Shadows and Lies

Chalter 24

Chapter 24
"Loki I don't like this". Thor told loki while they waited in Loki's room for the guards to come collect him.
"Well I'm not exactly looking forward too it" Loki said back.
"You're going to get Seriously Injured".

"I don't think you quite understand the idea of a beating Thor, of course I'm going to get injured, that's the whole idea" as he finished, a few guards came in looking a little too pleased.
"Besides, They're eager to do their work" loki added. One of the guards came over and grabbed Loki's arm and forced him to his feet.
"Let's go pretty boy" The guard shackled Loki's wrists and ankles and then shoved him toward the door. Thor started to follow but he was stopped.
"You're not coming. That was part of the agreement. You're not allowed to be around" Thor looked peeved, and wanted to fight it, but that was in fact the agreement and he knew he wouldn't be allowed to see or even be near Loki to make sure he wasn't dead for the next several days.
Thor stopped the guard.
"You all know your job; make sure no one kills him. If he dies you'll all be held responsible for it" the guard didn't seem bothered by Thor's warning.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure he's still breathing by the end of the three days" Thor reluctantly let him go.
"Thor" Loki got Thor's attention "just- Thank you" Thor didn't know what Loki was saying thank you for, and he didn't have time to ask since the guard jabbed Loki in the back and shoved him out the door despite his bad leg and limp.
Thor didn't know what Loki was saying thank you for, but he did know that the only time Loki said thank you was at a serious moment, and he could sense the finality in Loki's tone; he knew Loki was expecting those to be his last words to Thor.
Loki was taken out of the palace and had his shackled wrists chained to one of the horses that the guards were riding, making him walk behind the guards out to the middle of the city. By the time they got to their destination his leg was already aching from walking so far and his head was aching from the bright sun in his eyes.
One of the guards unchained Loki from the horse and sharply tugged on the chain so loki tripped forward.
"Hey, play nice, he's going to be getting enough of that very soon" one of the other guards said, who - Because of his size and air of authority- seemed to be the unofficial leader of the group.
"You're defending me?" Loki wasn't expecting any of the guards to defend him against the people, and he certainly wasn't expecting them to defend him against each other, so though he was grateful, he didn't quite trust it.
"Well like I said, you'll be getting enough very soon" the guard replied "very soon" he emphasized the word 'very' this time and Loki knew he was right not to rust his kindness.
"Get him up" not far from where they were all standing was a frame that was a horizontal beam attached to the top of two tall beams so that Loki's  hands could be chained over his head. It was essentially three sides of a very tall, wooden rectangle.
The guards shoved loki under the beam and threw the chain on his wrists over it, then pulled it tight so his arms were fully extended over his head, and the chain was secured on one of the side beams so it wouldn't loosen up any. Loki Tried to stay neutral, but his face showed his pain.
"You look a little uncomfortable" The lead guard said, and the lack of mockery in his tone actually made loki more uncomfortable because he knew something was coming but just didn't know what.
"Yeah, only a little" Loki's voice was tight, like he was trying not to voice his pain.
"Yeah... is it your leg? You never really let that heal all the way did you?" He asked, Loki knew it was a trap so he just didn't say anything.
"Answer me" the guard seemed angry now so Loki gave in.
"Yes. My leg hurts" He braced himself to be punched in the leg, or kicked in the leg, or hit in the leg with something. He was ready for serious additional pain in his leg.
"Take some weight off his leg" the lead guard told the one who was securing the chain.
Loki was ready for pain in his leg, he was not ready for a sudden excruciating pain in his ribs.
The guard securing the chain sharply tugged on it, pulling on Loki off the ground about and inch. There was a sudden and unexpected strain on his damaged ribs and since he'd braced himself for a different kind of pain, he was surprised and screamed an agonizing scream that got a lot of surrounding people's attention.
"Does you leg feel better now?" The guard asked more mockingly. Loki could barely reach the ground even if he stood on his toes, so he was only able to take a tiny bit of his weight off his shoulders and ribs.
He swallowed hard "I hate you" He said through gritted teeth. The guard just chuckled a bit.
"You're already in pain and nothing has even happened yet. You really think you'll survive three days of this?"
"My expectation has never been to survive" the guard stopped laughing.
"What's that supposed to mean?".

