“What are you--”
“Removing your hair,” she interrupted. She had a long straight-razor in her other hand, and she wiped the edge of the blade across my skin. I didn’t even feel the blade pass over me, but it came away with a chunk of my underarm hair. “Relax, please. I have already finished with your scalp. We will work on your arms, groin, and legs next.”
“Ummm, my groin?” I didn’t like the idea of anyone else getting that close to my dick with a blade, but all three of the women had straight razors in their hands now, and they were spreading more cream over my arms.
“It would be better if Madalena did this task, but Nilda and Fiuna do not have husbands.”
One of the blonde women, Nilda I believed, said something in their language, and both of them giggled.
“I can do it myself,” I said hastily. “Just give me a razor.”
“Nonsense,” Laufey said, “you are attempting Odin’s rite. The Prime Valkyrie has submitted to you. Nilda and Fiuna are eager to please you.”
“I’m not comfortable with other women touching me,” I said.
“That is your old way. You are leaving that behind today and becoming Nordar. You are becoming Vaish. Men can have multiple wives in our culture, and women can have multiple husbands.”
“No thanks, my love life is complicated enough with two women,” I replied.
“Three women,” Laufey corrected me.
“I’m not counting your daughter,” I replied.
“You should.”
“Whatever,” I sighed and looked down at the work the women were doing on my legs. Half of each thigh was shaved now, and I reached out to take one of the blades from them.
“Adam,” Laufey said as her fingers closed around my wrist. “You have two choices here: You can let Nilda and Fiuna finish their job, or you can call Madalena to you so that she can finish. There is no third option. You are leaving your old ways behind.”
“Fine,” I said.
“Should I call Madalena?” she asked.
“No,” I replied.
“Very well,” Laufey sighed, and the other two women began to rub cream on my groin area. The sensation was a confusing mix of pleasure and anxiety, so I looked away from their hands and tried to focus on something else.
“Women can have multiple husbands? Does that mean Mikhael is sleeping with Madalena?” The words escaped my mouth before I even thought about them, and I felt a bit of surprise when the jealousy hit my chest. I shouldn’t have cared about the woman’s lovers.
“Valkyries do not allow men to submit to them.”
“Does that matter? I didn’t want Madalena to submit to me, but she did anyway.”
“You could tell Madalena to kill herself,” Laufey said. “That is why men do not bother. Mikhael is submitted to Josefinna, who is submitted to the Prime Valkyrie. Goran was submitted to Nikki.”
“Shit,” I gasped. Partially because one of the blonde women wrapped her hand around my erection, and partially because of the way Madalena had spoken to Nikki after she put a bullet through her husband’s head.
These people were insane.
I felt fingers rub my scrotum, and I closed my eyes to keep from looking at the women kneeling before me. I was going to have a hard time explaining this to Zea, and I doubted the snarky hacker would be super understanding. I could almost hear her voice say “Oh rigggggghhht. I’m sure you didn’t enjoy the two hot Viking babes rubbing cream on your nuts and dick.”
“What is after this?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“We will move you to the table so we can massage your muscles. Then the bath. Nilda and Fiuna would like coitus with you after the massage, or you can call Madalena.”
“So, part of the rite is me fucking someone? How is that--”
“No, that is optional,” Laufey said with a laugh. “Madalena is your wife, and wishes to be with you before your rite of passage, but you have shunned her. Nilda and Fiuna want to be with the man who the Prime Valkyrie has submitted to.”
“I’ll pass.”
“That is unfortunate. The journey ahead of you will be brutal. You should enjoy yourself one last time, or at least take pleasure in giving others pleasure.”
“You all are really casual about sex. What happens if I get one of them pregnant? I’m probably not coming back from this.” I thought about growing up without a dad. It was something my four friends all had in common.
“They would be honored to bear your child. We take pride in having a strong offspring. The Nordor care about the outcome, not the process. We are at war with the other tribes, and soon we will be at war with the Draugr. We need strong children. Your old ways are foolish and have led to weak civilizations.”
I was about to argue with her, but I recalled that I was in a giant space fortress surrounded by thousands of warships. The Jupiter Navy was one of the strongest in Earth’s solar system, but was probably a tenth of the size, and had nowhere near the technological advancements of Madalena’s people.
Something they were doing was working.
“Are they done?” I asked as I felt Nilda and Fiuna’s hands stop.
“Yes,” Laufey said. “Stand, and we will work on the back of your legs. Then we will massage you.”
“Fine, but hurry. I want to get started.” I stood, and the three women moved behind me. They chatted as their hands and fingers ran over my butt, legs, and calves. I felt the metal of the razor, and I focused on that instead of their whispering.
“We will now rub you with oil. Will you lie on the table?” Laufey pointed to the massage bed beside the beautiful pool of water.
“Can we skip it? I am fine to just--”
“No,” she said. “Lie on your stomach.”
“Fucking shit,” I groaned as I walked over to the table and lay face down on top. There was a lowered donut pad for me to put my face, and I felt three pairs of hands began to rub oil on my back and shoulders.
“Aren’t you married to King Vaish?” I asked.
