Tree of Ash (The Runic Saga #2)

Prologue

Vereandi

Vereandi hummed as her fingers danced across the surface of the well.

With each touch, the water rippled and golden light swirled up from its depths.

Rays of illumination flashed across the leafy canopy that covered the expansive meadow.

The thick roots of Yggdrasil snaked around the well and into the ground.

Though Vereandi’s tiny body lay at rest across the stones, her stomach clenched with anticipation and delight.

She’d planned for years. Now that her moment had come, Vereandi would not allow anyone to spoil it. Not even her sisters.

Perhaps Skuld, with her ability to see so far into the future, already knew what Vereandi was planning.

Urer would learn of it soon enough as she recorded the past. But Ragnarok —the war of the gods—had diminished her sisters, diminished them all.

Without the mortals to worship the Norn, goddesses of fate, their own power would fade away until there was nothing left.

They would become like the other surviving gods and giants: pathetic and weak leftovers of a broken world.

Vereandi shoved the thought aside, replacing it with the image she’d clung to during the darkness after Ragnarok .

She imagined the mortals crying her name in adoration: Vereandi, their savior.

The sounds of the imagined crowd died abruptly as Yggdrasil ’s mighty branches rustled, alerting Vereandi to the presence of her long-awaited guest.

A woman’s slim figure broke through the tree line, her feet crossing into the tall grass that brushed her waist. The mortal stiffened, her eyes roving up Yggdrasil ’s giant trunk, tilting her head back as she attempted to make out the top of the great tree.

Vereandi giggled, knowing the woman never could.

It was the giggle that brought the mortal’s attention snapping down to the base of the tree. She narrowed her eyes in Vereandi’s presence but lowered her head in a display of submission. Her vibrant white hair fell like a curtain around her face.

Vereandi clapped her hands in delight. She’d walked in this woman’s dreams enough to know that the mortal distrusted the gods, blamed them for Ragnarok , but unlike so many of the others, this woman knew how to play the game.

“Welcome, Lif,” Vereandi’s soprano voice rang out. She leapt to a nearby root and opened her arms as though in a wide embrace. “You’ve made it; I knew you would!”

Lif raised her head and approached, her pace steady as though stalking prey.

Her clothes were ragged and torn, even bloody in some places, and a large knife was strapped to her thigh.

Mankind had been reduced to such primitive ways after Ragnarok , but that was all about to change.

Lif stopped short of the well. “You called for me, Great Seer.”

“I did,” Vereandi’s high voice trilled. “As I saved you from desperation once, I will save you again.”

Lif’s golden eyes clouded in apprehension. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Vereandi waved away the woman’s words with a small hand.

“Of course you do, or you wouldn’t have come.

It was my sisters and I that hid you mortals within the roots of Yggdrasil while the fires of Ragnarok ravaged this world.

It was we who gifted mankind with innovation, arts, and endurance to ensure your survival.

But like sheep walking toward cliffs of extinction, you’ve already fallen into desperation, killing one another without restraint.

You lack leadership.” Vereandi offered a girlish grin. “I can help.”

“We’ve tried,” Lif protested. “We’re not lacking in leaders; we’re lacking in those who can command authority. We’re fractured into too many groups. If we keep fighting at this pace, you might as well have let us perish in Ragnarok .”

Vereandi’s bottom lip jutted out, irritated at Lif’s ungratefulness.

“What you lack is the direction of the gods. In your anger over Ragnarok , you’ve ignored us.

” She brushed back fiery strands of hair along with her irritation, replacing her pout with a smile.

“What if I told you that I knew which leaders would be best suited for each people, and not only that, but I would give these leaders the power they need for everyone else to obey their authority?”

She scoffed. “I’d say that’s impossible.”

Vereandi’s frown returned. “Not for a goddess.”

Unfiltered power, animalistic in its raw state, pulsed from within Vereandi’s small body, reminding the mortal woman who she was.

Lif flinched as Vereandi’s galdr washed over her like a storm cloud, showering her in a torrential downpour of power.

She fell to her knees, cowering in the tall grasses, shaking even as the sun filtered in through the mighty branches.

A perpetual child or not, Vereandi was a goddess, and her power was limitless; or at least, it would be again.

“Do you believe me now?” Vereandi’s sweet voice echoed across the clearing while the might of the gods shook the ground.

“Yes,” Lif gasped, not daring to lift her head. “But there’s nothing I can do. I have no power, no authority.”

Vereandi softened her voice. “Not yet, but you will. There is a test you must pass to gain the power you need.”

“What test?”

Vereandi leapt from the root, placing a small hand under the woman’s chin and lifting her face so that Lif’s blazing golden eyes were unable to look away. Vereandi tilted her head like a bird. “Do you know how óeinn discovered the language of the runes?”

Lif swallowed. “He impaled himself with his own spear, hung himself for nine days and nights on the tree of ash, and was granted the power of the runes.”

“Not only the power of the runes, but power itself. Galdr is the magic of the gods, and with my connection to Yggdrasil , I can channel it into whomever I deem worthy.” Vereandi tightened her grip on Lif’s chin until the mortal winced.

“You’re worthy because I have made it so.

” She paused and giggled, releasing the mortal woman with a twirl. “That is, if you pass my test.”

“And if I can’t?” Lif asked, though fierce curiosity peeked through her apprehension.

Vereandi shrugged. “Then your soul will be sent as a gift to Hel.” The goddess laughed at the horror on Lif’s face.

“I’m only playing! You mortals, always so serious.

Your fate has already been set. You’ll pass the test, and once you’re done, you will no longer be called Lif, but rather Rúna, Queen of Perle, the first kingdom of Evrópa. ”