Tournament of Thieves

1

Plip. Plip. Plip.

The same old, same old. Plip, plip, plip. Over and over and over and over and over....

There. The tone is changing. Better get ready.

It's full! She pulls the cup away, and...one drop forms, then another, then another...there it falls....

"Aargh!"

The scream shook the cavern where he lay bound, causing tiny rocks to shower down from the ceiling. Major avalanches weren't common nowadays; most of the huge rocks had fallen in the early days of his imprisonment, back when strength had been his to command. A millennium later, some of that strength had faded with his slightly weakening resolve.

His wife hurried back into the cavern, jeweled cup in hand. She repositioned it over his head, sitting lightly on the edge of the stone slab he was sprawled out on. "I'm sorry, Loki," she murmured before lapsing into her old, familiar silence.

For this was Loki, lying here chained to the three stone slabs placed under his body. Sigyn, his ever faithful wife, collected the poison that dripped from the fangs of the serpent fastened over his head, ever so often getting up to empty the cup. And that's when the screaming happened.

Otherwise, aside from her murmuring her apologies, the cave was silent. At first, Loki had tried to speak with her. Before his imprisonment, so much had happened to them; they had been forced to watch the murder and disembowelment of their young son – by his own brother, no less. Loki had been on the run from the gods for multiple things, such as the murder of Odin's son Baldor and the insulting of the gods, until he was finally caught and dragged to this cavern by Thor and Tyr. With Skadi taking her own revenge for her own father Thiazi's death by hanging a snake over his head, they had left him, alone.

Sigyn had sought him out the following day, her eyes red from weeping. Still wiping the tears from her cheeks with her scarf, she had settled herself beside him, drawing the cup from her skirts and holding it above him to catch the poison falling in drops onto his face.

The jeweled cup, now stained with the green tinged poison, had almost broken the god of mischief to tears. The cup had been the one used at their wedding ceremony, back when Loki had some respect among the Aesir and Sigyn was head over heels in love with him.

Those times were gone.

Thor had come by the week following Loki's capture, angrily calling for Sigyn. Completely ignoring Loki, he had grasped Sigyn roughly by the arm and went to drag her from the cave. She had resisted to the best of her abilities, throwing her weight against the god of thunder and crying, begging him to let her stay. But she was no match for him.

Thor had dragged her outside the cave entrance, ignoring Loki's angry protests as a heated discussion had taken place. All Loki could hear was Sigyn's choking sobs, broken only by her murmured attempts to speak, and Thor's furious voice, telling her she had to return.

"You are Aesir!" he had bellowed loudly at one point, causing a few pebbles to rain down on Loki's face. He himself was hissing in pain from the continuous drip of venom. He couldn't give Thor the satisfaction of hearing his pain-filled screams. "Your duty is to your people!"

"My duty is to my husband!" Sigyn had screamed, her voice breaking at the last word. "I will stay with him, Thor, or Odin help me, I will ensure you live to regret it!"

Sigyn's threat probably didn't even faze Thor, but the god of thunder had, for an indiscernible reason, allowed her to remain with Loki. And ever since, they had been together, undisturbed by the outside world. Except for the coming danger of Ragnarok, nothing would ever exist for these two but the dark, occasionally damp cavern that he was forever chained to, and the silence.

At first, the two had spoken, Loki trying to comfort Sigyn over the death of their son, Narvi, and the disappearance of their murderous son, Vali, trying to apologize for everything he had put her through, trying to salvage something of their relationship.

But it was no good. Although Sigyn was resolved to stand by him until the literal end of time, she was so detached from the world that Loki had eventually given up. Their only exchanges had faded to her apologies for the dripping poison, and his rare grunt in reply.

Footsteps echoed outside their cave and a shadow blocked out the available light seeping into the cave. Sigyn shifted slightly and Loki could hear the frown in her voice as she spoke crisply, "I thought you had decided to leave us alone."

Loki craned his neck to peer past his wife and felt his jaw twitch as he recognized the bulky form of Thor. "Thor," he growled, his voice hoarse from disuse. "Leave. Now."

"And what will you do about it, Thief?" Thor retorted, walking inside the cavern. "You are chained there, helpless."

Sigyn bristled. "You aren't welcome here, son of Odin," she told him frostily.

Thor ignored her. "Sigyn, I have to speak to your husband," he said harshly. "Leave us alone for a few minutes."

Sigyn looked at Loki, who shook his head. "You have nothing to say to me that I need to hear," he told his old friend.

Thor suddenly stepped forward and reached out. Sigyn's eyes widened and Loki's narrowed, but both of them were shocked when Thor, instead of grabbing one of them, grasped the serpent and yanked it out of the stalactites. Crushing the serpent's head between the fingers of his giant fist, Thor held the mangled snake away from him, making sure that Loki and Sigyn could clearly see that it was dead. Some poison from the crushed fangs was eating into Thor's skin, and the god of thunder angrily wiped it off, biting back a curse. Loki thought that was ironic.

"Only a sample of what you'll feel come Ragnarok," he uttered, lifting one eyebrow.

Thor snorted. "And this," he said, holding up the dead serpent, "is what your son will feel on Ragnarok."

"Well," Loki allowed. "He's too big for you to crush his head."

Thor scowled and tossed the snake aside. "Is that enough to convince you that I have something you need to hear?"

"Is Skadi coming with another snake?" Loki asked.

"No."

"Then speak away," Loki said.

Thor mulled over his thoughts for a moment and then shook his head. "You know what? I think Father will like to tell you in person."