Bloodsong Hel X 3 Read online

  They rode in silence for a few moments before Huld said, “Your brief contact with that slave—”

  “Jalna.”

  “Jalna, must have triggered old memories. I sense no danger—”

  A spear of pain doubled Bloodsong over. With a roaring cry of outrage she swayed and almost fell from her saddle. The horses shied at the sudden sound.

  “Bloodsong!”

  Bloodsong quickly recovered and steadied her mount.

  Huld got her own horse back under control a few moments later.

  “Another memory.” Bloodsong’s face twisted with disgust. “I relived the moment when I broke.”

  “Broke?”

  Bloodsong gave the Witch an angry glance. “Yes! The monster broke me. And I asked, begged him to stop. Me! I should have let him kill me!” she growled.

  Huld did not hesitate. “And if you had, there would have been no slave revolt.”

  “Aye. But it still shames me, remembering his laughter when I could not stand what he was doing to me—” Bloodsong frowned. She shook her head. “Enough! I should not have allowed old memories to distract me. I will think no more about it and focus instead on—” her voice trailed off.

  Huld saw Bloodsong’s expression change again. She seemed surprised for a moment, then suddenly happy. She smiled with a joy such as Huld had not imagined the grim warrior could feel. But the next moment, Bloodsong was on the verge of tears. “I love you, too, Baby!” Bloodsong said. “We will be together again. Soon! I will not fail!” Then the lines of Bloodsong’s face hardened once more, and she focused on Huld.

  ”I just saw my daughter.”

  “You have a daughter?”

  “Aye. With Hel. In Helheim.”

  “Oh. Your daughter is, my sympathies, dead. I did not know—”

  “Guthrun is not dead!”

  “But—”

  “When I have done what Hel asked, Guthrun will be returned to me. I have Hel’s promise.”

  Huld caught herself before expressing distrust of Hel’s promises. She wondered what Hel wanted Bloodsong to do. Only defeat Nidhug? Or more? “You surprise me.”

  “How so?”

  “I cannot imagine you with a child.”

  “You say I surprise you? Hel surprised me.”

  “Hel tricks many.”

  “I did not mean that. The old tales about Hel were not written by Hel’s followers.”

  “Thank Freya!”

  “Nevertheless, from the lore I learned as a child, I expected Hel to be cold, cruel, and frightening. But She surprised me by being thoughtful and kind, even loving, to me and my child.”

  Only because She wanted something from you! Huld thought, but said nothing.

  Bloodsong’s dark eyes misted with tears. She quickly rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand and cleared her throat. “And now, Hel has surprised me again. She caused me to relive those horrible memories as a connection to that slave. Hel wanted me to know that Jalna has made a decision. She means to defy Nidhug! She probably has my memories and knows what he did to me, but in spite of that, she dared say to him my battle cry, and that is when Hel made me remember my own torture.”

  “But why?”

  “Why?”

  “Why make you remember?”

  Bloodsong shrugged. “To get my attention?”

  “But wasn’t there a better way?”

  Another shrug. “Ask Hel.”

  “Not likely!”

  “Hel also conveyed that She had deemed Jalna worthy of help. What form that help might take, I do not know. Before I left Helheim, Hel explained that Nidhug is protected from Her direct attacks. Else there would be no need of Hel-warriors. But, I suspect, She touched my mind for a more personal reason as well, to remind me what was at stake, showing me Guthrun, as if I needed reminding, and to comfort Guthrun. Hel hates to see children suffer. I think it is because of Her own childhood, stolen away from Her mother by Odin to live in misery in Asgard, until She made Her one friend there, the Goddess Sif’s son—”

  “Thor’s stepson? Ullr? Is that where Hel and Ullr first met? So later, when they became lovers, it makes better sense.”

  “Yes. They were close, as children, before Hel was cast into the Underworld to care for those who died not in battle.”

  “Which is most.”

  “Aye.”

  “So then, when Ullr died,” Huld followed the train of thought, “Skadi, Ullr’s wife, was left behind in the Lands of Life, and Ullr went to Helheim. But that might be a problem.”

