SHADOW OF DEATH
Chapter 50: Forced Truce
"Golly, that's cold," Steve Rogers' said as he jumped up and down and rubbed at his arms. He glanced around him in confusion and frowned. "I didn't think it was possible for ice to be colder than the Arctic. I was wrong."
"You should feel right at home, Capsicle," Tony quipped. "At least you will survive this walk-in freezer. The rest of us need to find shelter immediately or we are gonna be worse off than Robert Falcon Scott."
Loki glanced upward and around him. He blinked in surprise as he took in the deep blue and violet sky overhead. All around him, rather than the field of Idavollr. he saw nothing but a horizon eclipsed by frozen tundra. The shadowed white of the ice was interrupted by the multitude of squirming bodies scattered across the glacial plain, interrupting the silence with curses and shouts of dismay. He recognized that dim, twilit sky and the unrelenting claws of that biting wind. He shivered, though not from the cold.
"What the hell happened?" Tony Stark said. "Did the Queen of the Undead drop us in a vat of dry ice?"
"This is not Hela's doing," Thor stated from behind Loki.
"So that cat then? Or the guy the cat threw up?" Tony asked.
"Not a cat," came Shuri's voice, between chattering teeth. She was huddled between Jane and Bucky Barnes. Jane's eyes glowed an eerie blue in the dim light as she forced molecules and atoms to speed up around her and create a little pocket of warmth. The other Midgardians soon recognized her intent and gathered around her to take advantage of her efforts.
"Nay, this is not Thanos' handiwork," Thor answered. "The Mad Titan escaped from the jaws of the Flerkin and he gained the Power Stone for himself. He sought to incinerate us where we stood."
"Funny way to incinerate us," Tony groused. "I feel more like a popsicle than a shish kabob."
"There was precious little between Thanos' intended end and our continued survival," Loki observed. "If I am not wrong, our continued existence is due to the intervention of our allies than our enemies."
Tony snorted. "Some allies."
"While we share a common enemy, we are reluctantly so," Thor said.
"We are on Jotunheim?" Jane surmised, both as an observation and a question.
"Jotun-huh?" Steve asked.
"The home of the Jotnar, the Frost Giants," Thor explained.
"Oh. The blue ice guys. Makes sense," Tony said.
Loki glanced around again until he caught what he was looking for: a contingent of Jotnar with the tell-tale blue glow of the Casket of Ancient Winters in the hands of the central figure. Tall, dark figures strode across the glacial plain towards the Ice Casket. Each held their arms outstretched before them and similar strands of blue magic emerged from their palms and joined in with the light of the Casket of Ancient Winters until they resembled a cerulean tree of misted light. Once they were within a few hundred paces of the Casket, they reached out with their other arm and the ice beneath their feet began to shift and grow and change shape. Within minutes, a wall of translucent ice stood taller than the Jotnar and still it grew. It hummed and slid and reached up as if it were magma rather than ice and just as quickly it stilled into straight, solid, interconnected panels. Then they reached their building arms upwards and the ice gathered over their heads in a vaulted canopy of ice that would rival the ceiling of any cathedral for the crystalline patterns they replicated.
Once the shelter was completed, the bearer of the Ice Casket summoned a pillar of ice in the center of the structure and placed the relic on its table-like surface. Then, he called the pillar to grow until it reached the pinnacle of the structure. In burst of light, the Casket illuminated the entire structure cast dazzling blue shapes through the glacial ceiling and into the tundra beyond.
"That's something you don't see every day," Tony said with a whistle.
"It looks like a star," Jane said in awe.
"Or a castle made of giant snowflakes," Steve said.
"Did you know the Casket could do that?" Jane asked Loki.
He shook his head. He had never seen the Casket at work and he was beginning to realize he had only scratched the surface of the relic's capabilities.
Groups of Jotnar warriors emerged through an opening in the side of the ice structure and they scattered across the glacial plain in small groups. They gave the formal hand-clasp and head bow of their people as they approached each legion of warriors they came upon. Then, the disparate bands of Yggdrasil's warriors made their way into the shelter created by the Casket of Ancient Winters. None remained exposed to the unforgiving elements but obeyed their hosts and followed where they were directed into the glistening translucent cathedral.
