Fallen Queen (eBook)

Rob Neuteboom (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
264 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-8434-9 (ISBN)

Infos

In Rob Neuteboom's second novel ' The Fallen Queen,' Ask is determined to defeat the giants he narrowly escaped. He allies himself with his Aunt Freyand, the most powerful of the Asgardian goddesses and Asgard's last queen. She can render flesh to dust by simply forming a fist. She has another power, too, that muddles Ask's mind, subjecting him to her influence. Her intentions, Ask will discover, are not noble.

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While preparing to fight the giants, Ask must also combat the persuasions of the queen. Can Deonte and Orla keep him grounded, or will the queen succeed in driving a wedge between their friendship and ultimately achieve her nefarious objective of ruling all with Ask at her side? Ask will sacrifice more than he ever imagined in this thrilling sequel to "e;The Growing Ax."e; His life will further change as he undergoes a more profound and unexpected transformation.

Textauszug

Chapter 3

The Gateway

When Ask awoke, he found the fire reduced to shallow embers. Light emanated from the cave entrance. The cold seeped below his thick coat. He stood and stretched. Orla now rested with her head leaned against the wall opposite him. Deonte snored lightly. As Ask glanced around, he noticed Freyand was also awake, the spear balanced across her lap.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

“Fine,” he replied.

“You tossed and turned, yelled out at one point. Bad dreams?” She smiled.

“We’re going to need to eat,” Ask said, changing the subject. He added wood to the dying embers and blew on them until they sputtered to life. A budding flame curled over a log, and bore its way slowly into the wood.

“There’s no shame in seeing and understanding the past,” Freyand pressed. “That knowledge gives power.”

Ask dumped the contents of his backpack on the ground to sort through. He had a couple of cans of beans, some fruit cups, and granola bars. It was not much to select from, and nothing that sounded appetizing together. He dumped the beans into the metal bowl of a mess kit he used for camping excursions when he was a child.

“We are very much alike, you and me.” Freyand kneeled by the fire, hands extended. “We have been endowed with certain powers. There is no shame in this. We also have no reason to fear our dreams. I can show you how to use them in ways you can’t even imagine.”

Despite himself, Ask said, “How?”

Roused perhaps by the scent of beans warming on the fire, Deonte asked between yawns, “What’s for breakfast.” Ask hadn’t seen him get up and started from his sudden appearance at his side. “Beans? For breakfast? Seriously?”

“Well, what did you bring?” Ask challenged.

Deonte sighed. “Nothing.”

“In that case, it’s beans for breakfast.”

“Beans are good protein.” Orla was evidently awake as well.

Babe bleated, “I don’t like beans.” He looked at Freyand hopefully.

She smirked. “Very well, goat.” She momentarily allowed Idun to surface, so Idun could produce apples for everyone—three for Babe.

While she did this, Idun whispered to Ask, “Take the spear.”

Ask moved the spear out of Freyand’s reach with his right foot. He looked at Deonte. He made as if to flip the spear to the back of the cave, where Deonte already waited to catch it, but the spear did not move. Freyand had regained control of Idun’s body. “While I appreciate the subterfuge, do I have to remind you that the spear is loyal to me? Pray tell, what were you trying to do?”

Orla chimed in, “Test your vulnerabilities. Everyone must be ready for an attack.”

“Ah, I see,” Freyand said sarcastically. “You were attempting to relieve me of the spear to help prepare me for an attack. Trust me, I am always ready for a fight.” It didn’t pass Ask’s notice that Freyand locked eyes with Orla.

Orla sneered. “Good. We may have use for you yet.”

Freyand returned the sneer. “That sentiment may not be reciprocated.”

“Look,” Ask cut through the thickening tension. He faced Freyand. “You told me we would find this goddess who can separate you from my mother this morning. Where is she?”

“Not far. Eat first, and then we’ll summon the portal to find her.”

Summon? Like the ax had summoned him? “You mean, we didn’t need to travel all this way? We could have, like, created a portal at our place?” he asked.

Freyand smirked. “No, you can’t summon portals from your wretched little farm. You must be in the right place. There are always certain places for interdimensional gates that take you to distant realms. We are close. A little farther, and we’ll open the gate, as it were.”

“You mean like Star Trek stuff, right? Space-time continuum and all that? Is she some sort of interdimensional alien or something? There was this one episode where, like, these aliens transported from another dimension to steal the life force from settlers in California in the 1800s.” Deonte had stopped scooping beans into his mouth.

Ask rolled his eyes. Didn’t Deonte tell him to stop watching science fiction?

