The great veil billowed in time with the winds of the worlds. It was as high as I could see and puddled into the ground as fabric would. It was like looking through shear curtains, muddied by the elements of the veil. I could see trees, rocks, and creatures within. I stepped forward, but she caught my hand.
“We go together,” she said. Fumbling with the bag she carried, she released me.
One more step and I’d be behind the veil. My heart kicked up; I’d never felt more alive than now. After Sandy’s death, I’d discovered a beacon within me—a purpose that I couldn’t put my finger on. As Oria straightened the bag against her robes, I dared to step forward.
“Maxwell,” Oria hissed and her face fell.
I turned to her, seeing her through the veil. The entrance swayed opened and she became clearer, but I was inside the veil.
Without her.
Suddenly the ground shook and I heard an animal nearing in a charge. Oria reached into the veil and pulled me out. Our bodies knocked together and she stumbled back. We fell together onto the ground with a thud.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” she hissed, pushing me off. She stood up in a graceful arc and pressed her foot to my chest. “What do you think you were doing? We go together or not at all. Is that understood?”
I held my hands up. “Understood.”
“Another stunt like that and the deal is off,” she groused. She pressed her foot into my chest before letting up. She held out her hand. “I’m taking you home.”
What was home now that I’d seen the glories of the nine worlds my grandmother had spoken of? It was just a place I would bide time until I’d find rest where I belonged. I pondered where that could possibly be.
Chapter 18
I looked through the files, my fingers quickly skipping over the alphabetical tabs.
“Are you sure you weren’t touching anywhere?” Geirolf asked for the thousandth time. “Your foot, a hair even?”
I pulled a file from the U’s. “Did I stutter?”
“Now you’re just sounding mortal on purpose,” he chastised.
“Now you’re just be irritating,” I returned. “I know what happened. He crossed into the veil without me. End of story.” I thrust the file into his hands. “Go through these while I check another drawer.”
Geirolf thumbed through the folder. “It’s here. No need to look any further.”
“Could my luck be changing?” I nearly squealed.
“Nope.” He snapped the file closed and grinned. “I’m sure it’s me with the good vibes. You should bring me along everywhere.”
I reached for the file, but he held it away. “Once we are finished solving this mystery, it’s back to business as usual.” I jumped for the file, but he pushed me back. “Hey! Those are mine.”
“Public records—yours?” he shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
I crossed my arms. “I know you saw what’s in there. Spill it.”
Geirolf cracked open the file and peeked. “How bad do you want to know?”
“Is he Urd’s child?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Yep,” he closed the file and grinned. “One parent down, one to go.”
I bit my lip. “Being a child of a fate can have serious ramifications on its own.”
“Do you know how many times a nord has gotten busy on Midgard? Their children are legion and yet our worlds still go about.”
“But are they marked?”
He pressed the file into my hands. “You’ve got a point.”
I opened the cabinet and replaced the file. “Once we have him in the veil, we will see how he moves, how he communicates. Anything divine cannot stay hidden there.”
“Seven suns,” Geirolf said.
“We’ll have just enough time to get him there before the magic of the Valkyrie’s tooth wears off.”
We parted ways on the library steps of Asgard. I returned home to brood over my current situation. I hadn’t told Geirolf how the bond was affecting me. But then, we hadn’t known how deep the connection would be. I could hear Maxwell at times, thoughts he was having as he referred to me. We could communicate without being in the same worlds. It was irritating, and try as I might, I was powerless to stop it.
I fed Theta and changed into a plain tunic. I planned on oiling my wings and relaxing when I felt the air sizzle. In a flash, I found myself standing in Freya’s throne room. My sight adjusted and I saw Hildisvini first. He was next to Freya’s throne with a smirk on his snout.
“Official business?” I asked, trying to stay calm.
“I want to give you the chance to confess,” Freya said, petting the head of one of her cats that was resting near her throne.
I blinked, attempting to get my bearings. Flashing from one place to another affected reapers just as much as the rest. One second I was contemplating relaxation, and the next, I was under the scrutiny of my queen. Add to that the fact that I was in my night robes, and I was at a definite disadvantage. IT was like being caught naked in the mortal realm.
“I’ve proven my loyalty,” I said, my fists clenching. A slow burn began in my jaw to where the Valkyrie's tooth was fastened. “I’ve done nothing but serve Folkvangr since the Great War.”
Freya tsked, waving her scepter. The pain intensified and I fell to my knees. “Oh dear, please spit it out. You’re wasting my time with your lies.”
I cradled my jaw as the tooth fell into my mouth. Blood spurted from my lips as I choked back the bile that rose in my throat. My mouth was afire with the foreign object that I had little choice but to rid myself of it. The tooth shot from my mouth with a trail of fire engulfing it. Those present sneered and stepped away.
Freya stood.
“Oria! What is happening?” Maxwell’s voice was in my head just as if he were standing next me.
I closed my eyes and tampered the pain I felt, willing the joining we shared to be broken. There was nothing he could do to help me, but I could protect him if he’d keep quiet.
