Artemis was rarely one to indulge in her sense of pride. She could acknowledge her triumphs, and tended to do so in a rather clinical way. However, the fact that she could lead a wounded and shaken Callisto through the dark mazes of the Norns' fortress was a feat that she would be forever proud of. Finding the door to the surrounding woodland was a mission in itself, but she eventually found her way back into the room that was her first sight within the fortress, and from there it was a matter of using what little helpful magic she had to illuminate the door.

She tumbled through it, as though the barrier suddenly let up as she and Callisto shoved against it, and came to an abrupt halt when she surveyed the scene before her; Callisto gasped by her side. While there may have been a manageable amount of Nornheim warriors before she disappeared in the fortress, their numbers seemed to have swelled in the meantime. All of her companions looked positively overwhelmed by the sheer volume of men and other beasts hurling themselves at them, waves upon waves of bodies pouring down into the small clearing from the rear of the fortress.

She took a moment to let the situation sink in, to acknowledge that this was no longer a simple rescue mission, and then reloaded her bow. Callisto took the knife from her ankle without asking, but Artemis saw no reason to chastise her for it: the Norns had seen Artemis, they had delivered their message, and she assumed that meant she was no longer safe within the province borders. Over the roar of battle, she heard her steed whinny for her attention at the top of the hill, striding this way and that as his fellow horses watched on. While he may have been small, he was a beast meant for battle—that much was now apparent.

Loki had chosen a horse that would protect her in any danger: small and flighty, it would just as easily charge into battle as it would whisk her away. It seemed by sheer chance that the warriors paid the beasts no mind, and after her eyes swept across the treeline, she saw that all of the horses remained intact.

Drawing her bow, Artemis fired a shot at the man who had climbed onto Loki's back and had him by the neck; the body plummeted to the ground limply when her arrow stuck in the man's skull. Loki whirled back, face screwed in concentration and irritation, and she saw it soften briefly when he realized who had rescued him. The moment was short-lived, unfortunately, as there was no shortage of warriors to take the fallen one's place. She continued to shoot into the crowd, picking off those who came dangerously close to ending her companions.

Even Thor seemed to struggle with the sheer volume of assailants, but he managed to barrel his way through the horde. Following his lead, Artemis grabbed Callisto and dragged her into the fight, knocking and shoving and stabbing her way through. To her credit, Callisto was exceptionally skilled at ramming the smooth tip of her dagger into the weak spots of a soldier's armor: neck, armpit, and waist. Still, for all her efforts, it seemed there was always another man to get out of the way. Thor said nothing to her as he surged up to her side, and they continued to pick off men who dared approach them.

A bead of sweat rolled down from her hairline, and the smell of battle was starting to clog her nostrils. Artemis was not a warrior. She was not one to leap into battle—unless Apollo asked her to—and she rarely interfered with such human affairs. She was a hunter: this arena was not where she was at her best.

Eventually, she was forced to start retrieving her wasted arrows, yanking them from dead and dying men in order to stick another before they got to her. The Warriors Three soon found their way to Thor's side, followed shortly by Lady Sif and Loki. They knocked into one another, her and Loki, and they stayed within an arm's reach as they fended off warriors together.

"Pretty situation we find ourselves in," Fandral called over the grunts and groans of battle. "It seems we're slightly outnumbered."

"I have no desire to stay," Artemis insisted, turning to regard Thor as Callisto defended her front. "We should find a way out."

"Nonsense," Thor mused. "This is but a skirmish—"

"Thor," Loki bellowed. "We cannot hope to defeat them all."

"I did not come all this way to rescue Callisto so that she could die on the front steps," Artemis told her betrothed as gravely as she could. "We must leave!"

Her intended flinched when Volstagg's axe swung near his head, but he seemed to give her request some serious contemplation. With a nod, he tightened his grip on the Mjolnir, raising it above his head and then slamming it to the hard ground. Artemis cried out as the forest floor trembled beneath her, though they seemed safe from the effects the closer they stood to Thor. The warriors around them, however, were thrown back, landing in clusters of people: wounded, dead, and dying men alike were not spared from the shockwave.

