A/N: This monster of a chapter is probably my most favorite chapter to date. Thank you to all my new Favorites/Followers.
When dawn broke, those that were departing were armed and armored-except Sigyn, who had neither-and waiting on the platform that was Tony's landing site for Iron Man. Loki eyed his wife uneasily, knowing how she preferred to fight and knowing that the siphon hadn't quite broken. He would have liked to have put their departure off another day, but that would have required an explanation to the group at large what spells, exactly, required so much power to be drawn from her and him. He had-of course-offered to conjure her armor of her own and weapons that would have been balance exactly for her, but she had refused-of course-on the notion that they would need every ounce of magic between them for the coming fights.
Tony stood a short distance from the small group of the Aseir, with one hand stuffed in a pocket and the other clenched tightly around the neck of a long, wrapped package. The rest of the team had said their good-byes and elected to watch the departure from inside the tower where they were warm against the brisk, morning air. "Oi, princess," he called and Sigyn looked from Sif to him. "J ordered you some parts. Thought you might want them before you leave." He tossed the package at her and she stepped forward to catch it, grunting in surprise at the weight and awkward shape. "It isn't armor. Jarvis couldn't calculate for an atmosphere and gravity he has no information on, but he did manage to scrape together enough info about your weapons to order you something."
Well, Tony amended silently, the technical term is "stole" for one of those pieces. Not that he was ever going to admit to it.
The paper was shredded and he grinned when her eyes went round and then went to Loki. In her arms were two daggers and the scepter that Loki had used to lead his failed invasion. Loki had stepped towards her, his fingers wrapping around the scepter to lift it away and allow her to check the balance of the remaining blades. They engaged in a short, heated conversation Tony couldn't make out, but it ended when she tucked the daggers into her outfit and accepted scepter from her husband. Loki, for some reason, nodded gratefully at him and turned away.
Her gaze flicked to him and she smiled. "My thanks, Tony. Give it to Jarvis as well," she said.
"Just return in one piece and you can tell him yourself," Tony said, turning to wave briefly at them over his shoulder.
In his retreat, he heard Loki say, "This isn't going to be pleasant," as Fandral uttered a yelp that was cut short. He didn't have to turn back to know that they had gone in a brief distortion of air around them. That was it, then, they were gone to make war and that was that. They'd make it out, they always did, but it didn't stop the knot of worry that settled over his heart.
Maybe it was time for a change of scenery.
Traveling by way of Bi-frost energy had never been their favorite means of travel, but it was much more preferable to traveling between the seams of the realms and slowly suffocating in the coldness of space. When they stepped back into Asgard's outer forests, Hogun crouched down and placed his hands on the ground, Sif staggered into Fandral and sent both of them crashing to the ground, and Thor looked a little greener than usual. All of them were fighting to regain their breath while Sigyn drew Loki aside and, together, they wove a spell. If one of the warriors had been observing them, they would have seen the complicated movements of Loki's hands weaving around Sigyn's hands and seen the way the magic shimmered between them as it settled.
When it was done, Sigyn shoved the scepter into his hands and shook her head when he tried to give it back. "You need it more than I, love, and you know how to use it," she said, stepping away. "Mine is a small part."
"Yours is a visible part," Loki said softly. "And you've little enough magic after that. Your defenses have been stabilized, but how long will that last?" He paused and then added, "Stark's pet has the ability to measure how much power we have at a given moment, yes?" She nodded slowly and he pressed that to his advantage. "Then he would have known that your power is not quite what it should be and looked to give you some sort of advantage to increase your chances of survival. I will have Thor, Hogun, and Fandral. Between us, we have never been captured. You and Sif cannot say the same."
Her hands closed around his on the scepter as she leaned forward to kiss him. When she stepped back, his fingers had slipped from the scepter to leave the full weight of it in her hands. The weight of it vanished from her hands as she cloaked its form and power. As the full length of the plan was finally disclosed to their other companions, Thor and Sif looked like they wanted to protest.
"Are you sure you're up to this?" Sif asked, studying the smaller woman.
"If I wasn't, I wouldn't have suggested offered to stand as the distraction," Sigyn said with a rueful smile.
