Likewise, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of getting any closer to those slabs of rock, because the entire rest of the space beneath the overhang was filled with seething, half-seen movement. Rounded boulders of dark, coppery bronze surrounded Loki on three sides, hellishly lit by the glowing rock of the overhang. Covering those boulders-swarming on and around them by the tens of thousands-were vipers. Big ones. Little ones. Colored like the rainbow and writhing in a solid mass toward the chained god. All of them hissed and dripped venom.

Onto Loki.

And if I went in there . . .

A huge head reared above the tangled mass of snakes-and my mouth went dry as dusty kitty litter. The "boulders" weren't rock at all. They were the coils of the biggest, scaliest snake I had ever had the misfortune to encounter. It leaned over Loki and spat. Drops of venom the size of basketballs splashed across him and splattered over the ground.

He screamed. The ground heaved. My horse's groans were drowned by the roar coming from Loki's rocky prison. The horse stumbled sideways, and I came loose. The ground was a long way down; but I kept my grip on the reins, even when I couldn't get my breath, or see anything but stars. My nag-bucking and rearing-all but dislocated my shoulder. When the ground tremors finally died away, I found my horse sprawled beside me. It didn't look like either one of us was interested in getting up.

Did I say gettingup ? Hell-I ought to be gettingout . Except I didn't exactlyremember the way out. . . . And I still had this little problem with Odin. . . .

I had to talk to Loki. No way around it.

I finally crawled back to my feet and risked another quick peek. A woman had stooped over the chained god. She held a large bowl in trembling hands. I couldn't remember her name; but I knew she was Loki's wife. She, too, had once been beautiful. You could almost see it shining through the wreck of her face. Now her whole universe was the bowl she held, trying unsuccessfully to catch all the drops of venom before they could splash onto her husband.

As I watched, a slow rage began to simmer through me. What was she doing here? No man was worth this. But then, I was a twentieth-century man and she was not a twentieth-century woman. Viking goddesses had been models of archaic honor, sacrificing themselves for family whenever sacrifices were called for. Nanna had voluntarily died to join Baldr in Niflheim, and Loki's wife had willingly gone into exile with her wretch of a husband. Some of the assholes I'd known over the years would have cheered.

I wanted to throw up.

Having nearly convinced myself of my moral superiority, and argued almost convincingly that now was better than never, I girded my metaphorical armor. I wished intensely for a sword and magic helmet like Elmer Fudd's, and hoped my rifle and Gary's knife proved as effective. If all else failed, Loki did present the classic sitting target. And if things got nasty, I might find out the hard way if a living god could be killed. I mounted with far more confidence than I had any right to feel, and rode boldly out into the open.

Nothing happened.

Loki continued moaning, and Mrs. Loki continued stooping, and the snakes continued spitting at them both. So much for moral superiority. At least the really big snake seemed to have lost interest for a while. Or maybe it was just recharging its venom supply for another blast. Be that as it may . . .

"Uh-hello?"

Stupid, stupid . . .Several thousand heads swiveled to stare at us, and my horse caught sight and scent ofsnake . He screamed louder than I'd ever heard before, and abruptly I had no time to evaluate the startled glance Loki and his wife shot in my direction. I nearly came unseated several times, but even a dead horse can be handled if you're forceful enough. By the time I'd gotten my mount under control again, Loki had lifted his burned, scarred face. He watched through mad eyes. My breath rasped in my ears, loud as a freight train as I recovered from wrestling the stallion.

"Well." His voice was a ragged croak. He probably hadn't said a word in a thousand years, and screaming is hard on the throat. "It would seem, my dear, that we have a visitor."

His wife glanced distractedly my way again, then returned to her task. When I looked back at Loki, I nearly fell from my horse. He had transformed. . . . Rather than a scarred wreck, the god bound to the rocks now appeared to be a robustly handsome young man. Wavy black hair fell across smooth fair skin, and twinkling dark eyes seemed to suggest that his chains were a mere inconvenience. No sign of the hideous damage remained.

