Great. Right back to the beginning with still no clue where he was. Oh, no, he had been told that. Jotunheim. Fantastic. And just where was that in relation to everything else? Hiccup plucked at the thread around his wrist. His very own life thread. Cut and useless. He sighed and gazed upriver, wondering if the river poured out of Niflheim at some point. Would the same river flow through Jotunheim? And where exactly did he plan on going? The Norns' advice had been vague. Inspiring, but vague.
All right, Hiccup, he thought. Think rationally. Perhaps Od and Disa were looking for him. Maybe not Od, but Disa certainly would be. No doubt they had seen him enter the water. Which meant they would have moved downstream. And since he had no idea how much time had passed, they could very well be past him by now and moving upstream would be a huge mistake. They might as well all head in the same direction. He turned downstream.
The trees no longer seemed to tower, not after staring at Yggsdrasil. Now they were but pathetic saplings that just happened to be larger than anything he had ever seen on Berk. He stayed close to the river, imagining the water eventually leaving this place. How far into Jotunheim was he? He wasn't going to run smack into Jotuns, was he? What would they do with a dead person? Would they even be able to see him? But the woods were as of yet uninhabited. No messy civilizations to get in the way, and the darkness overhead gradually gave way to the orange light of dawn.
He didn't feel tired. It was a pleasant feeling. A walk that should have thrown him to the ground in exhaustion meant nothing. He left no footprints, either, in the soft soil. The river had managed to drench him, but then again it had been a river of death or whatever. Beyond it, he was practically nothing. Eventually animals appeared, extremely large squirrels and birds that paid him no mind no matter how close he came. He even called to a few of them, with no resulting reaction. He was nothing.
It was oddly thrilling. Who hadn't wanted to be invisible at some point?
At least, it was thrilling in this world. Back home, not so much. He still could not shake away that image. It had felt so real. If he had gone back, really gone back, could he not do it again?
The giant trees abruptly ended atop a hill that plunged deep, and the river gave way again to rapids. Not exactly a waterfall, but enough of a grade that Hiccup was glad he had escaped sooner. Lowlands stretched out before him under the morning sky. The forest seemed to be gone, but a few trees managed to hold their own on the plain. The plain looked almost as bad as the one in Hel. That plain had merely been dull. This one was struggling for survival. Stiff yellow grass pushed from the ground, and all was covered in the thinnest layer of frost. The river, after its tumble, faded through the plain until a mere brook trickled into a grayish lake. In the distance Hiccup could make out dwellings, but they were too far to concern him.
What did concern him was the sight of a circle of three persons standing at the base of the hill. For a moment he panicked, still thinking of Jotuns, but the shock of white hair was reassuring. He had never been so glad to see the draugr in his life.
"Disa!" he called out as he tried to figure out the best way of getting downhill. "Disa!"
Three faces turned upwards, Disa, Od, and someone new.
"Soul boy!" Disa called happily, waving her arms. "We thought you were dead! Again!"
Hiccup wound up crawling down backwards on his hands and knees. Awkward, but it worked. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you! I figured you would have followed the river…"
"River?" Od asked, gazing out to the shrinking water. "Ah, yes, the river of Niflheim. Were we there?"
The new man laughed. He didn't look like a Jotun, but a human. A perfectly ordinary human with blonde hair and beard. "I take it this is the missing member of your party, good sir."
Hiccup finally stumbled to flat ground only to have Disa's bony arms around him. "Don't ever do that again! What did you do Garmr? What possessed you to infuriate the dog of Hel? Next time you go there throw a rock at the rooster and bring on Ragnarokk."
"He liked me the first time I went through the gate," Hiccup said as he tried to free himself.
"Animals. Never trust them. Didn't one throw you off?"
"Toothless didn't throw me off. I fell."
"So you fell into the Gjöll," Od said thoughtfully. "Fascinating. How was it? The water of the Gjöll. I can only imagine what it was like."
Hiccup wondered why the god did not just throw himself in to find out. "Like drowning. It was water."
"Nothing more?" Od sounded disappointed.
"Nothing more."
"How sad." He bent down to pick up a frost-covered blade of grass. "The waters don't even warm the icy fields of Jotunheim. I suppose when I saw you go under so quickly that the water would mean something more. I was wrong, apparently."
"Ignore him," said Disa as she smoothed Hiccup's hair. "I'm just glad you're all right."
"I'm dead," Hiccup replied. "What else can possibly happen to me?"
"You'd be surprised," said the stranger.
"Who are you?"
The man smiled the warmest smile Hiccup had ever seen. It was so comforting it was creepy. "No one. A traveler like yourselves. I just met your friends. They were asking if I had seen a small and skinny dead boy. And here you are. You may call me Leiknir."
So this Leiknir could see the dead. "What are you?"
Leiknir just smiled. "I understand. You're dead. Not used to being seen by normal folk, are you? Not fun. I won't go into the boring details. Just know that I'm a friend." He bent low in a bow. "I should be off, then, unless I can be of any further assistance." He sent the same beaming grin to Od and Disa.
"Depends on the assistance we will need," said Od. "So, Hiccup, what did the great Hel have to say?"
That long story. "She said no."
Od sighed and frowned. "I was afraid of that. I had hoped, of course, but I was afraid of that. I should have gone in. I might have been able to reason with her."
"Reason with Hel?" Leiknir laughed. "How funny. She can be very stubborn. Even the best of her moods won't do much."
"You've met her, then?"
"We're very close."
