Home | Loki [Book Two]

Chapter Eighteen

"No!" Loki started to say, but he was silenced by Thor.

"Stick to the plan," he said, then ran full speed towards Hela with Valkyrie just steps behind him. He was holding Gungnir, Odin's spear.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Mayhem," Hela said as she blocked both of their blows. "You can't kill me, even if you try your hardest."

Valkyrie was sent flying backward, leaving Thor to fight Hela. He was quickly disarmed by Hela's never-ending supply of daggers.

She took one of her swords and swiped at Thor's eye. Thor groaned in agony, but stood up again, ready to fight.

"Now you remind me of Dad," Hela said.

Another slew of arrows hit Hela, but she managed to hang onto the side of the Bridge. Without hesitation, she launched into the air and through a window of the palace, the force field having no effect on her.

"Get the people on the ship, just in case," Thor said to Valkyrie before following Hela.

Loki, who had been watching the fight, ran after Thor and Hela. His absence went unnoticed, so Hela would never see him coming.

Thor and Hela were already fighting when Loki arrived to watch the fight from a distance.

"To be honest," Hela was saying, "I expected more."

If Loki hadn't been so focused, he would have agreed wholeheartedly. Thor was fighting terribly, possibly from his ruined depth perception.

"Here's the difference between us: I'm Odin's firstborn, the rightful heir, the savior of Asgard. And you're nothing." She threw Thor towards the balcony, then held him there by a knife in his back. "I'll rule Asgard, even if I have to kill every one of you Odinsons to do it."

"Everyone on that ship, now!" they could hear Valkyrie say, even from the balcony high up in the clouds.

"A valiant effort, but you never stood a chance," Hela said. "You see? I'm not a queen. Or a monster. I'm the goddess of Death. What were you the god of again?"

In a bright flash of lightning that could have blinded a human erupted from where Hela and Thor had been fighting, sending Hela flying across the palace courtyard. Thor landed closer to the Supercruiser, defending people from the returning enemy soldiers.

"This isn't over," Valkyrie was saying when Loki appeared by Thor.

"Hit her with a lightning blast," Loki suggested when he saw Hela walking towards them.

"I just hit her with the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning," Thor said. "It did nothing."

"What do we do?" Valkyrie asked.

"I have an idea, but you won't like it," Loki said.

"We're running out of ideas."

"We evacuate Asgard," he said. "After everyone is safely away, we destroy Asgard with Hela on it."

"That's a terrible idea." Thor saw Hela preparing for another attack and changed his mind. "But it's the only idea we have."

"Make sure everyone gets on that ship!" Valkyrie shouted.

"We get to fight her, I'm guessing?" Loki asked.

"You guessed right."

"With pleasure," Valkyrie said, sprinting towards Hela and driving her sword straight through Hela's hollow, empty heart. Hela easily removed the sword and used it to pin Valkyrie to the bridge by her foot.

Thor used his lightning to deflect most of Hela's weapons, but one caught his shoulder and sent him flying back towards Asgard.

Loki released about a dozen daggers from different illusions, but he was discovered and thrown backward. By this time, Thor and Valkyrie had recovered and attacked the goddess.

She never seemed to tire, able to fight battle after battle, deflect attack after attack, and throw sword after sword. Even when all three attacked at once, Hela was able to defeat them all without even a scratch.

"She just won't die," Valkyrie muttered.

"Well, she is the goddess of Death," Thor responded.

"No way," she said sarcastically.

While they were distracted, Hela sent a sword flying into Valkyrie's side. The blood began staining the Bridge before she even had a chance to fall to her knees. Thor rushed to his fallen friend.

"You can't sneak up on me," Hela said, pining Loki to the Bridge by the shoulder of his cape. "I know your plan. You're going to try to destroy Asgard with me on it. But I know you and Mayhem were close, and I know you won't destroy this planet with her body still at the bottom of this ocean.

"That wasn't the plan," Loki said, too calmly for the situation. "That is the plan that my brother is executing. I knew it wouldn't work; you would find a way to survive. I have an altogether different agenda."

"Unless you plan on joining me, I have no interest in your plan."

"That is not even close."

"Then you have fought your last." A sword appeared in her hand. "Any last words?"

"I think you'll find that it's better to have lost together than won alone," Loki said.

"Yet you die alone." Hela raised the sword above her head, ready to deliver the death blow, when she disappeared into thin air, leaving a smoldering piece of paper behind.