King Laufey was not kidding: the Frost Giant's hospitality was indeed better than people would think. The room he gave her was wide, well lit, cleverly sculpted in the ice; it had a great window, from which she could see Jotunheim's quiet, white landscape. There even was a small mantelpiece, which made Hela laugh (she still remembered how much the Giants were afraid of it, centuries ago).
First, Hela made herself at home. She lied on the bed and for a whole hour just enjoyed its softness, the heat of the flames, the caress of the sun on her face and body. Then, she elected to go on to more intriguing activities, and have some fun with it. She checked the part of her room dedicated to her toilet (the 'bath', as a peasant would call it), and quickly formed a plan in her mind, before calling one of the servants and telling him to go fetch the Master.
Upon his arrival, the Master was received by the cloud of smoke coming from the bathroom: a sweet, slightly intoxicating fragrance. Hela's black and green suit hung on an ice spike from the wall, who served as a peg.
"Come forward" her voice invited him from the bathroom. Never one to refuse such an invitation, the Master obliged, twirling his moustache. He found her in the bathtub, covered in water up to the shoulders, her black hair hanging out of the edge.
"You wanted to see me, Your Majesty?" asked the Master, leaning lazily against the doorway.
"I enjoy you company, and I also think we ought to talk about what happened in the throne room, don't you?"
"You are worried for the outcome of the trial? I can assure you ..."
"I need no assurance, I'm just curious" Hela said, rising up in a sitting position. The water still covered her breasts, but now the Master could see its shape. "Who's this Doctor intruding in our business? You seem to know him."
"I do. A long time ago, me and him attended the Academy together, I am sure they still remember us. Unfortunately, our paths diverged since then."
"I noticed."
"The Doctor is a simple soul, sometimes a real fool. He barely scrapped through the Academy, and he was always an utter disaster in things like cosmic science and diplomacy. Some of our teachers thought he'd never make a proper Time Lord, and somewhat they weren't wrong."
"So, he's not dangerous?" Hela asked, summoning a towel with her magic. The Master watched her coming out of the water, unravelling her statuary body wrapped in the towel. He said nothing, but Hela clearly saw his dark eyes glistening, and his mouth writhing in a satisfied smirk.
"On the contrary, the Doctor can be a dangerous foe: his intellectual faults are compensated by an unnatural skill to bypass the rules, and find the solution nobody else would ever think of. Underestimating him is a mistake, I learnt that at my expense time ago. Luckily, I also know him well enough to know how to trap him."
"What about the girl?"
"I met her too before, even though I don't think she has met me. True, I looked rather different back then, so maybe she just didn't recognize me. Anyway, she is freshly graduated from the Academy, newbie, whose approbation for what the Doctor does is ..." he grinned, "dubious, to say the least. And we can exploit that."
"How?" asked him the Goddess of Death, getting nearer. The Master raised his eyes to look at her (she was taller than him of the whole head). Black pupils met green ones and engaged a battle of will.
"She is naive. She only knows of history what she was taught on Gallifrey, and as we both know, Gallifrey and Asgard lie about it. If you managed to put doubts in her head about your guilt, we could make her an unwilling ally in our plan. You see, I am certain the Doctor will have her be you accuser ... he gets bored with the technicalities. So ..."
"I like how you think" Hela grinned. "You remind me of my Morbius, the noblest Time Lord I've ever met. He had great plans for Gallifrey and Asgard. If they didn't betray us ..."
"Some say he's not dead, we may look for him after we're done here."
"It could be fun" Hela whispered, leaning to the point of touching his face. "Sure, I'd then have to make a hard choice about who's my favourite, but I know how could I make it fun."
"May I have the chance of starting to collect points in my favour?"
"I order you to do it" she cut him short, putting her arms around his shoulders and closing the distance between their lips. "Do you think you can satisfy a Queen?"
"Galleia of Atlantis seemed satisfied, last time."
On the other side of the palace, a much less peaceful and friendly conversation was taking place.
"What do you mean, I should be the prosecutor?" Romana protested. "It was you who did the offer!"
"But you are certainly better than me when it comes to legal questions. Didn't you pass the Academy with a triple first, didn't you?"
"Ooh, now you are impressed!"
