Of course, we did not make it to the capital unchallenged.

 

There was no way that was going to happen. A patrol, smart enough to not just check the road. It heartened me a little to see that there was still some competence here.

 

I drew my sword. Mike had his gun…and a sword, I could have sworn he had not had that before.

 

Maybe Thruor had been carrying a spare. But he was using the gun first, firing off a couple of shots.

 

Neither of them hit, I suspected by intent. They did have a result, making the guards step back from a weapon utterly unfamiliar with them.

 

“Who are you?”

 

Aha, we got a voice, not an attack. “I am Siglaugr, and you will let us pass.” I kept my voice even.

 

“Says who?”

 

“Says us,” said a dwarf from behind me, I thought Ebba, although their voices were so similar that I could not always tell them apart when I could not see them.

 

I did not look to see what threatening gestures they might be making.

 

“I see no army,” the guard said, wryly. “I see that we have you outnumbered, strange magic or no.”

 

“I need no army. I stand with dwarves and frost giants. I stand with Aesir and Vanir. You will let me pass.”

 

It sounded good, and I wasn’t even quite sure where it came from. Of course, I did not have a frost giant with me, but they would know why.

 

“To do what?”

 

“Surtur has something that belongs to me.”

 

They studied me warily. “The King…”

 

“Has something, again, that belongs to me. And no honor.”

 

Of course, one of them rushed at me for that, but there was no thought behind his attack. I batted him away with the flat of my blade, not wanting to kill anyone I didn’t have to.

 

He went down. “Ack, you’re fast!”

 

“Indeed. Now, let me pass.”

 

They were forming a solid wall, though, blocking my route. I had a feeling that somebody would find a route around them. The one I had felled picked himself up. Looked at me with uncertainty.

 

He did not join the wall.