14. THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR.
"A splendid day to march on Asgard and conquer it," said Loki, looking at the army assembled in the courtyard of Utgard. Rank upon rank of frost giants, trolls, and dark elves stood at the ready, awaiting his orders to depart. At the front were four still very unhappy-looking young mutants, mounted on their horses.
Loki cleared his throat, and addressed the war-host. "My friends and associates," he said, "today is the first day of the end for Odin and his people. Today, we finally overthrow their rule and establish our own order upon the nine worlds. Normally, I wouild follow this with a fairly detailed description of what that order will be like, but I know that you are all very eager to do battle - well, almost all of you - and, if the truth be told, so am I. So, without further ado, I say - let us depart!"
The frost giants, trolls, and dark elves all cheered in response. "I wonder if they're applauding the sentiments of my speech, or its brevity," said Loki to himself. "Oh well, at least they are applauding it. That is enough for me. And so off we go."
The gates of Utgard swung open, and the army issued forth, off to do battle. Only the four New Mutants remained in a distinctly bleak mood.
"I still can't believe this," said Roberto. "We're actually helping a pack of super-villains conquer the world."
"This is not the kind of mission that I dreamed of going on," agreed Jubilee. "Bobby, you must have some idea of how to get us out of this mess."
"I'm still working on one, believe me," said Bobby glumly. "I'm trying to figure out some sort of solution."
"Well, so far you clearly haven't found one," said Ray sharply. "And you'd better find one before we get to this Kerlaugar river, because otherwise we're going to be in big trouble. Especially you," he added, looking at Bobby with barely-concealed anger. "I just might decide to use you for a little target practice while finding out what this medallion that I'm stuck with can do to my mutant abilities."
Bobby looked distinctly nervous. "It was an honest mistake," he said. "And come on, none of you guys were suspicious about him any more than I was!"
Ray merely glowered at Bobby, and said nothing. Roberto looked about to speak, but Loki turned around first and addressed him sharply. "No talking in the ranks," he said. "If you want to argue with each other, do so when we make camp."
One of the dark elf earls motioned to the trickster-god just then. "My lord," he said, pointing at the sky. "Two ravens."
Loki stared upwards, and nodded as he saw the two black birds circling above, gazing down below. "Ah, yes," he said. "I recognize those two. So Odin's spying on us already, is he? Well, it'll do him no good. Everything is already well in hand. All that he can do now is worry."
The two ravens flew off, while Loki's army continued northwards. Loki and a few dark elf knights rode at the front, with the four New Mutants in the middle of them, guarded on all sides so that they could not attempt to escape. After them came the rest of the dark elves, followed by the trolls, and finally, the frost giants under Utgard-Loki, many of them hauling catapults and battering rams along. They left the castle of Utgard behind them, as they made their way through the wilderness of Jotunheim.
* * *
Hugin and Mugin croaked out their report, perched on Odin's shoulders. The All-Father, ruler of Asgard, nodded attentively as he listened to them. "Thank you, my watchers," he said to them. "You have done well."
Heaving a sigh, he turned his gaze to the rest of the Aesir, seated in their chairs around his in the great hall of his palace of Valaskjalf. "It is even as I feared," he said. "Loki Laufeyson has shown himself in his true colors at last. He has broken with us, and made common cause with our old enemies, the frost giants, the trolls, and the dark elves. Even now, they are marching on their way to Asgard, to besiege it, something that they have not dared do for centuries."
"I knew that this was coming," said Balder troubledly. "Thor's banishment must have been too much of an opportunity for Loki to pass up. He knows that the Thunderer can no longer stand against the hordes of darkness with his hammer and serve as Asgard's champion."
Frey nodded, as he rose from his seat. "My lord Odin," he said, "perhaps we should revoke Thor's sentence of exile, and bid him return, to aid us in this hour of need."
