Chapter 20
Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun glance around at the library somewhat nervously - neither Fandral nor Volstagg has ever even set foot in the library, and Hogun's only ever gone with Thor to find Loki amongst the seemingly-endless shelves and tomes.
And, he could usually be found with Amora, the both of them about four books deep into whatever idea or project they were working on and nearly dead to the world around them.
Fandral clears his throat, unable to completely disguise his nervous laugh with it, and asks "Erm…come again?!" She can't be serious, can she?!
Queen Frigga nods, expression as serious as the first time she said what their punishment was to be, and says "The three of you are to organize the library. It's been several millennia since such a thing was last even attempted, after all."
Volstagg's voice is about five octaves higher when he asks "And, erm…how, exactly, are we supposed to organize the library, Your Highness?" The shelves go all the way up to the ceiling, and the ceiling is at least twenty men tall…and he can't even glimpse a back wall. This is going to be a long punishment if she's serious about this.
Queen Frigga hums, even as her gaze looks like the ice on Jotunheim, and says "As it so happens, Loki brought a suggestion to light. The mortals on Midgard have a system for the exact purpose. He's obtained several references explaining it."
Oh, so that's what the multiple gigantic books are for. There's Dewey Decimal System for Dummies, All about Dewey, and DDS 101 - along with a list of some kind filled with titles and numbers. Each of those books is thicker than Volstagg's hand is wide, and the list has to be taller than him.
And then Loki himself walks in, expression going completely neutral when he sees the three of them, and asks "Mother, were those three books satisfactory? And the list of current decimal rankings the Midgardians use?"
Queen Frigga nods, and says "They are. Gentlemen, I'll leave you to it. Head Librarian Asa will be supervising the project."
Said woman, a strict lady with gray hair in a tight bun and a severe expression on her face, nods her head and says "Of course, Your Majesty." Once Queen Frigga leaves, Asa claps her hands once and says "The ex-Warriors Three…well, gentlemen, at least I know you can carry multiple books at a time. I'd suggest you start reading those promptly. Your Highness, thank you for your time. If you wish to find a book or two, please take your time. And I do hope Miss Sigyn recovers soon as well." Unlike most of Asgard, Queen Frigga, Prince Loki, and Amora Sigyn have always had a respect for the library and the books in it. She's one of the few people on Asgard that's not petrified of Amora and what she might do if angered. Spending a few decades in the library - in hours, not the amount of years she's frequented the library - and never once making any trouble tends to do that.
Loki gives Asa a grateful nod, and says "My thanks. I'll pass your message along, Head Librarian Asa." As one of three people on Asgard that have always encouraged his love for books, Asa is most definitely one of his favorite people on Asgard - strict, yes, definitely a stickler for the rules, but if you don't bring food or drink into the library and don't damage any books she's perfectly amiable. To him and Amora, anyway - he could always tell when Thor was in the library, he and Amora could hear her barking out orders to Thor and whoever was with him long before he even got close to coming across the two of them.
Before Loki can leave, however, one of the guards comes running into the library and doubles over trying to breathe.
Loki raises an eyebrow, confusion flitting over his expression for a moment, and asks "Yes? Is something wrong?"
"Prince Loki…emergency…come quickly…"
Loki's expression changes instantly, neutrality long-gone in less than a heartbeat, and he asks "Is it Amora?"
The guard shakes his head, still heaving in large gulps of air, and Loki relaxes instantly. Right up until the guard says "The prisoner…gone…lunchtime…"
Any and all hints of relaxing is gone from Loki's expression in another heartbeat, and he says "I see."
Fandral and Volstagg trade incredulous glances at the rapid series of emotions - Loki usually never shows much of anything, yet he's just gone from his usual blankness to a near-terrifying look of fury to utter relief to being completely tense in about ten seconds.
They've never actually seen Loki express much of anything until right then and there - mainly because he never wants to give anyone anything to use for some kind of complaint or rumor against him, he already gets enough said about him for his aptitude for magic after all.
Loki quickly turns to Asa, and says "Lady Asa, if you would be so kind as to lock the doors to the library. I'll post a few guards to ensure Sif Mandifarisdottir doesn't attempt anything towards you." From what Thor's said, Sif's a raving lunatic now - and, while he doesn't completely believe Thor's biased, half-aware version of Sif's current state, he does believe she's completely unstable.
Sane, possibly, but definitely not stable - not as she used to be, anyway. It seems a lack of Thor's attention - or, perhaps just a lack of Thor himself - drove her over some kind of edge…or, perhaps, the detail that Loki was on the throne and temporarily made all her plans for the future impossible.
Whatever the case may be, Loki can very easily imagine the near-rabid Sif from the throne room Volstagg had to bodily carry away going after Amora, himself, or attempting to coerce her friends into doing so.
The last the ex-Warriors Three hear from Loki is him saying "Guards! I want four guards stationed at my quarters, another two at Amora's. Four more guarding the library, and somebody find Thor and inform him Sif Mandifarisdottir has escaped her solitary confinement! And would somebody explain in further detail just how that happened?!"
