That wasn't my doing.

Loki pursed his lips, berating himself for playing around with untested spell-work until Thor's disgruntled muttering startled him out of his thoughts.

'The second guard didn't survive the power of the Casket,' Thor explained when Loki threw him a questioning look.

'How many would?' Loki replied and gestured to the body of the frost giant who had wielded the Casket. 'How did he get to it in the first place?'

'I brought him down earlier on. He wasn't as dead as I thought he would be,' Thor answered curtly as he surveyed the empty space where the portal had been.

'Mistakes happen. It doesn't matter now -- the frost giant's dead and the Casket is still in Asgardian hands.'

To be precise, the Casket now lay on its side in the middle of the Weapons Vault's ante-chamber, amid melting ice and washes of spilled blood. Loki shifted away from it. Thor could pick the Casket up and return it to its designated stand. It was bad enough the frost giants had seen Loki's true form, he didn't need to offer Thor that revelation this evening as well.

'If they can open a portal into the palace, the Casket isn't safe. Nor anything else in the vault,' Thor replied. He seemed to give up hope of finding answers in the empty air where the portal had been and turned his attention to the bodies now scattered all around them.

Loki cocked his head. 'That might well be true. We could move the vault's contents to the Treasury and order for the guard to be doubled throughout the palace.'

'That's not enough.'

'Father would know what to do,' Loki said. He didn't much care for the dark undertone in Thor's words. 'Summon him.'

Thor started, then jerked to a stop. He crouched down beside one of the frost giants lying slumped by the door to the vault and flipped him onto his back. 'This one's alive.'

The frost giant's thigh and shoulder bled, but his life didn't seem to be in immediate danger. Consequences of Thor's wrath aside, of course.

Thor slid his fingers under the collar of the frost giant's chest piece and lifted him off the ground. 'Your name!'

'Baugi,' the frost giant muttered.

'I have questions. It'll be best for you if you answer them, and answer them well.' As he spoke, Thor lifted the frost giant higher until Baugi's body spasmed and he moaned with pain. Baugi's armour hid the exact nature of his injuries, but Loki suspected Thor's rough handling had put additional pressure on the shoulder wound. Whether this was his intention or a happy accident, Thor gave no clue. He waited until Baugi stilled, then went on. 'How did you get into Asgard?'

'A portal!' Baugi let out a strangled chuckle. 'Has all the gold in this thrice-damned palace left you blind?'

'Who opened the portal? How was this done?' Loki asked.

'Not my place to know these things.'

'So now you claim blindness?' Loki scoffed. 'How could you not see who held the portal open for you when you came through?

'I didn't stop to look around.'

At that, Thor wrenched up Baugi even further, until Baugi was nearly eye to eye with Thor, but then Thor groaned in frustration and released his grip on the frost giant. Baugi flopped to the floor and screamed as the fall jarred his injuries. Thor wasn't done, however. With a warm smile, he set Mjolnir atop the giant's solar plexus.

'Think quietly for a while, my friend,' he said. 'I expect you will find you have more to tell me than you first thought. Call out when you're ready to talk.'

Loki had to make a concerted effort not to grimace at Baugi's struggle to take a breath while Mjolnir's full weight rested on his chest. Even when Mjolnir hadn't been reserved for Thor's use, the weapon hadn't been an easy weight to bear, let alone to shift. Loki remembered that full well.

Thudding on the stairs interrupted Thor's impromptu interrogation. Both Loki and Thor stiffened, half-anticipating another fight, but it was their father, flanked by Tyr, the captain of the Einherjar, and a dozen of the palace guard. Odin wore little more than leggings and nightshirt, save for the sword at his side.

'The ravens are slow to forget their old ways,' Odin said. 'They spoke of an intrusion, but I see the new king has attended to the matter.'

'Frost giants, father. They were after the Casket,' Thor replied.

Odin and Tyr were silent for several seconds, seemingly just taking in the scene before them. It was hardly a glorious battlefield - a dank chamber with bodies scattered all about and everywhere, melting mounds of ice that would soon turn the whole floor into a great, red-tinted puddle. And amid all that, the great treasure of Jotunheim still lay like a discarded trinket.

