Chapter 22 Hot and Burning In Your Nostrils
Skadi had bit her tongue all morning; Hela mustn't suspect a thing, just like Heimdall said. But Skadi was one to not be able to, especially when she was angry and oh boy was she currently angry. The look of fear her people wore as Hela had them rounded up sent a sharp knock through the princess. And from the pleading look that they sent her as well as the look of betrayal, Skadi could feel herself slipping, but as she kept telling herself, she could not say anything.
This morning as Hela moved her army across the Bifrost, Skadi knew what was coming. She knew they'd reach the gate and find that the sword was not there. She knew she'd be forced to play dumb as her sister furiously lashed against her newly appointed Executioner, Skurge. But what she didn't see coming was Hela calling what was left of their citizens, the ones who weren't yet executed and the ones who have yet been able to escape to wherever Heimdall had them safely hidden. Skadi knew her sister was cruel, she'd seen it over the last few days, but this was too much.
"Asgardians, some misguided soul has stolen the key to the Bifrost," Skurge's voice echoed through the down square. "Tell us where it is, or there will be consequences."
Skadi rolled her eyes, unable to take him seriously, especially as he had to turn back to Hela, as if he was a child needing help. Hela stood besides Skadi, only a few inches back while behind the pair of them was Hela's newly resurrected giant wolf, Fenris. Skadi could feel the dog shift, as if knowing that Skurge needed help in frightening the Asgardians. Skadi sighed, seeing as the people flinched.
"Well?" Skurge asked, looking out into the crowd, waiting for someone to step up.
Skadi bit her lip, willing for no one too but at the same time wished that someone did, knowing that the situation was about to escalate; she could feel Hela's patiences running thin from where she stood. The sound of Hela's heels clicking on the steps, told Skadi that time was out and since no one stepped forward Hela would to deal out the consequences.
"You," Hela said smoothly, pointing into the crowd.
Skadi closed her eyes as Hela's guards moved to grab an elderly woman out from the crowd. The crowds pleads were falling on deaf ears, as Hela moved back to her spot and Skurge moved to make room for the elderly woman, who was now shaking like a leaf in the wind. The woman was thrown roughly to the ground, her cries causing Skadi to open her eyes.
Skurge was being just as forced as Skadi was, as she could see his reluctance as her sister ordered him to bring her the woman's head. Skadi could feel her heart racing as Skurge nodded, moving to raise his axe up to complete the order; she could tell the Executioner didn't want to execute. Skurge's hesitation bought her time to remember Heimdall words from last night once again. Heimdall said to wait until it's time but Skadi knew that at this moment she couldn't just stand there like she'd done with the soldiers Hela executed. She had to do something, now was the right moment; now she had to take a stand and try.
"No!" She shouted, flinging her arms out as Skurge was about to bring down the axe finally finishing his own inner battle.
Out shot a blaze of ice, sending the axe clanging to the ground a few feet passed Skurge and the woman, landing right in front of the crowd. A gasp from the crowd was heard, as well as a grunt of annoyance from Hela. Skadi looked at her sister, who now glared at her harshly; from behind she could feel Fenris now standing up, hovering over her.
In a flash, Skadi wasted no time, feeling her power being enhanced from not only the Ancient Winters but from her anger, she darted out of the way as Fenris swiped her paw out at her and then ducking as Hela sent an array of daggers her way. Rolling onto the floor and landing in a crouching position, Skadi punching into the ground, cracking it and sending a trail of ice Fenris's way. The wolf's feet were frozen in thick chunks of ice, the giant creature barking as it tried to rip itself out of the way.
Skadi expected Hela to strike again but didn't, only painstakingly slowly walking down the steps. Skadi watched her but could hear her guards being silently summoned to attack her. Still crouched down, slightly jerking herself up, she kicked up her foot upwards knocking the first skeleton solider back a few steps, giving her enough time to get back onto her feet just in time to block a sword from being struck down on her. The sword clashed against her gauntlet, creating an icy spark. Skadi used her other hand to reach for one of her daggers, swiping up and across the skeleton's torso, before digging it in and pulling out.
