So here you go! Hope you ENJOY it!
Chapter 40
With a crushing noise, the shining rainbow beams of the Bifröst hit the ground one last time, taking the last prisoners to Asgard. Loki smiled and watched the light disappear again in the darkening sky before turning around. In the distance he spotted Thor flying in his direction. The young king waited patiently for his brother to touch down right in front of him. The God of Thunder grinned.
"The dam has been destroyed. The river is flowing through the villages again as we speak…"
Loki smiled shortly before turning back to the place where the Bifröst had left its dark mark in the dusty sand. His gaze slowly turned skywards.
"I hope Heimdall can see things properly again soon…" the young king faced his brother once more, but a deep frown gave away his worry. Thor tilted his head to one side and sighed.
"You still think there're bandits down there?" he asked while gesturing towards the dark pits covering the landscape.
Loki rolled his eyes.
"Where are Hogun and Volstagg?" he asked. "I haven't seen them after escaping this labyrinth…."
Thor turned towards the river which was now a lot further away than before. The ground was still soaked and covered with water plants. The God of Thunder lifted Mjolnir and pointed towards a faraway bend of the river. Two lonely figures where bossing a bunch of Asgardian warriors around.
"I put them in charge of the last demolition of the dam."
Loki nodded. He was obviously lost in thoughts. Thor turned towards his brother and smiled softly.
"You know… They do trust you… They see you as their king… And that also counts for Sif and Fandral. I believe you managed to convince them… even Hogun!"
Loki smiled. "Even Hogun?" he asked sarcastically. "Wow, the world is a better place…"
Thor grinned. "I'm just saying, Loki. They're ready to follow you, as I am too…"
Loki locked his eyes with his brother's, a sparkle of delight flashing through them. "I never had any problems with making you, all of you, believe something…" he said.
Thor sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Where are Arya and the others?" Loki asked after a short silence.
"I guess they're still down there, searching for the last bandits…" Thor answered while his eyes darted towards the big gaping holes in the ground. "About Arya…" he continued.
Loki frowned and turned towards his brother. "What about her?"
Thor locked his eyes with his brother's and smiled. "Well.. what do you think of her?"
Loki shook his head in confusion. Did his brother just ask him what he thought he'd asked him?
"Excuse me?" the young king exclaimed.
Thor frowned.
"You know… what do you think about her progress? Do you think she's ready to become Captain or…"
Loki opened his mouth in understanding while an almost invisible blush coloured his pale skin. What was he thinking!
"Ooh… that…" he eventually answered. Thor raised his eyebrow, not really understanding why his brother was acting like this. When he realised Loki was drifting off once more, he spoke again.
"You see…" he started rather loudly, immediately catching the young king's attention again, "I was just wondering whether Arya could take over my responsibilities as The Captain. We both know I can't stay forever… "
Loki nodded vaguely. "Yes… yes of course…."
A short silence filled the air and Thor watched his brother struggling with finding the right words, which was a rather rare sight. Just when Thor wanted to ask what was bothering Loki, the young king smiled his charming smile and all confusion instantly melted away.
"I believe you, as her teacher, are better qualified to place judgement over this matter…" he said.
"Eeer…" the God of Thunder started, surprised by Loki's sudden chance of attitude, " I think she's as good as ready. She understands the meaning of leadership as well as sacrifice. She can make the right decisions under difficult and stressful circumstances. And, most importantly, people are prepared to follow her, to trust her and obey her…"
Loki smiled. "Then I don't see the problem…"
"I just presumed you needed some convincing…" Thor carefully added, but Loki only smiled.
"She almost slit my throat… I think I'm convinced…"
Thor laughed shortly before both brothers fell in silence again, watching the gaping holes carefully.
"You should be careful, though…" Thor suddenly started again. Loki turned towards his brother.
"With Fandral, I mean…" The God of Thunder continued with a smile. The young king frowned.
"Why?" he asked.
Thor grinned. "It's obvious he's flirting with Arya… the problem is that he still can't see the damage he could do… and a broken heart is a bad guide…"
"What?" Loki asked harshly.
Thor looked up surprise. "What? Isn't that what mother always used to say?"
Loki shook his head. "No.. well yes.. she used to say that, but…. That's not the point! Arya wouldn't fall for that brainle… for Fandral!"
Thor smiled. "Why not? She wouldn't be the first…"
"Well… no.. but…"
Thor sighed. "Who knows… maybe Fandral finally found the right girl…"
"No!" Loki exclaimed. "I mean… Arya?"
Thor pulled up his shoulders. "I don't know… maybe… they seem to get along…."
