I let Alaric help me out of bed, thanking my lucky stars that I had been left fully clothed. I searched the bedding to find that my coat had been draped over the blankets that had covered my legs. I donned it quickly, shivering as a cold gust of snowy air filtered into the tent, then took the boots Alaric handed me just as he finished wrapping up his own boots.
I put the boots on quickly, grateful to find that I finally had the hang of neatly wrapping up the strips of leather to anchor the boots around my ankles. Alaric left the tent, then offered me a hand out. I took his hand gratefully and stood, waiting for Mikael to make whatever sarcastic remark he was holding in.
I watched his face as he stood there, still holding onto the ponies, but instead of speaking, he offered me a knowing smile. A smile that said, I just slept next to you all night, my body pressed firmly against yours, and there’s nothing you can do to take it back.
I scowled and gave Alaric’s hand a squeeze, almost wishing Mikael would go back to being mad at us.
“Am I expected to ride that thing?” I asked, turning my attention to one of the ponies.
“It’s likely not wise to exert yourself after what you experienced last night,” Mikael explained.
I frowned and looked back to the animals. One of the ponies was pure white, looking innocent and pristine, while the other two were muddy brown in color. Guess which one I got.
I took the offered reins from Mikael and rubbed my chilled fingers across the animal’s white neck. She bumped against me obligingly, so I snuggled up to her side while Mikael and Alaric packed up the tent and bedding.
When we were ready to go, I stepped back and put the reins over the animal’s head, then prepared to insert my foot into the stirrup to climb onto the pony’s back, only there was no saddle, only a rough blanket. I wasn’t quite sure how to climb up without a stirrup to guide me. The ponies were fairly short, so maybe I could have hoisted myself, but I was feeling shaky enough that I was afraid to try. Finally, Alaric moved to my side and gave me an effortless boost, allowing me to climb onto the horse with little to no exertion on my part. Once seated, I steadied myself. I would still have preferred a saddle, but at least the pony was wide enough to make me feel secure in my seat. I looked down at Alaric with a reassuring smile, then he left me to take his reins from Mikael.
Before climbing atop the final pony still in his possession, Mikael came to stand beside me, digging for something in the satchel hanging from his shoulder. With his height, and how short my pony was, we weren’t that far from eye level. He pulled his hand out of the satchel and offered me something akin to a pastry, only larger and round.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Sweets for breakfast?”
“Aren’t pregnant woman supposed to crave this sort of stuff?” he teased.
He’d meant it in a joking way, but my mood instantly fell. Was I even still pregnant? Did I want to be? With the threat of the key, I’d probably be better off without a child growing inside of me, but I’d also become attached to the little life.
Not commenting on my sudden change of mood, Mikael left me with the pastry in my hand, then climbed atop his pony while Alaric did the same. They both made their way to the main path while I followed shortly behind. I took a large bite of the pastry-like item. I was craving sweets, not that I was about to admit it. It was likely just a result of the long periods I’ve gone without calories.
Eventually the path widened into a road, and we were all able to ride side-by-side.
“Where did your friends go?” I asked, tired of the silence that had drawn out when the path was narrow.
Mikael startled, as if deep in thought, then glanced over at me, pushing a lock of hair away from his face. “Friends?”
“The ones that wanted to kill me for being a witch,” I clarified.
Alaric snorted from my other side, but didn’t comment.
“Well,” Mikael sighed, “I had to defend your honor, so I killed them.”
My jaw dropped. He had to be joking, right?
He let me off the hook with his laughter, then explained. “They invited me to sail with them, but I told them I had prior obligations. They departed first thing this morning,” He was silent for a moment, then added, “While we were all nestled, warm in our bed.”
I scowled.
He winked in reply.
“How much farther until we reach our destination,” Alaric interrupted tiredly. Mikael had attempted to give him a sweet roll too, but he’d refused, and had seemed dejected ever since.