The others quickly surrounded her but she didn't falter, throwing the dagger at one, landing a hit right into its eye socket, while using her other hand to shot out more ice blasts towards the others. She grabbed her last dagger, moving to look as if she was going to repeat the same motion with another soldier but at the last second changed targets, aiming this time for her sister. As the last soldier was shot down with an ice blast the dagger reached the unsuspecting Hela.
The Queen of the dead, huffed, quickly tearing the dagger out of her shoulder just as quickly as it lodged itself in there. She would easily heal but her pride wouldn't. She knew deep down that the weak girl would betray her no matter how much she tried to fool herself and hope that the girl really wanted to join her cause. But she knew Skadi left her room last night, and she knew where she went. Skadi was a naïve to think she could pull one over on her. Executing innocence was Skadi's punishment for trying to play Hela as a fool.
Just as Hela tossed the dagger to the ground, Fenris had finally broke free of her bonds. Eyes widening, Skadi backed up, seeing Skurge and daring him to fight her. He froze, not from her but just from fear and uncertainty on what to do. Skadi rolled her eyes, helping the elderly woman up quickly and passing her off to two men from the crowd who ran over to help.
"Run! Get as far away as you can from here!" She warned them, and they nodded to her thankfully.
She could hear Fenris leaping into the air, intending to pounce on them but Skadi wouldn't have it. Screaming, pushing her muscles, she made a large barrier wall of ice, separating them from the giant wolf dog. The creature slammed into the ice, causing it to crack a smidge. Skadi placed her hands on it, feeling the atoms and bonds in the ice, making them stronger and fixing the crack. Hela made no move, eying Skurge, now testing him to defend her since he was on the right side of her sister's wall while she was not.
Skadi turned to look at him, but not letting go of the wall as Fenris clawed at it. Skurge eyed his fallen weapon, contemplating his next move. He would surely live if he sided with Hela, but would he be able to live with himself if he did? He knew what he was doing was wrong but it was pretty hard to go against a goddess such as herself, especially now.
Skadi cried out, letting go of the wall and instead making it wider, seeing as Fenris gave up and starting to move to go around it. Stretching her arms out gracefully, the wall formed around the town square making it impossible for Fenris to get to them now. She felt herself starting to tire, never using that much power before. She took a step back, looking to see that the people were now safely away from the square. Her eyes caught Skurge's, and she let out a shaky breath.
"I won't hesitate to kill you if you pick that up and fight for her." She said bluntly, pointing to the axe. "But pick that up and fight for Asgard, and I'll protect you from her, like I should've been doing since she's gotten here."
Skadi then pointed to Hela, whose ears perked up at her small speech. She was beginning to sound like a princess; she was wrong of course, but it was an improvement from the usual stuttering mess she was. Skadi could feel Hela's fiery stare and meet her with an icy one of her own. Now moving to walk away and help the people find safety, Skadi paused to look back at Skurge.
"Well?" She questioned, giving him a second before shaking her head and moving along.
She didn't look back walking away from the scene, knowing that she now had to find those people and Heimdall. She didn't get very far as she was forcefully thrown to the ground, a heavy body now on top of her. Angry, she moved to shove Skurge off of her, seeing that it was him but paused when she realized what he did.
Next to them a spike was sticking up from out of the ground; Hela would've killed her if he hadn't pushed her out of the way. Skurge got off of her and pulled her up, pushing her backwards and shouting at her to run. She nodded, and the pair ran, a stream of black spikes nearly piercing them as they did.
"Shit!" Skadi hissed, one practically impaling her by an inch. It only cut her from her leg up to her shoulder before towering up.
"Fly," Skurge huffed, his armor making him trail behind a few paces. "You can get away faster if you fly."
"What about you?" Skadi called back, sending a blast of ice at a spike that popped out in front of him, causing it to stop forming.
