The Verdant Prince

Chapter 28: Rainy Thoughts

My knees hit the cracked dirt ground before I could even register that I had been falling. Waves of numbness and nausea racked my body and I was ready to keel over and vomit if it weren't for a firm grip on my right shoulder. Slowly, the sensations subsided and I was able to stand on shaky legs. I did not dare meet Loki's eyes. Not yet.

Around me, our warriors began to wake, most holding their heads in their hands as if waking from a splitting headache. Asmund was bouncing between each warrior, checking their pulse and eyes, busy at work. I thanked what ever greater force there was that Asmund had not seen our kiss.

The kiss.

Embarrassment pulsed through my body in a quick flash, my mind replaying the scene over and over as if I were trying to relive it. Perhaps, in a way, I was. Loki had brought me out of my own illusions simply by giving me something real, something I could feel. I brushed my fingers over my chapped lips, now cold and neglected.

"Are you alright?" Loki asked quietly, though his voice was firm. Loki's eyes darted back and forth between the warriors and back to me. I nodded my head, the inability to speak at that moment was overwhelming. I shook my head at the sudden weakness. If I kept this dazed, lovely thinking up, I would be dead in a matter of minutes. I couldn't focus on that at the moment, even if every fiber in my body wished to.

"By my blade, what the Hel happened?" Volstagg's angry voice shouted. Sif glared at him, hushing him quickly. We were, afterall, in an open, echoing valley in the middle of Jotunheim. All of its residents were currently trying to slaughter us. Orgnar grumbled something to himself before standing up. Thor followed suit, Mjolnir gripped tightly in his hands. Thor looked pale, his focus elsewhere as he continuously glanced to Sif.

"Night Weapers," Asmund stated, tending to Heskell as he panted, his eyes wild in distress. I gave Loki a confused look. Since when did we know they were Night Weapers? Were they not Succubi and descendants of Djinns a few minutes ago? Loki finally met my eyes, his smile crooked and pained.

"It's been five hours since you all last woke. In that time, we discovered more about them," Loki clarified, directing the information to all of us. "They're a branch of the Eastern Djin's. They feed off of fear, happiness, confusion, thought, and so on. Whatever they are in the mood to eat. They keep you running in circles in your own mind until they're done with you," Loki explained, his voice tired and his words carefully chosen. Orgnar looked on to him with confusion, his mouth slightly a jar and his brows furrowed.

"In that time, we figured out that we could kill them from the inside of you. All we had to do is cause an extreme emotion inside of you to alert you to the outside world. As soon as that occurs, your brain treats the Night Weaper as a literal parasite, killing it inside of you," Asmund added, turning his back to us.

"Well... where does this 'parasite' go after you kill it? Within us?" Sif asked gently, crossing her arms in front of her. Loki smirked, a daring look in his eyes.

"It will come out in some sort of natural means," Loki said. Almost immediately after, one of the silent foot soldiers curls over, vomiting over the ground. She coughed and heaved as the other foot soldier attempted to calm her, holding her hair back and patting her back. We had all turned our attention to the scene. "That is one way," Loki quipped, raising his eyebrows.

"We need to get back on track as soon as possible. If five hours has already gone by, then we are losing more daylight. We need to arrive at Utgard before night fall if at all possible," Orgnar commanded, standing a bit taller among us. "Get packed, we move in less than an hour."

Even in dire times, Orgnar insisted on plowing through, never giving us too long to rest or mourn. I suppose that is what any true warrior without remorse would do. We sighed and began whittling away, packing up, eating, whatever we could do. Some warriors, such as Thor and Heskell, moved in a daze, as if their minds were still under an illusion. Each time anyone shuffled past Heskell he would flinch or snap his eyes shut. It makes you wonder what they saw in their illusions.