The pain from the cut on his arm was enough to make him forget the pain of walking, so he was thankful to the guard for that in some way. As he passed the silent guard, he saw that his body was dissolving toward the ground. It dissipated as it went, taking anything touching his skin along with him. A chain vest, boots, and a belt remained when the body was gone. Erik looked at them, realizing he’d never seen the other side of death in Helheim. He lifted the chain vest. It was too large for him, but he pulled it over his head, jogging now toward the end of the hall.
There were only six rooms in the cells at the end of the hall and of those only one remained shut. It was latched with a wooden bar. Erik flipped the bar up out of the way and worked the handle, swinging it open. The cell was small and smelled awful. He couldn’t see Tove, so he took a step in.
She was in a corner, braced against the wall, staring with terrified eyes at him as he came in. “You’ll never get a sound out of my—” When she realized it was Erik she stopped. He heard her whimper. “Erik!” She began to cry as he came over to her.
“Can you walk?”
“It hurt, Erik. It hurt so much.”
As he reached down to put his arms under her to lift her she grabbed at him.
“You’re bleeding.”
Erik nodded. “I killed them. One of them. We’re not done.”
She smiled for a second, wincing when he lifted her up.
“You okay?”
She nodded, wiping her face. “I’ll kill the others if you hand me something to stick ‘em with.”
“Good, because I’m pretty sure my arm is fucked.”
He started toward the door, jogging as best he could. Tove was gritting her teeth and trying to hold herself as still as she could by bracing against him. He’d have walked if he could. Back in the hall, there was still no one new to bother him.
“He’s takin’ the girl!” He groaned. “Someone put steel in this bastard! Hey!”
Erik put a foot in his ribs on the way by, not stopping to bother with anything else. The man yelped and curled up but stopped his yelling. There were men coming by the time he got to the fork, more than a few and some dressed in full plate. He rounded the corner, never having intended to do anything else, and ran as fast as he could manage back to the cell.
He could hear the clatter of armor behind him as he dropped Tove on the stone.
“Sorry, no time!”
He spun, whipping the door shut. He gripped the handle as tightly as he could, leaning himself against the stone wall beside it, crouching down so as not to be in the way of anything they might try to stick through the bars. The first set of guards arrived and tried the handle twice.
“He’s got it held shut!”
“Move!” Another in heavier armor stepped up, yanking on the handle, but he was forced to pull it up to open the door and Erik had the better leverage. He yanked for half a minute before giving up and sticking his head to the bars. “If you don’t let us in—”
“Go fuck yourselves, morons! No one’s coming in here.” Erik was breathing heavy, terrified and ecstatic and completely without a plan for what to do next.
He hoped their side of the handle would break first if it came to that, but they might overpower him eventually. Whatever gave him strength had no interest in his holding the handle. He looked over at Tove, a smile on his face as the guards outside decided what to do. She was looking with deep concern between him and the barred window in the door.
“Hey!”
She turned her focus to him.
Erik nodded toward the mattress. “Get some rest on that.”
Tove’s eyes moved over to the mattress and then immediately back to him, astonished at the suggestion.
“What? I got this. Just, you know, quick nap.”
She laughed, regretting it immediately, and then crawled her way over to the mattress. They started pulling at the handle again as she laid it out. It was in the far corner, well away from any of the trouble at the door.
Having failed to pull the handle open, they started in with the swords, poking their blades through, coming nowhere near him. A spear would be too steep an angle, they all agreed before cursing whoever had decided that the doors should swing out from the cells.
The numbers on the guards began to drop after the first few minutes, several staying behind. They had discussed things and decided that Ásví needed to give them instructions on what they should do. They’d given up trying to pull on the handle but hadn’t left the cell alone just yet.
“Don’t reckon she’ll let them valkyries down, do you?” There was fear in the guard’s voice.
The other of the remaining two guards was unconcerned. “Nah, they ain’t allowed down these parts. ‘Sides, why’d she put valkyries in here just to pull open a door? He can waste in there all I care.”
They pulled a few more times, absently, but Erik held the door shut. Another guard returned, calling the remaining guards over. He couldn’t hear the conversation well, but all three took their leave of the main area. He was unwilling to believe they’d gone for the first half hour, but eventually Erik risked standing. He looked into the main area and saw no one there.
