Лори Девоти - Unbound

The small opening clinked again. This time two foil packets appeared. Kelly tossed one to Kara. “Water.”

They ate and drank in silence for a few moments. Kara’s mind tripped back to Risk, wondering if he had discovered what she had done yet. Did he care? Would he come looking for her? The pellets formed a dry ball in her throat. Why would he? She’d sent him away. Unless, of course, he still planned on using her and Kelly, or turning them over to Lusse. She choked down the food, which landed in her stomach like a lead ball.

Dear God. She didn’t care. Didn’t care if Risk came looking for her just to sell her to the highest bidder. Right now at this moment in time, she’d give up about anything just to see him again.

“We’ll need another kind of energy, too,” Kelly interrupted Kara’s thoughts.

Kara ran a finger under her eye, catching a tear that had formed there.

“You said you knew we are witches, but have you tried it yet?” Kelly asked, her finger poking through the pellets remaining in her bowl.

Blinking to stop any more telling tears, Kara replied, “Yeah, it was…” Empowering, invigorating, scary? “Weird,” she finished.

“Weird. I don’t remember feeling—” The wall behind them shifted from smoky to clear. Kara glanced at it. “Already? I thought you said it was only once a night?”

“It is. It has been.” Kelly dropped her bowl and stood facing the wall, both hands on her hips. “Oh, my God. Get a load of that.”

“What?” Kara stood, the bowl still gripped to her breast.

Strolling down the tube beside them were Jormun, four of the snake-men, a blond woman dressed all in white and Risk wearing a skintight black jumpsuit.

The bowl fell from Kara’s suddenly lifeless fingers, landing with a clatter on the capsule’s floor. Her eyes focused on Risk, she didn’t even jump.

Risk strode the length of the tunnel behind Jormun and the skapt. Lusse still followed, her gaze darting from their host to his companions with a calculating gleam. Be side them Risk could make out what had to be the Mid gard Sea. Schools of fanged and glowing fish flitted by the glass.

Then the scene beside them changed to monotonous gray.

“This is where I house my guests.” Jormun gestured to the opaque wall, and without warning the gray dissipated like smoke, and Risk found himself staring straight into Kara’s horrified eyes.

The bowl she held tumbled to the ground, and the woman next to her, her sister obviously, stepped beside her.

“My witches,” Jormun announced, his arm sweeping proudly toward them. “They have yet to show their powers, >but I’ve looked into their eyes. The potential is there, and…” He lowered his voice with something akin to reverence. “I saw violet. Can you imagine? Pure power. I’ll bet your witch can’t provide that.”

Still staring at Kara, absorbing the way her hair folded onto her shoulders, the angle of her heart-shaped face, and the small part between her full lips, Risk heard Jormun’s comment only vaguely.

“Forandre, did you hear me? I say, your witch can’t boast pure power, can she?”

Shaking himself free of Kara’s spell, Risk realized Jormun was speaking to him.

“Pure power is nothing but pretty. You need real power, power used to taking what is needed, to accomplish anything of worth.” Lusse crossed her arms over her chest and stifled a yawn.

Risk blocked out the witch, instead keeping his gaze on the pair inside the adjacent room. Kelly grabbed Kara’s shaking hands and clasped them in her own. Kara’s eyes still rounded in horror, her face pale, she ignored her sister’s attempts at comfort.

“Well, enough of that.” Jormun announced. “You can see them from your own tube.”

With a snap, the gray coating returned. Leaving Risk with the disturbing image of Kara’s stricken face to carry with him as they walked the last few feet.

“Would you like your own space or to share with your witch?” Jormun glanced down at Risk.

The two creatures behind Lusse grabbed her by the arms and shuffled forward. Lusse jerked herself free, her hands raising to attack. Risk stepped in front of her.

“Sharing would be best,” he told Jormun. The space next to Kara. He could at least watch her, know she was safe.

Jormun shrugged and waved the two creatures away from Lusse. “You’ll find everything you need inside.”

Lusse brushed at her arms and stared at the skapt through narrowed eyes as they waddled away. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready for the challenge. Risk can entertain you until then.” Without waiting for a reply, she swept through the doorway.

Jormun switched a surprised gaze to Risk, then laughed. “She may not be pure, but she’s unusual, I’ll give you that.” Jormun stared after Lusse, a flicker of admiration spicing his gaze.

“Yes, she is.” Risk studied the giant, an idea forming in his head. “She will beat them, you know.”

“You think?” A line formed between Jormun’s brows. “You don’t think the stories about twins are true?”

“They may be true, but I don’t think they take into account all that Lusse has done over the centuries.”

Jormun’s frown deepened.

“Of course, you didn’t risk anything too valuable — just a few secrets — if you plan to keep your word that is.” Risk crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the curved wall. Jormun seemed to trust him for some reason — and certainly treated the forandre with more respect than Lusse. Perhaps he could push that advantage.

The giant snapped his gaze to Risk. “I always keep my word. It’s a contract — and I expect the same from you and your witch.”

“I haven’t made any bargains to keep,” Risk replied.

“True.” Worry pulled at Jormun’s features.

“I might consider entering a bargain, though.” Risk tilted his head.

“How will a second contract save me from the first?”

“I brought Lusse here, right? The garm let me pass with her as my toll — ask him.” Risk realized he was walking on thin ground. First he had hoped the garm wouldn’t give away the lie of Lusse’s trip through the portal, now he prayed the garm would protect his own reputation and declare her boasts false.

“She didn’t blast her way through, like she told the skapt?”

“You haven’t spoken to the garm?” Risk held his breath, waiting for the reply.

“He didn’t answer my call, but seeing a hellhound was reward enough to let you two pass — for a while.” Jormun nodded his head in silent acknowledgment of Risk.

Risk smiled. Jormun’s words reassured him that his newly formed plan might work. “She thinks she did, but the garm knows the truth.”

Jormun considered Risk’s statement.

“It changes things, doesn’t it?” Risk prayed his guess was right.

“Yes.” Jormun smiled. “It does. By the rules of the portal anyone who delivers a toll which meets my needs can exchange that toll for a bounty — a bounty I agree upon.”

Risk shifted his feet, disguising his eagerness by widening his stance.

“But,” Jormun continued. “I already agreed to her challenge. I can’t back out now. If she wins I tell her my secrets, if she loses I get you.”

“What if we add to that bargain?” Risk asked.

“How?” Interest flickered in the giant’s eyes.

“If Lusse wins, you keep her as my toll, and in exchange…” He inhaled and kept his gaze steady. “I get the twins.”

“The twins?” Jormun took a step back. “No. They are far too valuable.”

“But you won’t need them once you have Lusse. If she beats them, she will have proven she is more powerful, and you will have her. She might gain access to your secrets, but you don’t ever have to let her leave. Your secrets will still be safe here in the Midgard Sea.”