A blade swiped at an Ulfr as he charged a frost giant. The vicious edge caught him in the neck, sending blood spraying everywhere, covering my hands and face. I could taste the copper on my tongue and I gagged. Shocked, I stumbled forward, screaming.
Everyone was dying around me.
What was happening? I screamed for Odin but he couldn’t hear me; he was too busy fighting off Loki. I struggled to get closer to Fen. I had to stop Vidarr from getting closer to him. I knew the god of Silence and Vengeance wanted only to kill Fen because of the prophecy. Kill Fen now and perhaps Odin may survive this war.
I screamed Fen's name and struggled against the push of bodies and the slash of swords and the screams of dying men and giants and gods.
And then I woke, gasping and choking for breath.
Chapter 18
"Bryn, wake up. Bryn, are you okay?" Sigrun and Aimee both faced me, shocked expressions on their faces as they waited for my answer.
"Yes, yes I'm fine," I gasped and took another shuddering breath. Behind the girls Aidan and Joshua looked on, concern clear on their faces. "It was just a dream, nothing more."
"What was it about? Maybe you'll feel better if you talk about it," suggested Sigrun.
I considered not telling them. Considered keeping the dream to myself. But something told me they deserved to know. What if the dream was some kind of message for us? They were all here with me, and what if the dream meant we were in danger?
"It was a dream. It’s the second time I've had this same dream," I said, taking a deep shuddering breath and tasting the blood again. I swallowed and continued. "I'm in a field overrun with Warriors and Ulfr and gods. There are giants too, Jotunns and Surts and even Nidhogg. It felt like all the races of the nine realms were fighting in this one place. And there was so much blood. So much death. Loki was fighting Odin this time. And Vidarr was about to kill Fen."
"Oh my," said Sigrun. Then she rose to her feet and said, "Oh my. I think I know the place you are dreaming of, Bryn."
"You think it's a real place?"
"Well, sounds like the place the prophecies say is the location of the great war of Ragnarok. It is called the Vigrid Plains," Sigrun said. But a shadow of what looked like fear flitted across her features. Then she continued, "And the Vigrid Plains is located in Jotunnheim, not far from the Yggdrasil."
"What?" I breathed the word out in shock. "You mean it's near here?"
"Yes. We will reach it sometime this morning. We have to pass the Plains to reach the Tree of Life."
I was quiet, unsure of what to say about the fact that I would soon be facing a place I'd assumed was nothing more than a horrible dream. More like a nightmare. I could still taste the copper on my tongue.
"So I dreamed about this place and it was real. What about the rest of the dream? Could it also be real too?"
"You mean Vidarr trying to kill Fenrir?" asked Sigrun.
"Yes, and Loki stabbing Odin in the back?"
"It could be a premonition or a foretelling of some sort," offered Hugin as he fluttered down to me.
"So maybe it's best to assume that some of it were true. Sigrun do you know this Vidarr person?" asked Aimee.
Sigrun nodded and said, "Vidarr is a son of Odin, god of Silence and Vengeance.
"Yeah, I've seen him," I said. "And he certainly wasn’t happy that Odin accepted the Ulfr's pledge. He actually broke his silence to voice his disagreement with Odin's choice."
Sigrun paled and nodded and I noticed the rest of the team had drawn closer.
"And in your dream, you saw him kill Fenrir?" asked Hugin.
"No, he was about to kill him when I woke up," I said, somehow glad I hadn’t seen that. As it was, just the thought of Fen dying made me want to bawl my eyes out. What I really needed now was to stop thinking about the dream. It seemed to have affected my whole body, even the pit of my stomach roiled in response. "Okay, I think we'd better get moving."
As I got to my feet, the rest of the team set about rolling up blankets and collecting bits and pieces. We cleaned up the cave, then put out the fire while Joshua buried our trash in the soil just outside the caves entrance.
Soon we were tramping along, following Sigrun and heading for Yggdrasil. As inevitable as it was, I dreaded the thought of passing the real Vigrid Plains.
As long as I didn't have any more dreams, maybe I'd be fine.
Boiling black clouds rumbled overhead, and thunder grumbled every so often. Jotunnheim certainly didn’t have the cheeriest weather. I guess they didn’t need a weatherman to predict the day’s weather, either. Always cloudy, never sunny.
