“What,” Soren said, “in the entirety of the nine worlds was that?” He sounded like he’d run a mile, breathless from the fear the creature put in him. I couldn’t blame him. Now that it was gone my heart sped up faster than a storm, and I began to feel faint as I gasped for the breath I’d been holding.

Seppo leaned against Rosamund, who was softly petting his hair and whispering soothing words to the shaking halfling. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and he shook his head. “Nidhogg,” he muttered. “Nidhogg.”

“What?” Soren and I asked at the same time.

Diaval rolled her eyes. “You two really need to brush up on your cosmology if you’re going to be the Erlking and the stag successfully. Nidhogg is the serpent that helps chew at the roots of Yggdrasil, and it eats the bodies of the unworthy dead on the shore of corpses.” She scanned the corpse-dotted beach. “It’ll be back. We’re not dead, so it’s not going to attack or eat us, unless we take away one of its treasures.”

I had a sinking feeling in my gut.

“Why do I feel like we’re about to fight the giant, people-eating snake?” Seppo said.

“Because,” Soren huffed, “if we want to free my uncle from this—arguably suitable for him—afterlife, we’re going to need to fight the giant, people-eating snake.”

16

THE CORPSE EATER

THERE WAS A collective groan from everyone in the group. Muscles were still sore and aching, and a few of us favored certain parts of our bodies over others since the fight with Garm. Nobody wanted to get into another battle so soon.

“Maybe if he doesn’t notice us freeing Lydian, he won’t attack us,” I offered, trying to sound optimistic.

“When has our luck ever been that good, though?” Soren asked.

“Just trying to be positive,” I said.

“Well,” Diaval said, “we need to find the ass first. That could take a while.” She motioned to the hundreds of writhing bodies that were chained upon the rocks and pinned down with stakes in the sand.

Rose squinted at the open sands. “We’ll never get it all done in one group. We need to split up.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Rose is right,” Diaval said. “But just in case, Rose, go with Seppo, and Janneke, go with Soren. Pairs are safer than being on your own.”

Seppo raised an eyebrow at Diaval. “And who will you be going with?”

The she-goblin quirked a crooked smile. “Me, myself, and I. Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”