Pegasus' nano lattice flared outside the windows, protecting us all from the hyper-compressed magnetic cold burns from our transit, and she halted instantly when we cleared the event horizon. If it weren't for her inertial dampeners we would have been pasted across her forward window.
She flickered her lights and, “We here,” scrolled in our vision.
I patted her hull and asked, “Thank you Pegasus, could you please land at the predetermined location?”
The startled Elves on the ground, with their bows and swords drawn, stared up at us as we swooped low to exit the Bifrost Terminal building. Jania sighed when we passed the technicians who ran the terminal, and they were all surrounded by Elves with weapons pointing at them, looking very patient as they held their hands out non threateningly. She muttered something and Sam chuckled and tucked some hair behind her ear.
I looked around at our unorthodox party. The Olympus contingent consisted of handpicked representatives by Zeus and Hera. Besides me, there was Hephaestus, Dite... and to my shock, Apollo. My eldest brother had been limited in his duties after he had tried to lead a revolt to have Olympus go out into the galaxy to forge alliances with other races instead of hiding away.
The irony of it all was that we were doing exactly what he had suggested so long ago. I still wasn't sure how I felt about his uprising as I happened to agree with him, just not his execution.
The Asgard contingent was quite predictable, at least to me, Kara, Inatra, and the Three Embers. I knew everyone would have liked one of the members to be Arina since she had a silver tongue and was the most diplomatic Asgard I knew outside of Odin and Geiravor, and they... weren't invited.
Then there was the big man himself. Essa's mate and one of the most fearless Ragnarok I knew, Intark. I was still uneasy about what the Queen's reasoning to have him along on this peace mission was. Truly they couldn't hold him accountable for all the centuries of slavery his race had perpetrated against the Elves.
Jania was pressed against the windows, she had never seen her world from above, she had not returned to her world since she was assigned ambassador. A hover shuttle brought her through to Valhalla and she transmits weekly reports to her home-world through the Bifrost and sends packages that are likely full of all the things she “borrows” or just steals outright as she tells you she is doing it. It is all a great game for her.
I gasped at what I saw as Pegasus slowly gained altitude to get over the tops of the trees that soared hundreds of feet into the air like giants reaching for the sun. I had seen holo-vids of Alfheim, but I didn't take into account, the sheer scale and majesty of these trees, whose branches which were tens of meters thick, stretched out hundreds of feet creating half domes of wide green leaves.
And there was a veritable ocean of them stretching west toward the horizon, where the Mirror of the Sun Sea shimmered from horizon to horizon beyond the canopy.
To the east, we could see huge clearings with cultivated lands where crops were planted and livestock roamed.
This world was a paradise that made me feel... I don't know... smaller? I was humbled just to witness this small taste of the lands of Alfheim.
We made our way over the canopy of leaves, the wind of our passing making those leaves shimmer in the sunlight as we approached a large hill or small mountain of green.
I realized that none of us had said a word as Pegasus flew us to the designated landing zone. Everyone was like me, awestruck as we stared out the windows. I felt a hand slip into mine. I glanced to my side to see Aphrodite staring wide-eyed at the grandeur of nature before us, her hair that light golden brown I loved so much as she whispered in reverence, “It's beautiful.” I just nodded.
Then far too soon, we were lowering down in a clearing at the end of a well-traveled cobblestone road, to a literal wall of wood. The outer gates of Allrbus! Where the Asgard first came to treat with the Elves. Nobody has ever seen beyond these massive gates. The wall was constructed of the great timbers of these leafy giants, each easily fifty to seventy feet wide and just as tall. How had such a primitive people even moved logs so large?
There was a rectangular area marked with burning torches. Near the gates, with no less than four or five hundred armed Elves surrounding it. Pegasus swooped gracefully down to settle us on that makeshift landing pad.
When the doors opened, Kara laid her sidearm on a seat and put her hands forward to demonstrate she was unarmed. I almost snorted at that. Her sidearm was the least dangerous thing about the Valkyrie. She herself was a living weapon capable of destruction the likes of which Alfheim couldn't comprehend.
