NIFLHEIM: VICTOR
Victor dashed out and into a side room containing several large barrels of what Victor could only guess was the finest viking liquor. Victor grabbed the largest barrel, a very large dark oak barrel that was practically immovable. Victor grabbed a broken plank from off the floor and used it as a lever to wedge the barrel out so he could tip it over and roll it. After an adrenaline fueled moment of Victor heaving against the barrel to tip it over. Finally it rolls over and Victor started to roll the barrel to the main entrance.
Victor struggled out of the room, draped over the barrel when he heard a powerful roar come from the giant. Skylar shot an arrow at the giant's hand, causing him to drop his hammers. The giant swept his arm at Skylar and she was send flying. Skylar whipped her head around and saw Victor. She had a fiery look in her eye: "Slice the barrel lid!"
Victor slashed the silver blade down the lid without hesitation and golden liquor spilled out covering the area where the giant was standing. Victor shouted back: "Do what you need!"
Skylar fumbled with her quiver and drew a special flint tipped arrow. She struck her blade against the arrow tip and the arrow caught fire. Skylar let the arrow rip and the fiery arrow blazed a fiery path through the icy air. Just when it looked like the fiery arrow would ignite the liquor, the giant roared and out of the monstrous maw came a sheer cold blizzard of ice and snow. The arrow was immediately extinguished and Skylar was blown back and her right arm, the one holding the bow, was frozen, encased in ice and pinned to the wall.
The giant roared and his hammers returned from to his hands. The giant was furious: "I am Thrym, the lieutenant of King Hrym. You may have evaded the lord of Niflheim once, Lokison, but you will not evade his enforcer. Come with me or I will end this pesky daughter of Skadi."
Victor held fast: "So Thrym. Didn't Thor blow you to kingdom come back in the day?"
The giant's brow furrowed: "Ignorant trickster-spawn. I am a descendant of the original Thrym, the pilerer of Mjolnir, the Frost Lord!"
Victor blinked: "That's a mouthful isn't it? Anyhow, I don't suppose you might want to leave us alone?" Victor cajoled, letting charm ooze into his voice.
Thrym's eyes rolled back and went white. Victor prayed with all his heart that Thrym would just let them go. Suddenly, Victor's will wavered and that was all it took, Thrym focused and his eyes was now hundredfold sharper with rage: "TRICKERY! YOU DARE USE THE SILVER TONGUED CAJOLERY OF YOUR FATHER ON ME?"
Victor cursed: "Oh for Loki's sake..."
Thrym was about to annihilate Victor with a single downward thrust of his hammers when two silvery streaks zipped through the air and cut deep into Thrym's blue shoulders.
Skadi stood on the stairs, now dressed in a glinting silver chainmail gown: "Thrym, you are not welcome here, leave or I will have the next arrow go through your head."
Thrym winced in pain as he tugged the arrows out: "Lady Skadi. I'd beg your pardon, but I doubt I'd need to, you've intruded on the enforcer of King Hrym and have openly declared hostility upon him. He will be most pleased when I serve him the head of the daughter of Thiassi."
Skadi's grip on her bow tightened: "If you want a fight, I will oblige. You Thyrms have always been weak, afterall the finest of your kinsmen was killed by a drunk Thor in a bridal gown. This will not be hardship."
With that Skadi let a barrage of arrows loose at Thrym. Thrym spun both hammers at startling speed, deflecting all the arrows. Skadi shouted over the whirring sound of Thrym's hammers: "VICTOR, TAKE SKYLAR AND GO!"
Victor raced over to Skylar and swiftly with a blow of the knife freed Skylar's arm. Skylar's hair was flaked with snow, she groaned: "That was not pleasant."
Victor helped Skylar through the door and the last thing they heard from the cavernous home was Skadi and Thrym's vicious duel in the main foyer, as the two weary warriors stumbled into the harsh wilderness of Niflheim in the night.
