The Accidental Archmage - Book Five: Loki's Gambit Read online

  THE ACCIDENTAL ARCHMAGE

  Book Five

  LOKI'S GAMBIT

  Edmund A.M. Batara

  All Rights Reserved.

  January 2019

  First Publication

  ASIN: B07KS24WQQ

  This book is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, places, interactions, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously unless otherwise indicated. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. All Rights Reserved. 2018.

  To my family. My wife, Julette-Marie, and my daughters, Amina Francesca, Katrina Fae, and Ana Bettina -for all the support and joy you have given me.

  To my sisters - For being so supportive.

  To my readers, Kindle readers of the series and those at the website where the first drafts of this continuing story were posted - for the encouragement and constructive feedback.

  CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS

  Cover Image and Main Part Separator under license from www.123RF.com. Jeffrey Thompson. All other design elements by the author.

  Copy Editor: Annie Jenkinson at www.just-copyeditors.com

  Other Image Credits:

  Title page image, bonus chapter images, Viking engraver - Public domain. Clipart.org.

  Separator Page image - under license from www.123RF.com. Ekaterina Nikolaenko.

  Other attributions listed in the Notes and Lore by Chapter.

  English translation of The Lokasenna courtesy of http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe10.htm

  INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES

  Incidents of people disappearing in plain sight are well-known in recorded history. One of the earliest known accounts was in the 1700’s. The most recent disappearance was in 2007. Various theories have been advanced to explain these phenomena; this story is not such a theory.

  Lore notes and definitions appear at the end of the book, grouped by chapter. The notes and terms could also be accessed by a pop-up glossary. There are mythological terms and names used in the story as well as words which might not be familiar to most readers. Footnotes are not appropriate for eBook formatting and I believe footnotes are more distracting. Story immersion may also suffer if the reader is left to search by himself the meaning of the terms and names used. As some terms from the other books again appear, the definitions are repeated in the lore notes.

  The story is told from the main character's perspective. His own thoughts are italicized. His conversations with Hal, an entity introduced in Book One, as well as telepathic discussions with other characters, are italicized but with quotation marks.

  Enjoy the journey.

  The Writer.

  An Introduction to Book V

  Hello.

  We’ve now come to Book V of the series, where Loki finally gets to play. My heartfelt thanks to readers who found the journey entertaining enough to follow our protagonist as he experiences a world familiar in some respects to his own, yet so unfamiliar in many facets of its reality. Along the way, he’s found his personal beliefs challenged, his worldview changed, has wrestled with issues of conscience and guilt, and been made to adapt to survive. All this, in a magical world where man is not on top of the food chain and a visitor from Earth finds himself bereft of magic.

  The series is high or epic fantasy though I have shied away from the classic “us-good, you-evil” stereotypes so prevalent in the genre. Just because a creature is ugly or so far from human conceptions of what is normal doesn’t mean the being is evil. The fantasy world is depicted as a huge, living and breathing realm. It is based on numerous myths and legends from various cultures. Their motivations and beliefs drive characters of the story. The fantasy world itself is not pretty. Life for humans was usually nasty, brutish, and short, to quote Hobbes. But our myths and legends were never tales for children. Many were bloody, terrifying, nightmarish even, and showed man either at his best or his worst. Early stories dealt with human sacrifice and were cruel or debauched to the extreme. As with this plane of reality, the insane lust for power drove men, deities, and other beings.

  Plots and schemes abound, and one does have difficulty in differentiating between truth and lies. Often, traps of half-truths wait for the unwary.

  Thanks to you, the reader, each previous book in the series had its respective days in the sun – each was a bestseller in its own right. Book V tells of the devious schemes of the Trickster God—a colorful and core character since the beginning of the epic—his motivations, and the delightfully intricate web he had made. But as I have always maintained, the core of the story is in the journey, not the destination. The reader might realize that some chapter notes and lore have legend indicators.

  TAA stands for the name of the series, followed by the book volume. SOA refers to the book "Stories of Adar: Tales from the Abyss (Book One)." Some elements of the latter were incorporated in Books IV and V. Presenting long stories in another book and literary format enables the writer to explore the viewpoints and experiences of other characters in the epic. We do have a change in the format of the notes and definitions; they are now presented by chapter at the end of the book.

  It is up to the reader to decide whether Tyler West is a hero. In the eyes of the protagonist, he isn’t. He has his priorities and views, though a moral streak characterizes his personality, just like most of us. This depiction begs the question: what we would do if we were in his place?

  There have been observations about the main character’s reactions to his experiences in Adar, and about his unwillingness to adapt and be as hard as the world he finds himself in. The protagonist comes from a world where the moral standards are different and the general perspective of the ordinary human is vastly dissimilar to that of a native of the fantasy world.

  While the sight of a slit throat would be a normal encounter for a warrior on Adar, one doubts if the same reaction could be said for a human from this world.

  Our protagonist understandably recoils from choices and decisions running counter to what he knows as normal and acceptable.

