The Promise
The sky rumbled and the thick clouds clashes. Thunders shrieked drowning the roars of men and clashes of steel and ice.
Blood…fire…death… They were everywhere.
Thor's shouts were deaf to their ears as his armies were being slaughtered in cold blood. He could not move; his feet would not move no matter how hard he tried. Laughter echoed in his ears.
The shrieks of these decadent creatures that crawled from the bowel of Yggdrasil made his skin crawled. They were humanoid, but rotted, hideous….Their limbs were bone, and they move on all fours and scurry like spiders. Their shrieks were horrifying; flesh eating insects flew from their mouth that was as dark as the abyss. Leaches and maggots, they crawled from their rotted mangled flesh.
He saw Hogun fending off one demented creature only to have more latching onto him. Black nails, tear at Hogun's skin and their razor teeth ripped flesh from bones.
Hogun shouted when the creature sunk its disgusting teeth into his jugular and ripped his neck open. Blood poured, soaking his torn armor. He reeled.
Thor's shouts were lodge in his throat when another twisted Hogun's head and tore it from shoulder.
At once Thor snapped his eyes open into the darkness of his tent. His breath came in mist and his body trembled. His arms pinned over his head ached and burn. There was wet noise of tearing flesh. With every move, pain sheered as the ice blade that punctured the palms of his hand tore his flesh.
He craned his head up to see his blood soaked hands.
"I trust you enjoy it?" Familiar voice whispered in the dark.
Thor turns to see Loki getting up from his chair on the other side of the tent.
"Should I show you more…?" Loki taunted, moving towards him. "Or do you prefer to read the reports which I am sure would arrive by the morning"
Thor tugged at his hand, but his limbs felt as if they were held to the ground with a thousand boulders rather than just blades.
"This is not real… this is an illusion…" He reminded himself fiercely as he struggled to just to move his limbs.
"Don't even bother…" Loki lowered himself.
"What do you want?" Thor growled.
"You seem upset…and here I thought I was doing you a favor. If memories serve me right, you dislike reading reports" Loki crawled up Thor's naked body and straddled him. Emerald eyes graze mockingly over Thor's sweaty features.
"Have you had enough?" Thor gritted.
Loki smirks.
"Another loss battle in the East…" Loki dragged the tip of an ice dagger over Thor's sweaty cheek, breaking skin. Thor did not so much as flinch. "And the loss of another dear friend…How tragic…"
Thor looked away.
"Are you sure you should be fighting in the West?"
"Get out" Thor growled.
Loki laughs. "Hurts doesn't it?"
"You are pathetic…"
"Am I?" With a move Loki stabbed the ice dagger through Thor's shoulder.
Pain exploded. Thor gritted his jaw, refusing to make a sound. "This is not real…This is not real!"
"Won't you scream for me love?" Loki twisted the blade in Thor's shoulder.
White hot pain tore up Thor's arms and clawed down his ribs. Thor gasped, clamping his teeth together. "This is not real! This is not real!"
"Stubborn as always" Loki brutally grabs Thor's jaw turning the God to him. "You know…I have never believed in an eye for an eye…I always pay it back with interest…"
Thor was unfazed. "I didn't kill your brother… you did Loki…" He whispered.
Loki hissed. His face twisted into something ugly as he roughly released Thor's aching jaw.
"Do not mock me Aesir! Before this war is over, I will make you wish you were dead!" With that, Loki faded.
At once movement returns to Thor's limbs and the pain faded to a dull throb. Thor did not bother to check his injuries because he knew he would find none. Loki was never there. It was an illusion.
It was not the first time Loki had visited him, nor would it be the last. And indeed Loki did return from time to time… with grotesque vision of Thor's armies being slaughtered in cold blood; with Volstagg being skewered. Then there were times that Loki returns to taunt him either in the visage of Lady Sif or simply a lover. And sometimes Loki returns to hurt him, carve his skin and make him bleed.
Over the decades, Loki became increasingly cruel, unpredictable and had even seemed to take genuine delight in his torture. A delight that was not present when it started.
Thor could guess why…Loki's dark seid…
Though Thor could not say for sure what was truly happening to the trickster, but what he did know was that it will all comes to the same inevitable end. Loki will die as a shell of his formal self, stripped of everything that was him.
Thor had wondered not for the first time, if those mangled creatures Loki summoned from the very bowels of Yggdrasil herself were past casters consumed by black magic.
Fools all of them. He is surrounded by fools!
"This is trickery! I've told you that! Why must you bother me with such foolishness again and again?!" Loki demanded furiously. "Are you so blind that you cannot see it for what it is?!"
"Then what of the markings? How would they have known?" Laufey demanded.
"Because I showed Thor those on my body centuries ago!"
