The shopkeep returned holding a pair of swords. He pulled them, showing impressive blades, though neither had runes of any sort. Tove smiled wide when she picked up the first, swinging it freely. It was plain to see it was light and the grip was near perfect for her hand.
“This one.”
The man laughed. “You don’t wish to try the other?”
Tove shook her head. “No, this is the one.” She poked at the air a few times. “I’m sure.” Tove removed the sheath she wore and put it on the counter, replacing it with the new one.
The shopkeep smiled. “It suits you.” He turned to Erik as Tove continued busying herself with the sword. “You’ve eyed those pieces for a time. My apprentice makes them. She’s deft with a hammer, whether striking a blade or tapping fine jewelry.” He chuckled, half sighing. “I swear the girl surpassed me years ago but insists on learning still.”
Erik nodded. “I’ll take another piece, only if you let me pay for it.”
The man came around to Erik, a conflicted look on his face. “I couldn’t charge a man who brings glory to Odin.”
“What if I insist? Call it a gift or something, I don’t know.”
“I… I apologize, einherjar.”
Erik sighed, looking down at the case. “These are silver?”
The shopkeep opened the case. “Platinum. Finer than silver and not given to tarnish.”
There was a silver shield with a thick chain. Erik lifted it from the case. The circular shield bore a pattern turned and repeated in each quarter.
“That one? A beautiful shield, if I say so myself. The pattern gives protection, through the ancient magics, or so my own master told me so long ago. I’d not trust it over armor,” the man laughed. “But there are strange old ways even the gods have forgotten, or so the tales go.”
“I’ll take it.”
“With my blessing, at that. I hope it finds you well at Ragnarok.”
The man bowed and Erik started to the door, seeing that Tove already had. She was outside inspecting her sword in the light of day. As the shopkeep saw the second sword back into the back room, Erik stopped at the edge of the shop, quietly putting two gold coins Modgudr had given him onto the counter.
When he was outside he turned to Göll, her face still serious. He pulled up her hand, and she watched him, impassive. He placed the shield into it.
“I’m sorry I yelled. And I’m no good at this sort of shit. But I want you to have this. That’s why I had to pay for it. At least I can pretend I earned that gold, whether it’s true or not.” He smiled. “You don’t have to wear it. Just… I wanted to give you something.”
Göll’s eyes seemed to shift, light coming back into them somehow. She looked down at the chain, a soft, confused frown on her face.
“Haki Erik Styrsson!”
The voice was one he hadn’t heard since the first time a sword plunged into his body. He turned to see Vár walking toward him down the street. Tove was confused and solved the issue by coming closer to Erik.
“Vár, what an entirely unpleasant surprise.”
“As much a surprise as your ready progress in coming to Helborgen.”
“Yeah, about that, I thought Hel was supposed to help me? I’m already here.”
Vár scoffed in annoyance. “Do you believe the world is so simple as that? Or that your journey is through?” She shrugged. “I suppose that depends upon you, but still… my goddess offered you help, true. And said to come and find her. Failing your own end of a bargain does not mean the other has as well.”
“So why are you bothering me now?”
“A strange way to see it,” Vár said, looking over Tove. “And I’ve heard of your warband. Hel was pleased to hear you’d done such a thing.”
Göll took a step forward at the mention of Hel but Erik held an arm out to stop her.
“Okay, so what is it you want?”
Vár put on a wry smile. “I’ve come only to welcome you to Hel’s beautiful city. And to remind you of her outstanding offer of aid, should you choose to accept it.” Vár’s gaze shifted to Göll and the smile faded. “We have good reason to believe you should need it.”
“Sure, great. Tell her if I hate Valhalla, I’ll take her up on it.”
Göll’s hand appeared on Erik’s shoulder, gripping it hard. He turned his head half to her when he saw Vár give a disbelieving smile.
“A deal well struck.”
“Wait, what? No, no. I was—”
Hel’s agent laughed. “I will make sure you are well looked after, then.”