  “Yes, Witch? What?”

  “Ullr died, but as a God or a mortal? Some tales present him as mortal.”

  “So?”

  “So, Ullr must have been born a God, to have been a child in Asgard. And it was as a God of Winter that Ullr was with Skadi. The tales where he is a mortal must be wrong, or the one about Hel and Ullr in childhood is false. I’ve never heard that one before.”

  Bloodsong sighed. “Ullr took Odin’s throne one time, when Odin was away. Had you heard that?”

  “No!”

  “When Odin returned, he cast Ullr out of Asgard to live as a mortal. Ullr became a king and was killed by another king. Then, now a dead mortal, Ullr went to Helheim, where he was reunited with his childhood friend, Hel, and they became lovers. But Ullr had been a God, and Odin made him one again. Then for half of each year, Ullr was required to leave his love in Helheim and be a God of Winter on our world here, Midgarth.”

  “And Skadi, then, each winter is reunited with Ullr, but Ullr now loves Hel and is as cold as only winter can be, to Skadi?” Huld mused. “That makes sense.”

  “No!” Bloodsong exclaimed. “It does not make sense! Not really. A bunch of old tales! Cursed Witches will believe anything!”

  “Will not!”

  “And have you heard the story of how your dear Freya cruelly convinced Odin to cast the child Hel out of Asgard, into the Underworld?”

  “Freya was the one who did that?”

  “I did not say that She actually did that. I asked if you had heard that story. It is well-known in Helheim.”

  “But why would Freya be cruel to a child? Any child? She must have had a good reason.”

  “Perhaps they are all just silly stories, Huld. Perhaps we humans cannot grasp the truth. Perhaps if we are smart, we won‘t even try!”

  Huld gave Bloodsong a frown.

  “But you at least have to admit, Witch, that if Freya had Hel thrown into the Underworld, it would explain the animosity of Hel-Witches for followers of Freya.”

  “But if Hel told you that story, I would not trust it! She may have treated you and your child well, to encourage your loyalty in Her fight against Nidhug—”

  “I do no need Hel to give me a reason to revenge myself upon him!”

  “No, but even so, Hel is cunning—“

  “Like all Goddesses and Gods!”

  “But, that you have any sympathy at all for Hel scares me! She is Loki’s Daughter!

  Bloodsong gave another shrug. “Perhaps.”

  “Who else could She be?”

  “Garm’s Bottom, Witch! I don’t really care! Pondering theology like this is for cursed Witches!”

  “Well! Excuse me for—”

  “My daughter lives because of Hel, and I am going to be reunited with Guthrun. Whether I fully trust Hel or any one or thing does not matter. I trust myself.”

  “But that slave, Jalna. Can we trust her not to break and tell all she learned about us?”

  Bloodsong shook her head. “No. But the longer she holds out, the more it will delay his moving against me.”

  “Us.”

  “You could leave me to ride alone, again, Witch.”

  “Still trying to get rid of me?”

  “You have already hel
ped me, Huld. I am glad for your presence.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So, we will keep moving and stay alert. Eventually, though, if Nidhug does to Jalna what he did to me that last time, she will surely break.”

  “There is no hope, then. It is certain that eventually he will learn our secrets.”

  “Nothing is certain, and there is always hope. The fact that I am riding beside you is proof of that.”

  “I forget that you, well, died. Freya’s Teats.”

  “You say that a lot. Does Freya not mind if you swear on Her—”

  “Next time She visits me, I’ll ask.”

  Bloodsong laughed and slapped Huld on the back.

  “Ow!”

  “It could not have hurt that much.”

  Huld flexed a shoulder and grimaced. “Your strength might be greater than you realize.”

  Bloodsong considered that. “It is not impossible. Hel may have improved me when She put me back to life. I suspected as much while practicing and training my battle skills in Helheim.”

  “You never asked Her?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “She was involved in so many things. I left Her alone and She did the same to me, mostly.”

