The Song of the Ash Tree- The Complete Saga

by T L Greylock

  “Did your mother ever tell you the story of the quarrel between Freyja and Idunn?” Ailmaer’s voice was soft and commanding once more.

  “My mother died giving birth to me.”

  Ailmaer seized upon this with eager eyes. “Is there nothing you would not do to change her fate?”

  “My mother is no concern of yours. Tell me of Freyja and Idunn.”

  Ailmaer took a deep breath. “Idunn keeps the golden apples and grants the gods eternal youth, as you know. Freyja, for all her beauty and power, has always been jealous of Idunn. She schemed for a means of depriving Idunn of her apples. She begged Odin, she threatened Bragi, Idunn’s husband, and at last she donned her eagle skin and flew to Idunn’s garden. There she dove from the sky and came to battle against the flock of thrushes that guards the apple tree. Despite her size and greater strength, the thrushes tore at Freyja’s feathers and threatened to peck out her eyes, and Freyja was forced to flee. But not before she broke a twig from the tree and stowed it in her tail feathers.” Ailmaer stepped close and grasped Raef’s shoulder. “And on that twig was a tiny apple.” Ailmaer released Raef and began to pace. “When she discovered the broken branch, Idunn suspected it was Freyja who had committed this act of deceit and treachery, but she had no proof, for an eagle is just an eagle in the eyes of the faithful thrush. Freyja, for her part, could not keep her prize in Asgard for fear of discovery and Odin’s wrath, so she carried the tiny apple far from her hall to a place only she might know. There she plucked a seed from the apple’s core and planted it, nurtured it, watched it grow until it was a strong sapling, until it, too, sprouted golden apples.”

  “And you think she chose this place?” Raef thought of the times he had visited the Old Troll as a boy, had clambered over these very rocks. The notion that Freyja harbored a secret apple tree there seemed beyond belief. “You have been deceived.”

  “Doubt me if you like, Skallagrim. You do not know the lengths I have gone to in search of this place.”

  “And all to quench your own greed? To defy death and place yourself among the gods?” Raef backed away from Wind-footed, his gut clenched with revulsion.

  “No,” Ailmaer said, shaking his head, tears filling his eyes, “not for me. Never for me.” The proud mercenary dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands.

  Raef hesitated, uncertain, then stepped forward and knelt in front of Ailmaer. He put a hand to Ailmaer’s arm and slowly drew the other man’s hands away from his face. Only when Ailmaer lifted his eyes did Raef speak.

  “Tell me.”

  Ailmaer swallowed hard and fought to control his tears. “To save a life other than my own, this is why I seek Freyja’s tree.” Ailmaer sank back on his heels and then sat in the snow. “The Norns are cruel, Skallagrim. Always they take that which we can least bear to part with.” He ran a weathered hand down the length of his face, his fingers pulling at the skin around his eyes, the lines around his mouth. “The man who encouraged me to take the name Wind-footed, he is called Adalherr and I owe him everything. He was father when I had none, friend when I needed one, teacher always.” Ailmaer cast Raef a bitter glance. “I have survived this long because of him, and yet for four years I have watched him waste away, watched the illness spread from limb to limb. First, he could not grip a sword, now he cannot drink from a cup without spilling. He can hardly feed himself, he loses control of his bladder more often than not. At times he grows angry, afraid, but then a moment later he will laugh and things will seem to be as they were before.” The tears welled once more. “But things will never be as they were and my heart breaks to see what has become of him.” Ailmaer blinked and his face grew hard. “Idunn’s apples will forever be out of my reach, but now you must see, Skallagrim, why I must find Freyja’s.”

  “An old man’s time will come, illness or no,” Raef said.

  “Is forty and one so old? Should I relinquish myself to death in three years time when I am that age?”

  “I am sorry,” Raef said, realizing Ailmaer was younger than the grey streaks of hair suggested. “I will help you if I can, though I do not know how.” Raef felt a tremor of apprehension in his chest as he spoke the words, for to help Ailmaer succeed would mean unleashing eternal youth into the realm of men. Gladly would men go to war over such a gift. And yet even eternal youth would not spare Midgard from the final battle.

