Revelation

Chapter 8 of Trickster God

Revelation

  “Where are we?”

  Annie shivered in her knit sweater and cap that were not sufficient to keep out the sudden blast of arctic cold. Above them a dark sky was rent by moving curtains of fire. Below a roaring volcano spewed lava and dark smoke, the lava flowing onto a river of ice. Lightning flashed among the glowing spumes of fire. They stood on a wide black rock shelf that turned into a jutting crag.

  “No Faerie gate sickness,” Kat said as she pet her whining dog.

  “Don't think we're in Faerie,” Sophi said.

  “We are still in Midgard, in Iceland, in a place I often go to to think,” Loki told them.

  He came over to Annie, took off his wool cape, and fastened it about her shoulders with his gold brooch. The touch of his hands did not send an erotic thrill through her as they had when they were female. To Annie's surprise, they seemed somehow comforting.

  “Don't want you to freeze, little Priestess.”

  “Thank you. Why are you being so kind?”

  “Can't I just be concerned about the welfare of a friend?”

  “If you're so concerned about her welfare why not send us back to Clearwater,” Sophi asked, though not with her usual bravado.

  Though Sophi was used to dealing with the supernatural, this situation was making her more than a bit nervous.

  “Search though I may I cannot uncover the identity of the one who seeks to frame me. I thought that you ladies....”

  His voice trailed off. It was not easy for any god, let alone Loki, to ask for help.

  “You thought four heads might be better than one,” Kat said.

  “My son seems to think you are competent in these kinds of situations.”

  “When your son required our services he provided more comfortable accommodations,” Sophi said as she looked down at the bare rock, lit only by the Northern Lights.

  Then she did a double take. Where she was sure nothing had been before, already stacked campfire wood, kindling included, nestled in a natural depression of the ledge's surface. Loki needed no Bic this time. He gestured towards the wood and it burst into flame, sending hot sparks into the sky. By the time the flames settled down enough to risk sitting by them, there was a black kettle hanging from a tripod filled with aromatic simmering liquid at one glowing end of the fire.

  “Mulled cider, good hard cider,” Loki said as he used a large ladle to poor some into one of the good sized mugs that were suddenly sitting on a nearby rock.

  “Sorry, this isn't for you,” Kat told Angus as all three of them followed his example then sat by the fire.

  “Complaints withdrawn,” Sophi said.

  Loki grinned. Angus barked.

  “Ah. Here comes the other one.”

  Sophi saw the spiral that heralds the opening of a Faerie gate appear over the dark rock. Out of the gate came a tall, beautiful, cloak-wrapped Faerie man, his red hair, not quite so red as Loki's, poking out from the cloak's warm hood. Lord Faolan mac Doitean knelt before his father just as Kat and Sophi sprang up to bow to him.

  “I have come as you commanded, Father,” he said.

  By this time Annie was also on her feet. Following the others' example she bowed to the newcomer.

  “Are you Lord Faolan, Sir?”

  The Faerie lord gave her a long intent look.

  “And you must be Annie Flowers.”

  “Yes, sir. I was charged by your father to give you a message about his innocence. I am delivering that message now.”

  “Tiarnas, I also had such a message to deliver,” Sophi told him.

  “So, Father, you need three women to advocate for you?”

  Loki smiled a crooked smile.

  “Can't hurt.”

  “Ladies. Do you think my father is innocent?”

  “Your father has never been an innocent, but in this matter I think he tells the truth,” Sophi said.

  Both Loki and Lord Faolan laughed.

  Soon all were sitting about the cheerful fire, hot drinks in their hands.

  “Father, if you did not embezzle my funds who did? It's been traced to a laptop or other mobile device in the Nine Worlds.”

  Loki's amber eyes flickered then flared.

  “If I knew that none of you would be here.”

  “Thor,” Kat suggested.

  She knew from what her former Asatru friend had taught her that, though they often palled around together, Thor and Loki often bickered.

  “Thor!”

  Loki laughed.

  “In a fight, none better than Thor. But he lacks the wit to pull off such a trick.”

  “Thor's father then,” Lord Faolan suggested.

