Hunted (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Six)

they would be valuable allies.”
    Fjalar growled and yanked off his helmet with his left hand. His chin was still bald and his hair in braids, in accordance with his culture’s mourning practices. He stepped up to me. “Are you such a good judge of character now? You who sent Loki Fire Hands to Nidavellir to kill thousands of my Shield Brothers?”
    “I didn’t send him there to kill anyone. He did that without my urging and you know it. But what does Odin say about this plan to invade Svartálfheim?”
    “Did he not tell you to wait for our arrival? Did he not send us here on the Bifrost Bridge? Is that not Bifrost, even now, waiting to take us back to Asgard?” he said, pointing behind me. The rainbow bridge shimmered in the late-afternoon sun. “What am I doing, arguing with a nude man?” he groused, stalking past me and attempting to stalk on the rainbow too, except that it wasn’t the sort of surface that allowed stalking. The Glass Knights turned and followed, denying me any more time to discuss the matter. I frowned after them, because it was a disturbing development. I wasn’t a particular fan of dark elves, but that was only because I hadn’t met any nice ones yet. From what ManannanMac Lir had told me, some of the Svartálfar had nobility in their nature. They tended to be the ones who didn’t take mercenary contracts.
    “Odin, are you on board with this?” I shouted. The bridge retracted without an answer, though I hardly expected one.
    
    Interesting. Where are they?
    
    Thanks. Tell Granuaile she can fire at will
.
    I turned around and raised Fragarach in time to see three dark elves with scimitars loping my way, wearing grim expressions and nothing else. I winced when one of Granuaile’s knives sank into the groin of the leader and he went down screaming and clutching the ruins of his junk.
    I’m going to have nightmares
.
    
    The remaining two Svartálfar whiffed into the air, anticipating more knives from an invisible assailant, but Granuaile stayed her hand. Their steel dropped to the ground and I pursued one of the clouds, swishing Fragarach through it, thinking I would catch him as he turned solid. I missed high. Sensing what I was up to, his substance dropped to the ground and he solidified, where he promptly swept my legs and blocked the wild swing I made, with his forearm staying my wrist. His right hand poked me in quick sequence along pressure points across my chest and froze up my muscles—where the hell had he learned that? But then it was easy for him to pin my sword arm and wrap his other hand around my throat. His buddy came back, retrieved a scimitar, and took two steps with a mind to finish me, before a throwing knife abruptly sprouted from his chest. It didn’t kill him, butits appearance caused him to focus on prolonging his own life rather than ending mine. Oberon jumped on him and ended it—at least, that’s what I think happened, judging by the growl and the takedown. Granuaile wouldn’t have growled; she would have clocked him upside the head with her staff, which is what she did to the fellow choking me. She put a whole lot of energy behind that swing, because his head exploded like a melon and he slumped on me, leaking black blood.
    “Thanks,” I gasped. “I was just about to take care of him, but, yeah, you know. That was good.”
    Granuaile dispelled her invisibility and kicked the dark elf off me before kneeling at my side. “Did he paralyze you or something?”
    “Partially. I’m working on it.” The muscles were locked up and I had to patiently relax them, one fiber at a time.
    “That’s Far Eastern supa-sekrit martial arts, isn’t it? Where did a dark elf learn that?”
    “In the Far East, I expect, just like I learned a few things there. We don’t know how long these guys live or what access they have to instruction, but it shouldn’t be a shock to discover that they’re well trained. We’ve managed to surprise them a few times and I think these Glass Knights are something new to them as well, but they’re equally capable of surprising us.” I’d seen plenty of the dark elves get taken out in ambushes so far, but I reflected that I hadn’t done too well against them in head-to-head combat. They were extraordinarily fast and strong, and if I hadn’t had Granuaile’s help a couple of different times they