Jake & The Giant (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 2) (24 page)

So that’s where the d
underhead fell out,
he mused.
Then that’s where I’ll get in!

One minor problem. The tiny cracks in the earthen crust around the boulder were much too small for a falcon to fly through.

Thankfully, this was no great obstacle for the Lord of the Shapeshifters.

Loki simply turned himself into a dung beetle and fle
w up to the spot where Snorri had broken Odin’s seal between the worlds.

With his tiny insect feet, Loki-as-beetle
gripped on upside-down to the crust of Jugenheim. Then he crawled over to the edge of one of the cracks around the rock.

Using his little black pincers as shovels, he got to work digging a way in.
He couldn’t wait to see the look on Odin’s face on that sweet day of his long-prophesied victory, Ragnarok!

The day he
, Loki, stormed Valhalla with his army of giants, cut off Thor’s head, Blood Eagled the old man Odin, and burned the All-Father’s white palace to the ground.

Oh, that day
was coming.

At this
very moment, he was closer than ever to bringing it into being.

When his destiny came to fruition
, then
he
would rule as king of the gods in Odin’s place. And instead of law and order, all the Nine Worlds would learn to enjoy…a little madness.

CHAPTER TWENTY-
NINE

Princess Kaia-of-the-Yellow-Braids

K
ing Olaf’s rustic great hall stood at the center of the giants’ medieval village. Made of mighty oak logs over stone foundations, it reminded Jake of a massive mountain ski lodge.

Archie
discreetly clicked a photograph as Snorri led them through the village toward it. Along the way, the boys stared in amazement at all the towering peasants going about their business.

The place was bu
stling with activity as giant servants hurried to and fro, helping the arriving knights and princes get settled; they showed them to their quarters and led their towering horses to the giant stable.

Others—plainer folk—paid little mind to the visiting noblemen
, but went on with life as usual: craftsmen and artisans, aproned butchers and blacksmiths going about their work, a farmer taking his vegetables to market in a huge cart pulled by two enormous oxen. A giantess with a cloth wrapped around her head was fetching water from the well. She cranked the handle, raising a bucket nearly as big as a bathtub.

Passing through the village, the boys
felt in danger of getting stepped on by some careless passerby. With the constant earthquakes from so many giants’ footsteps all around them, it was all they could do to keep their balance as they walked. Just when they were finally getting the hang of how to stay upright amidst all the shaking, a pack of giant children ran by, laughing and kicking a rounded boulder for a ball.

Once more, Jake and Archie climbed wearily to their feet from where they had sprawled on the ground, dusted themselves off, and hurried after their guide.

Snorri was already marching up the few front steps to the doorway of the great hall. The ironclad door was decorated with all sorts of interesting runes, knots, and old Norse designs that Jake was sure Miss Langesund would have loved to study.

A pair of giant Viking
guards on duty flanked the door with spears like cedar trees in their hands, and shiny, horned helmets on their heads.

“Hurry up!” Snorri c
alled back, waving the boys on.

Apparently, the guard
s were used to seeing him here, for they waved him through and nodded at his explanation of bringing the visiting ‘dwarves’ to meet the princess.

Archie gazed up at the step
s they had to climb and sighed.

Jake smiled wryly. “Come on, I’ll give you a boost,” he told his shorter cousin.

The boys hurried to climb the steps. It would have been easier to fly up them on the Gryphon, but Jake had left Red back at Snorri’s cottage for now, in the hopes of drawing less attention.

W
hen they reached the top of the steps, they had to run to catch up to Snorri, who was already striding eagerly into the great hall ahead of them. He was obviously impatient to see the princess again.

Inside the great hall, the boys marveled at the manly, Viking space. Under a
high, vaulted ceiling, the vast main room stood empty. Rows of long wooden tables and benches awaited the next meal. A huge stone fireplace yawned near the king’s raised dais at the front of the room. Around them, the wood-planked walls were hung with all the round, decorated shields of the local warriors.

But the boys marveled most at the living oak tree growing up right through
the center of the room. King Olaf had obviously built his great hall around it, just like the Norns had said—but there was no time to gawk at it.

