Chapter Four
Thor felt like he had only just managed to drift off to sleep when he suddenly sat bolt upright in bed, his momentary rest disturbed by something that had alerted his senses. His heart hammered in his chest and he breathed long deep breaths in an attempt to slow it's frantic pounding. Slowly he glanced about his chambers but all of the shadows present were familiar, there didn't seem to be anything there. So what had woken him?
Thor's head snapped towards his door as the faint tapping of heeled boots sounded just outside in the long echoing corridor. He held his breath as he waited for the boots to reach his door but they seemed to stop a short distance away. Thor remained totally still as he sat in his bed, his ears straining to hear even the most faint of sounds in the corridor, but when several minutes passed and not a sound had broken the stark silence Thor tossed aside his sheets and touched his feet to the cold stone floor.
He slowly padded over to his door, taking each step carefully so as to make as little noise as possible when he feet made contact with the stone. He shivered as the skin of his bare chest came to grips with being exposed from under the comforting sheets.
Emerging from the door to his chambers and into one of the numerous marbled corridors of the palace Thor turned his head cautiously from left to right, peering down the softly lit corridor for any sign of the owner of the boots he had heard only moments ago, but he could see no one. The blond God stepped slowly out into the corridor, leaving the door to his chambers open slightly in case he had to make a hasty retreat. Placing one foot in front of the other he had barely made it halfway to Loki's chambers when soft, sly laughter echoed quietly through the corridor.
Thor froze in his tracks and then spun quickly on his heel, his vision suddenly filled with icy blue mismatched eyes framed with wild golden hair. Thor's eyes flew wide open at the same instant his back was slammed into the wall of the corridor. He let out a grunt from the unexpected pain which was muffled by the gloved hand that quickly covered his mouth, an arm pressed tightly across his neck restricting his windpipe, his body held up off the ground against the cold marble by the length of the Goblin King's body pressed up against him.
One dark eye and one light eye together travelled down the length of Thor's bare torso, returning to his own eyes, a wicked glint dancing in their depth and a slender eyebrow raise above one.
Thor struggled against the strength of the slender man holding him up against the wall. He should be able to free himself. What was wrong with him, why did the Goblin King possess such a seemingly limitless source of power; he was no longer in the Underground, in fact the Goblin King shouldn't even be here by logic.
"Shhhhhhhh" The slender blond man breathed softly into Thor's ear, sending an involuntary shiver down the densely muscled man.
"There is no point struggling, you have no hope of overpowering me."
Thor paused momentarily in his struggle and narrowed his eyes at the Goblin King in the dim light; desperately trying to read his expression but the King of the Underground was giving nothing away.
"I'm not going to kill you Son of Odin… not yet anyway. It's far too much fun watching you squirm." A wicked toothy smirk crept its way across the Goblin King's features.
He tilted his head back slightly to look at Thor down the length of his nose. Yes, the God of Thunder was certainly attractive, with a body that suggested he could dominate anyone he chose to but the Goblin King was still convinced his dark haired brother was the more attractive of the two.
"Hmmm… Loki…" the soft words sighed passed his lips, barely audible to the man pressed between himself and the wall.
Thor's brow furrowed as he gazed at the Goblin King in confusion.
The ruler of the Underground chuckled deep in his throat before he leaned forward to whisper one last thing in Thor's ear.
"Sleep well God of Thunder."
Thor fell to the floor with a heavy thump, the palms of his large hands slapping loudly against the stone floor as he braced his fall. Gasping for air, his chest heaved. He coughed hoarsely, trying desperately to regain his breath as a small collection of the palace guards came sprinting down the hallway.
"My Lord!" One of the guards bent down to help Thor up off the floor.
Thor pushed him to the side and looked frantically up and down the corridor.
"He is here! He was right here!"
The guards exchanged a concerned look.
"Who was here my Lord?"
"The Goblin King!"
Thor's eyes were wild and the collection of guards all looked at him with barely restrained worry.
"I told you Thor, the Goblin King is a prisoner within his own realm. He cannot be in Asgard."
Loki emerged from his room and strode slowly down the corridor until he was level with the small collection of men surrounding a panicky, sleep deprived Thor. The guards parted slightly as Thor craned his neck to look up at his brother.
"He is here Loki, he is in the palace!"
Loki rolled his eyes upward in tired frustration before he closed the gap between them to stand over Thor. He placed a slender hand on Thor's shoulder and squeezed the muscle beneath his fingertips roughly.
