The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga)

by Hudson, Stephanie

  “YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” I started to run after him but Ragnar caught me before I even had a chance. I wanted to hit him, to pound my fists against his chest and make my palm come into contact with his arrogant face!

  “Oh and Ragnar... do not dare to fail me again!” This was the last thing he ordered before walking back into the Temple.

  “No, my Lord.” Ragnar said through gritted teeth and it was the first sign that he was about as happy as I was, with our situation. Ragnar seemed to take no pleasure in forcing me to go the way he wanted me to. I struggled and wriggled which was pointless against Ragnar’s iron grasp. He directed me towards a door I hadn’t yet been through and it made me wonder how big this honeycomb of endless ancient rooms and corridors really was?

  We walked through into another room that looked more like a massive cloakroom and this was the first time I had seen one full of actual cloaks! All of which were hanging down like lifeless bodies with their backs to us. They were all in order of colour and I guessed this was down to rank as I saw ones in red, purple and even white but there was none in black and I knew why. Draven was clearly the Master of this little Temple’s cult and therefore only black was meant for him.

  As soon as the door closed behind us, Ragnar had obviously had quite enough of me making a fuss, so he whipped me round to face him and when I was expecting to see an angry face, I was shocked when I was met with one of hurt and regret.

  “Please stop making this more difficult than it has to be. I take no pleasure in forcing you to do something you clearly do not want to do, but considering your regard for others I will ask you to obey…just for once, make this easier for me.” This had been the longest sentence I had heard him speak and it wasn’t without its effect. I felt sorry for him. He didn’t want to be my bodyguard any more than I wanted him to but we were stuck with each other and through this mutual suffering, it seemed to bring us closer or at least on the same page. So I just nodded my response and turned to walk by his side instead of in front with him gently pushing me.

  “Thank you.” He said quietly and this made my guilt start to show its nagging head.

  “Why does he blame you?”

  “I was ordered to watch over you and I failed.” He spoke in a regrettable tone and my guilt tugged even more at my heart strings.

  “So you were ordered to watch over me even when I am here?” I asked as we walked down past row after row of hanging fabric.

  “If you mean at the club, then yes, but down here then no….never, you were never supposed to see this place.” I stopped and when he turned he was faced with a very confused Keira.

  “What do you mean?”

  “No one of your kind has ever set foot down here before and it is utterly forbidden. Only the higher powers allow access to whom they choose and humans are not worthy…sorry!” He added the sorry when he saw me frown at his lack of compassion for ‘my kind’ as he called us.

  “So that is why Draven thinks somebody let me in?”

  “That is the only explanation and that is why I want you to tell me who? It is the only way to reverse my actions.” Ok, so he made a good case but it didn’t change the fact that I still had nothing to tell him. If only I could make him believe me.

  “Ok, I am going to tell you what happened and then maybe someone will finally believe me and then I have a chance at convincing Draven.” Ragnar remained quiet as we walked through room after room until we finally came to not only the end of our journey but also the end of my story. At first he didn’t say a word, he just looked deep in thought until his bushy eyebrows raised as if he had an idea.

  “If that is the case you can prove it.”

  “But h…?” Before I could finish he grabbed my hands and examined them. This is when it clicked and I realised what he was looking for…the strange mark that was still left in my skin thanks to the vine covered door…for what I now knew to be the Temple doors. As soon as he found it he dropped my hand as though I was going to infect him, then he staggered back and started muttering something in a different language. He was shaking his head like he was seeing a ghost.

  “What!…what is it?” I was getting even more frustrated with his strange behaviour.

  “It must all be true…you are the cho…no, never mind… it is not my place but this does change things.”

  “Oh goodie, more cryptic clues, that’s all I need!” I remarked sarcastically before walking back into Draven’s chamber. It wasn’t long ago when he was calling it our room but as it seemed, it sure didn’t take long before Draven started shifting his weight around!

  I walked back in the room and my heart sunk at the sight. It was only a short while ago that I was wishing to see this room again more than anything else in the world but now it was cold and dead without the warm Draven I loved, to be here to welcome me. Instead I had the temper filled Demon boyfriend to wait for and knowing I was soon to be in the firing line was not a thought that kept me all warm and fuzzy inside!

  Ragnar made the lights illuminate the room and I half expected some horror to be there waiting for me. The past few hours had been some of the most traumatic I had ever experienced and I was feeling mentally and physically exhausted. All I wanted to do was curl up into a ball on the bed and wake from this nightmare to find Draven’s arms round me, reassuring me it was all a dream. Well, that wasn’t necessarily true, I also wanted to grab my stuff and make a break for it but the chances of that happening were like Draven walking through the door full of apologies and a big bunch of flowers….never gonna happen!

  Instead of the bed I walked over to one of the lush, velvet, armchairs and sat down like a deflating fairground balloon. Ragnar eyed me cautiously, fearing I would snap if he said or did the wrong thing.

  Some things had been bugging me about Ragnar and I knew that I would never get another chance to find out about my Viking protector. So I raised my chin and decided tonight was as good as any to add even more to my night of discovery.

