(SIGYN)

The tears flooding my vision made him difficult to see. If only I could've done something about the sound.

His yells were interrupted by spitting and coughing. He moaned with a sadness that was deeper than pain, though that was still present, especially since his shoulder was sickeningly twisted out of place.

I wouldn't have been surprised if all the other attendees had their ears equally covered as their eyes. The only thing I could do was beg, "Please have mercy upon him!" I sobbed until I slumped forward, only held upright by the taut rope around my belly. We hovered in the same place for hours, waiting for some signal of the end.

Loki's voice faded from overuse. When he was nearly silent, Odin answered my many calls. "Don't despair, Eddasdottir—we'll return to the palace by sunset."

But the sun's going down. What felt like too long was now desperately short. "You're...you're leaving him here?"

"He's far from death. A thousand years, an age, a whole new universe might see his end."

For the first time, I tried to free myself, desperate to make an attempt of...anything. The guards weren't prepared for my swift kicks backward.

Odin had the audacity to chuckle at my effort. "And what will you do now? What mercy would you suggest?"

And if I return to my old life, what will become of me anyway? A wash of calm freed me of all obligations. Nothing waited for me in my old home but Tiwaz, who would make his own way well enough.

I let the surety in my voice speak for itself. "Let me stay with him."

"His punishment has been set. No one may free him from this fate."

"And I won't be able to do that, but I'll never stop speaking of his greatness. I'll never believe in another king." My tears slowed and I sniffed them back in an effort of strength. "You were right—I am guilty of treason like he is. The only just choice is to let me die at his side."

"You would rather give up—"

"My life is worth nothing to all whom I knew, so yes. I would sacrifice what I have in exchange for the guilt of questioning his fate from afar."

They all shuffled behind me. Who or why, I didn't guess. Between the waterfall and my own overpowering pulse, their whispering evaporated.

Until the guards released my arms. The rope slackened. They turned me to face the Allfather, still keeping me cuffed to the pole.

"You are quite brave to be so bold for Loki." His stern, unmoving face was a monument of hidden emotions.

Thor, on the other hand, averted his gaze.

Right. Look away like the coward you are.

Odin struck his sceptre one last time into the floor. "Sigyn is released to grant him mercy. I'd like to see her best attempt."

My bonds were all broken and I fell over, unaware how weak I was after standing in the same place for so long. The many burns etched into my skin from the rope and the cuffs would have to wait for my attention.

I was free, but had no plan as I scrambled to stand. Grant him mercy with myself alone?

As if he read my mind, Odin barked, "No weapons," making eyes with all the other people on the glider.

The order didn't surprise me, though it did leave me an opportunity. I searched the floor of the glider for anything not attached to someone else. Perhaps I would be fortunate and find something that could end his life much sooner than was planned.

To my bad luck, the only thing near me was an overturned wooden bowl, no doubt left behind by some gluttonous guard with an insatiable appetite even during short missions. Small and barely enough for a full meal, it would be of no use. But my madness and determination made any resource invaluable, so I snatched the bowl and leapt from the ship to the cliff, not leaving enough time for anyone to take it from me.

"What does she have?" Odin yelled, even standing from his makeshift throne to get closer.

Now that I was on the platform, it was even smaller than before. The spires above forced me to hunch, not to mention the monstrous snake weaving through them. It didn't seem to notice me at all, though, given that its wide jaws didn't flinch when I landed. I put my prize on the ground so I could search the area for anything else.

"A bowl?" Odin said, incredulously laughing.

Think. Think! I knelt beside Loki and forced myself to be brave, even though the Orm and its venom terrified me. This close, I was subjected to the smell—truly revolting. It would make anyone else run away long before they found the source of it. My mouth filled with saliva and I tried to swallow quickly, but I couldn't hold back and retched over the side of the cliff.

"You see why staying would be unwise?" Odin ordered the skiff glider slightly closer. "If you so wish, I will let you live and find something you are better suited for."

I coughed and wiped my lips. I meant what I said. This can't deter me.

The bowl at my side was empty, but now I saw it as salvation. Not for me—for him. I held it in two hands above Loki's face, ready to give him a little relief.

"And what will that do if not prolong his suffering?"

I ignored the Allfather and cowered when the first drop of venom hit the bowl. The thick chartreuse mucus was heavier than I imagined, but that meant it didn't splash.

Loki's last screaming episode calmed—not that he was really screaming anymore. His voice had long since let out.

"I'm here, Loki. I'm here."

He heard me. I knew it by how he breathed.

The snake hissed and let out another dose of toxin, which quickly filled my bowl to the brim.