"Well, that looks like an invitation if I've ever seen one," Tony said. "Shall we? Or do you think we need to wait for an escort?"
"Those of Midgard, band together and follow," Loki instructed. "If addressed, Queen Shuri of Midgard may speak for you and represent you."
Tony snorted. "Last I checked, Earth doesn't have a queen."
"Precisely," Loki answered and his grin grew exponentially wider. "Yet, Midgard has been overseen by a king and, for lack of any other formal representative or emissary, I appoint the only crowned monarch among your number to represent you and keep you from starting any more wars."
Before Tony was allowed to argue or retort, Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner pressed him onward and forced him to follow after the Wakandan queen and the rest of the Midgardians.
"But he…," Tony protested, his arguments quickly swallowed by the roar of the wind around him. At Jane's hesitation, Loki motioned for her to accompany them. She did, but reluctantly and with more than one wary glance back to where he and Thor remained. Jane's glowing presence in the center kept them all shielded from the elements while they made their way to the entrance of the ice enclosure.
It was Skadmire who met them outside the entrance. In his outstretched palms, he held two glowing orbs of light. He threw these up into the air and let them burst into miniscule shards of light. These scattered and extinguished in the snow. It was the appropriate welcome for a visiting monarch received on Jotunheim and Loki watched as Skadmire led Queen Shuri through the entrance with all the honor and dignity due to a queen.
"You should join them, Thor," Loki whispered to his brother beside him.
"After you," Thor answered him. They stood, side-by-side, the tatters of their battle-worn capes whipping around them along with the flurries of snow as they waited for all of the remaining soldiers to clear the field. The remaining Aesir stood in wait around their monarchs, falling into place behind them. When none remained outside any longer, a final contingent of Jotnar made their way to the Asgardians.
Five Jotnar approached. Four were dressed in the blue armor of warriors, though they carried neither weapons nor shields. The central figure was set apart from the others. He stood two heads taller than Loki and he wore a robe made of white pelts, each stitched together with a complicated array of shells and leather engravings. A necklace made of loops of a sparkling white stone shone against the dark blue of his chest. His feet were bare against the ice and he walked in unhurried, measured steps towards them.
Loki could not speak. His mind was overwhelmed again by the visions forced upon him by the Soul Stone. He had seen this Jotun man before, but his face had been torn by grief and his arms filled with the limp form of a child – one of the many victims of the Bifrost's wrath. As Loki looked upon each of the other Jotnar, he found he knew their names. He knew just how many of their kin were lost by his own hand. He knew even more. He found he knew the names of those they had lost and details of the lives they had lived. The overwhelming weight of their shared grief fell upon him like an avalanche and he collapsed onto the ice beneath it.
The Soul Stone was not a relic to be trifled with and she came with a heavy cost, indeed.
With a gasp, Loki cast Gungnir onto the ground before him and he held out his emptied hands before him.
"King Helblindi of Jotunheim," Loki said, without looking up. "For the damage I wrought on your realm, on your House, on your own kin, my life is forfeit. My blood is no recompense for the lives lost, but it is all I have to grant in exchange."
Grumbles and cries of protest erupted from the Aesir behind him. Before any could speak or intervene, a warm presence knelt alongside Loki, palms similarly outstretched.
"And mine," came the deep rumble of Thor's voice. "Asgard and the House of Odin has failed Jotunheim and the houses of our kin in these lands in more ways than can be dismissed. For the wrongs of my hands and those of my father and sister before me, my life, too, is forfeit. We are deserving of Jotunheim's justice."
Helblindi's red eyes were hard and expressionless as they searched the pair before him. He took two steps closer, his white pelt dragging on the ice behind him. Then, he held out his palms. Orbs of light appeared, one green and one red. These flickered and burst and fell into the snow and over the heads of the brothers.
