Treachery : book 2 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Present time: Asgard

Thor leant against a mighty oak tree with his massive arms crossed over his chest, a small satisfied smile played under his thick bushy red beard. The flat open ground before him was full of men and women training in combat. It was a wonderful thing to behold, it had been long centuries since warriors last trained in Asgard. Thor's smile quickly vanished. These weren't the mighty warriors of old. These were mere shadows and poor imitations. As the thunder god watched, he saw a man drop his sword and then somehow trip over his own feet as he tried to retrieve it. Thor growled with disapproval. Freyr appeared at his side and surveyed the training ground. He asked brightly

"How are the new recruits doing?"

Thor made another growl deep in his chest. Freyr nodded solemnly and said

"Ah that good then?"

Again the only response he got was another deep throated growl. The two gods stood and watched as the drill instructor stalked across the training ground towards the fallen warrior. Instead of trying to help him up, the massive drill instructor delivered a swift kick to the face. The sound of a shattering nose drifted up to the two gods. Thor simply grunted and carried on watching. The drill instructor was a huge brute of a man. His blonde hair was shaved very short, his chest and arms thick with muscle, he had on combat trousers and a very tight fitting black tee-shirt. He delivered another kick with his highly polished boot to the downed man's ribs. He bent down and began yelling in the fallen man's ear. A look of concern flashed over Freyr's face

"Should we intervene?"

"No! Absolutely not! These pathetic scum are far too soft. Life has been too easy for them, they don't know how to be hard or strong"

"Do you really think so?"

Both the gods were now watching a group of warriors try and form a shield wall. In a true formation the shields would overlap and lock tightly together, presenting the enemy with a solid barrier. The wall the gods saw was nowhere close to ideal.

"In battle, I would give these people about five minutes to live"

Freyr grunted in surprise.

"That's not very long"

Thor sighed deeply

"That was being very generous. They have a long way to go yet"

As if to underline Thor's point, one of the men in the shield wall fell over and managed to drag the rest of the line down with him. As they all lay in a tangled heap, the drill instructor filled the air with his foul language and stalked towards them.

"Maybe you have a point" allowed Freyr

****

The golden hall of Valhalla materialised before Jason's eyes but the image of Satan delivering that hammer blow of a punch still burned in front of him. He began marching towards Valhalla's doors desperately trying to shake the image off. Just one punch and he had knocked her out cold. The three girls trotted along behind Jason, they were lucky as they hadn't seen the blow. Jason stormed through the doors and came to a halt. The place was deserted, even more so than the last time they had been there. There wasn't a single god present.

"Huh? Where is everyone?" asked Alexia

"Good question" muttered Cassie as she scanned the deserted hall. Jason didn't speak, he just simply turned and stormed back out of the hall. Eva gave him a worried look but he didn't even notice. The four Druids marched through meadows and beautiful countryside, Jason setting a storming pace while the girls desperately tried to keep up. They eventually found Odin sitting quietly besides a stream. Kvasir and Tiberius were with him. All three had their eyes closed and serene looks on their faces. Cassie glared at them