Valkyrie's Curse - the Conclusion

You've been on the edge of your seat waiting for it, biting your nails you're so anxious.  Well wait no longer because the conclusion  of Valkyrie's curse is here!

 

Valkyrie's Curse

Part V

 

by

Ellie Mack 

 

Scott and Niall’s watched silently, waiting until the police had cleared the area.  They made their way back to the four wheeler, this time Scott let Nialls climb on behind him.  Both were a few shades lighter than when they had raced out here.

Back at the camp Scott headed straight for Brad’s tent. Nialls stopped at the mess tent ,offering to grab something for Scott.  ”Sure, grab me a couple of those muffins and a Cliff bar – and a bottle of juice.  I’ll be at Brad’s tent.  OH, you might want to just get a box and put a bunch in it.  If we have food, he’ll want some.”

Scott hurried, he’d need the few extra minutes alone with Brad before Nialls showed up.  He ducked his head quickly under the flap, catching Brad in one of his RP chats with his girlfriend.  ”Fuck man!  Announce yourself next time.”

Scott turned uncomfortably, combing his fingers through his hair.  ”We need to talk and we’ve only got a few minutes.  Nialls will be heading this way very soon.”

Brad zipped his jeans mumbling to himself. 

”Look, sorry man but this is important.  They found the body of that student.  She was ripped apart on the sacrificial alter up there – yeah, guess I owe you twenty bucks on that call.  Anyway, it  was a bloody mess.  The police have the whole area roped off.  They cleared out for now.”

”Damn.  Someone murdered her?  Why was Nialls with you?  How did he react?”  He stood and adjusted himself. 

”Nialls hurled.  I don’t think he’d have a stomach for anything like this.  He’s pretty shaken, but I don’t think we can trust him with”

Brad made a big cutting motion across his throat.  Just then, Nialls ducked through the flaps with a huge box of food.  He went straight to the folding card table and set the box down and ripped open a bag of Skittles.   Brad searched through the box and found himself one of the giant blueberry muffins and a bottle of Frappaccino.  Scott grabbed his muffin and  a juice.  The three men ate as if they hadn’t eaten in weeks. 

When Nialls started into a package of chocolate glazed donuts, he paused long enough to ask ”So, what are we gong to do? ”

Brad drained his bottle of frappaccinno, then dug through the box for one of the juices.  ”We are not going to cause the police any trouble.  We are going to comply with them, and lay low.  Let them find the crazy bastard that killed that girl.”

Joe burst in out of breath.  ”There’s another one.  What the hell is going on around here?”

Scott felt his stomach lurch, his suspicions high.  ”Another one what?”  He had stopped, his bottle raised to his lips but not drinking.

”Another girl’s gone missing. ”  Joe bent over, his hands on his knees to catch his breath.  ”With Helena gone, I thought I better tell you guys.  

 

                                                *                             *                             *                             *

 

The camp was sheer chaos.  Students threatening to walk back to the airport, students huddling in their tents, others in a near state of shock.  Over the course of five days four girls had gone missing.  The fourth day the second girls body was found strewn around the alter stone north of their dig.  Police were staying in the camp now, patrolling the perimeter, and getting regular updates from Scott and  Brad. 

Nialls was a nervous wreck.  He sent reports to Dr.  Montgomery about what had been happening. He reluctantly reported to the guys that the Doctor and the board were seriously thinking of shutting down their dig, and compensating them for their time up to that date.

A couple of the undergraduate men decided to chaperon the girls at all times.  It seemed whoever was perpetrating the crimes was only interested in the women. They checked in with Brad and Scott on the hour.   Meanwhile Brad and Scott worked on their plan to free Helena. 

 

”Where are we going to get a virgin Valkyrie?  Do you think maybe somehow one of the Vikings escaped when she passed through and is sacrificing these girls?”  Scott nervously rubbed his stubble. 

”Nah, I don't think so.  I think there’s someone here trying to figure out a way to get in, so they can plunder the halls of Valhalla.  Legend says there is hoards of treasure there.”  Brad flips through one of his notebooks.  ”Look here, at the runes we found on the alter stone.”  He points out to Scott the pictures taken of the stone, then the rubbings and his translation.  ”I think maybe some local, or someone associated with the school here is  killing those girls. It says here that if the sacrifice is given and Odin be pleased, The halls of Valhalla will be open and Ragnarok will begin.”

