And now it’s too late.

I wipe my eyes and see the draugr nearly upon me.

Clenching my fists, I turn on the Norns. ‘You control fate. You can change this!’

The old woman ignores me and walks towards the tree.

‘Please! There has to be something you can do!’

The Norns step close together, ready to merge back into one. Dread creeps through me. The draugr is moments away. They’re going to leave me to die.

I grab the charm around my neck, then take a deep breath and find the power inside me. My words are a savage, primal scream, ‘I am a daughter of Odin! I command you to help me!’ I stamp on a root and the ground trembles as branches shudder above. If it would bring Stig back, I would take an axe to the trunk. I would set it on fire and watch it burn.

The youngest Norn regards me coolly, a trace of admiration in her gaze. ‘Only Hel, Queen of the Underworld, can give back a life.’

‘Then take me to Hel!’

The beautiful Norn tilts her head. ‘Few have made the journey, and fewer still have returned. You understand what you are asking?’

I nod, afraid but determined not to show it. The two other Norns step into her shadow and they become one.

‘Very well.’ She grabs my wrist and ice shoots into my veins. I stare at my arm as the coldness creeps into me. I try to pull away, but I can’t. I drop to my knees, and a tree root slithers over my calf and tightens around my thigh. I watch it like it’s happening to someone else. Twisting my body, I try to sit up, strain to pull free. The root drags me across the snowy ground and I wince as the back of my head bumps and grazes over gnarled roots.

And then I’m lying among rotting leaves in the dank, stinking chamber of the tree. I’ve been here before, in another dream. I need to wake up. I need to wake …

Dirt patters onto my face and into my mouth. Earth covers my eyes. I spit out soil and scream, but it’s too late. I’m being swallowed into the black hole of my nightmares.

22

My hands grasp empty air as I fall into darkness. Roots prod at my stomach, yank at my hair. They scratch at my face and tear at my clothes. Forcing me down, swallowing me whole. Above me, gnarled arms twist and turn, until the world becomes a tiny circle of light.

Thud.

I land heavily and pain shoots through my hands and knees. Panting hard, I reach out to feel a wall of compressed soil. I grope in front of me, to the sides, behind, then look upwards. The walls are smooth: no roots to haul myself up, no foothold to climb.