Chapter 4 - Journey

The next morning, Loki rose early to prepare for his journey to Noatun. He dressed inconspicuously, choosing a drab olive tunic and brown breeches in lieu of his typically more vibrant attire. Mindful of Sigyn's admonition to pack light, he stowed only a thin blanket, a handful of healing stones and a few apples in a pack which he slung over one shoulder. His scabbard and short-sword were draped across the other. After hiding both beneath his traveling cloak, he slipped out of his room before the castle began to stir.

As a boy, Loki made a sport of eavesdropping. As a result, he had learned a thousand secret passages and hidden walkways, so that he made it all the way to the stables without meeting another soul.

A young groom, napping in the sweet hay of an empty stall, stirred as the Prince approached. Loki lifted a finger to his lips and the young boy nodded and closed his eyes again. Loki had a habit of strange comings and goings, so that few thought to question him now- and those who did often came to regret their choice.

Loki neither knew nor cared whether it was boredom of fear which caused the stablehand to ignore his intrusion. It was enough that he was able to saddle a mount himself and thunder into the dark, silent streets of the city alone. The edge of the sky had only begun to tinge with dawn when he sighted Njord's house on the horizon. Loki abandoned his horse at the gate of the manor and then waited impatiently for enough light to see his way down the treacherous pathway to the beach without breaking his neck.

Sigyn was waiting at the end of the trail. Her little body was swathed in an ash-gray cloak that she clutched tightly around her throat. Only her slim white hands and a wayward lock of auburn hair were visible beneath the heavy folds.

"Lady Sigyn-!" Loki hailed, stepping close. He opened his mouth to ask when they could get underway when he was caught completely by surprise.

Without warning, Sigyn launched herself against Loki's body. Her arms wound around his neck and her lips pressed tightly against his skin.

For a moment he was too stunned to react. When he regained his senses, his first instinct was to push away, but to his amazement, Sigyn held him tight.

"Heimdall might be watching!" Sigyn hissed against his ear. She continued to move her lips lightly along his jaw, mocking a passionate greeting. "We need a reason to disappear!"

Loki exhaled in relief when he realized what she was doing. It was said that the Guardian of the Rainbow bridge could see everything that transpired in the nine realms. Loki had a sinking suspicion that the gatekeeper's eye lingered on him more often than others. If the Prince vanished from Asgard with no explanation, Odin would be notified almost before they were away- but if Heimdall merely thought that Loki was off on a lover's tryst….

He was in the middle of congratulating himself for putting the pieces in place when Sigyn made him jump again. She had reached inside of the shapeless cloak and withdrawn a silver flash. Without warning, she dumped the contents of the bottle directly on his head.

"Hey!" he yelped, taking a step backwards. This time Sigyn didn't stop him. It was possible that she didn't notice. When he looked, her face was screwed up in concentration and she was chanting an incantation in a tongue he didn't know.

The silver flask could not have held more than a cupful of liquid, but as Sigyn spoke, the sensation of wetness on top of his head began to spread. Loki shifted uneasily as he felt warm rivulets drip from his hair onto his shoulders, then down onto his chest and legs, building with every second until he felt like he was standing beneath a flood.

Instinctively, he held his breath and closed his eyes. It seemed like several seconds before Sigyn fell silent and the sensation of water faded away.

"There." Sigyn touched Loki's arm. "It is done. Heimdall cannot see us now."

Loki slowly opened his eyes. He hoped, rather than believed, that his feeling of unsteadiness was from the magic and not the kiss. It was a very long time since he had held a woman in his arms.

Luckily, he didn't have to linger in his discomfort. Almost immediately, Sigyn began to walk toward the water. She wandered to an outcropping of rock that jutted into the sea and scrambled to the top. "This way!Hurry!"

Loki moved to follow, but at a dignified pace. He had already surrendered a great deal of control in exchange for Sigyn's assistance as a guide. He certainly wasn't going to be herded along the trail like a flock of sheep.

…assuming that there was a trail.

Loki frowned when he realized where Sigyn was headed. She was teetering on a thin ridge of stone that rose out of the water like a sea creature's spine. It continued only six or seven yards before stopping abruptly at the edge of Asgard. The actual border was obscured in a thick mist, but Loki could clearly hear the roar of waterfalls on either side and see, with his own eyes, how the liquid cascaded into nothingness below.

"Are you crazy?" he hissed, stepping up onto the ledge but refusing to follow. "You'll fall!"

Sigyn paused with one foot swallowed by the fog. "You have to trust me," she called back. She extended a hand toward him. "Don't be afraid."

Afraid?

Loki received the word as a taunt and he instantly bristled. "I'm hardly afraid," he sneered and finally began to move forward. He inched toward where Sigyn was standing, face impassive, but whispering a flying spell under his breath.

Loki ignored Sigyn's hand, which she allowed to drop. "It's always hard the first time," she said. "It may help to close your eyes."

"Help what?" Loki snapped, losing his patience with the girl's apparent inability to explain anything.

She didn't answer. Instead, she took a long stride forward.

Loki's stomach clenched and he reached forward instinctively, expecting her little body to slip off into the void- but Sigyn was still standing in front of him. Her feet were bathed in mist, but her body was as steady as if she were on solid ground.

"Now you," she coaxed.

Very slowly, Loki complied. He didn't so much step as shuffle forward, careful to leave his weight on his back leg until the last possible moment. When he looked down, he could see starlight filtering between the haze that encircled his feet, but he didn't start to fall. In fact, it was easier to balance now than it had been on the rock.

Sigyn started forward again, moving slowly at first. Loki was careful to copy her steps. The invisible path they followed was slanted sharply downward and curved to the left, bringing them so close to the waterfalls that moisture drenched their hair and cloaks. For several tense moments they were walking directly behind the wall of water, but then they turned left again. Looking up, Loki saw a sky of roots and stones which must be the bottom side of Asgard. When they finally stepped clear of the roaring water he was, at last, able to make out the road they were following.

There was still a mist, but now it was beneath their feet: a gossamer carpet of iridescent color that stretched out into the stars.

Loki decided that it must be one of the lesser branches of Ydraggsil- the "hidden roads" as they were called. He had heard of them in bedtime stories as a young boy- usually some nonsense about shepherds or soldiers accidentally falling into a different realm- but he never truly believed that they were real.

"How did you find this?" Loki demanded of Sigyn.

She hesitated.

"I'm not going to tell Odin," he said, exasperated. Surely the girl was bright enough to realize that he had implicated himself in this operation far too deeply now to betray her to the king.

Apparently not. She was hesitant when she whispered. "My grandfather showed me. He found this passage before the great war. Noatun was built on the cliff to protect it."

"Njord showed you the path to Svartalfheim?" Loki asked, unable to taunt. "That must be very useful to your mother when she gets lonely. I hear she's a great friend to the dwarves."

Sigyn's face remained maddeningly impassive. "This is the way to Vanaheim," she said, a tightness in her tone the only clue that Loki's barb about her mother's sex life had stung at all. "We must take another road from there."

"How long will that take?"

"I don't rightly know." Sigyn paused and turned. "Time moves differently here. We may have been gone a day already…or merely a second. Asgard is far behind us now."

Loki turned to look over his shoulder. Sigyn was right. Although it felt like they had travelled mere moments the path behind them was empty save a canvas of stars.

"Just keep walking," Sigyn advised.

Loki had no choice but to do exactly that.