Rune Master

by Amelia Wilson

  “Thank you, Mr. Lindstrom,” she said. “I’m sure that it will be.”’

  ***

  He let himself into the apartment, flashing a smile and a spell. The movers accepted the unspoken suggestion that he was a resident and continued their work, ignoring him as he came inside. Unlike the Draugr, he did not need to be properly invited.

  Sigurd walked through the rooms, letting his senses tell him everything they could about the couple who lived there. Her scent was stronger, the imprint of her energy on the walls more complex. She had not been a Draugr for long.

  The other scent, the one that was a newcomer to this place… He knew him. He and Thorvald had met before, centuries in the past. He could recall his face, his battle yell and especially his sword arm. Sigurd never forgot an enemy.

  He picked up the pillows from the bed and brought them to his face, inhaling deeply. Yes, both Draugr, and both melded with lesser members of the Aesir. He could taste those gods on the outer edges of their energy traces. Ithunn, the goddess of spring and immortality, and Vidar, the god of forests and silence and revenge.

  He had once attempted to make a pact with Vidar, back when the world was young. The Great Huntsman had rejected him then. He would not be given the opportunity to make the same mistake now.

  Sigurd reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a playing card. It was the Jack of Spades. With a smile, he bent and tucked it, corner first, into the space between two floorboards. He was still smiling when he left the apartment behind.

  Chapter Four

  The drive back to the apartment was tense. Erik gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. Nika watched his face for a long moment, then finally spoke.

  “I’m sorry about how I acted at the consulate. I don’t really understand why I started getting argumentative.”

  He did not look at her. “Apology accepted.”

  She sighed. “And as for Johan… If you’re jealous, well, we’re Chosen, remember? That’s not something that I’d put aside so quickly. Besides, even if he was her husband, that doesn’t change the fact that I’m with you.”

  This time, he glanced at her. “So that reaction you had. Was that you, or was it Ithunn?”

  “I think it was her.” She propped her elbow on the car door and leaned her head in her hand. “I was just as sideswiped by it as you were… or maybe more.”

  They were stopped in traffic and sat in silence, both of them staring at the red light above the street.

  “You knew he was there, and who he was.” It was not a question.

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me? I should have known.”

  “And what was I supposed to say?”

  “You could have warned me.”

  The silence fell again, but at least the light changed and they could move forward. Neither of them spoke until they reached her apartment building and Erik parked in the underground garage. He turned off the car and took the keys out of the ignition, but he did not open his door. Instead, he twisted in the seat so that he could face her.

  “There are a hundred things that you probably need to know, but I don’t keep an exhaustive list in my head. I’m sorry I didn’t prepare you to meet Johan. I’m sorry I haven’t told you everything you think I should. I’m doing the best I can.”

  She studied his face, taking in the tension in his jaw and the conflicted emotions in his eyes.

  “I just have one question.” She faced him. “Do you love me, or do you love who I used to be? Am I just a vessel to you?”

  He looked hurt, and she instantly regretted her words. “I loved Berit. I don’t deny it. But now I love you. I was seeking you out, because I knew you had been reborn, and that we were meant to be together. My soul needs your soul to be complete.”

  He took her hand.

  “You are not a vessel to me. You are my Chosen. You. I never chose Berit, even though she wanted me to. In all of your soul’s other lifetimes, I never took this step. It needed to be you, this lifetime, this person. I chose Nika, not Berit. You.”

  Her eyes stung with tears, mystifying her. Her emotions were wildly out of control today, and she didn’t recognize herself at all. “Is that how it works? Are souls always destined to be together?”

  “Not all souls.” He offered a weak smile. “Only ours.”

  “What about Ithunn and Bragi?’

  “They’re destined, too, but they don’t have autonomy now. That was something they gave up so that they could live forever. Ithunn is not in control. You are. And Bragi is not living this life. Johan is.”

  He took a deep breath.

  “Nika, be cautious about Bragi. He and Ithunn had… a stormy relationship, to say the least.”

  She looked down at their hands, at the intertwined fingers. “Was he cruel to her?” she asked quietly.

  “In his own way, he loved her very much, but by modern standards, yes, you could say that he was cruel. They loved each other, but they hated each other just as much.”

  “What other gods are melded with the Draugr?”

  He shrugged. “All of them.”

  “Are there any others that I need to know about?”

  Erik released her hand, letting his fingers trail over her skin as he retreated. He slipped the car keys into a pocket and got out, moving around to open her door and offer her his hand. She accepted it.

  “In time, you will know them all, but there are a few to be wary of,” he told her as she rose to her feet. “Everyone wants to avoid Hel, but she’s been reborn recently and is still just a baby. The rest are more or less scattered. There is one, though, that I’m going to introduce you to.”

  They walked together to the stairs. He held out his hand to her, and she took it, moving in to walk close beside him.

  “Who?”

  “Ithunn’s big sister, the one who can teach you to use your Valtaeigr magic. Frigg.”

  They reached the correct floor and walked to her apartment. She had never given him a key, an oversight that seemed less in need of correction now. He waited while she unlocked the door, and then they walked inside together.

