The fading sound of laughter in his ear brought Loki from sleep and he raised himself up on one elbow, turning onto his back to see if Sarah was awake. He patted the bed beside him and not finding her there, opened his eyes to a room nearly dark, cold as the breeze from the portico drifted in. He sat up and peered around the room, annoyed, the servants had let the braziers die down in the middle of winter. He swung his legs out over the edge of the bed, grabbing his breeches from a chair and pulling them on as he walked to the doors of his chamber and opened them.
Seeing no one in the corridor, he turned to the room and said aloud, "Sarah." heading over to the cradle, glancing at the door to the bathroom as he went, slowing as he walked, when he saw the light from the lamp by the basin burning and the door open. He walked to the bathroom and opened the door wider. "Sarah?" as he walked to the cradle, his concern began to mount, peaking when he saw it was empty. "Sarah!" Loki said, a bit louder, walking out into the corridor, looking up and down the hallway until he spied a servant walking the hall, "Have you seen the Lady Sarah and my son?" He asked the young man, "No sire, I haven't seen them. Are they not with you?" Loki didn't answer him but said, "The braziers in our room have died, see to it they're rekindled." The servant bowed and entered the room as Loki walked down the torchlit corridor, thinking where she could have gone with Fen. Abruptly, he came to a full stop as the laughter echoed once again in his memory and then he began to run.
Sarah stumbled, panting, holding tight to Fen who had started to cry as the scepter dropped them to the ground and immediately her feet began to sting. She looked about her at a dark, barren, frozen landscape, snow softly falling from the dark grey sky. "How do you like your new home?" She heard the voice from behind her and turned, nearly stumbling as her feet continued to turn numb in the layer of snow beneath her. The frost giant towered above her, she could clearly see the red of his eyes in the low light that seemed to infuse their surroundings. "I'm so cold, please I need to keep the baby warm." She pleaded but the giant chuckled, "We have already prepared a room for you." He gestured for her to follow him and she tried to but stumbled and went to her knees hard, clutching Fen as her elbows landed in the snow. "Carry her," the giant said, and she turned to see another giant striding up to her, taking her arm and lifting her up from the ground. "We have much to prepare for,"
Loki hit the doors to Thor's room at a dead run, shoving them open. As he reached the bed, he threw the covers from him, receiving a groan in response." Thor, wake up!" Loki shouted as Thor reached behind him and drew the covers back up only to have Loki pull them down again, "Sarah and the baby are gone!" Thor rolled over and sat up, "Gone, where, back to Earth?" Loki was pulling him from the bed, "No, no, come on." Thor stood up from the bed and stretched, Loki was handing him his breeches, "Remember, the dreams I had?" Thor nodded, and took the tunic Loki was shoving at him, "I know where she is.." and realization suddenly flooded him, "And I know how it happened." We have to wake father, she's been taken to Jotunheim." Thor had started after his brother and suddenly stopped, "Are you sure, brother, it is a serious accusation?" Loki looked back at Thor, "I'm sure, come on."
Odin listened to Loki as he explained what had happened, Frigga standing behind him, her hand to her mouth in horror. "I don't know how it came to him, but I believe Menyir has the scepter. We have to go, father." Odin looked to Thor, "How say you, Thor?" An incredulous look crossed Loki's face, "What is there to say? Sarah is a human woman, she will freeze to death there while we stand making decisions." He whirled around and started from Odin's bedchamber, "I'm going, regardless." Thor glanced at Odin, "Brother, wait for me."
Sarah was set roughly on the floor of the cave where she knelt, hunched over, clutching Fen to her chest, shivering, Fen's cries long since fading to intermittent squeaks as she rocked him, her own tears having ceased, replaced by rage and increasing fear as she felt the extreme cold start to work on her body. She looked up at the frost giant standing at the entrance to the cave as he waved his hand from the top of the entrance to the bottom, bars of ice forming as his hand passed, then again from side to side, more bars forming a crisscross pattern, the blue light glinting off them and she shivered violently, trying to crawl farther from them and the frost giant on the other side who walked up to the bars, caressing them like a favored pet. "I am Menyir, ruler of Jotunheim, son of Laufey." Sarah turned and stared through the bars at him, his red eyes narrowed as she studied him, "You do not believe? Is there another son you know of?" Menyir laughed deep in his throat, "I believe you know him full well. That is why you are here. The child you hold will become one of us, retribution will be complete." Sarah clenched her fists against Fen's back, "Fuck you." Menyir grabbed the bars and growled, "Do you know your beloved's destiny? That he is fated to bring about Ragnarok, the end of all worlds? It is inevitable, written in the stars eons before even your ancestors saw the light of day." Sarah glared back at him with only one word for him, "Stories." Menyir's grip relaxed on the bars and he chuckled again, "Stories," he smiled, "Then there will be nothing to stop me from running him through when I meet him." Fen let out a squeak then and Menyir backed away from the bars. "Take care of him, he will need his strength." As he faded into the steely darkness, Sarah's tears began anew, running down the slope of her nose to the stone floor beneath her, sobbing and rocking Fen as he began to wail.
