Erik suddenly felt awkward. It was not as serious a statement as she seemed to be making it. “You’re… I don’t know… I like you. There’s things I want to know about you that I guess maybe I never will.” He chuckled. “Maybe I like underdogs or something.”
“Erik the Chosen, if you would see yourself to your room we will send attendants to see to your clothes.”
Erik turned his attention to the custodian. “Yeah, sure.” He looked back to Göll who still seemed confused that he didn’t hate her. “You coming?”
He walked off to the room, Göll lagging behind him. They were closed back in the room and food was brought. A servant took Tove’s shirt, replacing it with another. Later, sleep clothes were brought and another set for the morning. Their packs were taken away with promises that they would be filled when they woke. Erik was hesitant, but come the morning, the packs were waiting with the custodian to see them off. There were changes of clothes inside each of the packs, but no food. An oversight Erik was intending to ask about until the custodian explained.
“It is a half-day’s walk to Helborgen. Snacks have been prepared and since you took breakfast in your room, I expect that you should have no trouble making your way to a suitable establishment in time.” He stopped in front of the doors to the square. “I should say that it is rare to see Modgudr in such good spirits that she rewards someone so handsomely. I thought it prudent that you be made aware of her kindness and her greatness.”
“Yeah, thanks.” The custodian opened the door, ignoring Erik’s comments. “Listen, I have a question,” he said, walking through the open doors. “Do you have like a twin or something?”
“I have many.” The custodian closed the door.
Erik spun, pointing at Tove. “I fucking knew it! There’s a bunch of ‘em!”
Tove shook her head. “What? Why does it matter?”
“It doesn’t! But I fucking knew it!”
Tove turned, walking toward the gates at the center of the far end of the square. Erik followed, excited that he’d been right about the scar. Ljunge was waiting by the attendant guards. He ended a conversation when he noticed Erik coming and turned, waving excitedly.
“Good morning!” Unable to contain himself he came running toward them. “Good morning, new friends!”
He stopped in front of them and Tove walked past. Göll stopped with Erik to talk to Ljunge.
“Listen, Tove thinks you’re a creepy pervert and she wants you to die.”
Ljunge frowned. “How horrible, to want me to die. Flat-chested little demon girl.” Erik stifled a laugh. “But it’s no concern! I will remove myself from your list of worries when we arrive in Helborgen.”
“Whatever works.”
The guards were organizing around the gates as Erik came to join Tove at the center. Loud mechanical clanking inside the wall gave way to movement of the doors themselves. The guards took places in columns as a small crack opened in the door.
“Why are they doing that?”
Ljunge had a bored expression on. “There are those who try to return, not liking Helborgen for one reason or another.”
“Why would anyone want to leave?”
“I haven’t a clue.” Ljunge yawned. “All those in Helborgen are allowed in by Hel herself. I’ve never spoken to one who fled, but I’ve heard stories of the unwelcome passing through. I can’t say what happens to those who are caught, but Modgudr has lost her temper more than once after such an event. I saw her cast a guard into the north mountains after banishing him from the city.”
The columns parted when it was clear there was no one and a guard waved them through. Göll took the lead with Tove just behind her. Erik found himself curious at Ljunge’s cavalier attitude when he was clearly not among the invited. He had not joined Erik’s warband formally and any protection that might have offered Tove in no way extended to him.
“You’re not worried about being found out?”
Ljunge shrugged. “There’s no sense in carrying on about it if I do. At the very least, I’ll try to have a fine meal and bed a fine woman before I’m thrown out.”
They passed through onto the bridge. The structure was even larger than the gates that had seen them out to it. Tove slowed, coming to his side.
“The scale of things has changed.”
Erik had noticed it as well. There had been no doors so large as those in Gjallarbrú and no bridge the size of the one they crossed. As they came to the end of it, the land before them was perfectly flat, covered in green, lush grass. There was a different air about the world beyond the bridge.
“It definitely feels… yeah… not the same.”
It struck him after a few minutes of walking. This was a place no longer concerned with the appearances that humans found comfortable. Humans could surely use the bridge and walk the path, but they were sized for other things, grander things. There was a tingling in his stomach that had started when they’d passed through the doors and it had yet to settle.
It was two and a half hours of flat land before a wall appeared in the distance. It was massive and, even though he could see it, seemed to be as far away from them now as they had walked from the bridge. He was proven right by what was an uneventful walk. One he was happy of, even though the constant blue of the sky made him uncomfortable in ways he couldn’t express. Tove watched the skies as well, not having forgotten what open sky meant for them. Göll, curiously, did not. Noticing that she was unconcerned with the space above them made Erik feel somewhat silly for being so concerned himself. She’d said they wouldn’t attack but he couldn’t believe it. His body wouldn’t allow him to.
As they neared the walls around Helborgen,
