Summary:Astryd calls on the warriors of Valhalla and doesn't get what she expected. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's a cold and stormy night in the Adirondack Park. That's the way all good stories start don't they? That and the sound of fight echoes through the area.
"Astryd, how is it you manage to get into so many scrapes, lately? You know I'm going to tell Fenris about this." A growl comes from the trees surrounding a small clearing, just as a huge ruffled coated wolf throws himself at the dragon-like creature that's dive bombing a tall stern blonde from above.
he blondes sword whips out to slice the leg of a lion headed creature that barrels down on her from the side. "I don't know, Cuan, why do you think it is? You and Fenris both seem to think I am cursed." She is. She really is.
"I'm calling in reinforcements…" Astryd calls out as the dragon-like creature turns it attention on the flying wolf. "Stand by." Her inate power swells and she calls to those passed, who are passing their time in Valhalla. "To me, my warriors."
It's probably unfortunate that just as she does that, the lion-headed creature charges her and knocks her flying.
Those in Valhalla can feel the call of the Valkyrie - some … might feel it more acutely than others.
Comforting, the close warmth of humanity in the mead halls of Valhalla. Here, the warriors gather and exchange stories, enjoy the best of food and drink, and then sleep in the most comfortable beds only to begin again. It is an idyllic life lacking cares and worries, wants and discomforts. Kelda, on her way to the mead hall after a fulfilling night's sleep, pauses when a voice echoes in the air around here.
To me, my warriors.
The entire plane of reality begins to dissolve around here and Kelda finds herself filled with a sudden urge to protect whomever calls for her. Already, she's forgetting her reason for being here in this perfect land reserved for only those who died in glorious battle. It all melts away into nothingness around her as she walks forward into the shimmering disc of translucent power.
Kelda emerges in a tornadic swirl of ice-mist that blows out and away from her at an idle dismissal of one hand. Her robes, a pale sky-blue, edged with silvery fur at all hems and cuffs, blow about in a chilling wind that gathers around her. Her faded-violet eyes narrow at the creature she sees menacing a fellow Valkyrie. A quick snap of a gesture intends to throw foot-long icicles towards the lion-headed being as she plants her booted feet.
It is probably strange that it's only Kelda that is called. However, a Valkyries magic can be like that sometimes. Perhaps moreso for Astryd with the geas or curse upon her.
As Kelda arrives, Cuan glances at the violet eyed woman and leaps into the air. Unseen wind currents lift the ruffled coated wolf high as he snaps and snarls at the dragon-creature, moving close to try and close powerful jaws about its throat. There's no smart-assed quips from the flying wolf for the moment.
Astryd swings her sword just as Kelda's icicles spear forward to hit the lion-headed beast. Both draw blood, but it barely slows the thing as it turns and leaps at the newcomer.
It's breath … stinks.
"Curse you, foul being!"
And its nasty breath.
Kelda reaches for something at her hip that…isn't there. Panic makes her pause long enough that it seems imminent for her demise to be met, but at the last possible second, she ducks and dives to one side. No armor does she wear and her robes take some damage as she rolls and scrambles to her feet, teeth bared.
"So be it! I was not summoned to be lost to some paltry attempt at taxidermied magic!" With her hand extended at a diagonal behind her, Kelda begins summoning a spear. It grows from her palm outwards in both directions, crackling like rime as it appears, its composition glowing wistfully in a pale violet. Made entirely from ice, this spear, and meant to be thrown or handled in close quarters. It takes a few seconds for it to reach full appearance, seven feet in length, and Kelda dares to hold her ground with it pointed out towards the beast!
There is a chill that runs down the spine of virtually everyone who has one when another Asgardian arrives. The creeping dread that always surrounds him announces his presence before anyone actually sees him. When he arrives it is as a wolf even larger than hte one flying around. One with coal red eyes and midnight black fur.
"I can't leave you alone for five minutes…" He grouses.
Kelda's roll saves her as vicious fangs snap close by her ear. Cruel claws rake at her back as she tumbles, the lion-headed creature not giving an inch. It has the Asgardian mage on the run and it loves to chase.
