Ho Ho Ho! (Sorry couldn't help myself...)

So how was Christmas? I got an fresh chapter for you, guys! I hope I didn't let you wait too long...

Anyway, I hope you'll ENJOY it and at the end of this chapter, you'll find a little Christmas present from me guys! (Yes, I do realise you can all just scroll down and ignore the while chapter... Err... What can I do about that? Eeer... don't scroll all the way down?:P)

Chapter 37

"You can't be serious!"

Everyone looked at Fandral who had come to a halt.

"There is no other safe way in, Fandral!" Loki sighed.

"Are you sure…"

Thor groaned and looked at Loki. The young king smiled impatiently.

"You're free to go searching another entrance, but you'll have to do but without cover then…."

"But these are the sewers!" Fandral exclaimed. Everyone sighed. They were running out of time!

Arya looked down at the water reservoir beneath them. She had to admit she wasn't very keen either to go through it.

"This is the only unguarded entrance!" Thor said following Loki on the small, steep pat towards the water reservoir. With every step, the stench got worse.

After what seemed ages they finally reached the bottom. On their right, they saw the stinking, black water reservoir, on their left was a high stone wall. It seemed this basin had been carved out by the water over the years, but now the bandits used it as their final sewer stage. The only thing separating the water reservoir from the wall was a small path, obviously carved out in the wall by men.

Sif groaned behind her elbow she'd raised in front of her face in an attempt to block out the stench.

"Why would they need sewers anyway!" she moaned. Loki turned towards her.

"Blacksmiths…." he answered. "They got whole buildings full of them. I suppose they make their own weapons… They use tons of water… it needs to go somewhere"

Sif nodded while trying to keep the tears out of her eyes. This smell was burning her eyeballs out!

"But to be honest…" Loki continued. "I think it's also a good sign! The sewers, I mean."

Thor frowned.

"This might mean that our army is imprisoned and not dead! Everything they ... errr... do, needs to go somewhere too…" Loki answered with a smile before turning back towards the dark tunnel at the end of the water reservoir.

"That doesn't really make me feel any better!" Fandral shouted behind his elbow.

Loki ignored him and inspected the path in front of him. It seemed safe enough….

"All right!" he started. "Everyone stay in one row. Move carefully!"

With that said Loki started walking towards the tunnel.

Once they'd arrived there, the company came to a tunnel was pitch black.

"We can't see a thing in there…" Arya said. "Unless of course, somebody brought torches…"

Everyone looked at Loki as if he should have thought about that, but the young king ignored their stares.

"I suggest I drop the illusion and create some light…"

"Can't you keep us invisible AND get us some light?" Sif asked, ignoring Thor's angry stares.

Loki smiled shortly.

"Yes, lady Sif, I could do that, but what difference would it make if they would discover us and see a floating light or a group intruders and a floating light…. We would be caught either way and I'm not going to tire myself if it's not necessary!"

Thor sighed and threw his brother an accusing glare, but the young king didn't bother.

"Same rules!" he concluded. "And be careful where you put your feet!"

A short green glimmer lit up the dark tunnel. The illusion dropped and a three balls of bright, light green light appeared. Cautiously, Loki led the way further into the tunnel. On their right they followed the dark stinking sewer.

Luckily everything went fine. Not once they were interrupted by guards. After at least two hours of walking in the dark, Loki finally spotted some light at the end of the tunnel.

The young king lifted his hand and everyone stopped in their tracks. The floating lights slowly faded and darkness dissolved the five warriors. Loki carefully made his way to the end of the tunnel. A green glimmer indicated that he'd put the invisibility illusion back in place. The young king cautiously peeped around the corner, checking both sides of the hall they'd entered. Empty…

Slowly the others joined him in the hall. The walls were made out of pure rock and dirt. Some of these corridors must have been carved by nature, some by hand. In the ceiling they saw several holes, through which they could see the blue sky. Warm sunbeams fell in light circles on the floor. Everyone took a deep breath. After spending two hours in a rotten, dark sewer, they'd almost missed the sunlight.

"So…." Thor started in a whisper. "Which way?"

Loki pointed to their right. "That's the way to the headquarters. If we want to find the prisoners, I suggest we start there…"

Thor nodded and wanted to start walking, but Loki stopped him.

