Eric Olafson, Neoviking 07

Chapter 7: Erik Ragnarsson returns to Nilfeheim

The weeks to summer break went by faster than I liked. Mr. Walters came into class this morning and said after we greeted him. “Tomorrow will be your last day of school and you have three month to prepare for the next year. Everyone in class will advance. While your grades and results have much room for improvement, they are satisfactory. Today I want to ask if you know why we keep time the way we do?” He pointed his finger at Yngve.” You will not speak.”

Since Mr. Walters gave positive marks for active responses and I had vowed to myself to improve my grades, I got up.” Union school and most union worlds keep to a universal schedule and summer break has nothing to do with the seasons on Nilfeheim or any other planet.”

Walters went through his usual motions and pulled his PDD.” I give you a positive mark for attempt, and you are quite correct, but that is not what I asked. I asked why we do that!” He wagged his finger. “You been brave enough to get up, so remain standing and try again.”

“It’s from the days of the Ascent, when humans left that planet Earth. Our way of keeping time was simply practical because of the human biological clock.”

He nodded and the green light on his PDD indicated he gave me a positive mark.” You may sit down, Eric. It seems no one else and I exclude you Yngve from this statement, never wasted a thought on time keeping.”

Gunnar got up. “That is not true Sir! Just the other day my father explained it to us!”

“Then why don’t you share what your father has explained? Answering my questions and active participation will earn you marks.”

Gunnar clenched his fists and grinned sheepishly.” It’s sort of Yngve’s thing to be the geek.”

“We will talk about that at another time. Now enlighten us!”

“Father said, that during the early years of the Union, all time measurement was based on how time was measured on Earth. A time keeping reform was tried to accommodate all other member species, but back then the few other members didn’t care one way or the other and even the most primitive Computronic had no problem converting Earth time in whatever local time. Long story short the entire Union, Non humanoid and humanoid cultures alike now kept Earth time.”

Walters took acted as if he was hit by an invisible fist.” Gunnar!” He almost shouted. “You managed to surprise me and gave a great answer! I will raise your grade an entire point” To the rest of the class Walters said. “Gunnar or more so his father was quite correct and we pretty much still keep Earth time. Surprisingly the Ult have adopted this time keeping system and introduced a bill to make it the official time of the Union and it passed through the assembly with over 90 per cent approval.”

A calendar appeared behind him and he said.” Of course the Universal Time keeping has been modified from the original Earth time. All month have the same length. Before the time reform of 3044 month and years were directly linked to Earth’s orbit around its sun called Sol. Most Terran settled worlds like Nilfeheim counting the years after some religious leader’s birth and we reached the year 5012. The Official Union year is 2802 and it counts the years since the Ult, the Sarans, the Pan Sarans and the Terrans came together to become the United Stars of the Galaxy.”

He looked at one of the students behind me behind me and said.” Mr. Bergeson, you have a question?”

Alvar Bergeson was perhaps the quietest of us all. If he had spoken more than hundred words all year it would have surprised me. “That religious leader was that Thor?”

“You Snapper-skull! “ Lif Lindholm who sat next to Alvar blurted.” Thor is a god and not a religious leader!”

“Mr Lindholm!” Walters scolded Lif and said to Alvar. “Why don’t you research that yourself? As a teacher Union school I am not allowed to talk about any religious matters other than cultural impact and influence on society, but it might come to a surprise to some that Thursday was named after Thor and Friday after Freya.”

Walters smiled and let us actually cheer on that one before he became his serious self again and motioned us to settle down, then he asked. “What are you going to do during summer break?” He clasped his hands behind his back walked down the middle isle and stopped right behind me.” Mr Bergeson how about you?”

“I am going to work at our Nubhir farm as every summer and every day I am not in school.” Alvar sighed. “I for one can’t wait till school starts again. Nubhir farming for our clan is profitable and our family business but sometimes I wish we would invest in a few S-10 robots. I don’t see the damage to traditions a few robots would do.”

“That, Mr. Bergeson is a question I cannot answer. What is it you don’t like about Nubhir Farming?”

“You sure are an Off-Worlder for sure, Mr Walters. Nubhir poop and they poop a lot and if you don’t feed and wash them you clean out their poop.”

As if Mr Walters hit a button and released a flood. Alvar kept on talking about Nubhir farming, their diseases, fur and meat quality and pretty much everything anyone ever wanted to know about it and Walters leaned back and let him talk without interrupting. Finally however Alvar did find an end and sat down. He seemed surprised about himself and somehow he looked pleased.

Our teacher actually padded his shoulder. “This was an excellent oral report on Nubhir farming. I give you five marks for it!”

He then turned to Sigvard. “How about you? What are you doing during Summer Break?”

“I am going to appear before the Council and will have to fight Annar. Only one of us will return next year to this Off World school of yours and it is going to be me!”

“I see!” Walters glanced over to Annar and said.” No need to ask you then what you will do.” He walked all the way to the back of the class and Ike told him he would go fishing with his family and that he looked forward to it.

Torkel Cederstrom said he would visit his Grandparents in Isen Landsby, the Nilfeheim town built on top of the ice pole in the south. He got similar answers from most then he came to Yngve who could barely keep his proud grin of his face. “I am going off planet! I am going with my father to Stafford Planet!”

“I expect you to tell us all about it when you come back.” Finally he turned to me and said. “I know where you are going Mr. Olafson, but I am as your friend so eloquently pointed out an Off-Worlder. What are the Halls of Hasvik and who are the Faceless Seven?”