Byleistr took the letter from Laufey and read it for the third time. It was the same demand as all the letters before. They demand a negotiation for Helblindi. And refusal would allegedly mean more pieces of Helblindi arriving.
Laufey had been unnerved when he received an ear, then the first finger, then the second, the third and then a whole hand with the missing digits. At that point, Laufey was more than willing to agree to the negotiation; but Loki would hear none of it.
"A lie! " Loki had declared. "Helblindi is dead! They are playing at your sentiments!"
Byleistr placed the letter down and pulled the bloodied cloth closer to him.
A large chunk of bloodied Jotun skin and flesh lay upon it, bearing the distinctive mark of Laufey's house. It was a rough cut from a butcher's knife from the look of it. The stanch was raw and coppery. Byleistr thought he could taste the disgusting metallic tang at the back of his tongue, and it was making him sick. He pushes the thing away from him.
"A damn good trick if it is one…" Byleistr muttered.
"A trick nonetheless!" Loki declared loudly. "They are desperate and they should be! The north is ours. The east has almost fallen! The elves may be vanquished but the west had burnt. They have scarcely anything left!"
"Desperation can be dangerous" One of the councilmen spoke.
"Desperate or not…they cannot summon the dead to life" Loki insisted.
"Or Helblindi still lives" There was a tinge of hope in Laufey's voice.
Loki slammed his hand on the ice table, turning on Laufey with red eyed fury. "Helblindi is dead!" Loki spat. "And you are blinded by grieve, hope…and love…You are not in your right mind to make any decision my King!"
Laufey darkened. The temperature plummeted, the air prickled, biting at Tyr's skin.
Tyr cleared his throat quickly. "Why exactly are you so opposed to negotiation my Prince may I ask?"
Loki scoffed, turning to their Lord General as if to say such stupidity did not warrant an answer.
"And what exactly did you think they would request for, Lord Tyr?" Loki asked pleasantly.
"Land obviously, my Prince. But as you say, we hold the stronger position. I would think the terms they come up with would not be so bitter if they expect us to swallow them"
"You would think…" Loki sneered. "Are you trying my patience for idiocy?!"
"…"
"The Aesir's are not to be trusted...they are prideful, arrogant! They will lie, they will manipulate. Sweeten your ears with honeyed words and when your back is turn, they will tear you down and take everything"
"And you would know wouldn't you dearest brother" Byleistr leans back in his chair. "So what do you suppose we do?"
"The raven bearing these disgusting gifts came from their base just over the falls. Ready the army and I will lead the charge"
The councilmen nodded, looking from one to another in agreement.
"We need not negotiate with those savages. And this ridiculous meeting is over" Loki stood up; turning to leave when Laufey suddenly spoke.
"Quite right you are. It is over" Laufey said. "We will negotiate. Lord Tyr, send a raven to the Aesir"
Byleistr tensed.
Loki turned on Laufey with cold dripping fury. And for a moment it was as if the entire world was holding her breath.
"You will do no such thing…" Loki whispered dangerously.
"You are not the King" Laufey reminded Loki. "And the armies are mine. And I will take them from you if you disobey my orders"
"How dare you!" Loki exploded.
The icy ground trembled, shadows bleeds from the cracks and darkness creeps up the tent. The oil lamp hanging over them flickered wildly, threatening to snuff. There was a whisper of fearful gasped and shouts. Some fell to their knees in terror while other were frighten stiff in their seats.
"Mercy! Mercy!" They pleaded.
"Prince!" Tyr leaps to his feet, ice blade spiked in his hand as he rushed to Laufey's side. The three guards standing behind Laufey was already by the King.
Laufey was unfazed; his scarlet eyes were unyielding as they bore into Loki's.
"You dare threaten me?!" Loki shoved his chair out of the way. "I who gave you the North! I who made your dream a reality!" Loki stalks towards Laufey, index finger jabs at his own chest.
"Mercy! Mercy!"
"My Prince! Calm yourself!" Tyr pointed his blade at Loki.
Loki did not even seem to hear him.
"I who elevate the name of Jotunheim in the eyes of every realm! A name that realms now speak with fear and reverence rather than mockery! I gave you all of this and you dare turn against me?!" His voice rumbled; filling their ears, their mind.
"Mercy! Mercy!"
Anger, hot red anger, clouds his mind, darkness spreading, burning through his veins like a plague. Ice was forming in his hand. The whisper of death sung sweetly in his ears, in his blood… Kill Kill Kill…He dares mock you… he dares threaten you…he dares defy you…show him fear…show him pain…show him the power that you command…Kill Kill…
"You will come no further!" Tyr roared.
Loki did not even realize he was already across the long table until the tip of Tyr's blade touched his chest. Blood red eyes glared into blood red one.