If looks could kill, the Doctor would already be a heap of ashes on the sheets of his bed, in the room Laufey gave them (a kind of small apartment with two beds and a bath, in one of the palace's lower floors). The twilight lighted up the room, colouring the ice with a gloomy dark orange flair, well-suited to the situation as Romana saw it: pleasant to view at, about to become dark.
"Don't worry, it should be simple. The Right of the Suppliant is one of most ancient and simple institutions in the universe. Every damned man, or runaway, can seek asylum to any ruler to avoid his punishment; a quick trial will decide whether he has the right to receive it. The judge has to make sure the suppliant didn't commit crimes according to the law of his country, and also whether the guilt he is accused is beyond doubt ..."
"I know, Doctor, I know! As I know the final say belongs the judge, which is, the ruler himself of the country where the suppliant asked for help! And his decision-making ability has no limits whatsoever! The Right of the Suppliant is widely known as one of the most easily corruptible legal proceedings ever!"
The Doctor sighed, as he calmed down. He should have expected such a reaction from her. He offered his services to Asgard on a whim, as a last resort to avoid being cast off the palace; he would probably react the same way, had he been in Romana's place.
"See it this way" he tried to reason with her, in a tone he hoped sounded reassuring. "If we are here, it's because a Stone is also here. Which makes sense, since, as you surely studied at the Academy, Asgard had a secret weapon when our people fought together."
"And that could be one of the Stones, fine. So why are we not at Asgard?"
"Precisely: why are we not at Asgard? Easy: because at this moment the Stone is not there, but here, just at the same time a renowned criminal comes here asking for the Frost Giants' assistance in a civil war."
"You mean Hela has the Stone? And she would offer it to the Giants? Doctor, unlike Asgard, Gallifrey has not erased the memory of the ancient conflicts! We remember Hela and Morbius' affair, and their plot for universal dominion! And you are telling me such a woman would offer the most powerful weapon of Asgard to the Giants!"
"Then explain to me why Odin should send two Valkyries, two warriors, on a diplomatic mission? It's not the custom of Asgard to send soldiers when an ambassador would be enough! But you're right, Hela would never offer the Stone to the Giants. The Master, on the other hand ..."
"You seem worried by him."
"You have no idea. I spent two years on Earth foiling at least five different schemes of him to destroy mankind! Oh, and the President's murder, the one I was framed for? He set me up ... not this incarnation, the next one. If she is here, it's because he's plotting something."
"Then you'd want me to take care of the legal question so you may investigate him? In a word, I should be your distraction?"
"More than that: your official charge as prosecutor will allow you to speak with everyone and search for information without being suspicious. While I'm doing something unorthodox, which is kind of my specialty, you shall move in the limits of diplomacy, free to ask uncomfortable questions."
"I see your point" conceded Romana, writhing her lips in what might look like a smile. "I could even say it's a decent strategy. I just don't like the idea of being the one going to be torn to shreds by the wolves."
"Come on, don't put yourself down, the devil is not so black as he is painted. Jelly baby for luck?"
Dinner has been prepared in the huge main hall. On one side, a separate table was prepared of the king and his guests; along the walls, other tables were set as a place for the strongest warriors amongst the Giants, their elite force. Laufey sit in the middle of the table of honour and gestured for his guests to take their place on his sides, separately according to their gender: the Doctor and the Master on his left, Romana, Hela and Brunnhilde on his right (Waltaute wasn't feeling well, her fellow told the king).
"Before I leave you to the banquet" the king said, raising his cup, "I want to remind you this is a holy, inviolable space. Anyone disturbing it with acts of blood or disrespect to another tablemate shall be punished. And now, eat, drink and be merry!"
The warriors shouted exultantly in response to the king's invitation, with the Doctor and the Master both joining them (to Romana's scandalised puzzlement). The servants entered into the room and started carrying around the dishes: big slices of meat dipped in sauce, accompanied with some vegetables. All around the room, people began devouring them, helping themselves either with a knife or their hands.
"Well, Doctor, we meet again, apparently" chuckled the Master. "Pity you are in this body, I prefer the one working with UNIT."
"I should still have the jackets somewhere, if you insist ..."
"No, thank you; if really I have to deal with this you, the least you can do is keep the scarf on. At least, I will have something to smile upon."