  The movers had done their jobs well. Everything had been boxed and carted away. There wasn’t even so much as a roll of toilet paper left in the bathroom. It had all been packed.

  She walked through the empty living room, looking around with bittersweet nostalgia. This had been the first home she’d rented on her own, the first place that saw her living by herself. This was where she had grown from college girl to professional adult, and where she had weathered several relationships and a few bad break-ups.

  She turned to face Erik, who was watching her quietly. “It’s so... empty,” she said.

  He went to her and folded her into his arms. “Don’t be sad, love. Think of all the wonderful things that are waiting for you.”

  She hugged him, her head on his shoulder. Her eyes caught a glimpse of something on the bedroom floor. “Looks like they missed something.”

  “What’s that?”

  Nika walked over to pick up a playing card, the Jack of Spades. “I’ve never seen this before. Is it yours?”

  Erik came to see. The card was hand-drawn, painstakingly outlined in deep black and colored with carefully applied ink. The back was covered in intricate Nordic interweave depicting a dragon with a sword in its claws.

  “No,” he said, deliberately tearing the card in half, and then in half again. “This is not mine.”

  “What are you doing?” she cried. “That was beautiful.”

  He dropped the pieces onto the floor. “It has to be from this Sigurd, whoever he is. This is literally the calling card of the Bluffmakare. The Tricksters. Devotees of Loki who hunt the Valtaeigr and the Veithimathr, like we hunt the wild Draugr.”

  Nika picked up the pieces and looked at them in horror. “He was in our home.”

  “And he wanted us to know.” He took her hand. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be here if he decides to come bac
k.”

  She went with him, leaving the door unlocked in their haste. It hardly mattered now. “They hunt us? What are they?”

  “Nøkken.”

  They raced down the steps and back to the car. He helped her into her seat while keeping a watchful eye on the parking garage. Once she was safely inside, he trotted around to the driver’s side and got in.

  Nika spoke as soon as he closed his door. “Help me understand. There are two groups of Draugr, the bad and the good, right? The good guys are the Valtaeigr and the Veithimathr. The bad guys are the Tricksters. Right?”

  “The Tricksters serve the bad guys,” he corrected mildly as he drove out of the parking garage. “The bad guys don’t really have a name, other than Draugr. They don’t need them. They’re the majority. It’s we who are small in numbers – smaller now that my men have died.”

  “But the Nøkken aren’t Draugr?”

  “No. They’re tricksters. Shapeshifters. They serve Loki and the Draugr.”

  “Are you really the last Veithimathr?”

  He nodded grimly. “Yes.”

  She was catching on. “Why do you hunt your own kind?”

  “The Draugr are by nature evil. It’s a consequence of who their chieftain was when they were made. Hakon and his people…” He stopped. “I never told you that part.”

  Nika clenched her fist, alarmed by his tone and prepared to hear something unpleasant. “Never told me what?”

  He kept driving as he spoke, weaving through traffic and headed toward the airport. “When Hakon was punished by Odin for his rapacious and murdering ways, all of his band were with him. They all… we all… shared in his punishment. That was when we were made Draugr.”

  She let his words sink in. “You used to serve with Hakon?”

  He nodded grimly. “I was in his raiding party. I was…” He took a deep breath. “I was his right hand.”

  “So you…”

  “I murdered. I raped. I stole from innocent people and I put helpless priests to the sword. I did all of those things that Odin punished us for.” He shook his head. “We all did. All of us.”

  Nika swallowed hard. “Those were different times,” she said, trying to excuse his past offenses. “You were a different man then.”

  He laughed hollowly. “Oh, yes. Very different.” He shook his head. “You would not have liked me very much if we had met back then.”

  “Didn’t we?” she asked. “Didn’t we meet back then? Wasn’t that when Berit lived?”

  “Not then. Berit was born later, after I had already become Veithimathr.”

  Nika put out a hand and touched his arm. “If the gods chose you to be their Huntsman, then they saw good in you. You said that the Veithimathr were purer of soul than the other Draugr. I believe that about you.”

  He looked at her and forced a smile. “Thank you, my love. You do me credit.”

  “I’ve never seen you do anything that would make me doubt you.”

  Abruptly, he pulled over into a parking lot and stopped the car. He turned to face her. “I was horrible when I was mortal,” he told her. “I thought at the time that what I did was justified – might makes right. The strong take what they want and the weak have to give it. It was the way of things. It was the Norse way.”

  “It was a different time,” she said again.

  He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Hakon was our jarl, and he wanted to be king. Anyone who stood against him had to die – even if they were only children. We murdered whole families. We slaughtered innocent children, just to prove Hakon’s point that he was the strongest leader in all of Sweden.”

  He looked down and struggled with the words.

  “Nika, I – I deserved what happened to me. I did.”

  She took his hand. “But something changed. Didn’t it? I saw what happened with the Rune Sword. Odin favors you.”

  He nodded. “As time went on, I began to feel that I shouldn’t just take whatever I wanted, just because I could. I suppose you could say that I developed a conscience.