  Add to that the previous desire of the main character to return to his world, hopefully retaining whatever ethical values he originally had, and that creates a conflicted individual unwilling to use the moral filter of Adar and—consciously or not—imposing his world’s moral standards on another reality. It is only when the protagonist finally decides to stay and finds his emotional anchor embedded in his adopted world, that the doubts, conflicts, and moral burdens disappear.

  Enjoy the journey.

  All the best,

  The Writer.

  December 2018.

  The LOKASENNA

  The Lokasenna: the poetic Edda describing the Trickster God’s encounter with his fellow deities of the Norse pantheon right after Baldr’s death.

  The eponymous tale portray Loki at his best, or perhaps his worst as some might describe it. It does end with the deity fleeing from the hall where the Norse pantheon is enjoying a feast.

  Book Six deals with the start of Loki’s mad plan for revenge. (Previous editions mentioned and showed Loki as he appeared on Adar.)

  Now free from the clutches of his poison prison and the ungentle ministrations of Skadi, his jotunn jailer, the deity does seem somewhat more unhinged than usual. I guess millennia of imprisonment would do that to him. Plus, the sight of his suffering wife Sigyn as she tries to prevent
snake venom from dripping on Loki’s face as his sentence for killing Baldr.

  From that point, the Trickster God evolves from being the lord of mischief, off on adventures with Thor and even saving his fellow deities occasionally, to the Norse god of evil. Even Hel, the ruler of their underworld, doesn't enjoy such a questionable claim to infamy. But then again, it is his unique character and obvious sense of self, fascinatingly colored by numerous slights suffered—imagined or real—which make Loki an interesting figure to many. Understatement intended.

  The Lokasenna does raise specific questions as to Loki’s guilt. The beginning of the Edda shows a Loki greatly insulted by not being invited to a feast of the Norse gods—not the reaction of one guilty of murder.

  His entrance into the feast hall is that of an outraged god demanding to be treated as an equal. The silence greeting his sudden entry only adds insult to injury. It is only when Frigg speaks, that Loki realizes the reason for the glacial treatment.

  Needless to say, the exchange of insults and innuendoes grows yet worse after that. The barrage of calumnies Loki is able to come up with for every attendee shows him at his best as a maestro of mischief and deception.

  But Odin's initial reaction to the Trickster God's presence is surprising. He bids that a chair be provided for the offensive gatecrasher and even warns about provoking Loki's tongue. These are not the words of an accuser, though, in hindsight, the enormous damage Loki does to the relationships, dignity, and reputations of his fellow deities would surely spur them to extreme actions even if Baldr weren't dead. Even Sif’s initial statements were intended to mollify Loki, a surprising reaction if the entire assembly was indeed gathered to rule on the Trickster’s fate or punishment.

  One does have to note that Loki is the master of lies and deceit in Norse mythology. His utterances in the Lokasenna are of doubtful probity, being a mixture of the liberal application of outright lies, a little bit of truth, and seasoned with the impossibility of proof—all served in a deceptively magnificent bowl made of libelous insinuations and delightful gossips.

  The text of Lokasenna is included in this book. Each chapter is prefaced by consecutive stanzas from the Edda, giving an idea of how the Trickster God of the Norse twisted and manipulated ideas and suspicions into murderous phrases worse than the sharpest battleaxe. But one should also remember the context of the story--an insulted deity out to get his pound of flesh suddenly finding himself cornered and painted as a murderer in a gathering of his peers.

  There is, however, an interesting statement in the Lokasenna. Most Nordic mythology mentions Loki as a foster brother to Odin, though the series shows the Trickster God as an adopted son of the head of the Norse pantheon. But in the Lokasenna, Ithun, more familiarly known as Idunn of the Apples, refer to Loki as Odin’s wish-son. It’s something to think about.

  More importantly, this book is about Loki, though it is also worth mentioning that for every big fish, as the overused adage goes, there’s always a bigger one.

  Map of Eastern Adar

  Jorund’s Old Map of Skaney

  The LOKASENNA

  Ægir, who was also called Gymir, had prepared ale for the gods, after he had got the mighty kettle, as now has been told. To this feast came Othin and Frigg, his wife. Thor came not, as he was on a journey in the East. Sif, Thor's wife, was there, and Brag, with Ithun, his wife. Tyr, who had but one hand, was there; the wolf Fenrir had bitten off his other hand when they had bound him. There were Njorth and Skathi his wife, Freyr and Freyja, and Vithar, the son of Othin. Loki was there, and Freyr's servants Byggvir and Beyla. Many were there of the gods and elves.

  Ægir had two serving-men, Fimafeng and Eldir. Glittering gold they had in place of firelight; the ale came in of itself; and great was the peace. The guests praised much the ability of Ægir's serving-men. Loki might not endure that, and he slew Fimafeng. Then the gods shook their shields and howled at Loki and drove him away to the forest, and thereafter set to drinking again. Loki turned back, and outside he met Eldir. Loki spoke to him:

  1. "Speak now, Eldir, | for not one step

  Farther shalt thou fare;

  What ale-talk here | do they have within,

  The sons of the glorious gods?"

