We walked for another few minutes and then came to the familiar room with the giant stuffed bear-shark-monster. Madalena gestured to the couch, and then she moved back to the table where the food was so that she could make us a new plate.
“We don’t have much time. As soon as my father finds out you are healed, he will expect you to begin the rite of passage.”
“You don’t seem happy with this outcome,” I said as she handed me a large glass of red wine.
“No. It is as I feared. He has decided to kill you.” She turned her back to me so she could place more food on the plates.
“He called it ‘Odin’s’ or--”
“Odin hung himself from Yggdrasil. His rite is reserved for those of other clans who wish to be accepted into ours, or for those who wish to challenge my father’s leadership.”
“So, wait, I have to hang from a tree? Like with a noose around my neck? That’s fucking--”
“How are you still alive?” She turned to me, and her eyes mirrored the fire in the hearth.
“I told you, I heal quickly.”
“No. Her sword split your heart and ruined your lung. You should have died a few moments later.”
We stared at each other for a few seconds, and I debated what I should tell her. Madalena’s face was so damn hard to read, but her actions so far had seemed to confirm that she was committed to helping me.
Even if everyone around us would rather I just die so she could return to her mission.
“You watched the video you got from Queen’s Hat? The one of the planet Parnarta?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“You saw the tiger-man in the chair? The one they brought back to their tent?”
“Yes.” Her eyes narrowed a bit.
“A blonde man that they called President Yu showed up and killed Fredrick Gammon, and then he took the body of the tiger-man.”
“Yes. I recall the video.”
“I know the video is over a hundred years old, but that same fucker bought me as a slave and performed medical experiments on me. He did something to my DNA, and now I can change into one of those tiger-men. I heal damn fast. When I came to Epsilon Tauri - b, I had lost both of my hands. They were cut off when I tried to hold onto the bay door of the ship that kidnapped my friends. The Magate Order chased me away from the world where they were kidnapped. I couldn’t help you when you were on your space station because I had no hands to pilot my ship or perform necessary repairs.”
“You have hands now,” she said as she looked down at my arms.
“As I said, I heal fast. It was why I had to rest after I turned your air on.”
Madalena stared at me for a few moments, and then she shook her head. “I believe your words, but I want to see for myself.”
“You just saw me heal, so--”
She raised up her hand and reached for a button on her suit. I heard her say “Mikhael,” but I didn’t understand the rest of her words. The man replied to her, and then she took her hand away from her suit.
“Mikhael will pull the recordings from your ship so I can study them.”
“You just said we don’t have a lot of time.” I sighed and took a sip of my wine. My thoughts drifted to Zea, Eve, Kasta, and Paula again. Was there any way out of this rite? I didn’t like the idea of being hung from a tree. I doubted that I could heal from choking to death.
“You do not have much time, my lord. Eat this. Eat all of it. I need a few moments to think.” The beautiful woman passed me a plate stacked with meat and cheese, but I waved my hands.
“I’m not hungry--”
“Do as I say, my lord. The rite of passage is long and grueling. You will need all your strength.”
“Hmm,” I growled as I took the plate from her. “But you said I would get hung from a tree--”
“Yes, at the end,” she said as her eyes roamed my body. “But Odin has given you to me, and me to you. He has given you the ability to pass his trial. My father has made an error of judgement. He expects you to die during the process, or to die at the end when you hang from Yggdrasil, but you will live, and our people will see it as a sign from the All Father.”
“I’m not some sign from a god, Madalena. I’m just a Marine looking for his friends. If I die, they might end up as slaves for the rest of their lives. So, I need to win. Tell me what I have to do, or who I have to kill, to get through this alive.”
“Eat your food, my lord. You might not be able to eat for a few days. As you eat, I will tell you what you need to do.” She pushed the plate to me again, and I finally took it. Then I sat on the plush couch and grabbed some of the meat from the plate.
“Tell me,” I said around a mouthful.
“In most cases, the rite of passage is three parts, and it is completed by a small group of young warriors preparing to go into adulthood. I killed this uiun-bair during mine, and I helped my other companions kill their own.” The woman pointed to the stuffed monster poised at the side of the room.
“When you were fourteen? That’s fucking insane. How many were you with? Did everyone--”
“My experience is not important to your trial,” she interrupted me. “You will have to complete the rite alone. Before you begin, I will help you through a ritual shaving off your hair, and a bath in our salt springs. You will be given new clothes, and you must swear to abandon the old ways of your people during the cleansing ceremony.”
“Abandon the ways of my--”
“It is not like the submission ritual, where you and I were bonded together in life and the afterlife, it is just words to confirm that you want to join our people.”
A hundred questions came to my lips, but Madalena’s expression told me she wasn’t interested in hearing any of them. Her talk of us being bonded together concerned me. I had felt strange when our bloody hands touched, and I still couldn’t shake the memory. It also felt odd standing near her. I’d been trying to ignore the sensation, but every time the woman laid her hand on my armor, the sensation seemed to fill my head. It wasn’t a burning or passionate emotion. I just felt as if my nerves shouted whenever she was near.
