by Kate O'Hearn
He turned to the others. “You’re with me.” Glancing back once more at Freya, he said to his men, “While they go after Vanir-Freyja, we will go to Asgard. Before another day has come and gone, Odin will be dead!”
* * *
“Freya, what have you done?” Orus emerged from his hiding spot.
Freya was shaking her head, trying to understand what had just happened. “I wanted to make him really angry, to distract him and give Maya time to get Vanir-Freyja away from here. I was ready to let him kill me.”
“Dirian is too clever for that,” Skuld called. “I tried to warn you.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Freya said, bowing her head. She looked miserably at Orus. “Why don’t I ever listen?”
“It’s not in your nature,” the raven said sadly. “Most of the time your instincts work.”
“Not this time,” Freya said. “I’ve made things worse.”
“Then you are going to have to fix it,” Skuld called.
“How?”
“By acknowledging your mistake and moving on.”
Freya looked at Skuld, chained to the opposite wall. She appeared to be so young, but she sounded older than anyone else Freya had ever met before.
“Freya, hear me,” the Norn continued. “You are alive, and while you are, there is hope. I told you, the future is in flux. Many things are happening at once. Nothing is clear, not even to me. Remember what I told you. You must summon a part of you that you’ve never used before. You have strength, and power. Now is the time to use it before it’s too late.”
“What power? I just don’t understand.”
“Yes, you do,” Skuld said cryptically.
Freya cast her mind back to the beginning—when they were still in Midgard, preparing to leave for Muspelheim. What was it Quinn had said after she’d helped them lift the stone altar? Something about her Valkyrie blood having a lot of power in it.
Was that what Skuld meant?
Did she have Vanir powers? There were times in her life when things had happened that she couldn’t explain—when she’d achieved things and she couldn’t possibly understand how or why, like defeating the much bigger and stronger Dirian at the Ten Realms Challenge. And being the fastest flyer in Asgard. She’d always believed it was her wings carrying her forward, but perhaps there was more to it.
Freya sat very still for some time, considering Skuld’s words and all the occasions in her life when strange, unexplained things had happened. She closed her eyes and pushed back the pain from her severed wings and broken ribs. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, she reached out with her senses. She could tell that all the Dark Searchers had now left the keep as they made their final push in the war.
Apart from one. Kai was still alive, somewhere in the keep. She could feel him. As she reached out further, she felt Quinn and the soldiers with him too. There weren’t as many as before, but a couple remained. They were with . . . Freya inhaled. She could feel that they were with Archie!
“Calm,” Skuld called. “That’s it. Remain calm and breathe deeply. Focus on what you want to do.”
Freya took another long, deep breath and ignored the pinching from her ribs. She reached up and grasped the metal collar around her neck.
Orus moved closer and climbed up onto her knee as she sat cross-legged on the stone floor. “You can do it, Freya,” he coached. “You can do anything.”
With Orus and Skuld offering encouragement, Freya started to pull at the lock securing the collar around her neck. The heavy metal seemed to move a fraction, but when she felt it shift, it broke her concentration and everything stopped.
“Try it again,” Orus cawed.
“But it’s so hard.” Freya panted from the strain. “I can’t break metal, at least not this kind.”
“Then you are already defeated,” Skuld said. “If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect others to have faith in you?”
Those words stung. “Just because I can’t break metal doesn’t mean I don’t believe in myself!”
“Why are you trying to break the lock?” Skuld asked. “Surely you can’t. But what you want to do is open it.”
“Open it? How?”
“Haven’t I told you already?”
“All you’ve said is that I have the power of the Vanir. But you didn’t say how! If you know so much, why don’t you tell me?”
“That is up to you to discover,” Skuld said.
“You’re talking in riddles now?” Freya fumed. “Just as Dirian is moving in on Asgard? Skuld, if you know something I don’t—and you do, because you’re the Norn of the future—for Odin’s sake, tell me!”