I rose and said.” The Halls of Hasvik are a burg like structure built when Nilfeheim was first settled by Lars Erikson and a small group of men who adhered more stringently to the rules and Traditions of the Church of Odin. It was the first thing stead of this planet were the first Elders met and worshiped the Gods.”

Gunnar added. “It was abandoned and replaced by the new thing stead we have now in Halstaad Fjord. As it was deemed too cold even during Short summer.”

Walters glared at Gunnar.” I appreciate your participation and I welcome your willingness to speak but you need to get up and thus indicate that you want to speak!”

“Yes, Mr. Walters!”

The teacher turned back to me.” Who are the seven Faceless?”

I shrugged. “No one knows who they are, no one has seen one outside the Halls of Hasvik and they do not participate in anything.”

The chime that announced the end of the morning class interrupted him before he could comment and he raised his hands. “We start punctual and on time, so as always we will end it on time. Class dismissed!”

I was surprised to see Harkun my father’s man servant standing outside the school yard next to the large black Volvo. My first thought was that father was here and an invisible fist of ice cramped around my heart and I felt sick to the stomach.

To describe Harkun all you would have to say is gray. His hair was thin and shaggy and had the color of dull ash. Even his skin somehow looked gray; perhaps it came from the dark grey leather over coat and the lighter gray linen suit beneath. His nose often reminded me of a Tyranno Butchers hook and I was certain it was almost as sharp. His eyelids always seemed closed three quarters of the way and due to his thin tall stature he managed to look at everything and anybody with an arrogant displeasing fashion. The only person he did not do that was father. Harkun did not speak about private things or matters, at least to me and there was no one in the clan who ever questioned his utmost devotion to my father.

In his down the nose fashion he looked at me and said.” Your father sends the family flier as your Grandfather is here and wants to see you!”

Harkun managed to say this as if he was utmost displeased to be sent on this errand.

Sometimes I wished I could tell him were to stick his hook nose, but not now. Grandfather was here in person and I really looked forward to see him.

After we landed right in the main yard another thing was immediately evident. Not the dark red Olafson flags with the yellow Wolf heads were furling in the wind, but the black Ragnarsson banner with the silver falcon head. Only the oldest clans used heraldic symbols associated with our Earth heritage.

The servants and clan members that were here now wore their festive garments and either Olafson red or Ragnarsson black. There were many more black than red.

In the yard stood two gigantic figures both decked out in their finest. My father and an even bigger man, the biggest man I knew also wearing red. Hogun fathers brother and my godfather. Both of them approached the flier after it landed and I stepped out.

Father waved Harkun away after we climbed out of the flier.” Leave us!”

From the corner of my eye I saw my step mother standing in the window of her drawing room watching us.

Fathers hand grabbed his whip and it uncoiled, the tip of it falling to the Duro-Crete stone ground and he said. “Your Grandfather is here. If you so much as open your mouth without my permission while he is here I will break every bone and use glowing irons to burn your tongue, do you understand?”

I smiled at him. “You better kill me right here and now father for I will tell him what happened to mother that night! I remember every detail of it! This time he is not a powerless shadow. This time he is here!”

Father howled and smashed his fist into my face sending me back against the parked flier. Before I even slid to the ground his whip snapped across my face and the pain of his fist blow was replaced by the burning pain of the cut. Through my daze I heard him. “You insolent whelp, I will teach you respect and obedience!”

I fully expected the next blow but it never came. Hogun held fathers arm with ease and with his bottom of the barrel voice. “I am Olafson but I stand against you before the Elders. I held my tongue for way too long.”

Father was about to strike his brother, but he knew he would lose that fight and said. “You are the second born and not the voice of Olafson. You are no longer welcome at my burg!”

“It is not your burg yet!” A new commanding voice said! My grandfather appeared from the main entrance to the Main building and the state rooms and strode with large steps towards us, his hand on his sword, half drawn and he said. “Isegrim Olafson raise your cowardly whip against me, I dare you!”

Father actually dropped his whip and stepped back. The expression of fear in my father’s face was more soothing to my pain than anything the doctor or the nurse could have administered.

I got up, trying to ignore my spinning head and my blurred eye sight. Burning pain made my face feel ten times bigger than it was.

Grandfather looked at me.” It grieves me more than I can express to see you like this!”

Hogun said with urgency in his voice.” Patriarch let me take Eric to the still room. He is losing a lot of blood!”

“Yes Hogun. I shall deal with matters here.”

Hogun scooped me of my wobbly feet like a weightless toy.

The doctor sighed as he was done. “You should consider divorcing your parents as soon as you can. I am sure I can get you a ticket on a space bus to Holstein, there is a federal court. The Union has programs available!”

Hogun stood in the back of the still room his arms crossed before his massive chest. The doctor was no small man but he appeared like a child next to my uncle and his bare underarms were thicker than the doctor’s thighs. “I would take care of my nephew and he could stay with me at the Inn but our traditions don’t allow me to interfere.” Hogun spread his arms. “He is my older brother and on Nilfeheim anyone born after the Firstborn son has little to say in family or clan affairs!”

“I am well aware of Nilfeheim traditions.” The doctor responded, while he removed the Derma Patcher from my face.” There are only fourteen doctors on a world of millions of savage Neo Vikings, and I am one of them for over forty years now, but I stitched and treated this twelve year old boy more than almost everyone and almost always for horrible wounds caused by that cursed whip of his own father!”