  “Is the reason your English is better because of me?” This is something I had noticed lately. The more time I had spent round him the easier his accent and wording seemed to get.

  “Yes. My master thought it better to improve my English while I would be spending more time around you. He thought it would be less challenging for you if you could understand me better. So I learned.” He didn’t seem as bothered with this request as I was. I couldn’t believe the lengths that Draven thought it necessary to go to and for what? Making it easier for me to be protected? For me to be comfortable with it all? I was starting to understand why I was a thorn in Ragnar’s side.

  “Tell me something, you didn’t want to be my bodyguard…right?”

  “No I did not.”

  “Because you didn’t like me…right?” His eyes met mine and for a moment it was like he was looking at someone else before answering me.

  “I don’t like humans!” Wow... blunt... much!

  “Why, you were human once?” I replied without trying to get my back up but it was hard.

  “I was, but once I was reborn my view on mankind changed!” He looked uncomfortable with where this conversation was going but if I was to bond with this Demon then I would first have to understand him.

  “And what was it that changed that view?” This time it was he that was frowning but still, he continued.

  “Because I saw how far man will go in search of power. In my culture we believed that the end of the earth as we knew it, would find its peace in an ultimate battle between Gods and the forces of evil. Where, in which the old gods would perish and a new peace would come. This we called Götterdämmerung which means the ‘twilight of the gods’.”

  “And this is your reason to hate us. Surely you can see after all these years that we have evolved?” At this statement he looked unconvinced and he just folded his tree trunk arms, making the material on his black t-shirt almost tear with strain.

  “Ok I don’t buy it…something must have happened to you! You talk about
the lengths man will go to in search of power but for what I have seen tonight there must be the same ambitions in your kind, or Draven wouldn’t need a prison like that under his friggin’ house!” At this I crossed my own arms but I winced as the pain shot down my back thanks to what Demon fingernails had done.

  “Remove your top!”

  “What!” I replied in horror.

  “You need to be healed before he returns.” He stepped towards where I was sitting but I held up one hand to stop him.

  “Its fine…looks worse than it is. Anyway, don’t change the subject.” I was being foolish I know but I needed to feel the pain to be able to deal with Draven’s temper. As though it would give me the anger I needed to challenge him on equal grounds, besides, since the last time that Ragnar had healed me I decided that it should only be left to Draven to touch me this way. Ragnar had clearly done quite enough for me already in the line of Draven’s duty.

  Ragnar just shrugged his indifferent shoulders before walking back to one side of the door frame to lean upon. This door I couldn’t keep my eyes off as I was still waiting for Draven’s fury fuelled body to walk through.

  “Am I not right? Why need that place if none of your kind craves more power, enough to break the rules and defy Draven?” I continued with my argument but Ragnar seemed unmoved by my observation.

  “There will always be those who feel the need to try and control a domination which is not there’s to control.”

  “You’re talking about Draven’s domination aren’t you, because he is…is King?” It was even harder to say it out loud than in my head. I was still trying to process all that I had seen tonight but to add the day’s events as well… then it became a whole new ball game. I had witnessed Draven’s rule first hand tonight and I was terrified that I would forever see him in a different light. Would I still see him as Draven my boyfriend or Draven the supernatural King of a secret world?

  “There is a big difference in how your world and mine are controlled. Yours has appointed many men as leaders to gain power how they see fit. In my world, we have but one great leader that is a direct blood line to the gods themselves, both beneath and above. His word is final and undisputed but most of all he does not exist purely to kill all those he cannot conquer because he already conquers all. He has no need to start wars for power like man does. He has fought our wars to protect the balance in which he was born….that is what makes him a great leader, that is the difference.” This was obviously something he was passionate about as it was the most animated I had yet seen him get.

  “And throughout history do you claim the same circumstances? Men back then were brutal in their quest for power, killing innocent people with little or no consequence and yet here you are trying to say we still operate with the same methods. Come now, you were a Viking were you not? You must see a difference!” Again he just shrugged his shoulder which made me lose my cool.

  “That isn’t an answer!”

  “I agree the methods of man have changed through the years, yes, but now instead of men to fight your wars, man has created the means to destroy not only their own race but every living thing on a planet. A planet which does not belong solely to them. Which is worse, an army that destroys a country or a single man that can destroy earth by pressing a button?” Ok so he had a bloody good point and one that was getting incredibly difficult to argue.

  “You have a lot to learn, especially about our kind but you are smart and strong willed. This will help and is no doubt down to your gifts but it does not mean you are always right, young human.”

  “I can imagine you would have sung a very different tune when you were human!” At this his face changed and I could almost see the memories of his human days fill his eyes with sorrow.

  “When I was human my views were different, yes, but how I came to what I am now is the reasons they changed. My murder played a big part in that.” I gulped at the word “Murder” and sadness replaced my frustration.

