The Wolfskin Series Book 3

REIDAR

Reidar looked surprised at Edvin.

“I…” He seriously didn’t know how to react. He had never taken someone with him to enter someone’s mind before, and he didn’t even know if he could.

“No, is also an answer, you know,” Edvin said as he saw Reidar’s shocked face.

“I know, but it’s not that I want to say no,” Reidar said. “I have never done that before. To be honest, I’ve only entered someone’s mind once before.

“It wasn’t until Mera that I finally learned how to do it without causing a strain on my own mind. I don’t know if I am strong enough to take you with me,” he said honestly.

EDVIN

Edvin gave him a small smile as he saw Reidar’s shocked face.

It wasn’t the first time he’d met a Völva, and he knew what they were capable of.

He had been taught by his father that the power range of Völva differs, and you have to determine the range before you can do anything else.

If Reidar was strong enough depended on his power range.

“Do you know how high your power range is?” Edvin asked.

Reidar clenched his jaw before he shook his head. “I only know that my mother was one of the few Völva who was able to practice some kind of special magic.”

“Do you know what it was called?” Lars asked.

“Seiðr,” Reidar answered.

They all looked at him, their shock clear on their faces.

“What?” Reidar asked.

“You don’t know about Seiðr?” Sven asked, shocked.

Reidar shook his head. “My mother and father never explained to me what it was, and they were killed before they could.

“After that, I found Birger, and before I could even think about asking him, I was sent here,” he said.

“Sure, the only male who has the powers of a Völva doesn’t know about one of the most powerful kinds of magic that exists on Midgard… that his mother practiced!” Sven said as he shook his head in disbelief.

Edvin chuckled a little as he also shook his head before he looked back at Reidar. “And now I know how it is possible that you’re a male Völva.”

All of them looked at him.

“What do you mean?” Reidar asked.

REIDAR

“Seiðr is a form of magic that is related to the course of fate, and it is used within fate’s structure to bring about changes,” Edvin explained.

“The practitioner, symbolically, weaves new events into the fate of a being.

“They would use a ritual distaff and enter an ecstatic trance to communicate with the world of spirits to fulfill their intended task of a blessing, curse, or prophecy.”

He explained further, and Reidar stepped a little closer as his interest was sparked.

He had wanted to know about the magic his mother was able to wield for so long, and now he was finally getting to know about it.

“There were many uses of Seiðr rituals,” Edvin continued. “There were rituals for healing the sick, for controlling the weather, to bring good luck to a being, or for calling big game animals.

“There were also rituals for clairvoyance and divination, but also for seeking out the hidden, both in the deepest part of the mind or physical locations,” Edvin said.

“Wow…,” Reidar said as he thought about what Edvin told him. “My mom could do that?” he asked in a soft voice.

Edvin nodded. “Sadly, it can also be used to cast a curse on something or someone, to induce illness, or to make a land barren so nothing would grow on the soil again.

“It can be used to tell false futures and send someone down a dark and dangerous path or a road to disaster.

“It can be used to injure, mutilate, or even kill during a dispute or—especially—a battle or war,” he said with a sigh.

Reidar shook his head. “She would have never used it for those ends.”

Edvin nodded again. “There are only two of the four Völvas left on Midgard who are able to practice Seiðr, and neither has ever used it for those ends.”

Reidar looked at him with big eyes. “There are only two left? My mom was one of the four?”

“If your mother was a practitioner like you said, yes,” Edvin said.

Reidar gulped as he placed his hands in his pockets as the cold evening air blew past them.

“What did you mean when you said you understood how it’s possible that I am a male Völva?” he asked as he looked at Edvin.

“Völva are women who are able to use magic. Males have always had different names and different abilities—

“No male has ever had the ability to enter someone’s mind. That is restricted to the Völva powers,” Edvin explained.

“When you said you were half Völva, I thought you just got the species mixed up, but when you explained yourself, I knew you were actually right,” he said.

“My dad told me a story about one of the Völvas he knew, who used Seiðr to alter the fate of her unborn child.

“I always thought it was a fairytale, but it wasn’t. She used it to give her son the full powers of a Völva.”

Reidar looked at him with wide eyes. “You’re saying…”

“Your mother used Seiðr to make you the first male Völva, giving you the full power of one as well,” Edvin said.

“Holy shit…,” Reidar, Lars, and Sven said in unison.

“Which also means that you actually are powerful enough to take me with you,” Edvin said as he took a few steps toward Reidar.

Reidar looked at him warily. “That may be, but I don’t know how to link three minds together,” he said.

“Erm, dude…”

All of them looked at Lars.

“You are the second to the leader of the hunters.

“I’m guessing you would have no problem going to the place where you keep all your information about the—to quote our beloved Zachary—‘not natural beings on earth’,” Lars said.

Reidar snorted and nodded. “I do.”

“Then go there, find out more about your half Völva ass and use that knowledge to link the three of you together,” Lars said.

Reidar rolled his eyes as he shook his head at the guy. “Yes, boss,” he joked.

Lars snorted as well. “Good boy.”

“Careful, I’m still older than you are,” Reidar said.

“Yeah, and I am one of the best warriors in the pack, so come at me, bro,” Lars said, challenging him with a smirk on his face.

Edvin sighed as he looked at Sven, who rolled his eyes at Lars as well before he looked at Lars again.

“Knock it off, Lars,” Edvin ordered.

“Yes, Delta,” Lars said as he bowed his head.

Reidar snorted as he saw Lars’s reaction to Edvin before he turned serious again and looked at Edvin.

“I will find out what I can about me, but have you heard anything from your alpha about a plan to get her out of there?” Reidar asked.

Edvin looked back at him and sighed. “No…”

EDVIN

“Edvin.”

He immediately had a surprised look on his face as he heard Killian’s voice in his head.

“Speak of the devil?” Sven asked.

Edvin snorted and nodded. “Alpha,” he linked.

“We have a plan.”

Killian had linked the words they were all dying to hear.