I felt strange. I heard voices around me.
"She's alive." It was a female voice.
"Of course she is alive. We saw her stand up a moment ago." This one was male. He had a very beautiful voice.
"Let's get her back to the palace. The healers can have a look at her." I felt my body being picked up and I groaned.
"Is she awake?" This male voice was deeper.
"No, not quite."
"She doesn't need the healers. Bring her here." It was the pretty voice guy again. My body rocked as I was carried forward.
A hand touched my head were it was busted. It hurt but I didn't make any noise. Warmth spread from the hand through to my head. I was being healed. I wanted to open my eyes and see the stranger. He knew magic. But my body refused to do anything but listen.
"That should take care of most of the damage."
"She doesn't seem to be injured anywhere else. That is strange, don't you think?" Deep male voice. From where it was coming, I could tell he must be the one carrying me.
"We can have a closer look once we return." Girl voice.
"Brother, you can carry her on the trip." My body was lifted higher and an exchange of hands was made. Instead of large and strong, these were slender and gentle. I could feel the pulse of magic beneath them.
"Why do I have to carry her?"
"Because you are the one who sensed her coming. Now be careful. Try not to jostle her too much." The voice receded and the sound of leather rubbing against leather and fabric moving was heard. I felt an arm wrap around my torso, holding me up.
As I drifted back out, I could hear hooves start to pound. The man holding me sighed and then we were moving.
My mind went to sleep. I have no idea how long. But when my body started to register things, my head hurt. Opening my eyes, I looked around slowly. Nothing looked remotely familiar.
Starting to sit up I saw a few young girls around the room. All were doing something with books and herbs. One turned and saw me.
"She's awake. How do you feel?" The other girls looked my way and started to come toward me.
"Where am I?" I asked. I didn't feel comfortable about this.
"You are in the infirmary. Odin wishes to speak with you when you are ready." The girl was soft spoken and looked like she came out of some Dungeons and Dragons movie.
"What? Odin? Hey, let me go. Don't touch me. Who are you?" I was starting to panic. Something was bad wrong. Swinging my legs over the edge of the cot, I stood and immediately got a headache. My head swam terribly, and felt as if it would bust. The girls tried to help me.
"Please, miss. You need to lay back down. The healer will be in in a moment and he can help your head."
"No! Where the hell am I?" Fighting the dizzy and seeing a door, I stumbled toward it. The girls followed, trying to pull me back.
"Where are you going? Miss!" The door led into an enormous hallway. I mean, the kind that two semi's could drive through side by side.
Straightening, I walked down the hall, trying to see where I was. It sure as hell wasn't a hospital.
"Miss."
"No I am not going to lay back down! Now give me some damn answers!"
"What's going on?" I turned and saw a guy dressed up in some freaky armor. How hard did I hit my head?
"She is awake, and is wanting some answers as to her location." One of the girls piped up.
"If you are ready, then the All-father would like to speak with you."
"All father? Who's that?" Metal man started my way.
"He can give you the answers you need. Come with me." Eying the pointy spear he was carrying, I decided not to run. Which I don't think my head could deal with anyway.
"Ok." I said. The man turned and started walking off. I took that as my cue to follow.
How big is this place? We walked for what seemed forever. Several times I had to ask him to stop so my head could stop swimming. When we came to a very large set of double doors, made of what looked like gold, he opened the door and motioned me inside. I entered cautiously, jumping when the door slammed shut behind me.
What I saw brought me back to those stories I read of kings and queens and their courts. At the end of the room was a large throne, with a large old man with an eye patch sitting in it. To one side was a large man with shoulder length blond hair, a beard, and wore armor and a red cape. He held a very large hammer in one of his hands.
On the other side of the throne was a tall skinny looking man. He was the opposite of the blond. His skin was pale, and he had high cheekbones. His hair was dark brown. He wore green and gold clothing, and the strangest yet, a helm with horns was on his head.
On the side with the blond man were four other people lined up. Three men and a woman. The men struck me as Robin Hood, Jackie Chan, and Hagrid. The woman was fierce looking. If she wasn't so pale, I wouldn't have put it past her to have an Amazonian heritage.
All of them were staring at me. Very unnerving. Usually these things wouldn't bother me, but when I don't know what's going on, I get edgy.