I swallowed hard. Baldr had warned me Loki was tricky. If I hadn't seen him from hiding, I would never have guessed his true appearance. I watched narrowly for the least sign of treachery. What was it Gary had told me about bargaining? Sweat froze under my shirt and inside my boots.

Loki smiled, all pleasantries and curiosity. "Now what would a plucky young mortal like you be doing seeking out an old wreck like me?" Even his ravaged voice had smoothed into a mellow tenor. "I'll wager it's been two thousand years since anyone came my way. -No, no, I take that back. What was his name, Sigyn, that delightful fellow who came around for a chat, oh, four decades or so back? Higre?

No . . . Hister? Eh, what was that, my dear?"

She whispered something too low for me to hear.

"-Oh, yes,Hitler . Yes, that was his name. Entertained me for days. Bright chap. Too bad he killed himself, though. Seems the talented ones always do. Had some good ideas; but he wasn't ruthless enough. Killer instinct is so important in his line of work. I must say, though, I really am impressed with you, young fellow. However did you manage to get here alive, of all things?"

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. It wasn't that I wasscared -although I was, down to my socks-I just didn't know what to say. Loki found me more impressive than Hitler? I narrowed my eyes, and shut my lips. Tricky wasn't the word. It wasn't even close.Let him talk? Or say my piece and get the hell out of here? Not even the Sly Biter had any useful suggestions.

My inclination was to let him talk. Flattery is generally more productive than petulance.

"It wasn't easy," I answered him truthfully.

"Didn't quite catch that, son. Could you come a little closer? I'm afraid I'm going a little deaf in that ear. Old age is dreadful."

I kneed my horse one step closer-but no more.

He smiled genially up at me. "Now, then, what was your name? I don't believe you said."

"Barnes."

"Barnes," Loki echoed flatly. "That's it? Nothing else? Odd names they're giving humans these days. Well, Barnes, what was so important, you had to ride all the way to Niflhel?"

I forced myself to sit back in the saddle, and relax my death grip on the reins. "I'm looking for Sleipnir. Have you seen him?"

"Sleipnir?" Loki broke into laughter, which startled me considerably. He let his head fall back while he wheezed. Only then did I notice something dark spattered on his chest and belly.

"Have . . . I seen . . . " He finally managed to control his hilarity, although tears seeped from the corners of his eyes, and froze on contact with the stone slab. "Oh, yes, I've seen my bastard son, my friend. He left his calling card, as you can see." One hand waggled fractionally in the direction of his bespattered chest. "I never did understand where I went wrong with that youngster. Turned myself into a mare-afemale , mind you, which is not as easy as it sounds, let me tell you that-just so the ungrateful little wretch could get himself born, and what did he do to thank me?""Ran away from home?" I suggested.

Loki sighed, and nodded. "Got himself into bad company, then didn't have the good sense to bite the hand that fed him. I suppose I was just too preoccupied with other matters to take him properly in hand. Pity; he'd have been such an asset." Loki shook his head mournfully, looking very much the part of a bereaved father. Then he spoiled the effect. "Not that Sleipnir'll be much help when Fenrir gets hold of Odin. I do look forward to that."

The Father of Monsters chuckled, clearly relishing the moment when his other son gobbled Odin alive. Not that I objected to Odin's demise. I just didn't want the aftermath of Loki's revenge destroying my world.

"So, tell me, lad, what is it you want with my eight-legged freak of a son?"

"I plan to-"

"Speak up, son; I can hardly hear you. Damned snakes hissing so loud I can't hear myself piss anymore. Come closer-I don't bite, you know. I can't even move." He shrugged his shoulders in apparent resignation, which I didn't buy for a second. His eyes glittered with malice, and with hope.

I eyed him darkly, and kneed my horse one small step closer.

