It was lucky that Loki and Sigyn's rooms were located so far away from any others, as, otherwise, they likely would have disturbed someone since they'd been arguing for most of the afternoon. It wasn't like them to descend into such lengthy arguments, but they both knew that this had been building for some time. As it was, hours after they had begun, Sigyn had eventually had enough.
"I'm going for a ride," she said finally. "Just leave it alone now, Loki."
She turned for the door, but he was front of her again immediately, intent on stopping her. His hand rested on her shoulder for a moment before she shrugged him off.
"No, Loki. Let me go. I've had enough of this arguing."
The anger in her eyes made him pause and he allowed her to slip passed him. He would give her time to calm down before she came back. Or before he went to find her anyway.
Sigyn went straight for the stables, and she was seething all the way. The cause of her and Loki's argument had appeared trivial to him, though it hadn't to her. She had grown tired of always being told that she should not or could not do something because Loki deemed that it wasn't 'safe'.
At first, she had been able to let those things go, but her husband's continual denial of her attempts to join him in anything he chose to do built up her annoyance with every instance. And Sigyn couldn't just let him stop her from doing any little thing with a remote risk- she'd never leave their rooms if Loki had it his way.
First it was that he wouldn't let her go hunting with him; and then it was that he wouldn't allow her to accompany him when he visited some Lord a while away- and then it was something else. Loki seemed to think that everything was so much more dangerous than it really was.
Sigyn grumbled to herself as she reached the stables. She had magic now, and she could control it. She wasn't nearly as vulnerable as Loki seemed to think- but, still, he said no to any request that she made. And it had really gotten on her last nerve.
So when Loki announced that he, his brother and friends were planning on going hunting not far from the palace, she asked again. She had tried to explain herself, and the reasons why it irked her so much that he denied her- but it was to no avail. Again. It had been the final straw- and the start of their argumentative afternoon.
Sigyn rode out on her horse, Hylling, and tried to put their argument out of her head. It had gone on for far too long and been unproductive, so riding was pleasant in comparison- and it was a nice reprieve from arguing with a master of words that never conceded to let her win. Some time ago, she'd discovered that it was a good way to get away and clear her mind when she was too angry or annoyed.
There was a problem with that solution however, since whenever Sigyn was angry, she didn't focus on her surroundings as well as she should have. Still clouded by her annoyance, she rode into a part of the forest that she had not ventured into before.
And, as a result, she ended up riding into a small clearing, and found herself in the middle of a small camp of three men, sitting around a fire. She stopped abruptly at the sight and stared at the men for a second as some of them stood up.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I didn't realise there was a clearing here."
Sigyn turned her horse to leave, but stopped when she discovered two more men stood behind her. She blinked. When did they get there? she thought with a small frown. As she looked back to the others and found that they had surrounded her. Her eyes flicked between them warily. There were five men in total, and Sigyn didn't like how they were looking at her.
"You don't have to go quite yet, do you lovely?" one of the me that had been sitting said.
That put Sigyn on edge. Her horse seemed nervous too, jittery somehow. To her, this didn't feel like normal behaviour at all; and it was making her feel uneasy.
"Excuse me, I'm afraid I must go," she said, attempting a bravado of 'everything's fine'.
"No, you mustn't," the same man answered.
One of the men tried to grab her horse's reins but she wrenched them away. It didn't take long then for her discomfort to shift into fear. And the situation went from bad to worse when the talkative man pulled out a vicious-looking knife. Sigyn swallowed the lump growing in her throat. This clearly wasn't normal behaviour at all. Who in Odin's name am I surrounded by?
"I think I recognise you," he said, flippantly pointing at her with his knife.
Sigyn frowned.
"You're Loki's wife, aren't you?"
She said nothing to that. One of the men on her left fingered the skirt of her dress before she could jerk it away, shifting on her horse.
"I'd say the Green proves it, wouldn't you?" he said, grinning at her attempt to move away from him.
The others nodded and jeered at her.
"How much do you think the God of Lies will pay to get his little wife back?"
Sigyn blinked. What on Asgard is going on? she thought, the beginnings of panic forming in her mind.
"I'm warning you-" Sigyn started.
"No point warning us; you were the one brainless enough to come out here alone."
"I didn't come out here alone," she lied quickly.
Apparently, Sigyn was unconvincing however, as one of them replied, "She's not as good a liar as her husband, is she?"
