Лори Девоти - Unbound

“What are they…” Lusse snapped her head back the other direction, toward the sea. Her inhaled breath turned Risk’s attention there, too.

“I never guessed,” she murmured. “I thought it was legend, allegory. Not real.”

A huge undulating serpent pressed against the tube. Its body so long Risk couldn’t see either its head or tail.

“You mean…” he started.

“Jormun. That is Jormun. He truly is the Midgard Serpent.” Lusse rushed to the glass, her hands trailing over the smooth surface. “When he was exiled it was said he was cursed to become a huge serpent that circled the Midgard Sea, his tail clamped in his mouth. But I never dreamed…” She inhaled, excitement sending quivers down her body. “Can you imagine? A shift this huge? The power he must emit?”

“Is he forandre?” Risk asked. The skapt’s reverent treatment of him was suddenly making sense.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. He has the power of hundreds, maybe thousands of forandre. And to think I was happy to capture a garm.” Lusse laughed. She spun back toward Risk. “The battle. When is the battle?”

His eyes still focused on the giant serpent, Risk muttered, “Soon. After…this.”

“Good. Good. This changes everything. Now there is much more to gain than just a couple of sniveling witches.” Picking up a pillow, Lusse hugged it to herself.

Startled, Risk glanced at her. What insanity did she have brewing now?

As the lights glowed back to life in their tube, Kara let out a breath of exhaustion. Kelly had insisted they spend the time during the ceremony pulling as much power as they could from the air.

“I know it isn’t much, but it is stronger now than any other time,” she had insisted.

Now that the snake-men had retreated and the serpent had sunk out of sight to return to where he lived when not being worshipped, Kara slid to the floor and attempted to nap.

The click of the food slot startled her awake. She leaped to her feet and rushed over before Kelly could beat her.

A flat tray slid through.

“Another note from doggy boy?” Kelly asked. Her arms crossed in disapproval over her chest.

“No…” On the tray were two thin bracelets, similar to the ties the bartender had placed on her wrists before she’d gone through the portal, and another note. This one was from Jormun.

It is time to perform, my little witches. Wear these bracelets to protect you from harm. Jormun.

“What now?” Kelly stalked to Kara’s side. “No way.” She took the tray from Kara’s hand and dropped it back on the shelf next to the slot.

“But maybe…” Images of Kelly’s friend, the witch in the morgue, flitted through Kara’s brain. “Maybe it’s true.”

“You are way too trusting.” Kelly shook her head.

Kara bit her lip. “But if Jormun wanted to hurt us, why wouldn’t he just do it here while we’re trapped?”

“He doesn’t want to hurt us. He wants to use us. You told me yourself your hound friend said that’s what happened to…” She turned away, unable to say her friend’s name.

Kara stared at her sister, feeling her pain, but something inside Kara said she should wear the bracelet. She knew it wasn’t logical; but she just felt it. While Kelly’s head was still turned, she picked one up and slipped it onto her wrist.

The slim band thinned and tightened until it was barely visible against her skin.

“What did you do?” Kelly rushed over, grabbing Kara’s wrist. Kara just stared back at her. “Guess I’ll find out.”

“Damn.” Kelly picked up the tray and tossed it across the room.

“I feel fine,” Kara said softly.

“She feels fine,” Kelly mumbled to herself.

Kara turned, her shoulders shaking with pent-up emotion. She was out of her element. She’d come here to save Kelly and she was just making things worse.

Kelly stared at her. “Double damn.” She stomped to where the tray and second band had fallen. Shaking her head she slipped the bracelet over her foot and onto her ankle. “I’m not leaving here without you. So, I might was well share your fate.”

“But?” Kara looked at Kelly’s ankle.

Kelly shrugged. “Always have to do a little something unexpected — don’t you think?”

With a smile, Kara nodded and stared at her own band. She could barely make out the thin raised plastic — or whatever it was. Please, she prayed, let me be right at least about this.

The snake-men came for them less than an hour later. Kara wasn’t surprised. She knew those bracelets meant something.

When they arrived, they glanced at Kara’s wrist and nodded. Her brows lowered, Kelly held out her ankle.

“Where are we going?” Kara asked.

“The hall.” A gold-toned snake-man motioned for the twins to lead the way.

A huge ring of pulsing power was set up in the middle of the hall, the floor dirt instead of the stone Kara remembered. Jormun reclined on a floating dais filled with pillows. Risk stood next to him.

Kelly shot Kara an “I told you” glance.

Blinking back tears, Kara turned her gaze to the ring. Inside Lusse waited, her white cape rippling as if a breeze touched her alone.

How did she stay so clean and collected-looking? Even with the jumpsuit, which seemed to not only maintain body temperature, but also be self-cleaning, Kara felt worn and dirty.

The snake-man led them right up next to the energy barrier. The section faded and disappeared, forming a small doorway, just big enough for Kara and Kelly to pass through.

“What do we do?” Kara whispered to her sister.

Kelly glanced around.

Snake-man after snake-man began filing into the room, circling the ring.

“My God, how many are there?” Kara asked, her eyes rounded.

“Too many.” Kelly shook her head. “I don’t like this.”

Kara stared at the snake-men. There had to be thousands of them squished into the space now. The row behind Kara and Kelly pressed against the sisters, nudging them closer to the open doorway.

“We can’t fight our way through this many, can we?” Kara asked in a rough whisper. She hadn’t wanted to hurt even one of the somehow sad creatures, but the thought of turning on this many, slaughtering them by the hundreds before there was any hope of escape, made her stomach lurch.

“No. We can’t.” Kelly’s reply was flat, final. “We go in.”

Clasping hands, the pair stepped into the ring as one.

Jormun rose to his feet; the snake-men emitting a low hiss in response. “Welcome, witches.” He held up his hands. “We have had a challenge.”

Kara glanced at Kelly. Her sister’s lips thinned to a narrow line.

“The rules are simple. No death strike. Aside from that, last witch, or witches—” he gestured to the twins “—standing wins.”

No death strike. What had Kara gotten herself into that the phrase even had to be said?

Kelly gripped Kara’s arm tight. Her fingers digging painfully into Kara’s skin, she pulled Kara close to whisper, “We take her out fast.”

Kara’s shocked gaze darted across the ring to Lusse, who stood gazing at the snake-men, a content expression on her face.

“But, it doesn’t even look like she’s going to fight,” Kara objected. As the words fell from her lips, Lusse turned, a bowling ball — sized sphere of power flying from her hand.

“Drop,” Kelly screamed, yanking Kara onto the dirt. Loose soil flew up around them, creating a cloud, shielding them for a moment.

“What were you going to say?” Kelly hissed.

“Nothing.” Kara struggled to breathe, the dirt blocking her airways.

“You still think your boyfriend is here to save us?”

Kara swallowed, her throat dry and raw feeling.

Kelly grabbed her by the shoulders. “We can do this. Remember what we practiced. There’s at least one hundred times the power here that there was in our tube. Use it.”