The world suddenly tilted around me and I slid backwards, landing in the snow so hard I couldn’t breathe. It was chaos. The horses were screaming, galloping for the pass. When I looked up I saw Loki standing over me, hands raised in front of him as a huge black shape barreled towards him. My mouth was open, but I had no breath to scream. Something orange flickered across Loki’s finger tips, and there was the roar of flames starting. He was cradling a flickering ball of fire in his hands.
He drew back and threw it, and the black shape fell back with a snarl.
“Megan!” Loki yelled, “get up! There’s more!”
I struggle to my feet, shooting up out of the snow, hands tugging frantically at my katana. I couldn't get it out! There were more dark shapes emerging from the trees. The wolves approached more cautiously this time. The one that Loki had scared away was moving back towards us. Up close they were a nightmare. I’d only seen wolves on television and in pictures, but these didn’t look normal. They were pure black, fur standing up in spiky ridges over their necks. They were nearly as big as the horses, and they snarled and showed their teeth to us as they came, each one had a set of fangs as long as the palm of my hand. As they crept closer I was horrified to see that their eyes shone different colors, green and brown.
Someone skidded to a halt in the snow beside me, and Erik’s voice rang out, “Sons of Fenrir! We have no wish to fight with you!”
The wolves paused, and out of their midst stepped the biggest one. In spite of his size he stepped forward gracefully, barely leaving a mark in the snow as he came. His coat was coal black and reflected the sun as he moved, and his mismatched eyes swept over us, coming to rest on me. The weight of his gaze stole the breath from my lungs, and I knew in that instant that this wasn’t a dumb animal driven by instincts. This was a thinking, calculating individual pondering his next move.
The wolf opened his mouth, revealing long white fangs that dripped with saliva. I staggered back a step as a guttural voice emanated from him,
“Jotun, you have our enemy with you. Daughter of the Queen. We can scent her blood from miles away.”
My heart was beating so hard that I wondered if the wolf could hear that too. Loki shifted slightly, so that he was in front of me. Erik lowered his broadsword,
“Please listen to me, we are aware of all that the jotun has done to your kind. You have no love of the Queen, but nor do we. She hunts us down as we speak. This is not truly her daughter, though she does have royal blood. Perhaps that is what you smell.”
The wolf stepped closer, eyes fixed on me. Loki held up his hands again, and the wolf halted, glancing back over at Erik, “You say Eira herself is traveling through the woods after you?”
“Mostly likely, yes.”
Nobody even got a chance to move as the huge wolf suddenly launched himself forward. This time I had the air to scream, and my voice blended with Loki’s cry of dismay as he was batted sideways by one massive black paw.
I found myself on my back in the snow, struggling to breath with the full weight of the animal on top of me.
“I am Fenrir,” he growled.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. He was crushing me, his great paws pressing my shoulders into the snow. My eyes were fixed on his massive teeth as he opened his mouth, and I braced myself for the end. He was going to rip my head off and eat me. His breath was hot and bloody smelling, and a string of drool dripped down from his mouth and hit my face. I hardly noticed.
“Daughter of royalty,” he growled, “for many centuries your people have hunted mine and worn our fur.”
I stared at him with bulging eyes, managing to stammer, “I…I’m…I’m very sorry.”
Fenrir stared at me for a moment longer. He had to hear my heartbeat, everyone for miles could probably hear it. My vision began to grow fuzzy, if he stood on top of me for much longer I’d probably just pass out. I hoped it would happen soon.
“Get off her,” Erik was there suddenly, the edge of his sword at Fenrir’s throat. The huge wolf glowered at him, and I was afraid that he would lunge for Erik right then and there. Instead he sat back on his haunches, releasing me. I could breathe again. I gasped in huge gulps of air, eyes watering. Someone - Loki I think - hooked his hands underneath my armpits and dragged me backwards away from the wolf.
“Are you alright?” Loki hovered over me, face anxious. His lip was bleeding and swollen on one side.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled.
Erik looked uncertain, still holding up his broadsword, standing between his people and the giant wolves. Fenrir merely gave me another look, this one seemed amused, and said to Erik,
“We will go hunt for your Queen.”
He turned abruptly, disappearing in the woods, and one by one the others followed him, until the last wolf, the one that Loki had singed, disappeared with one last bad tempered snarl. It was as if once the danger was gone my body had had enough. I couldn’t seem to help myself, I sagged into the snow.
“Megan?” Loki grabbed my shoulders and maneuvered me until my upper torso was in his lap, his arms were warm and tight around me, “are you alright?”