"Sons of Odin, I am sorely tempted to accept both your proffered sacrifices. I cannot deny it is a fate I have long dreamt of inflicting on the pair of you to avenge the memories of those now parted from us. Though, it might be more fitting to feed you to the firstborn hellhound of the House of Odin. As you take on the guilt of the wrongs of your father, I charge you to use your hands to reap justice as recompense. Your blood will do little to resurrect those you have stolen. Your lives, though, could do much towards aiding those still living. Is the Casket returned permanently to Jotunheim?"
Loki looked up and nodded. "It is."
Helblindi reached out to take one of the hands of each of the brothers and help them rise back to their feet.
"King Helblindi," Loki said as he held out Gungnir and bowed his head in the way Aesir kings greeted other monarchs. Thor and the rest of the Aesir beyond him also gave the customary bows in honor of the Jotun king.
"You brought us here?" Loki surmised, as Helblindi and his warriors turned to lead them towards the ice enclosure.
"I had no wish to discover Thanos' purposes for our people," Helblindi responded. "There was no time to discriminate between allies and enemies and we must sort that out ourselves, now. However, I believe it will be easier to neutralize our enemies on the safety of Jotunheim than while trapped in the ice hound's teeth in Asgard."
Loki glanced into the enclosure and noticed that, indeed, both Hela's forces and the alliance that opposed her were now in Jotunheim. He did not, however, see any sign of the lady herself.
"We have much to discuss," Helblindi continued. "We have constructed a neutral meeting space for us to share words and plans in. Under the shield of the Casket of Ancient Winters, we are sworn to a temporary truce. If any draws their weapon against their neighbor, the ice below their feet will swallow them and hold them in place until I give the word for their release."
The moment they crossed the threshold into the ice enclosure, their weapons immediately vanished and Loki felt his magic bound. He froze at the unpleasant vulnerability he felt and had to force himself to continue on. The shelter was large enough to hold all the legions of warriors and it provided them a refuge from both cold and wind. Scattered around the hall, green flames of conjured fire flickered and cast heat to those that hovered around their edges.
The concentric design overhead was even more magnificent from the inside. Once within, Loki looked upwards and could see that each pattern perfectly framed the stars and constellations overhead, magnifying their light and casting shards of refracted, colored light against the slick ice of the floor. Thus, the pattern of the ceiling was replicated below their feet, though now in a myriad of colors rather than only the striking white of the stars and ice.
Helblindi moved to the center of the massive enclosure, directly beneath the Ice Casket, and a dais of ice grew up around him. As he rose before them, the layers of blue on his person faded away. The ridges on his head peeled back to reveal dark brown hair, shaved save for a series of braids running down the center and reaching the middle of his back. Black lines of tattooed designs echoed the patterns on his armor and covered his arms, bare chest, neck, and face. He glanced around the room with green eyes flashing in such a familiar expression that Thor chuckled under his breath and clasped his brother behind the neck.
"Do not speak a word, Thor," Loki hissed, under his breath.
"I do not need to," Thor whispered back.
"Children of Yggdrasil and beyond, I am Helblindi, King of Jotunheim, and I welcome you to this sacred assembly. You will be safe and warm, as long as you remain within the confines of this enclosure. You are not held against your will, though if you leave, I cannot guarantee your well-being.
"Questions are many and they will be answered, if possible. It is our intention to discuss what must now be done to seek for the peace and well-being of each of our peoples and our realms. To that end, I request that each realm appoints three representatives to speak on behalf of their people and direct them to this dais. Those who remain, please be patient, and a simple meal will soon be provided. Rest as you are able. All are weary and battle-worn. Those who need healers, too, will be attended. Only, we request you behave peaceably and do not break the truce under which you are accepted into our home."
The bands of disparate peoples gaped at each other as they tried to figure out how to appoint representatives for each realm. Some did not even know they were part of Ygdrasill and others argued amongst themselves along the lines of ancient schisms over just who should speak on their behalf.
Loki, Thor, and Heimdall waited and watched as arguments exploded across the hall of "peace" and Loki would have found it all highly entertaining -if he wasn't so entirely exhausted and impatient to begin.