“Who is that?” Freya hissed, looking about. “Who dares to invade my immortal realm?”
“It’s the boy,” Hildisvini spat. He waved his axe in my direction. “The voice of a mortal among the gods can only mean one thing.”
Freya glanced about, causing her advisors and those present to shrink away into the shadows. “It is worse than I imagined.” She blasted the tooth into the seeing mirror with a flash from her scepter. The mirror swallowed it and it dissipated into the fleeting image. “You dare risk the lives of your people?”
I sawed my jaw back and forth, testing the pain. “And what of you?” My voice was faint and weary. Geirolf had been right. This was more than we had bargained for, but I was in too deep to turn back and forget all that I’d learned.
“You would defy me as well?” Freya asked, her voice as ice. “I, the great queen of Asgard, the wife of Odin?” She stepped from her throne, her robes grazing the stone steps as she padded toward me. With each step she took, her scepter made a resounding tap of doom. “When it came to my attention that you’d cloaked yourself under the guise of the Valkyrie, I thought it was merely a rebellious sport. Your rebel nature was one of the things I admired about you and that was why you were chosen for Folkvangr.” Her slippered feet were before me. The golden sandals she wore were given to her by the elven king at the close of the Great War.
“Kill her,” a voice said within the shadows.
I balked as I unfolded onto my knees before my queen. My eyesight adjusted as it landed on the accuser. I couldn’t help but smile perversely. My own father recommended my death? This was rich.
A slippered foot pushed me onto my back and dug into my chest. I looked up into the eyes of my queen, willing my features to be stoic. “In due time, Bragni.” She nodded to Hildsvini. “Have the witnesses brought to Folkvangr and procure the veritas potion.” The spike of her scepter came to my temple as she smiled down at me. “The death of reapers requires proper documentation.” I turned
my head, but the pressing persisted, following me. “There is no need to fight, Orianna. Justice will be served.”
The venom within her scepter leaked into my temple and my body slumped. I felt chains bind my hands and feet. Hildsvini rushed forward to take me. Tears leaked from my eyes as I struggled fruitlessly against the bonds. My body wouldn’t move no matter how I tried.
All was lost, but I vowed that I’d break free and even the score.
***Maxwell
Life on Midgard was pointless now that I was enlightened. I went about my daily chores as a man sentenced to death, which wasn’t a wrong analogy. I was a child of a nord, and Oria was in trouble because of me.
I walked the street of the university without purpose, waiting to hear her voice or feel her presence. Since we’d bonded, I’d been able to hear her, feel her, sense her moods and now, nothing. Not since I’d felt that she was in some kind of grave trouble.
“That’ll be another quarter,” the newspaper vendor said.
I glanced down at the paper in my hands, not realizing I’d stopped at the kiosk. The headlines of the paper included a story about my theater and I saw my face on the page. I reached into my pockets and felt for a coin.
“Here,” I said, handing the man a quarter.
“Best if you look to the third page,” he mumbled, tossing the quarter into the money till. “You’ll find what you’re looking for there.”
The hair on my nape stood. I’d heard that voice before, but when I looked at the man, I didn’t recognize him. I unfolded the newspaper, feeling something caught between the pages. An old blade of blackened iron peeked out.
“Not here, you idiot,” the man hissed.
I looked up at him and for a flicker of a moment, I saw his eyes turn feline. I blinked. Was it only mere days since I’d thought my life was normal? Had it only been yesterday that I was blind to what our world held?
“Your life is in danger,” he said, his voice low. “Return to your place and await instructions from your protector.”
Another student sidled up next to me, holding out money to purchase a paper. The man reached out and took the money. I waited until the student was gone before speaking again.
“Who is my protector? Oria is gone. I cannot feel her anymore.”
“What are you going on about?” the man said.
I looked up and saw that it was another man; not the elf I’d met while near the veil and Bifrost. “Nothing,” I stammered. “It was nothing.” I held up the paper. “My thanks for the paper.”
Hastily, I left, ambling down the streets, looking over my shoulder. I felt like things were closing in on me and everyone was out to get me. I broke into a run and didn’t stop until I was safely in my office. I unfolded the paper and the black blade fell with a thump onto my desk. It was an unhandled blade, twisted metal that was thick at the helm and came to a point at the end as a horn would.
It’s the horn of a unicorn
I jumped when I heard Oria’s voice. Scrambling, I covered the horn and looked about my office. I went to the window and closed the blinds and checked the lock. So, she was still with me, but her voice was faint. I touched my chest and felt my heartbeat gallop under my fingertips. As before, I felt Oria’s presence close to me as a door bolting. I tried to call to her, but it was useless. Our connection was severed. She was gone again but had left me one clue.
I sat at my desk and opened a Google search. I had work to do if I wanted to save her. As I typed, another tab opened. The icon pulsed with a red glow next to the well-known Google tab. My fingers trembled as I led the cursor to hover over the strange tab. Could this day get any stranger? First, a visit from an elf and a unicorn horn, and now this odd icon on my computer. I tapped the icon and for a moment, it seemed my computer short circuited and went black. And then, a glowing red screen with the mark of Asgard presented. It was as if the nine worlds were trying to help me save Oria.
