Visitation

by kalimecat

Loki has returned to Asgard and is imprisoned for his crimes. While in prison he has the occasional visitor, will the love of others bring back the fallen prince or is he truly too far gone?

37. The Edict

A/N: HELLOOOO READERS!Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Dear readers in spirit of the holiday i just want to say thank you. I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you so much for your continued interest in this story. I love each one of your favorites, follows and reviews. If it was not for you this story would have died on the vine a lone time ago. This particular chapter was difficult to post. Idk what happened but the file kept being corrupted. I fought to get it up. Well hopefully it was worth it! As always happy reads and writes and God Bless You. Without further ado:

Chapter 37

"From the palace!" Sir Dreng exclaimed. "Put it through, man!"

"Ahem," Healer Onrac coughed as he wiped his dripping bald forehead. "Sir Dreng, perhaps it would be best if your staff reviewed the message prior to having our queen..." He stated in a half whisper.

"Nevermind that!" Queen Frigga raised her voice and stepped between the pair of men.

"Your majesty, I am only thinking of your health," the healer proposed, his head still dripping buckets. "Your condition is delicate," he muttered.

Queen Frigga laughed. "Not so delicate. I am not with child, master healer," she reminded him. There is no time for timidity or secrets. The lives of all of Asgard as well as all of the Nine Realms are at stake. As queen it is my duty to protect my people first and myself last. I will hear whatever is transmitted," she stated.

"Of course, my queen, as you wish," mumbled the healer. "I was only trying to..." His voice trailed off as he nervously rubbed his hands along his healer tunics.

The golden maned queen smiled affectionately at her protective healer, "I know, Healer Onrac, I know," she stated and patted him on the shoulder. She walked closer to the young engineer at the communication control table. She planted her hand on the young Aesir man's shoulder. "I want to hear the unfiltered message," she stated.

The young man's shoulders trembled under the weight of the queen's bejeweled fingers. "Yes'm," the engineer muttered quickly. "Of course your majesty," he said through chattering teeth. His hands shook violently as he reached for the knob. His grasp so unsteady that he could scarcely turn the dial to intercept the frequency. There were a few squeaks and beeps and static vibrations that came over the communication system, but finally the engineer was able to pick up on a strong enough signal to transmit.

Queen Frigga squinted her lovely blue eyes to get a better look at the fuzzy image that was being played across the holographic table. The Image that was displayed soon came in clear. The perfectly outlined silhouette of a helmet with sloping horn housing a head with distinctly keen features: pointed nose and strong, lean, angular jawline. "Loki!" Frigga gasped one hand reached to her mouth while the other reached toward the screen.

The picture came in clear and she watched as silhouette soon formed into a small, miniature image of her youngest son. The queen felt a lump form in her throat and butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Her heart was all a flutter. "Loki," she whispered his name once more. "I knew he would try to make contact with me," she mumbled with hopeful thanksgiving. Her hands strayed to her chest and tears formed in her eyes. She knew that her son was not so far gone. She waited with baited breath for the message to be played and then all present in the

communication tower could be witnesses to the fact that Loki was doing something to aid them. That he had something brewing in his brilliant mind that was going to help to put an end to this madness and Ragnarok. They'd all see that he was not there enemy.

"The Signal is very strong sir," another one of the hologram operators confirmed. "I'm picking something up on almost every frequency now," she expressed.

"A different message?" The chief of staff asked. "No, sir...it's all the same," she said baffled.

"They all have the same origin point," someone else chimed in. "The palace."

Queen Frigga did her best to block out the chatter of the technicians around her and focused on the image being transmitted across the hologram. Loki was displayed in full color. He was dressed in some of his finest garments. He had on his most elegant armor, his shining breastplate made of gold, his wrist plates and arm-guards, his leather most regal looking deep emerald cape. She would almost say he looked handsome, but something was amiss. In his hand he held a staff, Gungnir.

"Greetings, dear citizens of Asgard," Loki announced across the screen. His voice was smooth as butter and he did not falter in remembering his princely etiquette. He bowed out of respect and swept his cape back in a genteel manner. When he rose back to his full height he stood proud and tall and there was a cool and unnerving grin written plainly on his chiseled face. "It is I, King Loki of Asgard," he proclaimed, "Your newly appointed shepherd, here to give you my first royal decree," the sinister smile on his thin lips did not falter. "For thousands of years our people have waited anxiously anticipated the arrival of Convergence," he explained. He started to pace, his movements we calm and poised and fluid in motion. "Ah," the image of Loki projected through the hologram took a deep sigh. "The beauty and mystery of the aligning of the worlds," he breathed. With that Loki made a display in his hands. He produced a perfect replica of the image of the Convergence. He showed the alignment and each one of the worlds. He made his own conjured image large enough so that it filled the screen and blocked out the image of himself. Each one on of the entrance points to the worlds was displayed and their colors were that of a rainbow in order. That picture remained on the screen for awhile until Loki collapsed it. It mystically disappeared within the palms of his hands. "Wondrous, isn't it," he stated with a shrug and continued to march about.

"What is he getting at?" Asked Sir Dreng.

"Some says that during the Convergence you can see to the edges of the tips of the branches of Yggdrasil," he shrugged. "Others say that you can see the future during this event," Loki wiggled his long fingers. "But those are just legends," Loki stated with an amused chuckle. "This is truth," he said as all at once his face grew serious and hard. "Convergence shall bring us into a new era...a glorious new age of chaos, Ragnarok," he grinned like a Cheshire cat.

A gasp echoed through the crowd in the communication tower. Queen Frigga shook her head. She bit her lip hard, she winced from the pain only after she tasted the blood in her mouth. "No," she mouthed.

"But be ye not afraid gentle Aesir," Loki said his silver tongue was ever so soothing and ever so persuasive. It dripped with honey and mockery. "For I, as young king am destined and honor bound to guide you into a new age. Mourn not the old ways. For all things do come to an end," he told them. Loki clasped his hands together pursed his lips and made a pitying sound. 'But I, in my beneficence have seen fit to make the transition easy for you dear, sweet children of Asgard by breaking all the ties that you have with the way things were." He rubbed his palms together and allowed his tongue to lap over his thin lips. "Odin lies in the Oversleep," he expressed mercilessly. Once more the master mage flipped open his palms and weaved and illusion that was surely convincing upon the hologram cam. He created an illusion of Odin lying helpless in his sleep on his golden plated bed protected by the golden glow of the energy shield.

"Oh my heavens, what is he doing?" Yelled Healer Onrac. Actually the image was quite mild in comparison to how Odin truly looked now.

Frigga's heart started racing in her chest. How could Loki be saying such things? He knew that it was imperative for the people never to know of the Odin being incapacitated. It would create mass fear and panic and chaos. But finally she was realizing that it was that that Loki wanted the most.

A smug grin inch by inch trickled across his severe lips, Loki's evergreen eyes almost twinkled as he cocked his horned head to the side, "It is merely a matter of hours before the all-father fills the tombs of the ancient kings just like all his fathers before him," Loki elaborated coldly.

"NO!" A communication worker screamed covering her ears.

The emerald eyed enchanter started to chuckle low and within his throat. The laugh calculating, cold and unfeeling. Abruptly, the once prince of Asgard halted his laughter. "And as for your beloved Prince Thor," Loki spat the name. Before those in the tower arose a picture of the golden prince of Asgard.

"Thor!" Queen Frigga shrieked as sight of her fair haired son flashed before her eyes. He was a bloody pulp. Crimson liquid seemed to flow from every inch of his body. From his bludgeoned head, out of his broken purple nose, from his fattened lip. She could hear him, struggling, gasping, gurgling for air. His eyes had swelled up like grapefruits and were as black as tar. Her strong and strapping son was shaking like a leaf. He bound hand and foot like a hogtied pig for the roast. His strong arms were tethered and chained to a wooden stake placed at the base of his neck. It left his arms unable to rest and forced his head to bow. He was gagged and his clothes were so ripped and tattered that he appeared practically naked before them. Her hand reached out shakily toward the hologram image of her son. She wanted to gather him in her

arms and hug and squeeze him protectively as if he was no more than a babe. "My son! My son!" The royal woman screamed out. "What have they done to you, my son?" She cried.

Loki's cruel grin only deepened with with newly derived pleasure. The corners of his mouth pressed upward further arching toward his ears. Thor was positioned on his knees, hands bound in between his legs as he knelt before the raven-haired maniac he had once called a brother. Loki's long slender fingers roughly grabbed a heaping fistful of matted golden hair. He yanked Thor's head back roughly, exposing his thick neck. "He is my prisoner," he hissed. He pulled on Thor's hair a little harder and traced a line around Thor's throat. The gesture was nearly affectionate. Perhaps it was Prince Thor's own weakness and fatigue that caused him to lean into the cruel hand that gingerly stroked his Adam's apple. Just as Thor leaned into the touch Asgard's dictator shoved the Crown Prince of Asgard down to the ground. Thor fell without resistance with a loud thud and a ground. Loki arched his back and roared with an outrageous cackle. He was wild and mad. "My slave," he continued. He was breathing raggedly as he looked down at the son of Odin lying defenseless on his back like a stray turtle.

Loki placed his boot on Thor's already heaving chest, "and soon to be my victim," he announced.

A horrified chorus of nos and gasps followed Loki's announcement in the communication chamber. "What?" Queen Frigga shouted in terror. Immediately liquid sprang from her tearducts. She covered her face. "LOKI! NO!" She screamed out. A pain shot through the queen's chest. It went through her like hot lead. It knocked her off balance, she started to sway and her knees began to buckle. She was slowly falling.

Healer Onrac sprang into action. He jumped behind the queen and caught her just before she also met with the ground. "Sir Dreng, turn this transmission off," he declared as his arms held the queen in place.

"Right away, Healer Onrac," Commander Dreng responded. "Georg, shut down the transmission," the chief of staff yelled.

The nervous young communication engineer busied himself trying to scramble the signal, but all of a sudden the signal was coming in very strong. "I-I-I can't lose it sir," he admitted beads of perspiration dripping from his brow.

"Well shut it down then," he ordered slamming his fist down on another one of the com systems.

Fiddling discs and knobs and buttons and wires the engineer tried to turn off the machine. It started to power down. "No," Queen Frigga shook her head rallying herself quite a bit. She pushed up from the arms that were holding her. "I...I...I need to see this," she confirmed her voice was shaking.

"Majesty," Healer Onrac whispered.

"I need to see this," Queen Frigga said strongly. She pushed up and stood to her feet and walked back over to the holo transmitter.

"To wipe away all traces and connections to the past I offer a celebration for Convergence and I what better way to celebrate than with a grand meeting in the public square where you all can watch the execution of this most unworthy son of Odin," he spat. "At first light Prince Thor will face the chopper's block," he stated coldly. Loki then moved his booted foot from resting on Thor's heaving chest to resting on his neck. Thor's struggles for breath were audible through the transmission. "You are all cordially invited to attend. I suggest you do so if you value seeing the son of Odin alive ever again. For those of you my dear subjects who can't attend this momentous occasion will be commemorated across the holo-transmitters throughout our vast and mighty realm. People of the Imperial City if you do not come willingly, my associates will have no problem rounding you up and escorting you to the square," Loki gestured to his right hand side. From there emerged the horrific image of the bloodless face of the Dark-Elf leader Malekith. His stark white face and soulless black eyes was a vision so frightening that it sent fear into the hearts of all who viewed it within the communication tower. "I advise that you do not give them such an opportunity, you will find they are less hospitable than I." Loki gave a wink and a grin as he watched Lord Malekith kick Thor in his wounded side. "Until the morrow," the green eyed enchanter bid farewell to all. With that the transmission fizzled out to static.

The anxious engineer fiddled with the gears and knobs on the communication device. "I'm sorry sir," he said turning to Sir Dreng, "the signal is lost."

"All the signals are down once more," another reported. "Monstrous! Monstrous!" Healer Onrac started shout.

"Oh Merciful Yggdrasil!" Members of the engineering team started to shout out.

"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" A redhaired young woman called out to someone sitting next to her. Before long many of the engineers and communication systems were dropping to their knees crying and screaming in horror.

"WE ARE DOOMED!" "RAGNOROK IS UPON US!"

"DEATH COMES TOMORROW!"

"PRINCE THOR!" The cries of the Aesir rose up.

In the midst of the chaos and cries of woe Queen Frigga slowly staggered about the small tower chamber. Her hand was pressed to her head. All of a sudden she was overcome with a splitting headache. It started as a throb at her temples and radiated into a painful ache against her skull. The beautiful blonde woman cried out, "Ah my head," she grabbed both sides of her skull.

"My Queen!" Healer Onrac called rushing toward her.

Queen Frigga's head hurt something fierce. She couldn't recall ever having a headache more painful, but that pain which made her want to bang her forehead against the ground was nothing next to the agony that had been placed upon her heart. The royal woman gasped like she couldn't breathe. She clutched at her gown as if she was trying to pull her vestments right off of herself. So desperate was her clawing that she actually did tore her own garment. So furious was she that she nearly did expose her bosom. "My chest! My chest!" Queen Frigga hollered as she dropped to her knees. They felt so weak. Her head hurt so bad, she had no choice but to succumb.

The wife of Odin was on her hands and knees. Her arms trembling and crying rivers. All that she had heard. Could it really be true? No. She didn't want to believe it. She couldn't believe it. But she had to believe it. She had heard it with her own ears and seen it with her own eyes. It may have only been a hologram image, but it was no illusion and was as much proof as flesh and blood. She might as well have felt her eldest son trembling against her she watched him shiver and shake in his brother's clasp. Every muffled groan and pitiful moan that was coaxed from his gagged mouth was a vivid and real as if his screams of torture had been directed right at her ear. And just by looking at the hologram image she could feel, smell and even taste the blood, dirt and sweat on him. It all came rushing to her. It flooded her sensed like an assault. It was a battery and an attack against the all-mother. She shuddered and sighed and then all at once she was weeping harder. She was weeping so long and hard that her terrible sob soon dwarfed the other cries in the communication tower. She hadn't cried for so long, but with in a few minutes she had cried her voice raw. She was unable to even make any more utterance.

Her cry was merely a silent sob in which tears streamed down her face like rapids down a river. After a few more choking gasps the queen started to dry heave and then she vomited.

