Asgard's New Princess

Chapter 26-Love, Lost

Chapter 26

How could I be restrained to a bed when my Loki was out there, possibly dying? How could I just sit there and do nothing?

The answer was: Frigga had stationed a twenty-four hour watch from the inside of my room by multiple servants and guards who wouldn't let me leave. At least, until I recovered.

Thor went out on searches, but he had no leads. No way of knowing where his brother went or why. It made me angry.

At night, after Thor had returned, he would resume his lessons in teaching me Norse. It was a difficult language, but I felt like I caught on quickly. Man, would Loki be surprised when we found him! And we would find him.

On the fifth night, when I had nearly gotten over the sickness, Thor sat down beside my bed and looked at the guard in the corner. "Leave us."

"The queen ordered me to stay."

"Just stand at the door," I said, waving him off. "This is a private conversation."

"Go," Thor added, and he stepped right outside the door, which he closed behind himself.

I swung my legs off the bed and walked around, doing a few stretches. Those people wouldn't let me stand except to go to the bathroom.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Glasine zovete Loki mrtav. Kažu da je izdajica, a on je ubio čovjeka je služio," he said in Norse (actually Croatian, but I couldn't find a Norse translator). It translated roughly to, "Rumors are calling Loki dead. They say he is a traitor, and he was killed by the man he served."

I glowered at the wall. "The people who started those rumors are idiots. Loki is not a traitor, and he is not dead."

"How do you know?" He looked like he had resigned himself to the knowledge of it.

"Because I'd know it. I'd be able to tell. Loki is alive, Thor, if only just."

~

My room arrest ended the next morning, when I woke up to find that there was no one in my room. Immediately I threw on a tunic and pants and raced across the hall, pounding on Thor's door. He was already gone. Dangit.

Excitement for being able to search took over my sense of danger and self-preservation, and I tried to remember how Thor had brought me back from Thanos. Maybe Thor hadn't checked there. Maybe he was there now. Maybe he had missed something.

Whatever the case, I was going to find that place and rake it, top to bottom, left to right.

It wasn't difficult. I remembered metal grating on stone, the shine of water, and the direction from the palace.

I sped through the secret passage, my eyes glazing over marks from previous passings. Had Loki come by this way before New York? Had he come by just a few days ago?

The air became frosty, my breath became visible, with little sparks of red that turned black on the way down. Despite everything, I smiled. I was hot.

Neatly crash-landing in a snow drift, I hoped the wreckage would be useable. Maybe Loki could fix it up enough to work again so I could get home. Hopefully I wouldn't have to fix it on my own.

A forest to my right; open space to my left. Would I be able to find him here? All I knew of the place was my cell.

Well, the sooner I started, the sooner I found him, or went home.

For the first three hours I walked west, which was to the left. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. The only thing that came from my western search was the realization that I should've eaten breakfast before I left. I was hungry.

Passing back by the boat, I sighed heavily. It was a wreck. I was never getting back in that thing.

To the east was a thick forest of dead (or dormant) trees. It was a canopy of brown, unbroken by the cloudy sunlight or any green leaf.

With a deep breath and a quick fire check, I plunged headlong into the endless expanse.

Dead silence. The only sound was that of my own breathing, of the snow and ice crunching under my feet.

I looked up; the clouds were gray and lavender. Not good. Possibly a storm. More likely someone conjuring something with magic. Hopefully Loki. Probably not Loki.

I was so conscious of my breathing and my steps that when the wind broke a small branch and it thudded to the ground behind me, I screamed.

Hang on...I recognized this place. The scarring of the tree there was made by me, by my burning skin. I was headed in the right direction.

I didn't know whether to be terrified or exhilarated, or both. I was nearing Thanos, but I could also have been nearing Loki.

Finally, almost an hour later (I must have started in a thinner spot of the forest, or I really ran that fast), I stepped into a clearing. My worst nightmare came true.

Loki was there, but so was Thanos. The latter was laughing, while the former screamed in pain and arched his back, his hands digging into the snow like talons.

How had I not heard his screams? I flinched back at one and stepped into the forest. At once it all became silent again, and I realized that the forest was dead, and any sound around it couldn't penetrate. I leaned forward so I could hear.

Loki's screams cut through my heart like a steak knife through warm butter. I felt my knees give out, but I clung to the tree and didn't fall. I had to be ready to help him.

"Just do it," Loki growled lowly. His eyes were blood red. My heart sped. A Frost Giant should not ever be in a position of such weakness.

"But where's the fun in killing you?"

"You've burned through all my years. There is nothing left for you to take."

Thanos, appearing corporeal for a moment, shrugged and flicked his wrist.

Much like the branch in the forest, Loki collapsed with a thud.