Page 59 of Between Broomsticks and Beating Wings
Sigrid looked as if she didn’t know which of her children she should comfort, if any. On one hand, two of them tried to murder her remaining daughter. On the other hand, if they had succeeded, the entire family would’ve been able to travel to their afterlife together. I tried not to hold any anger for Kari’s younger sisters, because I too would do just about anything to keep those I loved by my side. If Kari chose to forgive them eventually, that would be her decision to make, and I’d respect it.
It took about an hour, but eventually, things settled, faces lost their redness, and voices lowered. The conversation was lost to funny moments they’d experienced in Helheim, including a moment when Haddy was off collecting flowers when she caught Garm, of all creatures, doing the same. Apparently, he had a mate out there somewhere and didn’t spend his entire existence guarding the gates of Hel with a snarl on his dripping lips.
By the time Kari and I made it back to our chamber, our bellies were full, and Kari’s heart was as well.
“Thank you,” she whispered as her eyes grew heavy with fatigue. I never got the chance to ask what exactly she was thankful for, because the seeress drifted off to sleep propped up against the pillows, her head resting crookedly on her hand. I chuckled to myself and didn’t think twice as I pulled the quilt from under her and adjusted her head on the pillows so she didn’t wake with a kink in her neck. She didn’t wake as I laid the quilt down upon her, but she mumbled something inaudible and turned on her side, the sheets gripped in one of her hands.
The skin under her nails was already a smoking charcoal from the spells she’d performed this morning, and I was left wondering what toll Hel’s power was going to have on my little mortal one lunar cycle from now. Whatever happened, I wouldn’t let the seidr of the underworld hold her. Stained fingerswere one thing, but the blackening of her heart was another. If she wasn’t careful, Hel’s power could consume her, and I would do anything to prevent that day from coming.
Anything.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CAVE OF WHISPERS
Kari
Vibrations from the hums living in my throat echoed out into the room as I worked. My fingers tingled with seidr and my eyes focused on nothing but what I had in front of me. The scent of crisp spruce hit my nose when my hands raised up to my face and the aroma of the oils coating my palms wafted through the air.
Rune walked into the room, the broomstick I’d made clattering against the door. “Looks like you made some improvements to the broomstick. Care to explain?” she asked.
I didn’t look up from the spell I was working on, and I didn’t want to break my chant to acknowledge her, but she stood before me, watching my moves intently, and it was enough to shatter my waning concentration.
Huffing, I dropped my hands onto the table I worked upon and finally met her gaze. “While Hel is supposed to take any wicked spirits off to Niflheim for punishment, I’m not naive enough to believe there haven’t been any who’ve slipped past her detection. I know we’re only here for one more week, butI thought it was worth the practice if nothing else.” I glanced over at the door to our sleeping chamber as if I could see the broomstick hanging on the other side of it.
What a power that would be.
“Fair enough. Those souls don’t pose as much risk to the residents of Hel, but you’re quite… alive,” she said, looking me over, and letting her gaze linger on my collection of ingredients on the table. “Seeress, I hope you know you’re safe with me. Even with wild spirits roaming. I’ve fought much worse.”
I took in her black and silver leathers which had been dropped off by the House of Wings Helheim sect, along with a few other items specific to this realm. She’d promised Hel she would lead a few training sessions with the valkyries here in exchange for some ingredients I could use for my spells, and the ability to harvest anything I wanted from the snowy realm. With the exception of the onyx of her hall, of course.
“I believe you, but you’re not always around. And I want to be safe withmyself,”I admitted. Wiping my hands clean of the residual powders on them, and leaning back in my chair. My back had been growing sore from being hunched over this table for the past three weeks. I really needed to practice sitting with a straighter spine, but as soon as I started humming and chanting, all thoughts of healthy posture escaped me.
“You’re very good at relying on yourself. You have been for a long time now. Why not rely on someone else for a change?” Rune asked, coming to sit by me, but thinking better of arranging any of the bottles and tools I had laid out, even if it would give herself more space.
“I can do both, you know,” I said. “I’ll humor you when you’re around, but when I’m alone, I’m responsible for myself. Plus, Hel isn’t going to trade some no good seeress to Freyja. I need to take all of my spells to the next level, and I wanted to try something new with that protection broom.”
“Oh yeah?”
I nodded and excitedly began explaining how I harvested pollen from the yellow snow blossoms and mixed it with melted icicles to make a sticky paste to secure pieces of black tourmaline to the base of the broom. The paste was meant to glow in the presence of negative energy and would attract a swarm of blood bats any time that presence got too close to our door. If we were nearby, it would surely cause a commotion loud enough to alert us to the incoming intruder.
My favorite kind of spells were the ones that mixed the natural wonders of nature with seidr. I always found them to be more effective than spells that relied on seidr alone, even if they required more time for harvesting and preparation.
Rune just smiled and listened to the other steps I’d taken in preparation for any unwanted visitors, including a few considerably more drastic measures in case they got past the swarm of bats at the door, and gods forbid, got close to the canopy bed. When I concluded my explanation, she provided me with a proud slow clap, shaking her head and chucking.
“Well done, seeress. Let’s just hope none of your spells mistake one ofusfor a negative presence, or we’ll be in a world of hurt. I’d rather not be covered in bat scratches, or have the tendons in my ankles severed by swinging axes.”
I shrugged with an amused grin that said she needed to act right if she wanted to avoid the wrath of my seidr. “Anyway, how did training go? Are the valkyrie’s here showing to be less useless than last session?”
“I never called them useless, I?—”
“You might as well have,” I muttered under my breath. I may have been paraphrasing, but when Rune called the group of women the “soil of the House of Wings”, she couldn’t have expected me to believe she thought of them highly.
“All valkyries are impressive regardless of their sect, and all of them are my sisters. Useless could never be used to describe them. Without the valkyries here, your family would still be wandering Midgard, as would many others. When I called them the ‘soil of the House of Wings’ I was referring to them as our foundation.”
“Sure,” I said, which pulled an eye roll from Rune but she continued anyway, not feeding into my commentary more.
“They need to work quickly with the amount of souls they’re bringing in each night. They have the longest shift, and it doesn’t leave much time for training, or practicing their seidr. Many of them barely know how to use their own strength against their opponents, or how to summon something as simple as barley porridge.”
