Page 11 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings
“Just get us to the Bifrost!” I shouted. “Everything will be okay soon!”
Apple did as I asked, blasting forward without care for the seeress’s safety. I held on as tight as her mortal body would allow, knowing we’d be in the clear soon. Flashes of light and color lit the sky, and the next thing we knew, the mortal realm was behind us, and we were back on Asgard. Soon enough, the House of Wings came into view, a sight so welcome, I couldn’t stop the audible sigh from slipping through my lips.
The cat meowed again, though this time, when I peered down at it, the blue that once highlighted its features was gone. Apple calmed, allowing us a smooth landing upon the long grasses of the open field. When I noticed how red-stained Kari’s nightdress was, I dragged her off Apple’s back and cradled her in my arms.
I wouldn’t allow myself to stop moving until she was safe and in my bed. I descended the ladder into the dark tunnels, and even then, I didn’t stop. The chubby cat trotted alongside me, but I didn’t spare him a second glance. My eyes were locked on the iron doors ahead.
A few more steps.
I only hoped what awaited me on the other side of those double doors wasn’t Asta or Odin’s guards ready to steal her away from me so soon.
The iron doors groaned open, and I peeked my head through. Rayna stood across the hall, leaning against a gilded frame. She tried to look casual, as if waiting for someone to come out from their chambers, but I saw the way her thumbs twiddled. Rayna didn’t fidget. Her body language always remained eerily calm, even if her voice and tone didn’t. To see my younger sister twiddling her thumbs sent my nerves on edge.
I crept forward, and when we caught her gaze, her eyes widened, and she motioned us forward with a quick drag of her hand through still air. I didn’t bother closing the tunneldoors behind me, beelining for the door to our chambers. Rayna pushed the door open, and I barreled through it, careful not to catch the protruding arrow on the doorframe. I only noticed the trail of scarlet following us because of Rayna’s anxious yelp. She all but pushed me into the room before grabbing a rag and pulling it shut behind her.
“Quickly, place her on the bed,” Bodil said. The once-healer directed me to the four poster bed with wispy, sheer curtains. Bodil had laid down rags to protect my quilts, but the seeress’ blood was the least of my concerns. I’d burn the quilts if it meant she’d be saved.
Gently, I laid the mortal down upon the bed, her afflicted shoulder facing up.
“She’s lucky,” Bodil said. “The arrow didn’t sever anything important.”
The black and white haired valkyrie unsheathed a sharp blade at her hip. She looked to me, then to Kari, and said, “I’ll have to cut the arrowhead out, and it isn’t going to be pretty.”
I cursed under my breath, my attention on the woman in my bed, soaked in blood and passed out from the pain.
“Do it quickly while she’s still unconscious.”
Bodil nodded, then threw herself into a healer’s mindset, as if she hadn’t retired from that life centuries ago.
“Help me remove the sleeve of her gown,” she ordered. She must have loved it, telling her older sister what to do. Bodil had been a valkyrie for four and a half centuries, yet until her head was fully white, tonight would be the last night she barked at me.
“Take it off?” I asked, staring down at the seeress. Sure, I’d watched her. I’d even imagined how things might have been different if I were still mortal and just so happened to stumble into her village for a fresh start. But even then, I’d imagine conversing with her, learning all the things that made her tick, but never undressing her. Removing the sleeve of her gown wasnot sexual. It was practical, yet as my hand hovered over her skin, why did it feel so intimate?
“Yes, take it off. She’s filthy. I need to clean her wound, and I need this tattered cloth out of my way.”
My fingertips finally found her shoulder, and I began slowly peeling the fabric from her wound. I pulled a blade from my thigh and sliced the nightgown sleeve clean off, revealing the skin of her wounded shoulder. Bodil resumed pressure around the arrow, then ordered me to grab her supplies kit. She told me which bottles to grab and which to avoid. The two of us worked together—me as her third and fourth hand as we cleaned and prepped the seeress.
Bodil passed her blade over a candle’s flame, and when it cooled, she began her work on Kari. The seeress amazingly remained unconscious through the entire ordeal; even when Bodil removed the arrow from Kari’s shoulder, she didn’t wake. Bodil immediately pressed a damp cloth to her wound to stop the blood from spilling over.
When all was said and done, Kari patched up, I shifted her up on the bed so she could rest her head upon my pillow. She looked at peace now, resting, dreaming. I sat on the edge of the bed, wondering what exactly was going on in that mind of hers as her eyes moved rapidly, back and forth, back and forth.
Bodil cleared her throat, and I was on my feet in less than a second. As I faced her, I took in her sharp features. Her eyes flicked from me to the woman in my bed—not out of fear, but dangerous curiosity. Curiosity like that could get a person into trouble.
“Thank you, Bodil,” I said, bowing my head. “She would’ve crossed on to another realm had you not intervened.”
“Maybe you should’ve let her,” Bodil hissed, aggressively collecting her tools.
“Maybe,” I admitted, just to appease her. I was in no mood for a fight, and our opinions rarely aligned.
“It’s not too late to send her back to Midgard. Let what will happen to her happen. It’s no concern of yours, nor should it be.”
“I hope we won’t discuss this again,” I said, disregarding her. “Go to Epli. There are bottled souls in her pouch. Take them to Odin and claim them as your own.”
“That’s…very generous of you,” Bodil said, tilting her chin down in newfound, yet brief, respect. A piece of black hair fell into her face as she did, a reminder to us both of her age.
“Keep that in mind while you debate whether you’ll rat us out.”
“I’ll keep this incident to myself—this once. Your little shadow has ensured that,” she said with that perfected sneer of hers.
