RIDING SOUTH, Huld at her side, Bloodsong winced at a sudden pain.
Huld saw Bloodsong grimace and touch her forehead. “What’s wrong? Another attack?”
Bloodsong lowered her hand. “Just a stab of pain. It’s gone.”
“A pain in your forehead?”
“Just a bad memory, I think.”
“Pain in your forehead concerns me. Sorcerous attacks often are felt there first. Tell me more. Quickly!”
“I remembered the last time I faced torture before the revolt. Nidhug claimed he wanted information he knew I did not have—”
“Then why torture you?”
She shrugged. “It was a goal of his to break me. He had tried and failed, several times. But he had something new he wanted to try. On me. Something that he called—” she hesitated, “a Venom Wand.”
“Sounds horrid.”
“You’ve no idea.”
“The filthy monster!”
“Yes.”
“So, what did you do?”
Bloodsong frowned at Huld’s eager expression. “I screamed. A lot.”
“Of course.”
“But I was so angry, I hated him so much, I vowed, as always I had before, to die rather than ask him to stop, even though he told me if I died he would bring me back to life, heal my wounds, and start over.”
“What did the Venom Wand do? Feel?”
“Is this just a memory I had, Witch? Or an attack? That is why I was telling you. Not to feed your curiosity about torture.”
“I’m not curious about torture!” Huld quickly responded.
Bloodsong saw Huld’s face redden. She is blushing! Bloodsong realized.
“But I believe it is as you thought, more a memory than an attack. To be certain, I will sense the ether more carefully.”
“The ether.” Bloodsong made a face. Witches!
Huld closed her eyes in concentration.
They rode in silence for a few moments before Huld said, “Your brief contact with that slave—”
“Jalna.”
“Jalna, must have triggered old memories. I sense no danger—”
A spear of pain doubled Bloodsong over. With a roaring cry of outrage she swayed and almost fell from her saddle. The horses shied at the sudden sound.
“Bloodsong!”
Bloodsong quickly recovered and steadied her mount.
Huld got her own horse back under control a few moments later.
“Another memory.” Bloodsong’s face twisted with disgust. “I relived the moment when I broke.”
“Broke?”
Bloodsong gave the Witch an angry glance. “Yes! The monster broke me. And I asked, begged him to stop. Me! I should have let him kill me!” she growled.
Huld did not hesitate. “And if you had, there would have been no slave revolt.”
“Aye. But it still shames me, remembering his laughter when I could not stand what he was doing to me—” Bloodsong frowned. She shook her head. “Enough! I should not have allowed old memories to distract me. I will think no more about it and focus instead on—” her voice trailed off.
Huld saw Bloodsong’s expression change again. She seemed surprised for a moment, then suddenly happy. She smiled with a joy such as Huld had not imagined the grim warrior could feel. But the next moment, Bloodsong was on the verge of tears. “I love you, too, Baby!” Bloodsong said. “We will be together again. Soon! I will not fail!” Then the lines of Bloodsong’s face hardened once more, and she focused on Huld.
”I just saw my daughter.”
“You have a daughter?”
“Aye. With Hel. In Helheim.”
“Oh. Your daughter is, my sympathies, dead. I did not know—”
“Guthrun is not dead!”
“But—”
“When I have done what Hel asked, Guthrun will be returned to me. I have Hel’s promise.”
Huld caught herself before expressing distrust of Hel’s promises. She wondered what Hel wanted Bloodsong to do. Only defeat Nidhug? Or more? “You surprise me.”
“How so?”
“I cannot imagine you with a child.”
“You say I surprise you? Hel surprised me.”
“Hel tricks many.”
“I did not mean that. The old tales about Hel were not written by Hel’s followers.”
“Thank Freya!”
“Nevertheless, from the lore I learned as a child, I expected Hel to be cold, cruel, and frightening. But She surprised me by being thoughtful and kind, even loving, to me and my child.”
Only because She wanted something from you! Huld thought, but said nothing.
Bloodsong’s dark eyes misted with tears. She quickly rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand and cleared her throat. “And now, Hel has surprised me again. She caused me to relive those horrible memories as a connection to that slave. Hel wanted me to know that Jalna has made a decision. She means to defy Nidhug! She probably has my memories and knows what he did to me, but in spite of that, she dared say to him my battle cry, and that is when Hel made me remember my own torture.”
“But why?”
“Why?”
“Why make you remember?”
Bloodsong shrugged. “To get my attention?”
“But wasn’t there a better way?”
Another shrug. “Ask Hel.”
“Not likely!”
