The Serpent and the Dove: a Loki Fan Fiction

Chapter 12

Freydr snorted and shook her head, her pale mane whipping in the air. She wiggled her nose at the feeling of the bridal resting on her face and bobbed her head trying to adjust it, jostling the metal buckles on her bridal and reins when she did; she clearly was no longer used to wearing such things.

Jessica tapped the ale-colored mare on the flank with a crop and rocked her weight back as the horse started forward. She glanced over at Loki as Asbjorn trotted over, the spirited stallion rearing his head and gait lurching every few steps. "Looks like he's excited to be out of the stable. He hasn't seen you in a while, you know," she said.

Loki jerked on the reins harshly and Asbjorn snorted his displeasure. "I know. Who took care of him while I was gone? You certainly didn't."

"Thor's servants, probably," she said. "After all, he did have your other stuff taken care of; I can imagine he'd feel the same about your horse."

He stroked the steed's strong neck and patted it a few times, a grin pulling at his mouth. "Well, I certainly appreciate it." Asbjorn kicked one of his back legs and Loki grasped the reigns tighter, nearly lurching from his saddle. "Are you sure going on a ride is a wise idea?"

She relaxed her reigns and Freydr picked up her pace. "What do you mean?"

"What are you going to do if I escape you?"

"Oh no," she purred. "You're going to ditch me somewhere, right when I'm expecting it because you just told me you'd do it, and make me catch you again? Whatever will I do..."

Loki made a face at her. "I didn't say I would do it," he defended. "I just asked if you thought it was still a good idea to do this despite the possibilities."

"Sure you were," she drawled.

"Nonetheless," he said stiffly. "What is the point of this little exercise? Are you testing me somehow?"

Jessica shrugged. "I just wanted to go for a ride, and I can't leave you alone."

He smirked. "You could have tied my horse to yours."

Freydr whirled around in front of Asbjorn, both horses whinnying at each other. "Do you want me to treat you like my prisoner? Because I have no qualms with tying you to my horse and dragging you around behind me."

Loki squared his shoulders to her. "I'm not provoking you, no need to threaten."

"Then shut your hole and follow me."

They took a trail out of the city into the fields and forests beyond it. The horses confidently trotted down a slope between sparse groves of cedar trees, hardly seeming to mind the roots that wove over the path. 

Jessica glanced up just in time to see a brief flash of pale green on the trunk of a tree. She tugged on Freydr's reigns just so Loki and his mount could come up beside her. "What was that?" she asked. 

He cocked a brow. "What was what?"

She tilted her mouth uncertainly but continued on. "Thought I saw something on that tree."

"There are wolves out here, don't you recall?"

Her hand absent-mindedly drifted to her hip. "Don't remind me... Had never seen wolves bigger than me before that day..." She remembered hanging by her hips from a large female's jaws, begging one of the other hunters to let her go before Sif and the Warriors Three chased them off. Her hips hurt for three days after that.

Somehow, Loki seemed uncomfortable and she gave him a sideways glance. "What's making you uneasy, Mischief?"

 "Oh, bringing up old names now, are we? Jalwa?"