Chapter 22 Helayna
HELAYNA
Droplets of water hung suspended like crystal prisms, casting sparkling colorful light all around us.
The pounding thunder of the waterfall muted into tinkling chimes and harpsichord strings.
Rather than ground or even water, the floor beneath Gunnarr’s feet shimmered like pearly ice, reflecting all the rainbow lights.
“Whoa,” he whispered reverently.
Bj?rg growled softly, a warning though she didn’t bare her teeth. I looked around, bracing for an attack.
Gunnarr tightened his hold on me. “What is it?”
“I don’t—”
The soft rainbow lights pulsed. It felt like something reached into my core and tugged, pulling us forward in a blur.
A giant sucking on a straw, dragging us without moving.
Brilliant streams of color blurred around us as if we were traveling the speed of light.
When we stopped, Gunnarr staggered, caught off balance. Though he never lost his grip on me.
We stood on a circular golden platform in the middle of…
Nowhere, was my first thought. Darkness surrounded us but it wasn’t the all-consuming Darkness of Hel.
I could still see perfectly around the platform.
Faint pinpricks of light moved far off in the distance, like we were deep in outer space.
Staring out into the darkness, I could feel a faint swirl as if outside spun like a black hole or hidden galaxy.
It made me vaguely dizzy, so I dragged my attention back to the platform.
Gunnarr slowly turned so I could see everything too, though it all looked the same. There were no walls or entrances. The same darkness stretched overhead, though it made me even more dizzy to look upward. I could only assume the darkness swirled below, too.
The weight of darkness tightened around us. Drawing closer. Pressure built inside me, like my ears needed to pop. Bj?rg whined softly and burrowed deeper against me.
There was something unpleasant in the darkness. A creeping, crawling, subtle malice made my skin crawl.
“Do you hear them?”
A man whispered behind us, startling me. Gunnarr whirled to the side, putting his back to the threat and curling over me, immediately shifting me away from the voice.
“My apologies, Daughter of Hel, for startling you. Welcome to my domain. I am Heimdallr.”
:It’s okay,: I whispered to Gunnarr in our bond. :He’s the man I spoke to before. I need to see him.:
:Okay. But I’m one twitch away from shifting to my bear and looking for a snack.:
My lips curled with amusement as Gunnarr turned back around so I could see Heimdallr, the god of Bifrost and guardian of àsgarer. I hadn’t expected the god himself to deign to speak to me.
At first glance, he looked like a regular human, though he was at least as tall as Lokken, nearly seven feet.
He wore basic brown leather pants, something a warrior might have worn hundreds of years ago, with a simple cream-colored linen tunic and thick wool brown cloak around his shoulders.
A leather-wrapped sword hung down his back, the hilt poking up above his shoulder.
His skin was deep black, and thick black coils of hair dotted with golden beads and rings twisted together in a bundle past his waist, nearly to his knees.
I could only imagine how heavy the mass must be.
Until he smiled, his eyes were the only unusual part of his appearance, gleaming like burnished gold coins. Or a wolf’s eyes. Inclining his head, he flashed shining golden teeth, all just as sharp as a wolf’s would be.
He bowed. A god. Bowed. To me.
“May I have the honor of hearing the lady’s name directly from her lips?”
“Oh. Of course.” Blushing, I felt rather foolish and gauche. “I’m Helayna Ironheart. This is my Blood, Gunnarr, and my little fox friend is Bj?rg. May I ask why we’re here?”
His eyebrows rose. “You followed the rainbows, did you not? That’s why you’re here.”
“Yes, of course, but why did you speak to me before? Why did you want me to find you?”
His eyes narrowed to golden slits, but his voice remained light and easy.
“For many reasons. There hasn’t been a Daughter of Hel strong enough to touch Yggdrasil directly in several generations.
Let alone strong enough to escape Loki’s machinations.
I saw you, Helayna Ironheart. I saw you trapped inside Jormungandr. I heard your Call, strong enough to raise the Darkness slumbering for thousands of years. Perhaps I decided to answer as well.”
My mouth sagged open.
Gunnarr chuckled. “I told you it was a strong Call, my queen. I’m not surprised at all that a god might hear and decide to answer.”
