Silver and Scales
Chapter Six: Jotunheim
While Thor escorted his faithful friends out onto the palace grounds, Vyperia wore a look of serious skepticism on the brink of her beautiful face. It was obvious that while she declared her life to her Asgardian prince, Loki, she wasn't ready to lay down her life for a god whose temper subsided all thought or reason. Vyperia's strut was one of restrained regret and flaring temper. She was not happy that she conceded to Loki's persuasion, though she shared a minor sense of gratitude. She was touched that Loki had stepped in at all to persuade her to come with him. Vyperia had consented under the pretense that he wanted her to be there beside him in the clamor of things, if battle should ensue. Vyperia's green eyes observed Thor's walk of purpose.
Battle was what was going to follow if he continued to put an air of an arrogant prince searching for trouble to prove himself a brave king. This was not the attributes that Asgard needed in a ruler.
Vyperia did not think that Thor was a suitable candidate for the throne.
"A little further," Thor muttered as they strode through the grounds.
They came before a group of attendants who readied their battle gear for their journey. Vyperia exchanged hands with her fellow guard, a slighted gentleman with the strength of a fox but the complexity of a contemplative hawk. He was an arrow smith, a Fletcher that she had hired personally for this sort of adventure. He said nothing to her as he stocked her quiver with several pointed arrows. The sun that hovered above glinted off the sharp points, much to Vyperia's satisfaction.
"You grow restless," observed the guard who finally uttered a greeting as he worked.
"Is it that obvious?" she asked gently.
"It's apparent on your face, my lady," he answered respectfully.
He offered a hand to her, to which she placed her bow wordlessly. He checked the notch, the spine, and the strength of the bow string. The guard surveyed her weapon extensively.
"It looks to be in excellent shape, far better than others that I have seen in the last week," he said through his examination. "Though, I might advise you to take up another form of combat. Your archery skills are renown in Asgard, my lady; but the wars that you will see...you will find yourself in a less than formidable situation if you should get cornered by more enemies than you can usually handle."
His prospect was said with candor. He was skilled in his profession, and he gave her a professional's opinion.
"That's a quirk about me, my dear Fletcher," said Vyperia confidently. She withdrew her bow and quiver from his proffered hands. "I don't get cornered."
"Yes, my lady," he obliged, bowing his head.
Vyperia glanced behind her. Loki slipped away from the group to speak to a nearby guard. Hogun noticed and met her eyes.
"We must first find a way to get past Heimdall," Thor said readily.
Vyperia's scorn was audible in her voice.
"I can really tell that you thought this through."
"I have had enough of your cheek," Thor turned to her. "Loki is my brother, and he may get away with his heavy sarcasm, but you need to learn your place."
Again, she wasn't intimidated. She passed off his statement as mere frustration. Vyperia sheathed her bow along the back of her spine. Her quiver strung lazily along her waist, each spindly weapon safely cradled in its womb.
Volstagg glanced at her wearily, though he recognized Vyperia's insolence for scolding of Thor's impulsive pretense.
"That will be no easy task," he said uneasily. "It's said that the Gatekeeper can see a single dew drop fall from a blade of grass from a thousand worlds away."
"And he can hear a cricket passing gas in Nifleheim," smacked Fandral cheerfully.
"Jest not!" Volstagg warned. "He heareth all!"
"Please," Fandral sighed. "Getting past him should be simple enough now, since he seems to be letting Frost Giants sneak by under his nose."
Volstagg, terrified, called out to the sky—it surprised Vyperia so much that she jumped when his boisterous voice pleaded to the endless heavens in a loud outcry,
"Forgive him! He meaneth no offense!"
Loki appeared by Vyperia's side wordlessly as Thor led them onward.
Thor and his band of adventurers passed through the massive gates on horseback. They left Asgard behind. They rode along the astounding path in this Realm or any other. They came upon the Rainbow Bridge. It was wide and flat, and it ran straight out of Odin's palace to the mists and black void of space beyond. In the distance far ahead, the Bridge continued on until it reached Heimdall's Observatory, where all things that were mysterious and enigmatic were mere answers.
The band drew near the Observatory where Heimdall—Gatekeeper of Asgard—stood at his post on the Bridge before them, blocking their way, staring them down. Bright yellow eyes watched them from behind an other-worldly gaze. His stern intimidating face watched them from behind golden, helmeted armor. Loki was the first to speak as he dismounted his horse.
