-.-
Beneath
Chapter One Hundred Sixty-One – Detour
Outside in the corridor, Thor was still there, talking with the Einherjar, about the shifting of warriors to various positions beyond the wall, from the sound of it. Huskol quickly wrapped up his response to Thor – Loki wondered if he feared allowing such sensitive information to reach the ears of the disgraced second prince – and turned to Loki.
"I wish you success in your efforts, Prince Loki. You have the support of the Einherjar behind you, should you need it."
Loki watched him closely for a moment, and could not detect any sign of sarcasm or jest. He gave a guarded nod and started for the stairs, Thor right behind him.
"What did you say to him?" Loki asked when they were several floors down, having spent the time getting there debating whether to acknowledge Huskol's "spontaneous" pledge.
"Huskol's younger brother was killed in battle. You weren't here, and given the events of the last couple of years…you're an easy target for blame. I merely reminded him that you had nothing to do with this war."
Loki stopped abruptly and swung around to face Thor, who made it a step lower before he, too, stopped. "Then you lied."
"What? I don't-"
"I have everything to do with this war. Thanos is its mastermind, yes?"
"Yes, and?"
"Thanos learned of the Tesseract's location on Midgard. Not long after, he happened upon me, half-dead and full of magic that was useless to me at the time but very useful to him. I agreed to deliver him the Tesseract, and I obtained it but did not deliver it. It was taken from me to be kept on Asgard, and Thanos has found another way to obtain it, through the masking haze of war. Were it not for me, this war would never have happened, and Huskol's brother would still live. Yes, Thor, you lied. Do not make more of a fool of yourself by trying to pretend otherwise."
"Are you saying it would be better if you had delivered it? He would be planning our deaths already. He wouldn't even need to break through Yggdrasil anymore. He would use the Tesseract for direct passage."
"No, of course that wouldn't be better. But if I hadn't made that agreement and gone to Midgard, or if I'd never been-" He'd almost said 'captured' but that was not a word he wished to use. "If I'd never ended up in his realm in the first place, none of this would ever have happened." "If is the cruelest word in existence," his mother had said.
"This is not your burden to bear, Loki. You were…" A lackey. A pawn? Comprehension dawned as what had been staring him in the face all this time but had somehow been muddled and unclear to him before came into burning clarity. Loki had been made a pawn. He had been used. Perhaps not tricked, exactly, not the same way Nadrith had been, but manipulated just the same. The broken glass Thor had seen last night was really just a single shard, a brief glimpse into the turbulence of Loki's mind and heart which he otherwise hid so well…but it wasn't hidden earlier, when Loki shouted and raged and cried and taunted and struck and stabbed and blasted in a whirlwind of what Thor could only describe as madness, or when Loki chose death rather than face what he'd done, what he'd failed to do, who he was. That was the Loki Thanos and The Other had encountered. Desperate. Devastated. Destroyed. Shattered, just like the glass under Loki's fist. Thor wanted nothing more in that moment than to embrace his brother and hold onto him tightly and weep over what had become of them all. But Loki was shaking his head in something that looked like disgust, and setting off again.
"I am not bearing any burdens. I'm merely reminding you of a fact you'd rather lie to yourself about as much as to Huskol," Loki said, throwing a glance over his shoulder. Thor's eyes had begun to glisten with tears that Loki hoped were merely from the dust, because if anything else had caused that he wanted nothing to do with it.
"Loki…," Thor said, casting about for something he could say that would neither offend nor impugn. Loki had done wrong, that could not be cast aside and ignored, but he wasn't the only one, and Thor refused to let him take blame that wasn't his to own. He bounded down the stairs two at a time to catch up to his brother. "How did Thanos learn of the Tesseract's location? You said it was not long before you met him. But the Tesseract has been on Midgard since before our births."
Loki's pace slowed. He knew the answer, but it was distant in his mind, as though from much longer ago than it really was. His pace picked back up again when the memory rose up. "The mortals found it from wherever it had been hidden. They began conducting tests on it, letting it release energy. He was able to detect the energy. I don't know how."
"The mortals…do you mean SHIELD?"
"Yes."
"Then SHIELD is to blame for this war, are they not?" Thor asked, merely to make a point; he no more blamed SHIELD than he did Loki. "If they had not conducted tests on the Tesseract, then Thanos would never have entered into a bargain with you to retrieve it."
Loki came to a halt again, because they were almost at the floor Nadrith was held on now, and he did not care to be overheard by his guards. He had to admit – to himself if not to Thor – that Thor's argumentation skills had improved. He'd made a reasonable point, not that it entirely negated Loki's own. Beyond that, though, he wondered what would have become of him had Thanos snatched him up and not found a use for him. Would he have ended up like the woman on the table, his body altered and broken and put back together so many times that he lost count until finally his mind was so twisted that he relented and thanked the latest "father" who'd "rescued" him? Or would he simply have been put to death? Or worse, tossed back into the abyss, a fish unworthy of the catch? "Yes," Loki finally said. "SHIELD is to blame. Perhaps you should call them up and ask them to get you out of this mess."
