surrounded by pillars of carved stone depicting writhing figures. Rings of torches illuminated the space into a yellow brightness that would have been warm if not for the blood-splattered floor and copper stench that had my gorge rising. High above, the rock was shaped into arches. A single exit stood behind the throne, but opposite to the throne, a series of openings led from the room at various heights. Ledges filled the walls. Perches for her minions?

They weren't there now... or wait. A rustling, shifting sound reached my ears, raising the hair at the back of my neck, and I looked closer. My heart thudded, and I gripped Manannan's hand tightly as we crept toward the nearest opening. There were demons there, mottled the same grey-black striations as the rock.

Oh fuck.

There were hundreds of them.