Chapter 5
Loki's sprinting as fast as he can, and finds Thor walking through one of the open terraces. Thor! He'll be able to help! I don't know if I can find Amora in time anyway!
Skidding to a halt in front of his older brother, Loki desperately says "Thor! I don't remember when, what, or how, but apparently I made a bet with the Dwarves and lost - now I have to offer my head as payment!" I don't want to test out the immortality Hela says Amora shared with me! Who knows if it'll work for decapitations!
Thor, to Loki's horror, just coldly says "A Prince of Asgard must always pay his debts, Loki. You brought this on yourself."
Ice freezes in Loki's veins at Thor's words - he's still mad about needing to dress up as Lady Freyja to get Mjolnir back, which was Loki's idea. It worked, he got his hammer back from the thief that took it while he was black-out drunk and demanded to marry Lady Freyja in return, but still.
Loki rubs at his neck as he tries to think of some way out of this mess he doesn't even remember getting into - he thinks it was at that feast, where Thor gave him some kind of brew like he was drinking…and that's the last thing he remembers of that night. It's when he rubs at his neck that his answer comes to him - they were promised his head, not his neck. He quickly blurts out "You were promised my head, not my neck!" At the Dwarves' agitated looks, he quickly says "To take my head, you would have to cut at my neck! But you were not promised my neck!"
Loki internally breathes a sigh of relief when every single dwarf scowls, only to freeze when one gets a malicious grin on his face. "Be that as it may, you still lost a wager, Odinson. But, seeing as we're a generous race most days, we'll just sew your mouth shut. That's part of your head, after all."
Loki goes pale as Amora naturally is, dread and fear pooling in his stomach, and doesn't even have to glance at Thor to know he'll still be no help whatsoever. One of the Dwarves motions for Thor to hold Loki's jaw, and Loki thinks, mad or not, Thor wouldn't be that indifferent to his brother's plight…right up until strong hands grip his head from behind, proving Loki terribly, horribly wrong.
I guess what Mother said is true, then. Innocence is never lost, and always taken. He'd asked her how anyone could do something like what Amora described going through before she was brought to Asgard, how an entire society could demonize a child one day and then cower behind them the next, expecting them to face down a madman they had no real hope of defeating, and that was her answer. And he knows Amora's done everything she can to try and preserve his own innocence for as long as possible, the way she'll vanish after Odin gets word of trouble brewing only for that trouble to seemingly resolve itself - Amora's doing, all of it...all so his own childhood is as free from war and pain as she can make it.
Thor, they know, would revel in the prospect of battle - at least, up until he's faced with that battle, anyway - and his own friends even more. Which means she goes out and kills countless people in the span of a few hours, allows herself to become weapon of mass-slaughter and destruction...all for his sake. He can't ever express his gratitude enough, that she's willing to go so far to protect him...and now it looks distinctly like he won't be able to.
About halfway done, at which point Loki's given up struggling altogether and is now trying to fight back the urge to cry, they all hear an outraged shriek of "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU LOT THINK YOU'RE DOING TO HIM?!" Thor's hands suddenly release Loki's head, the Dwarf sewing his lips shut drops the needle, and then they all go flying away from him. And then Amora comes stalking over, face a mask of utter fury and bright green eyes literally glowing, and Thor scrambles away from her at once.
The Dwarf that's the leader of the group sneers at her, asking "Who are you to interrupt?"
Another of the Dwarves says "We were just collecting the payment owed to us. The boy lost a wager, and his claim was his head."
Amora goes perfectly still, and Thor scoots over so Loki's between her and himself - call him a coward or call him terrified, he's seen Amora kill 200 people with just a glance and 1000 with a wave of her hand. After barely a heartbeat, Amora says "Shave his head."
One of the Dwarves asks "What?"
Amora slowly says "Shave. His. Hair. Off. That's part of his head, yes?"
The lead Dwarf, who was sewing Loki's lips shut, scoffs and says "We've already decided the payment to be exacted-"
And then Amora's in front of him in a blur of blood-red and blue, picking the Dwarf up by the front of his armor effortlessly as she says "I don't think you understand. I wasn't requesting you shave Loki's hair off as your payment. You will have Loki's hair as your payment, or I will have your heads stuffed and mounted on a wall as recompense for every drop of his blood you've spilled. Am I clear?" The Dwarf is visibly shaking like a leaf by the time she's through speaking, and Loki doesn't blame him considering how suffocating Amora's magic currently is. It's like breathing in fire, practically scorching…everyone else's lungs, it feels perfectly pleasant to Loki despite the heat he can feel on his skin. Add to it the detail that there's red-black crackling up and down her arms, lighting up the snakes on her arms, arcing off the fingers of her free hand in a way that says she's on the edge of losing it altogether, and there's every reason to believe that they're in very real danger.