“Well his Grandfather is here today and I have never seen the Old Patriarch as furious as he was just now. I would be surprised if he leaves enough of my brother for you to patch up., but those are family matters and should not be discussed with an Outsider.”

“Let us hope for the boy’s sake you are right. I would love to get this sadist on my table just once. I’d stitch him back together the ancient way and all traditional with needle catgut and no anesthesia.”

Hogun grinned.” I am not sure what you meant exactly but it sounds real good to me!”

The doctor looked at me and smiled but was still talking to Uncle Hogun. “I can fix the physical wounds easily enough but I tell you if that keeps going on, Eric will need serious psycho surgery to fix its mental damage and I hate Psycho Surgery!” He then shut off his field screen and this time addressed me. “Blood refilled, skin patched, teeth fixed and a general maintenance tune up in the vitamin and mineral department. You’re as fit as a horse again!”

“I think the Hesten clan has a horse in their crest.” I said.” It is a sort of beast is it not? But I am not sure why I am supposed to be as fit as one?”

He waved me off with a smile. “It is a very old Earth expression and where I come from horses are part of our culture and heritage.”

He looked past me and perhaps past Nilfeheim “I think it’s time I think of retirement and go home to Kentucky. I haven’t seen a horse in ages.”

The doctor said to Hogun.” I am at the Inn later today!” Then the Doctor shimmered out and Hogun turned off the GalNet terminal and closed the cabinet where it was hidden when not needed. Then he gathered the Derma Patcher and the other things the doctor had used, Uncle Hogun was always a very tidy and orderly minded person and put them away in the medical cabinet and said.” We better go back and face whatever happened.”

He looked around. “Since no one else is here It could be deducted no one got wounded. Are you ready?”

I nodded. “Yes Uncle Hogun and I would really like to live with you and Aunt Helga. Thank you for thinking it!”

He smiled at me and it was a warm smile I knew even as his mouth was mostly hidden by his enormous beard. Uncle Hogun’s smiles always reached his eyes.

The Grand hall of the Burg was an impressive room with a very high ceiling, massive chandeliers made out of the fish bones of Tyrannos. There was a long dark table with 40 upholstered chairs on each of the long sides. The hewn rock walls half up hidden behind incredible expensive real wood paneling. The lavish use of natural woods one of the most expensive materials and nowhere to be found on Nilfeheim gave witness of the age old affluence of the Ragnarsson clan.

Beyond the big table was a short flight of wide stairs only two steps up but as wide as the hall and leading into the Great Chamber, the biggest fire place in the entire burg was here and by decree of the first clan chief that raised this burg, there was always a fire burning, usually large pressed cubes of Seaweed but today to honor the return of the Burgs lord long blocks of soak stones drenched with Tyranno oil flickered with dark orange flames and filled the air with a very distinctive scent. Grandfather sat in one of the high backed leather seats by the fire. Father stood next to the chimney and both had sinister

expressions. No servants or other household member was there. Since mother died I was not allowed to be here.

I instinctively looked towards the well concealed crack in the paneling, behind it the secret passage way leading to the undercroft and basements. I was almost certain I saw something move behind it.

Grandfather smiled as he saw me. “Eric my Grandson approach and sit with me. We are discussing clan business and traditions!” He then waved at Hogun. “What I have to say involves you as well so honor me with your presence.”

“What honor could an Inn Keeper offer?” Father snorted looking at his own brother.

“Honor is a state earned and bestowed upon by peers and not a commodity you attain by gaining rank and title!” Grandfather said. Then he pointed with his gloved hand to the chair next to him. “Sit down Eric!”

I expected to find my father lying in his blood or thrown out of the burg but not this tense but otherwise calm scenario.

Grandfather straightened in his seat and his hands cramped around the ends of the armrests making a gnarling sound. “Isegrim I know what happened to my daughter. I know you have beaten her to death, because you lusted after a worthless wench that is nothing but Nubhir hide cleaner’s daughter!” He said that locking directly towards the small crack in the paneling.

We all heard the outraged hiss from behind the wall.

“I know you treat your own son like an outcast because he has seen your deed and you sired a bastard of no significance with that wench who is now listening to man’s business behind the walls!”

Grandfather got up and yelled. “Greifen, Harkur! Release the Nubhir wolfs and let the beasts into the basement and the walls. Anyone that comes out the old passageway other than the wolfs you cut up for bait!”

A part of the wooden paneling swung open with a creaking sound and Gretel Hemstaad in a red dress stumbled into the room. Her cheeks flaming red and her fat face outraged.” I am the Lady of...”

“Silence your wench or I shall deal with her the traditional way for spying on clan business!”

Grandfather’s hand fell on the hilt of his sword and Father actually uncoiled his whip and roared. “Leave now and be silent. I will deal with your insolence later!”

She sobbed, bit her lower lip and left with a rustle of dress.

Grandfather sat back down.His tone of voice was matter of fact and vibrated with great authority. “Nothing happens within these walls without me knowing it! This is still the Ragnarsson Home!

As a father I would like to kill you, take my revenge on you. As Union citizen I want to simply have you arrested and hung for murder. To see you twitch and kick on a nice rough length of rope I would give all my wealth and my right arm!

