White Stag (PERMAFROST #1)

Chapter Sixteen: Mother of Wolves

Chapter Sixteen:

Mother of Wolves

Before we summoned the Mother of Wolves, we had to lug ourselves another twenty meters up the mountain. For once, I took the lead as the blinding wind whipped my hair against my face.

"You should've let me braid it," Soren said after my hair got in his face for the ninth time.

"In what downtime did you ask to braid my hair?" I tried to stick it back underneath my hood but strands kept escaping and I finally gave up.

"Well, I tried while you were unconscious after your swim but you hit me. Hard. I have a bruise."

"I told him not to do it," Seppo said. "I told him that trying to braid the hair of a person undergoing a chemical psychotic spell wasn't a good idea. Did he listen? No."

I smirked. "Where did I bruise him?"
"Nowhere important." Soren was trying hard to keep his voice light. A little too hard.

"Oh, it's important all right." Seppo said. I tuned out as the two men began to bicker over what happened when I was unconscious. I was a little disappointed that I missed my own show.

I spit out a strand of hair. Maybe I should cut mine if I live after this.

If I lived after this and stopped Lydian from whatever scheme he had up his sleeve, if I lived through seeking the help of a giantess god and whatever task she would request from me. Gods Above, if someone told me a hundred years ago the safest place for me was in Soren's manor, I would've laughed and maybe hit them. Going back was a lifetime away.

I walked to the flat bed of rocks and dusty snow that was the peak of the mountains. The crisp air stung my ears and eyes, freezing the moisture inside my nose. The temperature dropped rapidly as I made my way into the center of the peak. Soren and Seppo lingered back near the edge. I turned toward them, eyebrows raised.

"Problem?"

"I'd rather not be in blasting range of the goddess I might've unintentionally scorned a few days ago," Seppo deadpanned.

"Soren?"

He looked away. "Skadi doesn't like me very much."
"Why?"

There was a slight rosy tint to his pale face. "I would rather not specify."

I sighed. I probably didn't want to know anyway. "Fine, I'll do it."
I went to the center of the peak and forced myself to sit on the freezing stones. Crossing my legs, I brought out the stiletto Seppo'd given me when we fought the dragons. It was an old weapon. The bronze twisted in the shape of a snake eating its own tail on the hilt, the blade was the color of a serpent with a line of silver-blue in the middle. Someone had blessed this weapon; the power in it said that much.

For now all that mattered was the sacrifice. I bared my right arm out and let the sharp edge of the stiletto run across the underside. A thick band of blood rose to the surface and I angled my arm so the blood would drip onto the ground.

I closed my eyes and chanted. "Wake Skadi, Mother of the Mountain, Wake Skadi, Mother of Wolves, Wake Skadi, the Huntress, the Avenger, the Mother of the Wilderness. I call to thee. Wake Skadi!"