A sudden drop in temperature can mean a lot of things, none of them good. Basically the signal that things are going to get a lot less pleasant and a lot more complicated.
Especially when it happens within the walls of the Aesir palace, enchanted as to maintain a constant, pleasant level. Especially especially if it happens while the coronation ceremony of the new king is in progress, with practically every aesir of any importance attending, along with representatives from all friendly (or at least non-hostile) realms.
Loki at first ignored it, as did most of those who noticed. After all, if something was wrong, the einherijar would be on the case in an instant. If they were not reacting surely it meant whatever it was was under control.
If you are any good as a sorcerer, you can sense the presence of magic as one can sense a raging fire nearby. Normally such an unfamiliar surge of power would have been as attention grabbing as a scream, but not now, with the ritual of the coronation in progress.
There was too much power in the room, the energies building moment by moment as the king-who-is and the king-to-be spoke the ancient vows, as the moment of the transfer of power approached closer still. Most of the sorcerers were more or less too dazzled by the hovering auras to sense a different, hostile power lurking not too far from them. Except, of course, one to whom that power called, for it was the same that flowed in his veins.
The younger prince hesitated a moment, scanning the room for any indication that someone had noticed, someone was attending to this new complication. No one. Were they all blind ? They may not have a sorcerer's senses, but surely they could feel the cold that crept into their bones? Sure, more than a few were fidgeting, rubbing their limbs in an effort to stay warm, but no one seemed to be actually on the case, so as to speak.
Loki concentrated on the echoes of the strange, icy power, tracing it back to it's origins. The Vault. Of course. Of all places it had to be the Vault. It was more curiosity than responsibility that led the trickster prince to his decision.
Under his breath he spoke a word, and an illusory image took his place, himself vanishing. The momentary flicker that betrayed the trick was too slight for even the alert eyes of the einherijar to register.
"Fenrir, to the Vault, now!" The captain of the guards was used to the younger prince's sudden appearances and disappearances, all the same, he could not help being too taken aback for a moment to follow the command as instantaneously as he should have. Loki had already vanished again by the time the captain yelled at the guards under his command to rush down.
Fortunately the palace halls were completely deserted at the time, so there were no awkward questions from the civilians slowing them down. Unfortunately, there was plenty of ice slowing them down. Fenrir gaped as his foot went sliding from under him. He had stepped onto what should have been the stone corridor leading to the spiral stairs, but the stone beneath him was iced over as completely as a pool in the midwinter tide.
Obviously, the iced over part was no obstacle to one who was born to the frozen world of Jotunheim. Which was why Loki was the only one who actually caught sight of the invaders before the Destroyer struck.
Two of them. Huge and blue, but not quite as ugly as the usual set of Jotuns. The one who held the pulsing Winter Casket in hand turned towards the prince, his expression one of terror than wrath. He knew it was over. Loki's eyes went to the runes carved on the jotun's blue-black forehead. The rune that marked this intruder as one of royal blood. As the crown prince of Jotunheim.
The frost giant opened his mouth as if to speak something, ( a curse, most likely - jotuns did not plead for mercy), but before any words crossed his lips, a jet of flame erupted from the Destroyer. Loki was meters away from the targets, but even then the heat and the accompanying force wave flung him away, almost right onto Fenrir who came sliding to a stop before the yawning doors of the Vault.
The guards instantly placed themselves between the prince and the intruders, but a moment's inspection showed there was no danger here. The jotuns lay as charred, barely recognizable corpses on the floor. Some feet away lay the corpses of aesir - the guards of the Vault.
The sound of several pounding footsteps down the corridor sent Fenrir into Red Alert mode again, but those who came rushing in were Asgardians, Thor (of course) in the lead.
" About time you noticed" Loki commented.
The thunderer took in the grisly scene at one swift glance.
"Loki, are you alright?"
"Yes. The Destroyer dealt with them. Jotuns."
Sif and the Warriors Three seemed more interested in the Vault itself than the charred intruders. Even with the evident seriousness of the situation, Loki almost laughed at Volstagg's and Frandal's expression of childish awe.
"The Destroyer" Frandal murmured. "I thought that was a legend too."
