Author's Note: If you don't follow me as an author, you might have missed a little Loki/Kiri one-shot I posted this week. It's called "Persuade Me". A quiet little interlude that happens between Chapters 8 & 9. There is also a Thor/Jane one-shot titled "Mortal" that falls in this same time span of the story.
Chapter 11: Provocateur
•£• Loki •£•
"A spy?" Loki whirled to face the guard. "Where? Who?"
"In the healer's, my King. He was posing as one of the new apprentices," the guard said, gasping for breath as he spoke. "You must come at once."
Loki darted a quick glance at his brother, wondering what he had been about to say. Thor just clamped his mouth shut, not finishing his sentence. Frustrated, Loki nodded. "I shall be there shortly."
Loki turned to face his brother. "You were about to say?"
"I…" Thor opened and closed his mouth, but said no more.
"Well, it appears you have a bit of time to decide. To the healers then," Loki offered Katirya his arm and escorted her towards the doors.
Thor walked over to Mjölnir and leaned over to pick it up. It would not budge. His muscles bulged as he struggled to raise the hammer.
Loki noticed this before he exited. He paused to look at Thor. "It would seem Mjölnir knows your choice."
"No. Yes. I… do not know," Thor finally spoke. "This is not an easy decision."
"No, it is not, my son," Gaea said. "But one you will need to make. Until you do, the hammer has decided you are not worthy."
"I do not understand why I must choose, or why I cannot keep Mjölnir with me. Who will wield it if I do not?" Thor asked.
"That we will not know until such time as the hammer or the Norns decides. At least we know where the hammer is. Now, let us deal with this spy," Loki said.
The group reached the healers to find it surrounded by the city guards. They parted to permit the King and his party to enter. Eir greeted them, then pointed them towards the prisoner.
The prisoner looked no different than any of the other healers, but he was snarling and spat at the guards as they entered. He was standing between two of them; his hands tightly bound in cuffs.
Loki glanced at him, then asked Eir, "How long has he worked here?"
"Approximately two months. He arrived with excellent references from one of our healers who retired recently. I did not question the references," Eir replied, a worried look upon her face. "It appears I have made a mistake. I am very sorry, my King."
"No, do not worry, for I fear he is not in his true form," Katirya said. She stared hard at the spy. "Are you?" She approached the prisoner, stopping about two feet away, still continuing to stare at him.
The prisoner squirmed, trying to escape the bindings that held him. "What do you know?"
Katirya cocked her head to one side. "More than you realize. You work for Lorelei, correct?"
The prisoner started, then tried to hide his response. "No, I have never heard of Lorelei?"
"Do not lie," Loki growled in warning, wondering if Katirya had made a good guess when she asked about Lorelei. "We can discover who you work for far easier than you realize."
"How?" the prisoner glared at them. "I refuse to tell you anything." He lunged forward, pulling a small dagger from his tunic. Even with his bound hands, he was able to raise the dagger up. He slashed at Katirya. The guards reacted quickly and threw him to the ground.
Katirya jumped back, but not quickly enough. She glanced at her arm, a small trickle of blood where the blade had slashed her.
"My lady!" Eir dashed forward.
Katirya held out her arm. "It is just a small wound."
"Let me clean it at once. Who knows where that blade has been," Eir quickly tended to the wound.
Loki turned to the leader of the guards. "Take him to the prisons, put him in with Lorelei."
One guard lifted the prisoner off the floor, restoring him to his feet.
"NO!" the prisoner screamed, kicking at the guard. "NO! Do not put me with that witch!"
"Ah, so you do know her?" Katirya grinned.
The prisoner sneered, "No, but I have heard of her."
Loki ignored him as the guards pushed him out the door. "Eir, I am sorry you have had to deal with garbage such as this. Are there any other new healers?"
Eir shook her head. "No, my king. He is the most recent. The rest have worked for me for years."
"This scum in Asgard precipitated Lorelei's arrival here. Can we infer this was her link to information, Kiri?" He looked at his wife.
"If not her, then for Thanos. Thanos might not have trusted Lorelei and figured she might double-cross him, which she did," Katirya replied. "Either way, he most likely was working for one or the other."
"Can you see any other spies?" Loki asked.
Katirya shook her head. "If there are any others, they are hiding as this one was. I wonder why he stayed? Why did he not bolt when we captured Lorelei?"
"Until we find out for certain that he did work for Lorelei, we shall not know. Eir, how did you discover him?" Loki asked.
Eir frowned. "He was skulking back in one of the rooms that are off limits to all but my most trusted senior healers. I thought at first he might be trying to steal something, but then I realized he was trying to look something up. He took off the instant he became aware of me. Fortunately, one of the guards was outside and captured him as he exited the building."
"What was he looking up?" Katirya asked.
"He was searching through my remedies, and he had several records out, including yours," Eir replied.
"Remedies? Why would he search for remedies?" Loki asked.
"Some of the more potent medicines are used in remedies. Some are dangerous if used in excess," Eir pointed out. "Perhaps he was looking for something to poison someone with."
"Well, he is in the prisons now. Fandral?" Loki looked at the warrior. "Would you see to it that someone watches and listens to our spy and Lorelei this evening? Have them report back to you if they learn anything of interest. Once you have arranged that, meet back with us in the Throne room. We need to organize our information and plan."
"I shall be glad to do that," Fandral took his leave, heading towards the prisons.
"How is your arm?" Loki asked his wife.
"It was just a little cut. I shall be fine. Eir has treated it," Katirya held up her arm for inspection.
"Well, we certainly need to put this little incident into perspective," Loki led the way out of the healers. He steered the group up towards the living areas of the palace.
Frigga accosted them the instant they walked in the room. "What happened? Who was it?" Then she noticed Katirya's wound. "Are you okay?"