That was true enough. Sigyn had never pushed the fullest extent of her limits without a very good reason and a very good plan backing her, but she had never fought to regain one of her children like this. The circumstances were less than ideal, but it was their plan and Loki had never led Sigyn astray as Sif recalled. Looking at him now, though, seeing the way he watched his wife, it was like there was something else they weren't being told, but there was no time to question it. The plans were settled and Sigyn departed with Sif at her heel.
Thor, Hogun, Fandral, and Loki watched the two females leave, knowing it could be the last they ever saw of them. Then, they found a place to wait until dark.
Heimdall glanced towards Earth, intending to check their progress, and was surprised when he saw only Thor's human comrades within the building that had housed Sigyn. The last he had Seen, those he had sent had been joined by Loki. Where were they?
The Vanir had made their camp at the edge of the ruined city where they could see the palace and its mocking lights. As twilight gave way to darkness, their warriors checked the prisoners again and prepared the ones that would be the examples. Their cries mixed with the shouted orders of the warriors that moved them, pushed them forward to their deaths. Siege Wolves loped around them, snarling softly at their handlers, but moving forward all the same through the breach in Asgard's golden walls.
That plan halted, though, when the darkness parted to reveal the slight form of the oldest Vanir princess, Sigyn. She was clad in strange clothes, but it was her nonetheless. A noise like a snarl broke the night as they realized who it was, that the murderer of their children had returned. They tried to send the wolves forth, but they refused the orders, instead turning on their handlers and biting hands and pushing back those that stepped forward.
Light of weight, delicate features, and dark hair, the family resemblance was immediately recognizable to those that looked for it between the two women that stood across from each other inside what had been the Council Tent. Their queen, Abragoda, had been holding a tactical meeting with her general and his lieutenants. Those same superior officers were still present, but shifting uncomfortably as the queen and princess regarded each other with gazes cooler than any ice a Jotun could summon.
It didn't help matters that their very own Siege Wolves, once loyal Vanir warriors, had turned on them for the presence of the betrayer. The wolves paced restlessly outside the tent and yipped occasionally to each other.
"Darling, dearest little sister, do dismiss your officers. We have things to discuss, things which you will find of great interest," Sigyn drawled. "Or I can promise to set your own wolves on you."
"I don't trust you," Abragoda said bluntly and Sigyn merely grinned in a vicious manner. After a moment, she nodded to her officers, who stiffened and were about to protest when a lone howl punctuated the night air.
When there was only a table between them, Sigyn dropped into one of the vacated chairs and reached for an uncorked bottle of spirits. She sniffed at its contents and frowned disapprovingly at the Vanir queen. "Ale? Right before the execution of a hundred innocents? What were you celebrating, I wonder?" she asked.
Abragoda, spine still stiff and cheek still twitching, stared at her older sister with something akin to hatred. "I'll not be telling you my plans, dearest, darling older sister," she snapped. "And I will ask the questions here. I am your queen." It was almost an afterthought the way it was added. "How did you turn my packs against me?"
Setting the bottle back down, Sigyn merely smiled and held up a closed fist. With each finger that she held up, she ticked off a point. "One: I ceased to be your subject when you stole my childhood memories and cast me into Asgard. Two: Your Siege Wolves answer to me now. Three: I am only here because you claim my son as your heir. So, to answer your question: Loki. Other than that, you may not question me further and when I ask something you will answer as completely and honestly as if your life depended on the answer, which it may." Folding her fingers beneath her chin, Sigyn frowned intently at her sister. "The first order of business that we shall discuss is why you claim my boy, Fenrir, as your heir."
Abragoda was silent for a moment before she answered, "It is not because I think him fit to rule after me, but because I know him to be a White Alpha. He…"
The darkness was their cover and Loki's spells their protection. Combined with the restlessness of the guards and the soldiers, it was enough for them to slip undetected into the camp and find the first of the captives that they would smuggle out. The cries of relief when the chains were shattered were smothered with warning words and quickly hissed orders.
"We have but an hour while this distraction works to our advantage, then we are caught in a trap of our own making," Loki breathed to Thor.
