I know, I know, I'm late - last weekend was super busy for some reason, so I had to postpone a week. BUT the new chapter is here and I hope y'all enjoy.
Thanks to everyone who read, fav'd, alerted and most of all those who reviewed the last chapter!

Escape

I had picked out a portal on the outskirts of Vanheim. It was far out of the way and should be large enough to let us filter through quickly. Opening a portal by myself was out of the question and using the Bifrost was even more impossible: my father had always sent his Einherjar through the Rainbow Bridge, but that would never work without Loki's consent - which he would not give, or else he would find out where we went.

I was riding at the front, cavalry following; that was followed by soldiers on foot, and finally followed by all the carts, stocks and cannons that had to be drawn by mules.
I had never travelled like that: days on horseback were taking its toll on me quickly. My legs and my arse were burning and my neck was protesting as well. I was lucky to ride, though: I tried to walk for half a day and decided that I definitely could not make it all the way by foot.
I did not complain, though - I wanted to lead by example. So I rode on - or occasionally walked - and held my head high as if nothing could ever stop me.

All the while, Freyr's army was catching up to us. Every few hours or so, someone would ride up to me with the news - usually with their horse panting because they had made it gallop the whole way.
A little closer now, they would tell me or, they took a break when we didn't, but usually, they're catching up.
I would have preferred if he had not known where we went; but with him so close behind, that was out of the question. At least, we would have to make it so he could not follow.

After three days, we could finally see the smoke of camp fires that showed we were close to the shapeshifters we had sent ahead. Indeed, when we reached the top of the hill, we could see them beneath, strewn across the valley in various little groups, each with their own fire.
In front of the stone formation that I had described, I could see Fenrir, in wolf form, patrolling up and down. The hair at the back of my neck stood up at the sight: it made my heart jump with joy and yet it was terrifying. None of his people seemed bothered by it; perhaps because they had seen a lot of this in the past days or perhaps it was a sight ingrained somewhere deep in their soul.

Once he saw us coming, Fenrir seamlessly shifted back; even though this was the first time in his life that he was free to do so, it had already become second nature.

"The valley is large enough to hold the army," Fenrir explained after the greetings and after my horse had been sent of to be fed and watered. "And the hill is a good watch point."

"You're right," I said. "But we won't stay long."

He followed on my heel as I set out to inspect the formation. It was a large swooping gateway of light, yellow stone; and yet at the top, there was another small line, as if a bridge. The hole that it formed between it and the top of the arch was high enough for our carts and wide enough for maybe two or three people to pass through together - I had no doubt that this was the way to go. If you tried to gaze through it, the world twisted; it was as if you saw another sky.

"Through there?" Fenrir asked. "But how?"

"We would need a ramp," I said. "A large one, and stable, so that it holds a horse and a cart."

Fenrir looked from me to the arch and back. "But where will we arrive?"

"I don't know."

I knew nothing but the realm: Svartalfheim. It was an uncomfortable place to go; hot, and it would not provide for us. But Freyr would probably not follow us there and I knew that there was no ruler to wish us ill - the Dark Elves were luckily gone forever.
Whether we would arrive on a plateau or fall through open air, I could not say. I rather hoped for the first and experience showed that portals were usually hard to reach, but provided a soft landing.

"You are sure this will work?"

"Absolutely," I said.

Fenrir hesitated. "My people have a lot to lose now," he said. "When we had nothing before."

"I will give you even more than you have now," I said. "True freedom. And peace. But I can't give it to you here, so you and your people will either have to come with me or go back to their slavers."

"Milady," Fenrir said. "You know I would follow you to the end of the world-"

I cracked a smile. "I'm not even asking that."

They began building the ramp within the next hour, but until nightfall, they had barely gathered enough materials to reach to my hips. I figured that this was a reasonable speed, but we did not have the time for reasonable.

