Ragnarok cracked open his eyes to see how Tam Nok was taking all this. It had always sounded so right, so normal, when told in a Viking lodge among his own people, but telling the creation story in the land of the Saxons, to a woman from a far land, he wondered for the first time. Tam Nok was watching him, her face betraying no emotion.
“Ymir became hungry, so he milked Audhumbia. Of course, the cow had nothing to forage on in the land of ice. Nevertheless, she licked the ice and in doing so, uncovered another creature, long buried. This was Buri the Producer. He was the grandfather of Odin, the God who rules now in Asgard.
“Full of milk, Ymir became tired and lay down to sleep. The heat from Surtr’s sword made him sweat and from this sweat came Thrudgelmir, the six-headed giant from whom all the frost giants are descended.”
“A six-headed giant?” Tam Nok asked. “A man?”
Ragnarok nodded.
“We have a legend of a seven-headed snake- the Naga,” Tam Nok said.
Ragnarok shrugged. “The only snakes I know of in the legends are Jormungand, one of the spawn of Loki and Angrboda and the hydra. Jormungand is a most terrible creature that was cast into the ocean by Odin. It grew so long there, it eventually encircled Midgard. The hydra is a beast that fights for the darkness- six heads, not seven- and it spits poison. I have never seen one, but I talked to a man who said he encountered one in Eire Land”
“I have never seen a real Naga either,” Tam Nok said. “It is strange how different stories can come out of perhaps the same thing, twisted over the years of telling to fit the land where they are told in.”
“This is not a story,” Ragnarok said. “This is the way the world began.”
“But my people have a different way the world began,” Tam Nok said. “I have traveled far and in each land I have listened to their story of the beginning of man and there are always things that are similar. The snake in the ocean is also in my culture. It is part of the story of the way the world began and the way the world ends. Please continue,” Tam Nok urged.
Ragnarok thought for a second to remember where he had stopped his tale. “The god Buri had a son, named Bor. Who married a giantess named Bestla and they had three sons: Odin, Vili and Ve.
“A war started between the children of Bor and the children of the monster Thrudgelmir. They fought for many, many years in the depths of Ginnungagap.
“Finally, Odin and his brothers were able to ambush and kill the first of the frost giants, Ymir. His boiling blood killed most of the rest of the giants. Only a few escaped on a ship, sailing on the ocean of blood, to establish a new land to the south, where they started a new race.
“Odin, flush with victory, decided to make a world. The only thing he could use was Ymir’s body. They already had the oceans from his blood. From the flesh they created Midgard-” Ragnarok pointed down- “where we live. Ymir’s flesh is the earth, his bones the hills, his teeth the cliffs of the fjords, his hair the trees and grass, his skull the sky above.
“One day while walking, Odin came upon two trees that had been knocked down. One was ash, one an elm. Odin breath life back into these trees, giving them a spirit and a thirst for knowledge. They were the first man and woman.” Ragnarok spread his hands. “Since then, man and the Gods have had many adventures. Too many for me to tell in one day.”
“How does it all end?” Tam Nok asked.
Ragnarok thumped his chest. “It ends in a great battle. A battle for which my mother named me: Ragnarok- the final conflict between the forces of light and darkness.”
“Why did your mother give you the name of this battle that has yet to be fought?”
“I do not know,” Ragnarok admitted.
“Was your mother as seer? A priestess?”
“My mother could see things-” Ragnarok paused- “but she could not see useful things. If she had, my father would still be alive.”
“Seeing things does not mean you can change things,” Tam Nok said. “Maybe she did see what would happen, but knew there was nothing she could do about.”
The thought had never occurred to Ragnarok.
“Would your father have listened if your mother warned him about whatever it was that you thought she should have seen?” Tam Nok asked. “Would he have changed his actions?”
Ragnarok reluctantly shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t have done anything different. He had too-”
“Too much pride?” Tam Nok finished the sentence.
“Maybe,” Ragnarok said. He didn’t add that he knew his mother had warned his father.
“And who wins the final battle?” Tam Nok asked, bringing him back to their present situation.
“Both sides lose,” Ragnarok said. “The gods and monsters pair off and fight. Thor and the large snake Jormungand fight each other. Thor kills the snake with his mighty hammer but not before the snake bites him and fills him with venom.”
“A mighty hammer?” Tam Nok repeated. “An interesting weapon.”
“You think that is what we are searching for?” Ragnarok asked. “Thor’s hammer?”
“I think we are looking for a shield, but I have learned that shield’s can take many forms,” Tam Nok said.
“Didn’t the stone tell you about the shield?”
“Some,” Tam Nok said evasively.
“Is our destination Thule?”
“No. Thule is mentioned, but where we must go is here.”
Ragnarok leaned over and looked at where her finger was pointing. It was to the west and south of Greenland. Along a far coast that stretched along the entire left edge of the metal plate. Ragnarok shifted his gaze across to the adjoining map sheet of Tam Nok’s. The location was south of the Roman Ocean on that map sheet. Ragnarok was an experienced sailor but the concept of such a long journey staggered him. Tam Nok’s finger rested on a small island in the middle of the vast ocean.
“It will take a year to go there!”
“I don’t have a year,” Tam Nok said.
Ragnarok took a stick and measured the distance from Norway to Iceland. Then he measured along the coast of the strange western land down to the spot she indicated. “It depends on the winds and currents,” he finally said. “Maybe we can make it in six months. Four if all is favorable.”
“We must be there before the year’s end,” Tam Nok said.
Ragnarok rubbed a hand through his beard. “Seven months. We should be able to if Odin smiles on us. And if the Skraelings let us pass.”
“Skraelings?”
“A fierce people who live in this strange land across the ocean,” Ragnarok said. “They are said to have red skin and be very fierce. I did not believe the stories overly much but-” he shrugged- “now I have seen you and you have brown skin and come from a land in the other direction I never heard. So I think maybe there are these red people and the stories I heard were real.”
He tapped the map sheet. “It will be difficult to find an island like this, out of sight of land.”
“I will find it,” Tam Nok said. “We must get to the boat. Every journey begins with the first step. We will worry about red men when we see them.” She rolled the map up and put it back in the bamboo case. She slid the metal plate inside her pack.
“There was a lot of writing on the metal,” Ragnarok noted. “What did it say?”
“It will take me time to translate much of it. It is in a very old tongue. One I learned among many other languages. I’ve read what I need for now. I will try to translate the rest later. Then I will tell you what it says.”
“You treat me like a child,” Ragnarok said. “Your gold can only take you so far. My crew will not want to cross the large sea for any amount. I will have to convince them to do it. But I am not sure you are worth convincing them for.”
“It is not about me,” Tam Nok said. “We must find the weapon to fight the Valkyries and the Shadow.”