Chapter 22
A/N: Sorry I didn't write a chapter last week, I was SOOO busy! so to make it up to you, I made this week's chapter extra long! I've been working on it all week and I hope you like it! I love you guys! P.S: I was rewatching this series and my ship sank :0 I started crying :P Am I the only one that has cried when my ship sank?
Recap: Darcy is in the frost giant castle and taken to a torture chamber- a nice and warm room where she will be kept alive.
***Loki's P.O.V***
We were running through the ice, the ice castle had been visible for minutes and upon its first sight, we charged straight at it. So far we hadn't been seen, or so I thought. Our breaths came out in puffs of steam. Naturally, I wasn't bothered by the cold, but I noticed Thor and the Warriors rubbing their arms as we ran.
Poor Darcy forced to stay in these freezing temperatures. We couldn't move fast enough. I wished that we had brought horses, but they would have made too much noise and we wanted to be in and out of the castle quick and unnoticed.
Suddenly, Thor smashed into something and was tossed six feet back. We stopped, the warriors three rushed to him, but Thor roared.
"I saw nothing there!" he shouted in a tantrum.
With worried eyes, I looked up to see the snow white clouds begin to darken above us. I hurried to him and thrust him back onto his feet.
"Calm down, brother, you're showing them where we are," I hissed with a finger pointed to the sky.
Glowering, Thor looked up and then nodded. He took deep breaths to calm himself down; Volstagg began muttering things to Thor that caused him to chuckle. Cautiously, I walked forward with an arm stretched out. My hand hit something after twenty paces; it felt like an ice wall, but I could see straight through it.
A grin spread across my face; the ice-field spell, I had read about it ages ago and mastered it too. Countless times, Thor would run down the hall and smash into it. I'd laugh on the other side, but by the time Odin arrived, I had made the ice-field disappear.
With my hand still on the wall, I began muttering the familiar incantation; however I was careful to remove only a bit of the field for we did not want to get noticed. A thin, blue strip outlined the hole in the ice-field.
"Hurry, "I whispered stepping through the loop.
Promptly, Thor and The Warriors three followed me. I turned and recast the spell. I looked to the left and right of me; all the trees that outlined the ice-field had semi-blue trunks. As we ran ahead, I committed that to my memory.
Half an hour of running later, we reached the ice desert. We only had half an hour to an hour of running left; we could now faintly see the wall and see the ice castle a whole lot better. Laying low, and trying not to be too noticeable, we ran. I remembered a spell to make us invisible, so I cast it quietly.
As we ran, I had a feeling that they knew that we were coming. Nothing had attacked us; this had been way too easy. Hopefully they didn't even know we were here, but something in my gut told me otherwise.
I devised a plan on our exit. If they knew we were here, it would be harder, but if they didn't we could sneak out and go back to where we had fallen. That was the only place where there was enough energy to leave. Without the bifrost, this would be a bit hard, but I could manage as I had all these other times. If they knew we were here, we could battle our way out and get out of the ice-field and then I would re-close it with a strong binding spell that would slow them down. Obviously they'd have mystics on our tail as well-I'm known for my magic- but it would take them a couple of minutes to realize what spell I have casted and cast their spells. Hopefully they wouldn't see past my invisibility spell; they knew the spell reverser.
It grew bigger and bigger as we went, but finally we reached the ice wall. We stopped at it and took a minute to catch our breaths.
"I know what spell to use, this will feel weird and may hurt a bit," I warned, "Don't yell."
My eyes closed and I summoned energy.
"hguorht ssap," I muttered.
Gasps erupted from behind me and I opened my eyes too. I could see every particle, every atom in the wall and they all vibrated quickly in place. I walked through it; it felt like a massage of electricity. I knew that they were following me, so I did not stop.
When we passed through the wall, I repeated the same spell and my vision returned to normal. Now we were at the base of the castle. As we walked quietly, I noticed our reflections in the glass. I tried to re-cast the invisibility spell, but it wouldn't work inside the walls of the castle.
"I know the way," Hogun said.
