Urda and The Book of Flesh

After the conversation Urda had with Grimnir, she couldn’t sleep anymore. She sat at the table, staring in the fire, struggling with herself. A decision has to be made. A painful one. When the candles nearly burnt down and the first glimpse of daylight illuminated the snowy mountains, she finally made up her mind, but the conclusion weighs heavily on her.

Unnoticed, she sent a raven to Raya. For the rest of the day, she prayed at the altar. “May Ymir forgive me my doings...” In the evening, she put a potion in Dianas meal. Nothing bad, nothing that would ever hurt her, only a substance that would make her sleep deeply and well in the night. Diana always keeps the book close to her, that much Urda knew. That cursed book everyone wants. In the darkest hour, the old Völva sneaked to Diana, found it and took it from her. “It needs to be done”, she mumbled over and over again to herself, while she left Icewind Abode with the book of flesh in her bag, riding towards Telith’s Island on Grimnirs horse, the only horse they currently owned.

Near the corrupted ruins of Oxengrad, Raya waited for her. Urda dismounted, patted the horse's neck and gave Raya a faint smile and a nod. Then she opened her bag and revealed what she had carried with her.

Rayas eyes widened when she spotted the artefact. She looked up in Urdas blue eyes and could see the pain in them. “How did you...” “I took it.” Urdas voice was grim and cold as ice. “And Grimnir…? When I read your letter, I thought he would follow you…” “Oh, he would. If he knew what I am doing here.” She smiles, a very sad smile. “He would follow me, yes, he would…” ''But he shall live. He and Diana… they both shall live.''