  “Freyja holds the lynx dear to her heart and no doubt she has smiled on this one, who lives when she should have died. Perhaps she is the key.” Ailmaer got to his feet with new vigor.

  “Do you expect her to sniff it out as a dog would?”

  “She may see with the goddess’s eyes.”

  It was a strange thought, and yet Raef did not doubt that Freyja was capable of such a skill, and so he walked to the top of Old Troll once more, the lynx trotting behind, and together they traversed the hill from side to side, in search of something unknowable. But not once did she show interest in the snow or the dead grasses that poked through in places. She wandered after Raef readily enough, but the only thing of note she did was urinate against a boulder. Even so, Raef examined it, tried to shove it away from where it was lodged in the earth, hoping to find some hidden passage, some sign of Freyja’s presence, but all to no avail.

  Through all this, Ailmaer watched from a distance, his arms crossed, his eyes hungry. When at last Raef returned to him, Siv had joined the mercenary, her former leader, and Raef had seen them exchange enough words to know that Siv was aware of their purpose. The three of them turned their attention to the base of the hill and again the lynx followed Raef here and there, sniffing, but it was not long before she found a patch of sunshine warming a rock and curled up there to sleep. Ailmaer despaired and left Raef and Siv, stalking across the beach until the waves lapped at his boots.

  “Do you know this Adalherr?” Raef asked.

  Siv nodded. “Only a little. But enough to know that Ailmaer would do anything for him.”

  “And if we find what he seeks? How many will die for a taste of these golden apples meant for the gods?” Raef took Siv’s hand between his and kissed her palm. Neither had an answer to his question.

  The sky grew dark as the day waned and Raef watched as the sea frothed and clouds rolled in from the west. If they headed inland now, they might escape the storm and return to the Vestrhall with speed, but, though he felt the pull of the Vestrhall, Raef was reluctant to leave Ailmaer. And so he waited, all the while wondering if he would regret the delay.

  When the storm hit, Ailmaer was nowhere to be found. The men clustered in the rocky shelter, cloaks and furs pulled tight. The fire fought valiantly against the wind that whipped around the barriers, but it was a brief battle and soon it was nothing but smoke swept up in the blowing snow. Raef wished for Vakre and the flames he could give them, then peered out from the shelter in search of Ailmaer, but he could see only a few hulking boulders here and there. Beside him, Siv’s face was creased with worry.

  “He will kill himself out there.”

  The lynx, her fur dusted with snow, stood between them.

  “I must find him.” Siv stepped forward and Raef made to stop her, then thought better of it. Instead Raef pulled his hood down and together they plunged into the storm, the lynx darting ahead.

  They shouted Ailmaer’s name, their voices ripped away by the wind, and walked the length of the beach, finding nothing. Out at sea, lightning flashed, knifing from black clouds to the swelling waves below, and the lynx burst ahead of Raef and out of sight, vanishing into the thick snow.

  Raef gripped Siv’s gloved hand tighter and pointed up in the direction of Old Troll’s summit. Siv nodded and together they fought the wind back to the base of the hill, then began the climb.

  At the summit, Raef caught sight of a dark shape and began to make his way toward Ailmaer. But he had gone only a few paces when a blinding flash threw him back, sending him sprawling in the snow as thunder cracked above them. Blinking, Raef got to his knees, his legs
unsteady, but another bolt of lightning plunged to earth, striking the ground just in front of him. In the wake of the flash, Raef fell backward, but not before he saw a black and white bird rise from the charred ground. The bird flapped its wings and passed so close to Raef that he felt feathers brush his face, and then the lynx was leaping after it, claws outstretched, teeth bared in a silent snarl. The bird twisted out of reach and was gone.

  His heart thundering in his chest, Raef got to his feet as Siv rushed to his side. He clutched at her, his vision streaked with violent white light, and sank to the ground once more.

  “Are you hurt?” Siv brushed hair from Raef’s face as she cradled him on her lap. Raef fought to draw breath, his heart moving too fast for his lungs to catch up, and struggled to speak. He closed his eyes as Siv’s hands searched him for injury and his breathing slowed, though he could not have said how much time passed before he felt himself again.

