“I would like to speak to Hecat,” said a voice from the air. “Please step forward.”

Hecat drew his long coat around as he stood up. It had been a long time since he had been summoned to the Mountain. He wondered what the new gods needed with an old fossil like him.

It was probably some kind of dirty job they couldn't risk anyone else knowing was being done.

That meant it was being done against the Asgar, the Tuath, or possibly the Eastern Cosmology. He should turn it down before he was presented with the details. The less he knew, the better it would be for him.

“Step into my office,” said the voice. A door in the wall slid open to show a wide open plain with storm clouds roiling through the sky. Hecat wondered how he could retreat out of the anteroom with his dignity intact. “I don't have all day, Hecat. We need to talk and I have to delegate some other things that need to be taken care of by others.”

Hecat squared his shoulders and marched into the office. He didn't like the floor being clouds, no visible walls, and the lightning dancing above. He didn't like the smile on Zus's face. He didn't like anything he saw, and he definitely didn't want to be there after seeing the smile on the King of the Sky's face.

It meant trouble, and trouble was the last thing he wanted.

“Hello, Hecat,” said Zus. He waved a hand. A chair of fog lifted out of the floor. “I have a task that I need you to do.”

“I'm retired,” said Hecat. He ignored the chair and the sudden rain falling on his head. “One of the younger goddesses has my job now.”

“You know no one retires from our life,” said Zus. “That's for mortals, not for us.”

“I beg to differ,” said Hecat. “Now that I have answered your summons, I'm going home.”

“Sit,” said Zus. “Listen to my command.”

Hecat was a few years older and seen some things. One of those things was a thunderbolt from Zus turning an array of lesser divinities to dust. He decided that maybe he could listen for a bit before he made his excuses and left.

He settled into the chair and wrapped himself in his gray-black coat so that it formed a cocoon around him. His dark eyes settled into his gray flesh as he watched the other god lean back from his desk.

“Now that I have your attention,” said Zus. He wrapped his fingers in a double fist in front of his chest, massive arms supported by the arms of his chair. “This is what I can tell you so you can do your task.”

Hecat rubbed his temple with his fingers. He couldn't get out of this now. He was being expressly ordered to carry out the task. If he shirked the job, someone would come looking for him. He could run across the many worlds touched by the Mountain, but someone would bring him back for punishment eventually.

Zus didn't forget a slight ever.

“The Jotun and the Asgar have two of the three keys of creation between them,” said Zus. “Now they don't. One of those keys has surfaced. I want you to get it for us.”

“You're joking,” said Hecat. He felt the beginning of a headache coming on. “How would I do that?”

“I don't know,” said Zus. “That's the part I'm leaving to you.”

“What can you tell me?,” said Hecat. As the King of the Sky, Zus knew a lot of things that were moving above ground. His brother and sister were the same in their domains.

“One of the Asgar soldiers deserted,” said Zus. “When he did, the Asgar found their key was missing. In the Jotun realm, someone cracked open their treasure vault and took their key. The word has gone out the deserter took both keys and is looking for the third.”

“But that's not what happened, is it?,” asked Hecat. He pushed down the throbbing in his temple vein as he waited for the other shoe to drop.

“I don't know exactly where the Asgar key is, but the Jotun key is on one of the Earths,” said Zus. “Someone is using it to hold intersections open when the realms slide against each other.”

“That's the key you want me to steal?,” asked Hecat.

“Yes,” said Zus. His broad face crinkled as he smiled. “I don't have to tell you the danger of intersections not being able to close.”

“Is that what I am looking at here?,” asked Hecat. “Are we talking about a breakdown in the clock?”

“It depends on how far this spreads,” said Zus. “In any case, I'm want you to put a stop to this as soon as possible and get me the key. The Jotun will have to get another key from someone else.”

“What about the deserter?,” asked Hecat.

“He's not anywhere close to this,” said Zus. “That might change if the intersections keep spreading.”

“Have you looked at the place where the key is?,” asked Hecat.

“Yes,” said Zus. He waved a hand. A picture of a dilapidated house formed from the air. “It's sitting on a regular meeting spot. This is where the key is. The defenses seem meager, but that doesn't mean anything if the keyholder can open doors anywhere they want.”

Hecat examined the floating model. He had no doubt it was accurate. He had no idea how he was supposed to storm it, find the key, and deal with the Jotun who could be a major threat in his own right.

“Why not hand this to Mes?,” asked Hecat. Zus's grandson was rumored to be the best thief anywhere, and fast as his grandfather's lightning.

“Everyone knows you're out of the game,” said Zus. “If Mes took the key, there would be no doubt that he took it for the Mountain. We would be looking at a war with both the Jotun and the Asgar. We could take one, or the other, but not both at the same time.”

