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There are a few references and vocabulary from the Norse mythology in this chapter, it shouldn't be too complicated but still, in case of, some don't know the Vanir (Vanr for singular) it's the people living in Vanaheim, another world with gods. And they are very skill in magic, it's said they taught it to Odin himself. The other references will be explained at the end of the chapter! :)
FANFICTION
THE RISE OF LOKI, GOD OF MISCHIEF
CHAPTER III : Chance
[Queen Frigga is attacked by spies that pretended to be her maids for centuries. After reinforcements in the protection of the fortress and an argument with Thor, Odin decides to wait before taking a decision concerning this new threat. Loki reassures his brother to help him feel better before they go to a tavern.]
Loki huffed at the weight of his brother leaning against him, half-drunk from the beer he had consumed in far too great a quantity. He grunted, moving his shoulder to make sure his laughing drunk brother wouldn't fall head first in the mud. It had happened a few times before, and Odin was never happy to learn the next day that the Prince of Asgard, and Heir to the Throne, had fallen drunk onto the ground.
"You really need to start a diet, Thor…" Loki grumbled, holding his brother closely.
He was answered only with a laugh, Thor's half-lidded eyes glancing up at the stars while his hand tightened around Loki's shoulder when he almost overbalanced.
"And you really need to start exercising, Loki: your lack of muscles is..."
He stopped, hitting his finger in his brother's chest. He blinked before hitting another time, making the youngest roll his eyes.
"You're harder than I thought you'd be," he noticed, frowning lightly in full concentration.
"I do hope no one heard that. Hurry, mother might worry if we don't come back soon," he said, pulling at his brother's arm.
The fresh air and the walk managed to get Thor back to some sort of consciousness, able to stagger on his own, his brows still furrowed as he kept asking his little brother questions.
"Did you work out without me? I know you trained and mastered weapons in your childhood, but…"
"We trained together, Thor. Surely you aren't drunk enough to have forgotten? How you always beat me and I'd end up eating the sand?" Loki started, raising an eyebrow.
Thor seemed to think a little before laughing and nodding.
"Yes! Yes I remember!" he exclaimed before catching up with the dark haired man. "But the sand probably wasn't really tasty…"
"It wasn't indeed."
"That's why you're so frail and skinny! You need to eat more, Loki!" he exclaimed, hitting his brother on the shoulder so hard Loki almost fell over.
The green-eyed man shook his head lightly, sighing and barely holding back a smile at Thor's drunken version of himself, still protective despite all.
After a few more minutes, there were less and less people on the path as they came closer to the Palace, and while the blond-haired man kept having a conversation with himself about how sand wasn't a good thing to eat when you were strengthening muscles, Loki froze. He frowned and turned around, scanning the darkness, but he didn't see a thing. Thor turned as well and noticed his worried expression.
"Loki?" he called.
"Nothing," he answered, catching up with his older brother.
But then Thor slipped on a mud pool with a yelp. Loki would have sighed and helped him up if he hadn't suddenly seen an arrow flying with a hiss right where Thor's head had been a moment ago.
"Thor!" he exclaimed, forcing his brother to the ground and mud once again.
Despite the alcohol in his blood, the warrior blinked and glanced behind him, his senses alert once again – as much as they could be, at least.
"Who dares threaten the sons of Odin?!" he yelled at the darkness, getting up and glaring at the emptiness in front of them.
Even with his dagger and Thor's sword unsheathed, they couldn't fight someone they couldn't see. But their attacker could be taken by surprise too.
Using his magic, Loki kept an illusion of himself standing next to Thor and slipped away, invisible, towards the trees where the arrow had come from. He heard a shuffling sound, and lifted up his arm just in time to block another arrow from reaching Thor before letting it fall to the ground. The latter blinked and glanced quickly at the illusion of Loki by his side before understanding what he had done.
"Show yourself you coward and fight like a man!" he yelled, the tip of his sword shining dangerously under the pale light of the moon hidden by clouds.
