From Death to Valhalla (The Last Einherjar Book 1)

by Randall P. Fitzgerald

  Erik came to the fork in the hallway that had always been there. Looking down the fork they’d taken Tove through, he saw two guards standing in the hall. One tapped the other and pointed a silent hand in Erik’s direction. They chuckled and started a conversation that Erik was too far from to hear clearly. They didn’t care. A creeping anger began to rise in him. No one had found the time to tell him any of it, but they’d made sure to beat Tove. They likely hadn’t missed a session by even a few minutes. His jaw clenched and he felt his hand tighten to a fist. He could go get her now. He might make it past the two of them. But it wasn’t something he could count on. He had to know what would happen if he walked out the front. There may have been a dozen guards there or worse, Haki’s fear might have been based on more than a lost mind.

  The small administrative room at the north end of the hallway held two guards. A younger guard with a short beard and an older guard who was one of the first clean-shaven men he’d seen in a while. He was fat and ill-suited to a face without hair on it, but the patchy spots that had grown stubble suggested that there were reasons for it. The two guards who normally did rounds weren’t in the cells as far as he could tell. He made sure to remember it. They may have been part of general grounds patrols, since he was a prisoner of the valkyries more than anyone else.

  The fat guard snorted as Erik came into the room. “First run, eh? Hah. Hope you’ve got quick legs, boy. That courtyard’s made for them to cut you lot down.”

  The younger looking of the two said nothing, only watched Erik with a sad expression, something like pity.

  Both of the guards lost interest by the time he’d made the short walk across the room to the door.

  Erik placed his hand on the door handle and took in a deep breath. He turned the handle, the hot, late-afternoon air flooded in, the men behind him groaning in annoyance. As soon as Erik’s eyes told him the way across the yard was clear he started running as fast as his legs would carry him. There was a wide gate that stood open, but it was a direct shot across from him. They would either come or they wouldn’t, so the only thing to be done was to run across the yard.

  His eyes shot around. Guards took notice of him, pointing at the spectacle of his attempt to flee and then looking skyward. Erik ignored the sky above him, turning his focus back to the gate. He knew the sound well enough and there was nothing in the air that was of concern to him. He was nearly halfway across the yard when he heard the sound he’d been waiting for.

  The hiss was directly behind him and his body tensed almost as if on instinct as soon as the sound hit his ears. He kept his eyes on the gate, waiting for the sound of their charge. The hissing noise grew and Erik stopped dead, forcing himself to shift to the side, and then screaming in his mind for his legs to carry him forward. The golden-hot spear lapped at the stone ahead of him and just to the side. A series of confused shouts came from around the yard as the guards saw what had happened. Erik ignored them, turning his eyes sideward as the valkyrie came by him. It was the short-haired valkyrie. They were twins in every other respect, and freckled. His mind shifted. How had he been able to see her freckles?

  It didn’t matter, he shook the thought away, knowing the distraction meant the end of him. His feet felt the change in the type of stone underneath and he felt the shadow of the gate pass over him more than he noticed it. He was in the streets of Lofgrund. Erik turned to the west and pounded his feet down on the stone, taking off as fast as he could manage. The hissing of the valkyries arched over walls around the keep’s court and they were behind him again. There were people in the square ahead, they’d slow him down too much to pass through and the valkyries wouldn’t care about plowing through them to get to him. He didn’t much care either, but they would cause enough delay to put a weapon into his back. He wouldn’t have that. Erik stamped a foot, turning himself around and squaring up to his pursuers. He’d gladly take a blade to the chest if it meant a chance to put a fist to the women who’d cut Tove to pieces.

  The valkyrie with the loose braid squared up, her twin waiting back and watching. She charged like it was all she knew. Erik followed her. She moved like Haki had, only he could see all of it. He ducked, putting the blade of her short sword just above his arm but the valkyrie managed to angle it down, catching the edge of his shoulder. He spun his elbow up and over as she passed by, planting it at the base of her neck. She thundered to the ground, splitting the stone. He lifted a foot and stomped her arm, hearing a satisfying snap.

  The hissing to his front grew in volume and he turned back to see the other charging him with her spear. He had nowhere to move. The spear tip plunged into his stomach and Erik let out a deep, guttural yell. He could feel the blade searing his insides, but it wasn’t pain. Energy seemed to shoot through him. He swung straight for the valkyrie’s face, catching her in the chin as she tried to spin away from the punch. He caught her, not cleanly, but it was enough to get her to take her hands off the weapon. Erik grabbed the staff of the spear and pulled it from his gut. His skin sizzled under the heat of it. He tossed it aside and ran toward the short-haired valkyrie, who now bled from her lip. She turned to flee as he chased and Erik reached out. His hand almost found purchase on the armor over her shoulder blade but instead it wrapped around something he hadn’t seen before. A faintly shimmering thing that came through a small slit in the leather. He gripped it tightly, the hissing noise dimming for just a second before his hand flew apart, shredded by invisible wings. He stopped, his hand useless and the pain starting to flood. With one arm limp, the valkyrie he’d put to the ground plunged her sword up through his ribs and into his heart. He felt the blood bubble and the strength in his legs disappear. He dropped to the ground, dying.