The horse bucked beneath Loki as they settled onto the snow covered ground of Jotunheim, he pulling hard on the reins and squeezing the horse's sides with his legs. To his right, Odin and Thor sat on their own steeds, contingents of warriors lined up behind them. Odin looked to Loki, then to Thor and dismounted from his horse, striking the ground with his staff, sending the sound ringing through the chill air as Thor and Loki jumped down from their horses to join him. "Father," Loki began but Odin held up his hand as from the blue black depths before them emerged a frost giant, plate armor covering his chest, arms and legs. "I am Menyir, ruler of Jotunheim, you have no purpose here. Return to Asgard or face death." Loki made to move towards Menyir but Odin put a hand on his shoulder, "Return the Midgardian woman Sarah and her child." Menyir put his hands out and spread them wide, "You took a son of Laufey, I have returned the favor."
Odin could feel Loki move beneath his hand and he squeezed, "He was left to die in the temple." Menyir laughed at this, "As he should have, he was and remains an abomination. The child will serve as my own just as he has served as yours. An even exchange, poor at best." Finally Loki could hold back no longer and he roared, "I will see your skull split in two by my own sword, I will string your entrails to the nine realms!" Menyir stepped forward, a sneer on his face, "How will you have time for me when time is running out for the human woman?" Loki had drawn his sword and held it in his hands at the ready when the ground around them began to thunder with the approach of Menyir's troops. "To arms!" Odin shouted, as they moved forward, the very air cracking as they came together in a great collision of metal, ice, armor and skin. Loki swinging his sword high above his head, bringing it across the chest of a giant before him, opening him to the sky, pushing forward into the fray, grabbing the plate metal of another and running his sword through him, dodging the icy spikes of one giant beside him and bringing his elbow up to connect with its jaw, dropping it to the ground.
He could hear Thor shouting epithets and the thud of Molinjr as it flew through the lines striking down giant after giant and was turning to fight his way towards Thor when a scene came unbidden to his mind and he could see a cave, bars of ice, Sarah lying on her side, Fen cradled in her arms, the scene widening higher until he could see the path from the battle as clear as if lit by fire and suddenly Thor was beside him, "I know where she is," He shouted, putting his hand on Thor's arm and disappeared into the melee behind him, dodging the warriors pushing forward into the heat of battle until he was clear of them and running towards the pillars rising high above him.
Sarah had finally lain down on her side, Fen having long grown silent though she could feel his even breathing against her arms, giving a silent prayer of thanks for his heritage. The pain in her legs and feet had subsided gradually, the frigid air caressing her hair as the wind began to whip outside the cave. She was so tired, she knew she would soon be asleep as the struggle to keep her eyes open, trained on her baby was quickly waning. She had kissed Fen on the forehead and pulled him closer to her, closing her eyes, seeing Loki in her mind the day she'd met him, the night they'd conceived Fen, Loki presenting him to Odin, watching her as she walked from the crowd to meet Odin, the images starting to fade..
Loki could see the cave at the bottom of the rise he had crested, the bars of ice across the entrance and he half slid, half jumped down the slope, his sword at the ready, heaving it back and coming across the bars with a jarring crack, Loki bracing for another swing, calling into the darkness, "THOR!"
Thor turned his head to the side, it was unmistakable, his name born on the wind, his brother's voice. He took one more swing with his hammer at the two giants at his chest and pivoted, heading towards the rear of the battle.
Sarah opened her eyes, tried to raise her head, couldn't, tried again and managed to look towards the bars where the sound had seemed to come from and heard it again.
