Eric Olafson, Neoviking 09b

Chapter 9: Keepers Part 2

Continuation...

I did submerge myself however and wondered if I would be able to breathe this fresh water and if nothing else It would moisten and rinse my gills. I felt no discomfort as I tried it and it seemed that unlike the fish on Nilfeheim, Neo Vikings felt no difference in fresh or salt water. Having warm water circulate through my secondary respiration system was an equally new sensation and I decided I liked cold water better in that regard.

The water had a distinctive taste I could not clearly describe. Almost like eating sand perhaps but without the grit. It certainly smelled a bit like wet sand.

I could not be sure but I felt it had to be close to the hour and with a pang of disappointment I swam towards the steps. The place was quiet, the splashing and dripping of water echoed whenever I moved and I for the first time in a very long time I felt content. The garment laid out for me was a robe like thing, girded in the middle reaching to my ankles, just like the one the Fist Keeper had worn, except the belt was black and there was no embroidery on the chest. It was actually quite comfortable and reminded me of mother’s dresses. There was a pair of sandals. I would have preferred my own boots but to my surprise my soiled clothing had disappeared. Someone must have taken them while I was submerged.

But there was a hair brush and as I combed my hair out, braided it and sat down on one of the many stone benches around the pool. Somewhere water dripped, otherwise it was very quiet. My thoughts returned to the boy that fell of the scaffold and I my good mood evaporated.

I waited and kept on waiting and I was certain more than an hour had passed. I was eager to hear the explanation of the Old man and why he decided to make me think he was a spirit.

Then I heard footsteps, but I was utterly astonished seeing a woman coming through the door. She wore a garment quite similar to my own; her hair was red and surrounded her head with tiny locks that reached past her shoulders. Judging by her face she was perhaps thirty or forty years of age.

She smiled and said.” I was not informed a new girl had arrived. When did you come?”

I turned as to see if there was someone else in the room and then I said.”I know nothing of a new girl, lady. I am Eric and I was told to wait here till someone comes to fetch me.”

Her smile changed into a grin.” I must say for a boy you actually look very pretty.”

I was not certain if I should have been angry, however somewhere inside me that comment pleased me but then I decided that a Neo Viking would be quite angry and offended and I said. “Either your eyes are not good or maybe it is the dim light down here, but I am Eric and I am of the clan Olafson.”

“Oh the famous young Tyranno Slayer, I have heard of you.”

I was wondering what a woman did, here at the Halls of Hasvik, but nothing had been as it should have been so far.

As if she read my mind. “It is not the privilege of men to worship the gods. Are there not two female Goddesses represented up there?”

She was right of course, but somehow I had not expected a woman in this epitome center of Nilfeheim tradition. “I did not mean any offense, Lady.”

“I am not offended. I did come to fetch you, the Ancient One has told me a new Adept was waiting down here. I was just taking aback when I thought I saw a girl. Don’t be offended as well, young Eric. You still have a youthful face and nature has not yet granted you the facial hair all men are so proud off. To all this I must say you have the most amazing hair color and some girls would be proud to have braids that long.”

“Maybe I should cut them somewhat.” I mused aloud.

“Don’t cut them just yet and you better come with me now. There is dinner and tomorrow I shall begin to instruct you in fighting with spear and lance.”

I got up and then blinked as I had to make sure I had heard right. “You are going to instruct me in weapon training?”

“Indeed that is what the Ancient said. He wants you to pick up a few skills while you are here and I am the best when it comes to the spear. Have you ever seen a Valkyrie without one?”

I had seen the mythical female Warrior spirits depicted in many murals and book illustrations, sent by the Gods to guide fallen warriors to Valhalla, and she was right they were always depicted having spears. I suddenly had a revelation. The Old man said something about Odin loved disguises on top of the stairs. He appeared and disappeared like a ghost and now a woman was talking about Valkyries. Could it be? He was no ghost as he said but that did not mean he was no god. Was he Odin? Was this the secret? Did the Gods hear my prayers for revenge and help?

I was afraid to ask and more afraid of the answer. There as the Feather cloak in a display case upstairs. The old man knew so much about me and even about Midril. In my mind it now fit all together. I followed her almost dazed and said. “Please do not take offense to anything I said or thought!”

She turned while we walked down the corridor but past the elevator, gave me a puzzled look then giggled and said.”I told you I did not take offense.”

The Corridor suddenly widened into a huge cavern. The corridor became a small path leading downward. A bright ball of light was underneath the natural ceiling and below something I had seen previously only in Virtus in school, a large tended garden with tidy rows of plants. A wire enclosed area with brown bird like animals and I identified them as chicken as my mind recalled the page of a cerebral uploaded book. Birds from earth!