  His eyes opened what felt like a second later and he was in the corner of the cell. The pain came immediately after his mind returned to him. It was the same as it had been with the wall. Hours of blazing pain that faded too slowly and a hand he was convinced would never work again from the way it felt. He’d heard the guards laughing as they did their rounds, saying word was the valkyries had flattened him into the street. When he could stand again, he did but there was still the distinct feeling that the steel was still inside his body. Bending to either side dropped him to his knees, but he was beginning to understand the pain better. It wasn’t manageable, but it faded soon enough and he could at least do simple things. He went to the door of his cell and opened it, walking directly to Haki’s.

  He pulled the handle up and the door came open. Haki was sitting on a ratty sheet, curled at the edge of a wooden bed that had been worn over every inch. The smell of his shit was still fresh, but the pain kept it from Erik’s mind for the most part.

  “I want answers to some questions Haki.”

  The broken man rocked back and forth, staring at Erik. “Went outside… didn’t you? I… thought you were… a neighbor.”

  “I’ll die out there as many times as it takes.”

  Haki shook his head violently. “The brain… never forgets. Never. Never forgets.” He just started repeating fragments of the phrase over and over again.

  “What are you fucking talking about?! Never forgets?!”

  “He doesn’t remember the words so well anymore.”

  Erik whipped around to see the younger guard from the administrative area. “Explain it to me.”

  The guard sighed. “Come out of there. At the very least he deserves some peace.”

  Erik looked back at Haki. He was clawing at the wood below him, eyes fixed on the door.

  There was no reason to stay in the cell, so Erik did as he was asked. He closed the door and the guard motioned to the chair at the desk beside the cell, offering it.

  “Sitting hurts. I’m out, what did he mean?”

  The guard nodded. “It was something he used to say when he first came. How long did it take you to get to Lofgrund after you awoke in Helheim?”

  “A week,
maybe.”

  A look of surprise shot across his face. “Then… in Spring…”

  “Nothing. I just left. They attacked me here.”

  “How did you die in Midgard? In battle?”

  “No, valkyries came and… look, explain shit.”

  “Valkyries came to Midgard?” The guard shook his head. “Wh— No. It’s… When Haki arrived here, he had already developed a twitch in his sword arm. Said they’d cut it off a hundred times at least. He was proud of it. He used to say, ‘Even if the body mends, the brain never forgets.’”

  “The damage?”

  “Seems to be. No one dies like the chosen, so I didn’t believe him. Every day, he walked out that door and stood in the yard, waiting for them. Hrist and Mist. After a hundred days, he could only go every week, if that. Still he stood and faced them. A hundred days became a thousand and he spent months in that bed, screaming. He started to run then. It didn’t help. Eventually, he broke.”

  Erik looked at the door to Haki’s cell. He could hear moaning weeps beyond the wood. “Even now? They won’t let him go?”

  The guard shook his head. “They’ll never let him go. You either.” He looked down the hallway, absently. “I warned you. Do what you like with it.”

  The guard went away, back to his post, and Erik was left alone with only the feeling of a sword in his chest and the muffled wails of a broken man.

  chapter|15

  Erik returned to his cell, the stiff pain in his chest proving to be enough to dissuade him from trying anything more drastic. His hand had gone numb in the hours since he’d woken up and he was unsure if that was something he should be concerned about. Knowing how Haki came to be the man that he was, Erik couldn’t help but find himself worried.

  As uncomfortable as the bed was, it was the best place to sit, ignoring the chair that would no doubt mean forced interactions with the guards or with Haki if the man ever regained whatever was left of his mind. He had sat down with the intention to plan a way past the valkyries and to Tove and there seemed to be a dead end at each of them. He considered that it was possible that the guards would simply move out of his way and let him go to Tove, but that didn’t seem entirely likely. He resolved to find out properly when the pain had gone down, waiting in case they reacted violently to his approach.

  The real insurmountable problem was the valkyries. Time kept passing and Tove had barely been able to stand when she’d come before. He would have to carry her and he wasn’t fast enough on his own to deal with them. He’d run the first time not planning to get as far as he did, but the information was valuable. They’d done more than charge when pressed. They could fight on foot and it was unlikely that they’d give him as much opportunity to find clear ground in his next attempt at leaving the yard.

  No matter how many ways he tried to think around it, there was no way of taking Tove along with him and making it clear of Hrist and Mist. That resignation brought another thought to mind. Though the yard presented only a single way clear through to the city, they weren’t limited in that way at all. They could wait where they pleased, attack from whatever angle they liked, and knew which direction he’d be forced to head. Whichever of the pair had crushed his throat was undeterred by walls. And if they cared about the damage he’d done during their fight in the street, they wouldn’t give him the simple pleasure of being attacked in turn. They were in pairs for that reason. It was something he felt stupid for not understanding before. They’d only taken it in turns to fly at him because he posed no threat. And suddenly, he wondered if he did pose a threat. All of those were things he had to know before he could step foot in the court again. They would learn how he moved, he had no doubt of that, but he had no way of improving himself stuck in the prison alone. Haki wouldn’t be of help. He was incapable of it.