Inatra followed suit and moved out the door. I didn't lay down Wrath or my quiver as I followed the rest of our party outside with Dite on my arm. I was met with a sight I shouldn't have snorted at, but I did.
No less than ten Elves surrounded Intark, and the big man was scratching his head, an Elf yanking on and swinging from his massive arm like she weighed nothing, while another was trying to pull his other arm behind his back to no avail. The seven-foot-tall Ragnarok was multiple times stronger than the people of Alfheim, being from a heavy gravity world.
My amusement was replaced with aggravation as I growled at an Elf who was trying to grab at Wrath.
A familiar voice called out, “Sure Step, there are no kleshnie weapons allowed inside the city. And the Andskoti is to be restrained by the order of She Who Lived so that he cannot perpetrate any harm to our people.”
I looked over to see Kalimish, First Proctor of Allrbus, with Breem, the Story Teller beside him. Jania stepped up to an amused looking Intark, who was cocking his head and looking at the woman swinging on his arm. She placed a hand on his chest and gave him a pleading look.
He melted like everyone did when she gave him those wide Elf eyes. Then he said mechanically, with no emotion, “Oh, no, they have overpowered me, what am I to do?” as he lowered the woman down to the ground then put his hands behind his back. The two Elves made short work of tying ropes around his wrists.
I was holding an Elvish woman away from me with a finger on her chest. Jania sighed at me. I narrowed an eye at her and said, “One day, you're going to pull that cute Elf card one too many times, lady.” I surrendered my bow and quiver to the woman who staggered at the weight of them when I placed them in her arms. My bow alone must have weighed half of what she did.
Jania shrugged then hugged onto Samantha's arm, placing her head on her shoulder as she said, “Today is not that day.”
I pointed at her and said, “I better get that back. It is Hephaestus' first bow with its twin, Justice.”
She rolled her eyes and waved me off, then hesitated and told Kalimish, “Artemis better get that bow back when we conclude our business with the All Mother. It is Hephaestus' first bow with its twin, Justice.” The man deflated and nodded just once, unwillingly. Hey, wait a second. That was exactly what I had said.
Once we were all searched for weapons... and the ten or twenty hidden blades on Intark were found. Kalimish stepped in front of our group, motioning. The Elves brandishing weapons all backed up and formed a corridor to the huge gates of the settlement. I noted that Dite still wore her gold bracelets, which are just as deadly as Wrath and Justice are.
Jania's brother said in a regal tone, “Queen Nerthus of the Ljósálfar of Alfheimr bids you welcome to our world. She grants you passage to the city of Allrbus that you may beg audience.”
Kara stood tall and bowed to him and said, “It is with great honor that we accept her most gracious invitation.”
This all seemed tedious, but we had to follow their customs. The man said, after exchanging a look with his sister, “Please, follow us.”
Then we were moving as a group, Elves moving around us in a phalanx, weapons pointed our way the whole time as we moved to the base of the gates. Breem brought a hollow animal horn to his lips and let out two short tones. Then with the sound of countless tons of wood swinging out on massive bronze and
iron mechanisms, the gates started to lumber toward us. The scale of them was awe-inspiring from where we stood at their base.
Kara looked up then mumbled something about King Kong, making me wonder what lands he ruled. Then we stepped inside and I looked around in excited anticipation to see... a cobblestone path, disappearing into more of those great trees.
I had been expecting to see a bustling medieval style village, with Elves running around busily in some sort of town square. Instead, there was more forest. By the looks of the others as we moved forward, them looking every which way, it was apparent they had been expecting something different as well. Allrbus was supposed to be their most populated city.
Nobody knows how many Elves there are now. There were close to four million when the Ragnarok found them while searching for the Asgard. Through culling and enslavement, we know their numbers had dropped down into the hundreds of thousands. The Ragnarok can breed with most of the races, as they were all seeded by the Asgard long ago, but Elves and Ragnarok are on the far ends of the evolutionary scale from each other so are not compatible, while most of the other races are.