Gods...will it ever run out?

It wasn't a continuous flow, which allowed me to dump the bowl over the side when it tapered. I moved quickly so Loki wouldn't be subject to a surprise.

"Your arms will tire," Odin said. "This is your last chance."

"I claimed I would help him, and I will do so to my last and dying breath. Isn't that what you all say?"

"Do not mock the great sacrifices of my soldiers."

"Mine is greater than any that his supposed family gave for him. More than you, Thor. Shame on you. He loves you!"

While yelling at them, I was careless. The tiniest secretion spilled over from my bowl onto Loki's forehead. He made the cliffside rumble and quake, screeching as if it was the first time.

I emptied my vessel and gripped it tightly, resetting myself to collect more. I cannot fail.

The Allfather had enough of me. "I'll grant your last wish, Sigyn Eddasdottir, ever loyal to your false king. Here you shall remain, oh Goddess of Fidelity." He nodded to Skadi. The skiff glider rose in the sky and whizzed backward through the canyon, disappearing under the orange light of sunset.

The first hours were tolerable. Only once did the infernal sludge drip onto his face. As the sky darkened, the venom glowed, lighting the small cave in unnerving brightness. It slowed to a trickle by the middle of the night—I imagined even the beast above needed to sleep, and it did so with only half-conscious oozing. By the time stars shone above the canyon, I couldn't smell anything anymore.

The scum that built up over Loki's face had thinned since his punishment began, fading its effects. He hadn't yelled since the sun disappeared. His skin was blue and thinned where the venom had touched—I feared how gruesome it would be in natural light.

Loki emerged from a daze, though he still couldn't open his eyes. "Sigyn?" he whispered, likely all he could muster.

"Yes?" I brightly responded, not daring to hold the bowl with a single hand. "I'm here, Loki. You aren't alone."

His voice broke and he grimaced. "Ginny?"

I sighed, taking a moment to pitch the contents of the bowl. "It's me. It's your Ginny."

"Help me," Loki cried. Every sob made my heart drop. "It...it hurts."

"I know it does." My face itched with new tears as well. I tried to sniff them back, but couldn't. "I'm trying to help, but I don't know what to do."

He sucked in a few breaths and seized, his whole body stiffening and shaking at once.

"Loki?" I shouted in hopes he'd come out of it. "Loki, keep talking."

My bowl filled twice more before his breathing returned to some semblance of normal. "Ginny?" he asked again. "P-p-promise me something."

"Anything. Just ask."

Loki's tears washed away some of the venom. If only I could cry enough to take them all away. "Promise you'll f-find a way home."

I felt shoved away. "No...no, I'm staying here."

He shook his head, rocking it back and forth on the stone—the last free movement he could do without hurting himself more. "If you s-stay with me, you'll die. I c-can't kill you, too."

"You won't. Loki, you won't."

"Whatever you're d-doing, it can't last forever." He struggled to breathe for a moment, huffing in an uncomfortable staccato. "Promise me y-you'll go home and n-not off the cliff."

Now I understood what he really was asking. "If I give up, you mean."

Loki wept again while I emptied the bowl. When I returned, his lower lip quivered in upset he couldn't say.

"I won't give up on you, Loki."

He coughed in a fit. "I'm n-not worth this."

"Oh, but you are. I wouldn't be here without you."

"So it is my fault," he said, sobbing ever harder.

"No, not this." I risked gripping the bowl in one hand so I could squeeze his good arm. "When you saved me."

Loki calmed under my touch, though it had to be brief. He used it to find another distraction. T-tell me about the stars."

I took a turn in quiet despair this time, peering out above the canyon for anything I could remember. From this part of the realm, everything was different, but the lights were more brilliant. The only advantage of the bell tower beyond this was the height and standing at his side.

"Thiassi's Eyes are above us," I said, choking on every word.

"G-good." A smile—if it could even be called that—flashed on his lips. "What else?"

"I don't know...the fishermen, I think?"

"Do you remember their name? The old one. You l-laughed."

I pitched the poison and forced myself to speak. "Fiskarlar."

"Good, Ginny. You r-remember." He moaned a bit, now more aware of some of the other parts of his body that ached. After a sigh, Loki grimaced in new suffering. "Please help me."

"I'm trying." My bowl filled ever faster. Our speaking woke the Orm again. "What else can I do?"

"You know. Please, Ginny. Please."

Of course I knew. But how?

I couldn't keep up. It spilled over again. No!

Loki bellowed anew, arching his back and tearing new wounds into his ankles. He stopped talking with me, now lost in the faraway place the poison took his mind and stole his will to live.

