Once her strokes became laboured, she rolled over in the water and allowed the current to take her back to her starting point. Kara fretted about the battle she had witnessed today, of Olaf and his renewed involvement with Hromundr. She cursed the fact that the people of Midgard had to hold revenge and vengeance so strongly in their hearts. Ever since she had found Helgi, they had been overshadowed by Hromundr and the need for retribution Helgi had on account of the death of his brother. She wished Helgi would just forget about it, that he would concentrate on what he had in front of him rather than what he felt compelled to do for the sake of revenge.
As Kara floated in the water, a shudder erupted as she thought of the battle, at the memory of Hromundr’s sword. Ever since she heard the skald talk of his newly acquired weapon, she knew it was somehow tied up in their fates. Now, after seeing it, there was no question. It was the very same sword she had gifted to Helgi all those years ago when she had been Svafa. Now, it simply bore a new title, one likely given to it by Thrainn before Hromundr took ownership of the weapon. It felt wrong to see it in the hands of someone other than her beloved and she didn’t know if having it back in their lives was a blessing or a curse.
Gazing up at the cold blue sky edged by darkening clouds, she wondered if Freya and Odin were looking down on her now, of what they thought about her relationship with Helgi. She had heard the whispered rumours that Odin was not impressed with the rebirth of herself and Helgi. However, she was unsure of Freya’s true feelings on the matter. Kara had a feeling that caused her to worry when it came to the goddess like she should be wary of her. She stuck her tongue out at the sky before rolling back over and readying to get out of the frigid water.
“Is that a Valkyrie tradition?”
Kara heard his voice and her head flung upwards. “Helgi!” she exclaimed before running to him.
She didn’t care that she was naked or that water was dripping everywhere. Instead, she threw herself at Helgi and he caught her before spinning her around.
“How are you, my lover?” Helgi asked with a chuckle. He slowed their rotation before gently placing her back on the ground.
“It was a wretched day on the battlefield today,” Kara replied before slumping down onto the grass. Helgi pulled off his cloak and laid it over her shoulders. Kara was thankful for the gesture but, really, she didn’t need it. She could feel the difference in temperature yet it didn’t affect her like it did humans. “And, I fear for your life after what I have seen.”
The words felt like poison as she spewed them and she looked at Helgi to gauge his reaction.
“Surely, that isn’t true?” Helgi asked and Kara wanted to reach out and slap him.
“Hromundr has joined forces with Olaf once more,” she started, not sure how she knew this latest dispute would cause them trouble. Yet, as well as she knew the sun rose each day, she believed that this conflict would be disastrous to them. To Helgi. “Two kings have invaded Olaf’s lands and he had no choice but to regain Hromundr.”
“That is wonderful news!” Helgi exclaimed, kneeling down next to her and clasping her hands.
“How is that so?” Kara asked, suddenly realising what cold probably felt like to humans as a sliver of dreadful chill danced up her spine. She shuddered with the sensation and Helgi pulled the cloak tighter around her.
“We can join forces with these two kings, against Olaf and Hromundr. With your magic, imagine what we could do in order to bring justice for my brother’s death?”
Kara smiled at him weakly, her shoulders sagging as she realised that Helgi truly had no idea just how devastating this battle could be. But then, how could he know? He was only human, after all.
Chapter 9: HELGI
The morning air chilled him, making his throat hurt and his fingers ache from the cold. Helgi stamped his feet, trying to warm them. His horse did the same and Helgi reached out to pat the stocky beast.
Looking over the wiry mane of the animal, he smiled at Kara. She stood tall and proud, her breathing deep, as though the frigid air did not affect her. And, perhaps it didn’t, Helgi figured. After all, she was more than human, she was a Valkyrie.
Helgi reached over to cup her chin in his hand. She leaned into him and closed her eyes, making his heart melt. He wanted to pull her away from the battle that was prepared and nearly ready to unfold in front of them. Instead, he wanted to take her far away, where they could live happily, without the worries of the world around them. He would love her and protect her and they would never have to be muddled up in problems such as the one they were involved with now.
Helgi didn’t really need to be here, to be helping his cousin, Halvor, challenge the earl and demand more land. However, when he was asked, Helgi had jumped at the prospect. But that had been before he had decided to actively seek out retribution for the death of his brother. Now, this battle seemed like a tiresome event, a needless waste of time, especially when he knew Kara would protect him and there would be no death on his behalf.
When the notion of not living to see another day break was taken away, battle didn’t seem nearly so interesting. In fact, while he still wanted retribution for his brother, many of these battles now seemed like such a waste of energy. His people should be fighting against intruders, and for the acquisition of new lands, not merely battling amongst themselves because of imagined slurs against each other.
But word had travelled about Helgi the Valiant and everyone wanted him to fight alongside them. They knew he was in love with a Valkyrie and they also knew what protection that afforded him. While this security only went so far as to cover Helgi, others felt that it didn’t hurt if they fought alongside him, that some of his luck might wear off on them.
