A/N HEEEELLLLOOOO READERS! It has been so long since I have posted and I do sincerely apologize. I didn't forget about you! Nor did I forget about the story, but unfortunately so much else tries to consume my time besides writing. As all always I thank you so much for your continued interest and support of this story. Your reviews, comments and favorites will keep me writing this story until it is complete. I value every one of them! They mean so much to me! You guys are the best. Anyway I worked hard on this chapter, I don't think its the best though...but it's leading up to excitement later! I promise! Anyway happy reads and writes and may God bless each of you :)
The cave settled into the comfortable silence of the night. The winds of Svartalheim howled fiercely outside the mouth of the cave where Thor and his Einherjar had taken refuge. The boisterous winds carried with them a dreadful chill along with the foul odor of death that still lingered upon the lifeless sands from days before. The night was bleak as ever. Outside of the cave it seemed so dark that a person wouldn't be able to see their hand in front of their face. Such darkness seemed impenetrable, like no one could traverse such an ominous path. Still prince Thor by the mouth of the cave, pretending to sharpen weapons upon a flint stone that he'd found amongst the rubble, but all the while he was keeping a weather eye on the horizon, searching for a faint green light to appear in the midst of the obscurity. None appeared and the only light to be seen for miles and miles was the dim glow of the bonfire in the cave. Most of the men were sleeping soundly close by the fire and close together, using body heat to keep warm against the chill og the night time winds.
Soundlessly, as she could, Lady Jane did her best to be of use to the war party whilst the soldiers slept. She collected and cleaned the dishes in the back of the cave. She used only a smidgen of the rationed water to rinse off the dirty plates and tin goblets. She also looked through the rations. They were down to the bottom of their last pot of stew and the pot was nothing but broth now. They had two loathes of bread both of which had gone stale and only one more barrel of water. It was safe to say they were in dire straights! They wouldn't be able to survive in Svartalhiem for more than a day. Too many soldiers were still far too wounded to think of trying to persevere the sever elements without proper medical of food supplies. Jane was grateful that Thor was sending the men back to Asgard to patch up. Although she was worried for him.
Once she was done cleaning the tin plates and looking over the provisions, she ladled out a few helpings of tepid water into the mouths of the wounded warriors tossing and turning and coughing restlessly on their sleeping cots. All the Einherjar insisted that she didn't need to do so, they practically begged her not to, they each protested saying that she was wasting the water, they were probably right, but she did so anyway. It seemed the least she could do. She wished she could do more, she wished she had more to offer the battalion. She wish that she had been able to take up arms and fight along side the Einherjar. If she wouldn't have been so useless upon the battlefield perhaps so many soldiers wouldn't have been injured trying to defend hher. perhaps others would not have died. The female scientist was guiltridden, if it hadn't been for her being in Asgard none of this would have haopened! None would be dead! she wished that she was a doctor or pharmacist who could offer remedies to the wounds that were ailing the men. That was what they needed! She doubted they really needed a cleaning woman, but cleaning dishes and beating blankets free of dust and soot was all she could really do for them. So she did it.
Her uselessness made astrophysics seem like such a pointless science it was so completely and utterly unhelpful in their critical situation. It madE her feel like her stepfather had been right all those years ago when he told her that maybe she sshould look into a more practical degree. Star charting was of no use to anyone hear and now! But she couldn't just sit around idly while others fretted. Being unproductive was not the nature of a scientist. Scientist were always industrious. Science was made to make advances. As a student and researcher she had never much appreciated down time. There was always work to be done, always more to be studied, always something to be charted and written down, dissected and experimented on. Now she felt as though there was nothing she could do to help make advancements for the soldiers. So... she cleaned.
It was funny, she had always detested cleaning. As a little girl her mother would always have to bribe or beg her to clean her room. Her mother put such importance on cleaning. She was like her father. Her father always said that disorder was the mark of a true genius because only a true genius was able to negotiate and make sense out of the chaos. Her mother simply insisted that he was just a slob. She said with that big brain of his he should be able to figure out how to keep a house clean.
Once her mother had cleaned her dorm room. Which had been terribly embarrassing when she thought about it now. Her mother had paid her a visit at her college dorm her sophomore year and her roommate had complained to her mother so much so about how Jane kept house that her mother tidied the place up. She wasn't a very good roommate in that aspect, she wished she could have had a roommate like Darcy who was laid back rather than the prissy neat freak she'd been saddled with. She never cleaned her little mobile home. Once Thor had come along she'd wish she'd had. She was so sure that he would look at her like a slob, but she didn't entertain much after her break-up with Donald Blake. Besides Erik and Darcy she didn't have many friends. When she and Donald were dating her social circle primarily consisted of his group of doctor and lawyer and political science major friends when they broke up the friendships faded. Likewise she hadn't kept house well in her London flat. Although that had been more so out of depression than laziness. She could almost picture her mother now, the woman would be sitting on a couch watching reruns sipping a cappuccino with a look of pleasure and pride on her face, nodding approvingly, "at least now you are putting g to use someskills that can help you catch a man!" her mother's tone would be joking, but she'd be serious about what she said.
The astrophysicist shook herself from such musings and trued to get her mind to focus on the task at hand. She gathered a few extra quilts and pelts from the supplies in the corner and draped them over the soldiers who she saw shivering and chattering in the night. Once she had finished she slowly started to unroll her mat when she heard footfalls behind her. "Lady Jane, may I have a moment," a sultry female voice asked in a hurried whisper from behind.
Jane gasped a bit startled by the female Einherjar's stealthy approach. Jane had to bite her lip to keep from screeching. After a few quick deep breath's she finally composed herself enough to turn around and face the woman warrior. "Lady Sif," she breathed as she dropped her sleeping bag to cave floor and pressed her hands against her heart. "I...I...I...you startled me," the auburn-haired scientist confessed as she blew out another exasperated breath.
"I am sorry," the warrior apologized promptly and stiffly as she noticed the Midgardian woman's flustered appearance.
Lady Jane's hazel eyes glanced up at the shield maiden. She was not cracking a smile. "No it is fine," Jane responded quickly as she waved her hand. "i...I..I just thought every one was sleep," Jane expressed as she glanced around the cave and noted that the only sound to be heard was the chorus of snores and grunts.
"All are not sleep," Sif reported "Thor is not asleep," the shield-maiden pointed out, her voice was hushed but their was an edge to her tone as she noticed the blonde haired prince by the light of the fire sitting by mouth of the cave looking out into the bleak and barren night.
Jane Foster allowed a yawn and stretch to escape from her, "he should be getting to sleep," she pointed out. "He has quite a journey ahead of him. He said he wants to head out tonight," she explained as she rubbed her own tired eyes. "is there something I can get for you, Lady Sif" Jane asked trying to be friendly. "I just put away the water, but if you are thirsty I can bring back out the pitcher" she expressed pointing toward the corner where their few supplies were gathered. "There isn't much left," she admonished, "But..."
"There is something that you may do for me, Lady Jane, but t does not involve water," she explained.
"Well...then what..." she started.
"I want you to talk with Prince Thor and convince him against undertaking this fools errand," the warrior woman said forcefully as she pounded a fist into her hand.
The mortal scientist batted tired hazel eyes at the brown eyed female soldier. "Lady Sif...I...I am..I am not sure I catch your meaning," Jane admitted. She continued to rub her eyes.
The mahogany haired woman raised her dark eyebrows, pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side as she gazed back at the weary looking human. Humans so easily fatigued. Although, Lady Jane had impressed Sif with the fortitude she'd shown. She'd toughed it out as well as any of the Einherjar had. "Dissuade Prince Thor from this venture," she rephrased. "it is a fools errand!" she ranted further, in frustration she tossed her hands in the air. "You must go to Prince Thor and convince him to change his mind," she urged as she reached out her hand to clasp Lady Jane's. Jane was shocked it was the first time she thought that lady Sif had actually touched her besides maybe a handshake the first time they'd been introduced.
Jane shook her head. "Lady Sif...I...I can't,' the auburn haired maiden expressed. "You heard Thor," she began. "His mind seems made up about the matter," Jane stated swallowing thickly as she worried her sweaty palms, "I..I...I don't think it would be wise to keep debating the matter with him at this point," the auburn haired Midgardian concluded.
"Don't tell me you agree with what Thor is thinking of doing?' Sif questioned. "You can't think this is the right course of action!"
"Well...I...I...I" lady Jane started to stammer. She fiddled around with her sleeping bag, but somehow found that it wouldn't unroll. "I...I...I really don't know," she confessed. "I don't know much on these matters," the human admitted as she pulled and tugged on the folds of the bundled up blankets trying to free it from the casing. "if this is what Thor wants to do...if it is what he thinks is best I support him," she confessed.
The warrior woman bit her lip. She stomped closer to Lady Jane Foster and roughly snatched the sleeping mat from her arms. In one swift movement she had the mat spread out and ready for sleeping. Lady Jane's eyes were bloodshot with tiredness as she stared back at the shield-maiden. "Lady Jane, I believe you are wiser than most people of Earth," the female Einherjar confessed. Jane was slightly shocked by the dark-haired woman's words. It was the closest thing she had ever had to receiving a compliment from Lady Sif. She started to say thank you, but Sif kept talking. "Surely, in you can see why going back for Loki is completely irrational," she stressed.
"Lady Sif, Thor is the prince of Asgard... it's his decision," the hazel eyes astrophysicist stated in a soft tone
'Don't you think I know that!" the shield-maiden snapped. Her voice rose as quickly as her temper. "But he is making a mistake!" Sif managed to quell her volume to a whisper, but the tone was still razor sharp. "Surely, you can see that Lady Jane," Sif attempted to reason with the mortal as she took hold of Jane's thin shoulders. "Think about this sensibly. There are more cons to this plan than pros," the brunette explained. "Convergence is two days away! If the Dark-Elves are able to unleash the Aether on Convergence it will spell disaster for us all. Soon Ragnorok will be upon us and then end of time as we know it shall arrive! Without Mjolnir the Dark-Elves will be able to take over. Mjolnir and Gungnir are the only weapons that are mighty enough to stop the Aether, they did it before and they will do it again, but Prince Thor is the only one who can wield the hammer. Without Thor fighting the Elves would be able to release the Aether and flood the realms with Darkness! Everything will be destroyed. He can't waste time looking for Loki!" she ranted. "Don't you see! WE need him!" she urged. "The realms need him! How can we expect the people of Asgard to fight without a leader!" she continued.
"But Asgard has other leaders," Jane spoke for the first time in a few minutes. "There are generals, lords, other heads of state.." she rattled off shaking her head "Even yourself Lady Sif," she pointed out. "You and the Warrior Three could..."
The brunette warrior immediately shook her head refuting the attempt at an argument that that Lady Jane was attempting to make, "The all-father lies in Oversleep!" Sif reported as she stomped her foot. "Queen Frigga has fled the Imperial City. Thor is the rightful ruler of Asgard at this time. The people need to see him they need to see him fighting for our freedoms," she stated she tried to remain firm and stoic, but Jane could hear the way her voice was starting to rattle. "Our warriors, our people will lose heart if they do not see Prince Thor leading them gallantly into battle. That is his place. What if he does not return from searching for his brother, then all hope would truly be lost. It is too dangerous and risky. He must return back to Asgard with us!" she insisted once more.
"Lady Sif, I...I...I appreciate your words. Everything you say makes complete sense to me, but..I...I am not sure it is my place to say these things to Thor," Jane admitted as he shoulders slumped. She sat on her sleeping mat. She honestly couldn't handle the pressure of what Lady Sif was asking of her. Jane crossed her legs on her mat and sat with her hands folded in her lap feeling like a helpless little girl as the gravity of the situation weighed heavy on her shoulders. "Lady Sif you know so much more about this than I you can explain to Thor all your reasons..."
"Did you not hear me bickering with him mere hours ago!" she napped. "he will not listen to me," the Einherjar general confessed with an exhale as she folded her hands in front of herself. "He will not listen to me," she stated flatly once again. "I have spoken to Thor as a High ranking member of the Einherjar, I have spoken to him as a friend, nothing get's through to him. He is very thick-headed," Sif admitted as she crossed her arms over her test, she was grumbling and pacing and there was annoyance in her words, but also affection. Thor loves you, Lady Jane," the female Einherjar stated with her shoulders square and her head held high, but her eyes dare not look at the other woman. "If not you then who to make him see reason?"
"Well what of Frandal, or Volstagg or Hogun?" the auburn locked woman of earth offered.
"They will not contradict him now. They feel it is not their place."
'Perhaps it is not," Jane Foster remarked back, "Perhaps it is not mine either," she added.
'Lady Jane I respect your position and if the matter wasn't so grave I would not come to you and even ask this of you, but what we are facing is dire and there is no time for error, one wrong move could end in apocalypse and we cannot stand on ceremony and let that happen," Lady Sif explained. "Have you no one that you love on Midgard?" the combative woman inquired.
'yes, of course I do..." Jane blurted out.
"then think of them. Speak to Thor on their behalf. Because when the Aether is unleashed the Dark-Elves will look to enslave other species. They will look to Earth first, but in all honesty, it is doubtful many mortals will be able to survive. They will turn earth into a barren wasteland just like this one. Your world will be destroyed and the people you love will be dead," Sif reported simply.
Jane did think of the people she loved. She thought of her mother and her extended family, she thought of her professors and colleagues. She thought of Darcy and Eric. She thought of all the places she loved. She thought of the small town where she grew up and her uncles ranch. She thought of the universities she'd studied at. She thought of the small town in New Mexico where she'd lived and worked. It had been a home to her. The place where she was conducting research in London. She thought of all the place in the world she had yet to go that she wanted to go, Costa Rica, China, Kenya...if Ragnarok happened as the Aesir predicted it would nothing would be left.
Jane shut her eyes, "I don't know what you think I could say to him..." Jane sputtered.
Sif clicked her tongue and snorted at Jane's false modesty. She chided herself perhaps the mortal wasn't falsely modest perhaps she truly did not know the power she wielded over Thor. Maybe that was for a best. If she knew...if she knew that her earthly charms could bring the thunderer to his knees and make him weak as water well perhaps she would have taken advantage of such power. Surely there had been other women over the centuries that had done just that. Women like Lorelei, Amora and few others. Horrible harpies were all that those women had been, but Sif couldn't say that she hadn't envied them. She had. She wished that Thor longed for her the way he had longed for those women. She had seen the way he had been mere putty in Lorelei's hands. Most men were helpless, but to succumb to the seductress' charms but still seeing Thor brought so low by the treacherous vixen...well it was on of few times Lady Sif could actually say she had been afraid. She watched with fear but also jealousy as she lured him into her luxurious bed. How she longed to know what that felt like. She'd seen Thor under Amora's spells so entangled in her web, that he would have given up his kingdom for her. Though she admitted she envied Jane more than any of the women prior to her. Those women had been beautiful creatures. They'd been so lovely and beguiling that it was hard to think of any many withstanding their charms. They'd also been powerful in enchantments. Thor had been powerless not to fall for the women and obey their every whim, but with Jane it was not so. She was just a Midgardian she had no powers to use as a lure. She was a pretty woman, but not exceptionally so, it was baffling how Thor had fallen so for her. It was baffling and infuriating. "You have influence over him," the mahogany locked warrior confessed. "Perhaps more than you know," the shield-maiden admitted. She exhaled out of her nose, "Perhaps more than is good. But You have influence over him more than I," Lady Sif stated flatly and turned toward the auburn haired scientist. Her eyes were intense and focused. "Such influence could be the last chance for Asgard. Jane wasn't sure if the look she was given was a plea for help or an order to comply, but either way she felt compelled to act.