Snorri beckoned them into a smaller room off the back, where Princess Kaia was working on her spinning wheel.

She hummed absently to herself while the wheel whirred and the wool yarn flew, spun finer and finer with each revolution.

When the boys arrived in the doorway,
Jake studied the giant lady, bemused.

After hearing so much about her, he wasn’t sure what he had been expecting from a Norse giant princess. Certainly, it was no surprise that she was, as they say, big-boned.

Very
big-boned.

S
turdy and strong, muscular—the warrior daughter of a warrior king.

Instead of the yellow braids Snorri had told them about,
however, she wore her long blond hair flowing rather wildly over her shoulders. Jake also noticed that, for some fine princess, she wasn’t dressed all that differently from the Viking-styled peasant women outside. Just a little nicer.

The white long sleeves of her nightgown-like under-garment showed beneath her sleeveless
blue wool kirtle—a gown of the same basic shape as the jumper-dresses Dani liked to wear.

The blue kirtle was pinned in place with a fin
e metal brooch at Princess Kaia’s shoulder. Several layers of bright, beaded necklaces adorned her neck and chest, while the belt around her waist was hung with various items, including a mean-looking knife and a bunch of keys.

But despite the nasty weapon at her side, w
hen their shepherd friend tapped on the side of the open doorway, the princess let out a girly gasp and jumped up from her spinning wheel. “Snorri! Where have you been?” she cried at once. “Oh, I was so worried about you! Come in, come in!”

As she rushed toward them, the boys backed away to avoid being crushed under her soft leather boots. Their lacings were as thick as Jake’s arm.

Princess Kaia hadn’t even noticed the ‘dwarves.’ She stopped and tilted your head, studying Snorri. “You look…odd.”

“What?” Snorri turned bright red and glanced self-consciously at his clean, spiffy reflection in the
square glass mirror on the opposite wall. “Uh, I do?”

“Did you fall in
the river? You look…clean. Hmm! Well, never mind.” She shook off the puzzle of his strange, sudden cleanliness. “I went to see you, and you weren’t at your cottage!”

“You came to see me?” Snorri
quite lit up.

“
Where did you go?” she exclaimed. “No one was watching your sheep!”

Before he could manage to answer, she suddenly noticed Jake
and Archie. “Oh, Snorri!” She turned back to her friend, clapping her hands with excitement. “You brought me dolls!”

“We’re not dolls!” Jake said indignantly.

“You’re not?” She bent down with an indulgent, knowing smile, as if the boys were two years old, not heroes sent to save the giant race. “Well, what are you, then, cute little thing?”

Jake’s scowl deepened. This was too insulting.

“We’re, er, we’re dwarves, Your Highness,” Archie spoke up. But as usual, he was the world’s worst liar.

Princess Kaia narrowed her
blue eyes and leaned closer, looming over them. She studied Jake and then Archie, in turn. “Oh, yes, you are dolls,” she said. “I’ve seen dwarves and you don’t look anything like them.”

“We’re dwarves,” Jake replied.

“Then where are your beards? Dwarves always have beards.”

“Uh, they’re child dwarves. Just b
oys,” Snorri said, but when she eyed him skeptically, he faltered. “Their beards haven’t grown yet.”

“
I see. But then…where are your axes? Even a young dwarf ought to have an ax.”

“We
lost them?” Archie suggested.

Jake glared at him.

She frowned, rose to her full height, and folded her arms across her giant bosom. “Snorri, you had
better
tell me right now what is going on. You might be able to fool the others, but you can’t fool me. If they’re not dwarves, and they’re not dolls, then what in Thor’s name are they?”

“Snorri,” Jake warned.

Snorri stammered helplessly. “I, um, well, y’see, it’s just—”

“Oh, bother!”
Princess Kaia lost patience and picked Archie up by the back of his jacket, holding him up toward her face to inspect him. “Now then,” she said. “Who are you?”

“Please don’t eat me
, ma’am!”

“Eat you?” she echoed
, suddenly glowering at him. “Are you calling me a troll?”

“Sorry-no—please, put me down!”

“Put him down!” Jake agreed, though it wasn’t much good to yell at someone when you only came up to their knee.