  “I can’t imagine actually living with Freya. I guess She would be very busy being a Goddess, too, and I would not be the only soul in Her hall. Just one of many.”

  “Oh, I think She would take special notice of you, Huld.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes, each time you swore on Her teats!”

  “Very funny.”

  “BLOODSONG AND FREEDOM?” King Nidhug frowned at the young slave woman enchained upon the Skull. “It is time to make you scream.”

  Terrified but determined, Jalna Audsdaughter glared defiantly down at him. I won’t tell him anything but false plans, she thought. I need to think of something that he will believe!

  “After your contamination by Bloodsong’s insanity, torturing you could be almost as satisfying as torturing her.”

  “Monster!” She spit at him but missed. “Filth! Gelding!”

  “Please feel free to express yourself. I value your opinion.” He winked at her.

  “Hel take you!”

  “Not today.” He intoned a runic phrase. There was a flash of purple light, a soft popping sound, and suddenly, floating before him was a thin black wand that glistened as if wet. Its tip glowed with a vile, green light.

  Jalna stared at the glowing tip of the floating wand. Bloodsong’s memories brought fresh panic. She tensed in her chains.

  “From your expression, you recognize the Venom Wand.”

  I must think of false plans! Now!

  Nidhug chanted Runes and gestured upward.

  Jalna’s dark eyes widened with fear as she watched the wand ascend and float nearer. Bloodsong’s memories told her its touch was horrible, but she did not know exactly what kind of pain it caused. I must think of something that will stop him! Think!

  Nidhug hovered the tip of the wand halfway between her hip and her knee above her left thigh. She felt an unpleasant tingling and echoing tingles in her wrists, as if her body connected the wand to the Skull. She assumed her ankles would have felt it, too, before what happened in the tunnel. Bloodsong’s memories of the Venom Wand cleared further and she suddenly knew that if the wand touched her, the chains would bring extra pain into her body from the Skull! Sweat broke out on her face.

  Nidhug moved the hovering tip slightly closer. The tingling changed to burning.

  Jalna gritted her teeth and clenched her fists and kept silent. Her wrists felt on the verge of burning, too. And she saw that her left thigh, immediately below the hovering tip, was turning red. Defying the icy air, a sheen of sweat now covered her.

  He moved the tip still closer.

  She stoically endured the burning pain in silence, making as few movements as possible. From Bloodsong, she knew this teasing was nothing compared to what would follow, unless she invented false plans to satisfy him. But pain and fear kept muddying her thoughts. In the flickering torchlight and the pulsing purple glow of the Skull, her body now glistened with sweat from head to toe. The cavern’s frigid air reacted with her sweat and made her shiver.

  “I am surprised, slave. You do not even whimper, yet. Bloodsong did. Are you tougher than her? Let’s find out. I will start touching you now, unless you give me Bloodsong’s secrets.”

  I have to think of false plans! But I need more time! “Wait!”

  “Are you ready to cooperate?”

  “I—” she hesitated, stalling, desperately trying to think, “I might be—”

  He made a slight gesture with his fingers and the glowing tip of the wand lightly tapped her left thigh.

  She barked a shout of surprise as the brief touch burned like a hot iron and brought a burst of searing energy down the chains into her body. Her muscles from head to toe spasmed with shock. Even worse, the ghostly tentacles from within the Skull momentarily returned to burn inside her.

  She sobbed at the lingering pain. I cannot stand this! she suddenly realized. I thought I could, but I can’t! Not even for Bloodsong. It’s worse than I imagined! Shamed by her cowardice, she opened her mouth to tell him she would talk, just as he positioned the wand over her right thigh. “No! Wait! Not again! I want to—”

  The wand tapped her right thigh.

  She screamed and convulsed in her chains.

  And she heard him laugh!

  Muscles quivering from the second touch, she felt anger erupt. That is the same laugh I heard the night he killed my mother! She growled low in her throat like a beast. “You—” she gasped, “must die!”

