Note: You are witnessing an unusual phenomenon: a-very-slightly-longer-than-average chapter! (Which seems to have strange side-effect of me writing a lot of mistakes. I try to catch all the typos, but please pardon any I haven't.)
All that glitters
On the inside the castle was far less intimidating than from the outside. The stony walls were covered with wood to keep warmth in and make the place appear less grim. There were no windows. The whole frontal wall of the castle was riddled with loopholes. All light was coming from candlesticks which hung in dozens on the walls all around. They were all ablaze.
That wasn't unusual. While real candles were often still used as light sources, places that required lots of constant light were known to use magical flames. A magical flame, while having all the characteristics of a normal flame, never burned out because it took energy from place to which it was bound by a spell.
The castle appeared just as abandoned as it had looked from outside. With nothing to guide them, the Princes walked from room to room, looking around. Loki hoped he could detect if an enchanted item was somewhere near, but so far the place looked completely ordinary. They found an armory with a collection of unused, rusty weapons and then a small kitchen in the room right next to it. A brick oven in the kitchen momentarily caught Loki's attention, because it was burning, despite there being no obvious reason for it. He knew for sure that ovens weren't made the same way as magical candles. But, unable to detect any strange magic, he eventually let it be.
They crossed the kitchen to see what was in the room behind it, but found only a dusty dinning room filled with long empty tables. When they were walking back, the over was cold as if it hadn't been burning at all. Loki checked its energetic field but everything appeared normal. It must have been a magical malfunction, he guessed. While uncommon, mistakes in spells could cause uncontrollable power swings but as long as it wasn't harmful, there was no real reason to worry about it.
"So," said Thor with a sly smile as they continued deeper into the castle. "We are trying to break a curse here. Why don't we try the most obvious solution first?"
Loki turned to look at him, a question in his eyes, but before he had time to speak, Thor put gentle fingers under his chin, leaned closer and kissed him.
"A true love's kiss," he clarified then and looked around meaningfully as if expecting to see the castle fall.
Loki laughed, feeling like his chest filled with sunshine. But at the same time, he felt a nagging discontent of a scholar who is aware of another's mistake.
Thor noticed his conflicted expression as Loki tried to fight back the urge to correct him and chuckled: "Yes, I know it doesn't work like that."
The phenomenon of true love's kiss was one of the most common cases of magical psychology in practice. Thor was never forced to study such things, but this particular situation was so common in folklore that one eventually had to wonder where it was coming from. Put simply, emotions had influence over people's energy fields. Curses required their energy fields to remain certain way. The excitement from true love's kiss could be occasionally strong enough to stir up the person's energy in a way which the spell couldn't stand and broke. Logically, it worked the same with any other thrilling experiences which influenced emotions – orgasms, for instance.
But it was far from a universal solution for every negative spell, although story-tellers who knew next to nothing about magic would have you think otherwise. Thor wasn't one to fight for scientific accuracy in folk tales. The moment when a hero kissed his lady and found out that the spell didn't break and that he needed to go to the city to fetch a mage would probably bring an exciting tale to a screeching halt.
They entered another room and froze. Their exploration led them into a bathroom with a metallic bathtub and a sink which spat water in uneven intervals like some bizarre fountain. There on the floor were lying two pale skeletons.
Morbidly curious, Loki was the first to move closer. He noted with some annoyance that aside from the clearly faulty sink there was no magical activity. One of the skeletons had a cracked skull. It looked like a completely mundane death that happened by an accident. The second dead was more mysterious but even so disappointingly unexceptional. If he had to guess, he'd assume it was suicide of a very desperate person who couldn't stand seeing the other die. Though he couldn't imagine why they wouldn't try and get help.
He caught Thor's eyes and shook his head. "Apparently, that there are two dead people lying in the bathroom is not what's wrong with this place," he commented dryly.
They didn't linger and simply moved from the bathroom as if it was any other abandoned room in the castle. They had no means of creating a funeral for the dead the way their tradition required it – they had no boats, nor where they near the sea. Loki was more bothered by the fact that with the residents proven dead, the curse must have been connected to some item and so far they found nothing.
The last door they walked through opened to an open space at the rearmost wall of the castle. There was a stairwell to a small landing and from there up to the second floor. It looked delicate, made from several types of wood in matching colors. With nowhere else to go, they began ascending it, the wood creaking under their feet.
On the landing there was a pair of paintings adorning the wall, old with time, depicting peaceful scenery that moved ever so slightly with the blows of unseen wind. The movement on the paintings stopped once they stepped on the landing, which immediately drew their gazes. Leaves on trees and soft waves on lakes blinked in and out of existence for a moment as if the picture was skipping between still and moving. Then after a few seconds the disruption ebbed away and the pictures regained their previous state, moving smoothly and slowly to calm the viewers and not disturb them.
The malfunctioning magic they had encountered made Loki think about the glitch that made them unable to leave the castle in the first place. He supposed it made far more sense as a mistake in a spell that was meant to keep selected set of things in and everything else out then some sort of a trap, created to catch whoever happened to be nearby. He thought about this even as they made it to the top of the stairs on a wooden platform which connected to two room and walked over to one of them.
Then all of his thoughts faded away. When they opened the door, they were met with a dazzling sight.
The room was filled with gold. Countless golden coins covered the floor and rose up in huge waves almost to the ceiling. The gleaming metal reflected the candlelight and glittered like an ocean surface at sunset.