Skuld’s expression dropped as if Freya had struck her. “I can’t tell you how to do something I don’t know how to do myself.” It sounded as though she were on the verge of tears. “All I know is I’ve seen you use the power. But that doesn’t mean I know how to teach it to you.”
Freya felt as if she’d stolen a treat from a child. “Skuld, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. But this is so important, and I just don’t know what to do.”
Orus pecked Freya in the leg. “You’re overthinking this. You always do your most amazing things when you don’t have time to think about it. So stand up, open that collar at your neck, and save Odin!”
“How?”
“Don’t ask how. Just do it!” Orus shouted.
Freya put Orus down and climbed slowly to her feet. This was the first time she’d stood since Dirian’s attack. Her balance was way off because she didn’t have the weight of her wings on her back. Everything felt strange and wrong. She leaned against the wall for support until she found her balance and stood straight.
“That’s it,” Orus cawed, flying up to his proper place on her shoulder. “Now pull the collar’s lock to the front and do like Quinn or Skye would do, and open it.”
Freya was filled with doubt. This was insane. But with so much at stake, she had to believe that deep down inside, somehow, she had the power of the Vanir.
Once again Freya clasped both sides of the metal collar. Instead of straining to use her strength to pull it open, she focused all her thoughts on “wanting” it open.
It was impossible to know who in the War Room was the most shocked as a loud click echoed through the large empty room.
As the collar fell away, Freya’s eyes went wide. “Orus, I did it!”
“I knew you could all along!” Orus said as he playfully nipped her ear.
Freya reached up, caught him by the beak, and gave him a big kiss. “Thanks, Orus.”
Free of her chains, Freya took two unsteady steps forward. Without the weight of her wings for balance, walking felt strange, and she wondered how long it had taken Brundi or even Dirian to get used to being wingless.
Freya could sense that the corridor directly outside the War Room was empty and that they were alone. The first thing she did was walk over to the door where Dirian had posted the parchment with the list of her family names on it.
Catching hold of her golden flame sword, Freya pulled it out of the wall, freeing the list. She caught the parchment in her hands and shivered as she read the names of her family again.
“Skuld, can you take this back? Can you give my family their futures again?”
The young Norn nodded. “Bring the list to me.”
Freya never imagined that walking across a room could be so difficult or awkward. But now that she was upright, the wounds on her back were throbbing and her balance was still way off.
As she drew closer to the Norn, Freya was finally able to see her clearly. Skuld did look like a child. But as Freya came closer to her, she saw that Skuld’s eyes were solid white.
“Skuld, are you blind?”
“I am the Norn of the future,” Skuld said. “I must be blind to the past and present; otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see the future.”
Freya’s heart immediately went out to her. “I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?”
&nbs
p; “What difference would it make? Yes, I’m blind and I can’t see you right now, but I am no less the person I was before you knew, and you shouldn’t treat me any differently.”
“Why would I?”
“Some do,” Skuld said. “That I am without present sight makes some believe I am less than they are. But I often ask them, ‘Can you see the future?’ and that makes them think.”
Skuld reached for the parchment. “Freya, before I do this, you must know—I can’t help those who have already fallen from this list. They will not rise again.”
A dagger of fear cut through Freya’s heart. “Do you know who’s fallen?”
The Norn said nothing, but nodded.
“Please, you must tell me.”
Skuld shook her head. “I can’t. To tell you would distract you from the trial you must now face. But I will say there have been only two losses. Everyone else on the list is alive.”
Freya’s heart raced as she scanned the parchment again. Her mother, grandmother, sisters, brother, cousins, and uncles were there—almost everyone she cared for most in all the realms was on that list. To know that two had fallen was unbearable. “You must tell me!” she cried. “Don’t you understand? I can’t go on without knowing. Please, who have I lost?”
