14 Reaper's Peak

In the afternoons Loki's sister-in-law either had the children study or tasked them with helping her. She oversaw the running of the hospitals, so Thrym and Hyndla ran messages for her, rolled freshly washed bandages and mixed ointments. There was plenty of work to be done in Jotunheim these days. Even Baugi had enjoyed all of one day with his daughter before he was handed a second-hand uniform and sent off into the fighting.

Only Loki remained idle. Laufey had decreed he wanted Loki to first acquaint himself with life among the Jotnar, but that decision seemed wasteful when you looked around and saw the strain Utgard was under. Loki had some thoughts about Laufey's real reasons, however, he couldn't confirm his suspicions without speaking to his birth father and that wasn't a social call Loki was eager to make. So, when he wasn't playing nanny to his niece and nephew, he played tourist instead.

Today, his routine worked in his favour. Loki made a conscious effort to move at the same casual pace he had adopted the previous days and having seen him strolling about aimlessly before, no one now spared a second-glance for him.

Loki kept to the script nevertheless. He climbed up the stairs to the top of the broad rock-shelf that overlooked the city's main thoroughfare and paused there as if to enjoy the view of the market far below him. There wasn't much trading going on today and Loki wondered if Asgard's markets looked similar. Commerce was the surest path to prosperity, but commerce needed peace to flourish. Loot was the only wealth to be found in wartime.

I wish I'd seen Utgard on a better day.

His hand shifted to the pommel of Fandral's rapier and he made a mental check on Hilblindi's old skinning knife hidden in his sleeve, then moved on. He followed the length of the rock-shelf, then passed through a narrow archway. From there, as Thrym had promised him, Loki found a steep and poorly lit stairwell. The stairs spiralled up for hundreds of metres. Doorways occasionally led off them, but Loki had to follow the stairs to the very top.

He heard the howling wind long before he saw the last few dozen steps. He sprinted up them, then jerked to a stop. Guards stood before a rattling door. They had to be the biggest frost giants Loki had ever encountered.

'How do you do?' Loki greeted them with a smile.

They didn't return it.

The stockier one of the two moved towards Loki. 'Who are you? What do you want?'

'I wish to see the prisoner. I'm on the king's business here, I'm not at liberty to discuss it.'

'Have you proof?'

'Proof? Yes, of course. Let me…' Loki took a couple of steps more towards the guard and palpated his clothes. 'Just hold on a second. Wait… Ah, here.'

Loki pulled the knife out of his sleeve and sank it into the guard's thigh. The frost giant screamed as he collapsed to his knees. Loki wrenched out the knife; the heavy blood-flow confirmed he had struck the artery. Not willing to waste a moment, Loki went for a kill shot.

He was flung back down the stairs instead.

He leaped up and drew out the rapier even as he realised that Fandral's weapon stood little chance against the second guard, who was presently advancing towards him.

Loki released a wave of raw magic. Over the past week there had been little reason for him to rely on his magic so pure energy now poured out of him without the strain he had come to fear of late. The guard flew back. His heavy body knocked over his injured partner, then tore through the wooden door they had been protecting.

That'll do.

He climbed up to the top of the stairs once more and paused by the guard he had injured. The visor of his helmet had fallen back. For all his size, the features of his face, now twisted with pain and panic, were youthful. Seeing Loki approach, he tried to clamber up and conjure a weapon.

Loki was quicker. He swivelled around the guard and sank the rapier deep into the back of his neck.

'Nothing personal,' Loki muttered as the frost giant's body went slack.

He shook the rapier until most of the dark blood had dripped off the blade, then pushed past what remained of the door.

Reaper's Peak was one of the highest points in Utgard. Hyndla had informed Loki that it was the site of a key guard station as the mountain summit offered an excellent vantage of the northern approach into the city. She had understated the view. The door Loki came through emerged in the middle of a wide, stone platform from which you could see for miles in every direction. Or, at least, for the moment you could. The wind roared and whipped about the first snowflakes of an approaching storm. Winter wasn't yet ready to relinquish its grip on Jotunheim.

Loki brushed off a snowflake that had landed on the bridge of his nose.

A deep inhale to his left.

Loki repelled the guard's attack with his magic. This time there were no doors to crash through. The force Loki had put up against the frost giant sent him flying straight over the side of the crenelated walls. His dying screams echoed for a good minute.

'So much for not drawing attention to myself,' Loki said under his breath, although with the wind, he doubted anyone besides him would have heard his words anyway. He moved to the southern side of the broad platform, which had been half-hidden by the top of the stairwell shaft, and grinned. 'Thor!'