  When he did sit up, Raef saw the black scar in the earth where the lightning had struck, saw that a hole had opened up, saw Ailmaer on hands and knees peering into its depths. Around them, the sky had cleared, the dark clouds vanishing, the snow faltering so that only a few flakes fell. Out at sea, shafts of sunlight pierced the cloud cover and illuminated the grey waters below. Raef found his feet, reassuring Siv that he was unhurt, though he did not let go of her hand as he walked to where Ailmaer knelt.

  Between them, a tunnel had opened in the rock, burrowing deep into Old Troll’s skull, a nearly vertical descent. Already Ailmaer was removing his fur cloak to prepare for the plunge but Siv convinced him to wait until rope might be found and he could enter the tunnel more securely. Ailmaer paced across the hilltop while rope was fetched.

  “This is wrong,” Raef said to Siv as he watched Ailmaer fasten the rope around him and hand the loose end to three of his warriors, who would control his descent. “Not for Freyja are the dark places deep beneath the earth.” Siv squeezed his hand and said nothing, her unease written plainly on her face. They watched as Ailmaer disappeared into the shaft and then there was nothing to do but wait.

  “Where did the bird come from?” Raef asked, more to himself or whatever gods might be listening than to Siv. He walked a circled around the hole in the ground, giving a wide berth to the three men holding the rope. “No nest, nothing,” he said, speaking aloud what was already known. “What bird lives underground?”

  “Cliff swallows, burrowing owls.”

  Raef thought of the black and white bird, its angular wings and short tail. “This was neither.”

  “A message from Asgard? Why?”

  It was a question Raef could not begin to answer.

  When Ailmaer tugged on the rope, he was hoisted up to the daylight once more. He blinked against the light, raising hands smeared with dark earth to shield his eyes, and as the shadow passed over his face Raef could see the sorrow in his eyes.

  “What did you find?”

  “See for yourself.” Ailmaer looked away and said nothing else.

  The walls of the shaft were narrow and grew narrower as Raef was lowered deeper and deeper into the earth. A man of Dvalarr’s build would not have fit. Using his hands and feet, Raef controlled his descent, not caring to risk everything to the hands that held the rope above him. At last his feet touched bottom and Raef stood in silence for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

  A cavern took shape around him, its low ceiling within reach if Raef raised his arm, its earthen floor broken by sharp ridges of half-buried rocks scattered as though dropped from a great height. There was no tree, no sapling, root, or twig. The golden apples that would save Adalherr were nothing more than a dream.

  But the cavern was not empty. The more Raef looked, the more he saw, for the walls were covered in carvings that seemed to glimmer at the edge of his vision as though they were fluid, living things reacting to the hint of sunlight that had followed Raef into the depths. Raef pressed his fingertips against the grooves that outlined a raven in flight, wings spread wide, beak open in a call only the stones could hear, as his eyes took in the shape of a mighty tree. This was no slender fruit tree. The roots spanned the circle of the cavern, twining over the rock in a tangle, the trunk rose straight and strong to the ceiling, the branches arched over all, the limbs filled with delicate leaves. Yggdrasil hewn into the earth.

  How long Raef stared at the stone tree, his gaze running over every knot in the trunk, every whorl in the roots, he could not have said, but Siv’s faint voice pulled at him until he remembered where he was. He tugged on the rope to show he was ready to rise to the surface, but his eyes lingered on Yggdrasil’s likeness until it was out of sight.

  When he reached the surface, Raef found a second rope and asked the warriors to lower Siv down, then waited until she had reached the bottom before following.

  Raef took Siv’s hand and led her to the nearest wall, his fingers already reaching to feel Yggdrasil once more, but the rocks were empty under his touch, their surfaces free of carvings. Raef spun, searching, but the cavern had swallowed up the tree and the walls were just walls.

  “I saw it. I felt it.” Raef walked around the cavern, his uncertainty growing with every step.

  “Saw what?” Siv asked.