Loki approached the trees and frowned, noticing some magic in the air. He didn't have time to use any tricks as the sensation of magic disappeared and he realized that it had been an illusion. He turned around, casting a dozen of himself to confuse his opponent, but he was projected backwards by a violent hit in the torso. He fell through his first illusion, into the mud, and all the mirages disappeared in a shimmer of green light.
Loki grumbled, getting up while his brother glanced at him. They saw movement in the darkness and the fallen god quickly regained his feet, throwing his dagger efficiently. He heard a gasp and the sound of his weapon hitting flesh and stopping its course in the trunk of a tree, probably injuring or harrowing the person who had dared attacked them. He took a step forward to go after the now vulnerable attacker when he heard a hissing sound coming towards him.
"Loki!" Thor yelled.
He pushed his little brother out of the way, and while Loki hit the ground with a yelp and the cold mud started seeping through his clothes, he saw Thor yelling and throwing his sword at their anonymous assailant. He heard the sword flying through the air, then hitting a trunk.
"Who's there?"
They heard the voice of an approaching Einherjar, but before either of them could respond they heard some more muffling through the bushes as their opponent ran away; they could see the golden armour of the guards glinting as they came near.
"Ahah! He ran away! What a coward, he is nowhere near as strong as the sons of Odin!" Thor exclaimed, punching the air, feverish from both the alcohol and the fight.
Loki got up, opening his lips to thank his brother, when the latter winced and frowned. They both glanced down at the same time and Loki's heart missed a beat when he saw a dagger meant for him in his brother's flank. His dark grey top was turning dark as the blood gushed out of the injury.
Thor's fingers grabbed the dagger and pulled it out, dropping it to the ground where it landed with a splashing sound. For a moment, only silence reigned, Loki too scared to say anything; but when his brother's knees almost dropped him, he jumped and caught him in time.
"Thor! Y-you're injured! You're bleeding!" he exclaimed, wondering why such a little dagger could possibly make him so weak so quickly.
At hearing their Prince's voice, the two Einherjar had run to them, completely astonished to see the two of them sitting in the mud, the heir looking about to pass out and his younger brother completely panicked.
"G-guards! Guards!" Loki called, sounding almost desperate as they reached them. "My brother! He's injured!" he exclaimed.
Quickly understanding the situation, they leaned down and grabbed the heir, lifting him up with much difficulty, to take him to the Healing Room as fast as possible.
"Poison," Thor grunted through his teeth, his eyes growing cloudy.
"Hang in there, Thor!" Loki exclaimed, closely following the guards.
He could hear the panicked beating of his heart in his ears, his blood pulsing frantically as he kept glancing at his moaning brother. He had talked about poison, which would explain why the injury wasn't closing and why he was so weak.
Loki looked up, trying not to show any of his panic to the guards and servants who were running everywhere in a frenzy.
After pacing for long minutes in front of the Healing Room's door, the god glanced up for what felt like the thousandth time, hoping the door would open and they would announce that his brother was well.
"Loki!"
He turned to see his parents running towards him, his mother looking completely distraught.
"What happened?" she asked after hugging him.
Despite his heavy tongue, their son explained what had happened: how an intruder in the gardens of the Palace had used magic and attacked them in the darkness, the dagger Thor was hit with being poisoned.
"It's my fault," Loki murmured finally, looking down, guilt and distress shining in his eyes.
"No, Loki, it's not your fault," his mother said tenderly.
"Yes it is! If he hadn't pushed me out of the way, he wouldn't be injured now!"
"Then you would be the one laying on a table, perhaps dead," Odin said, his voice and gaze hard.
Loki flinched and swallowed, but his father glanced away, obviously worried about his son and the sudden lack of security in his fortress since the morning. The raven-haired man blinked away the tears accumulating in his eyes, from panic and fear at knowing that his brother had been injured and poisoned, from guilt at being the one he saved, and because of the hard look Odin had just worn. He probably would have preferred his second son injured rather than his precious Heir…
"What matters most is that you are safe and sound. I am sure Eir will save your brother," Frigga said with a smile, forcing her son to look up at her.