"Queen Frigga!" Onrac's voice broke into the queen's ear as she regurgitated repeatedly. The bald healer's brown hand was soon on her back and he could feel her violently shaking as she hurled her guts upon the floor. He rubbed soothing circles across her back trying to ease any tension that the queen of Asgard may have been feeling. Hs palms grew warms and the healing energy that flowed through his veins went straightway to trying to relieve any discomfort the queen may have had. As he moved his hands over her he was able to sense all the distress that had over taken the queen's body. She was in desperate need of a healing crystal. He was a master healer, but his skill alone would do nothing to ease the queen's pain. "Come, my lady, we must get you back to the healing chamber," he stated swiftly in her ear. He started to help hoist her to her feet by taking her under her arms. The blonde-haired queen scarcely moved, he head bobbed shakily and her feet and hands slipped on the slick stones as she tried to clamber her way to her feet. Frigga's knees hadn't even elevated off of the floor before she wretched again. "Easy, Easy, your highness," he cooed in her ears. She shuddered and once more tried to gain her feet to no avail. Carefully, the queen's physician managed to get her to her feet. Her legs were weak as water and they once she was standing she swayed and

knocked into Healer Onrac. She leaned on him entirely dependent upon him for support. Her head lulled back onto Onrac's shoulder. Healer Onrac raised his hand to tenderly stroke the queen's brow. She had a fresh sheen of perspiration across her forehead. "Oh my lady you are terribly feverish," Healer Onrac expressed as he shook his head. "Merciful Yggdrasil, Majesty I should not have let you come!" He chided himself. "Come, let us away from here," he said as he carefully stepped over and guided the queen around the frantic mob in the communication tower. "You must rest."

The wife of Odin shook her head, "No, no, no, no," Queen Frigga shook her head weakly in protest at her old friend's instructions. "No," she breathed once more. Just as she and Onrac reached the door she put her hand out and wrapped her fingers around the door post and held fast. "I...I...I had to come," she insisted. "I needed to come," she went on.

"No, milady," Onrac raised his voice in protest. "Far be it from you my queen that your lovely eyes should have ever had to lay eyes on that sorry sight and see that horrendous, despicable scene performed by that animal," Healer Onrac declared.

"No, I needed to see that, Onrac," she explained. The queen sniffled. "I needed to see what was happening?" She elaborated her eyes roaming around anxiously. "I needed to see what Loki was," she sighed. Frigga would have loved to cry, but though her heart was obliterated into a thousand, tiny particles her eyes were wrung dry from crying. And her throat was soar. She rubbed her hands across her throat and shut her eyes. She could feel her feet shifting and moving across the tile. She knew that Healer Onrac was doing his best to remove her from the communication tower and back to her room. She would have protested but she no longer had the strength. She allowed him to shuffle her about. Her beautiful blue eyes did not even open to see where he was taking her, but in her minds' eye she pictured much.

The vision of her youngest's son's madness consumed her. From the very moment he appeared on the screen she could immediately see that there was something off about him. The inside of his emerald eyes swirled with an insanity. A wildness had taken over every fiber of his being. He was surely dressed to the nines and looked every inch the role of king that he was so desperate to have, but the pitch of his voice, the twitch in his lips as he gave each sinister smile, the fidgeting of his finger, the dark circles of his eyes and pallor of his skin. Frigga could see it now. She could see what the people had been talking about. For so long now she'd been forced to listen to the terrible talk of her subjects and the members of court as they picked her son apart and cursed his called him a raving beast, a savage and a lunatic.

But she hadn't seen it. She hadn't seen him as wild and crazed and manic. Somehow when she looked into his eyes she could still see the hints of a boy that she'd raised into a man. She could still see the innocent, sweet faced baby that Odin had placed in her arms. She could still hear his screams and shrieks and tirades as she has heard then when he was an infant pleas for love and affection. When she had looked in his eyes before she could still see her little boy: sweet and gentle, but easily offended and vulnerable. She has seen all his vile actions and hyperbolic cries for attention. In his expressions she could still recognized the witty youth he had been. The shy young man who would perform a feat and wait for praise, praise that she regrettably admitted had all to often been denied. In his speech she still heard the gifted words of a powerful enchanter with a sharp mind and great skill a prince who longed to share his gifts with the world and find respect and honor.

But after what she had seen him do. After what she had heard him say. Such images had passed away. She knew that that man, the old Loki. Who was a prince of Asgard, a loving son and brother was gone. He had been replaced. His soul was mangled and twisted. It was corroded and callous. It had been smothered and suffocated. His heart had been hung out to dry. There was nothing left. Everything that was good with in him was surely gone. It hurt the queen to come to such a conclusion. The word the echoed in her mind when she thought of the atrocities that her son had committed chilled her to the bone. She dared not utter it, but it lingered I her mind.

How could Loki have done this? How could he have set all this in motion? Is this he what he wanted? Was kingship so much to him that he would align himself with the likes of Malekith to gain it? But why? Why would he so desperately desire to call himself king that he would work with the Dark-Elves. Malekith was heartless, ruthless, he was no ally or friend. Couldn't he see that? Or was he just like him? Surely, his lust for power could not be so great that he couldn't see that this plot of his would destroy everything. Loki once loved Asgard so. He took so much pride in the great accomplishments of their people, how could he now simply want to see them destroyed? And the rest of realms? Loki had been an excellent diplomat on behalf of Asgard, his wisdom and skill had gained him favor in many of the courts throughout the Nine Realms. His rationale often heeded by many. Although Loki respected Asgard's warrior past he was hopeful of a future where diplomacy and intellectual debate could solve problems that had for too long been settled on the battlefield. Now it seemed as though Loki had forsaken the peaceful ways he once fought for.

Had his anger and resentment toward his father over the true origins of his birth truly become so great and calloused with in his heart that he truly desired to see Odin dead? She had never blamed Loki for his anger. Quite frankly she had always expected it. She tried to tell Odin so many centuries ago. "When are we going to tell him?"She asked, sitting at her vanity brushing her long golden tresses.She paused from humming one of her favoritesongs

"When are we going to tell who what, now dear?' The wizened king responded as he stretched while coming out of the restroom. He donned his regal white night robe and had a scroll in hand. He started to sit down on the large settee by the hearth.

"Tell Loki,"she explained concentrating on detangling her strands.

"What is it you wish to tell him?Don't you think that his birthday present should be a surprise?"Odin asked a grin on his lips as he turned to her.

"That's just what I mean, Odin,"she huffed.the child's birthday is only a week away,"she went on."He'll be 333 years of age (10),"she explained sighing and placing her brush down on the vanity.

"Yes, what of it?" Odin shrugged."Think you that he is too young to have a pegasus?" The king inquired."He is a good rider."

Frigga shook her head. She had to keep from slamming her fist on the marble top of her vanity."That'snot it,Odin,"she said eyes closed,teeth clenched.

"Then what is it, Frigga, my sweet?"Odin replied absently.He stood up and stretched, cracked his knuckles and moved to a larger couch, sat, crossed his legs and took to reading a scroll.

"It's about telling Loki the truth about where he comes from,"she almost screamed.

The unnerved tone in her voice gave the gray-haired king a note to take pause from the reading that he was so heavily trying to engross himself in."Frigga,"the one-eyed king turned to his wife."We have been over this already,"he reminded her gently rolling the scroll backup and placing it in his lap.

"I know...I know,"Frigga muttered shaking her hands and her head anxiously as she heard her husband's words.King Odin took a deep inhale before he set the scroll aside and stood up and walked closer to the queen.

"I know we agreed to wait until Loki's Coming of Age, but the older he gets the harder it will be to tell him,"she expressed. She could see Odin's handsome lips parting he was ready to convey something that she doubted she ever wanted to hear so she just kept right on talking. "He's just recovered from the pox and he had so many questions about everything.Like why Thor couldn't come in and see him while he was ill or why had he gotten the pox 3 times when most Aesir children only catch it once and then developed an immunity,"Frigga explained. She shook her head."You know he is incredibly bright...so inquisitive.It's just so pitiful," she sighed.She swiveled around in her chair and faced Odin.Her hands clasped in her lap and her head bowed."I hate lying to him and making things up, it isn't fair.He's our son. He deserves to know the truth," the queen stated declaritively as she looked into her husband's handsome blue gray eye.

Odin's rough hands embraced her own He gently tugged on her smooth, slender fingers and pulled her into a standing position. He held her hands firmly, but tenderly in his own. He shifted the hands so that one of his hands engulfed both of hers. He watched her graceful features curl in o a pained expression. His wife Frigga Tyrdottir, shieldmaiden and Queen of Asgard was astrong woman and yet he watched her lips curl and eyes shimmer with tears. His free hand nudged her chin up. She started to look away, turn her head, bu his strong right hand pulled her face back so tha she was made to focus on him. "He does know the truth," He announced firmly."We are his family. I am his father,Thor is his brother and you are his mother,"he held her in place and looked her in her beautiful sapphire eyes as he spoke.

"Yes, but,"Frigga started her voice and body quivering."But Loki is so clever, I think he'll figure it out in time and if we don't tell him and when he does...I just don't want him to hate us, hate himself...if we tell him now maybe he'll have time to understand and accept who he is...I..I don't know...I just have this feeling in my heart."

"There is no reason for him to ever find out," Odin elaborated. He rubbed Frigga's shoulder and smiled at her."No one knows besides the two of us, Mistress Eir and a few other servants who have been paid handsomely and sworn on pain of death not to breathe a word of this to anyone," Odin continued. "There is no need for him to ever know that his own kind left him for dead.What type of gift would that be for our son on his birthday?" Odin chuckled.

Frigga returned his expression. She started to wipe her eyes. "But what about when you reinstate him as heir to Jotunheim?" The queen inquired.She held her breath as she waited for Odin's response. They had talked about such matters 100 times over, but still there was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought of Loki have to return to the Frost Giants.

Odin turned from her and stroked his graying beard. "I'm never going to send Loki back there,"he announced stoically with his head held high and proud and he folded his arms across his chest.

Frigga gasped, "Odin!"She took rapid steps closer toward him. A lovely smile spread across her face.She gripped him by his shoulder and swung him around. Her blue eyes searching his.

"I can't send him back there,"the great king said with a sigh."I know we've talked about it and perhaps it was my intent at first, but that plan no longer matters. Loki is too tender of a soul. "You are right,"Odin nodded."He is growing strong and wise and he is every inch a prince of Asgard. He is our son, this is his home and always will be. Why should we trouble the child with matters that are of no importance?" He asked cupping Frigga's face lovingly in his hands. He planted a quick kiss on her forehead and lips.

She smiled as she felt the bristle of his whiskers against herf ace, "we shouldn't,"she whispered."I am glad you see it my way again," Odin stated as he enjoyed the pleasure of the kiss.

"You are very persuasive, my king,"she giggled.

He moved his lips from resting against the queen's mouth to resting beside he rear. "Can I persuade your ladyship to come to bed?"

She and Odin discussed little of telling Loki about his family of origin after that. It wasn't even a thought in her head most of the time, but every so often thoughts of what could happen were Loki to learn the truth would linger like dreadful premonitions in the back of her mind. Now such premonitions had come to be realities. Loki hated Odin and wanted him to die. Did he wish to see her dead as well? He didn't say it. He didn't have to. The things he had said and his villainous plans were enough to kill her.

She wished he would release all his venom upon her, not on his father. Odin had made the decisions to protect Loki. He thought that his actions were right and just and loving. He hadn't known what the outcome would be. He wasn't to blame, but she was. She'd known that the truth would devastate Loki the later he learned in his life. Still, she'd chosen not to press the matter. She could have confronted Odin more. She could have told Loki herself, secretly.

Maybe she should have. She tried to tell herself for so many centuries that Odin was right, that she was following his commands as her king and honoring him as her husband. Now she only felt regret and sorrow and dread for obeying him and not following her own heart.

She wished that Loki would have spewed his wrath and anger upon her instead of putting his lot in with that heartless beast, Malekith and destroying the dear people of Asgard. Her people. her people who she had sworn an oath to lead and protect and care Aesir were a good people a noble race. Not perfect, but no people were, but the heart of the citizens of Asgard was warm, jovial, brave as a bear and resolute, loyal to a fault. Why should they be destroyed? They were innocent. They had done nothing to Loki to deserve such a death. Had he come to hate resent their culture so much that he would see it completely extinguished? He would commit genocide? Perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised, Loki had tried to use the Bifrost to destroy Jotunheim after all. That was not the Loki she knew. That was not the son she'd raised. Her son implored armies to cease in their efforts. His silver tongue had so many times been used for the good of the realms to negotiate peace treatises.

Frigga felt her head start to spin. She clung to Healer Onrac's strong brown arm as her feet stumbled along. Her heart was being ripped and torn apart in a million different pieces as she

continued to dwell on Loki's violent intentions. She yearned from the epitome of her soul for Loki to execute her in public before all rather than have to live one second longer and see Loki murder her baby. "Ahhhh!" The queen screamed out as if she had been stabbed. He feet stopped moving and she stood frozen with her back arched, her fingernails digging into Onrac's arms. Instantly, she released her friend's arm and clawed at her own exposed chest. "No! No! No," she whimpered.

"Your Majesty, It is just a little ways further," Onrac tried to soothe. He tore off his cloak and wrapped it around the queen to keep her from exposing herself. Queen Frigga fought against the confines of the white healer's robe that was draping around her.

"No! No! NO!" The queen continued to scream. Her long golden locks were all about her head as she fought and thrashed and bucked against the hold. Her elegant hands scratched like a jungle cat as she tried to claw her way free of the healer's tunic.

Healer Onrac did all he could to contain the queen, but Frigga was getting wilder and more frantic. IN her vigor and desperation to break from him she ended up slamming both of them against the wall. "What's all this?" asked one of Queen Frigga's maidens. She was coming to attend to her.

"Lady Kareena! Lady Kareena please help me," the bald headed healer called to the noble woman rushing down the hallway toward him.

"Majesty!" She shrieked rushing to the queen's side and gripping her head just in time to keep the royal woman from slamming her crown against the wall. Lady Kareen cradled the queen's head like an infant's. "What's brought all this about?" She asked her eyes searching the face of the healer. Healer Onrac's face was contorted and sweaty, pained and his eyes brimmed with tears. Soon Kareena's pretty face was matching his own with the same terror. "The king?' She inquired breathlessly as her hand reached out to clutch Onrac's

Onrac was without words for a moment his lips simply fumbling. Finally he shook his head and found his breathless voice. "He lives," he assured her.

Kareena nodded and wiped her brow. "Thank the Norns," she uttered. Her momentarily relief was lost in an instant as she felt the queen start to quiver and thrash once more. "Then what has caused this?"

"We all just received some very disturbing news," Onrac informed.

"Thorthorthor," the queen muttered helplessly her body finally going lax within the arms of the master healer. "Myboymyboymyboynoooo," she groaned as her eyes rolled in the back of her head.

Both Onrac and Lady Kareena looked down at the queen, she seemed to have slumped into Onrac's arms and was just barely hanging on to any ounce of consciousness. "We must get her to her room," Onrac stated.

Queen Frigga's thoughts were heated and swirling and she thought of her beloved son. Thor her beautiful child tormented and held captive by his brother. The thought sent her blood to boiling. Such a thought was the nightmare of every mother. She would rather have died 1000 deaths than to have to see her children die. Loki's death had nearly ended her. For days she had refused meat or drink. She could not sleep for the grief she felt for Loki. She wished to die so that she could be with Loki once more. Thor had been key to her survival. He was so lonely and confused after Loki's demise. He was also wrecked with grief and guilt. He was strong before the people, but in the quiet moments after supper when the palace fell still he would come to her as a little boy still needing his mother's comfort. Loki was gone. But she trusted, hoped...prayed... believed that he was in Valhalla where all souls were comforted. But Thor, what comfort would be left to him in the land of the living if she died as well?

