Descent (The Path) Book 1

"Descent"

by

Deborah Austin

1.

As the words "stein til stein for alltid en sier jeg dette spell er gjort " escaped from his lips, his brother, caught in his forward trajectory, found he was suddenly unable to move arm nor leg, his considerable bulk crashing to the arena floor mere inches from Loki. The staff, which Thor had held aimed like a javelin, shattered under the impact. His momentum carried him to his back, his arms at an awkward angle, the remains of the staff still clenched in his fists. Loki scuttled backwards away from where Thor lay, his blond locks pooled beneath his head, face a grimace as he stared upwards into the sky, chest heaving, the leather straps of his sparring armor crisscrossing his chest, dark with sweat and dirt. 

"Release me, brother!" he roared. Loki could hear laughter in the stands.  

Most of the time, when Thor issued a challenge, it was a contest of brawn and though Loki was quick, skilled with staff and sword, he was woefully outdone in strength and heft by his larger sibling. The matches often ended with Thor sitting upon Loki's chest until he cried "Yield!" Thor's method of attack would be to keep Loki so out of breath, so busy defending himself from the blows of staff or parrying the swing of the broadsword that he could nary utter a word much less a whole spell. Today, however, Thor's confidence had been his undoing.  

He had taken Loki's feet out from under him with a hard swing of his staff, but before delivering the winning blow, he had turned to Sif and Magnus who sat among the seats in the empty arena, and he had smiled. Loki had taken those few seconds to call out the binding spell as Thor had pivoted around and raised his staff in the air. 

He struggled to his feet, heard clapping and he could feel his heart nearly burst from his chest. Magnus had stood up and was calling out to him, "Loki, ask him to yield before you release him or he shall have you!"  

Loki was still trying to catch his breath, gasping as he leaned over Thor, his teeth bared in pain, the hitch in his side catching him at every intake. "Brother, will you yield to me?" 

He could see the anger in Thor's eyes, more than that, his wounded pride. "I yield to you, now release me so that I may stand up, Odin's beard!"  

"Jeg slipper deg fra dette spell. " Loki muttered as he passed his right hand over Thor's prone figure, stepping back as Thor leaped to his feet. He brushed the dirt from his arms and legs then clapped Loki hard between the shoulder blades, the sting of the blow made all the more fulsome by the bare skin where the straps formed a large open diamond at his back.  

"You bested me fairly, brother." 

Loki bent down and picked up his staff from the hard dirt floor of the arena."Does that surprise you?"  

His gaze swung up the stands to where Sif and Magnus were descending the steps from the stands toward the arena floor. Behind them, making her way cautiously, was a young woman dressed in a long simple light blue shift tied at the waist with a braided cord belt. Her translucent blue eyes darted from Magnus and Sif to the two men on the arena floor and back again. She tucked a strand of her chestnut hair behind her ear. She was winsome, graceful in her movements, her full lips drawn together, a somewhat dubious look on her face. She reached the dirt floor of the arena and stopped a short distance from where the small band of warriors now stood. 

She scuffed her bare feet in the dirt, keeping her eyes averted as they spoke together. She felt forgotten momentarily as she waited, her hands clasped in front of her.