"Ulrica, can you bring me some more yarn please?" my mother called to me.
"Coming!" I called to her and hurried to fetch her the yarn. "Here it is," I said as I handed it to her.
"Thank you sweetheart," she murmured as she sighed and rubbed her swollen belly.
"How much longer until the baby is born?" I inquired.
My mother gave a little laugh before she replied, "You ask me that every day, precious, it's two more months."
"Two months," I said wistfully, as I put my arms around her neck and leaned my head against hers. "Are you sure that it's going to be a boy?"
"Positive."
"But how can you be so sure?"
"Mothers know everything, remember?" I gave a little laugh and rolled my eyes.
"What are we going to name him again?"
"His name shall be Loki. You're father and I decided on that long ago."
"Oh yes, I remember now." Just then there was a knock on our door and I hurried to answer it. I opened the door to my best friend.
"Oh, hello Wulf." I greeted him.
"Hi Ulrica. I was just going to go for a walk in the woods, and I was wondering if you would like to join me."
"Oh may I please mother?" I begged her.
"Yes, but don't forget to put on you're coat, and be back well before nightfall."
Wulf and I had been friends for as long as I can remember. We often roamed the woods together, watched the people in our small village work, or the warriors train. We did everything together and were inseparable.
Today, we just quietly meandered through the woods as the snowflakes floated down to dust our hair and clothes white.
"Ulrica," he addressed me after a time.
"Yes Wulf," I answered.
"My birthday is in a few weeks, and I will begin training as a warrior soon, and we won't be able to be together as much as now," he informed me.
"I know," I answered sullenly. But then I turned a smile on him and said, "But it is a good thing. You are becoming a man, and will be able to go out on hunts with the other warriors like you always wanted to, and stuff like that."
"I know," he agreed, but didn't sound any happier. "Ulrica," he started again after a few moments.
"Yes Wulf," I replied.
"In a few years, I'll be able to marry, and I want to marry you, if you will have me."
I gave him a beaming smile and replied, "I wouldn't marry anyone else."
We just stood their smiling at each other for a minute until he suddenly shouted, "Race you to the creek!" and took off running.
"Not fare!" I yelled after him, for he was always much faster than me. Soon I lost sight of him in the mist, and I expected that he'd set up an ambush to scare me when I got to the creek. But just a minute later I saw him standing stock still up ahead and quickly slowed down in confusion.
As I approached him he suddenly whirled around, his eyes were wide with fear. He grasped my arms in his hands and said to me very urgently, "Ulrica, go to our hiding place in the roots of the great tree now and don't move from there. Promise?" I nodded and we starred into each other's eyes for a moment. Suddenly there was a crash in the distance from where he had been starring a minute ago, startling us both. "GO, RUN!" he shouted, and we both took off. For a moment we ran side be side, and then I broke off to go towards our hiding place and he continued on towards the village.
The before soft and gentle snowflakes now pelted me in the face as I ran as fast as I could. Finally I reached the tree and dived into a small hole under one of it's roots that led into an old wolf den underneath and lay there panting quietly.
"What was that sound? What did Wulf see? Was it attackers from one of the other villages? But a man couldn't make such a loud crash. Then what was it? I bet it was a great white bear that wondered down here from the north. Yes, that's why he told me to hide here, because I can not run as fast as he."
It was then that I noticed the noise. Footsteps. But not just any footsteps. Footsteps that shook the ground with every step. They got closer and closer until I saw a shadow cross the small opening to my hiding place, and it was at that moment that the walker stopped. My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment I was to afraid to even breath. But as the seconds ticked laboriously by my curiosity got the better of me, and I crept oh so carefully and quietly up to the opening and peaked out.