Yet Loki only shook his head. "No! I don't think … No… Arya's too smart for that…. I don't see it happening… Fandral doesn't deserve her…"
"He doesn't deserve her?" Thor repeated with a smile. "Really? Then who does? You?"
Loki opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out, to Thor's delight.
"N… No, I didn't say that!" the young king finally shouted, sounding frustrated. "I… I.. I just said…"
Loki sighed in defeat and rubbed his forehead. "Never mind! You're just impossible!"
Thor laughed. "No need to panic, brother… It was just an idea! It's not like I'm the love expert around here…"
Loki shook his head in frustration and sighed. "Shut up, then… no one's interested!"
Thor only laughed in return. Suddenly an Asgardian ship rose from one of the bigger pit's. After the army had come down again, a dozen or so little flying ships had come along to make descending into the pits a bit easier.
On board of the ship where Fandral and Arya. Once the ship was settled on the ground again, they climbed over board. First Fandral after which he offered Arya a helping hand and a big grin, but the female warrior just leaped over the side of the boat. Fandral said something to the remaining Asgardian knight who was sitting in the boat before the ship set of again, probably to get the rest of the party. Arya and Fandral started walking towards the two brothers, who were doing their very best not to start laughing.
Arya laughed at something Fandral had said when they reached Loki and Thor. She cleared her throat and bowed shortly before locking her gaze with Loki's, her green eyes still filled with sparkling excitement.
"Sire, we found about a dozen bandits down there. Sif's bringing them up as we speak…" she explained while gesturing to the pit where the ship was coming up again, now with six bandits and two Asgardian warriors to guard them, aboard. "We've searched everywhere, but it seems we got them all… for now…"
Loki nodded. "Good job…" he said while trying to keep a serious expression on his face.
Fandral who was playing around with his sword smiled. "So… what do we do with them?" he asked before turning towards the group of six, who had just left the boat, standing behind them. Thor and Loki shared a look.
"Well… according to your beautiful lecture you gave to those bandits earlier, we have to kill them since they didn't turn themselves in…" Thor pointed out.
Fandral scowled and put the point of his sword down. "I wouldn't mind… they're scum! They deserve it!"
Arya threw Fandral an angry glare of disbelief. "Maybe… but it's not entirely fair, is it?"
Fandral looked up. "Fair?" he asked. "It's not like they've been fair to anyone!"
Loki and Thor shared a look. This was so entertaining!
"Yes, I know!" Arya continued calmly, not noticing the staring eyes of her king and prince. "But you can't expect that, just because you told a dozen bandits to turn themselves in, all of the others knew that too! You saw it yourself, some of them didn't even realise they had been overrun. They never even noticed us until we got to them. They never got the chance to turn themselves in…"
Fandral sighed. "You're too naïve! They could be pretending!"
"Or they could not!" Arya immediately added, never losing her calm, yet firm tone. "And by the way, what good would it do to kill them without a trail? How would that make us any better than them?"
Fandral opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out. Helplessly he looked at Loki and Thor.
The two brothers had been watching their two friends and now shared a look before nodding.
Loki cleared his throat and turned towards Arya, completely ignoring Fandral.
"You really believe they deserve a second chance?" he asked. The female warrior nodded, although she didn't feel as confident as before. Loki's light grey eyes always managed to mess up her mind.
A short silence filled the air. Fandral tried to get Loki's attention but the young king just stared at Arya and the girl tried her best not to break eye contact, until a slight smile formed on her king's lips.
"Very well… good job, Captain!" he said while shortly tapping Arya on the shoulder. The young warrior froze instantly. Only when Thor shook her hand and also tapped her shoulder, making her legs crack dangerously, she realised what Loki had said.
"Congratulations, Arya! I'm sure you'll do great!" Thor shouted excitedly.
Arya wanted to say something, but no words found their way through her suddenly sore throat and dry mouth. Somewhere she noticed Fandral standing next to her, staring from Thor to her and back, but it didn't really bother her.
"C… Captain… my lord?" she finally managed to say.
Thor and Loki grinned widely.
"Yes, of course!" Thor answered. "You didn't think I was going to keep following orders from my little brother, did you?"
Loki threw his brother a scowl before turning back to Arya with a smile. "Once we're back on Asgard we'll make it official…" he said. Arya just stared back in awe, not fully grasping reality.
"Yes.. yes.. my lord… sire… thank you…" she stuttered.
A deep, melodramatic sigh sounded from next to her. Fandral looked from one person to the next, faking his disgust until a cheeky smile coloured his face.
"Congratulations, my Captain!" he said while picking up Arya's fingers to place a playful kiss on the back of her hand.
