The only thing that kept the truth sealed was that the dragon tribes had gone to war years ago. Bard and his tribe lived their own life and still battled with Bjark and Einar’s tribes to this day. So it could very easily happen that one Maeva lived a life with Bard and the other, a quiet life with his rivals. Especially knowing Bard and his habit of hiding his women and torturing them.
“I am frightened,” Maeva whispered and met Eluf’s eyes. “This child cannot suffer for the sins of its father.”
Eluf gently brushed her hair back from her forehead. “And he will not, my love.”
Then they faded away.
Though she shouldn’t because they had finally arrived at the point in this story she understood, Erica still felt saddened. Poor Maeva. And Eluf. Her eyes went to Kodran. She knew he felt the same.
“It’s only a matter of time before the baby’s heartbeat is heard by Maeva’s sister,” she said. “So now it all starts to happen. Lauren...I mean Maeva’s sister in this life will go to her when she realizes she was hurt. Eluf will come forward, an anonymous helper that her sister barely trusts but accepts.” She frowned and leaned against the tree. “Then off Maeva goes to Mt. Galdhøpiggen to see through her pregnancy until Eluf deems it safe enough for her to travel through time.”
Kodran leaned against the tree beside her and took her hand. “This is truly a sad story.”
“It is,” she agreed and squeezed his hand before her eyes fell to the blade at his waist. “I wonder where that will take us next.”
Kodran unsheathed it and shrugged. “It’s hard to know.”
“May I?” She held out her hand. “Maybe if we both touch it we can move things along.”
The corner of his mouth curled up. “I remember a time when I tried to convince you to touch this, but you hesitated.”
“Your point?” She met his smile. “But I get it. We’ve come a long way.”
“In a very short time.”
“No kidding.”
He held out the blade. “It’s all yours.”
“No.” She shook her head and wrapped her hand around his on the hilt. “From the very beginning, it’s been all ours.”
Not surprisingly, the hilt warmed, blazed actually, and white light took them somewhere else. They returned to Eluf’s main cave at Mt. Galdhøpiggen’s peak. The shields were gone, and it was darker. Maeva stood near Eluf, now clearly pregnant. And Eluf, poor Eluf, had aged significantly. Now the head seer was hunched over and his voice raspy.
Erica’s eyes widened as she watched multiple people fighting nearby. Maeva’s sister and her mate. Lauren and Tait. They had just been deceived by Bard, and he was reveling in his trickery. That he’d managed to get them to kill one another.
She had heard about this. Knew that it had happened. But there was nothing as awful as watching Lauren being run through with a sword. Bile rose in Erica’s throat, and she squeezed Kodran’s hand. Hell, she was just about done with being in ancient Scandinavia. But naturally, it wasn’t over until it was over.
When Tait whipped a dagger into Maeva’s stomach to reconnect him with Lauren’s soul or some such bullshit, Erica couldn’t help it. She turned away and threw up. Sure, a moment later all would be well, and Maeva and her child would be unharmed thanks to magic, but still...that had been Erica’s baby too.
Her son. In a life long gone.
“Erica,” Kodran murmured, a supportive hand on her back. “Are you all right?”
“No.” She wiped her mouth, closed her eyes and tried to regroup. “Furthest thing from it, actually.”
He started to say something but stopped when everything grew silent. When they looked back, it was to see Eluf and Maeva sharing moments together that nobody knew about. Some of it, yes, but not all of it. Not when Eluf, at his ripe old age, still managed to retain more power than Bard likely anticipated.
What anyone standing close by would have heard, or even a prophet such as Cybil would have seen in a vision, was Eluf urging her to go. That she couldn’t stay there anymore. The enemy would hunt her until she submitted. They would be merciless and unforgiving.
“What of the Sigdir’s?” came Maeva’s soft, feminine reply. “Surely they will give me shelter.”
“Perhaps they would. Perhaps they would not,” Eluf responded. “We cannot trust in uncertainties.”