  Loki looked pensive and maybe a bit worried.

  “The Allfather certainly has the wit. But we're blood brothers. He's always stood up for me.”

  “One of the goddesses?” Annie said.

  Once more Loki looked pensive.

  “I had not thought of them. Sif might still be a mite peeved over the hair thing, but she seemed to like the replacement well enough. And like her husband, lacks the wit.

  “Freya or Frigga? Maybe? But it's been awhile since I last annoyed either of them.”

  Kat sat quietly, scratching Angus' ears, sipping spiced cider, and thinking.

  “Maybe it's not about revenge. Could it be one-upmanship?” she finally asked.

  Everyone stared at her.

  “One-upmanship?” the Trickster God said.

  “In competitive chess all the grandmasters are trying to unseat the world champion. World heavyweight boxing champ has to keep on fighting to maintain his title.”

  “And I am the ultimate Trickster,” Loki said with what seemed to be pride rather than penitence. “Someone wants to prove he can outfox the fox. So how do we find this someone?”

  “Ask him?” Sophi suggested.

  Now all eyes were on her.

  “Wish you'd brought Sir Ailein or Lady Rua, Lord Faolan. They would know the computer addresses we might reach him at.”

  Lord Faolan reached beneath his fur-lined cloak and pulled out some rolled papers from some hidden pouch. He handed them to Sophi.

  “Will these do?”

  “Computer printouts. Has all the needed addresses,” Sophi said.

  From one of her own hidden pockets she pulled out the cell phone she never went anywhere without.

  “You believe my adversary will respond to a 'Please reveal yourself' request?” Loki said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “If it's worded right he will,” Sophi said, carefully, to the obviously angry god. “Are you acquainted with 'Hide and go seek'?”

  “A game the children of Midgard play, I believe.”

  “Yes sir. We played it, even in the run down druggie-infested trailer park where I spent my earliest years. Sometimes one kid hides so well no one can find him. So you all call out 'All-ye all-ye in come free' and the still hidden kid comes in without being tagged.”

  Loki's angry expression caused Sophi to tremble, but she bravely returned his gaze.

  “So, Miss MacTire, you want me to admit he won and let him come with no consequences.”

  “Or you can let us go home and figure it out yourself.”

  Sophi held her breath, wondering if she had gone too far. Finally Loki visibly relaxed and smiled.

  “OK, Foster child of the Sidhe. We'll do it your way.”

  Sophi composed and sent the required message to several cloud locations where the perp might be lurking.

[To Whomever: Loki-Laufeyjarson concedes you have won this Game of Trickery. He would love to meet and discuss this matter. No penalties will be exacted.]

  Then they all ladled fresh mugs of hot cider and waited.

  Just when it seemed they'd waited forever, when Sophi was about to concede she was wrong, the God appeared. He was clad in warm colorful Viking clothes, with blond hair and beard, a guileless expression in his very blue eyes. He stood there, bigger than life, with a pleased smile on his broad face. So affable and handsome he was that all three women jumped up, almost giving into an impulse to run over and hug the deity.

  Lord Faolan also jumped up, his face registering surprise.

  Loki stood, his own face registering wrath. His voice was a hiss.

  “You! Why? What have I ever done to you, Baldur?”

  A bolt of fear shot through Sophi.

  'Is this how it starts? The beginning of the enmity between these two?'

  As if oblivious to Loki's anger, Baldur strode over to the campfire and helped himself to some cider that he ladled into a big drinking horn.

  “Come, let us sit down and talk.”

  His hearty voice, the epitome of kindness and good cheer, caused everyone but Loki to smile. The leashed Black Angus pulled Kat over to him so he could fawn at the God's feet. Baldur pet Angus then sat down, as did everyone else.

  Baldur looked at Loki, perhaps noticing for the first time that Loki was not pleased.

  “I will answer your questions, Blood Brother of my Sire. I am the Good God, the one everyone loves. That is it. I have a wife, a child, a great boat, but I am revered for purity, giving grand parties, and cheerfulness. My life has become boring.”

  Everyone knows that Vikings loved fighting and adventure and had no use for boredom, nor did their Gods.