Jane sighed, "I'll try to speak with him, Lady Sif," the mortal relented as she pressed her way from her comfortable sitting position to standing. Her bones were weary.
Jane tucked her makeshift cloak, made of a wolf's pelt tighter around herself as she tip-toed toward the mouth of the cave toward Prince Thor. "Thor!" the hazel-eyed astrophysicist whispered a she clambered over a pile of rocks trying to get the prince's attention. Thor was sitting toward the mouth of the cave sharpening one of his weapons on a stone.
'Jane!" Thor called back noting her crawling and climbing through the rock pile. He left his post, tossed his weapon and rocks aside and went to her aid, offering her his calloused mallet carrying hand to help her climb down. He chucked. "What are you doing up?" he asked as he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and escorted her toward the place where he had been sitting.
"I never went to sleep," She confessed with a yawn and a gracious smile.
The gorgeous, golden prince studied her. Her face was dirty and smudged with the soot and dust from the cave. Her long hair was all about her head and he had to admit it looked quite a sight. Her eyes were tired and had deep seated bags under them. She was exhausted he could tell. He felt bad. She was not a warrior, she was not even Aesir he wondered if it was right for him to drag her out here. Expose her to such harshness, the conditions were harsh even for the Einherjar, with no resources to use to help them supply. "You should sleep," the prince told her as his warm, but rough fingers tenderly stroked her jawline.
"I can't sleep with all that is happening," Jane responded as she pulled the wolf's fur around herself to keep from shivering. She twisted her face away from his.
"What is truly troubling you?' the blue-eyed son of Odin inquired as he place a solid hand upon her shoulder.
Jane turned back to look at him with disbelief, "Everything, Thor!" she exclaimed as tears washed down her dirt covered cheeks.
"Jane," Thor's husky voice was laced with compassion, instantly, he engulfed her a tight embrace. It was amazing to her how arms that were so buff and muscular, so perfectly sculpted could be so tender. She melted into the hug without reservation.
"I'm scared," Jane muttered as she finally lifted her head off of Thor's solid and sturdy chest. She looked into his sea blue eyes. They were vast and beautiful just like the ocean. Her own eyes trembled with fear.
"You don't need to be afraid," the thundered told her. His deep voice caressed her eardrums the way his large hand caressed her head as he stroked her hair and placed her face back against his chest. He rocked her soothingly. "I won't let anything happen to you, Jane I'm sending you back to Asgard, all the Einherjar from all across the realm have convened at the palace. They'll protect you, I promise," he pledged.
"It's not just that, Thor," she mumbled. "I'm scared for everyone, for the warriors, for the other realms, for you..." the scientist expressed salt water still running down er cheeks and chin. "You're going off all alone to find Loki...it...it just doesn't seem safe. What if something happens to you?" she questioned.
"Shh...shh...now," the prince cooed. "I'll be fine," she assured her. "I have no plans to die today," he joked and winning grin easily slipping across his golden face.
'But what if you're not fine?" Jane countered, her fingers clutched at his tunics. "What if you get hurt? What if the worse should happen?" Jane inquired as she clutched Thor's bicep and looked up at him with watery hazel eyes.
"You can't think that way, Jane," Thor said cupping her face..
"I don't want to...I don't want to think negatively, I don't want to think about something happening to you...If something happens to you it could mean then end for all of Asgard and the rest of the realms..." she stated forcefully. "And knowing that you were gone...it would most certainly be my end," she confessed.
"Jane," the Viking prince breathed as he watched her eyes o the brim with tears that he was fighting hard to control. "I plan to return to Asgard and fight and putting an end to the Aether and the threat of the Dark-Elves once and for all," promised and lightening flashed through his stormy blue eyes.
Jane nodded. "It's not that I don't believe you," she started. She twisted away m him for a moment, "it just seems too risky. It seems like such a risk for you to do all of this to save Loki... after all he's done...after all the pain he's caused..."
Thor's hands roughly pushed her off of his chest. "he's my brother," he reminded her, his blue eyes giving her a scrutinizing glare.
"So you say," the mortal woman responded with a deep sigh, her shoulders sagging as she did so. "But are you sure he feel's the same? Are you certain that if the chips were down and the tables were turned he would do the same" she pressed.
"he's already proven himself," Thor muttered. His strong baritone voice lacked the confidence it normally held. he must have heard the uncertainty in his tone, "he came back for me!" the crown prince of Asgard confirmed in a definite voice.
"But what if he's already dead Thor...then you'll have risked so much...you'll have risked your life and the lives of all of the Nine Realms for nothing."
"Don't say that," Thor begged as he turned his face from the hold of her smooth fingertips.
'Have you considered it...the fact maybe...maybe he's..."
"Stop!" The thunderer ordered and his voice rang out in the cave. "Stop," he repeated as he sank his top teeth deep into his lips. "I know these are Sif's words you speak," the blonde spoke, his tone was harsh.
Jane jerked and stiffened at Thor's words. Was she so easy to read? "No!" Jane immediately countered. It was so reflexive her lips were moving without her mental consent to the words. Afterward she could only bite her lip and look down. She had never been a particularly good liar. Not that she never lied, but she never had been good at it. She'd never lied to Thor. She didn't like lying to Thor. "No, Thor please it's not like that," she tried to explain. "It's just that I think, Lady Sif might have a point," Jane admitted hesitantly.
"Sif only says those things because she hates Loki," the crown prince responded.
"No," Lady Jane Foster contradicted as she shook her head. "She says those things because she loves you," the scientist breathed and stroked Thor's honey beard.
"Jane," Thor muttered softly as he ran his hand through her auburn mane once more.
'it's ok, Thor," she expressed. "I know and I understand that she loves you," she shrugged. "I can't exactly say I blame her," Jane gave a shy chuckle. Thor wanted to assure her that Sif's feelings were not reciprocated. he'd never thought of her as anything, but a sister. "She loves you and she loves Asgard," Jane said, quick to change the subject. "That makes her protective of you..."
"And I love Loki and I am protective of him," Thor pointed out sternly he allowed his arms to slide from the mortal's frame as he stood. "When Loki fell from bridge...I...I...I thought he was dead..." Thor stared out vacantly into the black night. He dropped his head allowing messy, sweat and blood and drit caked blonde strands to fall in his eyes. "it seemed impossible that he could survive...I...I never looked for him," Thor confessed his sapphire orbs staring at his boots. "Father sent soldiers out to see if they could recover the body. They scoured the realms, but they never found his remains. I should have gone with them, but I didn't...I don't why...it was just so painful...I just accepted that Loki was lost and I tried to move on, Acceptance is the final stage of the grieving process," Thor stated he finally looked up and looked back at her and she could she the tears shimmering in his cerulean eyes. "But now...now...knowing that Loki was alive all that time and I...I...I didn't look for him...I just feel guilty. I know Loki fell somewhere dark and evil and it changed him...I don't know what happened to him. Loki won't talk about it. He gets paranoid, he panics. I know here he fell with the chitauri and this creature...called Thanos was a wicked place. They tortured Loki. I let my little brother be tortured at the hands of those monsters. So perhaps that makes me responsible for the wrongs he had done,"
"There was no way you could have known," the auburn-haired maiden tried to explain as she rubbed her hands up and down Thor's biceps and patted him consolingly on the back. "It's not your fault,"
"I didn't even try," Thor grand shoulders fell in defeat.
"You don't know that if you would have looked for Loki that you would have found him."
"I don't know that I wouldn't have," Thor corrected as he turned to face her. "If I would have looked for Loki perhaps I would have found him. Then he wouldn't have gone to Midgard, he wouldn't have began that terrible tirade. None of this would have happened," Thor entreated Jane to understand. "I can't live with that guilt again, Jane," he muttered miserably.
Lady Jane bobbed her head, licked her lips and wiped under her nose. She understood. How resolute he was in his decision. "But can you deal with the guilt of what will befall all the cosmos if you can't get back to Asgard in time?" Jane questioned.
Prince Thor inhaled through his nostrils and exhaled through his full lips. "No, I couldn't live with that either," the son of Odin admitted. "I won't let them down...but I can't let Loki down...not this time," he shook his head, trying to fight back the tears. Jane cupped his face and pressed her lips against his. "I have to try," the golden locked prince confess as he let his hands fall limply in his lap, he looked down at them hopelessly. "What if he's hurt or being tortured and he's holding out hope I'll come fore him?" he posed. He was met only with a sympathetic look from Jane. "I have to know that I gave all that I could to try to find my brother," The bulky blonde heir to the throne went on. "I won't look for him for more than a day, I won't waste time that the Nine Realms don't have, but I won't forfeit his life without looking for him," Thor declared to her.
"But what if you can't find him?" Jane persisted, "What if you can't find him and you can't get back to us in time...then...then you could be trapped in the Dark-World forever!"
"Well then we better hope that I find him," Thor stated playfully with a wink of his brilliant blue eye. Jane merely rolled her eyes at the gesture. She fought back a smile she couldn't take him making light of such matters. "Loki is the only one who'll have the power to get us back with the Bifrost being closed," Thor reminded her. It was a fact that she didn't like. All of them were dependent upon Loki and his lodestone and enchanted words to reopen the secret portal even without him being present. It seemed like quite a gamble. "I don't know if you can understand that, Jane...I..."
"I do," the Midgardian scientist confessed. He was such a good strong, virtuous man. Seeing his determination to save his brother made her love him the more. Loki had done such despicable deeds, quite frankly Jane wasn't a fan of his, she didn't trust him and she didn't want to like him although the time she had actually spent with him he had been somewhat likeable. "I looked at the treasure chest you showed me...I saw the memory orbs," Jane explained as her tiny fingers laced with his large hammer-holding ones."I know how close you two were," she insisted as she nodded looking into his deep blue pools. She moved her other hand up to stroke his handsome face. "He's a part of you," she whispered knowingly. Thor reached his hands around her waist and pulled her into a kiss. She and Thor kissed long and hard for about two minutes.
"Just be safe," Jane panted breathlessly as her lips still skimmed his just before she plunged back in for one more kiss. Once their lips part Prince Thor held the Midgardian maiden for a long time. He held her until she was lost in his masculine, bronzed arms, er troubles had drifted far enough from her mind so that she able to close her eyes and fall asleep. Once Thor noticed her breathing even out and slow, he gingerly carried her back to her sleeping mat. With tenderness he laid her down on the soft pelts. She was so exhausted she scarcely stirred. Lovingly, he stroked her mud caked auburn tendrils from her brow. With care he tucked the strand of hand behind her ear just before he bent over and planted a chaste kiss upon her dirty cheek. Jane's lips curled into a smile.
Prince Thor went back to his post gathering up his weapons and tucking them into the folds of his cloak so that they would be carefully concealed from his enemies. He allowed Mjolnir to dangle in its rightful place at his side. He slung a small satchel over his brawny, boulder-like shoulders. He only packed a few provisions. He didn't plan to be gone long. He had to meet back with the troop before Convergence. He knew he could not let down all of Asgard, but he had every attention of returning to Asgard to fight with Loki at hs side.
The blonde-haired prince of Asgard went out into the black swirling night. All the while a pair off rich brown eyes watched with disappointment.
"Halt! Who goes there?" the tower watchman shouted down from his post on top of one of the tall structures by the palace gate as two hooded figures approached on horseback. "State your name and business and show some semblance of who you are or we shall open fire on the count of three!" the guard announced as he signaled for the archers to ready their arrows. Immediate Asgard's elite archers sprang seemingly out of nowhere. Their numbers seemed vast as the lined the wall of the tower. Their crossbows ready and pointed downward. Their trigger fingers happy and itching to let an arrow fly.
'Open fire! Oh my goodness!" Rana shrieked as she grabbed fist full of her ruby locks in panic. And let go the reins of her horse causing the animal to rear on it's hind legs. Rana grabbed the horse's bridle and got control of the animal. "Merciful Yddrasil, Sigyn, do something!" the elder sibling ordered as she turned to her with her eyes bulging.
"ONE!" shouted the guard from above
"TWO!" the watchman hollered raising his hand and signaling for the archer's to ready themselves.
"SIGYN!" her older sister squealed. "Make them recognize you before they blast us to kingdom come!" she screeched gripping the wide eyed blonde by the shoulders and giving her a good shake.
Sigyn Arndottir responded to her sister's panic by letting out a frantic and shrill scream of her own as she watched the guard roll out the heavy artillery canons. Obviously, the palace was on high alert. Due to the recent attack every precaution was to be taken. The palace guards had been told to shoot first and ask questions later. The dark-Elves had breached their defenses and caused a massacre they would not have that happen again.
"THREE!" he chimed like a clock. "Archers ready yourselves!" he shouted to the men.
Sigyn leaped from the back of her beautiful white stallion and fell on her knees on the silver cobble stones that marked the end of the Bifro "Stop! No please! DON'T SHOOT!" Lady Sigyn shouted as she raised surrendering hands toward the guard in the lofty tower. "It is I...Lady Sigyn Arndottir," she announced her self through her trembling. She still kept her hands up. Her sister, Rana had followed suit taking the same posture of surrender. 'Lady-in-waiting to her Majesty Queen Frigga," she stated. "And my sister, Lady Rana Arndottir," she added quickly. With careful movements Sigyn managed to keep one arm raised as she reached to pull a pendant from being tucked inside her dress' collar. She pulled out the pendant and raised it with a quivering hand. It was the pendant that bore the symbol of Queen Frigga, one that all the queen's waiting gentlewomen received. It was a circular piece of jewelry made of gold and the finest white ivory. The ivory made up the queen's symbols; a peacock wrapped in the vines of mistletoe.
The tower watchman pulled out a spyglass to looked down upon the two figure crouched at the foot of the palace draw bridge. He spied the pendant gleaming in the sun in her hand. "It is Lady Sigyn! Lower the bridge!" a guards voice called out to those men who held the position of gate keeper. They turned the drawbridge's dial and allowed the bridge to lower. "Lower the bridge! Lower the bridge!" the gatekeepers continued to bellow
"Rana! Rana! Look!" Sigyn called eagerly as she tapped her sister, who was curled up in a tight ball on the silver cobblestone, on the shoulder. Cautiously, Rana began to unravel her tall body. Her large blue eyes looked around nervously. "They are lowering the gate!" Lady Sigyn exclaimed. .
Shakily, Rana pulled her body off of the ground. She dusted off her surcote and tried to put on an air of composure to cover how inwardly she was trembling like a leaf. She walked over the her golden mare and stroked the animal's muzzle. "I think this is as far as I can take you Sigyn," Rana stated stoically.
"What?' Sigyn turned around her beautiful gold eyes wide and her mouth hanging open in shock. 'B-b-b-but, Rana," Sigyn stuttered. "We've come so far together!"