She lifted her chin a little, eyes surveying the man who had spoken. No, she wasn't as good a liar as Loki; she was usually better than in that moment though, but it didn't help that she was more than a little unnerved by the ring of men around her. Sigyn didn't have a chance to respond to their jeering however, because, before she could react, she had been pulled from her horse.
"No- stop!" she yelled as she was yanked to the ground. "Let- go- of- me!"
Struggling all the way, Sigyn kicked out at the figures holding her until they released her. They pushed her harshly away from them and from the security of her horse so she that she couldn't attempt to ride away. She silently cursed herself for not just ploughing the men down and riding away when she'd had the chance.
She looked around quickly, her breathing heavy. They were still surrounding her, and from what she could see, there was no easy way out of the circle of five men. Sigyn made a quick attempt to get passed them, but they pushed her quite harshly back to where she'd stood before.
"You're staying with us," one of the men who pushed her said.
She frowned. She knew that her face was betraying her fear, but she couldn't control her expression right then. She had no idea what these men intended to do with her, but she knew that it wasn't going to be pleasant.
"Let me leave," Sigyn said, trying to act more calmly than she felt.
Almost collectively, the group sneered at her.
"What did I ever do to you?"
"It's not what you did; it's what your husband did."
Sigyn stared. Why did they keep bringing up Loki? What connection did he have to these men?
"Look, I don't know you, and I don't know what problem it is that you have with Loki, but this is wrong. This shouldn't involve me, I have nothing to do with it," she started.
"It has everything to do with you. Word has it that you're the only thing he cares about- so how better to get to the Prince than through you?"
She said nothing.
"What did you expect to happen when you married that bastard trickster God? Being with him has certainly not made you more friends."
The men laughed.
"More enemies perhaps," the one with the knife said, his eyes glinting.
She turned to face him and stared; he was, after all, the most dangerous of them at present.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"We have a grudge to settle with your funny little husband," he finally explained.
"What are you talking about?" she asked quickly.
"He made fools of all of us once upon a time; just for fun," the man replied. "How fun do you think he'll find this?"
Sigyn narrowed her eyes as she look at him, not seeing the man behind her who pushed her towards their apparent leader. There're just too many of them, she thought desperately, feeling a hand grab hold of her wrist, swinging her closer to her knife-wielding captor. She sucked in a breath as her back pressed against his chest and he waved his knife tauntingly in front of her.
Sigyn cursed herself once more for not having the forethought to teach herself some defensive spells. She hadn't thought she'd need to- not with how Loki was about her safety. How ironic it seemed that she had ridden off on her own because he wouldn't let her do anything for fear of it being too dangerous; and, as soon as she had, she'd run straight into trouble. Now she was scared. Really scared.
Loki gave his wife only a ten minute head start before he went after her. His plan was to let her calm down alone for a time, but to find her before she returned. He had no intention of leaving her when she was in such a mood. He had watched her ready her horse from the shadows, unsurprised that she had chosen to go riding- she did that from time to time when she was angry.
And every time, Loki had ridden just ten minutes or so behind her, sticking to the shadows- and this time was no exception. He followed her tracks, and saw that, after a while, she had disappeared into the forest. Loki had a bad feeling about that, and his ill suspicions were only confirmed when he heard voices from ahead. Unless her horse had learnt to speak, Sigyn was no longer alone. And it seemed that her company was less than friendly.
Loki rode his horse into the clearing, quickening at the sound of the numerous voices. He couldn't have been more angered and shocked at what he saw, though he masked his feelings well when he looked upon the scene before him. It wasn't the five men that surprised him, it was the fact that they were surrounding his wife and that one of them held her from behind by her wrists, keeping her still with a blade that was far too close to her for his liking.
"Loki!" Sigyn shouted, before quick thinking had a knife pressed against her throat.
That silenced her. Her free hand went for the wrist of the man holding her, but she couldn't budge that blade. Despite their previous argument, she couldn't have been more pleased to see her husband right then. Though Loki didn't make a move immediately, as she had thought he might; he simply stared for a moment. Then he dismounted- almost calmly, it seemed.
"Take your hands off of her," he ordered, quietly calm though anger seethed beneath his voice.
"We weren't born yesterday, your majesty," one replied, mocking Loki's title.
"Oh? Then perhaps you are not as dim as I thought."
"Of course we aren't," one of the men snapped.
"Tell me this then; where is it you think you're going to go after this?" Loki asked. "Using the title you so mocked, I can ensure you are found where ever you run and where ever you try to hide. Let my wife go now and we can avoid all this."
Two of the men stole anxious looks at each other but the others did not budge.
