So... I am proud to tell you... I ACTUALLY, OFFICIALLY, (AMAZINGLY ;p) PAST MY EXAMS! Just thought I let you know... ;)

Anyway, I hope I didn't let you wait too long... ENJOY!

Chapter 36

At the peep of day, Loki ordered to break up camp and leave. Although no one had slept more than a few hours, everybody was right awake and ready for some action. Loki had filled the others in on his findings and had explained his plan. It was rather simple, really. The moment they would leave the safe shelter of the trees, Loki would put an illusion on them, allowing them to be invisible. After some discussion, Loki had followed Thor's advice to leave someone behind in case of emergency. Normally that wasn't necessary since Heimdall could follow them wherever they went, but with the mysterious invisibility of the bandit's hideout, that option failed. Hogun volunteered to stay behind. If his friends hadn't returned within two days, he was allowed to call for help and reinforcements.

"We'll use the cave Sif and Arya discovered as a pit stop…" Loki informed the others. "Otherwise I won't be able to keep up the illusion all day. I need to rest!"

Thor nodded understandingly. He knew this was serious. Loki wouldn't have expressed a weakness like that if it wasn't.

"But what if the bandits already closed that cave? I mean, they knew we were there, I suppose they searched their surroundings. Maybe they found it…" Arya said.

Sif nodded.
"Arya's right. We could be walking into a trap" she added. Yet, Loki only smiled.

"Trust me Sif, I assure you that the cave is still safe and sound."

Sif frowned, but sighed. She really wasn't in the mood to start arguing with Loki. Arya didn't understand either, but decided not to question her king.

"Anyway," Loki continued. "On my search I found another entrance. I believe the bandits might have taken precautions now that they know we are here. Therefore, we can't use the same entrance as yesterday."

"Would you mind sharing the whereabouts of your super-secret entrance with us?" Sif asked impatiently, but Loki only grinned.

"You'll find out soon enough, my lady Sif…" he said. Sif took a deep breath. Loki was getting on her nerves, but she knew he was doing this on purpose, so she smiled a fake smile back.

"Of course, my king…" she said sarcastically. Thor threw her a warning glare.

Fandral on the other hand seemed to enjoy the conversation.

"All right, enough talking!" Loki suddenly concluded. "Rules are simple!" he started while walking to the edge of the small forest. "No sound, no fighting, no running off. In short, you don't do anything without my permission!"

Arya nodded. "Understood, my king!" she said. Loki smiled, as did everyone else. Once they'd all gathered in the shadows of the last trees, Loki closed his eyes and concentrated. For a second a greenish glimmer covered all six of them. Loki opened his eyes again and stepped into the morning sunlight. The young king looked at the reflection in a big pool on the ground. He didn't see anything but the bright blue sky. The illusion was working splendidly!

"How is it that we can still see each other?" Arya asked cautiously.

Loki turned around. "It's an illusion!" he said. "Like a blanket… Turning all of us invisible would not only be extremely tiring, but also pretty useless. How could we follow each other without seeing each other?"

Arya could hit herself. How could she be so stupid! A red blush spread across the young girl's cheeks.

"Of… of course, my king…" she stuttered.

Luckily Loki turned around and started walking towards the bandit's hide out. Arya had never felt so embarrassed. A sudden hand made her look up. Sif stood behind the young warrior and smiled.

"Don't worry, Arya. Believe me, he enjoys being the smart guy!"

Arya smiled uneasily.

"And go easy on the 'my king' business." Sif added with a grin. Arya frowned.

"But… but he is the king!"

Sif laughed and hit Arya's shoulder before following the others.

-xxx-

The group walked for about an hour before the river came in sight. Without the rain they could see it curl through the landscape and disappear in the distant dark mountains. Sif led the way towards the cave, but she just didn't seem to be able to find it. The female warrior kept on walking around the same spot. She had been certain it was here!