Mikael pointed off into the distance to a rising hill covered in the same sparse trees surrounding us. I could barely make out stone ruins near the top of the hill, but little else.
“Are there more Norns in our near future?” I asked, hoping the ruins would mean an end to our journey, and a return to modern times.
“Just one,” he answered, gazing off into the distance ahead.
“One?” Alaric asked incredulously. “And that will be enough to send us back?”
Mikael chuckled. “Absolutely not, but she might have something that will aid us. She did it for me once before . . . ” he trailed off.
He had to be referring to the first time he went back in an attempt to save his village, but I wasn’t about to bring that up again. Before I could say anything, Alaric grumbled, “This better not be a waste of time.”
Mikael smiled. I really wished I knew what he was finding so damn funny. “All will be revealed once we reach the crest of the hill,” he explained cryptically.
Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.
22
It had started snowing again. I did my best to stay warm, huddled against the cold on my white pony. The animal’s breath fogged the air near its muzzle as it labored onward. We’d nearly reached the top of the hill. The roadside, sprinkled with chunks of old stone covered in moss, was becoming quickly obscured in white.
Mikael rode ahead of us. He seemed unfazed by the cold, even as little white snowflakes began to cling to his loose, dusky red hair. He looked odd atop the little pony, especially with the intimidating touch of his great sword’s pommel jutting over his shoulder.
I looked to Alaric as his pony caught up to mine. He looked worried. “Are you warm enough?” he asked softly.
My teeth were on the verge of chattering, but I nodded. It didn’t really matter how cold I was, since there was nothing I could do about it.
Mikael’s pony turned away from the path ahead of us. From our vantage point, and with snow obscuring our vision, it appeared he was riding straight into the mountainside on one side of the path. I had a moment of confusion before realizing he was riding into a cavern.
Alaric and I urged our ponies forward, anxious to get out of the cold.
The cave came into view, its entrance roughly eight feet tall. The opening would have seemed man-made if we were in a time where dynamite was used for mining. I could see Mikael inside the cave, dismounting his pony, but I could make out little else. Alaric rode in first, while I followed cautiously behind him.
Once inside, I observed the deceivingly large space until we reached Mikael and dismounted. The cavern was empty. No Norn. No signs of inhabitance. Nothing.
“What gives?” I asked, finally giving in and letting my teeth chatter.
Mikael calmly crouched down and began building a fire in the center of the cave. The ceiling was high enough we likely wouldn’t get smoked out, and upon closer inspection, I could see that fires had been built there in the past, and there was even spare wood that Mikael was using now.
“Sit down,” he instructed. “We may have to wait a while, and in the meantime, I’d like to tell you a story.”
“We don’t want to hear any stories,” Alaric said coldly. “We want to know why you’ve led us to a deserted cave.”
Mikael looked up from what he was doing to smirk at Alaric. “The story is for Madeline’s benefit, and trust me, she wants to hear it.”
I sat down with a huff as Alaric t
ook my pony’s reins. Arguing would be futile, so it was best to just get it over with.
Mikael stared Alaric down until he grudgingly sat beside me, trailing the ponies’ reins in his left hand. The animals seemed content to be out of the snow, showing no hints that they planned to run. Mikael had released his pony completely.
As Mikael’s fire caught, he sat down across from us and cleared his throat. “In the beginning,” he began, “there was Yggdrasil, the World Tree.”
“I’ve heard of that before,” I interrupted.
Mikael rolled his eyes. “Yes, Madeline, many myths are founded in truth, though they become convoluted over time. Now no more interruptions.” He eyed me until I nodded. “In the myths,” he continued, “the Norns gathered around Yggdrasil’s roots, and tended the tree. Really, they were the tree.”
“I don’t remember that part of the story,” Alaric interrupted.
Mikael glared at him. “That’s because you’ve been told the convoluted version that was altered to suit those in power. Now please, no more interruptions.”
Alaric gave a sarcastic roll of his hand for Mikael to go on.