She saw the cruelty and heartlessness that Loki had displayed toward his brother. It was unbelievable and sickening. Frigga felt her stomach roiling like the sea as her mind churned at the thought Loki's abominable acts toward Thor. How could he? Could he have known how much it hurt her? Surely, he did for she had told him as much many times. Even when they were but wee lads simply squabbling over a toy she hated it. She hated to see them arguing and fighting. It tore into her soul like a carver's knife. Oft time she'd intervened. Forcing them to apologize to one another after Thor had been too rough with Loki or Loki's silver tongue hand been to biting toward his elder brother. Odin would tell her not to interfere all the time. To let the boys handle the matter themselves. She tried, but she could never sit idly by and watch them tear each other apart. It wasn't that Frigga didn't understand, she had many siblings. She had fought with all of them at one time or another and knew well of sibling rivalry, but somehow seeing her sons fight seemed far more devastating than the feud she and her brother's and sisters had.

Maybe it was because it was only the two of them. They had no one else to turn to after they'd hurt each other. Or maybe it was because they both seemed so much more antagonistic to one another. They knew which blows to throw to land the most injury whether physical or emotional. Or maybe it was because she loved them both so much. "Loki,"she whispered to her son while forcing him to hold his nose up in the air to stop the terrible blood flow. She pinched the bridge of his nose before bringing a clean cloth up to his nose. "Do you know what the worst kind of war is?"She posed.

"Huh?"The raven haired prince questioned as he took a seat and kept his nose elevated.

Queen Frigga cleared her throat,"Do you know what the worst kind of war is, my son?"She asked again.

The young prince shook his head. He shrugged,"a lost one,"he ground out with annoyance.

Frigga chuckled,she brought her hand to stroke his brow before removing the white handkerchief from his face and checking to see if his nosebleed had stopped.She was pleased to see that it had, but his face was still a bloody mess. "No,"she replied with a sigh. She brought a

clean. wet towel to his face and started to dab at the crimson liquid staining his lips,jaw and chin. Loki quickly rose to his feet and abruptly dismissed his mother's tender hands and stalked over to the sink in his chamber.He grumbled as he walked there. Frigga heard him mutter words against his brother.He turned on the faucet and splashed water on his face, washing it clean."A civil war,"she informed quietly still waiting for him on the bed. Her hands gently folded in her lap.

"Huh?"He grunted as he cleaned his face.

"The worst kind of war is a civil war,Loki," she explained. She saw his thin lips forming some type of rebuttle, he was quick-witted, but she hadn't the heart to hear him, "There are no winners in a civil war only losers,"she went on.

"Someone must win a war, mother,"he expressed as he dried his face.

"The kingdom loses, Loki. Kingdoms are destroyed by civil wars. Governments that should be protecting all citizens turn against the people. The people turn against the government. Friends turn against friends, neighbors against neighbors,brothers against brothers," the queen shuddered. "Tis dreadful. Lives are torn apart. Houses are divided and a house that is divided cannot stand, Frigga whispered through trembling lips as Loki took a seat by her once again on the bed. She cupped his narrow face."You and Thor make up the house of Odin, if you fight each other and turn against each other our house will crumble and Asgard will fall," she continued. "The bond that you and Thor share will always be something that Asgard will rely on for strength and stability. Knowing that you and Thor stand together will give our people courage," she said with a smile while stroking his cheek.

Loki's face twisted as did his lip,"So I am to be no more than Thor's shadow, following behind him and rubber stamping everything he does?" He looked down bitterly at his shoes and rubbed roughly under his nose.

"You are no shadow, you are a pillar," Queen Frigga stated turning her son's head back toward herself. Loki's mouth hung slightly ajar, his eyes were shining and wide at her words. "You are a pillar of this house," she gestured to the room,"You are a pillar for Asgard and you are a pillar for Thor,"she assured him."He needs your support. Without it Loki he'll fall,"she went on.

"Thor does not need my support," Loki rolled his eyes. His lips quirking in a grin of disbelief. "Indeed,he does Loki," his mother assured him.

"He has all of Asgard to pat him on the back and the rest of the Nine Realms for that matter,"Loki tossed flippantly.

Queen Frigga worried her lip. Then thought quietly for a moment. "That's exactly why he does need you, Loki,"she stated as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Loki turned to her, his eyes still swirling with anger for his brother. "The day I had Thor was the happiest day of my life," Frigga began. LOki was tempted to roll his green eyes once more. The last thing he wanted to hear was his mother go on and on about Thor. He had to deal with everybody else talking about wonderful Thor was. What a marvelous warrior he was, how handsome he was and was the perfect prince of Asgard and a true son of Odin. He didn't need mother talking about him in such lavished terms as well. Of course he knew his mother loved Thor, but he always thought that he was his mother's favorite.

"You know it was very hard for me to have children when your father and I were first married,"she explained. Loki just nodded. He saw the tears glistening in his mother's sea blue eyes. He knew of her love for children and how she had had numerous miscarriages. Of course he felt sorry for his mother's pain, but quite frankly he couldn't imagine having anymore siblings,especially if they were all like Thor. "I was so proud to finally be able to give your father an heir and proud to give Asgard a new prince. I wanted the best for Thor,but I was worried for him too," she admitted.

"Why?"Loki arched an inky brow.

"because I knew that being king would be hard. Being king means that you always have people who say they are in your corner,but they are truly in your corner for themselves. There are always going to be people who say they are Thor's friend but they will only want to use Thor. There will be men and women, young and old who will seek your brother's favor only to exploit him. That is why I was thrilled when you came into our lives," Frigga turned to her son and took him by the hands. "Because with you Thor will never need to worry about duplicity or being used. He will never have to wonder if you are someone he can trust. He'll never have to worry about false flattery or praise from you," she insisted.

"No he certainly won't have to worry about that,"Loki said casting a sideways glance out of his left eye and flashing his mother a cheeky lopsided smirk.

"Oh you!" Frigga said playfully grabbing him by the ear and slapping his shoulder. "Promise me,Loki that you will be there for Thor when he needs you,because he does need you,"she pleaded with him squeezing his chilly hands.

Loki gulped and nodded.He always knew his parents expected he and Thor to look out for each other.He supposed it was part of the territory of being brothers, but some how having to promise his mother added a knew weight and clout to the pact that he'd formed with Thor since their birth. "I promise, mother," Loki pledged.

"You never disappoint me, Loki," Frigga said with a smile. She cupped his face and pressed a tender kiss on his pale cheek.

But Loki had disappointed her. More than he would ever know. He had crushed her. And what of Thor? They had been so close once. Could all Loki truly feel for his brother now be so much malice that he would kill him. It was dreadful! Queen Frigga could feel her whole body becoming soaked with sweat. Her chest was growing tighter and tighter by the minute. The queen felt like she couldn't breathe. Before long she was hyperventilating. "Thoooorrr," the queen groaned incoherently.

Did Loki have any idea how much Thor truly cared for him. Thor had always tried to be a good brother to Loki. Frigga knew that he was far from a perfect brother in Loki's eyes. Yes, Thor was arrogant, reckless, rude and overbearing, but he also had a good heart and truly cared about Loki. Although she knew that throughout the centuries as brother's Thor had hurt Loki on numerous occasions the queen also knew that that had never been Thor's intent. He'd never truly do anything that he thought would cause his brother harm.

She could picture them so well playing together in the courtyard and garden and romping about the palace. She could hear their squeals and laughter, their yelling and talking and singing, the camaraderie they'd shared as children. Happy boys who enjoyed each other's company so she had thought. Could Loki have truly forgotten all the happy times he and Loki had shared? Could he truly no longer remember how for so long they'd cared about each other? Perhaps Loki truly hadn't ever cared for Thor. queen would not allow herself to believe such things. She knew her sons. She knew of the bond they shared. She knew of once Loki had been compassionate to the point of doting over Thor.

Thor lay upon his bed, his hair disheveled and sweaty, plastered to his sweat soaked face. His face was red as a beet. His chest was heaving as he struggled to breathe.The quilts and pelts and sheets on his bed were tossed about and tangled around his limbs.The room radiated and pulsated with an oppressive heat. It was so hot Loki could barely breathe. He tip-toed into his older brother's chamber. Thor was fast asleep. Poor fellow needed some sleep.From what mother had said he spent most of the night coughing and hacking, barely getting even a wink of shut eye.

He crept closer to his brother's bedside, but Loki's footfalls were so silent that Thor did not stir as he moved. The healers were working around the clock trying to find a cure for Thor's particular ailment. Every hour or so Mistress Eir and her assistants would come and look on Thor and tak ehis temperature and other measurements. The results had all been the same. They would be back in soon to check on him.

Loki didn't intend to stand in the healer's way or linger. They had been trying to develop all sorts of medicines and tonics to try to help cool Thor's raging fever. They needed space to work. Besides, it was hard for him to see Thor in such a state. He was so weak and fragile looking. So sickly and frail. So unlike himself. Sick was not a word he would have ever have used to describe his brother. Sickening at times, yes, but not sick. In all the time they'd been brother's Thor hardly ever seemed to suffer from a papercut let alone falling prey to such a severe illness. For as rough and tumble as his brother had been as a youngster it was amazing that he had not broken every single bone in his body several times. Once he and his older brother had both caught colds. He'd been bedridden from a chestcold for close to a month, but Thor had been up and running in a mere two days. Even when his older brother had caught the pox it had only lasted a few days.Thor was never sick .Always strong. It was he who was the ailing and faint one not Thor. Loki couldn't help but think that had he been there it would be him int his bed of affliction and not his brother. Loki sighed and frowned as he looked down at the blonde. Guilt wrenched his gut. He'd do anything to switch places with Thor now.

Loki sucked in a sharp breath. This room was a cesspool. He walked to a window and opened it to clear out some of the germs. The window creaked open. Loki turned around sharply hoping that the sound had not awakened the slumbering son of Odin. He sighed in relief to hear Thor's congested snores. Loki slowly,soundlessly turned around and walked to his brother's bedside. He reached out a cool hand and lightly ghosted his fingers over Thor's feverish brow. It was scalding to the touch. Loki quickly jerked his hand away as he felt the sting. He shook his fingers and blew on them to cool them."Oh brother, I'm so sorry,"he mouthed quietly next to Thor's ear."You will be well soon," he promised.He muttered a few ancient words and allowed his hands to freeze over.

Thor's chest was completely exposed and he only had on a thin pair of undergarments. Loki rubbed his hands over Thor's feverish flesh and did his best to cool it. As Loki worked his enchantments,Thor's eyes began to flutter open. They blinked blearily. They were glassy and wild as they finally opened. "L-L-Loki?"Thor stuttered as his blue eyes batted open to see clearly. "T-t-that...y-y-you?" He stammered. His lips were dry and so was his tongue. It was hard to talk. Hard to swallow. Loki's thin lips smiled down at his brother. His cool hands reached for his brother's forehead. His quickly brushed the wet, gold strand from his brother's eyes and nodded."Or-Or-Or...isss, thisstilladream?"He wondered aloud as his blood-shot blue eyes rolled about in his head.

Loki nodded vigorously,"Nonono," Loki said his green eyes shimmering. "It's me...I'm here,"he stated.

Thor gave a weak, but joyous grin, he sighed sagging down into the bed as if just this much conversation had exhausted him. "Loki," he muttered still smiling as he inhaled deeply. His eyes closed and he leaned into the cool touch. It felt so good."You came back,"he breathed."You came to see me,"he expressed.

A lump formed in the raven-haired prince's throat. The silver tongued son of Odin was nearly at a loss for words."Of course, brother. I came as soon as I heard how ill you were," he expressed keeping his hand connected to his brother's brow

"I thought you weren't going to come back,"Thor admitted his voice was raspy.H ewas still young then. His was still fresh-faced and he hardly had a beard.

"I was always going to come back," Loki stated taking Thor's hot hand in his cool one.

Thor mashed his lips together. He focused on his breathing. His eyes were still shut and sweat was still pouring from his temple and every pore in his body. "But you were so mad...so mad," Thor mumbled. Loki's severe lips arched into a grimace. He had been angry with Thor. They'd fought. He'd been studying in Alfheim. It was an exchange program offered by Queen Elvira and Uzcor to help foster better relations between the two kingdoms. He'd loved it.He was learning so much. For the Light_Elves uaing enchantment was natural and painless. Most all the people used the mystic arts as a part of their everyday life. The Woodland Elves were highly atuned to nature. Being able to communicate with the creatures and elements themselves was essential to daily living. Finally he had found like minded young people. Those who had an interest in science, literature,education, magic. He had become popular amongst the elves. For once he hadn't felt like such an outcast. He felt like he belonged and it was wonderful, but his older brother mocked it. He mocked the culture of the Light-Elves. And he mocked Loki for fitting in so well. Rather than praising him for his acheivements he simply said that the Elves were weak and Loki was a perfect fit into their weak culture because he'd never belonged in Asgard anyway. It stung. Loki insulted Thor. That told him tp stay in Alfheim. Loki replied by saying that he would rather stay in Alfheim than have to live one more day with him. "I'm sorry,"Thor apologized. "I...I said such terrible things...I was just...scared that you wouldn't want to come back to ASgard," he expressed with a shudder.

Loki swallowed and nodded, but Thor's eyes were still closed and he couldn't see him. "It's alright,"he admitted."We both said things we didn't mean,"he laughed.

"Forgive me?"Thor practically begged. His eyes squeezed shut as his body gave over to some quaking.

"it's nothing, brother,"Loki said."You have no need to ask for my forgiveness,"he explained. "I wouldn't want to die and think I'd lost my brother,"Prince Thor confessed.

"You can never lose me,Thor," Loki stated squeezing Thor's hand."We'll always be brothers."

Thor's cracked, chapped lips parted in a chuckle that turned in to a cough. He managed to open his eyes. "Brother,am I going to die?" He inquired.His eyes weak and trusting as he looked into the face of one of the people he loved most.

"No,Thor don't talk like that,"Loki admonished.

"I'm so sick Loki," Thor whispered sluggishly.His eyes still rolling about like blue marbles in his head. "I've never been this sick before,"he went on.

"I know,"Loki said closing his eyes. He concentrated his energy to try to send healing, cooling waves in his brothers direction."You have The Sweat,it's an epidemic, its ravaged the countryside and made its way to the city,"Loki explained.

"But mother and father, the healers everyone is working tirelessly to find a cure. I brought something back...something from Alfheim...It's being synthesized by the healers as we speak. It should do the trick,"Loki assured him."

