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FANFICTION

THE RISE OF LOKI, GOD OF MISCHIEF

CHAPTER XIX : The Price to Pay

[Loki is sent spying on Jotunheim to find out the truth about the threat of war against the Mountain Giants. Teaming up with a seiðr user, Eisa, she tells him something is following him since his arrival in Jotunheim. After going through the Crossway and facing his worst fears, deepest wounds and memories they infiltrate the fortress of Utgard, they find out that the Giants want war more than ever and after killing the Mountain Giants' Prince, they escape. Odin and Fornjótr both prepare themselves for the battle to come. The two advance to join the Asgardians but find themselves into the Iron Woods, prisoner from the witch Hyrokkin.]

Loki and Eisa had been running for a long time now, but they were unable to tell how long exactly.

"S-stop…!" Eisa gasped before stopping and leaning against a tree.

Loki turned his head sharply towards her, retracing in his steps and grabbing her arm fiercely.

"We need to move!" He hissed, despite behind out of breath as well.

He pulled at her but she moved away, pulling her arm out of his grip.

"N-no! I-I c-can't run until I-I can breathe again…!" She exclaimed, leaning against the cold tree.

Loki stared at her, terribly annoyed. He looked around them suspiciously, still having this creepy feeling of being watched by the trees. He clicked his tongue anxiously, playing nervously with his daggers in his hand.

"Do you know anything about this witch?" He asked, sounding urgent.

her, retracing looked up at him, her cheeks red from running and her face covered in sweat. She stared at him a moment before sighing.

"No. I had never heard her name before today. I didn't even know of these 'Iron Woods'…" She murmured, looking at the ground.

"I don't like this place. We have to get out of here."

"Really? I thought we could have stayed here, made a little barbecue and rest, watching the stars in the sky at night." She mocked.

Loki clenched his jaw, his gaze murderous. Eisa looked around, looking more worried than she wanted to.

"But can we? Can we at least get out of these woods? If it belongs to Hyrokkin then—"

"We will." He cut sharply.

She pursed her lips; the two stared at each other, a tension creating electricity between them.

"We have to get out of here." Loki said, not wishing to spend any more time resting.

Suddenly, he flinched and moaned, dropping his dagger on the ground and glaring furiously at his shaking hand. Eisa's eyes followed his gaze and her eyes widened, lips parted in shock.

"Y-you're hurt!" She exclaimed, surging towards him, "What happened?!"

"Tch. Hyrokkin's 'children', the wolves." He growled, closing and opening his fist as more blood flowed from his wound at the wrist.

"That cursed witch…!" She hissed, frowning, a cold light in her green eyes.

Almost immediately, her hand was lighted by the green of her seiðr, which Eisa used to heal Loki's hand and arm. He observed her in silence, feeling his wound closing and the pain lessening. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when the pain started to disappear – it wasn't completely gone, but it was better than he could hope for.

"We should start moving," he said once she was done, turning his heels around.

"You could at least thank me." She replied, walking behind him.

Loki froze and turned around almost sharply, his movement so sudden that Eisa almost bumped into him. She looked up into his eyes, emerald green against water green. They stared at each other for a long moment until he sighed and lowered his gaze just slightly.

"Thank you. For healing me." He said in a low voice.

"We're going to get out of these woods, right…?" She asked in a whisper, her voice shaking, her eyes filled with the terror she was trying to hold back.

Loki stared at Eisa for a long moment. A part of him wanted to promise her he would save them both, but his heart was tight with fear. No one had ever escaped the Iron Woods and he didn't want to find out whether or not Heiðr was real. He was a Prince of Asgard, a powerful warrior and a seiðr user – one of the most powerful. He would get out of these woods.

"I promise you we'll get out of these Iron Woods," he said almost softly.

"Safe and sound?" Eisa inquired, her lower lip trembling.

Loki opened his lips to answer but suddenly, they heard a wolf howling and after looking around them fearfully, Loki grabbed her upper arm and pulled her, starting to move once again. He sensed her eyes on him, still waiting for his answer, but he didn't want to give false promises so he pretended not to care and stared ahead of him, his heart beating hollowly in his chest. He dropped her arm and she stopped waiting for an answer.