He opened his lips but didn't answer. When he finally found the courage to, the doors opened, showing Frigga's friend.
"My King, my Queen. Prince Thor will live," she announced.
Sighs of relief erupted from the family's lips and Odin took a step forward.
"How is he?"
"The injury isn't fatal; the poison will only force him to lie in bed for a few days, but he'll be fine."
"That might be the worst of fate for Thor, staying in bed for days," Loki mocked, a relieved smile playing on his lips.
"Can we see him?" Frigga asked.
Eir stepped aside, and after making sure the eldest of Odin's sons was deeply asleep and would be fine despite his high fever from the poison, they went to their own beds—even if sleep was hard to come by.
The next day, while Thor was still sleeping and feverish, the rest of the royal family and the highest ranked men of Odin's army were discussing the attack.
"We cannot know who attacked your sons, Your Majesty. The dagger had been stolen this morning from the armoury during the mayhem caused by the spies," Týr said.
He threw a hesitant glance at the other golden-armoured men around him and added, "We found no print or mark to track the attacker, organic or magical."
"The Einherjar didn't see anyone and didn't find any trail of magic either," added another.
Odin seemed thoughtful for a moment before straightening his back. After the two consecutives attacks against his family, he looked tired and Loki felt his heart squeeze at the sight. His father was so strong and powerful, he couldn't imagine him tired…
"This magician passed through my eyes." Heimdall said glumly, frowning and not at all happy to know he was of no use against this enemy.
"Frigga, what level of magic could be enough to hide someone so well?" the All-Father asked, throwing a glance at his wife.
"A very high level, this must be someone skilled in magic: as powerful as Loki and I, for instance," the Queen answered before hesitating and pursuing her lips in worry. "Maybe... even more powerful."
"One of the Vanir?" Orvar, one of the advisors, proposed.
Odin furrowed his eyebrows, but one blond-haired, strong man advanced forward, looking insulted and outraged.
"Do not insult my people!" Freyr exclaimed suddenly, putting a hand on his magical sword.
Orvar put his own hand on his sword and the two men glared at each other, gritting their teeth while tension rose in the room.
"It is known the Vanir are the best of magicians, and you may be our ally, but the rest of your people aren't!" the brown-haired advisor hissed.
Freyr only frowned even more, and his hand clenched around the pommel of his sword so tightly his joints turned white.
"Enough!" Odin exclaimed, getting up and throwing a hard look at his advisors. "Suspecting each other is exactly what those spies and attackers expect of us! We shall not divide ourselves with suspicion and doubt!"
The two men glared at each other, then slowly released their grip on their swords, taking a step backward. Freyr, the Sun God, turned eyes almost as golden as Heimdall's towards the All-Father.
"All-Father, I can assure you that my people don't want a war with Asgard," he said firmly.
Silence answered him, until Týr ended it by sighing deeply, a frown on his face.
"It might be just like with the Mountain Giants, a little group of opponents against the hegemony of Asgard."
"Perhaps Mountain Giants and Vanir working together," Orvar suggested, ignoring the glare he received from Freyr.
"All-Father, if all our enemies decide to work together against us, even as a divided strength, together, they could attack us and the results would be terrible," the War God said, taking a step forward.
Odin clenched his teeth and sighed, thinking of everything that had been said until now.
"Before anything, we need to find out who our real enemy is," he finally said, his grip around Gungnir, his spear, tightening.
"But how?" Týr asked.
The King turned towards his wife, his brows creased and his blue eye shining with determination.
"Frigga, do you have any magician who could be a spy for us? Our principal threat is the Mountain Giants: we have to find out the truth of their intentions," he said. "I had the intention of sending Thor, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif but, with my son injured…"
The Queen thought on it for a moment, but of all the people she could have named, she couldn't be sure of anyone's loyalties after everything that had happened the morning before. All her maids betraying her…
"I will."
