Chapter 27: Bredenberg Island

Bredenberg Island was part of a cluster of five Islands close together, known as the Five Clan Cluster. I was just hundred klicks west of the Uhim Grounds and long ago all five Islands belonged to that legendary Uhim Clan. The Uhim’s had perished in the last clan war. Four of the rocky islands were occupied now by the Burgs of individual Clans and the fifth held the third and smallest city on Nilfeheim called Trondheim. If one would draw lines between the five islands you would get an almost perfect pentagon of about one kilometer each side. The Bredenberg Clan was around for a long time but it was not an Old Clan and they established their own Burg on top of the old Harald Uhim Island.

I put the boat down in the water a few kilometers away, I could not really say why but I wanted to keep that a secret for as long as I could. It was bad enough we Norse had fliers but no one really had the idea yet to use them in anger as a weapon. Having Neo Vikings in flying subs would not be a good idea unless there was some sort of control in place. Astrid stood next to me holding the life like mask of Sif.” With something like that you could be Freya again. I miss her and the time we had together. All seems so far away now!”

“Don’t get me started. You girls used me from the start and you did it knowingly. First you took me inside your circle and then I was kicked out without an explanation, only to learn later it was nothing but a trick, but it was stupid of me to begin with.”

She put her hand on my shoulder. “Yes we did and some of us felt really sorry for you, especially Elena. Eric we all had a crush on you and some still do. I wanted to protect you from what we planned to do. I knew Freya became more real every day and you might have joined us and we could not risk that. Our mission was to use you, yes. Our leader says we must use men as tools for our cause as this is the only real weapon we have.”

Her face became fierier. “You of all men should understand how different our lives are. Women have no say, no rights and are openly declared to be second class to men. Your very own mother died because she was traded like a piece of commodity to gain clan alliances and riches. No one asked your mother if she wanted to be married to that brute that is your father. Do you really know what happened the night you were conceived? Do you think she willingly let him in her bed? He was the lord he was the man and there was nothing she could say or do, not even to her own father!”

I could not help but remember how horrible I felt when Harkun tried to rape me during that body switch dream the Old man had provided. Was I a product of such an act? I suddenly felt dirty and guilty. Knowing only too well that she was most likely right. Astrid wiped her eyes.” Do you know why I killed the Bendixen Elder?”

I was about to say something, but she didn’t wait and pushed the accelerator control to zero and hissed.” I will tell you anyway! I must tell you! Maybe then you are not so hard in your judgment against us.”

There it was again. Someone else accused me of coming to a verdict too fast. “Tell me please!”

Astrid was a very fair skinned and she had freckles over her nose, her hair was thin and long, she was not one of those girls that looked pretty when she cried, but I suddenly felt very sorry for her and her tears felt hot as they dripped on my hand. “This old bastard raped me Eric! He forced his stinking body on me when I was barley thirteen! He was an Elder and I the daughter of a Freeman in the house of Bendixen. My father beat me up when I told him what happened and told me it was my fault for making him aware of me and that I should never speak about it! My mother was afraid and asked me to forget! I can never forget and he did it many times! I cannot stand to look at a man without getting so sick I throw up! Eric I hated you for the simple reason you have a pecker! But you showed you could be Freya and the Illusion was perfect I didn’t want to know you were a boy underneath!”

She spread her hands and her tears flowed freely. “What could I have done to prevent it? Father always said I could have!” Her words hit me like knifes, some of what she said where like echoes of my own thoughts. Her words brought my experience as Loki to the surface and the words of the old man that there were many personal hells on this world and I was not the only one with a rotten childhood.

I remembered Raghild’s words and Snøfried speaking of Harkun.

I could not tell if all the tears were hers as I took her in my arms and held her for quite a while as she sobbed and moaned. I don’t know how long we held each other like that but finally she let go and gave me a sad smile. I must look like a bloated Rose fish. We still need to meet the leader I guess. “She kissed me on the cheek and went to the bath room.

It was a more modern burg, no masonry and rock at all, entirely made of Duro-Crete. Instead of open ramparts on towers and walls it had covered corridors with thick armor glass windows. According to Astrid it had no Submarine pen but instead a small harbor had been constructed with massive Duro-crete walls and a wharf. Two Surface fishing ships tied up painted in the Bredenberg Colors of Yellow on Purple. While Nilfeheim had no official time zones and all went by the same universal time that almost fit the day cycle around Bifrost during Shortsummer, here it was just getting dark. The burg looked dark and brooding against the rising darkness of night. I dropped anchors.She put the other cloak around my shoulders.” It is going to be cold outside.”

Out of an impulse I pocketed the little Off-world gun as I left the boat after her and locked it with my code.

We went up the short steep ramp to the actual gate. It opened after she keyed in a security code and blew into a senor hole. To me she explained “Biometric DNA lock.”

The court yard was dark, there were no lights anywhere. “Why is it so dark and where is everyone?”

She answered with a somber tone and almost whispering. “There aren’t many of the Bredenberg family left.

Despite the fact that the burg was only five hundred years old and by design looking more modern than for example our burg, it had an old feeling almost like that of a tomb. I didn’t know why I got goose bumps over my back as she opened the heavy door to the High halls and a draft of musky stale smelling air went past us. The High Hall was dark except for a few yellow and weak Lumi-plates; most of the furniture was pushed to the sides and covered with cloth. Her Heels sounded like echoing hammer blows, my Fanger leather boots made little noise. In all this weirdness I admired her heeled boots and had the urge to walk in heels once more.

Over a flight of stairs we reached the Drawing room and there in the fire place was a small fire of pressed Sea weed blocks. A circle of twelve upholstered stone carved high backed chairs were the dominant feature of the room. There was no one else.

“Wait here!” She asked. Then she put on her white stocking mask and pulled up the hood. She stepped inside the circle of stairs pulled at a cord and bell rang somewhere, then she sat down on one of the chairs.

From the deep darkness of the room behind the chairs a person in a dark red cloak appeared stepped in the middle pulled the cord and sat down in a chair across Astrid. Two more appeared the same and one after the other rang the bell and sat down.

The others wore dark blue, like Astrid. All their faces hidden behind those white stockings. The Red Cloak spoke with a deep female voice. “ The Daughters of Nilfeheim have one more come together to discuss grave matters and to erase the injustice against all Sisters and daughters of this world.”

The rest spoke together.” To the rights and freedom of all daughters daughters we pledge our lives.”

The red cloak waved at me.” Step into the circle. We have a very special guest tonight. The first man ever to step foot in our midst.”

Interlude 9: VIVID DREAMS

Kevin Atkien closed the GalNet Connection and switched of the Dream creator. “Finally!” He sighed and got up to step outside the tiny little balcony on the 432’t floor of Coulter Tower downtown Cork City. The air tasted sweet with a hint of strawberry and grape as it always did when the wind came from the east and the huge Sparkle Bright delights factory occupying most of this large rock plateau surrounded by scorching deserts., but it was night and both suns were on the other side of the planet, not that the four hours of darkness helped much to cool the planet down, but soon the large weather control satellites would be operational and in a few months it would rain for the first time on a planet that had not seen a drop of rain in a billion years. All this was of little concern or interest to Kevin, he was neither a weather control engineer nor did the weather outside have any meaning to his work. He held to the chest high safety railing. He wasn’t afraid of heights at all but being over 800 meters above the ground was still a good reason to hold onto the railing. He watched the light traffic and wished he could get a little time off to go to town and live a little of the real life.