Even though they had a fair deal of encounters with treasures on their various adventures, it was hard for them to see it as ordinary. Something about the unnatural shine of gold had the strength to take away breath even where stunning scenery or great peril couldn't. The special moment when a hero finally fought his way to the end of the dungeon to get his well-deserved reward lived in their hearts, even though they didn't feel the same fascination with gold as a less-wealthy person would.
Thor moved forward, but Loki's voice stopped him: "Wait."
His younger brother slipped past him and lifted both hands with palms open as if he could feel a wall that Thor didn't see. He tapped it with his fingers and the air visibly shivered under his touch, the way it would shiver in great heat.
Loki was able to feel that there was a barrier and could recognize its various streams. He knew how to take it down to allow them to proceed. It was like a linen cloth, woven from hundreds of thousands of threads. He felt the pattern under his fingertips and saw it in his mind. There were dozens of designs for shielding spells such as this, but every single one of them had a flaw – one thread that was weaker than the others which could be used to break the whole.
Loki never took lessons on shielding spells. The only barriers he knew how to use were mental ones and those he studied on his own, holed up in the forgotten depths of the library, creating unique spells based on old abandoned formulas. His only contact with them was when he was learning how to feel magic and his teacher wanted to see whether he was advanced enough to find the weak spot and how long it would take him.
His fingers danced through the air. He began drawing a map in his mind with every new energy stream he touched, altering it almost every second. To be able to predict the location of the weak spot, he first needed to be aware of every single thread in the whole net and because he didn't get to touch and feel every part of the shield, he needed to be able to do so based on predictions.
This particular shield had a complex pattern - the ones Loki used to train on were laughably simple compared to it. The threads crossed over and under each other, grouping in tangles and running in all possible directions, entangled so tightly that untrained senses would see them only as a concrete wall.
One of his fingers followed a thread he estimated to be the one. It felt thin compared to others, but he knew there could always be some other, thinner. He found a place where it crossed over the top of the shield and then reached out with his own magic to tear at it.
Sparks erupted and burned his hand, but his instinct was quick enough to save him from any serious injury. He frowned at the shivering air in front of him. Only advanced mages protected their shields with offensive spells and he only knew about it thanks to magic-fiction stories which were infamous for their exaggerated use of advanced magic.
Once again, he focused on the map in his mind and tried a different path. He couldn't tell whether the new thread was thinner than the previous one, they seemed almost identical, but he was too irritated to care. He tracked it to a vulnerable spot and then struck with all his might.
He hissed with pain as his fingers burned, but he felt something give in this time. He pushed against the barrier, expecting it to break.
It wavered, but stood its ground. He groaned. Again, he recalled the pattern and quickly pondered over its structure. It was definitely unique that shields would require more than one stream cut to collapse.
Determined, he returned to the thread he abandoned earlier. His previous interference hadn't been strong enough to cut it off completely.
This time he pressed through, exposing his hand to more hot sparkles, but making sure to severe the strand. His hands hurt terribly, but his healing magic did its best to shoo the pain. He felt when the barrier began disappearing then. One by one the energy streams were untangling, like one loose fiber that unravels a whole tapestry. The two gaps he opened began spreading, until they swallowed everything and the barrier was gone.
He smiled proudly: "There."
"That was easy," commented Thor and moved forward to finally touch the gold. For an instant, Loki frowned in confusion, wondering if it was some sort of insult, before he realized that while it may have felt long and exhausting to him, the whole process had been relatively quick and Thor almost never saw him do anything, except move his hands around.
"I'll have you know, that I only make it look easy," he crossed his arms over his chest indignantly. "It's actually vastly complex and anyone of lesser ability than my own would have very hard time doing what I just did. Especially as quickly-"
A golden coin hit his arm and bounced off. He looked up to Thor, who was smiling at him playfully, already half-way towards the top of the tallest mountain of gold. It stood about three times his size, stretching out towards the back of the room.
"Come on!" ordered his older brother simply.
His good mood was contagious. Looking up at the pile of gold, realizing that they were going to claim it and seeing Thor's broad smile, all of Loki's firmly held dignity was falling and he realized that, just like Thor, all he wanted to do was to enjoy the moment. Thor couldn't be on his best behavior all the time and this probably was the best and most understandable reason he ever had for ignoring Loki's feelings.
He began climbing, small clinking avalanches set off with his every step, the coins slippery and unsteady under his feet. Soon enough he had to help himself with his hands.
Thor waited until Loki climbed up to his level, sitting comfortably among the coins, playing with them, looking at how they shimmered in the candlelight and studying the symbols embossed upon them. It was so exciting, getting to play with the gold like he knew other people did in stories. He flipped another coin in Loki's direction and had it bounce off his shoulder. His younger brother shot him a fake annoyed glare.
"Stop throwing them, damn you! You wouldn't want to start a war..." His eyes narrowed and a hint of a dangerous smile crossed his face.
"Why wouldn't I?" wondered Thor. He was feeling playful and careless and liked the promise in Loki's voice. "I have nothing to be afraid of; throwing is a natural skill of mine."
"Oh, please! Mjölnir practically flies on its own! As far as I know, I'm the one who uses real throwing weapons here!" Loki's smile was no longer only a hint. Swiftly, he grabbed a handful of coins and with a series of movements of his well-trained wrist cast them towards Thor. There were two that struck each of Thor's shoulders, five that rang against his chest-plate and one that met his very forehead, all expertly aimed and flawlessly hitting their chosen targets hardly second apart. Thor didn't even have a chance to flinch.
