"Well, what do we have here?" a creature asked, looming suddenly from the path ahead. I halted in my tracks and looked at the thing. It was hideous—with a beak and warts and fur and feathers. I'd never seen anything like it.
I glanced behind me at Thor and Fandral. They looked just as shocked as I was. I shrugged nonchalantly and turned back to the creature. "Nothing," I answered.
"Nothing?" the creature demanded. "Nothing? Nothing, nothing, tra-la-la?!" As it spoke, a goldish green shimmer passed over it—revealing Loki. I gulped silently, trying to swallow the sudden fear that swept over me, accompanied by a surge of adrenaline. I wanted to take a step back—away—but I felt Thor take a step forward from behind me, helping me find some bravery.
"Yes. Nothing," I repeated, with only the slightest tremor in my voice.
Loki took a few steps closer to me, at such an angle that he backed me up against the wall. He rested one hand on the wall behind me and smirked. "Well then, how are you liking my Labyrinth?" he inquired, voice smooth as silk and seductive as all get out.
I heard Thor and Fandral clear their throats awkwardly.
Ignoring them both, I looked straight into Loki's eyes. "Adequately challenging," I replied bravely.
Loki snickered. "Then should we play a game? Up the stakes?" He gestured behind him, stepping back from the wall, to reveal another big clock with thirteen numbers on the face. The hour hand was on the four. He moved his hand in a circle, moving the clock a single hour forward.
I shrugged, trying to keep the utter panic that hit me like a freight train under control so he couldn't see it. "I'd really rather not," I told him. "I'm fine with the stakes right where they are. My family is in danger and I don't intend to put them in any more danger than necessary." Loki smirked even wider, getting awkwardly close again. I cleared my throat this time and tried to maintain eye contact. I was so uncomfortable.
"Hmm…" Loki looked at me contemplatively. "Alright. For now. Because I like your spunk." He stepped back and the clock turned back to four. "But be warned, next time, I may not be so fair."
"Brother!" Thor started to protest. But with a flash of golden green, Loki was gone. Grumbling, Thor clutched his hammer's shaft tighter. "This isn't right. This isn't fair to you!" he told me. I shrugged and went back to walking.
"What's done is done. Best to just accept it and keep moving," I remarked, starting the trudge up the incline again. "So we better get going."
After what felt like two hours of wandering, I stopped to catch my breath. Thor came to a stop right behind me.
After a moment, I realized something was off.
"Where's Fandral?" I asked.
Thor whirled. "Fandral?!" he shouted. When there was no reply, the God of Thunder seethed. "Loki. One of his tricks. He probably cast an illusion on Fandral when we came to that fork in the road, making him think he's following us and we went the other direction." I sighed and leaned against the bricks that made up the eight-foot-wall of the corridor.
"Well, we can't go back. We don't have time. We can come back for him after we rescue my cousins. Please don't leave me all alone."
"Don't worry. He'll be okay. He's gone through worse than Loki's little maze. Let's go."
Fandral followed Thor and the girl for about two hours until they vanished. "What the—?! Loki!" he shouted.
"Don't worry. You'll see them in just a few minutes. I just wanted to give you this, so you can give it to the girl," Loki commented. He was leaned against the brick wall, rolling a peach between his fingers. "It won't hurt her. It'll just help me." He tossed the peach at his friend. Fandral caught it deftly. "And make sure she eats it!" When the blond warrior looked up, Loki was gone. Fandral looked around, but knew better than to think Loki was just hiding behind a tree. With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, he put the peach into the pouch sling he was wearing and started off down the path.
"Where are we?" I asked as Thor and I pulled to a stop in front of two door knockers.
"One of Loki's little puzzles," Thor muttered, sounding irritated. Both brass fixtures in front of us were shaped like faces. One had the knocking ring in its mouth and the other had the ring coming out of his ears.
"Welp, they don't call him the God of Mischief for nothing," I remarked. I looked over the doors and the faces. "No clues or anything as to what's behind. No doorknobs or handles and I bet he's enchanted them so that they'll only open if you knock on one of them. Probably can't break them down or knock on them both at the same time." Thor stared at me. My natural reaction was to knock on the left-hand door—the one with the ring coming out of the strange face's ears—because I'd been taking the left paths the whole time. But in the same moment, I felt like I hadn't made any more progress towards the castle and I'd probably been in the Labyrinth for four or five hours. Which meant I had eight or nine left and I felt like I'd barely made any headway.
