HELLOOOOO READERS! I know it has been awhile, but I haven't forgotten about ya'll at all. I thank you all so much for your support and encouragement throughout the journey of this story! I still cherish each and everyone of your folls, favorites and of course reviews. They make me smile. This chapter was difficult to write at parts, but it is a special chapter to me because it is the story as I envisioned it taking place when I first saw the trailer for Thor: The Dark World. And I have you all to thank for that. If not for your interest in the story I would not have gotten this far. So give yourselves a round of applause! Also I want to apologize if there are more grammatical mistakes than usual, but FF changed the website so you can't do spell check on here anymore...oh well. Happy reads and writes and God bless.
The sun rising over the hills in the Dales was truly a sight to be seen. Sigyn hadn't truly gotten the chance to appreciate its beauty when she was still at Kelby. There was no time to admire natural beauty when one was forced to slave away running here and there, feeding the animals, mucking the stalls picking the vegetables. The day she'd spent at Kelby had reminded her of a popular Midgardian fairy tale she had learned as a child. It was the story or the little cinder wench. It had always been one of her favorite tales; A landowner's daughter turned into her slave in her own house and betrayed by her family members. But in the end fate had taken pity on the ash maid and with the help of an enchanted being and a single act of defiance and she was able to go to the ball and meet the handsome prince and change her fate. In the end Cinderella live happily ever after. The story sounded all too familiar to Sigyn, although doubted that her luck would be as good as the pretty human maiden from the story. Her act of defiance would not necessarily lead her to a life better than the one she was running from in fact it could make things worse. There was no guarantee that she would be able to change fate. She could still end up back with Lord Theoic and he could now have distrust for her. He could turn cruel and mean feeling that she had made a cuckold out of him. The thought of having the live out the remainder of her years with a cruel husband and even crueler co-wife was unbearable she supposed that was the least of her worries with Convergence a mere two days away and Ragnarok darkening Asgard's doorstep.
So, with determination, the once lady-in-waiting to the queen, pressed her way out of the bed and slipped her feet on to the soft shag carpet and walked toward the window to take in the sunrise. She figured that if Ragnarok was going to happen she should savor the day. It could be the last one she would ever see in a universe not poisoned by the darkness of the Aether.
The golden rays of the Asgardian sun slipped across the darkened heavens silently, but then came in with a loud and beautiful bang. Once they made their way onto the scene they burst forth with marvelous light, set asunder the cold, mystique of the night time blues and replaced it with warm and brilliant, pink light and gentle orange and sweet, cheerful lavender.
The sun announced joyfully that it had risen and a new day had come. It awakened the sleepy world around it. It heated the ground and allowed the flowers to open their petals. The warm rays sent the birds to chirping their delightful morning hymns and caused the insects to come out of their hives all a buzz. The the sun awakened the foxes, rabbits and deer to spring from their dens ready to greet the day in merry frolic.
Lady Sigyn smiled as she watched a doe and fawn bound across the front lawn of her parents' country villa to nibble on some fresh clover. She tried to embrace the beauty of the new day and allow it to fill her with hope and confidence in all that she was planning to accomplish in the day. From the view outside her window the world seemed so lovely, and at peace. She was so far removed from the tragedy that struck the Imperial City that it seemed like it had never taken place. Despite the tranquility of the scene outside of her window Sigyn couldn't help but feel an eerie sense of foreboding. There were still only 2 days until Convergence and that included this day. Lady Sigyn gulped as she felt her palms moisten and butterflies flutter through her stomach to the point where she felt nauseous. She clutched her stomach and her chest as the gravity of the situation weighed down upon her. She only had two days to return to the Imperial City and give the letter to Prince Loki. Sigyn started to wring her hands, honestly she didn't even know if she could make it back to the Imperial City in time. She didn't know the way and she didn't know if Rana knew the way either. She supposed Rana could access a map somehow. Her father being an old Navy Admiral had numerous maps and navigational charts. But gaining the charts would still be contingent upon whether or not Rana little plan worked. That would mean that Rana actually could convince Father to allow them to return to Kelby together. Sigyn felt a lump form in her throat. What if Rana's plan didn't work? It sounded like a good plan, but she was desperate and at that point any plan sounded like a good plan. Any plan was better than what she would have been able to concoct. She was no good with plans. Rana wasn't necessarily good with plans either, but she supposed her older sister was better at plans than her.
Even more so than necessarily believing that her older sister's plan would work, Sigyn was simply thrilled that Rana was willing to help. No one had understood although she had done her best to explain, but she wasn't very good at explaining things. Sill, Lord Theoic had refused to do anything to help in the fight to save their world. He refused because he was a coward. It was a shame, he was strong looking, but on the inside he was a scared man. He'd never fought in battle and never intended to. He didn't even stand up for what was right. He had let her take the fall when he knew the truth about them. He said he cared for her, but he was too scared to challenge Odin or to point out Loki's lies. He was not even brave or honorable enough to marry her when Loki had annulled their betrothal, fearing that Loki would think it offensive that he'd openly marry the woman he had been betrothed to. If he'd only been brave enough to claim her as wife after they'd had their improper relations, he would have found Loki couldn't have cared less, but like a dog he crawled away with his tail in between his legs to the safety of the Dales and he didn't dare show his face in court again until he'd heard Prince Loki had died.
She supposed the more she thought about it, the more sense it made that Theoic did not wish to help her, but her father... she had thought that her father would have wanted to help. Not so much because she thought that her father would care to support her. She'd realized that she'd lost the love of her once doting father, but still she thought that for this cause her father would have rallied behind her. Her father had been such a faithful man of Asgard. She knew it wasn't cowardice that kept her father from aiding her, but he didn't understand. He didn't understand her wanting to help Loki. Loki who had taken her virtue, disgraced her and subsequently stripped their family of everything. Well...the very mention of the ex-prince's name made her father see red. Her father hated Loki. And after he found out of his betrayal to Asgard he hated him all the more. He thought she was a fool for having any feelings at all toward him, he hadn't understood. He didn't want to see. He didn't want to see how helping Loki could help Asgard and all the realms avoid Ragnarok. He didn't want to see Loki as anything other than a monster. Somehow knowing that Loki had lost everything same as her had was her father's vengeance against the once son of Odin. And truth be told, she didn't think that Rana understood completely either, but she at least understood that this was important and that it effected each of them and she was willing to play a part in changing the outcome of the fate of the Nine Realms.
Just then a thunderous knocking came to the door. "Sigyn! Sigyn!" Admiral Arn's booming voice came blaring through the keyhole of her door, causing her to jump and turn around to face the door where her father's furious fist pounded. Sigyn's breath hitched as she clutched the ledge of the windowsill behind her and tried to press her back further into the windowpane. She was so sure that her burly, viking father was going to bust down the door, rip her from the room and drag her to the stable and tie her to a horse and bring her back to Kelby without even a second glance. "Sigyn! Sigyn!" her father continued to yell as he pounded on the door. "Sigyn I told you I was taking you back at first light and so help me I will. Get on your feet and move it, you wastrel!" the admiral ordered. "Sigyn!" he shouted once more. "Get up!"
Sigyn breathing grew sharper and quicker, she felt her heart begin to race, beads of sweat gathering on her forehead. Where was Rana? Wasn't she supposed to talk to father? Maybe it hadn't worked...or maybe Rana had just said those things last night to get her to go to sleep. Maybe Rana never had any intention of helping. Lady Sigyn's heart started to throb in her chest. She could feel it painfully smacking against her ribcage. Her hands started trembling. She could hear in his tone that her father was growing angrier and angrier by the second. She didn't want to kindle his ire anymore. She didn't want to feel the brunt of his fist colliding with her cheek again. "Sigyn!" he continued to roar from right outside her door. "You have til the count of three to move your worthless arse and be ready to go or so help me," he growled. It was like the warnings he used to give her when she was girl. And Sigyn felt like a tiny child again she was starting to panic, she was shaking from head to toe like a leaf and already starting sob, just like she had as a lass fearing getting a swift paddling. Her father had never been a particularly patient man. She needed to answer her father.
"Father," Rana's sleepy voice quietly called as she peered her head from behind her door. "What's all this racket about?' she asked with a lawn as she sluggishly emerged from her chamber. She was dressed in her lacy nightgown and was carefully tucking her arms into the sleeves of housecoat.
"Rana," the redhead Viking's voice softened as her turned to glance at his eldest daughter whose hair matched his own. Almost ashamed the admiral swiped his hand across his face. "What are you doing up?' he asked.
"Ugh," the fiery haired woman began with a stretch and yawn as she walked toward her father, "How's a lady supposed to get her beauty sleep, with all this banging and shouting?" she asked a pout forming on her lips that actually weren't painted dark red for once. She rubbed her tired, red looking blue eyes.
"You can blame your sister Sigyn for that," he snapped. "Sigyn! Get up!" Lord Arn fumed as he gave another thunderous pound to the wooden door. "Go in there and wake her Rana and tell her she has a half hour to ready herself for the trip to Kelby, while I prepare the carriage," the naval officer instructed
"Can't you just wait til morning to wake Sigyn up," Rana expressed still yawning like a pampered Persian cat and rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
"Rana, it is morning!" the nobleman snapped.
"Wellllll..." the admiral's ruby-locked daughter said elongating her "Ls" in a way that her father found most annoying, "later in the morning," Rana countered. "It is too early for all this pounding and banging," she persisted as she covered her ears with her hands. "how am I supposed to sleep?" she asked in a pouting tone as she batted her big, blue eyes that were so much like lady Arn's.
Lord Arn rubbed his temples near his bushy red brows. He loved Rana dearly, but she was right, it was early in the morning and there was only so much whining and pouting he could handle before breakfast. His annoyance dissipated just a little as he saw Rana's baby blues. They were exactly like his lovely wife's. "Rana, just go in there and wake your sister!" he father stated exasperatedly as he pointed a thick finger at the door.
'Please, papa just wait til later," the eldest daughter of Admiral Arn pleaded as she linked onto her father's hairy, strong, red arm and continued to bat her long fiery lashes temptingly at her father. "PLEEASSE!" she begged and flashed a winning grin. The nobleman sighed. "Oh come on! You know that Sigyn is impossible to wake before noon," Rana insisted. "I don't feel like wrestling with her at this hour," she explained. "Why should the whole household have to be disturbed because of her, doesn't she bring enough disturbance back into our lives without her interrupting our sleep schedules," the eldest concluded
Lord Arn gave an affectionate smile toward Rana. Rana was a beautiful young woman and though she was far from being a wise and prudent woman she was at least smarter than Sigyn and had managed to fetch herself a handsome and wealthy merchant from Alfheim. He walked over to her and stroked her face then draped his arm around her shoulder. "I am sorry, my dear, but I told Sigyn that we would leave at first light and I have every intention to do just that," the once admiral in Odin's fleet explained. "I can't stand for her to be in this house one moment longer!" the viking lord fumed. He glared at the door to his youngest daughter bedchamber. He was on the verge of breaking it down, but he tried to do his best to remain composed. "I want her out!" he growled further, his thick fist clenched at his side. "Every moment that your sister remains here is one moment more that Lord Theoic has to chose to reject her and demand her bride price back. I do not want him to think that I was harboring Sigyn against his wishes," Admiral Arn elaborated to his eldest daughter and she could hear the worry in her father's voice. "I cannot afford to pay any money back on Sigyn's behalf," Arn's voice was low and pensive. "I want her out of my house and back at Kelby as soon as possible," he confessed.
Rana knew that her father spoke truth. Since Sigyn's public disgrace their family had suffered great lost. Her father had been stripped of his ranks and commissions, his titles and land. So much of the wealth they'd had, had to be sold at auction just to get her father out of debtors prison. They had to sell their mansion in the Imperial City in order to buy the house in the Dales. If it wasn't for the money that her betrothed had paid as a part of her bride price her family probably would not have even been able to keep their servants. She imagined they could have kept Elke. Elke would always be there, whether the House of Arn could afford to pay her or not...she was family."If I have to do so it may us everything...cost what I am able to give you for your dowry," he confessed with a sigh. He looked up at his daughter pitifully. He held out his large palms as if confused. Rana gasped. She hadn't known that it was so crucial. "We wouldn't want that," the strapping Viking nobleman explained to his now sole heir as he nudged up her chin with his calloused finger. "Would we?"
"Of course not, father!" Lady Rana agreed. And she was dead serious. Sigyn's bad decisions had cost her so much already. It had cost her the life she'd known and loved and the life she'd wanted to keep for the rest of her days. She hoped that helping Sigyn wouldn't cost her the little she had managed to gain. She didn't know if Loren would take her if she didn't have a dowry. Loren may have claimed to love her, but as she had come to learn, he had a very traditional, Elfin mother, she doubted that the elderly woman would take kindly to a daughter-in-law who brought nothing to a marriage, but a winning smile, a gorgeous head of fiery red locks and a perfectly-pleasing, voluptuous body. Rana's unpainted lips into a tight frown. "Sigyn has cost me enough already and I will not allow her to cost me my marriage!" Rana remarked sternly. She folded her arms across her chest. She meant every word. "She won't ruin my chances and prospects as she ruined hers!" the bright blue eyed woman declared. "Do you really think that Lord Theoic will take Sigyn back?' Rana questioned as they stood outside of Sigyn's chamber.
Lord Arn cast a disgusted look at Sigyn's door, "If your sister ruins her chances at marriage that is no one's fault save her own! I have done everything I could for Sigyn. I put the very throne of Asgard with in her reach, but Sigyn is a fool and let it slip through her fingers, by her acts of harlotry, now she had a chance at a comfortable life here in the Dales with a wealthy man who was willing to marry her despite the fact that she had been with another man besides him and once again she is throwing it all away and all on these ridiculous notions," her father made a snorting sound. "But she will no longer be my responsibility, once I return her to Kelby, she will be Lord Theoic's problem and if he beats her every day or tosses her out into the streets, it will no longer be my concern," Lord Arn proclaimed.