The older Prince reached up to rub at his forehead, because the hard coin had left a very unpleasant sting behind, but it didn't seem like he minded too much. "You call those little knifes of yours real weapons?" he taunted. "Next time you want to supply yourself with arms, try the weaponry instead of the kitchen!"
Unlike Loki, Thor hardly bothered with precision and instead threw two fistfuls of coins up in his general direction. They rained down on Loki who shielded his face from them with his arm and the room filled with a loud jingle as they landed.
The last piece of the golden shower Loki snatched from the air and, moving as subtly as possible, threw it right back up, while flashing a charming smile to distract Thor's attention: "I'll meet you there, then. No, wait, I won't. Because you obviously get your arms from the place where workers store their tools. Didn't they tell you that hammers are for driving nails in?"
"Ah, yes, the last person who did, ended up with his skull cracked," boasted Thor, but he hardly finished the last word before a lonely coin descended upon his head. Thor yelped in surprise and instinctively looked up in expectation of more. Loki giggled and Thor's eyes snapped back to him.
Thor swept his arm through the coins, sending thousands of them flying in another wave of golden rain and destabilizing a thousand more. Before he even knew, a large portion of the golden mountain was sliding down, with nothing to hold the coins in place. When thousands of small pieces came alive for a moment it looked like a river, streaming down the slope and it roared like a dozen of church bells.
Loki gave a half-muffled shriek when the avalanche of coins came down on him, gold filling up his whole vision.
Thor had to brace himself to keep from sliding down, but luckily the coins he was positioned on held firmly enough. When all the flying pieces finally landed with distinct clicks and the avalanche had stopped moving, he looked down only to realize he couldn't see Loki anymore. He would have sworn that the avalanched hadn't been so big...
"Loki?" he called out, worry making its way into his voice, his heart in his throat...
Then something small hit him in the back of his head and a voice called: "Over here!"
He looked up. Loki was standing at the very top of the hoard wearing a self-important smile. He must have teleported. Thor sighed in relief and smiled at the sight. Loki looked completely relaxed and yet he was still so breathtakingly elegant. Thor wondered if it was only in his eyes that Loki seemed always so perfectly graceful, even as he carelessly kicked some coins and send them running down the hill.
"Well?" asked Loki sweetly. "Do you surrender to your king?"
All it took were those few words and Thor was back in his competitive mode. He jumped to his feet and began climbing up as fast as he could, slipping here and there and occasionally using hands for additional support.
Only Loki didn't wait. His foot dug deep between the coins and flung a sprinkling of them into the air, triggering another small avalanche. The gold buried Thor's calves, he was sliding down with each step but he pressed on.
Seeing his struggles, Loki kindly waited until Thor regained somewhat steady position. Then he bent down, using both hands this time and flung several dozen coins in Thor's direction. He didn't aim with such care this time, only making sure that he wouldn't hit Thor's face.
But that never happened. In a slip second after he saw what Loki was doing, Thor called Mjölnir to his hand and swung it forcefully through the air, diverting the tiny missiles from their trajectory. They ended up flying off in all directions and jingled upon impact with others. Few even made it back towards Loki, who carelessly avoided them.
Thor was making his way upwards in leaps now, partially aided by Mjölnir that helped drag him up, while Loki continued to rain coins down on him. When he was finally close enough, Thor let go of the hammer and, laughing, launched himself right at Loki. He managed to grab his sides, his face touching Loki's tummy, which threw them both completely off balance and they tumbled down in one huge mess of red and green fabric and entangled limbs. Many coins accompanied them in their fall, running down the slope and ringing like jingle bells.
They stopped at the bottom of the hill, half buried in the coins they had set in motion, flushed and out of breath. The fall hurt, the coins were hard and unforgiving, but neither of them minded too much. There was nothing they couldn't take; they were two mischievous boys playing in their hideaway of victory and happiness.
"My arm," complained Loki in between chuckles, while he used the other one to get his hair out of his face. Thor shifted his weight to allow him to free it from underneath him with a similarly lighthearted apology. They disentangled until they were simply lying side by side, looking up at the room's ceiling.
Loki took a coin between his fingers and held it before his eyes. It was Vanir currency, old but still valid. The one he picked had value of thousand smaller, silver ones that weren't to be found here but which Vanir also used. And while Aesir money had slightly higher rate than Vanir, its worth wouldn't be diminished so much as to be useless. He was most probably lying in the middle of millions or even billions worth of gold.
He burst out in slightly hysterical laughter, the realization hitting him even stronger than before. This was a dream come true. All he had to do was use it right and there would be no door left closed to him. To them.
He rolled over and on top of Thor and kissed him, deeply, passionately, with all his heart. Finally he felt strong. Finally he had something besides Thor to take comfort from. He felt confident knowing that his future depended on how he chose to use the influence and power the money provided. He could find a way. Nothing was impossible anymore.
All it would take was determine which one of the two sides would be easier to buy.
He'd love to turn Jotunheim into an ally for Asgard – it would be extremely beneficial for both sides (though slightly more for Asgard, naturally) if the Frost Giants finally opened up to trade. Perhaps if Asgard offered to pay for and repair the damage done during the war, it could mend the diplomatic relations. Though truth was, it was just as possible that the stubborn Frost Giants would insist on getting back their Casket so they could repair on their own, which was something Asgard couldn't allow. In that case he would have to focus on bribes for Laufey and hope he cared more for himself than his realm. Loki personally thought that he had to have a price. Were he to assume though that this wouldn't succeed either, then perhaps he would have to find a replacement – other than himself – who would be easier to buy. As far as he knew, Laufey still had some trueborn sons, since Odin hasn't yet deployed a scheme that would include their 'accidental' deaths.
