Loki's Last Chance

Trouble

The path widened into a dirt road after a good while, and I started to get nervous. They hadn't spoken to me at all, and I had no idea what they had in store for me.

The road lead up to a large, closed pavilion ruin with giant stairs leading to the open wall. It was made of faded yellow bricks and tall rustic pillars. The ceiling was at least thirty feet high off the floor and it all looked in fairly good condition.

I looked over at Loki to see that he was looking at me. We exchanged shocked/amazed expressions and I couldn't help but think about him at a younger age. Always intrigued by every new thing.

The Clohkraw carried me up the stairs as Loki fell into step behind them. The building was one large room that looked suspiciously like the throne room in Asgard. In the center of the far wall was a huge throne, on which sat a large humanoid man.

He looked to be asleep, laid back, and totally motionless. He was at least eight feet tall, with sharp features. I could only assume he was Clycenyo and was the one they needed me to wake. He wore a simple robe over his dark grey skin the color of mahogany. Covered in little light grey swirls and having dark blue hair, he kind of reminded me of the Jötunhiem with opposite skintones.

The Clohkraw set me down and knelt infront of Clycenyo. I watched as Loki looked from them to the man on the throne, then tightened his grip on his staff that could double as a spear.

I was set parallel to the throne and the Clohkraw all stood behind me.

"How do you intend for me to wake him?" I asked them, folding my hands in my lap.

They exchanged glances and a couple chuckled a bit.

All I could think was, 'Crap' as I assumed they were going to kill me whether I woke Clycenyo or not.

That was when Loki took his first action in this adventure. He stabbed the humanoid in front of him and the large form fell. This surprised the others, as they could not see the god behind the murder.

I watched as each Clokraw in turn was stabbed and fell to the ground. Some died instantly and others groaned untill silent.

Loki became visible again and as I gazed at him as he met my eyes. What I saw there nearly melted my heart. He looked guilty and was searching my eyes for horror or disgust. A smile and thankfulness was what I gave him instead.

He saw this and gave me a small smile in reply.

"What should we do with Clycenyo?" he asked turning his gaze towards the unconscious figure.

I was about to say that I didn't know when the Clohkraw laying right beside me moved, doing something I should have been careful of.

I gasped in pain.

Loki's POV

I looked over the man on the throne and wondered what he had done to be rendered catatonic. Had I or will I ever do anything to deserve that kind of punishment? I could only wonder.

I heard Mari gasp instead of give an answer so turned to her. What I saw made my heart stop.

The Clohkraw closest to Mari had struggled to sit up and had pulled out a silver dagger, which was now nearly hilt deep in her lower right abdomen.

I didn't hesitate to move and had slit his throat within seconds. During that time, the dagger had been pulled from Mari's stomach and was lying on the floor. She was covering the wound with her hands and tears were slipping down her face.

"What can I do?" I asked, urgently as I knelt beside her.

She looked to me, eyes wide and I could see panic was slowly slipping in.

"I... I can feel my energy dr-draining... And it's... It's going to him." she gestured toward Cylcenyo. "I'm dying..."

I looked over and saw that he indeed was starting to breath very shallowly. If he woke I couldn't even imagine what would happen. The only way, I realized, to save Mari and prevent this "titan" from rising, was to kill him while he was down.

I stood and took one last glance at Mari. She was taking deep, ragged breaths and struggling to keep her eyes open. It was now or never.

I ran toward the throne, drawing the sword I had hidden under my cape. With one swift slice, I decapitated the large man, then gripped the hilt with both hands. Thrusting it downward, through his heart, I was satisfied he would stay dead.

I left the sword in his chest and heard Mari gasp behind me. I looked and saw that she was fully awake, looking at her wound. It seemed killing him returned her strength and I could see she was taking in the seriousness of the stab.

I knelt beside her again and noted how much blood she was loosing. Any Asgardian would have started healing by now, but for some reason she hadn't and just kept bleeding.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, unsure of what I should do.

She looked me in the eye and smiled through the obvious pain she was in. "It hurts, but I'm ok." her voice was shaky and there was something in her eyes that told me she knew something she didn't want me to know.

I gave her a tiny smile to reassure her and began unbuckling her from the stretcher-like device. When I was done I looked back at Mari and saw that she was trying hard to hide that she was really crying now.

I put a hand over hers and demanded, "Tell me what's wrong."

"I..."She turned away, so I gently lead her face back to look at me. New tears welled in her eyes. "I'm still dying, Loki." she whispered.

My heart dropped.

"Why would you say that?"

She didn't answer me.

I looked over her face, drawn to the purple mark on her cheek. I put that there with a punch and it wasn't going to fade any time soon. If her skin was so fragile that that left a large mark, what were the odds her body could handle a hole in her stomach? I could see how Mari knew she wasn't going to make it, but that didn't mean I was going to let her be right this time.

I gathered her in my arms and rose to my feet. She was a lot lighter than she looked and that worried me. There were suspicions that Mari wasn't Asgardian since she was found, but I had never really thought about how true it might be.

Making sure she was as comfortable as possible, I started running. If I could just get her back to Asgard in time...