“Any chance I have to foul Loki’s mischief is an opportunity I rarely miss. You surprised him by escaping Hel, but that will be nothing compared to his shock and dismay when he sees me by your side in Miegarer, which is exactly why I was forbidden from visiting your realm directly myself.”
My stunned surprise shifted to pained pride in a matter of seconds. :Set me down on my own two feet, please.:
Gunnarr hastened to obey, though he hovered beside me.
I had to tip my head back to meet Heimdallr’s steady gaze. “I refuse to be a game piece moved between two gods for their own wicked amusement.”
Heimdallr’s eyes narrowed even more, though his lips twitched in what might have been a smile. Or a sneer of disdain. It was too quick for me to tell. “I would expect nothing less from the queen who escaped Jormungandr.”
Then he shocked me all over again by dropping to one knee before me.
Then even lower, leaning forward to drop his hand onto the golden platform, his head bowed.
“I offer myself and all powers under my domain to Her Majesty Helayna Ironheart, daughter of Loki and Helle Ironheart, daughter of Hrefna, daughter of Hekla, daughter of Hadda, daughter of Hólmfrier…”
He paused, lifting his head enough for me to see the sparkle of amusement in his eyes. “Shall I list all your ancestors, Your Majesty? I know them all, though it will take a few minutes for me to recite them all the way back to Lady Hel, may She Walk the Frozen Shores of Corpses forever.”
I shook my head slightly, still mentally reeling.
I had hoped the man who’d whispered to me might be another Blood, but a god?
Yes, I was descended from a goddess but so distantly I likely carried only a few drops of Her blood.
I didn’t want to think about what I might have inherited from the god of mischief.
A god. How would that even work? He surely couldn’t mean to be Blood. Sworn to me. Giving me his blood. Though he offered all powers under his domain, the Bifrost rainbow bridge to any of the Nine Worlds and beyond. Access to ásgarer itself, the home of the gods. Just to be a thorn in Loki’s side?
“What do you want from me?” I finally asked.
Carefully, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around my left hand, pulling my arm out away from my body. His palm was warm against my knuckles, his fingers gentle as he drew my hand to his lips. He pressed a kiss to my palm, his golden eyes locked on me. Watching my face. My reaction.
“I offer myself,” he repeated, whispering the words against my skin.
Making his lips a caress. “I will stand at your side. I will obey your Call and accept your will above my own. I will heed your alpha’s commands as if they were from your own lips.
I will gladly serve as Blood, if you care to have me. ”
He turned my hand over, I thought to kiss my knuckles too, but he simply held my arm out. Waiting for my answer. Though his nostrils flared, his eyes swirling with streams of pearlescent rainbows against the gold.
I forgot the bite in my wrist. My blood. I’d likely stained the front of my sweater by now.
A drop of blood fell from my wrist, slipping down to splat onto the golden platform.
Colors exploded through me, rays of light and streams of energy.
Blasting through all the corners of my mind.
Lighting up the secret pathways of the universes.
All of them. The branches of Yggdrasil glistened with rainbows, from the very top to the deepest, darkest roots.
The golden palaces of the gods, floating in the clouds.
Bright, airy Ljosalfheimr, home of the light elves, filled with gossamer wings and flowers, a riotous explosion of color and perfumes.
Other realms I couldn’t even name or recognize flickered faster through my mind like pages of a book.
Purple skies and glittering mermaid-like creatures floated in jeweled oceans.
Monstrous beasts hunted in gigantic primeval forests.
Planets of ice and endless cold. Fiery volcanoes, bubbling with pits of bright lava and flame.
A creature roared in the fiery pit with massive, sweeping horns like a bull.
Hooves thundering the earth, cracking the foundations of the world.
The rainbow bridge wound further, carrying me beyond the outer reaches of the known universe. A brittle sound made my skin crawl again. Screeches. Whispers. Like glass rubbing together. Cracking glass. Shattering. Cutting shards.
A roar tore through the vision, and it fell apart like tattered tissues. Fur pressed against me. A massive paw wrapped around my midsection. Trying to tear me away.