"Keep your weapons sheathed and your mouths closed," said Loki to the latter. "This is going to take subtlety and sincerity, not brute strength. Leave it to me."
Loki approached the guard and smiled as he had done to charm Vyperia into coming with him.
"Good Heimdall—"
"You're not dressed warmly enough," he interrupted.
Vyperia's eyes narrowed, briefly taken aback by Heimdall's statement.
"I'm sorry?" Loki remarked, also surprised.
"The freezing cold of Jotunheim," replied Heimdall clearly. "It will kill you all in time, even Thor. Do you think that you can deceive me, Silver Tongue?" he asked of Loki, whose look of surprise smoldered. "I, who can sense the flapping of a butterfly's wings a thousand worlds away?"
Heimdall's eyes pointed toward Fandral.
"Or can hear a cricket passing gas in Nifleheim?"
Fandral gulped.
"That was just a bit of a jest, really."
Loki stepped in for damage control.
"You must be mistaken. We're not—"
"Enough!" Thor's voice boomed.
The Warriors Three, the god of thunder, and Vyperia dismounted their horses. Vyperia came to stand beside Loki.
"Heimdall," Thor said, his voice dripping with stern order, "may we pass?"
Heimdall stared him down. Thor's intimidating prowess didn't phase the gatekeeper.
"For ages have I guarded Asgard and kept it safe from those who would do it harm. In all that time, never has an enemy slipped my watch—until this day. I wish to know how that happened."
"Then tell no one where we've gone until we've returned."
Thor pushed pass Heimdall. The Gatekeeper allowed the group to pass. Volstagg strode beside a frustrated Loki, and needled him in the arm,
"What happened? Your silver tongue turned to lead?"
"Get me off this bridge before it cracks under your girth," Loki retorted, following Volstagg and Fandral.
While Thor and the others entered the Observatory, Heimdall's gaze fell upon Vyperia momentarily. The light in his eyes was a familiar flicker that Vyperia had seen in many others. That initial distrust, the suspicion of silent treachery. She had grown accustomed to noticing that glint in everyone who laid eyes upon she whose powers were devoted to a snake. Vyperia stepped away from him to stand beside Loki, who glanced at her serenely.
"Be warned," Heimdall said, "I will honor my sworn oath to protect this Realm as its Gatekeeper. "Should your return threaten the safety of Asgard, the Bifrost will remain closed to you. You'll be left to die in the cold wastes of Jotunheim."
Thor's arrogance was slick in his voice.
"I have no plans to die today."
Heimdall's voice replied apathetically,
"None do."
Heimdall inserted his sword into the control panel, and the apparatus of the Observatory started up. The Bifrost energy quickened along the Bridge, fed into the Observatory like a hungry child. Heimdall turned his sword in the control panel. The Observatory's giant turret swung around, aimed toward a section of space; and the great turret fired. A rainbow light of Bifrost energy blasted out of it.
Thor and his comrades stood upon the end of the platform
"All is ready," Heimdall reported. "You may pass."
"Could you just leave the bridge open for us?" said Volstagg light-heartedly, though it was clear that his nerves were tingling.
"To keep this bridge open would unleash the full power of the Bifrost and destroy Jotunheim with you upon it," Heimdall elaborated in a dull voice.
"Ah," Volstagg relinquished weakly. "Never mind, then."
Thor started toward the Bifrost, then turned back to grin at the others. Vyperia's hand reached for Loki's nervously. Loki glanced down between them as he felt her contact.
Her knuckles were white.
"Come on," Thor said gallantly. "Don't be bashful."
Loki held onto Vyperia and led her forward to the Bifrost where he joined his brother at his side. Their bodies stretched toward the maelstrom, changing shape, as if every atom of their being was elongated by the pull of nuclear gravity. In an instant, they were jerked forward off the platform and inside the vortex.
A hole ripped open through the sky and the Bifrost shot out of it. Snow flurried up into the cold wintery atmosphere as Thor's band touched down onto the runes of the Jotunheim. Vyperia's skin shivered roughly as she rose to her feet. While it was blustery winter, her body reacted to instantaneous dread. She had felt something that she hadn't felt in a while.
