The Queen of Jotunheim

Chapter 19: Jotunheim Kingdom

Chapter 19:
Entering the Hidden
Jotunheim Kingdom

"How have you managed to keep an entire kingdom hidden from Heimdale!" Loki whispered in amazement as he rode through the city on his horse. He watched some Jotunn children running past and into their parents' arms, shyly waving at him and the group, the adults waving too.

"The same way I imagine you hid from his gaze, but on a much bigger scale," Nix said as she waved to her people while walking toward the castle, "it is a stationary kind of magic though, so it's easier to maintain," she grinned at him before gestured upwards.

Loki followed her gesture, looking to the star-clear sky, and then gasped as he noticed a shimmer of magic there, his eyes tracing it and discovering that it was a giant dome-like magical shimmer around the entire kingdom.

"The castle you visited last time is Laufey's old castle. He still lives there and acts as a sort of distraction, at least until my debut to the other realms." She continued to explain, gesturing up to the castle in front of them. "This is my home, which I made with the help of my friends and comrades." She grinned at Rime who just shrugged.

"I'm baffled," Loki whispered, looking around again at all the buildings and people around him. He was suddenly reminded of when he walked with Nix that first day in Asgard, escorting her toward the castle while everyone stared, only this time it was the Jotuns staring at him and whispering.

And yet, the biggest difference seemed to be that while the Asgardian civilians had stared at Nix with a mixture of disgust and curiosity, these civilians looked at Loki with a mixture of wonder and nervousness. The few that seemed on edge calmed down as soon as Nix waved at them.

"I told them about you," Nix said before he could ask, and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She chuckled and grinned at him. "What? You thought I wouldn't tell my people about my visit to Asgard?" She looked back toward the castle, a smirk still on her face.

"I... I guess I didn't think about that..." Loki said, looking toward the castle too and frowned slightly. The Allfather didn't make a lot of public announcements unless he needed to tell the people something very important. Loki was realizing more and more just how secretive his father truly was.

"Don't worry, I only sang you praises," Nix said, chuckling that delighted sound of Yule bells, "well, not that I was singing, but you know what I mean." He smiled warmly at her, considering her words and laughing as a good sign. Perhaps him kissing her was not what made her run back to Jotunheim... Except it had sounded like that was part of the reason.

As they started approaching the castle Loki noticed just how big of a height difference there was between the part of the city they were in now and the part where the castle stood. He looked for a path leading up to higher ground that was accessible by horse, but found none.

He looked to Nix, who seemed to be examining his horse, a thoughtful look on her face. "Yeah, this was the part I was worried about... Loki, how well trained is..." She looked at him and gestured to the horse. "Oh! Her name is Mani! And she is very well trained! Does what I tell her, not easily spooked, and very loyal."

"Good," Nix said, nodding and turning to Rime, "then hopefully it should not be a problem." Loki wanted to ask what she meant but felt he would understand as Rime brought two fingers up to her mouth and made a loud and long whistling sound, followed by 5 short ones. They were loud, but not in a way that made Loki feel like he had to cover his ears, but more in a way that seemed to travel swiftly through the air.

After a few seconds, there was a response from somewhere up in the castle. Only it didn't sound like a whistle, but rather like a bird call, and his eyes quickly moved up toward the sky.