"I said I would take you to the palace, Sigyn and I have done that," Rana replied firmly. It was not like bubbly Rana to be so firm. At first Sigyn's mouth still hung open horrified by her sister's words. She batted her golden eyes as they seemed to start to well with tears, but then she stilled herself shut her mouth and closed he big amber eyes, then she sighed too. She supposed she knew that this would be a point of no return. The point when Rana could no longer help her. They had talked about this all the way back at the hilltop. Rana had done as she had promised to do. She had gotten her to the palace. She had done as she had pledged and Sigyn was grateful to her for that. She'd known from the start that Rana wouldn't being accompanying her down to the dungeons to give the scroll to Loki. Rana had made it terribly clear that she was terrified of Loki. She thought of him as a repulsive beast, one that she had no intention to look upon. But some how the blonde-haired maiden had still held out hope that at the last minute Rana might change her mind and she's have her back as she crept down the dark and gloomy, slime slick steps that led to the dungeons where Loki's cell resided. But she knew that was a long shot, she supposed.
The platinum blonde gulped. She knew that it would be she alone who would face Loki and give him the letter, but somehow that part had come along all too soon. She would miss, Rana. They hadn't spent much time together since her annulled betrothal to Prince Loki. She had lost Loki's love...well truth of the matter was she had never had it, but she had certainly lost the love of her father, she'd lost the protection of her mother. She supposed her mother still loved her, but her mother no longer tried to defend her against the wrath of her father, more so she told her to be grateful that she had not kindled her father's fury worse. She'd lost the respect of many of her friends. She had once been such a popular maiden at court, she had many friends or so she thought, but when she needed them in her corner to support her and help her heal her broken heart, she found that they were the main ones whispering behind her back and spreading falsehoods about her. Even her closest friend Liv would openly tease her about her harlotry. It had been good to know that when the chips were down and push really came to shove that she hadn't lost her sister's support.
The lady-in-waiting sighed. "But tis nearly nightfall," Sigyn quickly pointed out. "Surely, you don't intend to travel alone at night. Tis not safe!"
"I'll stay in an inn," Rana shrugged as she patted the muzzle of her horse.
"An inn!" Sigyn gaped. "Oh Rana! You mustn't," she fussed. "I mean why would you want to stay at an inn, when you can stay at the palace?" Lady Sigyn suggested with a giggle. She knew her sister had a keen taste for the finer thing s in life and was never one to deny herself a moment of pampering. "You could stay in my chambers, or better yet I am sure many of the chambers in the womens' quarters are empty, you could stay in any one you like," Sigyn exclaimed merrily.
Red curls waved slightly in protest. "No," Rana stated rolling her eyes, "The palace is the last place I want to stay," she admitted nervously.
"What?" Sigyn voice squeaked with surprise. "But Rana you love the staying at the Palace." her younger sister insisted.
"Look around!" Rana shouted, "The palace has been all but destroyed!" she exclaimed as she waved her hand wildly gesturing toward the grand building. Indeed the palace had been decimated in the assault. The drawbridge had dents in it and the spires were broken off, their were holes in the palace towers and outer wall the size of craters and the normally glittering, golden shimmer of the palace had been covered over, by the residue left over after the battle of dust and ash and smoke and blood and bullet wounds. The gold had faded into a mere corroded looking bronze. "Tis not safe to stay,' Rana stated with a bit more composure. Her eyes welled up with tears and she beheld the devastation. Asgard's beacon had all but been extinguished.
"I understand, Rana," Lady Sigyn finally conceded.
Rana's lips that were red as her hair forced a perfect smile in Sigyn's reaction before she swung her left leg over the saddle and mounted her blond mare fully."Good," the buxom redhead stated. "Besides," the blue eyed daughter of Admiral Arn began, "Someone has to go and tell mother and father that they have no need to journey to Kelby tomorrow...you won't be there," Rana winked her beautiful blue eye.
A nervous grin slithered across Lady Sigyn's pretty, pink lips. She could only imagine her father's anger and her mother's horror when Rana reported that they had not gone to Kelby. She hoped that they would not lash out at her sister. "What will you tell them?" the blonde-haired woman asked, her bright gold eyes darted down and then darted back up to look at her sister. As soon as their gazes met Sigyn dropped her eyes again and fiddled with her fingers anxiously. All of a sudden her palms felt moist.
"I don't know," Rana admitted with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders. 'Maybe I will tell them the truth." Sigyn's bronzed skin became a shade lighter with the thought of Rana's words. She could only begin to fathom what reaction her father would have toward her disobedience. "Relax," the ruby locked Arnodittir snickered bringing her horse to slowly walk toward Sigyn's. "If your plan works then you will be a hero and our parents need to know that," she reminded her.
"And if it doesn't work?" the gold eyes lady-in-waiting to the queen of Asgard inquired shyly as her eyes darted downward.
Rana fluffed her red ringlets, "well if it doesn't work...I think it is safe to say...that you not fetching a bride price or Lord Theoic putting you away will be the least of father's worries," she added. She pulled on the reins of her horse guiding her closer toward Sigyn's steed, she leaned over and wrapped her arms once more tightly around Sigyn's slight and trembling frame. She gave her a firm squeeze. When their arms parted from around one another. Rana was able to look into Sigyn's liquid honey eyes and see the tears carefully, with her thumb she wiped them away. Immediately, Sigyn was engulfing her sister in another warm embrace. She didn't know if this would be the last time she ever saw Rana again
"Thank you, sister" Sigyn expressed her gratitude, the fair-haired maiden couldn't keep her pretty pink lips from trembling feeling overcome with emotion once more, "I wouldn't have made it without you," she stated.
Lady Rana started to walk to her horse, she could no longer look at Sigyn, seeing those wide and trembling amber orbs was enough to make even the strongest of shield-maidens break down and weep. The younger Aesir woman's breath caught in her chest, Rana understood. "Good luck, Sigyn," she bid her as she clicked her tongue and used the reins to slap the horse's behind and set it on its' way.
Lady Sigyn was forced to press on. She clicked her tongue and patted Snowflake on the neck urging her white mare forward. The horses hooves fell with a steady clip-clop as they marched over the lowered drawbridge. As soon as they crossed over the drawbridge, the bridge raised and slammed behind them. Sealing the queen's faithful waiting woman inside. Sigyn spun her head around as she saw the solid structure close with a creak and a thud. She swallowed audibly. There was no turning back now. She was here. Now she had to fulfill her roll in stopping this Armageddon. She had to give Loki the letter.
"Come on girl," Lady Sigyn whispered to the horse. Sigyn continued to chit-chat with the horse for a while. Anything to keep her thoughts off of her anxieties. Although that seemed impossible because she had a great many of them. Her hand strayed to the folds of her cape where she carefully patted down one of the inner pockets, checking to make sure that the scroll was still snuggly concealed in the folds of her riding cape. So much rested on the small parchment. She didn't even know what was on the scroll! What if the scroll contained ill tidings? What would Loki do to her if the scroll contained news that he didn't wa? Would he slap her silly, lash out at her and cast some type of wicked enchantment on her? Sigyn started to worry her lip. What if the scroll did have the news that the child was alive, but what if Loki didn't care? What if he still refused to help!...then all this could be in vain! Her mind raced. Her head reeled. What if Asgard fell. What if this was Ragnorok...the end of time? What if there was no stopping it? One could not fight against fate after all she supposed. What if this was all arranged and written in stone by the Norns? And what if Loki really was some home plotting this all along? Nervously, Sigyn pressed her finger to her lips and started to chew at her nail. She was grateful that she was riding on a horse and had Snowflake's sturdy middle between her legs or else her knees would have been knocking together with fear.
"Lady Sigyn!" a strapping, young guardsman greeted the noblewoman. He jogged toward her as she entered through the gate. He waved at the two guards who were standing to his right and left signaling for them to pull the leavers to allow the iron bars that made up the gate that protected the palace from intruders and allow Lady Sigyn complete entrance into the palace's outer courtyard. The guards did so and Sigyn crossed on horse back to the courtyard.
As the guard approached he started to remove his helmet and Sigyn was able to make out his features. He had stringy, long, brown locks ran in sweaty strands down his back. The long hairs were somewhat ineffectively contained by a thin bow, but it did little to keep the unruly, tresses from flying all about as he galloped toward Lady Sigyn. He was tall and stately in build with a strong, square jawline that just barely sported a shadow of a beard and he had light blue eyes. All together he was a fairly handsome youth.
She recognized him right away. His name was Dyson, he was several years younger than Lady Sigyn, he was practically still a lad. He had hand his coming of age and had completed his training as a palace guard. Although he had lived in the palace for most of his life. His grandmother had been a chambermaid who worked in the guest quarters of the palace. She raised him since he was a toddler.
"I am sorry, my lady," the gentlemanly palace guard expressed once Sigyn had dismounted her horse and entered into the courtyard. "I am sorry that we had to threaten you like that," he apologized as he took her by her bronzed hand and kissed it. He brought his light blue eyes back up to look at Lady Sigyn, he started to blush.
When he was a young boy working with his grandmother in the palace he'd often noted her. She was hard to miss with her hair of gold and eyes of amber and her infectious giggle! She was always bouncy and pleasant, dancing about the ballroom floor or racing with her friends whispering secrets and telling the days latest gossip. But it was more than her beauty and feminine charm that had made the young servant boy take note of Sigyn Arndottir, she had been kind to him. So many courtiers ignored and belittled servants, but Sigyn was different.
One time Dyson became a bit of a game to the young noblewomen a court. It was early spring and Queen Frigga was hosting kite flying competition the palace yard. A group of noblewomen were standing around in a dither over the fact that their kite made in the shape of a Pegasus was caught in the tallest bows of one of the mighty oak trees in Queen Frigga's garden. Dyson, who had been serving as a waiter that evening for the guests of the Queen's garden party was stopped by the beckoned to him, cooing and calling him over playfully as if he were a dog, but they were all so lovely that he didn't mind. Lady Sigyn was in the midst of them. He had always wanted to talk to her. "Dear boy, dear sweet boy,' the cooed and teased once he came over. "What's your name?" they asked.
"Dyson, my ladies," he answered back nervously as he dipped into an awkward bow. He was a young man of about 14 years of age, by human standards at the time. The noble daughters were roughly about 18 in Midgardian years.
"Ooh, Dyson," they cooed while smiling and nodding knowingly toward one another, "What a handsome name for a handsome boy! Oh and yes he's strong!" they continued to flatter him as they ran their soft hands through his hair and along his jaw and patted at muscles that were nonexistent on his thin arms. Dyson grinned from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat. His cheeks becoming as rosy as could be.
'I bet he is agile too, girls" one of the young noblewomen insisted with a snap of her fingers.
"I bet you're good at climbing trees," a girl with beautiful chocolaty skin stated.
"Why yes my lady' he added humbly. "I love to climb trees," he assured them.
"I bet you climb well enough to climb that big tree over there," they pointed to ree just a few feet away. Dyson looked up at the tree and hand to lean back to see to top branches. He whistled in astonishment. That had to be the tallest tree on the grounds.
'It's pretty high," the servant boy mumbled.
"Oh please! Please! Pretty please!" the lovely maidens purred and begged, we would climb up there and get it ourselves, but our gowns, we don't want to rip our gowns" the expressed tugging at their beautiful garments
"We want to look our best for Prince Thor," they boasted and the flock of them burst into fitful giggles.
"Well...not all of us, but Sigyn that is," one of the women winked, "she has to look her best for prince Loki!" she said in a teasing voice and she and other gentlewomen playfully pushed and shoved the blonde haired girl. Sigyn let out an intoxicating giggle as her friends teased her. Dyson bristled at the words. He knew he shouldn't be thinking it, but he had never much cared for Prince Loki. Loki was odd, he kept himself lcked away in the library most of the time, working on his incantations. At first Dyson had found it rather fascinating, b the younger prince often used his magic for mischief against the palace servants and Dyson didn't trust that.
"be a dear a fetch the kite for us," another maiden insisted quickly she gestured her hands in a shooing manner.
"but my lady...I...I...I am serving at the Queen's table...I" he sputtered nervously, twiddling with his fingers.
"Oh a young, nimble thing like you, you will be up and down that tree in no time," they inisted.
"We'll make it worth your while," a plumper women stated perkily with a wink. Dyson sandy brown eyebrows arched intrigued by the notion.
"Yes! Yes! We will!"several more chimed in.
"We'll each give you a kiss," Sigyn stated quickly.
The women clapped their hands giddily. "Yes! Yes!" the echoed her suggestion with incessant laughter.
Dyson's mind raced. He'd never been kissed before, not even by girls his own age let alone by older woman, courtiers. He gulped by Lady Sigyn herself. Even a kiss from Queen Frigga would seem to pair in comparison to those pretty, pink lips. He weighed his options. The tree was high, but he was a very good climber, he had not been lying when he told the maidens that. "Alright, my ladies, I'll do it!" he agreed.
Proudly he'd strolled toward the mighty oak tree with the noblewomen trailing behind him. He spit on his hands trying to appear tough and impressive too the golden eyed woman. He wondered if prince Loki would have climbed a tree to fetch a trinket for her. He doubted it. From what he gathered the youngest prince of Asgard didn't like to get his hands too dirty. Quick as a flash he scuttled up the tree. He reached the top in under ten minutes which was quite a feat considering the height of the tree. He was able to snag their kite from the branches and he waved to the ladies below once he had retrieved their kite. They applauded his heroics. Coming down proved to be a tad bit more difficult. When he looked down he felt slightly dizzy, he was such a long way up. He swallowed down the nausea from a slight case of vertigo and closed his eyes and managed to slowly maneuver his way down the tree limbs. He had managed to to climb down two thirds of the tree when his foot slipped and he fell the rest of the way. He landed on the ground flat on his back. The kite slapped him in the face as it glided the rest of the way down. His head and back ached, but he was lucky he hadn't broken a bone. When he opened his eyes he found all the maidens standing over him looking somwhat concerned.
"Are you alright, Dyson?" asked Lady Sigyn leaning into his view, she and one of her friends helped prop him up.
He blinked, trying to clear his head, he was still incry from the fall, "It is nothing that a kiss couldn't fix my lady," he admitted cheekily his eyes focused on Lady Sigyn.
"Hahaha!" a chorus of feminine chuckled rose from the gaggle. "Oh dear boy we cannot kiss you now," one pointed out.
Dyson looked around in confusion, "But my ladies...you promised..." he began to protest. He couldn't take how all of them were laughing.
"Twould be unseemly to kiss you without your trousers!" another pointed out as she and the rest of the group burst into a roar of guffaws.
The boy looked down his light blue eyes growing wise as he noted his bare legs. He gasped jumped up red in the face and looked around. He saw his pants waving like a flag from the tree tops. He looked up at the noblewomen, all of them where in hysterics. His face burned red as a cherry. He saw as lady Sigyn tried to demure snigger behind her fingers. He immediately ran from their presence.
He had been mortified, not only had his bare bottom been exposed, but his trousers were caught in the tree tops. He only had 3 pairs of britches and one of them was a good pair. The pair he wore to school. Now he would have to use his good pair for work as well and that pair would get worn down. His grandmother would be very cross. He'd have to take his pocket money and pay the palace seamstress for a new pair and he had been saving up to buy new arrows.
Later that night, Lady Sigyn came by the servants' quarters and dropped off a whole new tunic and pants set for him. It was of good quality and no doubt expensive. She also gave him his promised kiss, clean on the cheek.
"Please, forgive me," he begged as he dropped to his knees her bronzed hand still firmly clasped in his as he looked up at her with shinning eyes. "I would have never threatened you in such a way had I known it was you," he promised. "But we are on high alert and we can't be too careful now," he expressed his eyes shifted beneath his helmet.
