Stone Cold
Medusa they called her. Viper . Killer .
All she wanted was a moment of peace.
But no, she was on the run again, tripping over her own feet to make it deep enough into the forest. Away from the people who feared her. Who hunted her.
Their angry shouts were growing closer, so she threw her hands behind her, toppling a cluster of boulders into their path. That might buy her enough time.
With her focus on her hunters, she failed to see a twisted root sticking out of the ground by the edge of a steep decline. Her toes caught underneath and she tumbled downward, her skin and clothes catching on every stray branch and stone until she was a ragged, bloody mess. And when she finally reached the bottom of the unfamiliar hill, her whole world went dark.
Sunlight trickled down to touch her face between the canopy of leaves above, gently coaxing the girl awake. She groaned and struggled to sit up, wincing as she felt all the injuries she’d suffered during her fall. A glimmer caught her eye, and she crawled toward it, settling on the bank of a river as blue and clear as the midday sky. Sighing, she cupped her hands. The water was cool, silky as it ran across the scratches on her fingers and palms, and she drank.
And nearly choked. Voices were coming from her left, and they were getting louder. Panicking but still too tired to even attempt standing, she dragged herself behind the trunk of the thickest tree nearby.
The battered girl was afraid to breathe, let alone move, as two figures passed her by. Two females, seemingly young, strolled away from her now, wearing extravagant dresses, their hair done up in systems of intricate braids. But what scared her most was that they spoke an odd language, one she couldn’t even begin to recognize.
That’s when she began to truly look at her surrounding. The steep hill she vaguely remembered rolling down was nowhere in sight, the land flat and scattered with trees as far as her eye could see. Struggling to understand what had happened, she placed her hands on the ground to push herself into a sitting position, back resting against the tree. But she made the mistake of crushing a small twig, drawing the attention of the strangers who’d passed her.
The taller of the two saw her first, eyes widening. She said some quick, intense words to her companion, and they both began to move to her.
“Stay back!” the girl yelled, afraid of what these eccentric people were going to do to her. “Please!”
But they kept forward, their brows knitted together, almost as if they were confused. Not frightened. At least, until they got close enough to see her eyes.
The smaller one noticed first, letting out a scream so loud it drove away a flock of birds resting in the branches above. Now she was able to see the fear in both sets of eyes focused on her, and she didn’t know what else to do. Sobbing, she waved her hands frantically at the girls.
They didn’t make another sound.
Loki was utterly annoyed as he made his way into the city, muttering under his breath. It was bad enough that Odin was pestering him more than usual, Thor being gone on a trip to Vanaheim yet again to discuss details on peace and treaties before his coronation. Now he was being tasked with trivial matters such as finding two Asgardian sisters who’d gone missing just a few days before. He didn’t understand why a few guards couldn’t have handled the situation instead, but Odin had insisted it was necessary.
After speaking with the parents of the missing women, he went to the edge of the forest they’d described. There was no trace of them, not one that was fresh, but there was something odd he could sense. He couldn’t put a finger on it. Cocking his head in interest, he sought out the source of the unfamiliar sensation.
He found her lying her underneath a tree near a slender river, sleeping fitfully, her emerald hair scattered all around her pale face. She definitely wasn’t Asgardian, that much he could tell. She looked Midgardian, but she had a powerful energy about her that suggested otherwise. Curious, he circled around to investigate when he saw them.
Quietly maneuvering around the odd girl, he made his way over to the statues. They looked exactly like the missing girls he’d been sent to find, and he had no doubt that these were them, if they were even still alive. Leaning to rest against the taller stone creation, he waited for the mysterious girl to wake.
A few minutes later she sat upright, her entire body rigid and smelling of sweat. He watched with interest as a thin pink tongue with a forked end shot out of her mouth, tasting the air. And then a pair of wide, blood red eyes found his.
The girl woke again in a cold sweat, her breathing heavy. Something wasn’t right, she could smell it. Cautiously turning her head, her body froze as she locked eyes with the most dangerous man she’d ever seen.