"Back away please my Prince" Tyr ordered.
Loki hissed, taking a step back, then two. His hand reached to grab the top of the chair Tyr had sat moments before, both in fury and in a desperate effort to cling on to his slipping sanity.
"He is your dam…he is your King!" Loki reminded himself.
"You know you can cut through these guards quite easily. Are you sure you will not kill me?" Laufey asked to Tyr's horror.
Loki hissed. "You are selling your people for one mere Jotun"
"I sell no one. Simply to end the killings if I could. Haven't enough blood been spilled in this war?"
Loki laughs. "Curious. I did not hear that from you before pieces of Helblindi started showing up"
"…"
"Is that the lie you will tell yourself to make you sleep better at night for betraying your people?"
"And what lies do you tell yourself in the dark of night when your people die by the thousands in this war you create? That it is for the glory of Jotunheim?"
The bold accusation beneath the King's words shocked the room and took Loki's words away for an instance.
Byleistr resisted the urge to smile.
Loki looked to Lord Tyr and the guards with their raised blade by his dam's side; then to the councilmen, all who lowered their heads refusing to meet his gaze. None will speak for him. He wanted to laugh.
Loyalty… let it not be said that Jotuns have no loyalty.
These men still stand unmoving with a King who started and loss a war that reduce Jotunheim into a shell of her former glory; a King that started and loss a war that killed six million and still continues to kill even when the bloodshed had long ended.
No… Loki would not group Lord Tyr and the guards with the councilmen.
Tyr and his warriors are loyal to a degree; while the councilmen are simply flattering cowards that would sell even their King to save their own hide. If Loki was to murder Laufey right before them, they would all fall to their knees to worship him at the snap of his fingers. Why Laufey hadn't kicked them off the table was a mystery seeing as Laufey took no advice from them. But all the same, none stand with him now.
"I gave you everything…I gave all of you everything you could ever ask for…but it will never be enough will it…?" Loki thought bitterly, angrily. Then make them pay…make them scream…You know you want to… His blood whispered.
He roughly released the chair and stepped back.
"Spit then on the sacrifice of your warriors. Do as you will…" Loki said.
Laufey could not have been more surprise at Loki's compliance. He would have thought it would take a lot more than this. But all at once, he felt guilt when Loki turns to leave, his raven feathered cloak sweeps behind him.
"Loki…" Laufey called uncertainly. "I did not mean what I say"
"…"
"But I cannot abandon him if there is a chance that he is alive. He is my child. And he is your brother…or have your forgotten your brother?"
"Helblindi is dead… Forgive me if I will not join you in your delusion" Loki left.
The evening drizzle had woken a hundred sleeping smell and made them ripe and strong again. The musky scent of earth, and rotten leaves and barks. Veil of icy mist covered the ground as he creep away from the base beneath the shadow of night. The sounds from his boots were the faintest of crunch. Towering trees with barks the color of night stood all around him. Their enormous branches that spread out high over them are bare and dead. Where once was life, now death reign. Where once was light, laughter and joy, now darkness, weeping and sorrow plagues.
Over the centuries Asgard had burn, withered, and rotted where Loki touches. Loki had single handedly torn the realm apart, burn it to the ground.
Loki is chaos, Loki is cruelty, Loki is madness, Loki is death… Even the Jotuns says so in harsh whispers.
From beneath his dark hooded robes, he eyed the thousands of red eyed crows perched on dry dead branches warily. Loki's ears and eyes. The crows cawed loudly one after another, in the numbers, blending, filling the entire forest with their terrible voices as the mist thickened. Then came a voice. "Sneaking away from your camp in the dead of night like a thief again your Grace?"
Thor's fingers curled tightly over Mjolnir by his side. He took a deep breath, turning to see Loki. Or rather the illusion of Loki.
The wind blows, caressing over Thor's faces like dainty fingers.
The jewels in Loki's braid twinkled beneath the silver light of the moon. His skin was pale white, but his braided hair was black as the abyss. His lips were dark and his pale green eyes looked as if they were powdered with dark shades giving him a sort of phantom-like beauty.
"So harsh and beautiful is the face of death…" Thor thought. As much as he loath to admit it, there is an ominous beauty to Loki despite everything.
"Good evening Loki…" He muttered.
Loki smile. "These are dangerous times to wander alone…And you are on Jotun land…"
"…"
"Come" Loki glided towards Thor.
His feathered cloak held by golden broach with emerald stone parted to reveal that Loki wore only the usual fur across his hips.
"Let me accompany you for your usual stroll by the river" Loki wrapped his arms about Thor's with shocking intimacy.
Thor almost wrenched his arm away from the devil but he resisted. He will not give the trickster that satisfaction.