"Oh no, quite, I understand," Sigyn stated bobbing her head as she slightly tugged on the younger man's hands causing him to rise to his feet. "These are terrible times," she confirmed. "Terrible! Terrible! Wicked times!" Sigyn elaborated. She brought her eyes to glance up at the guard. "I am simply glad to see you are safe, Dyson," Sigyn exclaimed once the soldier boy was done kissing her hand she wrapped her arms around his neck and folded him in a tight embrace. "So many were killed in the attack," the blonde-haired maiden muttered as she took a good look at the guard making sure that he was completely unscathed.
"You need not fear for me my lady," Dyson pledged. "it'll take more than those devils to stop me," the boy protested. "I have to live so that I may avenge our brothers," he declared the look in his eyes showed how much he meant every word. It wasn't a mere idle threat but a promise. He touched her on the shoulder showing how firm he was in her position. The attack was personal the palace had been just as much his home as it had been Prince Thor's. It was in those halls that he ran and scampered as a lad, ate his meal and was tucked into bed by his loving grandmother. "Sure you don't want to stand out here on the bridge my lady" the young guard stated as he looked around. "All me to escort you into the palace?' he asked.
Arm and arm the youngest daughter of Admiral Arn and the humble palace watchman walked through the outer courtyard and into the inner courtyard before reaching the main doors that would lead into the entrance hall of the palace. "My lady forgive my manners," the long-haired palace guard apologized after a moment of silence. He looked around wide eyes. "You must think me terribly rude," he said touching his chest as his voice becoming breathy. "Your sister, you mentioned that you had come with your sister...where is she?" he asked in confusion he actually stopped to spend around and look for her. He thought that perhaps in his excitement about seeing lovely Lady Sigyn he had forgotten all about her sister.
"She turned back," Sigyn reported.
"Turned back?" Dyson echoed.
"Yes," the daughter of Arn announced her tone becoming less chipper and more solemn. "She preferred to stay in an inn for the night. She wants to be at home with my parents in the Northern Dales before Convergence. She thinks it is unsafe in the Imperial City" the honey-eyed woman told. Sigyn snickered trying to shake off the feeling of foreboding that seemed to linger in the air. She could feel that sense of nervousness starting to rise up in her stomach. "I told her that the Imperial City is the safest place to be and...and that the palace and city are well fortified..." Sigyn began to explain
"She was wise to leave!" Dyson admitted as he nodded vigorously, "The City is not safe, Lady Sigyn," Dyson stressed. "Yes all the Einherjar are assembled, but we know that the Imperial City will be where the Dark-Elves attack first," he explained. "The soldiers have done their best to move most of the citizens out of the city especially the sick, elderly, women and children," he reported. "Why have you return, Lady Sigyn?" Dyson asked as he brought his eyes to look up at Lady Sigyn. By the day he had to admit she was one of the fairest flowers in all Asgard. Everything about her was as radiant as the sun; from her golden locks that cascaded down her shoulder in lose, bouncy curls, to her warm hazel eyes and every inch of her perfectly tanned and sun-kissed body she was a vision. Dyson couldn't help but wet his lips as he beheld her. He bit his lip as he realized he hadn't a chance with her. Still, although he could only admire her from afar he could not let any harm come to her. It was not safe for her to be here and if need be he would escort her to the Southern Palace that night to keep her safe. If only to keep her golden glow from being extinguished by the darkness for a few hours longer."Why did you return, Sigyn?" he repeated, "if you sought refuge here I am afraid to report you are sadly mistaken. You will be safer in the smaller cities," he explained. "Atleast then you will have a chance to make a run for it if the Aether is released."
"Dyson, don't...d-don't speak like that," she scolded him. "Y-you mustn't talk like that!" she admonished him. "You are here... and...and... the Einherjar are here...and...and Prince Thor is still out fighting," she pointed out as she gripped him by the shoulders. "There is hope...there is always still hope. You can't just give up hope...there is still time before Convergence! There is still time to stop them before they release the Aether!" she urged she urged her gold eyes searching his.
He felt ashamed if his talk had sounded defeatist. That was not the way of an Asgardian warrior, that had not been his intent. He squared his shoulders and swallowed hard and allowed his hands to wrap around Sigyn's shoulders. He had never touched her so much in one day and he couldn't say he was unmoved by it. "I will fight til my last breath for Asgard," he promised her.
Sigyn allowed a beautiful smile to grace her soft pink lips as she mouthed the word, "Good," to him. Dyson exhaled sharply, "But I am simply saying, I wouldn't want you to have to see the horrors of a battle like that once more," he explained with a sigh. Sigyn bit her lip, she was about to say something, but then she thought better of it and figured she couldn't really protest his words. She didn't want to see the horrors of another battle either. She was trained for war, every Asgardian was, but that did not mean that she wanted to be part of it. "There will be more deaths...more casualties," the young guard explained. "Even...even the best outcome will result in many deaths,"' he went on. The golden locked lady-in-waiting bobbed her head dumbly taking in his words as they made slight tremors of fear run up and down her spine. Dyson was speaking the truth she knew, but hadn't allowed her mind to dwell on. No victory would come without a price. "You shouldn't be here, Lady Sigyn, you know it is too dangerous," he insisted. 'If something happens...I...I don't know if I'd be able to protect you," the guard confessed as his hand moved from being firmly and protectively planted on Sigyn's thin shoulder cupping her cheeks.
Sigyn's breath hitched for just a moment out of shock at the intimate gesture of the young soldier's fingers linger on her face. It was considered unsightly for a guard to handle a lady-in-waiting in such a way. The queen's waiting gentlewomen were always unmarried women, presumably maids. They were supposed to be untouched and pure in their service to the queen and upon betrothal were no longer to act as her waiting ladies. Sigyn's gorgeous liquid gold eyes grew wide as she watched Dyson's lips slow try to approach hers. She gasped and jerked her head from the tender hold he hand been holding it in.
"I'm sorry," Dyson instantaneously murmured back, his chin dropping with embarrassment. He tucked his hand behind his back like a naughty little boy.
Lady Sigyn averted her gaze for a moment and shook her curly mane. There was a time in her life when she would have relished having a young man admire her so. She was completely adverse to it now. There was a time when she may have even indulged young Dyson with a flirtatious peck from her glossy lips, just because she had liked to flirt and at times had liked to be a tease. Sigyn sighed. In the end such naughty actions hadn't brought the thrills and results she hoped for. She'd hoped that flirting with palace guards and other courtiers like Lord Theoic, would make Loki jealous, but in the end it had only made it easy for him to twist truth and manipulate things to label her a whore. Once more the daughter of Admiral Arn shook herself. In another time and another place she could dwell on those things, but not now... 'I had to come back," Sigyn explained breathlessly answering Dyson's original question.
The soldier boy snapped to attention, "But why Lady Sigyn?" he pressed once more in earnest to understand why she was willing to risk her life to come back.
"Dyson I have something very important I need to...to deliver," Sigyn expressed as she turned to him and gripped him by the shoulders and looked him squarely in the eye.
"Something important to deliver to whom, my lady?" the palace guard continued to question in confusion.
"To the Royal Family," Sigyn answered. It wasn't a lie in her opinion.
"But Lady Sigyn, they are not here! Queen Frigga fled with the all-father to the Southern Palace, they felt it was the safest place being that the king has fallen into Oversleep! You must go there!" He urged. "Come," he said as he wrapped his hand around her slender wrist and tried to pull her behind him, "I will ask my corporal if I may have leave to deliver you there!" Dyson declared excitedly.
"No, no,"Sigyn resisted his attempt to pull her, but Dyson was strong and the petite handmaiden could not help but stumble behind him. "Dyson there is no time!" Sigyn nearly screeched as she finally managed to twist her arm free from his clasp. Dyson turned around baffled by Sigyn somewhat overly dramatic reaction. "There-th-there is no time," Sigyn repeated as she anxiously fanned herself. "Th-this could be the difference between a victory and defeat between life or Ragnorok for all the realms," she expressed with tears pooling in her hony colored eyes.
Dyson's dark-eyebrows quirked at her. Sigyn had always been a beauty, but it was common knowledge to all who lived in the palace that she was a flighty girl at best, but there was something about the forcefulness of the way she spoke and the intensity that shined forth through the her golden pupils that told him that this was no girlish fantasy. "What is it that you need to deliver, my lady?' the young guard inquired. He couldn't imagine what Sigyn would have in her possession that could be so powerful.
Sigyn's eyes darted around quickly, checking to make sure that no one else was a round. Seeing that the coast was clear, she reached into the folds of her cloak and pulled out the tiny parchment scroll from one of her concealed pockets, She held it out flatly in her palms. "This" she whispered secretively.
"A scroll?" Dyson looked unimpressed. "My lady, what news could it bear that is so important that you would risk your life to come and deliver it?" he inquired.
"Dyson I would tell you if I could, but I honestly know not all that it says and even if I did I wouldn't be able to speak of it," Sigyn explained rapidly. "But I know it could stop Ragnorok! I believe it has the power to save us all and I must get it into the proper hands urgently!" the golden eyed lady-in-waiting to Queen Frigga entreated the palace guard.
"I will take you to Lord Algrim," Dyson stated as he stood at attention and saluted to the queen's most faithful lady-in-waiting. "The Council is in a meeting as we speak," he explained as he lead her by the hand toward the council chambers.
The Council Chamber was a hotbed of loud discussion and boiling tempers. The 50 delegates of the High Council were present to vote on a matter, but the chamber was full of at least 200 others. Some were lords and nobles other were low ranking officers of the Einherjar, and various areas of Asgard's armed forces. Most had stood to their feet and were now standing, stamping, shouting and pointing over their neighbor to be heard
'I believe we need more troops," expressed one of the court officials as he rose to his feet.
"We already have called in all the Einherjar from across the realms as well as the Valkyries and shield-maidens and we have requested the aid of the residential militias from ll of the provinces in Asgard to report to the Imperial City and every able bodied man of the Imperial City volunteered to stay and fight and they are training with the Einherjar warriors as we speak. What more can we ask of our people?' stressed a gray-bearded admiral.
"Not merely of our people, my lord," the court official began, "We need to call in the troops of our allies," argued one of the generals in the council chambers.
"I concur," someone echoed his sentiments. "The threat of the Dark-Elves concerns all the Nine Realms! Not just Asgard!" he explained. "If Malekith and his horde attack during Convergence and if they already have the Aether it will take more than the forces of Asgard to overthrow them!"
"It is too dangerous!" a gray-bearded fellow, a retired diplomat from court countered standing up and slamming his fist against back of the bench he sat behind. "To bring in more troops would require that we open the Bifrost! We can't do that!" he protested
"Opening the Bifrost will only make us all the more vulnerable! It'll allow for the Dark-Elves to be able to slip into Asgard even before Convergence. No! The Bifrost must remain close!" a member of Odin's high council railed. "it is the only way to protect Asgard until Convergence! Once Convergence comes the pathways between the realms will be open and there will be nothing we can do to stop the Dark-Elves from coming back!"
"We need more troops!" one warrior shouted, he was no one of much notoriety in Asgard, but his arm was bandaged and being held in a sling. it was apparent that he had suffered loss in the attack.
"Here! Here!" a female voice rose up out of the gaggle of men. "It is not right that our men should have to sacrifice their lives without the aid of any of the other realms or without at least alerting the other realms to what is about to occur!" Brunehilda, the leader of the Valkyrie railed
"Even all the Einherjar will not be able to stop the Dark-Elves once they are in possession of the Aether,"one of the officials debated. "They will overwhelm us and then all will be lost!. WE must open the Bifrost in Order to have a fighting chance!" he declared/
"Order! People Order!" Lord Algrim, the Light Elf High Chamberlain of Asgard commanded as he struck his gavel against Odin's podium. "We must come to order!" the chamberlain announced as the fuel in the room slowly started to cool. "We must come to a consensus," the elf stated as he smoothed his bony hands over his royal purple drapes. "Now truly this should be Prince Thor's decision," the elderly Light-Elf expressed as he blew out as an exasperated breath, "but being as though Prince Thor has not returned to us...and Convergence is a mere two days away," he paused and took one last deep breath, "We must put this matter to a vote," he announced. "We have allowed many members of the court and of the military to speak in this council hearing as many of you have been elected as representatives from your respected, towns, shires and cities, but as we put this matter to vote let it be known that only the members of Asgard's High Council will be able to vote on this matter," the Elfin advisor to king Odin declared as he hit his small mallet against the podium. "Now," he proceeded, "All in favor of keeping the Bifrost closed, raise your hand and say 'aye'," the chamberlain proceeded. Slowly, the hands of the generals of the Einherjar and lords of Asgard inched their hands toward the gilded, ornately carved, domed ceiling. "Count the votes," Lord Algrim instructed the court scribe. The scribe jotted down the palms the were raised as various base and baritone and tenor voice raised to confirm their thoughts. The scribe counted 24 hands raised for keeping the Bifrost closed and quickly jotted the number down.
"All in favor of reopening the Bifrost raise your hand and say 'Aye'," Lord Algrim instructed for the second time. Once again the hands of the Einherjar generals raised into the air as their voice rang out at random as they said their confirming "Ayes". The scribe once again counted the raised hands and came up with a total of 24 hands raised. One of the delegates to give a deciding votes was not present and that was Prince Thor. Since the Prince of Asgard was not present to cast his vote and King Odin was incapacitated and unable to make a decision for the council, it would be up to Lord Algrim, Odin's chief adviser would have to cast the deciding ballot. "The numbers please, scribe" The elf stated as he turned to the man to his left.
"Total votes for the Bifrost remaining closed..." The scribe began to read as his hand slightly quivered while he held the parchment which he had written the numbers on, "24" he announced after a deep breath. "Total votes for the Bifrost reopening," he paused as he looked to the lanky figure standing behind the silver podium, "24, Lord Algrim," the scribe stated and took his seat.
"Lord Algrim," said a calm voice from amidst the frantic and frenzied debating. "If I may address the council?" the calm voice inquired.
"Prime Minister Audric," the pointy-earred elf stated as he inclined his head toward the long time friend of Asgard. He motioned for the Vanir Prime Minister to come and take the stand. With dignity Lord Audric did so. He slowly ascended the stairs to the golden podium from which Lord Algrim and King Odin normally presided. His steps seemed so labored. It had only been a little over a week since Dagmar's murder at the hands of those white skinned demons. It had taken a toll of the powerful Vanir. His eyes looked sunken and his skin looked pale, wrinkled and warn. His hair that had once been a distinguished salt and pepper was now completely silver gray. He'd lost weight. The Prime Minister hadn't been able to bring himself to eat since the death of his daughter. IN the back of his mind as he refused the meals offered to him by the palace staff he could hear Dagmar's sweet silvery voice cooing in his ear, "You must eat something, Papa." He could almost feel her delicate fingers coming to rest on his shoulders just before she would plant a gentle kiss on his temple or bristled cheek. Such thoughts only added to his torture.