Thor nodded and pressed his lips together,"Cure..."He muttered drowsily.

"Yes, a cure. A cure,Thor. They'll find something. I'll find something. I don't care if I have to go throughout the whole Nine Realms...Find Idunn's apples," Loki confessed."I'll do it...I'll do it if I need to,Thor...I will...I won't let you die,"He swore.

"Just stay,"Thor responded clutching Loki's hand in return. And he smiled up at him.

Frigga's heart was both warmed and severed by the memories. Two children, both so innocent, sweet and loving. She had looked at them then and known that they would be life long companions and true brothers. Thinking of the two small sons she'd once had, she would never have imagined it would come to this.

She would never have managed to guess that such hatred and animosity was festering in his soul. She wondered how long it had been there taking root deep within him. She'd known of

Loki's immense jealousy toward his brother, honestly, it was all, but impossible for poor Loki not to be. Thor was so praised, so favored, so popular, Loki seemed to be dwarfed by Thor's accomplishments, she couldn't blame her youngest for his envy, no, no, no after centuries and centuries of feeling like an after thought in the realm how could she, but when had it turned into so much hostility. She shook her head weakly as she tried to block out Loki's crazed voice cackling in her ear gloating about killing Thor. Thor who loved him so. Thor who gazed down at him when he was a babe in a cradle, who held his hand when he took his first steps, who ran with him and laughed with him, who talked with him, trained with him, fought with him. Was Loki's memory so short that he could remember none of this or did he simply not care?

The queen's breathing became more labored. Her head swam as the dark words of Loki played with her mind. How much did Loki blame Thor for the lies that she and Odin had told? Did he think that Thor knew? That his brother was somehow a willing and eager participant in the sham that had become his life? Had he but know that Thor was just a child, just as innocent and naïve as he. Thor was no accomplice to an elaborate deception. He was his brother bonded to him with something much thicker than blood. She wanted to tell Loki this, needed to tell Loki this, had to find away to tell Loki this, but somehow she wondered if it would be enough to stop Loki now. "Lokilokiloki...nnnnnooo," Frigga muttered helplessly through laxed lips.

---

Lady Sigyn arrived with a battalion of palace guards to the rendezvous spot that she and Lord Algrim had chosen just in the nick of time. "Lady Sigyn!" Asgard's prime minister exclaimed as he saw her coming from one of the dark, twisted paths of the catacombs. Soldiers were surrounding her. Some of them were moving in front of her, other's flanked her from the sides and from the rear, but all the mean were present and accounted for. Many were worse for the wear. There Dark-Elves were a pitiless lot and they took great pleasure in consistently antagonizing their prisoners. They had been sure to drag off the soldier with all due roughness. The robbed them of their weapons and bludgeoned them with their brass guantlets, clubs and fist. Many of the soldiers had been gagged and tied just as Lord Algrim had been when Sigyn found them. They'd been bound hand and foot same as he with binds that were too heavy and too tight. They had also been blindfolded and left defenseless stripped of their armor as the Dark-Elves chained them down. Their faces were scarred and marred from the earlier bout in the day. Some had cracked ribs, broken arms and legs, dislodged shoulders and fractured ankles. There wasn't a soldiers, guard, warrior, nobleman or servant who wasn't in need of medical attention, but Lady Sigyn was in no position to doctor them up. They didn't have the time. Every milisecond was precious. Luckily, the men and women of Asgard were strong and easily able to press pass the pain of their excruciating injuries.

"Lady Sigyn!" Lord Algrim called once more pressing his way through the narrow path thick with people toward the slender, blonde lady-in-waiting. He ambled toward her. When finally in her presence he grabbed her by the shoulders. He looked her up and down. His face was already pale, but it seemed almost translucent in the eerie glow of the fading torchlight that lined the catacomb walls. He shook his head and batted his bloodshot, blackened eyes. Then revealed a pleasant grin, 'Thank the Norns, you are unharmed," he declared and he pulled her into an embrace. Sigyn gasped as she felt the bony arms encircle her. She had known Lord Algrim all her life besides being the Prime Minister of Asgard he had also been her teacher in her primary school days as well as at the Royal Academy. In all the time that she had known him she couldn't recall any embrace that they had ever shared.

The hug didn't last long and just as Sigyn got comfortable enough to return the gesture, Algrim was pushing away from her. "I was fearing the worst," he explained. "We haven't much time child we must escape," he stated.

"I know," Sigyn responded, "I couldn't leave without everyone though," Sigyn said and started to giggle. She pointed behind her and there out of the midst of the group of soldiers emerged a royally clad Vanir man.

"Lord Audric!" Cried Algrim.

"Tis I, my friend," the Prime Minister of the Vanir greeted. He managed a smile but the other prime minister looked wretched. His purple and gold cloak was torn to shreds, blood stained and completely filthy. His face faired no better. His face was caked with grime and debris, blood was matted into his flowing white beard. He hobbled forward. He extended his hand and the two clasped forearms. "It is good to see you alive and well, Algrim" he stated with a sigh.

"Alive, yes, well, hardly," Algrim replied with a snort.

"We are alive and that as well as any of us can pray to be at a time like this," Audric stated.

"Quite right, my friend," the Asgardian Prime Minister nodded back. "And all that is thanks to Sigyn," the Light-Elf turned his head and gestured toward the amber eyed woman.

"Sigyn?" Lord Audric questioned. He too turned to look at the daughter of Admiral Arn. He knew the woman to be quite a beauty, but at this moment, muddy and wet, hair all about her head in wild strands, simply clothed, she looked no better than any scullery maid or bar wench. "Two soldiers rescued me," he explained. Shaking his head and dismissing any further thoughts of such a ridiculous notion. He would have laughed save the hour was far to grave.

"Twas Lady Sigyn who set us free, sir" the two soldiers who had rescued the Prime Minister of Vanaheim announced. Lord Audric looked at the men in shock.

"And she rescued me," Algrim boasted and extended his chest. Lord Audric looked at Sigyn, his eyes wide with astonishment. The youngest daughter of Admiral Arn weakly inclined her head

and beneath the dirt and grime that covered her tarnished face there was a certain rosy tint in her cheeks.

Lord Audric for a moment merely blinked. His lips moved. As a politician he knew he should form dignified words of thanks, but his lips faltered. The Vanir prime minister had never necessarily disliked Lady Sigyn. She was simple and charming. He supposed his daughter had loosely considered her a friend at some points during her life. But truth be told neither him or Dagmar had thought very highly of the maiden, Sigyn. "Oh Papa, I can't believe that Loki has actually proposed to Sigyn,"Dagmar wailed."It's dreadful,"she said tossing the scroll that contained such unpleasant news across the room.

"Never fear, my angel," Lord Audric soothed as he came behind his daughter. She was sitting at her vanity made of mother of pearl and white gold. She slammed her brush down on the tabletop. "Sigyn is a ignorant girl. Loki is shrewd, a scholar and intellectual, she is no match for him," he assured her. He came up behind her placed one hand on her shoulder and allowed the other to stroke her ebony tresses.

"Alas,alas, Papa, I know...I know...but,"her voice broke. She inhaled sharply to keep herself from sobbing. She tossed her hands up and shooed his hands away. "But may be she is who he wants now, "the raven-haired maiden confessed. "Perhaps I have played hard-to-get for too long,"she sighed, her shoulders slumping as she folded her hands on to her lap.

"Nonsense!" The Prime Minister raged. "A prince should be willing to chase the woman he loves,"he stated.

"Oh I don't know, father, perhaps it has all backfired, perhaps I have been too much of a tease," Dagmar sniffled and covered her face. "What if she has found away to weasel herself into his heart?" Dagmar asked her enchanted silver eyes sparkled with tears as she looked up at her father.

"Ah come, come,come child," Lord Audric said tenderly. He bent down on one knee and wrapped his arm around Dagmar heaving shoulders. He pulled her in close and she rested her head upon his shoulder. "Lady Sigyn couldn't weasel her way into a satchel,let alone Loki's heart,"he teased.

Dagmar looked up at him,her eyes continued to water, but she smiled brightly, "Oh, Papa,"she said and they had a good laugh at Lady Sigyn's expense.

But perhaps they had been wrong about the dimwitted blonde, perhaps she was smarter than she appeared. After all she had found away to weasel pass the Dark-Elves and rescue so many.

"Is everyone present and accounted for?" Asked Lord Algrim looking around at each soldier and council member.

"Everyone, but Prince Thor," Sigyn spoke up.

"We cannot leave without Thor!" Guards started to immediately chime in. "We have to find him!"

"We have to rescue him!"

"They must be holding him in one of the deepest cells within the dungeons," posed one guard.

"No matter how deep the cell is buried we can find him and rescue are prince," stated one of the council members.

"Here, here! Huzzah! Huzzah," echoed the battalion.

"Easy men, easy," Lord Algrim cautioned. He patted the air trying to settle the soldiers down. "We need more than just enthusiasm. We don't have much time, not much time at all," the skinny adviser to the king muttered as he started to wring his hands. "Time is of the essence," he went on. "We have precious little time before Convergence takes place," Algrim said as he started to pace about. "We need a decisive plan that will wield results," he insisted.

"Lord Algrim," one of the captain's of the guard spoke up, "If I may," he offered. He lumbered forward. His breathing was heavy and he was holding his arm as he walked with a limp. "With all the men assembled here, we have another chance to strike and attack the Dark-Elves!" He expressed. "Being with in the catacombs offers us an excellent offensive and defensive advantage," he went on. "We can make one last stand," he proclaimed looking around at the men. "We can sneak into the weapons vault and the armory gather more weapons and fight against the elves once more," he said with passion and panting.

Lord Algrim closed his eyes for a moment. He seemed to be lost in thought as he considered the words of the captain. Soon after which he shook his head. "I appreciate your ferver captain," he started. "But I do not think that this is the best course of action," he stated as he stroked his thin hairless chin.

"But Sir," he gasped. "How can you say such a thing?" He balked. "You yourself have said how time is of the essence. Convergence will be at its peak in but a few short hours time," he shook his head. The captain's face growing angry and red. "We don't have time to sit around and debate tactics," he growled. "Prince Thor's life is in danger!" He yelled. His bold outburst received a good bit of applause from the palace soldiers under his command.

"And it could put Prince Thor in even more danger if we act in too great a haste," Lord Algrim retorted.

"We can't just sit idly by and do nothing," the captain of the guard argued.

"I'm not suggesting we do nothing, Captain, but one false move could end us in a worse spot than we are already in," Lord Algrim tried to explain.

"How can we possibly be in a worse spot?" The captain of the guard asked. "The Dark-Elves have taken over the palace and Loki has proclaimed himself king of Asgard," the captain exclaimed as he spat to the ground. He reared back as the pain in his arm overtook him. "The all-father lies in the Oversleep and Prince Thor is a prisoner of those wretches," he gritted his teeth trying to fight against the pain. Not wanting to show weakness to his men. "We only have hours until Convergence arrives!" he shouted. "So please pardon me sir, but I don't see how things could possibly get worse," he fussed.

"You need to calm down, Captain," stated the Prime Minister of Vanahiem. He touched the palace soldier on the shoulder. "Prime Minister Algrim is correct, although are situation may be dire, but we still have some leverage. As of now Prince Thor still lives. If we act too rashly too quickly than I do not doubt for a second that Loki or Malekith will hesitate to kill Prince Thor," Lord Audric cautioned.

"One mistake could cost Thor his life," Algrim expressed.

The captain of the guard nodded. He placed his fist over his heart and knelt down on one knee. "Please forgive, Prime Minister," he said. "I did not mean to question your authority in this matter. Without King Odin or Prince Thor you are the leader of Asgard. I differ to your wisdom of course, it's just we must do something!"

"we need to get weapons so that we can fight back against these savages," out one guard. He had a severe cut over his left eye and grizzly beard. Many of the other soldiers seemed to agree with him as they cheered.

Once more the Light-Elf shook his head, he raised his hand trying to quiet the soldiers and dignitaries of Asgard. "We've already seen what the weapons in our arsenal amount to against the Dark-Elves," he said despairingly. Indeed it was true. The mighty swords and axes made of steel and brass and charged with electricity seemed liked mere toys in comparison to the power of the blaster guns and black hole inducing grenades.

"Then we storm the Weapon Vault and drag out some of the most powerful weapons in the universe!" Declared another guard.

"You men are too badly injured to just go rushing in head strong into another battle," Lord Algrim explained.

"With all due respect Prime Minister," the relentless guard continued to argue, "a true warrior of Asgard doesn't need to be at his full health to fight for him realm," he announced. He was only followed by a chorus of his men cheering.

"The Captain is right, Lord Algrim. If only we still had the Berserker Staff then there would be no stopping us," one young guard chimed in. "My grandfather told me of the power of the Beserker Staff. He said he touched it once. He said it gave him unparalleled power and stamina. "He swore to me that it enabled him to leap over troops and he singlehandedly skewered 50

orcs during the battle of Genbra in Alfheim," he announced proudly. "If only we had it now. Loki and the Dark-Elves," he snapped his fingers. "I know it is all we need," he explained nodding his head.

"There is no point dwelling on the power of the Berserker Staff now, young one," stated Lord Algrim as he placed his bony fingers on the young palace guards shoulder and patted it softly. "It is lost to us," he explained.

"Then we will have to use the other weapons that we still have access to in the weapons vault," said the captain of the guard. "There are still plenty of powerful ammunition that we possess," he told everyone.

"We still have the Destroyer!" Another soldier pointed out. Soon many of the soldiers, guards noblemen and servants were shouting out the names of different weapons that they thought they should use. Some started arguing over the top of approaches and tactics they thought they needed to use.

Sigyn watched as confusion seemed to descend upon the ranks of frantic, beaten, blood half- scared witless men continued to argue. Sigyn looked back and forth between Lord Algrim and the captain of the guard who were battling fiercely in their position. her breath hitched as she listened. Each moment spent arguing was one less moment that they had to rendezvous with Captain Frell and the others in the shelter. "Umm," Sigyn started. Her voice was unable to be heard over the shouting back and forth between the nobles and warriors. She managed to press her way pass the bulky and burly guards and stately nobles. She made her way to stand behind the two Prime Ministers. Lord Algrim had turned away from discussing the matter with the captain of the guard and was now holding conference with Lord Audric. Both of the elderly high ranking official held worried and pensive expressions on their slightly wrinkled faces. "Umm...Lord Algrim," Sigyn's soprano voice came out as no more than a squeak and a whisper. The elfin leader of Asgard paid her no heed. He continued to weigh his decisions with his close friend. "Umm," Sigyn said ber of the Council of Asgard and the rest of the Aesir were all still to caught up in the pandemonium to pay her any mind. Finally, with determination, Sigyn pulled her finger from her lip and mashed her lips together just as she tapped the Prime Minister of Asgard on the shoulder.