A group of men and women tended the plants, looked up from their work and waved. It was warm and moist down here. The woman picked a red fruit from a green vine plant and handed it to me. “Try that, Eric. Our tomatoes are at least as good as those from other worlds.”

I knew tomatoes to be part of the ingredients that went on top of a Pizza, but I had never seen a real one before. It was juicy, tangy and of a taste that compared to nothing I knew.

She kept walking till we reached a long wooden table with two benches on each side. Women in traditional dresses and white aprons and men, some dressed like me others in the work clothing of Low Men sat there, eating, laughing and talking, but I immediately noticed there were no children another indicator that my theory was right. Gods did not procreate like mortals; they came to be fully grown.

The woman who had had not given me a name, of course Valkyries had no names, made an inviting gesture. Sit down Eric, that spot next to the Ancient is reserved for you. The thin old man was sitting at the head of the table, holding a tankard and nodded towards me.”You do look more presentable now.”

While I felt like bursting and showering the old man with questions, I restrained myself. He was most likely Odin himself. Not that he looked the part, but then perhaps Mortals could not see the real form of gods and they appeared to us in whatever shape they choose.

I declined my head and said.” Is it permitted for me to sit on the table of adults?”

“Yes Eric, keeping a seat reserved for you would make no sense otherwise, would it not?”

I wanted to educate the Old Man how things were on Nilfeheim but I stopped myself. He knew every detail about me and so he surely knew about everything else. Odin was all seeing.

A woman placed a plate before me the moment I sat down and it was filled with brown fried meat pieces and French fries just like they served the day before Union Week in the school cafeteria. A man filled a cup with water. The old man motioned me to eat.

“Go ahead most of us already ate, so you need to catch up.” He then looked at his empty plate and waved towards the woman that had served me. “Gilda be a good girl and get me another plate of the chicken, but no breast. Just thighs this time.”

She laughed and said.”Of course Ancient One! I am always amazed and wonder where you put it all.”

His face lit up as he received his plate, bit into a piece of chicken and then chewed looking at me.”You don’t like chicken? I know you are used to fish and fang snapper, but this is good I promise.”

“I know chicken from the school cafeteria. They serve it once a month and do like it.”

“You eat as if it is made of poison.” He took a drink, burped and started on the next piece.” Are you not hungry?”

“Yes Sir I am hungry!”

He sighed.” Eric I am no ghost I assure you. I wanted to test you and see how you handle yourself.”

“I understand and realize that you are indeed no Ghost, sir!”

His hand sank with the piece of chicken he was gnawing on and he looked at me from his piercing eyes and I knew I looked into eyes that were far older than he even appeared.” I promise you I will explain. Not all of it but as much as I think you needs to know for now. Now eat!”

They had cleared the table and he was nursing a glass with a golden liquid. Most of the others were gone. The red haired woman with the curly mess had remained; she also drank of the same golden colored clear liquid.

He raised his.” It is Mead, Eric, while I think it would not hurt you. I don’t think it should be me who introduces you to the taste, especially not since you sorted out your life. Many men seek their salvation at the bottom of a glass or tankard.

I glared at him.”I hate mead. I will never touch it. To this day I can smell it on the breath of my father when he came into the rooms of my mother!”

Then I caught myself and said.”I did not mean to offend you, Mighty one!”

His eyes shimmered and he said.” A child should never see what you had to see, Eric. I hear there are methods to remove memories.”

“Yes the doctor said there is psycho surgery and they can remove and replace memories, but it would not change the fact that it happened and cheat my mother out of the only witness she had. I rather die and I fight anyone trying to do it against my will!”

“I said it before Eric. Sometimes you speak with great wisdom; I am saddened for you that this wisdom however is born out of such an event.”

Then he smirked.”Mighty one? That is surely a change of adjective!” He raised his head looked towards the woman.” When I closed the door on him, he called me a Rotting fish liver stinking, dried out old bastard! And that was the nicest, the other ones I dare not to repeat!”

She laughed.” He certainly found a very colorful description I would say.”

I felt the blood shoot to my ears and lowered my head. “I am sorry Mighty one; at that point I had no idea who you are, even though you clearly hinted it. I did not know you could hear me through this thick door!”

“So you know who I am?”

“Yes I do I added it all up and it makes sense to me now and I apologize for any offense, and maybe you can talk to Hel and let her release my mother.”

His face became hard.”Eric I even the Gods can n ot bring the dead back. I am no god. I am a very old man. Do you remember when I told you that the Keepers are not Elders even though most of them meet every requirement?”