After long minutes where the only sound that could be heard was the wind in the dead leaves, Eisa spoke up again:

"Did we not walk by here already?" She asked, slowing down to stare at the trees.

Loki looked around as well before clenching his jaw, lips tightening.

"All those trees look the same. There is no way to know. Perhaps we're still in that damn witch's house and we're just walking in circle. She probably expects us to exhaust ourselves before dropping the illusion."

Eisa looked uncomfortable for a moment before drawing closer to him.

"Isn't it… isn't it how wolves hunt?" She asked in a low voice, "Hurting their prey before letting them fall of exhaustion…? She called it… she said it was a Hunt…" She murmured.

Loki stared at her before looking around him, unsure of what he should believe. Maybe everything he was seeing was an illusion; since the Crossway and the Labyrinth, he wasn't sure of anything anymore.

He clenched his fists, all his nerves trembling with rage. He hated feeling so weak, being so powerless, at the mercy of this witch and her wolves. The last time he was used and played with like this, his deepest wounds and fears had been opened. He had been bleeding ever since, those nightmares and feelings hunting him in every moment of his life. He was done being played with.

"I won't be hunted by anything or anyone…" Loki started with a cold voice, his blood boiling in fury. "It's time to make the tables turn."

Eisa stared at him, bewildered, feeling suddenly impressed and almost scared by his dark silhouette.

"Loki?" She called hesitantly, attempting a step forward.

He either didn't hear her or ignored her and she froze when she saw green seiðr surrounding him.

He closed his eyes. He could sense his fingertips burning with magic, but he didn't release it yet. If everything around him was some sort of illusion to turn them mad with fear while being chased by Hyrokkin and her wolves, then he just had to bring down the illusion. The last time he had faced one, it was the fiery Eisa in the labyrinth and he had torn it apart with his rage. This time, he would break every last bit of Hyrokkin's hallucination into pieces.

"Magic is all about a whisper…" He murmured to himself, feeling the air around him turning electric.

Eisa took a step backwards when she saw swirls of green magic surrounding him. A wind rose suddenly, shaking their hair and clothes.

"Loki? What are you doing?" She asked, now fearing what he could be doing.

Once again, he didn't seem to hear her, her voice lost in the wind. Eisa looked around anxiously, but she couldn't see anything from Hyrokkin.

"Loki!" She exclaimed, trying to bring him back, but he was lost in his rage and emotions.

Loki's hands were now swirling with magic, green seiðr illuminating his face. He opened his eyes, an evil glint shining in the greenish orbs as his lips moved slowly, whispering his magical energy into the wind.

"Destroy it all…" He breathed before grinning wickedly.

Eisa's eyes widened and she shouted before falling on the ground, covering her head with her arms. At the same time, Loki's magic exploded. The green light hit the ground before spreading everywhere: on the ground, the trees, the air. Nothing was spared, not even Eisa, who was propelled backwards violently. The fallen leaves flew around and the closest trees burnt – but it wasn't from fire or electricity; green flames enveloped them before, leaving nothing but black silhouettes of the trees they had once been.

The sound of magic and the howling wind echoed in the entire forest. When Eisa was able to open her eyes and breathe again, she immediately looked at her hands to make sure she was safe. Once reassured about her safety, she looked back at Loki who was still standing on the ground. Then, she heard deep growls.

Eisa had just time to look around her to realize that there were half a dozen wolves surrounding them. Some stood on the ground, some held onto the trunks with some incredible strength. All growled in a threatening way, their rage focused solely on Loki. They had been hidden from their view. Those creatures, ready to attack at any moment, had been followed them from the beginning.

Knowing they were discovered, several wolves howled and a wind, colder and different from the one Loki had raised with his magic, came to them. In some twisted way, Eisa and Loki guessed it was Hyrokkin's presence, much more vivid to them now that he had destroyed the illusion around them.

A wolf barked at Loki before stepping forward, steps were slow at first before he accelerated and took in momentum to jump at the Prince.

"Let the Hunt begin!" Loki shouted, crouching down while glaring and grinning at the animal.