Lord Algrim turned around and faced the blonde-haired daughter of Admiral Arn with an exasperated expression. If it wasn't for the fact that he was a dignified politician he would have practically been snarling at the woman of court. "Lady Sigyn, please!" the Light Elf snapped. "Can't you see that we are trying to..."

"Yes, sir," Sigyn nodded earnestly cutting off Odin's royal adviser. "that is exactly what I am trying to talk to you about, sir," the amber eyed woman insisted. "You... these m-m-men..." Sigyn shakily pointed to the group around her, "You were supposed to be going to the fallout shelter to meet with Captain Frell and the rest of the men and women of Asgard who are willing to fight in one last stand to save us," she expressed her eyes darting around frantically. "That

was the plan," she stated firmly looking into the Light-Elf's eyes. "At least I thought it was the plan, but perhaps I was mistaken," Sigyn mumbled quietly to herself, her eyes darted down quickly as she remembered her place. She looked down at her hands and started playing with fingers and worrying her lips.

Lord Audric let out a pent up sigh. He gave the lady-in-waiting to the queen of Asgard a kindly smile. he walked over to her and patted her on the shoulder. "Lady Sigyn, we are all indebted to you for your bravery and gallantry on our behalf," he stated he even slightly dipped into a small bow, "But these...these are military matters and should be best left to those of experience to consult about," he explained and patted her on the shoulder dismissively. "We have but moments to decide," he went on waving his hand flamboyantly.

Lady Sigyn nodded and gulped. "Yes, of course Prime Minister Audric, I meant no disrespect, of course, I know nothing of military matters, even though I am an admiral's daughter," she confessed. Sigyn allowed herself to let out a girlish snicker, then found her thoughts once more, "I don't know much about most matters, I suppose" she admitted with a mutter. Her face downcast for a second, her eyes lowered and her bottom lip curling under. Her ignorance was no laughing matter. She shook herself from her dreadful feelings of inadequacy. There were bigger things to worry about than her ever abundant lack of knowledge. There was something that she did know. Something that no one else did. "But...but... But...Captain Frell and the other soldiers of Asgard ...are waiting for you and I...I...I promised them that I would get you all out," Sigyn expressed.

"And that you have, Sigyn, my dear," the Vanir Prime Minister smiled, but his eyes rolled in the back of his head. He acknowledged that maybe Lady Sigyn was not the blundering simpleton that he had once seen her as, but she was still far from a clever woman and she knew nothing of military matters. He could hardly even imagine what right she thought she had to advise them about such a delicate situation. He shook his head. The poor simpleminded girl probably didn't even realize the gravity of the situation they were in.

"Yes, Lord Audric," Sigyn repeated once more, "But...but...but what about Captain Frell?" She questioned. "With all due respect, my lord, it just wouldn't seem right for me not to deliver as fully promised and not make sure that you were able to meet with Captain Frell. They have a plan...a plan...a brilliant plan and it needs you. We need everyone working together to save Asgard," she insisted. "They have a great plan to storm the castle gates..."

"We don't have time to meet up and return we have to act now. We have but moments to spare!" Lord Audric ranted

"But a promise is a promise after all, Lord Audric" she stated. "And at an hour like... this when all our lives are in so much danger...when wickedness and evil are running rampant... well I say being a person of your word is about the most important thing there is at a time like this, wouldn't you agree, Lord Audric?" Sigyn asked.

Lord Audric shook his head and his posture grew rigid. "I have made no such promise, Lady Sigyn," he reminded her, pointing his finger at her nose.

"Lord Audric I meant no disrespect...I wasn't trying to say..."

"I did make a promise to my daughter, though," he reminded the blonde-haired handmaiden to Queen Frigga. "I made a promise to protect her always," the Vanir Prime Minister muttered bitterly. He closed his eyes as he felt tears wash over his purple irises. Quickly, he was able to flick the tears away. "I failed," he stated through clenched teeth. "I failed my beloved Dagmar," he gripped at his own collar. "Those animals slaughtered her!" He declared pointing at the wall with in the catacomb. "Now we have but hours until the very thing that she died fighting with every breath in her body to prevent comes to pass. Being one moment too late could cause calamity to fall upon us all. It could destroy everything. "And if you think for one moment, Lady Sigyn, that I am going to risk Ragnarok befallen all the Nine Realms just so that you can fulfill your promises, you've got another thing coming!" He said through gritted teeth.

The poor lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Asgard began to quake, her knees knocking together. "But, but...Captain Frell...the rest of Asgard...they...they need you." She explained shaking her head. "No, no, no you must go. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three they are all there. They are waiting for you, but they won't wait forever. They plan to attack at daybreak. They won't stop. They won't stop if you all are here. You could be destroyed. No! You must go!" She pressed.

She reached out and grabbed the Vanir lord by the cuff of his long royal robe.

Angered, Lord Audric pushed the youngest daughter of Admiral Arn off of him. He slammed her into Lord Algrim. The Prime Minister of Asgard caught the trembling woman in his arms. "My friend, please," he raised his bony hand trying to quell Audric's distemper. "Patience," he cried out as he grabbed his brow. "Just a moment, please" he stated once more. There was still a lot of talking, murmuring and arguing amongst the soldiers and noblemen and high ranking council members, but upon hearing Lord Algrim's voice many of them fell silent. "Perhaps there is some wisdom in what Lady Sigyn speaks," he murmured.

"What are you saying, Lord Algrim?" Audric asked with an appalled curled lip. "That we trust Lady Sigyn? We trusted her before did we not? Trusted her that she would lead us to Loki so she could give him that blasted scroll and look where that has led us," Audric said pointing around them. "Loki wasn't there," he declared. "He was off gallivanting with our enemies, plotting our demise!" He accused.

"No!" Sigyn shouted back.

"This simpleminded girl had it all wrong then, how do we know she doesn't have it all wrong again?" He demanded.

The eyes of all the beaten, bruised and frightened Aesir, noble, warrior and servant alike turned and face Lady Sigyn. "No, no, Lord Audric, you are wrong! You are wrong," Sigyn protested weeping. She turned her head into Algrim's shoulder and buried it there for a minute. Algrim

stroked Sigyn's long, dirty blonde strands. "It's not true," she protested miserably again. "I...I...I" She hiccuped. "I...I did have the scroll and I...I believed it would have changed things had it been given to Loki then," she expressed.

"Oh quiet, you foolish girl!" Lord Audric snapped.

Sigyn stiffened and sniffled at the foreign Prime Minister's sharp remarks, she tried to remind herself that everyone was on edge. How could they not be. All their lives were in such great danger. It was beyond danger. There was a great possibility that none of them would be alive by this time tomorrow and those that were may very well have wished that they were dead for the very fabric of their universe was about to come undone. The laws of the universe were about to be rewritten, the light banished not only from the heavens, but from the hearts of the creatures who inhabited the Nine Realms. Without the light food would be scarce, warmth and shelter would be sparse, people would turn into vagabonds and animals scrambling for a mere crust of bread. They would be dark and calamitous times. It was said that the rivers and lakes would be filled blood, the heavens would rain acid, fire and brimstone. Oh yes, it was most certainly a time to be on edge, but still the Prime Minister's words had stung.

"But you must go to the shelter to meet with Captain Frell and the others!" The queen's waiting gentlewoman insisted.

"We need to stand and fight!" Audric contradicted the young woman's words. More and more of the warriors in the catacomb started to applaud.

"But what good would that do?" Sigyn questioned.

"Don't be daft, Lady Sigyn," the captain of the guard called out. "It could be the difference between life and death for us all."

"But we have already seen what the Dark-Elves have done. There are too many of them to take down. You need more forces!" Sigyn argued.

"Lady Sigyn!" The captain of the guard raised his voice. "Do not presume to tell me what my forces can do! You have no idea the power that a desperate Aesir can possess and what types of power we can call upon when pressed to save king and country!" He shouted.

"I...I wasn't," Sigyn's amber eyes darted downward, "I didn't mean...I"

"No, of course Lady Sigyn didn't mean to tell you how to do your job, Captain," Lord Algrim spoke up. His thin arms finally parting from around the young woman's shoulder. He stepped forward and placed his slender fingers on the captain's shoulders. The head of the guards although incredibly wounded seemed to take heard in the words of Asgard's Prime Minister and regent.

"Thank you, Prime Minister," he uttered gratefully. He bowed his head, but his brown eyes shifted to cast a sideways glance toward the queen's lady. She dropped her head and allowed

her dirty locks to conceal her blushing face. She bit deep into, her lower lip. The pink of it starting to turn purple as her teeth sank deeper and deeper into the delicate skin. Her hands trembled as she fiddled with her fingers.

"But she is right," the Prime Minister of Asgard announced. "What?" Balked a group of servants, guards and nobles. "She is," the Prime Minister repeated firmly.

"Algrim, what are you saying?" Questioned his close friend, Lord Audric. He coughed and bristled, "You can't seriously be saying you agree with Lady Sigyn's ridiculous fantasies," he argued.

"Yes, I am," Lord Algrim confessed. His voice was small, but his eyes housed a strength and intensity that seemed nearly impossible for a man of his advanced years and slim frame to possess.

"But that would mean abandoning Prince Thor!" Yelled out the captain of the guard.

"We can't do that!" A council member barked out. "We can't simply abandon the son of Odin and leave him to the wiles of Loki and Malekith." The man stated stomping his foot.

"Lord Burgon is absolutely right," another one of the members of Asgard's High Council seconded. "Prince Thor was in worse condition than all of us," the man pointed out. "He was practically powerless. He can't stop Loki alone. And if we don't rescue him we sacrifice him to death!" Sir Cryken protested.

"We can't allow Prince Thor to be killed!" Shrieked out one servant woman. She was plump and short and her hair a mix of fiery red and snowy silver. Her face got red as a tomato as she screamed.

"It would be calamity to us all," another woman called out.

"All hope would be lost," a few people began muttering to themselves.

"What will we do? Whatever will we do?" The screams of the servants went up.

"Quiet! Quiet! Keep Quiet all of you!" Lord Algrim commanded the mixed gathering of soldiers and civilians, serfs and nobles huddled in the cold, dark and dank catacomb. "Do you all want to give away our position?" He demanded of them. They all felt so safe and protected within the confines of the catacombs. The slime slick walls and mud and thatch flooring beneath and the cobweb infested ceiling above them had made everyone feel safe and secure and so well hidden. They were all so grateful to be out of the sight and away from the cruel hands of their enemies that they forgot that the Dark-Elves could have easily been standing on the opposite side of the wall or on a floor above or below. They could have been listening to every word that

they uttered. "This is not up for a vote," Lord Algrim declared. "We have wasted far too much time squabbling here like ninnies about this matter," he waved his hands.

"You are precisely right, Lord Algrim and that is why we should allow the most wounded of those among us to escape. Perhaps Lady Sigyn can lead them to the shelter while the rest of us do the best we can to free Prince Thor," explained Lord Audric. A few of the council members and guardsmen started clapping in agreement with the Vanir Prime Minister's plans.

"Your words are sound advice, my friend," The Prime Minister of Asgard stated as he exhaled, "but once more we cannot heed it," he informed them.

"In the name of Asgard why not?" He railed.

"Because," Lord Algrim nearly shouted back. But he quickly corrected his tone as he remembered the advice he had already given to the people of Asgard. He changed his tone and began speaking in a commanding whisper. "Lady Sigyn...is right," he reiterated bitterly. He shook his head and looked down at his scuffed and muddied curly-toed, golden shoes. "She's right," he said stronger although his voice was still hushed. "The men are too injured to fight alone in great bout such as this and our numbers are far too few to think that we can overtake the Dark-Elves, Malekith and Loki. And with Loki in possession of Gungnir," he shook his head. "Which is my fault, I know." he swallowed harshly. "But making a stand with all those in the city still able to fight is are best chance to save us all from Ragnorok," he confirmed.

"So we leave Prince Thor to the mercy of Loki?" The captain of the guard shook his head. He crossed his arms. "When I became a guard I swore an oath to protect the royal family and all the guests to the palace. With all do respect, Lord Algrim. It doesn't settle right with me sir to runaway and save my own skin and let a member of the royal family pay the price. Even if we are successful, Prince Thor will still be needed to stop Ragnorok. You know the legends!

Nothing can defeat Aether save for the power of Gungnir and Mjolnir combined. Don't you all see we have to try to rescue Prince Thor if we even have a chance of rescuing Prince Thor!" He elaborated.

"If you all Leave," Lady Sigyn squeaked out timidly, "I will go and free Prince Thor." She nodded.

"You?" Lord Audric turned around and laughed. He grabbed his belly as it shook from his tremendous guffawing. Soon more and more of the soldiers and High Council members were joining the Prime Minister of Vanaheim in his mockery of Lady Sigyn.

At first Sigyn could feel her face reddening. She looked around at all the faces snickering at the thought of her being able to do something. "I can. I can...I can do it." Lady Sigyn protested. "Lord Frell trusted me to come back here and find you all and I did." Sigyn defended herself.

She straightened her posture and held her head high.

"Tis true," reported the elfin advisor to the king. "Lady Sigyn, somehow found me when I was tied and gagged and bound like a helpless fool."

"She rescued all of us," the captain of the guards reminded everyone. The people of Asgard muttered to themselves. For many of them it was Lady Sigyn who had slipped through the cracks in the walls and rescued them. Her nimble, petite, but albeit dirty fingers had unbound their tethers and fetters and ropes. She'd comforted their distress and offered hope of escape when sure all any of them thought they could hope for was a quick and speedy death.

Sigyn smiled at the lead soldier who spoke up on her behalf. Even despite her disheveled appearance and bedraggled clothing her beauty was enough to make any man blush. "Thank you, Captain," she said inclining her head as she watched the glow rise in his cheeks. "I know the catacombs well," she explained to them all. "If Prince Thor is hidden somewhere within the palace, I will find him," Lady Sigyn confirmed.

"Not alone you won't, milady," the captain spoke up once more. He moved away from his men and took a stance next to the lady-in-waiting. He put his hand on her shoulder. "if you are staying than so am I, Lady Sigyn," the captain of the guard stated. He look her in the eye and saluted her.

Sigyn gasped. Her eyes trembled as she saw the proud captain bend his knee before her. He was a tall, proud man. He was stripped of his royal armor and his eye was blackened and his body was full of contusions. She could hear him groan as his stiff, weakened, battered knees changed their posture to show her respect. Sigyn shook her head. She covered her mouth, "No, no, no, Captain," she pleaded as she looked at the warrior before her. "Please...don't" she breathed shaking her head and hands and begging him to rise. "I cannot...I cannot ask you to stay," she expressed. A careful look at him and she could see the deep bruises that had formed across his arms. His armor had been stripped off of him simply leaving him with the thick tunics that made up his underarmor. There were many tears and gashes that had ripped right through the clothing. Through the holes in his garment she could see large, ugly, blaring red and purple and welt marks peeking through you. "You are hurt," she pointed out.