"To the horses," Loki ordered, pushing her forward as they started toward the steep incline. She grabbed Callisto's hand as she leapt over the fallen bodies of groaning men and monsters, careful not to lose her footing on an arm or leg.

"They're stirring!" Lady Sif's observation was unnecessary, though perhaps slipped from her lips in a moment of panic. Although Thor's assault seemed to keep their enemies down for some time, it wasn't long enough to grant them safe passage all the way up the hill. Callisto shoved her dagger into a man who grabbed Artemis by the ankle, and she did her best to fend off the others, slamming the ends of her bow into faces and chests to keep them down.

Her horse was almost hurting himself as he tried to reach her, stomping and whinnying and chomping at nearby soldiers as she approached. Taking Callisto by the waist, she almost threw the nymph onto the beast, and then snatched the dagger from her hand and wedged it into the eye of a warrior who came too close. He screamed when she twisted the blade, and Artemis kicked him back down the hill onto the bodies of his comrades. She then leapt up onto her horse behind Callisto, her bow slung across her body, and turned the beast away from the din of battle. Her companions seemed to do the same, but the rallying cry of Norn warriors happened too quickly.

She shot a look over to Thor, but he seemed at a loss for their next course of action. He studied the rising soldiers with what appeared to be growing frustration, and then urged his horse onward. Perhaps they were meant to outrun the army?

Kicking her horse sharply in the sides, she surged forward after her intended, the hooves of nearby horses pounding in her ears. The beasts were louder than the men, but they were one beast short on their retreat. She frowned when she realized Loki was not among them. Instead, he remained at the peak of the hill, sitting atop his beast with his hands in the air. She called for him twice as the others rode on, but he seemed to ignore her.

"My lady, we should go," Callisto insisted, taking the reins from her and encouraging her horse to move forward. They darted through the thin trees, and every so often, Artemis glanced back at Loki. She half-expected to see him engulfed in warriors: the men were eager for the blood of Asgardians. Instead, she saw a billowing cloud of dark grey smoke wafting across the trees and into the dip. Magic. The forest stunk of Loki's power as she urged her horse onward, and it wasn't until she broke through the treeline on the far side, cantering into the yellow, crackly grass of the valley, that she stopped feeling the sensations, the hum of magical activity.

The sun appeared to be on the verge of setting, and now that they were free from the wretched forest, she could see the amber hue cast across the sky. She was in a sea of fire it seemed, surrounded by yellow earth and an orange sky, and she wanted nothing more than to see Loki race forth from the darkened wood. Her breathing was heavy, as was her heart, when she rounded her beast to face the forest. The others were in the process of calming their beasts, and Callisto leaned forward on her steed's head, perhaps unable to hold herself up for long.

There was nothing. There was nothing for so long, and she shot Thor a look: how could he not rush back in after his brother. Her intended spoke softly with Lady Sif instead, and she turned her attention back to the forest, her jaw clenched.

Suddenly, the forest seemed to belch the dark smoke she had seen earlier, and it furled out from every pore and into the field. From the midst of it, a lone rider burst forth, and Artemis couldn't keep the smile from her lips as she watched Loki urge his mare headlong for the group. As he neared, Thor and the others started up again, their horses thundering across the decaying valley.

"The fog will follow each man for the remainder of the day," Loki told her as he approached. "It will engulf the forest and keep them… until Karnilla catches wind of it."

"Is her magic stronger than yours?"

"Sometimes."

She wanted to touch him as he approached—Artemis wanted to kiss him. But she merely smiled and stroked his mare's side once before kicking her beast sharply. They raced across the valley in tandem, catching up to the group as best they could. Behind them, grey fog swallowed the grass and field, and the confused cries of cursed soldiers echoed well into the night.

Loki rarely had a reason to hold his head up high amongst Thor and the others. He was seldom invited out on missions of this nature, where fighting and strength were prized above all else, and when he was, he usually made a fool of himself. He was a warrior. He had trained alongside Thor when they were boys, and he had gone to war with the rest of them under his father's command. However, warfare wasn't where he excelled and everyone knew it. He had stopped feeling disheartened when the others did not include him on their adventures, but perhaps today would change that.