Thor smiled, a bit of fondness in it. "They have never even heard of Jotunheim. They would be far out of their depth."
"I suppose it's still up to me, then. You have the books?" Loki asked, though they were right there in plain sight, in Thor's hand and under his arm.
Thor held out the books, Loki took them, and the two of them continued down the stairs to Nadrith's floor. This time, Thor noted, Loki knocked and even waited, but Nadrith didn't come to the door. They went in and found him slumped against the headboard of his bed, half-dressed, his gaze slow to find them as they approached.
Loki went to the empty pitcher on the bedside console and inhaled the scent of mead. "You're letting him drink?" he asked Thor in an accusing voice.
Thor shrugged. "I don't think anyone forbade it. I know that I didn't. We're short of many things but mead isn't one of them. Mostly because hardly any of it is being drunk."
Aesir who don't drink mead, Loki thought. It surely must signal the end of the cosmos. It made sense, of course. As busy as everyone was, as little sleep or even break as anyone apparently got, there was little time or appetite for revelry.
"What now?" Nadrith mumbled. "You can't have anything else."
Loki exchanged a look with Thor; Thor shrugged again. Loki leaned over Nadrith, saw his eyes struggle to focus on him so close, and slapped him. Hard. He ignored Thor's hand on his arm. "You don't get to escape this, Nadrith. You can deal with it right along with the rest of us. Sober up. I need you to listen to me."
Nadrith blinked rapidly, sitting up a little straighter, which also pulled him a little further away from Loki. "Make them go away."
"Make who go away?"
"Thanos. And the lackey. And the lackey's…the other two. All three."
"You're still capable of simple addition at least. Fine. I'll make them go away, but only if you swear to do what I ask."
"I can't pull out of the war with nothing to show for it," Nadrith said, sounding significantly less drunk than he had just seconds ago.
"It's not about that. It's about these." Loki dumped the books on Nadrith's lap, making the man grunt and promptly reposition them.
He held up the one on top. "Architectural Innovations Volume 748 Series 194: Solar Heat Dispersal and Energy Capture on Alfheim. I…Thor, I think your little brother's mind has finally snapped."
Thor opened his mouth, but closed it again when no response came to mind other than "you may be correct." He tried to recall what he could about Ljosalf architecture and solar heat, which was next to nothing, and wondered if Loki had thought of some way to use those innovations against Jotunheim. Perhaps to threaten to melt the planet if they didn't acquiesce to Asgard's demands? He was just nodding to himself when Loki spoke again.
"You are to read every passage about your canopy structures in each of these books. Do you know what I'm referring to?"
Nadrith nodded.
"Good. Read everything about them and learn it well enough that you can explain them and precisely how they function, in both technical and non-technical terms. This is your only task for the day. If-"
"It's the middle of the night."
"You could have slept. You chose to bathe in mead. You're awake now, and you'll stay that way. If you have extra time, keep studying. I expect you to become an expert."
"I don't understand. I'm neither an architect nor an engineer. Hailing from Ljosalfheim doesn't grant me automatic expertise on everything that exists in the realm. Don't you have your own actual experts who could learn this more easy…more easily…or even who already know all about the canopies?"
"I'm sure we do. But they're busy, thanks to you. You on the other hand, unlike anyone else in Asgard, do nothing all day long. What you have asked of us is next to impossible; in return you will become an expert on solar canopies. Understood?"
"No. But I guess it doesn't matter. Will there be an examination?" Loki figured he was aiming for sarcasm but the question came out straight.
"Something like that. So study well. I'll get rid of your unwanted houseguests on my way out."
Thor looked at Nadrith as Loki turned to go, but had nothing to say to him and thus found himself back in the now familiar position of following at Loki's heel. Back in the sitting room Thanos and The Other – both of whom now made Thor shiver at the thought of how Loki had come to know them – along with Brokk shimmered out of existence without fanfare.
"Don't permit him any more alcohol," Loki ordered the guards outside, continuing on without waiting for their acknowledgement.
"Where are we going?" Thor asked when Loki turned from the ground floor landing not to the exit outdoors, but further into the palace.
"On a short detour," Loki said, leading them into one of the back passages that could be used for slipping about the palace unseen. "Does one faction appear to be faring better than the others on Jotunheim?"
"Yes. Dirnolek's. Heimdall says his numbers are fewer but he still appears to be gaining more ground."
Loki nodded, though it wasn't what he wanted to hear. "He's probably the better tactician. Did you also find out where Brokk went when he left the Eilif Springs?"
"Yes. A horn was blown by then, and Heimdall turned his eye. He went to Jotunheim, to a large plain of cracked ice in-"
"Who, Thor. Pay attention. Who did he meet with?"
"He met with Dirnolek," Thor answered, clenching his jaw after.