"You are tired and you are seeing things. I suggest you return to your room and attempt to get some rest."
Loki's voice hissed through clenched teeth as he tried to convey to Thor that he was beginning to sound like a raving lunatic in front of the palace guards.
Thor slapped Loki's hand away and looked up at him fiercely.
"I am not crazy brother! What reason do I have to lie to you?"
Loki crouched down until he was level with his brother's face.
"No one said you were lying Thor. I just believe you may have been hallucinating."
Thor growled in frustration as he stood and stalked back to his chambers. He paused, hand griping the side of his open door he looked back over his shoulder at Loki.
"I know what I saw brother."
The door slammed and he was gone, the noise echoing down the corridor before an uncomfortable silence settled over the guards and Loki.
"Your assistance is no longer required." Loki said shortly, dismissing the small gathering of palace guards who were quick to leave the hallway and return to their posts. Knowing Loki had recently had his powers restored and being less than confident that his sanity had stabilised they certainly did not wish to hang around to find out what would happen if they chose to ignore his command.
Loki remained crouched on the stone floor for sometime, bathed in the dull glow of the lights lining the long corridor, his eyes narrowed, lost in thought. Finally awareness snapped back to him as the booted footsteps of one of the night guards approaching on his rounds echoed softly down the hall. Loki stood and swiftly returned to his chambers before the guard rounded the bend in the corridor, closing his door with a barely audible click and leaving the hallway empty but for the solitary guard who paced slowly down its length.
"Thor honey, you look exhausted." Frigga whispered sideways to her stepson as he poked at his food unenthusiastically when usually he would be wolfing it down faster than it could be served to him.
He looked over at her with bloodshot eyes surrounded by dark circles, his face was more pale than usual and the spark that usually touched his eyes was dulled.
"Thor has been having nightmares about the Goblin King." Loki offered from across the table, peering over the top of the wine glass he was sipping from.
Thor slammed his fist angrily down on table.
"That is no what has been happening brother and you know it!" Thor glared at Loki across the table but the God of Mischief barely blinked in response.
"Thor?" Frigga tried calmly. "Why don't you tell me what has been going on then that has obviously kept you up at night?"
"You will think me crazy….. everyone else does." Thor's voice was heavy with sorrowful confusion as though explanation of whatever it was that was troubling eluded him.
Frigga glared at Loki across the table scolding him with her eyes as she caught the self-satisfied smirk that briefly touched his features.
"Thor?" She prompted again.
"He comes at night to torment me. Takes me by surprise, holds me prisoner against my will and then tells me how he plans to kill me."
"Who does?"
"The Goblin King." Thor's eyes never leaving his plate as he uttered the name that had been haunting him.
Frigga briefly lifted her gaze to Loki who gave her a 'did I not try to tell you?' look before she directed her attention towards Thor once again.
"Thor I'm sure it's just…"
"Don't even say it!" Thor cut her off abruptly.
"He already thinks I am crazy and does not believe me." Thor jerked his head in the direction of Loki. "I do not want you to look at me in the same way mother."
"Well then Thor, I believe you."
Loki rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration, Frigga once again cast him a disapproving look before she wrapped a comforting arm around Thor's shoulders.
"If you say you have seen him Thor then I believe you have. We shall search the palace and the grounds. If he is here, we will find him."
Thor shrugged himself despondently out of his mother's embrace and excused himself from the table.
"Loki." Frigga scolded firmly.
"What?" Loki feigned innocence before finally submitting before his adoptive mother's accusatory stare.
"He insists these nightmares are real but on both occasions that I have witnessed his distress there has been no sign of anyone else."
"He seems so sure…"
"Mother, you know better than I that the Goblin King has no power to enter Asgard. It is simply not possible for him to be in this realm let alone within the palace walls."
"Do you think it's some sort of suppressed reaction to something traumatic that happened to him while in the Underground?"
Loki shrugged and leant back in his chair, swirling the dark liquid in his glass.
"They are nightmares that he believes are real, even I do not need to tell you how crazy that is going to make him appear. If he does not get some sleep soon you will not be able to contain this, within a few days the entire kingdom will have heard of the progressively slipping sanity of the heir to the throne."
Frigga chewed worryingly on a nail before looking up at her adopted son. He may have caused their family significant problems in the recent past but she feared he was right about this. She would need to get to the heart of Thor's troubles quickly before the entire kingdom heard that Thor thought he was seeing the Goblin King in the depths of the night…