Burnt;The story of the Frost Giant and the Dragon

Chapter 5

Unfortunately Skullora was not one for conversations,so up until this point the journey had been silent.Finally Loki broke the silence,"Why in Odin's name are there so many trees! Everything looks the same and I think you are leading us around in circles!" Skullora giggled,"No,this is a forest smart one,and we are not walking in circles it just looks that way.You obviously do not know much about Mirkwood so I'll go ahead and tell you that this place loves to mess with your mind.The only way we could be lost is if we lost the path."
Loki scowled,"Why can't we a take short cut?Tis that not simpler?" Skullora stopped walking suddenly and turned around to face Loki with a smirk on her face."Are you freaking kidding me?You honestly know don't know anything do you?"A look that was a mixture of confusion and curiosity quickly spread across Loki's face."I'll take that as a no."she sighed.
"Reason number one," Skullora counted out on her fingers, "if you step off the path it's very easy to get lost. Reason number two,if anything happens to you it's all on me.Almost everything thing in these woods will try to kill anything that moves. Ok, reason number three, lets just say if you do not have arachnophobia now you will later."She then swiftly turned around and continued walking."Wait?What do you mean I will later?I do not understand."Loki's voice seemed to echo through the trees."Mortal I command you to explain to me what you are speaking of.I am not familiar with the term arachnophobia."
He was now starring at the ground waiting for a reply but at least he had continued to walk forward.When Skullora did not answer he became frustrated. "I demand an answer!"he yelled,but when he looked up he found that he was alone.Suddenly he began to panic. "Skullora this is not humorous at all,do not play games with me,show yourself at once!"Still there was no reply.Then Loki wondered if she hiding some where, waiting take him by surprise and hand him over to the Avengers."No the girl wouldn't do that,for she is too nice to do such a thing."he said to himself, pushing the thought out of his mind. Then he began to wonder if something had taken her."But what about the dragon, they just can not just vanish, or can they?"
He continued walking and hoped that had just fallen behind."Wait.Why are you worried about the mortal?So what if she is gone?She showed you how to get out of this place,just fallow the stupid path."Loki thought,slowly slipping back into his old ways, pushing Skullora out of his mind completely.
"Just fallow the path!"he said aloud.He looked down to find that the path was gone."Eh...it's probably just covered by leaves."
Then,not paying any attention to where he was walking he ran into a huge spiderweb.
Quickly he tried to free him self but had little success.The more he struggled the harder it was to escape. Suddenly he felt the web moving and the movement continued to grow. Taking one glance above him he saw the biggest spider he had ever seen in his entire life. He now understood what the word arachnophobia meant.
•••
"LOKI this isn't funny anymore!" Skullora yelled."Friestar what if he stepped off the path?Oh god I hope he's ok."Skullora frantically claimed up a tree to get a better view."I still can't see him."She went into full on freak out mode and Firestar,who looked as if she couldn't care less laid down across the path."Im going to go look for him."Skullora said frustratedly as she stepped off the path.
•••
Loki fought with everything in him but unfortunately it is hard to battle a giant spider when you are intwined in its own web.
He finally lost when the spider stung his leg,injecting a deadly poison that made it hard for Loki to even stand. When Loki fell the spider drug him further up the tree and wrapped him tightly into what Loki thought of as his coffin.
He very quickly found out that the spider had friends.Within a few minuets there was at least ten giant spiders who appeared to be famished. "How much longer do we have to wait."the smallest spider hissed."We have to wait on Harold,he's always late."a spider that was missing a leg replied."Screw Harold,"the biggest spider spat,"Im starving and I don't care what the rest of you do,I'm eating now!"
Suddenly Loki seen a shadow slip through the trees he then wondered what other types of horrible thing lurked in these woods.
Then the biggest spider leaned over Loki,ignoring the rest of the beasts who were trying to stop him.Just as he was going to put Loki into a permeant sleep the spider froze.
A figure that Loki could barely make out to be female spoke slyly."I wouldn't do that if I were you."she laughed.The spiders all turned around at once."And why not?"the biggest one hissed as he stepped forward, forgetting Loki completely."Because he belongs to me and I don't like other people taking my stuff."she sneered.
Then all of the spiders begun to laugh,"So what are you going to do about it?"the spider missing a leg said mockingly.
Suddenly vibrant purple flames ignited in the middle of the girl's hands.Now Loki could see form the glow of the flames that it was in fact Skullora,which took a load off of his chest;but she looked different.Behind her she had a pair of dark purple wings with black webbing that had to be at least twice as big as she was. Skullora also had a long,dark purple tail that bore a black spade on the end. As Loki looked closer he could now see that she also had claws and a small pair of fangs.
The spiders then laughed harder than ever."Oh I'm soooo scared,"the biggest one chuckled,"it's a freak with wings. What are you gona do huh little girl?" he said and the other spiders began to surround her."TOUCH ME AND YOU DIE!"she yelled at the top of her lungs.