A few of the other Aesir present nodded eagerly, but Odin shook his head. "That is the one thing that I cannot do," he said. "I sent Thor away until he could learn humility, and not until then may he return. I cannot alter my sentence upon him, not even in this extremity, or else his time in Midgard will have done him no good. No, we must do without him and his hammer, this time."
"I cannot say that I am displeased by those words," commented Tyr gruffly. "I still hold that we have grown far too dependent upon Thor, All-Father. We have let him fight all our battles for us, while the rest of us have permitted our warrior-skills to grow rusty. Even with Thor away, we can still fight the legions from Jotunheim and Svartalfheim, and win. Although," he added, "I would be more confident of victory had that accursed Fenris-wolf not bitten off my sword-hand!" He looked down darkly at his right arm, which ended in a stump at the wrist.
"We should ready ourselves for war," agreed Uller. "Alert the einherjar and the Valkyries, maybe even send to Alfheim and Vanaheim for reinforcements from our allies there. We shall need all the help that we can find."
Odin nodded. "See to it," he said, rising from his throne. "Make you ready for the attack that will surely come." And with those words, he strode out from the hall.
"Where are you going, father?" Balder asked, as he and the other Aesir followed their king out from Valaskjalf.
"To consult with my two chief advisors," replied Odin. "I must hear their counsel, in this dark hour."
And with those words, he walked on, leaving the rest of the Aesir staring after him with troubled hearts.
* * *
"So where do we begin?" Sam asked. "I mean, how do we track down Loki?"
"That's not an easy question to answer," said King Eitri.
"I agree," said Hlevang. "For one thing, few people in the nine worlds wish to find Loki - unless their reason for doing so is to know how to avoid him."
"Yeah, but if he's got the other kids, then we definitely need to find him," said Sam. "Do you have any idea as to where we could go looking for him?"
"He could be anywhere, for all that we know," said King Eitri. "But there is one person who might help you find him. The Volva."
"The Volva?" Amara asked. "What's that?"
"An ancient seer," answered the dwarf-king. "She knows not only the present, but also the future as well. It may well be that she can tell you where to find Loki and your companions from Midgard."
"So where is she?" asked Sam. "How do we find her?"
"It is not that simple," replied Eitri. "The Volva holds herself apart from everyone else. She dwells in her mound, to the north of Jarnvith, and does not take kindly to visitors. Only Odin has ever dared to consult her, and she does not welcome even him very often. I hardly think that she will gladly divulge her secrets to four youngsters from Midgard, in that case."
"Well, we have to do something!" said Amara. "We don't have any other leads at present."
"And as if that was not enough," said Hlevang, "remember, to reach her, you must pass through the Iron Forest a second time. And this will not be a simple foray to the Fountain of Lyfja and back, as was your first visit there, Master Guthrie. This will be an actual journey all the way through the wood, facing every peril that lurks within its eaves."
"It cannae be all that dangerous," said Rahne. "Hrimhari was certainly good company."
"But Hrimhari and his fellow wolves are not the only dwellers in the Iron Forest," said the Chancellor. "There are others, much worse. You were fortunate enough not to encounter them when you were there before, but the next occasion may be different. Indeed, it very likely will be, since you must traverse the Iron Forest in its entirety to reach the Volva's hill."
"Well, like Amara said, we don't have any better hopes than that," said Sam. "We're just going to have to face its dangers all over again. I don't suppose that you're willing to give us some help this time."
"I fear not," said King Eitri. "My people have now fully committed themselves to this war, by aiding you against the dark elves. But that means that now the lords of Svartalfheim will be turning their attention to Nidavellir - as may Loki himself, when he learns of this. There will be further attacks upon my kingdom, and I must prepare my people for them. We will need every dwarf here for the battle to come, and I can spare none of my folk now. The best that I can do for you is to offer the four of you provisions for the journey to come, and directions to the Volva's mound. That is all."
"Well, it's better than nothing," said Amara. "We'll just have to accept that. And, thank you."