"Forget about me, your people need you more." He responded.
Skadi bit her lip; he was her people do. Groaning at the situation at hand. Skadi darted up to the sky but not before spiraling towards him and picking him up. His armor made him heavy, and she wasn't used to carrying something weighting this much. The heaviest she ever had to carry was Drax but they didn't get that far due to his weight. But she pursued anyway, flying them deeper into the city.
She wiped her head back, hearing a loud bang, and the sound of a building collapsing. She gaped when she saw Fenris, barreling out of a building and now on their side of the wall. The dumb dog crashed through one of the buildings to get through her barrier, she cursed to herself. She also could see Hela now using her spikes to take down her ice wall.
Flying faster as the dog caught up to them quickly, she headed straight to the Bifrost, planning on losing the wolf over the water. The wolf jumped up at them, snarling her teeth and trying to snatch them up with her fangs. Skadi jerked them out of the way, landing them on a roof forcefully in order to avoid being engulfed by Fenris's jaws. Huffing, and catching their breaths as they rolled to a stop, the pair kept themselves focused. Skadi knew they could stay on this rooftop for so long before Hela and Fenris would surely sniff them out.
"Leave me, you can fly faster without lugging me with 'ya." Skurge told her, looking over the roof to see if the coast was clear.
"No, you betrayed Hela, she'll feed you to that mutt." Skadi shook her head no, adjusting her chest armor as she did. She wore her full outfit Hela gave her, but began to take off the cloak, it slowing her down. As she did, she also noted the large gash on her leg from where Hela's spike hit her. The blood was pouring out more than she would've liked, and the sight made her slightly light headed. Shaking her head, trying to ignore the irritating pain, she looked back up to Skurge.
"I'll distract them, you need to make sure you get to safety. Let me do this, to make up for what I've done for her," He pleaded, hearing the large footsteps of Fenris coming from up the street. She must've finally turned around and realized that they were hiding up high.
"Take this then," Skadi frowned, knowing that he was speaking truth. She needed to still be alive for Thor and Loki's arrival, whereas Skurge didn't. It was harsh, but true. She unsheathed the sword Hela made for her, handing it over to him. "Don't go down without a fight,"
Skurge nodded as she flew a few feet up from the roof, giving her a nervous smile. Sighing, she took off knowing that if she stood any longer she'd end up taking him and getting themselves caught in the process. Taking one look back at the rooftop, see flew as fast as she could, figuring her best bet was to hid out on the outskirts of the city, she could wait out until her brothers arrived. Hopefully it was soon, because she wasn't quite sure how long she could out run her sister.
As she flew low, using the buildings as cover, Skadi waited until she reached the outskirts to move to travel by foot, knowing she'd find better cover in the trees verses the sky. She had partly wished she didn't give Skurge her last weapon, feeling herself grow weak after walking for what felt like hours. She knew she had to find some sort of shelter, knowing Hela would be sending her guards after her as soon as she finished of Skurge.
She hadn't realized how harsh her breathing was until now. The pounding in her ears from the adrenaline were now wearing off and all she could hear were the shallow breathes she couldn't control or stop from escaping from her mouth. She could feel it in her lungs as well, it was like she was on fire as the pain from her wound finally started to get to her. Looking down and running a lazy hand over the cut fabric on her upper thigh, she winced at the contact of skin; thankfully her armored thighs protected a majority of her leg.
She found herself leaning against a tree for support, sinking to the forest floor to take what she intended to be a quick break to gather herself together. What she didn't intend was for her to loose herself in a heap of exhaustion, the panic and anxiety fully taking over and reverting her to her usually self. Moving her uninjured leg up to used it to lean her head down on, trying to blink away the dots scattering across her vision. She could rustling around her, but couldn't find it in herself to move. It was almost as if she could hear a comforting voice telling her not to, so she didn't. She felt a calming sensation overcome her and as the rustling turned to close footsteps, she found herself floating into a lull until all she saw was darkness.