CHAPTER 2 - Salkin and the Azimuth

Loki Odinsson would have been lying to deny that he took more than a little gratification from Lady's Sigyn's response to his hail. He could see the exact moment when the girl realized that she was addressing a Prince of Asgard. All of the color drained out of her cheeks and her eyes widened. For a moment, she appeared frozen on the spot. Then, to Loki's immense pleasure, she dropped to her knees on the sand.

"Your highness!" Sigyn said, head bowed. She waited for his response.

Loki hesitated before he told her to rise, allowing his eyes to sweep over her kneeling figure.

He assumed that the woman must be pretty when she was clean- She was Freya's daughter, after all- and Loki was too much of a man not to appreciate the way that the sodden dress clung to her hips and breasts. At the moment, however, Sigyn resembled nothing so much as a drowned rat and he had more pressing matters to address.

"I want to see your necklace," he said without preamble.

"My necklace…?" Sigyn's fingers reached instinctively for her throat. Loki watched their progress as they brushed her pale white skin, and frowned when he realized that that her neck was bare.

"The one that you wore to the palace when we were children," he pressed. "The crystal on a string. You do still have it?"

"Yes," Sigyn answered, a note of wariness in her voice.

"I want to see it."

"Now?"

"Unless you have a more pressing engagement?" Loki said, his impatience injecting a note of cruelty into his tone, "I can see that you're dressed for company."

Sigyn glanced down at her ruined dress and flushed.

"Of course not, your highness," she said quickly. "I'll fetch it immediately. Will you come up to the house?"

Loki wanted to say "no". The path back to Noatun was steep and winding. He had nearly broken his neck on the journey down, but his impatience to solve the mystery was stronger than his sense of self preservation, and so he nodded his head and followed Sigyn to the trail.

One of the many salacious rumors about the Goddess Freya hinted that some of her daughters had been fathered by dwarves. Noting the ease with which Sigyn scampered over the rocks, Loki wondered if Freya had bred with a mountain goat instead. Sigyn's footwork was light and sure as she ascended, and Loki was careful to follow her lead until they finally reached the top.

Accustomed to the Odin's palace, Loki was not impressed by the scale of Noatun. Still, he did admit that it was a stately and unusual house. Vanir architecture was very different from that of Asgard. The building was solid and balanced rather than soaring and asymmetrical. Noatun was constructed of weathered stone, with pointed rooflines, wooden braces, and windows of colored glass. With its low profile and gray façade, the house looked almost like a natural outcropping on the craggy cliff where it stood.

Sigyn left Loki in the main hall while she went to fetch the necklace. He passed the time wandering around the room, examining the tapestries that hung on the wall. He recognized a few of the stories that they depicted: Audhumbla licking the salt stone and the world tree Yggdrasil. One of the hangings had been cleverly constructed so that it appeared one of the Norns, the old Goddesses who wove the destinies of all men on their looms, was crafting the fabric herself.

At the end of the hall, a door was standing half-open. Peering inside, Loki saw a collection of scrolls. This must be Njord's library. The realization made Loki's pulse quicken. The Vanir were accomplished sorcerers. He could scarcely imagine the secrets that he might find inside. He was about to indulge his curiosity when Sigyn returned.

Sigyn had changed her clothes and dried her hair. She was wearing a dress of lavender silk that was cinched beneath her bust and fell in graceful folds around her feet. Her copper hair was held back from her face with a band of gold, putting her delicate features on display. The most striking change, however, was her expression. Dry clothes and familiar surroundings had worked a remarkable transformation. The awe and timidity that Sigyn had displayed on the beach was gone, replaced by an almost regal self-possession. Loki remembered, for the first time, that Sigyn was royalty too.

"Is this what you were looking for?"

Sigyn held out her hand. Uncurling her fingers, she revealed a chunk of crystal attached to a silver chain.

Loki reached for the necklace and arched a brow when Sigyn's first instinct was to draw away.

"I'm not going to take it," he snapped, swallowing the "yet…" that rose up in his mind.

Sigyn bit her lip, but eventually surrendered her treasure.

Loki picked it up by its chain and held it up for examination.

Just as he expected, the little piece of glass was very similar to the one that he had been given. It had the same shine and glow and the same warmth to the touch. The only differences that he could determine were that none of its edges were sharp, and that it was remarkably heavy for its size.