Göll pulled Erik back and rushed at Vár who fled before the valkyrie could do anything. Göll turned on her spot.
“What have you done?!” Göll shouted the words, her voice ragged, as if she’d not used it in days. “You must not—” Göll stood bolt upright, her eyes darkening. The words choked off, locked in her lungs.
From behind, Erik felt the tip of a sword push into his ribs. It was a familiar sting, he even knew the shape of the blade. Tove screamed, drawing her sword, but it was too late. The blade had hit his heart.
His chest spasmed as Tove tore through the crowd after the valkyrie who stabbed him. He hadn’t even seen her and didn’t now. His eyes were locked on Göll. She fell to her knees, muscles in her face twitching, a tear running down her face. She still held the necklace in her hands. Erik smiled and the world went black. He prepared himself for the pain to come.
His eyes tore open, and he was again unable to move. He felt his arms being pulled, and blades run through the meat of his forearms. His eyes cleared for a half second of the tears the pain forced from him. There were three valkyries in the room. One to either side. They were working their blades through the leather of his grips, whipping his only weapon away. The third picked them up, snapping the metal clean in half. As a scream worked its way out of him, a hot blade laid across his neck. The valkyrie pulled, a look of pure rage on her face. Blood poured into the hole she opened, choking him as he writhed on the bed. They all watched as he died again.
He came back in the same bed, immediately wet with his own blood. The blade came toward his neck as soon as his mind returned to him. He felt the power come but it was too late. He managed to slam a fist into the table at his side, destroying it.
He rose a third time to the sound of the door to his room crashing open. Ljunge surveyed the room, delaying two of the valkyries. The one who had cut his throat did so again as the other two put holes in Ljunge.
Erik returned, the power was somewhere deep beneath the pain coursing through his body. He could feel it there, but he could not find it. His bleary eyes saw Ljunge charge into the room again, shouting and bearing a pair of daggers toward the valkyrie who stood guard. He fell as the blade came across Erik’s neck again.
The valkyries took his life once more, Ljunge coming as they fled out the window, taking much of the wall of Erik’s room with them. Erik could see nothing. His throat throbbed and twitched violently. He could hardly pull a breath, gasping every ounce down through an unwilling throat. The air was not enough and the world slowly faded only to come roaring back, the pain seeming to multiply each time he lost his battle to breath.
The images of the time after that were sporadic. Ljunge was there, panicked. Tove came. A picture of his body being carried lived somewhere in his mind. All he could wonder was where Göll had gone. He could not calm himself, desperate to force an image of her into his mind. He did not know how long it had been or where he was when he felt a cool hand on his forehead and soft breath in his ear. It was Göll, her true voice, soft and kind.
“Sleep now, Erik. You are safe.”
chapter|32
It was more than a day before Erik could stand the pain enough to open his eyes. There was no mistaking how Haki ended up in the state Erik witnessed. Looking around, Erik saw that he was propped up in a bed
, unable to speak. The walls were all intact but he was still in the same hotel he had been in before. Göll was watching the windows. She turned when he stirred, the first to notice he had come back to his senses.
Tove, seeing Göll move to the bed took notice, slapping at Ljunge’s shoulder. She was the first to speak.
“Erik, I’m sorry we…” Tove paused, looking down at her feet. “I ran back as fast as I could manage when I realized.”
“It’s fine.” Erik’s voice was broken and the words came only with great effort. “Göll, is that normal? What they did?”
Göll’s expression was not the strange one she’d worn for the days before, but something softer. “The tactic, yes. But… to attack in Helborgen. It is unheard of. Hel refuses to have her city disrupted.”
Erik rolled his head back against the pillow behind him, the pain flaring. When it subsided, he looked at the windows. It was night. “So, what do we do?”
Göll shook her head. “It is strange. I can only think Odin has some plan for you.”
“And why do you think that?”
