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The golden warrior held his gaze for a moment before looking down.
“That would never happen,” he said.
Kai didn’t know whether he meant it would never happen because Ere’s threat to shock him with lightning was only a bluff, because Sorin would never look at anyone else, or because…he would never outlive Ere for Ere to haunt him as a cloud.
Somehow, Kai knew he meant the latter.
By Ere’s frown, he knew it too.
“What powers does the jötunn possess?” Kai interjected, trying to diffuse the ominous fog that had settled over them.
Ere stared hard at Sorin for a few seconds longer before replying.
“He can control all things winter,” he related. “Ice, snow, water, hail. He can create blizzards, rain weapons made of ice, put up walls, and his breath can freeze objects from the inside out. If you don’t die from that, getting smashed to pieces by that gigantic spiked club of his would get the job done.”
“Why rampage every ten years?” Sorin asked.
“Good question,” Ere said thoughtfully.
“There are different versions of it. Some say that he was offended by the ancestral humans who made a home here because they didn’t worship him as a god. Mind you, the jötnar supposedly descended from Ymir, who was older than the Asgardian pantheon. But the humans of this age are devout followers of the gods of Asgard instead.”
Kai grunted.
Gods and their quibbles. So much destruction and chaos for what? Whims. Pettiness. Jealousy. Power-mongering.
He was fucking sick of gods. He would eradicate them from the universe once and for all if he could. It was blasphemy, coming from one of their creations, but he didn’t give a hoary jötunn’s ass.
“According to Norse mythology,” Ere continued, “the Earth was fashioned from Ymir’s flesh, the ocean formed from his blood, his bones created the mountains, his hair made the trees; his brains, the clouds; his skull, the heavens, and his eyebrows, Midgard, where mankind lives. The dwarves were given life by his flesh and blood, and the trolls as well. No doubt the Frost Giant, Ymir’s descendant, believes that these ice lands, all the mountains and their inhabitants, belong to him. When he attacks and kills people on his turf, the Asgardian gods that these villagers pray to don’t ever interfere. Word is that Odin and the great Thor, even, tend to avoid the jötnar whenever possible. Even the gods are not guaranteed to win against them in a fair fight.”
Ere gave Kai a piercing look at that.
“Which is why I want us to find the Red Witch and make a few fortifying wishes to give us all the advantage we can possibly amass,thenconfront the Frost Giant in a resplendent showdown.”
That again.
Ere was like a dog with a bone. He didn’t let things go when he set his mind.
“You don’t even know if she grants wishes,” Kai huffed. “She could be a charlatan for all we know.”
“That’s the other part of the story, actually. The Red Witch supposedly granted one of the village ancestors a wish to make the Frost Giant sleep deeply and only awake every ten years. He could not be destroyed by the Asgardian gods, but he could be pacified. And this was the only way. That’s why he rampages as he does, because he is only awake for a short while every ten years.”
“Why does no one kill him in his sleep?” Sorin asked.
Ere’s eyes lit with fire.
“Why, darling, savagery becomes you.”
A small smile hovered on the warrior’s lips.
“Focus, Erebu.”
“Right. From what I gathered, people have tried to kill the giant in his sleep before. But he seems to be invulnerable in slumber. Perhaps the wish required something in exchange. Perhaps being protected while unconscious and defenseless was a prerequisite for the induced hibernation. Who knows, really. Gods and magic have always seemed so arbitrary and fickle to me.”
“Which is why,” Ere said, regarding Kai, “I want to have all the eggs in our basket that we can possibly accumulate. Maybe the Red Witch will grant Kai invincibility for a while, long enough to take the giant down permanently. Maybe she can give you extra powers to tip the fight in your favor. It doesn’t hurt to ask. In the process, maybe we’ll stumble upon the Wish of Wonders. Two birds with one stone, and all that.”
“You assume I will fight the giant as dragon,” Kai said.
Ere’s eyebrows flew to his hairline.
