Iduna (12 page)

Freya clutched the dagger in her fist. She sat in the front of the boat and glared at her captive as he sat in the stern. His hand was on the tiller, and he would tug at the mainsheet sporadically, trying to coax some air into the mainsail. It was useless. There was no wind, and they'd been stuck in the doldrums for hours. Freya knew nothing about sailing, and that just added to her frustration. She hadn’t felt like herself in days.

Her anger grew until it slithered inside her like a feral beast. She crawled toward him, ducking under the boom and slinking up his chest. The dagger gleamed as she brought the point under his chin.

“If we don't get to Okeenos soon, I will slit your throat and watch you die.”

“There's no … no … no wind,” he said.

“What's your name?”

“Minh.”

“Do you want to live, Minh?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Then get me to Okeenos”—with a flick of the knife, she slashed his earlobe—“now.”

He abandoned the tiller and scampered over to the starboard bench, blood dripping from his ear. Lifting up the bench, he removed a paddle. Leaning over the side, he began paddling awkwardly. He looked up at the sun and back at her over his shoulder.

Her lips compressed into a thin satisfied smile that chilled.

He kept paddling.

Iduna let Kai take her down a dry dirt path to a small building on the outskirts of the Okeeno village. They walked in silence.

A bright-green beetle caught her attention. Its shell reflected a subtle rainbow of colors. She’d never seen anything like it, and, in spite of everything, she had to admit that Okeenos was a surprising delight. The foliage was lush and the air was heavy with a wet heat that seemed to wrap around her and sooth. She kept encountering animals and plants that reminded her she was somewhere completely new. As the beetle ascended the side of the sloped path behind them, they climbed the stairs to what must be Akio's porch, and Kai knocked on the door.

“Just come in,” called a voice.

The interior was dim, but she could make out a man sitting inside, reading a book, with a white ball of fur on his lap. He was barefoot, toes twiddling, with a narrow face sporting busy sideburns and a head full of wavy brown hair. He looked familiar to her. He wore suspenders and a short-sleeve shirt and bifocals. The white and fluffy critter on his lap reached out with a long paw, stretching and asking for attention all at once.

The animal looked like a drunkit. She’d read about them but had never seen one before. The man rubbed his palm between the animal’s large round white ears, smooshing them down and causing the drunkit to wrinkle its brow in burrowing contentment.

The inside of the shack was full of stacks of books and elaborate metal-and-wood contraptions. Iduna began investigating the gadgets, roaming around the room with absent attention. Kai bowed slightly.

“Good morning, Akio,” Kai said.

“Is it already?” Akio replied.

Kai exhaled in mild exasperation. “This is Iduna, and she's here for the final stage of training.”

“And how were her previous stages of training?”

“We don't have time. She'll have to try it as she is.” Kai braced himself to defend his position.

“Okay. You may go.” Akio waved Kai out.

Surprised, Kai left quickly before Akio could change his mind.

“Come here, child.”

She approached him easily, his bare feet and lighthearted manner putting her at ease. He seemed such a likeable fellow. Looking into his clear and piercing green eyes, Iduna’s senses sharpened as a primitive part of her realized the challenge he would pose.

“Ah, that's better.” He tossed her what seemed to be a clanking mass of entwined metal bars. She looked at the contraption, then back at the odd man.

“Tell me about yourself,” he said.

Frustration buzzed through her. How many people would she have to talk to? Why don't they just help her? Chastising herself for her impatience, one of the dreaded Impulsives, she took a deep breath. She jostled the object between her hands absently.

“I'm Iduna.” She went on to explain where she was from, her rank, the situation on the mainland, and that she needed the Okeeno help. She needed to learn about magic that drew on emotion.

“It looks like you don't need any help.” Akio pointed to the object in her hands which she'd unconsciously arranged into the shape of a sailboat.

Surprised and belligerent, she said, “This is a toy. I must kill Vilir, a fierce warrior and leader of a massive horde of people from my fatherland, who wields enough power, which I don't even begin to understand, to open a pit of sadness within me and everyone in his vicinity. I don't think this toy is going to fix anything.”

“It's not the toy, it's the mind behind it,” Akio said.

“If it's the mind, then how can I use this brain of mine to save my friends, if they're even still alive? Can it be undone? Has Vilir permanently damaged his followers and the ones he conquers? How long will it take?” Her voice rose with each question until this last one, which came as a husky whisper, “Are the people he’s touched damaged forever?”

“You ask a lot of questions. I'm sorry, young one. I cannot answer them for you.”

“Cannot or will not?”

“I do not know. However, I can take you to the next step to see if you can discover the answers for yourself.” He paused to walk around the room with the little drunkit weaving around his legs, its round ears twitching.

“It will cost you,” he admitted.

“I have no money,” she said.

“That's fine, though really poor planning on your part. A young woman should always have her finances in order.”

“I have resources. That's enough for me. If you want money, I can get it for you.”

“Good to hear,” Akio agreed. “Back to the matter at hand. The last stage of Okeeno training is on the smallest island in our chain called Chieshima. You will go to Chieshima and learn from your foe or die.”

“Die? Great. Who's my foe?”

He shrugged. “I do not know.” He flipped a metal ball that dangled and set a group of interlocking spheres whirring.

She cocked an eyebrow, lowering the other in an expression of amused, sarcastic contemplation. “What am I supposed to learn from my foe?” If at least she knew more, then she could start thinking ahead of time and have a better chance of success.