Fear.
Thor and the others turned to stare out in horror and wonder at the frozen alien wasteland before them. The whole planet was a massive flattened ring of jagged ice, slowly breaking apart. Huge chunks of ice calved away from its outer edges and floated off into the empty space above them. The planet's icy surface cracked and melted. It was the ruins of a Jotun city.
Vyperia's fear simmered to one of opinionated anger.
"No wonder why they wanted the Casket of Ancient Winters," she said. The breath on her voice could been seen by those around her. The anger that was upon her tone slowly quaked. Loki and Thor exchanged glances as she, the goddess of guardianship—of all bodies that were abandoned, scorned, alive or dead—peered at the planet that was slowly falling apart.
"Look at what is happening to their home..." Vyperia lamented.
Thor's expression was one of honest disbelief. What he heard in her tone was compassion for such people who would have torn apart Asgard without a second's thought.
"We shouldn't be here," Hogun the Grim said breathlessly, his gaze a cold stare ahead.
"Too late now," Thor dismissed.
"Actually," Fandral, the light-hearted of the pack, said quietly, "it's not. We could turn right around, hop back to Asgard, share a mug by the fire...Could be nice."
Thor ignored him and started forward. Loki looked around the barren wasteland, almost as anxious as Vyperia.
"Perhaps we should wait."
"For what?" demanded Thor.
"To survey the enemy," answered Loki. "To gauge their strengths and weaknesses from a distance."
Volstagg nodded,
"I'm liking that. Your brother is full of good ideas. Gauging, surveying. Particularly the distance part."
"We know all we must." Thor said. "It is time to act."
Vyperia uttered a hiss of pure annoyance. She strode in front of Thor to stop him from walking any further.
"Have you any brains at all, Thor?" she snapped at him, stopping him with a hand on his chest. "This is not some easy battlefield. You don't have home-field advantage. Are you willing to put your friends in danger so that you may have a chance at glory?"
"I do not want to shove you out of my way..." Thor told her in a deep voice.
"You are fighting a race that is stronger than you are," Vyperia said venomously. "These people—"
"They are monsters," Thor reacted.
"You are so uncultured," Vyperia said tactlessly. "The whole world must do what you say, Thor? Is that it? It is a dangerous task!"
"Silence!" Thor commanded of her.
His booming voice filled her ears.
"While you idly argue with me," Thor told her irritably, "you risk the chance of the Jotuns breaking into Asgard once more. How would you like that on your head?"
"I'm not the one whose voice carries throughout the solar system, Your Highness," Vyperia argued. "Listen to your brother. Listen to your companions. They know that this is a highly dangerous situation—and you're willing to throw all of that out because you want to storm in like a hero and face Laufey yourself?"
"I do what I please," Thor told her.
"Obviously," Vyperia returned waspishly.
Loki stepped forward and grabbed her by the hand, pulling aside.
"We won't have any traction here if you and Thor continue to argue," Loki said calmly.
Though she wanted to press the point further, Vyperia consented to Loki's gentle argument.
The group trudged behind Thor across the frozen wasteland, shielding themselves from the howling wing and cold. Loki looked around them, still, anxious. Volstagg shivered. Thor, invigorated, turned back to his comrades.
"It feels good, doesn't it? To be together again, adventuring on another world? We have Sif's smart comments, Fandral's happy-go-lucky strife, Volstagg's amusing one-liners." He glanced at Vyperia, all bitterness from his voice. "And we even have Vyperia, arguing with me like usual."
Vyperia gave him a moronic smile, one that was sweet but obviously didn't deny the source of their relationship.
"Adventuring?" Fandral said nervously. "Is that what we're doing?"
"What would you call it?"
"Freezing."
"Starving," Volstagg added.
"Whining," Sif stated.
"How about a song to lift out spirits?" Thor volunteered brightly.
The others groaned.
"No!" Hogun said loudly. "Not that!"
"Please don't make us sing again," Lady Sif begged.
"If I have to listen to Volstagg's singing voice one more time," Fandral elaborated, "I'll fall on my sword."
"Well," Sif smirked, "now I'm on board."
She and Thor shared a grin.
The party reached the edge of the city—its ancient structures of jade and ice melting and crumbling, ravaged by warfare long ago. The temple lay before them across a central plaza.
