Page 84 of The Fanged One

Before the wall sat a hall, no bigger than a crofter's house, its timber gone gray and hard as iron, its turf roof furred with something pale. Past the hall, set into the onyx itself, stood a pair of doors. They were carved over every inch with bind runes he half knew and others he did not. He knew what was behind them as surely as his own name.

"That's where my father is," Fenris said, the magic in his blood thrumming in recognition.

The others fanned out on either side of him and stared.

"There is supposed to be a trial here," Von said, looking about. "The Wanderer's story spoke of it and said they failed it and were sent back to Midgard."

"Maybe the trial is surviving boredom," Ciara said.

Von rolled his eyes at her. "I doubt it, pet. Perhaps the runes are the riddle."

"Ah, I think we have bigger problems than the runes right now," Layla interrupted them. She wasn't looking at the door; she was looking behind them.

Darkness was rising like fog and rolling toward them. Shapes began to form in it, hints of sharp teeth and hunger.

"Inside or out?" Tor asked.

"Out here we have a wall at our backs and open ground on every other side," Arne said, already grabbing Layla's hand. "In there we have four walls and a door we can ward."

"In there, we also have whatever trap Hel built the hall to spring," Ciara argued, pulling a longer dagger free.

"Inside," Fenris chose for them. "We can hold a door. We can't hold the dark and fight whatever the fuck is living in it."

They ran from the stone doors, across the dead ground, and up the stairs of the hall. Tor and Fenris shoved the doors open as Arne watched the group's backs, and they all hurried in. They shut the heavy door behind them and dropped the beam to lock it.

Linnea was already singing, the tip of her knife carving bind runes into the wood. Von added his own, and the two magics settled together.

"Let's check out the rest of this place while they do that, in case literal monsters are hiding under a bed," Arne suggested.

Layla whacked him. "You just had to say it, didn't you? I'm making you go first to check."

Tor and Ciara had already shifted into wolves and were darting off with their noses to the ground. Fenris guarded Von and Linnea until the wards had settled over the hall like a warm blanket.

"The rooms are clear. Everything seems to be clean and in order like last time, except there are no signs of any welcome shades or a note from Hel," Tor reported back, minutes later when he and Ciara had shifted back into their human forms.

"Maybe she didn't expect anyone to ever get this far," Von replied.

"If the Norns and Havi helped make all of this as part of Loki's plan, then no one but Fenris was meant to free him," Linnea pointed out.

Fenris's eye twitched. "Me and you. This is part of your wyrd too."

"Perhaps," she said, her eyes not meeting his.

He had given her the night Ciara told him to give her. He had given her today as well, and who knew what tomorrow would bring.

"There's not 'perhaps' about it, Linnea," he growled. "You and I need to talk. This nonsense has gone on long enough."

The wolf lifted its head. About time.

"We don't need anything…"

Fenris crossed the hall. She tensed before he reached her but didn't have time to move before he tossed her over his shoulder.

"We need some privacy," he told the others. None of them looked about to stop him. Von was grinning.

Linnea made a sound somewhere between a squawk and a snarl. "Fenris, put me down! I swear to every god…"

"No." He was already walking.