"I plan to catch Sleipnir."

Loki's eyes went round. "Catch him? Wel-l-l-l now, that's an interesting bit of strategy, isn't it?

Where were you planning to go with him? Must be Asgard itself-only place you really couldn't get without his help."

Loki was smart, all right.

"The thought had crossed my mind," I allowed cautiously.

Loki grinned. "Has it, now? And what would you be wanting in Asgard, little friend?"

I wasn't little, and I wasn't his friend, and I wasn't about to answer him straight out, not until he'd given me something in return.

"We've got a saying on Earth these days," I said with a tight smile, "that seems appropriate."

He lifted one brow. "Oh?"

"You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

His lips went slack with shock. "Audacious little maggot, aren't you?"

I grinned. "Hel and Baldr thought so, too. So'd Skuld."

Loki blinked; then narrowed his eyes, and gave me a chilling smile. "Youhave made quite a little journey, haven't you? Hel and Skuld both, eh?" He dismissed Baldr without comment. "Catch Sleipnir.

Well, now." He seemed lost in thought for a moment; then grinned quite suddenly. He looked like a mischievous schoolboy. "I suppose I might be able to give you a pointer or two. Of course, you'd have to make it worth my while. You scratch first, eh?"

I held his gaze, but refused to be stampeded into offering anything. If Loki wanted to name a price, let him. I could always try for Sleipnir without his help. It was obvious the horse visited here occasionally.

Loki studied my silent form. Then his voice came again, a silky whisper of approval. "Very good. I begin to see why you have made it this far." He cleared his throat, and got down to the serious business of bargaining. "Now, what kind of price would I be wanting, you're asking yourself. There is the obvious, of course."

I waited, affecting the posture of a stone gargoyle.

"I could really use a bath."

"Awhat ?"

I was nearly as startled as I'd been when Baldr first spoke to me from the bank of the Gjoll.

"A bath, man. A bath. You do know what a bath is?" he added dubiously, staring at my filthy, mended clothes. "Do you have the slightest idea how many centuries it's been since I was clean?"

I thought about the effect of freezing water expanding inside the links of that chain, and shook my head."I'm afraid not. Even if I could find any, water'd freeze solid before I could get it here." It was a small lie, since I could probably have managed to douse him before it solidified; but it was a good excuse.

"Ah, well, I suppose it might, at that." His eyes glinted. I hadn't fooled him for an instant. "You might give me a shirt to keep off the worst of the chill."

"I might. But I couldn't get it onto you under those tight chains, could I?"

"No, I don't imagine you could. Pesky things, really. I should've broken them long ago; I just didn't bother. I don't suppose you could sort of shift them a little, scratch under them and maybe let me ease a few muscle cramps?"

The chains around his shoulders wouldn't move any farther down across the broad expanse of his chest, and to move them toward his head would've given him room to wriggle loose.

I shook my head. "I'd rather not come any closer to those snakes. This nag of mine is nervous enough-and if I dismount, he'll be gone before I can grab him."

Loki's eyes narrowed savagely. "Well, now, it's an uncooperative sort you are, isn't it?"

Sigyn turned to dump her bowl. Venom splashed onto his nose, burning a bloody path across his cheek. The illusion of youthful beauty vanished abruptly. His scarred face and body were even more repulsive by contrast. Loki shrieked. The ground heaved. How my horse kept his feet was beyond me.

At least the last time venom had hit Loki, I'd still been safely hidden. What had Baldr said about wild mood swings?

"Get out! Get out!" echoed somewhere behind my eyelids.

Unfortunately, Loki chose that moment to raise his head. He didn't even bother to project the illusion of health this time.

"All right, mortal"-his voice was again a harsh rasp-"you don't seem to want any of my bargains.

Strike one of your own, if you want my help. I do not think you have much hope of succeeding without it."

Hel was every inch her father's daughter-and something told me that Loki was a thousand times more dangerous than Death.