What I saw froze my blood. I saw a creature with a form like a man, only he was well over eight feet tall, higher than any man I had ever seen or heard of. His skin was a dark blue, like the ocean, and he held a sword in his hand made of metal and ice. His head turned in my direction and my amazement and fear grew even more as I saw that his eyes were the color of blood. He stood there for another minute, watching and listening, and then started back the way he had come. I didn't move until the tremors of his footfalls had long faded away before I eased back into the den, curling up and hopping that Wulf would come and get me soon, I was so afraid.
"What had I seen? Was it a demon? Or even worse, was it a kinsman of the monster Grendel, come to haunt and kill our warriors as Grendel did in the stories of the hero Beowulf?" I shivered at the thought, and began to cry quietly to myself as I waited for Wulf to come find me.
But it was not to be so. After a few minutes the ground began to tremble again, only much more violently. I was confused at first until I realized as it got closer that it was again footfalls, but it was the footfalls of hundreds. And they weren't walking this time, they were running. I covered my head with my hands as the monsters rushed past and prayed desperately to my ancestors that they would not find me here. After a few moments I heard shouting and the crashing of metal as a battle began between my village's warriors and the monsters who must have attacked it, and I wept at the thought that my people might be defeated, or my mother and father harmed.
After what seemed like an eternity to me then but must have been only half on hour in reality passed and the noise quickly died down. "Finally," I thought to myself, "The battle is over and Wulf will come and find me now." I cautiously poked my head out of my hole and looked in the direction of my village. And my heart was immediately filled with horror. Fire lit up the sky where I knew my village to be, and fear consumed me. I dived back down into the den and curled up into a tight ball and sobbed my heart out. "My mother, my father, Wulf, what has become of them? Oh Norns, please, please let them be all right!" I wept for hours until a great tremor ran through the earth, greater than any before shook me out of my misery, and I lay there quietly sniffling, wondering what new miseries this heralded. After a time I heard the sound of many feet tramping in a rhythmic march . "What now?" I thought to myself. The new army began to pass by, and I peaked out to see them. What I saw was the most amazing sight I had ever seen. Great warriors, not so tall as the monsters as before, but still taller than any man I had ever heard of, clad in the most beautiful gold armor, and wielded the largest weapons the likes of which I had never seen before. The large army soon passed and I heard the commencement of fighting in the direction of my village soon after.
As the sun went down the noise began to die down also, I could wait no longer. As the sleepy sun dipped below the horizon, I cautiously slipped from my hiding place and ran towards the direction of my village. It was as I had feared. Where once my village had stood was now nothing but a pile of smoking ruins. I cautiously began to walk towards the remains, shocked that what I was seeing was the truth, and then I ran through the ruins, frantically calling out my mother and father's name as I went to where my house had once stood. I stopped in front of the smoking pile that was my house, spinning around, hysterically calling out their names. All of a sudden I heard a hoarse cough from the ground near me and I spun around in sudden fright. Lying on the ground in the shadow of one of the piles was one of the monsters, his blue blood spilling in pools around him as his breathing coming in shallow, labored breaths.
"You search for them in vain," he said hoarsely in a deep voice. "None survived our attack."
"Not even my mother?" I asked desperately, "Or the children?"
"None," he whispered, and then was seized by a racking cough, and even I could tell that he had no more than a few minutes to live. "Do not stay here little maiden," he suddenly said desperately, "Go to the golden ones, the Asgardians, perhaps they will help you, since they saw it fit to rescue your kind from our invasion. Now go, " he said urgently with a point of his finger beyond the village before he was arrested by the coughing, "Go! Before it's to late."
I obeyed him. I fled in the direction he pointed as a thousand swirling emotions raged through me, giving wings to my heals. As I kept running, the sounds of battle began to get louder again, and when I stopped at the top of a hill I saw both the armies in the little valley fighting each other furiously. I watched in awe for a few minutes before the monster's words came back to me.
