A Silver Tongue Twisted

Chapter 7 - Hidden Pages

The trickster eyed her curiously. She had entered the cage with him, a murderer. He was not sure if she was merely stupid or overly confident. He remembered the intrusion of his mind, finding the perfect opportunity to seek his revenge. Loki smirked at her in a devilish way, causing Sapphron's stomach to fill with anxiety. In a swift motion, Loki had the small girl by her throat, slamming her into the cell wall. He loomed over her, looking much taller and intimidating than he did from outside the cage. Sapphron swallowed harshly against his cold hand. Her heart raced rapidly as she was pinned between Loki and the wall. "Don't." She squeaked out. "Or what?" Loki spat viciously. "I don't...want to .... use magic." Loki's grip around her throat was constructing the air, causing Sapphron to become lightheaded. She knew if he did not let go soon she would slip into unconsciousness. Loki's angry eyes pierced into hers, his grip only tightening. Sapphron sighed lightly and with all her concentration, she caused Loki to hear nothing but an excruciating ring within his head. Loki screamed out in pain and immediately dropped Sapphron, clutching his head in agony. Sapphron gasped a large breath in, gently rubbing her sore, bruised neck. Once she had regained enough oxygen to think properly, she ended Loki's suffering.

"I told you I did not want to use magic, but somebody did not listen." She angrily snapped at the prince, who was still recovering from the sharpened pain in his mind. "You stupid bitch!" Loki growled at her and suddenly she was dodging flying books and furniture. She was able to avoid all except one book. The old novel hit her in the shoulder, causing the pages to cut her skin. The novel fell to the ground and as Sapphron's blood trickled down onto the dusty pages, they began to flip rapidly by themselves. A magic occurrence that even shocked the trickster, pulling him out of his blind rage. Within seconds the book had flipped through thousands of pages. Both Sapphron and Loki's eyes fixated on the supernatural movements. After a short while, the pages finally stopped moving, the book opened to an unfamiliar page. Loki quickly slithered over, examining the book. It was of the beings of the nine realms, a book he had read many times over and yet the page it had turned to, was completely foreign to the God. He studied it carefully, seeing many symbols that he did not understand. Sapphron hovered her hand over the ancient pages. She could feel the strong energy pulsating from it. "What is it?" She asked in a whisper before looking up to the prince who was moments ago at her throat. His eyes met hers. For the first time in a while, Loki was as clueless as the girl before him. He crouched down to her level, hovering his hands over hers. "I don't know." Loki's voice took a soft tone and she could tell he was being honest. She looked down at the foreign words, unable to decipher the language. "Can you read it?" She asked softly, her gaze locked on the man's strong hands. Loki hesitated, studying the pages. "Not all of it, no." Loki furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as his emerald eyes scanned the pages. His mouth went slightly agape.

"I believe it to be about you." Loki looked into her crystal eyes, a faint tint of fear on his face. Sapphron looked puzzled. "It is talking about the sorceresses of the moon. Things I have never seen before." The prince admitted, gritting his teeth. "My blood!" Sapphron excitedly concluded. "My blood must be what had triggered it!" She once again scanned her hand over the pages, consumed with the energy. "The book speaks of a curse." Loki read on, avoiding eye contact with the girl so near him. "A curse?" She questioned looking to him. He kept his eyes focused on the words however, thus giving her the opportunity to study his face close up. "Wow," she whispered completely under her breath. She found Loki to be breathtaking up close. "A curse of fire." Loki's eyes narrowed as he struggled to decipher the foreign language. Sapphron was still puzzled, she had never heard of such a curse before. Loki's eyes darted to the bottom of the page where he saw a very familiar word.

Jotünheim.

His body tensed at the word, causing Sapphron to become on edge once more. "What is it?" She snapped him out of his daze. "There is something here about Jotünheim, the realm of the frost giants." Sapphron's eyes widened as she remembered Loki was of Jotün blood. "A curse of fire," Sapphron repeated to herself. She looked to the illustrations on the page. They showed women, similar to her burning in flames. Near the paragraph where Loki's home realm is mentioned was an illustration of a man, seemingly to be a frost giant, grabbing the hand of a woman.

Sapphron bit her lip in concentration. She focused her energy into the pages, feeling them thoroughly. She was suddenly submerged in illusions. Sapphron cried out in pain, causing Loki's eyes to run to her. It was clear to Loki her mind was not present. He did not know what to do, so he just sat and watched her intensely.

Sapphron saw images and illusions almost as if they were her own memories. A woman appeared to her, her hair White like Sapphron's, yet her face much different. The woman's face was in pain, when Sapphron looked into her eyes she saw nothing but burning flames. Sapphron gasped, out loud as well. The image changed to many bodies beneath her feet, all with white hair just like hers. She was unable to see the faces of the deceased as they seemed to be burned off. The sight horrified Sapphron causing her to scream out in terror. The thousands of burned corpses surrounding made her feel nauseous. Before she was able to react, the illusion changed once more, to a woman, clearly pregnant, crawling in agony. "Please!" The woman cried. Sapphron recognized the woman to be her mother. The young girl let out another cry of terror. Sapphron stood in shock, realizing it was not her, her mother was pleading to, but a large man whose skin was blue as ice, carvings covering it and eyes as red as blood. "Please! Help my child!" Her mother cried again. Tears ran down Sapphron's face as she could do nothing but watch her mother's agony. The giant looked at the pregnant woman, kneeled down and grasped her arm, a jolt of relief flowing through her. "My aid comes with a price." The ice man's voice was stern. "Of course anything." Her mother replied. "I wish to have some of your magic, so that I may appear as Asgardian. You will not loose all your abilities but at least those tied to the moon and you will be forever saved from the burning curse." Her mother nodded repetitively as she offered her hands before him. The frost giant laid his hands upon hers pulling light from them. The light was so bright it blinded Sapphron. When she was able to see again, she saw her mother with an Asgardian looking man, known to be her father.