SHADOW OF DEATH
Chapter 34: Power
Loki lay on his back with one hand shielding his eyes from the glare of the trio of bright Xandarian suns. Mud coated his parched lips and caked into the orifices of his many wounds.
Even with the aid of the Casket, it had taken nearly four long days (and three wrong turns) to travel to Xandar through the secret passageways. His final leg opened into a Xandarian marsh leaving him with another five days' journey across the immense planet to find the teeming capital to the far west. He had to admit-the Casket's capabilities were impressive, even as relatively understood as they still were to him. If not for the distasteful origin of the relic and the many duties he now carried, he would have enjoyed exploring its potential further. As it was, he appreciated the Casket's efficacy in increasing the range and sensitivity of his abilities of slipping through the fabric of the realms of the universe quickly and unnoticed.
Upon his arrive in Xandar, he immediately grimaced as the humidity washed over him like a steam bath and the murky stench of the algae-filled swamp pummeled his senses. Winged fish leapt between moss-covered trees and into the shallow waters of his feet hunting for insects while blue-gray reptilian karners floated on top of the water with the aid of the air-filled sacks in their bellies.
As the capital of the immense and powerful Nova Empire, Loki had traveled to the central metropolis build on the artificial atolls many times during his long years. The city itself was a technological marvel and a central gathering place for peoples from across the galaxies. While impressive in many ways, it was the muggy, oppressive heat that kept Loki from spending more time here than his duties required on each visit. Still, diplomacy paid no heed to personal preferences and climate and so he came back again and again to negotiate trade deals and better conditions for the small population of Yggdrasil's children that sought their fortunes outside the Nine.
As the marshlands morphed into soggy agricultural plains and fish farms, Loki took on the garb of an Asgardian merchant so as to not rouse suspicion. While the royalty of Asgard would hold little consequence to the peasants of this empire, he did not wish to risk recognition. He changed his face into that of an older Aesir man with slightly graying beard and mustache, weathered face, and blue eyes. Once he got past the sparsely populated farmlands and entered the bustling, densely populated urban areas, he would cast himself in invisibility.
He never made it that far. As he made his initial veiled inquiries into the now near-legendary battle between small contingents of Ravagers and Kree from some of the peasants working their farms, he failed to notice the eyes and ears following his movements. As he turned onto an uncommonly used road that would provide a more discrete route into the city, two dozen darkly-robed figured descended upon him without warning.
They were no more than common ruffians, opportunistic thieves who preyed on travelers, but Loki was out of earshot of any other life, hidden by a dense forest of fruit trees, and vastly outnumbered. His attackers were no trained warriors and Loki easily dispensed of half of them before one managed to land a shot with an Olikerian laser gun and rendered him momentarily paralyzed. Another slipped a set of magic-inhibiting bracers on his wrists and then he was easy prey to their pillaging. The lack of belongings he carried and the high cost of their scuffle left his assailants in poor humor and they decided to take what they felt he owed them out of his flesh.
It was long before Loki regained consciousness again. When he did, he was alone. He was still next to the isolated road into the city, but travelers on this route would be few and far between. His clothing was gone save for a torn, bloody undershirt. His Kree transponder, Midgardian phone, all his hidden knives, and his remaining Aesir jewelry were all gone. Without his magic, his disguise (and all means for escape) were also beyond his reach.
His arms and legs were tightly bound and a dirty rag gagged his mouth. His bindings were unnecessary as the broken femur, fractured wrist, and sprained ankle alone would have made movement nearly impossible. The myriad of mud-caked, bleeding gashes that marred him from head to toe ensured he stayed motionless. His dizzy, throbbing head made him wonder just how much blood he had lost and if his skull had also received further injury. As it was, he could not so much as roll over, let alone escape the marsh vermin who crept ever fearlessly closer to him with a hungry gaze in their beady eyes.
As consciousness rolled in and out over him in waves, he could not differentiate between vivid dreams and wakefulness. Was it his imagination, or did he see his brother come and laugh at him for being taken so unawares?