After what had seemed like an hour, Lord Audric finally found himself standing at the top of the podium looking out over the see of distinguished nobles and honored warriors. He breathed and still his jittery nerves before addressing them. "Delegates of Asgard, Members of the High Council," The Prime Minster of Vanaheim addressed them graciously. "These are perilous times and the risks of each decision that this honored council makes will have ramifications that could effect the Nine Realms for generations to come. The gravity of that cannot be overlooked or minimized. That being said, it is important to remember that no decision that you make today will not require some risks. My daughter, Lady Dagmar, Ambassador of Vanahiem made a decision that was risky. She chose to stay behind and fight to protect the mortal woman, Jane Foster," he paused breathing deeply and shaking his head. "I do not know why she made that decision," he confessed sorrowfully. "I do not know if it is a decision I would have made," he admitted. "My feminine child may been braver than I," the Prime Minster chuckled and the crowd of delegates smile at the tender words of the elderly Vanir. "But she risked her life and surrendered her life because she knew that keeping the Aether out of the hands of the Dark-Elves was worth dying for," the gray-haired vanir noble man stated as he swallowed the thick lump that had formed in his throat. It was the first time he had said those words allowed. It was the first time he had allowed himself to admit that his beloved daughter had not died in vain. "My daughter!" he started to declare as he pointed his chest, "Your sons, your daughters, you brothers and cousins and uncles and wives and friends died fighting to keep the Aether out of the wrong hands. I cannot speak for all the realms and the people in them, but as the Prime Minister of Vanaheim, I believe I have a right to speak for the Vanir people. Dagmar was beloved of our people as she was well loved here in Asgard. In not allowing the other realms to become involved in this war you are denying them the right to avange the death of one of their great stateswomen. You deny them the right to risk their lives for a great cause and earn their place in the halls of Valhalla. It is not the right of tis council to deny them such. I do not believe that is what this council was designed for. If this council so choses to take the risk and will open the Bifrost I can guarantee you that you will have the aid of 3000 of the Vanir's finest archers, horsemen and mages and I believe that together we can prevail and avenge our fallen and prevent Ragnorok," with that the Prime Minister of Vanahiem descended from the steps of the podium to return to his seat.
'Thank you, Lord Audric," Algrim stated politely as he bowed his head in respect toward the grieving father. "Prime Minster Audric has given us much food for thought," the wizened elf confirmed. His expression was grave. "This council take a brief recess for the time of one hour. At the duration of one hour we shall convene once more and we shall vote again on the matte. During that vote I shall also cast my vote and we shall reach a verdict in this matter," he explained as he struck his miniature mallet against the golden podium dismissing the council for an hour.
The delegates of Asgard's High Council slowly trickled from within the Council Chamber. Lady Sigyn lingered behind the large brass door awaiting the Elfin adviser of Odin to emerge from the chamber. As soon as she saw curly-toed, golden slippers sliding there way toward her from beneath the flowing, velvety, royal purple robes she became nervous. She had been so anxious to get to the palace and to deliver the letter to prince Loki, but now that the moment of truth was upon her a new type of anxiety overtook her. She expected just to slip into the dungeons and find Loki's cell and give the scroll to prince Loki, but she should have known that that plan was faulty. She should have figured that the palace would be on high alert and that she wouldn't be able to sneak anywhere. If only she was better at thinking things through then she could have been prepared to speak to Lord Algrim about the matter. But naturally, she hadn't prepared for that. She didn't know what to say to Odin's chief adviser. Still, she had to do something. There was no more time for second guessing, she had made her sister bring her all the way to the palace, she had runaway from the Dales and her husband to be and possibly lost the only chance that that she would have at having a decent life at all, she'd come to far to turn back now. It was now or never. Lady Sigyn gulped as she took a few steps from behind the brass door that guarded the Council Chamber. "Now or never" Sigyn muttered to herself. "For Asgard," she assured herself, "For Loki," she stated just before she flung herself out from behind the door and in front of Lord Algrim. 'Lord Algrim," Sigyn announced herself before the high ranking council member's presence as she dipped herself into a curtsy..
The Elfin minister blinked and rubbed his bleary white eyes. "Lady Sigyn?" He inquired as he noted the queen's lady-in-waiting. "My dear girl, what in Asgard's name are you doing here?" the adviser asked as he made his way over to her.
"Lord Algrim I have something very important...very, very important...to give to the Royal family," Lady Sigyn explained breathlessly, her large gold eyes darting around to make sure no other delegates were near. Most of the council members had slowly started to migrate back to their own chambers to mull over the very serious decision that needed to be made.
Odin's chief adviser's face pinched with confusion."Lady Sigyn, dear girl, the Royal family is not here," Lord Algrim expressed kindly, patiently. "The Queen and the King have taken refuge in the Southern Palace and Prince Thor is no where to be found, but we believe he has moved the mortal Jane Foster off world," the light-elf explained. He brought his bony hands to massage his temples. He was trying not to lose his patience with the simpleminded maiden, but their were many great matters on his mind and had no time to deal with a girl's fantasies.
"Lord Algrim, Please I have come all this way from the Dales to deliver this ," Sigyn insisted. "I simply must deliver it. It is very important...I promise," Sigyn swore with big eyes. The Elfin magistrate took pity on Lady Sigyn. He shook his head. Lady Sigyn did look a bit disheveled. Her gold locks were wind whipped and her face was flushed, her breathing labored. And by the wrinkled state of her garments it was easy to deduce that she'd been in the saddle all day. These were fearful and distressing times. All were on edge and it was easy to imagine a feeble-minded young woman like Lady Sigyn being over come with panic to the point where she was no longer thinking rationally.
"Sigyn I am afraid all that you are saying is making very little sense to me, dear child,' the Light Elf said sweetly as he clasped his hands together, 'Queen Frigga went to the Southern Palace. All of her hand maidens were to accompany her there, why did you go to the Dales?"
"I went by request of my betrothed, Lord Theoic. He wanted me to return with him to his home, Kelby, feeling that I would be safer there. I did not wish to go...I wanted to stay by my queen's side, but I didn't want to disobey my husband -to-be," Sigyn admitted with a sigh.
Lord Algrim reached out his bony fingers and took hold of Sigyn's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I wish many more had your faithfulness to their majesties," the wizened, old elf smiled down kindly at the maiden. He patted her on the shoulder affectionately, "Alas," the elf sighed, "I am afraid that Lord Theoic was right to advise you to leave Imperial City, it is not safe here, my lady," Lord Algrim confessed with regret in his tone, he slowly removed his hand from Sigyn's shoulder, he hung his head and clasped his hands behind his back thoughtfully. "Convergence is only two days hence and the Aether is missing?" the elf went on.
"Missing?" the blonde haired maiden gasped.
"Aye," he informed. "Thor has taken Lady Jane off world...I do not know where he has taken her, but it is a risky move...if the Dark -Elves return and Prince Thor does not...if they have captured Lady Jane and have gotten hold of the Aether..." the elfin adviser's voice to trailed off. He shivered as is skin crawled thinking of the unspeakable.
"Take heart, my lord," Lady Sigyn offered sweetly to Odin's head of council," she reached out and touched the royal official on the arm, her mild touch caused the elderly elf to glance over his shoulder and see her large eyes staring up hopefully at him. "Prince Thor will return, my lord," Sigyn responded confidently. "I...I...I j-j-just know it," she stammered trying to muuster up courage.
"Yes, of course," Algrim nodded. Naturally, I trust he will, my lady" he explained as he raised his head and placed his hands in front of him. Although his words were hopeful his expression was still sour, his brows were furrowed and his forehead pinched with worry lines. He let out an exasperated breath. "Nevertheless, we must be prepared in case he does not... we must have a plan of action," Algrim expounded as he started to take a few slow steps forward. Sigyn naturally fell into pace with the elf. "That is what the council is trying so hard to decide upon..." he continued. "We will need every man to fight against the Dark-Elves, especially if they have gained the power of the Aether," he told her. "So many of our troops have already fallen prey to them," Algrim pointed out. His wrinkled hands strayed to clutch at his heart. "That was without the Aether on their side," he reminded her. The Light_Elf froze in his footsteps, his posture growing rigid as his back straightened. "I know first hand the devastation that Malekith and his forces can cause with the Aether at their disposal.
Sigyn's heart crumpled as she watched the elderly elf's face wax over with fear. Algrim had been one of her teachers during her years at the academy. He taught several history courses, not that she had ever paid much attention during history lectures. History had always bored her to tears. Her attitude had always been out with the old in with the new. She hadn't valued the lessons that the past could teach. Still she could recall one lesson Lord Algrim had taught being somewhat fascinating. He talked to them about the Dark-Elf wars that had happened thousands of years before they were born, but he did not merely read from a history tome. His story was personal. He had been a lad growing up in Alfheim, home of the Light Elves and dwarfs. He grew up in one of the smaller kingdoms, his father had been one of the elders. The Dark-Elves attacked the small kingdom and mercilessly slaughtered the citizens. They killed the men before the eyes of the women and children. They were pitiless, heartless marauders. By the time the King of the Elves sent troops out to defend the tiny kingdom it was too late, the kingdom was destroyed, it was burning and smoldering, clouds of smoke were so thick that it made the kingdom look as if it was under a nighttime sky. Only a handful of children survived the attack because they were hidden by their mothers.
Algrim hand watched his parents die at the hands of the Dark-Elves and he had seen his fair and happy childhood home engulfed in an inferno of terrible darkness. He came to Asgard r.
Algrim shook himself from the vision of seeing the bodies of his people, friends and relatives broken and burning, bloodied and disfigured in the rubbled streets. "The council will convene again in just an hours time my lady and I have much to deliberate until then," Lord Algrim stated his voice becoming firmer, as he straightened and fixed the collar of his tunics, "Do tell me my dear, where is Lord Theoic?' Algrim asked as he squinted his white eyes looking around for the country noble. "You all have traveled far and I would certainly see to it that you all can have rooms for the night," he expressed a kindly smile on his thin face. He rubbed his thin palms together with anticipation. "Perhaps Lord Theoic will fight with the warriors if he is needed," he presumed. This time it was lady Sigyn's turn to avert her gaze and drop her head in shame. Lord Algrim gasped feigning shock. "Lady Sigyn!" Lord Algrim said with a somewhat stern voice. "Do not tell me that Lord Theoic is not with you!" he scolded. "You should not have left the Dales! Your betrothed must be worried sick about you!" He scolded. "Surely he would not have permitted you to travel this great distance alone," he stated. "Sigyn we must return you to him at once," the court mister expressed. He clapped his hands as if summoning a guard.
"Please! Lord Algrim!" the youngest Arndottir shrieked as she reached out and grabbed Lord Algrim's thin fingers, she stopped his hands mid-clapp. "Lord Algrim" Sigyn Arndottir started to mumble as she still kept her amber pupils downcast. , "In all good conscience I cannot...cannot return to the Dales until I complete my mission,' she reported finally lifting her head and raising her honey-hued eyes to meet Lord Algrim's white eyes.
The Elf's pointed features formed a look of exasperation. "Your mission?" Algrim questioned.
Sigyn's golden curls bounced as she bobbed her head emphatically. "To deliver this, Lord Algrim," Sigyn stated pleadingly as she started to slip the secret scroll out from the folds of her cape.
"A scroll?" asked as he massaged his temples once more.
"Not just scroll, Lord Algrim" Sigyn starting wagging her head just as vigorously as she had been nodding it. All the head movement was starting to make her feel dizzy, "Well yes I mean it is just a scroll, but what is written on I..." she qualified, as she panted, "is something very important, my lord," She expressed, "What's written could change the outcome of the upcoming war, it could save all our lives! Prevent Ragnorok!" she stressed as she waved the scroll.
Algrim merely blinked as he let the gravity of the queen's waiting lady sink in. This all seemed to good to be true and a bit far fetched. How would Lady Sigyn have gotten access to such information? She had been in the Dales, not with Queen Frigga at the Southern Palace so it would have been unlikely that she had received something from the queen or all-father. It was unlikely that the queen would have sent her dispatch rider to give a message to Lady Sigyn, when she could have just sent word straight to the palace. Also he noted that the parchment scroll was sealed with a Vanir seal and not the queen's insignia. Why would Sigyn have something from Vanaheim? Lord Algrim decided not to take any chances. Convergence was only two days away. If the Dark-Elve's had gotten hold of Lady Jane Foster and extracted the Aether from her then, Ragnorok was as good as upon them. If Sigyn by some miracle had stumbled upon something that could prevent that and save them all it was worth looking at. If she was wrong then the realm was no worse off for the young woman's folly. "Very well Sigyn," Lord Algrim let out a pent up sigh. "Hand it over," he ordered as he extended thin fingers before her ready to receive the scroll. "I will take it to my study and examine it," he explained. "We need all the answers we can get in these perilous times." he confirmed.
Lady Sigyn snatched the scroll back toward herself, protectively she placed it toward her bosom and crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to give up the scroll much like a child who desperately clung to blanket or refused to give up a favorite stuffed toy. Lady Sigyn shook her head vigorously, a look of panic written plainly on her pretty face. "Forgive me Lord Algrim, but I cannot do that!" Sigyn insisted still not giving up the scroll. "Th-th-this sc-scroll is for the eyes of the royal family o-o-only," she sputtered to insist.
Lord Algrim wagged his head a bristled a bit. He was nearly insulted by blonde-haired maiden's open defiance of his authority. "Lady Sigyn, I have already explained to you that there are no members of the royal family present!" the elf said firmly. "And in the absence of the queen and Prince Thor and while the king lies in Oversleep I am the highest ranking member on the Council of Elders and therefore I will act as Asgard's Prime Minster at this time. Therefore I have the authority to see the information on that scroll," he pointed out.
She relaxed her stance and allowed her arms to fall by her side and clenched the scroll in her right hand. "If that were the case I would happily turn the scroll over to you and the council and let you all decide what to do with the information, but that is not the case," the blonde haired maiden confessed. "Lord Algrim, Prince Loki is here," Sigyn expressed quickly. "And with all due respect Lord Algrim this scroll was meant for Prince Loki's eye," Sigyn reported boldly as she looked the elfin lord in the eye.
Lord Algrim sucked in air ad choked aghast by the words that had spewed from Lady Sigyn's pretty pink lips. Lord Algrim choked as he tried to regain composure and breath. "Lady Sigyn!" The Prime Minister of Asgard's voice was raided quickly and sharply toward her. "Don't you dare mention that criminal's name!" Sigyn gasped then shut her pink lips to bite her tongue. She felt like a little girl being chided for slipping up and saying a swear word at a dinner party. "Especially at time like this!" he warned her as he wagged a scolding skeletal finger in her face. Sigyn dropped her golden-eyed gaze and stared down at her dusty brown riding boots. She hated the way Loki's name had become something too taboo to mention in polite society. 'Do you want to insight panic!" he snapped. The Elf's tone was sharp and biting.
"No, no, Lord Algrim never," Sigyn countered as she took a few steps back.
"That monster is an enemy of Asgard!" Odin's chief adviser yelled. "How dare your refer to that despicable creature as a member of the royal family!" Lord Algrim raised his bony finger toward Sigyn's buttoned nose. "the all-father has revoked his title!" he reminded her staunchly. "You dato contradict the words of your king.
"Lord Algrim I meant no disrespect," the fair-haired maiden muttered and sputtered as she continued to back away from the angered member of the council.
