Chapter Seven - Frozen

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are the property of Marvel and are based on Norse and Germanic mythology. The Tarnhelm is a creation of Richard Wagner. A lot of creative license has been taken...

A/N - I'm soo so so sorry for the long wait. Masters degree stuff happened and required a lot of my time and attention. But at long last here's another chapter. I hope you enjoy it.


The last time the great dragon crossed the night sky, a young princess was presented to the court. Thor had never been properly introduced to her before but he was aware that she was one of Sif's friends so she must have been worth knowing. She had entered the hall that evening, wearing traditional Vanir dress in royal blue silk to represent the colours of the fallen house of Gulveig and ropes of pearls from the oyster farms of Eostrestad, the floating city that the Vanir had named their capital.

It had been a defiant choice of wardrobe. The ways of the Vanir were often looked down upon for being too extravagant, too soft, and too reliant on magic. That's what had lost them the war, the Aesir would declare; a once proud and powerful empire that had grown fat and lazy from its riches. Those people often forgot that Asgard had taken most of those riches for itself and now the aristocracy lived in golden palaces that touched the clouds. But rather than hide her heritage away and integrate like the other hostages and immigrant workers, Lady Sigyn displayed herself with pride and strength and it was that strength that convinced Thor that he would like her very much.

It wasn't just him that she worked her magic on. Despite their differences Thor knew his younger brother as well as he knew himself and he could tell by a glance that Loki was absolutely captivated by her.

That had been a long time ago, back when his brother's tricks had been mostly harmless and Sigyn's rebellion had been restricted to her clothes. But even then their love had already been corrupted by politics and centuries of bad blood. But Loki seemed oblivious to it all; he had been struck by the first arrows of adolescent infatuation and pursued her without caution. Thor didn't know the exact details of what had happened next, Loki refused to even speak of it, but he could make a fair guess that his brother had rushed in and proposed without their father's permission, probably with some grandiose romantic gesture full of magic and fireworks and the poor girl must have had to turn him down as gently as possible. There was an old saying that Vana women were like hazelnuts, wonderfully sweet once you get past their tough exterior but if you move too fast they'll break your teeth. Thor wondered if Sif had any Vanir ancestors lurking in her family tree.

He had thought that had been the end of it. His brother seemed to recover quickly from the rejection, at least on the surface, but something was not entirely right with the younger Odinsson. He grew more capricious every day, sometimes disappearing for months on end when not even Heimdall was able to see him. His tricks had taken on a more malicious nature, some of the servants and palace guards left without warning, complaining that they could not live with the stress of it. He suddenly seemed to race through a steady stream of lovers without even trying to be discrete. These were not the actions of a late bloomer on the apple tree of love, this was compulsive bordering on deranged. As though he had suddenly decided that if he couldn't be loved in his own home then he would accept it in any form from anyone who offered.

Lock up your daughters, your wife, and your son

For none are safe from the Silver Tongue

That had been a particularly obscene verse some anonymous penman (possibly Loki himself) had scrawled on the wall outside the sparring arena. Thor had been incensed. By the stars, it didn't even rhyme! But for all of his philandering he'd always go out of his way to get Sigyn's attention in one way or another, until she eventually refused to show her face in public anymore.

Not only that but his magic and his already impressive intellect seemed to blossom overnight. Loki had always shown great promise in the field of magic. Thor remembered sitting up at the table in the royal nursery and suddenly finding the milk in his cup had curdled into a soft cheese. He looked up to see his infant brother, who couldn't even stand up on his own yet, giggling and clapping his chubby hands as though it was the funniest thing in the world. But what had once been a few harmless party tricks had turned into sometime far more formidable. Loki's illusions were legendary, quite literally. He began to become useful, even though there was a lot of disapproval of the use of magic in battle. All of a sudden his little brother was able to match him in battle. The other warriors dismissed it as cheating, but Thor knew that there were no rules where real warfare was concerned.

He found it strange that Loki had suddenly managed to convince Sigyn to his side. He hadn't known how he had managed it, or what he would need her for once she had freed him. But then she had broken the spell on Mjolnir and managed to floor Lady Sif without even touching her. And Loki, well he had added a few new tricks to his repertoire.

He had been told that the prodigal prince had a Jotnar form that he would revert to when he came into contact with a frost giant or Jotun magic, but nothing had been said about a dragon form. It frightened him a little to realise that they weren't even trying, just trying to fight them off while they made their escape. If the girl had called him off he was sure that the serpent might have ended him. But when they were gone, he and Sif, unharmed in all but pride had returned to the palace to recall what they had seen. Heimdall was already there waiting for them with his mother at her usual place by her husband's side, although looking more worried than usual, and his father, still unwell and frail sat on the golden throne Hlidskjalf although its magic was long gone.

