18510 ♥ 18000 (102.83%)
made my word count for the month already. also: when i finished writing this today i actually said "oh wow, this is so good." haha. it only took 3.5 of the 4 weeks for me to get into this story.
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/velvetcure/ODIN/OE.jpg)
Akureyri, Iceland. Present Day: It is late in the night and Odin has just woken. Every fifteen minutes or so, he wakes and listens and waits and then sleeps again. He is old now and does not need the nourishment of food or sleep, but the routine of it is comforting. Except tonight, tonight Odin is a God of War. He is planning and calculating, wishes he was home to consult the Norns and yet, happy that he is not there just yet. He has no desire to bring this fight to his doorstep. He must protect Frigg and protect his sons and protect his people. No sense in getting anyone involved in such a petty matter.
It is then that Nissa sighs in her sleep and rolls over. With her knees drawn up to her chest, she is the size of a baby beneath the blanket. Odin watched her and then turns away. The feeling in his chest is unusual for him. He was happier dealing with Loki’s terror’s of children than dealing with this little elf. They have set up camp behind a burnt down church on the edge of town. Odin watches and green and purple aurora overhead. The waves of light make it easy to see any shadows in the sky. There is nothing to be seen in the sky and no one to be found on the ground around them. A simple enchantment and some common sense have helped them to hide in plain sight. He breathes deeply, contemplating and compiling the knowledge he has gathered on his journey thus far.
Odin reaches into the cloth bag and casts his runes. The bones arch through the air and hit the dirt with a clatter. When Odin looks down to read them, they melt and turn to a pool of sticky, blood. The metallic scent fills his nostrils and he pulls back quickly.
“Nissa! Nissa! Come here, elf1" he calls but she does not come. There is a slight glow coming from within the church and Odin walks toward it. Standing in the doorway, he can see Nissa sitting on the floor, back to him. She is slumped over and Odin assumes she has fallen asleep and therefore could not feel the pull of the charm. He walks over to her and touches one of her pointed ears with his fingertips. Her body falls backwards and he finds his spear, Gungnir, is sticking out of her chest. He can not pull his eyes away. Her body begins to twitch and she finally sits up with a scream.
“YOU DID THIS!” she screeches. Odin jumps back, his hands rising to cover his ear but Nissa is pointing at him and sobbing hysterically. He is frozen, his arms still in the air, unsure and scared. There is a noise of water dripping and he looks down at his hands to see blood pouring off of them.
“Oh, you killed me. You’ve killed me.” Nissa is crying and desperately tugging on the spear to pull it out of her chest.
The church is on fire again and Odin finds himself relieved and confused that the end has come. The All Father is on his knees, head bowed under the weight of Nissa’s screams and moans of pain. He looks up to the doorway, expecting to see a clan of witches but there is a dwarf instead.
“Thjodrorir?” whispers Odin.
“There is a charm I know, Woden.” His voice is like a song, soft and rising and falling like the tide. He begins to talks then, telling the one he calls Woden of a charm he has meant for the Gods. The roaring fire settles and disappears around them. Thjodrorir, the dwarf, tells of a power charm and glory of the elves and then shares his wisdom that is for the ears of his Woden only. The blood goes from Odin’s hands then. Nissa stops screaming and crying, lays motionless on the floor. Odin’s spear lays, unsullied, beside her. Odin feels the weigh fracture and lifts from his. He stands and bends to pick Nissa up in his arms. When he looks back to the doorway, to thank the dwarf, there is no one there.
“Odin?” The All Father opens his one good eye to see Nissa peering down at him. “It’s time to leave,” she tells him, but sounds a little unsure. He is usually the first one to wake.
“Very good,” he says, reaching out to touch her little ear with his fingertip. Nissa giggles and scrunches up her nose.
“Don’t tease,” she blushes, skiping off ahead. Odin sits up and stares at the church for a long time before he rises and walks away. He never looks back, following the tiny footsteps Nissa has left in the dirt.