Loki: Game of Thrones

Chapter 54 - Two Stags Meet

Loki returned to Westeros, and found Stannis and Renly Baratheon, two brothers, facing off against each other on the coast of the Seven Kingdoms, the nearest landing place for Stannis off of Dragonstone. A region called the Stormlands. Loki found a black horse, and galloped towards a hill that divided the two armies from each other. Upon arrival, he found Lord Stannis Baratheon, with Melisandre, and Ser Daavos, and other nobles loyal to him. On the other side, he discovered 'King' Renly Baratheon, Ser Loras Tyrell, his nobles, and Catelyn Stark? Loki was a little surprised to see her there, but he hid his astonishment well as he rode up to them. "Good afternoon, gentlemen! Ladies," Loki added, acknowledging Catelyn Stark and Melisandre. Everyone turned to him as he rode his horse between the two brothers. Swinging around, he released one of his legs from the stirrup, brought it up and over the front of his saddle, and rested his elbow on his knee. Glancing between them, he said, "Now this is a sad sight indeed. Two brothers battling it out for supremacy. What has the world come to?" Stannis glared at him, while Renly kept a rather amused expression on his face. Catelyn was also shooting daggers from her eyes at Loki, but the god was more concerned by Melisandre giving him her too sweet smile.

"Ser Loki! I am surprised to see you here. One moment I hear you're working for Tywin Lannister, next it's Robb Stark, then yourself," Renly told him. Loki shrugged his shoulders, and allowed his horse to walk slowly between the two parties.

"It depends on my mood." Melisandre chuckled slightly, drawing everyone's attention to her. Loki glanced at her, and she shook a finger at him.

"No. It's got nothing to do with a mood. You are not a man with different plans in motion at the same time, Ser Loki. You are a man with one goal, and different pieces of a puzzle falling into place." Loki snickered, pulling on the reins of his horse, and leading it to where she was. Looking into her eyes, Loki's expression was serious.

"And who told you that? Your Lord of Light?" Loki challenged. Melisandre nodded her head demurely.

"He tells me what I need to know, and I tell my king. The real king," Melisandre said.

"I am surprised that it is really you," Renly continued to Stannis, seemingly ignoring Loki and Melisandre. "When I saw your standard, I couldn't believe it. That is your standard, correct?"

"Yes, it is my own," Stannis responded. Renly chuckled.

"I suppose if we use the same one, the battle would be terribly confusing. Why is your stag on fire?" Renly queried next. Loki rolled his eyes. He had seen this line of questioning before. It was not out of curiosity. Renly was poking his brother.

"The king has taken for his sigil the fiery heart of the Lord of Light," Melisandre answered.

"Ah! You must be this fire priestess we hear so much about. Brother, now I understand why you found religion in your old age," Renly teased.

"Watch yourself, Renly," Stannis warned.

"Oh no! I'm relieved!" Renly said in response. "Never really believed you were a fanatic. Charmless, rigid, a bore, yes; but not a godly man."

"You should kneel before your brother," Melisandre told Renly. "He's the Lord's chosen. Born amidst salt and smoke-"

"I pity his mother," Loki suddenly piped up, making everyone glare at him.

Renly took Loki's comment in stride and added, "Born amidst salt and smoke? Is he a ham?

"That's twice I've warned you," Stannis said, while Melisandre pretended that Renly was not irritating her at all.

"Listen to yourselves," Catelyn cut in, and Loki's eyes wandered in her direction. "If you were sons of mine, I would knock your heads together, and lock you in a bed chamber until you remembered that you were brothers." Loki knew she was trying to make peace. He was just trying to aggravate the situation. Oh, how he and Lady Catelyn found themselves on opposite sides of the board.

"It is strange to find you beside my brother, Lady Stark. Your husband was a supporter of my claim, and Lord Eddard's integrity cost him his head. And you, sit beside this pretender and chastise me," Stannis said, reminding Catelyn of what Ned had done before his passing.

"We share a common enemy," Catelyn pointed out.

"The Iron Throne is mine, by right. All those who deny that are my foes." Stannis was fixing everyone with his steely gaze, but Renly still had the desire to speak out.

"The whole realm denies it from Dorne to the Wall. Old men deny it with their death rattles, and unborn children deny it in their mother's wombs." The two brothers glared at each other, and Loki thought how dissimilar they were from him and Thor when they fought. "No one wants you for their king. You never wanted any friends, brother. But a man without friends is a man without power," Renly said.

"For the sake of the mother who bore us, I will give you this one night to reconsider. Strike your banners, come to me before dawn, and I will grant you your old seat in the council. I'll even name you my heir. Until a son is born to me," Stannis promised. Everyone looked around, waiting for them to come to some kind of decision. "Otherwise, I will destroy you."

"Oh, and how can he refuse that?" Loki queried sarcastically as he put his foot back in the stirrup. Catelyn shot him a look, and he simply winked.

"Look across those fields, brother," Renly said, tilting his head in the direction of the green, and grassy plain. Stannis did, and he saw all the men who were under Renly's banner. "You see all those banners?"

"You think a few bolts of cloth will make you king?" Stannis queried.

"No. The men holding those bolts of cloth will make me king." Stannis smiled slightly at this.

"We shall see, Renly. Come the dawn, we shall see," Stannis finished. With that, he began to lead his horse away. His nobles started to follow him, but Melisandre remained.

"Look to your sins, Lord Renly," she told him. "For the night is dark and full of terrors." Before joining her lord, she glanced at Loki. "And do not think the Lord of Light has forgotten you, Ser Loki. He will have you for his servant," Melisandre added. Loki snickered and kicked his horse in the side. The beast took him over to the Red Priestess, and they looked each other in the eye.

"Men and gods have wanted me to be their servant. Their slave. And I have not been broken," Loki lied. One man had achieved that. But, of course, he was not a man. Melisandre could also sense this and she smiled.

"The Lord of Light is not an ordinary god. He is above gods. Above titans." Loki's eyebrow quirked at this statement, and Melisandre joined Stannis. Wielding his horse around, Loki looked at Renly, Ser Loras, and Catelyn Stark. He simply smirked at them. Catelyn urged her horse forward, and was soon beside Loki's steed.

"What did you gain from this?" Catelyn asked him. Loki cocked his head to one side, his lips trembling as he restrained his smirk. "You wouldn't have been here unless you got something out of this. Don't think I don't know how you work," she told him. Loki shrugged his shoulders, and began to back his horse up.

"You think you know how I work. Don't make the mistake of thinking you understand my motives, Catelyn Stark. Others have," Loki responded. With that, he galloped back over the slopes of the Stormlands, and out of sight.