  “Yggdrasil.” Raef tried to describe what he had seen, the breadth of the world tree’s limbs, the twisted roots, the way the carvings had seemed to move when he looked away, but his words sounded hollow in his ears and he broke off. “Do you believe me?”

  “Yes.”

  “It was beautiful.”

  “Ailmaer made no mention of it.”

  Raef frowned. “Why would I alone see it?”

  Siv was silent for a moment, her face thoughtful. “When I was a girl, before my sister and I went to live with my uncle, I wandered into a cave at the outskirts of our farm. I dug in the dirt and found a piece of wood shaped into a swan and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I hurried out of the cave, intent on carrying it home to show my family, but the moment I stepped into the sun and the wind, a strange thing happened. It crumbled to dust in my palms. My father told me he had heard of such things, of ancient artifacts destroyed once removed from their hiding places, places that had kept them safe for countless years. The air, the warmth of the sun, these things are deadly.”

  Raef closed his eyes and pictured the carvings once more. “The discovery of this cavern was its destruction?”

  “I think you are fortunate to have seen it at all.” Siv came to stand by Raef. “Its fate was not unlike that which will befall the true Yggdrasil.” Raef put his arms around her and held her close, closing his eyes once more and feeling the beat of her heart against his chest.

  “What will we do?” Her voice was no more than a murmur.

  “What we can.” Raef put her face in his hands. “We will go on. We will laugh and fight and live until life is taken from us. And I will love you.”

  Twenty

  The loss of the golden apples weighed heavily on Ailmaer and Raef could see from the stoop of the other man’s shoulders and the emptiness in his eyes that the mercenary had lost his conviction, his determination.

  “I was so sure.” Ailmaer had not abandoned the hilltop, choosing to stay near the shaft’s entrance even as the sun passed into the sea. Raef and Siv brought him a portion of dried meat and hard cheese and a skin of ale, but Wind-footed showed little interest in eating. “I will keep looking.”

  “What would Adalherr have you do?” Siv rested a hand on Ailmaer’s forearm as she spoke.

  “I cannot lose him.”

  Siv put her palm to Ailmaer’s cheek. “Do not let your grief blind you. Does Adalherr wish for eternal youth? Do you search for golden apples for him or to put an end to the sorrow and rage in your heart?”

  The pain that flowed over Ailmaer’s face made Raef look away.

  “He would have me let him die, let the disease run its course.” The words were choked out. “He is tired of living.”

  “Th
en you know what you must do.” Siv cradled Ailmaer’s face now and the tears flowed freely from his eyes.

  “I cannot go on without him. He made me what I am, gave me everything.”

  “And in your greed you would deprive him of peace.” Siv’s voice was gentle but firm. “Let him go, Ailmaer. Let the gods look after him.”

  Ailmaer closed his eyes, his head sinking to his chest. After a long silence, he got to his feet and walked away. Siv made to follow but Raef stopped her.

  “He sees the wisdom in your words,” Raef said. “Let him wrap his heart around it.”

  **

  “The hill is yours, Skallagrim. I relinquish my claim on it.” Ailmaer Wind-footed mounted his horse on the beach, the wind tugging at his long hair. Behind him, his warriors were ready to travel.

  “Where will you go?” Raef asked.

  “Home. Such as it is. And there I will say goodbye.”

  Raef nodded. “Go with the good will of Vannheim.”

  Ailmaer returned the nod and then urged his horse forward as Raef stepped out of his path. The company of warriors thundered after him, the horses’ hooves spewing snow and sand as they raced by and leaving Raef and the Vannheim warriors alone with the gulls. Within moments, Raef led his men from the beach, taking a southerly course toward the Vestrhall.

  “I dreamed of the tree. I see it still when I close my eyes.” Raef rode at the head of the column as they passed into a notch between a pair of hills. The sea was far behind them, the sound of its waves long forgotten, but Raef could not keep the cavern from his mind. He looked at Siv, who rode beside him. “I cannot help but feel that it,” he paused, struggling to find the right word, “that it matters. The lightning, the bird, all of it.” He glanced down at the lynx keeping pace at his side. She wandered from the pack of riders when she wished, always finding her way back to them.