“Star Trek? I don’t know anything about aliens,” Freyand responded dismissively. “She chose a different realm to inhabit than Earth. The veil between these realms is only thin enough to penetrate at a few places in this world.”

“Did the giants follow her there?” Ask wondered aloud.

“No. They didn’t. They didn’t see her go. In fact, I know they’d love to find her. So, I suppose we’d better get to it. Who’s for conjuring a portal?” Freyand stood. No one followed suit until Ask nodded and got up. Freyand bowed low. “Your call, my liege.”

“Come on,” he said with clear irritation. “Let’s get going.”

They broke camp quickly. Ask repacked his backpack, while Orla put out the fire with an armful of snow, and Deonte ran out for a quick view of their surroundings. He reported no giants as far as he could see, or as far as he could run for a couple of minutes in a wide circle.

Satisfied the giants hadn’t yet found them, the group, with Freyand taking point, trekked through snowy fields for about an hour. The storm was over, so the morning was sparkly white, undisturbed, even peaceful. Tree limbs bowed against the weighty accumulation. Ask kept his distance from Freyand. In fact, he lagged far back with Babe, several feet behind Orla and Deonte, who discussed the benefits and pitfalls of attacking at high speeds. Ask told himself he was glad the two were getting along, and he tried to mean it. Still, the oddly intensifying desire for Orla gnawed at his gut.

“Babe,” he whispered. “I need to get that spear away from Freyand. She’s too powerful with it. My mom can’t be in command of her faculties as long as Freyand is holding it.”

Babe nodded. “I find that patience is the surest route to success.”

At first, this advice seemed little more than a platitude, some general observation of “wisdom” tucked into a fortune cookie relevant to all and subject to broad interpretation. The more Ask thought about it, however, the more he realized that any attempt so soon after trying to relieve Freyand of the spear would likely fail. Her senses would be heightened. She would be hyper-vigilant. The situation clearer now that he thought about it, he nodded to Babe.

At the base of a shallow valley, Freyand kicked in the rickety door of an old cabin, It appeared to have been abandoned for a very long time. The slats constituting the walls were so weathered, in fact, that they exposed gaping holes through which Ask could see plainly the unimpressive interior of the dilapidated structure. Bare, cold, and uninhabitable, the cabin felt anything but homey. They all clamored into the only room in the cabin and stood precariously on sagging floorboards in front of a crumbling rock fireplace.

“Let me guess,” Deonte chimed in. “She’s not home.”

No one chuckled. Ask felt a profound coldness in this room, and not just from the gaps and holes in the walls, ceiling, and floor inviting the bitter north wind. It was something supernatural, a cold that penetrated deep into the soul. “I don’t like this place. It feels like a tomb,” he thought aloud.

“Yes,” Freyand said. “The previous owners had a giant problem that left them, well, dead.” She smiled widely. “You remember, don’t you?” she asked, attempting to pat Heim’s reluctant head, who dodged her hand as much as possible.

Ask found Freyand’s comment both absurd and perplexing. What would his dog know about old cabins long abandoned? He shook his head. As his eyes adjusted to the muted light in the mostly enclosed room, Ask noticed scuffs and nicks on wood surfaces from wall to wall. He ran a finger along a slice inches deep and wondered which of the mighty weapons he encountered months ago on the battlefield had caused it.

“In its heyday, Valhalla bore such gouges. Thor was a warrior god. You should have seen the damage Mjölnir could cause in Thor’s hands and at his mighty command,” Freyand boasted.

“Why would you think of him now, in this place where his people were murdered by his enemy? What good is it to dwell on the past? There is no Thor to avenge the dead.” Ask tensed. Anger began to swell within him.

“Of course,” Freyand clarified. “There is no Thor. There is an ax, a spear, and an insatiable hatred. Those will do. Dog!” she cried. Heim whimpered but came at her order, tail between his legs. “Time for you to perform your little trick.”

Ask stepped between Freyand and Heim. “What the hell? Lay off,” he said. “I’ve put up with your crap, but this is too much. Leave my dog alone.” Heim leaned against his leg. “Why did you bring him, and what are you going to do to him?”

Freyand smirked, rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to hurt,” she paused and then, with emphasis, said, “your pet. We can’t visit our friend Eir without him. He’s the key.”

“Eir?” Orla stepped forward. “The healer?”

“Who else could solve my,” Freyand looked at Ask and then adjusted her response, “our problem?”

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Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 20.1.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kinder- / Jugendbuch
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-8434-4 / 1667884344
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-8434-9 / 9781667884349