Dead Chaos (A Valkyrie Novel - Book 3)(6)

"Ah, there you are," said Odin, as if glad for the interruption. Our conversation appeared to have taxed the great All-Father as much as it had me. I hid a smile and paid attention to Frigga as she and her companion moved closer.

"Bryn, this is Eir, Goddess of Mercy and Healing," said Frigga as the golden-haired goddess Eir smiled cheerfully at me.

"Well met, Valkyrie Brynhildr. I have heard so much about you." Eir smiled her golden smile again.

"It is good to meet you too, my lady." I bowed and felt a smile twitch at my lips again. This new goddess seemed to have an infectious smile. Just her presence boosted my energy and made me feel a whole lot better.

Eir turned her attention to Odin, sketching a quick bow, the skirts of her deep purple dress swishing the floor. "My lord."

"Eir, my dear, thank you for coming. Our Bryn needs your help."

"I am happy to help," she said and smiled again at me. "I will do my very best. Come, Bryn, let me have a quick look."

I hesitated for a moment, then took a step toward her. Eir held a white woven basket in her hand that looked like it have been constructed from twigs as thick as my finger. The basket appeared too rustic for a healer, but what did I know? For now, I prayed that Eir could help, but what could she really do? It was impossible to think she'd be able to help get my wings back, so whatever she did would merely be to make me feel better.

But the sound of her gasp as I turned didn’t make me feel any better.









Chapter 5




Within the blink of an eye, Frigga transported both of us to another room. The goddess of Healing had voiced her shock at the condition of my wings with only that one gasp. After that, she'd calmly requested somewhere quiet to work.

The beauty of the room took my breath away, and for a moment, I was lost in white marble, pure white silk and gold. Frigga led us to a raised platform on which sat a resplendently majestic, white four-poster bed. Pale silk wound their way around each of the four posts, falling in swathes to the floor, while a gold edged pearl-colored bedspread covered the mattress.

All I could think was simply Wow. Unlike my own wooden-walled quarters, these walls were painted white and murals of clouds and sunshine graced almost every inch of its surface. That much white should have been blinding, but all it did was calm and comfort me.

As Frigga led me up the single step to seat me on her bed, my gaze fell upon a nearby table. On its gleaming white surface sat a large golden globe not too different in size from the mapped globes we'd used in school. Only this one had no map carved into it. It simply shone, letting out rays of light from little cracks all along its surface as if a little sun sat within its center, giving off a pulsing, warm light.

Frigga was the goddess of the Earth, of life, and it made perfect sense that she should have the sun as the center of her room. I'd never seen anything more entrancing than that, and at least it took my attention away from the issue at hand.

Eir's voice pulled me out of my admiring trance. "Bryn, I need you to sit a little sideways while I have a closer look." Eir sat behind me at the foot of the bed while I positioned myself so she had a full, unobstructed view. My upper back still throbbed, and pain threaded through each shoulder blade, although much more bearable than before.

With Eir sitting behind me and helping me out of my shirt while inspecting the damage, it all became more real and hot tears blinded me for a moment. Frantically, I blinked them away, refusing to show weakness, knowing the effort was more for myself than to impress either of the goddesses who sat with me.

I bit the inside of my cheek and held the fabric to my chest as Eir's fingers roamed the bare skin of my shoulders. Her soft flesh set off tiny sparks off agony through me the closer she got to the shattered bone fragments.

She sighed, the sound as soft as a breeze, but I could hear the hint of sadness in it. I guess it was time I accepted that, although it happened to me, the people around me were also very much affected by my mutilation.

"I fear we do not have much choice. The bone has been shattered. Whatever implement they used, they didn’t seem to care much for what was left behind." I wanted to laugh as I imagined them hacking away at me with an axe or a cleaver or even a chainsaw. I clenched my fists, forcing my mind to behave. Eir’s voice broke into my macabre thoughts as she continued, "I suggest cleaning away the bone fragments, making the cut neater and smoother to encourage regrowth should that be the case."

"Would they grow back?" asked Frigga. I saw the hint of hope in her eyes as her gaze settled on Eir behind me.