When she had finished her long winded excuse about using Fenrir as an Heir, Sigyn eyed her sister with disgust. "Right. That was about what I had expected," she sighed. "But I do not understand your assault on the whole of Asgard. You must know that, even with the Siege Wolves, their number of highly trained, highly dedicated warriors will overwhelm you. Strong as they may be, the Siege Wolves are only animals with a higher sense of understanding for the spoken language." From outside, this was punctuated by the yip of a Siege Wolf. "More clever, too, but that is all."
Abragoda's eyes flicked to the flap of her tent as she shivered. "They certainly have a strange understanding of your presence."
Sigyn just grunted at the visible dig for information. "My husband is very clever," she shot back and that was a statement with enough truth and obscurities for Abragoda to chew on for a frustrating amount of time before she gave up dissecting the words as a bad idea.
"Fine, sister, since you are giving nothing away, we are here for Odin's harboring of you for the murders of our children two hundred years ago," the Vanir queen answered.
"No. You're not. Sisters do love to gossip," she said viciously, rising from the chair and slamming her hands against the table. "Whatever Amora has told you, whatever aid she has promised you, she is a liar and insane, little sister. Fenrir will not give you better control over your wolves. The last that he knew of you, I was held in thrall at your command under the spell of an aunt. He would rip you and Amora apart at the first chance he got." Abragoda flinched back at the first show of Sigyn's temper and her gaze flicked briefly to the tent entrance.
The second group that they smuggled from the camp was as easily done as the first. It was the third that they ran into the first trouble with. The guards had settled back into their structured patrols and rotate through their assigned areas in a tight pattern that covered even the shadows of the most remote tent. One guard took too much of an interest in a particular shadow and suffered a slit throat by Hogun's blades. Though the body was dumped well beyond the boundaries of the encampment, the missing guard was immediately taken notice of and an alert was roused.
Standing at the edge that marked the distance between safety and the Vanir encampment, Loki studied the forms that were darting back and forth and listened to the distant words that were being shouted. "We can make one more successful rescue, Thor, without being captured. From there, our chances diminish decrease with every subsequent attempt that we make," he said, turning his head slightly to watch Thor's profile approach. "I will give you two more before I leave to collect Sif and Sigyn. Choose wisely."
Thor looked a little older than he remembered with the way he frowned thoughtfully and studied the darkened outlines of tents and Vanir. "I will have to leave that to you, brother. You understand where we are most able to blend in while I am still just a warrior," Thor said and Loki had never heard better words fall from his brother's lips.
Abragoda's gaze shifted back to Sigyn when the older woman straightened and sighed. "We are almost done here and then you can have your precious camp back in the order before I…ah…intruded," she said and Abragoda narrowed her eyes. "I have an…idea…that you will find interesting. I want my son free of Odin's grip and well away from Asgard and the Vanir."
"His best chance for survival lies with me," Abragoda pressed and then stopped flat when Sigyn's features hardened.
"His best chance for freedom is to be far away from these realms," Sigyn returned. "But…and understand that this is conditional…But I understand that you need a White Alpha to better control your Siege Wolves. In return for your aid, I will make you another White Alpha from a volunteer, and it must be a volunteer or the spell won't take, whose blood kin is willing to be his or her handler."
Shock flashed across Abragoda's face and, for a moment, her throat worked with no sound. Then, "Why?"
"Because you will be providing the attack that will force Odin to undo the spell that holds Fenrir and allow me a chance to rescue him from Odin's hands," Sigyn said frankly. "You will also be accepting whatever terms of surrender that Thor Odinson offers when this is done and you will never again raise hand, sword, tooth, claw, or magic to them for as long as his line rules Asgard."
"So, you are here for Asgard. You care nothing for your own people?"
Sigyn stared at her sister for the longest time before she shook her head and looked a little sad. "I care that they do not go to their slaughter, led by an ignorant woman whose ambitions blind her to even family affection and drive her to turn one sister against the other. That is the extent of it, though. Anything else died when you took the throne from me and employed our youngest sister, Amora, to hold me in thrall when you discovered I was still alive. And, no, I am not here for Asgard. I am here for old debts and family."