The chase is cut short as the spear comes into play. The lion-headed one roars in pain as the spear pierces a shoulder. It backs off a step or two … and starts to prowl. The poison … seems to be slow to act on this one.
"It's not taxidermied …" Astryd says in that cool way she has. Her sword slashes at a hind leg, severing a ligament though that barely slows the creature down. "And of course you can, my heart." She adds to the huge Wolf who just arrived. "You have done so in the centuries pas——"
Her words are cut short as the dragon shrieks and throws Cuan off - the flying wolf tumbles head over … paws, it's going to take him a moment to regroup. Then the dragon-like creature dives, straight at Fenris. It's … well, not quite as big him.
The tingle of dread dances up Kelda's vertebrae like a xylophone. She dares to pull her eyes away from the slowly-circling lion-headed creature to see what other awful arrival has come to further complicate thing. All the while, her bloody-tipped spear remains aimed dead at the threat.
Oh. The elementalist peers at the gigantic night-black wolf with his ruby-red eyes. She's heard stories of this particular being. The Valkyrie seems to know him and treat him as a friend rather than foe — as more than a friend, if her ears serve her right — so she returns to menacing the creature snarling at her.
"It feels wrong," is all the magess can manage before she threatens a stab in a blur of speed!
Fenris rises up onto his hind legs to grab at the dragons neck as it dives. It makes him tumble, which makes a racket but he retains that grip as the two of them roll on the ground. Powerful jaws bite down, trying to get through the bone. He much prefers lizards when they are selling car insurance and not giving him impromptu wrestling matches.
"That's because it needs to be taxidermied." Fenris grunts, mouth slightly full. "If you could take care of that perhaps?"
He doesn't at the moment address whether he can leave Astryd alone or not. The evidence, he thinks, speaks for itself.
Kelda is harried by the Ugallu, its jaws snapping and claws slashing at the mage. She can see the poison starting to take to take effect, it's steps starting to slow and it's eyes seem to become unfocussed.
Just a Kelda blurs, the Ugallu leaps barely missing the slash from the spear. That was more good luck than good planning. It turns unsteadily and lurches at Kelda's back.
Just as Astryd leaps at it, driving her sword between its shoulder blades. If Kelda can be quick again, or call her magic, they have an opening.
Fenris finds himself in a wrestling match with a Basmu. Not really a dragon but a horned lizard, dripping venom from its fangs. Maybe it really is trying to sell him insurance. Just not for cars.
The Basmu is strong, Fenris is probably stronger if he can get a decent hold on it - and avoid those fangs. Which he might just be able to do - as Cuan lands on the creature and clamps his jaws down on it neck.
Lightly spinning away from her missed dive, Kelda leaps up into the air from a push-off on her backfoot. She arcs up into the night sky, robes fluttering like pale banners, and then descends to the lion-headed creature's other side. It's like something out of an old boar hunt: the spear is aimed dead for the narrow opening between the last two heaving ribs, for the Ugallu roars and squirms beneath the bisection of Astryd's sword.
It whips its head around towards Kelda and as it does so, the elementalist throws out her hand. Rather than icicles, she throws a blast of sub-arctic air frigid enough to freeze the lungs from the inside out. Assuming the Ugallu needs to breathe, the two Aesir warriors finally bring their foe to a bitter end.
A simple detachment of her palm from the spear's haft and a breath of dismissal means the poisonous ice spear sublimates into thin air. Slowly, Kelda steps away from the Ugallu and from Astryd both, her faded-violet eyes full of wariness. There's some scuffing visible on portions of her robes and at her elbows where she landed, but she seems no worse for the wear.
"Where…am I?" the woman demands in a voice gone dramatically more quiet than her war cries of battle. She rubs at her upper arms as if cold; she's certainly not, very at home in this clear winter night's weather.
Fenris finally manages to pin the damn lizard. He gets bit twice doing it but he slams the thing down hard enough to make a sizeable divot in the ground. The earth cracks. It might even shake a little. And then… crunch.
When the old wolf lifts his head his maw is dripping red. He doesn't look at all inviting or nice or… sane.
