I handed the water to Verdandi who smiled in satisfaction. Then she said, "Make a cup of your hands." I obeyed. "Now hold forth your palms and receive this water without spilling a drop."
A shiver of worry ran up my spine as Verdandi poured water into my hand. But nothing spilled. She poured and poured until she tipped the pitcher over, empting the last drop into my palms while I looked on, my jaw almost hanging to the ground. How did she do that? The entire pitcher of water, poured into my cupped palms and not a drop fell to the ground?
Verdandi seemed unimpressed by the impossibility of the whole thing. She flicked her fingers and the pitcher disappeared, replaced with a small fat-bottomed, long-necked bottle. "Come forward." I stepped toward her, my feet heavy and unwilling, and worry began to eke away at my confidence. I was suddenly very unsure of what was happening. "Now pour the water into this bottle."
I followed her instruction, further shocked to see the clear water pour from my fingers while transforming into all the colors of the rainbow and then some. The water continued to pour until the bottle seemed like it couldn’t take any more liquid, yet it did. My palms finally emptied and the bottle filled with swirling water of a hundred different colors. The water spun in a tiny whirlpool until the colors dissipated and the liquid returned to its former clear state.
Verdandi materialized a fat cork and sealed the mouth of the bottle. "Now take this bottle with you. Rub this liquid on the weapon you use to injure Loki."
"I’m not sure what you mean." I frowned.
"I mean that you will use this water when the time comes to attack Loki. It may not be now, or tomorrow, but some day in the future you will need to fight Loki, and then you will need this water. Please use it. And please ensure the wound is deep enough to deliver the water to his bloodstream."
I nodded, knowing I’d made the promise to complete this task, but who could have known the Norn would expect me to attack Loki with the water? "I will complete this task. I promise."
"Very well, Brynhildr. We have done for you what we are able."
"Nay, we have done for you far more than we should have," said Urd, her tone admonishing and her gaze fixed on her sister. "But, remember this, Valkyrie. The Nine realms will fall no matter what you or I do to prevent it. Everything has its time. But the tasks that you will perform will ensure things happen as they should."
I nodded, inexplicably calmer and more at peace with my quest than ever.
Chapter 22
After leaving the Norns, I needed time to think.
Sigrun and Aimee followed me out to the hall where the others waited. They were concerned. I understood that but I needed some space to get my head together first.
"I just need some time, guys. Sorry," I said and looked at the other archways leading away from the hall. I searched the ceiling for Hugin and called out to him.
He flew down in a rush of black feathers, landing on my shoulder and I walked toward the pool away from the rest of the group. "Hugin, which one of these exits will take me somewhere that I can just be by myself for a while? I need to think a few things through."
"I will find out for you," was all he said before he flapped away.
I turned back to the group and it seemed that Sigrun and Aimee had filled them in.
"So it was a waste of time then?" asked Aidan.
"No, it wasn't a waste of time. Well . . . for what I'd hoped to find out, yes, it was a waste of time. But we come away with two very important pieces of information. The location of both Heimdall and his horn." I received nods all around along with expressions of satisfaction and purpose. Hugin flew back into the room and headed for my shoulder. "For now, I just need some time to myself."
"Follow me," the bird said in my ear. He launched off my shoulder and headed off across the room to an archway on the other side of the room. I followed, trusting he'd lead me to peace and quiet.
A few moments later, the passage deposited us into a grotto. It was unkempt with rivulets of water seeping from the ceiling and trickling down a gigantic root which sprouted from the right wall, rose and fell like the hump of a great serpent, then dove back down into the ground and disappeared. The floor itself was a web of tiny roots packed with mud until it provided a level walking surface.
It had the distinct air of abandonment, yet it felt like the perfect place to hide away and think. My heart still thumped erratically against my ribs. The opportunity to save Heimdall was not lost on me, but how did I deal with the knowledge that I couldn’t change my hand in Odin’s destruction?
How could I continue being a Valkyrie and do my job, knowing in the end, he'd die because of something I did or something I was going to do?
