Worship of the Gods
"Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all.
Their feathers are too bright,
their songs too sweet and wild.
So you let them go,
or when you open the cage to feed them
they somehow fly out past you.
And the part of you that knows
it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices,
but still the place where you live
is that much drabber and emptier for their departure."
Stephen King
Chapter Thirty-Three: The Fae's Kingdom
Ellie squealed as caught sight of Lounn. Their chests painfully collided but their hearts were beating too loudly for either of them to care. They held one another fiercely. He smelt of steel and mud. Ellie's hair filled his nose with lilac.
"I missed you," she said, her voice muffled by his cloak. "It's been so long."
"Weeks," he said, his voice light with laughter. "I thought I'd only see you from the battlefield."
"Me too. What are you doing down here?" They pulled away, holding either other at a distance. Ellie's cape was heavy and dark over her shoulders and head. She held his arm tightly, examining his face. There was a pink wound along his cheek. "What happened?"
"I'm on the first-line," he said. "The training was intense. A lot of us were practising berserking and it got a bit out of hand."
"Berserking? But…" Ellie's words fell apart. She couldn't scold him for practising it, but there was the inability to stop which worried her. Berserking was a Norse practise where the warriors would take psychedelics and lose control on the battlefield. They would scream; beating, biting and fighting anything that crossed their path.
With a proud grin, Lounn said: "it's necessary for war and kind of fun."
"Right. Of course. The front-line, though, is so dangerous. Is anyone with you? How are the others?"
"They are faring well. Gustav is somewhere around her, probably having a drink before tomorrow morning. Malai is in the second wave and the rest are in the third or joining the Ljósálfar's forces."
"I miss you all. It's been…"
Lounn reached beneath her hood and lifted her chin up. The fabric fell back, exposing her braids and ears. With a gasp, he let go and stared. The colour drained from his face. Ellie hastily pulled the cape over herself and took a step back. She said his name feebly and pleadingly. "I couldn't stop it."
"So, it's true," he swallowed. "Everything is true. You're one of them. What did they do to you?"
"Nothing. They grew. It was so painful. I couldn't do anything."
He approached her like a dog would to its master after being told off. Ellie clenched her teeth as he pushed her hood down again.
He went to touch the ear. "They hurt," she hissed and moved away. "They're sensitive."
"What has Odin said? Is it magic?"
"There was a meeting with Freyr and the healers a few nights ago. It's natural. Apparently Iduna's apple started a regeneration process. My body is returning to its rightful state after hibernating."
"Hibernating? You sound like a bear."
"Am I as terrifying as one now?" she pressed.
Lounn helped pull her hood over her head. He was smiling gently. "Definitely not. Not to me, anyway. Maybe to those bastard-wargs." She watched her friend's smile slip from his face as silence settled over them. Having spent a lot of her private time unable to bear the reality of her Elvish condition, she felt more alone than ever. However, with Lounn watching her like she was a true warrior, she felt proud and in her rightful place.
"You're going there first, aren't you?" he said after a short while. "With the princes."
Ellie wasn't supposed to disclose anything to outsiders. If there was such an issue with telling Lounn, then Odin would surely appear and struck her with lightning. She nodded. "Yes, we leave in a moment."
"Under the cover of night."
"Yes. And you will join us when the sun rises."
"I've found that we always find our way back to each other."
They laughed. "I wouldn't have it another way. I think you're my closest friend."
"Am I your only friend?"
"I think so," she straightened, preparing to leave him. "But I am also yours."
Lounn walked with her to the end of the road they had met on. They reached a rickety, wooden door which sat inconspicuously in a stone wall. Vines grew along the ridge and over the handle. Ellie touched it, her strength wavering.
She chewed the inside of her cheek and met Lounn's gaze. "Should I have addressed you as Princess?" he asked. "Or saviour?"
"Shut up."