"To late? To late for what?" I began looking around the lines nearest me, searching for someone I could talk to. "But would they even help me? The nearest village is over ten miles, I'd never make it with all the hungry wolves in the Black Forest between our villages. Not to mention, Old Urfried said that she felt a blizzard coming." I walked down the hill, determined to ask these Golden Ones to help me, for it was very likely I'd parish if I was left here alone. I stopped again half way down, looking for someone who wasn't busy. "But what if they say no and don't take me? What would they do if they just found me with them after they were back home? Kill me? Probably not. More likely make me a slave. But hey, that's better than dying." I spotted a cart behind a tree from my viewpoint at the bottom of the hill and ran to it. It was a large cart hooked up to a pair of horses, and in it were sacks of bandages, funny little stones, and some barrels of water. I climbed to the back behind a barrel and pulled a blanket over top of me from a stack I found there and began to wait. And despite the sounds of battle not far away, I soon fell asleep out of exhaustion.
I awoke with a start as the cart suddenly shuddered, and I had the peculiar feeling that we were falling for a minute, then with a violent jolt the cart landed on solid ground again. Immediately afterwards there was a loud shout of 'for Asgard!' all around me, making me cringe at the sudden noise, but they all ran away chasing the Norns knew who and silence again descended. I waited a moment or two before I cautiously poked my head out. Frigid air assaulted my face, making me shiver. I looked around and saw that this new place we were at was very rocky and barren, with tall spires of rock reached towards the heavens with quiet majesty. I sat up some more and looked a little more around, but then I felt like someone was watching me and I quickly turned around to see the cart driver staring down at me with a slightly amused expression on his face.
"Midgardian?" he questioned.
I blinked at him for a moment before I realized he must be asking from what clan I was from. "I have not heard of the clan called 'Midgardians', I replied cautiously. "My people are called the Geats.
His smile widened a little more and he replied, "We call all those living on Midgard 'Midgardians', whether they be Geats, Danes, or Norse." Now those I'd heard of. "Are you from the village that was destroyed little maiden?" he questioned.
"Yes," I answered sadly. "One of the dying monsters told me that no-one survived. I couldn't stay there by myself, so he said to ask you if you would help me," I said, looking up at him hopefully with the puppy dog eyes my father found irresistible. He smiled kindly down at me with pity in his eyes and replied,
"I will do all that I can to help you little maiden, but the real decision lyes with our king," he patted the seat next to him. "Come sit up here with me." I climbed up on the seat next to him, pulling the blanket with me and rapping it around my shoulders. We sat there in silence for quite some time just taking in our surroundings before I realized that one of the tall cliffs had a large door cut into it, and that the ice on the sides were actually windows.
"What is that building in the cliff?" I asked my new friend.
"That's the Frost Giant's temple."
"Is that what the tall blue people with eyes like blood are called?" I questioned.
"Aye," he confirmed.
I stared at the magnificent cathedral in awe for a few minutes before I wondered out loud, "I wonder what the inside looks like."
There was silence for a moment before he leaned over to me and asked, "Shall we find out?"
I looked at him with excitement and said, "Oh can we? Are you sure it's safe?"
He laughed as he stood up and jumped down off the cart. "We are on the enemy's realm little lass," he said as he held up his arms to lift me down. "There is no place that we are truly safe. We'll go in together, and I'll stand at the door and keep a lookout while you have a look around, yes?"
"Yes!" I answered, grasping his hand as we made our way over the rocky ground. It took all my guardian's strength to pull open a ponderous door wide enough for us to slip through. He walked in first and looked around for any danger. Satisfied that there was no-one there, he stepped back to the door and said to me,
"I'll wait outside lass, come outside when your eyes have drank their fill." He walked outside as I gave a distracted nod, to preoccupied with the cold, quiet majesty of my new surroundings. The dim sun shone through the icy windows, scattering the light all over the floor and adding a blue tint to it. But what soon caught my eye was the casket at the end that glowed a brilliant blue and seemed to swirl like a whirl pool. I started the long walk towards it down the middle of the hall when I began to think I heard something. As I got closer I was sure I did. I quickened my stride, and it wasn't until I was two thirds of the way down that I recognized the sound.