“I don't know.” Akio continued to shuffle around the room checking on his various contraptions. The drunkit skirted away from a gyrating propeller.

Iduna watched him wander, arguing with himself, and she was amazed that he didn't give more of his attention to helping her. Did the man actually know anything? “So, this is what every Okeeno person does? Goes to some island, learns or dies?”

“Isn't that what you do?” Akio asked.

“Absolutely not. We learn in schools and die when we're old.”

“No, I don't think so.” Akio hummed to himself.

“You look familiar,” she said.

“Yes?”

“I know now. You look like Senbo, the man who serves as Vilir’s advisor. Who is he to you?” Her questions gathered steam as the potential consequences ran through her head. “Is he working for you?”

“This is interesting. I don’t know anyone by the name of Senbo. I can promise you that I have nothing to do with this man Vilir. We’ll have to think about this.” With a little nod, as if it were all settled, he continued to wander and tinker with his gadgets.

Kai knocked on the door and announced it was time to go. She looked from one man to the other. She couldn’t go like this. She needed to know more.

“Kai, we are not done.” She pointed to Akio. “He hasn’t told me anything useful, and, since apparently death is an option here, he’s going to tell me more.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Kai said.

“Says who? It’s insanity not to give more guidance!”

Akio chuckled and petted his little animal. The creature jumped from his hand and onto a lever, springing from part of what was now clearly a larger device. The abstract parts spun and dropped, changing position until they settled in a vibrating pattern.

To her amazement, the objects had created a metallic multidimensional image of a dragon flying through the air and landing on the top of a mountain peak. The dragon inhaled, spread its wings, and spewed fire. The image was in frightening detail, and it was hard to believe it was all bits and bobbles of metal.

The dragon repeated its pattern three times. Iduna was transfixed. After the second time, she moved around the room to get a different vantage point. She could see between the chinks of metal. The movement and multidimensional effects were dizzying. There were many moving parts, and each was fascinating in and of itself.

The drunkit popped out of the dragon’s mouth on the last poof of metallic fire. It leaped unscorched to a shelf, then back onto Akio’s shoulder.

“You’re getting too big for that,” Akio said as he stroked the animal whose small frame outsized his narrow shoulder. “And there you go. Have a good trip.” With those words, he wandered off to the kitchen.

Shaking herself and looking blindly at Kai, her mind whirred. The sight of the mechanized dragon had been stunning. Akio seemed to be saying that it should have told her what she needed to know. She definitely didn’t get it. She moved to follow Akio, and Kai stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“But I need to know more!” she said.

“Akio has shown you what every other Okeeno trainee sees before journeying to Chieshima. He will show no more,” Kai said.

“Why? It’s insane. I need guidance. Doesn’t he have any instruction books, training manuals? Maybe there’s something I can read about this.”

Kai’s lips thinned and he looked torn between humor and sympathy. “There is no book to prepare you for Chieshima. Books can’t get you through the training.”

“But books are how people learn. It’s how you hand information across generations. They can explain difficult concepts and enable people to memorize complicated steps that need to be followed.” Her voice was rising, and, when she saw the unresponsive look on his face, she became more frantic. “Just give me a book. I’ll figure it out myself!”

Now he did laugh. “Iduna, Iduna, calm down.”

“I can’t. I need to figure this out, and none of you are helping.” She picked up the contraption she’d been manipulating earlier. “This is a toy, and that was a fantastic illusion. I’m supposed to learn or die, and this is what I have to work with? If this is what you all go through, I’m surprised you’re not all dead.”

“Do you still want to go?” Kai asked.

She let out a lungful of anxiety and angst in a propulsive whoosh. If this were her chance to counter Vilir’s power and heal herself and others, then she’d take it. She put her palm to her chest absently, rubbing the spot of hollowness.

“Yes.”

Kai walked Iduna down to the sandy shore at dawn. There were no clouds in the young silver sky. The waves were breaking far out at the reef line, and only small ripples arrived on the beach. She took off her sandals and walked to the waterline to stand at the edge. Her toes were tickled by the water and sank deeper into the sand. She looked out to the horizon, seemingly ignoring the gear on the beach: a change of clothes, boots, backpack, and sailing rig.

Kai watched her for a minute, then came to stand next to her in silence. There wasn't anything he could say.

He let some time pass to allow the questions to settle in her mind. He had been here before. Some things were the same, but it was different for everyone. He knew the stakes, both for others and Iduna. He'd really hoped her training would be with a smaller, less dangerous creature. He remembered the boy who's fate had been the bunny. Though the boy would argue that its gnawing had been a real challenge and the lesson was hard, regardless of the type of animal, it was nothing like a dragon. He sighed. He cared about the people of Gaelen and needed her to be successful. He knew the rules of Okeeno training. His hands were tied in so many ways.

He pulled out a map.

She glanced at him sharply, clearly not finished with wanting more written material.

“If you head northeast, you'll hit Chieshima.”

He refolded the map and put it in his pocket.

She knelt down to pick up a shell that had surfaced as the water churned the sand under her toes. It was flat with spirals.

Not looking back, she dropped the shell and stepped to the gear. She changed clothes on the beach, brazen and uncaring, then stepped to the sailing rig. Pua wouldn't be steering this time. Iduna dragged it into the water and hopped on. She weaved back and forth for a while before setting course for the training site of Chieshima

Kai stayed on the shore and sighed again. It might be the last time anyone saw her, and he felt compelled to watch her disappear over the horizon. A gust hit her rig. He saw her ease out and surge forward, skipping over the ocean.