  “What?” His face showed surprise. “For a couple of taps? I’ve hardly started!”

  “For—” she sobbed, “my mother! And—”

  “Very well! Come down here and kill me! But wait. Oh, dear. You are chained. Naked. Helpless. And you are being, what was it? Oh yes, now I remember, tortured!”

  Her face had become a hate-strong mask. “I cannot—” she panted, “kill you, but Bloodsong will!”

  He looked around the cavern then back at her. “Where is she? You have me worried now.” Then he laughed again.

  She spit at him again and missed him again.

  He floated the wand near her stomach and positioned the tip just below her navel. “Bloodsong passed out after the first two taps. But you have withstood them. Can you also shrug off a longer touch?” The glowing tip touched her stomach and stayed touching her.

  She shook with agony and screamed brokenly, again and again, until at last, unconsciousness silenced her.

  Jalna drifted in darkness, then an image arose of a woman. She had long blond hair and was garbed in a black cloak trimmed in silver. She smiled and spoke in Jalna’s thoughts. Courage! I am Halta Ingasdaughter. I once hung where you now hang! But as I died—

  Nidhug used sorcery to force Jalna awake.

  For a moment, the dream-like image of the blond woman lingered, but waves of throbbing pain quickly wiped it away. Jalna heard the pitiful sounds of a woman sobbing and whimpering. She slowly realized it was her. She forced herself to be silent. Jalna’s vision was blurry. She blinked several times and her sight began to clear. She saw Nidhug smiling up at her.

  “Aren’t they attractive? Your new beauty marks? Are they as fetching on you as you remember from Bloodsong?”

  Panting with pain, she looked down at herself. The places where the tip had touched showed angry red patches of swollen skin with white blisters in the center. The one on her stomach was the largest and most painful. Exactly like Bloodsong! she realized. Which meant, if the pattern held, he would next make the tip brighter and more painful then touch her in worse places.

  He intoned Runes. The tip of the hovering wand
glowed brighter. ”I am afraid it will hurt much worse, being brighter. But you must know that.”

  She remembered how Bloodsong’s body had looked after what came next and imagined looking that way, too. I can’t betray Bloodsong now, not to the monster I vowed to kill. I must think of false plans! Think!

  “I hope you will not feel too cheated, having Bloodsong’s memories as you do, if I leave some interesting spots where I touched her untouched on you. I need to know what you learned as soon as possible, so we must move on to more serious matters. Or, you could shake off Bloodsong’s bad influence and cooperate.”

  She said nothing and tried to replace the fear that was building with hatred.

  “Very well. I understand. If you talk now, you will never find out how Bloodsong felt when the tip turned her flesh to a blood-slimed liquid and made it boil.”

  He moved the brightened tip closer to the blister on her stomach. With the tip brighter, the tingling changed to burning while the tip was still a hand’s breadth away.

  She closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

  The brightened tip of the Venom Wand touched the stomach blister and stayed there.

  Jalna opened her mouth to scream but the pain was so vast that for a moment all her muscles were locked stiff and rigid and she could not draw air into her lungs. The tip burned and sizzling blue energy from the Skull shocked agony down her arms and up her legs as the spectral tentacles from within the Skull burrowed beneath her flesh to burn deep inside, until she finally gasped a breath and did scream. But the tip stayed against her no matter how violently she jerked from side to side and twisted and turned, and the pain went on and she smelled her flesh cooking and screamed again and again until unconsciousness ended her suffering once more.

  In the darkness, Jalna saw the image of the woman return. Yes, I, Halta Ingasdaughter, hung where you now hang, but Hel spoke to me as I died, and later, I agreed to secretly watch for Her here. I reported your courage. She found you worthy! Call on Hel!

  Skadi is my Goddess! Jalna responded.

  And because Skadi is Hel’s enemy, Hel cannot come to you until you forsake Skadi. That is why I came instead of Hel. Call on Hel!

  I cannot!

  Nidhug’s sorcery again cut into Jalna’s unconsciousness and dragged her awake.