Einherjar

28

All Blader could see was the white mist, in every direction he turned. There was nothing, no one, anywhere. He was alone. Completely alone.

"Skalfi?" he called. There was no reply. "Wolfsted? Sodull? Vandri? Munin?" No one answered; there was no sound. "Skalfi! Wolfsted! Sodull! Vandri! Where are you?"

Once again, there was no sound, no reply. Blader pivoted, but the thick mist obscured his vision. There was no one around.

Blader didn't know what to do. Should he move, try to find his way through the fog? Should he wait until it passed by him, if it passed by him? What should he do?

Asking himself what would Ivan do? did not bring any answers, nor any path for him to walk on.

Then a noise began to seep through the mist around Blader and it took him a moment to realize it was the refrain from Sodull and Skalfi's song for Erik. Farewell, farewell, I bid you a fond farewell. I don't know what I'll do without you but I hope you will fare well.

Then he saw Erik, walking through the mist three feet above the ground. His arm was still torn by the serpent's fangs but he held his weapons firmly, eyes glued on an opponent Blader could not see. Then he quickened into a run, moving right past Blader without even seeming to notice he was there. Within moments Brunna appeared and ran after Erik, vanishing just like he had into the white mist. As they disappeared, there was the briefest flash of Sigurd Nibel's face before he, too, was gone.

Blader had taken an involuntary step back when Erik and Brunna had crossed by in front of him, and now, as Skalfi's and Sodull's voices continued to sing the refrain, he began to walk forward, striding through the mist with his shield raised and his sword ready. The sound of the song neither faded nor grew, just remained constant.

"Blader!"

Freyja's voice cut through the fog and Blader spun wildly, searching for the source of his little sister's voice. Then he saw her, wearing Hilda's handed down white dress with the lace along the bottom hem. It had been her best dress until Hilda had been shoved by a neighboring boy her age and her dress had torn on the fence he had pushed her into. Blader had punched the kid in the face, and even though Ivan had pulled him away from the kid after he landed his punch, he knew that his brother had dearly wanted to do the same thing but couldn't, needing to act as the older brother to both Hilda and Blader, while Blader had only to act as the older brother to Hilda.

The dress had been patched expertly, the place where the tear had happened barely noticeable, but the feeling of it being a best dress had vanished. Freyja had worn it as much as she could when she had grown into it, and it had been her absolute favorite dress. She didn't know about the rip, about the invisible stain hiding in the skirt. She couldn't see it, just like she couldn't see where the bloodstains had been on Thor's Bridge. Something that held horror for the rest of the Thryms meant nothing evil to her.

It was why Freyja was their sunshine.

"Blader!" Freyja cried out, running toward him with her arms out. Her blonde hair rippled out behind her, with a blue flower crown perched on her head, setting off her eyes. He barely noticed that she was hovering three feet above the ground, like Erik and Brunna had been. As he lifted his arms, she dashed right through him, chilling him to the bone.

Farewell, farewell, I bid you a fond farewell.

"Freyja!" Blader called, twisting to watch his sister continue to run away from him. "Come back!"

"Blader!" Freyja cried again, not heeding his call. And then she was gone, her voice fading away even as the refrain played again.

Blader started to run through the mist, not sure where he was going but just trying to get out of the mist, away from whatever was conjuring up those ghosts. Or were they ghosts? For while Erik and Brunna and Sigurd Nibel were dead, Freyja wasn't.