Chapter 19
The council assembled on the training battlefield of Folkvangr. Seemed fitting that I’d spill my guts one last time here. I counted fifty present, an array of my colleagues and foes alike. I couldn’t help but think that Freya had my brother and Geirolf present for an ulterior motive. Once I spoke my truth, I’d implicate them as guilty along with myself.
Hildisvini yanked my chains and I followed him into the middle of the circle they’d formed. Freya stood there with an elf whose face I could not see. It was the elf that held the potion, ready to administer once I was seated upon the green chair, also known as the executioner’s chair. It would be upon this chair they’d kill me. It sat on a mound built by the bones of those who had fallen for Folkvangr.
I passed into the circle through Orum and Geirolf, my head held high. I’d never seen the green chair close up. It was splintered and worn, marred with blood. Its high back had a latch where it would recline for beheading. A fitting death for a reaper not meant for the afterworlds. If I was found guilty, which I would be, Freya would see my soul banished and destroyed, forever wandering the worlds without voice or purpose. I’d be as the wind; bland and without knowing.
Hildsvini forced me onto the chair, binding my chains to it. Freya’s cats came to me and sniffed me, hissing and pawing at the chair. I kicked at them when I felt the sting of a claw and was quickly bound tighter. I listened as Freya charged the crowd with my sentence with my eyes closed. If only I could close my hearing and be done with this. I tried not to consider what my admission would bring to my brother and Geirolf, or how it would make me feel to see their end.
Open your eyes, child. Today you shall live. Today your truth shall remain hidden.
I blinked against the brightness of the suns as I opened my eyes. The elder elf who held the vial looked at me with unseeing eyes. Something kindred to unspeakable joy bubbled within me.
I was saved.
“Let’s raise a glass to Tove,” Geirolf cheered.
I smiled and clinked my glass to his. Freedom had never felt so bittersweet. While I was free, I was only as free as my next step would be. The fact that Geirolf was within my chambers was a stark reminder as to time passing. While he remained under the cover of the Valkyrie’s tooth, I did not. I felt the connection to Maxwell return once I left the green chair and I sensed that he knew it as well, but there was something new. I could feel him pulling away like he was the one hiding now. I’d protected our bond by saying the voice heard in the throne room was from my last reap. Souls had the tendency to linger and I’d used that to my advantage. He may be hiding, but our bond was as strong as ever.
“You’ll have to take him into the veil,” I said. The glass he held paused on his lips before he took a cautious sip. “It can’t be me. We’ll be summoned the moment my foot touches Bifrost.”
“Thanks for reminding me what a dangerous game it is we are playing.”
“If there was another way, we’d have found it,” I said, draining my glass. I set down the goblet heavily on the table beside me, making Theta squawk.
“I’m not bonded to him,” Geirolf said. He reached out and stroked Theta’s breast. “The crossing will never work unless you’re there, even if he passed through the veil as you’ve claimed. We don’t know that he can cross with another not bonded to his blood.”
“Just get him into the veil. I’ll find a way around it. I still have my promise to Arne that I need to make right. It’s not a crime for us to be within the veil. Get him to the entrance and I’ll do the rest.”
Geirolf grabbed my hand. “I feel this bond is a burden too heavy for you to carry alone.”
I stared where our hands were joined. “I can handle it,” I said tightly and disengaged. “Can you?”
“I’ll admit that it is difficult knowing how you feel about him. How easy it was for the bond to be forged.”
“What is it that you think you know, Geirolf?” My words spat forward like acid.
“We are alike, you and I. Lost in the translation that our gods dealt us. Our likeness h
as brought us here—back together somehow, as we search for answers as to why we protect our worlds with blind obedience. How long has it been since we actually felt something other than valor or dutifulness? Perhaps you are trying to steal a moment for yourself.”
“Bonding with a mortal is stealing something for myself?” I scoffed. “Please stop talking before I have Theta claw your eyes out.”
Geirolf’s mouth tipped. Theta, the little traitor, still adored him. Even now, she made a perch on his shoulder. “If only we could steal moments as these. If only the magic of the Valkyrie could last a lifetime and hide me next to you.”
“If only there wasn’t a harbinger roaming Midgard,” I joined. “If only our nine worlds weren’t in danger of extinction because our gods are fools.”
“If only our gods would have let us be.”
He reached for my hand again, but I stood and walked over to the window. Below us, Folkvangr was alive. Sandy was on the battlement, her earthly memories just a haze now. How quickly she’d taken to a battle axe.
“So, I’m just to support and protect you and feel nothing then? Is that the way you want it?”
My heart clamored with the admiration of two beings. One, who was my equal and likeness, and another who was nothing like me. I had no answers for Geirolf, other than we had work to do and as all good reapers, it had to be enough.
Thor appeared in Folkvangr then, and I was ready to chase him out when I saw the tower light and the alarm sounded. I searched for Orum and saw that he, too, had been ready to strike Thor before the alarm went off.
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