"Good Heimdall. Did you see where they went?" Thor said when he had finished his story.

"The last time Loki caused such troubles he was issuing an invitation, he wanted you to come after him. This time is different. They do not wish to be seen and they are powerful enough to evade my gaze." The Allseer replied in his usual calm tone that revealed nothing of his emotion or intention.

"Then what are we to do?" Sif asked.

"They were on the Nightcliffs and flew off the edge. There is a hidden portal there, one of the lost branches of Yggdrasil that can only be seen when the Dragon crosses the sky. That portal leads to Midgard and that is where they are heading." Heimdall explained.

"Then we must follow. You know what happened last time, who knows how many more, will die."

"Sigyn said something strange before she bewitched me. She said 'He works for me.'" Sif interrupted. "If that's true then I don't think Sigyn would have any interest in invading Midgard."

"I'm afraid Lady Sif is right. It is likely that Sigyn is the one giving orders."

"I don't understand."

"The princess is more than she appears, Thor. For centuries now she has been watching us, learning our weaknesses and biding her time. She has decided to strike when we are at our most vulnerable and enlist the aid of one of our most powerful enemies. She may be small and weak in body, but she is resistant to all magic and can break any spell. She is the goddess of loyalty, but not in the way you would expect for she can bind you to your word and enforce your obedience. Both of you swore you would not try to harm her, and now you are powerless to defend yourselves against her until she decides to break the spell. It is likely that she has done the same to Loki. However, Midgard is of no consequence to her. She seeks only to reclaim Vanaheim's independence like her mother before her. When they get there our armies will be waiting for them."

"We should never have let her be raised at Noatun, we should have adopted her immediately and made sure she was prepared to take power instead of leaving her to be influenced by those bitter old men." Frigga chimed in. Thor shook his head at that, because raising the children of foreign kings had worked so well the first time.

Noatun was a small island a few miles off Asgard's coast where most of the Vanir hostages and expatriated nobility had built their homes. He had only visited the island once as a small boy, when Kvasir had still been alive. They had been given a lesson in fishing down on the beach which he had found rather boring, and remembered a little girl with golden curls row by in a strange round boat called a coracle closely followed by Freyr who made sure she did not go too far and fall over the edge. He hadn't known it then, he had been too caught up in wishing he could be allowed to sail at that age, but that had been his first glimpse of Sigyn of Vanaheim.

"If they are trying to reach Vanaheim, then perhaps they are looking for another lost path on Earth. Loki knows the area well. He could be acting as her guide." Thor replied after giving it some thought.

"What do you mean he knows the area well? He's only been to Earth once." Frigga asked angrily, even though he was Asgard's most hated enemy, she was still Loki's mother and was still as overprotective as a lioness.

"Well, where did you think he went all those times he went missing, under a rock? He's been meddling with mortals for centuries now."

"And you knew about this? Why didn't you do something?" Thor sighed, why did he always get the blame for these things? Whenever he got into trouble it was always 'You're setting a bad example for your brother' but whenever Loki did something his parents would say 'Why weren't you watching him? Why did you let him do that when I left you in charge?" it seemed like he could never win. Loki had always accused him of being the favourite son, and perhaps he was, but he didn't know how much pressure he had always been under with his father's impossible standards and almost constant disappointment, how much responsibility had been forced on him while Loki had been left free to do as he pleased with only a quick slap on the wrist when he messed things up. 'Take care of your brother, Thor. He's only little.'

"That doesn't matter now. What matters is I think I might be able to stop them before they get too far. Send me to Earth and I'll follow them alone. If I succeed we will be able to avoid a battle altogether."

"And how will you find them?"

"I have friends there that might be able to help." Midgard was a big place, but the technology of the humans had advanced since his father had last visited, and he knew a certain woman who specialized in things that fell from the sky.

"Very well, but reasons you already know I cannot send you to Midgard with a way out. The Tesseract must remain in Asgard at all costs. Signal Heimdall if you are successful and I will send my guards to retrieve you. But if you fail, we march on Vanaheim."


Sigyn kept her eyes closed as they went into freefall. Out of all the ways she had imagined herself dying, plummeting over the edge of the world in the claws of a dragon had never occurred to her. It had been shameful and she would never admit it to anyone, but she had seriously considered ending her life once.

