RECAP: After recovering the stolen money, Erik enlisted the help of Hilda the bounty hunter in his quest to save Ravengard. But she seems to have once been part of the Valkyrie order. Is her leaving of such a noble order a hint of a more sinister side of this mysterious figure, or is she truly as generous as she seems?
“The ruler of this world is Freyer,” Ragnvald said. “If we’re to find transport to Nidavellir, we should ask him.”
“We cannot ask the ruler of Alfheim for transport,” Hilda said. “We might ask one of the kings, or maybe a merchant or trader. But not an Aesir.”
“Do you have something against the gods?” Trond asked.
“It’s not that. The leader of an entire world is going to be very busy, and we’re not very important people. Freyer won’t want to talk with us.”
“You didn’t answer my brother’s question,” I said.
“Nor did I intend to.”
The four of us marched out of the space port, which was just as large as the one in Soemd, but the architecture was different. Green was the primary color, and flowing silver framed everything with swirls and curves like the wind. The shops here were different, and Trond tried to buy a necklace this time, but I insisted we saved the little gul we had left.
We didn’t see many elfs on our way through the port until we came closer to the entrance. Elf travelers stood in line to get their tickets and depart, leaving for another world. I’d never seen elfs before, but their fair, smooth features seemed familiar. At first, I thought they reminded me of a specific person, though I could not place who that person was. Then I realized they looked similar to some of the people I saw in Soemd. Maybe those had been elfs and I hadn’t noticed it. After all, they look very similar to humans, the differences being only their larger ears and that few of them are ugly.
The only flaws I noticed on the skin of the elfs were scars, though those were far and few between. I mostly saw scars on the security officers protecting the space port with their laser rifles. Much of their faces were hidden under helmets, but everything from their mouths down to their necks were visible. Their visors obscured the rest of their faces. Their uniforms were forest green with hints of silver, but some had hints of gold instead.
Outside of the space port was far less impressive than the inside. I hadn’t seen the city during our decent, so I assumed it would be as large and magnificent as Soemd. It was not.
The buildings were far smaller, built from wood much like Ravengard, although this wood was carved and cut with far better craftsmanship and more attention to detail than ours. I later learned that, to the elfs, architecture is as much an art as painting or music. After all, they’re using nature to create artificial things. It’s the least they can do to show respect and reverence to the supplies used and turn them into something beautiful. I guessed that was why there were smaller buildings than in Soemd. They were more carefully constructed, and so took more time.
“We should find a local leader,” Hilda said. “A chieftan or mayor. Something like that. I don’t know how elf government works.”
“I’d assume it’s different depending on the nation,” I said.
“Yes, I’d guess so.”
“So, what nation are we in?” Trond asked.
“I don’t know,” Hilda said. “I’ve only been to Alfheim twice.”
“You’re a bounty hunter, zipping around the galaxy to hunt down targets, and you’ve only been to this world twice?”
“I don’t ‘zip around the galaxy.’ Most of my work is done on Midgard and Jotunheim. Why would I travel far when I could find perfectly good work on the world I’m already on?”
“Jotunheim? What’s over there?”
“Usually local warlords. The giants don’t mind working with a human if it serves their interests.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re a friend of giants?”
“No. Just a hired hand on occasion.”
“Have you ever captured or killed a human on their behalf?”
“Never.”
“Good.”
Ragnvald cleared his throat to get my attention and waved me over. I slowed down while Hilda and Trond led the pack.
Ragnvald kept his eyes on Hilda. “I don’t trust her. Her allegiance is only to the highest bidder. She wouldn’t work for us for free.”
“And yet, here she is.”
“My point exactly. She’s going to betray us. Remember, your time as Jarl of Ravengard is fated for destruction. I fear she’ll be the cause of it.”
“You know what I think about your prophecies, Godi,” I said, “but you’re right. It is strange that she would come with us without a fee. She’s a bounty hunter. They don’t do any work unless they get paid. But she was also a Valkyrie once. Does this not count for anything?”
Ragnvald sneered. “She was a Valkyrie before, but not now. She left the sisterhood. Why? That’s an important question we must figure out, and soon, before she tries anything.”
“Why do you think she left?”