“The Norns are the weavers of fate,” Mikael continued, his face illuminated by the fire to look somewhat sinister, “and Yggdrasil held them in place, merging time and fate. Within the bounds of time and fate, there is polarity. Light and dark. Life and death.”
It wasn’t the first time polarity had been mentioned to me. Like Alaric had said, life needed death, peace needed war, and so forth.
“After many centuries,” Mikael continued, “the Norns grew lonely. They plucked the strings of fate for humanity, watching people live and die, passing on their legacy to their children. The Norns wanted children of their own, and thus, the Vaettir were created.”
I wrinkled my brow in confusion. So we were the Norns . . . children?
Mikael raised his eyebrows at me, daring me to interrupt him again. When I didn’t, he continued, “The Norns embody all things in nature, as it is the divine force within us all. This energy also composed the old gods. Each of these new children embodied an aspect of the old gods the Norns missed so dearly, minor and major deities alike.”
I glanced at Alaric, then back to Mikael, both embodiments of major deities, but not the highest tier.
“But the plan backfired,” Mikael stated abruptly. “With each of the Vaettir embodying only one aspect of nature, they were far different from the Norns. The darker forces weren’t directly balanced by the light. Forces of greed, the thirst for power, and stubborn independence led to the dismemberment of the World Tree.”
I had become so enthralled in his story that I gasped, then held a hand to my mouth in embarrassment.
Alaric put an arm around my shoulder as Mikael flashed me a teasing grin.
We were divided, a voice said, but it wasn’t Mikael speaking. The voice was in my head. I looked to Alaric to see if he’d heard it too, but he’d already turned to find the source of the voice.
I followed his gaze to a tall silhouette, blocking much of the cave’s entrance.
The voice in my head continued, Our children destroyed Yggdrasil, and separated us from time.
The form stepped forward, revealing a Norn with the great antlers of a moose. I could make out little else of her figure.
The separation created myself and my sisters as we are now, she continued, speaking directly into our minds. It let time dictate itself freely, while we remain in stasis. The division did little harm, but there was something else. There was the magic that held us together. Wild, chaotic magic, that had been tainted by the residue of those who dismembered the tree. It formed a key.
This time I wasn’t embarrassed when I gasped. I reached up to the key at my throat. Could it be?
The Norn took another step forward so that I could see her green-tinged skin and large, angular eyes clearly in the firelight. She had the paws of a wolf at the ends of her arms. Her thin lips offered me a confusing smile.
“I told you that you wanted to hear my story,” Mikael mocked.
I shot him a glare, then turned back to the Norn, willing her to tell me what I needed to hear. Alaric had shifted his hand to my leg. He watched the Norn just as apprehensively as I.
Are you ready? the Norn’s voice echoed through my head.
“For wha—” I began to ask, but it was too late.
The air of the cave pressed down on me. I felt like all of my bones were being crushed. I opened my mouth to scream, but there was too much pressure for me to even make a peep. Just when I felt like I might die, I was thrust upward. The cave was gone, and I was surrounded by darkness, speckled with lights that stretched oddly in my vision as I sped by them. Alaric had lost his hold on my leg, so I was alone in the dazzling emptiness.
Suddenly I thudded to the ground, and it was as if time and space were rushing to catch up to me. The scenery around me blurred with motion until it all came to a crashing halt, leaving me in my still surroundings.
Moist sand soaked into the knees of my pants, and I could hear the ocean not far off. The sky was a calm, perfect blue. I turned my gaze upward to what was towering over me. It was a tree, growing straight out of the beach, its roots twisting upward out of the sand to swirl in a dizzying pattern, forming the tree’s bark. From the top, its branches spanned outward, obscuring the sky with their silvery, pointed leaves.
Somehow I knew the tree was an ash tree, and I knew its name. Yggdrasil. The Norn had transported me back in time to lie at the roots of the friggin World Tree, sometime before it was destroyed.
