Norse Code

by S. E. Babin

  "This is the man you are bound too, Freya. Not the one he shows to the Asgardians. He is good. And just. Though he does like to pull one over on people who might not understand him. You've never looked hard enough."

  "Why?" I asked her.

  "There is no why or why not," she said simply. "Sometimes it just is."

  "That doesn't make any sense."

  "Of course it does." The fog disappeared. "Think about the times in your life where you were forced to make a decision. Were you ready? On any of those occasions?"

  I didn't have many opportunities like that over the years. Not with Odin. But when I had made decisions, I was fearful. I couldn't lie. "No."

  "And you are not ready now, correct?"

  I sighed. "No. But I'm even more not ready than I was before."

  "Now that doesn't make any sense."

  "I do not wish to be bound to any male."

  "If wishes were horses, blah blah blah."

  "A human saying?" I shook my head. "Let us bargain then."

  A gleam of interest flashed in her crystal blue eyes. "Bargain for what?"

  "Release me from my bonding and I will perform a service of your choosing."

  "There is nothing I need."

  I could tell in her eyes that she was lying, but I was also smart enough not to push the Morrigan. I shrugged. "Okay then."

  A wide smile split her face. "Though I do appreciate you trying to bargain your way out of this, you've given me an idea I did not have before."

  My heart skidded to a stop. "Oh?"

  "You have not told the trickster of this bond, have you? He knows it's something, does he not? But he does not fully realize what is." She wiggled her eyebrows at me. "Sneaky Freya. He knows it's related to the bond." She pushed a strand of feather covered hair away from her face. "Though after your little ritual last night, he's going to wake up with quite the surprise this morning." I looked down to the brand new flower staring at me almost accusingly. "I will tell you what. I'll allow you to keep this secret from Loki if you do me a favor."

  I wanted to punch myself in the face. "You aren't going to remove the bond, are you?"

  Her smile widened even more. "Not a chance, Goddess of Love and War. You are going to thank me for this later."

  "I will figure out how to get it removed," I insisted. "With or without you."

  She didn't seem in the least bit fazed by my threat. "I think you will find, Freya, no one will risk my wrath in order to free you." Her gaze flickered with disappointment. "Although I truly don't understand why you won't embrace this."

  "Because I want to be free!" I snapped.

  Morrigan's head reared back as if she had been slapped. Silence fell in the room as we studied each other. Woman to woman, the atmosphere stretched and felt like it was close to snapping.

  "Freedom," Morrigan whispered. "That's all you wish?"

  Tears pooled in my eyes. "Yes."

  She sighed. "Odin has done you a great disservice. The best freedom alive is being able to share it with someone. I am sorry, Goddess, there is a reason for this. Though you might not understand it right now, you will soon enough. Loki might be wicked sometimes, but he is truly one of the best you will find."

  I shook my head. "This is not what I want. I am bound. In chains. I want to be free to rule without someone. Without another questioning me."

  "Has Loki ever done that?"

  "We've been bound for only a couple of days and he doesn't even know it!"

  "But the answer is still no."

  I slid out of bed and pulled a robe from the back of the door. Putting it on, I tied the belt around my waist. "No," I snapped. "We've never had that kind of relationship."

  "Ah." Her body began to mist. At first opaque, then slowly becoming incorporeal. "Please don't go," I whispered. "Please undo this."

  "You have three days to tell him or agree to my proposal." She winked at me. “Also, you forgot the coal when you set up the circle. I could have snapped your neck like a twig any time last night. Remember that I chose not to.”

  The Morrigan disappeared.

  I let out a scream of annoyance just as the last of her drifted away.

  10

  I whipped up a quick breakfast of eggs and toast and sat in my sunny kitchen feeling like I'd been beaten with a stick of aggravation. I knew it was a long shot for the Morrigan to release me, but I thought asking nicely might have worked. I should have known better. Asking nicely never got me anywhere. And now, even after the gift she'd given me last night, the bond had gotten even stranger. Curled around the rose was a naked woman, staring lazily up, almost as if she were waiting for her lover. I could not walk around this town and be respected with erotic art prevalent on my arm. I did not want to see what Loki's looked like.

