Jake & The Giant (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 2) (30 page)

“You won’t have
to marry either of them,” Jake insisted. “Between the four of us, I know we can figure this out. You’ve got my cousin here, who’s a bona fide genius—”

“And Jake’s got the street-smarts to have survived all those years as a London pickpocket!” Archie countered, perhaps not wanting
all
the pressure to solve the riddle on his own head. “You’d have to be pretty clever to stay a step ahead of the bobbies.”

Jake
didn’t want to be the main person responsible for solving the thing, either. “Yes, but I never invented a robot! Archie has.”

Meanwhile,
Red sat on his haunches and watched the boys serenely as they both tried to dodge all the headaches that came with being the leader.

Princess
Kaia took a deep breath and nodded, her hands planted on her thick waist. “Let’s just all calm down here and think about this logically.”

“Why don’t we try and take it bit by bit?” Archie suggested
, looking reassured by her managing tone.

To be sure,
the boy genius had the most experience of all of them in formal problem-solving. Jake was awfully glad at this moment that Archie had come.

The young inventor
rose to his feet and paced, stroking his chin as he read the slip of paper with the riddle, puzzling over the first line. “What has four wings…but doesn’t fly. That could mean certain birds that can’t fly. Like ostriches or—”

“Penguins!” Snorri yelled
out suddenly.

“Right. Or, it could be referring to a statue of a bird. Because a statue cannot fly
, either. Or…conversely, it might be relying on another use of the word…wings, meaning, say, the different blocks of a large building. Like a hospital has different wings…”

“Or a palace,” Kaia offered softly.

Jake’s skull was beginning to hurt already. “What about that next part?” he asked impatiently. He strode over to Archie and read the slip of paper over his shoulder. “What stands twelve feet above the pool, but never swims…. Dash my wig, I have no idea.”

“And is surrounded by wisdom, yet often vacant?” Archie finished.

They stood in silence for several moments more, pondering it until their brains began to throb.
This is impossible.
Jake shoved the fearful thought away. Each of them mumbled the riddle again and again under their breath, confusion on all their faces.

“Perhaps this bit about the pool is the best place to start,” Archie said at length. “At least it seems
to be a solid clue. If we could find the pool in question, then we could simply look at whatever stands twelve feet above it. When we find
that
object, it should give us another clue to follow.”

“S
ounds logical to me,” Kaia answered warily.

“Agree
d.” Jake paused, but they still didn’t know where to start. “What if you put the pool thing together with the part about wisdom?” he asked after a minute of puzzling it over in vain. “Are there any pools or ponds or wells around here that might be associated with wisdom somehow? Knowledge? Learning?”

“Well…” Snorri and the princess both racked their brains. For Snorri, this looked particularly painful.
“Actually,” Kaia spoke up, “there is a magical pool I know of, that’s supposed to have healing waters. It’s said to be sacred to the goddess, Freya.”

“Excellent! That could be it!” Archie exclaimed.

“Who’s Freya?” Jake asked.

“
Odin’s wife, the queen of the gods.”

Jake stopped. “Isn’t Odin the god of wisdom?”

“Yes!” Kaia suddenly jumped to her feet. “I think we’re onto something! This really could be it!”

“Do you know where to find this pool
?” Archie asked.

She nodded, already reaching for her cloak. “Let’s go!”

They went.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

The Unsolvable Riddle

This hunch had better be right, Jake thought, for they used up the first hour and a half of the twelve permitted just to
find
Freya’s magical pool in the moonlit woods.

Holding up their lanterns as they moved along
the path, they finally came upon it, tucked away in a lush valley among the sprawling forests of Jugenheim.

Arriving at last
, they stood around looking at the beautiful still waters. The pool was crystal-bright and very peaceful in the silver moonlight, with a small waterfall dancing down into it.

But as fa
r as clues went, they were disappointed.
Nothing
stood twelve feet above this pool, as the riddle specified. No tree with a branch hanging down. No decorative arch or fountain. Not even a bird flying by.

“I guess we’re stuck,” Archie said with a sigh. “There’s nothing here.”

“Don’t lose heart,” Jake told the others sternly. “Let’s not give up too soon. Never mind the part about ‘twelve feet above’ for now. What about the line that says ‘four wings but doesn’t fly’? Look around for anything that might fit that description. Maybe there’s a bird statue around here or something.”

“Well, it would have to be a pair of bir
ds for four wings,” Kaia reminded them. “Two birds, two wings each.”

“Right.”

They all looked around the pond and even climbed up to the little waterfall to check there, too.

A
gain, nothing.

Half an hour later, they angrily gave up on this lead and hurried back to the village
, reaching it at midnight. Ultimately, they had wasted three hours total in the excursion, all for naught.