"Give up, Fandral!" Sif's voice suddenly sounded from behind them. Everyone turned to find Sif, followed by a dozen bandits and three Asgardian warriors, march their way.
Fandral threw her a childish glare while letting go of Arya's hand.
"Show your new Captain some respect, Lady Sif!" he shouted back.
Sif's eyebrows shot into the air when she came to a stop next to her friends. She glared at Arya who still seemed quite in shock and smiled.
"About time we had another female in command!" she said proudly. Arya smiled back.
Thor filled Sif in on Arya's first decision as Captain. The female warrior nodded in agreement. She turned towards the other Asgardian knights and told them to take the prisoners back to Asgard.
Once the group had past them, Loki let out a long sigh.
"I guess we can go back than…" he said. Yet no one but Thor seemed to share his excitement to go back home. A sudden silence had fallen over Sif, Fandral and Arya. They kept glaring at each other as if waiting for one another to say something. Loki frowned.
"What is it?" he asked sternly.
Again the three warriors only looked at each other.
Loki let out an irritated sigh. He was getting tired, not to mention really hungry. "Arya!" he demanded. "Tell me what's wrong!"
The young Captain turned towards her king and bid her lip.
"While we were down there we found … something else, sire…" she eventually said. Loki and Thor shared a look.
"And what might that something else be?" Loki asked.
Again, Arya first shared a look with Fandral and Sif before answering. It seemed all three of them weren't too keen to tell Loki this.
"We found a room, we believe it to be some sort of treasure room…"
Arya fell silent and Loki started getting annoyed. "Yes?" he asked harshly.
Thor quickly decided to act before Loki would lose his temper.
"What did you find in this room?" The God of Thunder asked.
A short silence filled the air.
"Stolen treasure, mostly…" Fandral suddenly answered. "Probably from the villagers, but also gold, lots of it… And also…"
"A scroll…" Sif finally finished.
"A scroll?" Loki asked, not understanding why his friends were acting like this. They almost seemed scared.
"Yes…" Arya confirmed.
"What's so special about this scroll?" Thor asked before his brother got the chance.
"We… we believe this scroll contains some sort of magic…" Sif explained. Her eyes immediately fixed on Loki. Thor followed her stare. He was starting to understand. He and his friends knew better than anyone else how much Loki loved magic and power and how easy he was persuaded.
Thor carefully scanned his brother for any sign of creepy craving. For a second Loki's eyes seemed to light up, but it disappeared as fast it came.
"Did you bring this scroll?" Loki eventually asked a lot calmer now.
"No… we didn't think it safe…" Arya managed to say. She'd noticed some kind of new hunger on her king's face and she didn't like it in the slightest. This was exactly what Sif and Fandral had warned her for when they had discovered the scroll.
Everyone waited for Loki's reaction. Finally the young king smiled.
"Of course… a wise decision…" he said. "Just one question: how did you know it was magic?"
"We…err.." Arya started. "We… we felt it…"
A new flash lit up Loki's light grey eyes. For someone who didn't practise magic, it was rather uncommon to feel its power this intense. The young king smiled shortly. "No kidding…" he said. "That must be some powerful scroll…"
Arya tried to smile, but Loki was giving her the creeps. She glanced over at Thor who slowly nodded.
"Loki…" the God Of Thunder started. "Maybe it's better to leave it…."
But the young king snapped his head towards his brother. "No!" he shouted. Everyone took a step back and Loki realised he'd gone too far. He quickly smiled and continued a bit calmer."It wouldn't be wise to leave something that powerful unguarded. I will inspect this scroll and then we'll take it back to Asgard."
Loki waited for a reaction, but everyone just stood there.
"Shall we?" the young king asked before taking the lead towards the lonely boat, still waiting next to a dark hole.
Everyone else looked at each other, not able to hide the upcoming fear in their eyes.
Thor sighed. "Just keep a watchful eye…" he said before following his brother. The other's did the same.
-xxx-
"There we are…" Fandral said almost sadly. Loki walked past Fandral into the next room.
"Okay…" he said after a short observation. His friends hadn't been lying. This was indeed a treasure room. And it was huge! Everywhere Loki looked he could see towers of pots and chests overflowing with gold. Golden coins, golden goblets, but also silver and tons of precious stones. Next to that, the room was stacked with paintings, books and other treasure which probably belonged to the villagers. In the far corner Loki could see and also feel the scroll his friends had been talking about. It didn't look like much. It was just a scroll, about one metre tall, tied together with a simple dark red ribbon, grey and filthy from laying in the cave. The young king could feel a powerful magic radiating in waves from the scroll. He almost couldn't keep his eyes from it. Now this was power!