  I sipped my coffee as I stared at the new addition and stuck my tongue out at it. Morrigan played dirty. She needed something but it didn't seem like she cared whether or not I took care of it. Her telling Loki in three days seemed like a mean joke, but I knew she would. Also...he wasn't stupid. He was going to figure this out one way or the other. I stopped looking at my arm and studied the silver buckle I'd grabbed out of my pocket this morning. I could probably do a reverse locator spell and figure out who it belonged to, but I'd need Griselda's help for that.

  Soon enough I hoped to be able to fully power up my magic. It's just that Odin hadn't struck yet. I wasn't foolish enough to do so yet, especially after Heimdall's warning to not get complacent.

  Plus...Odin never gave up. Even if he didn't want to be with me anymore, he would still feel a need to punish me for making him look like a fool.

  I still had the remnants of the spell in a bottle down in the workroom. I'd grab the witch and maybe Eyra later on and see if they could help me figure it out. Sig was currently in stasis so her body would remain intact until we put her on the boat and sent her out to sea.

  I finished the rest of my coffee, tucked the buckle back into my pocket, and stood to go get dressed. It had the potential to be a busy day.

  Twenty minutes later I was wearing comfortable buckskin pants and a soft maroon sweater. I'd worn dresses and long skirts my entire life when I walked in the palace, but I never was a hundred percent comfortable. Odin didn't like it when I wore pants. He grumbled about my femininity and how it would look to the younger girls growing up in and around the palace grounds. It was a small thing but I still caved to it because I didn't want to fight. Looking in my closet, I realized if I wanted to get out of that habit, I'd need to go shopping again. I didn't have time, but I'd figure it out once this Sig thing was over.

  I stepped outside of the house, took a long inhale of sweet mountain air and magic and headed down the steps to grab Griselda. I wasn't sure where Eyra was and, after last night's obsession with the dwarf chef, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I'd call her later on and see if she could come by.

  I rapped on the door and Griselda pulled it open, took one look at me and grabbed her cloak and purse. She shooed me out of the door, stepped outside and closed it behind her.

  "I knew you were coming," she announced and gently shoved me out of the way. "Come on. I'm assuming it's important if you're here and wearing...pants." Her brow wrinkled. "Is this a new thing?"

  "I like pants," I admitted. "Way more than dresses."

  Her face cleared. "Ah. Odin again?"

  I nodded.

  "Say no more."

  She followed me down the steps and on the way she chattered animatedly. "This morning Mel figured out how to increase the space in the back to make a sun room! We should be able to grow twice as many plants now."

  "Don't forget there's a massive forest in the back. I've had the Valkyries in to communicate with the nature spirits. There should be enough magic saturated in the land now to have stimulated new growth of any herbs you might need. When we first got here, there were only Midgard herbs, but the forest should start producing soon."

  Her face lit up. "Wonderful!" We walked for a f
ew more minutes before she cleared her throat. "Freya..."

  "Mmm?"

  "We noticed that there are not a lot of establishments here. No restaurants or boutiques or stores, or nursery centers..."

  "It's something I planned to take care of later."

  "Well, we'd like to open up an herb store, if it's okay with you," she said. I could feel her gaze on the side of my face.

  I tilted my head and looked at her. "What kind of an herb store?"

  Her pretty face colored. "We'd have culinary herbs, of course, everyone needs those. But...we'd also like to have sort of a botanica style selection. Things people would need for spells of their own or craft projects, including beauty crafts."

  "So like low magic?"

  A flash of anger came and went almost too quickly for me to notice. "I hate that you call it that. Magic is magic is magic, no matter who the wielder is. Just because your powers come from somewhere else it doesn't mean they're better than ours."