"I wish to look upon your face…" Loki said.
Thor pushes his hood off; his eyes looked straight ahead.
"So tense…" Loki purred. Black nails caress Thor's cheek.
Thor tightened his jaws. It was always hard for Thor to accept that the Loki before him was simply an illusion...when he could feel the weight to Loki's hand against him, feel his frigid coldness, feel the hardness of his fingertips that caresses his skin; taste the ice on his tongue when Loki demands a kiss from him, and smell the scent of pine and blood that lingered over the prince.
But Loki had told him once… "The sense of touch, the sense of taste, of smell… of cold and pain…even fear…they are all creations of the mind…"And what is of the mind; is fair game to Loki.
"I would like to be back before dawn" Thor started walking with Loki by his arm.
Black feathered cloak dragged behind Loki as the mist swirled beneath them.
It did not take long for them to reach the river on the other side of the forest. The water flow in a gentle stream and all that could be heard was the trickle of water.
Be it that the cicadas had stopped singing their melody in this winter that curse the land. Be it that the fireflies and frogs are gone. Be it that there are no fishes swimming in the river; no lilies that grow. The water gave still Thor some semblance of peace in his world of chaos and anguish.
"What you enjoy about this desolated place is beyond me" Loki looks towards Thor who did not turn to regard him or looked at him at all, all night.
Loki reached up to capture Thor's chin between his fingers, turning the God towards him.
"Do not be so cold" Loki said. "I am here to reward you"
"…"
"You impressed me. The son of Odin has it in him to torture" Loki smirks. "I want to give you a kiss…"
Thor did not respond, but nor did he pull back when Loki leans up. Ice cold breath brushes Thor's lips.
Thor closes his eyes when Loki reaches to cup his face with tenderness that reminded him of the Loki he had loved. And when Loki kissed him, for a moment he could do nothing more than to return the kiss with equal passion. His hands slipped beneath Loki's cloak, kneaded up the side of Loki's toned body. His fingers brush over the scars, the toned muscles. And his mouth opens for Loki.
There was urgency in their kiss; an all out battle of lust, desire, passion and anger, so much anger…
Then suddenly Thor pulls back. "Enough Loki" He looked away.
Loki laughs. "Is this guilt you feel for torturing Jotuns?"
"…"
"Come now" Loki place a finger beneath Thor's chin, turning Thor back to him. A sinister smile on Loki's lips. "Tell me truly, how does it feel to embrace your true nature? You enjoyed it didn't you?"
"You ask me if I enjoy having your brother tortured?" Thor sneered in disgust.
"Hmm…I think we have enough of charades don't you think?"
"This is no charade. I will have this negotiation eve-"
"Yes yes. You wish to negotiate" Loki cuts in impatiently. "But tell me, who is it really that you are torturing?"
"The second Prince of Jotunheim. Helblindi Laufeyjarson" There was no hesitation in Thor's voice.
All smiles vanished from Loki's lips. Thor saw the slap coming and accepted it with a smile design to irritate.
"I will not be mocked!" Loki spat. "Helblindi is dead!"
"Did you see his body?" Thor challenged.
"…"
"He lives Loki. I spared him on that slope" Thor tells him.
"I do not believe you" Loki gritted.
"I think you do" Thor said. "You know my answer to your question before I even speak it. You are just here to see if I speak it true"
"…"
"And you the God of Lies have found no lies in me. Or why would you be so enraged"
Fandral's steps thudded and echoed up the winding steps as he makes his way to the bowel of Asgard prison. The stench of waste, of rot and raw open flesh lingered in the air. The torch in his hand flickered as a gust of wind funneled through the gaps between the old stone walls. Black splotches of old blood stained the cold structure and on many parts there were nail marks of desperate prisoners that had once clawed walls and steps.
He knew the marks were made during the last prison break. He was still a child then. It was said that the prisoners broke free, killed the guards and were charging up this narrow steps. In a bid to take control, the head guard had bolted the door on the top and let loose poisonous gas into these narrow steps.
The screaming he was told was terrifying as the gas rotted their skin from flesh; rotted their lungs and sheered down their throat as they gasped for breath. You could hear it beyond the thick door. The thumping, the scratching as they banged and clawed at the door in agony and terror. Their shrieks for mercy were a thing of nightmare or so he was told.
Fandral tried not to look at the marks. The sight always made his skin crawl.
At the bottom of the steps there was a sizable landing. The four guards sitting by the door looked up from their poker game.
"Ah! Another Jotun lover" One grunted, throwing down his cards.
"Good evening sir" Fandral smiled.
"Yea, yea…I know what you lot want" He stood up from his wooden stool and lumbered pass Fandral stinking of mead towards the bolted door. He sorted through the massive set of keys that were chained to the leather belt that girdled his waist until he found one that fit and turned the lock.