He took out his dagger when the wolf jumped, ready to strike down the god. As the wolf rose above him, he struck — not with his dagger, but with a sword of seiðr — so that when the wolf should have fallen on Loki and torn his throat open it was the wolf's throat bleeding instead.

Loki shouted in rage when he swung his seiðr blade above his head, cutting the animal in half. It yapped and fell on the ground in two different pieces, limbs moving frantically for a short moment before ceasing.

For a short moment, nothing moved or breathed. Everything stopped; the entire forest froze to take in the fact that one of its wolves had died.

Eisa stopped breathing, eyes wide open and staring at the dead animal while Loki swung his magical sword around. Using his seiðr to create a blade was a hard and complicated spell that required focus and power. Loki didn't need any of it, he was above it all – he had reached a level of magic that didn't require whispering magical words, focus or a great power. He was above it all; he was a real master of magic.

Then, the air turned icy cold and the wind turned to a hiss, the hiss of fury and pain from Hyrokkin wherever she was, and all the wolves barked and jumped at Loki at once.

Loki didn't even blink, swinging his green, fiery sword around and throwing daggers and knives to injure the wolves. Limbs were cut, animals were howling in rage and pain, blood was spilling everywhere and in only a short few minutes, all the wolves were dead. Eisa stared at Loki, who was shaking from adrenaline, rage and exhaustion as he breathed harshly, his face covered in sweat and blood. His eyes were wide open and he blinked slowly, before his seiðr blade disappeared and the dagger that was the base of this sword slipped from his fingers, landing without a sound on the leaves.

Loki looked around and then down at his trembling hands, unsure if he had done so much damage on his own. When he looked over his shoulder at Eisa, still kneeling on the ground, eyes widened in shock and lips parted in astonishment, he knew he had done it. He wasn't sure if he was proud of any of it, but he knew he had been right: he had destroyed the illusion that would have surely turned them mad, he had killed the wolves that could have attacked and killed them at any moment and neither he nor Eisa was hurt in any way.

He had acted rightly, in order to save them, but he didn't feel proud in any way. He looked again at the butchered corpses of wolves, swallowing hard when he realized that he didn't know, at this point in his mission, if he should feel pride. He had found the truth about the Mountain Giants for his father and he hadn't caused the war himself. Why did he feel so hollow then? Why did he feel like everything he'd done so far, all the pain he had gone through and the blood he'd bled out, had been meaningless? Just a few minutes ago, he had felt good when he had let out his rage through his magic and killed those wolves, but… had the Labyrinth scarred him that much? Would he feel alive only when he would be raging?

"L-Loki…?"

He turned towards Eisa, who was slowly straightening up, looking around at the dead wolves.

"Eisa?"

"Y-you're all right?" She asked, staring, right into his eyes.

He opened his lips to answer and took a deep breath, straightening his back and looking up at the trees around them. Somehow, the trees seemed less alike, as if the illusion of walking by the same trees was gone. As if they could get out of this forest…

"What you just did…" Eisa started, walking towards him while avoiding the bits of wolves.

Loki looked back at her as she was looking around, impressed by his actions earlier. She smiled up at him, her eyes gleaming.

"It was absolutely amazing…! Y-you looked so fierce and powerful! Do you know how complicated a seiðr blade is to make?! You did it perfectly!"

She grabbed his face with her two hands, her fingers almost digging in his skin.

"You… are even more powerful than I ever thought you could be…" She whispered before pulling him down to kiss.

Loki felt too numb or disturbed by his own actions to kiss her back as fiercely as she was kissing him, but when she pulled away, she didn't seem to notice his shaken eyes.

"This sword you used as a blade, will you give it a name?" She asked, titling her head to one side.

Loki looked down at his dagger, still fuming from his magic. It was resting on the wet ground at his feet but before he could answer or even think about the answer he could have given, they heard the violent hissing sound. It was the sound the wind howling its fury, echoed by wolves barking their rage.

Loki looked over Eisa's shoulder; she followed his gaze and they froze for a short moment.

"We need to move, NOW!" He shouted, leaning down to take his dagger before taking her hand and starting to run.