Unfortunately, Loki was forced to tear his eyes away because something else in the room was a little bit more urgent now. Everyone stared at the lonely hooded form in the opposite corner of the room. It obviously was a bandit and right now he seemed to be in the process of fitting as much gold and silver into his pockets and the two tiny chest next to him. He didn't seem to notice he had company.
Loki shared a look with his friends before taking a step forward. He had to do his best to keep his attention on the bandit.
He cleared his throat and the clinking sounds of gold faded away through the air. The bandit turned around.
"I do hope we're not interrupting… " Loki said. The bandit's hand disappeared in his pocket before revealing a short brown straw. He brought it too his lips and blew hard at the end. A tiny, sharp dart raced through the air before burying itself in the thick dark leather of Loki's armour.
Loki slowly looked down and pulled the dart from his shoulder where it had left nothing more than a tiny, almost invisible hole in his clothing. The bandit turned pale.
"Well that was embarrassing…" Loki said after dropping the dart to the floor. He fixed his attention back on the bandit and smiled.
"Didn't you get our message?" he asked with fake kindness. "You were supposed to turn yourself in…"
The bandit jumped to his feet and started running in the opposite direction where another exit was hidden behind a pile of stolen weapons. However, before he even got the chance to escape, Loki appeared right in front of him. The bandit stumbled back, right in the arms of Fandral and Sif who forced him on his knees.
Loki's illusion dissolved and the real Loki slowly walked past Sif and Fandral to face the bandit.
"Please, please, my lord!" the bandit begged. "I swear I won't ever get involved in this kind of business! I promise you I will run away and I will never return! You have my word! Please! Have mercy!"
Loki lifted his hand and the bandit turned silent. For a couple of seconds Loki seemed to consider the man's words.
Suddenly the young king turned around, finally giving in to the enormous power of the scroll. Slowly he walked over to the other corner, not noticing how everyone in the room was staring at him.
Loki kneeled before the scroll and smiled while letting his hand hover over the raw paper. The hairs on the back of hand straightened up. The power was so intense, Loki lost all notion of the world around him for a moment until he suddenly heard his name. Thor...
Loki blinked and shook his head. He knew he had to be careful. Slowly he closed his hand around the scroll, somewhere expecting to be thrown back, but nothing happened. With one swift move Loki turned around and got to his feet, now holding the scroll in his right hand. An almost kind smile formed on his lips.
Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for Loki's reaction.
"Tell me…" the young king started while going back in his steps towards the frightened bandit on the floor. "What exactly is this?" he asked, waving around with the scroll.
The bandit looked up, a flash of fear and recognition shooting through his dark eyes.
"I don't know!" he lied. A sudden grin formed on his face. "But maybe I'll remember when you let me go…"
Loki laughed shortly, all kindness had disappeared. "It doesn't' work like that, my friend…" he said while kneeling in front of the bandit. "Let me make one thing crystal-clear! The only reason why you are still alive is because you're of use to me. Once I notice you are in fact completely useless, I'll just kill you! So I suggest you find a meaning for your existence in the next couple of minutes or your existence might end rather abruptly."
The bandit obviously was scared, but he forced a challenging smile on his face. "I don't reveal secrets of my brothers!" he said before spitting into Loki's face. The young king closed his eyes and sighed while getting to his feet again and rubbing his face dry.
"You shouldn't have done that…" he said in a loud whisper. With one quick move Loki stretched out his left arm and opened his fingers. The bandit was pulled too his feet by an invisible force and thrown back against the wall, making a tower of jars filled with sliver and diamonds collapse on top of him. The terrified man looked down to find himself dangling a few inches above the ground with an incredible force crushing his chest against the wall.
"Loki!" Thor shouted, but his the young king stopped him.
"He just needs a little persuasion, brother…" he said while walking towards the flying bandit. "Again!" he shouted in his face. "What do you know about this scroll? Where did you steal it!"
"I don't know, I swear!" the bandit cried out, but Loki, who was trained to see through lies, new better.
A creepy smile formed on the young king's lips. With a simple gesture of his fingers, three golden coins flew in his palm and started floating in between his dancing fingers.
"You know what so funny about gold?" he asked to no one in particular while taking a few steps closer to the bandit until their faces were only inches apart.
"It can kill you in so many ways…" the young king answered his own question. His eyes darkened for a second. "For example… I could bury you under your precious gold until it crushes you alive, or if you're lucky you suffocate first."
Loki waited a few seconds to make sure his words had effect.
"But I could be a little more creative and make you eat it! Coin by coin... until you choke on gold! Wouldn't that be something?"