Loki scowled at the answer. Again, it wasn't what he'd been hoping for. Convincing three factions at war with each other to agree on anything was a mountain perhaps too tall to climb. Divide two already divided brothers – that, he thought, would be the less challenging scenario. It didn't matter which brother had been actively attacking Asgard; he could play the other one against him and convince that one to ally with Dirnolek to defeat the one who'd sent warriors to Asgard. He had thought to isolate one of the three, and better to isolate a brother, because two brothers truly united would perhaps be stronger than he wanted Jotunheim to ever become. He glanced over at Thor, who was watching him and glowering. Let him glower all he likes, Loki thought bitterly. But here the two of them were, brothers divided – not brothers, he corrected himself, but brothers merely for the sake of the point – who were now forced together because of the war against Asgard, whether they liked it or not, whether they liked each other or not, in an alliance that was largely for show, neither real nor lasting. Perhaps two warring brothers forced to unite would not prove so strong after all, perhaps even falling back into their warring after Loki had gotten what he wanted from them. That wouldn't be such a bad outcome. And in the meantime, surely two-thirds of Jotunheim stating its complete repudiation of the war would be sufficient for Nadrith and his message to the other realms, for the two united would eventually defeat the third.
It wasn't his preference, pursuing both Frost Giant princes, but it was Dirnolek who had acted differently, who had agreed to send his men to try to starve out Asgard, not one of the Frost Giant brothers, and unfortunately it was also Dirnolek who held the most ground – for Nadrith's purposes it would be better if whoever was sidelined was also the weakest and therefore the least relevant. He still thought it was a passable strategy, win two over in part by uniting them against a third. But now the two he had to win over were the brothers. Wonderful. Just wonderful.
"Loki, would you listen to me?" Thor asked, aggravation growing. He'd said Loki's name twice already.
"I'm busy thinking, Thor. It's actually easier to do without interruptions."
"I'm sorry, but this is an important interruption."
Loki rubbed his brow for a moment, his own aggravation growing, though it had little to do with Thor at the moment.
"You asked for my respect. And you were right, I have at times not shown you the respect you deserve. I'm trying to do so now, and I hope that it is clear to you now that I do respect you, and if it is not, then I hope I will have the chance to prove to you that I do. But Loki…I would like to have your respect as well."
Loki stared, astounded, his full attention on Thor now as he wondered in all seriousness whether he might have misheard. "Is that a jest?" he finally asked.
"It is not."
"You, the mighty Thor Odinson, beloved by the whole realm, eight of them, really, you who I'll hazard a guess were welcomed to Asgard's throne…you are asking for respect?"
"I am not asking for eight realms' respect. I'm asking for yours."
Loki began to laugh, an awkward strained laugh that reflected his lingering shock and disbelief and the absurdity that Thor believed he did not have sufficient respect. "Your ego is truly that fragile?" he asked as the laughter began to fade.
"Is respect a matter to be taken seriously only when it's about you?"
"Do you really see no difference between the two of us when it comes to that matter?" Loki asked, sobering quickly.
"I don't mean to compare the two of us, or turn this into a contest. I only wish for you to try to listen to me as I tried to listen to you. We are in this together now, you and I, no matter how much you may dislike that, and I am here to help, not to hinder. I think that we both have to treat each other with respect. But you have always treated me as though I were an idiot. And-"
"You are an idiot."
"Loki…perhaps you think it's funny, or perhaps it makes you feel better because you're so angry with me, but it isn't funny and I grow weary of your belittling. You do it constantly now." Thor's annoyance at Loki treating him as though he were somehow mentally deficient had waxed and waned over the centuries, but it had long bothered him, and he'd rarely said anything in serious protest, and never so seriously as he just had.
"My belittling? You belittled me all my life, because you always had to be the biggest man in the realm. The biggest, the strongest, the most loved, the best. And now you cannot bear a few jibes?"
"I did not… I didn't mean to belittle you. I was thoughtless. I didn't do it intentionally, and I never realized how it hurt you. What you're doing is intentional. And I would like for you to stop. Can I not ask for the same of you that you asked of me?"
Loki was so badly agitated now that he felt as though he would explode – metaphorically, at least – and it didn't help that Thor was entirely calm. Rational. Reasonable. This was not the Thor he knew. The Thor he knew would have expressed his feelings with his fists, and he would have done so much earlier than now. It had aided both their tempers at times, letting out pent-up frustrations with a good fight, especially in their younger years. Loki could use a good fight right now. Or walking away and leaving Thor in his wake like so much dust; that would work, too. Except that Loki needed him. "I will try to take better care with my words," he said, biting off every jibe that rose in his mind to follow, how he would be sure to use only small words, how he wanted to avoid sending the Mighty Thor fleeing from him in tears. "Is that sufficient for you?" he asked sharply.
"Yes. Thank you," Thor said, studiously ignoring the fury evident on Loki's face. He hoped he hadn't erred in addressing the matter; he thought he'd spoken tactfully, even respectfully himself. He'd expected annoyance, but not quite the anger he'd gotten.
