Aelfheim – page 25
by AndyOH! from on (#43R4V)
aI keep telling you that's because there aren't any.a
Hans picked up a scabbard, it was made of leather, but had been neatly tooled. He could make out a dragon on it, the mouth being at the point where the sword went in. The sword had a simple cross guard, but the hilt was wrapped with twisted wire, instead of leather. The weighted pommel, bronze perhaps, had a dragon design on it as well.
He asked, "Wasn't there a Gni in Asgard? My Dad used to read me a lot of Norse myths. She was Frikka's handmaiden and messenger, I believe."
Hans pulled the sword part way out. It gleamed, almost glowed on its own. It had a runnel between its two edges with something in Latin inscribed on it. He said, in an off tone, "Excalibur?!"
In a matching tone, Seidr replied, "Another one? Oh my. Be a dear and put it over there. I'll look at it later. It's probably just another movie prop." She pointed at a mound with several weapons and pieces of armor.
As Hans trotted the sword over to the designated heap, she returned to her lecture, "She's one and the same. It seems she's getting more and more desperate. I hear she once plucked a whole Roman legion from out of the past and told them she was Hera."
"Hera was a Greek goddess."
"And this bunch was Christian. That's probably why they tried to kill her. You know what's sad? If she had somehow managed to prepare you before dropping you in Fenrir's Lair, you might have had a chance at breaking Loki's seal."
Madison picked up a belt, leather with iron rings as described. "Is this it?"
"Mmm, no. It's quite wide. You'd wear it around your midriff actually. Unless I miss my guess, you won't even have to ask."
She took a pouting stance. "And it was right here. I swear.
"Now, where was I? Oh yes, Loki's Seal. Gni probably knows far more than she's told, but according to her, Loki betrayed Asgard to the frost giants. They in turn betrayed and slew him. But not before Jormungand cut the root of Yggdrasil, sending Asgard, all of the Aesir, Norse gods you called them, and the invading giants into oblivion."
"So that was Loki's ghost I saw in the tower?"
"Of a sort. I guess he anticipated the giants' treachery. His spirit is bound to a golden seal, which his children brought to Aelfheim sometime after the ruin of Asgard. They hid themselves in that tower for years. No one knows for sure how many. Decades probably. Then around eight hundred years ago, Loki's army swarmed out of it. They've been causing wreck and ruin ever since."
"How did Gni escape and become queen? "Hey, this looks about your size." Hans is held up a brasier made out of tiny golden links.
Seidr squealed, "That was my favorite! Its been here all this time?" Eagerly, she added, "There was a matching skirt, and a, mmm, you'd call it a panty. We must find them."
Hans looked about. "I think you mean a bikini. I thought we were looking for Thor's belt?"
"We are, but this is much more important. I'm drop-dead gorgeous in that outfit."
Hans shrugged and began looking. A hot babe in a chainmail bikini was justification enough for him.