is dead, and my army is ready.”
The god of mischief did not stir until he heard the name of the thunder god. “What?” Loki said. “You say Thor is dead? How?”
She told him of your party’s invasion of Asgard and how you surprised us with defeat. She named your party:the werewolf, the vampire, the alchemist, the Druid, the wizard, and the thunder god.
“What thunder god?” Loki wanted to know.
“Perun. The Slavic god. He has disappeared.”
“But he is not dead?”
“I do not know, Father,” she said. “He may be dead.”
“I know how to find out,” Loki said, grinning in such a way as he had not for centuries. “Set me free, daughter.”
“Father, I cannot unbind you. Only you can do this. But I can make you do it sooner rather than later.”
“How?”
“Answer me first: Do you still love this cow?” Hel jutted her chin toward Sigyn, who had protected Loki as best she could from the snake’s dire venom all these years. But she was not Hel’s mother. Loki’s monstrous children were all borne by a giantess.
“Her?” Loki sneered. “No, I hate her. She has neither killed the snake nor erected a roof over my head, despite my pleading that she do so. She is thoughtless, worthless.”
“And so I set you free,” Hel said. She sloughed off her human visage and appeared in her true form, sprouting like an unwholesome weed to the roof of the cave. She pulled the wicked knife, Famine, from its scabbard in her exposed rib cage and plunged it into the neck of the faithful Sigyn.
Loki’s wife gurgled her last breath, and the bowl of caustic venom toppled full into Loki’s face. He screamed and writhed violently, and still the snake dripped on, under the goddess Skadi’s command to continue. Loki jerked and pulled at his restraints, and the earth shook underneath Hel’s feet. He cursed her. He swore vengeance upon her. And then, as the venom continued to eat at his eyes and chew at the substance of his flesh, he begged her for mercy.
But Hel had none. Mercy was an empty room in herheart, where nothing at all was sacred and no living creature, not even her father, could cry so piteously as to make her take heed.
Loki bucked and howled as the venom bore deeper. He thrashed and shouted his defiance. The earth trembled more violently, and this grew and grew until his bonds were finally snapped and he was set free. Blood and tears streamed down his purpling cheeks, and he seized the snake that had tormented him so and burned it alive in his hands, his fire returned to him now that he was unbound. No freedom had ever been bought with so much agony, and he vowed it would be avenged sevenfold, beginning with the Slavic thunder god.
We do not know why he focused on Perun rather than on the vampire who killed Thor; perhaps it was because he was a target of convenience. Loki knew that the entrance to the Slavic plane lay hidden somewhere in the Ural Mountains, and it was to these he flew upon first leaving his cave.
He left Hel behind, without thanks, bereft of approval, and with no signal that she should begin Ragnarok. Unable to follow him, she returned to her realm, sullen and uncertain, to await further word from her father.
“And that is why we must strike now and slay Fenris,” Frigg finished, clearly angling for the non sequitur of the year.
“I beg your pardon?” I said.
“We must demoralize Hel and prevent her from launching an attack on Asgard. Odin has decided that the best way to do that is to slay Fenris.”
“Well, that’s nice, but we can do it a bit later.”
“Now is the perfect time.”
“I disagree. Vehemently.”
Frigg’s eyes clouded, and the ravens above squawked. “You swore you would help us. You swore to render what aid you could in place of a blood price.”
“And render it I shall. But not right now. I have an apprentice to bind to the earth, and until she’s bound, I’m not doing anything else.”
Frigg shifted her eyes to Granuaile and pursed her
The god of mischief did not stir until he heard the name of the thunder god. “What?” Loki said. “You say Thor is dead? How?”
She told him of your party’s invasion of Asgard and how you surprised us with defeat. She named your party:the werewolf, the vampire, the alchemist, the Druid, the wizard, and the thunder god.
“What thunder god?” Loki wanted to know.
“Perun. The Slavic god. He has disappeared.”
“But he is not dead?”
“I do not know, Father,” she said. “He may be dead.”
“I know how to find out,” Loki said, grinning in such a way as he had not for centuries. “Set me free, daughter.”
“Father, I cannot unbind you. Only you can do this. But I can make you do it sooner rather than later.”
“How?”
“Answer me first: Do you still love this cow?” Hel jutted her chin toward Sigyn, who had protected Loki as best she could from the snake’s dire venom all these years. But she was not Hel’s mother. Loki’s monstrous children were all borne by a giantess.
“Her?” Loki sneered. “No, I hate her. She has neither killed the snake nor erected a roof over my head, despite my pleading that she do so. She is thoughtless, worthless.”
“And so I set you free,” Hel said. She sloughed off her human visage and appeared in her true form, sprouting like an unwholesome weed to the roof of the cave. She pulled the wicked knife, Famine, from its scabbard in her exposed rib cage and plunged it into the neck of the faithful Sigyn.
Loki’s wife gurgled her last breath, and the bowl of caustic venom toppled full into Loki’s face. He screamed and writhed violently, and still the snake dripped on, under the goddess Skadi’s command to continue. Loki jerked and pulled at his restraints, and the earth shook underneath Hel’s feet. He cursed her. He swore vengeance upon her. And then, as the venom continued to eat at his eyes and chew at the substance of his flesh, he begged her for mercy.
But Hel had none. Mercy was an empty room in herheart, where nothing at all was sacred and no living creature, not even her father, could cry so piteously as to make her take heed.
Loki bucked and howled as the venom bore deeper. He thrashed and shouted his defiance. The earth trembled more violently, and this grew and grew until his bonds were finally snapped and he was set free. Blood and tears streamed down his purpling cheeks, and he seized the snake that had tormented him so and burned it alive in his hands, his fire returned to him now that he was unbound. No freedom had ever been bought with so much agony, and he vowed it would be avenged sevenfold, beginning with the Slavic thunder god.
We do not know why he focused on Perun rather than on the vampire who killed Thor; perhaps it was because he was a target of convenience. Loki knew that the entrance to the Slavic plane lay hidden somewhere in the Ural Mountains, and it was to these he flew upon first leaving his cave.
He left Hel behind, without thanks, bereft of approval, and with no signal that she should begin Ragnarok. Unable to follow him, she returned to her realm, sullen and uncertain, to await further word from her father.
“And that is why we must strike now and slay Fenris,” Frigg finished, clearly angling for the non sequitur of the year.
“I beg your pardon?” I said.
“We must demoralize Hel and prevent her from launching an attack on Asgard. Odin has decided that the best way to do that is to slay Fenris.”
“Well, that’s nice, but we can do it a bit later.”
“Now is the perfect time.”
“I disagree. Vehemently.”
Frigg’s eyes clouded, and the ravens above squawked. “You swore you would help us. You swore to render what aid you could in place of a blood price.”
“And render it I shall. But not right now. I have an apprentice to bind to the earth, and until she’s bound, I’m not doing anything else.”
Frigg shifted her eyes to Granuaile and pursed her
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