He had been held in the prisons here ages ago. I know not why they decided against killing him, but I was thankful that they did. We followed Hogun into the castle where the temperature automatically dropped lower.
As we ran down countless passage ways, the halls grew narrower. The stairs down to the dungeons below ground were slippery and we almost fell to our deaths too many times. We reached the door, and I went ahead and opened it.
My had turned blue when I touched the door knob; they would have gotten frost burn or worse by touching it. I turned the knob and walked in; there were cells along the walls.
"Darcy?" I shouted.
Grunts of prisoners begging me to help them out were heard, but when they saw me in Asgardian clothing they hushed quickly.
"Loki?" A voice called back.
"Darcy?" I repeated.
I ran down the long hall, looking at every cell, every creature, but not seeing my Darcy. Turning into my brother, I fell on the floor and started crying angrily. The tears burned as they came down my cheek, they were much warmer than the environment around me.
"Stop, wait," a voice called, "It's me, Sif!"
Turning, I saw Sif standing straight up in the cell next to me. Her hair had bits of ice in it and she looked afraid. When she saw the rest of us, she looked relieved.
"Let me out," she begged.
"When were you captured?" Thor boomed as I magiked the door open.
"About two months ago," Sif whispered.
"Not possible, I saw you in the gardens only too recently," I gasped.
"I wasn't there… how are you alive?" Sif asked as she stepped out of her cell.
"Long story, how have you been here for two months?" I asked.
"I know where she is," Hogun interrupted.
"Who?" Sif asked.
"We're here to rescue my mate," I said.
"You have a mate?" Sif snorted.
"No time for questions, follow us quietly," I ordered as we began leaving.
"Not so fast," A deep voice from behind me said.
All at once, the doors of the jails opened; these weren't prisoners, they were guards.
"Get out, hurry," I shouted to my allies.
They charged out trusting me, but slaying every frost giant that touched them. I too, killed anyone that got too close, but when I reached the door I shut it behind me, binding it with a spell.
"Can't they break your spell?" Thor panted as we followed Hogun up the stairs.
"No, these were guards, not mystics," I answered.
We ran for a short while this time before we reached another ice hallway, this one had a weird door at the end with Frost Giant writing on it.
"What does it say?" Thor asked me.
"Oh, so you ask the frost giant," I hissed as I walked up to it.
"No, it's not like that-"Thor started.
"I know, brother; I studied their language luckily," I chuckled.
My heart froze when I read the words. Torture Chamber. Without telling Thor what it read, I heaved the door open. Heat radiated from the inside and when I got in, the temperature rose all too quickly. It was still cold enough for a frost giant to survive comfortably in, but it was warm in comparison to the outside weather.
I heard shouts of frost giants inside heated rooms. This must have been torture for them, but for Darcy this would be comforting.
"Darcy?" I called.
At first there was no response, but then I heard a hoarse voice call back, "Loki?"
Relieved, I ran down the hall, screaming her name and she called mines back. When I reached her door, I looked through the small barred window. My heart felt whole, yet in so much pain when I saw her. She was pale, and looked very sick with bags under her eyes yet she still looked unbelievably beautiful.
"Step back," I ordered.
Her soft little footsteps hurried back and I kicked down the door. I stood in the doorway and we just stayed looking at one another for a few seconds before we ran at each other. Darcy flew into my arms and I kissed her on the lips. We would have kissed for an eternity if we hadn't been interrupted.
"That's your mate? She's too good for you," Sif chuckled.
"I know that," I glared.
A faint blush appeared on Darcy's frozen cheeks. This made me smile, but it all too quickly turned into a frown.
"We must leave now," Hogun said.
"We weren't attacked. They know we're here," I nodded, "Everything will be fine now," I whispered to Darcy.
I took off my cape and wrapped it around her like a baby and picked her up in my arms. This time, I led the way out. We made it to the front hall before we were attacked.
"I wouldn't leave now if I were you. You are surrounded, and we can kill your Migardian if you do not listen," A voice said when we were in the middle of the hall.