The moment she went to speak, Göll’s throat seized, violently, her face locking to an intimidating scowl. The darkness flashed back to her eyes. She put a hand to her neck, touching a familiar chain, and her throat released its tension all at once. She inhaled sharply and turned to the window.
Anger ran through Erik, the flutter in the pit of his stomach making itself known again, worsening even. It hadn’t left since they’d passed into the plains outside Hel’s city.
Tove stepped forward. “You should go. Einherjar belong at Odin’s side. He must be… upset somehow. Perhaps that you took aid from Völundr. We found his work, broken.” Her eyes moved toward the table beside the bed and Erik saw the tattered remains of the grips there.
“Göll, can you still feel my presence?”
Göll nodded her affirmation. “More strongly than I have ever heard it described.”
She quickly stopped the sentence, returning to her silence, though Erik could not sense any tension in her neck. She may have been trying to avoid it occurring at all. Erik rubbed his own throat. The skin was smooth and the muscles were calm beneath. How many times must Haki have experienced that pain? Tove shifted her weight, drawing Erik’s attention.
“We… We should…”
Ljunge stepped past Tove. “She cried near the entire time. Shame she wasn’t here to do anything. Not like me.” She swung at him and he dodged it, laughing. “It’s not often I see a man brutalized like that. Can’t say as I have a taste for it. Still, couldn’t lay blade to any of them. That’s rare by me.”
Tove looked at him. “Should it come as a surprise? You said yourself you’re no good in a fight.”
“And I’ve not lied to anyone before today.” He snorted mockingly, looking back to Erik. “Life is made easy when a person assumes they know a man’s reasons. I adventured for longer than I stole and I found myself bored in Gjallarbrú with no means to cross.” Ljunge looked serious for the first time since they’d met. “I would join your warband, if you’d have me. Ah!” His face brightened as he extended an arm. “I do enjoy sex and coin, though. That was true.”
Erik studied him for a moment. “You’d bind yourself to me? Odin may destroy you if you are found unworthy.”
Ljunge shrugged. “What better way could a man hope to end?”
Erik clasped Ljunge’s arm and shook. “Welcome aboard, then. And good luck.”
Ljunge stepped back, looking at his own hand as if it had grown just then. “You…” He turned his hand over, considering the back of it. “I cannot say as I have ever formed a warband with an einherjar, but I was not expecting that.”
“What?”
“A… feeling. I feel lighter.” He shook his head. “In my head, maybe. I’ve joined no warbands in Helheim. I simply didn’t expect any strange effects.”
“Information hasn’t been particularly high on the list of things I’ve been given down here.” Erik pulled himself to the edge of the bed. He stood himself up, finding that he had been changed into sleep clothes. “I’ll change, then we can go see if Valhalla is all it’s cracked up to be.”
Ljunge left the room, saying he did not want to see Erik naked again. He dressed and they left the hotel. The clerk was decidedly nervous as their party moved through the main lobby. The courteous bows were all still in place, but they were well aware of what had happened to him. If he had any reason to doubt Göll’s claim that valkyries did not attack in Helborgen, the looks on the faces in the hotel lobby would have removed it.
Out on the street, Erik kept his eyes narrow. It was dark and he could not watch the sky, but the attack had not come from there. An attack meant to avoid notice by Hel’s own hounds. Vár could keep pace with the valkyries in Midgard and with Göll just before he was stabbed. There must have been others.
He found a map of the streetcars for the city near a group of waiting people. They watched Göll nervously, not paying much mind to Erik. It was possible that news of the attack had spread. They were only a few blocks from the hotel and at least their region of the city would have talked about such an event. They were nearly six blocks from what was a main road that ran through the whole of Helborgen to the east.
“Valhalla is to the east?”
His raspy voice drew more stares. Göll nodded without a word, but still the people slid away from their group.
Ljunge chuckled. “It seems they’d rather not accompany us.”
Erik gave a strained smile. “Their loss, right?”