Rana cringed as she listened to her father's condemning words toward her sister. She had known how angry her father had been with Sigyn for the dishonor she had brought upon their house, quite frankly she was still angry with Sigyn as well. It was Sigyn's fault that she had had to leave the glitz and glamor of the Imperial City and was forced to abide by a quiet and boring life in the country. How she hated the country. It wasn't fair, she had been so popular at court, she had many suitors, so many men had fawned over her. Surely she could have married an earl or an Einherjar. Not that she wasn't satisfied with Loren. Loren was a clever and successful business man she doubted she would lack for anything and even though he was Elfin, he wanted to make a life in Asgard. But still she didn't want to see her younger sister beaten and abused for the rest of her days. Or to see Sigyn be forced to be a prostitute in some seedy brothel in the iron district. "But you do want Lord Theoic to take Sigyn back and make her his wife, don't you?' Rana inquired in earnest, the sleepy look finally fading from her blue eyes as she looked into her father's hard gold ones. She pulled from out of the embrace of being under his muscular arm. The ex-admiral didn't say anything at first, he merely sighed. She waited her father's response with baited breath. Surely, there father didn't want to see his youngest daughter in a brothel. "Don't you, father?' Rana urged once more this time her petite and manicured hand's gripped the seaman's strong shoulders and she shook him a little. Her father's lack of an answer was alarming. 'I...I...I mean, after all, if Sigyn is rejected by Lord Theoic word could get back to my betrothed. He might not want to take me as his wife and then soon my name will be dragged through the dirt throughout the Dales just like Sigyn's was throughout the Imperial City!" Sigyn squealed as she clenched her fist and started to hyperventilate. "oh father! Oh Father!" Rana gasped as she grabbed at her ruby-mane. "That would be simply awful! I cannot...I cannot lose Loren!" Rana shrieked as she gripped her hair. "Oh! Oh! OH!" the redhead daughter of Admiral Arn began to wail. "And once our family is once again tarnished it will be unrepairable. We won't even be able to remain here in the Dales! We'll have to go to the mountain provinces," Rana rambled nervously as tears started to pool in her bright blue eyes. "I can't live in the mountains!" Rana blubbered lifting up her eyes and tossing back her head. "Oh Papa! Papa!" Rana whimpered as she flung her arms around her father's neck and buried her face in his tunics like she used to do when she was a child and terribly upset. She clung to his tunics and sniffled as she rubbed her nose against his finely tailored garments. 'It is so miserably unfair!" she whined as fresh salt tears started to soak into Lord Arn's tunic. He wrapped his big, burly arms protectively around Rana trying to comfort her as he felt her body shudder from tears.
"There, there, Rana dear," he cooed as he patted Rana's quivering back.
"I'm sorry, father, I'm sorry," Rana confessed as she sniffled and rubbed her manicured hands underneath her watery eyes in an attempt to dry them. "It's just not fair!" she pouted once more. "It's not right that she is so brainless and thoughtless and selfish!" she protested through watery eyes. "She'll ruin us all!" Rana shrieked as she stomped her foot.
"Rana, my dear," the once captain of a fleet stated as he grabbed his frantic daughter by her flailing arms and pulled them down to her side. "You must calm down," her father instructed. Rana bobbed her head as she took deep breaths trying to regain her composure. Lord Arn gathered her soft, tear streaked face in his large, calloused hands and swiped his big thumbs under her eyes catching the few lingering tear drops hanging on her long red lashes. "Do you think I would ever allow that to happen willingly?" he asked her his tone was demanding although not harsh. The blue eyed maiden shook her head. "That is exactly why I am taking your sister back to Kelby this moment," he explained. "I will drag her back there and hopefully Lord Theoic will see that I have intended to make good on my word to give him Sigyn as a wife and he will see that I do not condone her acts of disobedience to him as a husband. Hopefully that will be enough to convince him not to put her away," Lord Arn informed as his eyes narrowed.
"But father, are you sure that will work?' Rana inquired. "I mean, don't you think it will look suspicious to Lord Theoic if he sees Sigyn coming back to him kicking, screaming and protesting?"
"I care not if Sigyn protest," Lord Arn stated flatly, "Sigyn will make good on the arrangement I have made with Theoic," he declared.
'Of course, father, but I am just saying that if you drag Sigyn back there it will look to Lord Theoic as if she was forced to return to him...like she doesn't really want to be his wife," Rana whispered for emphasis.
"It matters not what Sigyn wants any longer. She has been given ample opportunities all her life to make choices and she has squandered all of them and made the wrong decisions. Now she has no choice in the matter! She will do as I say! She will obey me and whatever her fate is she has no one to blame, but herself!" the admiral said with condemnation in his tone as he spoke of his younger daughter. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist as he did so.
"I couldn't agree more father, Sigyn can't be trusted to make her own choices, but what I was simply saying that if Lord Theoic feels like Sigyn doesn't actually want to become his wife then he might feel as though she will constantly run away and make a fool of him and his family as well. He will fear that she will not be faithful to him and that she will constantly make a cuckold of him. He won't take her back," Rana argued.
"Well then Sigyn has sealed her own fate because I will not take her back either," Arn proclaimed.
"Arn what is this?" asked Lady Sigyn's mother as she tiptoed from the master bedroom and walked toward her husband and oldest daughter who were standing in the corridor holding a most intense conversation. Admiral Arn's golden eyes darted toward his wife and they immediately softened. His wife was such a lovely, even as she was growing older and her long blonde locks were starting to gray graciously, she was still a vision. She looked elegant in her long purple neglige and silky black robe draped over top to block her body from the morning chill. Her mix gray and gold hair was wispy and wild a top her head from just waking up. Sigyn looked so much like his wife. He supposed that was one of the reasons he'd always been a bit soft on the girl. She was such a pretty and tender little one.
"Rana, my dear," she said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and took in her firstborn daughter. "What are you doing out of bed?" she asked. 'It is not like you to be upso early," she explained. "I don't even think Elke is out of bed yet," she elaborated as she looked around for signs that their elderly servant woman was up and about. "Arn where is Sigyn?' asked his wife as she looked around. "That girl needs to get up!" Lady Arn declared as she clapped her hands forcefully, "You two should have been on the road by now. If you leave now you can reach Kelby and be home before days end," the middle-aged blonde-haired noblewoman insisted.
"I have been knocking on this door for a near half an hour and Sigyn has yet to budge from her bed, That lazy wench!" the admiral grumbled.
"Arn! Please!" his blue eyed wife scolded as she tucked her robe tighter around her body. She put her hand on Arn's shoulder trying to calm him. "she is still our daughter," she reminded him.
"She will be no daughter of mine if Lord Theoic annuls their betrothal agreement!" he grumbled as his big, hairy hands wrapped around the brass doorknob and he jiggled it so roughly that it seemed as though he would rip the handle right off.
"Father! Father!" Rana called as she gripped Admiral Arn by his shoulder and tried to pry him from ripping the door off its hinges. It was futile effort. She was no match for her father's size and stature. "Father what I was trying to say was that I think I should take Sigyn back to Kelby," Rana finally blurted out.
"What?" the ex-member of Odin's war council yelled as he turned to face his oldest daughter with fire blazing in his golden eyes. "You?" the golden eyed seaman gawked.
"W-w-well just think about it, papa," Rana started to rationalize. "if you take Sigyn back it will seem like she was forced back to Kelby,"
"I am forcing her back! I refuse to have this cockamamie fantasy that she had concocted to allow her to disgrace us once more!" the burly, bearded Viking man proclaimed.
"Yes, but Lord Theoic might not like that," Rana cautioned. "I mean think about it," the redhead posed as she leaned against the wall. "What man would want a woman who didn't want him, feeling like she tried to run away from him and was forced back may give him cause to put her away. He might think that she will be unfaithful," the eldest daughter explained.
"She does have a point, Arn," his wife pointed out.
"See...see," Rana giggled as she winked a matching blue eye at her mother. "But if Sigyn and I return to Kelby together, without you or mother it will seem as though she wanted to come back," Rana insisted.
"How do you figure that?" Lord Arn asked as he crossed his arms across his broad chest, still not convinced of his daughter's reasoning.
"Well when I take Sigyn back we could say that Sigyn didn't want to get married without at least one member of her family present. Sigyn could explain how it had always been her dream to have a big elaborate wedding," Rana went on rolling her eyes and gesturing wildly with her hands. "We could return with a wedding dress and few other trinkets for Sigyn's wedding day. I could stay and over see her preparations for the wedding ceremony and insure that she actually stays at Kelby and goes through with the wedding without trying to runaway once more," Rana planned.-
'Rana that would be distasteful!" Lady Arn whispered harshly. "We would never give Sigyn an elaborate wedding when we know she isn't a maiden. We are not proud of that fact," her mother reminded her oldest daughter.
Rana batted her eyes slightly flustered. She had not expected her plan to meet so much opposition. She wasn't a debater. She'd nearly not passed her rhetoric courses at the academy. She wouldn't have passed if it wasn't for flirting with the distinguished middle-aged professor. He told her that she actually had mastered the most important part of rhetoric and that was the art of conversation through the body. Her body was sending him all the right signals. "Well of course mother, I wasn't trying to say that we were proud of Sigyn's indiscretions, but if we show that we are excited about Sigyn marrying Lord Theoic maybe he will be more likely to forgive her for running away from him. We could at least have her return with a gift. Something to make it look like, Sigyn wanted to get him as a betrothal gift," Rana nodded hoping her parents were catching her drift. She was actually quite impressed with how well her thoughts were coming together.
"Well Arn perhaps we could give Theoic one of your swords as a betrothal gift from Sigyn to Theoic," Lady Arn plotted. "It would seem plausible that Sigyn would want to have a betrothal gift for her husband to be, tis customary. I honestly can't believe we didn't think of it before. She most definitely needs a wedding gift for Lord Theoic." Lady Arn stated as she started pacing about nervously. "We will have to have wedding dress to take for the service. Perhaps there are some shops that you can find as you travel back to Kelby.
Admiral Arn was quiet for a long while. He stroked his thick fingers, through his curly, red beard as he weighed the option of his daughter's word. He calculated them and thought about them hard. He was surprised by the reasonableness of his daughter's proposal. It actually made sense. Though Lord Audric had always taken pride in both of his daughters he had never necessarily been proud of them for their intellect. Neither Rana or Sigyn could ever pass as scholars. But still they had been beautiful young women who would help to the family by making smart matches.
"And how do you intend to get Sigyn to Kelby?" asked the once esteemed high ranking officer.
'Don't be silly, father the same way you were," Rana reported giving off a silly, girlish giggle while twirling a red ringlet around her little finger. "Horse and carriage of course!"
"Rana, dear, Kelby is far and you have never traveled that far alone," her mother pointed out as she touched Rana's shoulder. It was true. Lord and Lady Arn never allowed their daughter's to travel with out escorts and servants. It just wasn't proper for well bred noblewomen to do so, but now they had few servants to spare.
"You don't even know the way," the nobleman interjected.
"Well Sigyn knows the way!" the fiery haired gentlewoman retorted quickly. She snapped her finger impressed by how she was able to pull these things from the top of her head so readily "I mean she got here, surely she can get us back to Kelby, besides I can take a map for good measure," she proposed.
"Fine Rana," the Viking nobleman finally relented. His large shoulders heaved into a sigh. "I suppose there is some wisdom to what you say," he expressed a slightly pleased expression slipping under his curly red beard and mustache. He crossed his arms across his broad chest. "Perhaps, Lord Theoic will be more willing to take Sigyn back if he thinks that she was just an eager young girl trying to prepare for her wedding day with her family rather than a faithless, runaway bride. Running on crazed notions of secret letters and changing the outcome of this war," He scoffed.
"I only hope Sigyn has not shared with Lord Theoic this ridiculous fantasy she has concocted," said Lady Arn as she shook her head, "If she has he'll probably think her mad and then he won't take her back at all," she worried.
"Oh even Sigyn wouldn't be that foolish to do that," Rana stated with mocking laughter.
"Never underestimate how foolish that girl can be," Lord Arn advised as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Rana, I will allow you to transport your sister back to Kelby," he agreed. "But to make your story even more convincing, that Sigyn was merely ran away to invite us to her wedding, your mother and I shall join you in three days time to attend Sigyn's nuptials," he stated and gave a wink to his wife.
'Oh wonderful father!" Rana squealed in delight as she threw her hands up in the air and then flung them around her father's neck. She planted kisses on his cheeks. "Oh this is great!" she exclaimed. "Now we won't all have to suffer another grave embarrassment due to Sigyn's folly," she breathed in relief. The red-haired daughter of Admiral Arn stretched and yawned, "Oh but I need more beauty rest," the blue eyed noblewoman responded as her words slurred from yawning. 'Oh I couldn't possibly travel anywhere with under 8 hours of sleep," she expressed as she covered her yawning mouth. but I need a few more hours of sleep before I take Sigyn," she expressed as she tucked her housecoat around her body and wrapped the belt around her waist. "And why don't you two go back to bed for a couple of hours too," Rana suggested. "Sigyn and I will be ready to go by noon," she insisted as she sauntered back toward her bedroom.
"Come Arn," the blonde-haired wife of the admiral began as she gently tugged on his strong and hairy hands. "Let us to bed, in a few hours we will talk to Sigyn an explain to her what Rana is doing and how we expect her to go through with the plan," Lady Arn stated as she dragged her husband back to their bedchamber.
On the other side of Sigyn's chamber door she slid down to the ground with her back pressed to the wall and tears of joy pooling in her amber eyes. They trickled down her cheeks as an outward sign of relief. She was so amazed and grateful. Rana had actually managed to do it. She had actually managed to convince their father to let her take her back. She was impressed by her sister's reasoning and quick wit. She would have never been able to do that. Rana could be quite clever and resourceful when her back was against the wall. Sigyn wished that she could say the same for herself, but the truth of the matter was that pressure only left her flustered and confused.
Things seemed to be looking up. Rana was like her fairy god-mother working magic against the impossible and helping her defy and trick her parents. Sigyn felt bad about that. She didn't want to deceive her parents, even though her mother was dreadfully ashamed and disappointed in her and her father had outright rejected her, she still loved them and wanted to make them proud and if that meant marrying Lord Theoic that was what she would do, but after. After she'd seen the scroll safely into Prince Loki's hands then...then she would do as her parents wanted and marry Theoic. Even if her heart wasn't in it. She would marry the country nobleman and strive her best to be a good wife to him, but this was bigger than her family's wishes and bigger than an arranged marriage, this was the life of all of them, of everyone in Asgard and in all of the other realms too. Sigyn sighed as she started to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She hoped in time they would see.