"Where did you get this?" Loki asked.

"I found it," Sigyn said.

"Where?"

Loki noted the hesitation before Sigyn began to speak. He didn't understand why she was so reluctant to speak.

"On the beach. I was looking for shells."

"What is it?"

There was another pause. This time, Loki did not let it pass without comment. "Well?"

"I don't really know."

"What do you think it is?" Loki asked, tersely.

Sigyn sighed and turned away. She walked to the tapestry of the Norn and ran her finger along the thread that represented Fate. She took a deep breath.

"Grandfather said…it might be…it might be a piece of the Azimuth."

"The Azimuth?"

Sigyn shrugged. "It's just a story."

"A lot of things are just stories," Loki said, walking toward her. Sigyn turned and met his gaze. "Some of them are true."

"But not all."

"Tell me anyway."

Sigyn returned her attention to the tapestry as she spoke.

"There are many objects of power," she began. "Your father's spear, Gungnir is one. It is said that the Jotunheim once possessed another…"

"The casket of Ancient Winters," Loki interjected, "I've seen it."

Sigyn nodded. "The Vanir possessed a source of power as well: Aellfrin," she spoke the last word in a tongue that Loki didn't understand, "The Soul of the Deep. It came from the heart of bottomless sea that encircles Vanaheim."

"During the Great War, the Aesir, the Vanir, the Jotuns and the other realms clashed in battle again and again…but the three great powers were too evenly matched. My Great-grandfather ,Salkin, was king of our people then, and he was anxious to find an advantage. Because the power wielded by the great kings was equal, he knew that the only way to prevail was to find a way to know when and where to weild the power to its best advantage."

"One day, a beautiful Enchantress came to Court. She told Salkin that she knew how to give him the weapon that he sought. Together, she and the king broke Aellfrin apart and reforged it into a magical crown of knowledge. The king named it 'Azimuth', after the way that seafarers chart the skies, because it was meant to chart Vanaheim's victory in the war."

"But Vanaheim didn't win."

"No…" Sigyn shook her head. "We didn't...As long as he wore the crown, Salkin need only think of a question and the answer would appear…He knew where to find any treasure. He knew the weakness of any army. He learned hundreds of spells and enchantments, and that is where the Vanir obtained most of their knowledge of magic. The only drawback was, that for every question that it answered, the crown weighed a little more. As the years passed, it became more and more of a burden, so that Salkin was barely able to hold up his head and walk about- but he never took it off. For a time, our people prospered, and it appeared that the Vanir would win the war…but Salkin had been misled."

"The enchantress gave Salkin knowledge instead of wisdom, and he didn't have enough of the latter on his own to appreciate the difference. He started asking questions that men are not meant to know. He asked about the beginning of things, and the end of things…and things that are whispered behind closed doors. One day, he asked who would slay him- would it be your Father, Laufey of the Jotuns, or one of his sons… "

"What did the Azimuth answer?"

"The Azimuth answered that he would never be harmed by any living thing."

"It was wrong?" Loki frowned.

"No…again…it wasn't wisdom that the crown had granted, so Salkin didn't question its reply. Not long afterwards, there was a great battle with the Frost Giants. Despite all our advantages, the Jotuns made their way into the very heart of the realm- all the way to the castle by the sea."

"Salkin went out to meet the army himself, convinced that he could not come to harm. The Frost Giants cast a spell on the water, creating a giant sheet of ice- and that was the battlefield where the armies clashed. The battle lasted for three nights and three days. It seemed, once again, that the conflict would be a draw- and then Laufey met Salkin face to face."

"The crown was so weighty that great-grandfather could barely stand, but he wasn't afraid when Laufey drew back his sword of ice. The Jotun King intended to cut off Salkin's head…However, just as the Azimuth promised, Laufey missed when he moved to strike the blow. The Frost Giant stumbled. Instead of slicing Salkin's neck, his sword went high and it glanced across the crown instead. Laufey crashed to the ground…and then something happened that they did not expect."

"The giant fell so hard that a great crack opened in the ice. Laufey was able to use his magic to freeze the water again and to save himself from drowning, but Salkin's was not so lucky. He tried to swim, but the Azimuth was so heavy that he couldn't keep his head above the waves. His soldiers begged him to cast the crown aside, but he refused. The weight of the Azimuth dragged him into the depths. Neither the king nor the crown was ever seen again."