He was frozen in a similar pose to one he had been in when Laufey had showed him off to Loki, except his head was now straight up. He was positioned to peer out to the mountains. Loki stepped over the heavy chains holding Thor in place and moved around to face his brother. He winced. Thor was at the mercy of the elements out here. Wind had knotted his hair and torn off his cloak. Frost had tarnished the plates of his armour. His face, however, had taken the brunt of the damage. Skin had cracked all around his lips; crusting sores spread across his cheeks and forehead.

'Thor?' Loki went down on his knees beside his brother. 'Are you still in there?'

He sheaved the rapier and rested his hand on the top of Thor's clenched fist. He searched for the spells keeping Thor in this catatonic state. Pale runes spun about in his mind's eye, some familiar and some not. None offered him the opening he sought.

'Give it up,' a woman said. 'This is Jotunn magic, you know nothing about this.'

Loki tore his hand away from Thor and opened his eyes. At first he found nothing save his brother's disintegrating face, then the snow whipped up by the last wind gust settled somewhat. Two frost giants stood behind Thor — Laufey and the short Bradi woman he had kept near him when they had spoken via the Eye of Angrboda.

Laufey must have caught Loki's lingering glance, because he chuckled a little, then said, 'Family introductions are in order, yes? Loki, this is your second cousin Sigran.'

'Well met,' she said without bothering to mask her insincerity.

Loki climbed to his feet, a tad disappointed with both himself and with his birth father. If Laufey had followed him up here so quickly, it could only mean that his trepidations had been correct — Laufey had been waiting for him.

'Why keep Thor up here?' Loki asked. This encounter had a great number of possible endings, few of them good, but there was no reason to rush to any of them. 'If the Einherjar are to mount a rescue mission, this place would be easier to reach than somewhere inside Utgard.'

'I thought he would enjoy exploring the pleasures of the local weather,' Laufey replied.

'I suppose I am glad he's treated with the hospitality he deserves.'

Laufey pursed his lips. 'You killed two of my men and broke my door. Would you like to explain yourself before I throttle you?'

'They became aggressive,' Loki answered cautiously. 'I had to defend myself.'

'You had to defend yourself because you have no business being here.'

'I… needed to see him. I tried to put the past behind me and embrace life here in Utgard, but memories linger. I thought maybe seeing him would help.'

'You could have asked me.'

Loki raised an eyebrow. For all the hours he had spent thinking about how he could extricate himself and Thor out of the mess they found themselves in, this was one possibility he hadn't considered. He probably wouldn't have taken it even if he had, but it was an intriguing notion nevertheless.

'Would you have allowed me this?' he asked. 'In that case, I beg your pardon, I am still learning —'

'For a change, would you keep your mouth shut? If you want retribution, kill him and be done with it,' Laufey replied.

So this is his test. No pulled punches here.

Loki sucked in a breath. 'Don't you need him? You've kept him alive until now.'

'I thought I might have need of him. I do not. Asgard is on the verge of losing this war. When they run back home to lick their wounds, the humiliation will be all the greater if their king is slain like a defenceless babe.'

'Valhalla won't open its doors for him,' Loki said. He glanced down to his brother's blank eyes and then back to Laufey. 'And his mother will weep all the more when she finds out whose hand ended her precious son's life. You are right, this is a fitting end to this tale.'

Loki had one more trick to play. Possibly. Maybe. He had no idea why the alarm had sounded in the palace during their escape and had no way of knowing if Fandral had managed to deliver the message Loki had tasked him with. Even if he had, Loki couldn't be certain what Heimdall had made of the letter. He could have easily handed it straight to Tyr and Agnar.

This whole enterprise was ill-conceived. It's impossible to make plans when there are so many uncertainties at play.

Loki drew out his knife.

Sigran let out a bitter laugh as she gestured to the weapon. 'That was Helblindi's knife! I remember it. The Norns ensure justice is done today.'

'I never had the chance to know Helblindi,' Loki replied. He knew nothing of the relationship between Sigran and Helblindi save for Baugi's single reference to it, but Sigran's expression spoke of fierce grief. Loki nodded to her. 'I hope I wield the knife as firmly as he would have.'

He pulled Thor's filthy, tangled hair out of the way and raised the knife. At the last moment, he turned his hand, sending the knife flying towards his father.

Laufey threw himself to the side. The knife missed him by two inches and ended up skittering across the platform's stone floor.

'So this is your choice!' Laufey sneered when he straightened up. 'So be it.'

He leeched moisture out of the air around them. His hand crusted with ice, which then poured out into a long, serrated sword.

