FROST- Jotun Chronicles #1

Through the Forest

The palace was so silent that it felt like every step I took echoed off the walls of the icy passageway. The grip of my sword, warm in my hands, was the only thing that kept me going, kept my entire body from freezing in fear. Loki was leading the way, and I fixed my eyes on the back of his curly hair. He seemed to know the palace well, turning left and then right with absolute certainty.  Apparently in the few days he’d pretended to be a servant he’d memorized the way out. That made sense.

Finally we stopped in front of a wide set of double doors in the wall. Loki turned and whispered,

“This leads us out into the courtyard. There’ll be guards at the exit, I need one of you to destract them. Make them walk toward you, I’ll take out one, someone else will have to take on the other.”

“I’ll distract,” Charlotte’s arm shot up, like she was answering a question in a school classroom.

“Okay good,” Loki turned to me and gripped my arm gently, “are you ready? When the guard on the right goes for Charlotte, you need to take him out. Make sure he stays down.”

I nodded, trying to swallow the giant lump that had suddenly appeared in my throat.

“Ready?” Charlotte placed both hands on one of the doors. We both nodded, and she pushed through the door. We peered around the doorway after her.

Even though it was in the small hours of the morning we could see everything perfectly. The moon was reflecting off the snow, making it almost as bright as daylight. There were two guards, just as Loki had said. They stood clutching long spears, the guard on the right was standing up ram rod straight, but the one on the left stood slouched to one side, leaning on his spear like he was bored. His helmet was on the ground by his feet. Obvious he wasn’t worried about an attack. That was the guard I had to take down.

Charlotte jogged past them, her feet crunching in the snow. The guards swung around, spears pointed in her direction.

“Hi!” Charlotte said brightly, backing away, “no need to point those things at me. Just out for a late night stroll.”

They were both facing completely away from us now, and beside me Loki started to creep slowly forward. I mimicked his pace, wincing when the snow creaked softly under my shoes.

“Put your pointy sticks down!” Charlotte said loudly.

Three feet from the guard, two feet. One. I raised my katana, both hands clenched tightly around the hilt. I hesitated. Could I really just bash him on the back of the head?

He must have sensed something, because the guard suddenly started to turn, and I brought the sword down in panic, a savage grunt tearing out of my throat. There was a horrible cracking noise, and the impact shook my hands and shot up my arms. The guard slumped forward and lay face down in the snow.  A dark spot was blooming on the back of his head, soaking light blonde hair. Peripheral vision showed me that Loki and his guard were still tussling, rolling around in the snow exchanging punches. I couldn’t seem to tear my eyes away from the dark red patch that had formed on the back of the guard’s head. My fingers felt numb. Sucking in air was an effort.

                The movement beside me stopped, and I could hear Loki swearing. Apparently his adversary hadn’t gone down easily. Charlotte was suddenly beside me, crouching down to place one hand on the guard’s neck. She stood up and grabbed my arm, “he’s fine.  He’ll just have a headache in the morning. Let’s go.”

                Loki joined us, cradling one arm, and for a moment the numbness was overridden by concern, “Are you alright?”

                “I’ve had worse,” Loki tried to smile at me, but it was more of a wince.