"Do we have time for this?" Loki whispered to Skadmire, when he caught the man in passing. Skadmire chuckled to himself and glanced over to the nearby quarrel between soldiers from Nidavellir. Loki rolled his eyes and continued. "The plight of the universe stands in the balance and here we are content to quibble over whether the Moon Dwarves and Mountain Dwarves are the same people or different."
Skadmire shrugged. "I suppose allowing Asgard unilateral powers of decision-making be ye preferred means."
Loki grimaced. "That is not what I said." While on Jotunheim, King Helblindi took over de facto leadership of the allied factions and Loki was forced to allow his rival king authority over the proceedings. It was not a position Asgard was used to taking, though, to Loki himself, it was far too familiar.
"It was implied," Skadmire responded, one eyebrow arched in argument.
"Thanos…"
"Remains trapped on Asgard. The Bifrost remains unusable. I doubt he has the skills to discern the pathways ye utilize between realms and he be left with an admirable opponent."
"If he uses one of the spacecrafts…," Loki began.
"He has not yet tried to leave Asgard," Heimdall interjected, his eyes lost to the cosmos.
"Does he have access to any crafts?" Loki asked.
"Aye, though none capable of journeys between realms or extended travel into the cosmos. Currently, his sights are fixed entirely on Hela Odindóttir and the Stone she wields."
Loki found a certain amount of ironic humor in the picture this painted. It was just the perfect combination of chaos. Hela was bound to the Soul Stone and could not cross the Stone's wishes. For Thanos to claim the Soul Stone for himself, he would have to end Hela. Perhaps Hela would accept her demise at his hands, but the Soul Stone would not. If Thanos decided his affection for his "mistress" outrivaled his passion for "returning balance" than he, too, would follow the aims of the Soul Stone. If Thanos chose to fight Hela, then it would be perfect chaos. Soul against Power. Power against Soul. Titan against Goddess. It was anybody's guess what the outcome would be.
Or could be.
"Will Thanos seek to court his mistress further or will he attempt to take her Stone as his own?" he mused. "In such a conflict, who would prove the victor?"
Heimdall failed to answer, but Loki did not expect him to. The Gatekeeper was skilled in seeing current possibilities but he did not have the art of prophecy for future realities.
"One… or both… will find a way to escape," Loki surmised. "Our time is limited."
"Aye. That be why we speak now," Skadmire said with a huff. "Be at peace, little King. We fight the same enemies today."
Loki sighed and grumbled again. Skadmire had a much greater store of patience than he possessed and he was eager to do more than sit and watch petty quarrels between warriors who really should have already been dead and buried.
Activity buzzed at the entrance to the structure. A line of blue lights had approached from a distance, growing ever closer, until they proved to be carried by a contingent of Jotnar. These newcomers were no warriors. Most were women and each carried a basket of food tied to their backs and a roll of furs tied beneath. They did not enter the structure but instead gave their burdens to the warriors who guarded the door. From there, goods were distributed throughout the gathering.
Ice bottles held a form of sweet, cold wine and their Jotnar hosts conjured glasses of ice to partake of it. They also built tables and chairs as they wandered from group to group. Upon each chair, they placed the furs and upon the table, they opened the leather baskets. Each contained frozen fish, bread made from the quick-growing grain of the southern plains, and boxes of dried berries from a summer harvest. Rods were given along with the fish so the hungry legions could cook the fish on the conjured green fires.
"You will forgive us for not having a greater store of provisions," Helblindi said when he came to the Aesir. "It has been many long years since we are able to harness the energy of the Casket of Ancient Winters to grow food for our peoples. Without the Casket, we could not sustain in our subterranean gardens and have been forced to subsist on what nature provides. You have what we could spare."
It was not quite enough to fill any, but it was better than going to sleep hungry. After eating, warriors stretched furs over the ice and were pleasantly surprised to find the furs enchanted to make the ice more forgiving both in texture and temperature. Soon, snores and quiet conversations filled the hall.
ooooooo
"Out of thousands and thousands of people… if you can even call them that… and they only want twenty-seven of us to decide the fate of the universe," Tony complained. "Doesn't seem quite democratic, if you are asking me."
"Nobody is," Bruce replied, sticking another handful of bread into his mouth.