When he saw a figure approaching on horseback, he praised the Norns for his good fortune and he knew he was saved. Of all the people who would come across him on the road, the first to come upon him would be a Vanir mercenary. Loki recognized the tell-tale armor and the physical attributes of the Aesir's cousin realm. Surely this man would assist him.
Loki's heart fell as the Vanir's face wrinkled in disgust and instead of approaching to give aid, the dishonorable man turned his horse around on the road to avoid passing Loki's resting place completely.
It was hours before more travelers came along the road. A low-flying vehicle driven by a Nova Corps government official approached. While low-ranking, he was still of high enough status to be of some import in the empire. The motors of the vehicle stopped nearby and Loki struggled to open his eyes to see the man alight from the craft. He grunted when the man poked him with his boot. Upon realizing that the prone figure was alive, the official startled and grimaced. He quickly flung a bottle of water and bag of bandages onto Loki's bound body. Then, before Loki could even summon the strength to ask for assistance, the vehicle's motor sounded and the government official was gone. At first, Loki hoped that meant the man would return soon with more assistance. His hopes never materialized, no matter how Loki watched the road on whence he traveled and wished for the sight of the vehicle returning.
Long hours passed as the three suns came closer and closer to vanishing for the long Xandarian night. It would be three Midgardian days before the light returned to drench these lands again and he was in no state to defend himself against the night predators that haunted these swamps in the darkness. As he struggled in vain against his bindings before falling into darkness again. When he woke next, a third traveler's footsteps crunched along the deserted road and startled away the scavenging animals that circled Loki hungrily.
"Eh? What be this?" a deep voice said. "Ye be far from home, little man and ye have had a time of it. Ye canna stay here through nightfall or the gryerbews will make quick work of ye."
Loki could barely summon the strength to open his eyes when he felt strong arms lift him from the ground. A figure, tall and immense towered over him. At first, all Loki could see was the threadbare gray robe and bone necklace the figure wore. Then he caught a flash of blue skin, bright red eyes, and felt cold rush through him at the palm that brushed his forehead. Loki gasped and struggled in vain to free himself but the panic cost him dearly and he fell back unconscious again.
Each time he woke in the following hours, his Jotun rescuer spoke little but occasionally hummed to himself. The strong arms failed to release him and the rhythmic footsteps lulled him asleep again and again as they traveled to a destination Loki feared to discover. The Jotun stopped at a small village on an atoll surrounded by fish farms.
The Jotun kicked open a metal door into an underground dwelling. He deposited his small burden onto an immense bed in one corner of the dark room and clapped his hands. A blue light glowed overhead and revealed the sparse furnishings, stone fireplace, and a wall covered with a fur tapestry. Overhead, a skylight adjusted to let in both day and night light from the world outside. The moons were just beginning to rise and their pale glow added to the Jotun's own light in the cool room. The Jotun spoke a few words in a whisper. Loki felt the magic sizzle through the room and it felt like a wave of ice washed through the room, cooling off the entire space to a temperature cool enough to freeze water.
The Jotun sorted through large chest in one corner and a box from below the bed until he gathered healing herbs, a wash basin, and fresh water. Then, as he hummed to himself, the Jotun used a myriad of healing arts to tend Loki's wounds. Loki was asleep before he finished.
ooooooo
Loki woke next to the smell of bubbling meat broth and the dancing fire light around the room. He was alone. He sat upright, dislodging the fur blanket that covered him, and he groaned. His cuts and abrasions were now healed, but his bones would take much longer to grow together, though they were now properly aligned and set within bindings. The paralyzing effects of the laser still lingered in his extremities so he could barely feel his limbs. The magical bindings remained on his wrists, even as all his other bindings were gone.
The metal door opened with an unceremonious clang and the Jotun entered the room with a bundle of fruit in his hands. He gave Loki a cursory nod and busied him around the hearth with the broth. As he worked, his skin changed from blue to pale ivory and his eyes changed from red to green. He stood nearly ten feet tall, wearing only a loin cloth now over his muscled frame, his nearly-shorn head covered in tattooed and scarred designs, as were his chest and arms. Instead of bony protrusions, one long braid fell from the back of his head down his back, woven with feathers and bone beads. Loki stared in fascination.