“They'll still think you're involved if I'm involved,” said Hecat. Of course Zus would think he was expendable and denialable for something like this.

“But they won't be able to prove you took it for me, or the Old Ones, unless you tell them,” said Zus. “I would suggest you not do that.”

Hecat knew he should have bolted from this meeting. Now that he knew what was going on, he had been forced to the table and had to do something to keep from getting chewed to pieces.

And if the Asgar and Jotun caught him poking into this, the least he could expect is agents from both sides trying to kill him for the key.

“I'm not promising anything,” said Hecat. He stood and let his coat drop out of the wrapping. “I'll go down there and see if I can get some way inside. If I can't, you'll have to rely on Mes to do the job.”

“I suppose that is fair,” said Zus. “Find something useful for us to exploit at least. It would be a great pleasure to take one of the keys from those blowhards.”

“Why do you think the Asgar deserted?,” Hecat asked.

“I don't know,” said Zus. “I doubt he took their key with him. It has the feel of an inside job, just like the Jotun. Both sides are going to blame him, and if he is caught, I doubt he will get a merciful death out of it.”

“No intercession for him?,” asked Hecat.

“Not my priority, Hecat,” said Zus.

“I understand that,” said Hecat. “I'll send a message when I have something to tell you.”

“That would be appreciated,” said Zus. He waved his hand. A door opened to take Hecat back to the anteroom.

Hecat took one last look at the King of Sky's light blue profile already turning to some other task before he stepped out of the office. He crossed the anteroom, pulling his coat around him as he considered the image of the house he had been shown. There had to be a way inside the place.

He was in a lot of trouble if he couldn't get the job done.

Hecat wondered if he could get some mortals to probe the defenses. They would have to be extraordinary if he wanted to pit them against a Jotun's puppet. And he had no doubt the Jotun had picked someone who could use the key to its fullest extent.

He didn't know anybody capable of taking on someone that capable.

Hecat reached into the air around the Mountain and pulled himself into the border separating the home of the gods from the rest of the world tree. He pulled again and slid out of a crack close to the house he was supposed to invade.

He sheltered in his coat as he walked the sidewalks of the residential area that had grown up around his target. The fact that it was a lynchpin might have forced people to turn away.

Intersections opening around it would have attracted a reputation for being haunted among any neighbors who had seen anything strange.

He doubted he would get a straight answer if he asked anyone what they thought of the old place.

Hecat turned on his mental power to look at the aether around the house. There had to be something he could use to get inside.

He frowned at the image of a key channeling a whirlwind. He also saw a human impersonator floating around. The Jotun had given the key to something they might not be able to take it back.

He shut down the imaging before he attracted attention. At least he had confirmed the key was on site and being used for something. That much of Zus's story was true. A renegade Jotun could also be true. He didn't have confirmation on locked open intersections, but the doubt was less than he wanted to admit to himself.

What was his next move?

He needed someone capable of knocking the door open for him. He could use that as a distraction to get the key. After that, he should figure out what to do with it other than giving it to Zus.

The King of the Sky might decide having a key in hand would let him push the Asgar and Jotun from their limbs of the tree. He didn't think that was a good idea.

It was better to have them there where they couldn't do anything but watch the other and assure both the Mountain would side with either one of them if there was a war.

Hecat moved away from the house as he considered his options. He needed help if he wanted to crack that place open. He couldn't ask any of his fellow gods for help. The more involved, the more likely things would be exposed. He didn't want to think what would happen if Zus started getting complaints about his people interfering with someone else's pantheon.

A thunderbolt from a clear sky was the least painful way he envisioned going if things went south on him.

He walked down the street until he couldn't feel the waves revolving around the house. He supposed he was still in detection range, but he couldn't walk to his home. He needed to slide through and hope that his two moves had not been enough to expose the Mountain's interest in things.

His actual look at the place seemed to be more dangerous than moving in and out of the plane. The Jotun's aide probably knew everything about sensory abilities and how to detect them in operation.

On the other hand, if he could detect the movements across dimensions, an exiting move might put him off his guard.

Hecat wouldn't know if the puppet was ready until his pawns made their move. Then they either opened a door for him, or he lost and Zus had to use Mes to get things done whether he liked it, or not.

And he wasn't convinced that he was as denialable as Zus seemed to think. Someone would make the connection unless one of the Old Ones escaped their prison in the bowels of the Mountain and showed up with the key.

Open war would be declared after that.

Every pantheon remembered the Old Ones. The memories were not pleasant.

Hecat shifted slightly sideways to the next Earth as he walked. He reached into the aether and pulled himself home.