"You are of a merry disposition tonight. Did you make something blow in my absence?"
"In a sense" the Master grinned, as he rose his cup to honour Hela with a toast. The Doctor decided he didn't need more details, and he elected to focus upon the food for the next minutes – the same food Romana had currently some problems with, not for its quality (it wasn't what she was used to, but it was decent enough), but for the embarrassment she felt at the thought of eating it with her hands.
"Come on, lady, dive into it!" Brunnhilde encouraged her, while devouring in big gulps a slash of meat of her own, apparently not caring about the stains of sauce on her Valkyrie uniform. "Loosen up a bit!" Romana smiled out of cortesy, and after taking a big breath, rolled up her sleeves and cautiously grabbed the meat. Brunnhilde laughed seeing the grimaces of disgust she made, as she filled her cup up to the edge.
"I know your type. Let me guess: high-class education, all fancy and dandy, nothing allowed but with the right manners? Pretty clothes, jewellery and all the rest?"
"Pretty close. Is it a problem?"
"Not in the slightest: some of my best friends on Asgard are so delicate they wouldn't dare hurt a fly out of fear of ruining their dress."
"Oh, friends? That is what you call them now?" asked a cold, malicious voice from behind them: Hela.
"What they say of the Valkyrie is not of your business, renegade. And it's nothing to be ashamed of."
"I didn't say that, I was just verifying how much it's changed since I left. You know, darling, I contributed to the Valkyries' foundation?" Hela asked Romana. "I prided myself into choosing the ranks."
"And yet you never got the honour of being our Captain" Brunnhilde dryly replied.
"I was the heir to the throne, a princess, and my father's Executioner. I didn't need such an honour."
Rassilon, please, don't tell me I have to put up with this all evening, Romana thought.
"A splendid banquet, Your Majesty" the Master was saying to Laufey on the other side. "Worthy of the power and the glory of Jotunheim."
"Do you concur, Doctor?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say no to some tea, honestly, but yes, I think I concur."
"And this is only a shadow of our magnificence" Laufey sighed, waving at the room. "You should have seen my kingdom at the height of its power, when my father reigned, before Asgard gave us their ... protection. We are grateful to it, but we cannot but regret the days when our dominion extended over every ice region in the universe."
"You don't look so miserable to me" the Doctor objected. "Aside from some leaking pipe, this palace is still a marvel."
"Yes, there is some strength left in our people. The ice must back down before the heat, that's nature, but it knows it's only a matter of time, and nothing will resist it when it will come. We are like the ice. We are not afraid to wait."
"An excellent philosophy, Your Majesty" the Master nodded. "Patience is a virtue too less appreciated, in these times. The art of waiting for the right time is sadly a lost one."
"Oh, I wouldn't know about that" the Doctor replied. "After all, what's patience if not taking time to see where the catch is in a too convenient proposition? You don't look a gifted horse in the mouth, they say on Earth, but I'd say sometimes a quick glance at the teeth doesn't hurt."
"You didn't change at all" the Master grinned. "With your enigmatic pieces of wisdom."
"Neither did you, with your honeydew tongue" the Doctor smiled back at him gritting his teeth. He searched out Romana to see how she fared – not very well, he assumed, given she was caught in the middle of a war of glances and fake smiles between Hela and Brunnhilde.
"We must be boring you, darling" Hela was saying to Romana at that moment.
"Not at all, I'm only doing my best to remain impartial. I shall be your prosecutor, Hela, and I have to know in detail your current predicament, so I can judge with an open mind."
"Thank you, my dear. It's nice to know I can count on someone who shall not be deaf and blind in front of the evidence."
"Which evidence? The one you attacked the palace and slaughtered half of the royal Asgardian bodyguard?" Brunnhilde bitterly asked.
"No, the one I was deprived of what was rightfully mine. Asgard's greatness was the result of my military capacity and my value as well as Odin's diplomacy and strategy, and he was no less bloody than I was back then."
"Odin admitted his fault and ..."
"Did he? Really? Oh, well, this changes everything. I shall go and inform the Racnoss, they will be ecstatic! Or should I first address the Great Vampires? Or perhaps the Frost Giants themselves? Odin approved every single massacre I committed, he called it 'correction for the rebels'."