Volstagg almost stepped forward as if he wanted to touch the deadly watcher and assure himself that it was really there, but changed his mind after a glance at what was left of it's targets.
"How did they get in?" Thor roared, launching a vicious kick at the nearest charred body. It squelched as his foot connected. Frandal looked like he was about to be sick.
Before anyone could say anything more, Odin Allfather was there. He said nothing, merely watched in musing silence as the Destroyer gently placed the Casket of Ancient Winters in it's resting place. It was as always, impossible to guess what he was thinking.
Thor's reaction, on the other hand, was as overt as it was predictable.
"The Jotuns must pay for what they've done!" The echoes in the vault sounded quite suitably dramatic, but Odin was far from impressed.
"They have already paid with their lives." The king's tone was curt."The Destroyer did it's job, and the Casket is safe. All is well."
Thor looked like he was about to explode. " All is well? They..They broke into the Weapons Vault! If they had captured even one of these relics…"
"They did not."
For anyone other than Thor, the Allfather's tone would have translated as This discussion is over. But then again, when had the Thunderer been exactly adept at reading the subtext?
"I want to know why they…"
Right. Because that really wasn't obvious. Why would the Jotuns want the Winter Casket? Are you seriously asking that? Loki moved away from the pair, trying to see whether any damage had been done. The Casket may be what they were there for, but that didn't mean other relics would have been unwelcome.
Had the Destroyer been in time? Had one of the intruders gone for the Casket while the other tried another target? To sabotage, if not capture? Everything seemed to be in order, but the Vault was so vast that a careful, detailed inspection by the custodians would be necessary.
Of course, it was quite improbable that the jotuns had evaded the Destroyer long enough to do any damage, but it was not impossible. More importantly, how in the name of Yggdrasil had they managed to get so far?
Loki did not have as great a trust in Heimdall's Sight as other Asgardians did, having devised a couple of ways to circumvent it himself. But all the same, a place like the Weapons Vault was guarded by much more than the Watcher's sight and the guardsmen. The Destroyer was the final line of defense. To reach so far…No doubt the Allfather was alarmed, too. Contrary to what Thor clearly believed, just because you were calm didn't mean you were complacent.
Loki glanced back at his father and brother. Ah, almost time to intervene. Both looked like they were about to go ballistic.
"As King of Asgard, I would…"
Uh oh. Past time to intervene.
"You are not king yet."
The Allfather's tone seemed to sent the temperature plummeting even further. Loki hurried back to the pair, praying that Thor would have the sense to back off while he could. Thank the Norns, he did. At least, had sense enough to shut up and get out, though not enough to slam the door nearly off it's hinges like a tantrum throwing child. The Fates probably did Asgard and Jotunheim a great favour by scheduling the doomed heist before the coronation was over.
Odin sighed.
"He is a boy still. A boy playing at war."
The boy you would have crowned, father. Loki stepped closer.
"Father, I would.."
"Do you call for war, too?"
" Not till we know more." He paused. "I was here a moment or so before the Destroyer struck. I saw them. One of them" he indicated one of the bodies "This one, bore the royal runes. He was their crown prince. Laufey's son." Technically, my younger brother.
Odin's face remained as inscrutable as ever, but Loki was pretty sure there was more unease in his eyes. This was no longer the escapade of two extremists that could be limited to them. If the prince of Jotunheim was involved..
"How sure are you of this?"
"Certain." Loki didn't hesitate. "I have seen him before, at the wedding of the Vanaheim princess. I would have recognized him from that alone, but the runes upon his forehead made it even easier. Only the king and the king-to-be bears those."
The Allfather nodded.
"Interesting. However, just because the prince was involved doesn't necessarily mean the king was. Possible, maybe even probable, but it is no proof. It would indeed be hypocritical of me to automatically assume Laufey was aware and approving of his son's escapade, considering the scrapes my sons routinely get into."
He looked down at what remained of Jotunheim's prince.
"A pity the body is unrecognizable. It would fall away to ashes the moment it is moved. No doubt Laufey would circulate a story of the boy dying in a hunting accident, or something very like it." There were no shortage of sudden and nasty ways to die in the frozen realm, even for princes.
"Come with me. The council must be summoned."