The captain of the guard tossed his head back and let out a little chuckle. "This?" He motioned to his arm that seemed to be placed in a most uncomfortable and unnatural position. The amber eyed daughter of Admiral Arn motioned to the captain's whole body and nodded vigorously. "Never mind this," he told her dismissively. He groaned as he stretched himself to rise, "I've been injured worse than this before, milady," he explained.

"Believe you me, Lady Sigyn, I have seen the captain looking far worse than that after a night of hard grog," expressed one of the rookie soldiers.

His words caused Lady Sigyn too giggle, but it didn't strengthen her resolve. "Please captain, you need to be tended to. I wouldn't feel right dragging you into this dangerous situation. Your injuries will only get worse if you do too much," she shrugged. "besides," she went on with a deep breath. "Asgard needs you. They need all of you. Captain Frell needs every man he can get if he is to overtake the palace and stop Ragnorok," she explained.

"And what of you, Lady Sigyn? This that you are undertaking is dangerous. You are a lady of court, one of Queen Frigga's own handmaidens, are we to let you fight our battles for us?" the captain of the guard may have been asking Lady Sigyn, but his question was directed to his men. He looked at them; challenging them on the honor of their manhood if they were to let a gentlewoman like Sigyn commit to such a perilous undertaking. The rest of the palace guards shook their heads and stomped their feet and railed a mighty nay. Their chants of angry protest grew so loud that they nearly shook their very fiber of the catacomb walls. It was only the fact they noticed the cement and rubble falling from the ceiling of the catacomb that the men were able to quell their enthusiasm.

"The Captain has a point, Lady Sigyn, it would not befitting for you to stay behind alone," He explained. "We will all flee to the safety of the shelter, there we can regroup and figure out the plan that Captain Frell has for taking back the city. Perhaps then we can find away to send a team of Einherjar to rescue Thor."

"But there is no time!" Sigyn protested. Her voice squeaked out as she practically shrieked. "We only have a few hours until Convergence is upon us. Surely, Prince Thor being freed is essential to the Dark-Elves being defeated. I...I...I can't risk that just for my own safety," Sigyn said pointing to herself and then shaking her head. "This is so much bigger than me," she entreated the men.

"Lady Sigyn, you could be captured...if the Dark-Elves catch you..." Lord Algrim stuttered to say.

Sigyn bit her lower lip and shut her eyes. Finally, she lifted her head and raised it up tall and strong. She squared her shoulders and inhaled rich and deep through her nostrils. She could feel herself starting to tremble ever so slightly. Sigyn did her best to keep her posture as still as possible. "It doesn't matter now," she confessed. her head still elevated and a slight smile was forming on her chapped lips. "If I am captured..." She paused. "it is better than a whole squadron of our soldiers who are still able to fight being captured," she expressed. All looked at Lady Sigyn with astonishment. How could a woman who was so feeble-minded speak with such incredible assurity and wisdom.

It was the Prime Minister of Vanaheim who did a double take as he stared at the petite blonde- haired lady-in-waiting to Queen Frigga. This seemed such a far cry from the giggling girl who once flitted across the palace flirting with every nobleman, politician and soldier in the palace. In the moment when he saw Lady Sigyn, something about her reminded him of his own daughter. He had not been with his beloved Dagmar in her final moments of battle, but he could just imagine her tenacity. Surely her strength had been comparable to the beautiful golden-locked Aesir woman who stood before him. Surely, Dagmar had stared in the face of danger unafraid and dauntless. He knew his daughter had been selfless in that moment. She had been willing to lay down her life for others. Perhaps his daughter had had the chance to run and save her own skin just as Lady Sigyn had right now, but she didn't take it. And in her unrelenting bravery she had paid the ultimate sacrifice. Lokr Audric remembered bitterly the

image of his beautiful daughter lying lifelessly on the pyre. As he looked up at Lady Sigyn his heart sank low into his chest. He could feel the pain and dread and fear over take him. He couldn't bear the thought of another young woman having to pay the ultimate price because of madmen like Malekith and Loki. It didn't seem fair. It didn't seem right. Lord Audric hadn't been able to save his own daughter, although he would have given his whole heart and soul to spare her life. He wouldn't let Lady Sigyn suffer the same fate as his sweet angel, not when he was right there. "Prime Minister Algrim, you cannot seriously be allowing Lady Sigyn to do this?" Lord Audric questioned.

Lord Algrim did not respond. He looked pensive for a moment. He considered her. She was did not look so formidable. Buy all accounts she was a torture risk, but at this point she was their best option. Yet he did want to say. He had already surrendered Gungnir to the ruthless hands of Loki. He had practically caused Ragnarok. He couldn't be responsible for allowing Lady Sigyn to get killed or even worse be blamed if she failed.

"It is alright Lord Audric," Lady Sigyn nodded. "I will be in and out. Quiet as a mouse, quick as lightening," she explained. "I will probably draw less attention as one person than a whole battalion," she informed him and gave a small but genuine smile.

Lord Audric sighed. His thin shoulders sagging. "Lady Sigyn, why?" He questioned. "Why is this so important to you? Why do you feel the need to this?"

"Because we all have to do our part to stop this Lord Audric. I have a mission, sir," Sigyn declared. She stood firm and strong. She swallowed and her fingers reached into the folds of her cloak. There her fingers once again skimmed the edges of the parchment scroll. The edges of the unread bound scroll were starting to fray and look bound and warn from the long time that she had been carrying it. Slowly, Lady Sigyn pulled the secret scroll from the folds of her cloak. Lord Audric violet eyes grew wide as he stared down at the scroll. Her recognized the seal as being that of the elite midwives who were renown in his realm.

The elderly Vanir gasped and then mashed his lips together. Her shook his head and stroked his long beard. He could feel water forming under his eyelids. "You still have the scroll," he practically croaked. He tried to keep his lip from trembling and the tears from spilling down his face. His gnarled fingers reached out to embrace the delicate letter, but then he retracted his fingers just before his fingers skimmed the very edges of the crinkled parchment. Sigyn kept a sweet tight lipped smile on her lip. The Prime Minister of the Vanir looked up at her, baffled. "Why?" He managed to mutter.

"I promised my friend that I would deliver this scroll to the man she loved," Sigyn stated. "It was her dying wish. Being a person of your word is what matters at a time as dire as these, don't you think, Lord Audric?" She expressed. Dumbfounded and astonished, the elder Prime Minister of Vanaheim merely was able to bob his head in agreement. Sigyn's pretty, petite, pink lips spread apart wide in a glorious smile. "This one is for Dagmar," Lady Sigyn whispered her amber eyes filled with tears.

Without a moment hesitation, Lord Audric reached out his weathered and gnarled hands and gripped Lady Sigyn tightly around the shoulders. He pulled her into a warm embrace. He held her for a long time. He stroked her dirty blonde locks and then planted kisses on her cheek. "Thank you. Thank you," he muttered against her ear.

"So it is decided then," Lord Algrim said walking over to the pair. He rubbed his bony, white knuckled hands together. "Lady Sigyn will stay behind and do her best to liberate Prince Thor," Lord Algrim announced.

"And you all will go to the shelter," she nodded and planted her hands on their shoulders.

"Sigyn, if the worst should happen, " the old elf cleared his throat. He looked down and their was mist in his eyes. He reached out and took her firmly by her slim shoulders. The Light-Elf minister was trembling, but Sigyn stood firm as a rock. Once more the prime minister cleared his throat. He shook his head and batted his eyes as his head hung low. "if you can't to Prince Thor..." The Prime Minister of Asgard whispered into her ear as he raised his head.

Lady Sigyn shook her head. There was fear in the eyes of King Odin's most trusted adviser. "Do not fear, Lord Algrim," Sigyn said resolutely. "Do not say that," she cautioned him I will find Prince Thor and I will give this letter to Loki. I know these catacombs well," she reminded him, her chapped pink lips offered a smile.

A reflexive grin spread on the Prime Minister's face. It was a shadows smile and lasted but a second before Lord Algrim shook his head. "I know you will try, Sigyn. But if you have to chose find Prince Thor and if you can do neither than Sigyn you need to leave and be back to the shelter before sunrise," the advisor to Odin explained. "There will be no stopping us from making a last stand," he announced. His look was stern.

"But we must find Prince Thor, sir. Without Prince Thor how shall we..."

Her words were cut off as the prime minister's hands sliced through the air. "If you find Prince Thor do not worry about the letter Sigyn," Lord Algrim admonished as he pointed to the parchment that was rolled and sealed and clutched tight in her dirty fist.

Sigyn gasped and clung to the scroll even more desperately. She pulled it into her bosom. Swallowing, she said, "But Lord Algrim, I told you of the scroll...I thought you..."

"Nevermind any of that now, Sigyn," Lord Algrim tossed his hands in the air, "Tis too late. You find Prince Thor and leave with him or just leave with need be, but forget about the scroll," he declared and extended his hand waiting to receive it.

Lady Sigyn began panting, her ears burned and her heart fluttered, "B-b-but...but...but, what about Lord Audric?" She subtly pointed toward the Vanir who had taken but a few steps away and was talking with the warriors of Asgard. "This is for his daughter,"

Lord Algrim swung his head back to face his friend, "Nothing can bring Lady Dagmar back now, Sigyn. Unless you want your face to be the same as her's I suggested you heed my every order,"

he explained. "We don't have any more time to debate this matter, Sigyn. Time is of the essence," he stated turning back toward her. He folded his arms and hid his hands in his long, belled sleeves.

Likewise, very slowly and subtly while Lord Algrim was distracted Lady Sigyn slipped the scroll back into the folds of her cloak. "I...I...I" she stuttered for a time, "I understand, Lord Algrim," she replied and curtsied before the high ranking official of Asgard's High Counsel. She rose and noted the grimacing grin held on Algrim narrow face.

"Go," he commissioned her as he touched her shoulder. In a moment Lord Audric and the Captain of the Palace Guard, along with a few other palace soldiers and council members praised Sigyn for her bravery, blessed her and wished her luck in her quest. Hugs were exchanged between the gentle, blonde-haired maiden and a few servant and noblewomen. Then they parted. Sigyn rushing off one way and the wounded warriors of Asgard hobbling in the opposite direction.

---

Helplessly, The men and women and children of Asgard huddled together, cowered and cried as they watched with wide, trembling, weeping eyes, the terrible announcement that played over the holo-transmitters throughout the shelter. Holo-transmitter tables had been set up all throughout the underground structure. They were set up with in waiting areas, the cabins and resting areas, the kitchens, healing rooms, and counsel rooms. Holo-transmitters were available in every part of the structure, there was no where within the underground sanctuary that a person could go and not be privy to the horrible news. Not one eye from the youngest child to the most elderly among them was left not to behold the awful image being transmitted across the screen live and in living color.

Truth be told. many of the citizens of the Imperial City had been desperate for any outside contact. Since the colossal attack that Loki and the Dark-Elves and the Aether had unleashed upon the city a mere day ago the people had been running around desperate and mad. So many had stood in the streets screaming their lungs raw and crying their eyes out as they beheld the violent swirling vortex made of the ancient, evil ooze of the Aether and Loki's ethereal green and gold magic. They stood paralyzed with dread and bewilderment as they watched the dark power swirl about the Imperial City and ransack everything that they knew and loved. The glittering, golden city that had stood for nearly two millennium had been decimated in less than an hour. Statues toppled, bridges fell, buildings crumpled. Streets that once shone with the illumination of silver, gold and diamonds now were coated with black ash, soot and blood and carcasses. The solid ground on which they stood crumbled beneath their feet.

They all, in that, moment became frantic and petrified, they ran for their lives like maniacs through the streets. They'd rushed hither and thither fearful for their lives. Panic had instantly gripped their hearts. Such fear had caused the stalwart to scurry like frightened rabbits as they

watched how each one of the warriors of the Einherjar and Valkyrie fall by the wayside. They had all scuttled and hurried like no more than frightened cockroaches afraid of being crushed and snuffed out by the furious, heavy boot of fate. They who had been born into a warrior pedigree, they who had been trained as soldiers since their youth, they who were immortal and ever strong had ran for shelter and cowered in the corner like Midgardian babes. Most hadn't even known the way the way to the city fallout shelter. Such protective measures had not been needed in the Imperial City in nearly 4000 years. Which was older than most of the populations years. The city guards and watchmen had been responsible for leading many of the people to safety

Since they had made it to the safety of the shelter the Aesir had been awaiting news. They had longed for news about their loved ones. Most people had not arrived to the shelter in complete family groups. With buildings falling and fires spreading the people of Asgard had been forced to run and dispersed for their own lives. They got separated in the shuffle and bustle of fleeing. They all arrived to the shelter hopeful to be immediately reunited with friends and family, but most were not.

The leaders and elders of the city had worked quickly to organize the people. They'd given commands and set up divisions. They sent most of the guards and watchmen back into the inferno which was the Imperial City to do search and rescue.

As the guards and soldiers went out their were citizens waiting with baited breath for their return. They wanted news about their husbands, sons, brothers and fathers who were Einherjar and who had fought bravely against their attackers. Others waited to hear about their daughters and sisters, cousins and friends; strong, brave, mighty women who had pledged themselves to the Valkyrie, who had ridden out with Einherjar to fight for the realms. They'd seen many of the winged horses take to the skies but they hadn't seen any return to safety.

They awaited to hear from the search parties if men had been found alive, not all had been soldiers. Their were bakers and butchers and bankers and professors and merchants and farmers all of whom had been going about their lives and doing their daily tasks. Unbeknownst to them that their lives would soon be in grave danger. But no good reports made it back to eager were parents who had been desperate to find their children. Innocent boys and girls who had been sent off to school, but who in the midst of the chaos of the attack had gotten separated from the charges of their teachers and schoolmarms. Many children were recovered by their parents in the safety of the shelter, but those who were unaccounted for remained unaccounted for. And as the hours passed and fires throughout the city spread and the ash clouds loomed over the city making the atmosphere nearly uninhabitable it became painfully obvious that many of the missing children would not be returning. Of the scattered bodies around the city that had been found none had been found alive. Many of the elder had been found, the poor aged citizens of the Asgard had been too feeble to get away quick enough. Many die from the impact of rocks to the head. Not even one winged horse of the Valkyrie was recovered and dragged back to the stables.

Others waited outside of the healing ward wringing their hands and clutching their chest as they listened for news about their loved ones. They huddled around the doors of the healing room desperate to get in and see the friends and loved ones which they had found and rushed in. They pressed the healers and physicians for information on the conditions of their loved ones. The healers were swamped and overwhelmed. So many of them were also injured as well. Many of the healers fought to bind up wounds, stitch up gashes and work the mystic healing arts over their patients while they themselves needed tending to. They had blood and sweat pouring down their temples, broken arms and cracked ribs same as their patients.

Apprentices did their best to handle the crowds outside the healing chamber doors. They were only shooed the worried people away and pushed back into the waiting areas. They told the people that the healers were doing everything they could for those in their care. They were.