However, it wasn’t luck that kept him safe. No, it was Kara’s magic. She protected him with her very life every time he went to war. Turning into a great swan, she would fly overhead, her great wings stretched out as far as they would go, creating a protective shadow over Helgi while he fought.
No, those who hoped her magic would also protect them were wrong. If anything, it made them more susceptible to die by being near him because Kara would sing them sweetly to their death rather than him.
“Attack!”
All around him men rushed forward, eager to fight until the bloody end of the conflict. Men struggled to stay alive and Helgi noted the faces of those he knew, wondering if he would ever see them again in this world, hoping that he would. Helgi swung his battle axe, connecting with the face of a charging warrior. He felt the sudden impact then it gave a little as the sharp edge cleaved through skin and muscle, stopping once more when it hit bone. At that point, Helgi pulled his weapon back, twisting as he did so in order to wrench the axe free. Blood spurted out of the open wound and Helgi turned his head away rather than get the sting of blood in his eyes.
Overhead, Helgi could hear wings pumping slowly as Kara took flight, heading to the clear sky over the battlefield. She had the best vantage point out of all of them in the war and Helgi wished he could see what it looked like from the sky. Would war be as ugly as it was at ground level, with all of the gore and blood mixing with the cold earth to make a sludge that sucked at your feet and dragged you down? Or, would the battle look graceful from up high? Helgi endeavoured to ask Kara as soon as they were victorious.
A man ran at Helgi, his sword held high, ready to come down on him. Normally, Helgi’s heart would race at the sight as he wondered if this would be his killing blow. Now, though, he listened to the sound of Kara’s singing and knew that it would be only a moment or two with the Valkyrie’s song directed at the warrior before the man slowed and then stilled as he stared skyward at Kara.
As soon as the man was preoccupied with the swan song overhead, Helgi moved in and chopped him down. Then, Helgi hit out at another man, and another after that. He continued until the battlefield was a blanket of dead bodies and only those who supported his cousin still stood.
Helgi turned a complete circle, observing the
destruction before he raised his axe high over his head and bellowed out a victory chant.
Those around him joined in and Helgi smiled as Kara returned to her Valkyrie form.
“Tell me what it looks like from up in the sky, while we are all fighting below?” Helgi was lying on the bed platform in a guest house belonging to the earl. His cousin was now an earl in his own right and Helgi was surprised at how well the battle had gone. While Kara’s magic certainly attributed to the victory, Halvor’s men also equally contributed and Helgi was proud of his cousin, of what he had achieved on his own merits.
“It is hard to describe,” she said. Kara had seemed distracted of late and Helgi was trying to work it out of her. Her fingers were twined through his and she brought his hand up to her lips as she spoke. “I am not myself when I am in a swan’s clothing. I remember my mission but I see things as the animal I have become would. A swan has no interest in the battles of men, so I barely even see it below me. Instead, all I see is you, a shining light among the red that I must protect with my own life.”
Her lips tickled Helgi’s hand and her breath excited him as it warmed his skin. “It is a shame, I would love to know what it is like up so high. It is such a unique perspective you have. But I guess it isn’t important. You are what is important to me.”
Helgi rolled over and straddled Kara, his body covering hers as he eased down on top of her. He kissed her slowly, their lips barely touching while their bodies mingled. He felt aroused by the sensation of her warm skin under his own.
Kara smiled, her gaze now devoted only to him, her troubles apparently lost for the moment, and Helgi felt hot tears pricking at the back of his eyes. He blinked down at her. By the gods, he loved this woman.
“Knowing you is important to me,” Helgi whispered, a knot of emotion forming in his throat. He dove in hungrily, kissing her fiercely. She responded by digging her nails into his back, by pulling him in closer and wrapping her legs around his waist.
Yes, loving her was the only thing that mattered to Helgi. He would travel to the ends of the earth if he had to. He would die for her if that is what the gods required.
But he had already done that before.
Chapter 10: KARA
“Maybe you should give up on retribution for your brother,” Kara whispered, knowing what his response would be but saying the words anyway. She somehow needed to fix the mess they were now in, the conflict she couldn’t quite work out but knew was brewing. Hromundr was the centre of it, and Helgi’s reaction to his brother’s death hinged on whether they would survive another cycle. However, that was all that Kara could see, the rest of the troubles surrounding them appeared as though hidden within a shroud of mist, grey figures that moved through the fog but never fully revealed themselves.
Helgi reached in, pulling her fully into his embrace and Kara welcomed it, wondering how much longer they could last, whether this would be the end of them. “Give up?” Helgi’s voice rose. “I cannot give up. My honour demands that I seek out Hromundr.”
“What about me?” Kara asked, her voice rising as well. She glared at Helgi, forced him to look at her. “What happens to me if you die?”
“How could that possibly happen?” Helgi asked. “I have your magic on my side. Plus, if I join with the two kings against Olaf, I will have their strength as well.”
Kara’s entire body trembled with Helgi’s admission. It was like he had just spoken the very words that would seal their fate.
“You don’t understand,” Kara whispered. “The gods do not like conceit such as you have just shown.”
Helgi laughed at her words and gloom descended on Kara that she knew couldn’t be lifted. “I have faith in the fact that we have only just gotten back together in this lifetime. The gods would not let us be parted so soon.”
