Page 7 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Apples after Midgard, not before. You know the rules.”
The pegasus let out a disappointed huff, pulling her head from my hands, then showing me her rear.
“Come on… Rayna and Gunhild are probably already at the Bifrost Bridge by now. You know how they get when we keep them waiting too long.”
She cranked her head backward to look at me, her top lip flaring.
“You’re impossible.” I said, tossing an apple up into the air. She caught it with her front teeth, and as she began munching on the fruit, she adjusted herself so I could climb on. Hoisting myself up, I swung my leg over her in one swift movement. “Let’s go!”
Epli, or Apple, as I liked to call her, launched herself into the sky, up through a cluster of puffy white clouds. I cursed her under my breath, yet I knew better than to open my mouth so high into the air. As punishment, I caught a bug that hit the back of my throat with the force of an arrow. With a quick cough and a sharp turn, Apple and I headed toward the Bifrost.
Apple was the pegasus no one wanted. Year after year, no one bonded to her. They said she was too unpredictable, impossible to tame, and the first pegasus in history that had no real interest in war. At a time that I, myself, cared much for war and glory, I still felt a pull toward her. Her beauty had almost caught her a few potential matches, but I was the first one she hadn’t thrown off her pristine white back laced with golden feathers.
What everyone else had failed to miss was that Epli needed to be bribed. After 604 years riding together, she still required payment…in the form of apples. What she lacked discipline, she made up for it in more ways than her beauty. Firstly, she was fast. Rayna’s pegasus, Gunhild, knew this, which was why she never landed and made Rayna work to mount her—not that Rayna ever minded showing off her skills. The two of them were a match made in Valhalla. Both fierce, both focused, and both wildly competitive.
As Apple and I began to approach the Bifrost, it was impossible to miss the way the bridge, made of pure, colorful light, lit up the entire night sky like an exploding star. The Bifrost shot beams of light across the sky from red to indigo,forming the perfect illusion of a rainbow. It was not created of sunlight and rain, but Odin’s powerful seidr. The bridge was made for gods, valkyries, and sometimes even the dead to travel the realms at the speed of the rainbow light itself.
I saw Rayna on the back of her strong pegasus, hovering over the bridge, staring off into the trails of color that bled into the night sky. The sight was magnificent, and I wondered if her position over the Bifrost each night was the same as the moments I stole in the cool, dark tunnels beneath the House of Wings—a moment to be alone and cherish the utter silence of your own company.
Interrupting my sister’s peace, I yelled out into the rainbow sky, “I imagine Bodil has already collected ten souls by now! How long do you think it will take you to double her numbers?”
“It’s not about the quantity, Rune, but about the quality! You taught me that.”
“I did, didn’t I?” I said as Apple flew next to Gunhild. She gave her a quick nudge as we approached.
“The sisters will learn not to get caught up in the high of selecting souls soon enough. Once they figure out Odin is sending half their bounty right to Hel, they’ll take a moment to ponder whose soul it is they’re taking.”
That was the thing about Rayna. I could teach her all I wanted, and sure, the knowledge I’d collected over the years helped her stay in Odin’s good graces, despite being associated so heavily with me, but what no one but the gods and us knew was that Odin admired how picky Rayna was. He loved that Rayna only brought the fiercest warriors back to Valhalla—the ones with the most meaningful deaths. Just like the sister’s got high from taking souls, I believed Odin was fueled by his halls being filled with the souls who brought him the most glory. Rayna’s selections often offered him exactly what he needed most.
The difference between me and Rayna, compared to the rest of the sisters, was that we knew all you needed was a few amazing warriors each night to tide Odin over. He didn’t care for the runners, the whimperers, or the ones who feared their deaths. We knew when we looked into the souls of the people on the battlefield who exactly he’d be sending to Freyja and her realm, Fólkvangr.
If I were to indulge in my nightly obsessions, it meant my efficiency on the battlefield needed to be without flaw. If I wanted to hang back, letting the souls I’d collected wait while I lingered on Midgard, those souls better be the best on the battlefield. If I wanted my passions to be hidden from the gods and my sisters, then I could never let them know I only spent a fraction of my night in the minds of the deceased, seeing their last moments and deciphering if they were worthy enough of Valhalla.
