Soulbonds and Fairy Dust

Chapter 29

Loki looked horrified when he realized what he had done. "I'm so sorry, darling. This is all new to me-" he tried to explain quickly. He looked ashamed of what he'd done, how he'd messed up the one rule she'd given him. At least he had the decency to look ashamed.

Sig continued to glare at him again. She finally broke free and turned to the others with panic and anger in her eyes. "Get to the horses and be ready to ride out. Now. I've got to get this closed," she snarled at them. There was no time to be nice. Not with the doorway still open. Not with what Loki had done. "Every single fae hunting me will know exactly what doorway we're at," she reminded them all for the reason for the rule about no names. The others rushed to prepare the horses and mounted while she worked on closing the doorway.

Loki wisely remained silent as she worked. He knew she was rightly pissed at him. More at the situation than him, though. It was a simple mistake. It was just a potentially deadly simple mistake.

Sig drew a wickedly sharp blade, this one much larger than the belt knife she had been using for this. This blade was one of her battle blades and as long as her forearm. She gripped the dagger carefully and draw a long line down her arm, wincing in pain as she cut deeper and longer than she had for any other doorway. There was no time to pussyfoot around about this doorway. She had to close it. Fast. She heard Loki's gasp in sympathy and horror at her pain and what she was doing. He didn't approve. It wasn't his choice.

Not this time.

She gathered more blood, more power to shut this doorway as fast as possible. She ignored the drain, even as she shivered from drawing so much power at once from the power of her blood. She slammed the doorway shut as fast and hard as she could. She was not taking any chances. She drew even more power to charm the area to keep any new doorways from being created here for a long, long time.

She turned to face the others with the same panicky edge to her tone and expression. "We've got to move on. Now. It's not safe here," she told them firmly and started back to the horses on shaky legs, ignoring that she was still bleeding.

Loki stopped her, his hands on her shoulders, steadying her. "Wait just a moment, darling," he told her, though she was nearly too dazed with power drain to understand or comprehend what he was saying. He held her to him while his glowing green hand went over the bleeding wound on her arm, sealing it so it would stop bleeding. Once the bleeding had stopped, Loki's arm wrapped around her shoulders and he rushed her over to her horses. Everyone else was mounted already. She swung into the saddle of her horse, focused on getting the Hel out of there. "We have to go, now," Loki directed the others.

"They shouldn't be able to come through here. I spelled the area to block more gates, but..." Sig wasn't thinking clearly due to exhaustion and power drain. It was safer to get out of there, just in case. Loki nodded in understanding and she could see he was feeling guilt for his slip up. For the pain he was causing her to clean up his mistake.

Sig kicked her mare into a gallop, terrified of being caught there. She trusted the others to catch up and keep up. Loki caught up with her quickly. The others followed just behind.

She finally consented to slow the headlong panicked gallop once they were out of her ability to sense the clearing. She sighed in relief. "We should be far enough away now," she told the others softly. She was visibly wilting as the adrenaline rush of terror finally wore off.

Loki looked over at her, extremely concerned over her state. She was holding onto the saddle-horn to keep on her horse's back and trusting that the others would lead her safely to her next destination. She was too drained to do anything for herself. Blood magic was draining enough, it took magic from the user's body, and the user's life-force if too much blood magic was used. She'd drawn the heat from her body, drawn on her fae power, and the exhaustion was bone-numbing as she sat shivering in her horse's saddle. Loki rode closer and reached out his hand with a cloak in his hands. It was green and fur-lined. And she was sure it belonged to Loki. She reached out a shaky hand to take it and managed to drape it over herself. "We must find an inn or tavern, now. She's in bad shape," Loki told the others as she went back to staring listlessly at the pommel of her horse's saddle, her colors had faded again.

Thor consulted the map, judging their location after Sig's panicky headlong gallop. "There's a village not far from here," he told Loki.

"Then let's go. She needs to rest, desperately." They could all hear the fear and worry in Loki's voice as he spoke.

Thor led the way to the village. Everyone looked concerned at how listless and exhausted Sig looked. She was drained even more than usual from closing that doorway. She was wilted and it seemed her vibrancy was diminished, her very colors faded.

"You two might want to figure out how to break her illusion spell on you. You look like fae," Sif reminded Thor and Loki. Sig hadn't had an opportunity to remove the illusions from them.

"I can try it," Loki told Sif. He was the master magician of Asgard after all. This was in his realm of abilities. He looked to Sigyn. "Sig?" she blearily looked over at him. "Sig, what do I have to do break her illusion?" he asked once he could get her attention.

She blinked quickly and tried to focus on the words to make them form a coherent sentence. Really, it was amazing she was staying on her horse. "You can dispel it just like any other illusion. I cast it with your magic," she told him softly. She hoped her words made sense. They seemed to, since Loki focused for a moment and the illusions on him and Thor both shattered so they looked like themselves again.

Sig was mostly asleep in the saddle by the time she reached the village. She only half-woke when the horses stopped in front of the tavern. She didn't wake enough to notice any of what was going on around her. Loki dismounted and helped her down from her horse. He immediately swept her up into his arms. She yelped a protest. "You're dead on your feet, love. And it's my fault. Let me take care of you," Loki told her gently.

Her head crashed onto his shoulder, too exhausted to fight him.

The innkeeper gave Loki a room, which he carried her to quickly and tucked her into bed gently, tucking the blankets and warming spells around her. He kissed her forehead. "Rest, darling. I will watch over you," he bid her softly. She nodded and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.