They heard more wolves howling and barking as Hyrokkin's high-pitched, inhuman shriek shook their bones.

They looked over their shoulders, the vision they were welcomed with only encouraging them to accelerate. The rest of the wolves' pack was running furiously after them and in the middle, leading them, was Hyrokkin, frightening in her dark, shrivelling robes. She was standing on some sort of sledge, made of sharp black iron. The deadly sledge was pulled by a gigantic black horse with eyes as black as his mistress'. Her left arm was holding the reins while her right some long black whip. She made it slam while the horse neighed, his scream echoed by the howls of wolves.

Loki and Eisa were running as fast as possible, jumping over dead trunks and sliding on leaves, slaloming between trees as fast as possible, but the sledge and the wolves were drawing closer.

A wolf that was faster than the other jumped in front of Loki and Eisa. They braked suddenly before changing course, but the wolf jumped on Eisa who fell to the ground with a scream under the weight of the animal. The Prince turned around and threw a knife right between the animal's eyes, but it wasn't the same weapon as his seiðr blade. It hurt the wolf, but didn't kill him, it only yapped and barked, shaking its head. But it gave enough time for Eisa to grab her own dagger and dive it into the animal's throat. Blood spilled from the wound and the wolf barked again, its voice strangled while she pushed it off of her body, moving her sharp dagger so that it would hurt the wolf even more. He fell on its side, condemned to bleed out while she struggled on her feet and the two lovers continued their crazy run.

Loki and Eisa ran as fast as possible, but the wolves had caught up with them, surrounding them in a threatening circle and cutting off all of their ways out. They looked around at the numerous giant wolves ready to attack them, weapons raised, ready to fight.

Then, they heard the sliding of the sledge approaching behind them, and the whip slamming the air violently. They turned around when Hyrokkin arrived, her face furious and her eyes colder than Jotunheim's icy lands. Loki and Eisa both shivered at seeing her as she slammed her weapon in the air once again.

"You will pay for what you've done, both of you! You should not have played with me, Loki Odinson! I will make you suffer for my children! You will both regret entering the Iron Woods!" She shouted with a hissing threatening voice.

Her horse neighed and wolves barked furiously to support her. Loki noticed with dread that her reins were moving on their own – before realizing they were big black snakes hissing ferociously, as angry as their mistress. Loki held back a shiver while Hyrokkin lifted up her arm and lashed out with her whip.

It grabbed Eisa around her neck; she screamed and, before either her or the Prince could react, Hyrokkin pulled viciously, almost ripping the brown-haired woman's skin off. Eisa flew along the sledge, to the witch's feet. She tried to get up, grabbing the whip around her neck with her hands, but her face, which was covered in the wolf's blood, only showed her struggle.

"No!" She gasped when Hyrokkin pulled her up on her feet forcefully, almost strangling her in the process, "Hyrokkin! You can't do that!" She cried out, her voice breaking.

Loki threw one of his knives at Hyrokkin but her arm had been freed from her snake-rein; she caught it before it touched her face, her black eyes glancing at Loki and staring right into his soul. His heart missed a beat as Hyrokkin pulled Eisa even closer to her, her lips just next to the young woman's ear. The two women stared at Loki with very different expressions: the witch looking dreadful in her cold rage, her black orbs a pit of darkness that seemed to corrupt Loki's sanity; the seiðr's user was staring at the god with a frightened expression, her eyes panicked and scared.

"I said you would both pay!" Hyrokkin hissed into Eisa's ear.

Then she thrusted Loki's knife into Eisa's back. Eisa gasped, struggling for air while her eyes widened in shock and panic, her lips trembling. The raven haired man's heart missed a beat and he tried a move forward before freezing in shock.

Hyrokkin's whip fell from around the woman's neck and Eisa fell to the ground, her body limp.

Loki stared at the body of the woman he had made love to only a day before and then looked back up at the Witch of the Iron Woods, his lips parted in shock, unable of any movement or word.

"Your turn, petty Prince…" She murmured, making her whip slamming against the air violently.

Next chapter next Saturday ;)

NEXT CHAPTER : THE SHADOW IN THE MIST

Yours Truly,

May