Hopefully, they'd see sooner rather than later. The blonde-haired handmaiden to Queen Frigga recalled her father's words. In three days time he and her mother would come to call at Kelby to see to it that she was going through with her nuptials. Lady Sigyn Arndottir gulped as she remembered that in two days time Convergence would be upon them. The worlds and planets would align and it would be the first time in 2000 years that passage between the realms would be possible without the use of the Bifrost. She had a mere two days to get to the Imperial City and find Loki and hopefully convince him to to turn away from his wicked plots and help Thor and the warriors stop the Dark Elves from releasing Aether. She didn't know if she could pull it off, she doubted she could get back to Kelby the day after Convergence. Sigyn shook her head. What was she thinking? If she didn't get to Loki in time then Convergence would happen and the Dark-Elves would be able to unleash the Aether on the unsuspecting Nine Realms and Ragnarok would come raining down on their heads. Sigyn gasped as the dark thoughts ran through her brain. She remembered all the horror stories of Ragnarok that she'd heard as a child. A shiver ran down her spine. If that was the case than her not being at Kelby when her parents arrived would be the least of her worries.
For a moment the wizard stood on the hill that over looked the encampment that Malekith and his soldiers had made over the ruins of the once large city of Ichabod, just studying the ships of Dark Elves had formed a protective blockade around Malekith's flagship. The gruesome, gnarled, large, black-red ship was in the center, hovering slightly above the other alien crafts. This was the moment he'd been waiting for and he intended to savor it. He was here, at the threshold of seeing all his deep seated desires finally fulfilled. Parched, pink lips parted as clean, straight, white teeth were reveal in sickeningly, serpentine smirk. Loki's dark green eyes glowed with a hint of devilish mischievousness. After all this time, after centuries upon centuries of playing second fiddled to Thor, Odin's golden boy, and after spending a year in the Void, Thanos' domain, and after spending nearly two years in the palace dungeon, his vengeance was finally drawing nigh and Asgard's throne was on the verge of being his. Loki inhaled sharply. He filled his thin chest with the stale air of the barren Dark World. There was a sharp scent in the air. It was a scent much to his liking. It smelled like the sea after a storm, when all the brime and salt had been overturned. It was smokey and peppered, salted and spiced with bitter herbs. As the aroma filled his nostrils, Loki naturally opened up his mouth and darted his tongue across his chapped lips, tasting the dust and soot that had gathered there. At that moment he realized exactly was the aroma smelled like and he new what it tasted like. Revenge. A cool breeze started to rustle up from the north. It sent a chill up his spine and the dark-haired Asgardian smiled contentedly to himself. It was all so befitting, for revenge was a dish best served cold, after all.
The chilling wind did not solidify Loki's intentions, but rather, it carried the familiar, lilting and guilting whispers with it. "Loki," his name was rasped by the breeze. The voice was so low and soft, barely there. It sounded like a dying man sucking in his last gasps for air. Loki tried with earnest to convince himself that the voice wasn't there. "Loki...please," the unsteady tone, wobbled in its attempts to call to him.
"I thought I did away with you," the once son of Odin growled deep into his throat. His hands reflexively forming tight balled fist by his side.
The voice didn't bicker, the wind was dying down and the so was his hearts strength to contend with the darkness that plagued his mind. "You have maimed me," the conscience confessed as it lingered in his ear. Loki could hear the way its words were punctuated with labored breaths. He heard his inner self wheezing with labored breath and it was music to the trickster's ears.. Finally, he was on the verge of being free from that dreadful thing called sentiment.
"Have you returned only for me to finish the job and put an end to you once and for all?" the raven-coiffed mage retorted coldly.
His heart did its best to ignore the cruel and indifferent statement, "p-p-please," it panted as its vitality faded. "T-th-th-there's still time..." it entreated so softly that the Loki's own breathing was started to drown out the weak voice that still resounded from the locked away recesses of his soul.
The emerald eyed enchanter shook his head in mockery of the gentle, yet earnest plea from the voice that was within and without all at once. "There's no time at all now," he reminded his inner voice cruelly. "Only time for me to do what I was meant to do all along!"
"Y-you can still make the right decision," he was reminded.
"This is the right decision!" Loki immediately snapped. "For me," added with ragged breath as he went into a giddy snort.
He heard the voice in the back of his head let out a disappointed and tired sigh. His heart has grown so weary. It had tried to do everything in its power to convince Loki to turn from this dark path, but still Loki resisted. Loki constantly hardened himself toward the pleas of his relentless Conscience. Loki had always been rough around the edges, jagged and crooked at certain places. He'd always had a conniving, sneaky, mischievous quality to him. He'd always been quick to manipulate others and play with and twist truth, but for all the areas where people accused of being corrupt and wicked he'd always been soft-hearted, sensitive and reasonable and so his Conscience had always been able to reach inside him and tell him when an act of mischief had gone from being fun to being malevolent or when a lie had gone too far. Now it couldn't. The heart was not there to be ignored. The soul was sensitive and when it was denied, rejected and resisted so many times it became weaker and weaker until now when it was barely hanging on, fighting for life.
"W-whattaboutAshgardd," the conscience slurred as its energy seeped away.
"What have any of them done for me?' he questioned without any guilt.
His heart was quick to move on to the next topic, it didn't have the stamina to contend and with its other half's razor sharp wit, "WhattaboutThor," the sluggish slurs continued to spring forth from the weary soul.
Loki laughed aloud at the flimsy protestation. "That witless oaf will get exactly what he deserves," Loki confessed as he rubbed his chilly palms together greedily.
"He's your brother!" the voice from within uttered drawing on its last reserves of strength.
"We were never brothers!" Loki's flint tongue quickly retorted.
"You lie," his inner-self stated bluntly, panting with every word.
Loki tossed his head back, his too-long ebony locks falling back as he did so, "The only liar is you! You're still trying to feed me those lies that I was fed with all my life, when I was a naive and foolish child," he chuckled bitterly, "But I have had my fill of such falsities and I am sick of them," he spat.
"Think about the visions," the tone warned growing weak it found that such sentiments had slowly been uprooted from Loki's heart and replaced with weeds of resentment sown by Thanos.
"Visions that you plagued me with! You have been trying to torture and manipulate me" Loki accused, raising a protesting finger defiantly toward the air.
"No, Loki," the voice murmured. "I...I have...I am trying to help you," the soft voice rasped. "that is why I am here...I...I will always help you," his inner-voice entreated him to follow its wisdom and leading. "Help me...help me," Loki scoffed as he started to pace about. "is that what you call the tricks you played with my mind!?" Loki demanded as he pointed toward his temple.
"I...I...I...I didn't do that," his conscience explained. "W-w-what you saw is w-w-what will come," it stammered. "Ragnarok," it wheezed out in a warning.
'YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Loki railed violently his voice stung from the terrible shout. He ended his holler panted and bent over gasping as he rested his palms on his knees. "You don't know anything," he professed trying to convince himself as he rubbed sweat palms over his leather britches. "You don't know anything," the once prince of Asgard reiterated breathlessly as he straightened himself up. "You never have," he reminded the voice bitterly as he sniffed, rubbed under his pointy nose with his index finger and then straightened his collar.
"Please...please...please stop...before it's too late," Loki could hear the voice gasping and he felt his heart constrict on the inside of his chest.
He shook his head, "It's already too late," the silver-tongue confessed as his bony, white fingers strayed to clench his aching heart.
"N-n-not too late...never too late," the voice pleaded as it grew softer and softer. "P-p-please," the weakened tone groaned pathetically, "turn back."
Loki rapidly moved his hands from his chest and covered his ear. "UGH!" he yelled in annoyance. "ENOUGH WITH YOU!" he screamed. "What must I do to be rid of you?" he questioned angrily to the wind, "BE GONE!" he shouted defiantly at the struggling remnant of his old self.
"Loki!" the heart cried.
"DON'T COME BACK!" he growled.
"Loki," it whispered sorrowfully as the voice slowly started to trail off into the wind. It sounded so dreadfully far away. "Goodbye Loki," the voice exhaled from a distance. The voice was so soft and so far out of reach that Loki didn't know if he heard it out loud or not. Perhaps it was only his wishful thinking, dreaming that his old-self had finally bid him farewell as the wind fell still.
Loki waited...he waited for a few moments expecting his pesky, old sentiments to once again rear their ugly head and try to thwart his plans and convince him against his dark-hearted schemes. Loki stood on the mountainside breathing raggedly. He was furious he had thought he had destroyed that part of himself, he'd fought it in the desert. It was a nuisance, like a pest that you kept feeding poison too, but still somehow it survived. Patiently, the once prince waited. He'd already formulated the snappy comeback he'd give to his pleading heart in his mind, but this time his inner-self did not offer another protest. He didn't hear its nagging voice tickling his ear. All was silent and still, he didn't feel the tingles and prickles and uncomfortable butterflies of guilt running through his gut. He felt nothing at all, except the cold and the overwhelming feeling of solitude.
With that, new resolve came over Loki and solidified his plans and intentions. The raven-haired enchanter tucked his surcote tighter around himself as he clenched firmly on one of the horns of Kursed's severed head. He felt it and learned every nook and cranny of the hideous cranium. With his powers he was able to mimic the intricacies of the Kursed's horrible body. He was able to copy it completely. He was able to capture and duplicate every granite covered scale and molten sinews of the charcoal body. He allowed himself to shape-shift into the abominable form. With simple mystical words he concealed the actual head of the horned monster. It vanished into thin air, slipped into a secret air pocket invisible to the naked eye, but was all along still held within Loki's tight grasp as he marched toward Malekith's ship.
Loki slipped through the blockade undetected. There were a few Dark-Elves guarding the perimeter around the blockade. They had set up a small barrier to the far west and east sides of the encampment, but the had left their front and flank wide open for attack. It was a poor strategic move, but it was obvious that the Elves didn't really expect for the Asgardian's to attack. They knew that they had dealt a devastating blow to their forces and they had taken possession of the Aether, what had they really to fear?
As Loki neared Malekith's vessel a few of the Dark-Elf patrols spotted him. Immediately, the white-faced soldiers started to rush toward him. At first the ex-prince of Asgard stiffened. Not knowing if his gig was up already, but never had one of his disguises been seen through so easily. He calculated the moves he could make to defend himself if they sought to attack him. With his trickery he could disarm them. Killing them would make too much of a scene and draw unnecessary attention he determined. The elfin warriors raced toward him with their electrically charged rifles in their hands. They instantly swarmed around him and encircled him. Kursed's body naturally, took a defensive stance. The thick, fist made of molten stone clenched so that cracks and crevices in his knuckles showed the lava-blood that flowed through his veins. But then his eyes noticed the elves weren't coming toward him to attack him, but rather they were coming to him rejoicing. They waved their bayonets and muskets in triumph as they rushed toward the Goliath. They all started talking wildly. Lifting up their voice in excitement and praise.
Loki smirked mentally although he did not allow the expression to show across the monstrous face he was forced to wear. The Dark-Elves were non the wiser to the fact that the one they greeted and hailed as a hero was the one who had slain their champion without a second thought. The elf soldiers talked to him in their guttural voices. The language of the Dark-Elves was rough, harsh, coarse and was spoken from the throat. It sounded like gravel being whipped up in a blender when it was spoken. It was horrible to listen to. It was grating in the ear and difficult for the tongue to replicate for an unskilled tongue. The accent in which these soldiers spoke was thick and heavy. Luckily, Loki was well versed in the enough languages to catch onto the basic structure rather quickly. Over his numerous years of schooling he'd mastered several languages, Vanir and Nornish, were the classic languages most children were able to master in school early on. But Loki loved the study of language. He wasn't called "silver-tongue," merely for his impressive rhetoric but also his mastery of more than 14 languages. As Loki listened to the pasty-faced soldiers ramble on he was able to pick up on more and more of the dialect. It was similar to the language of the Light-Elves of Alfheim. Although the Light-Elves had a beautiful and romantic language that rolled off the tongue, the Light Elves of Alfheim, nearly sung their words, but despite the fact that one language was base and croaking and the other blithe and melodic, the polyglot was able to note a few similar sounding verbs. Loki was able to pick out the nuances and subtleties along with the similarities with a tongue he knew well enough to negotiate the dialect of the Dark-Elves to understand the drunken chants of revelry that the elfin warriors murmured as they celebrated once again having the Aether back in their possession.
"Glad you made it back!" one of the Elves exclaimed as he slapped the Kursed across the back.
"The victory was short lived without you," another insisted.
"Malekith was looking for you! He wanted to propose a toast," another Dark-Elf guard continued to inform.
The Kursed turned his head to this intrigued by the words. 'Really?" the beast inquired.
"Yes," a different guard nodded "Lord Malekith wondered why you were not accounted for amongst the men when we rendezvoused," the different solider expressed.
Before the Kursed's hideous mouth could even part to offer an excuse for why he had not been in the number, the shortest of the soldiers spoke up. 'We thought to send a scouting party out to look for yah," he expressed. The Elfin soldier young and stocky.
"Aye, but Lord Malekith said 'nay'" he told as he pushed his comrade aside and stepped forth with a sway in his step. The cockiness of the Dark-Elves was evident in the fact that they kept drunk soldiers on patrol. That was how little they feared the retaliation of Asgard. It was a mockery and taunt really. "He told us that you would be along," the warrior proclaimed as his fist playfully punched Kursed's spiny shoulder. He only caused himself pain in doing so though, he drew back his hand and massaged in.
'Yah, stayed and finished the job didn't ye?" perkily asked a Dark-Elf whose face was not white, but rather in contrast chocolatey brown. It was polished and smooth and instead of onyx black eyes he had cold white ones. This was a recessive gene sometimes found amongst the Dark_Elves. The brown skinned elf smiled up fondly at the creature who towered over him. He looked expectantly as if eager to hear a story. He nudged the Kursed's arm. "Didn't ye?" he inquired again. "Ye stayed and killed that prince of Asgard, didn't ye? Didn't ye?" the tipsy, dark-skinned elf continued to egg on annoyingly as he poked at Kursed with his elbow.
