Curse Of Blood: Gods & Monsters

Chapter XXXV - Brenna

Seidr — was a form of magic concerned with discerning and altering the course of destiny by re-weaving part of destiny's web.

The mare stumbled over the shingles that were bestrewn across the shoreline, exhausted and heavy with foal. She nickered tiredly as the waves lapped at her tender hooves, but continued up the beach a ways longer till finally she collapsed.

She strained through her labor, her body bruised and ill used, snorting her agony where she lay sprawled — forsaken by her goddess and utterly alone, save the ravenous wolves circling nearby.

After the gradual passage of seasons the dam finally pushed her offspring onto that faraway soil: an eagle, covered in the sanguinary flocculence of afterbirth. Shortly thereafter it took to the air to spread its young wings, the plumage still crimson with its mother's essence, and at length the eagle settled in the immense boughs of the Great Ash, Yggdrasil, its yellow eyes watchful.

From the roots of the sacred tree, where the dragons and serpents gnawed relentlessly, one distinctive snake slid from below to coil about the trunk. The creature was impossibly large and powerful, nearly the size of Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, and its scales were as black as midnight.

The eagle glared on as the snake's flesh instantly burst apart like the jagged fissures in the dusky mountains to the north that trembled when the earth yawned; and growled; and spat their fiery rage. The serpent's glossy hide rent ever wider, its mouth twisting in pain all the while till finally she saw the smokey fur of Fenrir emerge from within the shedding scale.

By and by there stood a massive wolf prowling at the base of the tree, its discarded ophidian skin withered and empty atop the earth like an old husk. Suddenly the eagle no longer had wings, but arms and hands that clawed at the foliage and nettles scratching at her face as she ran, following the raven overhead as it tried to guide her through the thickets.

The girl's feet pummeled desperately at the ground as she fled through the molting larches and crimson birches, their dying leaves like dried blood. The wolf bayed its eerie song, giving chase close behind her. Another beast soon joined its brother in the hunt, both their snouts pressed to the earth, questing the autumn rot for her panicked scent.

The black and the grey hurtled between the trees like Sköll and Hati after the sun and moon, drawing ever closer. She could feel their breathing at her back as they grunted and howled in fury, their maws snapping in anticipation.

On the horizon stood the mare, neighing in terror as the wolves lengthened their strides, their teeth inches from her daughter's heels. And at the horse's rear the sky was aflame with smoke and death.

Brenna cried out in horror as she rolled violently from her pallet, hitting the ground abruptly before struggling from her pelts. It had been no great height that she had fallen from, and though it had been her shoulder that had first contacted the hard-packed earth, it was her hand that smarted. It was always her left hand...

Epona, therewith wakened from her own slumber, hurried over to kneel at her side. "Daughter, I am here!" Her mother clutched at her and her breathing eventually calmed, the frightening images dimming from her mind's eye as loving fingers stroked her hair. "Was it the dream again?"

"The nightmares. Yes." Brenna wrapped her arms tightly about her mother's narrow waist. She was beset with the night terrors almost every time she closed her eyes of an evening, only this time, unlike other instances, the very last impression before she'd awakened had been by far the most disturbing to her.