Loki watched the frustrated warrior in amusement. After ten minutes of searching lady Sif finally decided she wouldn't find it. Looking more angry than ever, she turned around and joined her friends again. She threw an angry glare at Loki and Fandral who were clearly enjoying the situation.

"I'm certain it was around here somewhere!" she said harshly. "Right Arya?"

The young warrior seemed to hesitate. She wasn't quite sure. After all, Sif had dragged her towards the cave. In the rain, she hadn't exactly had the chance to observe her surroundings and to be honest, Arya's orientation skills were a bit rusty…

Arya looked around, but everything seemed so alike. "I suppose it could have been…" she eventually declared. Sif sighed and Arya knew she had messed up once more.

Loki sighed and smiled. "You would think that after all these years spend at my side, at least one of you would have taught himself how to see through an illusion?" the young king said. Everyone looked up at him. Loki's eyes flickered while he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. It wasn't exactly necessary, but it just gave magic a nice ring. Immediately the dark entrance of the cave appeared right next to them. Loki raised his eyebrows.

"Told you it was safe and sound!" he said with a grin before walking towards the cave.

Once everyone was inside, Sif couldn't take it any more.

"I've had enough of this!" she shouted, her voice echoing through the cave. "I won't let you make a fool out of me!"

Loki didn't seem impressed. He breathed out. An almost invisible green shimmer lit up the cave before disappearing in the air. The young king sank down against the wall and closed his eyes. The amount of magic he'd used during the last days had taken its toll. The lack of a good meal didn't really help either.

"Honestly, Sif…" Loki answered with a sigh without opening his eyes. "You're doing a fine job yourself…"

That was the last drop for Sif. The furious warrior drew her sword and pointed down at the young king. Loki didn't move a muscle.

"Fight me, Loki! Then we'll see who has the last laugh!"

The God of Mischief still didn't move until the sudden sound of a sword hitting another sword sounded through the cave.

Loki opened his eyes in surprise. He half expected Fandral to be defending him, but that was just as impossible as it sounded.

The young king looked up. Right next to him stood Arya, holding her knife in front of Loki, protecting him from Sif's attack.

"What are you doing!" Sif exclaimed. She couldn't believe Arya was choosing Loki's side, especially after the friendship she'd shown towards the young warrior.

"I am protecting my king!" Arya answered without any expression.

Sif clenched her teeth together. "Your king?" she shouted. "Can't you see that he's an annoying, lying, little brat!"

"Sif…" Thor interrupted, but the female warrior was too angry to listen.

"You're constantly kissing his feet, Arya! Can't you see he's taking advantage of you?"

Arya frowned, feeling offended. "I am only doing what is right!" she suddenly shouted angrily.

"Really?" Sif yelled back. "You're only protecting him because you are afraid! Because you believe him to be a king!"

"That is hardly significant!" Arya screamed. For a second she had forgotten who she was talking to, but in fact, she couldn't care less. No one accused her of being a wacky servant!

"King or no king! I doesn't matter! Right now we need everyone here! We are the only good trained warriors Asgard has left! You of all people should understand what that means! Killing each other is not going to help! So stop playing around and put your energy into what really matters! We have to find the lost army and stop these bandits!"

Everyone turned silent and stared at Arya. Even Sif forgot to be angry.

"Eeer… not that I don't agree with you, Arya, but could you be so kind to stop pointing your knife at me?" Loki suddenly said. Arya looked down and saw how, in her anger, she had been waving around her knife in front of Loki's face, almost sticking his eyes out. From one second to the next, she realised what she had done and stumbled back.

"I… I… I didn't mean to… to be… I…" she stuttered, looking around the cave. Arya swallowed. She could feel tears well up in her eyes, but she refused to give in. Her eyes met Sif's. The female warrior seemed to be taken by surprise.

Loki got to his feet, expecting Sif to attack Arya, but nothing happened.

"You're right…" Sif finally admitted, sounding almost surprised. "Of course you are..."

Arya waited. She still wasn't entirely certain about her chances.