“I think she has no regard for the values of the Valkyrie. She betrayed and abandoned them for selfish ambition. She didn’t want to be locked into a set of moral rules. She wanted to navigate the galaxy her own way.”
“I’m not so sure,” I said. “This is something I thought of during our flight. I don’t think she left out of selfishness, but rather selflessness. Maybe there was something she wished to pursue, like her true purpose, that she couldn’t chase while part of the sisterhood.”
“Valkyries don’t betray each other easily. Whatever the reason, she’s committed to it.”
We walked a little longer until we found a hired transport. We paid him enough to get us to the center of the city. He drove us a while and set us down outside a large, decorated building. It was the largest in the city, standing higher than any other structure. Its wooden walls seemed sturdier than even the stone of Soemd’s palace. On the walls was carved a mural surrounding large doors criss-crossed with silver. The mural depicted a man wielding a sword on the left and a giant beast on the right I could not place.
I hadn’t heard any description of such a monster before. I tried to make it out in the carving, but it was difficult to understand what I was looking at. It seemed like three tentacles came from where its mouth should have been. The monster stood on five legs, and there was nothing to represent eyes of any kind.
I furrowed my brow at the carving. Hilda followed my gaze.
“That’s one of the Ginnunsons,” she said. “It’s an incredible challenge to depict them in any artistic medium. This artist must have quite some talent.”
I pointed out the humanoid figure on the other side of the mural. “And the warrior?”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“It may be Freyr,” Ragnvald said. “This may be a depiction of him defending Alfheim from the beasts of the gate.”
“No,” I said. “He’s an elf. Look at the ears.”
Trond squinted at me. “Since when did you become an art expert?”
“He’s right,” Hilda said. “That figure is an elf.”
“Maybe he’s the founder of this city,” Trond said.
Hilda shook her head. “More likely he’s some legendary figure. Probably a myth. Come on. We need to talk with whoever’s in charge here.”
The wooden steps weren’t nearly as high as the ones to Soemd’s palace. There were guardsmen standing in front of the doors. They were more heavily armored than the security officers in the space port, but they weren’t too bulky, and they carried the same laser rifles and wore the same visors as the security guards. Two guards stood in front of the doors while two more stood on either side of them. As we approached, one of the guards in front of the door stepped forward.
“Back off. You are trespassing on government property. Turn away now or we will apprehend you.”
I paused for a moment. I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t such blunt hostility. These were the elfs. I was told of their warmth toward other species. These were not the elfs of the legends my father told me. I looked at Trond. He shrugged. I turned to Hilda. She gestured at the guard with her head.
I cleared my throat. “We’re here to speak with whoever is in charge of this city. We need a transport, and he’s the only one who can help us.”
“No one is permitted inside the hall,” the guard said. “If you need transport, there’s a space port some few miles in the direction you came from.”
“We just landed here at the space port. There’s no public transport that goes where we’re trying to reach. We need to get to Nidavellir.”
“That’s your business. Now, turn around and—“
An alarm blared from somewhere in the city. It echoed across the rooftops. Then I realized it wasn’t just one alarm, but several. The whole city was covered with them.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Hilda shook her head. “I have no idea.”
“Nor I,” said Ragnvald.
“It is a Ginnunson,” the guard said. “You must take shelter immediately, but don’t be frightened. Our defense systems will ward it off.”
I searched the skies. They were mostly clear with a few soft, puffy clouds drifting across the bright blue. I stepped away from the hall and into the street to get a better view of the sky. I wanted to see the monster. I wanted to know what they looked like for myself.
The voice of the guardsman came from the hall’s doors. “Sir, you must get inside. Please, or you will be in danger.”
Hilda pointed at a restaurant nearby. “Come on. We can take shelter in there.”
“No,” I said. “I want to see it.”
Trond’s hand fell on my shoulder. “I say we take the advice of the guards who have lived here long enough to see what these things can do.”
I considered his words for a moment, then nodded. “Fair enough. Take shelter.”
We jogged into the restaurant, where we found several elfs and a few offworlders packed in as well, taking shelter from the Ginnunson. A waiter came up and closed the door behind us.
“Table for four?” the waiter asked. “Or are you just taking shelter?”