"Good," Loki said, resuming his path toward a little-used door, down a flight of stairs, and into a tunnel.
Long minutes passed in silence broken only by their regular footfalls. "Where are we going?" Thor asked again. Their route was a circuitous one, and Loki had once abruptly changed it at the sound of approaching steps. The list of possible destinations was a short one, and contained nothing Thor would consider both logical and appropriate. Loki ignored him but when he made to enter another staircase and descend, Thor got in front of him and forced him to stop, for with that move, the list had narrowed to one. "Explain yourself, Loki."
"I thought you said no door was closed to me."
"You failed to mention that behind the door you wanted to open was the Weapons Vault."
"You failed to mention that there were exceptions."
Thor stared at Loki and Loki stared right back; it was Thor who broke the impasse. "You will have to explain. Father specifically denied you access to the vault."
"And you specifically said you would be my key to locked doors. I need to unlock this door."
"Not without explanation." An apology was on the tip of Thor's tongue, but he held it back. Loki – who had just hours ago reiterated his desire to destroy Jotunheim – now sought access to the place that held Asgard's most powerful artifacts, and the one place he'd been barred from entering. Thor had followed blindly since they'd returned to Asgard, but that level of trust Loki would have to earn, and Thor didn't think an apology necessary; Loki understood perfectly well why an explanation was in this case non-negotiable.
Loki remained stubbornly silent a moment longer, but he'd known he would eventually have to explain; he'd merely wanted to be as close as possible to the point of no return before doing so. "I need to examine the Ice Casket."
"Examine it?" Thor asked, surprised. Of all the items in the vault, the Ice Casket was the most obviously related to Jotunheim, but also the last item Thor would have thought Loki was interested in at the moment.
"Yes. There's an enchantment on it. Something placed on it in Asgard. I need to study it, in case I have need of it."
"What en-"
"Inside the vault, Thor," Loki urged.
"All right. Inside. But you must finish explaining there."
Loki nodded, and Thor took the lead. Loki found it aggravating, but it would very soon be to his benefit so he followed without comment.
As soon as they rounded the last corner into the enormous main landing with the heavy golden doors on one side and a grand staircase leading upward opposite it, the two Einherjar outside the doors dropped to a knee and saluted, bracers clacking loudly against breastplates in the silence. When they stood again, Thor now before them and Loki just behind and to his right, each placed a hand on the oversized door handles and pulled as he stepped aside. Loki felt eyes on him, but when he looked left and right with his peripheral vision, both Einherjar appeared to have heads lowered and gazes cast downward, as was proper for those on this duty. They crossed the threshold into the vault itself, and Loki's uneasiness faded somewhat. He'd half-expected to be attacked or perhaps simply electrocuted as his foot crossed the line. But nothing would touch him – he hoped – as long as Thor was with him. The two Einherjar patrolling inside would have come to a halt at the first sound of the doors opening; they stood now more than half-way down the dark stone stairs that provided the final descent to the floor of the vault. Thor went directly to them and ordered them to wait outside; they, too, dropped to a knee and saluted, then rose and ascended the stairs. The doors closed behind them.
Loki had lagged behind Thor, descending slowly, almost meanderingly, Thor saw. He noticed then Loki's downcast eyes and distant gaze. "This is where Father fell, isn't it?" he asked abruptly. He'd heard about it afterward, eventually, and knew his Father had been on these stairs when he collapsed.
Loki considered it. Yes, it was where Odin had fallen. But that wasn't what he'd been thinking about. At the time, Odin's collapse – his father's, as he'd still thought of him then – was intertwined in the shock and horror and confusion and anger of that confrontation. But Odin was fine now, out fighting his enemies as though nothing had changed. It was Loki whose life had been destroyed. "This is where your father confessed the truth. Some of it, anyway."
Thor tried to imagine it, his brother learning such a truth about himself, here in this cold cavernous vault, their father fighting to hold off the Sleep and succeeding just long enough to devastate Loki with the facts of his birth, and then Loki had been alone. "I wish I had been here," he said once Loki reached him.
Loki's eyes met Thor's. It was a strange thing to say. "Your arrogance knows no bounds. Do you think that by your mere presence you would have changed anything? Made it not true?"
"No. You're right, Loki, it can't be made not true. But if I'd been here when Father collapsed, you wouldn't have been alone."
Loki found he couldn't picture it. It was an impossible alternative. "If you'd been here, then none of this would have happened. I would never have learned the truth."
"I don't…why not?" Thor asked, wondering if Loki thought for some reason that their father wouldn't have said what he did in front of both of them.
"Because if you'd been here, it would mean you had never started a fight on Jotunheim, and I never would have suspected the truth. I would never have come to the Weapons Vault, Fa- Odin never would have followed, and none of this would have happened."
Thor took a step closer to Loki, watching him intently. "What happened on Jotunheim? What happened that made you suspect?"