Still the valiant efforts of the healers proved to be of little consolation when the reality was that no one who went into the healers room left once they went in.

The people had been waiting with baited breath for some news of hope. They were in desperate need to hear word from their king, their queen, their prince, their prime minister, the High Council...someone...anyone who could tell them that they need not give up and that the end wasn't just yet, that Ragnarok wasn't upon them.

For a time they hadn't been able to get any contact with the outside world. Every frequency, every channel was jammed. The scanners and servers had been down. The people started to panic once more. They felt as if the royal family had abandoned them. As if they were being sacrificed and left to die in this dreadful apocalypse. It had been seen as a gift of Providence to calm the fraying nerves of the people when they had actually managed to pick up a faint transmission signal. Under the orders of Captain Frell the holo-transmission was played before all the people.

In the midst of the hubbub the Aesir froze in their tracks. The glanced up at the holo- transmitters with hopeful expectancy. The transmission fizzled and all awaited some tiding from the king, queen or prime minister. They looked for some message to tell them that their prayers had been answered. They stood or sat and stared up at the screens. They stood shoulder to shoulder, some arm in arm, others hand in hand. Mothers and father hoisted their children up in their arms and lifted them on their shoulders. They wanted their children to hear good news and for their fears to be settled. All were on edge. Ears itched. Lips twitched and quivered as they were mashed together. Some people ground their teeth as tension flooded their bodies. Their palms grew sweaty, their breath hitched and they rubbed their hands together eagerly as they waited for the image to come in clear.

As the eyes of young and old fell upon the holo-transmitter the wounded, dirty, frightened Asgardians could only watch in horror as Loki's face flashed before them. Disbelief and confusion flooded every heart. The narrow face of the raven haired enchanter was enough to send maidens shrieking and babies crying. 1000 questions went up from the people. "Mama, Mama," a young child pointed to the image of a slender man clad in battle ready in gleaming

armor with a helmet with giant antlers. "Isn't that Prince Loki?" The boy asked as he clung to his mother's skirt.

"Hush!" the mother said harshly to her son as she pulled her closer. Her eyes were transfixed upon the image she saw. "That's no prince," she reported her eyes wide and welling with tears, "That's a monster," she informed him and hugged him tight so that his young face was buried in her skirt and he didn't have to stare into the face of pure evil.

Though the woman stood strong for her son and made sure that he was not exposed to such horror she couldn't break her own petrified stare. The same thoughts and questions were on everyones lips and on their minds. How could this be happening? How could Loki have escaped prison? Who had set him free? How did he join cahoots with Malekith and the Dark- Elves? Did the liesmith actually speak the truth? Did the all-father really lie on the brink of death trapped in an endless Oversleep? Was Loki truly going to unleash Ragnorok and destroy them all? Would he actually murder Prince Thor? Would the Dark-Elves actually round them up and drag them from the safety and protection that the underground shelter had provided and force them to the surface and force them to behold the death of their most beloved hero and actually end the monarchy? Oh these were disastrous times.

The dreadful public service announcement ended. And not a moment too soon. Loki's proclamation had taken less than five minutes to convey, but watching the tyrants diabolical rise to power seemed like an eternity. They only saw Prince Thor humbled and on his knees for a few moments, but those powerless seconds felt like hours. In the blink of an eye, in less than two minutes a lifetime of faith, hope, trust and pride in their realms seemed to have disintegrated. The very foundations of Asgard crumbled beneath the feet of the poor citizens of the realm eternal. The ground was shaking, ceiling quaking and the walls were caving in. The Asgardians had always believed that their people were invincible. They were a proud, strong, noble race. Yes, perils had arisen, threats had come, but they also went. They were ever strong, ever stable and victorious. It was only natural, they were the greatest military presence in the Nine Realms.

The history of the Aesir was steeped in the songs and stories the glories of battle. They had forged their way from being a minority population in the realm of the Vanir to claiming their own land, forming warrior clans and then forming a vast empire that long overshadowed that of the Vanir, so much so that the greatness of the elder race became a distant memory in the Nine Realms. From there they had risen up as defenders and guardians of the rest of the people in the realms. Of course they hadn't won every single battle, but they always won every single war. That was all that ever mattered in the end. The outcome and the ultimate victory over their enemies. They were supposed to be the saviors of the Nine Realms. The ones that the other worlds looked to for help. Now, they were going to be the first partakers in this calamity. They had nowhere to turn. They had nowhere to go. Now they were the ones who were in dire need of the saving.

The feeling of fear and helplessness was unfamiliar to most of the people of the golden realm. It was like some sort of terrible nightmare from which their seemed no hope of waking.

Ancient prophecies were about to come to pass and there was nothing they could do to stop that. For fate was already written and well defined. Even the Aesir could not escape the hands of time or destiny. Ragnorok was a certainty. But it was a certainty that no Asgardian ever believed they would see. Since the beginning they'd heard about the end of time, but it never came and so it was pushed to the back of their minds. It was a legend to tell to children in the temple, a philosophical debate for scholar and the chatter of old women, but it had never been seen as a reality just a distant fable of an all too grim future, but the future was now.

It didn't take long before the stunned silence of the citizens listening to Loki's dark proclamations gave way to frantic and painful cries and the once prisoner of Asgard declared himself their king.

Immediately, there were shouts. "NOOOOO!" The people cried. "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" Others screamed. Some, who were so stricken and too overcome to find words dropped to their knees and started to weep into the palms of their hands as Loki lectured them on the fact Odin had fallen into a fitful Oversleep. "Fates, be kind! Norns let it not be true!" The yelled as they gripped at their heads and pulled at their hair. "Merciful Ygddrasil!" They sobbed finding they had no recourse hope. "WE ARE DOOMED! WE ARE DOOMED!" They sobbed they trust of their tattered, scratched and soot covered garments.

By the time the transmission ended chaos had ensued amongst the people. They started to all frantically run about like chickens. People darted here and there, screaming, crying, raging, their hands in the air, their eyes full of tear, their hearts of woe. Many ran into the arms of other Asgardians who they didn't even know and wept on their shoulders. All were looking for some form of comfort, but there was none to be found in the arms of those around them.

There was a great possibility that the person standing and weeping next to them would be dead in a few hours, if they were fortunate maybe they would survive a few days, it was safe to say that the survivors would be the worse off of them all for they would be forced to live under a new regime run by Loki and Malekith.

"Don't panic! Don't panic!" One of the officers of the guards called out in the midst of the frantic crowd. The man was nearly trampled on by the stampeding crowd of frenzied Aesir. People rushed about in a hurried blur. They whisked about left and right looking for new places to hide. There was no wear to go.

"Father! Father!" A little girl called to her dad. The man was thin, but sturdy in build. He had warm brown skin. The man was holding his daughter in her arms. He had her head cupped against his chest. He had rushed her into one of the sleeping quarters and had sat her on a bed. His eyes were wild. "Father what's going to happen to us?" The little girl questioned. She had soft brown eyes and coffee bean skin. Her tender hands stroked his beard.

The father looked at his daughter. She was beautiful little girl. She looked so much like her mother. A woman who was now struggling for life in the healers ward. She was already beginning to embody the ideals of an Asgardian woman. She was a spunky and adventurous child and loved to ride in a solar skiff. She was happy and playful, when she grew up she wanted to be a scribe and work in the palace so that she could record all the great deeds of their people. That was a lofty goal for a merchant's daughter but he never discouraged her from pursuing her dream.

His deep eyes searched her. They started to shake. He blinked away the moisture forming in them. He mashed his lips together. He didn't know what to say. He shook his head. He started to move his mouth. His lips trembled as he searched for the right thing to say to answer the child's burning question. There was nothing he could think of to say to quell the little girl's fears or his own. So he said nothing. He could scarcely meet his daughter's gaze. She reached her hands up to cup his face. It was her sweet request for reassurance and he could not provide her with one. His eyes averted her eyes, but his hands embraced her. He just pulled his daughter into his arms and wept on her tiny shoulders.

While the people of Asgard continued to lament the inescapable fate that seemed to be set before them. The leaders of Asgard conferred in a private chamber. Captain Frell and the other military personnel present quickly hustled into one of the inner sanctum rooms. Each member tried to remain calm as they scuttled and darted between the alarmed, distraught citizens, but once they reached the privacy of the chamber they proved that their own dread was no less than the citizens.

"Captain Frell! Captain Frell, what are we going to do?" Asked one of the commanders. The man paced about not even able to look the captain in the face as he did so.

"We should have known this whole time that Loki was behind this catastrophe!" Another raged as he slammed his fist into his palm.

"How could it have gotten this far!" "Now it's too late," another muttered.

A group of elders and soldiers talked amongst themselves. "We have to do something," one of the men spoke up.

"What can we do?" Another countered. He pointed just above their heads. "You heard Loki," he shook his head. "He's got those white faced devils all about the city. The moment any of us showed our facade on the surface they'd round us up skewer us for sure," the warrior explained.

"I'd rather be butchered by those brutes than have to sit and listen to animal call himself our king," a young lieutenant growled.

"AHHHHH!" One soldier screamed out in indignant rage. He flipped over the wooden table that was in the private chamber and then kicked over a worn out chair. "Loki is not my king!" He

spat into the hearth. "He never will be!" He swore. Several other young soldiers cheered and rallied around their comrade. They chanted viciously that Loki was not their king.

"We cannot allow him to take over!" Lord Kelse spoke up. "We have to proceed with the plan of attack," he advised.

"That plan is no good now," responded another nobleman. "We were supposed to attack at first light. Now Loki and Malekith already are preparing to execute Thor by that time," he explained.

"Then we move our attack up earlier," a young warrior stated. "If we can even move the attack up by an hour we will still have the element of surprise," he elaborated.

"Not enough though and it won't give us enough time," another soldier responded. "If there is one glitch in our attack everything could unravel. Thor could still be killed."

"Thor is going to be killed anyway, sitting around with our hands tossed in the air twiddling our thumbs with worry won't stop that. Only by trying to save our prince can we hope to achieve anything," Lord Kelse argued. The nobles and soldiers began to squabble. Their panic gave way to confusion and squabbling. Every man had to deal with his own feelings and fears every person had his own ideas and thoughts about how the matter should be handled. Minutes went by. There was yelling and shouting and protesting and demonstrative acts. Still, even these steadfast, resolute defenders of Asgard could not deny the uncontrollable feelings of helplessness and hopelessness that had come over all of them. Suddenly, weary from all that had transpired in the few short hours of this day, several of the leaders slumped down to the floor. Their backs pressed against the wall. They held their gray haired heads in the palms of their hands.

"Captain Frell, what are we going to do?"

The Einherjar captain looked at the dauntless men before him. These were men who knew no fear. These were men who had often stared in the face of death and laughed. Seeing them now so bewildered and vexed and so cast down and defeated was the most unnerving and alarming thing about everything that had transpired. The warriors sat down around him in misery. Every soldier among them had begun wailing in the chamber. Captain Frell began pacing about. He had been known throughout Asgard as a brilliant military strategist. He had served as a captain among the Einherjar for many centuries for about 80 years he had taken a seat among the most respected and revered men in all of the realm as a member of Asgard's High Council. He continued to serve as a military consultant and a professor at the Einherjar Military University. But in the face of such adversity his mind seemed to have drawn a blank. All the people of were looking to the expert strategist to come up with some brilliant plan that would allow them to rescue Prince Thor and prevent Malekith all at once. He turned over the equations in his head. He calculated and puzzled every possible outcome. He routed a course through the palace in his mind. He played out each battle scene, but no outcome proved favorable. Just as Captain

Frell was about to give in to the feelings of despair that had taken over everyone since they had heard Loki's terrible announce, there came a rapid and frantic knocking at the door.

The thunderous banging pulled the worried warrior, Captain Frell from his fixation on what to do to help the beloved son of Asgard's most esteemed king. Breathlessly, he looked up from the place where he'd been pacing about. Eagerly, he rushed to the door. He was ready for anything that would prove to be a distraction from facing the facts that Ragnarok was a rabid dog snarling at their door. A hound so vile and strong that it had beaten down the said door and now it was just waiting and ready to bite. It had destroyed all the safeguards and shields that they had set up to protect them. The beast had cornered them all leaving them with no exit or escape. It defiantly and boldly stared them in the eye, it beared its hideous fangs and salivated as it licked its chops. Ragnarok had become more than a dog, it was a wolf, savage and wild. It had no heart to be tamed just a primordial instinct to destroy all that was good and righteous and bright in the Nine Realms. What had been worse was the fact that all any of them were now able to do was hide and cower and wait for the cruel beast to strike. It would go for the jugular and it would rip them apart.

Tentatively, albeit gratefully, Captain Frell scuttled toward the door. The rest of the noblemen and some of the Einherjar were still too busy fussing over the matter and trying to figure out what to do about the matter the notice the heavy rapping on the cast iron door. With a deep breath, he pulled it open and was amazed to find Lady Sif, the Warriors Three and Lady Jane all standing outside the door. Perhaps he shouldn't have been so shocked to see them all there.

After all they were the fabled four. They were Einherjar amongst Einherjar, kingsmen and Thor's most loyal of companions. He should have known that they would show up when he needed them most, when Asgard needed them most, when Prince Thor needed them most. Seeing them was truly an act of providence.

With his old eyes wide and his frosted brows lifted, Captain Frell looked at them with astonishment. They were a sight for his sore eyes. He hadn't seen them since they'd gone to the palace to warn the Council of the fact that Prince Thor was missing and that the Dark-Elves were in possession of the Aether. It was evident that there attempts at warning the others had been terribly Sif, Hogun, Frandal and Volstagg had headed for the palace nearly two complete days ago now. Loki had led Malekith and the Dark-Elves through the Bifrost and into the Imperial City less than a day ago yet it seemed like a lifetime had passed. In that moment when he had watched as the swirling black and red vortex swept through the city, as he had seen Loki's mystic green workings only help to exacerbate and embellish the effects of the Aether, as he'd looked up and beheld the sky darkening and watched as solar skiffs and winged horses were pulled from the sky and tossed into the Forever Sea and throughout the city like that were no more than paper figurines he felt like he was reliving the pain of 1000 battles 100 times over.