Which, they are - all but Loki in this courtyard are in danger of being cut to ribbons where they stand.
All the other Dwarves point their weapons at Amora, which only makes her laugh humorlessly and say "Won't do a damn thing, boys. Try something else."
The lead Dwarf shakily asks "Who are you?"
Amora gives him a cutting smirk, and asks "Don't you recognize me? Shame, I'd thought you would know of the friends of those you try to kill. Let me introduce myself. The name's Amora, named one of the two youngest Masters of Magic by Queen Frigga Allmother herself after mastering all she could teach me." Between her and Loki, they mastered Asgardian Magic in record time - the two youngest Masters of Magic ever, in the entire history of Asgard. And, yes, that includes shapeshifting, turns out Asgardians have the ability to shapeshift at will if they learn how to do so. Like being a Metamorphmagus, and the only thing that's required is learning magic - and, yes, she and Loki had quite a lot of fun practicing shapeshifting into different animals. She can turn into anything form a bird to a bear to another 23-foot tall Wolf like Fenris in a heartbeat, it's a remarkably effective tactic in battle.
The Dwarves all look sick to their stomachs, and one whispers "The Deathless Witch…"
Amora gives them a sneer as sharp as her snakes' fangs, and says "Oh, so you have heard of me, wonderful. Still want to try and sew my best friend's lips shut?"
All the dwarves quickly shake their heads, and the Dwarf she's still holding up suddenly pees, urine dripping to the ground below rapidly. Yes, yes they've heard of her and what she's rumored to be capable of.
If Loki weren't so grateful to Amora for her excellent timing, he'd think that was hilarious.
Once the Dwarves semi-recover from their terror, Amora drops the lead one to the ground and snaps her fingers - every single hair off Loki's head suddenly falls to the ground, and Amora coldly says "There's your prize. Now, take it and scram!"
Even Thor jumps at her sudden snarl, and the Dwarves almost leave a few locks of Loki's hair in their haste to get away from the woman who's name is whispered in awe and fear throughout most of the realms after she single-handedly ended a massive uprising that threatened to seize control of Alfheim in two days. All by herself, because it was faster, easier, and safer if she went alone and ended it than if they mustered a very visible army and sent it trampling through the realm to get ambushed.
Once the Dwarves are gone, Amora walks over to Loki and cups his face gently as she inspects the sewing around half his lips while hissing to him softly. Thor thinks he might have whiplash at that, seeing someone go from completely terrifying to so gentle in half a moment - and, then, she's back to terrifying again as she glares murder at him.
"You damn, idiotic, SELFISH ASS! How dare you?! How DARE you claim to be his brother, claim to love him, and then pull that shit? If we weren't on Asgard, I'd be Hexing you into the next century for your utter hypocrisy, you hammer-headed ass!" She takes Loki's hand and pulls him through a dark gray portal that appears with a wave of her hand, with zero resistance on Loki's part. A heartbroken, shattered look on his face, but no resistance as Amora pulls him into a portal to Stars-know-where.
Thor scrambles up, and calls out "HEE-HAW!" Thor quickly claps a hand over his mouth in horror, he'd tried to call out his brother's name, but what came out was…an animal noise?!
It's when he sees Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, and Sif that he realizes he's got more than the voice of an animal. He's also got the ears of one, two large ears sticking straight out of his head.
Odin's furious about the ears and voice, when Sif and the Warriors Three bring the blonde prince to him for aid, but Frigga looks more confused than anything else.
And then Hela appears in a shadow, face a mask of utter fury as she advances on Sif and Fandral specifically. "YOU TWO! WHAT THE HEL WERE YOU THINKING?!"
Odin rises, and coldly says "This is none of your-"
Hela whirls on Odin for a moment, screaming at the top of her lungs "IT IS EVERY BIT MY CONCERN, ODIN! IT IS MY CONCERN WHEN A PEOPLE'S UTTER STUPIDITY AND SPITE NEARLY TAKES MY BROTHER'S LIFE!"
Frigga inhales sharply, then says "Hela, by all means, please explain what's happened."
Hela gives Frigga a smile sharp as one of her necroblades, and sneers "Amora brought Loki to us earlier, with half his mouth sewn shut, saying Thor over there was holding him still and keeping his jaw closed while some Dwarves took payment for a wager in that form. And then, after getting the stitching removed and healing Loki's lips up, we took a look in time to see just when that wager was made. Imagine everyone's surprise when we see a feast that happened…mm, 'bout a week ago, perhaps?"