"It doesn't ma-"
"It does. Loki…I know you mean for us to go to Jotunheim at some point," he said. He didn't truly know, but he strongly suspected it; he couldn't imagine Loki could possibly convince Jotunheim to withdraw from the alliance without actually going there. "I should know what you will face there. What we will both face." Together, he thought, but figured Loki might not appreciate the added emphasis. He'd made his point well enough.
Loki nearly refused to answer, but changed his mind just as he was about to say so. It wasn't important anymore, but Thor perhaps should know, just in case something like it happened again. "I had stabbed one of them, but I missed the heart. He grabbed onto my wrist; he meant to burn my arm, as another had done to Volstagg."
"Yes. I heard about Volstagg's injury," Thor said in a subdued voice. He'd never noticed that one of the Frost Giants had gotten his hands on Loki. "You cannot even protect your friends!" his father had shouted at him. Or my brother, he thought.
"He warned us, after he was frostburned. So when that one… There was no burn. No pain at all. My hand turned blue, and the blue started creeping up my arm. As soon as he no longer touched me, the blue went away, and there was no sign of any injury. Volstagg's skin where he'd been touched was blackened and dead." He paused for a moment, letting those memories settle, not wanting to dwell on them. "There's a lesson to be learned here."
"What's that?"
Loki arched an eyebrow. "Don't let them touch you."
Thor nodded somberly. No physical injury, but a wound still the same. "Did you kill him?" he asked, turning to follow as Loki descended the last of the stairs. "The one who dared touch you?"
"Of course," Loki tossed over his shoulder, continuing toward the Ice Casket, back on its pedestal at the far end of the elongated vault.
Thor nodded again, proudly this time. Proud of Loki's strength and courage, glad that none on Jotunheim who'd seen what happened lived. He realized then, though, that although he'd been so engrossed in his own fights that he'd never even noticed a Frost Giant laying hands on his brother, that didn't guarantee everyone else in the battle had been so blind. "Did anyone else see? Could they know, or suspect?"
"No. It's highly unlikely. No one else was near. It was just a few seconds, and it was dark." It was the truth, but he hadn't given it much thought before. And the question – he grudgingly gave Thor credit, it was a good one – raised another one. Brokk now knew. And Brokk, in theory, could have told the Frost Giants. He could not see any reason for it, though; Brokk had no motivation to do so other than to humiliate Loki, and Brokk didn't even know Loki was no longer on Midgard, much less that he might voluntarily travel to Jotunheim. If Brokk wanted to humiliate him, he'd want to be there to watch.
"The enchantment on the Ice Casket, then?" Thor asked when he stood at Loki's side in front of the Ice Casket.
"I took it," Loki responded, staring down at the swirling blue of the Casket. It evoked no particular reaction in him, and he felt detached enough from it to find that surprising. He wondered if perhaps he'd simply reached his capacity for personal, emotional reactions. If so, that could only be a good thing.
"You mean when you used it against Heimdall?" Thor asked when Loki seemed so transfixed by the Ice Casket that he seemed to have forgotten he'd said anything.
"Yes," he answered. "And I never returned it. Yet here it is."
Thor nodded in sudden understanding. "The enchantment returns it here. You need to study this magic?" It seemed reasonable. A wise safety net for an Asgardian king and an Asgardian prince entering enemy territory, especially so a prince demanded by the Jotuns as a concessionary war prize. Should something go wrong, this kind of magic, perhaps, could return them instantaneously to Asgard.
Loki nodded, then turned deliberately toward Thor, instead of avoiding looking at him, which would have been easier. "Has the Destroyer been recreated?"
"Yes," Thor said evenly, ignoring the undercurrent of challenge in Loki's voice.
"Then I'll probably need for you to remove it from the pedestal."
"Remove it? Can you not study it where it is?"
"The greater magic emanating from the Casket itself masks the lesser magic added to it later. I didn't notice it at all when I had it, but it must be there."
"All right," Thor agreed reluctantly, taking a few more steps toward the Casket as Loki stepped aside. He had never removed it himself; he'd never even touched it before. He took care to touch only its handles, wrapping his fists around them and lifting until it was free of the pedestal. His eyes refocused further beyond then, to the grating behind which the Destroyer stood, hidden. He was king, he had the right to command the Destroyer, but he didn't have Gungnir with him, and there hadn't exactly been time for anyone to explain to him everything about how Gungnir worked and other secrets of Asgard's kings, not just the secrets of Gatekeeper Glodir and Thanos's long-ago attacks through a weakened Yggdrasil. He took a slow, careful step back, holding the Casket perfectly still, ready to return it to its base in an instant at the first sign of the Destroyer's emergence.
Loki rolled his eyes. "Come on, turn around so I can see it. You aren't going to be incinerated. It knows you're king."
"How does it know? It's just a construct. Did anyone come down here and tell it?" he smirked, as much as he dared since he was still watching the Destroyer's bay for any changes.
"It's magically tied to Asgard's king. Did anyone tell Gungnir to obey you when it was placed in your hands?"
