Page 11 of Monsters of Mayhem

I turned the small stone over in my large black fingers, my nails, elongated in my beast form, clicked against the stone. It looked to me like it had an X on it, two sticks crossed. For the life of me I had no idea what it meant. I glanced down at Ratchet. He was fading fast. I had to kneel on the icy snow and bend over to ask him what I had to do with it next.

“Tell me what to do,” I said. I felt like a child again, not understanding what needed to be done.

“Nauthis,” Ratchet murmured. The sound cracked in his voice and his lips were parched and splitting. His finger move slightly toward the large gate. “Need.”

“Nauthis,” I repeated the word, understanding it was the name of the rune. They each had Norse names and all I had to do was say the name of the rune to activate it. Nothing happened.

“Nauthis,” I said the word more loudly and stronger, but Ratchet gave a slight shake of his head and again his finger pointed toward the gate.

I could feel the chaos rumbling inside me, demanding I do something for Ratchet and make sure nothing happened to him. As much as he liked the ice, I needed to get him in to see the frost giants. I leaned down and picked him up, scooping up some of the snow in my arms even though it burned my very flesh.

With three giant beats of my wings, I made it toward the gate until we were standing right up against it. I grabbed the stone and hurled it at the gate, screaming loudly “Nauthis!”

For a moment nothing happened. I stood there holding Ratchet in one arm and looked in frustration at the hole the rune had made in the gate; it seemed to melt into it. I stood in silence, listening to Ratchet’s ragged breath.

It was only when I was about to turn around and give up, to try to find some other solution to my friend’s problem, the gate opened ever so slightly. It wasn’t even large enough for me to enter, but it was large enough for me to stick my foot in.

“Nauthis.” I said the word again, knowing the words of the runes were more powerful than anything else that could be said to a frost giant.

“You bring the rune of need.” A raspy voice said from the other side of the gate.

“I am in dire need.” I peered through the crack in the gate and saw the beady green eyes of a frost giant staring down at me. Its wrinkled blue face left no doubt it was an older giant. For a moment I wondered why the gates of the giants were guarded by old creatures. If I was looking for protection, I would try to find the strongest warriors I could and have them be the guards. On second thought, the wards and the freezing cold weather probably were enough to keep the frost giants hidden and protected.

“Your friend, he dies,” the frost giant said. “There is nothing we can do for him.” The gate began to shut, but I quickly moved my foot forward, thrusting more of my leg in between the two massive doors of ice. Even though I was a demigod, it hurt like a son of a bitch, but there was no way I was letting these people shut the door in my face.

“He is a demon and he requires your help,” I explained. “He has the rune of Nauthis. You can’t turn him away.” I knew enough about the law to know I was right.

Her eyes squinted at me, her mouth turned down as if she might slam the door and sever my foot.

“It’s the law,” I intoned the words, knowing beyond the DGC, beyond the fae, even the frost giants adhere to their own laws. The runes were the laws of the frost giants. The runic laws dictated all of their rules and regulations.

“How do I know it’s authentic,” her voice graveled.

“It implanted in the gate,” I said. “Runic law states any rune brought to the domain of the frost giants that attaches to the wall is of original power. You can’t deny that.”

Ratchet coughed, his body spasming.

“You’ve got to let him in,” I said. For a moment I thought she still wasn’t going to listen, but finally the gate opened more and she peered out, looking at him. Her eyes suddenly grew wide.

“Ratchet?” she asked.

He moaned and stirred.

The gate to the frost giant land swung open wide and the blue skinned giantess, her breasts hanging down free and a loin cloth covering her privates, came out. Her long dreadlocks swung in the wind that howled across the snow. She reached forward and easily collected Ratchet and cradled him in her arms like he was a baby.

“What have you done to him?” she growled at me.

“He helped me in battle,” I said. “Fighting off monsters.”

“The rift,” the frost giant said.

Ratchet looked up at her. “Hurgud,” he murmured. “He is my friend.”

His words were weak, but Hurgud understood them. She gave him a single nod.

“Don’t worry about anything.” She turned quickly inward and gave a jerk of her head, motioning me to enter the land of the frost giants.

Chapter 8

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