With a steadying sigh, the horned and hideous creature with a body of molten skin finally spoke. "I have destroyed mine enemy," the gravelly voice confessed.
"AHH! Ahhh!" cried the boyish elfin guard in excitement. "Tell us how the prince died!" he pressed. "Tell us how he died! Did he cry like babe and plead for you not to beat him into a bloody pulp?" he asked with fiendish delight as he rubbed his white palms together.
"You should have dragged his carcass back here," another one of the Elfin guards chimed in excitedly. "We could have pinned his little blonde head to a spike on paraded it through Asgard once the Aether is unleashed."
"You should have brought him back alive," the pint sized guard surmised. He pounded his fist into his hand with anger. 'Then we could have had some fun with that Asgardian swine," he spat and literally hurled a wad of saliva from his mouth.
The Kursed raised its spiked shoulders in a shrug. "Hind sight is 20/20" he informed the Dark-Elves.
Just then another guard came running up to them. Clothed in the same black and whites armor as all the other guards, but with a more slender build and with its long white hair pulled into a pony tail at the top of the head, a female guard. Female soldiers had been rare amongst the Dark-Elves prior to Malekith coming into power in the military ranks of the people. He believed that they needed as many as they could to over throw their enemies if their were females willing to fight for the cause of the Aether than he would accept them. The Dark-Elf general had even issued a draft and many young women who were from poorer families had been recruited into the armed forces. Mostly they served as nurses and cooks and caring for the domestic needs of the soldiers. Battles were proven to be more successful when healing staff was present not far from the battle sights. Injured soldiers were able to be patched up quickly and return to war. Also having good cooks had helped morale and helped keep the Dark-Elf warriors fit for battle. But toward the end of the war, once Asgard had gotten involved and their numbers were falling quickly they needed women for the fighting.
"Kursed!" the black-eyed female hailed as she placed her fist to her breastplate. "We are so pleased you have returned to us safely," she greeted. Her bloodless lips seemed to form a sincere smile as she dropped to her knee to pay homage to the highest ranking among them. The gruesome horned head bobbed in response to her honoring gesture. The female soldier rose to her feet. She was tall and lean and heavily armed. "General Malekith will be pleased to see you have returned as well," the smile remained. "He commands your presence. Shall I escort you to him at once?" she asked professionally as she stood at attention, "As I see these buffoons did not," she spat condescendingly. The patrols muttered shamefully for their neglect of protocol.
"Yes take me to Malekith," the creature of the Dark-Elves expressed.
The beast made of volcanic stone strolled behind the Dark-Elf female. She was not overly personable or familiar, she kept the conversation mission based, asking him simply if he had been injured at all during the battle and if he required a healing tank. In words garbled in his snout Kursed confessed that he had sustained great injury, but insisted that he would see Malekith first.
Once they were directly underneath Malekith's ship, a bright, red laser came from out the base of the ship and scanned them. Nervousness welled up inside the man concealed by the nasty shell of the Kursed. Naturally, Malekith would take every precaution to protect his flag ship from intruders, what if the scanner detected abnormalities. The sensors did not go off. Rather, immediately a dark gangplank descended and opened up, revealing a gray colored staircase crisscrossed with patterns like a spiderweb. An untraceable smirked slithered on the protruding tusks of the Kursed, his camouflage was working like a charm. Confidently, with his huge hideous, horned head held high and his back straightened, the monster ascended the stairwell behind the female soldier of the Dark-Elves. With each steps that the Kursed's leaden foot took the stairs pulsated with a heated, electric red light with each of his heavy footfalls.
Once the trickster had traveled up the gangplank he entered into the cold, metallic vessel. It was filled with crude and ancient looking devices and knobs. Dim lights of red and blue and some green were intricately woven throughout the structure. There were a number of chambers, compartments and rooms scattered throughout the ship: Mess halls and barracks, sleeping chambers with compartments and rooms for supplies. It was much like the ship that he and Prince Thor had flown in their escape from Asgard, except that it was much bigger. It was a mother-ship, with cargo bay doors to house other vessels. Kursed noticed some of the elves working as mechanics repairing the ships damaged from the battle just a day hence. As Kursed traveled through the massive sized ship, making his way to Malekith, he saw several chambers filled with strange looking pods. The pods were round and black and blue and some even a dark purplish color. The pods looked organic, like soft and slimy snake-eggs. Yes that was exactly how he would describe it: artificial incubation eggs. They seemed large enough for one of the Dark-Elf soldiers to curl up in. This must have been how the Dark_Elves survived after an eon of their home planet being destroyed. With the Aether, their life source still in tact, they were able to use these cocoons to preserve themselves in a frozen sleep. Loki watched as one of the Dark-Elves emerged from inside the pod. The pod peeled open like two cupped hands that had held a lightning bug unfolding to set the creature free. The white face elf sat in the pod exposed and without armor, surrounded by thick rubbery, purple tentacles. One by one the tentacles peeled back off of the elf's body making a hiss-suck sound. A noxious gas was emitted from the egg as the elf stepped out looking revitalized.
The escort lead the Kursed to a room guarded by two great onyx doors. It was the entrance to the cockpit and where Malekith kept his headquarters and meeting chamber on his vessel. "Shall I announce you," the guard offered as she pointed toward the door.
"Tis no need to stand on ceremony," was Kursed's dismissive reply to the female soldier. She seemed satisfied with this answer and quickly and precisely she turned on her heels and marched in the other direction with her small blaster gun at her waist and her ray bayonet slung over her shoulder. The doors whooshed open as the granite made feet stepped closer to the door. He lumbered his way into the cockpit, where Malekith sat in a large, leathery, black captain's seat. Malekith's back was turned to the horned creature that had entered the navigation chamber. Malekith's eyes were closed in concentrations as he faced the Aether. The formless, red blob ebbed and flowed and shifted on the pedestal beneath the glass under Malekith's bloodless, white fingers. His long, onyx talons tapped on the glass with pleasure as he could feel the energy surging around his palms. He inhaled deeply, breathing in the power and relishing in it. "Soon you shall be unleashed, my beauty," the general of the Dark-Elf army whispered tenderly as he caressed the glass container with care as if it was a woman he was about to make love to. He inhaled sharply as he pressed both palms to the glass stilling the ever shifting Infinity Stone. "Soon you shall be free to spread your darkness once again," he encouraged. "Darkness was the original state of this universe," he claimed. "Darkness and chaos," he confirmed low within his throat, "and in a few days that is the state to which it shall return," he grinned with pleasure.
A plodding footstep took one step closer toward Malekith's captain's seat. Instantly, the Dark-Elf leader swirled around in the seat to face Kursed. The hard expression on the snow-white face melted to a more relax look. The face was nearly pleased. The lips curled in a smile as the white hands scooped up the glass container which housed the most valuable Aether. "My friend," Malekith sighed in relief as he noted the familiar face of the creature. He sat the crystal container on his lap and slouched slightly in his high backed seat as he took in welcomed face. "At last you have returned to us," he greeted. "I trusted that you would find the rendezvous point and I see my trust was not betrayed," he confirmed his expression smug.
Kursed bowed its red and black knee. "I made due haste my liege," the monster's massive muzzle muttered.
Malekith nodded contentedly, "Now that you our here we can begin preparations for our evasion of Asgard once more. Once we have infiltrated the city this time their shall be no stopping us. Convergence shall take place and then we shall unleash the Aether," he professed as his nails raked across the glass and the Aether glowed brightly. "Ah," he sighed feeling the radiating energy from the power crystal. "The Aether is ready," he stated in a whisper. "For centuries it has been locked away, kept imprisoned. It yearns to spread its wings," the Dark-Elf General expressed. A wicked smile crawled across his face.
The creature rose to his feet, "If the Aether is during Convergence it will usher in the time that all Aesir fear, Ragnarok," Kursed explained.
The leader of the elves tossed his head back in laughter. "It will be a time that they fear and a time that we glory in!" he chuckled. "Finally after two millenniums," he breathed, "the dreams of our forefathers shall be made manifest," he clenched his white hands into victory fists. "An our time to reign supreme throughout the Nine Realms is at hand!" Malekith exclaimed. Finally, the ruthless war lord of the Dark-Elves sank back into his seat. "You have disposed of him?" Malekith questioned rapidly his tone changing from one of giddy to one of seriousness.
Kursed's large head nodded. "I have taken care of my enemy, my liege," a silver-tongue reported.
"Good," Malekith rumbled with pleasure as he slouched with deeper contentment into the throne like chair he sat upon. "Were you able to acquire the hammer?" the black-eyed general asked. "You know that it was with Gungnir and Mjolnir that King Bor was able to defeat us in time past. With their strength combined they could be our downfall once again," Malekith stated pensively. "Show me the hammer!" Malekith demanded.
"I do not have the hammer, my lord," the spiked head beast reported.
The already harsh features of the warlord of the Dark-Elves formed a staunch grimace. "Then what have you brought me?' he inquired disapprovingly. "Everything is at stake!" the elf went on. "Our time is at hand! Our revenge for our people is nigh," the leader informed. "We can afford no slip ups! Show me what you have obtained friend," Malekith ordered once more as in extended his hand. In the blink of an eye a replica of the Kursed horrendous, horned, molten black and red head was tossed at Malekith's feet from the carbon copy of Kursed's hand. Black eyes darted down with horror to glance at the soot covered, gaping mouth of his old friend. "What manner of trickery is this?" the bewildered elfin general gasped as he beheld the image. Instantly his eyes shifted from the dislodged head and went back to Kursed. The monster's body dissolved before his soulless black eyes to reveal a slim, Guardian figure clothed in fine raiment of emerald green, polished gold and velvety black. The face was angular, chiseled and regal. His skin only a few shades darker than Malekith's pasty flesh and his eyes a sparkling, impish jade and there was a telltale smirk placed on thin, pink lips.
"Like that?" Loki retorted snappily to the general's astonishment.
"YOU!" Malekith roared jumping to his feet and placing the Aether aside as he went to unsheathed his sword from his side and rushing toward Loki. The Dark-Elf's black eyes saw red. He recognized the pale skinned Guardian. He had been the one who had tricked them on the mount. He had presented Prince Thor as a prize and Kursed had vouched for him. He had said that he was the one who the Other had said would help them, but then he found that he had been the one who had deceived them and ambushed them in battle and now he came carrying Kursed's head. Kursed had been a long time friend of Malekith. They had grown through the ranks of the Dark-Elf military together. They had been brother in arms as long as Lord Malekith could remember. When he had been first made captain of a thousand men he'd been the first to follow. He had been such a faithful soldier even willing to turn himself into the monster Kursed. Calling upon the Kursed was an ancient ritual of war that the Dark-Elves had longed practice, but not every soldier was up for the task., but it was a necessary one to ensure victory and triumph over their enemies. To become an unstoppable force with no sword or arrow could smite, and here this slinky, pale Asgardia whelp, who looked nothing like a warrior or might and prowess had slain him. Malekith growled. This was a dangerous man at best. A man that needed to be eliminated.
With a red gaze set in eyes made of coal Malekith charged with his sword drawn ready to strike down the enchanter who killed Kursed, but with a nonchalant wave of his hand Loki sent the weapon sailing from Malekith's hand and into his own. With another quick gesture he slammed the thick doors to the cockpit chamber. For a moment Malekith thought to use the Aether upon the magician. Then he thought better of it. Using the Aether would destroy his ship. The white faced creature froze in his tracks and looked at the all too smug Aesir man. The bloodless face did not flinch at the raven locked mages magical gestures, "Who are you?" he questioned coldly his lips curled.
Loki's smug expression did not falter. He took a step closer toward the distinguished elfin general. "I am the one that you were told of," Loki announced. "I one you sent your hound to sniff out," the enchanter reported as his emerald eyes cast a dismissive sideways glance at the horned head. "I am Loki Laufeyson," he confessed, "of Jotunheim," Malekith's features quirked. Being diminutive in size, smooth and warm skinned, he looked like no Jotun that Malekith had ever encountered, but it had been centuries since he'd their kind. Loki stood panting for a moment, his composure temporarily done away with. His gut felt tied in knots. There he'd said it. Now for once and for all. He'd broken ties with Odin and his house, with Thor and...Mother. He swallowed hard and all of Asgard. He was not their kind, he never was. Finally, the infamous liar was speaking a bit of truth, but it was a cold hallow, hurtful truth. He bit his lip shielding off the emotion the longed to come forth.
"And what do you want?"
Loki's grin drew deeper, "I want what you want, Malekith," Loki stated, "An end to Asgard's ruling monarchy," Loki explained as he started to make steps toward the leader, "Ragnarok," he elaborated further as he stepped closer to the general, "Power," he qualified as he whispered the word lustfully in the Dark-Elf's face.
Malekith sneered and scoffed. "You want the same things I want and yet you have done this!" Malekith raged as he pointed to the severed head of the prized warrior amongst the Dark-Elves. "Guardian swine you lie!" he lashed out. "I shall skin your hide for what you have done!" the elf snapped bearing his yellow teeth.
The once prince of Asgard shrugged unaffected by Malekith's threat, "Yours' and the creature's own actions led to that," he explained. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life," the once prince muttered.
"What do you speak of?' Malekith railed.
Enraged, green eyes widened, Loki clenched his teeth, "YOU KILLED THE WOMAN I LOVED!" Loki shouted with venom at the Dark-Elf. Ebony eyes blinked as he tried to place the murder. Many had perished that day, he regretted none. He hardly could distinguish any of them.
"I know not of what you speak?" Malekith lifted his head arrogantly, clearly unmoved by the rage an emotion expressed in the pale skinned Asgardian's tone.
Loki gritted his teeth and growled like a wild dog, ready to lunge at Malekith's throat for his dismissive attitude toward Lady Dagmar's death. To this heartless fiend her demise was another notch on his belt she was simply a fly he had swatted down without care." You attacked and cornered her in the queen's bedchamber. You sicked that dog on her and he mercilessly rammed her clean through!" Loki ground out.
