Loki: Nine Naughty Tales of the Trickster by Vasich Mike

Author:Vasich, Mike [Vasich, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Published: 2012-06-02T14:30:00+00:00

Frigg stared up at the black hall, ominous and stretching to the edges of her perception. Hel was beyond these walls, and though none in the Nine Worlds was ever eager to see her, Frigg felt anticipation tug at her. She crossed the bridge overlooking a long drop to destruction below and passed the gates, stepping into the hall known as Eljudner, the home of the queen of the dead.

A corpse-like creature materialized before her, grown like a mushroom from the dirt between the rocks, and it shambled away with a single beckoning gesture. She followed it down the winding, gray-lit halls and into a great chamber with a single throne and a solitary figure perched upon it. She approached.

From what she could see, Hel was beautiful indeed, a dark and mysterious beauty that contrasted with the radiant luminescence of the goddesses of Asgard. But as Frigg drew closer, her nostrils were assaulted by the foul stench of death and decay very clearly emanating from the figure on the throne.

“Greetings, Frigg. What brings you here to my realm?”

“My son, Balder. I wish to have him back.”

Hel leaned forward. “Wish this and wish that. Wishes don't comprise reality. What if I were to grant the wish of every grieving mother? What then?” She paused, but Frigg didn't respond. “I'll tell you what—the Nine Worlds would be overrun! You and your kind sit high above in Asgard, smug and self-satisfied, but without me down here to do your dirty work, where would you be? Where? Waist high in dead bodies, that's where!”

Frigg sighed. “I don't ask for this lightly. Balder was taken before his time. He has much still to fulfill. I only ask that you release him so that he can embark on his true destiny above.”

Hel laughed, a sound like cold wind whispering through dead trees. “Say you! The Norns measured out his life line same as they do all others—even yours! His was snipped, and that is that. It was time for him to die.”

“But it was trickery! Trickery played upon Hod by . . .” Frigg paused, remembering who she spoke to, and cast her eyes down.

“By who, my lovely?”

“It doesn't matter. I only wish—“

“I know what you wish! Now say it! Who did the tricking?”

Frigg stared at her, unwilling to open her mouth.

“No? Then away with you. I won't listen to more.”

“Loki. It was Loki.”

Hel smiled wide and sat back, showing perfectly white teeth with the barest hint of black at the edges. “Ah, my father. How nice to know that he still dangles you all as his puppets. So you come to me and ask me to reverse that which was caused by my own flesh and blood? All so your perfect son can feel the earth beneath his toes again?” She laughed, a sickly sweet sound that both entranced and repulsed Frigg at the same time.

“Will you release him?”

Her laughter subsided. “Are you insane? Why would I let him go when he is now mine?” She turned her head and gestured towards someone entering the hall behind Frigg.

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