The Valkyrie & The Viking

Chapter 5: The Darkness of Nidavellir

Chapter 5

After they had felt their way along the wall for almost an hour Svipul discovered that her eyes were starting to become accustomed to the darkness, and if she focused hard she could begin to make out the shapes on the walls. It appeared as if they were covered with artwork, like the cave paintings she’d seen back on Earth. She tried to imagine what secrets the artwork held, what stories they told. She hoped their hands brushing against the walls to feel their way through the cave weren’t disturbing the art in any way.

            Domstoll, who had taken up a position in front of her, suddenly stopped. When she could no longer hear the sound of his heavy footsteps she stopped walking as well. “What is it?” she asked.

            “The wind. Do you feel it anymore?”

            She paused, and when she did she realized that she felt nothing. “No, I don’t. Did we miss something, perhaps on the other side of the cave?”

            “Maybe we should turn back to see.”

            “I agree.” She slowly made her way to the other side of the cave and turned back the way they had come. They once again began feeling their way along the cave, but in the opposite direction, stopping every once in a while to check for the wind.

            Not long after they turned around, Svipul stumbled as her hand was suddenly clinging to air. When she regained her balance she turned toward the wall and reached a hand in—there was nothing there. “Domstoll, I think I found the exit.” She stepped into the empty space and took a few steps before she felt what seemed to be a vine hanging down from above. She ran her hand along it and realized that it was a ladder. “There is a ladder in here. This must be the way up!”

            “More climbing? Fantastic,” he muttered.

            She laughed and grabbed the first rung. It sagged beneath her weight, but didn’t break. “Be careful. I think this whole ladder is made of vines.”

            “And I thought the tree was unstable.”

            “We’re about to venture onto an unknown land where we could possibly die and you’re worried about the way to get there.” She put her foot on the bottom rung and began to climb.

            “Yes! I shall die soon no matter what happens, but lying at the bottom of a cave with all of my bones broken is not how I wish to spend the last days of my life.”

            Svipul was high enough up now that she had to shout down to him. “Well, if you can find another way up, take it. I’m going this way.” She paused and listened; a moment later she heard the Viking start to climb up behind her, grumbling to himself. She laughed a second time and continued upward.

            “So, tell me about your brother,” she said after a moment of silence. “Bruni, right?”

            “Yes. What do you want to know about him?”

            “What was your favorite thing about him?”

            There was a pause. Then, “His constant happiness, going about life as if he didn’t have a care in the world. We spent our childhood working from dawn to dusk in order to survive, and we were always on the verge of either starving or freezing to death, or both, but none of that mattered to him. In his mind we had a place to live, clean water to drink, and we had each other. And that was all he needed.”

            She smiled to herself. She could hardly believe this man had been a vicious berserker only a day earlier. “I’ve known people like that. Their happiness spreads like the plague, until everyone within their grasp has been infected by it. It’s a great quality to have.”