  Eldir spake:

  2. "Of their weapons they talk, | and their might in war,

  The sons of the glorious gods;

  From the gods and elves | who are gathered here

  No friend in words shalt thou find."

  Prologue

  Spiderwebs

  The disgusting slurping sounds continued from inside the room. Loki shook his head and walked several feet from the receiving area of the cavern, toward the entrance.

  Finding he could still hear the repulsive feeding, he went out of the cave into the inner chambers of the temple. He gave a cursory look at the two guards minding the door. Armed with long spears, only the upper torso and the head were clad in red plate armor, the lower part of the body being in bulbous spider form. The soldiers were perfectly still, their full faceplates thankfully preventing a look at their facial features.

  Good. I would hate to look at spider faces this close. Spiders. Uuggh. I had my fill of them coming here, thought the deity.

  As soon as the large stone double doors closed, Loki found he couldn’t hear the revolting sucking noises anymore. The deity looked around the large room and saw the walls were filled with carvings. Looking closer, he found they unexpectedly portrayed stories. Ordinary stories. Mortal ones. The trickster god had assumed these etchings to be of a dark and forbidding theme—but he was mistaken, to his irritation.

  The deity hated being wrong. Loki had not been in this part of the great temple. Meetings with the owner were usually held outside in the forest or on the tops of mountain peaks. But this time, he had brought a promised present and wanted to discuss matters of significant import.

  The stone space also clearly served as a special receiving area of sorts. Stone benches were present, though one, in the middle of the room, had hand and foot manacles. He looked up and saw several magelights, giving the chamber unrivaled illumination.

  Nice. Though the décor appears to lean toward the primitive style. Too bare for my taste, thought Loki as his eyes roved over the entire chamber, examining the place as was his wont, for weaknesses, traps, and wards. The deity continued around the space, the sound of his boots disturbing the eerie silence of the room.

  He was already seated on one of the benches, thinking about his next destination when the massive stone doors were suddenly flung open.

  “Ah, Loki. That was exquisite! Such an evil man! Punishing him would be a great pleasure!” exclaimed the newcomer.

  The Norse deity stood up and smiled.

  “I do keep my promises, Anansi. Evil won’t begin to describe that mortal. How long will he last?” he asked.

  “Two years, if I am greedy. Five years, if the punishment warrants it.”

  “Do make it five. That human deserves it,” replied Loki.

  “Then five years it will be,” said Anansi as he sat beside Loki. The being then waved his hand.

  “There! We’re all by ourselves now. No unwelcome ears or spying minds,” said Anansi. “Though it’s the first time you’ve come here. I guess you’ve got important matters to discuss?”

  “Could be. I am nearing the end of my preparations. I thought you would like to know.”

  “Informing me in person? That’s thoughtful of you, my friend.”

  “I admit I am still wrapping up several loose ends. I did manage to get the First Mage to promise not to act against me. It was a stretch considering he had a powerful deity giving him advice, but it’s done,” said Loki.

  “Strange times indeed, Loki. A mortal as a First Mage. Those Aztecah acting up. An undead plague in the north. Was that your doing?” queried Anansi.

  “I wish it was, Anansi. But no. The magic to do that is one even exceeding the power of the head of a pantheon. Even Hela has her hands full. I
guess Hades is also hard-pressed. That removes some of the major players from the list of suspects. That’s an unknown factor I am worried about. We don’t know the who and why of such an event. But I will find out. Hopefully, before we start our little drama.”

  “Good. I am tired of being a runner for those big mouths. All these millennia and not a whiff of deitihood,” commented Anansi in a voice marked with righteous indignation “All I get for the hard work is ‘good job, Anansi,’ or ‘here’s another task for you, Anansi.’ Makes you puke or want to shove the goodness up their collective asses.”

  Loki laughed. After a few seconds, Anansi joined him.

  “So, you want me to get my people ready?” Anansi asked after the laughter subsided. “You do have to arrange matters with the others in this part of Adar. I could barely tolerate some of them. Others, I wouldn’t be caught dead in their presence.”

  “I’ll take care of that, my friend. Just ready your delightful Onini, the marvelous Osebo, and the wonderful Mboro. I know you also have a huge menagerie of pets. Though I might have a job for your sasabonsam.”

  “The ogre or the vampire kind?” asked Anansi.

  “Both, I think.”

  Loki spake:

  3. "In shall I go | into Ægir's hall,

  For the feast I fain would see;

  Bale and hatred | I bring to the gods,

  And their mead with venom I mix."

  Eldir spake:

  4. "If in thou goest | to Ægir's hall,

  And fain the feast wouldst see,

  And with slander and spite | wouldst sprinkle the gods,

  Think well lest they wipe it on thee."

  Loki spake: