Ragnarok shook his head. “The Valkyries are demons. We are not Gods. Why must we fight them? Why not let them fight among themselves? Maybe we are interfering with something that should not be trifled with?”
“It is my duty to-”
“Your duty,” Ragnarok said. “Not mine. How did you know my name when we first met?”
Tam Nok pretended to concentrate on the straps for her pack, avoiding his gaze.
“How did you get me to run in the fjord and then again near the stones? I have never run from a battle, even when it appeared I would die. But I have run twice since I met you.”
Tam Nok looked up, her almond eyes fixing him. “Now who is lying? You’ve run from a battle before. Once before. Did you not?”
Ragnarok was completely still, only the skin along the left side of his face moving ever so slightly as a muscle under it jumped.
“What do you know of my past?” he finally asked.
“What you have let me know,” Ariana said. She reached out and placed her hand briefly on his forehead. “It is there, always there, even when you are thinking about something else. Like the bubbles on top of a kettle of boiling water.”
“What is there?”
“Your anger. Your rage. It consumes you. You think it is about your father, but it is really about your mother.”
“How do you know such things,” Ragnarok grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “You are a witch.”
Tam Nok didn’t react. “I am a priestess. We are taught to read people.”
“How do you know what happened to my parents?”
“I don’t,” Tam Nok said. “I only know that whatever happened to them has shaped you, like the blacksmith shaped your new ax.” She reached up and removed his hands from her shoulders. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
Ragnarok turned from her and sat down, elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. He felt the pounding in his temples, the rage of bloodlust and revenge. His palms pressed tighter and tighter against his skull until he felt a soft pair of hands on top of his, pulling back.
“In my land, we say the past is done. There is nothing that can be done to change it. You have to live and move on.”
“Never!” But he allowed her to pull his hands away from his face. She gently placed hers on his temples.
“I see betrayal.”
Ragnarok nodded. “My father was betrayed.”
“Tell me.” Tam Nok moved back and sat across from him.
“He was a war leader. A man of honor. The man who all in our village turned to. The king-” Ragnarok spat- “the man who anointed himself king of the Vikings- demanded that all the villages pay him tribute and provide warriors and ships when he called for them. My father owed allegiance to no one but his people. He saw no reason to do either.
“The king called a meeting to discuss this with those who did not readily submit. Under a flag of truce. My father went even though my mother warned him not to.”
Ragnarok paused and shook his head. “My father was a very brave man. He went with only two men, as the king said he also would come. They met on an island off the southern coast of Norway. There were a dozen other leaders like my father there. Each with only two of their most trusted men as had been agreed.
“The king came with ten ships full of warriors. He told them they could submit or die. My father fought even though he knew there was no chance of victory. The king’s men killed him, cut his head off and sent it back to us.”
“And you swore revenge,” Tam Nok said.
“Of course.”
“But you don’t have the strength yet to attack the king,” Tam Nok said.
“He will pay. One day-”
“And your mother?” Tam Nok asked. “She did warn him.”
Ragnarok stood, throwing his pack over his shoulder and holding his ax in one hand, Lailoken’s staff in the other. “It is time for us to go.”
“Your mother told you to submit, didn’t she?” Tam Nok pressed. “To make peace and accept the future. Or else you would die futilely like your father.”
Ragnarok walked away from the priestess. “It is time to go,” he said over his shoulder.
Chapter 19
“Confirming hatch sealed,” DeAngelo reached up and put his hand on the red light indicating the top hatch in the forward sphere of Deepflight was sealed. Dane knew what he was doing by touching the light- just like a jumpmaster in airborne school the eyes followed the hand to double-check.
DeAngelo repeated the confirmation request into the small microphone on the headset he wore. “Sin Fen, please confirm rear sphere hatch sealed.”
“Confirm hatch sealed,” Sin Fen reported from her place five meters to the rear of where Dane and the submersible’s commander were located.
DeAngelo triple-checked that on the status board in front of him. “Hatches sealed. Deeplab, we are prepared to release.”
Ariana’s voice came through clearly. “All secure here. I will disconnect umbilicals in ten seconds. Good luck. I’ll keep the porch light on.”
“Thanks,” Dane said. He knew she wasn’t happy about being left behind in Deeplab, particularly left alone, but someone had to maintain the habitat.
There was click and he knew the commo and power umbilical cords were pulled back into the habitat. They were on their own now, isolated from the rest of the world.
DeAngelo was prone next to Dane, his hands on the controls. There were dull metal on metal sounds.
“We’re clear of the habitat,” DeAngelo said. He pushed forward on the two levers. “Descending.”
Dane had a slight feeling of disorientation as the submersible nosed over and headed for the depths. That feeling was on top of something deeper, more primeval.
“Aren’t you afraid you’ll hit something?” Dane asked. All the screens showing the outer view were black as DeAngelo had both the visible and IR external lights off.
“Like?” DeAngelo asked.
“A whale?”
“We’re much deeper than whales can go,” DeAngelo said. “Sperm whales can only dive down to about four thousand feet. Actually some species of seals can dive deeper than whales- about another thousand feet deeper.”
DeAngelo pointed at the depth meter, the red numbers clicking through 22,000 feet. “This deep, the ocean is almost a desert. There’s very little life and certainly none large enough to cause us any damage if we hit it.”
“Something’s out there,” Dane said.
DeAngelo looked over at him. “What-” he paused as Sin Fen’s voice came through their headsets.
“He’s right. Something is out there.”
“And alive,” Dane added. “To the north. Near the gate.” He closed his eyes. “In the gate. It knows we’re here. It’s hungry for us.”
“What are you talking about?” DeAngelo asked.
Dane opened his eyes. “You are going to have to trust us. This is why we are here. To feel things others can’t feel.”
DeAngelo flipped some switches. “I’m turning the IR lights and cameras on so we can see but not be seen.”
Dane looked at the screens. Nothing but black with the cone of IR light shining through. He shook his head. “We’re safe for now. It can’t come out of the gate. But the gate is growing. Sin Fen,” he said, “do you sense it.”
“It is growing,” Sin Fen agreed. “Very slowly, but it’s creeping in our direction. We do not have much time.”
“We’ll be at the bottom of the Puerto Rican Trench in an hour and a half,” DeAngelo said. “Do you sense what is down there?”
Dane shook his head. “Not really.” He looked up at the screen. “Sin Fen?”
“There is a blank spot below us I cannot see into.”