“We have no time!” Modi snarled. “We have waited too long for Thorleif to return already.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
Einherjar and dwarves worked quickly and tirelessly to pack carts for the journey to the Exchange of Hammers while Modi growled at Perthro.
“Sowilo says we need to.”#futharkvillage
“How can we stop to have a feast when we have to be at the site of the exchange in half a day?”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
“You chose to take this bet,” Perthro said. “You bet your einherjar and your resources on Sowilo the Seeress. She chose to help you. Now she wants to eat.”#futharkvillage
“I begin to suspect that Sowilo is here to drain my resources, rather than help me,” Modi lamented. “She says that she has foreseen this day, but can she have seen far enough into the future to know when she will next prophesy?”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
Perthro waited patiently.#futharkvillage
“Fine!” Modi snapped. “I will kill my horse tomorrow in riding to join my troops. You! Dwarf! Select a few of the kitchen dwarves to–“
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
Perthro cut him off. “Not here.”
“What?”
“Sowilo has said that she would like to dine in the temple of Odin.”#futharkvillage
“In Nidhavelir!?” Modi asked in disbelief. “So she would have me kill two horses! Three, if you include the messenger I must send to tell them to prepare the feast. Or even four! Does she desire to dine on horse flesh as well!? Horse blood for wine?”#futharkvillage
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
Modi’s sarcasm made Perthro nervous, but he kept his face neutral, as if he were playing cards. “I don’t–“
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
“My lord,” Ullfinn cut Perthro off. “With the new rule that the dwarves be the only ones to touch the hammer, do you even need to be at the exchange?”#futharkvillage
Modi stopped and looked at Ullfinn. “I…” he trailed off, thinking over the question. “I guess I don’t. I… want to see my brother. But I guess we are being kept far enough apart that even that is not enough reason to go.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
“Then take your time,” Ullfinn said.#futharkvillage
Perthro cursed silently, keeping his face a mask. He had hoped that he and Sowilo could slip away in Nidhavelir in the rush to The Exchange, but it would be much harder now. “If you will excuse me, Lord Modi.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
Modi dismissed Perthro and turned to Ullfinn.#futharkvillage
Perthro walked calmly and confidently out of the courtyard and into the palace. When he was out of Modi’s sight, he broke into a run. He tripped on the top stair and rolled down like dice on a table. Undaunted, he picked himself up and ran for Sowilo’s room.#futharkvillage
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
“Who is it?” Perthro heard Sowilo’s voice in response to his knock.
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
“It’s Perthro. Can I come in?”
Sowilo opened the door and invited him to enter. The room was well-furnished, with a bed, a desk and chair, and a large chest for Sowilo’s magical things.#futharkvillage
“What is it, Perthro? You look worried.” A compassionate look came to Sowilo’s face. Perthro’s mind went blank at her beauty, and his mind began to compose poems comparing the change of expression to the rising of the sun.
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
He shook his head to clear it.#futharkvillage
“I came up with a plan to get us out of here and when I rolled the dice they came up against me and now Modi expects to escort us to the temple of Odin in Nidhavelir and feast with us and he will be paying too much attention to be able to get away.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
“Get away?”#futharkvillage
Sowilo shook her head, an amused frown on her face. “Perthro, I have no desire to get away. I am here because this is where I am meant to be. Now tell me your plan and let me see if I can fix it.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 6, 2020
Perthro told her everything.#futharkvillage
“Perthro, why did you think that we should escape in Nidhavelir? There is so much intrigue going on in that place that I cannot see what is happening there.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
“Ahh, but I don’t want to escape in Nidhavelir.”
“Then why did you say that to Modi?”#futharkvillage
“I want to escape on the way to Nidhavelir. I was dicing with some of the einherjar, you see.” Perthro was disappointed when he saw a look of disapproval set on Sowilo’s face. “They were talking about a dry riverbed which runs even deeper into the Earth.#futharkvillage
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
“Deep down the riverbed, at the roots of Yggdrasil, lies Mimisbrun, Mimir’s well.” Perthro hurried on. Sowilo’s expression softened. “Mimir is dead, so the Einherjar say that the well must be open for anyone to drink from it. I think we need to go there.”#futharkvillage
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
"No," Sowilo said. "You need to go there. I need to be at the exchange of hammers."
— Perseus Greenman is staying 6 feet away (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
"But–"
"No, Perthro. I need to be at the exchange of hammers. What will happen there needs to happen, and I need to make sure that it does.
"But go. And take Eiwaz with you."#futharkvillage
“Eiwaz?” Perthro asked, thinking unkind thoughts about the last time he went somewhere with Eiwaz. “I don’t want to be with Eiwaz, I want to be with you.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
Perthro clamped his mouth shut at this admission. He hadn’t meant to lay out all his cards on the table. #futharkvillage
Realization dawned on Sowilo’s face, and she smiled regretfully at Perthro. “Oh, Perthro,” she said. “I am not the one for you. I have seen her in visions, and she will make you very happy, but she is nothing like me.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
Tears welled in Perthro’s eyes. #futharkvillage
He stood for a moment, looking at an ever-blurrier Sowilo, but then he lost his nerve and ran from the room.
