When Loki's consort and soulmate marries his rival to save their son from a curse, a prophecy leads to consequences even the God of Chaos couldn't predict.
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The Unseelie Goddess of War's revenge against Asgard's Dark Prince puts him in a no-win s...
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A servant came in the morning to let us know we were allowed to leave. He'd returned our weapons and waited to guide us to the open courtyard in front of Hades' palace. After pointing us in the right direction for the city gate, he returned inside.
"Friendly fellow," I said sarcastically as Loki led us out of the courtyard and into the narrow streets.
"Did you notice his feet?" Shannon asked.
I frowned. "No. Should I have?"
"He gets beaten. Those were fresh whip marks, and it looks like Hades goes after feet, to make it painful for the servant, or should I say slave, to walk afterward. They probably deliberately get duties that require them to walk," she said.
Heat rose in my cheeks. I felt idiotic that I hadn't noticed when it was clear the others had. Obviously, I needed to work on paying more attention to my surroundings, starting now.
"We shouldn't have any difficulty getting out of the city as the gatekeeper, only stops souls from entering who don't have Hades' permission," Loki said as the towering sandstone gate and grey stone bridge came into view.
Sure enough, the large male in entirely black armour with a red dragon on his chest completely ignored us as we walked past. We strode over the bridge, and in front of us, a wide grassland stretched to rolling foothills and then cliffs. Warriors, men and women in a diversity of armour and weapons, fought in groups on the grassland. The clang of metal-on-metal rang out, along with shouts, insults, and laughter. In the distance, another bridge rose.
"It's Valhalla, the rock of the fallen, where those honourable warriors who prefer to continue to live the warrior lifestyle can continue to spar with each other for their afterlife. I was given the option to join them, but it didn't hold that much appeal," Baldur said, shrugging as we entered the grassland.
A few of the warriors lifted a hand, waving to him, or to Loki, both of whom acknowledged the waves.
"The giantess who guards the bridge is aptly named Modguor, or Furious Battle. From time to time, she joins the warriors here in Valhalla when she's bored. Perhaps a word into some of our former Einherjar and Valkyrie would distract Modguor?" Baldur suggested to Loki.
He nodded. "That is an excellent idea. I'll go talk to them and you go talk to the other group," Loki agreed, pointing to the two different sets of warriors sparring.
Baldur and Loki joined the warriors amidst much back slapping. The immediate respect and inclined heads from the warriors reminded me of the power of Asgard. Even in death, these warriors didn't hesitate to jump to do their princes' bidding. Although Fomora had warriors, we didn't have a massive standing military. Most of them spent their time maintaining order at our outposts and cities, or protecting our scientists as they conducted experiments in the waters of Litaui and Tír na nÓg.
When the two princes rejoined Shannon and me, they had grins on their faces.
"Let's make our way towards Gjallarbrú bridge by walking along the riverbank. The Gjoll is full of rapids. It's incredibly loud. It will disguise our approach as long as we remain unseen, giving them the chance to draw Modguor out and away from the bridge. Although we don't want to go into it, it shouldn't suck at our energy as fiercely as the Styx did," Loki said.
