Valhalla

by Jennifer Willis

  * * *

  When the knock came at the bedroom door a few minutes later, Sally stepped into the hallway to find Managarm waiting for her. “Now, my Moon Witch, you will locate the Yggdrasil.”

  Clutching her backpack, Sally followed Managarm down the hallway and into the apartment’s great room.

  Sitting at a desk in front of a high-end computer, Adam looked up at Sally momentarily, then went back to work on the keyboard. The Berserker seemed right at home as he followed breaking news stories and accessed online maps, though Sally saw that Managarm couldn’t stop fidgeting and looked like he was about to jump out of his skin. Being indoors didn’t seem to suit the old Warg.

  “Hey, you want some mood music?” Adam jumped up and grabbed a remote control from a nearby bookshelf. He pressed a few buttons, and soft jazz started filtering down from tiny speakers mounted in the rafters of the apartment’s vaulted ceiling.

  “Excellent surround sound!” He sat down and scanned through a few news stories on the large LCD screen in front of him. “Sweet computer system, too.” He typed in new search parameters and ran his finger along the list of results on the screen, then clicked the wireless mouse.

  “Huh. Yeah, here’s the Raven Dojo,” Adam called over his shoulder. “Says they’ve been open for nine years in Beaverton. I guess all this stuff about Freya and Freyr studying in Japan, Korea, and India is just a bunch of bull, huh?”

  Adam turned to Sally with a wry smile. She just shrugged in response. From what she’d gathered from Managarm’s comments and occasional tirades, the old gods had roamed the globe for centuries, some calling the Pacific Northwest home while others still clung to their Scandinavian roots or established new lives elsewhere. She imagined Freyr and Freya could have studied in those places, and in other countries that no longer existed.

  “Where is everyone?” Holding Baron, Opal stood just inside the great room.

  Sally tried to wave her back to the bedroom, but Managarm beat her to it. “You,” he pointed down the hallway, “will remain in there until you are summoned.”

  Baron flattened his ears and hissed.

  “And you will take that animal with you.”

  “It’s okay,” Sally insisted. “Barry will keep you company.”

  Opal retreated to the bedroom, and Sally glanced around the large space, decorated in a minimalist Asian style with clean lines and gentle curves of what looked like custom-made furniture. Rita’s upper-floor apartment had a brilliant view of downtown Portland, and the lights of the nighttime skyline were framed perfectly in the picture window. She listened for a moment to the airy music and marveled at the impressive amount of state-of-the-art technology—from the computer where Adam was working and the tiny but powerful stereo system to the huge flat-screen television that took up most of the far wall. But save for Adam, the room was empty of Berserkers.

  Sally frowned. “So, really, where is everyone?”

  The corners of Managarm’s mouth twitched as he motioned Sally toward the camel-colored sofa. “They are  . . . making arrangements.” Managarm settled into an upholstered chair and waited for her to sit. “Let us begin.”

  Sally sat slowly, moving as deliberately and languidly as possible—anything to delay Managarm from getting what he wanted.

  “So, they’re really here.” Adam muttered. “All that time, I was being trained by an ancient nature god. Kind of funny when you think about it. You know, gods having to stand in line to get a business license, hook up the utilities. Probably had to get social security numbers, too. Gods paying taxes!” Adam laughed. “You should have seen the look on Freyr’s face when he realized who I was.” Adam swiveled around in his chair to face Managarm and Sally. “Turned white as a sheet. I swear he just about wet his pants.”

  Sally’s sharp look stopped Adam’s laughter cold. “I will not have you disrespecting the old gods in my presence.”

  Adam nodded somberly.

  Managarm leaned toward Sally. “I’m hoping the next Berserkers you summon for me will be somewhat less talkative.”

  Sally shuddered as he laughed. She cringed at the thought of anyone else carving that bloody mark into their flesh, but she still reached into her bag for the wooden runes and laid them carefully on the glass coffee table.

