Page 24 of Thor

TWENTY-EIGHT

The way every bit of her ached this morning, there was no denying Thor was real, even if she'd had a shred of doubt left. Instead, Sibyl was plagued by a thousand questions, which only Thor could answer.

"So where do you go when you're not around?" Sibyl asked, stabbing another piece of waffle with her fork. She'd miss toasted waffles when she was back out at site, but that was all the more reason to get her fill of them now. "That's one of the reasons I thought you weren't real. The way you appeared and disappeared at will."

"The nature of the curse on me means I cannot stand in sunlight," Thor began. "So I could only appear to you at night, unlike inside this building, where the walls keep the sun out. While the sun shines, I go underground, which is where I was when you summoned me."

She swallowed quickly and took a mouthful of coffee to wash it down. "So, you were in an underground cave or something?"

A shadow passed across his face, like he didn't want to answer this. "No. More like a grave, filled with ice and rock and frozen soil. When you summoned me, I was able to pass through all of it to reach you."

She paused to think for a moment. "So when you came to my tent on the way here, you travelled through a whole mountain to get to me? How did you hear me through all that rock?"

He shook his head. "Not a whole mountain. When your donkey turned skittish at the beginning of your journey, I decided to follow you, through the earth beneath your feet. When you called, I was already close. In the rock beneath your tent, in fact."

"You slept under my tent? Did you do that in camp, too?"

"I do not sleep. I stand watch, guarding you."

"No sleep at all? That sounds pretty rough. If I don't get enough sleep, I need a lot of coffee to keep functioning, but you said you didn't want any. How do you survive?"

Thor chuckled, a sound that did things to her insides. Even after last night's marathon rounds of sex, she wanted more.

"It is the nature of my curse. No sunlight and no sleep and no need for sustenance, but it has allowed to me to survive for what you tell me is more than a thousand years, so that I may protect you."

He'd done a lot more than just protect her last night. They'd used up all the condoms in the drawer – she'd have to head up to the store to get some more.

"But who curses a god? I mean, you're the god of storms and agriculture and stuff. I'd hate to meet someone who could get the best of you. That would be seriously scary."

Thor only shook his head. "I am no god. I'm merely a man, beaten in battle by an abomination that I have sworn to kill, before I was cursed by a witch. She looked like a girl from my village, not much older than my sister when the abomination killed her, but only a fool underestimates a witch. The power that girl wielded...was enough to keep me alive for a thousand years. She must have cast some sort of spell on the abomination, too, for I don't know how it could have beaten me in battle otherwise."

Sibyl thought for a long moment while she drained her coffee. She set the cup down carefully, then asked, "What exactly do you mean by an abomination? My first thought is something out of one of the games my cousin Octavia likes to play. A sort of Frankenstein's monster, a creature cobbled together from parts of different people or animals, all stitched together into a lumpy approximation of a person. A chimera, of sorts."

Thor nodded. "It is an unholy creature that is neither animal nor man, but a mixture of both. This thing was part wolf, part man, and I will defeat it, even if it takes another thousand years."

Sibyl stopped with a bite of waffle halfway to her mouth. "You mean the monster is still alive? Even after a thousand years? What if it comes to the camp? What if it comes here?" She dropped her fork back on her plate, appetite lost.

"If I live, then I have no doubt it does, too. After all, he served the same witch who cursed me. Wherever he may be, when he shows his face, rest assured that I shall protect you. I will end him, even if it is the last thing I do before the Valkyries come for me. But in order to do that, I must find my hammer. I will need every weapon I can muster to win the fight."

She believed him, or at least she believed that he believed his own words, but she wasn't sure how to break the bad news. She'd just have to spit it out, and hope for the best. "I've looked for your hammer. Karl told me it was packed with the other artefacts, but it's definitely not here. It's not in any of the boxes, and not in the store rooms, either. We must have left the box with your hammer in it at camp."

Thor rose. "Then we must depart at once."

Sibyl shook her head. "It's not that simple. For a start, I need to wait for Jakop and his donkeys. He knows the way through the mountains, and I don't. Then there's the matter of your allergy to sunlight, or whatever it is. It's morning, and there's a lot of hours of daylight left before sunset, seeing at it's June. But the good news is that it's one of the most important artefacts we've found this season, so wherever it is, Karl will make sure it's kept safe. Also...I realise you might not have thought about this, but if your hammer is as old as you are, then it's been buried under the ice for over a thousand years. While that might not have done you any damage, what with the spell you're under and everything, weapons that old aren't as strong after a thousand years as they were when they were first forged. Not to mention we've had a number of technological advancements in that time. Your hammer is a priceless artefact, far too important to be wielded as a blunt weapon in a fight, when we could go to any hardware store and pick up a sledgehammer that would probably do more damage."

He looked intrigued. "You mean to buy me a new hammer? Better than my father's weapon, the one my sister wielded in the fight that earned her a place in Valhalla, and the one I swore I would use to end the creature's life who killed her?"

Oh. Sibyl blew out a breath. Of course it was personal. No Bunnings-bought sledgehammer, however shiny and new, could replace an ancestral, storied weapon like that. Especially when it was all wrapped up in oaths of vengeance and justice and honour and stuff. She'd heard stories about Viking honour, and how highly they regarded it. If he'd vowed vengeance with his hammer, then his hammer had to deal the death blow, even if only symbolically. Like stabbing someone a hundred times until they almost bled out, then hitting them with the hammer just before their heart stopped. Or...something.

"Okay. How about...I buy you a new hammer to use temporarily, in case the monster appears, until we find your hammer. On the way back to camp, you can return that poleaxe I know you still have around here someplace. Then, when we talk to Karl and find out where your hammer is, you'll have two weapons to use against the monster." She paused. She had to ask.

Thor sighed. "You have another question, don't you, Miss Sibyl?"

She smiled ruefully. "I have a lot of questions, actually. But this time, it's about the monster. I mean, a thousand years is a long time. Most things wouldn't live that long, and even if there is a spell protecting them, extending their life, like you, the chances of them sleeping for a thousand years and waking up at the same time seem...astronomical. Especially as I've never heard of it. So what makes you think it's still out there and that you'll finally get another shot at it?"

Thor paused for a moment. The shadow had returned, and he did not appear to want to tell her. Finally, he said, "Because I can feel its presence. It awoke when I did, and the same spell binds us to the witch. She made us protectors, and while it protects her, I must protect you."

Sibyl shivered. Maybe she should turn up the heating in here. "So the monster's coming for me?"

---