"Where are you? Midgard." He doesn't get more specific than that. If she doesn't know where she is any more specific locations might not mean much.
Astryd drives her sword deeper as Kelda sends that icy blast. The blondes, the Valkyrie that is, eyelashes and hair is coated with ice. When she breaths out, the air about her mists. "Well, that was invigorating!" She says, drawing her sword clear and grimacing at the blade.
"Well met, Sister. I did not expect to call one such as you …" In fact, Kelda is not an Einherjar, she is … flesh and blood. Strange.
The Basmu screams as Fenris and Cuan double wolf-team it, struggling in its last throes of life. "My heart, Cuan, are you ok? It was good thing you arrived when you did, Fenris." Those cold gray eyes, settle on Kelda. "You are on Midgard and I apologise for disturbing your rest … "
"Midgard." This is familiar enough for Kelda to straighten further in place. Her head turns as she does in place, scanning her surroundings for anything familiar to her. Inevitably, her eyes rise to the night sky stretching above. Her brows slowly begin to meet.
"Well met, Sister, yes, but…these are not the stars I knew when last I set boot upon this world. What year is it?" This she asks everyone present, including Fenris in his gory-mouthed state. If the elementalist is disturbed by the fresh dripping of blood upon the ground, she does her best to hide away her reactions. Wisdom speaks not to act as prey before this hulking wolf-being, especially when the ease of dispatching the dragon-creature is proof going cold on the earth.
"As the mortals reckon things, two thousand and twenty years into the era of the Affixed God." Or the 'common era' but Fenris isn't hip to the new lingo and also if they're still dating from the same period does it make a difference? Besides, he likes saying 'affixed god.'
Astryd gets a look that says 'what have you done now?' This isn't one of the dead. Was it coincidence she showed up or has something else happened?
"I am unhurt, thank you raven." Cuan is… ah. Mostly unhurt as well.
"Where did you set foot on Midgard?" Astryd asks curiously. "You are in North America now." Depending on when Kelda had been on Midgard last, North America might not have been known then at all. "You appear alright, you aren't injured, are you? That Ugallu was eager to get you."
Cuan pads up, standing to above Astryds hip. "I am unhurt, Astryd. Thanks to Fenris." If that tone could be more accusing, it would be. "And what is your name, Mage? This is Astryd and this is Fenris. I'll introduce them given they both forgotten their manners."
Fenris gets a look from the Valkyr "I don't know, my heart. I called for help and she came through."
Fenris's words have the already pale elementalist going whiter yet. High spots of color, rose-pink, show on her cheeks as she stares at him blatantly now. Her braid, coming apart in places, is pulled over her shoulder and handled as if it were a way to anchor herself in the present. Her mouth opens and closes before she looks down at her feet, brows deeply knitted.
Astryd brings her up out of her moment of disconnect. "It was when the Midgardians worshiped us yet in pockets. The Romans had swept the land of the Druids, but the Vikings still oared across the seas. There was a battle…" She blinks again and looks around, still holding her upper arms. "I am unhurt, yes," Kelda continues, pragmatism proving to be an anchor against panic. She looks at Cuan for a long moment and then at Astryd with a measure of blame flickering in and out of her faded-violet gaze.
"I am the Lady Kelda Stormrider, of Odin's Court, keeper of the spear Mellakaldr and one who calls the winter storms." There's enough sense of self for a curtsy, at least.
Fenris goes through his mental list of Asgardians. He might possibly remember the name but he hadn't interacted with most of the court. He hadn't had reason to. He hadn't been at liberty for most of it and most of them wouldn't have come down to his prison - such as it was - to see him.
Cuan gets a wry look and a roll of the eyes. "I am the Fenris Wolf."
No titles of course. None that he cares to share. 'He who shall kill Odin' is not a title one SHOULD commonly use when dealing with Asgard.
"This is the former Valkyr Astryd."
"Then you are in for a treat, Lady Kelda." Astryd says with a smile. "The world has changed much since your last visit here. Much has changed within the Court and then again, it hasn't. I am Fenris' Raven now. And this Cuan, my mount and Fenris' grandson."