  Managarm rested back in the chair. “And the elements.”

  Sally nodded. She pulled out a small jar of loose earth. “The dirt you had Rita collect from the site of the Sitka Spruce.” She shrugged with a nervous smile. “All trees are connected to one another, the world over, through their overlapping roots. So they can communicate with each other. So this dirt from the Old Yggdrasil will connect us with the reborn Tree—”

  “I am familiar with the concept,” Managarm sighed wearily.

  “Right. Of course.” She reached again into her bag and slowly produced a few candles, a bottle of rainwater, a few rounds of self-lighting charcoal and a jar of incense she’d made from dried leaves, tree resin, and ground herbs.

  “Now, Sally.” Managarm lifted his chin and peered down at her. “You wouldn’t want to make any mistakes in your spell-work. If your magick went somehow . . . awry . . . It would be a shame for any harm to come to your friend or to your cat.” Managarm tilted his head toward the bedroom where Opal and Baron were sequestered. “Do you understand?”

  Sally swallowed hard and nodded. With her Book of Shadows open in her lap, she unfolded the rabbit skin she always used as her altar and with shaking fingers started arranging the wooden runes in a spiral.

  “This is the receiving pattern you spoke of, that will pinpoint the location of the Yggdrasil?”

  Sally nodded and kept laying out the runes.

  “And with my warriors dispatched to the more general area you divined earlier, you know they will call instantly with confirmation.”

  Sally pressed her lips together and nodded again. “I’ll get it right. I promise.” She believed him when he said he’d destroy the young warriors who had pledged themselves to her. And then he’d crush her, Opal, Baron, and who knew who else like bugs.

  Sally pulled several polished stones from her bag and placed them at the four points of the compass. Citrine in the East. Hematite in the South. Amethyst in the West. She dropped a piece of Aventurine on the floor.

  Feeling her throat tightening, Sally glanced nervously at Managarm. She could feel his annoyance growing, but he just gestured for her to continue. She bent down to pick up the smooth, green stone and sat staring at it in her hand. Maybe Opal was right, and locating the Yggdrasil for Managarm meant betraying her entire world. Feeling stupid, Sally still held onto the thin hope that Managarm wasn’t as nefarious as he sometimes seemed. Hadn’t he been sincere in his plea for her help? What god wouldn’t lose patience with her constant questions and ignorance? Maybe he made threats out of desperation. Maybe he was just as anxious as she was to save the world from falling deeper into ruin.

  Managarm cleared his throat. “The tracking, please. And then you will call up an entire army of Berserkers for me.”

  Sally checked the layout of runes on the coffee table against the sketch in her journal, then struck a match and lit each of the candles she had positioned in a spacious triangle around her altar space. “A ritual bonfire would be better . . .”

  Managarm sighed darkly.

  Sally sniffed nervously, then poured a mound of salt on the table and was about to light the piece of charcoal she’d placed on top of it when Adam swiveled around in the computer chair again.

  “Hey, I’ve got something here,” Adam called out.

  Managarm turned his head toward the desk. “Speak.”

  “Okay, so you wanted me to look for any unusual information or news stories about trees, right? I mean, any news about anything funny going on in the forests.”

  Managarm sighed irritably. “Yes.”

  “Okay, well, there’s something here about some vandalism in Forest Park . . .” Adam’s voice trailed off as he continued
reading. “Somebody was camping or something, and  . . . Hey! That’s us!”

  Managarm rose from his chair, glancing briefly at Sally as she pretended to pick through her jar of incense. She watched him rest a hand on Adam’s shoulder and lean over the computer.

  “What news of the campsites?”

  Adam shrugged. “Ah, just some damage to the forest, maybe transients or somebody trying to live in the woods.” Adam giggled. Managarm squeezed his shoulder, and Adam flinched in pain.

  “What else, Adam?” Sally interjected.

  Managarm looked back at her. “I’ll handle this so you may continue without distraction.”