He managed to hold himself in battle just as well as the others had, and he even saved Hogun twice from a pair of grotesque Norn demons who went for the warrior's head. Weariness started to take him shortly before Artemis resurfaced from her venture into the Norn Fortress, but he knew he could have continued for as long as it was necessary. However, it was in their hasty retreat that Loki truly showed why he ought to be taken a little more seriously. The cloaking spell was one he seldom used, but instead it was one he had perfected in his early years of magic for moments when he would need it.

Shrouding oneself in shadows was something else entirely; this was a spell that would confuse one's enemies enough to make a speedy getaway. He merely had to hope that Karnilla would not hear of the assault, because as strong as his magic was, the older witch had more power in her. Naturally, he kept that little secret to himself, preferring to let Artemis think that he had the ability to outwit the Witch Queen of Nornheim, and he would hold that information close to his chest until it was no longer true. One day, in the distant future, Loki assumed Karnilla would try to wipe out her only other truly formidable magic foe in the realms, and he needed to stop getting distracted with his affair and really practice.

Today hadn't been about luck. Loki's magic was precise and effective, and that was the reason the group was able to escape across the open field without a single soldier finding them. They rode their horses hard, not stopping until they reached the Norn Forest in the north. Once they were in the forest's protection, Thor insisted they find a place to settle for the night: not only were their horses exhausted, but they all had wounds that could use tending to. After the companions made a makeshift camp in a small clearing, Artemis took Loki to forage for food, as their supplies were running low.

On any other occasion, he would have been thrilled to be alone with her in the darkness, working their way through a strange forest with their hands clasped. However, Artemis was distracted, and not once did he dare to stop her to steal a kiss. After all, he could understand her wandering mind: Callisto's injuries needed some actual medical treatment, and Artemis refused to let anyone see to the nymph except for her. So, while his lover put a valiant effort into finding edible fruits from underbrush—she even managed to shoot a scurrying mass of fur at one point—and the like, Loki knew she would have rather been with her handmaiden. Therefore, he kept the journey short, insisting that everyone would survive on limited rations until they at least reached Alfheim. From there, surely they could find allies who would give them a proper meal.

When they returned to the site, Callisto had fallen asleep with her head on Fandral's lap. Although Artemis stiffened at the sight, Loki merely watched her shoulders slump as the blond warrior watched her apprehensively. Rather than broach him on the issue, she let her handmaiden sleep, and Loki helped her prepare a broth with the meat of the animal she found and what little supplies they had remaining. The camp was silent as they worked; battle was a tiring foe.

When the meal was prepared, Artemis distributed the soup to their companions, and they sat next to one another as they ate in silence. The pot remained over the stove, heating the remainder for Callisto when she awoke; Artemis watched her the entire time. The nymph did eventually stir, groaning and easing herself off of Fandral's undoubtedly stiff legs. He waved off her apologies kind-heartedly, but he was quick to jump to his feet and take a walk, shaking each leg as he did.

Artemis set her bowl aside and stood, leaving him alone on the fallen tree they had sat on for the better part of the last hour. In her place, his brother settled next to him, nudging his shoulder and smiling when their eyes met. The contact was brief, and both turned their attention to Artemis. The woman had propped her handmaiden up against a tree and was seeing to the gash on her cheek, which appeared to have hardened already.

"You did well today, brother," Thor murmured quickly before scooping a spoonful of broth into his mouth. Loki tried his best to keep his smile small, but it was more difficult than usual.

"Thank you."

"But we cannot tell Father of this," he continued. "He cannot know there was even a skirmish involved in this…"

He bit the inside of his cheek to keep his opinion to himself. Naturally, when Thor rode off a field in victory, there was a damn celebration to commemorate the day. However, when Loki was triumphant, it was only at a time when no one that mattered was allowed to know. Artemis had seen his cleverness that afternoon, but no one back home would ever catch a whiff of his success—not a single soul.

"I agree," he managed. "He will be upset if he knows how vast the battle was in the end."

"Hmm. Yes."

"But it would be best he heard something from us," Loki reasoned, his eyes on Artemis's back as she crouched in front of her handmaiden. "He will be far angrier if he hears rumors from Karnilla."