"Thank you" Fandral said.
The men muttered under his breath as he returned to his game.
Fandral shouldered aside the heavy metallic door and stepped into foul darkness. The door bang shut behind him as he raised his burning torch. The air was stale and it stunk terribly of piss, shit, blood, rot and decaying flesh. He had to fight not to gage at it.
The stone beneath his boots were cracked and oily. Three dozen metallic doors lined the narrow path. He could hear banging in some and wailing in others. These are solitary cells for the worst of criminals; small and uncomfortable even for an average Aesir. But during this war, it had been used for the more defiant Jotun prisoners.
There were half a dozen armed guards standing outside the cell when Fandral arrived. Each of them held a torch in one hand and rested the other over the hilt of their sword. The thick rusty metallic door was wide open and he could hear the metallic scraps of chains against stone ground. The guards gave Fandral a nod when they saw him. Fandral return it with a smile as he laid his torch by the door.
There was a large figure at the back on the narrow cell, and a much smaller one kneeling at his knees.
"Ah…My Lord of Aesir…" The Jotun looked at Fandral with unconcealed anger.
His long unwashed bone pale locks fell over his naked shoulders and down to his waist were in ropes and tangles. But even so, you could still see the power and the beauty that is in him. That unfailing will to live…to fight and to survive.
If anyone has eyes, they would see that Jotuns are not creatures to be tamed or enslaved. They are unbending, unbowed and unbroken…Proud, strong, and magnificent. They are hope, they are strength, they are pride and they are courage. Oh how blind had the realms been to not see it before…
"Good evening Helblindi" Fandral greeted. "And to you too my prince"
Baldur turns to regard him from where he knelt on the floor.
"Good evening Ser" He soaked his bloodied cloth into a basin of hot herbs.
"You missed training again and your tutor was not most please when he went to the Queen. She would have you go to her when you are finish here"
"…"
"She worries"
"I know…" Baldur placed the soaked cloth over the Jotun's infected stump.
Helblindi flinched.
"Hold still!" Baldur said.
Helblindi ignored Baldur, looking instead at Fandral.
"How the hospitality of Asgard has deteriorated" He said humorlessly, motioning to his cell with his functional hand.
The chains clinked. His limbs were chained with iron to the narrow wall and mucky ground and the chains linked from one to another. The cell was so low Helblindi could barely kneel. The distance between the two walls was scarcely wider than his shoulders.
"You brought this upon yourself" Fandral told him.
"Have I?"
"You were granted a cell in the main prison. A cell befitting of your station and yet you had repeatedly proven that you cannot be trusted"
"You have got to be joking" Helblindi laughs humorlessly.
"Have we not given you comfort in your cell? A clean bed, food, water, books, a cell large enough for you to move, and cold enough to be comfortable, anything you would ask for. What was it that you lack?"
Helblindi shook his head; letting out broken chuckles. "Yes yes…you Aesirs have been most generous. And I should repay your generosity by being an obedient pet yes?"
"I simply meant it is foolishness to attempt escape. You knew you were never going to succeed"
"You were cutting me into pieces!" He slammed right fist against the stone wall, shocking Baldur.
But neither the guards nor Baldur was worried of an attack. Helblindi was always the more reasonable of Jotun prisoners even when enraged.
"What was I to do?!" Helblindi demanded.
"Forgive me" Fandral whispered.
He did not mean to put Helblindi in so much pain. Helblindi freed him back then, he had not forgotten. But there is only so much he could do.
"Are you here to cut me again?" Helblindi growled.
Baldur whipped his head back at Fandral.
"No…" Fandral said. "I am simply here to deliver the Queen's message. Laufey has agreed to negotiate and someone will be send to confirm you are indeed alive in a few days."
"What of Loki?"
"Does it matter? Laufey is King. Not Loki" Fandral reached down to pick up some fresh bandage and a spare pair of gloves.
"That may be. But I would work on convincing the crown prince if I were your King. And do tell your King, that the crown prince has a certain attachment to this place called Fyrisvellir the last time I saw him. And I do not think it is simply for the beauty she has to offer"
"You seem very helpful" Fandral said suspiciously.
"I wish to leave this war in no more pieces than I already am"
"I will pass the message along" Fandral reached for the dirty bandage wrapped over Helblindi's torso. "The bandage could take awhile. Perhaps we could have another history lesson of Jotunheim?"
"Yes please!" Baldur beamed.
Baldur was a strange child Helblindi found. Always so eager for more stories from the land of ice. The child speaks with more sense and reason than men twice his age and he held no hatred or blame against the Jotuns despite everything.