Maleith's dark eyes slowly widened. Now it was coming back. He remembered her, the enchantress who was guarding the mortal woman who had the Aether inside of her. He could recall her well now. A lovely creature indeed. He had been pleased by her looks himself. It had been a long time since he'd had a woman. The Dark_Elves often took the women of their enemies. It was one of their customary practices in battle. He'd sought to keep her as such. She could have made a fine slave girl. Ahhh but she didn't play the coy and blushing damsel in distress she'd fought back. He recalled the battle, she put up quite a fight. He could see the charges flying from her fingertips as she combated forcefully. Her powers had appealed to him. He saw her as the type of woman he might have kept for himself. If she would have cooperated more and not put up such a dreadful resistance perhaps she could have been spared.
Malekith smirked, "She was your wife?" the elf inquired thoughtfully. Once he'd had a wife. That had been many, many ages ago. He could scarcely recall her. He hadn't thought of her in a long time. But she had be a beautiful specimen of elf. Her pointy ears were always decorated with jewels, she loved to wear flowing gowns of deep brown and dark blue hue and occasionally red or purple. She often wore her silky, silver tresses in curls, but sometimes she would wear her hair in two braid tails on the sides of head. Her silky silver hair was very long. She'd had big dark-chocolate eyes more tender than most most of their kind and an infectious smile. She had been the daughter of one of the Aether priest. She was smart and eager a learned woman who studied along side her father. They met at the annual harvest festival one year. It was normal for the women of court to fraternize with the young soldiers during such celebrations. She had caught his eye, but once he found out that she was the daughter of an Aether priest he became even more intrigued by her. He was young and ambitious and had always been interested in the gem of their people, but not of noble birth and therefore he was not able to gain access to learning of the gem as others had. He would have had to work for years and years before he would have been allowed to enter into the Aether temple to learn of the jewel. He figure the best way for himself to gain access to the Aether was to was to marry a prominent woman. And that is what he did. They had a nice life together he supposed, she was a good wife, she cooked and clean and being that she was of a higher social circle than him she was very influential introducing him to the right people helping him move up in the ranks of military as well as in court. After he had fallen into the kings good graces he had swiftly been made a general. Once general he soon learned that he had more authority and power than even their king. His wife had also served in teaching him much about the Aether only prompting him to further his war crusades and reclaiming the rightful place of the Dark-Elves among the realms again. He was away often campaigning in wars, but she managed to give him 6 comely heirs. His oldest being a daughter whom one of the princes of the realm had been quite taken with. His second oldest was a strapping boy who had just come of the age when he could begin training for the army. Yes, indeed, she had been a fine woman to him. Her name...her name...what was it again? it escaped him though it had been so many centuries. Ah there is was...Gwenda. He remembered now, sometimes he had called her Wendi for short. The memories of dead Gwenda were pleasant. They'd had a peaceful, prosperous and powerful marriage.
He supposed he'd loved her. She was such a distant and vague memory he could scarcely recollect what his feelings were about her. For most of their marriage she'd been a cooperative, intelligent and loyal woman although in the end she'd been troubled by the war. As the years passed the demands of furthering the dark-Elf cause grew greater and he was sometimes away for months even years at a time. He'd left her often times to raise their offspring alone. Still he supposed there had been no reason not to love her she helped him move in the upper echelons of the Dark-Elf's society, she cooked and clean and had been fertile. Perhaps he had loved her and their children, but in the end his love for his realm and desire for vengeance had out weighed his love for his wife and 6 offspring. He certainly hadn't felt what this Asgardia seemed to feel for his deceased consort.
In the heat of the final battle the Asgardian forces were completely overrunning them he had a decision to make. The Asgardians had already seized the Aether and were about to cart it off world and take it back to Asgard. He could not allow that to happen, so he sacrificed many of his own people. Many of the elderly and women and children were sheltered away from the fighting, hovering over the action, in protective ships. He detonated the ships in order to lay waste to Asgard's forces. It was the only hope that their army had of surviving, by killing off as many of the all-father's troops as possible. So he sacrificed them. His own wife and children. And he didn't regret it. He remembered some of the soldiers coming to him angrily harassing and questioning his decision making, but if he wouldn't have done that they would have all been dead and they wouldn't be so close to this glorious revenge. He supposed that had his wife been more committed to the cause of the Aether maybe he would have tried to preserve her life.
Then he thought about it further and Malekith truly knew that whether she would have been a faithful supporter of the war effort or not he would have done whatever it took to preserve their small battalion in hopes of one day unleashing the Aether. His family would have always been expendable in the end. He looked in the young Aesir mages swirling, emerald eyes so filled with emotion and fury and realized that he had not felt the same over the demise of his family. The Dark-Elf smirked as he saw the young mage's jade orbs fill with liquid and his features quirked on the verge of cracking. The pale-skinned enchanters cool exterior was on the brink of exposing a soft and squishy interior. Pitiful sentiment. That was the thing that Malekith had noticed about Aesir, they were dreadfully sentimental beings. They were a mighty race, he'd give them that. They'd conquered the Dark-Elves time and time again through force of arms, but they had one simple flaw, one telltale weakness, they were never willing to make the ultimate sacrifices to make a means to an end. He'd watched them on the battle field because a wise general studied the enemy and he'd noticed their peculiar tendencies. They always went back for fallen and wounded soldiers even if that cost them a battle. He'd seen first hand how they'd spared the lives of a few of his captured men and often paid ransoms to free their captured comrades. Malekith didn't understand. He would have never command any of his men to go back and search for a fallen warrior if that meant the battle. It was war. It was survival of the fittest. A man who fell behind was weak and no longer an asset to the war effort. Surely, surely he would have never betrayed the confidence of a newly formed ally over a woman. The very thought was laughable. Yes, the maiden had been beautiful, but there were many beautiful maidens about and a man of power could have his pick of the litter if he so chose. If this Loki Laufeyson of Jotunheim was truly dedicated to their cause if he truly had a desire for power and wanted to bring about Ragnarok as much as he claimed then he wouldn't have dared to have killed Kursed. The only creature who was a match for Prince Thor.
"No," Loki answered through gritted teeth. The word stung as it came curtly off his tongue. It was sharp and clipped and precise and truthful and that is what made the simple word sting all the more. He'd always wanted them to be together. Since he was a young boy he had envisioned such a life for them. He pictured a beautiful life, a life of peace and laughter, a life of tender embraces and sweeping kisses, a life of regalia and happiness, but it wasn't meant to be he had to conclude. It was not ordained by fate. Besides, she wouldn't want him now, not after how he had betrayed them all.
"She opposed me and my quest for the Aether, I demanded that she hand over the mortal woman and she refused. I had come too far to be stopped by some pretty faced witch!" Malekith snapped.
"Speak not of her!" Loki demanded harshly of Dark-Elf as he pointed an accusatory finger toward Malekith.
A sick smile rippled across the lips like whited mountain peaks, "Why did you not inform your woman to stay out of my way?' Malekith questioned.
Loki straightened his shoulders and smiled only to keep from screaming, 'the would prove difficult being that I was confined to a cell during the attack!" Loki snapped back.
Malekith shrugged dismissively, 'Her death was necessary for us to gain the Aether. She was out of her league when she took me on, she should have known she was no match for me," the Dark-Elf boasted. "You have foolishly chosen that woman over the prize!" The elf general condemned. "Now we have lost Kursed! Even the Might Thor and his hammer were no match for him.
"And he was no match for me!" Loki qualified and his sharp words instantly silenced the white skinned general. "You need to understand something Malekith," Loki warned as he leaned into the Dark-Elves leader face and pointed a slim finger toward the general's star decorated chest, "You now work for me," he informed.
Malekith's eyes narrowed. He was the lead general of the Dark-Elf Army. He had been second in command only to the Dark-Elf king and their king had long since died in the great battle leaving him in charge. "If you think that than you are daft!" the general scoffed. "I work for no one," he growled.
"if you think less than that then you are the one who is sadly mistaken," the once prince of Asgard told the general of the Dark-Elves. He shook his head pityingly at the Dark Elf's attempt at deceit. "I know you work for Thanos," Loki pointed out curtly just barely looking up at the ruler. He watched as Malekith's hollowed black eyes went wide. "Oh come now," Loki yawned, "Don't seem so surprised. You were warned of me, were you not?" the raven-haired Guardian asked. Malekith hesitated to speak, The trickster rolled his eyes annoyed with the Dark-Elf silence, "I know that the Other told you to find me. You sent your dog to search me out because you needed a powerful and knowledgeable enchanter. It is my ingenuity, my plots and trickery that have gotten you this far! Do you think that you would have even gotten the Aether if I had not staged the battle so perfectly?" the silver-tongued trickster retorted. "Oh," Loki hiss seductively as he gave the stunned elfin general a piteous glance. "How adorable," Loki cooed teasingly, "You thought that you and your band of cutthroats actually overcame the armies of Asgard," Loki explained as he circled around the leader. Malekith narrowed his soulless black orbs as he listened to the silver-tongued magician ramble on. "Now let's get a few things straight," the trickster qualified. His articulate voice harsh and controlling. "Unless you heed my orders your plans shall come to naught," Loki said clippedly. "and you shall have to answer to the Other and Thanos for your negligence," Loki informed. He rubbed his fingernails along the golden trim of his surcote, "just think of what Thanos does to those who fail him," Loki said with a wink.
Malekith's blood ran cold, he had been in cahoots with since the early years of the war with Asgard and he'd witnessed the mad titan's ruthlessness first hand. His cruelty had been what had drawn him to Thanos, but he knew that the titan would not spare him any pain if he failed to uphold his end of the bargain. The Other had explained to him Thanos' will. When all the Realms aligned during Convergence it would be Thanos' one chance to be freed from his prison for more than 4000 years. Malekith was to allow the Aether to be released during the Convergence that was Thanos could be set free from where he had been held in prison for thousands of years. "I'm listening," the leader of the Dark-Elves stated his head still held high as he folded his arms across his chest.
"That's more like it," the jade eyed mage grinned and he sauntered past Malekith and made his way toward his captain's seat. He eyes the Aether it was still morphing and shifting restlessly inside the crystal ball that Malekith had placed it in. Loki scooped it up and instantly in the skilled enchanter's hand the Aether surged. It responded to magic. "I can get you Mjolnir," Loki explained his eyes were no longer focused on the pit-like black eyes of the dark elf in the room, now rather they concerned themselves with the Aether. Loki gem colored eyes grew wide as he sense the power of the gem. It was sheer raw dark matter, how he would love to study and probe it more. He allowed tiny, electric charges to spring from his fingers and play over the glass. He watched how the Aether reacted to it. The liquid infinity gem drew back coiling in on itself. It was repelled by electricity. No wonder Mjolnir was one of the only sources to keep this power at bay.
"How?" Malekith barked as he followed behind the young wizard. "You have destroyed the Kursed! How shall we kill Thor?" Malekith questioned.
Loki chuckled as he took a seat in Malekith''s leather captain's chair. He laughed with the amusement as if he was speaking to a child whose foolish questioning was particularly absurd
"Killing Thor will not grant you the power to lift the hammer anyway," he expressed as he made himself comfortable.
"How shall we relieve him of it then?' the white-face, black-eyed general pressed.
"Thor's has been stripped of his powers before," Loki explicated, "and I can assure you he was very much alive and powerless," the once son of Odin informed. "The all-father took his powers from him for an act of disobedience. He said he was unworthy and cast him off to Midgard without his very source of strength. I watched as Thor's body was hurled through the Bifrost down to Earth. Once Thor went sailing through time and space Odin cast the hammer through the Bifrost as well," Loki continued to elaborate as he rubbed his thin fingers over the glass orb. "Before Odin flung Mjolnir through the Bifrost, he whispered these words," the silver tongued ex-prince qualified. "Whosoever hold this hammer, if he be worth, shall possess the power of Thor," Loki whispered as his green eyes darted up to looked into Malekith's coal black eyes hand an equally evil gleam twinkled in their pupils and a smile slithered between them. It is unlikely that he would be put in such a predicament of unworthiness now, but Thor could chose to relinquish his hammer," the once prince began.
"And he could surrender the might of the hammer to me," Malekith added greedily his find filling with the thoughts of power that having both the Aether and Mjolnir would give him. He would be nigh invincible. He would rule the realms with an iron fist and put the Dark_Elves back in the position they'd been fore the age had shifted and Darkness had been forced to give way to an Era of Light.
Long black locks waved back and forth and as Loki shook his head. "You will not be worthy," the green-eyed mage informed curtly his scoffing automatically falling flat and his face taking on a serious expression.
Malekith's bloodless face formed an enraged scowl, "How dare you!" the Dark-elf leader declared. "And who do think is worthy? You!" Malekith began to rant. "I have harnessed the power of the Aether many times and I shall harness it again! I can handle the power of Mjolnir!" Malekith carried on slipping back into the guttural native tongue of the Dark-Elves as he grew more and more furious.
"Calm yourself!" Loki snapped. "neither of us would be able to possess the hammer," Loki erupted with an exasperated breath.
His mind recalled his brief visit to Midgard during Thor's banishment. There Mjolnir sat, stuck in the mud and unable to be pried from the Earth by any of the flimsy mortals. He dared to imagine at that point that he might be able to wield his brother's hammer. When he saw the hammer planted down there so vulnerable and useless without strong capable hands to hold it and command it he'd thought that maybe it had all been a test. For a moment wishful thinking plagued his mind causing him to concoct a fantasy that maybe Odin had done this on purpose. That perhaps Odin had seen how completely unworthy Thor was to possess the mighty mallet and to sit upon the throne of Asgard. May-hap, he'd intended for him to find and pluck the hammer from soil and become the great thunderer. With confidence he reached out his bony porcelain fingers and wrapped them firmly around Mjolnir cold, silver hilt and he pulled. He pulled and he tugged vigorously with all his might. Still the weapon had remained stationary, not budging an inch. Frustrated, he put his back into it. He wrapped both hands around the hilt of the hammer and braced his feet and pulled back, hard, had and intently using all his physical and mental strength. He even tried to use his magic to wedge the hammer free of being caked in dirt. All this effort was to no avail. He gritted and strained and pressed himself to until his palms were burnt, his teeth ached from the clenching, sweat trickled down his temples and he felt as though he would almost throw his back out...all in a desperate attempt to lift Thor's hammer from the ground, but he couldn't. He remembered the feeling of defeat and rejection washing over him once more enveloping him in a cloud of worthlessness that he'd grown all too accustomed to. So there was the truth of it he and Thor had always been far from equal and he would never be worth of the blonde's glow or glory.