That was a blessing and a curse, as the Raganok had no real use for the Elves except as labor on Alfheim, as they couldn't use them as viable cross breeding stock to bolster their numbers on the generational starships the Ragnarok flew while in search of their eternal enemies in Valhalla.
It still chills me how... evil the Ragnarok race could be, especially when they had just one single-minded purpose and didn't care how they achieved it. I guess most races are capable of such atrocities and have committed many of them in their own histories at one time or another. It was just so hard to reconcile in my head the things I witnessed them do with the Ragnarok I know and love today. I think of all sorts of what if scenarios, knowing they have the capacity for those vile acts within them.
The only Elves we saw were tending the undergrowth under the soaring canopy of trees, propping up damaged branches with huge scaffolds, or draining what looked like water or loose pitch from taps in the surface roots of the trees which were taller than most of the people. There were a couple of long stone buildings with thatched roofs that could be for warehousing supplies, a water well where Elves were lined up with buckets, and a couple of small cottages. But no great city of the Elves we had been expecting.
We looked for the giggles far above us, marking our passage was noticed by the children somewhere high above. Samantha voiced the question that was on all of our minds as she whispered to Jania while we walked through the forest of giant trees, “This is Allrbus? I thought it would be, I don't know, bigger? More people? The gates gave a different impression than this.”
All of the armed Elves and Jania started tittering.
Our Elven friend turned to walk backward as we trudged up a rise, capturing both of Samantha's hands in hers, a huge smile on her face that made me smile reflexively. “That? Oh no, that was just the outer perimeter gates. This...” She waved one hand around lazily before reclaiming Sam's hand, “Is not Allrbus, dear, sweet, beautiful Samantha of the Asgard.”
We crested the rise to find ourselves on the ridge-line of what looked like an impact crater, and our entire party froze as Jania let go of Samantha so she could spin toward the crater and spread her arms wide as she said with pride and unrestrained joy in her tone, “Behold, the City Tree of Allrbus!”
I whispered, “By the Tree of Ages!” Aphrodite gasped beside me as the Three Embers scurried up to Jania's side as she pirouetted on one foot on top of a rock balancing precariously on the edge before she leapt in a backward summersault to land on her other leg as she looked at the sight before us.
Even though I couldn't tear my eyes from the sight I beheld, I somehow knew she had an overly cute pleased look on her face as she watched our reactions. Then I realized it was because my Verr had a three hundred and sixty-degree view overlay at the bottom of my vision.
What we had thought was a small mountain from our vantage point above the forest canopy on our approach in Pegasus, was instead a tree that was so gargantuan, the word didn't do it justice. The massive tree took up most of the crater which had to be at least a mile in diameter.
It rose up from the crater floor four or five hundred feet below and towered over us at least a two thousand feet more. Tens of thousands of Elves moved about in its shadow at the base of the tree where a medieval village covered almost every square inch of available space behind a stone wall which surrounded the tree.
I could see armories, blacksmiths, butchers, what looked to be some sort of stables, and open-air markets. Brilliantly colored streamers and banners, which complimented the flowers growing in every nook and cranny of the dwelling units and cottages, flowed in the wind everywhere, making it look like some sort of magical, mystical fairyland from tales told to wide-eyed children.
But as incredible as that village under that tree of all trees was, it didn't hold a candle to the sight that defied my ability to convey the overwhelming awe of an entire city spiraling up the massive trunk and spreading along every one of the branches which had to have been dozens of feet thick, and reaching out close to a half mile from the central pillar. Colorful lights complimenting the flowered roofs of the stone and wood structures as even more people walked the spiraling stairs or hundreds if not thousands of rope bridges between the branches and levels that were all built upon each other.
Allrbus was truly what Jania had just said... a City Tree!