Another blow to the bars was enough to shatter them to one side as Loki slid inside of the cave and dropped beside Sarah. "Dear Odin," He whispered, "Sarah?"
Sarah heard her name, opened her eyes and looked up into eyes the color of the sea. She raised her head and looked at Fen who let out a squeak then back at Loki who was standing up, unhooking his cloak from his armor. "No horns?" She said in a weak whisper as she felt the cloak cover her and Fen and arms slide beneath her as Loki lifted them up, "Battle helmet, now hush." He said as he sidled back through the bars and started from the cave, going only a few steps before the roar made him turn to see the dagger of ice heading for him and he turned his back to it, attempting to shelter Sarah and Fen still in his arms and he felt the dagger hit him, driving through his right shoulder, through leather, tissue, muscle, bone, the point exiting just under his collarbone causing him to stagger forward, losing the grip with his right arm, setting Sarah down with the baby roughly on the ground as he turned to face the giant trotting towards him, another dagger raised in his hand..
Sarah hit her hip against the hard ground, wincing at the sharp pain of something round beneath her, nearly losing her grip on Fen who had begun to cry again at the hard jostle he'd received. Sarah looked towards Loki to see the giant bearing down on him, finally hitting him hard, driving him to the ground feet from her, hard enough to split the helmet and send it rattling to the ground beside him, she could see the dagger in his shoulder push farther forward through the leather as he reached up with his left hand to grip the hand descending at him, dagger in its fist, the words from what seemed like ages ago, of Odin resounding in her head, "We are not immortal, we can still be killed" and she reached beneath her with a trembling hand to pull the revolver from where it had become untangled from her belt, laid Fen on Loki's cloak, came to her knees and took aim at the image from hell poised over him...
Loki could see the dagger getting closer to his throat as he tried to buck the giant from him, knowing that after he'd finished with him, Sarah would be easy prey, the thought no sooner finished when three shots rang out over the shriek of the wind, striking the giant in the chest once and the arm twice, causing him to lose his balance and train his sights on the woman who'd delivered such pain to him and he rose from Loki, starting towards Sarah…
Sarah kept pulling the trigger, hoping for just one more bullet in the chamber only hesitating a moment trying to will her legs to work, before she began to crawl away from Fen, drawing the giant away from the baby who lay there wailing. She could feel the ground thunder with each step until he was upon her, holding her to the ground, dagger raised, "You will sleep in hell tonight," It growled, raising the dagger…
Loki rolled over and staggered to his feet, found them and started to run, teeth bared in rage, towards the giant that was fast approaching Sarah, he watching as the giant knelt over her, his hand raised above his head and Loki threw himself forward onto the giant's back…
Sarah saw the giant stumble and she tried to backpedal out of the way.
Loki reached forward around the giant's neck with his left hand and pressing his damaged shoulder to the giant's back for support, pulled the giant's chin to the side with all his might, hearing the vertebrae give way, feeling the body go limp and shudder as they both spilled to the ground in front of Sarah.
Sarah could hear footsteps thudding the ground and started to scramble back to Fen to protect him, not wanting to see the giant coming towards them. She grabbed the cloak, pulling it to her as the footsteps stopped and she heard Thor's voice, "Brother, we must get you to the healers," Then she was being helped to feet that would not obey her as she sat back down on the cloak, scooping Fen into her arms, "Sarah, we have to go." Thor's arms lifting her from the cold ground with Fen still wailing.
Loki kissed Sarah's cheek, "Bring them back to Asgard, I will follow after I have done what I promised to do." He said, wincing as he pulled the remaining sliver of ice through the wound and dropping the melting sliver to the ground. "No, brother, you are hurt, you would be no match for Menyir."
Sarah, upon hearing the name, said weakly "Loki, no, please come with us" Loki looked at Sarah and Fen in Thor's arms, then to the hill over which lay the battle, and nodded as Thor roared, "Heimdall, Open the Bifrost!"
Odin glanced to his left to see the Bifrost descend only for a moment, finally taking his boot and pushing the still form of Menyir from his staff, spitting on the ground beside him. He then removed his cloak and walked to the small arch in which sat the scepter and wrapped his cloak about it, holding it to him, finally calling to Heimdall, watching as the Bifrost started to pull the warriors back to Asgard, only allowing himself to leave when the last warrior had disappeared in the blinding flash of rainbow colored light.