"How do you know this isn't poisonous to humans? It could make bugs grow in your stomach or make you turn into a giant blueberry or something," Tony retorted.
"It won't," Jane answered with a shrug.
"Nobody asked you, O Chosen One," Tony said with a depreciating scoff.
"Tony," Steve chided quietly. Tony grumbled and sat back onto his icy chair. It had been bad enough that the random child-queen, from a country he had only heard of because of Captain America's shield, had been appointed as their spokesperson. Now, the black-listed astrophysicist got to speak on their behalf simply because she was some kind of friends-with-benefits with the so-called king of Asgard. Really? What kind of place makes the resident supervillian king?
"Lady Jane bears Mjolnir, hosted the Mind Stone, and has destroyed two Infinity Stones with her own hand. She is a worthy representative," Thor had tried to explain. Tony did not miss Loki's answering defiant stare or the lingering way he clasped Jane's hand in his own.
Yeah, the last Tony heard, Jane Foster had been the "special friend" of the God of Thunder… and now she was attached to the hip with his younger brother. Apparently, she was really good at making extraterrestrial "friends." He'd hate to see what would happen if Luke Skywalker or E.T. crashed into her lab next.
"Don't get your panties in a twist," Natasha Romanoff chided. "Just because you aren't the one in charge, doesn't mean you need to be a pain in the ass to everyone else."
All the random Earthlings huddled around two fires, all enjoying their light. There were quite a few humans who Tony doubted had come from the twentieth century and his curiosity was piqued more than he wished to admit.
"I don't understand how it does that," Jane said, her eyes entirely transfixed by the flames. "It has nothing to burn. It's siphoning energy and combusting it, but it's unlike anything I've ever seen."
"Kinda like this ice Lego castle? These Abominable Snowmen could teach ice sculptors a trick or two," Tony said, leaning back to stare at the geometric patterns in the ceiling again.
Steve Rogers had been subdued and contemplative, ever since the battle had calmed and he had stumbled upon a familiar face in the crowd. He had been nearly inseparable from a man clothed in all-black, save for a metal arm. He seemed to be American and yet he had obviously travelled to Asgard in company with the Wakandans. It had been a volatile meeting between the pair.
"What do you want me to say, Steve?" the man had shouted, after the initial shock had worn off. "I am not like you. I wasn't brought back to life for being 'honorable,' or whatever. I never died. Do you hear me? I was alive. The whole time. I'm not some 'special chosen one' that's been resurrected. One of the first things I found when my mind was my own again was that you had been alive, too. Then you were dead. What do you expect me to do with that?"
The pair had fallen into tense whispers, arguments, one or two sound punches to the jaw, followed by companionable silence. Still, they eyed each other, asking tentative questions of the other as they sought to find their footings with each other again.
Jane Foster had not helped Tony's mood with her observations of his funeral.
"The memorial to all the Avengers was amazing. You are all very well-loved and there are many who will be happy to see you again," she had said. Perhaps it was well-meaning, but hearing about his own funeral creeped him out and made him shudder.
"What do we even do with that?" Tony had retorted. "I'm gonna show up like a ghost or something. We've been just gone for years and then we just turn up again. Our families have probably moved on and what are they going to do with us now?"
"At least you are better off than Genghis Khan over there," Bruce said. "I don't know how well the Mongol Empire is going to receive him when he shows up on their door step."
Tony glanced over at the circle of warriors Bruce pointed at, noting the circular shields and feathered helmets. He was about to make a smart remark when he turned back to Bruce with a questioning glance. "Are you making things up or…"
Bruce chuckled. "I wish I was. I'm pretty sure Napoleon Bonaparte is somewhere around here, too."
Tony gaped, then, his remark entirely forgotten and he looked around the room.
"You know, I think we can find a thing or two to keep us occupied while we wait for all our 'representatives' to decide what to do," Bruce said. "I kinda would like to have a conversation with a real-life elf."
"Huh," Tony answered. Then he broke into a wide grin. "You may have a point, Banner. I do have a few things I'd like to say to Legolas."
"That's what I thought," Bruce said, his own grin just as wide.