In the aftermath of the attack he'd been among some of the first men to rush out into the city and assess damages. He'd been among the first to grab a bucket or a pail and rush to a

fountain or faucet and gather water to use to douse the flames that were quickly lapping up everything in sight and ready to incinerate the entire metropolis. He'd run back and forth grabbing bucket after bucket full of water, he'd run from house to house working just as hard and as fast a the rest of the Imperial City's rescue squad. But the fires from the Aether were too numerous to be quelled. They spring back up like weeds in a freshly planted garden. Eventually he had moved to trying to save the citizens. The fine gold buildings could always be rebuilt but what would it matter if there was no one to return to the structures. He helped wherever he could, digging people out of the rubble of the soot covered streets, excavating them out of the debris of the fallen buildings. He was horrified by what he found. So few were alive, but severed limbs were everywhere, a arm here, a leg there, guts and organs strewn about. It was sickening. Even for a man of his years and his experience it was enough to make him want to faint. He'd seen much in his years that he'd served as an Einherjar, but nothing so grotesque or so personal. Never had he thought in a million years that he would see such vile carnage scattered across the street of his beloved home. As a strategist he was not always in the thick of the battle. He now wondered if the years away from the fray of the fight had made him soft and weak. He shook his head refuting the silly notion. Even if it was the case he was grateful for such softness. He never wanted to be able to brush aside the sight of a little girl's sandal still attached to a tiny foot with painted did he ever want to be hardened to the image of a squalling baby lying in the midst of piles and piles of freshly blown up bricks and the fingers of someone holding a pacifier right next to child.

He'd seen such cringe worthy, vomit worthy sights. So few people who were missing were accounted for. Many of the those among the rescue squad abandoned their efforts after only a few short hours. Most who they had found had not been found to alive. Other's just seemed to have vanished. The chief coroner expressed that he believed many of the bodies had simply obliterated by the Aether blast. And this was only the beginning. It was not even Convergence yet, Ragnarok had not yet taken place and already the death toll had been unimaginable.

After the attack, well quite frankly, the elderly Einherjar had been scared to even hope for the best. he had hoped for the best but feared for the worst. He hadn't expected to see them alive once more. For as decimated as the city was the palace had taken by far the brunt of the attack. The Dark-Elves had taken over he doubted Malekith, Loki or that ruthless hoard would leave any survivors. It had been the queen's lady in lady who had rekindled any hope that he had and even that was slim to none. Even though Lady Sigyn had said that she was going to go to the palace and rescue those who had been taken prisoner, he'd had his doubts about the likelihood of the young woman's success. How could the beautiful, yet completely empty- headed maiden have any hope of pulling off such an undertaking. Still, he had allowed her to try. They needed every effort to be made on behalf of stopping Ragnorok no matter how unlikely a chance it might have been.

It was incredible, completely remarkable in fact but in beholding Lady Sif, the Warriors Three and even the woman Jane Foster it would seem as though Sigyn's foolhardy venture had proven

to possibly be the best course of action. He stood dumbfounded at the sight of his fellow Einherjar. He shook his head fighting off a laugh. Perhaps it truly did take foolish things to confound the wise.

Ar first Captain Frell was only able to stand in the doorway blinking. He was still in shock at the sight of them, but his took in their haggard appearance. From their ripped tunics, tarnished armor, scratched and scathed bodies, with blood still dripping from newly stitched cuts on their foreheads, arms and legs, from the gauze that bandaged their cracked ribs and dislocated shoulders and knee caps he knew that they weren't mere apparitions. Their hair was sloppy, their faces still dirty. The color of their skin was pale from loss of blood and pain. Not a one among the warriors seemed to have a whole leg to stand on. Oh they were a sorry sight. They looked terrible. They looked wonderful! Captain Frell's confusion and disbelief was suspended and was quickly overshadowed by a feeling of pure joy.

He embraced them like they were his long lost children. The older man's eyes filled up with tears as he gave each one a hug. Embraces amongst Asgardians were always firm and strong and housed so much emotion. The beaten warriors trembled in the old Einherjar captain's sturdy arms. "Thank Merciful Ygddrasil you are all alive," he whispered to them.

Sif was the last to leave Captain Frell's hug. Her cherry stained lips had lost their color. Her normally bronzed skintone had faded to nearly a ghostly shade. She rocked on her feet as she sucked in a sharp breath. "it is good to see you alive and well as well Captain Frell," the female Einherjar reported. She managed a half sort of smile.

"You need to get to the halls of healing, immediately," the military strategist stated. He looked around frantically.

Frandal shook his head, "We have just come from there," the blonde Casanova answered.

Captain Frell looked horrified. "And this was all the better they could do for you? The finest warriors in Asgard," he shook his head.

"This is all the better they would let them do," Lady Jane chimed in. The thin, auburn-haired, mortal woman stood behind Volstagg's girth shaking like a leaf after the news that had just reached her ears. Volstagg stepped to the side a revealed the slender, human scientist.

"We'll not sit idly by and let Loki kill Thor!" Lady Sif declared growling. She slammed the straight edge of his hand into her palm.

"We must save Thor!" Hogun called out.

"For Thor!" Frandal rallied behind his black-haired friend.

"For Asgard," the red-bearded Viking bellowed behind his friend.

"Oh Captain Frell! Captain Frell!" Lady Jane started. "We were in the healers ward. We saw it. We saw Loki come over the holo-transmitter. Was it true? Were the awful things which he said

true?" She questioned. She grabbed the military captain by his tunics and pulled him close to her. Her hazel eyes were full of liquid. Her lips quivered like that of a child. "it can't be true! It can't be true, can it?' she blubbered.

Captain Frell took the female astrophysicist by the shoulders. "We all saw the same message, my dear young lady. It would appear as though the message is true," he sighed

"Oh no, no. NO!" Jane cried shaking her head. She dropped her tear stained face into the palm of her hands and wept even harder for boyfriend, Thor.

"It may not be true, though," the blonde-haired member of the three warriors interjected. "Loki has always been a notorious liar," he explained. Frandal, who was known throughout the realm for his dashing, debonair smile now wore only a bitter and miserable scowl. "Curse that silver tongue of his," he raised a fist to the air.

"To Helheim with the trickster!" Declared Lord Kelse. he had noticed the warriors standing and talking with Captain Frell and had managed to pull away from the other gentlemen who were still wailing with fright and the events that were about to take place. He marched up to them and greeted the formally.

"Loki will say anything. What he speaks is a fallacy at best," Volstagg continued. "Loki breathes lies like air. Just because he says it does not mean it is certain so. Prince Thor could be free from his grasp. Hiding in the palace lying wait like a snake in the grass, like a crafty fox just ready to pounce. LOki could be saying these things in hopes of smoking him out," the plump warrior offered.

It was a nice sentiment for sure, but was one that all knew was highly unlikely. They'd seen Thor bound and chained before their very eyes. The son of Odin has his back beaten to a bloody pulp so much so that it had resembled a piece of beef dangling from the butcher shop window. That was no trick of Loki's. It was impossible that Thor had recovered from that with no treatment or tending to. Also words such as crafty had never been used to describe the eldest son of Odin. Thor was a mighty warrior. His strength, stamina, speed and knowledge of combat was unparalleled by anyone else. He was dauntless. But he was type of warrior that came in full charge, full speed a head. He gave his all in every battle and bout. If Thor had been free of Loki's clutches he would not be waiting about somewhere or slinking through corridors. He would fighting for them right now.

"Or perhaps, Thor is already dead," Lord Kelse admitted. The elderly lord stroked his beard pensively and shook his head.

"What?" Jane gasped. Her teeth started chattering and all the color drained from her face.

"Perhaps Malekith and Loki have already killed Thor." He went on. He gestured with his hands as he explained, "Loki could just be using rumors of Prince Thor as bait... to get us all to come out of hiding here deep with in this sanctuary. He could be trying to round us up and lure us to a mass execution!" The noble exclaimed.

"No!" Captain Frell contradicted loudly. His voice bounced off the brick walls as ceiling. Soon all the attention in the room was called to the small group gathered in the corner next to the door.

"Lady Sif and the Warriors Three have arrived!" A young nobleman cried as he pointed toward the door. He was new to politics and new to war. He had only just taken over his uncles appointment in the courts and had come from one of the outlying hamlets in Asgard. Still he'd been hearing tales of the Warriors Three, Lady Sif and Prince Thor since he was a lad. The sight of them was enough to invigorate the young man to push himself off the wall and stop his pathetic moping.

Eyes perked up across the room. "Perhaps the fates have not seen fit to throw in the towel on us yet, my lads," heralded an elderly soldier. His knees were weak and he walked with a cane and a profuse limp, but none the less he tapped the younger more despondent soldiers on the shoulders and rallied them and encouraged them to come and see what was the matter being discussed just out of earshot.

Most of the men present kept a respectful distance. Asgard was a realm of many protocols. It was well known that when higher officers held conference it was a private matter, but in these last and desperate precious hours that they had left before Convergence came and Ragnarok fell upon them many more tossed such cautions to the wind. They walked right up behind the Captain Frell, Lord Kelse and Thor's friends. As they stood their and listened the first thing most of them hear was "Do you think? Do you think?" Lady Jane babbled on as she swung her head rapidly looking this way and that between all the people to determine what could have possibly happened to Thor.

"Oh it is a great possibility," Lord Kelse reasoned.

The astrophysicist was stricken. It was only a calming hand on her shoulder that kept her from screaming out. Her mouth hung open, her eyes were full of water when she looked over and saw that hand belonged to Lady Sif. The shield-maiden kept her hand resting there but did not offer a word to the lady scientist. "No, I don't think so, Lord Kelse," she answered.

The lord bristled. "Think you that Loki is not capable of such treachery," he sneered.

"There is nothing I put past that scum," Lady Sif spat. "But Loki has always been jealous of Thor," she rationalized.

"Yes, and..."

"And he has always been desperate to prove himself greater than Thor. This little display...this public execution is his chance to do so. He wouldn't lie about that. he wants all of Asgard, all of the Nine Realms to know that he was able to defeat Thor," she expounded.

"Ah, yes," Frandal said nodded. "The Lady Sif has it," he concurred. "Just like on Midgard," he expressed. "Loki sent the destroyer to kill Thor, but Thor was just a powerless mortal," he

added. At this Jane Foster's head swung up and she gave the fair-haired swashbuckler a side eyed glance. One that he didn't catch. "Loki could have easily killed him then," he proposed.

"Quite!" Volstagg bellowed. He laughed as he began to speak, "and even the second time, When Loki brought the Chitauri to Midgardian city, he surely didn't need that much of an army to conquer the humans," he expressed. Jane cleared her throat to get the red-headed Viking's attention. Volstagg turned around and gave a sheepish grin. He shrugged. The human woman held his gaze poked out her lip and narrowed her light-brown brows. The plumpest member of the mighty warriors gave a sweeping bow in apology. "I only mean to say, that is my lady that..."

"Loki is about the show," Hogun interjected.

"And he wants us to be the audience," Lady Sif added her voice low and rumbling. "He'll keep Thor alive just to make a spectacle of him," said Captain Frell.

"Then the answer is simple," began Lord Kelse. "We simply won't attend the execution, that should foil his plans well enough," he stated with a humph. Some of the other soldiers heard his words and nodded as well.

"No," Captain Frell shook his head. "Loki knows where the shelter is. If we don't attend than he will simply tell the army of Svartalfheim where to find us. They will drag us out one by one if need be," he confessed.

"Then we fight!" Yelled out a voice from the crowd. A triumphant fist was raised over the heads of the other men. Soon it was followed by other fists of triumph and the stomping of feet. Lady Sif, the Warriors Three and Captain Frell looked around for the first time and noticed that their private conference had gathered an audience of its own. Before long their were hoots, whistles and chants.

Captain Frell raised his hands to quiet the restless Einherjar, guards and noble. "It is not so simple, my brothers," he spoke to the people. "Our position is not so defensible nor will our fighting off the Dark-Elves keep Loki from killing Thor or prevent him from unleashing the Aether and bringing forth Ragnorok," he explained.

"Well we cannot simply sit idly by and allow Thor to become the first of many martyrs," insisted Sif.

"Of course not," Lord Kelse agreed. "We need our prince!" he protested. A hearty echo of rallying "here here's" spring forth from the crowd.

"Also Mjolinir and Gungnir are the only weapons powerful enough to drive the Aether into a state of stasis. Prince Thor is the only one able to wield both. Finding him and freeing him is the only chance we have of survival," stated Captain Frell.

"Then we have to carry forth with our original intent," Lord Kelse expressed becoming more and more frustrated by the matter. "We have to attack the palace at first light!" he proclaimed. The crowd cheered.

"Sooner than first light," Frandal pointed out. "Loki already plans to have the people assembled and Thor's head severed by dawn," the blonde corrected.

"So be it then," Lord Kelse spoke brashly. "We can attack at midnight! We will take them unawares. They will never see it coming."

"We are not ready," Captain Frell argued. "Then get the men ready!" Sif ordered.

"There are still many Aesir trapped within the palace. If we attack we will attack. It will not be a rescue mission. We may have to blow the palace to kingdom come to prevent Ragnarok from taking place. The palace may be lost, but it may mean that the Nine Realms can live on," Lord Kelse stated resolutely.

"And what of the members of the council?" the elderly military strategist countered. "Lady Sigyn went back to rescue them. We promised her that she would have time to escape with them. If we break our word we sentence them all to death!"

"Fear not good Frell!" A deep, masculine voice called. Heads swiveled and glanced back at the door. There strolling through the castiron entrance was Asgard's gatekeeper, prime minister and the Prime Minister of Vanaheim along with a host of battered and bruised soldiers and guards along with the nobles, delegates and the members of the High Council. The crowd went wild with hoots and hollers and all manners of sounds of rejoicing. Greetings were exchanged as well as embraced.

"Heimdal!" Captain Frell cried in relief. He rushed over and embraced the strong guardian as well as Lord Algrim. Holding them both by the shoulders he asked. "How did you ever make it out?"

The dark-skinned warrior answered. "Lady Sigyn has been a woman of her word, my lord. She has helped to free us all."

"Sigyn?" Captain Frell gasped in astonishment. He held his head and laughed so hard he cried. "B-b-but how?" He questioned. By all accounts it didn't add up that Lady Sigyn should be able to perform such a fantastic feat all on her own.

"Where is Lady Sigyn?" Asked Frandal. In this sea of men he surely longed to see another sweet faced woman. Heads bobbled and craned and strained trying to make out the woman.

It was the white-haired Light Elf who answered, "She stayed behind...she insisted. She wanted to try to rescue Prince Thor...we tried to stop her but..."

"She believed she would have more time," Captain Frell reasoned. "Doesn't she?" Questioned Lord Audric.

"Not any longer," the captain shook his head. "Loki plans to execute Thor at first light and then unleashed the Aether. We now need to attack by midnight."

"What of Prince Thor?" Jane asked.

"We are not going to blow up the palace if Prince Thor is still in there!" Sif asserted.

"Sif," Hogun came and stood behind her. "Thor would give his life for Asgard and the Nine Realms," the silent soldier stated.

Sif bit deep into her lip. She shook her head. Fresh tears gathered in the corners of her dark- brown eyes. She looked up at the warrior in purple armor with bitter, angry tears. "And what of Lady Sigyn?"

A/N: Well you made it! You made it to the end of the chapter. I honestly planned for this chapter to be a little more action based, but after awhile the characters just tell their own story and at their own pace. Anyway if you read it you owe it to yourself to leave a review. WE are too close to the end for you not to let your thoughts be known.