"What I suggest isn't either of us wielding the power, but rather no one having possession of it," Loki pointed out shrewdly. "There is a tonic," the trickster started, "simple enough to create, you have a lab on this vessel do you not?" Loki asked as he looked around. The general nodded an affirmative response. "Good," Loki purred as a smirk appeared on his thin lips. "I should be able to find the necessary ingredients in the station then," he posed. "I will create the brew and Thor simply need ingest it and he will be rendered powerless for 48 hours. If I am correct that will give you just enough time to unleash the Aether to spread during Convergence. By the time Thor regains his ability to carry Mjolnir again it'll be too late for him to do anything to stop what has begun," Loki expressed.
Malekith approached Loki slowly, the silver-tongued Asgardian's plan seemed reasonable. With the hammer at large, his schemes could still be thwarted. This put an end to the hammer problem although it did not necessarily put an end to Prince Thor and the Dark-Elf wanted the son of Odin dead. It was his revenge against King Bor from eons past. He would put an end to the line of Bor and then there'd be none to wield the might hammer Mjolnir or the golden spear of Gungnir in the future to rise up and challenge him. Loki smirked. Knowing that Malekith had become even more intrigued by his proposition. Malekith sauntered closer to the captains seat that Loki had claimed. He kept his arms folded across his breastplate. "If you've known all this all this time why haven't you just given him the potion?" Malekith inquired he was still not one hundred percent sure that he could trust the green-eyed Asgardian.
"I have had no means to manufacture anything, I have been confined to a lowly cell for nearly two years and besides in order for the potion to work Thor has to be willing to surrender his power. Only Odin can take it from him by force," Loki articulated somewhat bitterly.
"What do you propose to say to him to convince him to give up the power of thunder and lightening this close to Convergence?" Malekith challenged as He placed his hands on the armrests of the captain's chair where Loki sat and leaned into his face. Loki his curled his nose. The dark elf's breath was noxious.
With poise Loki raised his left hand to cover his nostrils from the putrid scent of the ancient being's mouth. With his right hand he slowly pushed the black-eyed elf from his face. "Trust me," the liar smiled with ease, "I have my reason's to believe that the Mighty Thor will be willing to give us exactly what we want," The onyx locked man breathed as he looked down at his pale right hand and focused on his pinky finger where a small cold, little ring was wrapped around the digit. He allowed his left index finger to delicately feel the ring's familiar grooves. He felt the familiar, but crudely crafted engraving. The inscription had faded, it still was decipherable written in the ring made of a Bilgeschnipes tusk. Einar. Loki mashed his thin lips together and closed his bright jade eyes feeling them prickle with the tears of 1000 memories of brotherhood. But it was a false brotherhood, a brotherhood based on a lie...that was no bond at all. He told himself as he opened his eyes and beheld the engraving once more. Einar. He could hear Thor's young voice in his ear, feel his sturdy had resting on his shoulder, while another hand wiped back on of his sweat soaked locks, "I just wanted you to know...I...I think you're strong." Well Thor was right. He was strong, he was strong and powerful and for once his his power would outweigh Thor's. This time Thor would be the one looking to him. Loki clenched his jaw and closed his hand into a tight white-knuckled fist burying the secret of the ring into the folds of his palm and quickly shut his eyes. There was no time to give into these dreadful sentiments. "Believe me when I say he'd do anything for his dear, little brudder," Loki teased and emitted a nasty cackle and tossed the ring formed out of a Bilgschnipes tusk toward Malekith before he started to cackle madly along with Malekith.
"Rana! Rana! Rana!" Lady Sigyn exclaimed ecstatically like a little girl, as their two horses reached the peaks of the hills Their two steeds worked in tandem pulling a fine mahogany carriage overlaid with ivory details behind them. "I can see the top of the Royal Palace!" she stated breathlessly as she pointed to the large, golden spires illuminated in the moonlight rising just over the cliff.
Once the stallions reached the top of the steep and rocky slopes they immediately started grazing. The hill top grass was green and rich. The horses were hungry. It had been a long days journey and they had hardly stopped to rest at all, being that they were desperate to make it to the Imperial City in time. Sigyn smiled a stroked Snowflakes long white neck while the horse lowered it's head to graze. Snowflake and Rana's mare, Buttercup, both gave grateful whinnies at being allowed to stop and rest their hooves for a minute. "We made it!" the blonde-haired Guardian maiden shout and heaved a sigh of relief as she turned to face her older sibling. Sigyn's big, round, amber eyes shone with gratitude as she looked up at Rana's bright blue ones. She had to admit she'd had her doubts that they would make it. It had seemed like such an impossible feat. It wasn't that she didn't trust Rana or didn't believe that her sister would take her to the Imperial City, but she knew Rana had never been the best at reading maps. She couldn't really say anything being that she was poor at reading maps as well. "I can't believe we made it!" Sigyn gasped once again hoping this time to rally a response from her older sister.
Rana nodded back and allowed a small and relieved smile trickle across her ruby painted lips. She could scarcely believe that they had made it this far herself. The redhead daughter of Lord Arn was equally as astonished as her sister. Rana couldn't help but stick her large chest out with pride at the fact that she had managed to get them to the city. "Yeah...yeah...yeah...we did," Rana confirmed breathlessly. She returned her Sigyn's tight squeeze on her hand smiled brightly at the younger girl.
"Because of you," Lady Sigyn added, her voice small, but sincere. "Because of you," Sigyn whispered once more as she finally let go of her sister's hand. "I wouldn't have made it this far without you, Rana," the fair-haired once lady-in-waiting to the queen of Asgard stated she looked down as if embarrassed. She wasn't good with words. She didn't know how to express all her gratitude to her big sister. She didn't know how to relay how thankful she was for her help. She didn't know how to phrase the fact that it was good to have someone by her side once more.
Sigyn had missed Rana. She'd missed having a sister. She missed the days when they would swing their legs across each others beds' and kicked their feet as they shared secrets. They'd whisper back and forth in each others ear sharing the latest gossip they'd heard at school or in the bathhouses. She'd missed times when they'd help each other do their hair or paint their nails for a party or ball. She missed borrowing each her older sisters clothes or swapping jewels. They had been close, they'd always had their own circle of friends, but they'd still been close sisters. The closeness they'd once shared seemed to vanish overnight after Loki had disgraced her. She thought that her older sister would try to defend her to her father, would take up for her and stand by her side in court, but she didn't. She never blamed Rana, though. She supposed any woman would have done the same. A woman had to do what she could to protect her own reputation. So the redhead distanced herself and acted as if they weren't sisters, but now as they sat on their horses, on top of a hill, overlooking the battered and bruised Imperial City, it felt like they were sisters again. "Rana, I just wanted to thank you," Sigyn muttered softly. "Thank you for believing me..." she continued looking up once more with a sweet little girl's grin. It was a grin of love and admiration, the type that a child gives to someone who had just given them a very special gift even after they've been very naughty. "I...and...all of Asgard will forever owe you a debt of gratitude," Sigyn stammered as she did her best to express herself she nearly bowed to her sister.
Rana rolled her stormy sea eyes, she put her hand out silence Sigyn's over eager, but awkward words. Sigyn immediately, sucked in her small, glossy, pink lip stifling herself from trying to articulate further. "Don't thank me," Lady Rana warned. Sigyn's blonde brows furrowed. "At least...at least," Rana hesitated. "At least...Not just yet," the ruby haired noblewoman qualified.
Lady Sigyn looked perplexed. She shook her head stunned and crestfallen by her sister's words. She had thought Rana was on board. Rana had been so helpful. Why wouldn't she want to be thanked for everything she had done? That was not like Rana, Rana had always been one who wanted the utmost gratitude. Sigyn remembered times when they were younger and whenever Rana would do her a favor she dangle it over Sigyn's head as blackmail forcing her to do all manner of things. Even for the smallest of favors Rana liked to be compensated with groveling practically. If Rana braided up Sigyn's hair for an outing she'd want Sigyn to shine her shoes. If Rana covered for her younger sister for skipping classes at the academy she'd want to be thanked by having Sigyn do her chores for a week. It seemed peculiar that she would not want to be thanked to the high heavens for actions now. In all honesty, she deserved to be thanked like that.
Still Sigyn shook her head dismissing Rana's attitude. Rana was often moody. Sigyn shrugged and put on another happy grin toward her older sister. Rana was probably just tired from the long trek. They had hardly stopped at all in journey. They had been riding from morning til nearly nightfall. Sigyn had to admit she was ready for a hearty meal and warm bath herself. Her own rear end was sore from hours on the saddle. "C'mon," the blonde encouraged happily as she tugged on Rana's draping sleeve. "If we make due haste I bet we can make it to the palace before nightfall," she beamed. "C'mon! I'll race you!" Sigyn chimed in and winked her gold eye as she gave her horse's behind a slap to get Snowflake moving again. Snowflake started to trot along, but Rana held her mare in place. "What's wrong?" Sigyn asked her grin falling as her platinum blonde brows knit together as she craned her neck to study Rana's face. Rana turned her face to the side, keeping her countenance concealed. "Rana?" Sigyn uttered tentatively as she placed her palm delicately on to the redhead's shoulder.
She felt the older woman's shoulders grow rigid. Rana rolled her shoulders and shrugged Sigyn's soft tanned hands off of herself. "I...I'm not sure about this," Rana finally uttered with a deep gusty sigh.
The golden-locked daughter of Admiral Arn questioned as she blinked in confusion, "Not sure about what?"
Rana didn't respond right away instead she stayed silent as she looked down at the torn and tattered city below. The Imperial City normally glittered like a treasure chest full of jewels beneath the suns warm rays. Now it looked like a diamond in a rough. It's beauty covered and tarnished by soot and ash and debris. It was typically a beacon to all the realms, like a lighthouse calling ships to safety on the distant sure. Now it had become a tiny flickering flame on a candlestick, the little light that it did produce seemed so small and dim and easy to extinguish. She sighed. The sight she saw scared her. In her mind she had wanted to believe that immediately after the attack, the city was rebuilt to its glory and it still stood shinning and glowing, but now she could see that the attack had wielded a devastating blow and weakened the golden realm. "Not sure about this," Rana said as she gestured her hands abstractly in the air. "This!" she waved her hands more vigorously trying to convey her point. Neither of Lord Arn's daughter's had been blessed with gifts of rhetoric. "This plan of yours!" Rana finally blurted out in frustration.
Sigyn's lips pursed bewilderment written plainly on her pretty face. "I...I...I don't understand," she muttered her sunlit tendrils flopping as she shook her head. "We're almost there," Sigyn explained her voice hitching just a little as she frantically grasped at Lady Rana's shoulder and motioned her hand to point to the large metropolis lying protected in the valley. "We'll be there in no time!" the amber eyed lady-in-waiting to Queen Frigga expressed. "I know you are tired," Sigyn confessed with a sigh. "I am weary too, if you want to rest for a little while I suppose we can," Sigyn shrugged confusion giving way to an innocent, happy expression.
"No! That isn't what I meant!" the fiery-haired Aesir maiden snapped. Her fierce temper immediately caused Sigyn to withdraw her hand from her older sister's shoulder. She drew it back toward herself as if she had been scalded by boiling water. "I didn't think it would look like this," the blue-eyed maiden muttered quietly as her liquid pools stayed transfixed on the Imperial City. "I thought that everything would be rebuilt," she reported. 'I don't know why," Rana went on as she shook her head. "It is foolish I supposed, but somehow I thought... everything would be as it was before," the shapely daughter of Lord Arn elaborated. Before she could even touch her sibling's shoulder though Rana caused her horse to trot up closer toward the edge of the cliff. "...I thought there'd be no trace of the attack," she continued. Her bright blue eyes couldn't seem to shift from staring at the devastation that the Dark-Elves had wrought upon the Imperial City, her home. Although she had been forced to move to the shires. She would never be a country maid. She was a courtier through and through. The Imperial City was where she grew up. It had always been where her heart resided and where she longed to be. "Papa said that all would be as normal...that the architects would instantly repair every damages," Rana continued to explain. "That the Einherjar would handle everything..." she announced. All of a sudden Rana clutched her chest and let out a sob, "Look what they've done," she muttered as she gasped as she beheld the waste and wreckage. "It look as if Ragnarok as already begun," she admitted. "Maybe it is inevitable...maybe it cannot be stopped," she stated as she finally turned watery blue eyes toward Sigyn. "Maybe it is already too late!" she cried.
Sigyn shook her head, her blonde tendrils bobbing about as her head wagged "No...no...no, Rana," the amber-eyed Arndottir started to protest. "Don't...don't...don't speak like that," she cautioned as she took her older sister by the shoulder. "You mustn't! You mustn't speak like that!" the soon to be wife of Lord Theoic scolded. "There...there's still time," she assured her. "There's still time," Sigyn echoed although this time when she said it she was trying to convince herself of the words more so than her older sibling. "We still have a day and a few hours between now and Convergence," she said as her foggy mind tried to calculate the amount of hours that they had, "we're here!" she announced triumphantly, "And...and...and we have the scroll, yes," Sigyn continued as she pulled the parchment scroll from out beneath the folds of her cloak. She revealed it once again to her sister. It was pretty and neat and sealed tightly with delicate, velvet red ribbon and an unbroken Vanir seal.
"The scroll," Rana scoffed as she curled her lips and rolled her eyes.
"Yes, the scroll," Sigyn continued nodding in earnest not noticing the slight disgust laced in her sister's voice as she uttered the word. "There's still time," the golden locked Aesir maiden continued to mumble. "I can still get it to Loki," Sigyn explained.