“After you confirm, you will be delivered to Nordar - 13 - a. You will be dropped in Niflheim, on the north pole with some clothes, but no weapons. Then you will need to travel south till you reach Svartalfheim. It is a land of lush forests and dense caves.” The woman moved over to the brick wall above the fireplace and ran her fingers over the brick there. A screen shimmered, and I saw an image of the Earth-looking planet I’d observed when we first entered her home system.
Madalena raised her finger to the top of the planet’s north pole and then traced a line down to the center of the planet. A red series of dots followed her finger, and I felt my mouth go dry around the food.
“I need to get halfway across the planet?” I asked.
“Yes.” She nodded.
“Without any equipment? Just clothes? No food, or supplies, or anything else?” I was trying to keep my anger in check.
“You will be given basic supplies, but this is only the middle part of the first trial. Once you reach Svartalfheim, you will need to continue onward to Helheim.” The woman traced her finger downward until she was touching the snow area around the south pole. “This will be the most dangerous part of your journey. It is the land of the Hel, and she wishes to enslave all who enter her territory.”
“This is insane. That must be at least ten thousand kilometers. It will take me months to reach there on foot. I don’t have the time for this.” The monster in my stomach was screaming, and I closed my eyes for a few moments.
Was there any way I could get out of this? My brain started to puzzle out a way back to Persephone, but I had no idea how to navigate through the maze of this fortress, and there was no way Madalena’s crew would let me take my ship out of here. I’d probably have to fight my way there, and a single shot from one of these people’s plasma weapons would create a devastating wound.
“The trip is arou
nd eleven thousand kilometers,” she answered. “A tracking beacon will help you determine where the checkpoints are. During each phase of your journey, you will need to defeat a threat.”
“Like one of those?” I pointed at the uiun-bair. This bullshit just kept getting more insane.
“Yes, that would be appropriate, since you will be alone. There are other creatures and humans living on the planet who will suffice. After you kill one, the device connected to the beacon will let you know.”
“Humans live on a planet with monsters like that running around?” I looked at the uiun-bair again. I didn’t think it would be much of an issue to kill with any of my firearms, but I wouldn’t have any weapons when they dropped me off on this planet.
“Yes, our people. We occupy all three of the planets in this system. I was born on that world.”
“Fuck,” I sighed, and then I looked down at my uneaten plate of food. I had no plan to get out of this, so I needed to start eating.
“Also, you do not need to walk. You merely need to reach the checkpoint in each part of the planet.”
“Will I have money to buy passage or a vehicle?” I asked.
“No.” She shook her head, and a half smile came to her lips. “You can take what you want.”
“Oh, so people will help me finish the rites?” Relief flooded my stomach. If there were humans on this world, and they knew I was working on my rites, they would probably help me. This ordeal seemed like something every young adult went through, so the natives were probably used to giving a helping hand.
“Perhaps some will,” she said, “but some will not. You are sent by Odin, if they will not help you, kill them and take what you need.”
“Madalena, I don’t go around killing people so I can take their stuff.” I sighed and rubbed my temples with my fingers. Then I remembered I needed to be eating, and I crammed more meat in my mouth.
“You can take it without killing them.” She shrugged. “They will have no objection to killing you to prevent that. Use all your talents to reach the checkpoints. Once you are in Helheim, the drop ship will take you to the next trial.”
“Which is?” I asked with a sigh.
“The second planet,” she said as she moved her hands over the screen to show the desert and tropical planet I saw when we first entered the system. The top hemisphere looked almost barren. It was just a long orange and yellow swirl. The bottom half looked like a lush jungle.
“You will be dropped off in Muspelheim. In this area.” She pointed to the top of the globe where there should have been ice caps. Instead, there looked to be a lava field and series of volcanos. “Ensure you acquire a method to carry water. This area is hot.”
“And it is surrounded by another ten thousand kilometers of desert,” I growled. “You said this is normally completed by a group of kids? How in the fuck do they do it?”
“The Nordar are strong,” she said, “and the Vaish Overlord Clan is the strongest.”
“Is this the same deal? I just have to get to checkpoints?”
“Somewhat,” she answered. “There are no checkpoints, but there is also no ship to take you to the next part of the rite. You will need to acquire a spaceship to get to the third planet.”
“When you say ‘acquire,’ do you mean steal?” I sighed.
“Or borrow, or pay for passage.” She turned back to the map on the screen and pointed at the desert landscape. “This is Jotunheim. It looks like a desert landscape from our display, but here--” she pinched her fingers over the image and in zoomed in. “It is actually a forest of massive trees. It is fall there and the trees have leaves of red, gold, yellow, and orange. You must be careful here, some of our strongest warriors come from Jotunheim. They are part of our clan but live in war-families. They will not hesitate to kill you.”
“Fuck, and you can’t give me weapons?” I asked.
“They will not have any plasma or laser technology. We keep such tools from our two core worlds. Access to such weapons makes them lazy. The men and women there do carry gunpowder weapons.”
“Okay,” I said, even though I wasn’t ‘okay’ in any sense of the word. I just wanted her to finish telling me what I had to do.
“The green area here is a thick jungle. It is called Alfheim. They often fight with the Jotunheim. You will be killed on sight unless you can convince them that you are performing your rite of passage.”
