The King and the Enemy

30

Xena and Loki were dressed a few minutes later, Loki in his battle gear and Xena in the simple clothes she had on when she came to Loki's room.

"You need armor," Loki ordered.

"It's in my room," she answered as she laced up her boots, " I have no time to go get it,"

Loki grabbed her by the arms when she stood up and looked at her intensely, "Be. Careful." He whispered.

She stared up at him for a few seconds, looking into his eyes that were filled with concern and burning with a fierce kind of intensity before she nodded and planted a small kiss on his lips.

"I need weapons." She said.

Loki turned and walked to a chest, opened it and pulled out two blades, not short enough to be daggers but not long enough to be considered swords.

Handing them to her they quickly left the room and followed the sound of weapons clashing. They turned a corner and were assaulted by bodies grappling and fighting each other. The Asguadrians were easy to distinguish; their bodies were still clothed in their night wear with some of their battle gear. They were the ones bleeding.

Xena and Loki wasted no time getting into the fray.

Xena fought and killed all that attacked. They wounded her, wounds that she would never have gotten if she was in her armor. She didn't know how long she fought but she just kept moving from one person to the next and soon she realized she was in the entrance hall of the palace.

Her blades clanged against another weapons as she hear someone in the distance yelling. The words barely penetrated her mind before her opponent dodged an attack and then turned and ran.

"Fall back!" Her people were shouting and soon they were gone, running in all directions to get away from the fighting they had initiated.

Her body ached and she felt blood running down most of her body. She saw through the giant doors of the entrance that the sun was rising and the sky was painted with deep reds and brilliant oranges.

She turned to survey her surroundings and found bodies of both her people and the Asguardians littering the floor. Blood seemed to cover everything. 

Xena leaned against the closest pillar she reached. All she wanted to do was sink to the floor and close her eyes.

About a fifty yards from her she noticed Loki. His foot atop a body as he yanked his dagger from the bodies chest. He whipped the blood on his pants and turned as if he could feel her eyes on him. He was covered in blood and his face was marred with a cut running from his ear to his mouth that seeped blood.

Their eyes meet and she pushed herself from the pillar and started towards him.