  “You, Loki, on the other hand have adventures all the time. Tales are told about you.”

  'Only one tale is told about Baldur and that one a tragedy,' Sophi thought.

  “So, to compensate for a boring life you've embezzled from one of my children and convinced him I was at fault. Baldur I do not harm my own. I'd have prevented Fenrir's binding if I'd had the power to do so.”

  “I should have trusted you more, Father,” Lord Faolan admitted.

  “But I did succeed in fooling you, even your new computer experts,” Baldur said with pride.

  “And cost the life of one who used to work for me,” Lord Faolan retorted.

  “I regret that. Did not mean for anyone to die. But Sir Leith's greed is what killed him. He even tried to steal the embezzled funds from me.”

  “I don't suppose now that you've had your little trick you could return my money to me?” Lord Faolan asked hopefully.

  The big blonde God smiled.

  “Ah, sorry but no I cannot. I had no actual use for your money. So I donated it to Midgard charities. I even put in a little program that continues to donate 5% of your investment profits to these charities.”

  Lord Faolan's dark eyes blazed with anger. He rose and spoke with controlled wrath.

  “You did what! What charities?”

  “Let me see if I can recall them all. 'Save the Children', a program that provides mosquito netting for African children, several orphanages, a group trying to help get food and medicine to children living in refugee camps, even the 'Police Pals' program Officer Jones works with....”

  Lord Faolan stared, dumbstruck, at the boasting God. Then he started to laugh. His laugh was so contagious soon everyone but Loki was laughing too.

  “All for children, children in desperate need of help! As if I would now withdraw my donations from such groups. I can kiss that money goodby.”

  “But think of all the good it may do,” Sophi said.

  “You might get a tax write-off out of it in the USA,” Kat added.

  Loki stood up, flames and smoke flickering in his amber eyes.

  “So, Baldur the Good, you've had your jest. Knowledge of this will not go beyond this place.”

  Baldur the Good looked a bit petulant at those words.

  “Why not?”

  “The human women will not because I ask them not to. Whether from fear of my wrath or respect for my feelings they will not tell.”

  Sophi and the others knew this was true.

  “My son will not tell because he is, in spite of his doubts, loyal to me.”

   Lord Faolan nodded.

  “You will not, Baldur, because this incident could tarnish your reputation for goodness and innocence, and, bored or not, you value your reputation.”

  Baldur smiled a rueful smile.

  “You are right about that, Loki. I will also remain silent. Good cheer, all.”

  With those words Odin's second son disappeared. But Loki's eyes still smouldered.

  Sophi tried to tell him to cool it with Baldur, that holding a grudge against the most beloved God would not turn out well. She could not. She opened her mouth but no words would come out. Something prevented them.

  She looked at the others. They all, even Lord Faolan, looked like they were struggling to say something to the Trickster God and could not.

  'Who has the power to do this to us? Can only be the Norns.'

  Loki rose, oblivious to the fate no one was able to warn him about.

  “I've no more reason to keep you lovely ladies here. I'm sending you back home.”

  In but a moment, a flicker of the campfire, a shimmer of the Northern lights, they were back by the now cold stone shelter in Riverside Park. Whistling wind, strange shrieks, and guttural cries were still coming from the dark woods. The women and the black dog hurried to the gravel parking lot and piled into Kat's old Toyota. When they'd pulled out of the parking lot onto the paved road that led out of the park Sophi spoke.

  “You guys tried to tell him too, didn't you?”

  “I could not speak at all,” Kat said.

  “Why? What prevented us?” Annie asked.

  “The Norns or the Fates or some power greater even than they does not want the Norse gods to stray from the path that leads to Ragnarok,” Sophi opined.

  “But he... Loki...comes here. His land has computers. If he picked up a book on Norse Myths in a chain bookstore, downloaded a movie about the Norse Gods...,” Annie protested.

  “I'll bet if we took him to a bookstore he'd be unable to see the mythology section,” Kat said. “Otherwise he'd know.”

  Thinking about the fate the two deities they'd just been with had in store for them, Sophi sighed.

  “Never thought I'd say this, but I feel sorry for the Gods."