  Adam scrolled down the web page. “Okay, here.” He pointed at the display. “It says some rangers took a look around, to see who’s been causing all the trouble. Two different campsites, and some kind of vandalism at a third place. And some stuff about why it’s important to protect the wilderness—littering is bad, don’t start fires. It doesn’t say much else.”

  Adam scrolled farther down the page. Managarm squeezed his shoulder again. “Stop!”

  Sally leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the screen and saw a photo of a well-built blond man in uniform.

  “What? You know that guy?” Adam pushed slightly away from the desk to give Managarm more room. “He’s just a ranger.”

  “That is no ranger.” Managarm smiled. “The god of light looks nothing short of ridiculous in a government uniform.”

  Clutching her journal, Sally rose from the sofa. “Heimdall . . . ?”

  Managarm turned on her with a sharp expression. “I thought you were going to concentrate on your work, little witch.”

  Sally sank back down onto the sofa, and her heart dropped into her stomach. She didn’t like the way he called her little witch. She looked at the runes spread out in front of her. She was just a few steps away from completing the spell, and then the runes would light up to determine the direction and distance to the Yggdrasil inside Pierce Forest.

  She glanced back at the computer screen, relieved that Managarm was no longer watching her. Heimdall was a forest ranger? Was it possible he had located the Tree already? A spark of hope lit up her face, and she couldn’t suppress the tiniest giggle.

  Managarm turned around again and scowled. “What are you smiling about? Do you have the Tree yet or not?”

  Sally forced a more solemn expression onto her face and shook her head.

  Managarm gestured at her with impatience. “Well, get on it then!” He grabbed Adam by the shoulder again, and the boy yelped. “Call Rita and David. Tell them where the rangers are investigating the vandalism, at the third site. That will be their cover for seeking the Tree.”

  Trying to wriggle out of Managarm’s grasp, Adam motioned toward the screen. “But they didn’t say exactly where. Just a general location.”

  The Moon Dog smiled. “That’s no matter. Our talented Moon Witch will provide those details.”

  Sally glanced up at Managarm from across the room, and actually squeaked when she made eye contact with him. Her face turned beet red, and her Book of Shadows slipped off her lap to the floor. She scrambled to retrieve it as he stepped toward her.

  “What progress?” He demanded.

  Before Sally could answer, Peter emerged from the kitchen looking like a circus performer as he carried three bags of chips, a few jars of salsa and processed cheese, a box of low-fat Twinkies, three bottles of diet soda, and freshly popped microwave popcorn in a not-so delicate balancing act.

  “Who’s hungry?” He made his way to the dining room table on the far side of the great room and dumped the food onto the polished surface, then wiped his hands on his college sweatshirt.

  Managarm turned on his heel, surveyed the dining table, and sneered in disgust. “You call that food?”

  Peter shrugged. “I got through four semesters of finals on this stuff.” He unscrewed the cap of one of the soda bottles, and the cola fizzed up through the narrow neck and onto the table. Peter licked his fingers and wiped his hands across his sweatshirt again. “I’m not a big fan of diet, but it’s all Rita’s got here. You know, women.” His face brightened. “How ‘bout we order out for pizza?”

  Managarm sighed angrily and waved him off. Taking this as permission, Peter pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and started dialing. “Anyone got a credit card we can use?”

  Adam turned around in his chair. “I have Dad’s AMEX number memorized, for emergencies.” He grinned up at Peter. “I think this counts as an emergency, don’t you?”

  “Excellent!” Peter lifted the phone to his ear.

  “Hey! Get a load of these guys!” Adam laughed and pointed at the computer screen, where he scrolled through another news story. “There’s a biker gang that’s come to town, to help bury some soldiers killed overseas. Says they’re unofficial military funeral escorts or something. They’re called the Valkyries,” Adam snorted, then turned suddenly serious.