“You haven’t given me a gram of good news since you started telling me about this shit,” I growled. “Has anyone ever lived through one of these rites?”
“Of Odin? No, my lord.” She shook her head, and I felt my heart sink. “It is the hardest of our rites. Once someone made it to Midgard, but then he was able to slip from the tracker and lose himself in the cities.”
“Midgard? You haven’t told me of that one yet.”
“It is here,” she said as she moved her hand across the screen. The glowing metal planet spun into view.
“Is that world made of metal?”
“No. It was once green, somewhat like the first planet I showed you, but we build our technology here. Eighty billion people live here. You will need to follow the instructions on your device and make your way to--”
“Did you say eighty billion people?” I realized my mouth was open, but I didn’t care to close it.
“Yes. Once you reach the--”
“How do you fucking feed them all?” I asked as I studied the robot-looking world. “I don’t see a single square kilometer of farmland on that planet.”
“There are greenhouses with artificial lighting to grow crops. Meat is also exported from worlds a and b.” Madalena waved her finger over the screen and then pinched them together. Her movement zoomed in on a stream of freight ships exiting the surface of the second world.
“I guess it will be easy for me to sneak onto one of those ships.”
“The rite of passage is difficult,” she said without smiling. “But yes, that was how my fellows and I made it to Midgard.”
“Alright,” I said as imagined the future difficulties. “I interrupted you earlier. Please continue.”
“Please eat, my lord,” she said as she pointed to my plate. I nodded and took another bite while she moved the screen back to the cyber-planet.
“Follow the tracker device to the first checkpoint. It will be one of our military recruitment stations. The commander there will assign you a mission. Once you complete it, you will pass to Vanaheim. It is in the upper tiers of the planet’s building structure. Another commander will give you your final task, and then you can return to me in Asgard.”
“Asgard?” I asked.
“It is our fleet’s name,” she said as she gestured around us. “The realm of space and void. We are closest to our gods here. Once you return to me, I will prepare you to hang from Yggdrasil. You will be there for nine Earth days. Afterward, you will be Nordar, and Vaish, and my father will be forced to accept you.”
“I’m going to hang from a fucking tree for nine days? You are joking.”
“No, my lord. I do not joke about such matters,” she answered.
“Nine days? Nine days?”
“You will not die,” she said plainly. “Odin has given you to me, and me to you. Our unity will bring together the Nordar clans. You will take my father’s throne and lead our people against the Draugr and their minions.”
“No, what will happen is that you fuckers will tie a noose around my neck, I’ll die, and my friends will never be freed from the Magate Order.”
“The Magate Order is not even a flea to the Vaish Clan, they are less than a speck of dust to the entire Nordar. The other four blood clans will kneel before a man who completes Odin’s rite of passage and is bound to the Prime Valkyrie.”
“I don’t need anyone to kneel to me,” I pleaded. “I just need to leave here and go find my friends. You didn’t need to submit to me. I’ll let you out of it, you can let me go back to my ship, and I’ll go back to Queen’s Hat myself. Y
ou can go back to your war, and after I find my friends, we can come back and talk about these Draugr assholes. I know they are going to be coming to Uraniel in a few hundred days. I can even help you find your ship so we can fight together.”
“We are bound together, Adam,” she said. “We will die without each other. Your rite will be more difficult because I will not be near you.”
“What are you talking about?” I hadn’t eaten all of my food, but I set my plate on the couch so I could stand and face her.
“You feel our connection,” she stated.
“Uhhh. No,” I said.
“Yes, you do,” she replied. “I can feel you. I can also feel my crew. Once you attune your senses, you will feel them through me. You already feel my emotions.”
“You don’t have any emotions. Your face is impossible to read.”
“No. I have strong feelings for you, my husband. You are ignoring them.” She crossed her arms and shook her head. “I feel your annoyance, and your fear, and your desire to save your friends. I feel the animal inside of you. It wants to lay claim to me. I will satisfy both of you.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” I growled, “and I’m not interested in you satisfying me.” I was standing half a meter from her now, and I tried to ignore the small pangs of pleasure that came to my stomach when I stepped toward her.
“Imagine drinking a glass of water,” Madalena said as her steel gray-blue eyes stared into mine. “You aren’t thirsty now because we are so close. Your thirst will grow stronger when you are completing your rite of passage. When we meet again, you will want to do nothing but drink from me.”
“I didn’t ask for that.” I was trying to fight against my anger.
“I know you didn’t,” she admitted after a few moments.
“Then why did you do it?”
“Because I wanted it. I gave my word that I would submit to you.”
“We are going around in fucking circles. I told you I didn’t want it. You could have--”
“I wanted it. I wanted you,” she interrupted me. “I envisioned a decrepit and tired old man. What stands before me is an avatar of Odin. You do not believe in my god, but I do, he brought you to me in my time of need. I wanted his blessing. You are angry with me now, but your anger will cool. I am the Prime Valkyrie. I will be your wife, your lover, your strength, and your soul. You will come to love me and need me. I don’t care about the other women that you love, and you will not care either.”
Prime Valkyrie Page 4