* * *
"Ah just hope that nobody says 'Ah get the feeling that we're not in Kansas any more'," commented Rogue, as she and the other X-Men stood in the middle of the forest clearing that Forge's dimensional gateway had transported them into.
"Hopefully this is where they wound up," said Scott, looking down at the ground. "Although I don't see any sign of them."
Wolverine sniffed the air sharply. "They were here, all right," he said. "A couple of days ago. Their scent's faint, but it's still lingering."
"Can you tell which way they went?" Storm asked.
"It's not fresh enough for that," Logan replied. "And there're no footprints about, either. They must have been covered by fresh snow since they left."
"Great," said Kitty, shivering a little. "So that, like, leaves us with no idea as to which way they went? What do we do now?"
"Get cold, mostly," said Evan, shivering like her. "I guess that we should have gotten some warm clothing to wear before we left. I certainly didn't think it was gonna be this much of a deep-freeze." He turned to his aunt. "Hey, Auntie O, I don't suppose that you could do something about this?"
"There are limits to what my powers can do, Evan," said Storm. "I cannot change winter into summer - and I doubt that it would be safe to do so. The chaos that such an alteration in the weather patterns would cause could be far more dangerous to us than the current low temperatures are."
"I'll say one thing," said Kurt. "It's times like these vhen I think that maybe being covered vith blue fur isn't so bad after all."
"Well, I think that we'd better concentrate on finding some sort of shelter first," said Beast. "If this world is inhabited, then we might be able to find someone who can help us - perhaps even someone who's seen the younger students."
"So which way do we go?" asked Rogue. "Ah mean, they all look pretty much the same to me."
"Not quite," said Jean, looking towards the east. "I can see mountains in that direction, over in the distance. Mountains could mean caves - we could hole up in one of them for a while."
"Ah don't know about that," said Rogue. "As Ah recall, the last time that Ah was in a cave in this kind of weather -"
"Well, it's better than just standing around here," said Scott. "Come on, let's go."
The nine mutants tramped off through the snow, heading towards the mountains in the east.
"A splendid day to march on Asgard and conquer it," said Loki, looking at the army assembled in the courtyard of Utgard. Rank upon rank of frost giants, trolls, and dark elves stood at the ready, awaiting his orders to depart. At the front were four still very unhappy-looking young mutants, mounted on their horses.
Loki cleared his throat, and addressed the war-host. "My friends and associates," he said, "today is the first day of the end for Odin and his people. Today, we finally overthrow their rule and establish our own order upon the nine worlds. Normally, I wouild follow this with a fairly detailed description of what that order will be like, but I know that you are all very eager to do battle - well, almost all of you - and, if the truth be told, so am I. So, without further ado, I say - let us depart!"
The frost giants, trolls, and dark elves all cheered in response. "I wonder if they're applauding the sentiments of my speech, or its brevity," said Loki to himself. "Oh well, at least they are applauding it. That is enough for me. And so off we go."
The gates of Utgard swung open, and the army issued forth, off to do battle. Only the four New Mutants remained in a distinctly bleak mood.
"I still can't believe this," said Roberto. "We're actually helping a pack of super-villains conquer the world."
"This is not the kind of mission that I dreamed of going on," agreed Jubilee. "Bobby, you must have some idea of how to get us out of this mess."
"I'm still working on one, believe me," said Bobby glumly. "I'm trying to figure out some sort of solution."
"Well, so far you clearly haven't found one," said Ray sharply. "And you'd better find one before we get to this Kerlaugar river, because otherwise we're going to be in big trouble. Especially you," he added, looking at Bobby with barely-concealed anger. "I just might decide to use you for a little target practice while finding out what this medallion that I'm stuck with can do to my mutant abilities."
Bobby looked distinctly nervous. "It was an honest mistake," he said. "And come on, none of you guys were suspicious about him any more than I was!"
Ray merely glowered at Bobby, and said nothing. Roberto looked about to speak, but Loki turned around first and addressed him sharply. "No talking in the ranks," he said. "If you want to argue with each other, do so when we make camp."