"If that is true, I am afraid it's a point in her favour" commented Romana. "Against her, though, there is still the revolt against her sovereign and father, and if that's the reason why she was banished, it will probably be a decisive point for the verdict."
"Thank you, darling" Brunnhilde replied, mocking Hela, who just sipped her cup.
After the dinner ended, Laufey got up and ordered everyone to follow him in the castle's yard, a giant circle, encircled between high walls of ice, on which seats had been carved. Laufey took his seat in the highest one, as his people cheered him. In spite of the clock signalling it was night-time, the sun was still shining (in Jotunheim during summer there were only four hours of darkness).
"And now, my noble guests, me and my soldiers will offer you a taste of one of our favourite pastimes! Release the Beast!"
From the opposite side to Laufey, a gate opened crackling. From the darkness behind it, muffled thuds were heard, whose impact made the ground shake, while an initially low growling became stronger and stronger. The Frost Beast at last came out: a giant lizard with bulging red eyes, dark green skin, iron-clawed paws and a stinger at the end of his tail. It roared at the crowd, opening its jaws in a coarse sound echoing towards the palace.
"Oh, this is going to be fun" whispered Brunnhilde excitedly, earning herself a worried glance by Romana. The Doctor didn't look too pleased as well, but he kept munching a jelly baby.
"Ladies and gentlemen" said Laufey to his guests, "before allowing my warriors to face the Beast, it is customary I offer you the privilege of facing it yourselves. Some of you would like to try?"
"I pass" the Doctor said; the Master and Romana did so too.
"I gladly accept" said instead Hela. "And I have an idea to make it more interesting. Valkyrie, what about a challenge? Show me your valour."
"Absolutely not!" Romana intervened. "It is not suitable to an official Asgard delegate ..."
"Challenge accepted" Brunnhilde cut her off, taking her sword out of her sheath. "I am curious to see the greatest warrior of Asgard in action."
"Perfect!" Laufey laughed. "People, we have a challenge between our guests!" he screamed at his people, which once again cheered excited, reminding the Doctor of the supporters of a football match.
Hela didn't waste time. She passed her hands over her hair, and a multi-spiked black steel helmet covered her head, then she jumped off into the arena, in a so spectacular fashion the Giants could not but clap. Brunnhilde rolled her eyes, and took instead the stairs down to the ground.
"In honour of our guests" Laufey shouted, "the fighting shall be at the last blood! She who slays the beast wins!"
"Barbaric" Romana said under her breath.
"Doctor, do you fancy a bet?" the Master asked. "If Hela wins, you withdraw the offer of your services and go your way."
"Agree, but if Brunnhilde wins, you tell me what you're really doing here."
"Deal. Can I have a jelly baby?"
"No."
Meanwhile, the two women had reached the arena, and were now standing in front of the beast, which smelled them and turned slowly towards them. Hela e Brunnhilde exchanged a glance, who knows whether of challenge or comprehension; then the Goddess of Death attacked, launching one of her spears against the monster's face. The beast took the hit and turned in her direction. Hela grinned, and threw two other blades against its eyes.
"What is she doing?" asked Romana. "It will make it angry!"
"That's the idea" the Master dryly commented.
"But ..."
"Thus, it will lose control and it would be easier to hit it in a soft spot" the Doctor cut her off. Romana noticed, relieved, that he too didn't seem to enjoy himself.
Now teased, the beast charged against Hela, which jumped aside avoiding it, while at the same time taking out another blade from her suit. She tried to rise her against the beast's neck, but the ice proved too slippery and she lost her balance. Her blade just scratched the beast, as it crashed against one of the ice walls.
It was Brunnhilde's time to jump in. She took a little run-up, passed over Hela and climbed along the long tail of the monster, up to its head, with the clear purpose of piercing the skull with her sword. The stunned beast barely heard the soft, light step of the Valkyrie on its back.
"She is brave" Laufey said. "Even my bravest warrior wouldn't dare such a feat. Let's see if she manages not to get noticed."