Kara closed her eyes as though she could shut out Helgi’s words, that if she didn’t see him, she couldn’t hear him and then those words would not be so potent. She was sure the gods looked down on them as they had during the battle today and she shrunk under their gaze.
Her grief swelled, consuming her as she staggered under its onslaught. Maybe if she took flight, if she disappeared from Midgard then his words would not hold strength any longer. “I cannot allow this, Helgi,” she said quietly.
Standing, she turned away from him. Calling her horse, she jumped on top of it as soon as it appeared and disappeared into the fog of clouds that welcomed her. Her tears flowed, drowning her misery and quenching the earth far below. She wanted to turn back, to see Helgi once more. Yet, she closed her eyes and willed her horse home.
Chapter 11: ODIN
Odin watched as Kara trudged through the doors leading into the great hall. He could sense her desolation yet he also revelled in the fact he could see an endpoint for the madness of her cylindrical existence. All along, he had disagreed with their constant love affair that died and was reborn in what appeared to be a never-ending cycle. All along, he had been trying to work out a way to make it stop.
While he didn’t want to hurt poor Kara, he knew it had to be done. He wasn’t sure that the constant rebirth of their beings really sat well with their world. It felt unnatural to see their lives recreated time and again like they were the seasons on Midgard or day and night. They were people, not the intangible and, therefore, shouldn’t keep re-existing such as they did.
While Freya had originally thought to allow Svafa a second chance all those years ago, Odin suspected that she had come around to his way of thinking on the matter. When they first gave Svafa another chance with Helgi, Freya hadn’t initially looked far enough forward to see the full implications. Now, as Odin watched the misery of their lives being replicated over and over again, always ending in tragedy, he now saw how it was detrimental to the people involved and hoped that Freya felt the same way. Not that she would likely admit it to him anytime soon, though. Freya was as stubborn as she was beautiful and would never confess to being wrong.
So, it was up to Odin to fix it. But it would be a tricky task. Breaking magic such as this was never straight forward and even with all his gained knowledge, Svafa had suffered through Sigrun’s life and became Kara before she could figure out what to do.
“Odin!”
He turned at the harsh sound of his name. Kara stood behind him, her fists rigidly clenched at her sides and her lips so tightly pursed together that Odin could see a white ring around them even from this distance.
“Yes, Kara?” he questioned calmly.
“What are you up to?” She roared the words out across the room and they thundered like the clouds on the night she was born. They reverberated and bounced off the great hall’s walls.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Odin said quietly, blatantly lying to her.
“I know you are up to something, I can feel it in my bones. I have felt it for days now and, somehow, I know it involves Helgi.”
Kara had always been more magically inclined than the other Valkyries. While she could conjure up protection to cover those she favoured, her skill at reading the fates was not as finely honed. So, she could sense something was up, that the tides were turning. However, it was not something she could entirely understand.
“Nothing that concerns you,” Odin said, his voice clipped. Although, he didn’t mean to sound abrupt. He knew the path would be an uphill battle for Kara from now on in. He didn’t need to get mad at her and exacerbate the situation even further.
“That’s a lie!” Kara roared it out, her body trembling as she did so. She was working herself up and Odin knew already that this would end badly.
“Maybe it is,” Odin said flippantly. “But you need not concern yourself with the goings-on within my life.”
“What is going to happen to Helgi? And, how is Hromundr mixed up in it all?”
Odin was surprised. So, she had picked up on more than he realised.
“What do you know of Hromundr?” he asked and Kara pursed her lips. She certainly knew somethin
g and Odin suspected she would not reveal any of it to him unless he prompted her further. “What do you know of Mistletoe?”
Her eyes were wild with fear as he spoke the words and Odin knew that it was time to fix this great mess, that it was time to kill Helgi. But, looking at Kara, he could also see that she had guessed something, that she knew that this sword was the key. Her eyes welled but she fought back the tears. Swallowing deeply, she closed her eyes once, settled herself, and finally spoke.
“What can I do to fix it?”
“There is nothing you can do,” Odin replied. “I am merely mending something that should never have been set in motion all those years ago.”
“There is nothing wrong with Helgi and me,” Kara yelled at him, her arms waving in the air as she paced back and forth in front of Odin. “You don’t need to fix anything.”
“Oh, but I do. I should never have allowed your cycle to play out like this. It isn’t right and it needs to be repaired.”
“I’ll use my magic,” Kara said. She stopped her pacing to glare at him but Odin wasn’t fearful of her. She was a mere Valkyrie and he had battled much worse in his long lifetime. However, her gumption made him angry and he couldn’t help retaliating.
“You will not use your magic, and you will stop meddling,” he shouted at Kara. “Or you can be assured that Helgi’s life will be cut short.”
Kara gasped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth and Odin actually felt sorry for her. She didn’t realise he was doing this for her own good. Kara couldn’t keep going on like this, the suffering of love wasn’t fair, not when she kept losing Helgi.
The Breaker of Curses (Valkyrie Secrets Book 3) Page 4