And that’s where the story changed because though Maeva didn’t seem to follow, Eluf suddenly turned, looked directly at Kodran and Erica and held out his hand. “Give me the blade. Your blade. Mine. Hers. Our kin’s.” His voice softened. “And though I will have to rewrite it a bit, give Maeva her fairytale.”
Erica didn’t hesitate but handed the blade over.
Kodran nodded his approval. He understood that this was bigger than they thought.
Eluf turned back and pressed it into Maeva’s hand. Then he said words meant for other ears. The ones Cybil had heard. And they went as follows...
“Take this and start anew,” Eluf said. “Never say who you are. Never shift again. Become anonymous. As time goes by, the dragon will go to sleep.”
“Will it ever awake?” Maeva asked.
“Only if something awakens it.”
“And what would cause such a thing?”
After that nobody heard anything else in a vision or otherwise. But Erica and Kodran did. They finally heard what else was said. And it broke her heart.
“It is time to say goodbye, Maeva,” Eluf whispered as he cupped her cheeks. “To stay here a moment longer will only put your child at risk.” He stroked her cheek. “We both know there is not much time left for us anyway.”
Tears began to fall as Maeva shook her head. “But I do not...” Her eyes pleaded with him. “We have been together for hundreds of years, my love. Do not send me away now. Let me stay...let me be here for you.”
“No.” Eluf shook his head. “It is time to think not of our own desires but about keeping your bloodline safe.” He rested his hand on her swollen stomach. “This is the soul that matters, Maeva. He is yours and only yours until he brings us back together someday.”
“But how?” she whispered, her heart in her eyes as tears continued rolling down her cheeks.
“With strength. Yours and mine.” He squeezed her hand around the hilt of the blade. “And this. Reborn of our love. Found again.”
She shook her head. “What does that mean?”
A wistful smile curled his lips, and though Erica sensed he wanted to glance at her and Kodran, he didn’t. “It means we will find each other again someday, my love. And when we do, ignorance will be defeated, and nothing will ever keep us from being together again.”
Maeva looked from the dagger to him and whispered, “I am scared, Eluf.”
“Do not be.” He cupped her cheek. “Because you are strong and once you go where I am sending you, you will become stronger. Your mind will clear, and your memories shall become less painful. You will live a good life and love your child well.”
“How do you know that?” She shook her head and choked back a sob. “How can you possibly know that?”
“Because I have been around for a very, very long time,” he murmured. “And have loved you time and time again.”
“So we will see each other again?” she asked, hopeful. “Because it sounds like we may.”
“We will,” he assured and kept his hand over hers on the hilt of the blade. “I promise you.”
Erica couldn’t stop her own tears as a single tear rolled down Eluf’s cheek. It was the first she had seen him shed since all this began. When she glanced at Kodran, she wasn’t surprised to see the heartache in his eyes too. This had been a powerful moment for them in another life. The saddest, most heartbreaking thing either of them had ever experienced.
“I love you, Eluf,” Maeva whispered.
“And I love you,” he whispered back before he started chanting and she faded away. Shortly after that, he faded as well. But they knew what happened next. Eluf had managed to fi
ght off Bard. But it didn’t matter. The enemy had a new target. Maeva’s tribe.
They would pay for this deception.
“That was rough to see.” Erica wiped away a tear and met Kodran’s eyes. “You have to wonder though...who really created that blade? Was it Kjar in the flames of the ash? But he couldn’t have without Lauren burning that tree down. And Lauren wouldn’t have existed without the blade traveling with Maeva to the future, to begin with.”
“’Tis a bloody good riddle,” Adlin declared as he appeared and assessed the cave. “Och, something dire indeed just happened here, aye?”
“To put it lightly,” Erica said. “But at least we have a lot more answers then we did before.”
“I thought you might.” Adlin considered the cave. “It already has a different feel about it...an emptiness that wasnae here before.”
“Maeva,” Kodran murmured. “Without her here it will never feel the same for Eluf. This mountain will never feel the same.”
Erica slipped her hand into his as she felt his pain. The great loss Eluf had suffered.
