Briny glances around at the growing crowd watching the bloody scene. “I cannot take you to the Abyss, although I can bring you to the Depths.”
“Now!” Calder barks, causing the God of Strength to waver on his feet.
Briny reaches out and presses two fingers to his forearm.
Both vanish from the mortal realm.
44
CALDER
October 28th , Year 21, 10th Era
The Depths
Calder gasps as his boots land in what looks like the Treland longhouse. A roaring fire crackles in a long hearth. Tables laden with food, overflowing mead horns, and flickering candles churn a homesickness in him.
Briny, dressed in cotton trousers and wearing colored rope jewelry, scratches his head, clearly uncomfortable with his choice to bring Calder into the afterlife. He opens his mouth as if he wants to explain what is happening when someone bursts through the archway opposite the door they entered.
A figure he hasn’t seen in nearly thirty winters stares back from across the hearth.
“Father?”
Avard Frodisson has not aged a day since passing at a mere thirty-four winters. His hair is cropped closely to his scalp, one of his final acts to spit on the Salt Warrior culture he blames for the downward trajectory of his life. He is a lean man devoid of the usual tattoos of most Salt men and displays his usual no-nonsense expression. His richbrown eyes flicker in the firelight, and he doesn’t seem entirely surprised by his son’s sudden appearance in the afterlife.
To think Calder stands older than his father will ever be.
“I don’t care that the pantheon forsook his fate because of Makt!” He turns on Briny with furious anger, waving a finger in the god’s face. “It is not his time!”
“Father, I have not died.” He steps closer as if he is once more that little boy trodding after him from Skalor to Treland.
Avard abandons his reprisal of Briny and turns to Calder, pulling him into a bone-crushing embrace. “My boy!” He manages to laugh through tears of pure joy.
After all the Iss Drengr has endured, feeling the warmth of one of the few people who ever cared about him steadies his nerves. “Father, I have missed you.”
Avard pulls him away, his eyes sparkling with a happiness he hadn’t witnessed in the man when he was alive. “Why are you here, my boy?”
“The love of my life was taken to the Abyss by Makt. I have come to get her back.”
His father nods in understanding. “I have been graced with rumors here and there to know your journey to destroy Makt.” He spits his name with disdain. “I need you to know how proud I am of the man you have become. My greatest regret is having left you to such an unforgivable life.”
Calder swallows down the lump in his throat. There will be time to process his father’s words, but he cannot afford to let anything else compromise his emotions. Makt deserves all the loathing he can muster against him.
He places his hand on his father’s shoulder with a sad smile, knowing he must cut this moment short with Aura’s life hanging in the balance. “I must continue. The Abyss will claim her if I am not swift.”
Avard scowls at Briny. “I will walk him to the gate.”
“If you enter the Abyss, I cannot recall you back, Avard,” Brinywarns, gesturing toward the doorway where his father had appeared just as another figure materializes at the archway.
“Excellent, I caught you!” Another ghost from his past strides forward, dominating the room with his tall, muscular, and stately appearance. The late King Thord Hilmirsson's kind smile widens, leading Briny to scoff, slumping into his chair.
What a cheerful life in the afterlife they all must lead while hating one another.
“I wish to join Avard and lead Calder to the Abyss. It ismygranddaughter’s soul at stake.”
Briny’s eyes narrow, his hands tighten around his mead horn. “Now, she isyourgranddaughter.”
Wait, what is this about?