Trond scratched his head. “I am kind of hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” I said.
He smacked my belly. “Look who’s talking.”
“What say you?”
Hilda sighed. “There wasn’t much to eat on our journey over here. I guess that—“
A loud sound interrupted her. I would describe it as a roar, but it was unlike any roar I have heard before or since. It seemed to come from many voices and surrounded the restaurant. It hurt my ears and made my head ache. The sound was both impossibly deep and impossibly high. The offworlders quivered and whimpered, but the elfs merely jumped at the sound, laughed at themselves, then continued eating or chatting. I looked to my companions, who all had the same wide-eyed reaction I had.
“So,” Trond said, “if I were to guess, I’d say you never ran into one of these things during your two trips here.”
Hilda shook her head. “Never.”
“Wonderful.”
There was another sound outside, but it was far less alien than the one before. It was the zap of large laser canons firing. There was a flash of red light from outside as a long beam shooting upwards appeared and vanished, visible through one of the windows. I couldn’t see the canon itself, but the beam was hard to miss. The canons fired at the sky relentlessly. I found my hands trembling and my muscles clenched as I braced myself for another cry from the Ginnunson.
And cry out it did.
Another roar, louder than the last, shook the building. The four of us covered our ears. Ragnvald stumbled, and I reached out to catch him. My uncovered ear caught the brunt of the scream before it faded. My ear rang loudly. I helped Ragnvald right himself and listened to the last few shots from the laser canons before all was silent once again.
Trond grabbed his head. “My head hurts so much that I might vomit. But after that, my stomach will be clear, and I’ll be ready for lunch.”
“I could do with the comfort of a meal after that,” I said.
Hilda nodded. “Then a table for four it is.”
“Three,” Ragnvald said. “I must go. If we’re to encounter another one of those beasts during our journey, we must know what it is and how it might be beaten. I will find a library to study these Ginnunsons and learn more of them. It seems my knowledge on their lore is more limited than I realized.”
“We’ll bring you whatever’s leftover,” I said.
Ragnvald hobbled away, and Trond raced to find a restroom.
****
We waited outside the restaurant after we had finished eating and waited for Ragnvald to return. But after waiting for an hour, it was clear that’s not what the godi had planned. We searched around for the nearest library and found Ragnvald hunched over a computer desk covered in five or six books, two of which were opened while the others sat in a stack off to the side. He didn’t have any gul on him that I was aware of, so I assumed this was a public research terminal courtesy of the library and hoped I didn’t owe anyone anything. We had enough money for a few more meals and not much else. We needed to be more careful with our spending.
“Ragnvald,” I said as I approached. “We’ve waited for you.”
Ragnvald shook his head, his eyes switching between one of the open books and the computer screen. “Nothing. Nothing. There’s nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
“We know next to nothing about the Ginunnsons other than their types. There are some which have been killed and studied, but it’s too hard to understand their biologies. They’re so different from the living things of our universe. Ginnungigap must be an incredibly alien place indeed.”
“But they can be killed?” Trond said. “That’s a relief.”
“The smaller ones, yes. But the bigger ones, one of which I suspect is the one who came through Alfheim’s atmosphere today, are not so easy to defeat. Their hide is thick. Merely shooting it does nothing.”
“Then how did the elfs drive it away with laser canons?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but I suspect the lasers harmed it enough to deter it from attacking the city.”
“That’s not what happened.”
I looked up at the new voice. It was unfamiliar to me. An elf stopped mid-stride next to us with an armful of books. He pushed his spectacles further up his nose. “The lasers don’t harm the Ginnunsons. If they do any damage, it’s against invaders or something like that. No, the gunners intentionally miss the Ginnunsons to use the noise and the light to scare them away.”
I crossed my arms. “And you are?”
“Oh.” The elf reached out his hand while struggling to keep a hold of his books. “Mimir. I’m one of the librarians.”
I shook his hand. “Erik. Jarl from Midgard.”
“Pleasure to meet you. Your friend is quite the scholar. He’s been here for almost two hours researching the Ginnunsons. I guess that little encounter got him curious.”
“It seems so. But it’s time to go. We still have a long road ahead of us, and we’ve rested enough.”
Ragnvald shook his head. “You can look for a pilot. I’ll stay and research.”
