Letting Jorun and Ebba go ahead was not the plan I had intended, but the truth was that the rest of us would never be mistaken for fire giants.

 

Maybe me – I was a creature of fire and although I did not look like one physically, I rather thought my aura was close enough that with a bit of glamor I could pull it off.

 

That, though, would have meant leaving Thruor and Mike behind. Instead? We were taking another route in.

 

No, not the sewers, although we definitely considered it. We would, though, be spotted as soon as we came out – fire giants have as good a sense of smell as humans if not better.

 

But Helgr knew another possible way in…the downside being that it went up the side of the spire – and was not the nice, sweeping main entrance.

 

I was worried about falling. Falling was not something I wanted to think about too much after the dragon incident. Besides, I did not want to have to find my way back.

 

Of course, they were to keep going and get her without me. The worst part was that I had surrendered the medallion to the dwarves.

 

If they got caught I was not sure how we were going to get her out. Mike went first. He was the lightest of the three of us – he hadn’t changed visually.

 

He was still Mike, albeit still a subdued Mike. When he had spoken it was with anger. He was every bit as mad as I was about what had happened.

 

So I had been letting him fume, as much as I wanted to talk, to catch up. To tell him what was going on.
Well, he knew the important parts. He knew and he cared and that was all I really needed. The path was perhaps designed as an escape route, and looked rather more to have been made by mountain goats than fire giants. Being smaller meant it was not quite as crazy as it might have been.

 

It still could have used a hand rail in places and although steps had been cut, they were worn. I took that as heartening, though. If this path was not being well maintained, it made it less likely it was guarded.

 

I still hoped we would not have to come back this way, especially not under fire or pursuit.

 

Besides, I was not convinced it was unguarded, so I was having to climb with one hand on my sword hilt. I had Kanesha’s sword across my back too.

 

That was not something the dwarves had wanted to fall into fire giant hands, and they thought it likely that they would try and take it as a sample.

 

I hoped they didn’t see the medallion in the same way – but, of course, it was not a weapon and thus not something Surtur would care about that much. I could not imagine him going for pretty jewelry.

 

Some of the others I’d seen, on the other hand…

 

A rock fell from under my feet. I caught myself, listening to it plink down the side of the spire – which I suspected to have been shaped by magic not by tools.