“Yes I do, but I was told to be accepted by the keepers would be a sure way to become one.”

He sighed.”You seen the boys and young men in the Hall, they are usually the second or third born of a clan and their fathers send them here to service the gods. They sleep in those cold chambers and eat simple food made the old way. They do that, report home and have proven to be mindful of the gods and rooted in the traditions. Should then a seat in the circle of Elders become available those who served the gods once or twice in their life use that in their election bid and yes those who served are always picked over those who have not. A few of them however show to us that they are not simply following some clan politics but think for themselves and either really believe and want to serve the gods as the Keepers up there do, it is the closest thing we have to a priest class. Most of them however simply have no future and no stand at home much like you and rather stay here than being second to a brother they don’t get along with.

The red haired woman took over. “To make you really understand all this is to tell you about the beginnings of our culture on this world.”

She made a gesture that encompassed the cave and perhaps the world. “When the settlers came to Nilfeheim it was just at the beginning of Short Summer and they landed right here, next to Mount Muspelheim, Below the ice around this mountain is a far greater piece of land than on Bifrost, the Island where Halstaad Fjord is now. The surveyors who cleared this planet for settlement did know about our elongated orbit that causes these long winters, but the Settlers wanted to cut all ties to Earth and ignored all warnings and desired nothing less than to be left alone. Live the old way before technology. This was after all the reason they left in the first place. During Short Summer and with the easily available geothermal heat this was not a bad place to start a colony.

Most of the settlers were people who rejected science and technology in general, Eric and many of them had little knowledge and even less interest in scientific facts, but when long Night came they believed, but it was too late. The Arks disassembled, they could not leave. To add to their predicaments, Leif Erikson had died from wounds received by a Fangsnapper in the first year. He was revered as leader and the settlers listened to him. Without him, men and women squabbled for the leadership position and each of them had a certain amount of followers and supporters.”

She paused to take a sip of her mead and smiled.”It is a long story Eric but it will make you understand all this, why we are here and why there is a difference in opinion about traditions.”

I simply nodded. I found the subject quite interesting and I was not tired.

The Old man said.”She has a nicer voice than me, so I let her tell it, besides her memory is far better than mine.”

“You just want to eat some more deserts, you are the skinniest Tyranno Fin on this planet but your appetite is equal to one of the biggest!”

He agreed with a wave of his hand and summoned the pretty woman with the white apron, while the Red haired woman continued: “Each of these groups had a little different idea just what the traditions meant. Some wanted to use the Arks power units to create heat. Others rejected it and claimed that upholding the traditions were even more important than survival.

Yet another group found these caves inside the Mountain. Eternally warm, rich volcanic lava ground that could be turned into soil, warm water and a large supply of natural gas, ideal conditions to survive the cold period. To harness the gas, bring light in those caves however meant the use of at least some technology. How could they prevent one group from trying to destroy all technology and the other from taking it for themselves?”

She made a little dramatic pause and then continued.”By invoking the Gods. People in desperate times are more inclined to ask for divine intervention. A pact was made and this place was built. Not all at once but especially devoted men were selected as the keepers of all the technology that came with the ships and it would be stored here and until a new common leader and a common solution acceptable to all could be made.”

“This is why we are called keepers,” the old man said. “It originated in that time. Its original meaning and what we are actually keeping is forgotten today of course.”

She nodded and went to the next part of her story. “Just about that time a contact ship from Earth arrived to check on us and see if we might reconsider and accept help. The group under Nils Fisken, the ones that advocated the use of technology, seized the ship. Killed its crew and used that ship to raid the Colony on Helgoland, seven light years away. The raid was tremendously successful. They came back with riches, food, weapons and two more small ships. The group that completely rejected technology of course protested. Nils Fisken and the clans that supported him frankly gave a hoot about the others and for a period of about 80 years Nilfeheim became synonymous with pirates, terror and raids. At that time Terra fought the war against the Freons and as a new and small civilization on the Galactic stage could not divert any resources to curb Nilfeheim’s reign of terror.”

Again the Old man interrupted. “The other colonies around us lived in fear, and it was them who coined the term Neo Vikings for us by the way.”

She nodded.” But after the Freons were defeated the Union was founded with the Saran, Pan Saran and the Ult the new Union fleet had all the resources to restore order. Union battle ships had no trouble to destroy the small pirate fleet and then appeared in our orbit and Nilfeheim was given a choice: Quit all piracy and join the Union. In this case all previous crimes would be pardoned, or remain isolated for ever after the Union had taken everything of value to compensate the victims and executed everyone even remotely associated to the pirate acts.”