The bandit tried to turn away from the young king's burning eyes but Loki's strong magical grip made that impossible.
"Or maybe..." the young king continued. "I could melt it and give you a beautiful scorching golden skin! Would you like that!" Even before the words had left Loki's lips, the three coins floating above his hand started bubbling and boiling, making a loud hissing noise.
The young king took a step back and stretched out his arm. The boiling coins slowly drifted towards the bandit's pale sweating face.
"Wait! Wait, sire!" he pleaded just before the precious metal touched his skin. Loki looked up, the coins stopped but kept floating in front of the bandits face. Boiling and hissing...
"We found that scroll a long time ago, when we first got here!" the bandit cried out in terror. "Our General knew about the Dark Elf ships in the Dark Mountains and wanted to dump them in the water so that the river would turn us invisible! We set off to the mountains and we found this cave…"
"Go on!" Loki shouted angrily when the bandit paused to take a deep, shaking breath.
"The...the cave had probably been buried for years, but because of an earthquake it must have been opened again."
Loki nodded. He knew the Dark Mountains were ravaged by frequent earthquakes.
"In this cave…" the bandit continued. "We found old runes no one could understand. We found lots of old relics and tons of gold ad also this scroll. We didn't think it was important until that man, The Other, came to claim it for his master, Thanos…"
Loki frowned. A cold shiver ran down his spine. For a second he even forgot to be creepy.
"Thanos?" he asked in a scared whisper. "What did he want with it?"
The bandit noticed Loki's fear and almost made the mistake of trying to use it against the young king, but a another set of three boiling coins right next to his eye made him change his mind.
"You were saying?" Loki asked wrathfully.
The bandit swallowed. "I don't know, I swear… Our General didn't know either, but he wanted payment for the scroll…"
"I though The Other was here for me…" Loki asked.
The bandit nodded. "Yes, yes… he was … but he also wanted the scroll…"
"And you're sure he didn't mention for what he might have needed it? Or his master?"
"No, no… I swear it, my lord! Please! That's all I know! Please!"
Loki watched the bandit for a couple of seconds, but had to admit he was telling the truth. With a deep sigh, the young king lowered his hand. The coins immediately stopped boiling and dropped to the ground as well as the terrified bandit. Gasping for breath and too scared to stand up, the bandit remained on his knees.
Loki swallowed and forced the dark spots covering his view to disappear. He was asking too much of himself. The magic was starting to drain him.
"Take him away!" he ordered Fandral and Sif. The two warriors immediately obeyed and dragged the bandit to his feet.
"Thank you, my lord!" he shouted while the two Asgardians forced towards the exit. "Your mercy has no equal! Thank you my lord!"
Loki wasn't listening. He rubbed his eyes and sucked a shaky breath into his lungs.
"Loki?" Thor's voice sounded behind him. When the young king didn't respond, he tried to take the scroll, but Loki's strong grip made that impossible.
The young king turned around, forcing a smile on his face to hide his exhaustion. Slowly he lifted the scroll and untied the red ribbon. The paper rolled down, revealing a mixture of dark runes, drawings and numbers.
A deep frown appeared on Loki's forehead while his eyes scanned the scroll. Thor took a deep breath and joined his brother.
"Can you read it?" he finally asked.
Loki didn't answer right away, but just kept staring at the paper. Arya joined them too.
"No…" Loki eventually answered sounding almost disappointed. Thor shook his head. This couldn't be good. If Loki didn't know what these runes meant… then who would? Thor didn't know anyone who had read more books in a lifetime than Loki.
"Do you think it's magic…" Arya asked.
Loki smiled. "Oh, it is magic all right… and some powerful magic too… the most powerful I've ever felt…"
Both Arya and Thor expected to hear that creepy hungry tone they'd heard before, but Loki seemed really serious now.
"I can't read it…" Loki continued while letting the paper slip through his fingers so he could read the rest. "But it does mention Heimdall's name here…"
"Heimdall?" Thor asked in surprise. He followed Loki's pointing finger and found a set of meaningless runes.
"How do you know that's Heimdall's name?" he asked.
Loki sighed. "Because I recognise this! These same runes are written everywhere in the Bifröst! You just need to know where to look. Mother once told me they stood for Heimdall's name…"
"Mother could read these?" Thor asked in disbelief. But Loki shook his head.
"No… she just knew… she told me these runes date from the Beginning…"
Thor turned silent.
"So…" Arya suddenly started in disbelief. "That would mean that this scroll dates from the same period… the Beginning of Everything…"
Loki smiled. "Exactly…"
I hope you liked it ;)
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