Chapter 2 – Awakenings

Loki woke up staring into the blistering sun. He groaned as he sat up. 'I must have been sleeping for a while then…' he stretches his arms and gets up. 'best go back, Thor must've returned by now, worrying sick!' He runs down the hill and enters the slums of Abydos.

Loki at times longed for his days in Tanis, where they lived in luxury. More importantly, where his parents were still alive. The people in the slums here were all broken people. People that longed to the life in Thebes, people who once lived in Thebes but lost it all. Slaves, thieves, murderers. Loki despised them, but what he really did was despise himself and Thor. They were just as much the people dangling on the bottom of the food chain as these men around him were. Thor and him tried to be above it by living the earnest life. But it didn't get them anywhere. He kicks an old and fallen apart basket as he passes it, nearly arriving at the hut he and Thor called their own.

He thought he was actually going to make it as well, but the baker stopped him.

"Thor told me you were sick… But I see you up and about?" The man said, discontent clear in his voice.

"I'm afraid I would not have been able to focus on baking today, Pahir, I was resting on the hill." Loki looked down at the ground. "I will return tomorrow, I promise."

The man's eyes softened. "I'm sure you will…" He pushed some moldy loaves of bread in Loki's hand. "These didn't sell today, make sure you make some good ones tomorrow in exchange, alright?" The man was gone before Loki could thank him. Pahir, as strict as he was, was a good man. He helped more people out in the slums, as people looked out after him as well. He needed Loki, sure, but he did not need to give him bread.

Loki continued on his way to his hut and entered it, fully expecting Thor's scowling face as his brother would lecture him about not going out, and the dangers of doing so.

But he wasn't there, and by the looks of it, he hadn't returned either.

Loki shrugged; he'd be there later, for sure!

Two hours later after sundown, Loki had eaten a part of his bread, but still no Thor.

He had been late before, he'd be late today again, maybe there was a lot of fish to be sold?

Another two hours later, Loki couldn't not stifle a yawn. Still no Thor.

Maybe he had found a job for the night and he'd be back real late, or on the morrow?

Loki fell asleep not half an hour later. He succumbed to his usual nightmares of endless water and the death of his parents. When he woke up in the morning, restless and afraid, there was no cold cloth or kind words to sooth him. Just the empty hut, besides him. And that's when Loki started to worry. Thor had never been so late… or early depending on how you looked at it.

But there must be a first for everything and Loki got up to get to the Pahir and fulfill his promise of well baked bread. Thor would be back when he got home, he had to believe in that.

Pahir at least smiled at him as he entered the clay hut that made Pahir's bakery. It was the biggest hut in the slums as one could think of Pahir as the wealthiest of them all. Everyone needed to eat and the baker was the only one who sold his bread. Loki's baking skills improved that status by far. Pahir was as close as a friend Loki had.

All went well till around afternoon when the lady who lived at the edge of the slums, closest to the city, entered the hut. The woman in question enjoyed gossiping, as she knew that information was the key to getting out of the slums. Information could be sold, and information could get people indebted to you. She would, at times, for her own entertainment hand out information for free though. Today was no such day, it would seem.

"Loki, I'm surprised you're still here. I would've suspected you to follow Thor?" She said, startled when she saw the raven haired young man. He had been working hard, and next to the over it was very warm, so Loki wore only his loincloth and if you could violate a man by watching, she was doing it right now.

"What do you mean?" Loki asked.

"One of your breads, and I may tell you." Loki sighed, she and he knew he couldn't hand out free bread. Pahir came to his rescue. "Don't tell him and you won't get to buy bread at all, see if you find bread somewhere else." Loki looked at him thankfully.

"Fine! I'll be back tomorrow, you'll learn to show a woman respect!" she stormed off out of the hut.

Loki looked worriedly after her. He was curious as to what she had meant.

"Do not be worried, Loki, the only respect she ever got was on her back, and the only truth she ever spoke was… no I don't think she ever spoke truth…" Pahir scratched his head and returned to work on the bread.

Loki couldn't completely focus anymore, managed to sell a lot more bread for Pahir, but returned as soon as Pahir sighed and told him to go back home, pressing two breads in his arms. Loki couldn't believe it, he had 3 and a half bread to share with Thor now… if he had returned that is. His heart skipped several beats as he ran back to his hut.

He expectantly entered it, but it was as untouched as it was this morning.

He sagged to the ground, putting his trembling hands on the floor to stabilize himself. What she had said… had Thor left him? Had he found a good job in the city and left without saying goodbye? No, Thor wouldn't do that, Thor would say goodbye. But then why didn't he? It would mean he had been unable. Had he died? Was he wounded? Had the crocodiles finally got to him?

Loki got up, and pulling his cloak over him he walked to the usual fishing spot of Thor. In the twilight it was harder to look, and more dangerous as well, but he found something at last. The basket full of fish, inedible after two full days in the sun. His shoulders drooped, as he was now fearing for Thor's life. He would not have left the basket just like that. He would not have left Loki just like that. Loki was starting to panic now, fear and sadness overcoming him. He would not know what to do if Thor was gone. He would be alone, baking bread for the remainder of his life.