Loki raised his eyebrows, but quickly smiled. "Apologies excepted!" he said sarcastically.

Thor groaned while Sif turned to Loki again.

"I'm still not done with you, serpent!"

Loki laughed. "Serpent? That's a new one!"

Thor stepped in between Sif and his brother before the two of them could start fighting again.

"All right! Why don't we try being nice to each other? Just until we are back on Asgard and everything is fine again. Then you two can fight each other as much as you desire!"

Thor looked both of them straight in the eye to make sure they understood that they were acting like children.

Loki grinned. "I don't know where you get these awful ideas, brother! Me? Killing someone?"

Thor threw Loki a meaningful glare until the young king rolled his eyes and sighed.

"All right!" he said harshly. "But if Sif would just except me being king, this would not be necessary!"

Sif smirked. "Not in a million years!" she said before putting her sword away and turning her back on Loki.

-xxx-

Thor decided to stay a little longer than planned to make sure everyone had calmed down a bit. He knew better than to go into a fight while two of his team were trying to kill each other in the process.

Loki was standing at the entrance of the cave, staring into the distance. A deep frown scarred his forehead. The young king seemed to be lost in thoughts. Thor hesitated to start talking, but he knew this look. Loki was up to something. He knew something Thor didn't. So The God of Thunder walked over to his brother, cursing himself in his mind. If Loki didn't want to be disturbed, this would only make things worse.

"What's bothering you, brother?" Thor asked. Loki looked aside. A sudden look of confusion coloured his light grey eyes. He'd been far, far away.

The young king focused back on the dark mountains which were rising in the distance. He vaguely shook his head.

"Nothing…"

Thor waited patiently. Eventually Loki turned back to him.

"I might have found an explanation for the invisibility mystery of our friends over there…" the young started with a scowl, gesturing to the river.

Thor followed his gaze. Loki was staring at the mountains with an almost angry look on his face.

"All right…" The God Of Thunder said. "That's nice…"

Loki rolled his eyes and sighed. "I've been such a fool! How could I miss that!"

Thor wasn't following. "Maybe if you told me the problem, I could help you…" he suggested.

The young king rubbed his forehead. "Dark Elves, Thor!"

Thor frowned. "You mean there're dark elves among the bandits?"

Loki stared at his brother as if he'd just asked him what colour the sky was.

"Don't you know anything, Thor!" Loki exclaimed. Thor forced himself not to get angry at him. He knew his brother was annoyed by something.

Loki sighed once more. "Dark Elf technology, Thor!" he said pointing at the dark, gloomy mountains. "After the attack on Asgard, all crashed Dark Elf ships were dumped in those mountains."

Thor slowly nodded. He hadn't know that. "Okay… but what has that to do with the invisibility of the bandits?"

Loki looked at his brother in disbelief. "Malekith used a unique mixture of technology and magic to hide his ships!" he explained.

"Yes…" Thor confirmed. "Heimdall couldn't see them…"

Loki nodded. "Magic is not something you can control so easily to combine it with technology. It's a power on its own! Sooner or later it will go its own way…"

The young king looked back at Thor and pulled up his eyebrows as in saying… "now you understand?", but Thor was still not completely following.

"It's in the river, Thor!" Loki finally said.

"What' s in the river?"

Loki groaned. "The magic, you idiot!"

Thor thought about that for a moment and shook his head. "How could it get into the water?" he asked.

Loki raised his arm again, pointing at the river. While he spoke he slowly followed the sparkling line all the way back to the dark mountains.

"The river flows through the Dark Mountains. Odin must have dumped the ships somewhere near it. The wreckages got buried – by earthquakes, who knows – and the magic found the fastest way out, through the water! The river flows over the bandit's hideout, the magic makes them completely invisible!"

Thor repeated Loki's explanation a couple of times in his head.

"But how is it possible that we can see it then? Shouldn't it be invisible for us too?"