The clans around Nils Fisken of course immediately agreed to the first choice.

The Union was satisfied. Fisken’s clan and those who did the pirating however were suddenly not only out of a job, but since they lived of the food and supplies of what they stole, they never learned how to carve a living from this world. While they were prohibited to carry their violence into space, nothing prevented them from taking what they wanted from those clans that remained and many of the old clans perished. Holger Ragnarsson a distant ancestor of yours Eric took a sail boat and sailed half across the ocean to Bifrost to ask the Union Outpost for help. Arguing that the Fisken clans did not speak for the entire planet and that it was only them who did the pirating and now using energy weapons and fliers to raid, kill and steal from the clans who had rejected technology.

“The case was heard by a Union Court and it was decided that Ragnarsson was correct. Union representatives called together all remaining clan Chiefs of all clans and wanted to know what is to be done. All leaders agreed that they could not survive completely cut off from all technology and the Union. So the first Circle of Elders was put together and they deliberated for some time and came up with a Book of Traditions. In it was clearly outlined what technology would be acceptable and what was deemed prohibited. Only parts of the original philosophy that led us here remained, the rest was made up in a few month of deliberation.”

I still listened. The Old man shoved a plate wordlessly under my nose and whispered. “Try some of this strawberry cobbler. It is delicious, my eyes were bigger than my appetite after all and it would be a shame to waste it. There is not much more to the story so you can eat and listen.”

I wasn’t hungry anymore but dutiful spooned a load into my mouth and it was sweet and fruity and oh so good!

The Woman raised one of her eyebrows and smiled. “Anyway, to finish my story imagine a group of older men, all from ruling clans sitting together and making the rules the entire planet later had to follow. There were no women present and no one of the so called common families, the under men. They interpreted the so called traditions as they saw fit and made sure the clan Chiefs got the best deal.

They were all the same in that regard, regardless to what group they considered themselves to be associated with. This is when the rights of the First born were codified and raised above his other siblings. This is why men decided that women should not inherit, and that they alone decided.

In all this they did not forget the Keepers and reminded us of our old contract, we would be allowed to worship and decide in questions of religion, but since the old contract prohibited us from forming clans and taking sides, we had no say in the Circle of Elders and they made sure we were slowly but certainly pushed to the sidelines. When Muspelheim kept cooling down and the ice rose outside, the Settlement of Hasvik was abandoned and moved to Bifrost.”

She folded her hands.”Now you know most of it Eric. We are a small community down here, always have been, too small to maintain a healthy gene pool over the normal flow of generations. So we used the old knowledge and technology we still guarded to genetically extend our life spans and only reproduce after one died. We are not immortals, but some of us are more than a thousand years old, and your old friend with the great appetite is called the Ancient one because somehow the life extending Gene treatment worked especially well on him, he is here since we started. So yes he is the first Keeper. He came here from Earth with the first Ark.”

The Old man giggled. “See? I am no ghost I just forgot how to die, but it is catching up on me Eric, my body is now deteriorating and while my aging genes are turned off, my cells are now to tired I guess to reproduce. I am not planning to die anytime soon of course but I know my days are numbered. I am saying this to assure you I am not a god either.”

I simply had to ask.” But what was this show with the soak stones all about? Why did you disappear in the morning and no one knew about you and how do you know so much about me?”

“Because we keep this a secret, Eric. You know all about traditions. Tell me what would the Circle of Elders do if they found out there are about 200 of us that used Gene technology to survive that long and use fusion suns to heat and light our caves?”

I suddenly understood.”It would give them all the excuse they need to accuse you of hypocrisy and put you out of business so to speak. I somehow understand that you are a very old institution and a thorn in their side.”

“Indeed you are quick to pick up between the lines. They always fear we might become more active and interfere with their way of running things and we were tempted to do just that a few times.”

I squinted my eyes.”If you are indeed that old.” I shivered involuntarily realizing just how old he really was.” You are perhaps not a Citizen of the Union?”

He shook his head.” Again you do amaze me young Olafson. We would not be protected under the same laws indeed.”

“Don’t get me wrong, but what are you still keeping? I mean the technology from the Ark ship must be more than outdated and even the most traditional families, the one I know of keep a GalNet terminal in the house, even if it is hidden and locked away as in our Burg. And any adult can buy a space bus ticket and leave. You included, and seek citizenship.”

He sighed deeply. “You are more like your grandfather than you realize, Young Olafson.” His observation was perhaps the greatest compliment he could find.

The old man said.”One of the groups that joined Erikson’s movement back then was a similar one called the Church of Odin.”