“We’re humans!” Archie blurted out.

She gasped and turned to Snorri. “Humans? From Midgarth?” she whispered, wide-eyed. “Is that where you went? The world of men? Snorri, how did you—how
could
you?” she stammered. “It’s forbidden!”

“
It was an accident, I swear! Please, you mustn’t tell anyone!” he begged her. “Don’t tell your father. I didn’t mean to, honest!”

She put Archie down and shut the do
or quietly. “Tell me everything,” she ordered.

A
nd he did.

“
…No one can find out about any of this. Especially not the breach between the worlds until it’s fixed,” Snorri finally concluded after explaining all that had happened since his disappearance. “Most of all, don’t tell Gorm.”

“You’re right
about that,” she agreed. “Knowing him, he’ll want to take his followers on a raid down to Midgarth straightaway.”

“That’s why we
all have to say the boys are dwarves, so nobody will realize they’re from Midgarth. Of course,” Snorri added with a penitent look, “I didn’t want to lie to you.”

“For all the good it did you! I’m not a fool,
you know,” she retorted.

“
Please, won’t you help us, Kaia? If
you
say they’re dwarves, then everyone else will believe it automatically, since you’re the princess. Everyone always does as she says,” Snorri told the boys.

“But why did you bring them here?”
she asked.

“These boys are no ordinary humans!
” Snorri answered. “They’re wizards back in Midgarth—”

“No, we’re not!”
the two exclaimed in unison.

Jake scoffed.
“Wizards!”

“
Well, you are, of a sort. You can both do very unusual things.” He turned to Kaia again. “I brought them here to help us fend off Loki. They’re here to vouch for me, that everything I’ve said is true.”

“
Well, I believe you, Snorri.”

He
smiled bashfully. “Thank you, but we both know it’s your father who’s got to be convinced. So, now we’ve told you everything. Your turn. Tell us what’s been going on around here. Who were all those warriors arriving on the horses?”

Princess Kaia sighed. “Perhaps you’d better sit down.”

They did.

“Remember
a few days ago in the great hall, when Father announced my betrothal to Prince Gorm, and you stood up for me and said I shouldn’t have to?” The giant princess smiled at the boys. “You should’ve seen him. He was so brave! He told the whole village I shouldn’t have to marry
anyone
against my will. He even said it to my father’s face—which could have got him killed.”

“Well, you shouldn’t,” Snorri grumbled.

“My father’s heart nearly stopped at such defiance. And poor Snorri, all the warriors howled with laughter at him for saying such a thing. But you know,” she added, “those words got me thinking… That’s why I came to your cottage to talk to you, Snorri.”

He
ventured a glance at her.

“You were right!
Why should I have to marry Gorm, just because he’s been kissing up to my father? That boor! He doesn’t care about me. He just wants to be king. So,” she continued, “I talked to my father about my feelings, and for a moment, I almost thought he was listening.” She let out a large sigh. “But instead of letting me inherit the crown by myself, Father came up with this horrible idea of a contest.”

“A contest?” Jake echoed.

“For my hand in marriage!” she burst out angrily. Then she jumped up and paced. “Have you ever heard of anything so humiliating? Now I’m even worse off than before! Just a
prize
in this stupid competition for feats of strength and daring!” She shook her head, rolled her eyes, and pushed her hair behind her ear. “That’s why all the foreign knights and princes have come. And my father will be lucky if I ever
speak
to him again,” she finished with a huff.

Snorri’s face had gone ashen.

“Uh, maybe we could talk to him for you. Your father, that is,” Archie offered. “After all, our country back home is ruled by a woman. Queen Victoria!”

“
That won’t work. We’re supposed to be from Dwarf Land, remember?” Jake reminded him.

“Oh, right…”

“Whatever happens, Your Highness,” Jake said somberly, “you need to be aware that Loki’s out to gain control over your people. That’s the main reason I wanted to come here and personally warn the giants that the threat from the trickster is real.”

“Don’t worry. I will protect my people,” she replied, a fierce Viking gleam came into her eyes. “
No matter who I’m forced to marry, that Loki with his dirty tricks will never get through me.”