Tears rimmed the Norn’s eyes. “I am so sorry, Freya. Your grandmother, Brünnhilde, and your sister Skaga were killed in separate incidents. Skaga was defeated by a fire giant. I promise you; it was quick and painless. She died bravely, surrendering her life to save humans.”
The Norn paused and then inhaled deeply. “Brünnhilde and her raven were killed when two frost giants attacked the mountain she and your cousins were hiding in. Myriam and baby Michael are alive. I do see a future for them, but until this war ends, that future is in flux.”
At her shoulder, Orus cawed in grief. But Freya was silent. She felt the air sucked out of her body as her legs gave out and she collapsed to her knees. Her amazing sister Skaga was dead for good. Brundi, who had suffered so much and had risen above it all to do great things, was gone.
“You shouldn’t have told her, Skuld.” A Dark Searcher entered the War Room. “Knowing never helps anyone . . .”
Freya gasped, fighting to hold back tears. The Dark Searchers would never see her cry. Instead she let rage overwhelm her senses as she reached for her sword. Driven mad by fury, she rose and turned.
Silenced by grief, Freya stalked the Dark Searcher. Clear thinking was gone. She felt no pain from her wing stumps, burns, or broken bones. She felt nothing but an overwhelming desire to share with him the agony she was suffering. She lifted her sword, unwilling to wait for him to defend himself. Skaga and Brundi were dead; soon he would be too.
The Searcher stumbled back and held up his hands. “Freya, stop!” Suddenly the Dark Searcher shimmered and melted into a familiar form, standing before her in green armor holding a Vanir staff in one hand.
“Loki?” Freya staggered and dropped her sword, unable to trust her eyes. But her senses quickly confirmed what she couldn’t believe. “Is that really you?”
Loki nodded. “I am sorry for your loss—for our loss. Brundi was a very special woman. She meant everything to me.”
Tears that she’d fought so hard to hold back flooded her eyes. “You’re alive . . . ?”
Loki nodded and opened his arms to her. Freya ran forward and embraced him as though he were the only real thing left in her life.
“Let it out, Freya,” he said softly into her hair. Loki held her tight but was careful not to touch her wing stumps as he rocked her like a father comforting a suffering daughter. “Just let it all out.”
32
MAYA WAS FILLED WITH MIXED emotions as they entered the Yggdrasil tunnel and left Muspelheim behind. She had rescued Vanir-Freyja, but leaving her sister, Kai, and Quinn behind was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life.
Vanir-Freyja cast a spell to carry them through the roots of Yggdrasil to Midgard.
Traveling at speed, Maya was barely aware of passing from one realm to the next. It was only when they rounded the corner and saw a cluster of soldiers before them that she realized they were entering the domain of Midgard.
“Maya! I’m so glad to see you! We didn’t know what to do, so we’ve been waiting here for you.”
“Tina?” Maya called. Three other soldiers from their journey to Muspelheim were there as well—including the one whose ghost she’d sent back to Earth to warn Thor about Vanir-Freyja. But as she reached out with her senses, she realized that none of them were ghosts anymore. They were very much alive and healthy.
Not much farther down the tunnel, the body of Sergeant Romin sat against the wall—looking unchanged and alone. Private Cornish scratched his head. “I don’t know what happened. One moment I was talking to Thor, passing on your message about Vanir-Freyja, and the next, I was back here.”
Another private said, “I was at the keep with Kai and Quinn, and some Dark Searchers came. Then I woke up here.”
Tina nodded. “All I remember is entering the cell with you. . . .” She frowned. “But then everything went blank and, just like the others, I woke up here.”
Maya remembered perfectly well what had happened to Tina. “You don’t remember being killed by the Dark Searchers as they tried to enter the cell to stop us?”
Tina frowned and shook her head.
“Maya,” Private Cornish said, “these are our bodies, right? I mean, I know that Freya reaped us, but we’re alive again, aren’t we? How is this possible?”
“I really don’t know,” Maya admitted. “You were dead. I know you were. But now you’re alive, and I don’t understand how.”