  “They’re like the angels of death, right? I mean for real? When all this is over, do we get to go to Valhalla as heroes, too?” He called over to Peter. “Oh, make sure you get one supreme, one pepperoni, and one with jalapenos and Greek olives and sardines. Maybe extra cheese—”

  Managarm snapped at Adam. “Shouldn’t you be making a call of your own?”

  Adam nodded meekly and turned back to the computer. “I don’t see what the big deal is,” he muttered under his breath. “It’s not like the stupid Tree isn’t going to still be there.”

  Managarm lifted his face to the ceiling and roared. Two of Sally’s candles toppled over, and she had to bat at the flames with her journal to keep the runes and rabbit skin from catching fire. On the other side of the room, Peter stammered into his phone, “I’m going to have to call you back.”

  Managarm glared at the two Berserkers. “This is no game!” His voice echoed off the skylight windows overhead. “The Tree is the very breath of this world. Without it, all is for nothing. Do you understand?”

  “They don’t call it the World Tree for nothing,” Sally offered with a weak smile as she re-lit the candles.

  Managarm turned toward her with surprised relief. “Show me.”

  Sally fumbled with the incense, spooning small amounts of it onto the still unlit charcoal. “I, I’m still setting up. It takes some time . . .”

  “Okay. I’m ordering pizza.” Peter dialed again and held his phone to his ear.

  Standing on the other side of the coffee table, Managarm looked hard at Sally and raised a finger of warning. “No mistakes. And no dawdling.”

  Sally spilled incense onto the table. Heimdall has the Tree, she told herself, hoping it was true. Heimdall has the Tree already. She steadied her hand and poured another spoonful of fragrant powder onto the small round of charcoal and held a lit match to its edge. The charcoal sparkled and spat as it ignited.

  “Hey, there’s also something about a bunch of animals getting killed.” Adam ran his finger over the text on the screen as he read. “Breaking news.” He looked at the clock in the upper corner of the computer display. “Being almost 2 a.m., this is just a couple of hours old. Farm animals, neighborhood pets. Starting around Olympia and headed south. A couple of campers on the Kalama River got chased out of their tent by some kind of creature or something  . . . They say they think it might be related to the campsites the rangers are investigating, because they found some blood there . . .”

  Adam winced slightly as he touched the still raw crescent moon beneath his shirt. “Sure, there’s blood there. But this wasn’t us, all the animals and stuff. It wasn’t us, right?”

  Sally’s blood ran cold at the sight of the dark smile that unfurled on Managarm’s face. “Fenrir,” he hissed with delight.

  Adam spun around in his chair. “The wolf from the sanctuary.” The boy’s grin widened. “So, yeah, it was us.”

  A thick plume of smoke rose up in front of Sally, and she breathed in the pungent scent of the incense. If Heimdall
already has the Tree, then I can send Managarm there, and the other gods can deal with him. She opened the jar of dirt and sprinkled some of it over the runes, then dribbled drops of water on them.

  Managarm nodded at Adam. “The call.”

  “Right.” Adam spun back around in his chair and picked up the landline phone from its cradle.

  Managarm walked across the floor and stood before the window, but instead of looking out over the city, he gazed skyward, watching—Sally guessed—for the last sliver of moon in the sky before it disappeared altogether and became the Black Moon.

  “Hey, Rita,” Adam said into the phone. “I’ve got a more specific section of Pierce Forest for you to check out . . .”

  Sally held her hands over the runes and waited. Everything was in place. It wasn’t until that moment that she realized that everything she’d sought to do, she’d achieved in one way or another. The old gods were again in the world, and ancient magick was doing its work. The symbol Raido hung heavy on the pendant around her neck, and she felt Uruz tingling across the pad of her thumb. Sally closed her eyes and willed the power of the runes to come alive within her. She felt a coil of energy unfurl in her stomach and rush out through her fingers.

  When she opened her eyes, the runes laid out before her were not only glowing—they were spinning slowly in the lazy spiral she had designed.

  ~ nineteen ~