I blinked and forced my eyes away when we heard Jania say in a tiny voice, “Home.” I looked over to where she seemed to be seeking some sort of approval in Samantha's eyes. The young Asgard woman blushed profusely, and bashfully bit her lower lip as she nodded and whispered out in reverence, “It is the most incredible sight I have ever seen, Jani.”
The moment was ruined by Breem as he said, “See? Your kleshnie magic is nothing compared with...” Then he was screeching out in alarm as Jania rolled her eyes and shoved the man lightly, and I gasped as he teetered on the precipice of the drop-off, and fell over the edge.
We dashed to the edge to see the man scrambling to his feet on wide steps carved into the ridge that looked to spiral down to gates in the stone wall below. The Elf hissed at Jania while I got my heart rate back to normal after the scare, “Sure Step! I do not care if you are the daughter of She Who Lived. I am the senior Story Teller, and I demand respect!”
Jania started skipping down the stairs past the indignant man as she said, “You lost any respect when you forgot to tie your britches shut today, Breem.”
The man hissed at her again, then his look of disdain slipped as he quickly glanced down. A moment later a litany of what I assumed were choice Elvish curses, which our universal translators apparently weren't familiar with yet, spewed from the man as he turned his back to us to fiddle with the ties on his pants while we all walked past him on the stairs to follow Jania and her brother down to the base of this City Tree that defied proper description.
I hesitated mid-step, as did Kara and Inatra when we all realized what the man had said. Jania was the daughter of the Queen of the Elves? She was royalty? All this time? The Embers, as if they could read our thoughts, widened their eyes in unison. A smiling Samantha chased after an extremely playful Jania, calling out, “Jani? You're a princess?”
Our Elfin friend giggled as she flipped off of the stairs, causing us to gasp before she landed on one of the huge, wide leaves of the City Tree which was only a couple feet away, like it was reaching for the ridge, and spun around in place. “As are you, gorgeous one.” She turned around then did a strangely graceful reverse cartwheeling step, winding up on the step beside Samantha, hugging her arm and placing her head on her shoulder.
Kalimish grumped out, “She's not a princess, because she refuses to accept the Flower Crown.”
She looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. “You're britches are in a twist because you would have just accepted the crown without proving yo
urself worthy. I will not take what I did not earn.”
The man told her, “Yes, I would because it would have been my duty to all the Ljósálfar, to give them a future leader And I would have if I hadn't been born with this birth defect.”
Kara asked as she cocked her head while studying Jania's twin, “Birth defect?”
Jania walked backward a step and grasped the air in front of her pants like she was holding a log and swayed her hips, explaining to us, “He was born a boy.”
The dozens of guards tittered, and she smirked as she added, “He blames me for that as if I had done something in the womb to him before we were born.”
He huffed and then her tone softened toward him for the first time, placing a hand on his arm, and a touch of pride colored her voice. “But he is First Proctor of our great City Tree, a much-revered position.” He started to smile but then glared when she added before leaping off the stairs backward and vanishing, “For a lunkhead.”
Sam gasped and ran to the edge and looked down, we were still over a hundred feet from the bottom. Then it was our turn to gasp when Jania said from behind us, higher up on the steps, within the ranks of armed guards. “Hurry, the All Mother doesn't like to be kept waiting.”
How did she...? I shook my head at her cute smirk when she leapt up and walked across the shoulders of the armed men and women back down to us and hopped lithely to Sam's side.
Kalimish assured us as he ignored his sister's antics and started to lead us down again, “Fear not, there is a reason she was gifted Sure Step at her Naming after her Sund.”
Curiosity got the better of Dite, who released my arm and stepped up to the man to loop her arm in his, “Oh do tell. And what title were you gifted after yours?”
The man had to do a double take, seeing her hair a bright mischievous purple, Aphrodite at her worst. It took time for outsiders to get accustomed to Dite's changing hair color. “I was appointed First Proctor when the last one fell to the Dökkálfar on a security sweep of the outer gates.”
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