One of our messengers returned and announced that we maybe had a day, certainly not more, rather likely we had less.
Everyone who had even a bit strength left was ordered to help with the building, but even so things were not going smoothly. I sat on a small stoop overseeing the arch and weaved the ropes to hold the ramp together - I wanted to enforce them with magic to make sure it would not break while we were crossing.

Fenrir had gathered a troop of his own people, young men and a few able women. I even saw a group of maybe five children carrying a large trunk of wood.

"Where are you going?"

I flinched and my ropes fell to the floor; the spell was probably ruined. Loki was sitting next to me and his eyebrows had pulled tightly together.

I bent down to pick up my ropes and hoped that my heart rate would slow down if I took my eyes off him. "I thought we weren't talking anymore," I said while I did not have to look.

He scoffed. "I just freed an entire people for you."

"We freed them," I said. I straightened up and saw the children, who had just carried so heavily, run in the other direction. One of them even jumped a little bit. "Look how happy they are."

"I don't care if they're happy," he said and sounded like he might want to add something, but did not. "Where are you taking them?"

Against all better judgment, a small smile spread on my face. "Nothing's changed," I said. "You know I won't tell you where I'm going."

Loki shook his head. "I just have to wait long enough, and someone around here will tell me-"

"No one knows," I said. "I'm not stupid."

I had not foreseen Loki coming here, but I still had not told anyone - it had been more a feeling than a conscious decision, but I wanted neither Loki nor any potential spies to know where we were going. Either way, it played right into my hands.
It was better to pretend that I had planned this all along.

His projection flickered slightly when I started weaving again. "Anything else you wanted?" I asked.

"You better hurry," he said. "Or Freyr will catch you."
My hand froze over the rope. I had hoped that he would not figure that out, but no luck - I should have known that he would realize where I was once he had come to my rescue.
"Or I might," Loki added.

"No worries," I said tightly. "We'll be quick."

The last thing I saw of him was how his eyebrow rose. Then he was gone.

A wave of my hand finished the rope and I jumped up before it was done. "Hurry up!" I yelled. "Everyone! Hurry!"

It was hard to say how long it would take until Loi could be here. He had to gather men; had to prep them. If I was very lucky, his new gatekeeper would have trouble keeping the Bifrost open. But even then, it could hardly be more than a few hours.

At the news that the enemy was fast approaching - though they did not know just which enemy was coming - my soldiers and shapeshifters started working twice as hard. It was still clear to see that we would not finish before the night was out and perhaps not even then.

"You seem worried now," Fenrir observed as the sun was setting.

I swallowed hard. "I am."

He was silent for a beat. "The king getting closer?"

I did not want to talk about it, but I also remembered him saying that he would better help me if he knew what was going on. He had been right.
"Also that," I said. "But mostly it's my brother."

"Your brother? The one you asked for help?"

"And he did help," I said. "Only now he knows where we are and he's spent months trying to find me, so... That's not very good."

Fenrir blinked - his head turned to look at the half-finished ramp, and then he looked back at me. "I see," he said.

Maybe I should take the time one day to explain the whole thing in detail - but then, did I really want to explain details?
I wished that we were going to Midgard instead; talking to Tony Stark would be so welcome right now. Also, I trusted no one else to take the revelation of incest in stride as he had. Though of course, Loki was not actually my brother - but when had that ever mattered?

"Couldn't you erect the ramp with magic?" Fenrir asked. "We could be gone already."

"I want to close the portal behind us, or they will all follow," I said. "So I need to save my strength."

"We could tear the ramp down after us-"

"That'll gain us, if anything, a day," I said. "It's not enough."

Fenrir nodded slowly, though he seemed sceptical still. "I'll tell them to be even quicker."

Even quicker sounded good to me and it looked even better in practice: Fenrir had figured that transforming into a giant beast was not only good to scare his queen: it also served well to build a ramp. A giant wolf was able to carry a lot more than a single man, and where wood would have to be hauled up by several people before, now the head of the wolf was already at the right height.
The soldiers were taken aback - but as any good warrior did, they adapted to the change fast. By dawn, the ramp was ready and stable.