"Come forward, child." The old man spoke. His voice was deep with many years. Cautiously, I walked toward the group of people. I felt like if I gave one of them a weird look, they would pounce on me.
"Tell us your name." Old guy again.
"Um, Kat. I mean Kathleen." I grimaced at my real name. I grit my teeth with the tension in the air.
"Well Kathleen. Where are you from?"
"Uh. New Mexico. You?"
"Do you know where you are now?"
"No." He sighed and looked at the blond man.
"She is Midgardian. Unlikely for her to understand where she is." His voice was deep. He must have been the one that had picked me up back in the field. The old man nodded.
"Uh yeah. Sorry. What?" I scrunched my brows in confusion at the two men. What did they just call me? I held my head for a moment while my head buzzed.
"This will be hard for you to understand young one. You are on Asgard. Another world. For some reason you were brought here. We do not know why." Stunned, I just stared at him.
"Are you high? Or is this some big joke? A joke right? Ok. Haha. Very funny. Now where am I?" Now I was getting pissed. I don't like it when people mess with me. To my dismay, they all stared stony faced.
"It is no joke." Now the blond was talking. I nodded.
"Yeah. Either you all are damn good actors or its not a joke."
"No. This is no joke. We speak the truth." The blond continued on.
"Ok. Can I get some names here? Make me feel a little better." The old guy nodded.
"My name is Odin, All-father." I laughed and held up my hands. That rang an old bell.
"Wait. Like, the god Odin? From the Norse mythology stuff?"
"I do not know what this mythology is, but yes I am the Odin you speak of." Looking at the people gathered around me, I saw them in a new light. They all seemed like the gods that the stories had talked about.
"How hard did I hit my head?" I asked more to myself. But no. This was real. If my magic is real, than this might as well be. I gave in.
"Ok. I sorta believe you here. I remember reading those stories. It seems it….w…w." Holy shit what is that! Something was crawling up my leg and I looked down. There was a very large, very beautiful snake climbing my leg. I pointed at it.
"Who's snake?" No one claimed it and I reached down. When I touched it I could tell it had been conjured. If my memory is right, only one of these guys does magic. Slowly I unwound it from my leg.
"Hey there beautiful. I need my leg but you can have my arm for now." When I was about to straighten back up, I made a small wave with my hand toward the guy with horns. A large tarantula appeared on his back, though no one knew it yet.
The snake was very beautiful. It was a very vibrant shade of green, with yellow diamonds down its back.
"Seriously? No one's snake?" Everyone looked at me very strangely. I took time seeing their faces. The best was Loki's. Yeah, pretty sure that's his name. He was surprised and disappointed that I wasn't screaming at his little trick.
Looking at the snake and scratching its chin, I addressed Odin again.
"So, you guys are the ones from all those books I read, hmm? I hope some of it was true…." Right on cue.
Loki was yelling and jumping around. He was trying to find the spider, which I quickly made disappear. I tried to keep my face with a confused look. Everyone was looking at him strangely. It was almost painful to hold in the bouts of laughter that wanted to come out.
"What is it brother?" The blond was asking. Thor, I think. Loki finally stopped moving, huffed and looked at everyone.
"There was a spider. A really big spider." I couldn't help but crack a small smile.
"There is no spider." Thor continued. I coughed to cover the laugh that broke through.
Loki snapped his gaze to me and darkened. I didn't know if he knew it was me, or if he didn't like that I had laughed at him.
Regardless of which, with a wide swing, the snake that was contently curled around my arm burst into flames. Gasping, I swung my arm, trying to put out the fire. That pissed me off.
"That was a little cruel, don't you think?" I gave him a look filled with venom.
"How did you know it was my brother that had done that?" Thor spoke and started walking forward. Continuing to pat my arm, I spoke.
"Just as I know he conjured the snake. Like I had tried to say, the mythology seems to have been at least half the truth. He sticks out with those horns of his." The four people to the side gave small snickers. I gave him one last glare then looked at Thor.
He took my arm and looked at it. It was burned slightly. Not too serious.
"That was very childish, Loki. Now her arm is burnt." I pulled back.
"It'll be fine." Loki and I continued exchanging death glares.
"You will remain here until we figure out how and why you were sent here. Until then, you will be Loki's responsibility." I had been half listening, as Loki must have been too.
"What?" Our gazes slipped to Odin's as our mouths hung open.