Vanir-Freyja nodded. “I believe I do. Tell me, when Freya reaped you, were you here in this tunnel?”
“Yes,” Tina said. “And our bodies were left right there, just like John’s is now. Our ghosts went to Muspelheim with Freya and Skye to try to free you.”
Vanir-Freyja nodded. “Your bodies were held in the embrace of Yggdrasil. The World Tree kept them safe for when you needed them again. When each of you completed your task, Yggdrasil returned your spirits to your bodies and restored you to life.”
The ancient Vanir came forward and touched Tina’s face. “But you have changed. You are no longer a human of Midgard. Nor are you Aesir, or Vanir, or of any one realm. You are part of all realms—you are the children of Yggdrasil. It is a great honor she has bestowed upon you. You must use this gift wisely.”
Behind them came the sound of a deep inhalation and a cough. Everyone looked back and saw the body of the sergeant stir. His eyes opened as he took another deep breath. Confusion rose on his face.
“John!” Tina cried. She ran over to him and helped him climb to his feet. “Nice and slow. It takes a moment to adjust.”
Sergeant Romin shook his head, and then his eyes flashed open. He ran over to Maya. “I don’t know what just happened or how I got here, but we have to go back.”
“Calm down,” Maya said. “If you are here, it means you must have been killed at the keep. Yggdrasil has restored your spirit to your body.”
“I—I’m alive?”
When Maya nodded, the sergeant shook his head. “No, no, I can’t be. They need me!” He reached out and took Maya’s hand. Nothing happened.
“Maya, reap me!” he cried.
Maya looked down at where they were touching and back up to the sergeant, baffled to see that he was still alive.
“She can’t,” Vanir-Freyja said. “Yggdrasil has changed you. You aren’t human anymore and are immune to a Valkyrie’s touch.”
Tina approached him. “John, she says we can move through all the realms.”
“Is this true?” he demanded of Vanir-Freyja.
“I believe so.”
The sergeant nodded. “Good.” He looked back at his men. “Just like before, this is a volunteer mission. Those of you who want to come with me, do. Those who want to return to Earth, you can go with no charges or bla
me against you.”
“Come where?” Tina asked.
“Back to the keep. Just before I passed out, Kai, Quinn, Archie, and I were on our way up into the War Room to get Freya and Skuld. Outside the door, we heard Dirian and his men making plans.”
“Did you see Freya?” Maya demanded. “Is she all right?”
“I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her. Dirian was furious that the exit tunnel was sealed after you left. Freya started baiting him, making him even angrier. It sounded like he was going to kill her—”
Maya inhaled. “No . . .”
“It’s all right,” the sergeant said quickly. “He didn’t. From what I could hear, he actually thanked her for making him think clearly. He sent some of his men to take the other tunnel out of the keep and gather a group of fire giants together. They’re going to Vanaheim to burn it down and force you to hand Vanir-Freyja back over to him.”
“But we’re not going to Vanaheim,” Skye said.
“He doesn’t know that. They’re on their way there now.”
“What of Dirian?” Vanir-Freyja asked.
The sergeant’s eyes landed on Maya. “That’s why I wanted you to reap me. I’ve gotta get back there. Dirian is on his way to Asgard right now. He told Freya it’s fallen and he’s going to kill Odin.” The sergeant paused and started to frown. He rubbed his neck. “I—I can’t remember what happened after that. We—we heard them coming out of the War Room and hid in the tower stairs. I think other Searchers found us. . . .” He continued to rub his neck as though it hurt.
From this Maya was sure he had been killed in the tower by a sword strike to the neck. “Can you remember if Kai was hurt?”
Sergeant Romin’s brows furrowed deeper as he tried to recall his final moment. He shook his head. “I just don’t know. I can’t remember anything after that.”
“Just as well,” Vanir-Freyja said. “Remembering how you died will not serve you going forward.”