Sigrun had led us across an endless field of craggy rocks until we reached a mountain range. My spirits crashed at the thought of scaling the monstrous mound of rock when Sigrun pointed out a pass that ran through the belly of the hulking, granite beast.
We headed for the pass at a brisk pace. I bet everyone else felt the way I did; no way did I want to be stuck in the pass. Just the thought of being caught beneath the weight of so much black rock was enough to make me break out into a run and head screaming for the exit on the other side.
But I took a deep breath and tried to calm my hammering heart.
Joshua stepped in beside me, and I felt calmer with him walking next to me. I suspected it was Aimee's idea to keep him and Aidan apart. A quick glance behind me confirmed my suspicions. We walked along what seemed like a crack that ran deep through the very center of the mountain. The sides of the pass closed in on us and I made it worse by looking up, seeking a glimpse of the sky as if just the sight of the angry clouds would lessen the tightening in my chest. But it was a worthless exercise.
Only darkness greeted my eyes as I strained to see the sky. I sighed. "It won't be long. We're almost there," said Joshua. He was right but it still didn't make me feel any better.
"It's weird. I felt nothing when I went to Swartelfheim to retrieve the goblet. And there, I had to go deep into the Dwarf mountain and stay there for a long while. But this mountain is different. There's just something about it that makes me really uncomfortable."
"I know what you mean," he said. "It's almost as if someone is watching us."
I looked up and around but all that moved was Hugin as he soared ahead. At least he'd alert us to any dangers.
I hoped.
We made it to the exit without anything untoward befalling us. And as we passed out of the mountain, we gathered to stare at the wide expanse of land before us.
"The Vigrid Plains," said Hugin from his perch on Sigrun's shoulder.
"Wow," breathed Aimee. "That's beautiful in an eerie kind of way."
The plains, dotted with trees, extended for miles. A range of dark, craggy mountains encircled the plains so far in the distance they looked like black shadows on the edge of the horizon.
We made our way down a small path littered with rocks and stones until we stood level with the Vigrid Plains. An icy shiver ran up and down my spine as my eyes spasmed and I again saw the very same land filled with fighting men and blood and screams. It seemed the images in my dreams were now superimposed in front of me as if I were watching a ghostly reenactment.
I shuddered and must have moaned because I heard Joshua's voice and felt his arm around me. "Bryn, are you okay?" His voice held more than a touch of worry.
I blinked, trying to get those horrible images out of my head. I focused on Joshua's face, stared at him until the other images faded, I was breathing evenly, and all I could see was him.
Sigrun came to me too. "Bryn, perhaps it would be good for you to look at the plains and see them as they are, empty and . . . dying."
As she spoke the word "dying" I focused on the land before me and realized how right she was. All the trees I'd noticed were dead or dying, blackened branches held out like emaciated fingers. No grass grew on these plains, just dried, cracked soil.
And not a drop of blood in sight.
I sighed and stared at the plains. It didn't matter that the land was dying. All that mattered was that my dream hadn’t come true. Not yet, anyway.
Hugin fluttered to my shoulder. "Brynhildr, I would suggest your dream is a foretelling. I believe your dream may be a vision of the actual battle of Ragnarok. And perhaps that vision is so tied to this place that it may be very strong in this moment."
"You're right, Blackbird. I can barely stop the visions from coming. It's taking all my energy."
"Is there any more you can tell us about the dream?" asked Hugin.
"No, I think I've told you everything I can remember."
"Then there is no point in allowing the visions to return especially when it is so emotionally taxing for you," the bird said firmly.
I nodded and Sigrun murmured in agreement when I repeated what Hugin had said. "We should be on our way. We still have a long journey ahead of us," she said as she looked to her left. "We follow the edge of the plains and come to another pass. Yggdrasil is just beyond that."
I stared off into the distance, cursing the additional pass, but grateful the end was in sight.
Chapter 19
Hours later, as the light began to eke from the dull sky, with aching bodies and throbbing feet, we made it through the second pass safely, leaving the dying remains of the Vigrid plain behind. And for the second time in one day, we walked out of a mountain pass to be greeted by a stunning sight.