The grisly possibilities I'd thought of in the dungeon came anew, only I was in control. If he drank the poison, would it sear him from inside? If the chains in the mountain wall wouldn't budge with all his might, adding mine would make no difference. There were no loose rocks surrounding us that I could see, so I couldn't very well bludgeon him, not that I had the muscle for that, either.

His cape peeked out from the bottom of my robe, which was now torn and frayed from moving back and forth. The hem separated from the rest in a thin, yet solid, line of fabric.

Could I smother him? I looked up at the snake and thought again, too afraid of what the slime would do to me on just my hands. I'd never be able to hold anything over him long enough for it to work.

I focused on the hem again. The image in my mind of it wrapped around his neck made me want to retch once more, yet it was in itself a merciful thought.

With might left in my arms, I refused to give up on my little bowl and prayed another option would present itself—just as I prayed I'd have enough strength to do as he needed and keep my promise.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Pour.

Must keep going.

My upper arms twinged as I held the bowl up. The venom was heavier than it was at the start, and I struggled more after every refill.

A thousand years? An age? New universe? How long has it been already? Rainbows danced in my blurry, tired vision. I forced my eyes to remain open and even considered letting some of the poison touch me to shock me awake.

Loki's skin was as I expected when the sun began to rise on the other side of the canyon. Bloody and transparent. I couldn't bear to look at his marred face and stared out at the waterfall instead.

The Orm shifted and one of the spires fell, startling me. Its sharp end hit the platform around Loki's hands and shattered, making a cloud of dust.

So soft. I squinted at the many more on the ceiling and felt inspired. If they fall, they won't kill us.

And if they're that soft, I can break them myself, can't I?

What I needed was an opportunity. A chance to stand and act quickly to knock the Orm from its perch above. I also needed to protect Loki from anything that fell—the stone broke open easily, but he didn't need more wounds to reckon with.

Excitement renewed my alertness. The morning represented a new dawn for everything. As if it knew, a beam of sunlight hit the corner of my eye, nearly blinding me—as the sun came over the horizon, it moved ever closer to the beast.

That will be it. My only chance. I emptied the bowl once again and used one hand to hold it, channeling ferocity into keeping it steady. With my other hand, I opened the pin holding up Loki's cape and wriggled the sheet out from under me. The thick fabric would make a fine barrier over him.

Another pour of venom over the side and I reset my position, itching for the sun to move faster.

Second by second, the beam moved to the right. It no longer shined on my face, giving me hope. A few more inches. A moment to cover him, and another half a moment to stand. Could I really make the Orm fall? Doubt soured my confidence, but even if I did fail, Frigga would meet me in Valhalla with warm arms for doing all I could.

The beast hissed and stopped spitting when the glare hit its eye. An invisible countdown began.

I dropped the bowl as I dumped its contents over the side; if I didn't succeed now, we had nothing left. I spread the cape over Loki's body as fast as I could and scrambled to my feet.

What else—come on, what else? I panicked and looked over Loki again as if he had an answer, terrified that I had just doomed us both.

The countdown was shorter than I had imagined. The Orm shook its head and opened its mouth, ready to resume the torture.

But my pin—Mother's cloak pin, which snagged on the cape below me—gave me one last idea. My last secret to keep now became our salvation. I grasped the pin and threw it to the serpent like Loki once taught me, giving all my anger and fear to the sharp point. Forward it flew, spinning with only my hope for its wings.

It lodged within the Orm's left eye, making the creature writhe in pain—by the power of its own physique, the snake destroyed the cave's ceiling.

I dove over Loki to protect him, yelling through his cape, "Hold on, please hold on."

The cliff shook and spires dropped around and over me; some cut my skin, but most crumbled to bits. Harder crystals from between the spines were more worrisome until one smashed into the wall, severing the chain attached to Loki's hands. The entire east corner gave way, shortening the platform.

I screamed, desperate for the Orm to lose control and end our misery, "Come on, fall. Gods, let it fall!"

The cave ceiling ruptured with a gush of water. A real miracle—it rained on us from inside the rock. The ancient reservoir that made the canyon what it was remained, waiting for release of its own.

A fracture spread through the corner where the creature first descended. The Orm's weight proved too much for the weakened stone. It twisted with frantic speed, unable to grip any of the slick surfaces.

Before it disappeared over the edge, the Orm looked at me with its good eye. It reminded me of Odin—half-blind and much more intimidating than I would ever be—and like the Allfather, I defeated it.

I lost my mother's brooch pin, but I traded it for Loki's life. A fair exchange, if one was ever made.