Deciding he had only one more lead, he returned to his hut, got out one of the loaves of fresh bread and walked to the other side of the slums. He made clear his arrival by telling whoever was inside he was coming in, as he did. The woman from before, he didn't even knew her name, was sitting there.

"So, curious to where your brother is?" she asks.

"Please tell me, is he wounded?" Loki asks, desperately.

"Tsk, tsk, first payment. Information is valuable you know!" she says. "I'll take that loaf you brought me, and I would like to see your eyes. And tell me where you came from."

Loki is startled by the price, but it's nothing he can't pay. He hands her the loaf and goes to sit nearer so she can see his eyes in the light of the fire she had in her hut.

"Yes, the treasure of Abydos, they call you. Inaccurate, as you have two of them, so it'd be treasures, right?" She giggles, amused by her own findings. "Now then, your origins, and I'll tell you where your brother is."

So Loki told about his life in Tanis, about how his parents died and how he came to live in Abydos with Thor.

She shakes her head. "No, your origin. This is all very interesting, but, where do you come from originally? You can't be Egyptian!" Loki looks at her confused. His father's family had been of Egypt for generations at least, and so he tells her.

"Maybe you're a bastard then? Made with a woman from the other side of the sea? Bah, you don't know, I suppose, so I'll take that as an answer… though… I would love to see what other treasures you hide.." And she trails her finger over his thigh. Loki shifts and she notices his uneasiness.

"Nevermind… not going to force you or anything." She sighs. "Do you remember the group of highplaces people coming through yesterday?" Loki nods, he did.

"Some say,…. Some say the pharaoh and his son were among them. I was in the city and didn't see them, but Lilah said so herself. Regardless, when I walked back I saw the last of the soldiers leave, and they had your brother tied on one of their horses back." She waited for Loki's reaction before she continued. "He was unconscious, at least. Didn't look dead, though he had a nasty cut on his shoulder." Loki gasped. His brother was wounded, imprisoned, maybe even dead. And he was sitting here, still in the slums.

"Where is he now? Do you know?" Loki asks.

"My guess? In Thebes? Maybe they wanted him to stand trial for something. Can't imagine why, I've never seen your brother do anything illegal. Though if what you told me just now is true, he may have wanted to avenger your mother?" She shrugged. Loki could not stand another second in this woman's company. The way she spoke over his loved ones…

He got up and ran back to his hut, he packed all the bread he could in the sheet he sleeps under. He notices the papyrus Thor forbade him to read, as it was not intended for him, and packed that along as well. He walked to Pahir, explaining his situation and why he could not come back in tomorrow. Pahir simply nodded, went into his hut and returned with three skin of water, and dried meat. "Best take this, for all those years of underpayment." He said.

Loki could not thank him enough. "May Ra be merciful" he whispers.

"No, may Ra be merciful to you" Pahir replied. And so Loki went on his way to Thebes, where the pharaohs live.

He knew the trip would be dangerous, and the shortest route would be through the desert, but it would be best if he'd follow the nile. Regardless it would be a three day trip, if all went well.

He walked for fourteen hours, through the night and the morning, where there was no scorching sun, and only stopped when sunlight was getting too hot. Hiding from the sun underneath palm trees that grew next to the Nile. Along the way he found other travelers, some traveling up, asking him how long for Abydos, and his answer would be replied with an estimate for him. He couldn't give up. Would Thor give up on him? Never!

At the end of the second day he decided to rest for a little while on the river banks of the Nile, so he could walk the whole night in the cold of the dark.

"Traveling alone has it's disadvantages." Someone behind him said, as he ate one of the salted dried meat. Loki turned around, only to get a dagger pressed on his throat.

"Oh, those eyes! You're lucky they're no real emeralds, or I would cut them out!" The man, a filthy teenager, a stubble growing on his face and his teeth rotting already, grinned. "And you're lucky I'm only after your salted meat and coin, or I'd be tempted to go after your own!" He snatched the meat out of Loki's hand. "So, your coin, give it up!"

"I don't have any, I only have the food you just stole, and I'm down to my last skin of water. I own nothing." Loki said, glaring down at the man.

"That's not true." The young man smirked again as he snatched the skin of water away. "Now you own nothing!" And he run off, climbed on his horse and spurred it to run off. "Don't follow me, or I'm forced to shoot an arrow through your head… and I never miss!" he shouts to Loki while he disappears out of Loki's vision. Loki sighs. Down to nothing, at least he just ate. At least the man hadn't found the papyrus that belonged to Thor.

After a night's rest, as he really was too tired to travel now. He woke up first thing in the morning. Thebes couldn't be far now.

AN Yeah, I won't make it a habit to write two chapters in one evening, but I'll try to keep the updates coming, kay? Please review, I like them! ^_^