The King and The Lionheart (Loki fanfic V:1)

Stay Alive Part 2

Thor and I train hard and the allotted time Odin gave me passes all so quickly that I find that the day I will be tested whether I'm fit enough or not is tomorrow. I walk around knowing that Thor would want me to save my strength for tomorrow. When I see him rushing towards me right after I leave my room comes as a surprise.

"Amril!"

"Woah, where's the fire, Thor? What's going on?" I ask after seeing the concerned look in his face.

He waits to answer until he's taken me to a balcony that no one else is on. "Father has finally told me who you will be fighting."

"Ok? What's the problem?"

"It's Sif," He says and I groan putting my face into my hands in exasperation.

I've never been able to beat Sif in a battle, Odin must have known this. "He must think that the reason for me wanting to reenlist is to die a warrior's death. A death in the field is less questionable, and much more honorable. Damn," I curse running my hands through my hair.

"What do you plan on doing?"

"Try my best. There's nothing else I can do. I feel like we've only got me slightly faster and stronger than before my... vacation. I have to pray to the gods that it will be enough to beat her. Wish me luck," I say and start walking to the food hall for breakfast, or by now it might be an early lunch.

"You have my best wishes sister," I hear him whisper to me as I make my way down the hall.

Normally I would have felt lucky to have the chefs that we do and start to fill on what I was given. However the impending battle leaves a bad taste in my mouth that the ale I have can't wash out. I spend the rest of the day slightly jumpy.

I haven't seen Sif all day, however, I haven't seen much of her ever since Loki's death. Our friendship isn't exactly as easy as it used to be. He put a wedge in whatever relationship Sif and I had, I don't know how to fix it. I still count her as one of my friends, I just pray that she feels the same way, especially with whatever's going to happen tomorrow.

I make my way to my room and while I walk I pray to whatever gods are still there to listen that either I would pass or Sif would let me pass. I don't know which of those would be a bigger miracle. I settle into bed to try to sleep and end up having a restless sleep, the fear of failure keeping my mind too active to fall into what anyone could truly call sleep.

I'm awoken by someone pounding on my door "What?" I grumble just loud enough to be heard. I don't even bother moving when a guard comes in to tell me that I'm expected at the training grounds in an hour. I thank him casually and he leaves me to my thoughts.

I drag myself to the bathroom and stare at myself as I brush my teeth. I stare and start to think of what I usually do when I do when I have nothing to do, or, rather, who I think of. I wonder what he would say about me being in this situation. Probably damning my lion heart and saying I shouldn't put myself in danger without him there to watch my back.

I rinse my mouth and once I stand back up from leaning over the sink I continue to look at myself and let my mind wonder. He hated me going into battle without him, I felt the same. We both knew that we could handle our own but the thought of the possibility of something happening to either of us was too much. I wish he was here to see me or offer some words of comfort.

I wish he was here to hold me. These days I don't like people touching me, they only remind me that it can't be his hands anymore. I shake my head trying to clear him from my thoughts. I wish that it was that simple, maybe then I wouldn't feel like escaping is my only choice. I magically change into my fighting leathers and head down to the kitchens not feeling like having to talk to people.

I snag some fruit out of a bowl and a piece of meat off a cooling tray and stuff it into my mouth before anyone can catch me. I take the fruit to a balcony and eat it while I watch people get a spot to watch Sif and I's fight. I see there's going to be an audience and sigh. There's nothing the people here love more than a fight between two great warriors.

I see Sif walk around in the training ground and I walk down the steps next to the balcony. I try to find her through the crowd and I eventually see her dark hair. I shove my way through the people just waiting around for the fight to start. She sees me making my way over to her and she turns to watch me.

I finally get to her and I wish I had thought of what I was going to say before I got here with nothing in mind. I shakily stretch out my hand and say "Good luck."

She looks at me for a solid moment before shaking my hand and whispering "And to you," I wish I could say something to take the unease out of her eyes and the lack of confidence out of my voice but nothing comes out. We stare at each other and I understand that even though we had this distance between us that she also wishes to remain friends.

I smile and nod at her trying to give both us of assurance that no matter what happens we are going to be ok. That we are going to do fine no matter what happens here today. All too soon it's time and the king takes his seat.

We enter the roped off section and ready our weapons. We stare at each other sizing each other up and mentally preparing ourselves. Suddenly Odin bangs his staff onto the ground signaling us that the fight has started. We start to circle each other neither wanting to be the first to engage in battle.

Sif finally breaks the silence and charges at me attacking my left side which was at one point my weak side. I block with my sword and counter striking at her feet which was once her weak spot. She blocks just in time and we continue to attack and block.

One would think that the crowd of thousands surrounding us would be cheering for one of us, but there's only silence. Silence that's only broken by the swords banging against each other and the sounds of our breath beginning to be labored. They must sense the tension in the air as much as I can.

I can feel myself starting to tire after what feels like a few minute of fighting. "I have to end this quickly," I think to myself. Sif has always had more stamina than me but I was always slightly quicker than her. Not much but maybe just enough that could give me a victory in this battle. I quickly dart to her right side and slap the flat of my sword against her ribs.

She grunts in pain and turns to face me once again. I can see from her eyes that she wants to put her hand on her side to try to take the edge off of the pain. Even in practice it's easy to bruise the rib bones by just smacking someone's side with the flat side of a wooden practice sword.

I hope that this will slow her down and as she goes to attack me again I can see that it does indeed slow her. I fake as if I'm going to slap her same side with my sword and starts to turn to counter in the direction I faked. I quickly bring my boot up and kick the side she had just accidentally exposed in an attempt to protect her already hurt ribs.

She falls back from the force of my kick and I seize the opportunity to knock her down. I use my leg to sweep her legs out from under her while she's still stumbling back. She falls to the floor and loses her grip on her sword. I straddle her and push my sword against her throat as she's about to reach her sword. She looks into my eyes, clearly relieved to be done with the matter and says loud enough for the people around us to hear "I concede."

I hear clapping slowly spreads through the crowd. I get off, letting her up. Once she gets to her feet I put my hand out and she, accepting defeat graciously, shakes my hand once again. "You threw that fight didn't you?" I ask loud enough that only she can hear it over the din of the crows cheering.

She smiles mysteriously "Good luck on the battle field, Amril. Truly, I will be praying to the gods for your safety."