“Hel also conveyed that She had deemed Jalna worthy of help. What form that help might take, I do not know. Before I left Helheim, Hel explained that Nidhug is protected from Her direct attacks. Else there would be no need of Hel-warriors. But, I suspect, She touched my mind for a more personal reason as well, to remind me what was at stake, showing me Guthrun, as if I needed reminding, and to comfort Guthrun. Hel hates to see children suffer. I think it is because of Her own childhood, stolen away from Her mother by Odin to live in misery in Asgard, until She made Her one friend there, the Goddess Sif’s son—”
“Thor’s stepson? Ullr? Is that where Hel and Ullr first met? So later, when they became lovers, it makes better sense.”
“Yes. They were close, as children, before Hel was cast into the Underworld to care for those who died not in battle.”
“Which is most.”
“Aye.”
“So then, when Ullr died,” Huld followed the train of thought, “Skadi, Ullr’s wife, was left behind in the Lands of Life, and Ullr went to Helheim. But that might be a problem.”
“Yes, Witch? What?”
“Ullr died, but as a God or a mortal? Some tales present him as mortal.”
“So?”
“So, Ullr must have been born a God, to have been a child in Asgard. And it was as a God of Winter that Ullr was with Skadi. The tales where he is a mortal must be wrong, or the one about Hel and Ullr in childhood is false. I’ve never heard that one before.”
Bloodsong sighed. “Ullr took Odin’s throne one time, when Odin was away. Had you heard that?”
“No!”
“When Odin returned, he cast Ullr out of Asgard to live as a mortal. Ullr became a king and was killed by another king. Then, now a dead mortal, Ullr went to Helheim, where he was reunited with his childhood friend, Hel, and they became lovers. But Ullr had been a God, and Odin made him one again. Then for half of each year, Ullr was required to leave his love in Helheim and be a God of Winter on our world here, Midgarth.”
“And Skadi, then, each winter is reunited with Ullr, but Ullr now loves Hel and is as cold as only winter can be, to Skadi?” Huld mused. “That makes sense.”
“No!” Bloodsong exclaimed. “It does not make sense! Not really. A bunch of old tales! Cursed Witches will believe anything!”
“Will not!”
“And have you heard the story of how your dear Freya cruelly convinced Odin to cast the child Hel out of Asgard, into the Underworld?”
“Freya was the one who did that?”
“I did not say that She actually did that. I asked if you had heard that story. It is well-known in Helheim.”
“But why would Freya be cruel to a child? Any child? She must have had a good reason.”
“Perhaps they are all just silly stories, Huld. Perhaps we humans cannot grasp the truth. Perhaps if we are smart, we won‘t even try!”
Huld gave Bloodsong a frown.
“But you at least have to admit, Witch, that if Freya had Hel thrown into the Underworld, it would explain the animosity of Hel-Witches for followers of Freya.”
“But if Hel told you that story, I would not trust it! She may have treated you and your child well, to encourage your loyalty in Her fight against Nidhug—”
“I do no need Hel to give me a reason to revenge myself upon him!”
“No, but even so, Hel is cunning—“
“Like all Goddesses and Gods!”
“But, that you have any sympathy at all for Hel scares me! She is Loki’s Daughter!
Bloodsong gave another shrug. “Perhaps.”
“Who else could She be?”
“Garm’s Bottom, Witch! I don’t really care! Pondering theology like this is for cursed Witches!”
“Well! Excuse me for—”
“My daughter lives because of Hel, and I am going to be reunited with Guthrun. Whether I fully trust Hel or any one or thing does not matter. I trust myself.”
“But that slave, Jalna. Can we trust her not to break and tell all she learned about us?”
Bloodsong shook her head. “No. But the longer she holds out, the more it will delay his moving against me.”
“Us.”
“You could leave me to ride alone, again, Witch.”
“Still trying to get rid of me?”
“You have already helped me, Huld. I am glad for your presence.”
“Exactly.”
“So, we will keep moving and stay alert. Eventually, though, if Nidhug does to Jalna what he did to me that last time, she will surely break.”
“There is no hope, then. It is certain that eventually he will learn our secrets.”
“Nothing is certain, and there is always hope. The fact that I am riding beside you is proof of that.”
“I forget that you, well, died. Freya’s Teats.”
“You say that a lot. Does Freya not mind if you swear on Her—”
“Next time She visits me, I’ll ask.”
Bloodsong laughed and slapped Huld on the back.
“Ow!”
“It could not have hurt that much.”
Huld flexed a shoulder and grimaced. “Your strength might be greater than you realize.”
Bloodsong considered that. “It is not impossible. Hel may have improved me when She put me back to life. I suspected as much while practicing and training my battle skills in Helheim.”
“You never asked Her?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She was involved in so many things. I left Her alone and She did the same to me, mostly.”
“I can’t imagine actually living with Freya. I guess She would be very busy being a Goddess, too, and I would not be the only soul in Her hall. Just one of many.”
“Oh, I think She would take special notice of you, Huld.”
“You do?”
“Yes, each time you swore on Her teats!”
“Very funny.”