  Nothing viable had presented itself by the time food arrived. More sausage with vegetables, this time with a side of fresh fruits and what looked like a thick yogurt. Along with it, there were a fresh pair of clothes, the ones he’d woken in being torn and blood stained. He hadn’t even thought of it until he saw the new ones. He ate before changing into the new clothes, inspecting the old ones for any sign of blood that wasn’t his own. There was nothing. It made him start to wonder if he’d done any damage to them at all or if it had been some dream he’d had while lost in the pain of returning to life. Maybe that was how Haki had lost himself.

  The food was good, better made than the sausage he’d been given when Tove was in. It was more smoothly ground and had less gristle than before. The fruit, as well. It was a strange addition along with the sour yogurt. Dessert for prisoners seemed like an odd thing. As much as Ásví might have pretended he wasn’t a prisoner, he could still understand the walls of the cage around him.

  The feeling in his hand was returning around the time he finished eating, so when the meal was done Erik stood and walked to the wall. He took a deep breath and punched the stone, not hard, but it was enough to hurt. A bit of skin peeled from his knuckles and the uncaring stone sat unblemished. There was no feeling inside him like there had been during the fight and he couldn’t understand why or how he’d been able to keep pace with the valkyries. Haki may have known. He could move like them. Not as quickly, but still, it was something. The only person capable of helping him was buried deep inside a madman.

  Erik opened the door to his cell, walking out into the main room. It was quiet down the hall, so he made his way to the toilets, cleaning himself up as best he could. There were buckets of clean water, and with no other place to put the wool, he tossed it down the hole in the seat. A few pads of wool gone, he didn’t hear anything resembling rising water so he breathed a sigh of relief, happy not to have flooded the hall as there was a fair chance it was run down toward the cells.

  He stood in the small stone closet for a minute, gathering his nerves. He’d decided that he was going to see what would happen if he walked casually down the other hallway leading from the fork. They’d brought Tove to him so it was possible he might be able to go and see her. She was being punished for helping him, but they hadn’t tried to stop him from leaving.

  Erik went to the fork, looking down it. The guards looked at him, not laughing as they had done the day before. They were thirty yards from him at least, but when he took a step down the hallway, they backed up, pulling their swords immediately. Yesterday they’d laughed at him. He took another step down the hall.

  “You ain’t allowed down here, einherjar. We’ll die if we have to.” The guard who spoke had a look somewhere between panic and fury.

  All Erik could think, over and over, was that they’d laughed at him before. It was what he’d expected of them in a way, but the trembling of the guard’s voice was odd. And it was the first time he’d been called einherjar by anyone. What had changed? Was it that he’d tried to flee? Haki must have done it dozens or hundreds of times.

  He turned around and headed up the hall to the administrative area. There was only one guard sitting at the desk, a thin, tall man who jumped when Erik came into the room. The man said nothing, only watched Erik until he decided to return to his cell.

  He heard the telltale signs of Ásví’s procession coming down the hall before an hour had passed. Haki didn’t bother rising to call out to her like he had last time. The doors opened and a guard came in, leaving a mattress sized for Erik’s wooden bed on the floor before leaving. The columns formed beside the door and Ásví walked in, wearing a loose, shimmering blue dress.

  She clapped and a chair was brought in behind her. She sat in it crossing her legs and the guard who had brought it scurried back out into the main room.

  “Close the door.”

  There was hesitation at her order, but it was done and eyes peered in from the outside, watching him intently.

  “Ignore them,” she said, shifting her weight in the chair. “You’re talking with me. And it would be rude of yo
u to ignore a guest bearing such gifts.” She waved a hand toward the mattress. “Now, before you start asking inane questions about the farm girl you dragged here, I will make my point. You’ve impressed me, Haki Erik Styrsson.” She looked down at her dress and picked at a small piece of lint. “Or, should I admit, I had underestimated you.”

  She looked at him, expectant, but Erik shook his head, not understanding.

  “The wall guards saw your fight.” She drew in a breath and then sighed. “The rumors spread well through the keep before a formal report came to me. Parts of it I simply won’t believe. They say you broke the arm of a valkyrie.” She scoffed. “It’s preposterous. But then, they are excitable men. But there were parts I cannot ignore. The damage to the street. The blood you drew from the mouth and nose of one you managed to strike.” She leaned forward, pushing her breasts together and smiling at Erik. “I had them describe it to me. And I should thank you.” She leaned back. “I’ve not felt so excited in as long as I can remember.”

  Erik stood, ready to shout, but Ásví held up a finger and he stopped though he wasn’t sure why.

  “I will make this clear before you begin your protests, I have no will to see Odin lack for his einherjar. The glory of the gods is the glory of us all. You understand that, I trust.” She stood up, walking toward him. “I can do things for you to make the struggle to free yourself from the valkyries outside less uncomfortable. So long as you entertain me.”

  “And how am I supposed to entertain you? Dance?”

  She laughed, grabbing the hand that had been shredded. “In a way, yes.” She rubbed her thumbs around the meat of his palm and then put his hand to her face. “I want to see you struggle.” She smiled, but it was a dark expression, full of malice.