Chapter One

It was a hot summer's day, and not for the first time was the young woman questioning their decision to spend the rest of the summer break tucked inside in an office. Flicking the fan on, she pulled her mass of dark brown curls into a messy bun and pulled out the next box of items to record. She supposed she should not complain, for she had spent much of the last month outdoors and this work would help her for the next year. However, it did suck a little that she would be indoors whilst her friends were enjoying the sunshine, but then there was always the weekend. Sighing, she placed the box on the table and started to unpack the objects.

She was lucky in that she did have access to these before anyone else, and it was exciting to know that she was one of the first people to handle these items since they entered the archaeological record. These were things that people had worn or eaten from, or used to make or store things. It helped that they were from a Danish site, and that Freya loved anything to do with the so-called Viking period. It was all her parents' fault really. They had named her after the Norse goddess of love and war, and she had grown up reading the myths and sagas of the Norse gods. As a child she had dreamed of exploring Asgard and sailing in a Viking ship, and even now she wished she could explore the golden halls of Odin and the gods. It was part of the reason she was now studying a degree in archaeology, with specific focus on the Norse period. She had no idea if it would lead to a job afterwards, but that was something for future-Freya to worry about. Right now she simply had to focus on completing her degree. Pulling out the final item from the box, she smiled, for it had been found in her trench, and had caused much debate ever since. Freya stared at the object curiously, not having seen anything quite like it yet. It was of a polished greenish-grey stone, cool to the touch, and was of a nice weight too. It had been meticulously carved, but she was very curious as to why anyone would have gone to the trouble of carving Loki's children onto the whetstone. After all, he was the Norse god of chaos and lies, and she was not aware of many items having his image or symbols. Odin and Thor, certainly, and she had grown a little fed up of seeing them on the artefacts she was cataloguing. Putting the supposed whetstone down, she tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear before looking at the remaining items from that area. The excavation had finished only a few days ago, but as she had volunteered to help record the finds, she had returned to England and instantly been given the task of cleaning and cataloguing the artefacts. Thankfully many had been catalogued during the excavation itself, but the finds from the last week still needed writing up.

"Right then, where to start? The numerous sherds of pottery? The loom weights? Or…" She mused. "Well, perhaps leave you guys til last?" She said to the whetstone. She received no answer, for the office was empty, and she shook her head. "Pottery it is then." She decided.

She passed the next few hours cataloguing the various bits of pottery, and a little before four o'clock she turned her attention to the whetstone. There was much debate as to its purpose, for it appeared never to have been used, and many had argued it had been for ritual purposes. She was not quite convinced, for she knew that a similar item had been recovered from the Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, and that was thought to be a sceptre. Perhaps this too was a symbol of power or status? But why have Loki's children on it? He had caused Ragnarok in many of the stories, and surely for a status symbol Odin would have been a better choice? Freya turned it over in her hands, enjoying the fact that the carvings could be seen more clearly now that it had been washed. Around the centre was the carving of the serpent Jormangund, whilst each of the four sides had a different creature. One was of the wolf, Fenrir, and another was of a half human, half skeleton, female, which was Hel. The third side had the unmistakeable eight-legged Sleipnir, and on the fourth was the mask of Loki. Freya traced her fingers around it, the grey stone feeling warm from where she had been holding it, and admired the craftmanship that had gone into creating such an object. She could not help but wonder who would devote so much time to an object dedicated to the trickster god though. After all, every myth had depicted Loki as the enemy, although Freya did not necessarily agree with them. She had always thought his punishment to be exceedingly harsh and Ragnarok had not exactly been just his doing. Shaking her head, she filled out the record sheet before she caught glimpse of a worn and faded inscription. It took her a moment to figure out what the marks were, but her heart skipped as she realised that they were Runes. This was definitely a very important find!

"How are you getting on Freya?" She was disturbed by her professor. Caygill was in his mid-fifties, an archaeologist by profession, and an expert on all things Norse. He had led the excavations in Norway, and had set about writing up their findings as soon as they landed back in the UK.

"I'm almost done with this box." She smiled.

"Good." He said, standing in the doorway. "Remind me why you volunteered for this again?" Though he admired her enthusiasm, he was certain that she would rather be enjoying the rest of her summer holidays without university work.

"My dissertation." Freya explained. "On depictions of Norse gods on their items."

"Ah, yes. Well, you have full access to everything we found."

"Thank you Professor."

"If you need anything then I am just down the corridor." He said before wandering off. Freya let him go before turning back to the sceptre. Grabbing her notebook, she copied down the inscription and wondered how easy it would be to translate them. After all, some Runic inscriptions had never been translated, and others had been translated rather quickly. Deciding that this would be her task for the evening, she packed everything away before heading home.

The rest of the day was spent trying to translate the inscription, though it seemed that the Runes could be interpreted in a number of ways. Writing the possibilities down, she pondered over why they had been buried outside of the settlement. The village had been burned down and appeared to have been abandoned afterwards, for most household items had been found in the houses. All but two finds had been discovered within the buildings. However, the whetstone and a green disc had been found in a shallow pit just near the gate. It seemed that they had been buried for some purpose, but no one was entirely sure as to what this was. Knowing that she could only guess as to the reasons, she gave up and headed to bed.

The next morning found Freya in her small borrowed office, the sceptre in front of her and a couple of books on the table. She had been thinking about it all night, and now she was sure she had some idea as to what the inscription was. Picking it up, she turned it in her hands until she was looking at the side with the inscription and Loki's face on, and then pondered.

"So these creatures are the children of Loki, and his symbol is on the same side as the runes…If I'm right, which I doubt, then it should read something along the line of 'hear me, I beckon you to me' which is a rather odd inscription…" Freya mused just before was a very colourful flash of light outside. She got to her feet and looked out of the window, half expecting a summer storm, but found no rain and no thunder. She was a little surprised, but then turned her attention back to what she was doing, knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop the grey clouds if they decided to burst.

"So long as I get home dry then you can do your worst, storm." She stated to the sky. Talking to herself was starting to become a very bad habit of hers.

"That sounds like a challenge." A strange voice chuckled. Freya's eyes widened as she turned around to find a young man lounging in her chair. She found she did not recognise him, and she had no idea where he had come from for the door was still closed. The young man smiled as she stared at him, though he made no effort to move. He had short raven hair and bright green eyes, whilst his outfit was of black, green and gold. He was certainly handsome, though that did nothing to calm her nerves.

"Who are you?" She asked him, feeling a little concerned as she picked up a trowel as a means of defence.

"I could ask the same thing." He said, his accent strangely soothing. "It is not every day I am summoned to Midgard…" Freya shook her head as she recognised the term. That was what Earth had been called as part of Yggdrasil… This had to be some form of student joke or something.

"I…" She managed to utter as he got to his feet.

"I believe an introduction is required then." He said charmingly as he stood in front of her. "I am Loki Odinson, Prince of Asgard, and god of mischief."