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
Sowilo smiled after him, thinking about her next move. #futharkvillage
Eiwaz was preparing to leave with Modi’s einherjar when Perthro walked in to the archers’ hall. Everything was in disarray, with arrows and bowstrings and mail shirts strewn about in various states of being packed. “Eiwaz!” Perthro said. “I need you.”#futharkvillage
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
“What help do you need, Perthro?” Eiwaz asked. “You don’t appear to be bound and captured, and you know where the ale and the dice are.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
“I need you to come with me to Mimir’s Well.”
Eiwaz put down the bow he was about to pack. “What?”
“I know where it is.”#futharkvillage
Eiwaz reached for his traveling hood, quiver, and a sheaf of arrows. “Then why are we waiting around,” he asked, strapping his bow to his back. “Let’s go. How many soldiers are we taking with us?”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
“None. It should be unprotected now that Ragnarok is done.”#futharkvillage
Eiwaz stopped readying himself and looked at Perthro. He opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, and closed his mouth again. Then he said, “Well, you’ll have me along to protect you. I haven’t done such a bad job in the past. What could go wrong?”#futharkvillage
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
Perthro hated this plan more as time went on. But Sowilo- No. She had seen the poor hand that he held. He wouldn’t place the blame on her. He would make ready to go out with Eiwaz. Again. Alone. Again.
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 7, 2020
Ah well, he thought. You play with the hand you are dealt.#futharkvillage
Sowilo walked out of Modi’s palace and looked for the god himself. “Modi!”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
Modi turned around with a look of near-panic on his face. He composed himself and shouted in a voice that tried to sound angry, “Yes, woman, what is it?”
Sowilo frowned at his response.#futharkvillage
“Perthro misunderstood my intentions. We may go to the exchange of hammers first, before the feast,” Sowilo obfuscated. Perthro had been speaking on his own; Sowilo tried to be clear as day about what she wanted.
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
“But I…” Modi began. “The feast!” #futharkvillage
Modi tried again. “I have already sent a messenger to the temple of Odin in Nidhavelir. They will be expecting us for the feast.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
“Then send a second messenger to let them know to expect us AFTER the Exchange of Hammers.”
Modi stared at the seeress.#futharkvillage
“Now you ask me to deplete my messengers!” Modi said at last.
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
“No. I ask you to send one more. And ready a cart for my things, would you?”
“The cart for your things has been ready for hours–” Modi paused, adjusting his tone. “We simply await its mistress.”#futharkvillage
Sowilo curtsied politely and walked toward the cart of her possessions. That had gone about as smoothly as it could have gone.
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
In the cart, she made sure there were comfortable pillows on which to sit, and pieces of fruit on which to snack while she rode. #futharkvillage
Modi, Sowilo, and all of Modi’s retainers set off for The Exchange without Perthro and Eiwaz.
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
Once they were under way, Modi looked around from his chariot to make sure no one was in earshot, then released a sigh of relief. Controlling his temper was hard.#futharkvillage
Halfway across Svartalfheim, a carriage rumbled along behind Magni’s chariot. Inside were Ansuz, Raidho, Althunn, and Thurisaz.
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
“You wouldn’t believe how amazing a time I have had!” Thurisaz was saying. “The einherjar fight all day and drink all night!”#futharkvillage
“That fighting,” Althunn replied, “is the reason my father created this contest. They were destroying Svartalfheim when they first came here, like an eruption of a volcano whose caldera was the whole world. It was worse than Ragnarok for us.”#futharkvillage
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
“I find that hard to believe,” Thurisaz said. “Ansuz, what was that poem you wrote about Ragnarok?”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
“Men made war on good men
Murder of men and Aesir
Loud god’s lost mightiness
Loosed large devourers.”
“Yeah. I had to fight giants. In Midgard.”#futharkvillage
Raidho joined the conversation. “The roads became unsafe for travel, and I was trapped at Futhark Village. Travelers were turned away without food or warmth. I even heard tales of cannibals who would put children in cages if they wandered into the wrong lands.”#futharkvillage
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
Ansuz pointed at his face. “I lost my eye during Ragnarok. It sounds like it was worse up in Midgard than down here in Svartalfheim.”
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
Althunn lowered her eyes and shivered at the thought of something worse than the war between Magni and Modi. #futharkvillage
“But we are doing everything in our power from preventing another such war from occurring again. Your own General Algiz is advising my father, King Nordri, on how he can defuse the situation when he announces the winner of the contest.” Althunn looked hopeful.#futharkvillage
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
An alternate version of a tweet:
— Perseus Greenman (@futharkvillage) January 8, 2020
“I find that hard to believe,” Thurisaz said, looking at Ansuz. “During Ragnarok, men turned on men and beasts turned on everyone. Giants, no longer afraid of Thor’s might, roamed Midgard, killing and devouring all they found.”#futharkvillage