"Where are they?" Sif's voice inquired, alert.
"Hiding," answered Thor. "As cowards always do."
Thor led them onwards toward the central plaza. Loki reluctantly followed, his hand interlocked in Vyperia's nervous grasp.
She held her breath when she felt the deep footsteps of a figure moving not too far from her. Loki heard her inhale sharply. She stopped walking almost instantly, stunned by a phenomenon that haunted her body.
"I..." she hissed under her breath, frozen on the spot.
Vibrations carried under her feet, as if thunder rolled underneath the ground.
"Vyperia..." Loki inquired her quietly.
Fear hitched in her voice.
"I can feel them," she uttered fearfully.
Loki glanced down at her feet, of which he knew could sense the vibrations of enemies closing in. His light-colored eyes searched the shadows of the structures around them. Surely enough, Loki could see large shadows hidden in the crevices of the temple before him. The group witnessed the stillness of the band's mischievous couple. Thor looked at his brother, whom exchanged knowing glances.
As the party reached the plaza, they all could sense that the Frost Giants slowly surrounded them from all sides. The vibrations in the ground thundered and rolled beneath Vyperia's feet as she walked beside Loki. Even through the biting cold of Jotunheim, Loki felt her hand slowly become slick with perspiration.
As the Jotuns surrounded them, the Asgardians reached for their weapons.
"What," called out the Jotun sentry, "is your business here, Asgardians?"
The Jotun's voice was like cracking ice.
"I speak only to your king!" Thor called to him. "Not to your foot soldiers!"
"Then speak."
Laufey, the Jotun King, sat veiled in shadow. He was ancient, noble, and powerful—too proud to reveal even a hint of the years of suffering that he and his people endured. Upon seeing his face, Vyperia felt a faint pang of compassion. This Giant, this infinite creature that haunted the shadows of Jotunheim, was Loki's true father...and Vyperia looked upon him with only slight regret at ever knowing the truth about Loki.
It made it very difficult for her to want to see the king lie in a state of defeat.
"I am Laufey," the Jotun ruler proclaimed, "King of this Realm."
"And I am—"
"We know who you are, Odinson." Laufey interrupted. "Why have you brought the stench of your blood into my world?"
"I demand answers."
Laufey slowly rose to his feet, sizing up Thor's small stature compared to the height of the Jotuns. Even as he stood, Vyperia felt especially tiny compared to an eight foot tall beast. His red eyes glimmered through the blue skin of his face.
"You...'demand'?" he questioned.
"How did your people get into Asgard?" Thor's voice boomed at the tall creature.
Laufey smiled.
"The house of Odin is full of traitors."
The band was puzzled, disturbed by Laufey's words. Vyperia shifted in her step. Loki's grip on her hand increased to keep her steady and calm.
"Do not dishonor my father's name with your lies!"
"Your father," Laufey said in a loud voice, "is a murderer and a thief. He stole what was ours, and left out world in ruins. We have the right to reclaim the Casket."
"Not when you'd use it to make war against the other realms!" Thor argued loudly.
Laufey laughed, cold and mocking.
"And why have you come here? To make peace? You long for battle. You crave it. I see you for what you are, Thor Odinson. Nothing but a boy, trying to prove himself a man."
"This boy has grown tired of your mockery!"
While Thor took a step toward Laufey, the other Jotuns stepped in front of Thor, blocking his path. Vyperia uttered a small frightening squeal. Loki left her side and moved next to his brother, quietly imploring him.
"Thor, stop and think. Look around you. We are outnumbered."
"Know your place, brother."
"You should listen to his counsel," Laufey suggested. "You know not what your actions would unleash."
Laufey stepped out of the shadows. His voice fell momentarily to one of great meaning, one to which Vyperia's frightened expression hardened to one that was alight with compassion.
"But I do," he said quietly. He turned to them all. "Go now, while I still allow it."
Thor simmered. Loki spoke up.
"We will accept your most gracious offer."
Behind Loki, the others looked to Thor pleadingly. Thor stared Laufey down a beat, and he relented. His comrades sighed in relief and turned to follow. That was until a Frost Giant nearby muttered under his breath,
"Run back home, little princess."
Thor stopped in his tracks. Loki's face paled.
"Damn."