Thor thought back on that, the shock of it, the initial fear of what it meant. "No. Not that I know of. But I've never used it, either. Only held it. Father fights with it now, but when he slept, I held it at Assembly and Council."
"But you feel its thrum when you hold it, yes?"
Thor wrinkled his brow; he was three steps back from the pedestal now and feeling more confident, and more able to consider Loki's questions. "No…no thrum. It feels cold, and then after I've been holding it a while, it feels warm."
Loki shook his head; no eye roll was sufficient for that. A king who could not even feel Gungnir's power, who experienced it as no different from any metal rod. "Are you sure you're actually king? My reign was the briefest in Asgard's history, yet it sounds like I've held Gungnir more than you have. And what about Midgard? What fighting was going on there, that Odin held it and not you?"
Turning with the Ice Casket between his hands and the corner of his eye still flickering momentarily in the direction of the Destroyer, Thor fixed Loki with a frown. "Quite sure, Loki."
"Until he disagrees with you on something strongly enough," Loki murmured, reaching for the Ice Casket and carefully working his fingers in beside Thor's, their hands shifting and readjusting around each other until Loki had a secure grip and was bearing its weight, at which point Thor slowly withdrew his hands entirely. He could feel its magic pulling at him, strongest at his hands where they made contact with the Casket, but he felt it throughout his body, a crying out to the form beneath the false surface, an insistence that it emerge. It was different from before, when he'd grasped the Casket and felt nothing but a flush of heat as the blue crept relentlessly up his arms, while he stood passively, horrified and helpless to stop the shift so long as he remained in contact. A pull could be resisted. He resisted. His form remained unchanged.
"We have been through this," Thor said, glancing again to the Destroyer's bay to ensure there was no cause for concern. Only Asgard's king and First Einherjar had the ability to remove the Ice Casket, but, as best Thor recalled from some long-ago lesson, probably from their father, either of them could then give it to someone else without harm.
"I wasn't talking about that. 'Only a disgraced and dishonorable man must be asked for his oath twice.' You are many things, Thor, but you are not that. But don't you see the significance of not carrying Gungnir? You are supposedly king, and yet you aren't even certain if you are permitted to carry out all the functions of a king. If there is any disagreement between the two of you, do you not understand that the one who has Gungnir in his hand and commands its use will be the victor? If the people were forced to choose, do you not see that they would choose the one who has been their king for millennia, and the one who continues to possess and control Gungnir?"
Thor's frown grew, and he became distinctly uncomfortable. "Do you mean to start a civil war on Asgard, Brother? It will not happen."
Loki's eyebrows twitched, but he otherwise did not respond, focusing intently on the Ice Casket, tracing the paths and turns of its magic, a slow and difficult process because the much stronger and more active magic of the Casket itself made the much more recent and more passive enchantment all but invisible.
"Is this for you?" Thor asked several minutes of shifting around on his feet later. Standing still and doing nothing had never been a talent of his. "Do you fear this plan failing, and Father deciding you must be surrendered, and me being unable to prevent it?"
"An instant escape from Jotunheim?" Loki asked with a thin smile, still focused on his work. "Not a bad idea. It wouldn't work, but still, not bad." If his concentration weren't so thoroughly absorbed by the Casket, he thought he would have responded differently, but then Thor would cry about being treated like an idiot again.
Thor began to nod, then stilled. If it wouldn't work on Loki under those circumstances – which Thor did not believe would come to pass regardless – then how would it work on them at all, under any circumstances? "Loki…do you not mean to use this magic to guarantee our own return?"
"I wish to study it, Thor. In peace, hm?"
Thor's discomfort grew, and there was nothing he could do about it but wait. And wait. He wasn't sure how much time had actually passed, but it was enough that he jumped when Loki suddenly turned, after a long while of moving nothing more than his right hand, which had been ghosting eerily over the surface of the Casket. When Loki turned again, the Casket was back on its pedestal and Loki was headed back toward the doors; Thor quickly fell into step beside him. "You understand it now?"
"I think so," Loki said. Let's hope so, he thought. He knew Thor wanted elaboration, but he wasn't going to provide it. If he didn't get this part right, further creative punishments – or perhaps the less creative options of 4,000 years of prison or the ax – were almost certainly in his future.
Outside the vault, they continued past the four Einherjar without stopping, Thor managing only a quick nod in their general direction. Back inside the palace itself, Loki repurposed an Einherjar to find out Heimdall's location, while they made their way outdoors, and a few minutes later they were on their way to the Gatekeeper.
"What about the canopies?" Thor asked as they neared the latest Tesseract site in an abandoned children's park, one Thor and Loki had frequented countless times, years and years ago.
Loki's head swiveled around, brow knitted in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"The Ljosalf canopies. The ones you asked for the books on. Do you not need to ask Nadrith about them first?"
"That wasn't for me, you dolt," he said, surprised by the leap Thor had made. He couldn't blame him for the confusion, really – Loki was putting quite a lot of effort into telling Thor essentially nothing – but this one was stunning.
