I closed my eyes. I could feel him coming.

 

Not my task to kill him, but I knew I had a task here nonetheless, even if I was not entirely sure what it was.

 

Maybe I had already done it.

 

What if Thruor killed him?

 

What if…

 

The dwarves. It boiled down to the dwarves. Twin heirs. Who decided which one ruled. Which was older they had not told me.

 

Maybe they were not the heirs, maybe the dwarves did not allow women to rule.

 

Maybe…they had come here for a reason of their own, but I trusted them, cared for them.

 

I could think of worse.

 

A sense of something being disturbed, of a door opening.

 

Of a way opening. I opened my eyes. “Somebody’s coming.”

 

“I know,” Thruor said, hand on hilt. But whatever it was they were…taking their time.
With the barriers thin, maybe this meant they were coming a long way. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it wasn’t Coyote or Lugh. Somebody who did not truly belong here, but who had an interest in helping or hindering.

 

Above me, I heard wings. I looked up. A dragon circled. Watching, not attacking. I wondered who’s side it was on.
Dragons were usually evil.

 

Usually. Not always. Perhaps this one had simply come to see what came of this conflict, what came of the king. It was, of course, a fire dragon, trailing smoke from its wings.

 

It was not the same one I had so foolishly tried to ride. Well, as long as it did not trouble me, I would not trouble it.
The feeling of something approaching came, though, from three directions. Surtur. The dragon.

 

Whoever or whatever was hammering on the barrier between the realms.

 

It occurred to me in that moment that Coyote’s realm would be the perfect place for Loki and Kanesha to come in peace.

 

Maybe it was both of them.

 

Maybe it was something that meant to destroy me. I could not assume this was an ally that approached.
Surtur, climbing the mountain. Alone.

 

It was the end game. He needed to be alone. I did not. That, perhaps, was the difference.

 

No.

 

He did not need to be alone. He simply was alone, any friends he might have had were gone.
That was the difference between us. I had not alienated my people, those who cared about me.

 

Only him. I had only alienated him.