"This is my execution. I don't expect to live, I'm at peace with that" the guard looked a bit annoyed, he was trying to intimidate Loki and loki was essentially shrugging off his own death.
"I'm going to keep you alive because that's what the king is making me do, but I'll make sure you're in as much pain as possible" Loki didn't seem bothered by the guards words, which annoyed the guard but he couldn't really do anything about it so he turned to the others.
"Just make sure he stays breathing" the guard said, then ripped off Loki's shirt so that he was exposed to the harsh sun.
Surprisingly, the guards didn't stay close, they were surrounding him so no one could sneak up without the guards knowing, but they were pretty far away, which made loki feel more alone and vulnerable.
It wasn't long before Loki really started to wish he was dead. As soon as he was put up and the guards gave him space, people started lining up to get in their share of punishment. People would come up and just strike him in the face repeatedly until blood gushed from his nose and mouth and his eyes were so swollen he could barely see.
He tried to brace himself as much as he could, but a lot of people came at him from behind and punched him in the side where his ribs were bandaged and he was never able to prepare himself for that.
At one point a woman approached him with a knife, and loki started to panic thinking he was going to be stabbed and killed right then and there. But the guards saw what was going and told the woman she couldn't actually kill loki, she could just hurt him, so instead of stabbing him the woman repeatedly slashed loki across the chest and then did the same to his back.
By the middle of the day Loki was bloody, bruised, dehydrated, hungry, in more pain than he could recall ever being in, and was being slowly burned by the hot sun.
He tried to keep his head up to stay alert, but it got harder and harder to do so. Any part of him that was red from smeared blood was black and blue from bruising.
By two o'clock in the afternoon Loki was hanging pretty limply while people beat up on him, they'd have to pull his head back just so they could hit him in the face, and the only reason the guards knew he was still alive was because of his chest contracting to breathe and the strained wheezes that came with each breath.
"Hey! Wake up!" Loki heard an unfamiliar voice yell angrily, presumably at him. But he didn't move or respond, he had gone into a haze of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness.
"I said wake up" suddenly Loki was struck with... something, and the stinging pain snapped him out of his haze and he snapped to attention, quickly looking up again to see a man in front of him with a horse whip in his hand.
"Oh no...." loki moaned as he let his head hang forward again.
"Stay awake!" The man yelled, and whipped Loki several more times.
"I'm... awake... please...." Loki knew he wasn't going to stop, and he knew that now that one man had the idea of bringing a whip, other people would have the same idea. After the woman with the knife, a bunch of other people decided that was a great idea and started to do the same; aimlessly slashing him anywhere there was room. A few people even carved words like 'liar' 'traitor' or 'murderer' into his skin. Loki hated it when someone came up with a new idea because then other people would pick it up.
Loki tried to comply with the mans orders to keep his head up, but it was difficult to do that while he was being beaten with a horse whip, and occasionally he let his head hang, only to be loudly and painfully reminded that that wasn't acceptable. Finally the man got tired enough to walk away.
After the little episode with the whip one of the guards came to check on him.
"He's still breathing, barely though, maybe we should lower him down a bit so his chest isn't so stretched out" Loki didn't hear the response, but he felt it; the chain holding him up was loosened just a bit so that he could put his feet flat on the ground and hold himself up, which -even though he was still in tremendous pain- was a much needed relief from the struggle of breathing. The guards started to walk away once Loki was secured again.
"Wait" Loki's voice was rough and dry, and sounded Loki his throat had been repeatedly scrubbed with glass and sandpaper.
"What do you want?" The guard snapped. Loki swallowed painfully.
"Water" he said, desperation in his face. He hadn't had a single drop of water all day. The guards looked between each other.
"Yeah, that's reasonable, one minute" the guard went back to their setup and came back with a large flask of cold water.
"All yours" the guard said, then put the flask on the ground at Loki's feet, knowing he couldn't reach it. Loki tightened his jaw in anger and his face filled with a poisonous glare, but he couldn't do anything else. The guard laughed and walked away, and Loki screamed angrily and kicked the flask as far as he could, which sent awful pain up his leg.
When he looked up again there was a woman standing not far away, watching everything that just happened. She and loki made eye contact for a moment, but Surprisingly she didn't approach, she just walked away.
By the time evening came loki could barely keep himself awake for more than a few minutes, but the guards told him he could try to sleep during the night.
"You'll have another long day tomorrow, try to sleep while the people are sleeping, tomorrow will be just as cruel as today was"