Chapter Twelve

Walking through the small stairwell, you kept a keen eye on both ahead and behind you as you went, unsure if the intruders knew of them yet. Finally you arrived at the top of the stairs, putting the tray in one hand, you took a deep breathe and slid the small door open. You were dragged through and an ice blade placed mere millimetres from your throat. Playing the delicate maiden, you shook and whimpered as you looked up at a pair of ruby coloured eyes.

"What is your name Æsir?" He growled.

"Eleonora…Eleonora Bjórrdottir." You whimpered.

He dragged you forward toward a set of doors, shoving you into them to open them and continued to push you through, into what you realised was the queen's main chambers. Inside sat the Queen, some of her maids, another Jötunn and two Dark Elves. Three einharjar lay slaughtered on the floor.

"What is this?" One of the Dark Elves smiled maliciously, looking you up and down.

"She is one of the kitchen maids, it is time for my mid afternoon tea, she is only doing her job." The Queen stated.

"Her name?" The Jötunn who had found you asked.

"Eleonora." The Queen replied, she looked at you and smiled slightly. "She is the daughter of Bjórr."

The Jötunn was satisfied that you were who you said you were and pushed you forward. "Get beside them." He ordered. You stumbled over to the queen, whimpering as you passed the deceased guards.

"Your meal, your Majesty." You bowed with a shaky voice.

"Wait, how do we know that it is not a trick?" the other Dark Elf queried. The fist Elf came over and pushed you to the side, causing you to fall to the floor.

"There was no need got that." The queen snapped, rising from her chair as she helped you to your feet once more. The Elf grunted and continued to study the contents of the tray.

"There is a knife." The second elf noted.

"Well, as you can clearly see it is a butter knife, it is there because of the bread." The Queen explained curtly.

"Do not test us woman, lest you wish to end up like your husband and sons." The Jötunn snarled.

"What of my sons?" The Queen demanded.

"Well the trickster made it all the way to the palace gardens, to give him his due, but even his gifts were no match for ours; and as for the brute, I always heard he was one to lose the head in battle, now, well, he has done so both literally and metaphorically." He laughed cruelly.

The Queen and her maids gasped and a tear came to her eye as she faltered her step back, falling into her chair. "My poor boys," she choked.

"Those brutal beasts have descended to Hel where they belong." One of the Dark Elves snapped.

The queen said no more, simply whimpering tearfully as her maids attempted to console her. You remained silently next to them, sitting and assessing.

Time passed slowly; outside you could hear yells and shout as utter chaos descended on the Realm Eternal. Though it had been far less than an hour since you had ascended the stairwell, it almost felt like days. Your attention was brought to the doors you had been shoved through as deep voices seemed to be coming toward them. The maids seemed to be shaking fearfully as they stared expectantly. The Queen sat straight and looked defiantly ahead, giving you an idea of who was coming.

Sure enough, a moment later, the door burst open and two figures filled them. The Jötnar and Dark Elves in the room bowed confirming that they indeed were Laufey of Jötunheim and Malekith of Svartalfheim. They stood smiling viciously at the Queen and at how the maids shook in terror around her.

"That one was not here earlier." Laufey's ruby red eyes fixed on you.

"She is one of the kitchen girls, she only brought my meal as is the norm for her." Frigga stated calmly. "Your men insisted she remain, so she has."

Malekith came over and stood above you, glaring down. "Such an interesting colour for her to wear." He noted. "Is that not the signature colour of the Trickster?" A moment after, he grabbed you by the throat, squeezing tightly; you panicked as air became trapped in your body, unable to get in or get out.

"Leave her, she is inconsequential." The Queen ordered. "Your men stated they slaughtered my boy outside in my gardens, unless you think them untruthful. Use your own magic, she is as she appears." She suggested.

For a brief moment you sensed a horrible cold shock flow through you, before Malekith seemed satisfied and released you from his grasp. Gasping for air, you clutched your bruised throat and tried to scramble away back to the Queen. Malekith looked to Laufey and shook his head. The Frost Giant then turned to the Queen.

"Where is the Casket?"

"In what realm do you think I would ever tell you?" she laughed almost in disbelief.