Even worse. I was alone.
Sophie sat on her butt in the dirt, glaring at those who surrounded her. James sat beside her, looking thoroughly cowed.
“What did you do?” Aila demanded, standing over Sophie like a Viking goddess of war.
Sophie frowned. She was descended from Bastet, a true goddess of war, not this, this imposter.
“You were supposed to go with Alaric and Madeline,” Aila continued. “You shouldn’t be back already. Where is Mikael?”
Faas and Tabitha stood behind Aila. Faas was short for a man at 5’7”, and definitely short compared to Aila and Tabitha. He watched the conversation curiously, void of the venomous expression he’d had around Madeline. Sophie would never understand the rivalry all executioners seemed to hold to. She had little doubt Faas would kill Madeline, given the chance.
Noticing Sophie’s gaze, he flipped the long portion of his blond hair to partially obscure his eyes. It would have worked better had all his hair been long, but the sides were shaved nearly to the skin.
Tabitha stepped up beside Aila, appearing slight near Aila’s muscular form, despite their almost equal height. Tabitha’s blonde hair was nearly white, a common color among Mikael’s people. “Perhaps she escaped,” Tabitha commented, not seeming to care much either way.
Sophie was growing increasingly irritated as those speaking continued to exclude her. She would have liked to stand, but the axes and spears of other Vaettir surrounding her and James kept her seated. She could probably take most of them on in a fight, but without her brother to watch her back, she didn’t dare risk it.
“Where the hell is my brother!” she growled, interrupting the murmurs of conversation that had sprung up around her.
“See?” Tabitha replied, looking at Aila instead of Sophie. “She must have been left behind.”
Aila replied with a sharp nod, then crouched down to grab Sophie’s arm, hauling her to her feet. Sophie was built more like Tabitha, and was only a few inches taller than Faas. She found Aila’s size slightly intimidating, though she would never admit it out loud.
“You will wait with us until Mikael returns with the others,” Aila stated. She glanced down at James. “Him too,” she added.
Sophie shook out of Aila’s grasp, then scowled up at the imposing woman. “I will remain for the time being,” Sophie agreed, “but if it takes too long, I’ll find my brother myself.”
Aila
gave Sophie a wry smile. “As you wish,” she agreed. “Now come with me. There are many plans to be made, and I will not turn down the advice of a descendant of Bastet.”
Sophie stood a little straighter, glad her heritage had been acknowledged. “Really, I don’t know how you ever intended to go to war without my advice.”
Aila smirked, then turned to lead Sophie back toward one of the many tents composing their camp. Sophie followed, leaving James where he sat, eyeing the Vaettir around him with apprehension. Sophie really would have to do something about his memory. Maybe she’d have Aila hit him. That amount of force would have to do something.
I stared up at the massive tree before me in complete awe. I didn’t know at what point in history the tree had been destroyed, but I knew it had happened a very long time before the time I’d come from, and an unfathomable amount of time before the time I belonged in.
I rose to my feet and brushed the sand from my clothing. The key was silent at my throat. If I didn’t know any better, I might have guessed it was afraid.
I turned and surveyed the empty beach, unsure of what I was supposed to do.
“Alaric!” I called out.
No answer.
“Mikael!”
All was silent.
I trudged through the sand toward the sound of the ocean, which came into sight as I crested a large dune. I would have liked to think Alaric and Mikael had been sent back with me, landing somewhere out of hearing range, but not too far off, yet for some reason I doubted it. Some sort of internal instinct screamed at me that I was completely alone.
I gazed out at the calm ocean. It was warmer here. The short leather and fur coat I wore was almost too much. I continued walking, stripping the coat off as I went.
I reached the shoreline and gazed down at the frothy water as it lapped toward my feet, only to rescind with the tide. The water seemed normal enough. I found myself wishing I could see into its depths. If I was far back enough in time, all sorts of fascinating primordial creatures might lurk there.
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