Giddiness seemed to set in. I was alive! The giant talking wolf hadn’t ripped off my head. Amazing! I actually giggled a bit, and Loki looked alarmed. Erik loomed over us, and I thought that he looked awfully big from where I was lying.
I smiled weakly at Loki’s concern, “You shot a fire ball. You’re like Mario.”
The boys exchanged a look, and Erik took my hands and pulled me up gently, Loki’s hands on my waist, steadying me. The first few steps were shaky, but gradually that seemed to wear off. The girls were still in the same spot, and they all looked completely shell shocked. Charlotte, Becca and Margaret had managed to stay on their horses, but Stacy’s was nowhere to be seen.
“Megan,” Charlotte finally managed to stutter out, “are you okay? I should have helped. I didn’t…”
“I’m fine,” I tried not to let my voice shake, “it all happened so fast. Nobody even knew what was going on.”
Erik came to stand next to me, “Are you sure you’re alright? You can ride a horse again? Do you want to ride with me?”
Loki stepped in quickly, “She can ride with me.”
A shadow crossed Erik’s face, but he glanced over at the other rebels, a cluster of them waiting to go through the pass, all of them looking shaken, and more waiting for us on the other side. He nodded curtly, “Make sure she’s not going to fall off.” He touched my arm gently, and Loki tensed, but said nothing, “I’m sorry I didn’t get him off you sooner…”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said firmly, “it was a wolf. I didn’t expect anyone to move so fast.”
Erik turned and walked back down the line, yelling instructions, telling his men everything was going to be okay and to keep moving through the pass. Loki grumbled something I didn’t quite catch, and moved toward Becca, who had managed to reach out and snag one of the horses as it ran past.
“We’ll have to double up,” he said, “it isn’t far now. Stacy, you ride with one of the girls and Megan and I will take this one.” Loki put one foot in the stirrup and swung himself into the saddle. I barely had time to blink before he reached down and grabbed me around the waist, lifting me up effortlessly and placing me in front of him.
Stacy had a bit of trouble getting onto Charlotte’s horse, but she finally managed, and we hurried to catch up as the tail end of the rebels trickled through the pass, disappearing into nothingness. Erik waved us forward, his face relieved.
Loki’s arms were firm around me, making sure I didn’t slide sideways as the horse lurched forward. I could feel his chest against my back, and if I turned sideways I could catch a bit of his scent, a mixture of clean laundry and soap, with just a hint of smoke, maybe from the fire he’d just conjured up.
Maybe horses aren’t so bad after all…
We were almost through the pass, and up ahead Charlotte and Stacy vanished through the invisible wall, then Margaret and Becca, one after the other. It was bizarre. When we got near it I held my breath without even thinking, suspecting that it would be like taking a plunge into cold water. Instead, there was a faint tickle over the surface of my skin, and the landscape blurred slightly. Then we were through, that was it. I felt a little disappointed, since I’d been expecting it to feel really strange. Then I realized that we’d gone from constantly falling snow flakes, and the ground being covered in white, to none at all. The air was still crisp, but the sky was blue and cloud free. Suddenly the horses hooves were making clattering sounds beneath us. I looked down to see that a rode had appeared out of nowhere. The mountains rose up on either side of us, making me feel very small. It was beautiful really, the rocks that ran in swirls and ridges, capped with a layer of snow at the tallest peaks.
“An hour at the most and we’ll be at the safe house,” Erik called to us.
“What’s the safe house?” I said, raising my voice enough for him to hear me over the clatter we were making on the road.
“We’re in the human world now, “Erik said, “we can’t be seen riding around on horses, dressed in furs and chainmail. We need cars and normal clothing to avoid detection. The Queen has a halfway point where her soldiers get all those things, but of course, the rebels can’t use that, so we set up our own.” He grinned, “I can’t guarantee you a PT Cruiser this time though.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, “I’m not fussy, as long as it has four wheels and an engine.”
We rode on for another hour, and it didn’t seem nearly as long as last time, probably because I was enjoying the sensation of Loki’s arms wrapped tightly around me. Finally we cleared the mountains, emerging into the woods again. The road turned smoother, newer pavement. In the distance I could see the top of a wooden roof nestled in the gentle hills, the chimney sending puffs of smoke into the blue sky.
Erik shouted back over his shoulder, “There it is! Safe house! Don’t worry, we’ll get to rest there awhile.”
I squeezed the horse slightly with my knees, urging him to go faster, and Loki laughed.
“What?” I said, indignantly, “that wolf drooled on me. I could use a bath.”