“But I am also the last of the Ragnarsson clan and I am an Elder. We do not call the Off-Worlders and we stay true to our laws and the traditions. My beloved wife could not give me a son before she died and Eric is the last that carries Ragnarsson blood. When you married my daughter, I was content that the Ragnarsson clan would cease and continue in the Olafson clan. Your clan is of the old lineage and I looked forward to the merging of our families. Instead of traditions and old lines I should have listened to my daughter”

He sighed deeply and continued.” I am also an Elder and by most sacred oaths I took and by my very honor must uphold our traditions.

While it is without honor to beat a woman to death and you are guilty of murder by the laws of the Union there are no ancient laws of this world that you have broken.

You are by the same traditions the father of Eric and nothing in the Old book can change that. I made Eric the sole heir of all that is Ragnarsson. This very burg, the farms and ranches. The boats, ships and submarines. Every mine, stocks and every credit in every account will be his the day he turns sixteen! You were there Isegrim as I made this vow on the crib of my newborn Grandson and no Ragnarsson has ever backed out of a vow and I shall not be the first one.”

He paused and looked at me. “Eric I am an old fool. I was full of love, hope and pride when I saw you for the first time. I made a foolish vow, one I regret now very much, but both as a man and a Viking I must see it through even if it kills me inside. I hope one day you understand!”

Father’s face changed to a cold smile.” Indeed I was there when you made that runt of mine your heir and handed me all this on a silver platter!

He laughed.”Yes old fool! I have beaten your daughter, my wife and on many occasions as she did not adhere to our traditions and rebelled often against my will and word, but I do not need to justify to you or anyone on this world why I chose to end her life. She was after all, only a woman! One might say it is your fault not to raise her properly and accepting the rule of man.”

The older man’s face showed deep sorrow and regret.” I have learned that the Vikings of old, the tribe on Earth respected their women and that Leif Erikson the man who founded the Viking movement and led our ancestors to this world knew little about the culture he tried to revive.” He clasped his hands. “Be as it may this is neither there nor here. In the many ages we have made this world our own and the ideas of a small group over the passing of millennia became our sacred traditions. I admit I have put the love of my daughter on occasion above my dedication to our traditions. It is not you who stand judgment over me.”

He took a deep breath to calm himself and he said. “Now hear this as it is my word. I hold you to these traditions you hide behind like the coward you are! Should you fail to punish your wife according to them I shall hear of it? Should you transgress against even the smallest step against anything that is written in the ancient Book I you will no longer be protected by them and I drag you personally before the gates of this burg and tie you to the rocks so the crabs will tear you to death, bit by bit! Do you understand that?”

Grandfather said in such a thundering fashion that father’s face no longer displayed that sickening smile, but open fear again. He nodded.” I do!”

Erik Gustav stared at him with burning eyes. “Be aware that you admitted murder to me! Should you from this day forward step anywhere on Union ground or leave this word you will be arrested and I will have my fondest wish come true!”

Father grunted.” I have no desire to be a slave to the degenerate weak Off-Worlders like you! I a content to be on Nilfeheim and need nothing the outside offers!”

“You are a fool, Isegrim there is strength and power out there far beyond your comprehension, but you know well about the Credits you like to spend and the ales you drink they come from beyond this world.”

Grandfather looked at me again.” By our traditions he is your firstborn and not Lothar. While you have the right to choose anyone as your heir in your home. This is not your home! It is mine and will be his. By our laws the day he completes the ancient challenge he will inherit!”

Father laughed. “That is the day all that is yours will be mine! I am the clan Chief and Eric’s father and he must obey my will! The day after he inherits it will be all mine and there is little you can do!”

“Eric could challenge you! As your rightful firstborn he can challenge you! Then all that is yours will be his and I predict that whatever I would have done to you would have been merciful compared to the payment he will take for his vengeance!”

Father roared with laughter.” This weakling, this failure? I will rip him to shreds the second he turns sixteen! There will be no challenge!”

Grandfather leaned back and put his hand on my shoulder keeping me from getting up and he said.” A weakling that kills a Fangsnapper with a kitchen knife beats Sigvard the strongest in his class to an inch of his life and dispatches Rock Sharks and Tyranno Fins by the age of twelve. I agree with you to him you will be no challenge by the time he reaches sixteen!”

Father stopped laughing as he heard that and clamped his whip. “These are four long years and at any time I could decide I don’t need all these trappings of luxury and return to my Burg and turn this insult of a son into a bloody smear!”

Hogun, his brother spoke for the first time. “What Burg do you want to return to? You left the rock and declared to be the master of this! You abandoned Olafson rock and you went so far as to ask the Elders to rename this one after the Old Patriarch died.”

Father shrugged.” So what? I am the clan chief and do as I please! You are but a second born living on the coat tails of your wife!”

“Not quite. It is true we second born have little rights on this world where the first born is exalted, but that does not mean we have no rights. You abandoned the traditional home of your ancestors. You have not sold it, given it to someone or maintained one single guard there. By our laws and verified by the Elders I am now the owner of the rock.”

Father gasped in total surprise and it took him several moments to digest the news. “You are still Olafson and I am the clan Leader. I order you to return the Burg into my possession!”

“Oh I would do that, but you see I sold it and this is no longer possible!”

Father fumed.” We are brothers by blood only, but enemies to the death from now on! You are expelled from the Olafson clan!”

Hogun shrugged.” You see how much that hurts me! As for your threat, I may not be as vicious as you but I take your challenge anytime you dare!”

“Who did you sell it too? For how much! I want that money!”