He held a hand over hers and turned the handle. A gust of wind swept out of the passage. There was an overwhelming coolness to it as if no one had stepped foot inside for over a hundred years. They peered inside like two children stumbling upon a secret room.
"You first," he joked. Ellie shoved him with her shoulder and entered. When she turned, Lounn was already closing the door. His mischievous grin was sliding off his face; replaced by intense worry. With a clenched fist, Ellie turned on her heel and continued down the pathway.
Someone had been there recently. Torches lined the wall and the gravel was parted in areas footsteps had stomped. She followed the tracks and held her cloak around herself a little tighter. It took several minutes to reach the end. And there stood the princes, Hrimeer and Aetri. They were in a deep, intense conversation which was not disturbed when Ellie entered the space.
Behind them was a crack in the stone. It rose up over five meters and was glowing like petrol on a puddle.
"Lady Eurelia," Hrimeer turned, presenting her with a proud smirk. "May I have your name?"
Ellie cautiously approached. "My name?"
"Yes – may I have it to use and indulge?"
Aetri raised a hand, her amusement twinkling in her eyes. "Please, lover," she said to him, sliding closer to Ellie. "May I have your name?"
"Enough," Prince Loki scolded. He shot a look between the fae. "Now isn't the time for tricks."
Thor laughed. "Jealous of the fae's abilities, brother?"
"Aware of spies." He shot a look over the stone walls and ceiling. Perhaps he meant his Father or Heimdall. When he looked at the crack in the wall, Ellie realised he meant other worlds. It was a portal; a physical crack between worlds.
"Where does it go?" she asked, walking past the fae and towards it. "Alfheim?"
"Yes," Loki said.
"There shouldn't be places like this in Asgard," Thor said, crossing his arms. "It is forbidden and a security risk."
Loki snapped his gaze towards him. "There is only this one."
"Really, brother?"
"A drunk stumbled across it some time ago."
Hrimeer and Aetri muttered between one another and appeared on either side of Ellie. "Shall we travel as one?"
"I can go alone." Ellie blinked quickly.
"We can distinguish your fear," Hrimeer purred, pressing a hand to her back.
Aetri ran a finger over her shoulder. "Us Fae can destroy fear completely. Chew it up like a honeburry leaf and turn it into syrup."
"The eyes of the Allfather are always watching," Loki said, his voice strict. "You may be out of the council chamber, but he is the protector of the entire universe. Even little creatures you Fae try to trick."
"Oh, she's hardly little," Hrimeer said, looking down at Ellie with a smile.
She caught onto their behaviour and stepped out of their grasps. "I should've known," she said. "You're trying to steal my voice and feelings."
"Not steal," Aetri smiled sweetly. "Never steal. Beings give us their voices and emotions for safe-keeping."
Hrimeer took her hand and pulled her towards the portal. "It's in our nature. Surely, you've discovered something about yours?"
Stepping towards them, she came to stand beside Thor. Her thoughts returned to the council meeting. "What do you want as a gift from us in return for your armies?" she asked, a frown settling on her face.
"That is yet to be decided, sweetling." They stepped back, disappearing through the portal in a swish of light. Their beauty was stained in Ellie's gaze. She wanted to follow them straight away and reached for the crack.
Loki grabbed her wrist. "Not yet," he warned. "Give them a moment."
"Don't want to knock them from the portal, do we?" Thor said. "Wouldn't be such a terrible idea. Hrimeer asked for a lock of my hair."
"You should've given it to him."
"You're envious they didn't ask you for anything."
"What's the point in tricking a trickster?"
The blonde-haired prince laughed loudly. "What's the point in tricking someone with nothing to give?" He attempted to shake Loki's hair like a dog, but the prince ducked and hissed at him.
With a glare, Loki took hold of Thor's cape and twisted it. He shoved him through the crack in the wall. Thor bellowed, falling back and disappearing in a burst of light.
"You shouldn't have done that," Ellie gasped, pulling her wrist out of Loki's grasp. "Now isn't the time for childish games even if he insulted you."
