Tournament of Thieves

13

Loki didn't know how long it had been or how far they had traveled through the maze when he sensed a change in Skadi's flying. She was slowing down slightly and beginning to descend.

What he didn't expect was her throwing him into the wall.

Skadi hurled him through the air with more force than he thought possible. Slamming against the stone, Loki fell to the floor with a groan. He touched his ribs gingerly and moaned again.

"What was that for?" Loki demanded, rolling onto his side and attempting to rise. A surge of pain swept through his right leg and he collapsed back onto the ground. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he grasped at the straps securing his shield to his back, loosening them.

"I should not have had to come back for you!" Skadi exclaimed. "You can fly, just like I can. Why didn't you?"

"I traded Freya's falcon cloak, remember?" Loki spat. "I can't fly now!"

Skadi stomped her foot. "You're jotun!" she screamed. "You're a shapeshifter! That means you can shift into a bird! So why didn't you?"

Loki stiffened. It had reached this. Skadi was going to force him to speak of it.

"I don't want to speak about it," he muttered grumpily.

Skadi's eyes flashed, illustrating that it was the wrong response. "I risked my life returning to save your sorry hide!" she yelled. "And I shouldn't have had to! I at least deserve to know why!"

Loki took a deep breath, his anger surfacing. "I can't!" he insisted through gritted teeth. "I can't morph into a bird! I swore an oath!"

Skadi took a deep breath, making an attempt to calm herself. "An oath? To whom?"

"To Odin," Loki hissed angrily. "I swore an oath to Odin."

Skadi exhaled and sat down, crossing her legs as she settled into a comfortable position. "You swore an oath to Odin not to shift into a bird."

"That was only a part of it," Loki murmured. "The entire oath consists of anything that comes from my jotun father."

Surprised, Skadi glanced away for a moment before directing her gaze back to the trickster. "Odin made you swear away all your jotun abilities?"

Loki nodded, suddenly subdued. "Yes. When he offered to take me to Asgard, offered me a home there, there was one condition. I had to swear off all of my jotun powers. Anything that could have been inherited from my father – and even skills I received from my mother – he told me I would have to swear an oath not to use, especially my jotun abilities. Anything I inherited from my mother...the oath wasn't as strict about those."

"I've never heard about this," Skadi said.

"You wouldn't have," Loki shrugged. "The only part of the oath that is widely known is the section where we swore to be brothers."

Skadi appeared to be deep in thought. When she finally spoke again, she asked, "But you shapeshift. That's inherently jotun."

Loki nodded wearily. "Odin needed me to break a deal for him once, and he allowed me to go back on my oath for that one skill – provided I never used it to become a bird."

"Because that's also an inherently jotun form," Skadi affirmed.

"That's why I have other skills," Loki explained. "I had to figure out another way to survive once I gave up everything else. I had to cultivate a new skill set."

"And you gave up everything – just to live in Asgard?" she asked. "Why?"

Loki's anger bubbled up again, almost surprising him in its vehemence. "Maybe that's something you question when you grow up in a mountain fortress with parents that care for you. But the offer's a lot more tempting when you live near the border, Skadi, and you don't have the pleasures you know are abundant in Asgard."

Skadi drew back. "What are you getting at, Loki?"

"I don't know much about your life," Loki declared. "But I do know that your father was very much a part of your life. Not all of us have that. I've never even met my father. And my mother, although she was a goddess, the stigma of bearing a jotun child, a jotun son, was so great that she was forced to live at the border of Midgard and Jotunheim, away from the other immortals. She was not meant to live there – not meant to live here. I wanted to live as an outcast no longer, Skadi. So yes, I took Odin's deal. But wouldn't you?"

The giantess didn't answer, just looked off down the passageway. "My father would still be here, if you hadn't –"

"Really!" Loki shouted. "You're going to keep bringing that up? Skadi, let me set this straight, once and for all. I did not kill your father; he was burnt in the fire that was lit by the rest of the Aesir! Odin...Njord...Frey...Thor...Freya.... They killed your father. Not me."

"If it wasn't for you, he wouldn't be dead," Skadi asserted firmly, eyes flashing. "He was chasing you."

Loki looked at her. "If he hadn't toyed with the Aesir in the first place, he might not have been killed."

"What are you?" Skadi whispered, eyes aglow with a fire akin to rage. "Jotun? Aesir? Make up your mind, Loki. Being Aesir might have helped you survive in Asgard, but it won't do you any good here. You're in Jotunheim now. Loki, we're in Utgard. In a maze. With death awaiting us around every corner. Your Aesir ways will only get you killed now. It'll be like the last time, except instead of just losing one of the trials, you'll be killed." Skadi let her words sink in before continuing, "You have a choice to make here. Either you forget about that oath and become who you were born to be – a jotun, or you will die here as an Aesir, in this maze, and you won't live to see Ragnarok."

With that, Skadi rose to her feet, shot a glare down at Loki, and finished, "I'm heading out to scout out up ahead. When I come back, you better have made your decision." Turning, the giantess placed an arrow on the string and strode off down the corridor, Loki looking after her.

There was nothing left to do but ponder her parting words.