Rise of the Champions - Chapter Nineteen
Author: Milady Dragon
Loki was bored.
When Catherine Hale had come to him, offering to help him escape, he'd believed he would be getting a form of revenge against the so-called Dark One, the man he had believed to have killed eleven years ago at the expense of the health of his own magic. He had been so very certain, until Mistress Catherine had claimed otherwise, that the Wizard he'd defeated in battle had been yet another version of the Deathless. This, he had wanted to see for himself.
If the man truly was Deathless, then Loki would have liked to have seen just how that worked.
He had hoped to be able to find this man immediately.
He had not expected to find himself seeking shelter within this valley.
It was high in the mountains, hidden away from the outside world. Trees surrounded the valley, with a lake that was almost too blue to be natural on the southern edge of the area. Several of the mountains around them were snow-capped, the wind chill, meaning perhaps they were somewhere in the north of the Western Lands. It was obvious that the village that lay at the foot of the mountains was completely isolated from the rest of the world, simply from the fact that the miniscule town was ramshackle and yet self-sufficient. And, in the time Loki had been there, no one from outside the valley had traveled through, not even to bring any of the supplies the residents might have need of.
The village was far too picturesque for words. Loki had hated it on sight.
The magical aura of the place was extraordinary, however. Loki wished to explore that more closely. It vaguely reminded him of his spear…which he should attempt to locate at some point, as it would prove useful. But this magic, it warped reality in some way that he simply could not put his finger on. It was far beyond anything he had ever accomplished on his own, and it was impressive.
Loki believed that whatever magic was within this sanctuary was protecting it from the outside world; he doubted anyone unaware of its location would not be able to find it, not even with the very best Scrying magic…if anyone indeed even knew to search for it. It had something to do with the reality warp, and Loki coveted that magic more than he had wanted to conquer more land for Asgard. With it, his own illusion abilities would be absolute, and not the broken magic that he had had to live with since the duel with the Dark One.
He had yet to find the source of the magic, which he suspected was some sort of Artifact, which was irritating. And he had been searching.
When Hale had brought him here, Loki had believed it would only be a temporary measure. That, in a few days at most, they would be on their way to whatever conflict was arising, what sort of vengeance they could enact on the unsuspecting people of the Western Lands. That had not been the case; he had been waiting now for two weeks…two weeks of utter boredom.
It was, in ways, worse than his cell back in Asgard, which he had believed to be impossible.
At least in his jail cell he hadn't been surrounded by children. He thought he could have more patience if not for that little fact.
Loki disliked children immensely.
There were twenty-two of them, ranging from the ages of five and into their teen years. Each of them was magical; mostly Void but with a few Cardinals thrown into the mix. From what he had been able to discover, every single one of them was an orphan of some sort, the majority having been exiled from their families simply because they had magic. They had been found and brought to this place, because it truly was a sanctuary for those displaced and tossed out like garbage. These little ones would have died if the Mistress of this place had not been able to locate them.
The Wizard might have disliked children; however, this made him supremely angry, in that innocents would have been cast aside like that. The anger cut the boredom, just a little.
At the least, Loki had not been exiled from this birth family. He had been stolen by that old war-horse Odin, and that did not give him anything in common at all with the waifs living there. Not that he wanted all that much in common with children. Not at all.
He had no idea how Mistress Catherine had found this place, but it did make an excellent hiding place…if Loki had been interested in hiding. Which he was not.
He wanted to find this Wizard who was supposedly Deathless and test that theory out fully.
The issue with that, was the fact that Hale had yet to even tell him where to find this Wizard. Any time he would inquire, she would give him a smug smile and said he would need to wait.
That was even more irritating than the children. Loki hated waiting, not when he wanted something this badly, although he could see the need for patience in other circumstances. He wished to take action now. He felt as if he had waited years and was heartily sick of it.
Usually, he could have waited. He could have planned, and plotted, and then struck when the moment was right. However, having been in a cell for so long, and then to be teased with locating his old nemesis, had somehow made him lose that forbearance. He had always been known as a trickster, someone who could stand in wait for the opportunity to strike, but that had changed. Loki wanted to be bothered by that, but found that he could not, even if he had to force himself into that patience he would have, before, called upon easily.
He had to admit, he did admire – a little, at least, as much as he could afford – the woman who had created this place. Her name was Mistress Jiaying, and her magical signature was…well, it was odd, to say the least. Her aura read as Cardinal, and yet there was a strange taint about her, as if she had somehow become corrupted in some deep, fundamental way. It was almost like the Deep Ways within her had been changed; although Loki could not think of anything that would have been able to do such a thing. It was wrong, and he disliked being around her for any length of time because of it.
Still, she had rescued these children, which Loki would have considered altruistic if he was not convinced she was attempting to set up her own little cult. He also thought she must have been at least responsible for the odd shielding around the valley. Or at least had the Artifact that was responsible and understood its usage.
And, he believed she was quite mad. Madder even than Loki himself was.
It was refreshing, truth be told, that someone in the area was more insane than himself.
What he did not understand, was how Hydra had managed to convince Jiaying to let them into her haven.
From the few times he had spoken to the woman – which, to be fair, had not been all that often as there was something about her that made Loki shiver, not that he was going to admit it – Mistress Jiaying had struck him as being very protective of her charges. Or protective of her little power base she had gathered to her. And letting strangers into her valley did not seem like something she would have done without very good provocation. Especially Hydra, which seemed to be primarily Void Wizards with somewhat enormous dignities that needed to be pricked in order to let most of the hot air they spewed out in one large blow.
Alright, he had only met three Voids of Hydra so far, but Mistress Catherine and her Novice daughter were not endearing themselves to him. Mistress Catherine's keeping the secret of the whereabouts of the Dark One most irritating.
However, Ruby Hale was far worse. She had the tendency to whine and complain about not being able to fulfil her destiny as something called The Destroyer of Worlds.
And Loki had thought 'Dark One' was overly pretentious. Honestly, where these people came up with such titles…
Neither of them would explain anything. And, quite frankly, Loki did not much care. The plots of this Hydra cabal meant nothing to him, not when he had been promised the Dark One.
If he was made to wait much longer, he would go seeking him on his own…not that he knew where to even search for the man. The Wizard's Guild was large, and the Dark One would be laying low, even if he was a member of such a body of magic-users. Besides, Loki would have been too well-known to approach any Wizard without an air-tight illusion to hide his true nature and, with his magic damaged as it was, that may not even work. He would need to consider a plan for that eventuality.
Until then, he would see about sowing as much discord as possible amongst the residents and the Wizards there. Then he would be entertained a little, until he could discover a way to pry the information he wanted out of Catherine Hale. If he only he had his spear…