Loki drew Fandral's rapier, but it was Sigran who acted first. With a flick of her hand, Helblindi's knife tore through the air once more, this time in Loki's direction. He parried it with the rapier and sent it flying off somewhere over his shoulder. Unimpressed by this, Laufey advanced towards him.

Loki scrambled back, away from Laufey and away from the chains that surrounded Thor's unmoving form. He didn't dare to flee all the way back to the edge. One wrong move and he might end up falling hundreds of metres down the steep mountainside.

Sigran sent a shower of icicles at him. There was no parrying them; he flattened himself on the ground. Once the danger seemed past, he rolled onto his back. Laufey's sword swung down towards him. Loki rolled out of the way and jumped to his feet.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sigran's panicked expression. She stood still, not daring to make another attack on Loki while he was so close to her king.

Loki thrust out the rapier, hoping for Laufey's arm, but found only air.

Laufey launched his own attack. Loki brought up the rapier to block and the swords met with a resounding groan. The rapier snapped. Loki didn't even see where the top half of the blade flew off to, he was cognisant only of the rapier stump that remained in his hand.

Laufey advanced towards him. 'What now?'

The same question rang through Loki's mind.

'HEIMDALL!' he yelled. 'Now!'

For a moment that stretched halfway to eternity, no one moved. Laufey loomed over Loki with an amused expression, untroubled by the force of the snowstorm now bearing down on them.

A thunderclap parted the dark clouds. Laufey jerked back, but the light of the Bifrost didn't descend upon Loki or Thor. Heimdall guided it to a narrow valley just past the edge of Utgard.

Laufey snorted. 'Your man lacks aim.'

'No,' Loki grinned like a madman. 'He's done precisely as I told him. And now he will hold the Bifrost open. Do you know what happens when you do that?'

It was a small thing, but Loki saw Laufey's twitch nevertheless. He knew very well.

'You'll die here, together with the rest of us. Your brother too,' Laufey said.

'It'll be worth it.'

Laufey raised his sword once more. His attack came with a feverish fury Loki's couldn't hope to match. He twisted out of the way of the first strike, but Laufey kept coming. He brought up what remained of the rapier to parry. Laufey's ice sword sliced through the steel stump like it was paper and kept going. Only Loki's age and his quicker feet kept him breathing.

And yet, he couldn't keep going like this. Sooner or later Loki would make a mistake, likely a fatal one. Loki concentrated his magic in his hand. He felt the bitter cold envelop his skin, but there was something he was missing.

'That's Jotunn magic,' Laufey smirked. 'You don't know how to work it.'

'Whose fault is that?'

The ground beneath them began to shake. With every passing second, Heimdall shifted the full force of the Bifrost closer to the city. Already, clouds of frothing dirt had swallowed the snowflakes and the wind now carried dark dust. Loki gulped down a breath. There was no sense in keeping anything in reserve anymore.

At Laufey's next attempted strike, he split his form into two. He sent off his replica scampering to the left and to the door back down to the caverns of Utgard. For himself, he kept out of Laufey's range of vision and tried his hand again. The cold he summoned only made his bones ache.

I'm missing something.

He threw his mind back in desperate search for an answer.

Water.

He coaxed the water particles in the air into a clump around his hand. And at last, ice sprung into being.

Loki leaped on Laufey's back, sending him toppling on the ground and his ice sword shattering. Loki's replica blinked out of existence. Loki didn't care; its purpose had been accomplished. He kept his bodyweight over his birth father's back and slid his newly created weapon under Laufey's chin. It was only the length of a hunting dagger, but it would be enough for Loki to do what he had to.

'You'll find I'm a quick study,' Loki said. 'Now let's end this fruitless war. Release my brother. We will call back the Einherjar and head back to Asgard. Deal?'

'Cousin!' Sigran called out. 'Let the king go or I'll break your brother's neck.'

Loki had to awkwardly shift his weight in order to both keep control of Laufey and to see Sigran. His heart skipped a beat. While he had been focused on Laufey, she had come around to Thor and now held his head in her hands, her nails digging deep into his weather-worn skin.

'You're an idiot,' Loki replied when he managed to swallow his panic. 'Kill him if you like. I'll then kill your king and the Bifrost will remain open until ash is all that's left of Jotunheim.'

Sigran shook her head. 'If you do that, you'll die same as us.'

'Yes, I know. I'll die and Thor'll die and so will everyone on this god-forsaken planet. That's fine with me. The universe will be better off for it.'

'You are Jotunn too!'

'The Jotnar are the people that left me to die,' Loki spat back. 'I'm returning the favour.'