"Tell me stories you grew up with. The history you were taught. The culture you grew up in" Baldur had come to his cell with a bizarre request decades ago.
"Why?" He had asked.
"To stop the war, we need to understand each other. When I'm old enough to sit in my brother's court, I want to give him good council" the child had said.
" Why not learn them from your tutors?"
" How could they teach me when they see only monsters?"
"You do not believe I am a monster?"
"We are different…but I see no monster"
It was a day's ride to Fyrisvellir from the golden city and a week's ride from the North border. Each would be permitted to bring only a small band of a hundred warriors as their protection and no more. The Jotuns were greeted by the boy King at the gates of the city and showed to the campsite that had been prepared for them.
Loki was laying on his makeshift bed of fur when Thor came to him. He did not even turn to regard the King. His scarlet eyes looked pointedly at the side his fur tent.
"I've brought you some fruits" Thor said. "I thought you might be hungry. You did not join us for dinner"
"Forgive me if I refuse to be dragged through your pathetic attempt at flattering my dam and brother"
"Loki…" Thor placed the ornate glass bowl of apple on a small table. "Will you accompany me for a walk?"
"..."
"You know… I thought you haunted me because you thought I killed your brother. Should you not be please that he lives?"
"Get out" Loki growled.
"Alright…" Thor said gently. "Good night Loki…"
Loki did not offer Thor a reply.
Loki did not show up for the negotiation on the first day or any that follow; though perhaps that was a good thing in hindsight. Laufey was said to be the more reasonable of the two and even then the negotiation was not going well.
Thor wanted the East, Laufey wanted Helblindi, that was simple enough. But Thor would not release Helblindi, insisting to have the Jotun prince as an honored guest in his house while Laufey would only allow Thor to appoint a governor to govern the East.
"A hostage!" Laufey had spat.
"An honored guest!" Thor insisted.
"I refuse! Return my prince and I will allow an Aesir to govern the East"
"Under your advice you mean! A governor is nothing more than a figurehead! In essence the East will still be ruled by Jotunheim! No!"
The only thing Laufey had unofficially agreed upon was regarding the Northern borders. Over the century, the Jotun had built a wall of ice sealing the North from the rest of Asgard.
"I do not ask for the return of the North. I ask only that you open your gates…" Thor had said. "Let my people unite with their families"
"What have you to give in return?"
" Nothing your Grace. But a chance at peace between our people"
" …"
" I am offering a chance for our people to learn from one another… to understand each other…so that we do not plunge ourselves into another war"
It was full dark when Loki went down to the bank of the frozen river. The wind blow, the snow fell all around him, covering the earth in a thin veil of white. Red and green were the color of auroras that danced across the diamond sky.
The willows that once grew along the riverbank, were now bared and their trunks dry and dead. The flowers that glow in all their wondrous beauty beneath the moon, the golden crickets that leap from lilies to lilies, the spirits of the water...they are all memories of a distant past.
The golden temple at the top of the hill that used to glow with the flames of a thousand candle framing its golden steps were in rubbles and her grandeur steps were cracked and broken.
All that is gold has turned to rust. Asgard is no longer the symbol of wealth and power, but a symbol that even the mighty will fall.
The crow perched on his shoulder cawed loudly.
"He cannot have vanished…find him…" His fingers curled. "Find him!"
The crow screeched and took off into the sky.
He fell to his knees, his head hurts. He had barely slept since the negotiation started about a week ago. Tirelessly he seeks for Helblindi with his seid to no avail. And his spies had turned up nothing.
As long as Helblindi lives, Laufey would surrender it all. He cannot have that. He cannot!
He must find Helblindi, and end him before the negotiation comes to fruition. That way, Thor would have nothing to trade.
Asgard will fall, Asgard must fall.
The war has taken death of uncountable numbers on both sides. When the warriors battle, they are fueled by anger and revenge. But once they had settled down into a time of peace, they would start to mourn their deaths. Then, loyalty will become treachery; all their happiness that the war has ended will turn to ashes in their mouth and admiration for their crown prince that had given them so much victory would give way to blind anger and condemnation.
They will blame him before long even if it was Laufey who surrendered the conquered lands. What have they gained from this war but death, they would whisper behind his back.
They will burn him! They will crucify him! Loki cannot have this.
He cannot imagine returning to that state in which he was not revered!
There is only one way Loki will have this war end. Either with Asgard on her knees or not at all!
There was the sound of steps behind him. Loki rose to his feet.
"I thought I might find you here" Thor said.
"Then you should not have come"
"Loki"
"…"
"You've accompanied me over the many decades with your illusions. So why will you now not even look at me when I stand before you in flesh and blood?"
"…"
"Loki" Thor stood beside the prince. His gloved hand reached uncertainly for the prince.
