The Valkyrie & The Viking

Chapter 10: The Unreadable Writing

Chapter 10

W

hen the morning came and aroused them from sleep, the three of them all agreed that their best option was to get an early start to the day and hopefully find something in the direction they were travelling—if there was anything to find, that is. They still weren’t sure if they were on the right track—both literally and metaphorically—to finding the object they sought. They didn’t even have a clue as to what that object was.

            These problems kept popping up in Svipul’s head as they made their way farther from the city and even deeper into the realm of the unknown. And those weren’t the only issues that were occurring to her for the first time; after experiencing the relieving joy of their previous night, the dark cloud of doubt returned in full force as she struggled to find the solution to every new problem that wormed its way into her consciousness.

            One of the most significant matters was that of a lack of food and water. Now that they were no longer on Earth, there could be no telling what was safe to eat and drink and what wasn’t. Before she became mortal, she would have been safe eating anything, and even then she could probably survive years without the smallest hint of food for sustenance. But now, she had to eat just as a human would, and then she still had Domstoll and Allkatir to consider.

Having lost the strength the wolf spirit gave him, she knew that Domstoll had to be feeling exhausted, starving, and completely empty on the inside, yet he never complained once. As this occurred to her for the first time, she felt a sudden surge of admiration towards the Viking who had done nothing but encourage them the entire journey when all the while the person he probably most had to encourage was himself.

Allkatir, on the other hand, was an unknown and unanticipated factor of their journey. She had never cared for a dwarf child—or any child for that matter—and was unaware of the needs of such a creature. Did the girl eat as much as a human, as she was still growing, or could she go weeks without feeling hungry like the older dwarves who would work continuously for months at a time? And how much did this girl really know about life beyond her cave? She acted as if she had the necessary knowledge and experience to accompany them like she was, but Svipul couldn’t imagine how that could be so.

Her lack of knowledge was beginning to make her despair that they would ultimately fail in the end. The dwarf at the river had told them almost nothing, and Asgaut had provided little information other than to tell them that their journey would be even harder than the first dwarf had made it sound. They didn’t know what the objects were that they were supposed to find, only that it couldn’t be any random item taken from the world. And how were they supposed to find Yggdrasil every time they needed to continue on to a different realm? And what did the old dwarf mean when he said “the tree chooses for you”? Did they have no control at all over where they were going? All of these questions appeared to her vital to their quest, yet no answers seemed to immediately present themselves in her mind.

She banished all of those thoughts from her mind and listened to a debate Allkatir and Domstoll were having over which of the two of them should be in charge. Domstoll seemed to be participating in the argument in the spirit of jest, but Allkatir looked to be taking it completely seriously. Svipul listened with amusement while the girl laid out her argument as to why she was more fit to lead than the Viking, and Svipul had to admit that she had some valid points.

“You should watch out, Domstoll,” she said, joining their conversation, “your power might be usurped right out from under you if you are not careful.”

He laughed. “I think we know who really has the power between the two of us, and it certainly isn’t me.”

“Well it isn’t me.”