They were at the edge of town, Göll showing no intention of slowing down as guards turned to look. For a moment, it seemed as though they might try to stop the horses, but the men parted, perhaps deciding that if trouble was leaving the city it was not worth stopping. Or it may have been recognition of Göll’s armor. Whatever the reason, they were outside of Lofgrund. He felt Tove’s hand on his back for a brief moment. He turned and saw her sitting with her back to him, the city walls shrinking slowly. He put a hand on her head and felt her shaking beneath it. She buried her head in her knees, crying too quiet for him to hear over the sound of the horses.
He turned to Göll who looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
“So, why’d you come back?”
Göll frowned, not with any sense of malice or anger. “I cannot pass so easily from one realm to another as a human who’s died. It is natural for you to come to Helheim. You are welcome here.”
“So you never left me behind.”
She nodded, turning to look at him. There was regret in her expression. “I meant to prepare you. I knew you would be alone for a time. I worried when you died,” she looked back at the road, “that Vár’s influence would have tainted you. But when I arrived back in Helheim, I could still feel you.” She put a hand over her heart. “Somehow I felt you even more strongly. It’s… strange. You must have lived well in your time here.”
“That’s strange?”
She narrowed her eyes. “No. There… I have chosen before you. The others, no matter how they lived, there was no change.”
Erik thought of Haki, but couldn’t bring himself to mention the man or ask her about him. Had he been one of her chosen? Had she abandoned him? There was a way of asking that she might answer.
“What if I had dishonored myself, or whatever you’d call it?”
“You would be unfit for Valhalla and the unworthy…” She paused. “There is no need for them.”
It was unsatisfying, like so many answers he’d received, but Erik was not interested in pressing the issue. To his surprise, even though he had intended on riding quietly for a while, Göll spoke to him.
“Why have you taken on a follower?”
“Sorry? Follower?”
“The girl. She cannot enter Valhalla. She cannot accompany you to the feast or to battle.”
“Why would she need to do that?”
Göll looked at him, perplexed. “You said you were a warband. And you lead it?”
“Yeah, I lead it, sure.”
“She has agreed to that?”
“Maybe? It was her idea. Why should I argue?”
Göll slowed the horses to a stop and stood. She turned to Tove. “Stand, girl.”
Tove spun around, terrified, and crawled away. “Why? What is this? Erik?”
Erik put an arm out in front of Göll who slapped it away.
“I have questions for this human. Why did you form a warband with him? Surely you know the meaning.”
Tove backed herself up against the far edge of the cart. “I did. What of it? He is no slave.” Her voice shook, betraying the nerves underneath the front she was putting on.
Erik was losing his temper. “One of you explain this, seriously.”
Göll’s jaw clenched, her eyes boring into Tove with intense focus.
Tove looked at him, her expression softening, asking for pity. “A warband is an ancient thing. It is as much a family as one of blood.”
Erik could not understand the look on her face or her repentant tone. He looked to Göll who was seething.
“And?”
Göll spoke. “They cannot be broken.” She took a step toward the rear of the cart, Erik stopping her. “Tell me girl, who is your god?”
Tove found her voice for the first time. “Odin, the Allfather.”
Göll spit at the side of the cart. “Then you knew.”
“I knew!”
Erik shouted, stopping them both. “One of you tell me what the fuck is going on.”
Göll properly turned her attention to him for the first time since they’d stopped. “She has attached herself to you that she might come to Valhalla unchosen.”
He understood enough to know that was something complicated. And that he was likely to be held responsible for it. Tove stood up.
“I knew, Erik. I’m sorry. Odin protected me in life and I wish to serve him!”
Göll barked, as angry as he’d ever seen her. “You do not choose how you serve the Allfather!”
Tove curled away from Göll’s words defensively, but said nothing else. Erik was lost for how he was meant to feel. He couldn’t know the gravity of things, but they were not nearly far enough from Lofgrund for him to feel comfortable sitting in the middle of the road any longer.
“Is this something we can solve here, Göll?”
He watched her swallow her frustration and return to her seat, taking up the reins. He turned and sat without another word and Göll snapped at the horses. They started their trot and Erik settled into the seat. The things he didn’t know were beginning to be so much more than an inconvenience. They’d ridden for a few hours before he could no longer hold the question.
“What will happen if she comes to Valhalla?”
Göll didn’t answer for several minutes. “If…” She did not seem to want to say it. “If she is found worthy as your follower, she will be allowed in.”
“And if not?”
“She will be destroyed.”
The word choice was one Erik couldn’t imagine was flippant. She had meant the word as it sounded. There was no more talking as the heat of the early evening dipped into the balm of a humid night. The plains gave