The Jotun came and brought the broth to where Loki lay.
"Drink this," he said in a deep, commanding voice.
Loki complied and drained the clay bowl of all its contents before he accepted a second.
"Easy now," the Jotun said. "Don't ye drink too fast now."
Loki cleared the second bowl and lay back on the bed again.
"You rest now, little man. You be safe here," the Jotun said.
Ooooo
Loki woke next to find a basket of Xandarian fruit and a mug of weak ale besides him. His host failed to return to the underground room for the better half of the day. Loki tried in vain to remove the magic-inhibiting bracers still binding his wrists. When the Jotun returned next, he tended Loki's bandages and changed out his splints.
"Ye will heal better if I remove these," the Jotun said as he pointed his long, sharp finger at the bracers. "I am a'trusting ye not to be so fool as to escape or fight me, little Aesir."
Loki nodded and visibly exhaled when the bracers were removed and he felt the free flow of magic through his veins again. He conjured fresh clothes for himself and a large pillow.
"Thank you….how shall I address you?" Loki asked.
"Ah, I be Skadmire of the Eastern Glaciers," he answered with a slight nod of his large head.
"You are a merchant here in Xandar?" Loki asked.
"Aye," Skadmire responded. "Though trade be long and cumbersome these days. I have dwelt in Xandar on and off for the better part of a thousand years now as I trade goods between empires."
"Your skin-you changed. How? Why?" Loki asked.
The Jotun laughed. "I do not think ye will best me as ye are now, as weak as a wee suckling ice hound. What need have I of me armor now in me own home?"
"Armor?"
"Aye. Of course. It protects me from the cold and from the weapons of me enemies and with it, I can wield the ice as me own."
"So, you are not always blue?"
"Of course not! Didna ye hear me? It's me armor. It blends in nicely during the dark seasons when we go to hunt or war and it lightens a bit during the brighter months to keep me well hid."
"But you look like an Aesir or Vanir…," Loki said with undisguised curiosity.
"Tchk, tchk, tchk," he clicked. "Dunna ye let the Jotnar hear ye say such blasphemy or they would skird ye belly with a pole of ice before ye can said 'lipernel.' We be taller, stronger, and more beautiful than those little bugs. And they know it. That is why they so fond of our womenfolk and fight so hard to steal them from us."
"They don't intermarry with your kind," Loki responded in both surprise and defensiveness.
Here the Jotun gave a hearty laugh and turned on him with an incredulous expression.
"Ye be but young still, but I thought all Aesir would know better-being that ye have half-blood folk in ye own royal family born of a daughter of Jotunheim."
"You must be mistaken," Loki responded.
"Nay, Aesir. I knew the All-Father's first wife meself. She was a great lady, sister of he who sat on the throne after Odin's firstborn daughter were finally chased off it. A much wiser, kinder, lovelier woman the realms have never seen. Around Utgaard, we say it be the fault of the Aesir blood that made her young 'uns so hot-headed and war-thirsty. We warn our womenfolk, these days we do, we say, 'Those little warriors may come with pretty bobbles and prettier words, but dunna ye be taken in by them. They give ye nothing but heartache and yer own babes will take ye heads and erase yer name after they've taken yer home and left it with naught but ice and tears.'"
Loki hesitated, considering carefully his next words before he asked them. "You are referring to Hela? Her dame was of Jotunheim and Hela reigned for a time on the throne off your land."
"But of course. All Odin's young 'uns have the blood of the Jotnar in their veins."
"You must be mistaken," Loki said. "Queen Frigga of Vanaheim bore Thor."
"Aye. As she bore you…dunna give me that look. I know who ye be the moment I laid eyes on ye bloody bones by the side o'the road," Skadmire said with a low chuckle. He laid a knife he was sharpening on the table and took a long draught of water from a tall ceramic jug. "As I were saying, the All-Mother
"No! I was stolen from the ice plains of Jotunheim. She bore Thor herself."
