Chapter 38 –

Rowan gasped for a moment, sucking in a huge breath of air as if it had been decades since she had felt oxygen flowing through her lungs. She felt anxious and disoriented. The darkness had left her but she couldn't comprehend if it had been a mere moment or an eternity that it had held her in its grip. Her dark green eyes fell upon Malekith standing at her side. He had an evil sneer upon his lips as he scrutinized her with his eerie gaze.

"Hey, kid, are you alright?" Hawkeye entreated. His voice filled with concern as he placed his hand lightly against her shoulder.

"What was that?" she snapped as she narrowed her eyes at the dark elf. "What just happened?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Malekith placated in his grating drawl. He rubbed his hands back and forth languidly. The excitement and anticipation of opening the passage was brimming over in the dark elf's eyes as they glowed with their peculiar light. "We shouldn't waste any time. Place the stone on the rock and repeat my words."

"I warned you what would happen if you lied to me," Rowan berated in her tiny voice. "Clint, find us some shelter. I will wait here for my father. Perhaps, he will arrive this way."

"Whatever you say, kid," Barton agreed as he took a step backward and began to survey the mountains around them.

"You can't be serious," the dark elf frothed as he glided his hand along one of the ageless carvings that adorned the boulder. "You are standing at the precipice to your homeland and you're not going to cross it?"

"If I can't trust your words than you are no good to me," Rowan insisted as she moved away from the boulders. "My father will come for me. I know he will."

"You are more trouble than you are worth, Lokidottir," Malekith hissed as he balled his hands into fists. His long pointed ears twitching wildly in his anger through his long white hair. "A thorn in my side just like your father," he growled. The iris of his olive green eye seemed to grow wider for a moment before diminishing back to its usual size as he began to calm himself. "The spell was enacted. I felt its surge," he divulged reluctantly. "But then it fell away. It was tried once before using your mother as the catalyst but that failed from the start. I never felt the upwelling from the shadows then. This time Lorelei must have been very close to succeeding. But since we are still here, it seems that something stopped it from working yet again." Malekith began to chuckle as he extended his hands out to touch the passage once more, gliding his fingers up and down the strange etchings. "Does that satisfy you, Lokidottir? Or are you going to sit around here and wait for the Jotunn to come and bring you back to those wretched cells?"

Rowan closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to think more clearly. What he said made sense with what she had felt. The darkness that she had been certain had enveloped her if only for a moment. She knew he wanted to get out of Jotunnheim as badly as she did. He hoped to get rescued by his own people once they crossed the borders. If he succeeded he would bring even more trouble to her family. But he had no access to his magic and the chances of them being discovered by the Aesir once they had returned to Asgard were far greater than stumbling upon the dark elves. After all, Heimdall had his gift of sight. He may already know that she is preparing to return home. Perhaps he had told her father. She had no idea when her father might be able to get to her if she waited here. Who knew what problems he was facing in his attempt to rescue her? She really had no choice. She needed to try. She took the crimson stone in her small hand once more and placed it along the flat face of the rock as the dark emperor had instructed. Malekith's smile widened to near bursting as he began to give her the words of the incantation. She repeated them carefully as she watched the stone begin to shimmer brighter and brighter with each sound from her lips. When the spell was complete the entire boulder glistened in a rainbow hue of translucent color. "Now what?" she probed as her emerald eyes glared back up at the dark elf.

"Now we walk through it, Lokidottir," he pronounced in his slippery voice, his lips upturned in the slightest of smirks as he extended his arm for her to go ahead of him. Hawkeye came up from behind them and grabbed her hand.

"You and I are going to go through this thing together," Clint ordered. "And that's final." She furrowed her brow at him crossly but didn't object. The truth was that she was rather nervous and however reluctant she was to admit it she was grateful to have him there. The feeling of walking through this strange tunnel was not so unlike when her father made his teleportation spells. The only difference was that she actually had to step through the swirling motion that surrounded her and it seemed to almost lift her faster towards her destination with every step she took. There was a blinding light when she reached the other side and for a moment everything was blurry. She blinked her eyes to steady her gaze as the mountains and forests of Asgard came into her view. They had done it. They were out of the icy world of Jotunnheim and back in her own realm. She practically bounced with excitement but her joy was short lived. A sudden force surrounded her, slamming her arms against her sides as she was lifted up into the air. She watched in dismay as the archer suffered the same fate. They hung there in midair as Malekith began to circle them with an amused smile.