Loki was surprised at the touch, at once wrenching his hand away. His blood red gaze snapped to Thor in confusion and something akin to fear.
"What do you think you are doing?!" He demanded.
"No more illusions" Thor said. "I want to hold you, who is flesh and blood before me…" Thor reached out again to take Loki's hand. This time Loki did not pull away.
The way in which Thor looked at him stilled him. Those eyes… those cerulean eyes that had always looked at him without fear or disgust… looked at him as if he was perfect as he is. How he longed for them. How he missed them…
He lowered his gaze; icy fingers tightened over Thor's, his thumb brushes over the smooth leather painfully. There was a warm stirring in his chest that he thought he knew but could not remember. And he found that he did not want to let go.
"Indeed you are rusted beneath all that gold" Loki said. "You still desire me despite everything"
"Perhaps we are not so different" Thor said.
Fandral had passed to him Helblindi's message. Thor believes Loki was attached Fyrisvellir because it was the place where he first told Loki that he is wanted just as he is, and in any form, in any image, be it Jotun or Aesir. There is a part of Loki that longed to be accepted as he is Thor knows. And there is a part of Loki that loves him, or so Thor wants to believe.
As of now, Thor would use anything to reach Loki even if it meant using himself. He did not doubt the truth in Helblindi's warning. Laufey may be King, but Loki is the true danger.
"It's beautiful here" Thor said suddenly.
Loki frowned as if to question Thor's sanity.
Thor smiled. The snow fell, covering his golden hair in specks of white. His cerulean eyes almost seem to glow in the dark.
"There is beauty in everything if you are willing to see it" He looked across the white frozen river that seem to glow in the dark and the magnificent aurora filled sky.
"..."
"Do you fancy some skating?"
"Can you skate?" Loki was surprised.
"No…but I know you can. I was told that you enjoy them"
Again there was that stirring in Loki's chest.
"I do" The words came to Loki unbidden.
It was a long time since he had done this…so so long ago. It was as if it was in another lifetime and perhaps it was.
It was in a life when he was happier, more carefree and oblivious to the taunts of his dam's court to his size.
"Catch me if you can!" He remembers laughing and screaming in abandon joy, urging his dam and sire to chase him across the ice.
A small smile touched Loki's lips. He knelt down to Thor's boots and fashioned an ice blade beneath his shoes. He did the same to his own and when he stood up, he shed his Jotun face.
"Come" Loki pulls Thor onto the ice.
In the end they did more falling than actual skating. But they laughed and shouted. And for a moment, the war, the pain, the scheming, the fear, the anger…everything, they fell away.
Thor was breaking his fast when Bragi came to his tent.
"Your Grace" Bragi bowed.
"You are early" Thor commented.
"Forgive me, but Laufey had asked for the negotiation today to be postponed to tomorrow"
"Did he say why?" Thor sliced his cheese with a small dagger, putting the chunk on his plate.
"He asked me to pass on his offer and he trust that you would need the time to think it over"
"Go on…"
"May I sit your Grace?"
"Ple-" The words were still on Thor's tongue when Bragi pulls out the chair beside Thor and took his seat. Thor raised his brows but Bragi did not seem to notice.
"Actually the offer came late last night"
"I should have been told at once" Thor frowned.
"I know"
"And…?"
"Forgive me your Grace. It won't happen again" Bragi reached for the jar of juice and poured himself a glass.
Thor placed his dagger down. It was obvious at that point that Bragi is stalling. And Thor wanted to know why. What offer could Laufey have made that would require him an entire day to consider and his General to delay telling him.
"What did Laufey offer?" Thor asked.
"The Jotun king is out of his mind"
"Tell me nevertheless"
"The East that you want…" Bragi placed his cup on the table.
"And what did he ask in return?"
"You to release his prince and to wed his crown prince"
Thor blinked.
Was he hearing this right? Laufey was offering him the crown prince of Jotunheim and the East if he simply releases Helblindi? That seems a ridiculously generous offer. He must be missing something. Kings are not known for kindness and certainly not a Jotun king.
"Laufey will have me make Loki my Queen?" Thor clarifies.
"The other way round your Grace" Bragi corrected. "You will step down as King, stay in Jotunheim and…you know…" Bragi did not even seem to be able put it in words.
For a moment Thor did not know what to say; so Bragi went on.
"The East will be your wedding gift…and you may give it to whomever you please or rule it as your own. You may also hold Helblindi as your honored guest until the wedding is completed if it worries you, though Laufey will have two of his warriors at his child's side at all times"
Thor took a sip of his juice, gathering his thoughts. His guts twisted and he was feeling sick. He could give to Asgard some land that was taken, he could possibly return Asgard to her formal glory, he could end this war, create a bridge between their people… all he has to do was take this offer and sacrifice himself.