Nine
more hours to go—and it was clear they were going to be up all night trying to figure it out.

“I wonder what approach Gorm and his coaches are taking,” Archie murmured.

Snorri said nothing. Studying him, Jake could almost see the giant berating himself for ever attempting to participate in this contest. He looked like he was already defeated, and that in itself set Jake’s teeth on edge. He could not stand when people gave up without a fight. How could a huge, mighty giant, of all people, let fear get the best of him?

“Nine
hours left,” Kaia said wearily as they returned to the great hall.

“We’ve got
to come up with something fast,” Archie said.

“What if it’s not
an actual pool, but only something that resembles one? Like a mirror or something?” Jake suggested.

Kaia
turned sharply to stare at him, then suddenly ran out of the room.

“Was it something I said?”

Snorri followed her. It was all the boys could do to keep up with the two giants as they ran outside to the king’s private garden behind the great hall.

“Look!”
Kaia rushed over to a stone birdbath on a pedestal. “See? It’s like a pool! And here—” She pointed excitedly to the pair of small, stone, dove statues perched on opposite edges of the birdbath. “Four wings!”

“She’s right!” Snorri exclaimed. “They have four wings, they never swim, and they’re above the pool!”

With frowns and furrowed brows, they all stared at the birdbath for a long moment, wanting this to be the answer.

But Archie slowly shook his head. “No. Not good enough.
I’m sorry, but we’re not there yet. For one thing, the birds are just a few inches above the pool, not twelve feet, and besides, what’s this birdbath got to do with wisdom?”

“Oh, right,” Jake echoed, remembering
the other elements in the riddle. “It’s supposed to be surrounded by wisdom.” He didn’t notice anything particularly wise about this garden, though it was pretty enough, especially when lit with a few lanterns on a balmy June night.

“Well, yes…” Kaia could hardly hide her disappointment. “But the garden
is often vacant!”

“Yes, but why would the Ice Wizard bot
her to make the riddle about a birdbath? Surely it’s got to be something more meaningful than that. Something significant, important…oh, I don’t know.” Archie let out a sigh, took off his glasses, and massaged his eyes with his fingertips. “I’m getting a headache.” He put his glasses back on. “Time to take a break.”

“We don’t have time for a break!” the princess
cried.

“Sometimes
, Your Highness, the quickest way to find an answer is to stop thinking about it so hard for a while,” the boy genius said. “Then the answer simply pops into your head.”

“Yes, but w
hat if it doesn’t pop in time?” Kaia demanded, her cheeks flushing with anger. “You’re not the one who’ll have to marry that old horn-headed weirdo!”

“Maybe there’s something
useful in that book that Snorri brought back from the dragon’s cave,” Jake said.

They all looked at him.

Snorri lifted his eyebrows. “Maybe it’s got a clue in it.”

“Now there’s an idea,” Archie said.

“Yes, but I can’t read it very well,” Kaia said in dismay. “It’s all in Latin.”

“Archie knows Latin.” Jake nodded at his cousin. “Would you give it a try?”

“Absolutely,” he said, abandoning the hope of taking a small break.

Back inside,
Princess Kaia fetched the illuminated manuscript and gave it to Archie. As he started poring over it, translating the old Latin, Jake yawned, stretched, and walked outside to try to clear his head before diving back into the mind-twisting riddle.

Archie was right, his brain needed a break.

Better yet, the feast was still going on. He could always do with a snack. Yes, he thought, brightening. That was just the thing to restore his flagging energy—especially since they’d probably be putting out the sweets right about now.

Jake left the great hall and walked back to the feast in the center of the village.
It seemed the party would be going on all night as the villagers waited to find out which of the two contestants would come back with the correct answer and thus become their next king.

That was when Jake sp
otted the dessert table in the square.
Ahh.
Sweet pastries! They awaited him on a long table near the base of the royal platform.

He made a beeline for the desserts, but was careful as
he went not to get stepped on, for by now, most the giant warriors were silly from drinking mead since nightfall. Too many cups of the stuff made the giants clumsy. Jake was careful to steer clear of them.

He recognized several of
Gorm’s followers among the bunch telling crude jokes, but as he glanced around the square, he did not see Gorm himself anywhere. No doubt the prince and his coaches were off trying to solve the riddle, too.

Arriving at the
dessert table, Jake was in a hurry to get back to his teammates, but he had to stand in line. To his surprise, waiting in line a few people ahead him was the Ice Wizard.

This gave him a chance to observe
the sorcerer furtively without being noticed in return. As the line shuffled forward, Jake recalled his earlier suspicions about the wizard. He leaned forward discreetly to get another look at the tattoos painted all over the sorcerer’s wizened face.