Loki scowls when he gets the full story out of one of the guards that was near her cell when she escaped - apparently, Sif was out of sight when the guards came to bring her lunch. The guard went inside to investigate, Sif jumped him…stole his sword, injured the two guards that came with the first, and made her escape that way.
Ten minutes before he was located.
Biting back the urge to swear, Loki says "I'll be back in a minute." He quickly Apparates into his quarters, where Amora's currently struggling to get an arm through one sleeve. Loki sighs in relief and quickly frees her arm from where it's trapped.
Amora takes exactly one look at his expression and asks "What happened?"
Loki says "Sif escaped. The guard was dumb enough to walk into her cell. Amora, whatever you do, don't leave my quarters, understand? Jormangunder, guard her. If Sif somehow manages to get inside, strike to kill."
Jormangunder nods, sliding from Loki's neck and shoulders, down his arm, and around Amora's waist since the shoulders are both his and Seleana's preferred resting spots on their magic-users. After Amora promises not to leave, Loki gives her a quick kiss to the lips and Apparates away once he tightens the Wards in his Quarters to let only him and Mother in and kill literally anyone else that attempts to enter.
And then he puts up a note on the door that says 'Thor, do not come in. I mean it. Don't touch the door.'
With a little luck, his blonde half-brother will follow that simple instruction for once in his life.
Sif grits her teeth as she urges the horse she managed to hop onto and ride out into the city onward, she's not got a lot of time left before the guards start searching the city itself. She needs to get away from Asgard for the time being, head to another Realm - Vanaheim, perhaps - and lay low until Odin has put an end to her confinement and all the trouble she's currently facing.
But, to do that, she needs to get to the Bifrost and get the sword from Heimdall once more - because she doubts she'll be able to talk him into getting her out of the Realm.
When she gets to the Bifrost, though, she finds…Loki waiting there for her. Arms crossed, and a murderous look on his face for her.
Instead of trying distract Loki with banter, she charges him with the sword she still has and a war-cry on her lips. Loki just summons two knives to his hands, and blocks her first few swings before simply breaking the sword altogether via a snap of his fingers.
Sif stares at the sword hilt in shock for a moment, the pieces of the blade everywhere but where they're supposed to be, and then tries to take him on in hand-to-hand combat. Only to find Loki is somehow better than even her at it - how is that even possible?!
Sif is very roughly pulled from her thoughts when Loki catches her main hand by the wrist with a glowing hand…and there's a sickening series of cracking sounds, instantly followed up by agony all the way from her wrist to her shoulder.
Loki gives her a vicious sneer, and says "That, Sif Mandifarisdottir, was for your attack on Amora." While he'd like to do so much worse to her, rather than simply maim her as he just did, he can't say he couldn't subdue her. He knows a thousand ways to subdue her, rather than shoving a Reducto down her throat…but he can most certainly take away her ability to ever use a weapon ever again and say he was subduing her and had to keep her from attacking him further.
And the bones in her arm won't heal, the spell he invented specifically for her in the time while Amora's been asleep prevents it - he took a Bone-Breaker Curse, and made it…directable would be one word for it. And much stronger, to boot. He also changed it enough that the counter-spell, Brackio Emendum, is completely ineffective - that spell is designed to heal one specific break, two large pieces fusing back together. Not retrieving and restoring a few hundred tiny bone fragments back into a whole bone once more.
And what he did just now? Directed the spell up all three bones in her arm.
It didn't just break them, he blew them up. As in, there's now tiny bits of three arm bones scattered throughout the flesh of Sif's dominant arm.
And, if left untreated for long enough…even magic won't fix them. The arm bones can be pieced back together, possibly held together via magic...but they'll never heal. Never be three solid bones once more if left for long enough. And, if the Bone-Breaker Curse makes it impossible for the bone to heal without the counter-spell…well, that's not something he'll blurt out for Odin to hear.
Of course, Sif decides to try to spite him one last time, even as tears are literally rolling down her face from the sheer agony her arm is in, and staggers towards the edge of the Bifrost.
Loki raises an eyebrow at her, and says "You wouldn't. Your dream is to be the next Queen of Asgard, after all. You can't do that if you're dead, Sif." Yes, Thor had eventually told him of Luna and Rolf's sudden visit in New Mexico and what Luna said. While he wasn't surprised by most of it, particularly banishing him and imprisoning Amora, that doesn't mean it was welcome news.
And, yes, he wants her dead, her bones scattered in so many pieces throughout so many places that there's no possibility of even raising her skeleton again for her attack on Amora - and maybe permanently killing her, a most unwelcome thought that refused to leave his head while she was unconscious for three days, what if Amora had died from the poison before waking and freeing herself? He doesn't want to know, doesn't ever want to find out, and he wants to put an end to the threat that Sif is before she can make another attempt to find out.
Yes, that may well be the detail that they're Soulmates talking right now, making him want to end her rather than make her regret ever even glancing at Amora.
No, he does not care.
Sif sneers at him, and hoarsely says "I'll be back, coward." And then she topples over the side of the Bifrost, straight into one of the temporary wormholes the Bridge's energy randomly generates far below.