In Asgard on the other hand, he wouldn't have to worry whether his money would have influence – he could be completely sure that it would. It would be easier to buy Aesir allies loyal enough to help him oppose Odin. He could push to have Thor crowned as soon as possible and then make sure that he detached all of Odin's strings. If that turned out to be problematic, perhaps he could find a way to get rid of Odin completely – exile him, most likely.
Guilt and regret struck him at that thought, but he quickly suppressed them with anger. Odin would have him exiled to Jotunheim, he was only fighting back.
He could always gather more information later and decide which side to push. He knew perfectly well that he needed to tread carefully. At any rate he knew he wasn't going to spent all of the money on simply securing that he won't be forced to leave Asgard. As he had said before to Thor, he believed that the love people held for the golden Prince could aid them in getting their relationship accepted, but at the same time he knew how naively hopeful it was. What could help them far better than Thor's smile was some benevolent lowering of taxes and increment of pay for the right people, which of course required as much money as he could spare. He would have the whole realm lying at his feet in no time and then such things as what the king does in bed with his brother could go widely overlooked.
He pulled back and looked at Thor. His long blond hair was spread around his head like a halo. The metal pieces all around them reflected the orange glow of the flames and Thor looked an angel in the midst of it all. Golden-haired and golden-skinned, the only thing that wasn't golden about him were his eyes which gained teal shade in this light. He smiled and reached up to drag Loki down for another kiss. His lips were sweeter than ever when Loki actually believed he would find a way to keep them for the rest of his life.
They kissed again and again, rolling around among the coins, until their lips were swollen and they were panting. They relaxed, lying in tight embrace, their hearts beating wildly.
Then Thor sat up and said: "This means that we'll have to leave the conquest of Swafd for another time, doesn't it? It's kind of a pity... We were just beginning to really enjoy ourselves." He shot Loki a meaningful look and licked his lips suggestively.
Loki sat up as well, smiling at the hint. "Actually," he picked up a few coins in his palm, "I don't think that will be necessary." He moved his fingers and when he put his hand back down, it was empty. Without a sound the coins disappeared as if they never existed.
He couldn't allow anyone else to get their hands on this treasure. He couldn't trust the servants to never snatch a coin for themselves. And he couldn't let it end up in the royal treasury, right under Odin's watchful gaze. More than ever he was now glad that Heimdal couldn't see them.
"What did you do?" inquired Thor. "This isn't all just one big illusion, is it?"
Loki chuckled. "No, this is very real. I put the coins in my pocket-space." His fingers danced again and he was holding a coin between them. "Remember? I've explained it to you at least a dozen times already."
"Oh, right." Thor's tone grew sarcastic. "A loophole in reality, a small personal universe at your disposal so you can carry anything you want. The potential to take with you any weapon you wish, without having to worry about its weight. And you stock books in it."
Loki laughed at Thor's sour expression. "Well, I have some poisons in there as well."
Thor made a face. "Poisons aren't weapons. They are..." ...used only by cowards who are too scared to face their enemies like men. He saw Loki's brows raise slightly and quickly swallowed those words. "...used only to enhance some other weapon's efficiency, are they not?"
"Yes," agreed Loki slowly. "They are." Though he wouldn't shy away from using them in the traditional way were he to ever happen upon a situation that would prove beneficial with someone's sudden death. But those were few and far between. He knew that Thor and noble warriors of his like considered poisoning of one's enemies dishonorable. He didn't care as long as it got the job done.
"So what you're saying is that you could put all of this in there and we could continue on our journey?" clarified Thor, his eyes lighting up at the prospect that their adventure wasn't over yet.
"I'd hope so," said Loki with a smile. "I'll just need a while to figure out how to get it all inside, since it would be rather bothersome to go through all of it one by one. And I'll have to make sure the space will take it without any of it getting lost."
"Alright." Thor paused for a moment, shifted restlessly and then offered: "How about I go look into that other room while you work?"
Loki smirked, knowing how his brother hated having to wait patiently. "Sure. Just try not to run into any invisible force fields. And perhaps you could also destroy whatever it is that's caused us to land here in the very first place." He hadn't forgotten about the curse, but only barely. Next to making sure that he'd get to keep all the gold and have a say in his own future, it has taken the lowest priority. He could always worry about it later, after he made sure that no one would steal his hope.
"I'll keep an eye out, then," laughed Thor and got up. As he walked past it, he noticed how the mountain of gold decreased and spread out because of their wild games. It felt almost foreign when his feet finally stepped on solid ground again, leaving the slippery golden dunes behind. He called Mjölnr to his hand from where the hammer had been lying after he had dropped it and left the room.
A deep silence has fallen upon the castle since the soft clinking of coins under his feet stopped. He crossed the wooden platform towards the other room, the only door that still remained closed.
It was massive and refused to be pushed open until he actually put some force into it. Then it slowly opened to reveal a cozy personal room. There was a bed, a writing desk and a series of cabinets and shelves. The bottom frame of the door brushed against a plush carpet that was clearly intended for bare feet not Thor's boots. He proceeded nonetheless, seeing as there was no one to stop him. He doubted he'd find anything interesting there, but he had some time to kill and it couldn't hurt to explore the room more thoroughly.