Katirya smiled as she picked up Aud from the floor where they twins had been playing with their older brother. "I am fine; it is just a small wound."
"The spy refused to tell us anything, no surprise there, so I had him placed in the same cell as Lorelei. Our guess is that he was either working for her or Thanos sent him to spy on her," Loki explained as he picked up Sverre, smiling at the youngster.
Kai, realizing he was not the center of attention, suddenly started to cry.
"Now Kai, you know better than that," Katirya admonished him. "Come here." She held out her free arm to embrace her eldest child. He quieted as soon as he was in her embrace.
Fandral arrived as the children quieted. Loki nodded when he saw him, gesturing for everyone to take a seat at the table. He gestured to one of the servants, "Pour some wine and ale, please." Once the servant had finished, he looked around the table at everyone. "Let us determine what we do know for certain, and what we suspect."
"We know where Thanos is, and that he is amassing an army to attack," Katirya started, then took a sip of wine. She reached out to a plate of fruit, selecting some grapes. She offered one to Kai as she nibbled on another.
"And that Lorelei clearly betrayed him. She was supposed to bring Jane back to him, but chose not to," Thor added. "Do you think Jane is safe on Earth?"
Loki shrugged. "I do not know. He might target her again, but if he thinks we have no interest in her…" he looked pointedly at his brother.
Thor shifted in his chair uncomfortably. "So you are saying I should stay away from her?"
"No, I am not saying that at all. I am simply stating a fact," Loki snapped. "It is up to you if you spend time with her or not."
"Boys," Frigga said, a warning in her voice.
"Mother, we can no longer tiptoe around this. Thor must make a decision," Loki said, slamming his hand to the table, causing some of the wine in his glass to spill out. He ignored it and went on. "Thor, we need you here in Asgard, but I will not force you to remain. The choice is yours, but you must choose."
"Can Jane come here?" Thor asked.
"I do not think that is possible anymore. At least, not now. Remember, she has forgotten all that happened. It would be a shock for her to return, and it might trigger some of those memories," Katirya said. "Perhaps later, if she comes to accept you as a friend…"
"But I do NOT love her as a friend!" Thor jumped up, causing the table to rock. Everyone grabbed their glasses before they could spill.
"Thor, this is not about whether you love her or not, this is about Asgard," Loki glared at his brother, hoping to get him to think about where he had spent all his life.
"Loki is right," Gaea finally spoke up. "This is about Asgard, and yes – you must choose. If you choose Earth…"
"I know," Thor cut her off angrily as he started to pace back and forth. "I will become a mortal, like her. I will die, like her. Perhaps that is what I wish for. Did no one consider that?"
"Then go to her!" Loki stood, staring hard at Thor. "We will manage without you."
"Just like that?" Thor stopped his pacing to stare at Loki.
"What? Do you not think we cannot survive without you? We have managed for the past year," Loki said.
"Nothing happened over the past year; you said so yourself. Then Thanos decided to attack Asgard, and what did you do? You sent Sif to beg me to return. How will you manage without me?" Thor roared.
"I did not send Sif; she asked. We would have been fine without you!" Loki stood and walked to stand in front of Thor. They were eye to eye, glaring at each other.
The twins started crying at the loud sounds.
Katirya handed Aud to Frigga and rose from her seat. Kai slid off her lap and toddled away, unnoticed. "ENOUGH!" Her voice cut through the noise, causing the twins to stop their crying, startled at the sound.
Her eyes were blazing as she advanced on the brothers. "The two of you need to stop this bickering! Nothing can change the past; it is over and we need to go on. No one person is responsible for everything that happened; we all had parts in it, but it still does not change the fact that things are the way they are. Jane is alive, and maybe not the way you remember her, but at least the memories of her experiences with Thanos have been erased. I do not know if she will ever love you again, or if she ever loved you. I cannot be the judge of that." She held out a hand to stop Thor from speaking.
He ignored it and interrupted her. "She loved me! I know she did. None of this would have happened…"
"STOP this!" Katirya shouted. "We cannot change the past."
"You have the Stones!" Thor bellowed. "You can restore her memories."
"I will NOT use the Stones to restore her mind to what it once was. We talked about this, and you agreed then. Why now do you wish to go against what we decided? The Stones are not to be used lightly, and not for something like this," Katirya replied in a quiet voice.
"But you used them to erase those memories," Thor replied.
"No, I did not. Althanas mangled the attempt to revive her; I only erased her memories with some magic I know. I did not use the Stones," Katirya answered.
"Know, my son, that if you choose to return to Earth, the other powers you possess will be lost to you, as well as the powers granted you by Mjölnir," Gaea reminded him.
"I have not other powers," Thor refuted her.
"You simply have not discovered them," Gaea replied. "And if you return to live out your life with this human, you never will, and it is possible, that Thanos may use her to get to us still."
Katirya walked over to Thor, placing one hand on his shoulder. "With or without you, we will fight Thanos, and hopefully prevail. And if it is without you, and we fail, Earth will eventually fall, and then none of this will matter anymore. Thor, you are not irreplaceable; none of us are. You know the fact remains that should you return to Earth, you will be lost to us. The hammer remains here, and as your father once said… 'Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.' That means there are others who can wield the thing!" She swiped her arm in the direction of the throne where the hammer rested at the base.
A collective gasp went up from everyone as they followed the direction of her arm. Kai had managed to toddle over and with one hand, had lifted the hammer up.
"Mama, toy!" Kai grinned at Katirya as he held the hammer aloft and wobbled towards her, the weight of the hammer throwing him slightly off balance.
Author's Note: I might be delayed for the next week posting updates. I have a massive paper due mid-week, followed by a minor (only 6 pages) one due the following Sunday. But do not despair, there is plenty more to come. The joys of working on advanced degrees…