Page 88 of Lord of Fire and Ice

Brandr started to interrupt, to explain that the child was not his, but Dalla raised a palm to stop him.

“And yet something vexes you,” she said with certitude. “What is it?”

“I could never keep anything from you, Dalla,” he admitted.

“It is well you should remember that and not try.” She stopped walking and turned to him, clearly expecting him to tell her all.

He opened the leather pouch at his waist and drew out the figurine he’d taken from the man who’d abducted Katla. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”

Dalla’s eyes bulged, and her lips pulled back to reveal a perfect set of long teeth. She lifted her cane and batted the object from Brandr’s hand. Then she brought the wooden tip down on it hard, shattering the statuette into countless shards. Her jaw worked wordlessly for a moment, and then she spat on the fragments.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Brandr said dryly.

“Don’t be disrespectful about that which you do not understand,” Dalla scolded.

“So you’re saying spitting is respectful?”

“Always the quick retort. Some things never change.” Her gray eyes narrowed. “What I did bound the spirit of the thing to stop it from bringing harm to any who were foolish enough to keep it near them.”

“But what is…I mean, was it?”

“Help an old woman sit down first,” she said, grasping his arm. “Your brother needs to hear this as well.”

Brandr escorted her the rest of the way to the dais and helped her into a chair near Arn’s throne.

“Have you ever sailed into a cove and, even though you could see no threat, all the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end?” she asked them.

The brothers nodded in tandem.

“And what did you do?”

“Sailed away to make landfall in another spot,” Arn said.

“Why?” Dalla asked.

“Because”—Brandr struggled to find the right words—“there was no welcome in the place. It was obvious that something didn’t want us there.”

Dalla nodded. “But it wasn’t the place itself. It was the spirit who used to live there. They’re mostly asleep now, so when you sailed into that quiet cove, you blundered into an ancient, unseen stronghold. You disturbed the spirit’s slumber. No wonder it was surly.”

Brandr frowned. He didn’t want to think his dear Dalla’s mind was wandering, but she was making very little sense. “What are you talking about?”

She folded her hands on her lap and leaned forward toward them to spin her tale. “Long before Odin and Thor and the court of Asgard came to the North, there were Others here. Spirits of the land and trees, the water and air. They claimed their place, and the people gave them their due.”

“When was this?” Arn demanded.

“Not long after the nine worlds were created, I expect,” she said. “What? Did you think it was in my time?”

When he gave a grotesque smirk, she fixed Arn with a defiant scowl, seemingly unaffected by his horrific appearance.

“But then the gods came, and people began to cling to stories of the deeds of Thor and Freya, and learned the secret of runes from the All-Father. Once folk could carve their thoughts on stone and wood so others could think them as well, they couldn’t go back to cowering and offering the blood of infants before rocks and trees,” Dalla explained. “And without worship, a spirit cannot long survive. So little by little, the spirits of the Old Ones went to sleep.”

“The Old Ones,” Brandr repeated. Those were the very words Tryggr had used. “So that figurine you destroyed means someone is trying to wake them now?”

“You always did have a weather eye for a storm, boy,” Dalla said, pleased with his quick grasp of things. Then her smile inverted. “And with the return of the Old Ones comes a return to a brutish time.”

“Does the name Bloodaxe mean anything to you?” Brandr said.

“Ja, and it should to you as well, but you two muttonheads never listened when I tried to teach you history,” Dalla said testily. “The first King of the Norse was Harald Fairhair. He loved many women and sired far more sons than he could provide kingdoms for. When he died, his oldest son, Eric, decided to solve the problem by killing all his brothers.”