“I am no longer of the Olafson clan and therefore not obliged to follow your orders or tell you anything.” Hogun laughed. “You made a fool out of yourself again! Do you know how much even the smallest piece of land is worth on a world without land where real estate almost never changes hands?”

Grandfather laughed too. “He does not know such things he rather tales things by scheme, violence or marriage. What you called a worthless pile of rock before witnesses many times including Elders. Yet the Elhir clan paid credits and Iridium making your brother a very wealthy man! Who is of course honorably welcomed in the Ragnarsson clan!

Grandfather got up and said. “I am going to take my grandson to the Faceless Seven now and return to Pluribus myself. You may pretend for a little time longer to be the lord of this burg, wield your whip and spew your poison! The day of reckoning will come.”

Father leaned back in a brooding manner.” Take him as I agreed to it in public. Take heed old man no one makes me an enemy lightly.”

Hogun also got up.” You are very good in making enemies brother, but your list of friends and allies is shrinking fast.”

Erik Ragnarsson also rose from his seat. “Remember, I will keep a close eye on everything. Should you deviate from our traditions, I hear of it and have you dragged before the elders, and release me from my oath. So tend to your wife the traditional way, spare her on your own peril.”

Grandfather himself took the controls of the Volvo Flier as we left the Burg. He had not said a word until he had set course due north and activated the Computronic, then he turned his seat and looked at me. “You think of me as a fool giving your mother to this father!”

“No Grandfather you are the best in my life. I don’t feel alone since I know you are there and know I exist!”

“I do know you exist. I think of you every time I think of my daughter.

He looked sideways and out the window. “Nilfeheim is a beautiful world Eric. It is still wild and raw and clean. These traditions we hold so dear shield us in a way from the outer Universe.” He sighed and turned back to look at me. “You are still young and what I say most likely will make no sense to you, but who knows when I am able to talk to you again and in time my words might become meaningful to you.”

I simply leaned forward all attentive not wanting to miss a single word my grandfather said. He smiled at that and said.” I am now more away than I am here and I see the changes that come to Nilfeheim; some are good some are not. We had virtually no crime here Eric. There was no theft, no robberies and even in town there were no locks on the doors. Nilfeheim still had no police force, no lawyers. The only court is the Circle of Elders. Everything else is dealt with by the clans. There are no seniors all alone and abandoned by the Young. These are the good things!”

He pointed his finger upward. “The Union is a great institution and it is quite successful in terms of Galactic societies, but all that exists out there. On the other hand the rights of Women, the rights of the second born, the rights of children are trampled upon and personal freedom to a lowman means nothing. Your mother who was intelligent and beautiful fell victim to a brute and according to our laws he is in the right and did nothing wrong!”

He paused and rubbed his eyes. “I am on Pluribus hoping to protect Nilfeheim as much as I can from the bad and let in the good. I was elected to this post by the Elders because I was the first who started mining our neighbor planet and they deemed me more experienced and able to deal with the Off-Worlders. I am only free to do what I think is best since no one else on Nilfeheim really cares or even asks what I do. I am the representative of this world for over 30 years now and in all that time I received twenty calls and requests. While Nilfeheim is an insignificant world, we do have a voice. I am exiled from my own world by the necessity that someone has to do it.”

“But why Grandfather? What would happen if no one was there?”

“Nilfeheim does not realize it, but it is a rich world Eric. We have commodities that are worth much elsewhere ... The Galaxy is a hungry place Eric and it happens to be that 60% of all Union Species can eat the same food. Their DNA and their body sugars turn the in the same way that is. Yes much can be synthesized but the markets demand fresh or grown foods. We have water and fresh air. We got plenty of room. Without a representative a corporation or Company could move in, kill everyone declare the planet a private Corporate World and exploit it. Of course it is against the law but if there is no one that can complain or even raise the issue who would miss Nilfeheim?

“When trillions of Credits are to gain there is always someone willing to break the law, Eric. These are very real threats and me or anyone just being there is a good deterrence. There are other reasons of course.”

He leaned forward and put his hand on my knees. “This however is the reason I cannot be with you and must return to Pluribus. I told you about the changes, there is a new generation of Nilfeheim Vikings in Halstaad Fjord and they starting to do business with the Universe. The twenty calls I got were all within the last two years and all from young Neo Vikings usually from lesser and new clans, mostly to assist in trade deals and business assistance, but there were voices that demand modernization and political changes on Nilfeheim. I was chosen by my peer to defend the interests of our world and until I am relieved from that duty I must perform it. Do you understand that?”

“Yes Grandfather I think I do.My friend Yngve is of the Lofdahl clan and his father goes of world quite frequently.”

“I knew you would! Yes it is clans and Freemen like the Lofdahls that make my presence out there very important.”

He glanced outside once again and then said. “Are you afraid of what lies ahead? I am sending you to an almost mystical place and you have not asked a single question about it.”

“Grandfather, there was no time to ask you anything. It is the second time I see you and the first time in person I think. I would be afraid to spend three month in the Burg with Father. Whatever lies ahead is better so I look forward to it.”

His smile vanished. “It is true I did not give you much chance to talk to me. I have seen firsthand how he treats you, but short of taking you away and denouncing all our heritage and traditions there is nothing I can do. I am as securely bound by the invisible shackles of these blessed and cursed rules as I am bound by my word and oath. It might be a fault and this philosophy where a man’s word and stand is more important than his own life might be outdated but it is what defines me to the core and I cannot, as an old Terran saying goes, jump over my own shadow. I cannot express how much sorrow I feel when I hear of your fate as plenty of messages reach me from the Ragnarsson clan bemoaning the fact we will cease to exist and they tell me of you as well.”