“I have submitted to him, yes,” Laufey said.
“And he’s okay with you touching me like this?”
“He has grown bored with me and does not care about my hobbies.”
“Bored with you? Is he an idiot?” I asked. Then I hissed when one of the women found a thick knot in my upper back. She began to knead it with her fingers, and an electrical current ran down my arms.
“Is that a compliment from you, Adam?” the woman asked.
“Uhhh. Well, you look like your daughter, and you seem happy. You have a pleasant personality. I haven’t known you for very long, but--”
“I understand,” she interrupted me. “Thank you for the compliment. When you submit to someone, you are bonded to them and come to care about their happiness. I have served Madalena’s father faithfully, but now he would rather have other women. Perhaps one day he will want me again. Until then, I ask him if I can have other lovers. Sometimes he agrees, sometimes he doesn’t.”
“So he controls your sex life, even if he isn’t sleeping with you?” I asked. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get the hang of being a Nordar.
Good thing I was planning on just grabbing Persephone and getting out of here.
“I have submitted to him,” she answered.
“That seems to be the answer you people have for everything,” I replied.
“You are one of us now, Adam.”
“Not yet, I haven’t completed the rite. No one has completed Odin’s rite.”
“Perhaps you will be the first. Madalena believes you will.”
The women began to push harder on my muscles and I tried hard not to enjoy the experience. They were talented, and as soon as one found a tense muscle, they worked to relax it.
“You spoke of the Magate Order earlier,” I said after what felt like twenty or thirty minutes. Two of the pairs of hands were still working on my back, but someone else had moved to my glutes.
If I somehow got out of this an
d saved my friends; Zea was going to kill me.
At least Eve would think it was funny. She would probably be good friends with Madalena.
“Yes, I know of the Magate Order. Why?” Her voice was coming from my shoulders, and I felt quite a bit of relief that she wasn’t the one massaging my ass.
“Do you know where their homeworld is?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
“Where?”
“Why do you wish to know?” Laufey asked.
“I told you they kidnapped my friends.”
“Madalena knows where they are. She will help you find them after you complete the rite.”
“I am curious as to the name of the system,” I said as I tried to keep my frustration out of my voice.
“It is named Magate-Pru Y-78. I have never been there.”
“Ahhh,” I sighed when one of the women found a knot in my calf and started to work on it. “Do they trade all their slaves out of their home solar system?”
“They have a network of stations that are copacetic to the slave trade.”
“Do you know the locations of them?” I asked. One of the pairs of hands moved down to my leg and worked on the calf beside the other one.
“Adam, once you have finished your rite, my daughter will help you with your search.”
“I’d feel better if I knew where they were.”
“How will it make you feel better?” she asked.
“It will give me hope,” I said, even though it was a bit of a lie. Laufey didn’t seem suspicious of me, but I didn’t know if I could continue to press her for information.
“We are done with your back,” she said. “Flip over.”
“I’m fine. Can you tell me about the stations?” I asked.
“We must complete your preparation for the ritual. We have already seen your manhood. Now is not the time to be bashful,” the woman said.
“Fuck,” I growled as I rolled over on the table and lay on my back. Laufey moved to my head and began to rub my temples while Nila and Fiuna each worked on a bicep.
“This should be a comfort to you,” Laufey said. “You are tense.”
“No shit,” I said. “I’m wasting time while my friends are--”
“Just close your eyes and enjoy this, Adam. In a few hours, you will be in Niflheim. It will be cold, and you will need to remember this warmth in order to survive. Your friends are fifteen light years away or more, and you still will need to complete your rite of passage. An hour will not make much of a difference in your quest to save them.”
“I’m sure an hour is an eternity to them.” My stomach knotted, and I forced my eyes closed. The pair of women eventually move to my chest, and Laufey moved down to my jaw. The muscles there were like boulders, and she slowly rubbed them. It took a while for the tension in my face to relax, and I felt myself drifting toward another lucid dream.
In the dream, I was stuck in a glass tube, unable to escape while I floated in a liquid which gave me oxygen. The only sounds I could hear were the whirling of water pumps and the breathing of electronics.
Then I heard the sound of explosions in the distance. The roars were accompanied by screaming, and the massive door to my vault blew open. Four women walked into the room, and they peppered the group of scientists experimenting on me with hundreds of bullets.
I recognized my friends, but they wore armor I wasn’t familiar with, and the carried weapons that looked like a cross between laser and plasma rifles. They each scanned the room for more hostiles, and then Eve gestured for Zea, Paula, and Kasta to move toward the tube where I was captured.
Zea said something to me, but I couldn’t hear her through the glass of my prison. I saw movement behind her when she plugged her cord into the control panel below my tube, and I shifted my tired eyes over to the vault door. Two more figures were positioned at the doorway there. The one on the right looked like she wore Madalena’s wing-etched heavy power armor, and the one on the left looked to be Juliette. They fired into the hallway beyond the door, and then they stepped back toward my tube-prison.
