Tournament of Thieves

19

The chamber around the father and son changed, taking on the look of an outdoor courtyard. It was reminiscent of the courtyard in which Loki had killed Baldor. The paving stones spread out from the center where Loki and Farbauti were standing, spiraling out in a circular pattern and bordered by thick but relatively low stone walls.

Loki glanced down and then looked up and around, taking in the setting. Shivers raced down his spine and uneasiness settled in his stomach. He didn't have a good feeling about this, not at all.

When he glanced back up at Farbauti, his father was staring right at him, his eyes glittering with that intense light.

"The trial," he intoned. "Son, you must prove it to me. Prove that power flows through your veins. Prove to me the essences of fire and ice fuse in your blood!"

Farbauti stamped his foot, and lifted up his hands. Tendrils of ice snaked out from where the jotun stood, covering the courtyard with a sheet of thick ice. Loki glanced down only to see the ice enclose around his feet, securing them in place.

Farbauti only smiled when Loki looked up at him for an explanation. Spreading his hands out, the jotun started to speak as ice twined around his legs and webbed across his skin, forming a layer of crystals.

"This is the trial, Loki. Show me your power. And I don't want any of your Aesir power – I want your jotun power. This tournament was never about cunning or trickery. I tested that the last time you were here. No. Break your oath to Odin – yes, I know all about that. I felt like disowning you that day. But now – break your oath. Yes! Break it, abandon it, throw your word to the winds! Show me."

This was it. The deciding point. Skadi's words pertaining to his oath raced through his mind once more, and Loki closed his eyes. He had to decide. Would he break his oath to Odin, or would he choose not to?

The ice started to creep up Loki's legs, slowly entrapping him, as he deliberated. He had never put so much thought into breaking an oath before. But before, he had always been breaking an oath to a jotun. Now, he was breaking one to an Aesir. And not just any Aesir: he was about to break an oath to Odin, the Allfather.

Playing with fire earlier hadn't really been breaking the oath. It had been walking on a very thin line. But now, if he tapped into the ice power hiding somewhere inside him – considering he could even find it – that would be severely breaking his oath. And how would that affect his chances at a pardon from Asgard? His chance at reconciliation with Sigyn?

But he had to bring back Brisingamen to earn that pardon, to make up with his wife, and the only way that Loki could see to that end involved somehow defeating Farbauti.

The ice had reached Loki's waist now, and Farbauti's eager expression had twisted into a scowl. "You're starting to disappoint me, boy," he said quietly.

It was those words that decided Loki's course.

As the ice started to enclose his clenched hands, Loki closed his eyes once more and channeled his energy into his fingertips. For the first time in his life, he wanted to disappoint someone. He wanted Farbauti to look on him with disapproval. And most importantly, he wanted to show Farbauti that he still thought of himself as Aesir. That he was through fighting his half jotun, half Aesir heritage. He had forged a name for himself as no one other than Loki, the trickster. He didn't need a father's name. He hadn't even needed his mother's name.

He was simply Loki.

It took the jotun several moments to notice the skin of his son's hands glowing red. It took him another several seconds to figure out exactly what Loki was planning on doing.