While self-sacrifice was considered noble in both Aesir and Vanir cultures, giving in to despondency was not. It had been a dark time when her imprisonment and constant supervision had seemed endless and all talks regarding Vanaheim had been postponed indefinitely and the comfort she had once found in Loki's friendship had soured like old wine. She had felt useless and alone, with no power to control her life. She had stolen nightshade berries from the queen's garden but in the end she could not bring herself to swallow the poison but had kept the juice in the empty vial that Kvasir had once sent his blood in. One never knew when such things would come in handy.

Once they had cleared the edge everything had happened so quickly that she was unsure if they had even moved at all. But it had been cold, so very very cold and she had felt blinded and paralysed and crushed from all sides like she had been frozen solid and she had thought 'This is it, I always knew that bastard would be the end of me.' And then the pain had ended as soon as it had begun as they hit the ground with deafening crash and what sounded like breaking glass. Something cold and dense like frozen meat had her in a vice grip and had broken her fall as they hit the ground and rolled in the dry earth before coming to a complete halt.

Bruised and probably sporting a few broken bones, she dared to open her eyes then to assess the damage, the first thing she saw was that the cold thing that had grabbed was Loki, not as she recognised him but transformed into the frigid flesh of a Jotnar. He must have frozen them both before the change in pressure killed them. The second thing that she noticed was that she had somehow ended up lying on top of him and the third was that that sky was definitely not an Asgardian sky. They had made it. She was finally free of that place.

The blue tinge fell away from Loki's skin as quickly as it had appeared and the usual warmth returned to his body as he slowly awakened. A wave of relief washed over her. Not because of any sort of sentiment, she reasoned with herself ignoring the way her heart sped up a little, she just didn't want to end up alone and stuck in a strange realm. He looked up at her, seeming a little confused about where he was for a moment in a way that might have looked adorable on him a few centuries ago, but definitely didn't melt her heart now, no no definitely not.

"Am I dead?" he asked.

"Not today." She grinned. "We made it. That was amazing!"

"That? That was nothing, you just waltzed in stole Thor's hammer."Loki laughed and raised himself on his elbows.

"Well what about you turning into a bloody dragon, I didn't even know that was possible." She countered, feeling oddly elated now that they were safe again.

"Well you were able to take down Sif, now that is an impressive. I admit the two of you fighting has always been a fantasy of mine, the only different is you're fighting over me and I have to settle the matter by bedding both of you at once."

"And once again you prove that your mind is stuck permanently in the gutter." She scolded, or at least tried to; she was in too much of a good mood and couldn't help laughing but winced when the effort of it brought a stab of pain in her side. Now that the exhilaration had worn off she began to feel just how injured she actually was.

Without missing a beat Loki rolled her onto her back and began checking her for injuries and with a strange blue glow around them she began to feel her ribs move back into place and heal, along with the other minor wounds.

"I didn't know you knew healing magic." She said after the magic had done its work.

"It's a useful skill to have, especially when you're me." He replied noncommittally. Healing without potions was incredibly difficult to master and even harder to perform on yourself.

"Is there anything you can't do?" that same sad look passed across his face but he covered it quickly with a sly grin.

"I can't believe I naked on a beach with you and you haven't even noticed yet." He answered. "When I wish for things, I should probably be more specific."

Sigyn glanced down then averted her eyes as fast as she could. Loki was indeed completely naked. That must have been one of the drawbacks of turning into a thirty ton dragon. "I- Oh dear you really are naked aren't you."

"Oh you're welcome to look. I'm rather confident about my body."

"No thank you, I'm good." She turned beet red, something that happened far too easily with her pale skin, and quickly unfastened her travelling cloak and threw it over him like a blanket. "Can't you just conjure some more clothes?"

"Well yes, but you look so lovely when you blush." Loki chuckled and wrapped the cloak around himself "What do you think of Earth my dear, is it not as beautiful as I described?"

Sigyn stood looked around fully taking in her surroundings for the first time. They were at the edge of a vast lake surrounded by a wild remote landscape of rolling hills and distant mountains. There were lights in the distance, perhaps a human village. The sky was clear and beginning to bruise with the cold light of the approaching day and a single crescent moon still hung in the sky, huge and bright and haunting it its pallor.

"I can't believe we did this." She breathed. His stories of Midgard could always cheer her, and for a while he had brought back gifts every time he went on an adventure and she would wish with all her heart to be free of Asgard. "It's all so beautiful."

He winked at her "Being bad feels pretty good doesn't it."