Chapter 6
As we neared the wolf village we slowed down and moved silently, minding the chain binding us together.
'Brothers!' I started at hearing Basil's voice and walked to the top of the hill, peering over it to see him addressing his tribe. 'We will go to war on this day! The wife Ulfr had picked tried to kill me today!' The wolves started whispering among eachother. 'But this act will not go unpunished! We will show them that Wolves won't be messed with!' The wolves howled. Then Basil was pushed away, his place taken by Ulfr.
'Don't believe him! He's lying! He only wishes for war!' He said. 'If we go out there now then our peaceful lives will be over! Our pups will have to grow up in fear if we make the wrong decision now!' The mothers among the wolves seemed to agree with him.
'Someone take him away!' Basil yelled and several wolves threw themselves at Ulfr, he conveniently dodged and ran into the crowd.
'Think about what you're wasting before you decide!' With that he ran up the hill, straight towards us. I quickly changed back and held up my hand as he jumped, grabbing his leg and pulling him down. I made us invisible and held my hands over his snout to keep him quiet. The other wolves jumped over us and further into the forest. Ulfr struggled and let out small growls.
'Shh, it's me.' I whispered. He stopped and I released him and made myself and Loki visible again.
'Why're you here?' He asked in a hushed voice.
'To warn you. There are soldiers at all the villages near the forest and at the Elven villages.'
'So it's an ambush?' He sounded desperate.
'Exactly. They're loyal to you as well, right?'
'Well yeah but my father's word is still higher than mine.'
'Okay then. This doesn't have to end in a blood bath. Here's my plan.'
I transformed Loki back to his normal self and he took hold of Ulfr, holding his neck fur tightly. We stood at the top of the hill and drew the attention of the crowd of wolves.
'Wolves!' I addressed them, they all turned to face me. 'Back down now! If not he'll kill Ulfr!' Ulfr struggled to make it more convincing. The wolves started whispering again and one walked up to Basil.
'You can't let this happen! We must stop now!'
'If my son goes against me in public then I shall not mourn his death. He's not my son anymore.' Basil said coldly. Now all the wolves turned to him and Loki released Ulfr.
'We never leave a brother behind. Especially a son.' He said as he stood at the front of the pack. 'Anyone who wants to do that is a traitor to the pack.'
'You can't! I'm the pack leader!'
'You're blinded by lust for war! We can't be led by someone like that! I'm taking over!' The wolves agreed with a simultaneous howl. As I sat down, patiently waiting for him to be done with his takeover, I felt Loki's eyes on me. Looking at him from the corner of my eyes confirmed it as he quickly looked away. Ulfr ran up to us and laughed.
'Great plan, Haylee! You saved our pack.'
'You were the one who did most of the work. I was merely assisting you, King of Wolves.' I smiled and bowed.
'I'm sorry for the trouble we've caused. It won't happen again. I'll strive for a good bond with the immortals from now on.' He sounded like a true leader.
'I'm looking forward to it. Well, we'll go tell the soldiers to retreat. I'll see you around, Ulfr.' He nodded, thanked me again and bade us farewell as he walked back down the hill to his pack. As I changed back to my human form I felt complete again, seeing the world from such a low perspective wasn't really handy.
'So, is this all taken care of?' Loki asked.
'Yeah, he said he wants to have a good bond with us so that's a good thing. Let's go tell the soldiers to retreat.' He nodded and followed me back to the village.
After a week all the commotion had died down and everything had gone back to normal.
'I'm bored.' Loki said annoyed.
'Me too.' Thor agreed.
'It surprises me but I am too.' I said as I sighed and leaned against the wall.
'There you are!' Odin's voice echoed through the hallway. We stood straight and turned all our attention to him without even thinking about it. 'I did some thinking and I decided that I'm going to release you.' I frowned at him for a moment.
'From what?' I asked cluelessly.
'The chain.' He said. I looked at my wrist and followed the chain with my eyes, reaching Loki's wrist.
'Oh, the chain. So Loki's rehabilitated now?'
'Enough. I trust that he won't do something like that again.'
'I'm standing here.' Loki remarked.
'I know.' Odin and I said at the same time. He took my wrist, undid the cuff and repeated the same thing on Loki's side.
'Enjoy your freedom.' With a broad smile on his face he walked off.
'Feels a bit weird now…' I observed as I stared at my bare wrist.
'What? Are you missing me already?' Loki with a mean smile on his face.
'That's not it. Well, never mind. It's not important.'
'But he'll probably have you followed so don't get too free.' Thor warned.
'Great, then I can play with them a bit.' He smiled at the thought of tormenting the soldiers.
'Playing is fine, just don't drive them insane.'
'I'll try. But I'm off. I really need a bath.'
'You're right!' I exclaimed joyously.
'You want to take a bath with me or something?'
'No, I just realised that I can take a bath and change.' We'd been a walking health hazard because we hadn't been able to bathe properly.
'You can come join me anytime you want.' He grinned as he walked away. I sighed and turned to Thor.
'Will everything go back to normal now?'
'I hope so. I've grown a bit tired of all the chaos.'
'Agreed. I'm going to take a bath as well, we might have to restock on soap afterwards though.' We laughed and parted ways.
As I lowered myself into the tub I let out a deep breath of satisfaction at feeling the warm water on my skin.
'I'm going to soak for hours...' I thought as I sank down some more until my chin touched the water.
'Haylee?' I heard after a while. I opened my eyes and looked around the bathroom, no one there so it had to come from my bedroom.
'Yes?'
'Where are you?'
'In the bath.' The door opened and I shrieked. 'That's not a green light for entering!' The door closed again and I got out. I wrapped a towel around my body and shivered, missing the warm bathwater. I walked to the door, opened it slightly and poked my head around the corner. Loki was sitting on the bed, looking sadder than ever.
'What is it?' I asked, trying to sound compassionate. He looked up at me.
'I missed you.'
'This isn't like him at all, something must be terribly wrong.' I thought as I walked further into the room and noticed that he had cuts all over his body.
'What happened?'
'I wanted to get something to eat first but the cooks threw pans and knives at me…'
'They did what?' I said astonished.
'And my magic's not working either.'
'That's probably a side effect of the chains. I'm sure it'll come back.'
'Really?'
'Really. Now come along, I'll clean those cuts and heal them.' He stood up, nodded and walked into the bathroom. Without drying myself off properly I threw some clothes on and joined him. I took a spunge, wetted it a little and gently pressed it onto a cut on his forehead.
'You thought you could stop them with magic, didn't you?' I asked. He nodded.
'Nothing works out for me.'
'That's not true.'
'Then what did?' I thought for a moment and couldn't think of anything worth saying.
'Friendship works, right?' I realised.
'How?'
'Me and Thor are your friends, for a very long time now already.'
'Thor already betrayed me by joining that group of mortals.'
'I don't really see that as betrayal but whatever, I'm still your friend. I've never betrayed you, right?'
'No, not yet.'
'And I won't ever. Unless stopping you from doing stupid things is betrayal.'
'Not small stupid things.'
'Then I probably won't ever betray you.' I smiled encouragingly. 'You should love yourself a little more.'
'Myself?'
'Yeah. You should love yourself like I love you.' Those words came out before I could stop them and I froze, staring at him and waiting for his reaction. He leaned closer and kissed me gently.
'Is loving you good too?' He asked as he briefly pulled back.
'It is for me.' I put my arms around him and kissed him back.
We were chained once more, but it was voluntarily and not with metal. We were Chained with feelings.