The door closed heavily behind him, humming as it rubbed against the carpet. The moment it stilled, the silence was absolute. Thor looked around the room. It was done in tones of blue, which was a welcome change after the blinding glare of the gold. His eyes settled on a tall wardrobe, the only furniture big enough to be able to conceal a person. Acting more on instinct than anything else, he moved over and opened it, Mjölnir raised up and ready to attack, in case there was somebody hiding inside. As expected, he found only clothes. There were mostly dresses and robes, all of them dusty and some filled with holes. Uninterested, he closed it again and turned away.
There were some books on a shelf next to the wardrobe. From what he could tell, they appeared to be mostly about magic. He recognized only one of them, which was about history. He wondered if Loki would know the others. Then his eyes wandered to the table. There was a book he didn't recognize, a small collection of pens and pencils neatly folded next to it, a small handheld mirror and a number of small colorful jars and brushes. It took him a moment to remember what those were – he only ever saw them in his mother's room. But it wasn't the cosmetics what drew his attention.
In the middle of the desk, right in front of the seat, lay a notebook. It was bookmarked with a pencil. Whoever was here last was probably right in the middle of using it, but never got to finish it. Thor reached for it. His fingers brushed its silver cover, wiping away dust. He hesitated, but then opened it.
His eyes flew over the pages. It was written in Vanir and whoever wrote it had a neat handwriting. He turned a few pages before he began reading at random.
Something is wrong. The shield I created is unsteady. I feel restless. Are we safe? Are they going to find us? What would they do to us if we were caught? I shouldn't be thinking about it, but I am. I think about it every day when I wake up, I think about it when I eat, I think about it when I read. Just looking at the door, knowing what's behind them, makes me think about it. Seeing Rill makes me think about it – would I lose her? Every night I hold her close to me, listen to her breathing and think about it. She tells me to stop worrying. My brave little thief. I wonder if she ever regrets loving a craven girl like me.
Thor smiled softly to himself. For a moment, he wondered if he should continue reading since it appeared to be very personal, but his mischievous side easily won over any etiquette he had been taught. Nobody could possibly mind if he read it and he was far too curious about what the notes had to say about the treasure he and Loki had found.
He turned a few pages back, hoping to find some better explanation or source of the author's obvious anxiety. Who was hunting them down and why? Soon enough, he found his answer.
It's here – the big day! I can't believe that this is actually happening. My mother would be so ashamed to know that her sweet little girl is a criminal now. So far everything went according to the plan. The loot is here, all piled up in the room next to our bedroom. Rill brought it here with her special teleporting technique. She looked tired but I could tell she was proud of herself. I'm proud of her too. I shielded the castle with my magic, so the royal guards or anybody else who might be looking for us won't find us. Now the waiting begins. Only after we can be sure that we are safe we can begin our new lives.
Thor stopped reading for a moment. He never really wondered where the gold was from. As long as it was lying freely in an abandoned place he considered it free for taking. After all, it couldn't serve anybody tucked away like this and that was what adventurers were for: to brave the dangers any ordinary person couldn't and bring back a treasure or an artifact to be used for good. His joy over their discovery had nothing to do with greed; he was content with the simple feeling of job well done and never even considered asking for his share. It wasn't like the royal treasury needed a boost. He automatically assumed the gold would be shared among the poor – in Vanaheim or Alfheim most likely, because there was no poverty in the golden city. He wasn't completely sure if Loki shared his sentiment, but he couldn't think of any other way someone could spend so much money.
With the writing so personal, it was kind of hard for him to see the author in negative light, but she was a thief. It sounded like they stole the money from the very Vanir monarchy. Did that mean that Thor and Loki should return it? Would anyone still be searching for it at this time? And could they trust that Frey wouldn't take it as a personal gift instead of a gift to the realm?
Thor sighed. Loki would know. He made a mental note to tell him about the money's origin but as of yet it still seemed far too soon to go back. He turned a few pages forward, past the part he had already read and towards more recent notes.
I can't be making this up. The magic has gone crazy ever since Rill arrived with the gold. We have lived here for years and nothing like this has ever happened, but suddenly, each and every spell is faulty or out of control. I was taking a bath today, but the water simply refused to turn warm no matter how many tricks I tried. After I gave up, its temperature suddenly rose all on its own until it almost scalded me! But Rill refuses to believe me. She seems so distant. She spends more time with the loot than with me. What is she still seeing on the gold?! It's not like it needs polishing. I think I'm going to ask her about it. I wonder what will be her answer.
Thor's brows rose. This was interesting. He had noticed the strange way things seemed to be behaving around the castle. The fact that the original residents experienced similar problems definitely sounded important.
As if reading his thoughts, the light in the room wavered. The fire that endlessly burned on the top of the candlestick hissed and lashed out. Thor startled and dropped the book. Sparks fell on the carpet and where they landed, small flames flared up.
Acting on what he had been taught, Thor moved over to stomp on the spot to put the fire out. It went easily and when he looked back up to the candlestick it almost looked as if nothing had happened at all. Frowning, Thor turned back and picked up the book again.
