Page 118 of A Curse Carved in Bone
Turning, he started down the far side of the bridge, laughing as he went.
Pushing to my feet, I covered my hand with Hlin’s magic and then met the gaze of one of the gods who stood watching on, fire dancing across his palms. “Tyr,” I whispered. “Can you lend me his flame?”
The corner of the god’s mouth turned up, then he reached into Yggdrasil’s roots and pulled.
Bjorn’s axe appeared in my hand, burning with deadly intensity, but the fire did not touch me through my magic. Lifting it over my head, I heaved, watching it flip end over end, my aim as true as it had been the first time I’d thrown the weapon.
Silence stretched, broken only when Harald cackled, “It was a good attempt,Born-in-Fire.”
He took two quick steps back, appearing ready to run, but then his gaze fell upon the corpse at his feet.
On his own skull, severed in half by Bjorn’s axe.
“No,” he whispered. “Not possible.”
“You are nothing more than a soul now.” I let go of Bjorn’s axe and it vanished. “You have lost.”
Harald’s eyes desperately searched the darkness as though he might find salvation. “Father? Father!”
“Loki is not here,” Tyr answered. “He mislikes watching his schemes come to unsatisfying ends.”
“It isn’t over!” Harald shrieked. “This is not the end!”
He turned to scamper off into the mists, only to draw up short, Saga blocking his path.
“You!” He recoiled from her. “It’s not possible!”
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, Harald.” She shoved her hands into his chest, driving him back. “You took my life.”
Shove.
“You killed my people.”
Shove.
“You hurt my son!”
Saga gave him one final shove, Harald stumbling and nearly falling.
Her eyes then locked with mine, and Saga said, “Tell Bjorn that I love him.”
My lips parted, every part of me wanting her to tell Bjorn herself, but Saga flung herself at Harald, knocking him back.
“Thank you, Freya,” she whispered as they fell through the gates of Helheim, souls now bound to the realm of the goddess of death. The gates slowly shut behind them.
I dropped to my knees.
“Your end is near, daughter,” Hlin murmured. “I have not the power to change that, and I think that Hel will not aid you as she did her brother.”
With the way Hel was watching me with greedy eyes, she would do anything to claim the opportunity of taking my soul into her keeping.
“You are mine, Freya.” Hel smiled. “You will wander my halls until the end of days.”
Then the ground beneath me trembled, and all the gods around me lowered their heads as yet another appeared.
A warrior with but one eye held out his hand to me. “I claim you, Freya Born-in-Fire. You will fight well in the last battle.”
I stared at the Allfather’s palm.