"Those fae insulted me."
"How?"
Loki turned back to the portal. It was mesmerising, watching his skin glisten with blue, red and white. The light refracted off the walls and, in their eyes, making it difficult to stare for long.
It wasn't the fae's words which hurt Loki, it was their lack of. Instead of treating Loki as they did Thor or herself, they disregarded him. To Loki, their futile attempt to trick him would've been more respectful than not trying at all. And for that, they deserved a punishment.
Ellie blinked and looked into the wall. "You let them go first in case we were ambushed, didn't you?"
As expected, Loki didn't answer her question. They both knew Heimdall or Odin were watching, but Ellie suspected it was because Loki despised admitting his secrets.
"You shouldn't be insulted by how they didn't try to steal from you," she said, adjusting her belt and weapons stowed upon her. "You should be enthralled by your reputation – it exists across the entire universe." He narrowed his eyes, thinking over her words.
"You might want to hold your breath," he said after a moment. "You haven't used the Bifrost's magic since you first arrived. It will be jarring."
"Okay." She inhaled, her chest rising.
The God looked down at her. "And close your eyes." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Or keep them open as I should've guessed." They shared a knowing grin and Ellie grabbed the lapel of his cape. There was a startled breath escaping his lips as she pushed him through the portal and fell in after him.
Ellie hit the ground with a catastrophic grunt.
She held her face to the soft dirt, groaning between breaths. Her stomach ached. With a lurch, she clambered onto her knees. "I'm gonna be sick," she heaved. Her sword stuck awkwardly into her side and the bow strapped to her back was pointing towards her skull.
Someone took her arm, helping her to her feet. The colour of her cheeks was paler. "Can we walk back to Asgard?"
"Of course," Thor said. "I will command the stars as our footpath and the galaxies as our guidance."
"Pompous oaf," Loki muttered, brushing his cloak down. A glint of steel flashed off the sunlight which wove through the trees. And there was a forest of them.
Lilac trunks and Byzantium leaves surrounded their group. The bushes were mulberry with violet berries. Despite the ground being mud, there was evidential purple shading which continued through the fae's kingdom. The sun created a gold glow over the dust flittering down.
Ellie straightened and blinked rapidly, fearing it was a wonderful dream.
"Would you like to stay here forever?" Hrimeer said, chewing a plummet of fruit he picked. Ellie went to gush a yes. Who wouldn't want to dance through the enchanted woods, listening to the faeries songs and singing until the sun set? However, she raised an eyebrow and smirked.
Hrimeer laughed. "Well done, sweetling. Starting to catch on, aren't you?"
"Starting to," she said. "Keep calling me sweetling and you won't have to trick me into falling in love with both of you."
Aetri met her eyes and giggled. She held Hrimeer's arm, gazing up at him wistfully.
Stepping through the forest, they scouted the horizon for sign of movement. It was hard to adjust to the idea that this was once her realm. Her true-born home was miles from her touch. Ellie searched her memories for one in Aesla's kingdom, but she returned empty-handed. It was alien territory.
Hrimeer and Aetri leapt through the woods; over vegetation and under trunks like sleek deer. They ran their hands over every surface, plucking berries and chewing on them as they led the way.
Ellie went to touch a red cherry but was quickly scolded by the princes. If you ate the fae's food without permission, you would crave nothing else until you starved.
They entered the forest where sunlight could not penetrate the leaves, Ellie began to hear humming. She frowned, staring between the trees for wargs.
"Can you hear that?" she said, edging near Thor. He had slowed and had his sword poised. Loki slid a dagger from within his sleeve and held it aloft.
"Come!" Aetri called. "It is our people."
A light was rising behind the fae, illuminating the trees as they neared. Their path spread into vessels of forest where the glow gathered. It was lilac as they walked, and they found the fae standing in front of a lamp.