This is all beginning to feel like a bad dream. I'm terrified, more terrified than I've ever been in my life. There must be some terrible hex cast upon the gold. It seems to me as if it took away all of Rill, all of the woman I love, and left behind an emotionless husk. She acts as if I wasn't even here. When I asked her why she spends so much time with the gold, she told me that she's planning. Nothing more, just... planning. She could be planning while sitting next to me and holding my hand, but she hasn't touched me for weeks. When we go to sleep, she always turns away from me and never reacts to my touch. I'm scared of touching her. Somehow, I keep expecting her to snap. To finally look at me and tell me that I should go away, that she doesn't love me anymore. Maybe she doesn't wish to share the gold with me and if I don't let her have it... I don't know. I want this to be over already. I want her to smile at me. Oh, how I miss her smile.
The more he read, the more uneasy Thor felt. Could it be true? Was it the gold what caused everything? Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to take the gold with them, then. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to take it at all. They couldn't spread it among people if it was known to disrupt spells. He shot a quick glance towards the candlestick. Out of control magic could easily be dangerous. He turned back to the book while he pondered, hoping to find a more definite answer.
Rill was injured. I don't know how, she refused to tell me and I didn't find any clues anywhere. She must have cleaned them up. I was so distressed. I began shouting at her. I wanted to make her admit that there was something going on. But she hardly reacted at all. She told me that it was her own fault, that she was clumsy. I told her that clumsiness doesn't leave her with a bloody cut on her arm and once again suggested that the gold was to be blamed for all the problems. It was then that she snapped for the very first time. She defended the loot almost as if it were alive, saying that it can't cause any harm and that she can't believe how selfish I am that I'm trying to take it from her. She mentioned having some plans with it again, but I suppose she didn't consider me worthy of knowing their full extent. It seems that all that is left of my Rill is her love for gold, while everything else has gone with the wind. I wonder would she ever care if it was me who was injured?
Thor's thoughts wandered to Loki. Could the gold affect him somehow? He shook his head to himself. Loki acted completely normal when they found the gold and during every moment after. It was far more likely that the author of the writing fell in love with a greedy thief. He felt a little sad for her because of that.
I tried entering the room with the loot today, while she wasn't there. I found a force field that I never saw before. It was so strong I wouldn't even know how to begin taking it down. At first I thought that Rill was the one who put it there. I used to believe that I know her and that she never studied barriers but nowadays I wouldn't even be surprised if I were to find out there's information she had withheld from me. As it turned out though, she didn't. I asked her about it during dinner and she denied there ever being a force field. I followed her to the treasury and there was nothing. She could easily access the gold without anything blocking her way. I'm convinced that it was the loot itself what created that spell. If it can affect all the magic in the whole castle, then it must be strong indeed. Definitely strong enough to be capable of creating shield like that. But now I'm thinking just like Rill, as if the gold was alive. Am I going mad? I suppose I wouldn't be able to tell if I was, with only Rill for company.
Spells took energy. When energy source died, so did the effect of the spell. Thor knew as much about magic. Upon them entering the room, Loki had discharged a barrier. If Rill had been the caster, the spell would have died with her. But instead, it stood firm and solid, even while every other spell in the castle seemed to be having difficulties.
Thor didn't need any more proof. He decided that Loki needs to hear about all of this immediately. Maybe he could find a way to undo the curse and make the gold harmless – he had been good enough to get rid of its shield after all.
Setting the notebook back on the desk, he turned towards to go... And for the first time noticed the heavy smell that clung in the air. Quickly, he crossed the room and opened the door.
His senses were attacked all at once. Hot air slammed in his face and the ugly smell of smoke filled his nose and made his eyes tear up. The place was on fire, flames hungrily licking at the wood covering floors and walls. He heard sounds of cracking wood. The heavy chamber door had held all of it out.
All thoughts were gone then, replaced with a single instinct: get to safety. Thor pushed into the corridor, ignoring the heat when his feet touched the flames and ran towards the other room. He noticed that the fire was spreading from around the candlesticks, but the next moment the thought was gone from his mind as unimportant. He slammed against the door, swung it open and burst into the room.
His frantically searching eyes didn't take long to spot Loki. He stood among the coins, unfazed, completely ignoring the flames that slowly spread about the room's walls. Thor only too gladly ran among the coins. The metal radiated cold that pleasantly cooled his skin after the heat in the corridor. For the moment, they were save in the golden sea, but it couldn't last forever, the fire was spreading quickly and smoke was gathering under the ceiling.
"Loki," he said.
His brother turned to him with a mildly upset expression which to Thor seemed rather misplaced considering the circumstances. "I'm not done yet. The spell is harder than I thought, but I just need more time and it will work just fine."
It was only then that Thor noted that the treasure was still like they found it. But he didn't care. "We don't have time. There's something I need to tell you about the gold but first, we need to get out while the place is still standing!" The coils all around them reflected the flickering light of the flames and set wild lights dancing across both their faces.
Loki frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "What about the gold?" he demanded.
So his arrogant little brother thought he knew everything best and that he should be the one to make all the decisions? Thor's temper flared, fed by his stress. "Later!" he barked. "We are leaving now!"
He grabbed Loki's arm and tried to drag him towards the door but Loki immediately began squirming until he managed to pry his hand loose. He took a step back away from Thor.
"I'm not leaving," he announced firmly. "Not without the gold."
Thor felt his anger rising as hot and fierce as the flames, but focused on suppressing it. He had learned long ago that it only made every situation worse and it was an immature way of dealing with problems. Right now, the best thing he could do to get Loki outside to safety was tell him what he wanted to hear instead of dragging him there kicking and screaming.