Sigran's eyes fell to Laufey, who struggled futilely under Loki's grasp. Finding no help from her king, she finally understood the full gravity of her situation.

'Give me one minute,' she muttered. 'Just one minute.'

She worked quickly. No doubt her heart beat at the same manic pace Loki's did. One by one, the shackles keeping Thor in place snapped open and toppled to the ground. Sigran sniffled, then placed her hand on Thor's head and chanted.

A shiver coursed through Thor's body. Sigran staggered back, but Thor had already turned to face her. Even amid the roar of the Bifrost's ever-growing destruction, the familiar rumble of Mjolnir flying through the air was as clear as a whistle.

'Farewell, father.' Loki thrust his makeshift weapon into Laufey's neck. When he pulled it out, dark blood frothed out, sending a tendril of steam off Loki's ice dagger. Loki rolled off to the side. 'Thor, let's go home!'

Thor spun Mjolnir in his hand, advancing one step for every step Sigran took back from him.

'Thor!' Loki grabbed Thor's wrist, then lifted his head to the churning skies above. 'Heimdall, enough! Take us back to Asgard!'

'Heimdall! Reopen the Bifrost,' Thor shouted. 'I will have my vengeance.'

'Hold here, Thor.' Loki threw himself into Thor's path. He lacked the strength to physically stop his brother, but he hoped at least to slow him down. 'Take a look around you, will you?'

The anxiousness in Loki's words must have stirred some common sense in Thor. He jerked to a stop and took stock of the cracked walls and half-obliterated ceiling in Heimdall's Observatory.

'Sweet mercy,' Thor muttered.

Loki took a step towards his brother, forcing Thor to back away from the opening to the Bifrost. 'This is what Asgard looks like, the destruction in Jotunheim is a hundred times greater. They have paid dearly for the insult they have inflicted upon Asgardians and Laufey, who has stirred up trouble between the two realms, is dead. Please, brother, let your hammer rest for now.'

'The sorceress still lives.'

'I know.' Loki sighed. 'In time we will find a way to back her back for what she did to you, but today isn't the day for that. Asgard is in disarray and you are the king. You have responsibilities here.'

Thor snarled in frustration, but he lowered his hand and let Mjolnir rest idly by his thigh. Behind him, Heimdall let out a noise which was a close to a relieved sigh as Loki had ever heard from the man. Loki mouthed a quick thank you to him, then called over the bewildered-looking Einherjari soldiers that were positioned by the entrance to the Observatory.

'Take a message to Lords Agnar and Tyr,' Loki said. 'King Thor has returned.'

None of the Einherjari soldiers were eager to be caught in whatever tumult would follow Thor's return. All four of them immediately saddled their horses and galloped down the length of the bridge. Thor's gaze followed their passage.

Loki carefully rested his hand on Thor's arm. 'Are you well?'

'I… don't feel quite myself. While she held me, my body didn't belong to me. I'm sure this will pass soon enough.' Thor forced a smile. ' That's a very good disguise, Loki. I almost didn't recognise you.'

Loki swore under his breath. After a week surrounded by frost giants, the hue of his own skin had faded into the back of his mind. Thor, on the other hand, had never seen him like this previously. Nor did he know anything about the sorry tale of Loki's adoption.

That realisation chilled Loki to his core. The last time he hadn't been around when Thor had first learned Loki wasn't his brother by blood. True, he did offer Loki his acceptance when they encountered each other again, but Loki didn't know what his initial reaction had been. And, this time, Thor had been a prisoner of the frost giants for weeks. Loki could only guess at what torment they could have inflicted upon Thor.

'You must have spun a good story. The sorceress claimed you her cousin,' Thor added, oblivious to his brother's distress.

Loki cocked his head. 'You heard that?'

'I heard everything, from the moment they took me to the moment she released me.'

'I see. Well, to be clear, it was never my intent to kill you.'

Thor attempted to separate the worst of the tangles in his hair. 'I gathered as much.'

'Good.'

There was so much Loki needed to explain to his brother. Asgard lay just on the other side of the bridge; Thor needed to know the political situation in his realm before he returned to the palace. He also needed to know about Loki. And Loki didn't know where to start. He still felt the warmth of Laufey's blood on his skin and felt the rumble of mountains quaking under the Bifrost's incessant pulse. Were Hyndla and Thrym safe? What of Baugi and his family? Baugi probably was. He was supposed to be somewhere further out, on the front lines. And that was another issue in need of resolution — the Einherjar remain on Jotunheim.

Loki closed his eyes. There was one thing he could do. It was vain, but it would put him at ease.

A small flick of his hand.