Aetri reached inside the light-source and there was a choir of melodic singing. Ellie turned her head to question Loki and he ignored her intuitive look, instead straightening up as if greeting his father. And then the ground cracked and fell down. The Asgardian and half-human stared in bewilderment.
The floor became a mud ramp, controlled by vines on either side which grew out of the dirt. Aetri took the lamp and led the way down a dark, weaving tunnel.
"Is this the path the others will take?" Ellie glanced back, imagining hundreds of soldiers storming over the soft ground. They would trample the flowers with their leather boots. It was a necessary sacrifice.
Hrimeer led the way. "No. This is to meet the Queen. She will clear the paths for our armies on the surface."
"You've all lived under here?"
"Yes," he said, his voice distant.
"It must've been terrible. How long has it been this way?"
"Over three hundred years since the Alkar was stolen."
Aetri tightened her grip on the lamp, glancing back at Ellie with a broken look. "We've waited so long for you."
The two princes muttered behind Ellie. Their figures were too tall for the tunnel and so they slouched, their hair skimming the roots which tangled from the ceiling. Ellie held her hood over her head and hurried after the fae. As tricky as they were, they still deserved freedom and hope. She touched her torque, missing her catholic beads immensely.
She decided the next morning she would go to the surface and pray.
A purple light blossomed at the end of the tunnel. They reached an entryway for a hall the size of a city. And what a home it was. The walls were carved like an ant's nest, with interwoven paths and passages disappearing into darkness. Glowing faeires, barely the size of Ellie's fist lit up the area. They dove in front of their band of travellers, flashing long teeth and smiles.
Ellie blinked quickly, taking a hesitant step forward. A hand touched her elbow. It was Loki.
They shared an apprehensive look before continuing. The dirt bridge stretched up to a throne made of vines. On either side of them was a hundred miles of city. There was a spiderweb of paths full of fae. They were happily chatting; carrying laundry and food. However, they sensed newcomers, and all came to a stop, turning their heads to the middle of the kingdom.
With her cheeks turning pink, she chewed on her tongue. A strong smell of honeysuckle overwhelmed her and the princes. Thor coughed, despising the scent. He preferred the sting of steel and burning.
Aetri and Hrimeer came to a stop and moved to each side of the bridge, their gazes snapping to Ellie. In front of her was a woman. She sat in the tall, overgrown chair which had been carved from the heart of a lilac tree. The branches curled around the seat and armrests. It was Queen Aesla Featherwine.
The face of the woman was ageless, neither old nor young, though it was painted using watercolours along a canvas as smooth as silk. Her hair was white, reflecting the light of the fires on the walls, and upon it was a circlet of purple; her eyes were as dark as night, and in them was nothing but space to fall down.
As with Hrimeer and Aetri, Ellie felt unworthy of Aesla. She looked down as she neared and swallowed bile.
"Hello, little ones," her soft voice echoed throughout the kingdom. Thor inhaled and shuffled beside his brother, untrusting of the words of faeires. "Welcome to Alfheim."
"Queen Aesla," Loki bowed. "The sons of Odin present Eurelia Niamh Chinn Óir."
"Good evening, little Gods," she said. "And little princess." Ellie raised her head and met her intoxicating eyes. "Come here."
As Ellie left the close space of the Aesir Gods, she felt their comforting aura leave her. She clenched her fist and focused on her inner self to warm her.
Aesla took her hand fluidly and stood, rising over seven feet in height. Perhaps the fae's royalty matched that of bees where the largest was the one in charge. She pulled Ellie from the throne room and into a maze of passages which ultimately led to a domed garden. bounced from the faeiries in the room and onto the glass covering the high ceiling. A willow tree grew beside a round pond which shimmered. The water was smooth like syrup.
"You may drink and eat whatever you wish," Aesla said angelically. A sly smirk curled up her face. "Wouldn't want you staying here forever with me. Unless you want to then I would indulge." Thor and Loki were slowly walking behind her, eyeing the room with distrust. A fae servant appeared with gold goblets and empty dishes.