"If I did this, and I'm not agreeing to anything, but say I did. How would this benefit us?" Abragoda asked.
Sigyn chuckled mirthlessly. "If you don't agree to this, then I take your Siege Wolves and leave you to the tender mercies of Asgard's warriors." There was a pause, a measuring of words, and a stare so blank that Abragoda looked away from her sister. "But I'll tell you what, Abra, do this for me and we will call all debts between us settled and I will renounce all claim and ties to the Vanir throne for myself and my children. I will accept banishment from our realm and stay well away unless any of the Vanir dare to raise hand, sword, tooth, claw, or magic to me or mine."
Abragoda looked shocked. "You would…sign away your birthright for a beast that was once your son?"
"The beast was an innocent caught in the path of a tyrant. I'll not leave my son to suffer a moment longer than is in my power to prevent," Sigyn said softly. "And do remember, Abra, that I never wanted the throne. In part, you did me a favor in dropping me in Asgard. Thor and Loki are more my family than you and Amora ever were. This is just my way of making it official that we are no longer family. Agreed?"
The Vanir queen held her hand out across the table. "Agreed," she said when Sigyn took her hand.
They gripped each other's hand tightly, each remembering a moment when their relationship had not been quite so bitter-a moment when blood had been enough. Then, Sigyn released her grip and stepped back. "You will take your wolves and you will challenge Odin to settle this little war that you have started," Sigyn instructed. "Do it publicly and in the middle of the day when his guards are at their most vigilant. That will ensure he cannot refuse without humiliating himself."
"And what is your plan?"
Sigyn smiled. "You'll find out when it happens." She stepped back, satisfied with both the results and the amount of time it had taken her to wring the agreement from the Vanir queen. It was almost time for Loki to collect them. Best to get outside and cloaked before Abragoda discovered her missing prisoners, but Abragoda was looking at her like there was something more she wanted to say.
"One last thing, Sigyn, before we part as sisters for the final time, there is one last thing I would show you," she said. "I bear you no love, not anymore, but I would not see you bound into a lie. Amora has hurt you terribly, I acknowledge that, but your husband has done worse in concealing certain…truths…from you."
Amusement flickered across her features and, for a moment, she was torn between leaving and hearing Abragoda's ploy. "Speak then, Abra," she said. "I've a moment longer to hear you through."
It wasn't a lie she wove or words she spoke. Rather, Abragoda cupped her hands together and a blurred image flickered over her fingers, slowly summoning its details to life. The browns of the image were the first to settle into the form of walls. Dull grey resolved itself into the stone flooring and the posts of a bed. Finally, the color of flesh resolved itself into an image of…She lurched forward, a frown touching her lips, and fingers reaching for the small pair of bodies twined together. Loki and herself. But it was not her. She had no memory of such a place and Loki had never looked angry or bitter while being intimate with her.
Abragoda stepped back. "In your absence, Amora seduced him with your image. It's not a perfect match, as you can tell, but it was-apparently-good enough for him at the time."
Sigyn continued to stare at the image, drinking in the familiar sight of corded muscles, sinewy strength, dark hair, and the planes and angles of his features, yet…the longer she looked, the more off it seemed to her. A smile quirked her lips and, with a wave of her fingers through the image, it vanished in a puff of smoke. "My estimation of your intelligence has just gone very much down, Abragoda," she laughed. "Do remember that Amora obtained a copy of one of my husband's clones and tortured me with its image for close to two years. You've been taken in by Amora, little sister. That was not my husband, but an imperfect copy of one of the clones. My husband is nothing if not a bit of a show off. It had nothing of his magic or the mark he usually leaves on the image of himself."
With another laugh, she spun on her heel and left Abragoda staring open-mouthed after her. With the tent flap gripped in her hand and pulled partially free, she turned her head to add, "Oh. And we've taken most of your prisoners as a…good will promise. Should any harm come to those left in your care, you can consider our agreement null and expect to be hunted as I will hunt Amora when this is over." Her grin was just a little vicious when she caught Abragoda's gaze one final time. "Goodbye, little sister. This is the last time we meet as anything resembling siblings."