”So there’s the whole plunder the halls end of the world scenario?” 

”Yeah, something like that.  Amazing that thieves are always so short sighted.  We’ve got two days to figure out how to get Helena out of there”

Scott paced around the small tent.  There had to be a way.

 

                                                *                             *                             *                             *

 

Helena struggled to read the crude drawings on the wall. They had explored each of the corridors and always came back to the room where the man had been staying.  There was another similar wall at the North end of the network of tunnels, but she could find no way to open it either. 

The man tried to tell her each time she went from the north stone to the south stone she had fallen through something about Valhalla, about Ragnarok and Valkyries.  On the last trip, she noticed he tucked his dagger in his waist band as he was muttering about Valkyrie curse.  She had a bad feeling about his intentions.  Held not tried anything sexual with her, so she figured she must have told him the right words before but also decided that minimal talk was best so she didn’t say the wrong things.  With each minute that ticked by, she became more agitated at his behavior.

If she got out of here alive, she made herself a vow to spend more time studying runes, and learning the language fluently.  She muttered prayers as she walked slowly back to the South wall.  There had to be a way, there just had to be.

He stood behind her, playing with his dagger in his hands, turning it over and over.  He eyed her suspiciously ever so often.  Her stomach growled and he handed her a leathery piece of dry  jerky.  It had little taste, but she was grateful. 

She pointed to the stone wall and asked him  ” Hvad betyder dette sagt?”

He walks closer, squats down on his knees before her . ” siger ikke sagt. Just My Luck jeg får en Valkyrie, der er smukke, men dim.”

She startled at his comment.  ”OK, say not said – my bad.”  She rolled her eyes.  ”Wait a minute, did you just say I was a dimwit?”

He smiled at her. ”Ja”

” Du taler engelsk?”  she asks him if he speaks English.

He waved his hand back and forth.  ”nogle”

Great!  Helena thought about all the things she’d muttered to herself wondering if there was something  she may have said that upset him over the past, what had it been?    ” Hvor længe siden jeg fik her?”

”Fer diz.”

”Four days?  I’ve been stuck in here for four days?”

She stood and paced .   ”Oh my god oh my god oh my god!”  She had her arms crossed over her chest feeling as if she’d hyperventilate.  She walked up to him within inches.  ”What does it say?”  She screamed it at him.

” Når blod er udgydt på døren, skal ved månelyset valkyrien ind at styre tabte til deres destinationer indtil Ragnarok. De skal komme med fuldmånen i Samhein for at de ikke begge være tabt for evigt. En anden Valkyrie skal åbne døren for Valkyrie at vende tilbage til menneskenes verden.”

She tried to make out the words.  ”the blood upon the door, from the maiden Valkyrie, in the moonlight enters.  Leading warriors to Ragnarok. No.  Leading to destination until Ragnarok. Something about the full moon before Samhein – or they are lost. A second Valkyrie must come to return to men.”  she stared blankly at the man.

He shook his head. ”dim”

She punched him square in the chest. ” I am NOT dim.  You arrogant jerk!”  she walked a few steps down the corridor.  ”Right.  So we’re trapped here until a Valkyrie comes to rescue us.  Great!  My life depends on a legend.  Wonderful.”

She kicked a rock down the tunnel, hearing it skip several times in the dark tunnel.  A terrible thought occurred to her.  She walked back and grabbed his arm, practically grabbing him behind her.  She rushed  to the North wall an pointed.  ”Read it!”

” ikke dæmpes, kan bare ikke læse”

”Oh, I can read buster, just not ancient Danish runes.”

His eyebrow shot up. ” Det er ikke gammel, det er vores sprog.”

”What do you mean, OUR language?”  She stood with a scowl on her face, arms crossed.  ”Read it.”

”Jeg kan acceptere dim når så beautful.”  He leaned over and kissed her lightly.

”You think I’m beautiful  but dim.  Great.  Well thanks for the beautiful part.”

He flashed her a brilliant smile.   If he shaved he would be a good looking man.  And if he bathed.

” Dette er dør til Nefflheim. Hvis du finder det åbent, er Valkyrie ikke komme efter dig. Velkommen til Nefflheim.”

”Right so basically this is the door to hell.  No Valkyrie for you, welcome to hell.  Let’s pray this door isn’t the one that opens.”

