Samuels - Loving Brynhild

By

Clarise Samuels

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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PUBLISHED BY:

Clarise Samuels on Smashwords

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Loving Brynhild: A Novel of Norse Mythology

Copyright 2013 by Clarise Samuels

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoymentonly. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.If you would like to share this book with another person, pleasepurchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre readingthis book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for youruse only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase yourown copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of thisauthor.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance topersons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purelycoincidental.

Adult Reading Material

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Acknowledgements

My primary sources for background material were theVlsunga Saga (translated by William Morris), with elementsborrowed from the Edda by Snorri Sturluson (translated byAnthony Faulkes), the Nibelungenlied (translated by A. T.Hatto), and the Vlusp (translated by W. H. Auden and P. B.Taylor).

The entire novel was serialized from May 2010 to May2012 in the British literary journal Goddess Pages. Anearlier version of Chapter 1 was originally published in WildViolet Magazine (Vol. 5, Issue 1, 2006) under the title TheExile of Brynhild.

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Cover Image:Odin's Farewell toBrunhilde by Konrad Dielitz (1892)

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Tableof Contents

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Odin chanted his magical conjurations,raised his right hand, and in so doing, violently shoved me throughthe celestial portals that separated heaven from Earth. And then Iwas falling through the seven heavens, falling, falling, falling,until I landed on the mountain peak called Mount Hindarfiall. In mydazed state, I could only think, how did I get here? I was agoddess from Asgard, the heavenly abode of the gods. But now I waslying on a mountaintop, only half conscious.

Odin evicted me from Asgard. He evicted mebecause I had become enthralled with the dashing, blond warrior whowas slated to die in combat that day. But the devastatinglyhandsome general did not die of his wounds in that fateful battle,as had been ordained by Odin. I saved him, against orders, and itwas the aged general with the silver hair who perished instead andwas whisked back to Valhalla by my Valkyries. I paid dearly forthis transgression. I was to live another life on Earth, thatfestering, violent cauldron of primitive emotions and savagedesires. Earth was no place for a goddess. But I had no choice.Odins severe pronouncement was uttered, and my imminent doom wasdecreed. I was to be evicted from the heavens.

Despite the harshness of this sentence,Odin, the Supreme Being, longed for me every minute of his eternalexistence. Odin was bewitched by me.

Yes, Odin had a wife. He was severe with hiswife, Frigg, who was constantly jealous and suspicious of hisrelationship with me. Frigg could not stop obsessing with thisinsult to her dignity, and Odin would order his wife to desist withher constant questions and innuendos regarding our relationship.Frigg carried on relentlessly when so handled by Odin. She fairlyscreamed at him, Its because you would leave me for a dazzlingyoung beauty if we were human and living down there with the restof them, isnt it? Youre always going on and on about how you loveall of them. You sympathize with the seducer!

Yes, thats right, Odin would scream back,because I am the Ultimate Seducer! I am the All and the Nothing,the Finite and the Infinite. They call me the All-Father and manyother namesVal-Father, Blindi, Grim, Ganglari, Herian, Hialmberi,Thekk, Thund, High, Just-as-high, Vakr, Skilfingas you well know,given the tower of babble humans have devised with theirlanguages.

Friggs frustration had some basis to it.Odin was obsessed with human relationships. Romance was aparticularly brutal area for humans, fraught with pain and falsenotions. Odin could not determine what was causing all theconfusion on the planet of which he was most fond. He tried toemulate human foibles in his own relationships in order to discernthe true nature of human perplexity. He was not making very muchprogress. One plan, which we were all called upon to help develop,was to devise ways to help humans express their most heartfeltemotions. Thus, the need arose for the secret code Odin conceivedjust for humans. Based on eye contact, innuendo, furtive touching,and even long breath pauses, the secret code required accurateinterpretation and shrewd insight. As a result, these well-meaningbut misguided beings often misunderstood each other, and thismerely caused more grief and sorrow, which drove Odin todistraction since this was the very opposite of what he hadintended. Humans were most unpredictable. Odin could make nopresumptions when it came to these favored creatures of thegods.

But the secret code was still better than nosystem at all. Odin developed dozens of different ways ofcommunicating emotions based on eye contact alone. Holding onesgaze steadily and directly for a prolonged period of time, whilesmiling or looking content meant, I desire you. Briefly meetingthe others gaze but then looking away quickly and lowering theeyes, still keeping the beloved in ones peripheral vision meant,Im thinking about it, but I need more time. Holding the othersgaze steadily but without smiling, and sometimes with a rather dourfacial expression meant, Why are you hurting me like this? Tomake a signal with the corner of the eye was refusal; to lower theeyes and make a quick gesture with the head was consent. To shiftthe eye pupil all the way to the left or right meant someone inthat direction had entered the room and was observing you. And thelist went on.

This was madness. Divine madness.

Friggs jealousy was not completelyunjustified, even though her female tendency to be overlypossessive of her husband was greatly exaggerated and a flaw moretelling of human nature than godly nature. The lack of divineserenity and dispassion, which Odin would have liked to see in hiswife, was more than just problematicit was almost enough to drivethis Father of the Gods to drink. Odin forced himself to withstandthe onslaught of Friggs hysterical accusations with composure,careful never to confirm or deny the volatile suspicions voiced insuch tirades. Yet every god and goddess at Asgard knew the truth ofthe matter.

Yes, the truth was that Odin adored me, andFriggs wifely instincts had accurately read her husbands heartand mind. But Odin and I were bound to have a falling out. I hadalready strained Odins patience with a series of minorinfractions. Nevertheless, when I finally broke with Odin, it allhappened so quickly that I was stunned by the swiftness of theirreversible chain of events.

It was supposed to have been just anordinary and uneventful day in the life of a Valkyrie. I had beendispatched to the front lines of a significant battle to collectthe most honorable souls. These were the souls who had fought withthe most courage and skill or for the highest ideals. Upon thearrival of the Valkyries, the old king, Helm Gunnar, was engaged inbattle against the young king, Agnar. Odin had promised the victoryof the battle to the seasoned man of years, the venerable HelmGunnar, for despite his age, he was still among the greatest ofwarriors. But I was not anticipating the young Agnar to be a man souncommonly handsome; blond and bearded, he was the perfect model ofa Norse warrior, and I had a weakness for such men. I becameinfatuated with Agnar the moment my watchful gaze alighted uponhim. I had arrived at the scene just a bit too early. Victory didnot yet belong to Helm Gunnar; the beautiful Agnar, who wasdestined to die that day, was still alive and embroiled in thethick of the battle.