"The gold is the curse," he said edgily, but as calmly as he could manage. "It's what caused the fire and all the other malfunctions. Remember the barrier when we entered? That one didn't have the same problems everything else had. It was because it was protecting the gold. Think about it, it makes perfect sense!"
Confusion softened Loki's brows and for a moment he looked completely lost, as if he couldn't comprehend what Thor was telling him. "That can't be right," he murmured. "I would recognize if there was a spell..."
Somewhere nearby something cracked loudly and the heat was beginning to invade even their little refuge among the coins. "Loki, we need to go," pressed Thor again, to get his brother's thoughts on the right track.
Loki looked up to him and only now was the distress on his face real: "I can't. I need time to finish the spell so we can take the gold with us. We can't go without it."
Once again, Thor's anger was rapidly slipping his reins. "Weren't you listening to me?! The gold is cursed; it's as good as worthless. And why do you care so much anyway? It's not like we need it!" Fragments of what he had read swam through his mind. Was it possible that the gold was influencing Loki the same way as it had Rill?
"We do need it!" screamed Loki and then began coughing violently. The room was dark with smoke.
What he being selfish? Thor looked at Loki in shock. "What are you talking about? We live in a golden city! We are members of the richest family in the Nine Realms! What could we possibly need more gold for?!"
"Please, trust me." There were tears in Loki's eyes, though likely only from all the smoke. "I just need some time for the spell, but I can't go without the gold. I have plans for it! Important plans!"
Thor's blood ran cold, when he heard the word 'plans', his mind screaming for him to recognize the obvious connection. But some part of him still fought against it, telling him that he shouldn't panic and shouldn't jump to conclusions. It was normal for Loki to speak of plans, after all, it didn't necessary have to mean that he was under the influence of a mind-spell.
"How much time do you need?" he asked sensibly.
Loki bit his lip nervously. His gaze avoided Thor's. "Half an hour?" he suggested hesitantly.
Thor gaped at him. At that moment something loudly snapped overhead and several burning wooden planks feel from the ceiling. The planks crashed into the coins with loud jingle which for a moment drowned out the unceasing snapping of burning wood all around. The cool air the coins had kept about them before was now nonexistent.
Thor coughed and spit, trying to clear his throat so he could shout: "We'll be dead in half an hour!" Memories of the skeletons they had found flashed through his mind. Suddenly he was completely sure that the curse was trying to kill them. Maybe it was altering Loki's spells or playing with his mind to delay them until the flames could claim them. If it was capable of casting a strong shielding spell, why wouldn't it be able to do something like this?
But his mind was still his own and he wasn't going to fall for it. All his emotions now united in single-minded determination. He was going to get them both out of there. Once again, he reached out for Loki's arm, grabbed his wrist as tightly as he could and began moving towards the door.
"No! Thor, let me go!" Loki's voice quickly became frantic. He tried digging his feet into the ground to fight Thor pulling him, but the coins didn't hold and only quick reflexes saved him for falling. "Please, trust me... Listen to me!"
Each word cried out in the vulnerable voice was ripping Thor's heart apart and he wanted nothing more than to stop and apologize. But it is the voice of the curse, he reminded himself with each step he took, calling us and begging us to stay and die.
He made it as far as to the point where the coins lay no more and burning hot wooden floor welcomed their feet. The flames licked at their boots, threatening to burn through if they didn't move quickly enough. Loki made a noise that sounded like a sob when his feet met with the floor.
The next thing Thor knew, something bit his hand and when he flinched away, he let go of Loki, who collapsed back on the coins. He looked at his hand while Loki picked himself up and remained dumbly staring, his mind failing to put the pieces together. There was a clear bleeding cut at the back of his hand and Loki was holding a small dagger. For split of a second, they stared at each other, petrified.
Then Loki began crying. "I'm sorry!" he screamed. "I can't leave without the gold, I just can't! I need it. We need it, Thor! It's really important!"
"I can't allow you to die in here," responded Thor simply, firmly. The moment of shock was gone and his determination returned. He moved towards Loki, grateful to be able to shift where he was standing, because the heat under his feet had been getting unbearable with his lingering.
He reached for Loki, gazing deep into his eyes. The younger Prince returned his gaze, his eyes those of a terrified doe. The hand that held the dagger trembled, but didn't strike.
"I can't," whimpered Loki and took his head into his hands as if he was trying to keep it from exploding. His body shook with sobs.
Another series of planks snapped and fell and the sound of their crash was accompanied by similar sounds from outside the room. Thor's heart felt like it was about to burst from his chest in mad terror, but he clenched his teeth and forced himself to stay calm.
"It's the curse," he said as softly as he could. "It's making you want to stay here. But you're smart and you can fight it. We don't need the gold. We just need to get out of here." Would this little piece of information somehow help Loki? He hoped it would, despite not being sure what exactly the curse was doing to him. He didn't know what else to do. With each passing minute the flames were growing stronger.
"What –" began Loki, but then he bend over in a fit of violent coughs. He gasped for breath but there was no air, only smoke filling his lungs. The world swam around him and he no longer knew if it was because of his tears, the smoke or because his head was spinning.
His skin felt like it was melting faced with the heat of the flames and his body hurt as if it was already on fire. Touching the flames was like torture. His head ached terribly, each thought like a dagger cutting through his brain. The thought that he wouldn't have such problems with the heat if he was Aesir hurt most of all. All he really wanted was to stop thinking and run.