Algrim pressed his way toward her, for each step she took back he took a step toward her. Finally, he backed her into one of the great columns. His stark white eyes bulged out of his head shocked at her words. "Loki is a criminal! He's a vile traitor!" the Light-Elf claimed. "He betrayed us all, Lady Sigyn!" he reminded her. "He is a disgrace to the house of Odin!" the king''s wise old friend proclaimed. "He is an enemy of Asgard!" the wizened spokesman for the council reported once more. "Same as the Dark-Elves," he pointed out. "As a matter-of-fact he is even worse than Malekith and his ilk," Lord Algrim began. "He is the worse kind of enemy," Algrim stated as his voice grew low and seething with concentration. His white eyes were gazing at her intently, determined to convince the ignorant hand maiden of the truth. "He is like a cancer!" the elf elaborated. "He is an insidious tumor," the pointy-eared elf spat. "He was growing within the whole time, undetected, but all the while becoming more and more powerful thrived as he lied in wait patiently buying his time waiting for the opportune moment to unleash his venom," Lord Algrm expounded and he snarled with the thoughts of the terrible treacherous things that the ex-prince had done. "And like a deadly disease just when we were the most unsuspecting, he reared his ugly head!" Lord Algrim explicated. "If it was up to me," the Chief Adviser to the King of Asgard started up once more, "I would see that vile savage executed this day!" he avowed as he stomped his foot and pointed toward the ground with a long, lanky finger. His sharp, narrow, downward sloping nose snorted as if he was steaming bull ready to rage. The daughter of Admiral Arn gasped in horror. Her big, golden doubloon eyes welling with water at his words because she knew that he was speaking truth. 'I would see him hanged!" the elf wearing the curly-toed golden slippers swore. There was malice in the normally collected elf's regal tone and fire flashed through his stark eyes. "I'd see that his body dangled from a scaffold in the town square with his eyes gauged out of their sockets!" the Light-Elf fumed.
Sigyn's body started to shake as it was held fast in Lord Algrim's stiff bony palms. A wicked image fluttered through her blonde haired head and it made her sick on the stomach. She pictured Loki's limp, pale, emaciated body draped in rags, practically naked before the masses blooded and bruised dangling from a rope, swinging to and fro like some strange piece of dried fruit in the stale breeze. She could see the vicious black birds coming and pecking at Loki's ashen flesh and picking his eyes out of his sockets. Oh it was such a dreadful and frightful sight. Sigyn slammed her eyes shut trying to keep such terrible visions from plaguing her, she shook her head doing her best to dislodge the thoughts from her mind. But Lord Algrim didn't stop spewing his terrible word and soon the refined voice of Odin's chief adviser came flooding back into her senses, "I'd have it commissioned to be set there so that it could serve as a warning to the Dark-Elves to let them know the fate of those who are enemies of Asgard."
The venomous way in which the court minister talked about Loki maid the golden locked lady-in-waiting to Queen Frigga cringe. She wanted to pull away and put her hands back over her ears blocking out the Light-Elf's words. They were so cruel, so condemnatory. He spoke about Loki as if he had never known him at all. As if Loki hadn't been one of the students in his rhetoric courses or if he hadn't tutored the young prince in the protocols of the kingdom from the time he was a lad. It was painful to hear the way he spoke of the man he once served.
"Lord Algrim, please," Sigyn softly begged. "I know what Loki has done, but I only need see him for a moment to deliver him the letter..." she expressed. "The scroll is intended for him," Sigyn started to try to explain again.
"No!" Algrim cut her off immediately. "It is out of the question!" he informed her as he chopped his arm through the air for emphasis "Loki has been condemned to 500 years of solitary confinement!" the Light-Elf lord reported. "That was the sentence decreed by Odin," he reminded her.
"Yes but," the Aesir noblewoman started to challenge.
"To disobey such orders would be treason, Lady Sigyn," Odin's head of council warned her. "Especially at a time like this," he pinned the bronzed skinned maiden with a cold stare. His tone was hard and his white eyes glared at her even harder. The cold tone silenced daughter of Lord Arn. "Do you intend to commit treason Lady Sigyn?"
Lady Sigyn stood simply gaping. Her breath-hitched. She placed her manicured hands to her heart as she felt it starting to pound rapidly within her chest. Was this it? Had she truly come all this way for nothing? While Prince Thor and Queen Frigga were away and Odin lied in the Oversleep Algrim, as Odin's Head of Council and Prime Minister of Asgard, had the final say on these matters. Sigyn didn't want to defy him. She'd already defied so many, her husband-to-be, her parents, but to defy Lord Algrim would be an act of treason. She couldn't commit treason! She wouldn't commit treason, would she?
Algrim took the younger daughter of the ex-admiral silence as her compliance that that she had no wishes to disobey the expressed commands of her king. "As I thought," Odin's head of council smiled a smug sort of smile. Pleased at the fact that he had easily been able to dissuade the queen's handmaiden from her foolish thoughts. "Now," He started again, "if you will excuse me, Lady Sigyn, I have a decision to make before the council convenes once more," Algrim stated as he gave a swift quick bow toward the woman of court to show courtesy. As the elderly elfin courtier rose to his full height he straightened his collar and pushed his long white strands of hair out of his face and behind his pointed ears before swinging his royal purple drape across his shoulders as he started to press pass the young noblewoman and move toward his study.
Nervously, Sigyn started to nibble at the long manicured nail on her pointer finger. She felt beads of perspiration start to gather around the temples of her forehead and back of her neck. Lord Algrim in his haste hadn't given her a chance to answer. Did she intend to commit treason. Well she didn't intend to commit an act of treason...but she did intend to do eveything in her power to keep Ragnorok from destroying them all and she did intend to give Loki the scrooll. She intended to see him emmerge from the squalor of prison as the victorious price he was meant to be. She intended to se him happy. That was all she had ever intended to do was make him happy. She realized that maybe she couldn't make him happy with her, but if she had a chance to bring him some happiness even if it wasn't with her then that was what she wanted to do. If that counted as an act of treason...well...it wasn;t that she wanted to be considered treasonous...no...no... she didn't want that, but she was willing to commit treason for that. Still, even though she was willing to defy the orders of her king...she had been defying them for many months now...but It wasn't as if she would be able to get to Loki's cell without Lord Algrim's approval. The dungeons would be heavily armed and fortified. After all Kursed's attac
But she'd come so far! She'd gone through so much! She was so close now! What if the scroll really did contain a letter that told Loki the news he needed to change his heart? What if it did and now when she was so close she gave up? Then all of Asgard would suffer. All of the realms would pay for her cowardice. All of Asgard could be shrouded in fire and brimstone and ruin all because she gave up too easily. What if Thor and the Einherjard did managed to defeat the Dark-Elves, but Loki was still left to suffer and rot in the dungeons with out any chance to redeem himself or without ever knowing the fate of the life that he and Lady Dagmar had conceived together?
"Lord Algrim please reconsider!" Sigyn pleaded as she lifted up her pink skirt and chased after him.
"Lady Sigyn, I will not discuss this matter with you any further!" the Prime Minister stated firmly and once again proceeded to march away. He didn't even look over his shoulder to dignify the queen's lady-in-waiting. He merely raised his hand and kept walking.
"My lord please!" the fair-haired maiden interceded, she dropped to her knees and grabbed onto Lord Algrim's royal, velvety, dark purple robes. She started to sob desperate to convey to the Prime Minister how important this scroll was. "Please Lord Algrim,' she sputtered between gasps and sniffled. "This could change the outcome of this war. It could save us all from Ragnorok. P-p-please, my lord this can't be overlooked," she explained with tear filled eyes. With a quick blink the tears started to pour down her cheeks. "Please just let Loki see it, please!" she cried.
The elfin adviser's white eyes softened and his brows drew away from the furrowed look that he was wearing. He sighed pityingly, Lady Sigyn was a kind and sensitive young maiden, although she could never be considered the brightest candle on the chandelier, he knew that she meant well. He stooped down and offered Lady Sigyn his slim fingers to help her to her feet. Her long golden tendrils bobbled as she accepted the proffered hand and timidly climbed back to her feet. "Calm yourself dear girl," the adviser said, his regal voice speaking in a gentle tone. He patted Lady Sigyn's shoulders as he watched her do her best to compose herself taking in deep gasps and wiping the tears from her lovely honeycomb colored eyes. "How would giving Loki the scroll accomplish all of this?" the elf inquired, his tone gentle, but still unconvinced.
The queen's lady-in-waiting felt her pulse quicken as she heard the question. Her foggy mind raced to try to think of an answer. "I...I...I...ummm...I" Lady Sigyn started to sputtered as she quickly tried to gather her thoughts. She observed how Lord Algrim's weary face pinched into a scowl as he arched thick white eyebrows at her. "I...I...well," she started again she fiddled with her fingers nervously. She dropped her eyes and worried her lip. She didn't know what she should say. How she could phrase it? She didn't know how to say what she thought without giving too much away. She didn't want Loki and Lady Dagmar's secret to be made public. Because if the child was actually dead there was no reason for anyone to know. Still, she had to tell Lord Algrim something. "I...I...I think...well that is Lord Algrim that I haven't read the scroll myself...I don't really know what is written there," Sigyn explained still keeping her large, golden orbs downcast, "But I think that the contents of this scroll could give Loki a change of heart and make him to fight on the side of Asgard against our enemies, my lord" Sigyn finally confessed through watery eyes, though she managed to raise them to look at the prime minister of Asgard. Immediately, after glancing back at Lord Algrim she dipped into a curtsy. "I am sure you are aware how Prince Thor went to Loki asking him to assist in the fight against the Dark-Elves besides the all-father Loki is probably the only mage in all of Asgard who would have magic and knowledge enough to know how to stop the Aether."
Lord Algrim acknowledged the handmaiden's words with a roll of the eyes as tossed his head back and allowed his long, white locks to flip back as he scoffed. "Lady Sigyn you are dealing in mere fantasy!" he exclaimed. "And I've heard just about enough of this!" he continued to berate the blonde haired daughter of Admiral Arn. The skinny elf took hold of Lady Sigyn's dainty wrist. His bony knuckles pressing softly into her soft skin. It wasn't that the hold had been particularly painful, but it startled Sigyn and she let out a yelp. Algrim was not a powerfully built man. He was lean and very tall, he was old and wrinkled looking, his hair white as snow and his face clean shaven and pale pink in pallor, like most of the Light Elves. But he held on to Sigyn's wrist with quite a bit of force for a man of his age and size. "Listen here, girl!" the wizened elfin courtier started to lecture. His voice wasn't loud for it was not the way of the composed adviser to Odin to rant and shout, but his voice held a distinct hint of anger to it. It caused Lady Sigyn to cringe and draw back, she had never been one to take any anger aimed in her direction. She was a peaceable woman by nature. "Loki is a heartless wretch! An animal!" he elaborated harshly. "He cannot change!" he lectured cruelly, all at once ripping the precious scroll from Sigyn's hands. "He is a monster!" he told her and gave he a good little shake. "He is too far gone to ever change!" he declared his voice trembling with fury. Sigyn watched as the elfin leader's eyes seemed to brim with liquid."Prince Thor offered him a chance to fight on the side of Asgard, to prove that he was one of us, and he out right refused. He did not care about those who fell in the name of Asgard. He did not even care that the king fell into Oversleep, possibly for the final time. "Nothing can change him! Nothing! Do you hear?" Lord Algrim fussed as he shook Lady Sigyn once more. "Least of all anything written upon this silly scroll!" Lord Algrim's normally even voice raised just a little and hurled the scroll down the corridor.
Sigyn's head immediately swiveled as she followed the trajectory of the rolled up parchment scroll as it sailed through the air and finally landed with a clatter on the marble floor."Lord Algrim! NO!" Sigyn shrieked as the small parchment scroll rolled across the polished, white marble floors. She frantically tried to pull herself from the elf's grip to capture the scroll before it rolled into the wrong hands, but her efforts proved futile, the adviser refused to allow her to escape his grip, he held her fast and Sigyn fell on the floor her right hand outstretched reaching for the scroll. She watched with terror as the scroll was kicked about by the unknowing feet of guards and soldiers and delegates of the court who were walking by.
"You'll trouble me no further about this matter Sigyn!" the highest ranking member of Odin's Council informed the blonde-haired young Aesir woman as she lied on the floor. He dropped her right on roughly, he nearly slammed it against the marble. Lady Sigyn whimpered in pain as her tender wrist collided with the stone that made up the floor. She gathered her wrist in her left hand and massaged it carefully with her forefinger and thumb. Her bronzed fleshed had been slightly bruised by the Light-Elf. She looked up at the elderly elf with a flowing white mane. Their eyes met and they both housed the same shock. In all his life he had never laid a harsh hand on a maiden. He couldn't recall ever having laid a harsh hand on anyone. As a young man growing up in Alfheim he had been from a peaceful artisan village. He was not of the warrior class and had never been trained in combat. He felt awful. Part of him wanted to reach down and offer his hand and an apology to the queen's lady-in-waiting, but he had taken up enough time with Lady Sigyn, indulging her foolish talk far too long. The minutes were ticking away and he had to have a verdict for the council in case they could not reach a majority vote.
Lady Sigyn watched as Lord Algrim's cape swished across the floor as she stared at his back. Sigyn crawled across the lovely marble floor, scuttling after the scroll as it rolled beneath feet and legs and under benches and tables and further and further down the hallway. Finally her manicured hand managed to catch it. Once her hand took hold of the gold spokes on the side of the scroll she clutched it protectively toward her bosom.
Scrambling to stand she got up and turned around her wide set gold eyes searching for Lord Algrim. She seemed to have lost him in the shuffle as many more soldiers and servants and courtiers started to flood the hallways. Eventually, she spotted him, the Light Elf man wasn't hard to spot, he stood out amongst the crowd with his pointed ears. Sigyn chased after him. She pushed through the crowd of delegates and council members along with their servants saying excuse me as she tried to squeeze by them. She managed to catch his tunic's sleeve."Please, my lord!" she begged again.
'Sigyn Enough!" Lord Algrim finally yelled out as he snatched the hem of his purple tunic from her hands. His clipped voice rang out over the anxious murmurs of the still debating delegates in the corridor. "Don't you understand you silly girl!" the court official scolded. Sigyn drew back as Lord Algrim roughly shouted in her face. "Convergence is 2 days hence! The Council has real decisions to make and I don't have anymore time to waste listening to your addle-brained fantasies!" the elfin lord criticized. His biting words made the light-haired maiden feel as if she only stood about two inches high.
Gold eyes blinked rapidly, "But Lord Algrim," the lady-in-waiting started to protest once more. "It's not a fantasy!" she insisted. "I wouldn't lie about this...please...please just have one of the guards deliver the scroll to Loki and you'll see...you'll see," Sigyn implored.
'Guards!" the elfin adviser called. Immediately, a few of the soldiers came to the heed the prime minister's call.
'Lord Algrim," the palace protectors saluted as they stood erect and proud at attention in the noble elf's presence.
"Take Lady Sigyn to her quarters," he ordered his breath coming in a huff. He gestured with a flippant wrist toward lady Sigyn. She stood only inches from him her head swinging back and forth as she beheld the helmeted guards with golden and bronze armor standing around her. Protectively, she clutched the scroll toward her bosom, not willing to let the guards get a hold of her precious secret. "Take the scroll," he instructed them harshly. Immediately, Lady Sigyn felt the heavy hands of some of Asgard's most fearsome warriors slam down upon her shoulders. Two strong guards held her in place as another guard simply pried her fingers back from around the scroll and plucked the parchment from her hands and placed it in Lord Algrim's. Lord Algrim nodded toward the guard as took te scroll and dismissively shoved it into one of the outer pockets in his royal robe. "See to it that a caravan can be arranged to escort Lady Sigyn back to the Dales to the safe keeping of her betrothed," he commanded.
The soldiers saluted in unison, "Right away, sir," they pledged as they simultaneous took a step closer toward the golden-locked maiden.