"I say it again, son of Odin. The All-Mother bore no babe to the house of Odin. It is true, you share no blood through Odin, but through Jord, his first wife, you are cousins with the lost prince, for Laufey was brother of Jord."
"You lie."
"Nay, Princeling. I see the All-Father has done the house of Laufey no justice in explaining the origins o' his children. Not that I blame him over much. Laufey were as good a king as an ice rock woulda been and he did the Jotnar no favors in following around the Asgardian wench of a queen as he did.
"All woulda been a better if we kept to ourselves and married our own and kept our noses outta the business of ye realm. All ye be trouble makers and rabble rousers, the lot of ye. We were peaceful, prosperous, happy, and content till that eldest maid o' Odin came and filled our minds with her rot. She make us think ourselves be grander than we be and make us wish for things that ought never be ours. She used us as her carrion fodder and we let her because we let our vanity speak fer us. Mayhaps it be our rightful reward to be as we are-starving and a'dying away. I dunna. I be no prophet nor mage but a man o' sword and trade."
Loki sat upright and stared into the deep green eyes of the giant Jotun to search out if truth or lies lay beneath. He felt in his bones the Jotun was honest, but he could not easily believe the tales his words spun. Still-his curiosity chewed on him and he needed to know.
"What do you know of Hela?" Loki asked hesitantly, fearful to display his ignorance and provide the Jotun with more fodder for his dislike of Odin's management of his children.
"What ye wish to know?" Skadmire asked dubiously. He raised one eyebrow which made the blue ink designs on his head wrinkle into folds.
"Whatever you can tell me," Loki replied.
"Aye. Well, that be a dark tale fer the bards to weave. Our people, we call her the 'Death Bringer' fer all she gave us. I fought in the Ice War meself in me younger days, ye see, but I were there when the cursed wench of the Aesir king came and stole our livelihood and blamed us for the actions of his own house. Many a Jotun wife were trapped on Asgard, forced to deny her own kin and not allowed to return home after the war. As if it were the fault of the maid she were sought by the little men for her great beauty! There be no great feelings of warmth to Odin's firstborn, though queen of Jotunheim she may have been."
"How did she become queen of Jotunheim?" Loki asked.
"Well, that was in the days when Thrym ruled the blessed plains of the Jotnar. The princess Hela, fer long days, she fought fiercer than a rabid icehound and were the All-Father's right hand as he closed it ever tighter around the realms. Though to Hela, nine were too small a number. Rumors said grew right unhappy with the decisions o'the All-Father and were acting up a bit.
"King Thrym were not the wisest o' his line, though his arm were strong enough to best his rivals for the throne in Utgard. After giving Odin Laufey's sister, Jord, fer first wife, and after so many other Jotun maids were a'taken by Aesir to wife, Thrym got it into his thick head to do likewise. He made request fer Asgard to send him an Aesir to wife. He worded it nicely-same ways the All-Father's father had when he arranged for Jord to be sent for Odin. He asked for Lady Freya, as she had a reputation as quite the beauty, but she were already married. Odin sent Hela instead and she were none too happy about the arrangement. Odin thought being forced to be wife and mother might teach her a thing or two, cool her hot head, and force a new set of priorities into the young warrioress.
"She were as wifely and motherly as an ice sword, that one, and never showed no signs o'child. They said she could drink as much as ten men and eat as much a full ox herself and her eyes were fierce enough to set a man's knees right to shakin'. The Jotnar soon felt the All-Father sent a son as wife instead o' a maid fer all her wildness, ambition, and thirst fer blood.
"She were as hard as diamond to Thrym at first, but that changed soon. When she saw how easy he were to put a'thoughts in his head, the power of the Casket of Ancient Winters, and the strength of the Jotnar, she changed her mind and were right sweet to the king.
"Then she used that poisoned tongue o' hers to fill Thrym's mind with all sorts of bosh. She killed off nearly all his council that opposed her without him knowing she were doing it and she replaced them all with her own she liked a'better. Soon, she were developing armies and weapons and making big plans that no Jotnar in their right mind would ever thought were good. But she spun such tales fer us, we all were blinded. 'The Jotnar could be greater than Asgard,' she said. 'The Jotnar should rule the Nine and beyond,' she said. And her words ringed true to some.
