Luci sat at Hel's side. Freya's runes on her belt and her twilight hued cloak warming her shoulders. She'd served the Queen of the Underworld for an eternity already, though perhaps a now outside of eternity was a more accurate way of describing it.
This evening, marked as always by the feast that finished each day-cycle, Hel turned to Luci and held out a small leather pouch with Ratatosk's messenger seal upon it.
"I believe this is yours"
Luci took the pouch from Hel's boney fingers and undid the knots. Inside was a black leather thong and a pendant with a golden stone set in it. It shone and began to quietly sing with delight as it touched her skin again. Her shield, returned.
She turned it over in her hands, disbelieving. On the reverse, where it would once have been hidden by the collar of ownership was a bindrune that spelled out simply; Eternity. Luci gazed at it for a long time before Hel's patient voice cut through her confusion.
"Remind me how one becomes a Valkyrie?"
"When a being of the nine worlds dies," Luci answered, not really listening to her own words, "sometimes the Wyrd will cross our paths with Woden, or in my case Freya, and they invite us to join their hall and train with the Valkyries. If we prove ourselves then that give us our shield and we belong to them for always after that."
"Not for always, though, is it."
Luci shook her head, now she belonged to Hel.
"And how does one come to me?" Hel prompted. Luci felt puzzlement cut through the confusion over the shield. The Goddess was prompting her, but why?
"They die and do not belong anywhere else. You welcome all regardless of their value."
Hel raised her eyebrow and the dark socket twinkled with quiet amusement.
"And how did you come here?"
"I died."
"Had you not already died and been chosen to belong?"
An understanding began to dawn in Luci's mind.
"Wait. I'd already died, I was already dead. But I don't belong to them anymore…"
"Looks to me like you belong to yourself, Little Valkyrie. You do not belong here but you are always welcome to stay. You can, however, pay me for her place, for your freedom, in another way if you'd like to return home?"
Luci slowly tied the thong around her neck and felt the magic of the shield awaken her own power again.
"Yes, m'lady, I do believe I would."
YOU ARE READING
The Valkyrie's Hunt - COMPLETE
FantasyA Wyrderworld Tale - VERY MATURE CONTENT - COMPLETE - first draft ~~ In a world of mythics, the gods have fallen a long way. The monsters, well, they're just where they've always been. ~~ Luci's prey is a thief, and so much more... She just doesn't...
