Saga af Ullur

[Kafli 1]

Ullur stepped forward, wrenching the arrow out of the under's head and replaced it and the other arrow into his quiver. He hung his bow across his chest and stood before the group of Humans. Then, after a long while, he made his way toward the cave entrance.

Once at the cave's lip he cast his gaze out to the surrounding whiteness of a near-blizzard.

"How long has Winter's Blanket lain here?" asked Ullur.

"Nigh on two years, m'lord." answered the Jarl.

Ullur looked down the mountain-side and saw smoke pluming in the snow-curtained distance. Conflict. Another sure sign of what this unending winter was: the Fimbulwinter.

It has started, thought Ullur. A chill of dread ran down his spine. He could feel the wrongness of it. Evil was mustering its strength. Soon, very soon, The Nine Realms would see war such as has never been seen in all of history.

Indeed, the times were what had granted these Humans easy passage to my prison, thought Ullur, with the End looming the magicks cast upon the cave aeons ago had withered to nothingness.

~~~

Two years prior...

The All-Father sat upon his seat at the feast-table, silently. His wolf-companions, Geri and Freki, sat nearby, ripping into a thick chunk of boar meat.

Odin sipped mead from his ale-horn, and stared into the distance, brooding over the tidings his ravens, Huginn and Muninn, had brought him.

Around him sat the Æsir and Vanir, and The Glorious Fallen also drinking mead and eating, but with a better, festive attitude.

The feast-hall doors opened and in came a guard.

"My king, a visitor has come. He says he brings dire news." says the guard.

Odin looked toward the large oaken double-doors and saw a red rooster standing on the doorframe. Odin's gut clenched.

Noticing the countenance of their ruler the feasters looked toward the door as well. Similar moods came over the other gods and Einherjar.

All was quiet.

With a resounding voice the rooster crowed, "Hark, I am Gullinkambi! I bring all o' ye terrible news. Loki has slipped from his bonds. Ragnarok has begun!"

The hall erupted with murmurs, shouts of denial, lamenting, and yells of challenge.

Odin stood up, grabbing his spear and hitting its butt-end upon the wooded floor, signaling for silence.

With one sweeping gaze, Odin looks at all assembled.

"The End has come, my family, as was foretold. We each gave our parts to play, as you all know." he said, "Assemble and prepare. I must take my leave."

While staring at something unseen, Odin left the feast-hall and made for the Hall of Urðr.

As Odin neared the shimmering hall he saw that the doors were blasted open. The men who were supposed to be guarding it were lying in pink snow.

"No..." whispered Odin in disbelief.

He ran toward the hall's doorway and saw three bodies laying around a well. The bodies moaned in agony.

Odin breathed a sigh of relief. He heard someone calling his name. One of the bodies, one of the Norns.

He rushed to the side the one beckoning for him. She had a motherly aspect to her. Odin held her in his arms.

"Verðandi, who did this?" Odin asked, although he knew full-well who did it.

"The son of Farbauti and Laufey... By... by your blood-brother, Loki."

Odin clenched his teeth and looked up at Yggdrasil. The ground trembled.

"What of the Spun Fate?" Odin asked.

"Torn..." came the weak reply of another Norn, Skuld. She looked liked any grandmother should, yet she emanated an age far exceeding even Odin.

"The Future is foggy. Only the Prophecy is the surest guideline to what is yet to come..." came the small reply of the final Norn, Urðr.

She was the epitome of a girl barely on the cusp of womanhood.

All the Norns were battered and bruised. They needed tending.

"I'll be back with some help." remarked Odin.

His wife, Frigga, was a good healer. He would seek her out first.

~~~

Present day...

Ullur turned toward the group, said, "I need a shield."

The Humans looked among themselves, until one stepped foreword and unstrapped the shield from his arm.

"Take my shield, m'lord." said the guard. The man's eyes were filled with as much fear as respect.

"I thank you." nodded Ullur.

"Where are you going?" asked the superior.

"Into the wood to be found."

"By who?"

"Not by 'who,' but by 'whom,'" Ullur corrected, "and by 'whom' I mean by my grandfather's ravens. Times may be dire, but those two birds will still be out patrolling the Realms."

The superior nodded his understanding.

Ullur walked toward the edge if the cliff, laid the shield upon the ground and stepped upon it, kicked off, and slid down the steep mountain-side.