His skin was pale and smooth once more, his clothes the familiar green leathers.

'Thor.' he said, as he forced himself to ignore the signs he was reaching the end of his reserves once more. 'We'd best talk while we walk.'

'If matters are truly urgent, I can use Mjolnir —'

'No. First, I must explain what's happened.' Thor shrugged and gestured for Loki to start talking, but Loki still hesitated. 'All be damned, I don't even know where to begin.'

'The beginning is usually a good place to start.'

Loki made a face. 'The beginning? Sure, let's get that out of the way then. I planned to sabotage your coronation.'

After that proclamation, Loki couldn't well stop talking until he explained himself fully. Worse yet, Thor set a good pace across the bridge. Loki's words spilled out in an uneven, agitated cadence. He explained about his aborted pact with the frost giants and their father's injury in Jotunheim; about his regency and his downfall; about his imprisonment and his escape; and finally, about his last days among the frost giants of Utgard.

By the time he fell silent, they were past the city gates and Thor's face was twisted in concentration. Loki found consolation in the fact Thor hadn't yet swung Mjolnir in his direction.

'So the knife you would've slain me with was your half-brother's?' Thor said after a lengthy silence. 'The one I killed.'

'Out of everything I just told you, you're concerned about him?'

Thor's forehead furrowed. 'I never thought… I mean to say, I am sorry, Loki, I didn't understand what I did.'

Loki nodded. Apologies didn't come easily to either of them, so although Loki sensed that Thor's words encompassed more than comment on the loss of a half-brother Loki had never properly met, he didn't press further.

This afternoon on Asgard was scarcely less glum than on Jotunheim, the sky was overcast and a thin, cold rain fell. Those few who were out on the streets were occupied with the own affairs, likely eager to be done and be inside, so Loki and Thor received less attention than Loki had anticipated. Thor seemed glad for it. He avoided the gaze of the few that did realise that the dishevelled passer-by was their king.

'I didn't know who he was back then either,' Loki said. He hesitated for a moment, then decided he needed to be clear on where they stood now that Thor knew the truth. 'In any case, who am I to condemn you for anything? I killed my birth father today. Possibly many others.'

'For my sake, you say.'

'It had to be done.'

Thor looked sharply in Loki's direction. 'By your estimation, my life is worth a great many of your kin.'

How many would you've slain when you charged into Jotunheim with your hammer aloft?

Loki bit back the instinctive sarcastic retort and instead said, 'You are my brother. And my king.'

Thor left Loki's words hang between them without any sort of answer as they followed the gentle slope of the streets back home. The closer they got to the palace, the more guards they saw, but all of them had the wits to allow them through without challenge. And still, Thor had nothing to say.

Dread knotted Loki's innards. He hated himself for his neediness, but he couldn't help himself.

'We are still brothers, aren't we?' he asked and winced at the way his voice shook as he spoke.

Thor leaned towards Loki. He wrapped his arm around the back of Loki's shoulders and pulled him into a tight side-hug. 'You are the smartest person I know, so I don't have a clue how you can ask so stupid a question.'

'Thank you,' Loki said softly.

He wasn't sure Thor heard him. They had turned a corner and the palace itself now lay right before them, as grand and proud as ever. It bore no sign of the intrigues and turmoil that had taken place within over the recent weeks. Loki inched forward, but Thor's heavy arm kept him rooted in place.

'Thor?'

Thor peered up at the palace's golden towers with a thoughtful expression etched into his face. 'I'm not sure I am ready to return to being King Thor quite so soon.'

'None of us chooses what tapestry the Norns stitch for us, but you —'

The great gilded doors were thrown open; someone in the palace had noticed their approach. Thor sighed and slipped his hand off Loki's shoulders. They didn't make it far past the doors before a flock of guardsmen, servants and petty officials descended upon them. Their clamour was near deafening. Loki made sure to remain close to Thor. After all, among the Asgardians he remained a proclaimed traitor and an escaped prisoner.

Thor cleared his throat several times until he finally had everyone's attention and the noise dissipated. He pointed to one of the officials dressed in a scribe's robes. 'Find Lord Tyr, tell him I wish all forces withdrawn from Jotunheim. The frost giants have paid heavily enough for their intrusion into this palace.'

'Certainly, your majesty.' The woman bowed and scurried off.

'I wish also to see Lord Agnar,' Thor went on, pointing to another official from the gathered crowd. 'I will receive him in the Great Hall.' He frowned, then turned to look at Loki. 'Brother, would you take a handful of guards and find our mother? I'm certain she would want to know both her sons have returned home safe.'

I can't think of anything I'd like to do more.