  “Hakon and our band went raiding one night, attacking a settlement in Denmark. It was defenseless. All of their men were out to sea, and it was only women and children and old people. Hakon was thrilled, because they had livestock, and there was gold there for him to take. And he took it. He took it all.

  “I was with Gunnar – all of the Veithimathr were once Hakon’s men - and we broke into a little house. Kicked the door down. Inside, there was just one maiden child and her siblings. She was barely a woman, just a tiny slip of a thing. She stood and faced us and told us she would do anything we wanted as long as we left her siblings alone.

  “I was going to take her. Gods forgive me, I was going to do it. But I saw the look in her eye. The bravery. The honor. It stopped me cold. In that moment, I saw myself through her eyes, and I was ashamed.”

  His eyes were brimming with tears, and he wiped them away with the heel of his hand.

  “We stayed in that house and we defended them from the rest of the band. We gave her the things we had stolen from her neighbors. We… we changed. When day came and Hakon called the retreat, we left her unharmed.

  “We never went raiding with Hakon again. Oh, he raged about it, accused us of cowardice, made us laughing stocks in his longhouse. I just… I didn’t have the heart for it anymore. That girl, she changed me. She changed me forever.”

  “Was that when Odin changed you and made you Veithimathr?”

  “Yes.”

  Nika stroked his face. He turned into the touch and kissed her palm.

  “I still see her face, how frightened she was, but how strong. I will never forget her.”

  She kissed him. “Only a good man can learn from his mistakes and start over. You’ve more than made up for what you’ve done in the past.”

  “I don’t know if I can ever make up for all the things I’ve done.”

  “The fact that you even want to try means the world,” she reassured him.

  Erik looked at her searchingly. “Do you still trust me?”

  She smiled. “More than ever. You’ve trusted me with your secret. How could I not trust you in return?”

  He leaned in and kissed her gratefully. “I love you.”

  “And I love you. Forever and always.”

  They kissed again, lingering and sweet.

  He pulled back and smiled at her. “Let’s go. Stockholm is waiting. Hopefully we can make it back before Sigurd does.”

  Chapter Five

  Nika giggled. Erik’s hands were covering her eyes, and he was guiding her through the front doorway of his house in Stockholm.

  “Okay. Take a look.”

  She opened her eyes. They were standing in a spacious living room with hardwood floors and a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows taking up one entire wall. The furnishings were elegant and understated, and although she didn’t know what she’d been expecting, she knew it wasn’t this.

  “Erik! It’s beautiful!”

  He smiled. “Do you think you could get used to living here?”

  She laughed. “I don’t know. You’d better take me on a tour first.”

  He happily escorted her through the entire house. It was well laid out and airy, and much brighter than she had expected it to be. The main floor had the living room, the kitchen, a bathroom and a dining room. Upstairs, there were three bedrooms and a spacious master suite overlooking a green, tree-covered lot. The tour ended back in the living room, next to the fireplace.

  “Nice,” she said. “Apparently, the Swedish special forces pay well.”

  “Not so much. But when you’ve had a bank account open since the 1540s, interest tends to accumulate.” He smiled. “Do you like it?”

  “I love it.” She put her arms around him. “It’s perfect. Thank you for inviting me to live here with you.”

  He kissed her. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you living somewhere else.”

  “When the movers come, where are we going to put my
things?”

  “Anywhere you’d like.” He released her and sat on the couch. She joined him, curling up against his side. He put his arm around her. “This is your home, too, Chosen. I want you to be comfortable.”

  “I’m comfortable anywhere you are.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by Erik’s cell phone. He answered it. “Thorvald.”

  She could hear a man’s voice speak on the other end of the line. “Captain, this is Major Ulvaeus. Welcome back.”

  “Thank you, sir.” He sat up, giving Nika an unreadable look.

  “We need you to report to Karlsborg. In light of the casualties to your group, you’ve been assigned to a new unit.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Ulvaeus continued. Nika frowned. “Be there at oh-seven hundred on Wednesday for further orders.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The line went dead, and Erik put the phone aside. “Well, shit.” He looked at her. “I know you heard. I’m so sorry.”

  “Do you know how long you’ll be gone?”

  “No. It could be a few days, or it could be a few weeks.” He sat back with a scowl. “This is terrible timing.”

  She tried to be brave for him. “That’s okay. I’ll be busy getting acquainted with my new job and the staff and everything. You have to do what your bosses tell you.”

  He put a hand on her knee. “It still gives us a few days.”

  Nika smiled and scooted closer to him. “So let’s not waste it.”

  ***

  They passed the time before his trip to Karlsborg by touring Stockholm. He showed her the sights of his home town – now hers, as well – and helped her learn her way around, at least well enough to get to the museum and back. He showed her where to shop, what to buy, and how to hail a cab. He got her added to his bank account and provided her with a copy of his credit and ATM cards so that she would have access to money even if he was somewhere far away.

  She got to recognize the street names and the places, and she was picking up the odd Swedish phrase here and there. Luckily, many of the inhabitants of the city spoke English, so that made things easier. She was almost ready to be on her own.