"Don't look so cross, Lokidottir," He grinned maliciously. "Did I fail to mention that the potent energy that filled this gateway would destroy these little gifts bestowed on me by your grandfather?" He cackled wildly as he stared out into the horizon. There were sounds of battles in the distance and the occasional flashes of light in the skyline. "Aah, what a glorious feeling it is to finally be truly free. I have been waiting for this day since you were but a babe in your mother's arms. The things I have in store for your father. And I owe it all to you, little one."

"My father is smarter than you and more powerful," she frothed at the sound of his words. "He and my uncle will never let you hurt me."

"Don't fret, child," Malekith slithered as he moved to stand before her so that he was mere inches from her face. "I have no intention of ever hurting you, Lokidottir. None at all, oh, far from it. You will be for me what your father was for Odin. I will teach you all that I know my little protégée."

"You know what you can do with your lessons," she sniped as she struggled helplessly against the invisible bonds. She tried to push down her fears. She tried very hard to be like she imagined her mother and father would be. But it wasn't easy as she stared into his malevolent gaze. He terrified her and his words frightened her in a way that she had never imagined was possible. She didn't understand what he meant about her father and Odin. How could she be a child to him? Was he planning on doing something to her mind? She wanted her father. She wanted to be home.

"You will change your mind. You'll see," Malekith grinned.

"You stay the hell away from her, you sick freak!" Hawkeye grumbled as he writhed in the air at her side.

"You are very lucky, archer," the dark emperor sneered as he moved closer to Barton. "As much as I despise you, I do have a use for you so I won't be disposing of you just yet. You will bring a message for me to Laufeyson. Let him know that I have his daughter and that my bonds are broken. Tell him to have fun figuring out a way to get to her and that I will come to him when the idea pleases me." Without another word the archer disappeared from her view.

"What did you do to him?" she squealed. She could feel the tears building up in her eyes but she refused to cry. She was alone. She could never remember feeling so isolated before.

"Weren't you listening, Lokidottir?" Malekith smirked as he brought her down to the ground with a wave of his hand. "I have sent him ahead with a message and now it is time that you were shown your new home." With a snap of his fingers she felt the rush of swirling motion encompass her as she was pulled through the currents toward wherever the dark elf was taking her. When the colors dissipated she found herself standing in front of a large cathedral window. There was a large marbled throne before her with etchings of strange beasts carved along its sides. Several dark elves were standing in the large chamber arguing amongst each other about something. Their voices were to low for her to make out anything more than a jumbled sound. The center elf stopped speaking immediately as he caught sight of the two of them. A look of delight fell over his dark ebony eyes as he rushed forward and kneeled in front of Malekith, bowing his head deeply as his long white hair flowed over his shoulders. His pointed ears twitched with excitement.

"Master," Algrim greeted as he remained on his knee with his head downcast. "Thank the fates that you are free. Please forgive me for my failures. I have never stopped trying to get to you, I swear it."

"Rise, you are my most loyal servant," Malekith soothed as he sauntered towards his throne. He ran his fingers along the carvings wistfully before turning and seating himself upon the dais. "I know that you have done all that you could."

"Did LoreLei finally fulfill her promise to me?" Algrim inquired as he stood up brushing his long black cape back over his shoulders. "Is that how you have come home to us? Shall I order our troops to return from Asgard? We have been in the midst of a great war at her bequest."

"That witch did nothing to succor my escape. She betrayed me, Algrim, and she will suffer for it greatly." The dark emperor fumed as he tapped his slender fingers meticulously along the arms of his throne. "No, I owe my freedom to this one." He grinned wickedly as he pointed toward Rowan. Her arms still sealed at her sides as she stood mournfully in front of the large window. "She is my greatest treasure and she will help us get all that we desire. My dreams are near fruition, Algrim. This is a day that we shall celebrate for ages to come." The dark elf leaned back as he stared about his chambers. It was a dark and dreary place to Rowan. It was nothing at all like the gorgeous golden throne of Asgard and the beautiful, dazzling atmosphere of the Great Hall. "I have many, many plans and we shall begin preparing them at once but first I wish to give you a gift." He raised his hand in the air and made a circular motion with his fingers as a cloud of dust appeared along the floor. It rose higher and higher until it suddenly collapsed revealing a strange black suit of armor where the small windstorm had once been. "This, my dear Algrim, is fortified with enchantments greater than anything that has ever been accomplished before. The wearer of this will be undefeatable and it is yours. When I am at last the ruler of these nine realms you, my dear friend, shall be at my right side." The dark elf's eerie gaze made its way back to Rowan and his smile became even more cruel and grotesque. "Don't look so sorrowful, Lokidottir, you will learn to love it here. Trust me."