Sigyn's large honey-colored eyes bulged as as felt the rough hands of the palace guards grip her forearms and shoulders. The soldiers yanked her back forcing her to stumble backwards. They pulled on her while bidding her to come with them. Sigyn struggled, fighting against their commanding hands. She tried to roll her shoulder's out from under their ironclad palms and she tried to twist her skinny wrist free of their holds. She pulled and tugged and strained and gritted to get away with all her might, but it was to know avail; the soldiers of Asgard were strong as bulls and her efforts to get away from their harsh hands seemed fruitless. She pushed and tugged and pulled in the opposite direction but she never seemed to budge. 'No! Lord Algrim! Please!" her soprano voice called out in a panic as she started to lose sight of the pointy-eared leader drifting into the crowd. In a desperate attempt to reach out to him she managed to pry once of her arms free. She raised the arm waving her hand. "If you will not allow me to take the scroll to Loki, please have a guard do so" she offered as she panted as she still struggled to free herself. "Please!" she begged loudly. "It could save Asgard! It could save us all! Please!" she yelled frantically over the crowd of delegate who made their way into the hall. Sigyn started to feel overwhelmed. The more she pulled away the harder the guards clamped down on her and the rougher they started to yank her back, forcing her to go in the direction they chose. She was a thin woman, delicate in bone structure, and tender in frame, easily bruised. Their heavy hands were starting to hurt her. She let out a whimper as one of the guards clasped and her arm trying to pin it back down by her side.
'Come along, my lady" he insisted as they tried to gingerly, but nonetheless, forcefully escort her away from the head of the council. Sigyn recognized the voice even though the face was concealed by a golden helmet.
"Dyson?' She gasped in horror. "Dyson! No! No! You know what I am trying to do...y-y-you said you would help me...Dyson, no" she whimpered pitifully as she continued to try to twist and wriggle free from the hold of the palace guards. "Please," she begged, "Why are you doing this?' she asked with tear filled eyes. "You-you-you..." she hiccuped. "You promised you would help me," she reminded him , her lip trembling like a child.
Dyson stiffened as he heard the shrill tremble in Lady Sigyn's pleading voice. He would never want to cause he pain, he had tried to help her, but he couldn't disobey a direct order from Lord Algrim, not at a time like this. Lord Algrim was the head of Odin's Council and therefore he was the acting regent of Asgard while the Royal family was away. To disobey the Prime Minister's words during this time while Asgard was under high alert would be an act of treason. "Lady Sigyn, please try to remain calm," the young palace guard cooed as he loosened his grip on her wrist. "I...I have my orders," he tried to explain to her. "I told you that I would take you to Lord Algrim. Lord Algrim has spoken and he speaks on behalf of the all-father. You've done all you could do. It's over." he started. "Don't make a scene," he expressed as he lowered his lips toward her ear. The daughter of Arn looked up at Dyson with distrust and betrayal. Her lips curled into a painful scowl that expressed her sheer betrayal at the stance that her friend had taken. She jerked her head away from his lips and craned her neck so that she was able to face him and he could see the crystal tears shimmering in her amber pupils.
The guards started to roughly escort Lady Sigyn to her chambers. "No! No!" Sigyn shrieked fighting against her the palace patrol. She planted her feet to the ground refusing to be moved. The guards pulled and tugged trying to be as gentle as the could with one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting, but Sigyn's refusal was making it difficult. "You don't understand!" the blonde-haired maiden expressed desperately wagging her head trying to shake free of the guards hold. She twisted and bent her back trying to look over her shoulder and catch a glimpse of where Lord Algrim was heading off to with the scroll. She couldn't allow Lord Algrim to take the scroll and just lock it up or throw it away. Even if the message from the Vanir midwives didn't contain any news that would help Loki to mend his wicked ways, he still deserved to know, every father deserved to know the fate of their child.
Finally, in one gallant yank, the youngest daughter of Admiral Arn managed to pull her arm free and start running back into the crowd once more to get to the elfin court official. She took a few long strides sprinting toward the highest ranking member of Odin's council, but her strides were cut short as long muscular arms caught her around the midsection causing her to cough. All of sudden Sigyn felt her feet leaving the ground as she hoisted into the air and hurled over a bulky shoulder plastered in shiny golden armor. "No, Dyson!" Sigyn began to beg the guard as she was now placed in a position of being slung over the warrior's shoulder like a lousy sack of potatoes. 'Please, put me down" she whimpered and pleaded.
"Try to relax, milady,"Dyson expressed with a shoulder heaving sigh. She wasn't heavy at all. The golden haired woman was a light as a feather to a man of his stature and girth, but still he hated having to carry the noblewoman away in such a disrespectful manner. 'You'll be comfortable in your chambers for just a few hours until we can get a group of soldiers ready to take you to the Dales," he expressed. "Nothing to worry about." he expressed tapping her on the back as if he was trying to calm a fussy child.
'No! No!' the golden eyed lady-in-waiting continued to protest. "This isn't about my safety," she went on to insist breathlessly as she balled up her tanned hands into tight fist and began pounding vigorously on Dyson's helmet. She punched and kicked at the guard, not wanting to hurt him, but wanting to get down. Her fist were furious and her feet were even more dangerous as she made every effort to get the palace soldier to drop her. "Put me down! Put me down!" she ordered as she pushed and bucked and grunted and squirmed and squealed like a little pink piggy in effort to escape Dyson's grip. "You don't understand! Lord Algrim!" Sigyn continued to cry. "The letter is from Lady Dagmar!" Sigyn screamed out. She hated having to bring up the name of Lady Dagmar. She wanted to keep the Vanir ambassador's name in the clear, but she was becoming desperate. She hoped that the respected healer and enchantress' name would have some clout. She hoped that at least out of respect to an ambassador a personal friend of the Royal family Algrim would allow Loki to receive the scroll. "It was her dying wish!" she shouted over Dyson's shoulder. "It was her dying wish!" Sigyn screamed out, her voice sounding strained and hoarse as she managed to grab hold of one of the great columns. She clung to it for dear life trying to keep Dyson and the other soldiers from carrying her away.
"What did you say?" asked an articulate, accented voice as it made it's way toward Dyson and the other soldiers who were making their way toward the woman's quarters to place Sigyn in her chambers until later in the evening.
"Lord Audric," one of the guards greeted in a salute. "We were just escorting Lady Sigyn back to her chambers," he reported as he thumbed over his shoulder at the woman in the hanging over Dyson's shoulders like a stag from the hunt slung over the back of a horse. Except that this stag was bucking and kicking alive with fight.
"Put her down," the elderly Vanir ordered. "Put her down at once do your hear?!" he ordered the king's men.
Dyson looked from side to, looking to his fellow soldiers. The other warriors nodded giving him permission to do as the Prime Minster of Vanahiem instructed. Slowly and methodically, Dyson lowered Sigyn to ground. The blonde-haired maiden was shaken and disheveled. Her long, curly, amber ringlets were tousled about wildly in her face. The wild strands clung to her face, plastered to her reddened cheeks by her salt tears. Her face was flushed, her shoulders heaving and her lips parted as she viciously gasped for air. Her whole body was trembling like a leaf in the wind.
Prime Minster Audric took a step toward the queen's handmaiden he gave a stern and disapproving look to the palace guards who still surrounded Lady Sigyn as if she was a dangerous criminal. He placed a comforting hand upon her shaking shoulders. As the father of a daughter he had not tolerance for seeing a woman rough housed by men. Instinctively, the Vanir ruler draped a protective arm around Sigyn's trembling shoulders. Her whole body was heaving and convulsing as she hyperventilated trying to catch her breath after her ordeal. After a few moments of being able to gather her thoughts the blonde haired daughter of Admiral Arn managed to gather her wits about her. "Are you alright Lady Sigyn?" the foreign delegate asked tenderly. Sigyn bobbed her heard and rubbed under her nose a swiped her tears away.
"Yes, yes," Lord Audric the Aesir woman managed to mumble through tears and gasps. She pulled herself from the embrace that Lord Audric was giving her and dipped into a shaky curtsy to show proper respect for the most powerful man in Vanahiem.
While Sigyn's head was bowed in respect to the Prime Minsiter of Vanahiem she heard furious feet stomping across the marble floor toward her."Sigyn!" the angered voice of the elfin adviser to the king came blaring in her ear as she heard his quick moving curly-toed golden slippers slapping their way across the marble floor toward. Sigyn startled immediately standing up right as she watched Lord Algrim seem to charge toward her. "Guards!" Algrim called the palace soldiers who were standing close by. "I thought I asked that Lady Sigyn be taken to her chambers and held there! Remove her at once!" he instructed as he pointed a stern, bony finger down the hall and clapped his hands signaling for them to move quickly. "I will not have her troubling the delegates any longer with these ridiculous stories," he insisted.
Before Dyson or any of the other soldiers could take a step to obey the commanded of the high ranking court official, Lord Audric held out his hand halting the soldiers in their tracks. He stood between a quivering handmaiden and fuming elf. "I stopped them, Lord Algrim," the other prime minister spoke up. The bald Vanir noble squared his shoulders and cleared his throat he slowly lowered his hand back down to his side, but he kept his protective stance in front of Lady Sigyn. The amber eyed maiden was grateful for the actions of the grieving father, she timidly poked her head from behind his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Lord Algrim's expressions. "Lady Sigyn screamed out my daughter's name," he reported to Odin's head of council. "I wish to hear what she has to say in any matters that are regarding my daughter," the Prime Minister of Vanahiem stated without apology. He slowly gave his back to the elf and turned toward the fair-haired maiden who still cowered behind him like a child frightened of being punished. "Please, Sigyn tell me what you said about my dear Dagmar," the gray-bearded Vanir entreated her kindly. He smiled at her politely and extended his hand indicating for her to explicate herself.
The future wife of Lord Theoic took a deep breath and twiddled her sweaty palms as she tried to collect her thoughts. "Lord Audric," she finally exhaled "...that the scroll that Lord Algrim took from me...it was really addressed to your daughter," the golden eyed maiden explained as she pointed to the piece of rolled up parchment held plainly in the Light Elf's hands.
"What?" the Light-Elf council member gasped. "Outrageous!" the adviser to Odin balked. "Now that is enough!" Lord Algrim yelled. Even Lord Audric was by the fierceness in the elf leader's tone. He had known Algrim for nearly 2000 years and in all that time he had never seen the elf become some enraged. You never once mentioned Lady Dagmar!" he declared as he reached out and grabbed her arm and pulled her out from cowering behind the Vanir Prime Minister's skirttails. "How dare you make up these outlandish stories!" he whispered harshly into Sigyn's ear. Sigyn emitted a tiny mew of pain as Lord Audric nearly twisted arm. "Have you no pity for a grieving father, Lady Sigyn?" he continued to question. "I will not allow you to torment Lord Audric with your ridiculous and fantastical fabrications!" the elf ground out through pristine gritted teeth.
"But I am telling you the truth," she countered earnestly looking back and forth between the two of them. "Why would I lie about such a thing?"
"Lord Audric I am sorry for all this my, old friend," the adviser responded as he turned away from the ditzy blonde hand-maiden o Queen Frigga to face the grieving father. He folded his hands in a prayer like posture, begging for the Vanir's forgiveness for the rudeness of the crazed courtier. "Lady Sigyn has been very confused as of late. She has concocted some wild illusions and I am afraid in these times of panic she has not been able to separate fact from fiction," he clasped his thin hands together and shook his head pityingly in Sigyn's direction. He clicked his tongue in an attempt to show compassion. "Come now, Sigyn my child," Lord Algrim stated calmly and kindly, his hand loosened it grip on Sigyn's shoulder. He gingerly started to usher her down to the east end of the palace where the women's quarters were. 'Let's get you to rest," he expressed sincere and pleading grin on his thin face.
Sigyn rolled her shoulder away from the elf's hand, "I will not be able to rest nor will I be put to ease until I see the scroll delivered safely to the proper hands," the golden-haired lady-in-waiting stated firmly.
"And whose hands are the proper hands Lady Sigyn?" Audric asked. "My daughter's?" he inquired.
"The letter was addressed to your daughter. A courier delivered it from Vanahiem. The courier gave it to me," the blonde haired daughter of Admiral Arn began to explain.
"Why would the courier give you a letter that was addressed to my daughter?"
"I was the one who gave the scroll to the palace courier. Lady Dagmar was still slightly weakened after the attack against her by Lord Dirkson," Sigyn expressed. Lord Audric nodded seemingly satisfied with he explanation. "I gave Dagmar the scroll on the same day as the attack on Asgard," the queen's lady-in-waiting confessed with regret. She squeezed her eyes closed expecting to receive some type of berating. "
"On the day of the attack?' Lord Audric question, his face somewhat contorted in a baffled expression. "Why would you give it to her then?" he continued to question.
"I...I...I...it was when I thought to give it to her, my lord," Lady Sigyn stated guilt gnawing at her gut for only telling a half-truth. A half-truth was a lie, but she didn't know what else to say. It wasn't as if she could tell Lord Audric that she'd been harboring the correspondence for a few days to nervous to give it to Lady Dagmar the scroll for fear that it would say that the child she had born Loki was alive and well.
The Light Elf rolled his milky white eyes, "Lord Audric pay no heed to any of this nonsense which Lady Sigyn is spewing," the adviser once again tried to dismiss. "The poor maiden is confused," Algrim laid hands on the queen's handmaiden once again as he tried to tug her away from the stricken, white haired Vanir. "Her story is very incoherent," Algrim whispered about the blonde-haired woman. "Just moments before she was ranting that the scroll was for Loki," he explained as he shook his head.
"Loki!" the Vanir nobleman balked at the mention of the ex-prince's name. He instantly loked toward his long time friend Algrim. He pushed Sigyn off of himself but he held fast to her dainty wrist. "What does he have to do with any of this?' he railed and out of anger he gave Sigyn a rattle.
"Lord Audric please!" Sigyn panted pulling her arms out of the Vanir's hold. She put her hands up in surrender in front of her face. "It was Dagmar's dying wish that Loki receive the scroll," Sigyn explained with a shrug.
"Balderdash!" the adviser to Odin scoffed with condemnation. "Why would Lady Dagmar have requested anything be given to Loki?" The elf looked down his nose at the still quivering lady-in-waiting to the queen. He turned his attention from the shaking daughter of the ex-admiral and back toward his fellow Prime Minister. This is absolutely preposterous!" he exclaimed to his friend as he folded his arms across his narrow chest. "He was locked in the dungeon for over a year and the two of them had not spoken in nearly two years why would she be thinking of him as she lay dying?' the Prime Minister of Asgard countered.
"Yes...why indeed?" Lord Audric murmured to himself as he massaged his beardedn as he contemplated the question.
Sigyn wanted to explain to Lord Algrim how that wasn't true. She wanted to tell him how Lady Dagmar had visited Loki in his cell, albeit infrequently, but still there had been visits. Her mouth slowly parted. Her pink lips eager, nearly itching to tell. She had always been a girl quick to tell stories, loving gossip. Her bright, gold eyes drifted to look at Lord Audric, his face was worried and quite perplexed by the conversation that was going on. She chose not to say the words that had been on her mind. She didn't want to taint a father's image of his daughter. "Well she did see Loki during the extraction, my lord," Sigyn simply reported.