Turning to the front, where the thrones sat, I saw the frost giantess appear from nowhere in a dress. I looked around to see frost giants all along the walls and at the doors. Damn, was my first thought when I realized that we really were surrounded. They were invisible when we got here and by the looks of it, they were expecting a wedding.
"Adrianice," Darcy whispered in fear.
"It's her," Sif growled at the same time.
When I put Darcy down, I saw the fear in her eyes. She pulled down my cape and pulled up the sleeves on her dress to reveal blue marks on her arms. I gasped, and then turned to face the frost giantess.
"Now we have you, come up here Loki it is time for our wedding," She ordered.
Slowly, I walked up to her. When I reached her, she looked at me, smugly. I forced myself not to glare; I had a plan.
"Let them go and I'll marry you, but not until they are gone," I said.
"Fine, but there will be some guards outside with them until we are married," she said.
"I'm okay with that," I nodded.
"Never talk like that again. You sound like a dumb Migardian," she advised.
"I'm okay with that too," I said.
The frost giantess glared at me and raised her right hand. Guards escorted Darcy, Thor, Sif, and the warriors three out. Darcy cried my name, but Thor gently pushed her out; he must have known that I had a plan. As soon as they were safely out, I walked up to the frost giantess; she took a cautious step back.
"Don't worry, I just want to ask your name," I said, gently.
The dumb woman looked flattered and a dark blue blush spread across her cheek. Her smile turned a little less mean, but still very suspicious.
"Adrianice," she said in a lighter tone, "Do you mind changing into your original form?"
"Of course," I flushed.
She fell for me? It was so obvious. How? Had she heard of my stories or something? Or was I actually that nice looking? Anyways, I shut my eyes and imagined the bluest frost giant ever. I muttered the same exact words Odin said when he saw me.
"tnaig tsorf," I muttered.
Warm water fell through me, or so it felt, and for a second I felt naked. I looked down, terrified, but my clothes were on. I raised my hand and saw a blue, hand. My stomach froze as it did the first time I saw myself this way, but I couldn't let it show. I put on my most charming smile and stretched out my hand.
"Is this better?" I asked, a slight shake to my voice.
She smiled; this made her know that I was acting and was exactly where I wanted it to go. The smug look on her face returned and she took my hand as if she owned me.
"Yes," she announced.
Next, she did the most wretched thing I could think of. She embraced me! She actually felt around the same temperature as me, but she was obviously bigger. I grinned, my head on her shoulder, and put my arm around her and closed my eyes. Mentally, I conjured the ice knife, a weapon available to all frost giants, and before she could be warned I stabbed it into her side.
"Get him!" Roared a frost giant.
Adrianice gasped in pain on the floor and groaned, I suspect as she pulled out the ice knife. I closed my eyes and disappeared. Next thing I knew, I was in front of the castle with Darcy, on Thor's shoulder and Lady Sif and the Warriors three. The guards who escorted them were on the floor, slayed.
"Brother?" Thor coughed.
"Run!" I shouted.
We all dashed to the ice wall, and I muttered the spell to get us through it. Darcy was being carried by Thor, and as much as I wanted to carry her I was needed to say the spells. Volstagg ran ahead to hit the ice field, but we never reached the blue trunked trees.
"The Ice mutt!" Sif roared.
I turned and saw a giant creature like the one that attacked us last time we were in Joutenheim. It jumped and opened its mouth to devour Sif when a bolt of lightning attempted to strike it. The ice mutt swished out of the way, but another bright light blinded us all.
Darcy's scream was the first thing I heard, and I was on top of her, blocking her from any danger with my body. I looked up to see my father once again on the giant horse.
"We must go," Odin shouted.
In a sudden gust of wind, we were all crushed, and then stretched out to normal. When I opened my eyes, we were in… the bifrost? I looked over to Darcy who was laying limp on Thor's shoulder. I ran to her and took her from my brother's arms. My love was unconscious, but still breathing.
"Take her to the healers," Odin ordered.
And for once, he didn't need to tell me twice. Almost running, we started back to Asgard. The time for questions was not now.
As we ran, Sif murmured, "This has happened before."