Most of the camp was dead tired and swaying on their feet. A few kids were still up and about, but each of them small enough to still be carried was sleeping in their parent's arms.
Even the wolves were yawning. Fenrir and three others trotted slowly around the arch and the ramp, their heavy paws dragging.

When he reached me Fenrir put his head down heavily next to me. The impact shook the earth.

"You got to get up again, big guy," I said. "We can't rest until we're through." His tongue lolled out and his eyelids dropped. "Yes, I understand. But you need to go through first."

His head rose and before I knew it, the man was sitting in front of me, and not the wolf. "No," he said.

I cracked a smile. "Yes," I said. "I need to stay behind, and I need someone to take charge on the other side. Who else would I send?"

"If your brother comes here, you'll need protection-"

"I'm my own best protection," I shot back. "So go gather your people and go up the ramp, and I'll see you on the other side."

His jaw clenched. I could understand that I was testing his patience, but it was true: Svartalfheim was not the friendliest place. At this point, I did not know if we would ever successfully leave it. While things were collapsing on my side of the portal, I needed to know that my people were safe - and I could only know it if I sent Fenrir through first.

He was even more grumpy than when I had sent him ahead days ago, but he did what he was told to do.
Very soon, people were climbing up the ramp, pulling mules and horses and carts after them. The construction swayed but slightly and after the first cannon had been pulled across, I was confident that it would hold.

We were halfway through when the first of King Freyr's horsemen appeared above our valley. A few of the children screamed. I did not have to give the order to usher them forward; my soldiers parted on their own to let the shapeshifters through first. Some were calling for me; with my heart beating out of my chest, I wished that I could go through first, and be safe - but there was a reason that my brother Thor had always ridden first into battle, as had our father when he was young, and it was why I had to be last now.

While my army filed into another world, Freyr was positioning his men above us. The first cannons were rolled out when we were about forty people short of success. They fired when there were still thirty to go and I had just stepped onto our ramp. The cannon ball flew over our heads, smashed into an arrangement of rocks behind us and shook the earth; the ramp swayed, but held up - my heart was beating even harder now.

They fired again and again, but they did not hit us; it was nothing short of a miracle. But all miracles came with a cost: when only five soldiers were ahead of me, the sky lit up with the beam of the Bifrost. My throat closed up; so he was indeed coming to get me.

"Faster!" I shouted, though it came out more as a squeak

The ramp got blown apart the moment that I stepped onto the arch. I slipped and stumbled. My fingers drew across the stone and the skin ripped open. The wood had splintered and flown all across the valley; some of it burned right beneath me. The Bifrost hit the ground in the middle of the burning shrubble. I stepped back and felt the pull of the portal; beneath me, Loki stepped out of the Rainbow Bridge - though he wore our father's face and wielded our father's scepter. His face rose to look at me, and I knew that he would not let me do it.
Another step backward, and I could not see him anymore; but I could feel him, his magic reaching for me, trying to cut me off. My hands touched the arch on either side and I concentrated, trying to bring it down. The stone crumbled under my fingers, and Loki stemmed himself against it, as if he wanted to hold it together.

It was useless. Neither of us would ever win and it was against the portal's magic to collapse. Tears sprung into my eyes; if he won, it would all be for nothing. I failed, and my people would be lost forever.

There was a hand on my shoulder. Fenrir's eyes gleamed when I looked at him over my shoulder. "Channel us," he said.

I did not have time to think. Instinctively, I tapped into the other connection I know had, and it was like my eyes opened for the first time. There was so much power, so many souls, so much emotion that I did not know what to do with it.
The arch above me shattered as if it had been hit by the cannons, too. I felt myself being pulled back; small and large stones were raining down on me - and then all was black.

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