One of the dark elf earls motioned to the trickster-god just then. "My lord," he said, pointing at the sky. "Two ravens."
Loki stared upwards, and nodded as he saw the two black birds circling above, gazing down below. "Ah, yes," he said. "I recognize those two. So Odin's spying on us already, is he? Well, it'll do him no good. Everything is already well in hand. All that he can do now is worry."
The two ravens flew off, while Loki's army continued northwards. Loki and a few dark elf knights rode at the front, with the four New Mutants in the middle of them, guarded on all sides so that they could not attempt to escape. After them came the rest of the dark elves, followed by the trolls, and finally, the frost giants under Utgard-Loki, many of them hauling catapults and battering rams along. They left the castle of Utgard behind them, as they made their way through the wilderness of Jotunheim.
* * *
Hugin and Mugin croaked out their report, perched on Odin's shoulders. The All-Father, ruler of Asgard, nodded attentively as he listened to them. "Thank you, my watchers," he said to them. "You have done well."
Heaving a sigh, he turned his gaze to the rest of the Aesir, seated in their chairs around his in the great hall of his palace of Valaskjalf. "It is even as I feared," he said. "Loki Laufeyson has shown himself in his true colors at last. He has broken with us, and made common cause with our old enemies, the frost giants, the trolls, and the dark elves. Even now, they are marching on their way to Asgard, to besiege it, something that they have not dared do for centuries."
"I knew that this was coming," said Balder troubledly. "Thor's banishment must have been too much of an opportunity for Loki to pass up. He knows that the Thunderer can no longer stand against the hordes of darkness with his hammer and serve as Asgard's champion."
Frey nodded, as he rose from his seat. "My lord Odin," he said, "perhaps we should revoke Thor's sentence of exile, and bid him return, to aid us in this hour of need."
A few of the other Aesir present nodded eagerly, but Odin shook his head. "That is the one thing that I cannot do," he said. "I sent Thor away until he could learn humility, and not until then may he return. I cannot alter my sentence upon him, not even in this extremity, or else his time in Midgard will have done him no good. No, we must do without him and his hammer, this time."
"I cannot say that I am displeased by those words," commented Tyr gruffly. "I still hold that we have grown far too dependent upon Thor, All-Father. We have let him fight all our battles for us, while the rest of us have permitted our warrior-skills to grow rusty. Even with Thor away, we can still fight the legions from Jotunheim and Svartalfheim, and win. Although," he added, "I would be more confident of victory had that accursed Fenris-wolf not bitten off my sword-hand!" He looked down darkly at his right arm, which ended in a stump at the wrist.
"We should ready ourselves for war," agreed Uller. "Alert the einherjar and the Valkyries, maybe even send to Alfheim and Vanaheim for reinforcements from our allies there. We shall need all the help that we can find."
Odin nodded. "See to it," he said, rising from his throne. "Make you ready for the attack that will surely come." And with those words, he strode out from the hall.
"Where are you going, father?" Balder asked, as he and the other Aesir followed their king out from Valaskjalf.
"To consult with my two chief advisors," replied Odin. "I must hear their counsel, in this dark hour."
And with those words, he walked on, leaving the rest of the Aesir staring after him with troubled hearts.
* * *
"So where do we begin?" Sam asked. "I mean, how do we track down Loki?"
"That's not an easy question to answer," said King Eitri.
"I agree," said Hlevang. "For one thing, few people in the nine worlds wish to find Loki - unless their reason for doing so is to know how to avoid him."
"Yeah, but if he's got the other kids, then we definitely need to find him," said Sam. "Do you have any idea as to where we could go looking for him?"
"He could be anywhere, for all that we know," said King Eitri. "But there is one person who might help you find him. The Volva."
"The Volva?" Amara asked. "What's that?"
"An ancient seer," answered the dwarf-king. "She knows not only the present, but also the future as well. It may well be that she can tell you where to find Loki and your companions from Midgard."
