"The Raft"

“Gee I never thought It’d work,” Sigurd said as he watched the floating fire die out.

“It was something he had mentioned,” Calder said as he wiped his brow on his fur sleeve.

“Looks like we gave it to him.” Sigurd finally took off his boots to let them dry next to the fire.

“Ya, he told me if you don’t have a boat to put me in, then make a raft.” 

“At least we know he was claimed by a Valkyrie.”

“That will be one thing I can tell Ava that will help her cope,” Calder said in a crackly voice. “ Me and my wife will give her the support she needs. She is a strong woman and will bounce back soon.”

“What a looker she was,” Geir said as he sat up. “That blonde hair and her battle gear, the way she jumped off her flying horse and beheaded those beasts. I’m in love with that.”

“You’re in love with anything,” Calder said with a painful laugh.

“I’ll never forget that instant I looked into her eyes. She might have only said ‘you’re not dead yet and get down, but her eyes said so much; I saw everything; that Carl was in goods hands, and that’s the way things have to be.”

“All that in a short moment?”

“Yes; It was all so sad, but so beautiful.”

“Sounds like she got to you. You know what they say: ‘That no man can resist the charm of a Valkyri —‘”

“…While few Dare raise a fist.’” Geir broke in. 

“It wasn’t just about beauty and strength.” Sigurd looked out at the moon reflecting next to the glowing raft. “I also saw knowledge and wisdom, peace and harmony. I believe what I saw, was Love.”

“And you’re saying she didn’t get to you?”

“I admit that. I mean more than love for a woman; more than love for your family, but the Love of everything. That anyone can become like this. Not really like her but, like this — I don’t know.”

“Sometimes I can see it in my wife’s eye.”

“You are lucky to find such a wholesome woman. How’d she fall for such a big ugly brute like you?”

“Find your match,” Calder said raising the mood. “I’m not scared of any man, but a woman can scare the hell at of me — especially mine. They are most unpredictable.”

“So when I meet a woman that can kick my ass, I’ll know I’ve found her,” Sigurd said as he paused. “Do you think Carl’s in a better place?”

“I don’t know.”

“Me neither, I wish I could say that I DO Know. These are things we’ve been told to believe when nobody I know has been there and back. And the Valkyries, Yes they are awesome, but does anyone know where they’ll take you if you get reaped? Maybe they enslave and torture —“

“That wouldn’t be so bad.” Geir sat up as they dis him off.

“I don’t know anyone close who’s claimed to’ve been to Asgard — only stories.”

“Exactly, I don’t want to believe or have faith when I die in battle, I want to go to Asgard; I wanna Know what happens; I wanna ride on the back of a winged horse over Asgard and come back.”

“Sounds like fun,” Calder said yawning. “I suppose it’s possible to know things by experience. You know who we know, who annoys me sometimes.”

“Sorry to keep you up. I can talk to myself all night; It’s just the way I’ve always bee —“

“You like talking to yourself? No, I know what you mean. You get an idea before bed and your mind keeps you up.”

“Ya, I’ve lost tons of sleep because of that. I get a thought in my head something like: ‘what makes me, me and you, you?’ You are Calder, and you are a large strong warrior; but that is your name and your size, and what you do; it is not Who You Ar —“

“Are you guys gonna talk all night?” Geir turned over. “Oh, I probably won’t get any sleep anyway.”

“If I sleep in, could you feed my bird so he doesn’t go off? This time not on my chest.” Sigurd said smiling.

“Those are good questions to ask and I believe…maybe I can say — I know that if more people asked these questions, there would be less suffering.

“Yes, and we all know suffering is bad.” Sigurd also yawned a bit as he laid back looking at the moon. “If we could somehow feel, at least in some deep way, what others feel; then maybe we’d not be so eager to fight — even our enemies.”

“When I’m on the battlefield defending our land. I have to know that it’s for the good.” Calder yawned again. “Then I’ll think a something or someone that made me angry. Then make them your enemy —“

“Aww, that’s how you do it, I knew you’re a kind man.”

“…Just don’t tell my wife.”

“I do feel things like when my mother is sick. I have always felt for animals. I hated to have to chop off chicken heads and other things on the farm. I even felt like I can talk to them. ‘Ya, I noticed that.’ Take my Falcon, once when I found him…wait, did I say that out loud? Are you listening?” …His mind grew fuzzy.

First, a warm breeze swept across his face, then he felt a cool sensation under his forearms when he heard a voice: “Just go with it.” He suddenly found himself on the back of a flying white horse over an exotic land, behind a woman with his arms around her breastplate. Her long blonde hair tickled his chest as she turned slightly and smiled; it was her. Not the Valkyrie that had reaped Carl, but the one that had saved him earlier. She pointed to a castle in the distance but did not speak. “Maybe this is where we go when we die? But I did not die, and I know it. “How is this possible? This is not possible unless? unless….” Realizing none of it to be real, he decided to listen to the voice and take it all in.

Lush trees and grassland with lakes, waterfalls, and bountiful wildlife dominated the landscape. Rolling hills and tall snow-capped mountains, along with scattered clouds and a large blue-tinted sun overlooked the heavenly valley. Slightly ahead, a group of winged horses fed on the grasslands as their colts ran around, eagerly trying to fly like their parents. He wondered if the mare he was riding had one of her own; also, how he knew her to be a mare. She then slowed her wings a bit, then nodded back towards him. The Valkyrie he clung to also looked back not saying a word. Elated by the experience of a dream come true — even though it was within one — he knew, and yet it all seemed so real. 

Passing the castle, he could make out what looked like soldiers training. Understanding it to be Valhalla, a sincere sense of pride came to him at the thought of his friend being there. Soon they came upon a monument high on a mountain. A large gold cross surrounded by bluestone marble inlaid on a ledge above the Asgard valley. On each end of the cross was one of four marble bases. On the top stood a statue of a Valkyrie on a winged horse looking out over. One of the side bases had a rotunda while the other had a fountain; the one on the bottom remained empty — which is where they soon landed.

He hopped off as the Valkyrie stayed on still not saying a word. Next, he walked toward the top when he heard someone breathing; it came from the rotunda. Being partly walled he could not make out who, but it looked like a soldier. “Is it Carl?” If so, why was he led to believe he was at the castle? He came around to the doorway and peered in only to find that yes it was a soldier, and it was…it was Him.

Instantly he recoiled at the sight of himself. Then he glanced at the Valkyrie seated on her white mare and quickly regained his courage. He moved slowly up the marble stairs as the breathing got louder—much louder than it should be. There, lying on a chair with eyes closed; getting closer he could hear the heartbeat — much louder than it should be. “What would happen if I woke himself?” He started asking. “Would I see myself? What would I see? What could I learn?” Curiosity had always got him in trouble. “There’s nothing that could happen to me, I’m in a dream? Right? This is not real.” He slowly walked even closer to himself. Now he could hear the heartbeat much louder — much faster. And the breathing — the breathing was unbearable!

He moved up and watched himself poke himself on the chest.

“Dang it Geir! You didn’t need to do that this morning.” Calder yelled as Sigurd’s pet Falcon scooped his breakfast off his chest — waking him up.

“They did it to me again.” He laid there knowing. They did it to him again.