Hotel Valhalla [Magnus Chase Series]

A Trickster Traitor

  By Halfborn Gunderson

  This story was told to me by one of the older einherjar, who heard it from someone else who used to catch Heidrun’s milk in the cauldron, who claims to have heard it from Heidrun herself.
  Whether it is true or not, I cannot say, but neither can I imagine a reason for the goat to make up such a tale.
  In the end, you must judge for yourself.
  One night Ike and Heidrun were hanging out with Saehrimnir, keeping
him company while he resurrected, as they often did, when the subject of Ragnarok came up.
  “It occurs to me,” Heidrun said, shifting slightly so her milk wouldn’t keep dripping onto Saehrimnir’s flank, “that no one has ever mentioned what our fate is to be when the giants re-create the cosmos.”
  “I imagine we’d be useful to the jotun,” Saehrimnir mused. “After all, they’ll need water and mead and food, won’t they?”
  “I don’t know. Who can tell with giants?” Heidrun said. “What do you think, Ike?”
  “We could always ask the Norns if our destinies are to die with the gods or live with the giants,” the stag replied.
  The threesome cast anxious looks at the lake below.
  “Or not,” Ike added.
  “Maybe I can help.” Loki swung down from a branch above and landed
beside Saehrimnir.
  In the days before he was tied to a boulder, he often hid in Laeradr, because it was a useful spot from which to spy on the other gods.
  “You?” Heidrun gave a skeptical snort. “What could you do?”
  “I could talk to the giants on your behalf, tell them what you have to offer. I’m heading to Jotunheim anyway. I owe Angrboda a visit. She’s the giantess mother of my kids Fenris, Jormungand, and Hel,” he supplied upon seeing their blank expressions.
  The goat, the stag, and the enormous food supply exchanged glances.
“Give us a minute,” Heidrun said.
  “Take all the time you want. I’ll be over here.”
  Whistling, Loki strolled across the room to the thanes’ table, looking for all the worlds as if he couldn’t care less what they decided. Secretly, however, he very much wanted them to agree, for he planned to use the animals’ inquiry as an opportunity to find out if the giants were willing to spare non-
giants on the day of doom.
  Loki intended to be among those spared, no matter whose side he was fighting on come Ragnarok.
  Meanwhile, the three creatures talked it over. None of them trusted Loki, but as they couldn’t leave Laeradr themselves, they decided they had no choice.
  “We give you permission to tell the giants what we have to offer,” Ike
said.
  “Then I’ll be on my way.” Loki vanished.
  No sooner had he left than Odin himself appeared. From his all-seeing throne, Hlidskjalf, he’d heard what had transpired, and he was troubled.
  “Have you learned nothing after living eons among einherjar?” he
demanded. “You would rather betray those who have given you a home than die a noble death defending that home?”
  The beasts bowed their heads. Like a well-aimed arrow, Odin’s accusation
had hit its mark. They vowed then and there to stand with the gods and think no more of the giants—and so they have done.
  As for Loki, his destiny was determined long before his meeting the animals.
  Nothing he said or did would change what fate had in store.