Weaving Fate - Nora Ash Page 0,3

my mates from whatever fate the Valkyries had planned for them.

Then something he’d said made me frown. “Most noble warriors go to Valhalla? I thought it was all?”

“Some go to Folkvangr,” Modi explained. “Freya’s house. You must have seen them when you visited.”

“There was no one when we were there. Just Freya and her cats,” I said, glancing at him.

He frowned. “No, that can’t be right. Freya wouldn’t deploy them without consulting with the other gods. You must be mistaken—she must have taken you to some other place.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but just then we rounded the final corner and Valhalla finally rose up in front of me.

My jaw sagged as I stared up at the structure. It stretched even farther toward the sky than Udgard, its supporting beams seemingly made up of massive spears. At the front, two wolves the size of corn-fed bulls rested on each side of the gates wide enough for twenty men to walk through shoulder-to-shoulder. From what I could make out of the roof, it looked like…

“Golden shields?”

Modi followed my gaze. “Yes. And the birds circling—”

“Talking ravens?”

“Huginn and Munin,” he said. “The Allfather’s messengers.”

“Saga and his brothers have some as well. They’re kinda rude.” I squinted at movement far up on the roof where a huge tree stretched its branches toward the sun. “Wait, is that… Is that a goat?”

A light press against my lower back was all the answer I got this time as Modi ushered me toward the entrance.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Trud?” I asked, eying the closer wolf when it raised its head at our approach. “And your dad?”

“They’ll meet us inside,” Modi said. “Let’s go find Magni and see if we can learn something useful while we wait.”

The inside of Valhalla was as jaw-dropping as the outside, if not more so. I’d thought Udgard’s hall was huge, but this was on an entirely different scale.

Tables stretched for hundreds of yards, about half of them occupied with boisterous men singing, shouting, and eating. Winged women in fitted armor walked among them, refilling their horns and plates. A massive hearth burned in the center of the hall, a roasted pig the size of a truck slowly rotating over the fire.

Modi led me along the tables, nodding when someone shouted his name, but never stopping. A few spotted me by his side and offered crude suggestions followed by thunderous laughter.

“Maybe you should’ve let them bring their wives,” I muttered to my self-appointed guard.

Modi waved a hand. “Love distracts from battle. Any other urges they have, the Valkyries will tend as they see fit.”

“Sounds delightful.” I glared at a wild-bearded man making kissy noises at me as we passed. “Christ, you’d think they hadn’t seen a woman in eons.”

“They’re used to fierce Valkyries who’ll put them in their place if need be, or powerful goddesses. They haven’t seen a soft little human girl in a thousand years.” Modi nodded across two tables where a Valkyrie had smacked a warrior who’d gotten handsy across the face with her tray. “But so long as you stay by my side, you’ll be safe.”

I stuck extra-close to Modi as we continued through the hall. Only when we passed the hearth was I able to see the other end, and the sight that met me made my heart clench.

Raised up high was a platform with an empty throne. In front of it several Valkyries stood with their backs turned to the hall, and between them I could just make out four kneeling figures.

“What are they doing?” I asked, my pace picking up without my conscious thought.

“Waiting for Odin,” Modi said as he placed a hand on my shoulder, ensuring I didn’t pull too far ahead. “Ah—there he is.”

From a gilded entryway to the side of the platform, a figure appeared. He looked tall, even from a distance, with a regal posture and long, flowing white hair and beard. On each of his shoulders sat a black bird—Huginn and Munin, I assumed—and he carried a wooden staff in one hand. If there’d ever been a way I’d imagined the wise Allfather of the gods, this would be it.

He didn’t speak as he made his way across the platform. Modi rushed me forward, and we made it to the stairs leading up to the platform just as Odin sat on the throne.

“Now, what do we have here?” he said, his voice quiet yet echoing through the grand hall as he looked at the four men kneeling before him. I