"Loki," Rana's words continued to be mocking. "Oh Sigyn!" Rana finally erupted as fresh, angry tears welled up inside her deep blue pools. "How do you even know this whole plan of yours is going to work!?" she questioned indignantly. 'You are counting on Loki to save us!" she spat in disgust.
Sigyn reached her slender tanned fingers out to grab her sister's hand once more. "It'll work...it'll work, Rana," Sigyn whispered as she tried to reassure the voluptuous red-haired woman. "You'll see," she encouraged offering her sister a gentle smile.
Rana twisted her gaze away from Sigyn, she couldn't looking into her sister's wide, trusting eyes. They were so full of hope and a confidence. "How can you say that?" Rana questioned indignantly. The bronze-skinned once handmaiden to Queen Frigga started to speak, but was immediately cut off by her sister, "because of the this scroll?" Rana demanded as she quickly grabbed the piece of parchment from hers sister's delicate hands. She waved it angrily in the blonde-haired woman's face.
. "You don't even know what's on that scroll," Rana pointed out once more. "You are counting on information that you don't even know exists to save Asgard...to save us all?" Rana scoffed. "You are counting on the fact that this scroll says that the baby is alive, but what if it doesn't?" Rana quickly pointed out. "What if the baby is dead?" Rana inquired her own eyes filled with tears as she finally jumped up and snatched the scroll from Rana' manicured fingers. She was out of breath after her lead as she clutched the scroll protectively to her heart.
"Rana don't say that!" Sigyn scolded as she quickly tucked the parchment scroll back into her bosom.
"You can't say that," she muttered, "You mustn't think that way," she shook her head.
"You need to think that way!" Rana countered, "Sigyn this is dangerous," Lady Rana informed sternly as she finally leaped from off her horse's back so that she was standing face to face with her sister. 'You are about to step back into a war zone!" Rana ranted as she pointed to the Imperial City that seemed a shadow of it's former self. "You are about to risk your very life...and for what? For what? For something that might not even be!" Rana shouted in Sigyn's face. 'For something that might not even make a difference one way or the other," Rana explained frantically. "What if the scroll says that the child is dead!" the redhead viking noblewoman blurted out.
"Don't say that!" Lady Sigyn admonished wagging a chiding finger in her older sister's face.
"It is a reality! It could be, the child could be dead," Rana countered as she gripped Sigyn's tanned finger in her own warm colored hand and shoved it back down by Sigyn's side. "What if the child truly is dead! Do you think Loki is going to agree to help Prince Thor then? Do you" she questioned relentlessly as she gripped Sigyn by her shoulders.
Lady Sigyn trembled as she felt Rana's strong bronzed hands wrap around her slender arms and giver her a firm rattle. Once Rana finally stopped shaking her like a rag doll she blinked her widest, large gold-coin eyes rapidly at her sister as she tried to clear her head. "I...I...know, but...I have to do this...I have to try..." Sigyn stated her voice were quiet but there was a resolute intensity glowing in her eyes golden pupils.
"For him?" Rana questioned ruthlessly as she shook Sigyn vigorously. Sigyn petite body flopped like a rag doll in her sisters hard shoves. Rana had always been more strongly built woman than she. She took after their father in her size and shape. She was tall and statuesque all though very feminine in form, with a buxom chest and wide hips. Rana had been excellent at the shot-put when they were girls. Sigyn was built like their mother, delicate bones and petite, busty but slender in her hips and waist. "For him? For him? For that worthless monster? Why Sigyn. Why?" Rana demanded.
"For us!" Sigyn shouted back. For all of us, Rana! I'm doing this for all of Asgard and the Nine Realms!" Sigyn explained breathlessly once she managed to escape from being shaken like a leaf in the wind. "And yes," she paused and breathed as she felt Rana release her, "For him" she admitted.
"Oh Sigyn you must use your head for once!" Rana fussed. "Sigyn, Loki is a monster!" she yelled "Don't you understand...he won't care what's on that scroll! You must see that!" Lady Rana muttered nervously.
"No, I don't believe that," Sigyn protested, "Loki will care...I know...I just know...I know," sweet Sigyn insisted. "I know he loved Dag mar and I know he'll care about the fate of their child," Sigyn confirmed with her hand pressed to her heart.
"You are counting on the fact that this scroll contains good news, but what if one this parchment is written ill tidings?" Rana pointed out once more. "What will there me to cause Loki to help Prince Thor then?" Rana continued to question. "Huh? Huh? Huh?" the redhead pushed. "I think this is folly, if the baby is dead then this could be for naught! Loki' wont agree to help Prince Thor then. He'll just wreck havoc and destroy this realm, destroy us all!" Rana hollered as she waved her hands in the air. "What if Loki unleashes Ragnarok to consume us all?" Rana squealed as she balled up her hands in tight fist.
The fair-haired maiden chased after the cantankerous and worried redhead. "it is risky, Rana," she started once she finally caught up to her sister who hand gone to stand behind the carriage. Her arms were crossed over her chest and as Sigyn cautiously approached she noticed that her sister's crystal blue eyes were gathering with moisture. "I don't pretend to know what will happen," Sigyn admitted as her tiny hand cupped around her sibling's heaving shoulder. "You need to know!" the redhead viking woman persisted. "Don't you see, Sigyn! There is is no point in you going through all this just for the letter to say that there is no child. There's no reason to stay here and put your life in danger. You need to read this letter and find out what this scroll has written on it once and for all, before you risk your lives and the lives of all in Asgard," Rana fussed as she took Sigyn by the wrist to keep her from walking away. She pointed to the scroll that Sigyn had tried unsuccessfully to conceal in her bosom. "No, Rana," Lady Sigyn replied as she dropped her head. "I...I can't read this, it's not for my eyes. Lady Jane promised Lady Dagmar that she would give it to me and that I would give it to Loki and that is what I intend to do," Sigyn stated solidly. Rana blinked her big blue eyes rapidly, "What? Sigyn it is too much of a risk!" she shouted. "But it's a risk that has to be taken. I looked at Lady Dagmar's correspondences before and it...it did not end well," Sigyn expressed shaking her head filling guilt well up inside of her once more. The blonde maiden shuddered, "I...If I wouldn't had been snooping around in her letters and things, then her fiance would have never found out about her in Loki and he wouldn't have attacked her," Sigyn explained with a sigh her eyes welling up with tears. "If he wouldn't have attacked her than he wouldn't have had to go to the dungeons and they could have gone to Vanaheim right away, she wouldn't have been here for the attack. She wouldn't be dead!" Sigyn blurted out as she squeezed her gold eyes shut and allowed tears to fall from her eyes. She gasped and covered her mouth as she started to blubber. Soon she felt Rana's arms wrap around her shoulder she pressed her damp cheeks into the crook of Rana's neck and wept loudly for a few seconds there. Rana rubbed soothing comforting circles on her sisters back trying to settle her. She cooed and shush her sister. Sigyn whimpered and sniffled as she finally managed to compose herself. "It's...it's...it's," the fair-haired lady-in-waiting hiccuped as she wiped her radiant gold eyes and looked up at her sister. "it's because of me...because of me looking into things that were none of my concern that Lady Dagmar is dead!" she confessed. "Nononono," Rana muttered back wiping her sister wet cheeks, "it tis not your fault," she tried explain. Sigyn trembling, pink lips managed to form a shaky smile as she took in her sister's words. She nodded and inhaled deeply. "I cannot help but feel guilty...Loki loved and now he doesn't have her because of me," Sigyn went on as she pointed to herself. "I would want him to have her if it would have made him happy," Sigyn admitted as she swiped the last of her tears away from her gold eyelashes. "And Lady Dagmar didn't deserve to die because of my snooping about." "it is too late to concern yourself with that, Sigyn," Rana stated. "Dagmar is gone...nothing can bring her back," Rana informed somberly as she placed a reassuring hand on her sister's forearm.
"I know," the blonde-locked gentlewoman whispered. "But maybe in this way...I...I can make it right," she breathed as she plucked the piece of parchment from her bosom and looked down at it with affection.
"it's too late, Sigyn! You can't go!" her sister persisted. "If I don't go...if I don't try then it is like giving up. It would be like allowing the Dark-Elves to win to spread the Aether. It would be like just allowing all the nine realms to just fall into Darkness. I can't do that," Sigyn explicated as she looked at her sister with determination shimmering in her liquid gold eyes. "We are the daughters of a great admiral," she began to proclaim. "We were raised to be good Asgardians, to fight and never surrender, to do anything and everything to protect our realm!"
"Sigyn...yes...yes," Rana replied as she lowered her gaze. "But in the end it could still not work, in the end Ragnarok could still take place. We could die! What if we can't stop it?" Rana asked in a panic
Sigyn shrugged. "At least we will die trying then. We will have done everything possible to save Asgard and stop Ragnarok. That is a death with honor," Lady Sigyn declared as she stuck out her ample chest with pride. "And if it doesn't work," Sigyn started and her eyes looked off wistfully in the distance. "And I perish...well...well then...at least...at least then...I will have seen have seen him one last time," Sigyn confessed.
Rana sighed and shook her head with disbelief at her sister's devout words. "You really do love him, don't you Sigyn?" Rana asked as she craned her neck trying to see her sister's beautiful face.
"Aye Rana, with all my heart." she reported her honey comb eyes misting. "I understand if you can't go with me all the way to the palace, Rana. It is my mission, not yours. I understand if you think I am a complete and utter fool for what I am doing. And you are probably right...I...I am a foolish maiden, but I have to do this," Sigyn announced with determination in her tone as she looked up at her sister. "I understand if you can't take me the rest of the way...you have already taken me so far. I would never have gotten this far without you, sister..." Sigyn gazed up and smiled. She opened her arms to Rana and embraced her tightly and kissed her cheek. Rana didn't return the hug her arms remained down by her side. "Thank you," she said sweetly. "I'll go the rest of the way by myself." Sigyn started to walk away over the her snow-white stallion. She raised her leg and put it through the strap of the horse's saddle and mounted Snowflake. The golden-locked attendant to Queen Frigga clicked her tongue signaling for the mare to break into a slow gallup.
Rana waited for a few moments as she watched Sigyn and her horse started to descend the slopes of the rugged hillside to make there way to the Imperial City. "Sigyn!" the fiery-locked daughter of Admiral Arn called out. Sigyn pulled on Snowflakes reins forcing the horse to halt. She swung her head back to face her older sibling. "We've come this far, haven't we?" she asked. "Besides I told you I would take you to the Imperial City so that you could deliver that letter and that's what I intend to do," she confirmed as she dashed toward her blonde mare and hopped on her back racing along beside Sigyn down the hill and toward the golden city
"Well here we are," she said as the stood right outside the palace gates. A protective force field had been placed around the golden palace, but it was too little too late. The force field hadn't been their to protect the palace and its inhabitants when it had been most needed. Now the palace had been deserted besides for the Einherjar who were awaiting the second attack. Rana turned to Sigyn, "Sigyn I want you to know that you may be a fool for what you are doing," the redheaded stated her voice, flat and even and without remorse.
The blonde-locked maiden cringed under the condemnatory statement. "I know," Sigyn sighed and hung her head as her shoulders slumped. "I know I am not wise," she confessed about herself. "I don't know if this is a smart decision, but it's all that I can do," the blonde admitted.
"You may not be wise Sigyn, but you just may be the bravest, kindest, noblest woman I know," Rana reported as she placed a strengthening hand on her sister's shoulder. "And I hope one day Mother, Father and all of Asgard see it," Rana stated. Sigyn turned to her sister with tear filled eyes, " And I hope Loki appreciates that," she confirmed with a nod.
"He should have been back by now," Thor muttered anxiously as he wrung his large, calloused hands and paced like a caged animal across the cave floor. "You don't know how far away Ichabod is, Thor," Frandal stated from his position seated around the warm fireside as he poked and prodded at the fire with an iron rod. "Maybe he hasn't even reached Ichabod yet," the blonde-haired swordsman pointed out. Thor shook his golden locks refuting his friends words. "Loki said it was only half a days journey to Ichabod," the Crown Prince of Asgard stated back firmly. "Well, Loki doesn't always know as much as he thinks he does," Lady Sif commented with a sneer from her position on the opposite Frandal. She continued to sharpen her double bladed spear on the flint stones without giving a second thought to her remarks "He had a map, Sif," Volstagg interjected as he slurped down the last of the contents of his her bowl of stew. This particular serving had been rather meager. Mentally he understood, their rations were far too low. They honestly didn't have enough rations to support 3 square meals a day for another 2 days. If they cut meals they would be able to possible hold out three or 4 days, but cutting meals was never the best option during battle. The troops would be weak when it came time to fight. Also they still had so many men who were wounded. Those men needed their strength. The bigger portions were given to the critically injured. Sure, Sir Volstagg could rationalize the reason why he had been given such a small helping of broth, but it was impossible to explain things to a grumbling stomach. His belly was cantankerous at best and unreasonable at its' worse. It continued to rumble in gripe in protest, demanding more from him. He would have been happy to oblige it, but there was no more to be dispensed. Volstagg waved his plump hands over the holo-map. The machine instantly activated and showed the barren landscape of Svartalheim. The ax-weilder pointed a pudgy finger toward the area on the map labeled Ichabod. "It says about 12 leagues, Sif...that's about half a day," Volstagg confirmed.