"You were given time to think over our bargain, since you refuse, you are of no use to us old woman." Laufey's arm began to cover in ice as he called upon his power, the maids fled, but Frigga remained seated, simply looking at him defiantly. As his blade went through the Queen, her image began to dissolve. You could not control the small smile on your face as you realised where exactly Loki had gotten his cunning from.

Pushing yourself up, you ran forward and bolted for the door the maids had gone through moments before, jamming it shut behind you before helping them into the stairwell you had used not long before. "The main halls are full of them, go down these stairs and get into another service area, remain hidden at all costs." You ordered before shutting the door a moment before a Dark Elf came into the room. Looking around you saw a dagger case Loki told you the Queen kept in case of emergencies. You ran forward, cursing your lack of comfort in a dress after so long, and seized the weapon, twirling it in your fingers for a moment before plunging it full force into the elf, causing blood to spit from his mouth, and you toss him aside, dead onto the ground.

A Jötunn entered the room, the one who had caught you to begin with, looking around, his gaze quickly landed on you, and he lunged forward at you. Thinking quickly you took the Dark Elves' sword from his belt and fought him back, but he was quickly joined by the other one. Fearfully you attempted to keep both at bay, though it was difficult. Neither of them could land a fatal blow on you, but neither could you land one on them. Just as you felt you could no longer be able to fight them both off, one gasped and fell to the floor in pieces. Seizing the momentary distraction of the other, you plunged the sword into his leg, causing him to fall to one knee, and allowing you to swing it into his abdomen.

"You fight well." The Queen smiled, lowering her own sword.

"As do you, your Majesty." You bowed.

"Where are my sons?"

"How did you…?"

"The meal you brought consists of foods that only Thor would consider eating, not I. And as Malekith stated, the colours you don are Loki's, telling me that my sons are alive." She explained. You could not hide how impressed you were. "Loki, like yourself has a very keen mind." She commented.

"They are waiting close to the entrance to the weapons vault. They wish to call forth the Destroyer." You explained, answering her original question.

"Then they will require Gungnir. It lies with Odin." She stated sadly. "I will continue to ensure that Laufey and Malekith are kept at bay. You need to take this hall to the next rooms, go through the onyx rimmed doors and there you will find my beloved Odin, Gungnir will be at his side." She explained, bringing you to a set of ornate doors. "Go quickly my child; there is no time to waste."

"What of you Your Majesty?"

"I will be fine, like you I am trained in sword wielding, and all else failing, I have my seidr. Fear not, we will meet again soon. There is a chance you may tire of my presence before long." She chuckled before opening the doors and letting you out.

Not having time to dwell on her words, you looked up and down the hallway surprised to see it deserted. Keeping a close eye to everything around you, you rushed to the onyx lined doors and pushed them open gently. The room too was void of life. In the centre of the room, there was a large stone table, and upon it, Odin's body rested. On the floor not far from it, there was blood and two helmets, that told you that whoever had been guarding his remains, had met their own end also. A golden light glowed around the kings body, the remnants of some ice around the floor implied a Jötunn had attempted to touch him and it had not ended well for the trespasser. That was concerning as the staff was also within the golden glow. Inhaling deeply, you prayed to all the Gods that the glow would not harm you as you did not wish to desecrate the dead king. You slowly brought a hand forward toward him, looking at his still figure as you did so. His well battered face told you he fought valiantly against his enemies, but it was clear age had had its part to play in his defeat also. With one last breath, you inched into the glow and pushed against it, eyes clenched shut in anticipation of immense pain, though none ever came. Your hand reached the cold metal of Gungnir and the soft silken texture of the king's tunic with total ease.

Sighing in relief, you tightened your fingers around it and lifted it. It weighed more than you thought it would, even considering it was a large lump of metal and it stood at over one and a half times your height. You could only think of the large obstacle it caused as you were to attempt to sneak it through the palace to try and bring to the princes. Not wanting to waste any more time, you looked once more to Odin and bowed your head in respect, praying to the dead king that you would succeed in getting the staff to Loki, and that he in turn could use it to defeat the enemy.