"I really cannot say. I have never seen anything like this before. We have seen shattered and broken wings, which we have repaired well enough to encourage the bones to knit and the feathers to return. I have even reset an entire wing that had been shattered into twenty eight small pieces and that Valkyrie was fine and today she flies without a problem." Eir paused and sighed again. "It is just that I have never dealt with a wing that has been removed in its entirety."

"Would it help if we brought the remains of the wings to you?" I asked. But my gut told me I was reaching.

"No, my dear. It would not help at all. Unless there was a way to encourage the separated bone to re-knit." Eir frowned as she rolled the idea around in her head.

"We only have one wing that's whole." It was my turn to sigh. "The other is in a million different pieces lying all around the lab." A flash of anger ripped through me as I recalled the lab and the condition of my wings.

"I will do what I can now. I can neaten the jagged edges of the bone. The pain will recede and you should not feel anything once the edges heal over. You will even be able to lie on you back without pain," said Eir.

"Is there anything you need?" Frigga asked.

"Hot water and the sharpest blade you have capable of sawing through bone. I think I have whatever else I need."

"Can Njall make the blade?" I asked, hoping I wasn’t pushing the boundaries by making my own demands.

Frigga looked at me, an odd expression on her face, but then her face relaxed. "Very well, if you wish Njall to provide the blade, I will ensure that happens." Frigga patted my arm and disappeared.

Silence sat heavy in the room yet it was not uncomfortable. Eir summoned two Huldra who walked in bearing two large buckets of steaming water. The goddess helped me walk behind a white silken screen, then left the Huldras to attend to me. They carefully soaped and washed my back, the hot water soothing against my tender skin. When they were done, they dried my back and robed me in a clean dress. It was like all the other dresses I had, backless to make room for wings, so my shoulders lay bare, ready for Eir’s ministrations.

I returned to Frigga’s bed and sat on the edge beside the goddess. Eir moved over my bare back and I felt whispers of movement across now-numbed flesh.

A rush of silvery clouds announced Frigga's return. She held what looked like a small saw in her hand, and I shuddered. Maybe I should stop looking at it. Maybe then I could stop thinking about what Eir was about to do.

Then Frigga flicked her hand out beside her and a goblet appeared within her grasp. "Here, drink this before Eir begins her work."

I reached for the goblet, hoping it was the delicious Mead I could never get enough of. And was disappointed to find a bland, light-green liquid sloshing around in the cup. Frigga laughed at the expression on my face. "Do not blame me. Eir requested I have the medicine made up for you."

"It is good for you, Bryn, although I admit it may not taste or smell very nice," said Eir behind me, a hint of a smile in her voice. "It will help dull the pain though, so you do need to drink all of it."

Dutifully, I put the goblet to my lips and took a tiny taste. And wanted to throw up. Good thing I had nothing to hurl so I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of the two impossibly beautiful goddesses.

I sipped again, struggling to get the foul liquid down my throat. A blend of oiliness, a sharp bite of some bitter herbs, the cloying warmth of the water, and another unidentifiable taste tickled the back of my throat and threatened to force me to throw up. I swallowed, over and over again until the one sip was safely in the bottom of my empty stomach.

I repeated the action, forcing myself to think of other things, but imagining the foul liquid was Mead was the hardest possible thing to do. But I think it helped a little. At last the goblet was empty and Frigga even checked that all was gone, giving a satisfied sniff before making the goblet disappear into thin air.

Frigga opened her palm and offered it to me. "Here, this might help," she said with a kind smile. Two small chunks of fresh honeycomb lay in her hand.

I took them and chomped on the sweet gooiness, noting absently that my limbs were slowly turning to a soft sludge. By the time I'd eaten the second piece, I could no longer keep my body upright. Frigga raised a hand to my arm, ready to catch me if I fell. She rose and made a place for me on the bed, then lay me on my front, baring my back to Eir, who repositioned herself beside me.

"Ah, that is much better," she said.

Eir took the blade and inspected it closely. "This looks good." And then she went to work.

She moved beside me each time she sawed back and forth. All I felt was a slight push of her body against mine and the strangest tugging against my shoulder blades deep, deep inside my body.