"And another time...prior to the extraction..." Dagmar's father spoke us as his mind started to recall the events. "It was sometime shortly after Loki's sentence...my dead daughter disobediently went to see Loki...he attacked her when she went to see him..." The Vanir man's dark blue, nearly violet eyes narrowed with the thought of that fiend lashing out at his beautiful child.
Lord Algrim squared his shoulders and cleared his throat. "Well...yes...I suppose, but nevertheless..." he began somewhat embarrassed that he stood corrected. "Sigyn you were not even in the Queen's chamber when Lady Dagmar died! How would you know what Lady Dagmar's dying request was?" he questioned still trying to prove that Sigyn's story was no more than the concoction of a simpleminded girl's fearful mind.
"True, sir, but Lady Jane of Midgard was," Sigyn confessed looking up into the white eyes of the elf lord. "She told me how Lady Dagmar asked her to give the scroll to Loki," Sigyn said as she carefully pointed toward the scroll still displayed in Algrim's slim, white palms. 'But she refused to...said she couldn't...she's scared of Loki...I mean I guess no one could blame her since s he was responsible for attacking Midgard," Sigyn elaborated as she bobbed her head along.
While Sigyn continued to explain to Lord Algrim how she came to know of Lady Dagmar's dying wish, Lord Audric had a chance to look at the scroll. He noted the distinctive pattern and dye of the parchment. Clearly it was made in Vanahiem. Many of the time the Vanir wrote on parchment that had silver lining around the edges. The Vanir Prime Minister studied the scroll and observed the purple ribbon wrapped around the center of the scroll. Purple was the color of royalty and in Vanahiem correspondences from or addressed to royal members of the Vanir court were always wrapped in threads or deep, royal purple and blue. Carefully, the bald headed and grey-bearded Prime Minister of Vanahiem continued to look on the small scroll. As he looked he saw the seal clamped on to of the ribbon. It was a slender seal made of sterling silver with an emblem stamped in the center dial. The insignia was one that Lord Audric had seen before. He recognized the delicate carving of a jar rounded like a woman's stomach and overflowing with water being held by small looking hands. It was the symbol of the Vanir midwives, The Women of Ammah. The Women of Ammah were s killed group of healers of an ancient order. Knowledgeable and revered they were often time the ones responsible for assisting in the birthing of kings throughout the nine realms. Now many of the women were employed by wealthy families throughout Vanahiem, Alfheim and Asgard as personal midwives, wet-nurses and nannies. Olaf Dirkson's family had one of the respected midwives in their employment. She had helped to deliver Lord Dirkson and all his sisters and well as many of his nieces and nephews. All of whom have been born as healthy babes and the mothers very well after the birth. That is why he was shocked when the midwife reported with regret that the child was still born. She had been wearing such a pendant with the same insignia as the one on the seal wrapped around the scroll. She wore the pendant on the out toga of her tunic.
Audric squinted making sure that what he saw was accurate. He reached out with a wrinkled finger trying to trace the emblem on the seal to make sure that he was seeing correctly. "H-h-how did you get this?" the Prime Minister of Vanahiem asked as his voice trembled with emotion and his eyes misted as he pointed at Lady Sigyn. Lady Sigyn watched as his brow furrowed with confusion. "It is from the Women of Ammah," he expressed shaking his head in confusion as his eyes darted between Sigyn and the scroll. "They are a very elite group of healers and midwives in Vanaheim...we have hardly had any dealings with them.." he uttered a little too quickly..."Why would they address anything to my daughter?" he questioned nervously.
"I cannot say, Prime Minister Audric," Sigyn replied her shoulders slumping. "Dagmar wrote to them and they wrote back," the golden locked noblewoman reported. "I...I...I haven't read it...it isn't my place, my lord," Lady Sigyn stated as she once again dipped into a curtsy, "I only know Lady Dagmar did not get to read it," Sigyn continued. "But her dying wish was for the scroll to be given to Loki," Sigyn made sure to repeat.
Lord Audric's eyes grew wide. "Absolutely not!" the Prime Minister of Vanahiem declared. "I will not have my beautiful daughter's name sullied by being linked with that vermin scum, Loki" the Vanir ruler spat. "I will not have that monster privy to anything of my daughter's!" he declared.
"But Lord Audric that was her dying wish!" Sigyn countered.
The thin Vanir shook his head. "Dagmar was dying, losing blood, no doubt delirious," Lord Audric explained he turned to the pointy eared elf standing to his right. He looked as if he was trying to explain the matter to the elfin adviser adviser of King Odin, but he was really trying to rationalize it to himself. "I am her father!" the Vanir lord insisted as he pointed vigorously toward himself. He pounded his white knuckles against his breast. "And it is my place to handle Dagmar's affairs now that she has passed," he expressed very quietly. "Yes," the Prime Minister rubbed his hands together with worry. "I have a right! I am her father!" the Vanir ruler continued to proclaim. "I have a right to know what was written to my daughter," he explained. "Lord Algrim, if you please...I wish to take the scroll. It is the last correspondence that my daughter received and I would like to have it," he requested.
"Certainly, old friend," the Light-Elf adviser to the king consented. "Sigyn, hand over the scroll," Lord Algrim ordered as he extended his bony fingers toward her. Sigyn's large amber eyes darted nervously between the two Prime Ministers. She slowly started to Slowly, she started to lower the scroll into Lord Algrim's palm, then at the last minute she retracted the scroll and tucked it back toward herself. The white haired elf rolled milky eyes at Sigyn's act of defiance. Annoyed, his skinny fingers managed to wiggle their way in and pry the scroll from Sigyn's palm. "Remove her from my sight!" he demanded harshly of the guards. He wrapped his arm around the Vanir lord's shoulder and started to escort him away from the frantic and delirious blonde woman.
"Lord Audric, I beg of you not to do this!" Sigyn cried as she started to be pulled in the opposite direction by the palace guards. "Please!" her voice tore from her throat in a holler as the soldiers shoved her backward. "In the name of your daughter's memory!" she entreated. "This is what Dagmar wanted!" Sigyn continued to scream as the guard roughly coaxed her down the hall. "If you loved Dagmar how can you ignore such a simple request!" Sigyn ranted on and on. "This could save us all!" she proclaimed. "A request that could effect your entire lineage!" Sigyn cried in one last desperate plea to get Lord Audric's understanding.
She had gotten the Vanir Minister's attention once again. She watched as he froze in his tracks. She could hear Lord Algrim mumbling for him to ignore her, that she was mad and honestly she couldn't argue with that she was acting like a raving lunatic, perhaps she was mad, but the future of the realms was something worth going mad about she supposed and Loki's soul most definitely was. Dagmar's father turned around, his nearly violet eyes were laced with heat. They were brimming with tears and his face was red as a beet. 'You forget your place Lady Sigyn! "How dare you say such things to me!: he yelled as he stomped toward her furiously. "I am the Prime Minister of Vanahiem!" he reminded her as he stood in front of her and shouted in her face. "You are nothing but a servant in Odin's household!" he declared to her condescendingly. "He sneered and held up his nose proudly, "And you have been put their by your own act of harlotry!" he condemned. Even Dyson had to wince at the harsh words spoken by the foreigner against Lady Sigyn. He didn't take kindly to anyone accusing the fair maiden of such vile acts. Loki was the treacherous one, with his silver tongue and magic he could have manipulated Sigyn into any thing. "I loved my child with all my heart! You hear!" the bald headed, gray-beaded Vanir shouted as he slapped an open palm against the fine fur that line the vest of his royal purple garments. "You hear?" he raged. Sigyn bobbed her head in reply causing her golden curls to bounce and bobble. "Who are you to tell me otherwise!" he hissed as a single salt tear finally bubbled forth from heated violet eyes. "it is because of that snake in the grass that my sweet child has been taken from me!" he elaborated as he stomped his foot that was fitted with a golden sandal and pointed threateningly toward the floor. "If it wasn't for him being found alive on Midgard Dagmar would not have returned to this realm!" he pointed out. "She would be alive and safe and well and married in Vanaheim," the bearded prime minister reported.
"She returned because she loved Loki," Sigyn finally spoke up, "She went down to him that night when he lashed out at her because she had something she wanted to tell him," Sigyn confessed. 'It was something important Lord Audric, a secret that only the two of them should have shared," Sigyn whispered.
The Prime Minister turned away, "it matters not now," he uttered quietly as he kept his back toward the daughter of Admiral Arn. "Dagmar is dead," he breathed he gritted his teeth together to keep his lip from trembling. "She died with honor," he muttered as if a reminder to himself not to grieve to tremendously over the untimely demise of his beautiful daughter. He started to rub his palms together. "I intend to protect her name and reputation!" he declared. 'I'll not have her name maligned by being associate with that criminal, Loki!" Lord Audric stated flatly as he slammed the edge of his hand into an open palm, his words were strong but his voice was weak. It warbled as he held back a sob.
"Audric, come"Lord Algrim instructed mildly offering a hand of comfort helping to usher the delegate away from Lady Sigyn.
The soldiers started to take Sigyn by the arms and lead her in the opposite direction toward the ladies' chambers. "But that's what Lady Dagmar wanted in the end my lord," Sigyn told, no longer fighter against the guards. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "She died fighting for Asgard and all the realms. She died trying to save us all from Ragnorok, I just that it is a shame that if Ragnorok still comes and the scroll had the power to change it. Then she has died in vain," the waiting gentle woman to Queen Frigga expressed with a deep, gusty sigh. "Then her soul shall never find rest," the golden locked maiden mumbled as she sniffled and rubbed under her nose. She quietly sniveled as in defeat she was lead away, by the guards to be a captive in her room until the carted her back to the Dales to face the wrath of her husband to be and Ragnorok.
"Lord Algrim...I would like Lady Sigyn to the dungeons to deliver this correspondence to the prisoner , Loki in honor of my daughter's dying request," the noble Vanir stated.
Algrim gawked at the new development. He nearly started choking on his own saliva. He banged on his chest to stop himself from choking. "Lord Audric," he started to protest.
The Vanir held out his hand the elfin magistrate. "In the name of friendship, Algrim" the Prime Minister of the Vanir urged, "and in the name of the Nine Realms," he presented. "Allow me this request if you intend to have the forces of Vanaheim fight with you on the day of Convergence," Dagmar's father threatened.
The elfin member of Odin's council was hesitant about going down to Loki's cell. He had never had any intention of setting foot in that lowly prison prison hold himself, but matters called for it. The speaker for the council agreed out of respect to Lord Audric. Lord Audric was a close friend of King Odin and queen Frigga as well as his personal friend. He understood Audric's need to find closure for his daughter's terrible murder. He too had beheld the slaughter of his loved ones at the hands of Malekith and his monsters. He had been young, his parents had not left him a will or any request of him when they died, if they would have he would have sought to follow it to the letter. His father had served as an adviser to the king and he had patterned his wife so that he could too. He wanted to help his friend fulfill his daughter's wishes.
Furthermore and maybe even more importantly, he felt as though this would have been something that the king of Asgard would have approved of. Quite frankly, the white-eyed elf wasn't convinced of Sigyn's story it was far-fetched and outlandish. But if by some odd chance this whole cockamamie story was true and that silly little scroll did have information that could change to outcome of the battle that seemed inevitable, he would never forgive himself if he allowed Ragnorok to befall them all.
The three of them took the long walk down the winding staircase that led to the entrance gate to the palace dungeon. It was a dark, dank and dirty stairwell, full of broken steps, slime-slick walls, leaks and creaks as you walked and cobwebs and scuttling creatures creeping and crawling around ever turn. After what seemed like about as hour they finally reached the dungeon. The gate and thick iron door were locked tight and sealed keeping the disgusting prisoners who were buried several feet below at bay. The wall of the that separated the dungeon from the stairwell was guarded by 50 of the most chiseled and hardened looking prison guards that Asgard had. They had called in the head prison wardens from all across Asgard's maximum security dentition facilities to have them guard the palace dungeon after the attack.
The soldiers all stood at attention, their armor gleaming, their eyes glaring sharp and focused. Each one of them standing sternly with an intimidating looking weapon slung over their strapping, broad, bronze-plated shoulders. "Lord Algrim" the new head of prisons since Ingvar's death greeted as he took one step toward the palace official, breaking away from the ranks of the rest of the soldiers. He saluted to the Light-Elf. "The Dungeon is secure, sir," he announced "No man has been in or out for days," he was pleased to report. The young warden squared his shoulders. "The guards have made rounds and we have not fed any of the prisoners," he continued. "None of them shall be fed until after Convergence as punishment for their rioting and violence and participation in the cue against Asgard," Ingvar's replacement informed.
Lord Algrim quirked his eyes brow at the head guards statement. It had been more than a weak since the attack and although he did not mine punishing the criminals of Asgard severely no food or water for that long seemed to be a be a level of punishment that was cruel and unusual. Still, he supposed, in these desperate times, desperate measures had to be taken to prevent anymore insurrections and rebellions. It hadn't been proven how many of the lowlifes who were left to rot in the palace dungeons had been in on the attack on Asgard. Many of the prisoners had been killed by the creature of the Dark-Elves, the Kursed. When the guards, inspected for clues after the attack they found the bodies burnt and fried, looking as if they had been charred to a crisp. The head were shrunken and shriveled looking like grilled prunes. It had been distasteful to behold. "Very good, Warden," Algrim praised slowly despite himself.
The soldier nodded and managed to offer a smile, "I'm sorry," the guard immediately stumbled out an apology as he turned and noted the two other people with Odin's adviser. "Forgive me," he asked as he bowed at the waist. "My lord, my lady," he offered to each of them. "How may I be of service to you?" inquired as he stood up straight once more and raised his hand to his temple.
"At ease," The elfin noble of Asgard commanded as he waved a dismissive hand at the warden's formality. Slowly the young solider allowed his shoulders to fall into a relaxed position. "I need acess for myself and my two guests into the prison and we will require guards to accompany us in case a certain prisoner attempts to attack us or escape," the elf explained.
"Right away, sir!"the new warden responded. He immediately began fumbling with the dungeon keys and he marched back toward his men who were barricading the iron doors the criminals confined. He gestured with his hands causing the rest of the prison guards to part as he found the skeleton key to the prison doors.
"My lords, my lady," the warden called to them as the dungeons doors were pushed open and the grating, painful sound of iron bars grinding against gravel could be heard. The three visitors stepped forward bracing themselves to go down into the dungeons. The warden presented them to the guards who would be accompanying and leading them through the dank and dirty squalid prison hold. "Now what prisoner is it that you wish to speak with?"
"Loki," Lord Audric spoke up. The eyes of all the guards on patrol bulged as they heard the mention of the traitorous ex-prince's name was mentioned. All of them were about to protest, but the warden raised his hand silencing the prison guards.
"I will only give you 5 minutes," the warden declared. "No one is to see that monster!" he spat.
"We would not wish to lay eyes on him if we didn't have to," Lord Audric reported. The prison warden gave an affirming nod and commissioned his guards to go down with the Lady Sigyn, Lord Algrim and Prime Minister Audric.
They walked along time down the winding, twisting pathways of the dungeon. All the while Sigyn's heart was pounding like a drum of war inside her chest. This was the moment that she had fought so hard to have with Loki...she was so anxious...what if it went all wrong? What if the letter only contained bad news that would break Loki and Lord Audric's heart? What if Loki didn't wish to see her? What if he didn't change?
Before her heart could burst from worry they arrived at the ex-son of Odin's isolated, but well furnished cell. But the prisoner was no where to be found.