No one would ever ask, because I’d give them no reason to. No one would ever ask, because despite being drunk and late, I could hover over the entire field littered with blood and bodies and sense the few souls Odin would approve of. I didn’t need to individually go into the minds of every single warrior. I could watch them all at once, like a play of a hundred humans’ lives, and locate who had true, strong deaths—who risked their lives for the greater good, who went down in a blaze of unbridled glory.
When Rayna and I both nodded to each other, we descended upon the bridge. A whoosh of air laced with beams of light hit our faces, and almost as soon as it started, it was over. We were spat out into the Midgardian night, no rainbow hues to light our way, only stars dimmed by the pollution of a burning field.
Sisters of the House of Wings were already picking through the dead to find their chosen souls. Some sisters frantically collected as fast as they could, wearing the black and silver armor of Helheim or the emerald and gold armor of Fólkvangr. These were sisters from the other sects, gathering souls rejected by the Valhalla valkyries. The Valhalla sect moved a little slower, watching the memories of the slain and deciding who would come back with them.
Rayna and Gunhild dove down to meet the rest of the valkyries while I hung high above them all. I watched as the blue-tinted spirits rose from their bodies, guided by the choosers of the slain. It’d been a smaller skirmish tonight, not leaving many souls to choose from. As I closed my eyes, listening only to the sound of beating wings, I began to see images move behind my eyes: A man in leather armor tripping and falling on his own sword, a woman caught in a fire, and countless more.
I didn’t stop watching the last moments play out until I came across a memory of an older gentleman, laced up in his finest armor. He’d been told to stay at home, where his family believed it to be safe, but he geared up anyway and ran into battle, despite his failing body. At first, I’d thought the man had ignored his family to prevent passing on naturally and being sent to Helheim with the rest of the villagers who died of old age. When I came upon his final moment, though, I realized the man had fled to save his family. Raiders had encroached on the small family home, and if it weren’t for the elderly man using whatever strength he had left to fight off the three violent men about to attack, his family would have been lost to the night.
Apple dove down to the beacon the man’s memory provided. He sat with his back against his home, eyes closed, as if he’d drifted off for a nap under the stars. If I were to move his ruby red hands that laid across his belly, this man’s slumber would be seen for what it truly was: a final rest. I took a moment and listened for movement inside. When I heard hushed whispers, I knew this man had succeeded in what he’d set off to do. His wife and two daughters were alive, hiding in their longhouse until they felt it was safe to emerge. What I’d do next wouldn’t help with their loss, but I hoped it would ease their transition. Apple nudged a yellow wildflower unaffected by the flames toward me. I took it from between her teeth, and I tucked the stem into one of the man’s curled hands.
When the stain on his tunic was partially covered, I placed my hand upon his chest and pulled the man free from his mortal confines. He took shape in the form of a blue orb, which I held in my hands for only a moment before bottling his essence. If anyone deserved to dine in the golden hall for all of eternity, it was him.
I gathered two more souls, wrapping all three bottles with the warriors’ essences in leather and tucking them into Apple’s armor. Rayna was still wandering through the scene, being particular as ever, despite the slim pickings. I gave her a few more moments to wrap up before we moved on. Valkyries didn’t simply attend to one village or even one kingdom. Once we were in Midgard, we would follow the scent of blood and the energy of souls. Wherever we were needed, we would be.
When Rayna was finished, the two of us hopped back onto our prospective pegasus and flew into the night. We grew closer and closer to the village where I spent almost every night, even if no battle waged on. Stormheim was a peaceful village—for now. The surrounding areas had been hit one by one, all taken by the encroaching war. It wasn’t our job to know why the war hadbegun or what side was in the right, if any, but this one, I found myself interested in, merely for the path of destruction it’d been taking.
When Rayna and I touched down in Toftvik, we assessed the battle scene and started all over again. I skimmed through final moments until I was satisfied with the four souls I plucked, adding to the collection I kept safe within Apple’s pouches.
Leaving Rayna to her selection process, I wandered away through dying autumn trees on Apple’s back until she took off into the sky. We were one village over from Stormheim now, and I feared what that might mean for my nightly routine.
Apple and I flew to Stormheim as always. Neither one of us were necessarily able to blend in with the Midgardian villagers, Apple with her wings and me with my long white hair, not to mention our armor, shiny and golden with crimson detailing. So, I always had her land on the outskirts. We walked the rest of the way on foot, careful to stay hidden within the trees.
When I heard a shout in the distance, both Apple and I froze.