It was the crying of a baby.
I broke into a run and went right up to the alter before I stopped and began searching around it. Towards the back and on the steps lay a little blue baby, his red eyes wide with fear. I slowly crouched down to my hands and knees when I spotted him and cautiously crawled up to him. As I knelt next to him he caught sight of me and reached is little arms towards me and gave me a look of such pitiful desperation that I couldn't help myself. I cautiously reached out to pick him up, but then snatched my hands back after a moment when I realized just how very cold he was. The baby began crying even harder when he thought that I wasn't going to hold him after all.
"Don't cry little one," I said to him. I took off my blanket and put it over my hands, then carefully slipped it under him and around him, then easily picked him up and held him against my chest. "There we are sweet heart, there's no need to cry so," I murmured to him as his crying subsided to whimpers and I went and sat on the steps of the alter.
I sat there gazing down at him for a time as I tried to dispel the fear in his eyes with the love in my own. Soon there were footsteps coming up to me, and I assumed it was the soldier coming to see what was keeping me. When he stopped a few feet away from me I looked up and gave a gasp of horrified surprise. The man that stood before me was not my soldier, but a warrior with armor that must have once been magnificent but was now covered in blood and grime, but what really drew my eyes was that he was lacking one of his. We stared at each other for a few moments before he knelt down on one knee before me.
"Did you find that baby here little maiden?"
"Y-yes, I did," I stuttered, then looked back down at the baby in my arms.
"Let me see him," the warrior said, reaching for my little bundle.
"No!" I exclaimed, quickly drawing back and clutching the baby tighter in my arms. "Don't hurt him," I amended, not wanting to offend him.
"I will not hurt him," he assured me. After a few moments of hesitation, I conceded and handed over my bundle. I was a little surprised when he picked up the baby without the blanket, and the cold didn't seem to hurt him. But I was utterly amazed when, after the great warrior had gazed at him for a few moments, the baby changed from blue to white. He stared a few minutes more before he handed the baby back to me.
"He is the son of the king of this realm," he explained to me. "His father thought that my army and I would wipe out their entire race. And in an act of desperation he dedicated his son to his god in the hopes that his great sacrifice would persuade the god to act in his behalf. However, since the child is dedicated, it is the same as if he has disowned him, and he can not be adopted by another Frost Giant family, " he said sadly.
"Oh," I said remorsefully, looking down into the now green eyes of the baby.
"However, that doesn't mean that a foreigner cannot adopt him, which is what I shall do," he said as I looked up at him hopefully. "He will be my son and a prince of Asgard, completely an equal with my son, Thor."
As I looked back down at the baby in my arms, something he said struck me. 'He will be a prince of Asgard,' That meant that the man in front of me was the king. I looked back up and said to him, "Your majesty, the Frost Giants destroyed my village and everyone in it. Please, let me be a servant in your household," I pleaded with him before looking back at the prince in my arms. "I would love nothing better than to care for him."
The king nodded before he replied, "Very well, but there is something you must understand. Frost Giants and Asgardians alike live a great deal longer than Midgardians. Therefore, you may not live to see this child take his first steps." I let that sink in before I nodded my acquiescence. He got back to his feet, walked up the steps of the alter and picked up the glowing casket I had notice earlier. "Come, let us go," he said to me as he walked back down the steps. I followed him back through the hall and out through the ponderous doors into the dim sunshine and the frigid air.
As the army gathered together for transportation back to Asgard, the king whose name I found out later to be Odin turned to me and said, "Since you have found the child and your people have suffered much because of the Frost Giants, I will allow you to name him. What is your choice?"
I looked down at the drowsy baby boy in my arms and was reminded of the baby brother I had once hoped to hold in my arms in a few months.
"Loki," I replied, "His name shall be Loki."