As fierce and strange looking as he was, the Ice Wizard was obviously delighted by the pastries.
He could barely make up his mind whether to try the ones with almond or apricot. Leaning on his gnarled staff, the wizard inspected the array of sweets before him.

“Ah! Hullo
, you…and you…” he mumbled as he collected a few treats.

There was something so
familiar about him as he lifted the pastry he desired. Wriggling his long, tapered fingers happily, he reached for another, humming to himself.

It took Jake a second to recognize
the tune, but when he did, he froze.

H
e’d heard that song before—most recently in the Exhibit Hall, from somebody who had nearly run him over with a high-wheeler bicycle.

A
tune that nobody from Jugenheim should know.

“
The Ride of the Valkyries.”

Jake abandoned his place in line
and ran.

Dodging giant feet, he raced bac
k to the great hall. Moments later, he burst into the back room, gasping for breath.

T
he others looked over in surprise.

“Ja
ke? What’s wrong?” Kaia exclaimed.

Archie j
umped to his feet. “You’re as white as a sheet! What’s happened?”

“Becaw?”

“It’s Loki!” Jake gasped for breath, his heart pounding. His mind reeled as he managed to shake his head. “The Ice Wizard is Loki. He’s here.”

“What?”

“Are you sure?”

“
I’m sure. The riddle is a trick. It doesn’t have an answer. At least, no answer we’ll ever be able to find by using ordinary logic.” He shut the door behind him. “He’s the trickster; that means the riddle’s a trick question.”

“How do you know it’s him
?” Archie asked gravely.

As Jake told the others
what had just happened, they glanced at each other in shock.

“It’s the same song he was humming the first day I saw him in the Exhi
bit Hall, when he was riding that ridiculous high-wheeler. I’m certain it’s him. The way he acted, barmy in the head, slightly twisted. It’s Loki, all right.” He shook his head angrily. “I should have known! He must’ve covered the rest of his face in ink to mask the tattoo that Ragnor the Punisher gave him all those centuries ago.”

“Very clever
,” Archie murmured.

“The point is, w
e’ve been going about this all wrong. No wonder we haven’t made any progress! We need to look at this riddle from a totally different angle. He
is
the trickster god, but there has to be an answer that actually fits. His victory wouldn’t count if the answer turned out to be nonsense. At least now that we know we’re dealing with Loki, we can assume he won’t play fair. So, where do we start?”

“Well…
we did find something about a pool in this ancient manuscript from the dragon’s cave,” Archie said warily. “But I don’t see how…”

“Let’s hear it,
” Jake said.

Archie tapped a paragraph of bold Latin script on the open page. “Th
e Irish monk who wrote this manuscript claims to have baptized Odin himself in a pool that lies within Valaskjalf.”

“Inside
what?
” Jake asked.

“Valaskjalf,” Archie repeated.

“What the deuce is that?”

Arc
hie glanced at Kaia.

She gave the boys
a skeptical look. “Valaskjalf is said to be a white marble castle, Odin’s palace. In Valhalla.”

Jake sat down abruptly. “Valhalla
?”

She
nodded.

Archie picked up where she had left off. “According to the manuscript,
the monk baptized the Norse god privately inside his castle, so as not to throw the whole pagan world into a tizzy. Apparently there’s some sort of indoor pool inside the palace.”

Kaia folded her arms over her chest in silence while Snorri looked around worriedly at all of them.

“Well,” Jake said with caution, “that would certainly qualify as ‘surrounded by wisdom,’ since Odin is the god of wisdom, right?”

“Yes. And his home is often vacant, when he’s out wanderin
g the world in search of heroes—warriors that he can recruit for Valhalla,” Kaia added. “He’s also the god of war, so when there’s a battle, he’s usually there.”

They all were silent, digesting the ramifications of all this.

“So, is that the answer, then?” Jake said at last. “Odin’s castle—how ever you say it?”

“Valaskjalf,” Snorri repeated.

“Not sure if the castle itself is the answer, or some particular part of it…” Archie’s words trailed off as he met Jake’s stare.

Without a word, both cousins reached
the same conclusion.

Jake was the one who said it out loud. “We’r
e not going to know for certain unless we go and see it for ourselves.”

“But how can we go to Valhalla?” Snorri as
ked. “It’s the land of the dead! We’re alive—and I for one intend to stay that way.”

“Well, we have to be sure! We can’t just throw an answer out t
here,” Archie said. “Not if Loki’s already here among us, impersonating the Ice Wizard.”

“Archie’s right,” Jake backed him up. “
We have to know for sure. We dare not get the answer wrong. So how do we get to Valhalla?”

“
There are…many gates,” Kaia said slowly. “Some say as many as five hundred different portals. I only know of one. I could take you there, but whether you’ll be able to get in once we reach the gates, I do not know.”