  I stopped in my tracks. "Whoa. I never meant to infer it was. We've always called it low magic. What would you like for me to call it?"

  Griselda's nostrils flared in annoyance. "Just magic would be nice. Hedgewitchery if you're fancy."

  I smiled. "Hedgewitchery. I like that. Like home magic?"

  "Home and hearth usually. That's what we tend to put most of our focus on. But the herbs we plan to stock could be used for more powerful things if necessary." She shrugged. "Though I don't really know what kind of magical talent you'd pulled with you into this place. Later on I was thinking maybe we could give classes. If it's okay with you."

  We made it to my house. I hurried up the steps. "One thing at a time, but I don't see any problems with doing it right now. I'll have to get paperwork drawn up for any kind of business. And I need to figure out how we can work it out. Perhaps tithing a certain amount of your income to put back into the town would work."

  Her brow drew together. "That seems like a good idea."

  "I've been thinking about it. Maybe one percent from everyone and we can use that money to keep the buildings intact. I want to take care with my magic and conserve as much of it as I can."

  She shook her head. "Because of Odin."

  "Yes. He will find me."

  "You will persevere."

  I led her down to the workshop. "I never persevere."

  "Then why are we standing in something of your own creation with him nowhere around us?"

  "Because I ran, Griselda. It's what I do. I always run."

  I held open the door for her. She breezed past me but not before gracing me with a massive, thunderous frown.

  When I shut the door, she paused at the top of the steps. "It's more complicated than that, don't you think?"

  I shook my head. "Sometimes things are simple. There was no way out. I tried. Over and over and over again. Until I knew I couldn't win. Until I knew the only way to get away was to run."

  Griselda turned away from me and headed down the stairs. "I disagree," she said and when she heard my intake of breath, she held up a hand. "You see it from the inside. We all see it from the outside. And from the outside we see a brave, strong warrior intent on taking her life into her own hands."

  I pressed my lips together, holding back all the recriminating things I wanted to say about myself. Perhaps I should look at this from a different perspective. I blew out a long breath, let the negative words float away on the wind and swallowed everything else down. "Perhaps," I admitted, though I wasn't sure what I should believe anymore.

  I took her to the back, into the room where Sig lay mortally silent. Griselda stepped in and let out a sigh of discontent as she got closer to the body.

  "She was quite beautiful," she said.

  "Aye. She was."

  "Show me what you found."

  I held up a finger and stepped out of the room. Going through the shelves, I picked up the bottle with the remnants of the spell inside. It swirled red and yellow like a dust storm inside of it. Rummaging through my pocket, I pulled out the silver buckle and returned to the room. I sat both items down on a table beside Sig.

  "This is it?" Griselda's voice sounded doubtful.

  "The only traces I could find. I'm not even sure the buckle is a big deal. But the magic...it is. Whatever this was flew out of the wielder in a powerful blast. I'm not sure why we didn't hear or notice anything."

  Griselda bent to her knees and peered into the glass. "Do you recognize it? Even a little hint of familiarity?"

  I shook my head. "No. But I am not surprised. We hide our magic from each other unless we have no choice."

  "Secretive to the grave," Griselda said with a sigh. "Why is this not shocking to me?" She pulled something out of her pocket. It looked like a black stone on a string. "Can you open the bottle?" she asked.

  "Should I?"

  "I need just enough to infuse this stone with. After that, you can cork it back up. If it works, I can tune the stone into the magic of the person who cast it and the stone will lead us to him or her."

  "Kind of like a dowsing rod?"

  Her lips quirked to the side. "Like a locator spell. But an unnoticeable one. Many locator spells tug on the victim's conscience. This one is slightly different. It will be looking for the exact magic, not the person. Finding the person is just a happy side effect."

  "Huh. Cool."

  She gestured at the bottle. "Now open it for me."

  I carefully took hold and open the cork just enough for a tiny portion of the dust to slip out. Griselda caught it in her fingertips. Her mouth moved in some form of silent spell and she touched the tip of the stone to the magic. I watched in fascination as it soaked it up and disappeared like it had never been there.

