They chose to bond the children of the sky.
They had families.They found many moments of joy.Small, we may always be, but we are valuable among the æsir, and until the vanir are vanquished, earth children will never really be safe.
I spend the final hour before dawn working on the forms with my heavier blades.It’s slightly different, but my arms have been sufficiently strengthened thanks to my constant training.
Freja thought she was training me so I could defend myself on the battlefield.She did it because the presence of her bonded human will strengthen her.What she didn’t know was that I was really training to prepare myself for taking my own life.When I sheathe my new blades, the sound of their entry into the hard leather scabbard like the whoosh of the wind past our cavern, I close my eyes and imagine how it will feel.
The blade, sliding into my body—aimed right for my heart.
It will be quick.
At least it will be quick.
Gorm’s already waiting when Freja and I finally wing our way down to the gathered vanir.
As you all know, the æsir are about to begin their annual hunt for new brights.They make it into a party, pretending that they care for the earth children.Bjorn scoffs.The idiotic earth children actually believe that ridiculous propaganda, so they’ll all be gathered.We steal all the ones we can, and then we destroy as many æsir as possible.
Freyr snatches Gorm in one claw.He’s never allowed my brother to ride.That would imply a relationship between them other than master-slave.You’ll keep heiðr with your slave.He doesn’t wait for Freja to agree.He simply leaps into the air.
As usual, Bjorn isn’t coming with us.He almost never leaves Vanaheim.He says he draws his strength from its walls, but I think it’s something else.I think he’s afraid of something else.He does open a portal for his children to lead their forces through.
The air of our home slaps me in my face.
I hate the dry, never-ending heat of Vanaheim.
The lush, gusty cold weather of Ásgarðr is like a balm to my broken heart.If I’m going to die anyway, I’m happy it will happen here.Maybe my parents will even be able to locate my and Gorm’s bodies.As soon as they see us, the æsir spring into action.
The flashes of the mighty strike blessed surge into the air on our east side.The terrifying cries of the water blessed rise up as they burst from the ocean waves, blowing ocean spray with their mighty wings as they flank us on the south.
But Odin, unlike his cousin Bjorn, doesn’t hide.No, Odin and his wife Frigg take to wing as well, their brilliant crimson scales flashing in the rays of the setting sun.The sight fills me with pride and hope.
With such warriors fighting for the earth children, how could the vanir prevail?I wish we knew why the vanir always seem stronger in each fight.No one’s quite sure, but we fear it may be the way they treat their ensnared humans.
The vanir don’t wait for the æsir to mount a defense.The tiny moon vanir scatter, using their magic as well as they can to keep the æsir from being able to see their opponents.
You can’t attack what you can’t see.
And the storm vanir bring the wind to bear, buffeting the strike and water blessed to and fro, forcing their lightning and water attacks to fly wild.
But it’s Freja and Freyr who face off with Odin and Frigg.Just before Odin can flame them, Freyr drops Gorm.Freja veers off and dives straight down, snatching Gorm out of the sky and arrowing toward the gathered earth children.Their goal, after all, is to steal their much-needed brights, and also to simultaneously teach the æsir a lesson: they can’t protect the weaklings.
Only sky children matter.
Gorm catches my eye, and then I see a single tear fly from his cheek.I’ll always love you.He’s smiling when he drags a dagger across his own throat.I force myself to watch as he dies.
In that moment, Freja screams.
Because Odin and Frigg saw us, they know why we’re here—they know what we know.This is their moment.There’s never going to be a better time for the æsir to deal a terrible blow to the vanir thanright now.
Freja realizes what Gorm’s done and drops him.His eyes have only just gone dull when he falls, limp like a rag doll.His body slams into the brights below like a rock hitting a smooth pool.The earth children fall, several crushed by my brother’s body.
And now it’s my turn.
But before I can follow in his path, I notice what’s happened.
Freyr, realizing he’s been tricked, darts down from where he was flying to intercept Odin and slams instead into Frigg.Also a flame blessed, her much smaller form isn’t able to withstand the force of him.As the two of them collide, claws scrabbling, tails twisting, and wings battering the other, they lurch and begin to fall.
Freyr’s ice erupts from his open maw, slamming into Frigg like a massive ballista, and she turns bright blue.As they crash into the ground below, Frigg goes from blue to bright gold.