“I remember the Keeper with the White beard told me about that.”

“They arrived here with the last Ark, but they decided not to stay. They left right away and went on to settle on a world sixteen light years from here called New Sweden. A world not unlike Nilfeheim, but with a much better orbital path around its sun, so they have no Longnight winters. The vast oceans just like here teem with fish that can be consumed by humans and to top it all, a continent with forests and easy mineable resources.

He paused for a moment and then said. “Today the Church of Odin is a major religion with an impressive temple on Pluribus. New Sweden however has no forests left and enormous fleets of robotic fishing ships emptied their oceans. They now have fish farms raising Terran herring and mackerel, but you won’t be able to buy their famous Butterfish filet, a fish that once was so abundant you could catch one with a blank hook on your fishing rod. The High Priest of the Odin Church was arrested and found guilty as they found out he organized the sale of illegal drugs via several of the temples. New Sweden is a progressive world and has many big cities and I am not pointing a finger at them, but I like us the Keepers of Hasvik keep our world a little longer the way it is and keep our real traditions remembered not by enforcing them with an iron rod.

This is what we still keep, not the rusted and obsolete pieces of Ark ship technology buried in a cache beneath the Halls.”

He fell silent.

After a long moment he, drained the last of his mead and said.” I know you want to ask the 200 credit question. So go ahead.”

“I understand why you keep this part of the Halls of Hasvik secret and I certainly learned much about our world and how it all works, but why did you pick me? What was this Soak stone business all about and why do that rotten trick with the ghost number? Why pick me?”

“I test every young man that comes up these stairs, you are not the only one and I am doing this a long time. Not always with soak stones but to see who has the heart on the right spot. Out of hundred boys that climb these stairs and don’t give up that is, perhaps twenty actually help me. But less than 5 go back down to keep their word and get the sack or whatever I left behind. There are only few what you call Low Man that have a chance to come here. It is usually the sons of clan Chiefs and they are raised to think they are better than their servants. There are those who laughed at my peril, but most of them simply ignored my presence and went straight on by. In some case there are those who demanded me to make way or step aside. Even fewer pass the fire test and when I appear the second time some attacked me in anger.

“I was there at your naming day, Eric. I always kept an eye on you. When your Grandfather contacted the First Guardian that he was sending his grandson, I inquired about you and learned much about your situation. All this made me curious and I tested you.”

I was thinking about what he said and he was right. My brothers and much of my school comrades did not think much about the servants and low men. I wondered if I would have been the same if I was not the outcast son.

“But why did you choose to disappear and make me think you are a phantom of some kind?”

“Your grandfather is what a Neo Viking should be. He is strong, one of the most feared fighters, a swordsman without peer on a world of fighters; he is also smart and well educated. He is the very definition of honor. If he gives his word, there is nothing short of him dying that would keep him from fulfilling an oath or a promise. If Nilfeheim would ever elect a king, he would easily be elected. If he speaks others listen. If he gives a suggestion it is followed as if it was a royal decree and he is a very important voice inside the Inner Circle of Elders. He sent you here Eric. He does not know about the truth beneath Muspelheim or that I still exist.

“You experienced that your very father managed to have eyes and ears inside the walls above and enough control to make an attempt on your life. You had to arrive above and be seen doing it, as I am certain your Grandfather has someone among the Keepers up there acting as his eyes and ears.”

“You saying in one breath my Grandfather is honorable and then you say he has spies here and wants the Halls of Hasvik and the Keepers gone?”

“I am saying Eric that once he gave an Oath and his word he will follow it to the end. When he became an Elder, he took an oath to defend and uphold the Book of Ancient traditions. Not the love of his wife and not the love to you could make him go against that. He could have killed your father for what he did to your mother but he does not, because that book gives Isegrim all the rights to beat a woman to death! He could kick the Olafsons of his burg, but he gave his word and not the lamentations and complains of all his clan members can change that. He could take you and give you to someone else to raise, if he had no time to do it himself. Something he could demand, he knows about how your father tortures and treats you, but the Book of Ancient Traditions give your father that right and while I have no doubt in my heart that your Grandfather cares much about you, he will rather die of a broken heart than to go against these traditions.

“Eric, he would be the first tearing these walls down and raise his famous broadsword if he thinks we are against the Elders and their Rules.”

The words of the Old man put in words what I had felt since I seen him sit with my father in the great hall, but hearing them like this hurt me more than I could describe. I knew that every word the old man said was true. Grandfather himself had told me so.

The most painful realization in all this was that he could have done something to save mother, if he had put her well being above those cursed traditions. Traditions I learned were far from what they supposed to be.