Home | Loki [Book Two]

Chapter Seventeen

Soldiers were hidden in and on the evacuated houses on the fringe of Asgard, ready for Hela and her army to arrive. The rest of us were in plain view, facing towards the goddess of Death. 

"I believe you have stolen something of mine," I shouted to Hela. 

"Well, look who it is," Hela said drily. "Mayhem herself."

"Do I need to kill you again to get my realm back, or can we skip the bloodshed and resolve this peacefully?"

"Lasting peace has never been my family's forte, but surely you know that by now," she said, glancing at mine and Loki's intertwined fingers. 

"Fine. Be that way." I stepped to the front, releasing my nervous grip on Loki's hand. Quick as a flash, a dagger spun through the air, burying itself in Hela's shoulder. Unfazed, she ran towards me, her army--my people--following close behind. I followed suit with Asgard's army behind me. 

Hela's army erupted with sounds of confusion when the people in Asgard's army began disappearing as the battle began. 

"What trickery is this?" Hela hissed, but I was already speaking to my people. 

"People of Niflheim," I shouted, my voice carrying farther than normal. "Hela is not your ruler, nor is she your general. I am the queen. Nothing Hela has done has been under my orders. By following her, you have committed one of the highest levels of treason. 

"I will provide you with an opportunity to redeem yourself. Join in the fight against Hela and I will overlook the act of treason."

The army paused, considering my offer. It seemed that they didn't want to back down, though, because they rushed toward Asgard.

"Seriously?" I muttered. "Why can't anything be easy?" I swept the entire army into the waters around Asgard, planning to deal with them later. 

"Where is your army?" Hela asked smugly. "They seem to have disappeared."

"I could say the same thing about your's."

"I should warn you that I will not make the same mistake I did the last time I fought you."

"Nor will I."

A loud howl could be heard from the other side of the bridge. Angry screams replied, followed by a crash. 

"Fenrir," she gasped. 

"And now your backup has been removed from the equation. That just leaves you against all of us."

"You will all either die or join me."

"I think you'll find that the people of Asgard would rather die a cruel death before they join a cold-blooded killer like you."

"Technically, I am the heir to the throne by birthright."

"According to Asgardian law, anyone banished by a king or queen loses all inheritance, including, but not limited to, riches, title, and, would you like to take a guess?" When she only responded by scowling, I continued. "Birthright. You have no claim to the throne, its people, or--"

"You're stalling," she realized suspiciously. 

"Duh. Where have you been, daydreaming?"

"What for?"

"For this." At an unseen cue from Thor, about a thousand arrows were released from the bows of archers posted in different places. Not a single one missed their target, Hela, who fell most ungracefully into the ocean below the Bridge. 

A cheer erupted as Thor and Loki appeared from behind a building to speak with me. 

"How long will that hold her?" Thor asked. 

"Not long. Thirty minutes, at most, but it could be as little as five." Thor pulled a soldier to the side. "Get everyone unarmed or injured into the palace and activate the shields."

The soldier nodded and ran to obey the order.

"How do we kill her?" Thor asked.

"Can you get her back to Niflheim?" Loki asked me.

"Probably. Why?"

"There's an artifact on a mountain near the West side of the realm that will immediately kill anyone, Asgardian or otherwise, who comes into contacts with it. If you can get her there, she can die."

"Will it kill me if I come in contacts with it?"

"According to legend," Loki confirmed. "I can do it if you don't want to run that risk."

"No, I'll do it," I insisted. 

"Everyone is in the palace, your majesty," the returned soldier said. The gold force field had begun to rise in a dome around the gold towers of the palace. 

"Let's hope this works," I said. 

"Be careful out there," Loki said. 

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." I smiled assuringly and ran off to wait got Hela to make her way back up from the seafloor. 

I wasn't there a moment too soon. I'd barely caught my breath before she flew out of the sea in all of her too-dark eyeshadow glory. She looked a little worse for wear, although not as much as someone who got hit with a thousand pointy objects should. 

"Still alive, I see," I said. 

"No thanks to you." She rolled her shoulder like she was preparing for a minor fight over lunch money. "You know, you can't kill me. I'm the goddess of Death."

"I saw the god of lightning get electrocuted just a few days ago, so anything is possible."

I could almost here Thor's indignant huff from his hiding place within Asgard. 

"I think we would've gotten along quite well if you hadn't chosen to defend my brothers," Hela said. 

"Yeah, me too. Except for the fact that you're a psychopath intent on taking over the world and killing anyone who gets in your way."

"You're not wrong." Hela smiled as if I'd complimented her. "And right now, you are the one who is in my way."

I barely had time to process what she had said before a black, spear-like object flung itself from Hela's hand and straight into my chest. Before the blood could even begin to stain my shirt, I fell over the side of the bridge and into the sea.