Eric Flint - Pyramid Power

Jerry was tied up again. But the thrall-woman was very good and patient at spoon-feeding him. And the gruel probably was the right thing for him to eat after his diet of very few nuts, raw egg and a solitary half-apple.

Coming down the slope into the shadow of the great root you could see Mirmir's well clearly. It wasn't, as Liz had expected, a well in the conventional sense at all, complete with a little stone wall and a bucket. It was a natural "eye," a spring etched into the limestone. The green-looking water seethed and stirred and a thin haze of steam rose off the surface. Reeds grew on one edge, and a small lip overhung the other. Three little black figures stood at the edge of the lip.

"What in Hel's name are you Norns doing here?" demanded Loki of the three hooded women.

"We go where the fates dictate," croaked the bent one.

"We go where we must for the deeds of now," said the middle one, in the voice of a mature woman.

"Will dictate the future," finished the third, in a teen voice.

"Oh, Niflheim," said Loki. "You have your own well! This isn't Urd's well at the root of the world-tree in Asgard, where you three dictate the fates of mankind and the gods. Go home."

"We can't," said the three in chorus. "Nidhogg has driven us out."

"I'll have words with him," said Loki crossly. "Now, where is Mirmir?"

"He didn't like what the future held for him," said the youngest Norn.

"So he left," said the oldest.

"And we have been waiting for you, here," added the middle Norn. "You're late."

"As usual," said the youngest.

Loki ground his teeth. "I don't suppose you can be persuaded to leave, and send Mirmir back?"

"It would be of no use," said the oldest Norn. "Munin carried word to Odin. He knows we guard Mirmir's well now."

"But we will leave," said the middle Norn. "We will even leave you with the horn to draw water from the holy well."

"Is that a prophecy or an offer to negotiate?" asked Loki.

"Both," announced the eldest Norn. "We have foreseen it."

"Have you foreseen that if you're not out of here by the time I count to ten," Liz said, through gritted teeth, "that I am going to use this blunt instrument." She swung her shoulder bag.

Loki gaped at her. "They're the Norns, Liz. The fates. Urd, Verdani, and Skuld. You can't threaten them."

Liz took a firm grip on the strap of her bag. "Watch me. I'm no believer in predestination, but if they are, they know what's coming. One."

"Which is why we have agreed to go," said the youngest Norn. "Provided Loki takes us back."

"Because our powers tell us that Nidhogg will listen to him, and him alone," said the middle one.

Loki sighed. "Do you think you can manage without me? It won't be quite so easy. Mirmir could have persuaded Odin to part with Jerry. Now it'll have to be force."

"Odin comes with a thousand Einherjar as an escort," said the youngest fate, linking arms with Loki. "Besides, Odin would know another power was close." She pointed a long forefinger at Liz. "We could have told you how they would have done it, but now these strangers must contrive on their own."

Liz took a long, hard look at the youngest fate. "Sigyn, I think you'd better go along too. We'll manage. And I can tell that one's future without being a prophetess. She's trouble."

"So what are we going to do?" asked Lamont, after the Norns left.

Liz shrugged. "A thousand of those types I met in that gin-palace-stag-party would be a bit much to handle, head on. So. Odin expects these chicks in hoods and drape-in-the-soup-sleeved outfits. We're going to oblige him. He was expecting them to demand an eye, and was planning to give them one of Jerry's. Let's push the boat out. We'll demand a sacrifice. These guys will drink mead made of someone's blood from what you were telling me. It's obviously lurking in their culture. So: we insist on Jerry being thrown into the well. It's more like a cenote than a well-there is a nice big lip and the water is pretty dark. I'll be waiting in the well, with one of those hollow reeds as a snorkel. We'll claim Jerry, give Odin his water, and let him go."

"It could be a good plan, except for a couple of details," said Lamont.

"Oh? Like what?"

"Like the outfits."

Liz started to swear, bit it off, suddenly realizing the age of her audience. "Sort out the reeds. We'll need at least two. I'll go after them."

She set off at a rapid pace after Loki and Sigyn and the three Norns. She found them a few hundred yards down the trail, with the Norns coming out from behind a large rock, dressed in more typical Norse-Mythworld women's clothing, each with their hooded garments in their hands. Now that you could see them, Urd was revealed to be a tiny wrinkled crone, Verdani a woman with experience-lines around her fine eyes. And Skuld was jailbait. Pouting jailbait. They held out their hooded clothes.

Liz was startled into pausing. "How did you know…?"

"We know," said Skuld loftily. Somehow she managed to look down her nose at Liz, which was quite a feat, because she was tiny.

Liz took a deep breath. "All right. Different rules for different places. I don't suppose you'd like to tell me what is going to happen?"

"No," said Urd. She prodded Loki with her stick. "Let's go, Son of Laufey."

Loki held up his hands and shrugged. "They never tell you anything unless it is to make your life a misery, anyway, Liz."

"Get on with you, Son of Laufey," said Verdani. "The one-eyed wanderer comes into my provence."

"We'd better move then, Liz. Odin is nearly here. You'd better get back."

So Liz hastened back to the rest of the party, inspecting the hooded outfits as she jogged, and realizing that she had a problem.

The Norns were small. There was no way that most adults would fit in those outfits. Thrud, or her… or Lamont wasn't going to get into them with a shoehorn. Thor was not either, not even if they sewed all three outfits together. Besides the Norns had said something about Odin detecting another power-and Thor and Thrud were powers, too. They'd better back off.

She arrived back at the waiting group next to the well.

"Where is Verdani's provence?" she panted.

"The present," said Thrud.

"Ah," said Liz, as the situation became clearer to her. "Look, Odin must nearly be here. And we have a problem. These outfits are way too small for any of the adults. Or even for Emmitt."

"I'll do it," said Ella. She pointed to Ty and Tolly, involved in one of their games that involved a lot of giggling and dodging. "You two! Dress! It's time you did something useful."

"But…" said Lamont.

"Somebody has to do it, Daddy," said Ella. Now that she had communication, real or imagined, with her twin, and some shred of hope for her mother, the girl was beginning to come out of the shell that she'd constructed for herself. She'd taken to following Thrud around. Her announcement had had an effect, not, by the look on Lamont Jackson's face, one he was altogether pleased with. Besides, Liz remembered, Marie had said that both girls flew at anything that vaguely smacked of acting.

"We'll be in the water, Lamont. Right next to them."

"Me too," said Thor.

Liz shook her head. "Kids, scramble into these." She held out the clothes. "Thor, the Norns said that Odin would know if Loki was here. I think the same probably applies to you. And to Thrud. So I'll need you to back off, with Emmitt. Up there somewhere? If we have trouble… well, you could throw a thunderbolt or two. Give us a chance to try to get the kids out."

Thor folded his arms. "I do not flee from a fight."

"Thor, we don't want this to be a fight! That's the whole point. Please?"

"It's the right thing, Papa," said Thrud. "And I can hear the sound of hooves."

Reluctantly, Thor unbuckled his belt of strength and handed it to Lamont. "Take this. A mortal cannot long survive in a fight with the As, but it may give you the strength you need to flee Odin with the children."