"Everyone be silent!" the young king whispered. "No fighting, even if you think we might be in danger. These halls are a labyrinth. If we start running around here or split up, we will get lost! And try to stay out of the light. It's not because we are invisible that we don't have a shadow. With all these sunbeams, I can't control every single shadow you make!"

Everyone nodded. Loki nodded back and started walking.

-xxx-

Sif swallowed. She looked around while a new shiver ran down her spine. Something was not right! She checked the other faces, but no one seemed to share her concern. Everyone was just staring at the rickety building in the centre of the enormous open square in front of them.

"There is no way we can all get over there without being spotted!" Fandral whispered next to her.

"Indeed! There's too much sunlight!" Arya added.

"I know!" Loki answered, sounding irritated. "I can't help it that the sun is actually shining today!"

Sif looked up. There was barely a ceiling above the square. Sunlight streamed in from every direction.

"So what do we do?" Thor asked. "We can't hide behind these boxes for ever…"

Sif sighed and turned towards Loki. "I thought you had a plan!" she hissed between her teeth. The young king smirked and answered: "I have a plan!"

"Well unless your plan involves hiding behind some supply boxes all day, I suggest you get on with it!"

Thor threw Sif a meaningful look and hit Loki on his shoulder, warning him not to answer.

"Maybe it's best if we split up…" Fandral suggested, but Loki shook his head.

"If we get caught, we will need all forces we've got."

"All right, but how do we get there then?" Fandral asked, pointing towards the building.

"Maybe we just have to give it a shot…" Arya joined in. "I mean, they might not see us…"

Loki considered that idea, until Thor suddenly touched his shoulder and pointed behind them towards the tunnel they'd come out. Heavy footsteps echoed through the air.

"Just don't move!" Loki hissed to the others.

"Hurry, men!" a voice sounded from the tunnel. "We cannot let them escape!"

Sif turned towards Loki. "They know we are here!"

"We have to get away, now!" Arya joined in, but after a quick look around the plaza she noticed that every exit was blocked or now filled with a dozen armed bandits. They were trapped!

Fandral drew his sword. "We fight?" he asked, not able to hide a touch of excitement in his voice.

"Wait!" Loki whispered back. "They might not know where we are exactly!"

Finally the group of bandits appeared. All of them were carrying torches which were throwing dancing shadows on the floor. The other bandits were also closing in, carrying their own torches, creating new light.

Loki looked at the ground beneath his feet. At least five new shadows formed around him.

"Or… they do…" he said silently. Sif sighed and drew her sword.

"Then we fight!" she shouted. Before Loki could say anything, the female warrior stormed forward leaving the illusion behind her. The first bandits jumped back in surprise when Sif suddenly appeared out of thin air, which gave her the advantage and the others the time to follow her lead.

Loki sighed and shared a look with Thor. A sudden dark and serious expression covered his face.

"You stay here!" the young king commanded. The God of Thunder looked up in surprise.

"What do you mean? I can help!"

"Do as I say!" Loki hissed angrily. "You stay here! You don' fight! You're not here!"

Loki didn't leave Thor a chance to argue and threw himself into the fight. Thor watched his brother in disbelief. Was he serious?

Bandits started closing in on the four warriors. For every bandit they defeated at least three took its place. Loki, Fandral, Sif and Arya stood back to back, fighting of everything that came to close, but hey were losing.

"Split them up!" a voice roared over the fighting. Immediately a dozen bandits threw themselves in between the four warriors, forcing them to scatter. Sif jumped on the boxes they'd been hiding behind and kicked a bandit away. Fandral cut another's throat with one quick swing of his sword, ducked to let two bandits stomp each other in the face and jumped on the boxes to join Sif.

"Where's Thor?" Sif shouted while dodging an attack of a reptile-ish bandit.

"I don't know, but he's missing some epic fun!" Fandral shouted excitedly while kicking one of his assailants in the face. Sif frowned, but she didn't really have time to worry. Her eye fell on Arya who had been forced more to the centre of the square. She was fighting with her knife since she didn't have the room nor the time to fire an arrow. Loki was fighting his way over to her until they stood next to each other.