"Fer those who didna need to be grand and bold, she made a'feared. 'Those Aesir, they canna be trusted,' she said. 'Ther men be faithless and witho' honor, their women deceptive and heartless. The Aesir be out to steal all yer women and starve out yer babes and take yer relics and ye need to protect yerselves from them,' she said. 'They will corrupt yer blood if ye wed ther kind. Ye need to treat them as they treat us-witho' heart or care, as if we be the crown of Yggdrasil ourselves.'
"So, she turned our peace-loving folk into her own personal army and led us into Midgard to disturb the peace of others. She sought out some fancy relics the All-Father had hidden on Midgard (why he couldna keep them in Asgard's own vaults, I couldna tell ye. Mighty irresponsible if ye ask me), but so he did and so we went. She said we could have Midgard-the crossroads of the realms-as our own. It wer to be our space to grow in and rule as was our 'fate' and 'birthright'-and she would take the relics as her own as she moved on to conquer the other realms.
"She made her uncle, Laufey, her general and sent him a'plundering. They stole food and farms, women and livestock, and behaved in such a way as woulda made our mothers' blush and disown our very memory if they were to hear of it fer that not be the way of honor fer our kind.
"I hadna doubt she woulda found her relics the way she set out a'plundering, but then the All-Father surprised us. Left his own realm during their birthin' time, his own babe a'struggling to live, his first wife barely set adrift down those falls as yer kind are a'like to, and came to defend the little mortals and their realm and fight his own daughter.
"He chased us back to Jotunheim and ther army paid a heavy price that were felt for seasons after and they were none to happy about it. The fighting were fierce and none knew who would be victor until some Aesir took Laufey prisoner outside Utgard.
"Hela, convinced she could still win, wished fer more dark magic. It were long whispered about that she were known to have a fondness fer the darkest of magic. She said it gave her unstoppable strength and power. We said it corrupted her heart and went to her head and made her reek of death itself.
"Well, none could stop her. Up till then, she had used captured Midgardians as blood sacrifices before the battles to give her the power she required. Now, away from Midgard, she decided she needed stronger sacrifices still. What could be stronger than the only Midgardian-Jotun babe known in existence? The power of two realms flowed through this babe, not to mention the strength of the magic in Laufey's line. So, she sent soldiers to take the babe from Laufey's wife who was attending to it and put it in the temple for her to come for to spill his blood fer the magic such an abomination of a sacrifice would grant her.
"Before she could reach the temple, Odin's forces captured her and the Casket, and it were all over. There were no way to win. While they were a' searching fer more of ther injured kin around Utgard, the All-Father come across the wee babe in the temple and took the babe home with him. Laufey, when he found out, were right mad. Though his wife were right glad. She nearly had his testicles sawn off when she found out he took a mortal maid a'bed. It is not our way, ye see, to be casting seed here and there and taking wives as one takes livestock. Ye take one and she take ye and not like those good fer nothing philandering little men ye find on Asgard and Vanaheim.
"Well, Odin placed Laufey on the throne and told him to 'forget it all' and that he took none too kindly too that. Utgard lay in ruins, funeral pyres lit each home, our source o' power and food were in his hands, and all fer what? The greed and pretty words o' his daughter. Then those Aesir blame us fer it all and cast us as villains! And then Odin tell Laufey not to speak o' his own beloved sister, the All-Father's first wife and mother o' Hela. Well, it not be our way to so dishonor the memory of kin and the dead. The Jotnar, we face our problems, we dunna run from them or hide them away in dark vaults. No, Laufey were a right scoundrel at times, but he had right honor when it came to his kin. He got into a mighty quarrel with the All-Father and they refused to speak since. It were made right worse when Odin refused to return Laufey's halfling son."
"Odin said I was a runt and so Laufey left me in the temple to die," Loki answered after a few quiet moment's pause.