“Could you not simply marry again and sire a son? You are not that old Grandfather. That would give you a legitimate heir and make the entire Olafson debacle and me a mood point.”

“You speak like an old Viking and your suggestion would be quite an elegant solution, but I promised myself never to marry again after I lost your Grandmother who I loved more than my life. Besides I already declared you to be my heir.”

I lowered my head.” I won’t be a good heir! I will leave Nilfeheim and become a Starship Captain after I have killed him!”

“Eric look at me!”

I did and he said.” You are your own man. It is your live and your future. I am bound and shackled by old traditions that does not mean I want you to be! I will the proud of you.”

The fliers Computronic beeped and grandfather took the control. Then he said. “The Keepers are a peculiar group Eric. They take our believes and the adherence to the traditions even more serious than the Elders but they are also more in tune with this planet and know many secrets. I am as much an Elder and a Neo Viking as I am a Citizen living on Pluribus and I assure you even the most advanced Civilizations have not found scientific answers to the most fundamental questions of life and death and the old saying that there is more between the heavens and the earth than we can see holds true even in the fiftyfirst century.”

The weather outside was changing from clear skies and sunshine to lead gray sky and heavy rain. There was much floating ice below. I said.” You mean like ghosts and spirits, the gods and magic?”

“Yes Eric that is what I mean. Now I am not saying that these things exist nor do I say you should believe in them. I am saying that this Universe is so vast and so big and that there are many wondrous things we may never be able to understand to keep your mind open. Who knows what you might encounter one you are a Star ship Captain!”

“You think I will make it?”

“Of course, you have the thick skull of the Olafsons, the strength and perseverance of the Ragnarssons and from what I hear you have a lot of the stubbornness and Intellect of the Hellstrom clan! I have no doubt you will one day command a Star ship if you really want it. When that day comes Eric, I will be there! Be it in person at a great ceremony or be it I spirit.”

Peculiar warmth filled me from deep within and then I asked.” I never heard of the Hellstrom clan, who are they?”

“Eric!” he sounded surprised and disappointed. “Your Grandmother’s clan of course! Do they not teach about the Old clans I Heritage Class?”

“Yes but I am not allowed to attend anymore. Father prohibits it. He says it is knowledge reserved for Lords and clan leaders not for scum. Not that he has plans to keep me alive past my sixteenth birthday. I heard him often enough say it.”

He sighed. “I feel shame and rage for what he is doing to you. The Hellstrom clan is old and far in the west and they own the biggest private island on the entire planet and your Grandmother looked very much like your mother did. As for what your father plans and what will actually happen I would not worry too much.”

He reduced speed.”To be accepted as a accolyte by the Keepers is a great honor and it is a sure way into the Circle of the Elders. If they accept you that is, there will be others like you but most of them shovel snow, scrub stairs and leave the place none the wiser. Only a few will be accepted. Don’t be disappointed if it does not happen. No one but they know why and how they elect the ones they accept.”

“I know why you sent me here grandfather!”

“You do?”

“To be away from father and have peace for three month.”

The Halls of Hasvik were built into the side of a snow covered mountain that stuck out of the everlasting ice, up here so close to the North Pole. Grandfather has landed before a seemingly endless flight of crooked stairs that led to a gray forbidding looking burg like structure in the distance, most of it covered with more snow. The wind blew with gale force and hammered me with frozen snowflakes pricking my bare arms and my face. Grandfather put his hand on my shoulder.

“This is where I will leave you. You must make it alone up these stairs and report to the Gate Keeper. From there on do as you been told. I once climbed those stairs and so did many Ragnarssons before. You be the first Olafson in many generations that made the pilgrimage. Go up with all my blessings Eric and come down in three month with honor and Mördaren will be yours!”

“I will not fail you Grandfather. I will do my best.”

Grandfather stepped back and slammed his fist against his chest before extending his arm over me. “Let Thor’s strength be in your arm and Odin’s wisdom be your guide.”

I turned and started to climb the narrow steep and ice covered stairs.

I turned after a few and he was still standing there, surrounded by whirling snow. The stairs were slippery and I had to watch what I was doing. One could easily fall and probably break every bone in the body. Again I turned and he was still there much further away next to the now snow covered Volvo.

I must have climbed at least half an hour and reached a little platform hewn into the rock. As I locked back down Grandfather had not moved and I thought I saw him waving. I didn’t feel the cold much except to nose and cheeks as I tackled the second flight.

I wondered, while I climbed why they didn’t put more care in the building of these stairs. They easily could have been made wider and deeper as well, but then it did not seem there was all that much traffic coming up or going down.

Of course this had to be the hard way all newcomers had to take. The rest would fly in along with the food and whatever else they needed to survive out here.