Loki nodded. Finally Thor was asking the right questions!

"I suppose the magic is not concentrated enough. We can see through it, but from a distance it's as good as undetectable."

Thor nodded. He wanted to ask another question, but Loki had already fixed his gaze back on the river, mumbling angrily to himself.

"It's not your fault, Loki…" Thor said after a short silence. "You couldn't have known Odin had dumped them near the river…"

Loki shook his head. "I should have thought about it!"

Thor sighed. "Could it harm us? Or bring the mission in danger?"

"No, no…" Loki answered vaguely. "Of course not…"

"In that case, we better get a move on…"

-xxx-

"Can't we move a bit faster?"

"Sif!"

"Unless you want to risk getting seen... Of course!"

"Loki!"

"Well, that almost sounds inviting!"

"Sif!"

"Oh really? I make sure you get a warm welcome then!"

"Loki!"

"How sweet!"

"Sif!"

"You know me…"

"Loki, please!"

"I wish I didn't know you!"

"SIF!"

Loki turned towards his brother.

"Thor, seriously, could you shout a bit louder?" he asked sarcastically. "I don't think you gave us away yet!"

The God of Thunder took a deep breath. "Maybe if you two stopped acting like children, I wouldn't have to shout at all!"

"He can't help it, Thor. Loki lacks attention!"

"Sif! In Odin's name!"

Thor unexpectedly came to a halt, making Fandral and Arya bump into him. He looked around. They were walking somewhere in between the cave and the river. Loki in front, Volstagg and Thor behind him, then Sif, and Arya and Fandral closed the company.

"All right!" the God of Thunder started. "I suggest: Sif, you take the back, Loki you stay in front. You two have to learn to work together!"

Loki and Sif threw each other a murderous glare before separating.

"The first one who opens his mouth, can go back to Asgard! Is that understood!"

"Remember who you're talking too, brother!" Loki warned.

Thor turned to the young king. He needed all his willpower to keep himself from hitting Loki to the other end of the universe.

"Right now, I seem to be talking to my little brother. My very, very little brother!"

Loki's eyes narrowed. "You know, I could just drop the illusion and continue myself! I'm sure they have a nice spot for the prince of Asgard!"

"Loki, I'm warning you!"

"Guys…" Arya's voice softly interrupted.

"No, brother, I'm warning you! You better have care how you speak!"

"My prince…."

"Not now Arya!" Thor responded.

"But…" Fandral joined in.

"Just shut up and keep moving, Loki!" Thor continued, ignoring his friend.

Loki laughed. "Maybe I will! Alone!"

"If you drop the illusion, you get us all killed!"

"Is that a suggestion?"

"Guys!" Arya shouted. "Shut it!"

The two brothers turned to Arya, ready to shout she had to stay out of it, but both men immediately turned silent when they saw Arya readying her bow. Fandral stood at her side, sword ready. Volstagg and Sif also drew their weapons. Everyone turned around to face the spot Arya and Fandral had been staring at. About two hundred meters further, two bandits were looking their way. Slowly one of them moved closer, his spear held in front of him.

Loki swallowed and cautiously let a dagger slip in his palm. In his anger, he'd completely forgotten he had to be silent. The two bandits probably had been patrolling along the river when they'd heard something coming out of nowhere.

"Nobody move a muscle…" the young king whispered.

The bandit, more wolf than man, came closer. His yellow eyes searched every inch of the ground. His big hairy nose sniffed the air. An evil grin, revealing a set of yellow, sharp looking teeth, formed on his fat pink lips.

"I know you are there…" he said in a loud whisper while moving closer and closer until he was standing right in front of Thor and Loki.

The two brothers shared a look. Thor gestured backwards with his head. Loki nodded. Slowly, without dropping their weapons, all six of them started moving back.

The bandit's grin got even wider.

"Oh, where are you going, you just got here! Let's have some fun first, shall we…"

For one sickening moment, the bandit's yellow eyes locked on Loki's, although it was impossible he could see them. The young king shivered and came to a halt. He had to think quickly. The bandit moved closer again.