The shield-maiden snorted. "Maps can be faulty," she replied curtly not even looking up at the hologram map from the archives of the palace library. "Or maybe the Dark-Elves didn't even take refuge in the old stronghold of Ichabod," Sif added once more. "Loki seemed pretty certain..." the plump Viking spoke up once more. "Loki is not the end-all-be-all authority on the Dark-Elves!" the brunette warrior woman snapped. "He doesn't know everything! He could have been wrong!" she yelled. "Maybe he got lost," the son of Odin murmured worriedly. His beautiful sapphire eyes went wide in a moment of panic. He thought about Loki out in the unforgiving black-sand desert, missing and caught in a deadly sandstorm. Loki hadn't eaten much it appeared and Thor hadn't noticed his younger brother pack many provisions for the journey. "Oh come on, now Thor, that is highly unlikely," Frandal stated as he stood up and stretched. He slowly walked over toward where the burly, blonde, Viking prince was standing. He clapped a firm hand on Thor's broad shoulders. "You remember how good Loki was at those mazes we used to walk through when we were kids," he added jovially. He flashed a debonair grin before her broke into laughter. "Ha!" he guffawed. "He used to be the first one out every time," he reminisced. "I still think he cheated!" Volstagg chimed in after asking one of the other Einherjar who was making up his sleeping cot if he was going to finish he bowl. The soldier protectively guarded his wooden boil before limping over to his sleep sheets. "I know he did," Sif mumbled under her breath and she roughly scraped the flint stone against the edges of her blades, causing sparks to fly. "Probably used his magic to get out of there so quickly," she continued bitterly. "Or he could have studied the mazes a head of time," Hogun mentioned casually a slight smirk written on the slant eyed warriors face. The leader of the Einherjar nodded despite himself. He allowed a beautiful smile to slip across his handsome face. The memories brought a laugh to the prince's lips. "I wouldn't have put it past Loki to study the mazes a head of time," he admitted as he swiped his rugged mallet-carrying mitts through his long gold tresses. "Hehe!" Hogun gave an amused chuckle from the side, 'I remember that time he left you in that ice labyrinth for hours!" "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Frandal roared as he slapped his knee. "We had all gotten out of there hours ago and then Loki told us to leave you in there to see how long it would take you to figure it out," Frandal continued to hoot and holler as if he was being entertained by a court jester.
"I remember! I remember! Volstagg blurted out. "Ahh, but we didn't think it was going to take you that long, did we?" the red-bearded Viking as he nudged Lady Sif in the shoulder with his elbow. Sif merely rolled her dark brown eyes to his annoying nudges. "it just got so late!" he laughed loudly as he grabbed his rotund belly the shook with his jolly guffaws. "I had to go home and eat supper," he expressed as he gasped for all in between cracking up.
"Whatever!" the swordsman flagged off his friend. "It could have been 15 minutes later and you would have still run home for supper!" he teased.
"Shut-up!" the plump soldier shouted as he tossed a rock at the ladies-man of the troop. Frandal was easily able to dodge the bit of ammo and responded only by continuing to point and laugh at the feeble attempt.
"That wasn't funny, you guys!" Thor chided his friends. Even Sif had started to laugh after a while. "I could have frozen to death!" he reminded them. He remembered the ice maze. Mazes were a very popular past time in Asgard. They usually set them up in the park every season. The winter ice mazes were particularly challenging and complicated and easy to get lost in due to the fact that the ice acted as a mirror and often caused reflections. Thor recalled wondering in around thinking that he had spotted other children and trying to follow them to get out of the labyrinth on the find that he's been wandering behind reflections.
"I'm still surprised you didn't smash your way out of it," Hogun admitted.
"I think I would have soon if Loki hadn't finally shown up and gotten me out of there," prince Thor admitted. He remembered after the sun finally set finding his younger brother's lanky image walking through the maze. "OK," Thor spoke after shaking his head and pulling himself from his thoughts. "Well maybe Loki isn't lost, but still something could have happened to him," the blonde son of Odin pointed out once more.
"Thor I'm sure he's fine," Jane chimed in as she came behind her and offered him his cloak. A cold wind had started to whip through dank cave. Thor turned at the sound of her melodic voice and couldn't help but grin back when he saw her sweet face. He took the cloak and thanked her and then planted a sweet kiss on her cheek. Jane giggled as the prickly stubble of his beard tickled her face. Jane didn't know why, but somehow she found Thor's worry over his younger brother endearing. He was a big, strong, strapping prince and yet he had the compassion and caring of a mother hen.
"I don't know, Jane," Thor muttered miserably. "I just thought Loki would be back by now," he went on. "he was all alone out there..."
"He is all alone because he wanted to go alone!" Sif reminded Thor a twinge of bitterness housed in her voice as she looked at Thor take a seat and link arms with Lady Jane. She watched with disgust as the auburn haired Midgardian leaned her head on Thor's masculine shoulder.
Prince Thor's bushy gold brows knit together as he narrowed his bright blue-sky eyes in the shield-maiden's direction. "He went alone so that everyone else could rest and escape if something bad happened!" Thor shot back.
"It wasn't the smartest move on Loki's part," Hogun interjected. "Not very safe," he added.
The golden prince's eyes went wide, "What if he was captured!" Thor shouted as he popped up n his feet and summoned the mighty Mjolnir to his strong hands.
"Thor calm down," Frandal called seeing that the leader of the Einherjar was ready to spring into action.
"Don't tell me to be calm!" the blue eyed heir to the throne immediately snapped at the brown-eyed blonde Casanova seated to his right. Frandal put his hands up in front of himself protectively yielding to the prince's demands. "My brother could be at the merciless hands of that fiend, Malekith!" Thor hollered back.
"Oh come on, Thor" Volstagg soothed in a gentle tone. "That's highly unlikely," he insisted. "Loki's a good fighter," he nodded. "Probably a better one than we ever gave him credit for," the pudgy and ruddy Viking admitted with a severe frown.
"You said so yourself...Loki vanquished the Kursed," Frandal reminded.
"Yes, yes, but Loki can't take on a whole army by himself," the son of the all-father countered.
"Don't be so sure," the raven-haired, slant eyed warrior muttered. "Kursed practically is a one man arm," he whispered under his breath.
'it doesn't matter!" the thunder declared. "Loki said he would be back by a day and a half and he hasn't returned!" Thor went on as he started to pace about once more. "That means something is wrong," he concluded.
'Thor that doesn't necessarily have to mean something wrong," the astrophysicist pointed out. 'There could be lots of logical explanations as to why he isn't back yet," the auburn-haired maiden stated scientifically.
"Lady Jane is absolutely right, my friend," Volstagg once again offered. "I mean..." the plump soldier paused for thought. "he could be still gathering intelligence," the ax-carrying Viking stated hopefully as he waved his hands to help explain.
"of he could be tied up to some wrack being tortured!" Thor cringed.
"Or he could be betraying us," Lady Sif commented out of the side of her mouth.
"What did you say Sif?" Thor demanded with irritation as his neck craned at a dangerously sharp angle to glare back at the woman warrior.
"I didn't stutter," the mahogany eyed female soldier replied as she stared up at the Prince of Asgard.
"Oh Sif, now, that was uncalled for," the sunny-haired swashbuckler announced.
"Uncalled for my foot!" the chestnut-coiffed shield-maiden retorted.
"Oh come off of it, Sif," Volstagg groaned. "We have no reason to think that..."
"No reason to think that! No reason to think that!" Lady Sif gawked. "Are you serious! After all he has done. All the vile atrocities he has committed you think that we have no reason to believe he would betray us!"
"Sif enough of this!" Thor ordered as he raised his hammer threateningly and then allowed it to plop on to the ground as he stalked toward her. "How dare you accuse him of something like that after all he's done. Everything he has done since he's gotten us here has been of help. He has taken us to the the Dark World for Asgard's sake! He killed the Kursed! He rescued me! He stayed awake for hours doing the best he could to heal all our wounded and even now he risked his life and went on a scouting mission all on his one so that the injured soldiers could rest and we could escape back to Asgard. He left us his lodestone for goodness sake!" the Prince ranted as he pointed the smooth lime green rock poking out of Sif's pocket.
'Thor!" Sif started to argue as she rose to her feet ready to challenge the gorgeous prince for his naivete. "I'm just saying..." she began.
"NO!" the blonde thunderer bellowed waving his massive hand to silence her. "Don't you dare say one more word against Loki!" He roared. "Don't you dare!" he growled and despite herself Lady Sif managed to hold her tongue. Thor's breathing was ragged after yelling at his dear friend. He didn't mean to shout at her so, but he couldn't abide by her constant accusal of Loki. Thor straightened his tunics and collar.
"Thor is right, Sif," the grim warrior spoke up. "Loki has been helpful..." the normally silent Hogun spoke up. Hogun was generally careful with words. He hesitated to say helpful, but it seemed to be the best word to describe the once prince's disposition.
Lady Sif's chocolate eyes nearly bugged out her head and her mouth dropped open as she heard Hogun's words. "Hogun don't tell me you are trusting that cretin!" Lady Sif demanded. For Thor to put his trust in Loki was fairly predictable, it was sad, but predictable. Thor would probably always be willing to believe the best about Loki to some extent because Thor was that type of person, he generally thought the best of people, but for Hogun to somehow fall prey to Loki's farce. Hogun, who she had always considered to be the most logical of the bunch. It was inconceivable!"
The almond-eyed soldier slowly rolled his eyes to look up at the dark-haired shield-maiden. "I merely saying that he has been helpful," he reiterated.
"Loki's kept up his end of the bargain, Sif," Frandal confessed with a sigh. It was painful to say, but it was just the truth.
"For now," the female Einherjar said as she rolled her eyes, "and being helpful isn't the same as being committed."
"Sif we have no reason to Loki isn't committed," Volstagg stated. "Besides what if Thor is right...what if he has been captured or is hurt," the grizzly, red-bearded soldier gulped.
Thor couldn't bear the image of Loki suffering at the hands of those pasty faced devils. Loki had spent so much time in the dungeons of Asgard, bound, chained, whipped and beaten blind and agonizing. He'd paid for his crimes. Now in the moment when Loki had finally come back to his senses and decided to act on the side of good he was to be tortured again? Thor wouldn't stand for it! He "I'm going to look for Loki," he declared to his troops. A stunned silence fell over the men seated around the open flame.
"Thor you can't!" the woman spoke.
"My brother is in trouble, Sif!" the bearer of Mjolnir declared. "How can I not!" he roared back. "Thor," Sif sighed her proud shoulders slumping as she breathed deeply. "You are the Prince of Asgard! You are the leader of our forces we can't lose you! You have to return to Asgard before Convergence to lead our troops when the Dark-Elves return!" she protested. "We need to return to Asgard soon to prepare the rest of the warriors for the battle for our lives! WE need you!" she pleaded. "You can't go running off looking for Loki and get captured!" the warrior of Asgard insisted.
"My prince, maybe Lady Sif is right," one of the lesser ranking members of the battalion interjected. "If something were to happen to you and the all-father did not awake...Asgard would be without leadership. The Dark-Elves would be able to take over..."
"Thor, listen, you don't want to be too hasty. We don't have time for errors and mistakes and poor decisions," Frandal cautioned the thicker and stronger built blonde Asgardian
Lady Sif hung he head allowing some of her long, dark tendrils to fall in her face. "It is regrettable, Thor, but maybe it is better this way," The prince's eyes went wide as he heard Sif's emotionless speech. "If Loki truly is being as helpful as you say, then maybe he did this on purpose maybe he became a diversion, so that we could get back to Asgard without having to go into another bout with the Dark-Elves while so many of our men our still injured. Maybe this noble sacrifice is his act of redemption," she shrugged.
Thor's brows furrowed as he thought hard. He was torn. He owed Asgard all duty. His realm was counting on him and all the realms were counting on him even if they didn't know it. His mother and father were counting on him as well. Father lied helpless in Oversleep and Mother was faithful at his side believing that her two sons were doing their best to protect the good of Asgard. When he had sworn his oath as king on the day of his coronation he had sworn that he'd pledge himself to the good of the Nine Realms before all else, but he hadn't been crowned that day and he wasn't king and so he didn't have to chose. His thoughtful expression immediately faded, the decision was easy. "We're not sacrificing, Loki, Sif," he told her.
"We have to!" the shield-maiden hollered back balling up her fist and panting at the end.
"An Einherjar never leaves a man behind!" Thor reminded her sternly pointing a thick scolding finger toward her nose and reminding her of the oath she'd pledged as the only female Einherjar.
"Yes, but Loki is not an Einherjar! He is not a prince and he is not a citizen and we owe him nothing!" the staunch brunette retorted as she squared her shoulders. "We can not jeopardize the whole mission for him!" she continued to argue.
"He IS my brother!" Thor professed as he thumped on his chest, "And I owe him my protection and fidelity," the golden prince announced. Thor watched as the shield-maiden set her mouth ready to form an argument. The son of Odin cut her off quickly, "I am your prince am I not," Thor asked managing to silence the mahogany haired female warrior. Lady Sif was forced to draw in a sharp breath and close her painted lips. "Am I not?" Thor asked once again.
"Yes," the Einherjar maiden uttered.
"And you owe me all your loyalty and obedience do you not, Lady Sif?" Prince Thor asked firmly. He hated having to pull rank with Sif, she was one of his closest friends and he never looked at her as a subject. He didn't look at any of his friends as subjects, but with Sif sometimes it was the only way to get her to be cooperative was to remind her that her place was not to question him in such matters.
"yes, my liege," the brown-eyed maiden stated.
"Then do as I command!" the thunderer instructed. He turned his gorgeous blue eyes from solely facing Sif and turned and addressed all of the men. "You all should go to Asgard and prepare the rest of the men."
"We would never abandon you Thor," the plump Viking stopke up. "WE are your men and you have lead us in and out of battle 1000 times. If you want to stay and search for Loki then we shall accompany you," Volstagg proclaimed. His words were followed by a resounding "Here! Here!' from the soldiers who were not asleep. Thor's blue eyes crinkled with softness having the support of his troops meant so much.
"Thank you friends," the crown prince of Asgard started to speak, "But I cannot let you do that," he admitted as he placed his strong calloused palms on Volstagg's chunky shoulder, but he was addressing the entire company. 'Our people need you. No matter what the Dark-Elves will attack and we will need every soldier there to fight them if we intend to defeat them,"
'Thor at least let Volstagg, Hogun, Sif and I stay back and accompany you to rescue Loki," Frandal expressed.
"No," the golden locked prince shook his head. "I need you four to return to Asgard, protect our people, my mother and father and Jane," Thor said casting an affectionate glance toward the mortal. "Sif scowled. I'll take the map, and go to find Loki, then we'll come back and fight together," Thor stated.
A/N: A reader mentioned that she thought the title didn't fit the story anymore and I kinda agree. I love the title visitation and it made sense in the beginning, but now the story has changed. So does anyone else have any title suggestions. Let's have a contest...I just may change the title and use a suggestion ;)