“No,” I said. “We must stay together. I don’t want to be separated if that thing comes back.”
“Oh, they usually don’t return once startled away,” Mimir said. “They like to look for other, easier prey instead, and I’m sure it’ll find it.”
“What will it eat?”
“Probably a small village in the middle of nowhere. Maybe a star cruiser. Who knows, really?”
“And you’re okay with that?”
Mimir rubbed his arm. “No, but that’s the reality of living on a world next to a Gate of Ginnungagap, right?”
“Has Alfheim not adjusted to the monsters?”
“Of course, we have. You already know about our laser canons. Bigger cities have dome shields, like the capitals of big nations and whatnot. Then there’s the orbital defense grid, but they can only do so much against the big ones. They’ll try to startle them away, but it’s difficult without sound.”
“Why’s that?”
“They don’t have eyes. We think they can detect light somehow, but they can’t see like we do.”
I stroked my braided beard and tried to imagine a world with light and yet no vision. Such a world seemed beyond the capabilities of my imagination. “You seem to know a lot about these creatures.”
“A bit, yes,” Mimir said. “Not as much as I’d like to, but then again, who does?”
“Would you care to accompany us?”
“I… What?”
“We’re trying to reach Nidavellir.”
Mimir started to laugh, then saw that I was not joking, and his face fell. “No, you can’t do that. That’ll take you right past Adhumla’s Gate.”
“I know. That’s why I need you.”
“You won’t make it. No one can predict when those things emerge. What if one of the really big ones come out and swallow you whole?”
“Then we’ll need someone to tell us how to avoid getting swallowed,” I said, “and we’ll need a really good pilot.”
“You don’t even have a pilot?”
“Do you know where we can find one?”
“What kind of ship do you have?”
“We need one of those, too.”
Mimir’s eyes widened, and he committed to his laugh this time. “You guys are crazy!”
“That’s what I keep telling myself,” Trond said, “but here I am, following this fool around the universe.”
“Will you help us?”
Mimir paused for a moment as though he was actually considering, then shook himself as though waking up from a trance. “No. No way. I’m just a librarian. I can’t help you. You’re on your own.”
“Could you at least point us to someone who could help?” I asked.
Mimir paused again, this time longer. He sighed. “You could talk to my family. They’re very rich, and they have a few private starships. If you can give them something in return, they might let you use one for a trip. Just let them know you’re good friends of mine.”
Hilda crossed her arms. “Why don’t you come with us and help us convince them?”
“I can’t. I… don’t talk to them much.”
“They’re your kin,” Trond said. “Families should stick together.”
“I know, but we didn’t. I left to do my own thing. Why do you think I’m working at a library? I’m not exactly rolling in it like they are.”
“You could reunite with them,” I said. “You’ll be with your family again, and we’ll get a ship to take us to Nidavellir.”
“That’s a bad idea. I can’t.”
“I’m sure they want you back.”
“After I walked out on our legacy? There’s no way.”
“They’re your family. Of course, they want you back.”
Mimir lowered his gaze and took a deep breath. “Not everyone is allowed a second chance. But look, I’ll take you to their estate tonight and try to get you a ride to Nidavellir, but I don’t think they’re going to like that idea very much.”
“That’s alright,” I said. “We thank you for your efforts. That’s more than enough. When can we expect to go?”
“I get off at eight. Meet me here.”
I turned to my companions. “What do you say?”
“Meeting a stranger’s family and asking for one of their spaceships?” Trond said. “I’m all for it.”
“I don’t see many other options,” Hilda said. “This opportunity is presenting itself to us. I say that we take it.”
Ragnvald didn’t say anything as his eyes continued to frantically search the computer screen.
I nodded. “Mimir, we’ll be back at eight. Thank you for your help.”
The elf pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It’s my pleasure.”
Thank you for reading chapter 6 of Ravengard!
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I had been wondering how they were supposed to secure passage, seems a possible opportunity has appeared. Based on intuition, I would say the librarian elf will end up traveling with them at the behest of his family.
I don’t know enough about Norse lore to guess if the monster things are new or interpreted from the lore somehow. The void seems a scary place if best they can do is mildly deter these beasts.