I considered my very few options, and settled on, "Help me trap Sleipnir, and I'll kill your worst enemy."

"Odin?" he gasped. His laughter shrieked nearly as loudly as his screams had. It bounced off the overhang and set the vipers to agitated motion. Venom poured onto him. Loki's screams and struggles threw my horse into blind panic. I had my hands full trying to stay on his back while he slipped and slid on uneven, icy ground.

By the time he stood quietly-blowing and sweating and trembling-Loki's laughter had subsided.

I took as a bad sign the withering glare he turned in my direction.

"And what good is that bastard's death if I'm not there to relish it? Damn you to an icy tomb, mortal, if you think I'll give up one precious second of that revenge. I'll see him torn to shreds before my eyes if it's the last thing I do while still breathing!"

My brain demanded immediate retreat from this worse-than-hellish place. I held my ground stubbornly. I was determined to get as much information out of Loki as possible before abandoning my initial plan. So maybe lack of adequate food and sleep had made me terminally stupid.

"I'll tell you what good it is," I countered. "With Odin dead,before Ragnarok , who's to say you'd have to die, either? Seems to me a chance at freedom and revenge-with the sure knowledge you don't have to die to get it-beats lying there on that slab of rock, cursing till your voice bleeds."

Loki's wild eyes reflected shock. "You really believe you can kill him."

I gave him a short, hard laugh. "Would I be here if I didn't?"

"You're mad. Madder than I. Stupid little man, do you think you-a groveling worm in the dust of the earth-can hope to succeed where I, the great Loki, failed? Have you any brain at all in thatshriveled, shrinking body of yours? Without my help, you and your pitiful kind would be animals rutting in the dust, grubbing for maggots! Having created you, given you brains, must I think for you as well?

Can you even piss on yourself without help?"

"What, name calling? Point for point, Loki, I'm already doing one helluva lot better than you did.

I'm not the one chained to a rock."

"SILENCE!" Loki was literally frothing at the mouth. "When I am free, your puny race will be squashed like the dung beetles they are! Why that one-eyed fool gave Midgard to the likes ofyou. . ."

He spat out the final word, and seemed almost to choke on it, he was so overcome with rage.

I forced a feral grin. "I'd say we earned it. I've made my counteroffer, Loki. Give me Sleipnir, I'll give you Odin, on a platter. What about it?"

He said nothing at all. His eyes were mere slits of darkness. When he spoke again, his voice was cold.

"Go to the dwarves for Ur metal, fool. Get chains of it. Nothing else will hold my traitorous offspring. Trade them silver, or daughters if you have them. Then take yourself from my sight and wait for Sleipnir to return." A wheeze of mirth broke from him again. "If you can outlive the wait! There's no living food in Niflhel. None but your own flesh. How hungry will you get?"

I laughed. "No living food? Broiled snake's a real delicacy. Didn't you know?"

"Snake?" Loki's eyes had shot wide again. "You would-?"

"Hell, yes, I'd eat snake. It doesn't taste half bad. Okay, I go find some dwarves, and wrangle a few yards of Urd-metal chain from them, then wait for Sleipnir. Great plan. There's only one flaw."

A look of insane rage was creeping into his eyes.

"Care to point out the direction to the nearest dwarves?"

Venom seared his left leg. A howl broke from Loki's lips. It took the form of a single word: "Die!"

I groped blindly for the rifle; but nothing happened. That didn't matter. I yanked the Armalite clear, anyway, and reached for the release on the pack straps, thinking to ditch the bulky nuisance- I stopped . . . and stared.

Sigyn had gone rigid. She glanced at her belly. I did too. Both of us stared. She was pregnant. And growing rounder by the second. Her tattered shift split and fell from scarred shoulders, revealing breasts that once had been smooth and round as honeydews. A contraction rippled visibly across her swollen belly. Then she fell to the ground, giving birth right there amidst screams of pain and falling venom.