A moment later, things started to change again. They didn’t switch locations, but the shields reappeared. As did Eluf who stood at the entrance to the cave. He wore a thunderous expression and gripped his cane in anger as he stared into the distance.
As soon as they knew they were under attack, Maeva’s kin had engaged Bard’s over the sea. The battle was vicious and heartbreaking, but thankfully Einar’s dragons were going to their rescue. At least they were until the unexpected happened.
Bard took advantage of a weak link Eluf never saw coming.
His head apprentice, Asmund.
Better yet, the dragon he had long loved from afar. Shannon in another life.
“Loki’s cock,” Kodran ground out as Eluf’s thoughts ran through his mind as readily as hers. “Bard promised Asmund that he would spare some of Bjark’s dragons if he cast a spell to pull Einar’s dragons back.”
“No,” Eluf roared at the sky. If any were strong enough to pull off such a feat, it was one of his head apprentices. “Do not do it, Asmund! Do not trust him!”
“But Asmund did do it,” she whispered. “Well, almost. Those who were already mated to Bjark’s dragons were able to bypass the summoning.”
“A summoning so strong it could not be ignored,” Eydis murmured as she appeared beside them.
“’Twould have to be,” Adlin said softly. “And ‘twould have to involve their dragon leader as well.”
Kodran shook his head. “Einar.”
“Yes,” Eydis said. “When Bard left this cave, he dispatched half of his tribe to destroy Maeva’s people while he went after both Einar and Asmund. As soon as he was able to capture Einar, he harnessed the power of both an original dragon and a head apprentice seer...then things became a thousand times worse.”
“Sonofabitch,” Erica whispered as so much became clear. “Bard didn’t just manage to annihilate my people that day but the majority of the Sigdirs as well.”
“Yes,” Eydis said sadly. “Under the telepathic influence of so much magic, they were barely themselves by the time they were unnaturally lured to Bard and the other half of his tribe. They were spellbound and vulnerable...weakened.” Her eyes met Kodran’s. “And they paid for it with their lives.”
Chapter Fourteen
KODRAN WAS STILL trying to process everything as Eluf faded then reappeared. Now the old seer sat on a stool in the center of the shields with his head hung. There were a scant few others there. Asmund and his brother as well as Einar, who was grievously wounded. It appeared Asmund had managed to save both himself and Einar with Eluf’s help. Eydis was present too but stood next to Eluf now.
Adlin had vanished yet again.
“I am so sorry,” Asmund kept muttering as he knelt on the ground with Einar’s head on his lap. “I never should have believed Bard...I never should have been so trusting...”
“You cannot change what is,” Eluf murmured as his eyes went to his head apprentice. “And I well understand how persuasive the heart can be. The lengths we are willing to go for love.”
Eluf sighed and addressed the small gathering of dragons and seers who made up what was left of their secret society. “With help from wizards, I was able to dispatch a large group of Einar’s kin into the future. There they will wait until they are needed...assuming everything goes as planned.” His eyes went to Asmund and his brother, then to Einar and Eydis. “Are you sure you want to do what we discussed?” His gaze returned to the handful of people surrounding them. “Are all of you sure?”
They nodded, every last face determined and unwavering.
“So be it then.” Eluf leaned on his cane, and his eyes went from person to person while he spoke. “Thank you all for your loyalty over the years. For being part of our secret society for so long. For never giving up hope that dragons and seers might someday find peace and love. That the old laws could be changed. And now...” His voice dropped. “And now for being willing to sacrifice all in the hopes that it might someday happen.”
He continued addressing them with gratefulness in his eyes. “Thank you as well for keeping our secret for so long. For never sharing that part of Maeva had escaped Bard and spent her days with us.” Emotion was evident in his voice. “She was as grateful to you all as I am.”
They nodded and remained respectfully silent as Eluf stood then started chanting.
“What are they doing?” Erica whispered as everything went white and changed yet again. They were back at the huge Yggdrasill on the shore. Eluf stood directly beneath it, and everyone else stood around the tree holding hands. He placed his palm against the trunk, held up his cane and began chanting along with the others.