"No silver here, little elf," Aesla said, continuing to pull Ellie towards the willow. With a flick her finger, the princes were commanded to stay on the other side of the pond. They took their cutlery and drank from the pond with their eyes glued to Ellie.
Her palms were sticky with sweat as she sat beside Aesla on the ground. The grass had no sunlight, yet it flourished beneath them. It was as soft as baby hair. Ellie ran her fingers over it, and she swore it whispered sweet nothings.
An ethereal hum filled the room, making her feel at peace. She blinked slowly at the queen and removed her hood.
Aesla gasped and reached for Ellie's ears. Her white hair fell over her shoulder, trailing the floor. "Oh my," she said. "So, it is true. The one we have waited for has come back in both body and mind." The queen didn't touch Ellie's ears, but held her fingers at a distance. "You're like a rose. I could keep you in my garden forever."
"I don't think my grandfather would appreciate that much."
"No. He would not."
"Mm."
"Queen Aesla, I was sent here to save my people and I need your help to do so." Ellie glanced across the room at the princes. "What was it you wished for in exchange for your armies?"
The queen followed her gaze and then brought it back to hers, fluttering her long lashes. Her red lips parted, revealing porcelain teeth. "It is only one thing, little elf…" she said. Ellie leaned in, listening intently.
Across the pond, Thor and Loki watched their exchange. The waters glistened like stardust rained down upon them. It refracted Aesla and Ellie like the sat within a mirage that was beginning to disintegrate.
Thor crunched on a berry. "What are they saying?" he asked, food mashing in his mouth.
With a concentrated frown, Loki peered closer. His power swelled across the water, but it was met with a magic barrier. It was weak and he could have cracked it open like a broken mirror. However, his eyes slid to Ellie and he decided that patience would be his ally. "I can't hear them," he said. "The fae have put a wall up."
"So, your power has met its match."
"Perhaps. I still have enough to make you choke on the fruits." He flicked a finger and Thor gasped at his throat, his cheeks turning red. His muscles tightened for a startling second and then the feeling was gone.
He collapsed against the tree and gasped for breath, spitting the berry out. "If it were not for the laws of this kingdom, I'd snap your neck," he heaved.
"You'd miss me far too much. Besides, I could return from Valhalla and snaps yours."
"Curse the Gods for being able to do that. When our grandfather died, do you remember him visiting Father as a ghoul?"
Loki snickered. "He only did it the once."
"What do you mean? He came into my room with his axe protruding from his forehead!"
"Did he?"
Realisation dawned on Thor's face. He went red and clenched his fist. "You!" he cursed. "I knew it - you lying, devilish..."
A soft gasp echoed from Ellie. Loki looked at her sharply, taking a step forward.
The fae queen was pressing a kiss to her lips, finalising a deal. Thor stumbled to his feet, tripping over his words as he struggled to comprehend what Ellie had done.
"No," Loki said loudly, frightening the two women into pulling away. "What did you do?" He raised a hand, channelling his magic into the forcefield and wrenching it apart. Ellie stepped back, her eyes full of tears which threatened to burst onto her cheeks. "What did you do?" he begged, his voice cracking with furiousity.
It was too late. The queen pressed a hand to Ellie's cheek and bowed to the prince. "What she had to do, little god."
References
'You're like a rose' - the great gatsby
Berserking - a traditional viking custom where warriors would induce psychedellic drugs and go 'insane', riling up for war and murdering their enemies.
Comments
efearthling - thank you so much for reading and enjoying! I'm glad you like Ellie's development, its very difficult to achieve and I felt I haven't done a good job at it, but your review made my day. Thank you x
SenSen-Chan - loyal reader! thank you for reviewing after i took such a long break! Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the change in scenery and Ellie's impending destiny which is just round the corner!
Jun - So many reviews and comments! What a wonder and joy it was to read them all! Thank you so much for coming back to review the new chapter! and yes, an elf, she's finally reverting back to her bloodline!