Just then, Hela renewed the assault, and this time was able to stick one of her blades in the monster's neck. Caught off guard, the beast jerked back in pain, and Brunnhilde, who was not expecting that, failed to keep her balance and fell. She barely managed to plant her sword in the beast's side, and then remained her, hanging for her dear life. Hela too rose in the air as a result of the beast's movement, and had to concentrate as hard as she could to summon two other blades and plant them in the animal's back, in order to remain attached to it.
"It is now hurt and sore" Laufey once again said. "You'll have to hope your fellows are good gymnasts."
The beast did indeed grow more and more uncontrolled. In the attempt to shake off the two warriors, she jerked violently side to side, like a skittish horse or an infuriated bull; it also turned often his head, maybe hoping to catch one of the two. Hela, with her two blades solidly stuck into its back, could keep some balance, but Brunnhilde was hanging for dear life, and it would not resist much longer.
In the end, Brunnhilde fell (or let go, it was impossible to understand from afar), and the only thing preventing her from a painful impact with the ground was her cape, which she extended and used to glide. Even that, though, could not help her from falling on her back, right in front of the beast.
Silence filled the arena. Everybody knew instantly what was going to happen.
Hela jumped forward, on the beast's face, and as she did so she threw other two blades, just behind the ears of the monster. Then, as it bellowed in pain, she too came off, landing near to Brunnhilde.
"You!" she then screamed to the beast. "I'm here!"
The beast bellowed again, this time in rage, and charged forward. Brunnhilde made to get off its trail, but Hela tripped her over and blocked her on the ground with a knee.
"What are you doing?"
"Calm down, if I wanted to kill you you'd be dead already. I'm just granting you a seat in the first line."
The whole arena hold its breath as the beast got nearer to the women, faster and faster. On the bleachers, both the Doctor and the Master began to feel uneasy. Down there, Brunnhilde, struggling for release, saw Hela summoning blades out of her suit, one of them at short distance from her very nose. The beast opened her mouth, and Brunnhilde realised what Hela was going to do: jump right into it and hit it from the inside with the blades.
If she thinks I'm letting her do that, she is sorely mistaken.
With a sudden move, Brunnhilde grabbed Hela's blade and detached her violently from her pulse, hurting her; then, she released herself and run under the beast's belly, cutting its left hock with the blade. Unbalanced, the beast stopped, and the Valkyrie also cut the right hock. Soaked in blood, but ignoring it, she keep running towards the two hinder legs.
Meanwhile, Hela was on her feet again, and began summoning blade after blade, before throwing them into the beast's throat, taking advantage of her now uninterrupted cries of pain. Meanwhile, Brunnhilde had reached the belly of the beast; undisturbed, she planted her sword into it and run along its entire length, opening so large a wound it made impossible for the beast to recover. Weakened and faltering, the beast fell to the ground, and Hela took advantage of it to blind it.
It only left to decide which one of them would give the finishing blow. The two women met in the middle of the arena, both still holding their weapons, Brunnhilde soaked in blood and giblets, Hela with a bruise on a cheek.
"This is not good" the Doctor muttered.
"Why?" Romana asked.
"You see, milady" Laufey explained, "according to our customs, if there is a tie, the two duellers can challenge each other to decide who gives the final blow."
"But ... this could invalidate the trial for the Right! Every fight between the defendant and the prosecutor before the trial is forbidden!"
"Precisely" the Master closed. Even he didn't look happy.
Hela and Brunnhilde silently confronted each other in the middle of the arena. Everybody gasped as they rose their blades, but they immediately relaxed when they saw them throw the blades right in the monster's throat, finishing it together.
"Tie" the Doctor sighed relieved, as the arena exploded in cheers and shouts of victory. "Your beneficiary is wise."
"As is your ally" the Master conceded. "Pity, though, this invalidates our bet."
"I just hope we're done here" Romana breathed. She felt rather sick.
At that moment, a horn resounded from inside the palace, echoing in the cold air. They all fell silent, and on Laufey's face the smile he kept during all evening faded away.
"The alarm. Somebody broke a law of my palace" he coldly hissed, his red eyes dangerously narrowing.
NOTES
First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who read, reviewed, or put the story into their favourites or follows.
Secondly, I announce I'm putting this story on hold during the Christmas time (29/11/20 - 06/01/21), because I intend to write a special Christmas story during this time. Fear not, once Christmas is over, I will continue it.