Then, she was simply gone. The tent entrance flapped silently in the wind and fluttered closed of its own accord. Outside, the Siege Wolves struck up a mournful howl that left the Vanir queen shaking.
The guards and soldiers had taken defensive positions around the remaining two groups of prisoners, hands gripped tightly around their drawn weapons and eyes sharp to the surrounding area. Behind them, the prisoners pressed together for warmth and reassurance. When the first dagger sprouted in the throat of one soldier with a squirt of blood, the others bellowed to each other and stepped back. Another fell in a flash of light while another seized up with an electrical shock. Yet another fell with his head severed from his body. Before the last body had struck the ground, the guards and soldiers were fleeing or tossing their weapons to the ground and gabbling in their native tongue.
Loki wove the spell for invisibility again and reinforced the one for disillusionment even as he watched the so-called warriors flee. Thor, Hogun, and Fandral were momentarily revealed to the prisoners as each of their chains were broken and they were herded into the larger spell meant to cloak the presence of those they picked up. When they reached capacity, Loki forced Thor back and away from the two dozen remaining. It was almost hard to make himself turn away as well when the cries and pleas of the prisoners being left behind started. "There is no time and no magic left for them. Take those you have now and go. I will join you when you find Heimdall."
"But they-" Thor began, his grip tightening on Mjölnir.
"No, Thor. You cannot save them all at this time. Measures have been taken that will safeguard them against the worst of harm," Loki said. When Thor looked to protest again, he asked, "Do you trust me? Do you trust Sigyn?"
"I-Yes. Yes, of course," Thor said, finally focusing on his brother.
"Then believe me when I tell you that there is no more time and no more magic to be spent on this rescue. Go. I will see you in three day's time," he said. There was a slight hesitation before he added, "Safe travels, brother. Do not get yourself killed." Then, he faded into shadow and the spaces between reality.
Moving through the camp undetected and unseen proved to be harder than she had thought it would be. Twice they had been glimpsed and Sif had been forced to step away from the protective spells to slit the throat of the unsuspecting warrior that got too close. Once, Sigyn had been the one to protect Sif from an attack in her blind spot, but frying the guard and leaving a corpse that smelled of burnt flesh had attracted too much attention. Now, the only thing that stood between them and capture were the clasping of hands between them and the sharing of power and strength to keep the spell that cloaked them active.
As they wove and dodged and danced through the gathering soldiers and guards, their hands slipped and the spell frayed around the edges. Sigyn dove for Sif's hand, but it was already too late. A cry was put up all around them and the warriors began to press in, draw their weapons, and step towards the interlopers. Then, a strong arm pulled her into cool warmth as Sif vanished in a rush of power before they were falling, falling through the cracks that held time and space and all of reality together.
When they stopped spinning, when their feet finally touched ground again, Sigyn's weight in Loki's arms toppled them to the dirt and ferns of the forest around them. Still shaking with the adrenaline of the close call, she seized a double handful of his hair and dragged his lips to hers until they were kissing with such savage hunger that Sif had to drag herself up before she was able to escape them.
Clearing her throat, Sif recalled the pair of them to their surroundings. Sigyn, at least, had the good nature to turn slightly pink around the ears while Loki looked truly indifferent at having had an audience. Sif turned from them while they rose from the ground and righted their clothes and shared a kind of look that, though Sif had never envied them, still made her want for herself.
"Where are we?" Sif asked. "This is no part of the royal forests that I have ever been to."
"That is because we are nowhere near the palace at the moment," Sigyn answered, still smoothing down the dirt from her clothes. "We…" and here she paused to glance at Loki, who shrugged. "You know of our plans to exact the price of the debt that Odin has incurred for us, yes?"
"I had…suspected that there was something you were planning," Sif said slowly, wondering at her role in the matter.
"Good," Sigyn said. "Because we're going to need your help in protecting Thor from being suspected in his father's…disappearance."
Thank you to my reviewers: wbss21, Maia2, and no-MY name's Anonymous.