Is that not what Kings are for? To make the sacrifice no one could.
So why was he hesitating?
Loki exploded into a fit of rage when Laufey told him of the match.
"How dare you! How dare you make such an offer without my consent!" Loki bellowed. "I am the crown prince of Jotunheim! The crown prince do you hear me?! How dare you bargain me as if I were a bag of grain!"
"Hardly a bag of grain! I am giving him to you, not you to him" Laufey tried to explain.
But Loki would not hear of it.
"Get out! Get out!" Loki screamed.
"Loki!"
"Leave!" Loki hurled a pitcher at Laufey.
Without effort Laufey move out of the way and the pitcher smashed into a thousand pieces on the cold hard ground.
"Loki, speak to me please" Laufey pleaded.
Loki shook his head. His head hurts and his chest felt like it was going to tear. His fingers flew to seize the side of his ebony locks and he fell onto his knees and started to cry. His mouth parted but not a sound would leave his constricted throat as tears fell uncontrollably.
Laufey could not have been more astonished at the fold of event. He had not seen Loki cry since he was a child not even grown to his knees.
"Oh Loki…" Laufey closes the distance between them. He knelt to his knees and pulls Loki into his arms.
His child...his beautiful child...Oh what would he not give to take away Loki's insecurities, his fears, his pain, his anguish...
Loki did not fight him, dark nails dug into Laufey's arm.
Loki felt so small, so thin and so cold beneath his feathered cloak. And though Loki is in his arms, breathing and alive; still it felt as if he was holding no more than a corpse. And it terrifies him more than anything he had ever known.
"He needs to stop using his black magic…" Laufey knew. "The war has to stop"
"I trusted...you…" Loki struggled to breathe.
"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" Laufey whispered.
"…"
"I saw how happy he made you and I want you to be happy…I want you to wake up to someone one day…" Laufey tells Loki.
"…"
"I know you want the admiration of your people. I know you want the crown and you will have them Loki…I promise you that…But it can be lonely too. It is not my wish for you to spend your life alone..."
"People will whisper…" Loki sniffed. "That I started this war… for this… for an Aesir's cock!"
"No one will think that" Laufey promised. "Have a little faith in your people"
Thor was waiting with Bragi in the negotiation tent well before Laufey and Byleistr showed up. Thor greeted them, but that was about all he did. Bragi did all the talking to iron out the last of the details because Thor thought if he opened his mouth he would command Bragi to stop the negotiation. He would tell Bragi that he had changed his mind. That he will not step down after all and it was all a great mistake.
"We propose the wedding to be in another hundred years" Bragi said. "I beg your forgiveness but surely you understand that my King cannot simply abandon the throne at the snap of a finger. Let us make the preparations and give time for Prince Baldur to grow. He is much too young still to take his brother's place"
"I suppose that is acceptable Ser"
Thor would have laughed at the overly polite way in which the two were carrying on if he didn't feel like throwing up. Bragi have no love for the Jotun King and Laufey thought it beneath him to negotiate with a General. As for Byleistr, the one the Aesir warriors had nicknamed Aphrodite both to speak of his beauty and as an insult for his rather androgynous features, Thor thought he was looking quite please.
"We could have two weddings if it will please you your Grace. One on Jotunheim and one on Asgard" Bragi was saying when Thor noticed a shadow creeping up the door of the tent.
Then all at once there was a scream in the wind that made Thor's hair stand on ends, the tent shook. Before anyone could move, it was pitch black as if a shadow had blinded them all. And as fast as it came it was gone.
"Dam!" Byleistr shouted when the light came back.
Laufey was clutching his open throat, a red tide drenched down his chest, his fingers and spilled from his lips like vomit.
Thor and Bragi leap to their feet. Byleistr gave them one terrified look and bolted out the tent, shouting for his warriors before anyone could stop him.
Laufey collapsed onto the icy ground.
At once Thor was by Laufey's side.
"Stay with me! You need to stay with me!" Thor pressed his gloved hand over the King's open throat.
There was so much blood, so so much blood.
Laufey grabs the side of Thor's neck with his bloodied hand. It did not hurt Thor, the Jotun ice cold skin was starting to warm.
"Sa-ve…Lo-ki…" Laufey chocked.
"You are not going to die!" Thor insisted, putting more pressure on the wound. "You are going to live you hear me?!"
"My chi-ld…sa-ve him…sa…"
Thor could feel the King's life slipping beneath his fingers and see the light dull from his eyes.
The King died.
"We need to go!" Bragi said urgently. "We need to alert our warriors now! They think we kill their King!"
Thor knew Bragi is right. The negotiation is over. Byleistr may know the truth, but something tells Thor that the prince will not be vouching for them.