I soon lost sight of grandfather and could not tell if he was still there or not and I estimated to have spent at least two hours and yet the burg seemed elusively far. I was no longer cold at all but started sweating and during Short Summer the sun never really left the sky and it did not get really dark, but due to the leaden sky and the eerie gray twilight it could have been any time during the day. Everyone on a cold world like ours knew that sweating was a certain way to die if you stopped and let the cold seep in. I had to find shelter before I could take a real break. The only such place however appeared to be the Burg that was much larger than I thought, still far away. I kept climbing, thinking Grandfather could still be there and use Tele Optics to watch my progress and I did want to make him proud. These were just stairs nothing real dangerous and I was in good condition and a good swimmer. This should be no problem! Yet my breath was going heavy and I wanted to sit down just for a few moments. So I put my head down bit my teeth and increased my pace. Just don’t look up. Don’t think how far it still is, I said to myself and kept on. I was sure I had climbed now for the better part of 5 hours up the zig zaging flights of narrow stairs up between steep rock walls when I reached a landing, the burg seemed only slightly closer I met another person! An old man dressed like a Low man only in linen and no leather or fur. He was meager looking and struggled with a load of soak stones on his back. I was more than shocked to see him bare feet. Whatever clan he belonged it must have been either a very poor or a very cruel clan to treat their Low man like that.

“Hail Old man! You came a long way with all that Soak stone! Do you know how much further it is to those Halls?”

He turned. “I am afraid this is as far as Odin lets me go, young man. I must deliver these soak stones as my lord decreed he would donate to the Faceless Seven, but I am at the end of my strength.”

“Judging how far you came, I say Odin blessed you with great endurance even in your advanced age. Your clan chief should have flown it up there instead of sending you! Let me help you with it. I think I still got some left in me it can’t be that much further.”

“No one is allowed to fly up there, at least not by means of the Off-Worlders. Everything they need has to be carried and carried it is by those who wish the blessing of the Gods but some think it can be delegated and still receive the blessing if the gift is large enough.”

“I wish I had Freya’s Cloak as well Old Man!” I grabbed his sack and it was indeed heavy and it deepened my respect for the Old man to have even made it that far.

He said.” Thank you young lord. I will wait here.”

“No you can’t wait here. If you stay to long you will freeze to death. Your clan chief failed to equip you as well.”

“I can’t go another step!”

He collapsed to the stairs. He had his eyes closed and was breathing very shallow. He looked frailer than I realized. “Well I guess they can live without the Soak stones for a while. We need to get you up there, fast!”

As frail as he was he was a grown man and I was turning fourteen in three months, but he got up leaned heavily on me and we went on. He grew heavier it seemed and he lamented about the soak stones and the punishment he would receive for not delivering them.

I did not have much breath left to answer but I said.” Don’t worry I go and get them, but you need to get inside, or all the punishment of your clan Chief is going be dished out to a corpse.”

While I was praying to Thor for more strength or maybe that he used his hammer to smash those cursed stairs I dragged him on. He felt cold and I wondered what kind of clan chief would send an old man like that on an errand like this. Certainly my father would be delighted to send me up and down these stairs if he knew about them. Whenever I was thinking of my father fear anger and a cauldron brew of emotions gave me some extra push.

I could not tell how long we had walked, but I hoped the Faceless Seven had some hot water in their kitchen and a bed somewhere as we finally reached a metal door set into a wall partially hewn out of the rock of the mountain and partially build with large square hewn boulders. Real old burgs had sometimes parts that were made like this and not out of Duro-Crete, much of our basements, dungeons and under crofts were built that way.

The door looked massive and there was no view port or window anywhere. The stairs had ended in a short narrow path leading to that two man high door. To the left the sheer wall of the mountain and to the right the chasm downs the mountain. I could see much the meandering stairs coming up the mountain side from here.

“Have you been up here before? Is there a special ritual or way to gain entrance?”

The old man blinked. “We made it, but I am still doomed. I am here without the soak-stones! I most certainly will be flailed! Our clan Chief is easy to anger and quick with his war bludgeon!”

“I gave you my word! I go and get it, but you need to get inside and that is what I try do to.”

I eased him to the ground and gave him my fur vest. The wind felt even colder but he was all skin and bones and had even less defenses.

I banged with my hand against the door but doing it I felt how thick the metal must have been it did not vibrate or make much of a sound at all. “No one is going to hear that!”

I yelled as loud as I could but even after seven Hellos there was no response of an kind.

The old man huddled into my vest and said.” The Soak stones are trenched that is why the sack is so heavy. We could borrow one or two and light a fire. They might see that.”

“Alright I try to be quick but it will be several hours. Don’t die on me and try to move around. Don’t stay to long on the ground!”

“Yes young Master. He held me by the hand.” What is your name and of what clan are you?”

“I am Eric and I am of the Olafson clan.”

I then left and went back down and wondered what a fool’s errand the whole thing was and why there was a door and no one to open it. While I was sure Grandfather meant well sending me here and it still beat the prospect of staying at home especially after he was set into rage by Grandfather, but maybe those Seven Guys were dead and gone. Since they had been there when Grandfather came up here, they must have been either real old or it was some sort of office that was passed on and they didn’t find anyone to pass it on too. Maybe the burg was abandoned.

At first I thought going down the stair would be easier, but going down the icy narrow steps turned out to be far more dangerous and I had to go slow and careful. When I finally reached the landing where we had left the sack, my legs trembled uncontrollably and it took me long moments to get myself under control. Going up seemed almost like a blessing despite the heavy sack, but then it contained life saving warmth for me and the old man. If I remembered my local geography lesson correctly, which I was regretting now did not get via Cerebral Upload; there was a small town to the east on the Ice. How far to the east I could not even guess; if the Burg here turned out to be abandoned. I had to take the old man there somehow. There was no other settlement I knew of up here on the ice of the northern pole of our planet.