  "Awesome," I whispered.

  "This won't last long," she warned as she handed it over to me. "You'll probably have until nightfall. If the person who wielded the spell is not here, it will tug you outside of the walls of this town. Use caution if you choose to step out of here."

  I knew well enough what could happen the second I stepped outside. Odin would easily be able to pinpoint my location. So if I stepped out, I needed to make sure I did it far enough away from here he couldn't discovered the town on accident. "I will."

  "Good. Once you figure this out, come back to me and I'll see if there's anything else I can do."

  I pocketed the stone. "How far will this take me?" I asked.

  She shrugged. "Wherever you need to go, I suppose. I've never tested it's limits, though I know it will track all the way at least to Jotunheim." Griselda snickered. "I don't think I need to tell you not to venture into the land of the Frost Giants alone, but I feel like I should." She stared into my eyes. "Do NOT go into the land of the Frost Giants alone. Even if the pendulum brings you there."

  "I would never." But I wasn’t sure. I might, provided I could cloak myself in enough power to remain unseen. But Griselda was right. The Frost Giants were long rumored to be our destruction during Ragnarok. No need poking the bear with that one.

  "I'm serious. Don't do it. Even if you're cloaked."

  Mind reader. The pendulum felt warm against my skin, even though there was at least two layers between it and my thigh. "Weird."

  "If it's warm, it's working. If it goes cold you are going the wrong direction. If it gets hot, you're close. But...if it stays cold no matter what direction you turn, the magic has dispersed and you're holding just a stone."

  "Good to know." I thought of something and frowned. "Do you think you could open the bar tonight, just in case this takes me farther than I planned?"

  "The bar?" She blinked in surprise. "Um, I've never ran a bar before."

  "Gravelbeard will be there at four to start setting up the dinner service. Other than that, it's just running drinks to people or making them at the bar. Find Loki. He should be willing to help."

  Griselda's attention had waned from my words, though, and she was staring at my wrist. "Holy shit," she murmured. "That seems a lot worse th
an last time." Her gaze flew to mine. "Oh no. Did you contact the Morrigan?"

  I bared my teeth in an awkward smile. "Uh, maybe?"

  She slapped a hand against her forehead in what I felt was over dramatic fashion. "So you made it worse."

  "Uh. Perhaps I have."

  "You dolt," Griselda growled. "We told you to take care with her. She's never going to release you."

  The doorbell rang. I let out a huff of annoyance. "Hold that thought!" I rushed upstairs and pulled open the door without checking to see who was standing outside.

  "FREYA! What the everloving HEL is this?"

  Loki shoved his arm in my field of vision, but I couldn't stop staring at his face. His complexion was bone white. His eyes were haunted. He did not look like the man I knew.

  Guilt riddled me.

  I took his arm out of my face and lowered it to where I could see it. There was a naked man on it curled around a black rose, staring up like he was waiting for his lover. I bit my lower lip and took a deep breath to keep from laughing. It wasn't funny. Not really. But for someone as virile as Loki to suddenly have to sport a naked man around on his arm where everyone could see it...

  The Morrigan had an appalling sense of humor.

  I whispered a word and waved my hand over his arm concealing it from view.

  "This is all good and well, but what the hell is this? And why does it keep getting even weirder?!"

  His gaze trailed down to my arm and I gasped in surprise as I realized that not only had I forgotten to conceal the marks, I had pushed up the sleeves of my sweater whenever I was extracting the magical dust for Griselda.

  Shit.

  He grabbed my arm before I could pull it away and stared intently at it. His long fingers brushed over the emerald light still softly emanating from it. "You have some explaining to do, little witch."

  Griselda came up the stairs but upon seeing Loki decided to make herself scarce. She nodded once to the trickster, who returned it with a suspicious look, and brushed around the both of us and right out the door. Loki kicked it shut behind her and half-walked half-dragged me to the sofa.