Down below

Chapter 3.

   Elianah gave the paper back to Loki. He tucked it in his pocket.

'Are you staying?' she asked him, her hands on the door handle.

'I want to finish this. You go ahead.'

'Ahead where? What do you do around here?'

"Oh, right. She's new." Loki thought.

'Well, you could visit my brother. He's either on the training grounds, showing off his combat skills or somewhere out in a pub or a brothel.'

'Right. I shall go and find him.'

Loki ordered one of the guards to accompany her to the training grounds. Elianah was led to a wide terrace, looking down at the warriors fighting each other with different type of weapons. Some used long swords, some used daggers, others the combination of a spear and an axe. She immediately spotted Thor combatting the only female warrior in sight. She was tall, her dark brown hair tied up in a bun with braids. Thor was teasing her, but Elianah could tell he was trying to annoy her because she had the upper hand. She walked down the stairs to get a better view.

'What's the matter, Lady Sif? Getting tired already?' Thor roared and swung his hammer at her, but she was quicker and jumped out of reach, hitting his stretched out arm with the hilt of her sword.

'Yes, I'm getting tired of your insipid banter. Are you holding back or you just went soft in your old age?' she smiled.

Thor laughed and tried to kick her legs out. Sif jumped up and landed a blow in his face with her elbow. Thor's nose started to bleed which made him visibly annoyed, fully aware that now everybody was watching them. When he spotted Elianah, his face lit up and waved at her. Lady Sif followed his gaze and Thor used that moment to push her on the ground.

'Yield to me.' he panted, keeping her limbs pinned down by his weight, no matter how hard she tried to break free. 'Sif, give it up.'

'Fine! I yield.' she hissed, annoyed.

He stood up, offering his hand to her. She accepted it and started to dust herself off.

'Lady Elianah! What a pleasant surprise. I take your lessons with Mother concluded for today?'

'Yes, they have, although Prince Loki took over temporarily as Her Majesty is busy preparing for the Annual Celebrations.'

'Where is he then?'

'He is in the library, studying. He kindly assigned a guard to me to show me where to find you.'

'Leaving you to a guard, unacceptable. I will have a word with my little brother. Lady Elianah, let me introduce you to one of our best warriors, Lady Sif.'

'Pleasure to meet you.' smiled Elianah.

'The pleasure is all mine.' Sif replied somewhat tense.

'Your fiancée has excellent combatting skills.' Elianah told Thor.

'She's not my fiancée.' Thor replied quickly.

Elianah saw his cheeks blush a little and she looked at Lady Sif who also seemed flushed. There was definitely something developing there that none of them was willing or brave enough to acknowledge.

'Oh, my apologies, Prince Thor. I shouldn't have assumed.'

'Don't worry about it and please call me Thor. Would you like me to show you around?'

'I really don't want to interrupt your day.'

'Nonsense, you're not interrupting. We were just finishing. It's almost lunch time anyway.' Thor flashed a dashing smile at her. 'I'll take you to the statue park. It is stunning in the morning light. I will change as quickly as I can. Please wait here, Lady Sif can keep you company.'