The prospect to trek across the ice with nothing but a sack of soak stones that would not last very long and no weapon to forage for food or defend against Fangsnappers was another way of suicide.

I truly could not feel my legs and had no idea how I actually managed it but I reached the top and the Old man was gone! I dropped the sack. The only place he could have gone was down! I glared over the ledge but as far as I could see there was no shattered body.

“Young Lord may I ask what you are doing there, leaning so close to the dangerous ledge?” A Voice asked.

I turned and the old man stood next to me. “I thought you fell, Old man! I brought your soak stones! Where have you been? There is no place to hide here.”

“Silly boy, There are the Halls of course. How can you overlook a Burg so big and yes the door is open!”

I was exhausted and just waved at the bag.” There are you soak-stones and now we better get you in. Maybe there is someone inside able to provide you with shoes and a bed till you have to climb down again to meet that cursed clan Chief of yours.”

“Yes let us go inside so you can find your bed. It is not much compared to the luxuries a clan chiefs first born is accustomed too, but after climbing these steps up and down I am sure you will find it adequate at least tonight.”

He did wear boots now as I suddenly noticed and he no longer limped or walked bend. He still looked old but neither sick nor exhausted.” You aren’t a Lowman am I right?”

“Did not Odin often use disguises to test other Aseir?”

“The last time I heard a story of the Gods was when I was five and my father killed my mother!” I glared at him and said.” You are one of the Faceless I assume.”

He did not answer but walked to the open steel door and I followed. Just before I was about to walk through he said.” Don’t you want to bring the soak stones in?”

I turned back to get the sack and the door closed right behind me, but I heard his voice.” Try to stay alive tonight. This door only opens for four hours every day to visitors. If you are alive tomorrow you are allowed inside.”

He was lucky he was behind that steel door of his; I would otherwise have tried to twist his head of his thin neck. I was angry and felt like a pawn in a game I had no control.

Grandfather wanted me here; whoever was inside that old place did not. Playing tricks and games with me. There was no way I would survive a night up here. Not that there was an actual night, the light would stay pretty much the same, but the temperatures were below freezing. Not as cold as during Long night but cold enough to kill an unprotected human after extended exposure. The fool I was, I had given that old man my jacket. Helping him with his cursed sack!

I opened it. Indeed there were six oil soaked stones; actually some sort of fossilized plant or animal of Nilfeheim’s prehistoric past. I had no tools with me! I arrived here in the same clothing I had left school. No knife, no tools and now even without my Fanger fur vest; there was no way for me to make fire, to light the Stones and release their warmth. I took them out anyway. The sack was tightly woven and from the looks of it made from the old fabric the women on Nilfeheim used to make from the fibers of a sea weed leaf. No one I knew not even on our burg still made fabrics that way and instead used imported fabrics and in town folks like Yngve would even buy their clothing ready made at stores. To my surprise the sack did contain a heavy bladed hunter’s knife in a sheath.

Probably to kill myself. I knew how to strike a spark and make fire. This was a skill everyone on Nilfeheim was taught from early on, but there was no way I could get Tyranno oil at these temperatures started with a spark! But I used the knife to cut a hole in the sack and use it as a simple coat my fingers started to get real cold, but the knife was truly razor sharp and I used it to make shave fibers from the sack into fine fluff. It along with a few wrappers of sparkle bright gum I found in my pocket, shredded to fine bits I had enough tinder. Finding a loose suite able rock was more a challenge then I thought but I finally found one not too far from that cursed door and pried it loose from the frozen ground. I almost gave up. I struck the rock with the knife to create sparks. I had seen Greifen do it before and the rock he used looked very much like this rock. I wanted to cry and realized the even colder sensation in my face was from tears, but then a spark lit and it lasted only for an eye blink, I tried again and again one spark fell into the bed of fine shaved dry fibers and bits of wrapper paper, it lingered perhaps a heartbeat longer and one of the fibers turned black, there was a tiny whiff and I smelled it! It was smoke. The sweetest most delicious scent I had ever smelt barely registered in my running nose: Smoke! More carefully than a mother would kiss her new born did I breathe onto the glimmer. It became stronger, my heart jumped. A drop from my nose almost killed my efforts but due to sheer luck it fell next to it, and there it was, a flame. It now spread across the kindling fast and I frantically searched my pockets for anything flammable and I cursed myself not to have done that before. I cut a strip off the sack, it took to the almost dying flame now and now I was able to set it to a soak stone. Hoping it would warm the oil, last long enough to catch and it did!

Hastily I set up two more soak stones huddled as close as I could to them and the mere sight of the orange flames now taking into the soak stones seemed to warm me a little already. In all this I wondered how many boys of my age in the entire galactic Union had to make fire like this to stay warm. I was sure I was the only one and I cursed every bad foul mouth curse I heard from Greifen, but it made me feel better.

“I see the Olafson clan takes great care even their young know pretty much every bad word we have in our language!” The Old man said suddenly standing behind me.

I was so startled by his sudden appearance that I drew the knife, more out of reflex than anything else. “I would have a few choice words for you as well, Old Man. But I promised my Grandfather not to fail him, and I shall not! You play your games then, Old Man, and I will do my best.”

“You speak strange for a boy of your age I must say. You kindled my interest. So I say you can come in and I let the other boys clean up out here. You did ruin a perfectly good fiber sack, but then I got your nice Snapper fur vest.”

He turned and walked to the now open door again. Then he turned and waved.”I said you can come in. Young Olafson.”