The Jotun laughed a full belly laugh until tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Aye. Tis true! Tis true! Just as surely as Thor and Hela were runts next to a full Jotun babe! As if the union of two Jotnar could produce such tiny, weakling babes! Tis only the halflings that are born so small and our kind wouldna abandon a babe to the elements. Even in the darkest of winters, and the starving times, it were not possible to do. As if Laufey woulda left his own kin, even at behest o' his wife!
"No, that were Hela, darkest of souls, mistress of death. She courted death like some court a maid, finding her power in taking lives o'others. They say it's the Aesir blood that does it. There is dark magic in that realm that makes the inhabitants mad and corrupt. All the good parts come from the Jotnar, as it should be. Look at yer first wife…."
"What do you know of Angrboda?" Loki asked.
"I knew the one who bore her dame. The Lady Skadi were a niece to me. When Njord, that Vanir chieftain, first set his eyes upon her, he set all his mind on having her. They say the jealousy of the Vanir and Aesir be a worst disease than all that beset the body. He would stop at nothing till he convinced her to be wife. Skadi despised the climate of Njord's home and he disliked that of the Jotnar and that be only the first of their many quarrels. The marriage lasted only a few centuries, but Skadi bore Njord a daughter who were so fine to look at, the king of Vanaheim himself were right taken with her.
"Skadi were right furious when she found out her precious only babe were one o' a whole palace o' wives. Njord tried to say it was the way o' the Vanir royals, but it proved too much and she left in disgust to go back to the more decent folk of her own kin. Then the Ice War happened and it all got muddled and she were no more able to visit her princess daughter. They say she died o' a broken heart after that.
"When Angrboda, granddaughter of Skadi, were born and married, Njord were right proud. His pride grew when she were taken as wife to the Aesir royal house. His pride were short-lived, they say, fer the Aesir, they spoiled Angrboda themselves with all their hatred towards the Jotun, telling her she were not worthy and she were wrong because she were a quarter Jotun till she went right crazy with it all. As if the house of Odin didna have more Jotun blood than she!"
"We didn't know," Loki whispered and shook his head. "We never knew."
"Ye were no help. Did ye speak for her? Tell the others her blood were no problem? Ye despised her blood with the rest of them and let her go mad with the lies. How could she thrive when she thought her very blood were wrong? How could she ever do right when any little thing she did wrong were blamed on her blood and she were 'naturally wrong' in their eyes? That be enough to drive the strongest mad with grief and pain and self-doubt. As if mixed blood be a weakness and not a strength!"
Skadmire gave Loki a piercing stare that clearly demonstrated his disapproval before he shook his head and continued speaking.
"The Jotnar be right confused by all that fer we know that when the blood of two realms mix, the babes wield the strengths o' the magic of both realms. Look at ye and ye kin. Those of Aesir blood have the strength o' ther warriors in them, but it's the magic o' the Jotnar that they be known fer. Why else could Thor call lightning or Hela wield death? Then there be ye. Yer size and yer weak muscle may be the fault o' the Midgard dame who bore ye, but yer sorcery, that be Jotnar. The tales, they say ye can change shape like some change robes. Is there truth in the tales?"
Loki nodded slowly.
"Aye. See. Midgard's magic has long been known to be how well their lands can change. As their lands have all the climates of the other realms, so the creatures have the magic o' change in their blood. You have their strength of change in ye.
"As I were saying, in the tale of Hela, after the defeat in Utgard, all changed. The Jotnar lost all that were truly valued and we were fool enough to bring it upon ourselves. The casket were our life source. Our very survival. It amplified the power in our realm and channeled it through our underground caverns, enabling us to grow crops, keep our young warm, and powering our above ground cities. Without it, we must dwell in our underground caverns, we canna grow crops, and we canna warm our young. We are dying slowly by slowly. The Jotun will be no more in the next millennium as the rate which we be dying.
"We couldna help but rejoice though when the All-Father captured Hela. He sent her straight to Helheim and none of us coulda believed it. Aesir princess, Jotun queen, heir of the Nine - banished like a common criminal and sent to live with the other prisoners? That's how we knew the All-Father were right mad.