He was so tall, towering above the poor girls she’d turned to stone. He wore armor made of metal and leather, the vivid green colors matching the golden accents perfectly. His skin was porcelain compared to the ebony locks that fell to his shoulders, his cheekbones and jawline chiseled and refined. But his eyes, it was his eyes that were the most unnerving, bright emerald green orbs, cold and calculating. And they were focused on her.
The girl panicked, rising to her feet with her back pressed against the tree she’d curled up net to, one hand held out in front of her as a shield. As if that could protect her.
“Μείνουν πίσω!” she cried, tears pooling in her crimson eyes. “Παρακαλώ, δεν θέλω να σας βλάψω!”
“Please, child, this will be much easier if you and I can understand each other.” He flicked his wrist at her, green energy swirling around her and settling in her core. The girl gasped, clawing at her chest as if she was being attacked. “Calm down, it’s not going to hurt you.”
“What,” she froze, staring up at him, “what did you do to me? Why do I know what you say now?”
“My Seidr, little one. Magic. You hear me, I hear you. Much more civil that way. Now,” he sighed, pushing off of the stony shoulder of the statue, folding his hands together behind his back, “would you mind explaining to me why you decided to come to Asgard and kill two noble maidens?”
“I did not kill them,” she hissed, her voice suddenly shrill. “I simply stopped them from attacking me. I did not mean to hurt them, I swear it.”
He nodded, watching the tears spill from her eyes onto her cheeks, smearing the dirt and dried blood covering them. “Then I suggest you turn them back before I’m forced to take you to the Allfather. He’ll most likely sentence you to live out the rest of your life in the dungeons.”
She was sobbing now, clutching both arms against her stomach. “Please, I do not know how to turn them back, I have only ever turned people to stone, never back. Please, help me.”
He tilted his head. “And what would you offer me in return, little monster?”
“Anything, please, I do not want anyone else to get hurt because of me.” She took a few shaky steps forward, stumbling to him.
“ Anything I want? Now dear, are you sure? That is quite a gamble.” Taking advantage of her hysteric state, he teleported behind her, leaving a clone standing in his former place. He summoned a collar that hindered magical abilities and slowly moved closer to the girl.
“Yes, anything, I swear it, just please-”she stopped, sniffling. He wasn’t there anymore, but he was. Scared and angry, she waved her hands in small circles, sprouting vines to ensnare the limbs of the man in front of her as well as the person at her back.
The man behind her grunted, dropping something heavy on the ground with a clang as his arms were pulled above his head. Where he’d been just moments before was nothing but an illusion, her vines grasping at air as his form shimmered green. She turned, reddening at the man’s hateful, yet somehow interested expression.
“Clever girl. How did you know?” He cocked his head and smirked, his eyes full of a strange light she didn’t recognize.
She ignored him, picking up the thick golden collar he’d dropped. “You intended to put this on me. Why?”
His mouth curled further upwards when he snapped the vines holding him in place, making her gasp and shuffle away as he stalked toward her. “I’ll make you a deal. If you put it on, I’ll help you fix those poor girls you turned into garden decorations.”
Intimidated beyond rational thought, she slipped the cool metal around her neck and clamped it shut, unable to see the green light magically sealing it together.
“Good girl,” the man purred. With a wave of his hand, the statues returned to normal, their screams once again filling the air. However, the man quickly touched a glowing finger to their foreheads, silencing them once again as they collapsed to the ground.
“What did you do to them?” she asked, watching in horror as a cut on one of the girl’s head started to bleed.
“They’ll be fine. I erased their memory of you and being turned to stone. You should thank me, really, otherwise you’d be hunted down and thrown in the dungeon.”
“Uh, thank you, sir?”
“Good enough for now,” he huffed, holding his palm out in her direction. She was mortified to see a thin chain materialize in it, attaching to the collar she’d just put on.
Immediately she tried to pry it off of her neck, pulling at it with all her strength, but he tsked at her, giving the dainty chains a firm tug, and she went sprawling to his feet. “Now, now, none of that.” She heard the change in his voice, full of mischief and something else she couldn’t quite place as he added, “ You look much better in your rightful place, my dear, kneeling at my feet.”
Before she could protest, she was surrounded by more glowing green energy, and her vision was consumed by a blinding light.