"As if he would believe rumors from Karnilla," Thor said with a chuckle, setting his bowl aside and knitting his fingers together on his lap. "Don't be absurd, brother."

"It could happen—"

"Unlikely," his brother insisted. "You mustn't let your imagination get the better of you."

If it hadn't been for Loki's imagination, they would have had to outrun an army today, and they would likely still be running. He let out a lengthy sigh, head slumping down as he rested his elbows on his knees.

"Yes, how silly of me."

"Hush," Artemis snapped, turning Callisto's head sharply to the side, as though to see the wound in the firelight. "It will only hurt for a moment."

A small smile tugged at his lips as he watched the nymph nod fretfully, her eyes wet with tears. There was very little gentleness with the way Artemis cleaned her wounds: she took a small vial of boiled water and a clean rag to wipe away the hardened blood, and then retrieved a thread and needle from her bag. Callisto seemed even less comfortable as her mistress started to sew her injury shut, but Artemis paid no mind to it. She did, however, let her handmaiden dig her sharp little nails into her thigh, and Loki watched the nimble digits flex whenever Artemis tugged too tightly on her face.

He would have guessed nymphs healed better than that: an Asgardian's wound rarely stayed open for long, and they tended not to scar. However, Artemis seemed intent on closing the gash as much as she possibly could, and Loki realized there was still much more to learn about the inhabitants of his home.

"Even now," Thor started, "she does not take nonsense."

"Are you surprised?" Loki shot his brother a look, but his smile faltered when he noticed the way Thor observed Artemis. There was a glimmer of… something in his eye, something Loki had not seen yet since Artemis had walked into their lives.

"The nymph is lucky to have her."

"Yes, she is." He licked his lips, still observing Thor's profile as his brother watched his intended work. He certainly did not like the way he stared at her—not one bit. "I suspect she will take the same approach with your children."

"I should hope so," his brother mused. "I want a strong wife. Today has brought out her strength."

His jaw clenched, and he wondered just how much of their conversation his lover could hear. She was far enough that snippets could be missed, but he knew she would not like them talking about her as though she couldn't hear a single word of it.

"She has always been strong, brother," he murmured, swatting at Thor's arm as he rose. His brother said nothing to the statement, and Loki sidled over to the fire to see if there was enough broth left for a second helping. He wrinkled his nose as he leaned over the pot: just enough for Callisto.

He glanced back at Artemis, and when he saw that she was nearly finished with Callisto's stitches, he opted to fill a bowl for the handmaiden himself. When he turned, he noticed Thor still studying her appreciatively, eyes sweeping up and down her crouched frame. However, when Sif rose and sauntered across his line of sight, stretching her toned arms upward and arching her back just enough, Loki watched Thor's attention shift and stay there.

His grip hardened around the small bowl in his hands. It wasn't fair. He wasn't allowed to have both, and yet when the night passed into morning, his older brother would have everything he wanted and more. He was to be king. He would have a wife and a queen, and he would no doubt keep a lover on the side in secret. The same may not be said for Artemis; Loki could only hope.

"Is that for Callisto?"

Artemis's voice brought him out of his frustrated daze, and he blinked rapidly as he looked down at the bowl.

"Yes."

"Bring it here then," she ordered. She sounded weary, but there was no harshness to her tone. Instead, as Loki approached, she settled down next to her handmaiden and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Callisto grinned at the sight of the bowl, hands extended as he kneeled down before them, and she eagerly slurped the liquid back. Artemis smiled, resting her head against Callisto's matted hair, and when their eyes met, he could hear every word she wanted to say reverberate in his mind. He said nothing, of course, but merely smiled in return and rose, dusting his knees off as he did.

Thor continued to watch his lover, and as Loki settled near Hogun in an effort to get some sleep, he could feel his stomach turn anxiously: this did not bode well for him.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Change is coming, and it's definitely not something that Loki is excited about. I meant to have this chapter out earlier, but I wrote too much for my other story, which really damaged my wrists. So, I took some time off to get them back to semi-normal, and then slowly clacked away at this baby.

Thanks so much for the reviews and silent support! It means a lot to me!