The Valkyrie & The Viking

Chapter 5: Asgaut the Ill

Chapter 5

T he tree seemed to somehow grow even larger once they were among the leaves. The branches looked as if they were thickening before their very eyes, widening until they could easily be balanced on by the large Viking. He was having a difficult time climbing, his thick fingers and robust body not fit for some of the delicate holds of the tree. Svipul, on the other hand, was used to maintaining a much tighter grip on her war horse capable of flying through the air at inhuman speeds, and had no trouble nimbly ascending her way up the branches of the tree.

            Soon it was clear that magic was affecting both themselves and the tree itself. When Svipul glanced toward the ground it appeared to be miles away, though the tree was nowhere near that high, and the top was too far away to be within her sight.

            After several more minutes of tedious climbing, the leaves started to become noticeably darker. A few meters farther up even the bark of the tree changed into a rougher, grainier texture, and its color dulled from its previous chestnut brown to a grayish-white color. With the trunk and branches continuing to grow ever wider, it seemed as if they were now climbing on rock rather than tree.

            Suddenly, Svipul’s fingers hit something flat and solid as she reached up to find another handhold. She ran her palm across its smooth surface and realized that the tree just stopped. It was as if they were in a large room and they had just climbed to the ceiling. There was simply nowhere to go.

            She slammed the surface in desperation, terrified that her hope could be crushed so early on. But when she hit the ceiling with enough force, it moved upwards slightly. She grinned in relief that it could at least move and pushed up harder, but whatever it was it was too heavy for her to lift more than a couple inches.

            She sat back on one of the thick branches for a few minutes to wait for Domstoll, who was still struggling far below her, to reach the top of the tree. When he finally made it to her perch, she moved aside so they could switch places. “I think we may have reached Nidavellir,” she said, “but I am not strong enough to push this flat surface upwards enough. Will you try?”

            He nodded and climbed up the last branch. He placed both hands on the surface, but before he began to push, he asked, "Before we enter a place entirely new to us, are you sure we can trust that dwarf? I have a natural suspicion of a man who cloaks himself in shadow."

            Svipul laughed. "Dwarves can't enter the sunlight, or else they turn to stone. He would not have lived as long as he seems to have if he were so negligent as to step in the daylight upon the first sign of company."

            "I was unaware of that. I will have a lot to learn if we must visit all of the nine realms. And yet there is so little time."

            "Don't worry, I'll teach you. I think you'll find that it's much easier to retain knowledge without the wolf blinding your thoughts with rage."

            "I hope it turns out to be so." He pushed up on the rock with as much force as he could muster, and soon the ceiling of the tree—which they now realized was only a couple feet square like a panel—was lifted several inches and separated from the rest of the rock. He kept pushing it higher until it finally slid to the side and disappeared from view.