Everyone turned towards Loki, who had been so discreet he had been forgotten by all. He took a step forward, staring at his father, his eyes bright in determination.
"I am skilled in magic and fighting; I could go in Jotunheim to find out the truth about the Mountain Giants," he said.
For a moment, no one said anything, before Odin reacted and frowned.
"Absolutely not!"
Loki expected convincing his father was going to be hard, but he hadn't thought there would be such a firm denial. He swallowed, taking another step and trying to look confident.
"Father, please, I—"
"No Loki. With Thor injured I can't send my other heir into the middle of danger. Who knows what awaits you there?"
Clenching his jaw, Loki took a deep breath before speaking up again.
"Thor won't die, and neither will I! Who could you send to spy on the Mountain Giants anyway? Who can you trust after so many of mother's maids betrayed her?" he asked.
Odin tried his best not to flinch, but the sudden trapped look in his eyes proved to Loki he was right. There was no one he could trust on this mission, not when they had no idea who the real enemy was.
"Father, please…" Loki pleaded, looking straight into his father's eye. "Give me a chance: I can do it, I know it," he said, his voice filled with confidence and hope that he would have a chance to shine, even for just a little bit, in his father's eye.
The All-Father grimaced, looking down thoughtfully. Frigga glanced at Loki, her hands joined together in worry. She knew how hopeful he was to have a chance to prove himself to his father, instead of just being a shadow helping out the light that was Thor.
"Odin…" she started, attracting his attention back to her. "As Loki said, he is a powerful magician and skilled in battle. If he is careful, as a spy, he could find out the truth about our enemies. And he is our son, he won't betray us."
The blue in Odin's eye shone brightly for a moment and Loki thought he saw something close to fear and doubt, but it was gone so quickly he thought he had imagined it. His mother kept staring at her husband intensely, trying to convince him, even if Odin didn't seem to think it possible.
"Trust him," she said with a strong voice.
Loki felt his heart hammer anxiously and expectantly in his chest, turning his gaze to his father, pleading silently.
Finally, Odin's walls seemed to crack and he sighed, glancing down quickly before looking back up at his son.
"Alright. Loki—I will trust you with this mission, but I don't want you to stay too long in Jotunheim: as soon as you have the information we need, you come back to us immediately."
Too happy to have a chance to make his father proud, Loki nodded excitedly, almost bouncing up and down, already ready to take off for Jotunheim.
"To make sure you have support, I'll send some of my own spies and men to make sure you won't be in danger," Odin added, glancing at his advisors who gave a short nod.
But Loki didn't hear him, already thinking of ways to sneak into Jotunheim and spy on their enemies.
"I shall make you proud father!" he exclaimed, his voice almost shaking with emotion.
He had a chance, at last…
For the references from Norse mythology:
The Vanir (Vanr for singular) it's the people living in Vanaheim, another world with gods. And they are very skill in magic, it's said they taught it to Odin himself. The two most famous Vanir are Freyr and Freyja, God of Sun and Goddess of Beauty and magic, leader of the Valkyries (to make it simple, of course).
Týr is the God of War; you know Heimdall and Orvar is just here because I needed another character, it's a Norse name meaning "Arrow" (Orvar Odd is also a legendary Norse hero but I didn't know it when I chose the name "Orvar" for this character). And as for the Mountain Giants, this comes from the Marvel universe in which there are the Frost, Mountain and Storm Giants (for the ones in Jotunheim) - I try to keep some of the Marvel universe correct. And in the myths there are differents Giants too, so...
I don't think I'm forgetting anything, but if you have any questions, don't hesitate! :)
Tell me what you think of it! :D
NEXT CHAPTER NEXT SUNDAY : DEPARTURE FOR JOTUNHEIM
Yours Truly,
May