"You don't remember us do you, Silvertongue?" one man ventured.
Loki looked at him for a second and muttered, "Of course I do. I remember everyone that I make into a fool, and you five are no exception- though, admittedly, you were fools before I met you."
The men didn't seem to like that reply, and Sigyn felt the knife at her neck press into her skin slightly. She winced- more at the anticipation of pain than the actual feeling. It was enough to make Loki pause and become serious again however.
"What are you going to give us to let her go?" the most confident of the men, the one holding Sigyn, questioned.
"I'll give you a quick death," Loki answered simply.
They stared.
"You're a scrawny little liar of a Prince," the man replied. "You aren't going to kill us, you haven't got the courage or the skill."
"You talk of courage whilst you're holding my wife against you as a shield, how interesting," Loki noted.
The man faltered, then he shook his head. He was determined not to become entangled in Silvertongue's web of words as he once had been.
"No more talking," he said, pressing the knife just that little bit closer to Sigyn's throat.
She inhaled sharply.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Loki warned, his eyes flashing.
The man gave a cruel laugh in Sigyn's ear and she winced at the sound.
"You're hardly in a position to demand anything. Now, what are you prepared to give us to ensure that we don't cut your wife's pretty little throat?"
"I will give you nothing," Loki answered, his voice eerily calm again. "Now let us try this one last time; let her go."
The man took no heed of Loki's words, even if his companions were becoming a little uneasy. He clearly felt more confident with his shield and bargaining power than they did. In fact, just to flaunt the power he assumed he had, he pulled Sigyn back to him and inhaled, his nose buried in her hair. The attempted display of power made her feel sick, and it was enough to prompt Loki into motion.
He had given them enough of an opportunity to let Sigyn go- now was his time to act. He sent a small dagger flying into the man behind his wife, knocking him to the ground but leaving her standing. The other men were dispatched quickly, their attempts at fighting the Prince pathetic at best.
Loki strode over to Sigyn, who remained where she'd been standing, looking somewhat shocked as she stared at the recently deceased men who were bleeding out into the grass, each with precisely-thrown identical daggers embedded into their bodies. Loki had to tap her shoulder to regain her attention, and when he did, she looked at him with bleary eyes.
"You're not hurt?" he asked.
Sigyn shook her head slowly. At that, Loki nodded and turned to his next order of business. The man that had held his wife at knifepoint, the one he'd hit with a dagger, was still alive. Loki knew where he had aimed that blade and he wanted to witness the man's pain as death called to him.
Loki crouched down beside the man, who was by now finding breathing hard, and found that he could hear the blood bubbling in his throat. Picking up the blade that had been used to threaten Sigyn, Loki plunged it into the already-dying man's stomach, maliciously twisting the knife.
"Please!" the man cried.
"I warned you," Loki whispered.
The man screamed under the torment of Loki's hand.
"Stop it," Sigyn said. "Stop it, Loki. Enough."
Sigyn's hand was on his arm, and it took Loki a minute to come back to her. He was so engulfed in his momentary vengeance for the sake of his wife, that he had not considered her feelings of what he did. He stopped abruptly and stood up, not waiting to see the light leave the eyes of his victim.
"Loki..." Sigyn murmured quietly.
He held her to him, knowing that she was close to tears. He wasn't surprised at all when she started to cry into his shirt as the realisation of what could easily have happened dawned on her.
"Shhh, little Sigyn. You are safe now."
"I... I know... Now..."
"Relax," he soothed, attempting to quell he tears.
Loki comforted his wife for a while, until he suggested that they leave before any wildlife was attracted to the smell of blood and death. Nodding mutely, the two rode back to the palace together and returned to their rooms. Sigyn refused to leave her husband's side for the rest of the day. That's the way it should be, Loki thought.
He wouldn't admit it, especially since he more than abhorred those men he'd killed, but Loki was glad that Sigyn finally understood the dangers of being his wife. The dangers that he had tried not to tell her about by pretending that other things were more dangerous.
The truth was, he had more enemies than was safe for his wife to be near- and he wanted to keep her as far away from them as he could.
Author's Note: So, that was a pretty bad day for Sigyn really... At east Loki was there eventually. ;) There should be either one or two chapters (depending on length) more of this; though I'm starting back at University today (that's why I'm up at the ungodly hour of 7am (I'm a student- any morning hour is ungodly)), so I don't know how long it may be before the next chapter appears. :) Hope you enjoyed it and will let me know what you think! :)
Kit xx