by Poppet
He's an empty vessel, he's a myth, but they haven't been to Asgard to witness it. This is their theatre and they must complete the play, to free themselves from the script.
Managarm, the most powerful wolf, comes out to sit with us, the wolf who waits to finish the story should any of them deviate from resolution.
At the women's demand, Ewan who just three minutes ago sought Leug's demise, takes his Odin harp to the ash pile, sitting next to it, using Odin's original power to call them back, healing them, rebuilding blood and bone, vein and mind, man to woman, god to mankind.
Emma will make a great leader, a replacement for me when I choose to rest, as she knew Ewan could heal them and make his wrongs right. He's not too proud after all. He loves his handfast enough to bring back his enemy to save her sister, and Macala's actions have ruined his hopes with Emma.
Hel needs a mistress who is free of handfasting, there's no room for jealousy in its halls.
A lone eagle watches from the sky, and I leave Carmen, becoming wind to call him down. He wishes to love a lady of Skadi kind. Her name is Emma, she is the weather, and she needs a warrior to warm her bed, just not to bind her in marriage.
I think Gunn the brave will be perfect. He is persecuted and suffering. He will require the healing only Hiflheimr can offer.
To them I'll give my crown, my underworld, I will let them stay here safe and cherished.
Emma, no one asked who was your mother. No human could give birth to you child, it was me. I am your family, which means tonight you saved your grandfather. The light bearer. The one mankind rejected even when his truth could set them free.
*
Lara:
Opening my eyes, feeling a heat so severe it ruins me, a cold kiss kills the burn, his tears running into my eyes, his love rushing through me like fresh blood sent to starving muscles.
Ewan sings softly, the skald of magic, the swansong having broken his ego, the war behind us as Liah runs to me, embracing us all, the four of us hugging and squeezing.
He took a rose wilted and shriveled in 'death', preserved in fragile suspension, giving her new roots, allowing her to flourish and bloom when all others presumed she was beyond revival.
I'm home. My family, my Leug, my Lucifer, my sister, and the man who saved our lives after helping to kill us, Ewan, the no longer berserk.
I must write this down.
I will call it the Gemini Journal, for Liah, for me. For all of you staring down the barrel of eternity.
Closing my eyes, I lean into his chest, his heart beating mine, my home wrapped around me, his light all that pulses through my mind.
~ The End ~
Afterward
The Moon and the Sun are brother and sister; they are the children of Mundilfori, who, on account of their beauty, called his son Mani, and his daughter Sol;
for which presumption the gods in their anger took brother and sister and placed them in heaven, and appointed Sol to drive the horses that draw the chariot of the sun, which the gods had formed, to give light to the world, of the sparks from Muspellheim.
~Voluspa
Glossary
Ásatrú – faith in the Æsir
Æsir – the gods
ás-kunnigr – god's kin
ás-móðr – divine wrath
áss - god
Banka – knock, pound, beat
Berserkr – proper spelling for berserker.
Böðvar - battle
Buachaille Eite Mòr - is ten miles outside of Glencoe.
Búri: The father of all the Norse gods (all of them). He is the first (He is Odin's father).
Eagle clan - live in the Blackmount Forest in the Argyle highlands.
Élivágar – ice waves that existed as rivers in the Ginnungagap, before the world manifested.
Eoghan (Ewan) – noble / born of the yew tree
Fenrir – Loki's son, the wolf
Friðr - father
Galdr - Old Norse word meaning to sing a charm / incantation
Ginnungagap – the primordial void, signifying a magical (and creative) power-filled space (existing before universe 'began'.)
Gjöll – the word means resounding. It is one of eleven rivers to flow from 'heaven to hell'. Originating in Hiflheim and flowing closest to the gate of the underworld, it is freezing, so cold it's said to flow with knives that cut through you.. It is also the name of the rock Fenrir was tethered to.
Gunn – from the Norse-Viking word for "warrior" (gunnr meaning war)
Hamask – change form / shapeshift
Hvergelmir - a bubbling boiling spring originating in Niflheim, the source of all waters and rivers which spread from it like antler's horns.
Hlaðguðr – her name translates as Swan White (the original snow white). A Valkyrie.
Jörmungandr – the world snake, Logi's son
Læraðr – the golden apple trees of Asgard outside the halls of Valhalla, the orchard of the deathless acre.
Loki – his real Norse name is Leug, also known as Logi.
Múspellsheimr / Muspelheim – the realm of fire, home to the fire giants. The opposite – and balance – to Niflheim.
Níðhöggr – the venomous dragon snake
Seidr – divine sorcery, sometimes anglicized as the word seith.
Sváss - beloved
Ulfhednar (Úlfhéðnar) – Norse berserker
Utangarth - outside the enclosure - not of your immediate tribe
Vargynja – she wolf
Vigr – able to fight
Biography
Poppet has over 50 novels to her credit and writes in many genres. She started her career writing for magazines and now specialises in edgy fiction of the paranormal and ghoulish.
She writes mythology inspired fiction, leaning toward the heretical, blaming her sires for her preoccupation with the realms of gods and fallen angels. She calls her style of fiction Metaphysical Romance, crossing the bridge between the spiritual doctrines and romantic fiction.
Poppet is published with Eibonvale Press, Wild Wolf Publishing, Vamptasy Publishing, Thorstruck Press, and previously published with Night Publishing.
Links
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Poppet's Amazon Page:
www.amazon.com/Poppet/e/B0046MYVO4
Twitter:
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Facebook Author Page:
www.facebook.com/pages/Poppet/197111090356326
Poppet Shop
www.cafepress.com/teampoppetmerchandice
You will also find her on Goodreads and Pinterest.