I sat on a soft, spongy root, paying scant attention to the water trickling alongside my seat. Hugin found a perch a few feet away from me, keeping a silent watch. I laid the bottle down beside me. The last thing I needed was to smash the thing to smithereens.
My thoughts and emotions remained fixed on the All-Father. The Norns had given me the location of Heimdall and Gjallerhorn. That meant if we could find Odin, he’d know exactly what we needed to do. Not that I didn’t know what my next step was. Retrieve the Gjallerhorn first, that was the instruction.
But I needed to talk to Odin. To know that he knew what we were doing and that we were actually making progress. To just get a word or two of advice from the All-Father. Where in Hel was he anyway? Why would he choose now of all times to disappear without a word?
As I sat there, the spongy root shifting beneath my rear, I almost imagined Odin standing before me in his old dude form, black eye-patch, floppy hat and flowing gray cloak. I scolded myself.
You want to see the old guy so much that you have to imagine him in front of you? Get a grip, Bryn.
I blinked, almost laughing at myself, but the image didn’t go away. It wavered as if Odin was appearing out of thin air but was having trouble becoming fully corporeal.
Blinking again, I shook my head sharply, convinced I was imagining it, but when the image remained right where I’d first seen it, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do first, faint or tell him off for abandoning us. But either way, I’d be talking to what looked like a projector image. And a weak one at that.
I stared and stared harder, and when the image spoke, I fell right off my root seat, dumbstruck. "Brynhildr, my child, do not be afraid."
It really was Odin. At last, I remembered I still sat where I’d fallen, mere inches from a little patch of water. I scrambled to my feet, dusting myself off and staring straight at the apparition, still half-sure I was losing my marbles.
Then as I watched, the apparition became clearer and I became more confident that Odin had appeared in the cavern with me. It looked like him and even talked like him. I watched him and said nothing.
I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. "Where have you been? You’ve got poor Frigga so worried. And we searched the whole of Asgard for you - turned the place upside down looking for you." Now that my words were finally out, all I wanted to do was bite my tongue clean off. Who was I to scold the All-Father?
But he just chuckled. "I know, my child. It has been difficult." Odin frowned as if trying to find the best way to explain. "I was trying to weave a magical ward around Asgard, one that would prevent Loki from entering our realm so easily, but I miscalculated. Either that or Loki has somehow laid down his own magic before me, which backfired on me." Odin paused, a thoughtful twist to his forehead. "Mmhh. And now that I think about it, that sounds like the best explanation. In fact, when the magic exploded, it felt so much like Loki that, at the time, I thought he’d appeared out of nowhere and attacked me."
"Where did you go to cast this magic?"
"The edge of Asgard, beyond the sky where the lights appear for our einherjar." I nodded. Odin spoke of the aurora borealis. To the Asgardians, the Northern Lights marked the journey of a Warrior from death to rebirth as an einherjar.
Odin seemed to have fallen into a memory as he stopped speaking, and his face took on a faraway look. "And what happened then?" I asked.
"After the magic backfired, the ward refused to allow me to enter Asgard again." Odin said it so matter-of-factly it took a while for it to sink in.
"Oh my god," I gasped, shocked and horrified that Odin was unable to enter his own realm. "How do we reverse it?"
"I do not know, child. And the longer I remain this way, the more I fade away. I do believe there was dark magic woven into Loki's spell." My heart hurt when I saw the expression on Odin’s face. Such defeat and weariness didn't belong on the god’s face. I was so used to his control and force, that everything inside me began to crumble. "Now tell me what it is that you are doing here beneath the Yggdrasil? This was really the last place I thought of looking."
"So how did you find me then?"
"Munin. I was most grateful when he flew out to do his usual reconnaissance and saw me." Odin chuckled. "Sometimes those birds are particularly useful."
Hugin launched off the root and, in a flurry and flap of wings, landed neatly on Odin's shoulder. Odin stared at the bird with his one good eye while Hugin tilted his head slightly, the action almost an admonition.