But he couldn't. One thought stayed with him even after all the others drifted away. The gold was the only hope he had against Odin. His only hope for a future by Thor's side. He wished he could explain all of that to Thor, but he didn't know how. Thor wouldn't like hearing that Loki wanted to use the gold for bribery and to gain an advantage against their father. So used to telling lies, his lips locked when faced with the truth, letting out only vague useless words that kept Thor in the dark. He knew he shouldn't, but at that moment trying to put it all in a way Thor would accept and understand seemed downright impossible.
The dagger has slipped from my fingers, he realized only after it hit the floor at his feet. Everything seemed to be moving too fast for him and he felt so strangely disconnected from it all. Thor took his hand and began dragging him away again. Why couldn't he understand?
He tried to speak again, but again discovered that there was simply not enough air. The heat was pressing down on him like a blanket, suffocating him. He stumbled and fell to his knees on the red-hot floor. He wanted to cry, his legs were burning, his whole body was in agony, but his voice wasn't obeying him anymore. His mind was swimming in a sea of blackness and unbearable pain dragged it down into its depths.
When Loki collapsed, every nerve in Thor's body screamed in alarm. In an instant, he was at his side and, seeing that he wasn't about to get up on his own, picked him up into his arms. His anxiety nearly killing him now, he checked to see if Loki was breathing.
He was. Remembering some safety measures, Thor also checked if none of Loki's clothes or hair had caught fire, but it didn't. Only then he ran out of the room, accompanied by the sound of another part of the ceiling crashing to the ground.
There was a complete darkness hovering over the staircase, formed from smoke. Running took a lot of breath and Thor barely got to the beginning of the stairs before a coughing fit seized him. Feeling sick, he did his best to fight it and pressed on, his footfall heavy and loud upon the steps. When he was in the middle between the landing and the second floor, the wood under his feet ominously cracked. The whole construction shook. Making a split-second decision, Thor jumped down the rest of the way towards the landing. His legs, trained to stand the impact of hitting the ground after flying with Mjölnir through the air at top speed, easily kept their balance. The wooden landing made a few snapping sounds at his impact but held firmly enough. Behind his back a set of stairs awkwardly tilted and then collapsed, the hungry flames having destabilized its construction.
As he descended the last set of steps, the smoke tinned out a little, enough for him to see his way around. But even here, the flames licked on every portion of wood in sight and the heat was nearly unbearable.
Loki's head lolled limply over his arm and his long hair swung dangerously above the flames. Thor had to stop, take his head into his hand and hold it closer to his chest instead of having it hang loosely, to keep him safe. He took the opportunity to check his breathing again. It was shallow and uneven, but it was there.
The further away from the stairs Thor got, the heavier the air grew. The smoke was trapped in rooms where it couldn't escape to the higher floor. The flames had much more to consume here and blazed high and wild. Thor's eyes were watering just from having to look around. He cradled Loki in his arms and threw himself into the blazing inferno, not stopped by fear nor pain, only thinking of getting to safety. He could feel his legs getting seared as he ran straight through the flames, but it was only a secondary concern to his adrenalin-overdriven senses.
And then finally, the entrance was in front of him and he slammed into it with his shoulder. It opened partially and he gratefully slipped outside. His running slowed down into a walk until he finally stopped and fell to his knees in the soft cold grass. He gulped the clear fresh air, realizing for the first time how much he had missed it.
He laid Loki down in the grass and simply watched him breathe while he calmed his own nerves a little. In the daylight he saw for the first time how the smoke and ashes had marked Loki's beautiful skin and colored it cinder. He supposed his own skin looked the same.
He could feel his burns healing. With Loki safe, his mind finally allowed other thoughts to enter his focus. Just thinking about what almost happened made him angry.
The sky above darkened, the clouds that had already been covering it quickly growing and gathering above him. He raised Mjölnir into the air. The sky responded with a low rumble of some unseen lightning. A soft rain began to fall. Thor's gaze was dead-set on the castle in front of him. Barely even knowing how, he gave an order to the skies.
And the skies obeyed. In a blinding flash of light a lightning struck the castle. It aimed in the area where Thor guessed the room with the gold. A deafening roar of thunder followed it immediately. All daylight was gone now, as if night had fallen and rain was quickly growing stronger, along with howling wind.
Loki woke up to drops of water lashing his face and his first thought was eternal gratitude for the cold. Then a crack of thunder startled him and prompted him to sit up and look around. The world was black and white and he was blinded by it for a moment.
The lightning was striking almost constantly now, sometimes even more of them at once. The stone walls of the castle were crumbling under the power. To break the curse, Thor knew, one had to destroy its source.
Loki looked up to the God of Thunder standing above him. He was illuminated by the unsteady white light, with his hair blowing behind him in the wind. He stood like a statue, firm and unmoving, his eyes never flickering as if he was staring down his mortal enemy. His face spoke of rage so true that none would ever dare oppose it.
Loki didn't. He remained quiet and still, as he watched the raging skies turn his hopes to dust, raindrops running down his cheeks.
Note: I did not make Loki's pocket-space up. He uses it in the movie, when he summons the Casket of Ancient Winters out of thin air. So much unexplained magic in these movies!
And just for the record, "magic-fiction stories" is a play on science-fiction. I wasn't sure if it's clear enough, so there. I do so enjoy running wild with the whole "Magic is science" thing.