Fandral gulps, and he tries to back away until Hela's hand closes around his throat without mercy. "We saw these two get two of the strongest drinks in the feast and spike it with something from Asgard's cellars. Thor took the drinks from Fandral's hands, and offered one to Loki, unknowing it was spiked with something a millennia old and much too strong for either of them. The short ending to this story is that that's how Thor got his hammer stolen and had to dress up as Freyja to get it back, and how Loki entered into a wager with the Dwarves that he cannot remember." She's going to take payment for this out of their hides! Seeing Amora's punishment for Thor at least lets her know he won't be getting off with a slap on the wrist
Sif rushes forward with a warcry, weapon drawn…and near-instantly dropped, as she's disarmed and faced with twelve Necroswords in less than two seconds. Hela gives her a sneer of utter disgust, and says "You may be named the Goddess of War, little girl, but I'm the Goddess of Death. I predate you by several millennia, and Odin personally trained me to be his weapon of mass destruction. You have nothing on me, and you never will. Keep up with your vendetta against my little brother, and you won't even have your title, I can promise you that." Amora wanted to kill Sif and end her potential to be an even bigger thorn in their sides, but Kali suggested making her suffer instead.
The Fidelius Charm, luckily enough, can be applied to any information. Such as Sif being the Goddess of War.
Hela sneers at Sif once more, and says "Just be glad it's me here, Sif Mandifarisdottir, because Amora was ready to eviscerate both of you where you stand for your spiteful idiocy."
Fandral, still trying to pry Hela's unmoving fingers from his throat, rasps out "It was supposed to be a prank…" Thor wasn't supposed to take that first drink, but it worked out in the end! It was just supposed to be a prank on Loki, designed to embarrass and maybe humiliate him, that's all!
Hela sneers, and says "Your little prank nearly cost my little brother his life. It's only thanks to his quick thinking that it didn't come to that, and thanks to Amora that all they got was his hair. Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't snap your necks here and now." Kali said to make them suffer...but they can make their souls suffer in the afterlife until they're reborn.
Thor hee-haws once more, desperately pointing to his extra set of ears, and Hela says "That, Thor, is a punishment from Amora. She felt you were being an ass, and decided you might as well look the part. And, if you were going to bray nothings all the time, you might as well sound like it. You'll get your voice back when you're capable of saying something of any substance, and the ears will disappear when Loki and Amora accept your apology."
Frigga gets the unspoken message - Amora's demanding a heartfelt apology to Loki, and Thor having the voice of an animal until then ensures that he actually means it. At Thor's confused expression, she resolves to explain it to him later else he'll be stuck with that voice and pair of ears forever. And she may be his mother as well…but, in her opinion, Thor needs to learn this lesson. And he won't if she simply reverses Amora's well-cast punishment.
As for Sif and Fandral, she's going to have them cleaning and polishing armor and weapons until their hands are completely disfigured for this! And Odin doesn't have much leeway to lessen their punishment, considering their 'prank' is how Thor ended up losing one of Asgard's greatest weapons!
Hela gives her blonde brother a once-over, after slamming Sif and Fandral together hard enough to knock them out, and says "You'll never know what you've lost today, Thor, until it's slapped in your face. Loki may forgive you, but he'll never forget today. And he'll never look to you for aid ever again." By Loki's own words, to. His trust in Thor, that his elder brother would always be there if he needed him, is completely gone. And people wonder why he and Amora are so close, when nobody else is willing to stand up for him!
Hela leaves after that, telling Frigga that Amora and Loki are going on their own adventure and won't be back for a while…but that if she calls, they'll pick up.
And, later that night, Heimdall has to concede defeat - he can't find Loki or Amora, no matter how much he searches. Somehow, and he's not sure how, they've managed to conceal themselves from his sight. And if she makes sure to watch Frigga go off on Sif and Fandral when they awaken at last, take them to task yet again about the way they treat Loki, and punish them worse than they've ever been before...well, they deserve it and then some. If it were her, they'd be so much worse off than cleaning and maintaining the Einherjar's weapons and armor until Loki and Amora return - she'd have them clean the entire palace top to bottom with nothing but a set of toothbrushes, every single room from the dungeons to the roof of the palace. Repeat as necessary until she's satisfied that they've learned their lesson - and she'd need hard proof that they wouldn't go after Loki before releasing them from their punishment.