"So where is she?" asked Sam. "How do we find her?"
"It is not that simple," replied Eitri. "The Volva holds herself apart from everyone else. She dwells in her mound, to the north of Jarnvith, and does not take kindly to visitors. Only Odin has ever dared to consult her, and she does not welcome even him very often. I hardly think that she will gladly divulge her secrets to four youngsters from Midgard, in that case."
"Well, we have to do something!" said Amara. "We don't have any other leads at present."
"And as if that was not enough," said Hlevang, "remember, to reach her, you must pass through the Iron Forest a second time. And this will not be a simple foray to the Fountain of Lyfja and back, as was your first visit there, Master Guthrie. This will be an actual journey all the way through the wood, facing every peril that lurks within its eaves."
"It cannae be all that dangerous," said Rahne. "Hrimhari was certainly good company."
"But Hrimhari and his fellow wolves are not the only dwellers in the Iron Forest," said the Chancellor. "There are others, much worse. You were fortunate enough not to encounter them when you were there before, but the next occasion may be different. Indeed, it very likely will be, since you must traverse the Iron Forest in its entirety to reach the Volva's hill."
"Well, like Amara said, we don't have any better hopes than that," said Sam. "We're just going to have to face its dangers all over again. I don't suppose that you're willing to give us some help this time."
"I fear not," said King Eitri. "My people have now fully committed themselves to this war, by aiding you against the dark elves. But that means that now the lords of Svartalfheim will be turning their attention to Nidavellir - as may Loki himself, when he learns of this. There will be further attacks upon my kingdom, and I must prepare my people for them. We will need every dwarf here for the battle to come, and I can spare none of my folk now. The best that I can do for you is to offer the four of you provisions for the journey to come, and directions to the Volva's mound. That is all."
"Well, it's better than nothing," said Amara. "We'll just have to accept that. And, thank you."
* * *
"Ah just hope that nobody says 'Ah get the feeling that we're not in Kansas any more'," commented Rogue, as she and the other X-Men stood in the middle of the forest clearing that Forge's dimensional gateway had transported them into.
"Hopefully this is where they wound up," said Scott, looking down at the ground. "Although I don't see any sign of them."
Wolverine sniffed the air sharply. "They were here, all right," he said. "A couple of days ago. Their scent's faint, but it's still lingering."
"Can you tell which way they went?" Storm asked.
"It's not fresh enough for that," Logan replied. "And there're no footprints about, either. They must have been covered by fresh snow since they left."
"Great," said Kitty, shivering a little. "So that, like, leaves us with no idea as to which way they went? What do we do now?"
"Get cold, mostly," said Evan, shivering like her. "I guess that we should have gotten some warm clothing to wear before we left. I certainly didn't think it was gonna be this much of a deep-freeze." He turned to his aunt. "Hey, Auntie O, I don't suppose that you could do something about this?"
"There are limits to what my powers can do, Evan," said Storm. "I cannot change winter into summer - and I doubt that it would be safe to do so. The chaos that such an alteration in the weather patterns would cause could be far more dangerous to us than the current low temperatures are."
"I'll say one thing," said Kurt. "It's times like these vhen I think that maybe being covered vith blue fur isn't so bad after all."
"Well, I think that we'd better concentrate on finding some sort of shelter first," said Beast. "If this world is inhabited, then we might be able to find someone who can help us - perhaps even someone who's seen the younger students."
"So which way do we go?" asked Rogue. "Ah mean, they all look pretty much the same to me."
"Not quite," said Jean, looking towards the east. "I can see mountains in that direction, over in the distance. Mountains could mean caves - we could hole up in one of them for a while."
"Ah don't know about that," said Rogue. "As Ah recall, the last time that Ah was in a cave in this kind of weather -"
"Well, it's better than just standing around here," said Scott. "Come on, let's go."
The nine mutants tramped off through the snow, heading towards the mountains in the east.