The young king licked his lips. He had a plan, if you could call it that…. It was risky, but what else could they do? Even if they managed to outrun this wolfguy, he would still inform his fellow bandits he'd found some intruders.

Loki turned towards Arya and gestured to the second bandit who was still waiting at the river bank. Arya nodded and cautiously tightened her bow while aiming for the second bandit. Loki turned back towards the wolfguy. He shared a look with Thor, who nodded and silently dropped Mjölnir. The young king took a deep breath and waited until the bandit was closer. Three steps… two steps… one…

With one swift move Thor grabbed the bandit's spear and pulled him towards the group. From the moment the wolfguy entered the illusion, he also turned invisible. His companion at the river was taken by surprise which gave Arya just enough time to loose an arrow. Before the bandit could do as much as shout, the black arrow buried itself in his chest.

In the meantime Loki had grabbed the wolfguy from behind and with a one swift move he snapped the bandit's neck. Both bandits sank lifeless to the ground.

For a couple of seconds nobody moved nor spoke. They just stared at the still body of the wolfguy at their feet.

Loki sniffed and tried to smile. "Good shot, Arya…" he said.

The young warrior vaguely smiled. She didn't exactly enjoy shooting defenceless people, not even bandits like these. That man hadn't even got a chance to defend himself.

"Let's get going…." Thor suddenly said while picking up Mjölnir. Sif looked up.

"We can't just leave him here, lying in the open! And that counts for him too!" she said while pointing at the body lying at the riverbank.

Everyone turned silent, over-thinking the situation.

"Maybe the Bifröst can collect them…" Fandral suggested.

"Yes, because that doesn't attract any attention!" Sif answered harshly.

Thor tried to ignore both warriors and turned towards Loki. "Can't you hide them?" he asked.

"Damn it, Thor. I can't turn anything invisible, I make it look invisible! I can't keep up ten different illusion's all day!"

Thor nodded. He really didn't feel like arguing with Loki.

"Then we need to move them…" Volstagg joined in.

"Where?" Sif asked.

Volstagg turned towards the female warrior. "To the cave! It's the only solution!"

Thor and Loki seemed to think over the idea. In fact it didn't matter if it was really the only solution. They were running out of time!

"All right!" Loki said. "But we can't go back, not all of us anyway!"

"One of us will have to do it by himself…" Thor concluded. "Who's going!"

"Sif!" Loki immediately suggested. The female warrior threw him a poisonous glare.

"As much as would like to… I cannot carry two body's on my own!"

Thor nodded, while warning Loki not to respond. "Indeed, I will go then…"

Loki immediately wanted to argue, not because he was scared, but because he had to admit that having Mjölnir around was quite useful, but Volstagg was first.

"No, Thor. I will go! I lack years of training and ... well… to be completely honest, I'm not really keen to keep those two from ripping each other to pieces..." he said with a grin.

Sif and Loki rolled their eyes. Yet Thor couldn't keep a smile of his face.

"Fair enough… you shall go… be careful, my friend."

Volstagg smiled and turned towards Loki.

"A cover would come in very handy…" he said, trying his best not to show any hatred towards the young king.

Loki sighed. "All right, but you only have one hour! After that, I drop the illusion on you!"

Volstagg nodded. "Thank you, my… my king…"

Loki smirked. Volstagg quickly turned around.

Twenty minutes later, the Asgardian warrior had thrown both bodies over his shoulder and left. The moment he left the cover of Loki's illusion, he turned invisible himself.

Now it was only Loki, Thor, Sif, Fandral and Arya left.

Thor looked around. "Now... " he started while fixing his eyes with Loki and Sif. "Same rules, no talking!"

Loki smiled shortly and turned his back on the rest, before continuing their invisible journey.

I hope you liked it!

I would like to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and of course a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Please, let me know what you think! :)

Rumple x