The glass suddenly fell away, and cold air hit me. I shivered and then felt my friends’ hands lift me up. I was tired though, and I couldn’t seem to keep my head up. Then I was kissing Madalena, and I felt her armored hands wrap around my back so that I could stand. The kiss was surprisingly passionate, and my entire body felt heated from the sun. When our lips parted, the beautiful Prime Valkyrie smiled at me.
Then Zea slid her arms around my shoulders and kissed me. Then Paula. Then Kasta. Then Juliette. Finally, Eve’s lips were on mine, and my mouth burned with our passion.
“Adam,” she said, but then I realized it wasn’t Eve’s voice, and I opened my eyes to find myself back next to the pool.
“The pains of your old life have been removed.” It was Laufey’s voice, and I had to blink the sleep away from my eyes for a few seconds before I could focus on her.
“Okay,” I sighed. It felt like I had slept for ten years.
“Do you wish for me to call Madalena?” she asked.
“Ahhh…” I thought about the lucid dream I just had, and my words hung in my mouth. “No.”
“Would you like Nilda and Fiuna to stay? Your body looks eager for--”
“No!” I growled as I realized that I was sporting an erection. Fucking dreams.
“We will leave you to your bath then. Inside the chest, you will find your new clothes. An alarm will sound when you should leave the bath. Change quickly and then make your way to the door where you entered. You will be given a small survival kit and then sent to Niflheim. I will return your weapons and armor to your ship.”
“Thanks,” I said as I leaned over to the side and set my feet on the ground. I hated to admit the massage felt good. It didn’t feel right to be wasting time here when my friends needed me.
“Do you mean that?” Laufey asked after I stepped into the pool. The water was just as hot as I would have liked it, and a long exhale left my chest.
“Huh?”
“You said ‘thanks.’ Do you mean that? Was my treatment of you to your satisfaction?” Laufey raised an eyebrow.
“Uhhh, yeah.” I didn’t see Nilda and Fiuna nearby, but I hadn’t heard them leave.
“Excellent. Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked.
“If you are offering yourself, I’m going to say no, this whole ‘submission’ shit is already fucking weird with you seeing me naked and shaving me, and then massaging my naked body.”
“Ha!” she laughed, and the sound surprised me. “No, Adam. I was not going to offer myself to you. If you weren’t already my daughter’s, then I would be more than interested, but you are her’s, and she is yours. I was here to take care of you because you turned her away.”
“Ahh. Okay,” I replied.
“Which brings me back to my original question. I would request a boon from you. It will be simple for you.”
“A boon?” I asked. “What is--”
“A gift, a favor. I’ve rubbed your back, and now you can rub mine. Metaphorically speaking, of course.”
“What do you want?” I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. The tension in my jaw was starting to return.
“Please call Madalena to you. She is upset that she has displeased you. She wants nothing more than to see you before you leave for the rite.”
“I actually doubt she gives a fuck,” I said. “She shouldn’t have submitted to me. By bringing me into this, she’s sentenced me to death, and--”
“She did not want to bring you into this though. She told you what her intent was. One of her crew betrayed her.”
“You seem awfully sure about what your daughter wants, Laufey. The rest of her crew wants me dead. Either she can’t control her own people, or they are following her real orders.”
“They will accept you once you have completed the rites.”
“I’m not going to complete them!” I shouted. “How can anyone hang from a
tree for nine days? How about nine minutes? It would be just as effective as strangling me. Fuck all of you. I helped your daughter and her crew. I saved their lives when I was on death’s door. I keep telling all of you I didn’t want this, but none of you seem to care. Leave me alone with my sorrow.” I turned from the woman and saw my reflection in the water. It had been a long time since I shaved my head, and the image brought up memories of my time in the Marines.
Laufey walked away without another word.
I didn’t know how long I stared at myself, but eventually, I grabbed a bar of soap and washed the oil from my body. Then I sat under the waterfall and tried to think of nothing.
Then the alarm sounded, and I moved to the chest. There was a simple pair of leather boots, thick wool long-underwear, fur pants, and a matching fur jacket. There was also a small backpack with a short knife attached. I put it all on and then walked toward the far door of the room.
It was time for the tiger to escape his cage.
Chapter 4
The guards met me at the door. There were four of them, wearing power armor and helmets that kept their faces hidden. One of them gestured for me to follow, and I walked through the stone hallways of the castle behind them. We passed a few servants, or maybe they were ‘thralls,’ while we walked, and they each bowed to me with a strange reverence.
“Why are they bowing to me?” I asked one of the guards.
“You are attempting Odin’s rite of passage,” one of them replied.
“Ahh,” I said. “How much farther do we have to go?”
“We will return to the fortress’ hold bay, my lord,” another one replied.
“You don’t have to call me ‘my lord,’” I said.
“You are attempting Odin’s rite of passage, and the Prime Valkyrie submitted to you,” he replied.
I nodded at him, and we continued our walk out of the glass castle. I half expected Madalena to show up on the route, but I didn’t see her. Part of me was relieved since I still felt anger toward her, but another part of me wondered how true her mother’s words were. In the end, it didn’t matter. I had way too many problems in front of me now. I didn’t need to waste energy thinking about Madalena. She wasn’t the one who was kidnapped by slavers.
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