"Fenris and I have been gone from Asgard for around two thousand years. I have walked the lands here for around a thousand." beat "Shall I try to return you to Valhalla?"
Cuan gives Fenris a look that says 'I tried'.
It takes Kelda another few moments yet to find words. "Well met, Fenris Wolf…" — and he gets another leery look; she knows precisely which Fenris this is now. "…and former Valkyr Astryd and Cuan. Two thousand years are…some time."
At Astryd's offer, however, she shakes her head. Her flaxen-blonde hair shifts serpentine against her arm at the sharp motion. "No, Valkyr, not…not now. I am…I admit that I am shocked to be present once more, to be…" Her hands are turned palm-up and considered by downcast eyes. "…to be walking truly in this world again, but…it can only be Fate that has brought me back."
Again, the elementalist reaches for something not at her hip. "I am missing my spear, Mellakaldr. If it has been misplaced in time, then so be it. I shall search it out, the better to restore full control to my magics." Lifting up fingers, she works sudden motes of ice around them and dismisses them like stretching a muscle. "I do not feel at my best." Her eyes shift between all present. "I would search on my own, following my own heart in matters. May I call upon any of you for aid in the interim?"
Fenris gives Cuan a longsuffering look back. And then he shrinks. His form compresses and distorts until he is a man. A relatively well dressed man wiping his mouth off. There. No more red stained maw. That stuff tasted vile anyway.
"May I ask where you were before, Kelda?" By the sounds of it she was NOT in the court. And if she had been he rather suspects someone would have shown up to protest her sudden absence.
"Of course. Do you require a place to stay or can you provide for that on your own?"
Astryd gets a questioning look. "How exactly did you do that? This can't be a rebounded curse like with your other… visitor."
"Given Lady Kelda is not dead nor do I feel a bond to her, this is nothing like the other … thing." Astryd sniffs. "All I did, Fenris, was call on the warriors of Valhalla to aid me. Lady Kelda was the one to answer that call. Fate? Or maybe what was done to me is … problematic."
"Lean on me, if you like, Lady Kelda." Astryd glances at Cuan who adds "Or may ride on my back, if you prefer, milady."
"You are welcome to stay at our house, we extend Guest Right. And mead." There's a glance to Fenris, they'll talk she's sure.
Again fussing with the end of her braid, Kelda gives all present a wane smile. It's a thing cool and fragile, as if it might be blown away by the next brush of night breeze.
"I thank you for your offers and for your Guest Right — I will attend upon it in the future," she explains, voice gentle and quiet. "I believe I should relearn this world on my own. I have property in the northern continent and wealth that should not have been disturbed, hidden as it was by my own magics. I will access it and…see where the path leads me. I have walked alone before. It is no new trial for me."
Her face turns towards the Atlantic and it's clear she's seeking the faintest mystical ping of enchantments she herself set those centuries back. "It will be a new adventure, I think." Looking back to Astryd and Fenris in particular, she asks, "Is there a place for us here in North America now, in this time? For our people, given we are not of this world?"
"There is indeed. We have an embassy. Astryd and I will conduct you there. You may find others of our kind there, though I should say that being exiles we are not entirely openly welcome there." They are a bit, as they're helping with some problems but exile is still a thing that looms large over the two of them.
"Come, shall we? We should depart before someone notices the… mess." The big mess. Over there. And the smaller ones scattered about. Mortals like order in their cities and get snippy when it is not maintained.
"We shall do that." Astryd watches Kelda carefully. "Our door is always open to you, Lady Kelda." That she doesn't want to go back might leave the Valkyr uneasy but what's the worst that could happen? Someone comes looking her to seek an explanation?
Hah.
"If you would, my heart, open a Way, we will travel in that manner. Cuan, I assume you wish to return to the Pack."
Cuan actually bows to Kelda and nods to Astryd. "I do at that, Astryd. The cubs will need a firm paw, I'm certain. Call if you need me."
The Wolf leaps into the air and flies away.
Leaving Astryd, Fenris and Kelda. It's time to go.