  “What happened to you?” I said in a low voice, full of concern for my unlikely friend. I waited for a facial feature to tell me he was uncomfortable with me asking but there were none. If anything he just leaned back and looked casual on the door frame before starting his first life story as a human.

  “My name is Ragnar Lodbrok and I was a Viking warrior who became King of Denmark and a large part of Sweden but it was short lived.”

  “Because you were murdered for it?” The look on his face told me I guessed wrong.

  “No, I was murdered because I chose a loved one over my throne, over the rule of my people and my need for power.” I was stunned to silence, so he carried on his heart-breaking story.

  “Before I became King I had a family. My wife was also a warrior, we call them ‘shieldmaidens’ and that’s how I met her. She became injured in battle and when the wounded were rounded up one of my men discovered a woman lay in the dirt dressed like a man. I remembered seeing her fight and her skills on the battle field impressed me enough to save her life, even though she had been fighting against me. Her name was Lathgertha and she bore me five strong sons and an even stronger daughter. She had the beauty of her mother and the wisdom of a great leader.” He closed his eyes briefly, seeing his daughter behind closed lids, I imagined.

  “She was my light, so she was rightly named Dalla which means ‘brilliance’ in my old language, Norse. It was my love for the girl that was to become my end.” I had tears welling up in my eyes and I hoped he couldn’t see them from the other end of the room.

  “Why, what happened to her?” I whispered my question.

  “The English arrived on our lands and found Dalla and her mother by the river. We found the bodies but no ship in sight. My wife and daughter fought with the courage of an army as my wife’s body was among the fifteen dead. My daughter was nowhere to be found but after torturing the only survivors, I soon learnt that she had been taken as a gift for an English ruler. The King Aella of Northumbria was to take her into his bed before probably killing her.” I gasped at the thought and Ragnar looking past it, ignoring my sympathy.

  “My sons were all around the world on their own conquests and knew nothing of this. So against the better judgement of my advisors, I left my kingdom taking only two Knarr’s and set out for your homeland.” Oh great, not only was I human, I was also English, making it a double whammy in the eyes of Ragnar. No wonder he hated me!

  I had given up trying to hide my tears as soon as he had mentioned the death of his wife. I could just picture it, the two Viking beauties fighting to save themselves and each other. Back to back, taking them down, one by one they fell, only it was all to be in vain. I wondered how many of them were there and how different this story would have been if they had given up and ran. Would we even be having this conversation? Would he even be here?

  “What happened when you got to England?”

  “I took my small army and went to rescue my daughter but I was too late. I found her lifeless body strung from a tree outside the gates. She had not met an honourable death by the hands of that tyrant, so in a rage, I ordered my men into a suicide mission and stormed the castle. We did not get far and in my uncontrollable wrath, I had lost my senses. My men died for nothing and I had been captured only to serve an even worse fate.”

  “What did they do to you?” I whispered before trying to sniff back yet even more tears.

  “The king ordered me to be thrown into a pit of snakes, where they slowly bit me to death. Draven had followed my life with great interest because of my blood line. I am a descendant of Odin, God of war, and the leader of souls. It was therefore natural for me to take my place by his side. My only request was for my revenge to be carried out by the hands of my sons.”

  “And was it?” I knew the answer as soon as I saw the sadistic smile creep upon his rough large lips.

  “Yes, my sons fulfilled my wish and the wish of the Gods. Aella met his end by the mighty blood eagle.”

  “Does that mean he was eaten by
birds?” I asked naively but when he laughed I felt embarrassed.

  “Well what is it then?”

  “I think you have experienced enough horror for one night.”

  “I’m a big girl, I think I can handle it!” He rolled his eyes at my stubborn behaviour before giving in.

  “Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you! This method of torture and execution is performed by cutting the ribs by the spine before then breaking them. This is so they resemble blood stained wings… and then of course we pull the lungs out before pouring salt into the wounds but usually the victim had died by this point.” He said this so matter of fact that it chilled me to the bone. This just proved that my pig headedness had nearly made me vomit! He must have seen me turn green and proved that even Demons love stating the obvious.

  “I told you so.” He said in a very satisfied tone. I gave him a fake smile that I added to a sarcastic look of disapproval.

  “No wonder you hate me.” I stated shamefully.

  “I didn’t ever hate you.” He tilted his head like I had misread everything he had ever said to me.

  “But you said…”

  “I said I didn’t like humans but that was never the reason I didn’t want to be your bodyguard.”

  “I don’t understand, then why?” I shook my head as a natural reaction.

  “Do you remember when I said you reminded me of someone?” I nodded and looked down at my feet as my face went red.

  “My daughter had the same wilful sprit.” He also looked down to find his own feet and for a moment we shared in the same awkward silence for reasons relating to the same. This was named Dalla.

  That was why he found it so hard being near me. I reminded him of the daughter that he had lost in the most awful way you can imagine and now he had to protect me. He was now forced to spend painful time around me. My guilt was unbearable.

  “I will speak to Draven.” I was sure once he knew the circumstances he would relieve Ragnar from his duties concerning me.

  “Why would you do that?” he looked confused.