"My King!" Arya shouted while planting her knife in a yellow skinned bandit's head. "There're just too many! We can't defeat them all!"

"I know!" Loki shouted back. Five illusions, each one of them including one fighting Arya and Loki, suddenly appeared around the circle of bandits which was surrounding the two of them. The distraction gave them just enough time to slip through two bandits, kill them in the process and hide behind a wooden cart standing next to the headquarters building. They were breathing heavily while they sank on the ground. It wouldn't take the bandits long to discover the illusions weren't real. Arya looked to her right and found, to her surprise, Loki looking extremely pale and tired. The amount of magic he had been using was starting to take its toll.

When Loki noticed Arya's worried eyes he quickly smiled. The exhaustion disappeared almost immediately. He turned towards her and smiled again while putting one hand on the young warrior's shoulder. Arya froze and felt a weird tickling sensation, starting at her shoulder, running down her spine and filling her whole body with a warm feeling.

"Arya…" Loki started while trying to catch his breath. "You trust me, don't you?"

Arya needed a couple of seconds before Loki's words got a meaning, but when they did, she didn't know what to say.

"Y… Yes … yes, of course, my king…" she stumbled. Loki smiled which wasn't really helping with Arya's concentration problems…

"Grand!" the young king exclaimed. "Because I'm going to ask you to do something crazy!"

"Where are they!" a low voice roared from behind the cart. The bandits had discovered that the illusions were fake.

Loki pulled Arya's shoulder until she turned around and watched the same way he did. He stretched his arm and pointed towards an empty tunnel at the other side of the room.

"When I say 'now', you run towards that tunnel." he whispered tiredly next to her ear. "Don't look back, just run! I'll let the others know where to go. Thor will be waiting there for you. We'll get out that way!"

Arya couldn't argue or wait until every word Loki had said made any sense, because the young king let go of her shoulder, got to his feet and opened his palms in front of him, facing the cart.

Arya woke up from her trance. She turned towards Loki, but the young king closed his eyes and breathed out. Arya could almost feel him suck the energy out of the air around them before releasing it towards the cart in one green wave of pure magic. The car was blasted away, skimmed through the air and crushed on the bandits.

"NOW!" Loki shouted. Arya's feet obeyed and before she realised it, the young warrior was racing towards the gaping hole of the tunnel ahead. Behind her she could hear the cart break through the ranks of bandits. None of them noticed her getting away.

Loki lowered his hands and swallowed while rubbing his forehead. When he looked up, Loki noticed his view was getting blurred along the edges, but he refused to give in. The young king concentrated once more.

-xxx-

Sif looked up when a sudden crashing sound echoed over the square. A wooden cart came flying in their direction, pushing bandits over on its way.

"Fandral!" Sif shouted, but the Asgardian warrior had spotted the danger too. Suddenly, without warning, Loki appeared in between the two warriors. The illusion was blurry and almost transparent, but it still turned towards Sif and pointed towards an empty tunnel at the other end of the square.

"Go!" Loki's illusion said. His voice sounded far away, a bit raw and metallic, but Sif understood what he meant. He eyes followed Loki's pointing finger until she spotted Arya running towards the same exit. The female warrior faced the spot where she'd seen Arya and Loki before, but Loki was gone. Now there was only an empty cart parking space left.

Sif put her shield on her back and with her free arm she reached through Loki's illusion, which instantly dissolved, to grab Fandral.

"Come on!" she shouted. Both warriors jumped of the boxes just before the cart crushed into them.

"Run!" Sif yelled while pointing at Arya's running figure. The young warrior had almost reached the tunnel. Fandral nodded and followed Sif. The bandits were way too busy with avoiding a flying cart, to follow them.

-xxx-

Thor had only just managed to jumped aside before the supply boxes were blasted to smithereens by – of all things – a flying wooden cart. In his haste he'd forgotten Mjölnir, but Thor didn't have time to think about it too much, because a sudden bandit jumped at him out of nowhere and grabbed him by the shoulders. Thor stretched out his arm to summon Mjölnir, but the bandit seemed to predict his every move and kicked hard on Thor's wrist which broke with a sickening crack. Thor roared in agony, but the bandit didn't seem impressed. He just pulled Thor up and threw him towards the other bandits.