Gunnarr, shifted to his polar bear. He gripped the god’s forearm in his jaws. :Tell him to release you, or I eat his arm for second breakfast.:
Completely unbothered, Heimdallr laughed. “Tell him to release me, Your Majesty, or I’ll have a nice fur cloak to wrap around your shoulders when we walk the black sand beaches of your home.”
“Enough.” Colors still exploded and fired in my mind, a dizzying swirl of energy. My knees quivered, and I leaned against Gunnarr’s bear, trying to stay upright. “I’m unharmed.”
:He meant to steal your blood, my queen.:
“Not at all, my furry friend. I have not tasted the tantalizing treasure trove she has yet to offer me.”
Somewhat mollified, Gunnarr released the god’s forearm and sat back on his haunches, giving me more of his chest to lean against. :I’m still ready to chow down on him if he so much as looks at you sideways.:
Heimdallr laughed again. “I shall only look upon her glory straight ahead and directly, so I swear on all that glitters this side of Yggdrasil.”
Feeling a little steadier, I searched his face, looking for any hint of duplicity or ulterior motive. “How are you able to hear Gunnarr’s mental voice without a Blood bond?”
“Your bear is a talented communicator, Your Majesty.”
Gunnarr huffed out a growl. :Which is a nice way to say I talk too much and think too loudly.:
Heimdallr’s lips twitched again. Definitely amusement, not disdain.
His eyes remained locked to my face. More streamers of color glittered in his eyes, almost obliterating the gold entirely.
He held my hand the same as before. Not tugging me to him.
Not squeezing with any force. Just holding me.
Even with blood dripping down to my elbow and splattering his bridge.
Even though his own arm also bled now, his sleeve mangled by my bear’s teeth.
Even more telling, to me at least, was Bj?rg’s complete lack of concern. Despite the scuffle, she was relaxed in the crook of my arm, her ears upright, her eyes curious. She didn’t growl or bark at him. She certainly didn’t fling herself at him…
The memory surfaced like a great dark beast rising from the depths of the ocean.
A tremendous boom in the dead of night had pulled me from my bed.
I raced to the window but couldn’t see any flames or fire that might explain the explosion.
As the minutes ticked by, people stepped outside, looking toward the fjord and the mountains beyond.
The crashing of timber echoed in the night. The ground shook beneath our feet.
Queen Illa, still in her nightgown and wrap, her golden hair in a thick braid down her back. Her consiliarius, Sigrid, and her husband, Emil. Others from the kitchen staff.
“The villagers,” Queen Illa whispered, tears streaking her cheeks. “I’m afraid Tafjord and Fj?r? are gone.”
Cries and calls for help began to reach us. Babies. Children. We rushed down from House Fólkvangr to help as many as we could. Houses smashed like kindling. Mud and water everywhere. Broken trees shoved through walls. People buried and crushed beneath debris.
“Help,” a man whispered to my left. “Please help me.”
Immediately, I broke from the main group, trying to find him in the darkness. Carefully stepping over shattered trees and toppled houses. Wading through mud to my knees. “Where are you?”
“Here. Please. I’m trapped. I can’t move my legs.”
Hopping along a downed tree to cross a muddy puddle, Bj?rg let out a sound I’d never heard before.
Part hiss, part growl, as fierce a sound as her little body could make.
She turned and looked at me, barking and yipping furiously.
Then she dove into the thick branches of the tree.
Her growls suddenly silenced with a sharp cry of pain.
I pushed through the branches, crawling through mud and debris. Crying. Calling for her.
She yelped again, a whimper broke my heart. Then her broken body fell to the ground in front of me.
“Here she is, pet.”
Two green, glowing holes danced closer. Flashing emeralds, bright and shining in the gloom beneath the broken tree. Then darkness engulfed me.
Bj?rg whined softly and nuzzled my chin, breaking the terrible memory.
She’d tried to warn me then. She’d waited for me to find her on the frozen shores of Nástrond, so she could come back to me.
I pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head and then carefully set her on top of Gunnarr’s broad shoulder.
If this man was Loki’s enemy…
I met Heimdallr’s steady gaze. “I accept your offer, Heimdallr, and welcome you as my Blood.”