The Age of Odin - James Lovegrove [20]
The other eye shone brightly enough for two, however. It was grey like the North Sea, and there was intelligence in it. The deep, sad kind. Wisdom. I had the feeling that eye had been looking at me a long while, and I imagine that that was how it looked at everything. Steadily, for a long while. With care.
"Good evening," the old man said.
"Yeah, is it? I try to keep track, but..." Outside the window it was dark and snowy. For a change.
"You are on the mend?"
"Getting there. Things are sore, but I feel like I've been fixed up well."
"You have. My wife is an excellent nursemaid and a gifted healer."
"Frigga." The corners of my mouth twitched, but that was all.
He nodded. "She tells me you came in with quite a litany of woes. Three cracked ribs. A dislocated shoulder. A cut to the head. A torn Achilles tendon. And of course that chewed and broken wrist."
"I was going for the record. World's most beaten-up man."
"You're lucky to be alive."
"I know."
"Had the Valkyries not found you when they did..."
"The who?"
"Valkyries."
"The three snowmobile birds? That's their name? What, are they in some kind of band or something?"
"You're surely familiar with the term Valkyrie."
I racked my brains. "There's that boring Tom Cruise movie. Oh, and a piece of music, isn't there? The one in Apocalypse Now. When the helicopters come. Wagner, 'Ride Of The Valkyries.' Dah dah-dah Dah dah, dah dah-dah Dah dah..."
"Indeed."
"They took their name from that?"
He didn't answer, only grinned. There was something about it, that grin. Something I didn't entirely warm to. Reminded me of the wolves. Yeah, that was it. Definitely a wolfish look about it.
"Tell me," he said, "you were searching for us, were you not? You and your companion."
"If this is Asgard Hall..."
"It is."
"And the Valhalla Mission..."
"It is."
"Then yes, we were."
"It was an effort to get here."
I flashed him a stating-the-bleeding-obvious smile.
"I'm sorry that it was," he went on. "It does seem that many of you have to suffer in order to fetch up on our doorstep, and a few don't make it at all. Wolves in the forest are a perennial problem, of course, but there are worse things."
"Really? Such as?"
"You'd laugh if I told you, so I won't."
"No, go on."
"I could mention the word trolls."
I laughed.
"See?" he said with a shrug. "I'd have been better off keeping my mouth shut. My name's Odin, by the way. Odin Borrson."
"Gideon Coxall."
"Pleasure to meet you, Gideon."
"I prefer Gid. Less of a mouthful."
"Gid," he said, musingly. "Almost 'God' but not quite. Missed it by a vowel."
"Never thought of it that way."
"Whereas I am forever prone to spotting such things. Perhaps over-prone. Looking for patterns and connections and concordances which may or may not exist. It's a failing of mine. A burden."
He slapped his thighs and stood.
"Well, I shan't take up any more of your time, Gid," he said. "I just thought I'd drop by and make my number with you. I try and see all the new arrivals as soon as I can. We'll talk further when you're more rested and recovered. There's much to show you, much to explain. But in the meantime, anything you require? Anything that might make your life easier?"
"Any way I can phone my ex, just to let her and my kid know I'm all right?"
"No phones. Not here."
"Oh. How about internet, then? I could drop them an email."
"Ha. Such things are... not possible at Asgard Hall. We lack the necessary sophistication."
"Broadband not reached here yet?"
"Something like that. If you're bored, I could arrange for someone to bring you something to read if you wish."
"I'm not much of a reader."
"A book does help pass the time."
"Really, not much of a reader. Last time I opened a book was at school. Great Expectations. It didn't live up to them. Oh, and David Copperfield. I was expecting a bit more magic in it than there was. He didn't even make the Statue of Liberty disappear once. The only thing I can