The biggest spider decided to test that theory,he reached out and put one leg on Skullora.She let off a low growl as a warning but of coarse the spider payed no attention at all,he was too busy laughing.Within a blink of an eye Skullora drew her sword and sliced off the spider's leg.Before the spider could do anything else she jumped into the air and as she came down shoving the sword through its head. Skullora pulled out her sword and glared at the rest of the spiders as her tail flicked in the air.The spiders stopped laughing and stared at her in shock.
"Now...I am going to take what belongs to me and leave...if any one objects you can end up like your friend."Skullora growled.She then took her foot and kicked the dead spider out the way,the others watched him as he fell to the ground with a splat.The spiders who didn't know how to react only stood there as Skullora climbed out onto the branch that held Loki and the cocoon free with one swipe of her claws.With little difficulty at all she lifted the sticky bundle that held the Asgardian prince over her shoulder.
As Skullora waved to the spiders she suddenly fell out of the tree but before she hit the ground her wings opened to their full extent,giving her a soft landing.She then began to walk back to the path,dragging Loki behind with her tail.
After what seemed to be an hour Skullora was finally able to find the path again.As she stepped back onto the level ground she stopped dragging Loki.
He was finally getting his strength back and he began to wriggle wildly, trying to escape."Calm down,"Skullora said as she stood across the wriggling cocoon.Slowly she cut it open with one of her claws and started to rip off the sticky strings of weds."You didn't think I was going to let you stay like that did you?"she laughed as she sat down beside him.
He starred at her with a look of both amazement and curiosity.Loki then picked up her tail and wrapped it around his neck like a scarf."Some one has some explaining to do."he almost sang. Skullora with drawled her tail and crossed her arms and continued to flick it back and forth(it was sort-of a habit)."I would rather not talk about it."she huffed."Please!"he begged.
But Skullora ignored him and began to fallow the path. As she walked her wings faded away with a soft purple light."I like your wings they are beautiful,why do you hide them?"Loki asked,but still she ignored him.She suddenly stopped when Loki ran in front of her and lowered him self onto one knee."I won't tell anyone else,it stays between us."he smiled,his eyes glistening with curiosity.
Skullora gave him an annoyed glare, "No,"she snapped,"that should be a good enough answer.As a matter of fact maybe I should ask why you try to hide the fact that your a Frost Giant!" The smile faded from Loki's face and was replaced by a look of disgust. "Frost Giants are horrible,mindless beasts who spend their time by yelling at each other and scratching themselves in a frozen wasteland.Does that sound like something you would proudly clam to be?"he asked angrily.
"That is exactly my point!"Skullora snapped,"when people think of dragons they think of selfish,evil beasts who like to spend their time laying on a huge piles of gold.There is only like one percent of dragons who actually fit into that category,they ruin it for the rest of us."She stopped for a moment and starred at the ground before continuing to speak in a calmer voice. "I hide my wings because most people do not react well to seeing dragons, ether they start screaming and run away or they decide to fight."
"I didn't always hide them,I lived on one of the Islands of Berk for a long time,the people respected me and treated me like a real person.I guess that's just because Berk is coved with wild dragons,they see the side to them that the rest of the world ignores.But I made the mistake of assuming everyone else would be the same way."
Tears welled up in Skullora's eyes but she simply ignored them and continued walking."Wait!"Loki called after her,"I am assuming that you were not born this way...What the hel happened to you?"She turned around with a weak smile on her face."You are very persistent aren't you."Loki returned the smile,hopping to get an answer.
"Damn,why do you even care?"she replied as her voice began to shake. Again Skullora attempted to walk away but she was frozen by Loki's words."Because you are suffering,"he said,"I can see it in your eyes and I know the feeling well."he put his hand on her shoulder and felt her tense up."You owe me nothing,life's to short to worry about that kind of thing." Skullora laughed."Did you not hear my words?I wish to repay you,I never repaid anyone for anything."he said frustratedly.
"Even if I let you do what ever the hell you wanted to do how could you help me in any way?Trust me I'm not worth your time."she said as a tear slipped down her face."No please don't cry." Loki said as he put his hand on the side of Skullora's face and wiped away the tear with his thumb.She leaned over on his hand and smiled."Why do you care?I thought that Loki wasn't the type of person who would stop at nothing just to help some random stranger."Loki returned the smile and whispered into her ear,"Because you are different,and believe it or not I understand how you feel completely. And besides,Loki does as Loki pleases."
Skullora begun to laugh which made Loki laugh(apparently her laughter is very contagious).
"Loki is referring to himself in the third person,Skullora approves."she said as she began to laugh even harder.
As the day went on they continued to walked closely down the path and shared jokes until they were drunk on there own laughter.Of coarse Skullora was not worried about Firestar,she knew the dragon would catch up later.