"Which way?" Thor asked. "This is your task—your choice."
I bit my lower lip in thought and stared between the doors with my arms folded. "Okay," I decided, taking a step forward.
I grabbed the left ring and knocked.
"Let's go," I remarked as the door swung open.
Thor stepped through first—to make sure there was no immediate danger.
As soon as I followed him through, the door slammed shut and he stopped walking. I didn't realize it at first and bumped right into him—again. "Oof!" I muttered, bouncing off the back of his armor, barely padded by his cape. I lost my balance on something and started to fall backwards, arms pin-wheeling in an attempt to regain my balance.
A set of strong, tan hands looped under my arms, catching me and pushing me back up.
"Whoa there, my lady!" a British voice remarked, steadying me. I turned around.
"Fandral?!" I demanded. "How did you get here?"
The blond warrior almost looked guilty as he looked at me. "I followed you two down a right-hand path—which I thought was bizarre anyway—and then you two disappeared and I came to some doors with some brass knock faces and rings. I figured the best idea would be to go to the left because that's the one I thought you would choose. And I only had to look around for about twenty minutes before I heard the door open. Lo and behold, you two showed up."
I smiled. "Well then, welcome back, and let's get going!" I shook Fandral's hand and started through the dark corridor.
We emerged into what looked like a volcano.
"Muspelheim," Thor remarked.
"Excuse me?" I inquired.
"Loki has modeled this landscape after one of the other Eight Realms—the volcanic home of the Dwarves. Muspelheim," Fandral supplied.
I blinked. "Ah," I commented.
Fandral offered me his arm. "Then I suppose we should continue. Your loved ones await you."
I took his arm and we started crossing the volcanic land. There were no paths for the first time—just one long expanse of landscape. I closed my eyes for just a moment and looked down.
"At this rate, we'll never get to my cousins," I muttered.
"Do not lose heart, my lady! All we have to do is keep going!" Fandral said comfortingly, patting my hand. Thor was walking faster than we were and had pulled away by quite a lot. He was looking around at the rocks and black dirt and fiery light when my stomach made a very loud growling sound. I'd eaten lunch at about one in the afternoon earlier and I'd put my cousins to bed at about nine so given I'd been looking for them for four or five hours, it was one or two in the morning and I hadn't had dinner.
Needless to say, I was hungry. But I hadn't really known I was hungry because I was so stressed about Loki stealing my cousins.
Fandral heard my stomach growl and pulled me to a stop—without calling for Thor to do the same. He steadily increased the distance between us as Fandral rifled around in a pouch he was wearing across his trunk. "Here. Something to keep you going," he offered, extracting a small round thing from his sling and holding it out to me.
I smiled. "Thank you," I told him. "But I don't like peaches. I'll be okay."
"Who doesn't like peaches?" Fandral asked, sounding indignant.
I shrugged. "I'm a picky eater," I answered.
"Well, lucky for you, this is Asgard. This thing is magic and will turn into whatever fruit you do like."
That sounded a little farfetched but as I curiously took the fuzzy fruit from my new friend's hand, the fuzz vanished, leaving a red sheen and a slightly different shaped fruit clutched between my fingers. "Now, I do like apples," I commented. "Somewhat. Not actually a huge fan of fruits. I'm really more of a vegetable person—if they're cooked just right."
Fandral shook his head and took a step away from me. "Aren't you a strange mortal?" he teased.
I shrugged again and held the apple close to my lips. "Yeah. I guess I am," I commented, taking a bite.
As soon as I chewed and swallowed, I felt dizziness and fatigue hang heavily over me.
The world started to spin. "Everything's… dancing?" I muttered vaguely.
Before I could do anything, I saw Fandral taking a step back in shock—and I collapsed on the ground.
The apple rolled out of my limp hand and I passed out.
End Note: Hopefully I'll get this all posted soon! It's getting good! (If I do say so myself... teehee.)
To "AvengerFrost": Thank you! I'm happy you're liking it! To "Kelsoc": Thank you! I highly recommend seeing Labyrinth if you can tolerate 1986 computer graphics... I loved it. To "callieandjack": Yup. Lotta perils. Friends are a good thing to have!
Thank you for reading!
~Cass
