Page 11 of The Fanged One

Heyr mik, Freya. Heyr mik, gyðja. Heyr mik, móðir völva.

Hear me, Freya. Hear me, goddess. Hear me, mother of völva.

The air in the room shifted. The fire flared. The window glass behind her made a cold, cracking sound.

Linnea kept singing.

Greinar Yggdrasils, berit mál mitt. Rœtr Yggdrasils, festið mál mitt. Hverju eyra sem heyrir, snúisk hingat.

Branches of Yggdrasil, carry my speech. Roots of Yggdrasil, anchor my speech. Whichever ear hears, turn here.

The world was thinning around her. The galdr was a rope of sound now, a long climbing vine she was sending up and out, seeking and calling.

Til Ásgarðs kalla ek. Til Freyu kalla ek. Móðir, heyrðu mik.

To Asgard I call. To Freya I call. Mother, hear me.

The pull came like a soft answering tug on a fishing line. She let it take her.

Linnea opened her eyes in another place.

She was sitting on a low wooden bench in front of a fire that burned in a long stone hearth set into the side of a hall. Heavy doors opened out onto a field of golden grass that ran on without ending.

Freya sat across the hearth from her in a plain wool dress the color of cream, with a heavy fur thrown over one shoulder for warmth, and Brísingamen at her throat catching the firelight. She had a mug of something steaming between her hands, and she didn't look surprised.

"Little völva," she greeted. "You came up the tree fast."

Linnea folded her hands in her lap to keep them from trembling and lowered her head. "Lady Freya."

"None of that. We are family." Freya tilted her head, and a small knowing smile moved across her mouth. "You have something to tell me, Linnea?"

"Yes, my lady." Linnea swallowed. "Fenris is awake. He came up out of the Hall of Nowhere last night. I am with him. He asked me to take him to Havi, so we went to the cottage in Otta. Please, don't be mad, but I broke into Havi's cottage and fed him out of the freezer, and I'm trying really hard not to think about how this is the most disrespectful thing a völva has ever done."

Freya's smile became a laugh. "Fenris is acting tame for you, is he?"

"I suppose so? I have no idea why." Linnea was babbling and couldn't stop. "He hasn't bitten anything. Not even me. I had no other way to contact you or the All-Father, and I don't know what to do."

"You have done everything that you needed to. Tell Fenris we are coming," Freya said. "Put the coffee on, and we will be there before it brews."

"We? You are bringing Havi?" Linnea's wolf, who had been quiet while she sang, twitched once.

"Yes. Don't look so worried. You did well, child. Better than you know." Freya leaned forward, and the warm gold of her power moved across the hearth between them. "Go back to your body now. Coffee. Cups out. Milk and lots of sugar, because Havi has a hopeless sweet tooth."

Linnea nodded, dazed, and Freya touched two fingertips to her brow, pushed, and the world spun.

Linnea opened her eyes in the spare room with the runes still spread in their spiral on the floor. The windows were thick with a layer of frost on the inside, and her knees were stiff.

She sat there a moment, scrubbed her face on her sleeve, gathered her runes carefully, and went to make the coffee before the gods descended on her.

7

In the lounge, Fenris was in his wolf form again on the rug by the wood stove, his great black head on his paws and his eyes open. His coat was glossy from the shower he had taken, and the long hair Linnea had cut was gone from the kitchen floor. His eyes fixed on her, tracking every movement she made.

"They are coming," she told him with a smile. "Both Freya and Havi. They shouldn't be long, and you'll be able to sort out everything you need to."

Fenris's ears lifted, and he padded into the kitchen behind her, almost like he was a guard dog that didn't want her out of her sight.

Linnea ignored his strange behavior, filled the coffee maker, and flicked the switch. She stilled as magic rolled through the cottage and sizzled against hers.