"Well, I could have used you on my side when I went in there," Hiccup said. "She did offer a deal, though. She wants something from Valhalla."
Leiknir doubled over in laughter. "What a girl! I would have never expected that from her. I know she despises Valhalla, but stealing from it is something altogether refreshing. Valhalla!"
Hiccup wished Leiknir would be on his way.
The man finally regained control of himself. "I can't believe she let you go in one piece. You may be useless to her in your current state, but I imagine she would have wanted to have fun with you. Sic that dog of hers on you."
"That's probably what happened!" Od said in epiphany. "How tragic. So a cup or something? That should be simple. I could easily get a cup from Vallhalla. Perhaps. I don't know what Odin would think of me right now marching in there."
"You can't steal from Valhalla!" said Disa. "Odin would tie you up and torture you."
"He would never do that to me."
That would be an image. Od strolling into Valhalla, making small talk, picking up a cup, and going on his merry way. Hiccup almost smiled. "She wants me to do it."
"How would she know who took the souvenir?"
"That was her deal. She would let me in now if I stole something from Valhalla."
Od laughed. "You're incapable of stealing anything from Valhalla."
All right, so Hiccup had never stolen anything in his life, but he supposed if he really needed to. He shook his head and tried to ignore the burning resentment. "It's okay. I really don't think I want to wind up in Hel if I can help it."
"Oh, it's not that bad."
"I know, I saw. But really, is there anywhere else I could go?"
"You just don't want to brave Valhalla and Odin," Leiknir teased.
Hiccup was really wishing he would leave. "I'd prefer Valhalla to Hel. If I have to sneak in there, I might as well stay there."
"In Valhalla." Leiknir snorted. "Non-stop mindless partying and killing. And here I was suspecting you were smarter than all of that. Come on. How hard can it be to steal from the meatheads inhabiting that hall? Folksvangr, now that would be a challenge. But anyone could do Valhalla."
"Then why don't you do it?" Disa asked. It was clear she was also becoming annoyed with him.
"I didn't say I wouldn't do it, dear lady. It's bad form to push the assignment onto me when I'm not even involved. Very bad form. But since you asked, right now I'm actually trying to figure out the best way to do it. Of course it would require getting into Asgard in the first place. Oh, what fun that would be for you! Dangerous, but you two are dead and you're a god so I'm not sure what the real risk is." He rubbed his hands together, eyes sparkling. "I just don't want to take away the challenge from the one to whom it was assigned."
"Nice. Sir, you can be on your way."
"Of course. I had no intention of intruding. I just wanted to know if there were anything else I could do for you." He bowed even deeper. "Head east. You'll hit Midgard in no time, if you were looking for a way out." He set off toward the buildings.
"He didn't say one useful thing," said Disa with a shake of her head. "Annoying. Just plain annoying. Hiccup, you're not going to take on Valhalla, are you?"
"No." At least he felt somewhat sure of that answer. "It sounds like a lot to do just to go to Hel, which is where I'm going to probably eventually wind up anyway."
"A very dull ending," said Od, turning east.
"You have no idea. Why are we doing east? Are we actually trusting him?"
"No, though he is right on this. Midgard is to the east."
"So we left the island for nothing, then?" Disa asked as she started after Od. "Your plan of quickening the afterlife was for nothing?"
"Well, we could ask Odin or my wife. But Odin is stern and so are his rules. I will never understand the Aesir. So obsessed with rules. Freya… that would be tricky. I don't know if she would be happy to see me or try to kill me."
It was difficult to imagine Od as married to the great Freya.
"We could speak to them, if you wish. You could even attempt to steal from Valhalla, if you change your mind. Or I could take you back to your boring old island."
"I saw it," Hiccup said without thinking.
Disa stopped. "Saw what?"
"The island. Berk. When I fell in the river. I… I guess I went back there. It might have been a hallucination, but it was so real."
"Oh." She resumed walking. "That's nothing."
"Nothing? You mean I imagined it."
"Tell me more," said Od. "This is fascinating. The works of the dead!"
"You souls can do it. You're still attached to that body. Not as much as I am, clearly, but your body is still on that island and that island was your home. It's very likely you would slip back there. How do you think I manage to move my corpse through walls? Souls do all the time, move around like that. It's very annoying to watch."
Leiknir had been right about going east. The plant life began to shrink to something more normal and less icy.
"So I did go back? Can I do it again?"
Disa nodded. "But I thought you didn't want to be there."
"Well, yeah, but… that's kind of cool."
"I will never understand you, soul boy."
"So what do I do?"
"Concentrate. Hiccup, you're not going to do it right now, are you?"
The last thing Hiccup saw before closing his eyes was Disa looking exasperated and Od stopping to watch.
Hiccup stopped, too. Probably not a good idea to flip back while walking. Maybe he could do something if he went back.
"Hiccup!"
"Let him focus!" Od said.
Being knocked into a river had been different. No time to think. He just thought of Berk, of his body. He wasn't sure why. Could he do something? He was at least curious.
He might as well have been thrown into the river, for the icy sensation. It was sudden. One moment he was there in the plains, the next he wasn't.
He was some place colder than the river, much colder, though the thread around his wrist burned.
And he was stiff, horribly stiff. It was all he could do to jerk his arm. Something was around him. He forced open his eyes after several attempts. Darkness. First solid, then hazy. Once more, his perfect vision came to his aid. It was more than darkness. It was solid. Wet. Cold. Yet not quite so solid. Impossibly tiny pieces of ice crushed together.
He was staring up into snow.
