Chapter Four
The air ruffled her little curls as she stepped out into the warm glow of the sun and breathed in the fresh air. Her father stood beside her holding one of her tiny hands and smiling down at her.
"Where shall we ride today, my dear Eris?"
A guard walked off to fetch a horse.
Eris shrugged her shoulders and laughed, "Wherever the horse wants to go, I guess."
Odin grinned and gazed down at her. "I have an idea." he said.
The guard was rounding a corner with a rather handsome horse in tow.
"There is someone that I finally want you to meet, Eris." said Odin.
The guard led the horse to a halt in front of them and Odin patted its head before placing Eris atop his saddle. Then Odin swung a leg over the horse, placing himself upright on the beautiful beast. The king carefully placed his arms around Eris to grab the reins and with a soft kick the horse proceeded to trot away from the guard.
Once out of sight of the guard, Odin turned the horse onto a different path and gave him another soft kick allowing the horse to race through the walkways between houses and gardens. Very few citizens gave irritated looks before realizing that the king had passed and quickly gave a slight bow of the head.
The horse rounded a few other corners until he came upon it at last - a bridge of excellence and beauty. Colors flashed like lightning through the glassy surface and quickly changed colors before hitting the exterior and changing again.
Eris laughed in utter joy as their horse began to gallop across the bridge, causing the bridge to crackle and spark in colors where the hooves of their beast clattered against it and disappear as if nothing had crossed it in the first place. At the end of this bridge, sat a small metal structure that would be identical to an observatory roof if not for the spike protruding from its side.
Their horse came to a stop in front of the little round structure and King Odin dismounted his beast. Eris held out her arms to be lifted from the horse.
Dismissing the horse with a pat on the back, the king grabbed his daughter's small hand and walked with her inside.
A tall man with dark skin and completely covered in golden armor stood in the middle of the structure withdrawing what appeared to be a sword from a crystal sheath, mounted high upon some stairs. He bowed low when he saw the king and the young princess enter.
"Welcome, my King." he said in a very deep voice that resonated throughout the room. "And the princess."
Eris blushed and curtsied with a small grin.
"I am very pleased to introduce you to Heimdall-Guardian of the Bifrost." announced Odin proudly to Eris.
Heimdall bowed again and said, "The pleasure is greatly mine."
Eris couldn't help to notice his eyes were a light amber sort of color, but she had been told about this before. She was told that he was a Seer, that he could see anything or anybody in any realm. All Seers had that color in their eyes.
"I am very pleased to see that the princess is well again." spoke Heimdall.
Odin nodded in agreement, "It was a pleasant surprise to find her awake this morning." He smiled down at Eris; however, Eris wasn't looking at him, she was intently gazing at the center of the Bifrost where Heimdall had withdrawn the sword.
"What does it do?" she asked.
Heimdall laughed. "It can take you anywhere that you wish to travel."
Her eyes widened a bit and it was Odin that laughed next.
"Anywhere that you can handle at least." he said.
He led her up the stairs and she let go of his hand to circle around it. To her, it seemed as if all of the energy from the bridge ended up here, powering the Bifrost so it could take people to places only imaginable. It captivated her and gently she placed a hand on it and closed her eyes. She could feel all of the energy running through her, but it wasn't harsh and hot like electricity, it was like the fluttering of a child's heart – soft and warm.
Opening her eyes, she found that she was no longer in the Bifrost standing next to her father or Heimdall. Surrounding her were tall spikes of ice and snow fell like dust in the wind, blinding her every time she opened her eyes. She found a narrow opening with her hand that led out of the ice and let her foot slide through it and crunch onto a frosted ground.
Everything here was tinted a dark blue or a balmy gray, especially the towers that loomed in the distance. Eris squinted at these in wonder and then she saw something move next to one of the towers. It was a human form that crouched forward and hunched its back. Slowly, it paced back and forth, but then it began to run towards Eris.
A shrill shriek filled the air and hundreds of others spilled over the edges of the towers, some crawled like spiders along the ground and others ran like charging soldiers.
As they neared, Eris became frightened and she crouched, burying her face into her arms, she hoped the men wouldn't touch her and she started to cry. She wanted her father or somebody to come and save her, but she was lost and had no notion of her father finding her.
A crackle of frost, told her that somebody stood right next to her, but she buried her face deeper and wished harder that they would all just disappear. The crunching didn't stop, but now it was much more frantic as if they had all started running again, but they were not running towards her. Suddenly sounds of cracking ice filled the air and the solid thud of bodies rumbled the ground.
Hope rushed through her veins that perhaps her father had come with his men and had snuck up on the attackers. She opened her eyes and raised her head slowly. She screamed and tears started to pour down her face: standing no more than a foot away from her were two manlike creatures with dark blue skin and bright red eyes frozen solid in place, with the petrified expression of anger.
Eris was mortified, beside the two, a few others had frozen in place around her, but the majority of them were lying dead in heaps.
The air fell silent until a faint crumbling could be heard and as it got louder, Eris whipped her head around to find the cause. They had all died, except for one. He crept up behind her staring at her with his hostile, red eyes; however, this one was different, he had recognition in his expression and he held out a hand to Eris, but she did not take it, she shuffled backwards against a spike and held a look of terror on her face.
The creature continued to move towards her, but it lashed its head over its shoulder to glower at a beam of light that had shot down and sprayed icy rubble everywhere.
Eris shielded her eyes until the light ceased and when she opened them, her father stood tall in his golden plated armor in the whipping snow. The creature before him did not bow, but growled at him and retreated, slowly, back into the darkness of the towers of ice.
Odin had a betrayed look on his face and his eyes fell on his daughter, cowering in the snow. "Eris, my dear."
She held up her head and stared at him with an unstopping gaze of blue. Then she got up and ran to his side. Odin took her with an arm and swept his cape around her. "Come, my dear, let us leave this awful place."
She stooped her head and looked back the way the man had gone. Somehow, she couldn't help but feel a sense of recognition about him too.