They left the stop, walking toward the main road. The streets were bustling and as they moved out of the area where he had been attacked, the stares faded, replaced by people hurrying from one place to another. Erik welcomed the disinterest in him, at the very least he could feel for a moment as though he was not marching toward his own undoing. It was a possibility he could not ignore. He hardly knew Ljunge, but had no reason to refuse the man. If nothing else, he would provide a distraction for Erik to use so that he could escape with Tove. There was a question then of how much sanctuary Hel could provide, if any. And what would become of Göll. It was too much to consider, but he had no other course. At least, he would see Valhalla before seeking Hel.
The wait for the streetcar was a short one, but there were others with them. It arrived, half full, and Erik’s paltry warband entered the front of the car, standing near exits and windows on Erik’s suggestion so that they could see themselves clear if a fight came for them.
There were not stops, as such. The car simply slowed near the exits and people left or entered. There was a constant flow of people, something which troubled Erik. There were many valkyries, he knew that much, but he did not know their faces. The others were on edge as well, Ljunge with his hands at a new pair of daggers he’d bought and Tove ready to pull her sword.
Erik only stood, staring blankly out the windows, watching every face he could manage and thinking of what he should do. They had crossed half the city by streetcar when Vár called to Erik from the back of the car. He had not seen her enter and she was walking toward him. Göll turned, readying herself for a fight.
“How did you like it, Haki Erik Styrsson? The cruelty of the valkyries is worthy of legend, is it not?” She smiled at him in anticipation of his answer but did not wait for one. “Göll has taken her part in such cruelty, of course.” Vár feigned a frown. “Though it seems she lost a taste for it.”
“What do you want, Vár?”
“I’ve only come to watch you cross the city. Hel is pleased with the simple conditions of your agreement to see her aid you.” Vár looked at Göll and tilted her head to the side. “Should you need it, of course. I’d hate to offend.”
Ljunge looked Vár over. “She works for Hel? I like her spunk.” He extended an arm in greeting.
Vár slapped him across the face. “Like
it at a distance.” She turned her eyes back to Erik. “Hel recommends that you should see her rather than make this voyage to Valhalla.”
Göll snapped at that. “She would! Stop muddling his mind with your tricks!”
Vár ignored the shout, keeping her eyes locked to Erik. “Well?”
His voice was still raspy and speaking still hurt, but he managed to say it. “I’ll go see Valhalla. Be a real waste of a trip if I didn’t at least take a look.”
A disappointed frown came at his response. “You are free to choose what you wish.” She stepped to the edge of the car. “Good luck.” With that she stepped off.
Erik had forced it down, but the churn in his stomach was getting worse the closer they came to the eastern edge of the city. The track circled at the end of the line and Erik’s group took their leave when it did.
Erik shook his head. “I think I’m hungry or something. I… let’s eat some food, okay? Valhalla will still be there.” He forced a grating laugh, coughing halfway through it. “Besides,” he croaked, “Ljunge still owes me a meal.”
Ljunge laughed. “Have a girl slap me and then have me pay for a meal. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve misjudged you Erik.”
Erik smiled at the thought. “Hey, if people know your intentions, or whatever.”
Ljunge shrugged and headed off toward the side of the road. The eastern part of the city was much the same as the other end, though there seemed to be more in the way of residential shops in the section they’d ended up. Tove kept close to Erik, as did Göll. They watched the world around him closely. Erik had given up on it, the odd feeling in his stomach turning to something approaching a burning. It was neither debilitating nor painful, but it distracted him. He only thought of it and scanned the buildings across from them. He left it to Ljunge to pick the place and they ended up in a quiet little restaurant that had simple tables and chairs. It was run by a husband and wife who welcomed them enthusiastically. They saw Göll and offered to give things for free, Ljunge immediately turning them down, cheerily saying that he was paying for the meal and that he would not allow them to keep him from repaying his debt. That was enough for the couple and Ljunge took his seat with them at the table.
From Death to Valhalla (The Last Einherjar Book 1) Page 28
