Sammiraah leads me through the halls. Valhalla seems more like a labyrinth than a hotel, but she seemed to know where she was going. She stopped in front of a pair of large double doors and turns to me.
"You have problems with large crowds?" She asks, looking me over.
I raise an eyebrow at her. "Um… Not really. Why does it matter?"
She gives me a small smirk as she shoves the doors open. I might need to pick my jaw off the floor when I see the dinning hall. It was about as large as an amphitheater with rows of seat forming a semicircle around a large tree with branches that sprout in every direction. All different kinds of animals lounge in the branches; different kinds of birds, even a large goat trotted amongst the branches.
"Wha…" I start to say, but at that moment, a swarm of warriors surge into the dinning hall carrying us with it. Sammiraah grabs my wrist in an iron grip and surges into the air carrying me with her. "Whoa!"
Samiraah chuckles as we skim right above the heads of all the einherjar below us. I could even see that guy, Cody, that I met earlier. He was smiling and shoving a bunch of guys towards one of the tables. He sees me and gives me a small nod of his head and a smile. We touch down next to a small table where I am the only sitting at.
I glance at the empty seats. "Who else is supposed to sit here?"
She glances at me as she takes a seat. "You were the only one to die last night. Here lately less and less heroes have been dying valiantly in battle."
"Oh." I slowly take a seat next to her. I could feel people staring at me, but I just shrugged them off. I was used to feeling like I was under a microscope. Another Valkyrie places a plate of sizzling meat and boiled potatoes in front of me with a goblet of some kind of amber liquid. "What is in this?"
Sammiraah sips her drink. "It's mead. Drink."
Cautiously, I take a small sip. My senses skyrocket; it wasn't a giddy feeling like a sugar rush, but it was most like an iced coffee. I was wide awake and full of confidence. I take another long sip.
"This stuff is good." I comment, getting a laugh out of Sammiraah. I look over at her. "What?"
She shakes her head. "Nothing. You just remind me of a friend of mine. You'll meet him soon."
"Who are the guys sitting there?" I point to the long table where a line of guys sits chatting and drinking.
"They're the Thanes. They were all personally invited by Odin himself. That's his throne next to them. I'm not going to name them all, but I know you recognize the hotel manager, Helgi, at the end."
"Yeah. I'm somewhat terrible with names." I laugh, taking a bite of the meat on my plate. It tasted kind of like hamburger.
The Thanes then start slamming their goblets against the table. Slowly, all around the dinning hall, the einherjar start following suit until the dinning hall rings with the slamming of goblets. Helgi stands and raises his hands. The slamming dies down.
"Warriors!" Helgi shouts. His voice echoes around the hall. "Tonight we only have one new einherjar. Let us see what our own Sammiraah Al'Abbas saw in him to choose him for our halls!" Everyone turns towards me. "Dakota Martin!"
I jump to my feet as if a wasp had stung me in the butt. Sammiraah stands next to me. I clenched my fists to keep the yellow fur from sprouting up over my skin. When I get nervous or feel threatened, I tend to start shapeshifting uncontrollably.
Across the bark of the large tree in the middle of the room, a screen appears with static. In the next moment, I started reliving everything that had happened that night. I saw me flying into the upstairs bedroom before running downstairs to see the wolves cornering my family. I saw me changing into a lion and defending my family before being killed by the last wolf who with the last of my strength I had killed. I saw an arm reach out from the side of the screen reaching towards my body which was now glowing.
The room was silent for what felt like an eternity before everyone stood up and clapped. Some people were crying wile others were saluting me. I just happened to pick Cody with his friends. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up. But while everyone else was clapping and giving me praise, I felt even downer than I did when I arrived here. The vision of the man tied to the stone slab still swam through my sight. My family wasn't safe like I was wanting when I had died. Instead they were imprisoned by some guy I didn't even know.
Helgi wipes tears away as he hushes the crowd with his hands. "I have known warriors to die for family before, but this…" He sniffles. "That was just true love. True love for family is the greatest thing a warrior of Odin can have." He meets my eyes calmly. "Do you know you parentage?"
"I um… I never knew my real father." I stammer.
He nods. "Not unlikely for an einherjar. Unless the All-Father wishes to intercede, we will have your future read by the runes." Everyone glances towards the throne where two black ravens perch on either side of the back. Their beady black eyes glare at me.
A small woman in a green hooded robe shuffles forward with a bag of runes.
"Who's that?" I whisper to Sammiraah.
"A vala. A seer. She can cast spells, read the future, and other magical stuff with the Viking runes in the bag." She explains softly to me.
The vala grabs a few runes out of the bag and tosses them onto the ground in front of the table. Some land faceup while others land facedown, but one rune attracts the attention of everyone in the hall. The screens project the image of the scroll so everyone could see it. I couldn't read it, but everyone else seems to know what it meant. A murmur rose up from the einherjar as a small chant rises.
"Thor! Thor! Thor!" Everyone chants uncertainly.
"A child of Thor!" Helgi shouts, raising an eyebrow at me. "The runes foretell that you will fight valiantly at Ragnarok and will save many lives that day. You will also save many in tomorrow's battle and will die by being impaled!" A roar went up from the einherjar. "And that concludes the feast. We'll see you on the field of battle. Get some rest and dream of valiant death!" And with that, everyone starts filing out of the dining hall.
Sammiraah tugs on my arm gently. "Come on. I'll lead you back to your room." I follow her keeping my head down. The way everyone acted when they found out who my dad was didn't settle with me. I look up at Sammiraah as she leads me out of the dinning hall and down an empty hallway.
"Hey, Sam? Why did everyone act that way when the runes said my father was Thor? Isn't he one of the good guys?"
She glances at me as we enter the elevator. She nods. "Yeah, but a child of Thor with the power to shapeshift isn't common. We don't know if it's a good sign or a bad one. I guess we'll find out."
I nod. "Yeah. I guess we will."
She pats my shoulder. "Don't dwell on it. Everything will be fine." We stop outside my new room. "Get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow's battle. I'll see you later." She floats into the air before zipping off around the corner.
I shamble into my new room. It seemed darker and more empty than it did when I was here before dinner. I grab the picture off of the mantle and shuffle over to the couch in front of the fireplace. I slump onto the couch with a sigh. Tears well up in my eyes.
Why couldn't I save my family? I laid down on the couch and started crying softly. Why couldn't I have protected them from whoever that guy is? I end up falling asleep holding the family picture close to me and trails of tears down both my cheeks.