Page 21 of Rune

If Balder told the truth, I was incredibly close to Odin right now. I should have been searching for a way home, but my eye kept going back to that home.Odin is there.

Ifthis was Asgard, andifthese really were gods, then it was all the more reason to escape. Being amongst the gods frightened me more than being amongst kidnappers.

I’d scoped out the perimeter of the temple, which was where I was meant to live apparently. Inside wasn’t much more than the large foyer where I’d awoken and an elegant bedchamber upstairs, laden with dust. One wardrobe held empty hangers and another held spears and axes, one of which I had strapped to my back. It was a beautiful thing, and when I escaped, I was taking it with me.

The inside didn’t interest me as much as the outside. For all my exploration, I couldn’t figure out how we got here.

I let myself run with the assumption that this was Asgard. How would one get in and out of Asgard?

“A hole perhaps?” I would look for magical looking wells in the morning. Or maybe a gate. In a place such as this, gates were in abundance, and each more decadent than the last.

Speaking of decadent, Balder was coming, and he spared no expense on his transportation.

I heard the clatter of hooves first, likely six horses by the sound. They came down the hill, each brilliant white and strong enough for a chieftain to ride. They were clad in armor—chains of steel and plates of gold all etched with the emblem of a wolf. They drew a chariot behind them, where Balder stood with a smile that broke across his face at my sight, like he half feared I’d be gone.

I wished I were. The second I knew which direction to go, I’d run.

He extended a hand. “Ready?”

“I am.”

I was not. I had no idea what to expect. I’d been promised a small gathering to celebrate my triumphant return, and I was curious to go if only to taste what the gods’ food was like. If it was anything like those grapes, I was in for a treat.

No harm in filling my belly before finding my way out. Then I’d find a new clan, a place where no one knew me, and be free of old loves and confused deities.

I placed my hand in his and let him guide me down the stairs to the foot of his chariot.

Balder carried no weapons, but wore shiny breastplates and bracers like a battle was waiting. It felt symbolic. I felt very much like I was riding into a battle against an unseen foe. Whatever came, I was grateful for the axe on my back.

Balder glanced at it, and I thought he might comment, but he cleared his throat and said, “Is that the dress Frigg left for you?”

I looked down upon the light blue satin slip held up by golden, knotted chords at the top, and sweeping over my toes at the hem. “I certainly didn’t own something like this before,” I breathed. Training leathers were fun, but this was an elegance I’d never gotten to indulge in before. The very touch of it was enough to remind me I was not in the Fjord Clan any longer. I added it to the list of things I hoped to steal on my way out. The price a dress like this would fetch would keep someone warm and full through winter.

“It suits you,” Balder said.

Balder was a calming presence to be around. That was saying a lot since he’d stolen me from my homeland last night. Yet I felt no fear standing beside him, only a sense of peace. Perhaps it was that he reminded me of my grandfather, a man who’d passed years ago during a raid, and the whole clan had mourned him. He was built strong like a boar and had a rumbling voice that belonged to a mountain, but his movements were soft and his smiles given freely, and he loved without restraint.

And when Balder had held his hand to me, it felt very much like taking hold of my grandfather’s hand.

But this wasn’t my grandfather. This was a god. The thought sent a shudder down my spine, and I bit my teeth together to keep from shrinking back.

A week ago, I was walking by his altar as families put their faces to the ground to cry out to him for blessings, and now he was at my side in the flesh, and calling me his niece. What a wonderful tale I’d have for the clans.

With a jolt, I realized the clout that would come from this. Tova may be marked by the gods, but I stood amongst them. Soon I’d dinewith them, I’d dance with them. Earlier, I soaked in a tub one of them drew for me.

If Trig wanted a wife to lead the clan alongside him, none could argue my qualifications now.

It’s too late.Save your hope for whatever life you’ll build amongst a new clan.

“Everything fine?” Balder asked.

I snapped back to focus. “Perfectly.”

As we crossed the courtyard, oil burning lampposts flared to life, one after another, with no one to light them. Another mark to prove Balder’s claims. Slowly, my belief was growing.

I allowed him to lead me down the few stairs, to the soft dirt and to his chariot that I admired for a long moment. It was held up by tall, slender wheels, built with arched railings and carved from wood lacquered red. A sturdy shaft connected it to the six horses who stood at attention, waiting for us to step on.

Before I could move forward, Balder paused. “How many blades do you have on you?”

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