"Going somewhere, your highness?" one of them said with a hissing tongue. The last things Thor saw was a creepy, almost familiar smile before he felt a painful blow on the back of his head and everything turned black.

-xxx-

Sif finally reached the tunnel and ran towards Arya who was standing a little bit further. The young warrior immediately turned and tightened her bow, ready to shoot, when she noticed it as only Sif and Fandral.

Arya lowered her bow and smiled. All three of them were out of breath.

"Where's Loki?" Fandral asked with an unnatural high pitched voice.

"He said he was going to warn you guys…" Arya answered in a whisper.

"He did…" Sif said while turning back to the square. The bandits were starting to get organised again. "And where is Thor? We need to leave or hide!"

"I suggest we do both!" Fandral said with a grin, while trying to catch his breath.

"I… I don't know…" Arya stuttered, ignoring Fandral. A sudden fear was starting to take hold of her body. "Loki claimed Thor would be here, waiting for us…"

"Well I don't see h…" Fandral started, but was cut off by marching footsteps coming out of the tunnel. He immediately lifted his sword again. Sif turned around. Her eyes grew big with panic. And then it struck her.

"It was all a trick…" she whispered.

"What?" Fandral asked. Sif's eyes grew dark.

"It was all a trick!" she repeated while drawing her sword. Behind them the bandits had noticed where they'd gone.

"What do you mean?" Arya asked.

Sif took a deep breath. "He's tricked us! This was Loki's plan all along!"

"Sif…" Fandral tried. "I don't think Loki would…"

"Don't you see, Fandral!" Sif interrupted angrily. "Loki's not coming! And neither is Thor! I bet he wanted Thor alone so he could kill him after all! And in the process, he also gets us killed!"

"No!" Arya shouted. She was starting to get enough of Sif's impossible attitude towards their king.

"Oh, look around you Arya!" Sif shouted. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's working with these bandits in the first place!"

"No! You're wrong! Why would he do this!" Arya responded furiously, although she had to admit their current situation wasn't exactly proving her point. What had Loki asked her again? You trust me, don't you?

Was this what he had meant with 'doing something crazy?', to take his side?

"He's not coming, Arya!" Sif shouted, the pain, panic and hatred clearly sounding through. "He's no king! He will never be! He's just a lying murderer!"

Arya wanted to shouted something in response, but was interrupted by Fandral.

"Incoming!" the Asgardian warrior shouted just before at least three dozen bandits came running around the corner.

At the same time the other bandits rushed in the tunnel from the square. The three warriors drew their weapons. With a loud cry Sif attacked the first one. The others followed her lead, but it was just impossible. Arya sliced an arm off a bandit in front of her and turned around.

"My Lady!" she shouted when she spotted a bandit attacking Sif from behind. She ran towards him and planted her dagger in his back, before he got the chance to slice Sif in half. The female warrior turned to thank Arya when she saw a bandit with two ugly heads, lift his axe behind Arya while shouting: "Don't kill them, men! He could be anyone here!"

Sif didn't have time to think about what Mr. two-head meant.

"Arya!" she shouted, but it was too late. The young warrior, distracted by the bandit's weird order, saw the blunt end of the axe flying towards her head before she unconsciously fell to the ground.

Sif ran forward and stepped over Arya's body.

"Fandral!" she shouted, just before she heard a short scream and the Asgardian warrior sank to the ground next to her, the back of his had bleeding severely. Before Sif could do anything, an enormous, stincking, grinning troll towered above her. The female warrior dodged his first attack, but was thrown back by the force of his club on her shield. With one sickening crack somewhere in her leg and the sound of her own scream, everything turned black.

I hope you like it!

I'll have to disappoint you, but the next four days I wont have much time to write, so... You'll have to wait, with this beautiful cliffhanger I gave you! Moehahaa! *evil Loki grin* (this is for all the people who DID scroll down!)

But worry not! Just as promised: a little Christmas present!

A ONE-SHOT CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!*

Wow! You didn't see that coming, did you! HO HO HO! (Jeez... Sorry again, forget that last thing... Seriously, forget it ever happened!)

Please, let me know what you think! (of both)

And a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!

Rumple x

*more info on my profile :)