"You aren't going to use them to threaten Jotunheim?"
"Threaten Jotunheim with Ljosalf architecture? It would clash with the landscape, I suppose. But the Frost Giants don't seem terribly concerned with aesthetics."
"I thought…you would be able to…draw heat or…"
Loki shook his head. It wasn't as much of an outlandish leap as he'd first thought; there had at least been some logic in it, and more creativity than he'd thought Thor capable of. And while Thor's fumbling for an actual explanation was somewhat entertaining, they were approaching Heimdall now, and Loki decided he was better off putting a stop to it. "No. The canopies have nothing to do with Jotunheim. Forget about it."
"You have been hiding yourself from me again," Heimdall said a moment later.
"Habit," Loki said with a smile he didn't bother to try to make look real. "Besides, I thought you were busy watching for those who posed a danger to Asgard." Heimdall's expression did not change, but Loki didn't need to see the hatred to feel it, or to know without a doubt that Heimdall included Loki among those who posed a danger to Asgard. And, Loki supposed, he wasn't wrong.
Thor, meanwhile, had turned to Loki in surprise. "Don't do it on Jotunheim. If something goes wrong, we're going to need Heimdall."
"I agree, and I won't."
"We need to discuss this first anyway. We cannot simply journey to Jotunheim."
"Why not? It didn't seem to bother you before."
"And that was a terrible mistake. We need a plan."
"I have a plan."
"Which you have shared nothing of."
"All you have to do is follow my lead. I know how difficult you find that, but it will be the same as with Nadrith, only with fewer words from you."
"Nadrith is right here on Asgard, a prisoner in our own palace. Jotunheim is something else entirely. Don't repeat my mistakes, Loki."
"I couldn't do that if I tried. We're already at war. And this is the way it must be. If I explained everything to you, you'd give it all away on your face."
"Loki…I don't like this."
"You don't have to like it. Do you think I like it?"
At that Thor looked away – and knew Loki had won. However unpleasant this would be for Thor, he knew it would be infinitely worse for Loki. "Does it have to be you? If you tell me what you intend to say, I could-"
"Because that went so well last time? No. I have to go, and I will be the one speaking. Heimdall, is there somewhere you can send us that's equidistant to the main camps of the Frost Giant princes? And around five miles away from them and anyone else in the area, depending on terrain, far enough that our arrival won't be noticed and we can choose how to approach them?"
"Yes," Heimdall said a moment later. "They're fighting right now, only about a mile from the ruins of the palace. I believe that area has changed hands many times; yesterday when I looked, Byleister held it. Now Helblindi does. The largest part of Dirnolek's army is on the move, toward Byleister's army. There are of course other skirmishes across the realm."
"Then let's go," Loki said, stepping up to the simple table Heimdall had the Tesseract on, sealed in its case.
Thor hesitated, but not for long, fearing Loki would simply try to leave without him regardless of the consequences if he didn't acquiesce. Heimdall wouldn't permit that, he thought, but still it took only seconds before he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Loki.
"Heimdall, if we become separated, bring Thor back."
At that Thor spun around to face his brother. "No," he said firmly, turning briefly to Heimdall and repeating it. "We will not be separated, Loki. And I will not be brought back here without you. We don't know what would happen, and…and I will not have you do this alone."
"I did not command Heimdall to separate us. If we are separated on Jotunheim, then we'll already know what Odin's magic has to say about it. Perhaps it will compel you back to my side, or me to yours. But think about it. Of the two of us, which one can survive on that realm on his own?"
"Neither of us," Thor asserted. "You don't know that place or its people any better than I do."
"I am thinking only of susceptibility to long-term exposure to the cold."
"I wasn't so cold there before."
"Because your blood was boiling at the time, and fighting is an excellent way to keep warm. Heimdall, bring him back if we are separated."
"Only if I can't find you, and then only long enough to send me right back to wherever you are on Jotunheim."
"Yes, fine."
Thor nodded his agreement, and then, with the reminder of the cold he'd somehow forgotten amidst everything else, held out his arms with Mjolnir gripped in his right hand; metal armor that would both protect and warm his arms flew into visible existence and locked into place. "Heimdall, as soon as you're ready."
Loki placed his hand as directed, smarting over Thor issuing the final order after questioning each of Loki's. So much for following my lead. Thor would ruin this if he wasn't careful. He would just have to make sure that Thor wasn't around to ruin it.
/
/
Odin felt it in his bones, a sudden chill emanating from Gungnir that surrounded his hand and sank through the flesh, spreading throughout his body before slowly dissipating. Dark and Light Elves were attacking in close coordination with Fire Giants who lit up the path of attack for them under the nighttime sky. The Asgardians had learned to watch for the brief moments of light to know when they would need to defend themselves from arrow and sword, storming hooves and feet. They should have been using that light to mount their own counterattacks, but their numbers made that a challenge. He'd heard more than one man long for Thor's presence, for Thor's ability to bring rain was uniquely effective against some of the Fire Giants' capabilities. Gungnir's reach was more limited, but it was Odin with his spear who led most of the counterattacks they did mount, firing quickly at the source of any bursts of light that were within range, disrupting attacks, and leading in his warriors to clear out the pockets of enemy left in disarray.