Loki listened to the end of the story and then looked down again at Sigyn's necklace. He turned the pendant over in his hand, trying to imagine it on the head of a drowning king.

"This is a piece of that crown?"

Sigyn shrugged. "I don't know. I told you that I wasn't certain. Grandfather said it was possible that a piece of the Azimuth was broken off by Laufey's sword. No one would have noticed it lying there on the ice...and then the waves carried it back to the shore."

Loki decided to test Sigyn's theory.

Loki folded his fingers around the crystal and closed his eyes. He concentrated on a question, and even spoke the words aloud: "Will my brother Thor be king?"

Nothing happened.

Loki opened his hand and frowned at the necklace. Sigyn just shook her head. "It doesn't work like that…at least for me."

"It does work for you though?" Loki asked.

Sigyn chewed her lip again. "I…I think so," she admitted. "But only when I'm in desperate need. The first time that it happened, I was in mama's room, playing with her jewelry when she came home with a…a…"

"Friend?" Loki finished for her, sparing Sigyn the embarrassment of an explanation.

"Yes," Sigyn answered. I hid behind the curtains. I was certain that she was going to catch me. My hand wrapped around the necklace without really meaning to…it just happened. I was trying to think of a way to escape…and then…it was like I felt the answer : look under the rug. I pulled up the corner of the carpet and found a trapdoor there. I had never seen it before."

Loki nodded, "What else?"

"I was trapped in a cave with the tide coming in…and I found the way back outside."

"And?"

"Those are the only times I can remember," Sigyn said, sounding apologetic for living the sort of life where she had found herself in dire peril only twice. "And perhaps it was just my imagination, but it sounded-"

"Just like a voice in your head," Loki finished, thinking of his own experience.

Sigyn nodded. "How do you know?"

"Because I heard it too."

Sigyn's eyes went wide at the announcement, and they went to the size of saucers when Loki shook his own crystal out of its pouch.

"Where did you get that?" she demanded. "I never thought the rumors were true."

"Rumors?"

"That the crown had been found. That there were other pieces..."

Now it was Loki's time to show amazement. "Who said that? Where are they?"

"No," Sigyn shook her head. "It's not my turn. You have to answer my question first. Where did you get that?"

"Someone left it at my door," Loki admitted. He reached into a pocket and pulled out the message. "Someone left this too….look familiar?"

Sigyn accepted the paper and began to read. Her eyes raced over the two bare lines of the note in seconds, and then she pushed it away in horror. "NO! Of course I don't recognize it!"

Sigyn said the words too fast and too passionately. Loki noticed her anxious expression and frowned.

"No? You didn't look at it very closely to be so sure."

Now Sigyn turned indignant. "Don't believe everything you hear. The Vanir were wronged by your father's treaty, but we have lost the heart for war. We are citizens of Asgard now. No one in my family would ever send a note like that!"

Until Sigyn spoke the words, it had never occurred to Loki that the Vanir might be behind the message. But when he paused to consider the idea, it made perfect sense. It was true that many of the race now considered themselves to be Asgardian, but it was also true that men like Njord remained. The Vanir clearly had a motive to obtain revenge against Odin- to claim the prince that they had been denied at the end of the war. It was also clear to Loki that the Vanir would favor him as ruler instead of his brother. He respected their magic . Most importantly, the Vanir had access to the palace. Freya was always at Court. When Loki stopped to think about it, there were rumors that Sigyn's mother held her own special grudge against the Allfather, though Loki didn't want to ponder to hard about why that might be.

"You're certain?" Loki pressed. "You'd stake your life that it is true?"

"Yes!" Sigyn said, this time without a hint of hesitation. It was her eyes that betrayed her concern.

Loki's lips twisted into a smile. If he had not discovered the truth, at least he had found a tool to help him reach it. Sigyn was visibly distressed, which meant that he had just obtained powerful leverage to make her speak.

"Since you are so loyal, I'm sure you won't mind proving it by answering my query…What are the rumors that the crown has been found?"

"I…" Sigyn seemed to visibly shrink. "I don't remember."

Loki wasn't certain if he believed her or not- but he knew a way to find out. "You have two days to figure it out."

"I have two days until what?"

"Until I take this letter to my father," Loki told her. "Perhaps he is a better judge of loyalty than I."