"Now they say Hela lives on in Helheim, forcing the other prisoners into her new army, biding her time till her banishment ends when she will return to seek her own revenge upon Asgard and all others in her path. They say she has a new suitor. She whispers honey lies into his ear, as she did to Thrym, to make him do her bidding. She wishes fer all the relics, the Stones, and while she may not leave Helheim yet, she sends her suitor throughout the realms to gather dark magic and power of the Stones fer her. They say when all be complete, she wishes to take her place to rule not only the Nine, but beyond."
"Thanos," Loki said.
"Aye, that's the one. They say he were quite taken with her and she were right pleased with him. He were already like to stir up war to, as he says, 'bring balance.' She donna care so much fer balance as she thrives on the dark magic unleashed by blood sacrifices. The Mad Titan's desire fer 'balance' is convenient and it sates her thirst fer blood. So she encourages him to do it more and more."
"And she is the one who wishes for the Infinity Stones?" Loki asked.
"I canna say fer sure. The tales I have heard say she dunna care as much fer the relics as the effects the relics can produce. She wishes to rule and if they help her rule, they serve their purpose, just as the Mad Titan serves her purpose as he be."
Skadmire picked up his knife and began to sharpen the edge again. He pulled its blade across a stick to test its edge and sharpened some more. He fell into deep thought before his deep voice broke the silence again.
"They say those who wield dark magic will eat of its fruit. We, the Jotnar, canna blame anyone but ourselves. We believed Hela's honeyed lies, we thought erselves so high and mighty. We challenged fate and achieved exactly what we feared. We forged our own destruction. They say the dark magic works like that. Ye eat of it today and pay fer it tomorrow and the actions of the leader are paid fer by the whole people. Just look at ye. Yer attempted sacrifice came back upon our heads ten times over and this generation's children paid for those who were not treasured the last. Ye brought yer revenge upon both the realms that gave you up to the knife, whether ye knew it or not. Whether they knew it or note. The Norns knew and so orchestrated for us all to pay in full fer the misdeeds we allowed."
Seeing the expression on Loki's face, Skadmire gave a mirthless chuckle and used his knife to strip the bark off a piece of wood with so much vehemence, he cracked the wood. He threw it to the side of the room and spoke again without looking at Loki.
"Aye, I know who ye be. I were there when ye gave yer first cry on Midgard and I were there when our thrice cursed queen called fer yer small self to sacrifice in the temple. And I paid fer it all. Ye took the lives o' me wife and kin when ye unleashed the bifrost on us. I be trapped on Xander fer a good length o'time, unable to return due to Odin's ban on Jotnar a' traveling around like we used to, unable to light the funeral pyres with me kin."
Loki inhaled sharply as the Jotun spoke and his eyes sought to land on anywhere except the grief-stricken, angry face of Skadmire. He finally determined to stare at the tapestry across the way instead.
"Why?" Loki asked. "Why did you not leave me to my fate, if you knew who I am and what I had done?"
Skadmire sighed. "I wished to skewer you meself at first, I canna deny it. But didna ye hear me tale? I have no wish to eat o' the fruit o' that. If I were to take ye life, my own life I would take, even if not fer years to come. The lands o' me people have suffered enough through quests fer power and revenge and fear. I dunna want to see more o' that. Sometimes, the greatest revenge to heap upon me enemy is food, drink, care, and kindness where it is not wished fer or wanted, but it be me own life I save in so doing."
Loki shook his head. "I do not understand," he said.
"Be that as it may, it changes nothing," Skadmire said. "Now, you sleep, princeling, and gain yer strength back. Ye have yer own battles to face in the morrows to come."
ooooo
Author's Notes:
Yeah, so Hela in this story veers a bit from the MCU….but I guess quite a few things in this story are outside of the realms of the MCU. You may notice from here on into the next few chapters, I am reorganizing the timeline for the Guardians movies and Infinity Wars events. My logic being that the events in this story have forced Thanos to act a bit sooner than he does in the MCU timeline.