He couldn't ignore that chill and what he feared it meant, but he was loathe to leave in the middle of battle when it was possible that it was nothing more than the cool night air getting to an old man crouching motionless beside a tree, waiting for signs of the next impending attack.
At the back of the Asgardian lines, he remembered, was a Vanir man who'd surrendered before nightfall, one of those who'd been forced to go back on his oath. He stepped as quietly as he could over fallen leaves and bits of remaining grass; stealth was not a typical Aesir virtue in battle, but fighting amongst trees at night had proven its merit. His warriors watched him for direction and he signaled them to maintain their positions. "The Vanir?" he asked quietly as he reached the rear; he headed in the direction he was pointed.
The man's surprised and somewhat fearful reaction at Odin's approach told him that the Vanir knew who he was. "Your name?" Odin asked him curtly.
"Aguter Skarison, Your Majesty," the man answered, rising up somewhat awkwardly from where he'd been sitting with his back against a tree. His wrists were bound in front of him, but he was otherwise unsecured and unguarded. It wasn't the normal way of handling a prisoner, but Aguter was not a normal prisoner, and there was neither anyone available to guard him, nor to escort him away, nor to protect him should the battle shift in his direction.
"Aguter Skarison, will you carry a message for me? I can spare no other messengers. The message has no bearing on Vanaheim."
The man needed only a second or two to consider it. "I will."
Odin withdrew a slender dagger sheathed in his bracer and gestured for the man's hands, then cut the leather strap tied around his wrists. "Take one of the horses, and ride to the nearest gate," he said, pointing in the direction Aguter should take. "Explain your presence here to the Einherjar, and give them this." From his pocket he pulled a card embossed with the image of his helmet, and pressed a thumb to the center of it long enough to activate it. "The Weapons Vault must be checked immediately. Inspect every item visually and physically for any sign of disturbance. By order of Odin All-Father." To his new messenger he handed the card, which would bear his orders. "Go now, and hurry. Afterward, find a task for yourself that you can perform in good conscience. Perhaps helping in the Healing Room, or preparing meals for prisoners. There is plenty of work."
The man immediately started moving to the nearest horse, but then stopped and turned back to Odin. "I do not support this war, Your Majesty. I never did. But I am loyal to my realm…and I honor my oaths. I apologize for my return."
"The Vanir are an honorable people. And your return was fortuitous, in this case," Odin said. Aguter climbed into the saddle then and left, while Odin turned to do the same, making his way back quickly to the front of his warriors.
/
/
The response came a little over an hour later, delayed because Huskol rode out to deliver it in person. Odin released a burst of energy from Gungnir into a group of Dark Elves that had been taking up positions behind an outcropping of rocks, then spared Huskol a brief glance before resuming scanning for the enemy. "What is it?" he asked tersely.
When Huskol spoke, it was with lowered voice, for Odin's ears only. "Your Majesty, the Ice Casket has been removed from the Weapons Vault."
/
A few background notes:
(1) The reference to "the woman on the table" is from another of my stories, Titans Bearing Gifts (drawing on Thor, Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy), but I'm guessing it's clear enough even if you haven't read that one. It's about some of what happened when Loki was a guest of Thanos.
(2) If your memory's very good (or maybe you've just reread a couple of times!), you can guess what Loki's up to with those books he's brought to Nadrith. Otherwise, if you'd like to refresh your memory, see (111) "Journey". Your memory, I think, would have to be phenomenal to remember that Huskol's brother was killed not that long ago; it was briefly mentioned in (101) "Gifts". Huskol's always been one of the ones who was less trusting of Loki, and always a bit of a hothead, but he generally hasn't been unprofessional; he wouldn't have made it to his current position if he wasn't capable of setting personal feelings aside and doing his duty.
(3) I meant to mention on the last chapter, next time you watch Thor, watch that scene where Odin picks up chubby-for-an-abandoned-baby Loki, and you'll get a brief glimpse of a cloth that Loki was loosely wrapped in. The color is pretty washed out, but for the purposes of this story, that cloth was green. :-)
Late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all-around holiday season best wishes to you all!
Previews for Ch. 162: "We're going to Jotunheim!"
And excerpt:
"Why do you not answer? What is going on, Loki?" Loki's eyes had slightly widened, and he looked almost as though he were some kind of prey that instinctively froze when cornered, hoping the predator's vision was poor and could only detect motion. But Thor was not predator and Loki was not prey. "Are you all right?" he asked, increasingly worried that something was wrong with his brother. Standing right in front of him now, he reached out to wrap a hand lightly around the back of Loki's neck, but at that moment Loki snapped out of whatever stupor he'd been in and jerked away.
(All efforts to guess will fail. Probably.)