 

                                                *                             *                             *                             *

Scott was frantic.  Another body had been discovered.  The police had been on patrol and somehow the killer managed to evade them and leave another girls body on the same stone.  This one was different though, she’d been bound and gagged, apparently raped then had her throat slit.  The others had their stomachs slashed and their insides ripped out,strewn around them.  Time was growing short for his Helena.  He’d wanted her for so long and now that she was his, she was gone.

He had begun to ask each of the remaining girls in camp a few questions before hitting the big one, were they virgins.  Sadly, most of them were not.  Susan Thornton was, but she was definitely of Indian descent. 

He paced through his tent mumbling.  He thought nothing of the jeep that rolled up outside thinking it was probably another of the police, or Dr. Montgomery.  Either way he didn’t care. 

”Hello, are you Scott?”

He turned to find an attractive young girl in braids standing with the tent flaps open.  ”Joe over at the mess tent told me to come see Scott about my sister.”

”Um,  which one is your sister?” He nervously combed his fingers through is hair.  Explaining a brutal murder to someone wasn’t in his plans for the day. 

”Helena?”

Scott stood perfectly still.  ”Brittany?”

”Um, yes, how did you know my name?”

Scott ran to her and hugged her tight.  ”I know exactly where Helena is.”  He took her bags and tossed them on his cot.  ”Let’s go.”

He stopped at Brad’s tent and filled him in. They climbed into the jeep, and headed for the dig.  Brittany chattered the entire time about how Helena had invited her to visit, to see if she wanted to follow her big sisters foot steps.  She told about the flight over, and the long wait in town for a taxi when Helena was suppose to pick her up. 

Scott turned the jeep off.  ”If I’d known I’d have come to get you. Helena has been, well she’s been busy at the site. ”

It was fifteen minutes to midnight of Samhein.  There was no time to waste.  He practically drug her down the tunnel, Brad fast on their heels.  When they reached the stone wall, Scott looked up to see that the moonlight was filtering in.  The brightness of the full moon gave them plenty of light albeit a creepy blue light.  ”Helena is just on the other side of this door.  Ready?”

”Sure.”

She barely got the words out of her mouth when Brad grabbed her hand and sliced across her palm with his pocket knife.  As Brittany inhaled, her eyes growing large with the shock, Scott grabbed the same hand and slapped it against the stone.  The stone vanished revealing Helena and her Viking friend. They both rushed out, Helena straight into Scott's arms and the Viking falling on Brittany.

” Priset være Odin. Guderne foretrækker mig!”  The viking kissed Brittany hard on the lips, lifting her off the ground and twirling her around.  (Praise to Odin, the gods favor me!)

”Scott grabbed Helena, kissing her firmly.  ”Helena.”  He kissed her again. ”I thought I’d lost you.”  He hugged her tightly, then kissed her deeply, passionately.

After an awkward length of time, Brad cleared his throat interrupting the two couples. 

Brittany blushed as the Viking set her on her feet.  ”Um, hi.”  She looked down  embarrassed that she had been kissing the stranger.

”Brittany meet Yani,  Yani Brittany.” She then stepped closer to her Viking friend.  She leaned in close to his face with a stern expression.  ”She is my sister, not a Valkyrie.”

Yani chuckled, his arm around Brittany and tossed his head in Helena’s direction.  ”Dim”

 

                                                *                             *                             *                             *

The police captured the killer as he tried to sacrifice the fourth girl.  It turned out to be Dr. Sheffield, the Danish professor that originally coordinated the dig.  He had spent a life time researching the site, gathering all information about the dig and the stones  related to the site. 

Yani had been trapped in the in between for nearly 400 years, but hadn’t aged in that magical ”nether” place.  When Scott and Brad had helped him clean up, shower and shave he was an attractive man that was determined to be with Brittany.  In his things was a purse filled with ancient coins.  When he sold them to the museum of Denmark, it set him up with a small fortune.  He then hired  Brad and Scott to tutor him in modern English, and modern ways.

The following year Scott and Helena were married in a dual ceremony with Brittany and Yani.  The site was a huge success, revealing intricate tunnels  underground thanks to Brittany having opened the door.  As a wedding gift to his sister in law, Yani presented Helena with a map.  It was written in runic language.

”Read it please.”  Helena told him.

He read to her in Danish then offered, ”It is map to Atlantis.”

Her eyes grew large, her archaeological interest now piqued.  She grabbed it from his hands.

He chuckled, twirling Brittany around then tossed his head in Helena’s direction again.  ”Dim”