All of a sudden she could understand his words.
“He’s trying to recreate Maeva’s fairytale,” she whispered and shook her head. “He’s creating a platform to bring everyone back together someday in another life.”
Kodran nodded. He knew. He remembered as Eluf chanted. Einar would find his way back and become Erica’s father to help lead the sisters in the right direction. Guilt-ridden, Asmund volunteered to come back as Anthony, Shannon’s husband, to reunite her with her family. Anthony’s brother volunteered to accompany him. And Eydis? She volunteered to leave everything behind and be shifted through time. She would watch over Maeva and her lineage for the next few hundred years until their dragons awakened. Over her long years there, she would eventually take on the role of Mema Angie.
Then Eluf called on Bjark’s spirit to come fight one last final battle for his kin.
Kodran pulled Erica close as the ground began trembling, wind whipped, and the trunk began to glow then every branch and leaf. The beauty of it was impossible to describe. The pure allure. One, it seemed, that drew dragons far and wide because the horizon filled with Bard’s dragons. More than that, Bard himself. Rage filled the enemy’s eyes as he saw the otherworldly tree for the first time. After all, it had been cloaked before.
“It’s not just the tree that’s got him pissed off,” Erica murmured. “But the Gungnir cave system below it.” Her lips curled up as her eyes met Kodran’s. “He’s realizing it wasn’t just a safety zone for Maeva but the ultimate weapon in combination with the tree.”
“How do you know what he’s thinking?” he said softly.
Erica seemed a little startled by that. “I don’t know.” He didn’t miss the fear that flickered in her eyes. “Unless maybe the other Maeva...”
No sooner did she get the words out than another dragon appeared alongside Bard.
The evil version of Maeva.
“Shit,” Erica whispered and shivered. “Look at her eyes. She’s as bad as they come.”
“What are you doing, seer?” Bard roared, clearly trying to fight whatever Eluf was doing to him and his dragons but losing. Within moments, thousands of dragons were hovering overhead, trying to land but unable.
Everything seemed to slow down as Eluf, at last,
slammed his cane on the ground. When he did it almost seemed like a nuke went off. The ground sank before it expanded then a sound he knew would have normally made them permanently deaf boomed around them.
White fire exploded everywhere.
Eluf and his group were incinerated in seconds as was Bard, and most of his dragons. A scant few were able to fly a few hundred feet before their charred bodies crashed into the ocean.
Meanwhile, one slammed down nearby.
Kodran kept Erica close as she stared at the evil Maeva. Her dragon snarled at them as she struggled to stand but was too far gone. Meanwhile, all grew very quiet, and black ash rained from the sky.
Everything and everyone had vanished including the tree.
“Even the Gungnir cave is gone,” Kodran murmured. “All gone.” He shook his head. “And everyone’s dead.”
“Not quite yet,” Erica whispered as her eyes met Maeva’s. “But soon.”
Maeva’s eyes remained narrowed on Erica.
“If I had a weapon now, I’d kill you myself for what you’ll do to my sisters someday,” Erica seethed. “For what you’ll allow Hallstein to do to me.”
“What says you do not have a weapon?” came a soft voice moments before a shadowy woman appeared on the shore.
“Hel,” Kodran murmured.
The ruler of Helheim nodded and sauntered around Maeva with disgust before she walked into the black ash, crouched and stood with a barely charred twisted cane. She eyed it with approval before she ran her fingers over the blunt end and it became a sharpened point.
“There.” Hel held it out to Kodran. “Now it is time for you to finish what you started, seer.” Her eyes narrowed. “And if you ever create another dragon the likes of Maeva, not even my love for Matthew will keep me from hurting your kin.”
He nodded then eyed the cane. “So this will end her once and for all?”
“Look inside yourself, and you tell me.” Hel’s features shifted as she tried to stay manifested in this world. “Will it?”
Pride of a Viking Page 17