'Guards, clear the dead,' Odin said, then lifted up the Casket and beckoned his sons into the Weapons Vault. 'You had best explain to Tyr and me what happened here.'

Thor waited until they were out of earshot of the guardsmen before he spoke. Perhaps he was still disappointed to have allowed frost giants to reach the Casket; his account was brief and lacklustre -- all of four sentences. Loki then added a few words for the tale, but there was little for him to say unless he wanted the night's focus to turn to his crippled magic or the true shade of his skin.

'What will you do now, Thor?' Odin asked once he set the Casket back to its designated place in the vault.

'One frost giant still lives,' Thor replied. 'I was in the middle of questioning him when you arrived.'

Tyr grinned, revealing the wide gap in the upper row of his teeth where a frost giant polearm once struck him. 'The one writhing under the hammer, I take it? A good start, my king. I can work with him from here; he will be talking soon enough.'

----------------------------------------

They gave the guardsmen time to clear the space. The frost giants were carried out quickly, but as per ancient custom, the two dead Asgardians were wrapped in silken sheets and lifted up on ceremonial shields. They had died defending their realm. Fire and Valhalla awaited them.

Once only Baugi remained, Thor called for the guardsmen to leave and lifted Mjolnir off Baugi.

The frost giant gulped mouthfuls of air, his chest nearly spasming. After perhaps a dozen of these panicked breaths, Baugi must have become cognizant of his situation. He clambered backwards, away from the Asgardians peering down on him.

Tyr, although only a few centuries younger than Odin, still retained the full vigour of his youth. He moved swiftly. In one deft motion, he grabbed Baugi and pulled the frost giant up.

'Stand!' Tyr demanded. 'Stand upright, you miserable beast.'

Baugi did seem to try, but his injured leg wouldn't hold him. Within moments he collapsed to his knees and sank his head down to his chest.

Tyr kicked him. 'Too pathetic to even stand and face your enemies.' Tyr grabbed a fistful of Baugi's hair and pulled back until Baugi finally lifted his head. 'Pay respects to your betters, beast. Here you are before Thor, the king of Asgard and protector of the Nine Realms. You are here before Odin and before me, Tyr.'

Baugi produced an incomprehensible grunt, which sent Tyr into laughter.

Tyr leaned down and spoke into the frost giant's ear. 'I take it these names mean something to you? Yes, what you fear is true. I am the Tyr who took Gjallir and who slaughtered the Roskvar. This is the Odin, who broke the might of Jotunheim and took the Casket of Ancient Winters from your miserable race. Think well before you choose your next words.'

'What do you want? I already told your king what I know,' Baugi replied.

While Odin seemed tired more than anything else, Thor wore an expression of stunned fascination. Loki too found himself disarmed by the scene before them. Tyr featured in countless songs and sagas, but Loki and Thor had known him primarily as the dour man whom Sif called father. The man had made a valiant stand against the Dark Elves before he fell, but Loki had been in Svartalfheim by then and heard the tale only later. This was the first time Loki saw firsthand the Tyr the bards had sung about.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I can't say I like him any better like this.

'Tell us about the portal,' Loki said, lest Tyr go on any longer.

'Why? Won't change the truth, will it?' Baugi replied. 'Here you stand amid these great names, yet you don't even get an introduction. But there's no point introducing you, is there? I saw you try to close the portal and you couldn't. What good is a wielder who can't even do that much?'

Tyr glanced at Loki, then delivered a kick square to the small of Baugi's back. 'Tell us about the portal.'

'I don't know anything,' Baugi insisted.

'Lord Tyr, step back.' Loki said.

Baugi had to be lashing out at him because he was the only target available, Loki couldn't see what other motive there could be. Still, there was no reason he couldn't introduce himself to the frost giant. Neither Thor nor Tyr had produced results so far, perhaps Loki would.

'I'm Loki Odinson, prince of Asgard,' he said and conjured a circle of four-foot-high flames around Baugi. 'Well met.'

The frost giant shrunk into himself and tried to lift himself off the floor, but Loki sent the flames higher until they licked at the ceiling. Odin and Tyr threw up their hands to shield their eyes from the fire's heat. At their feet, the puddle rapidly consuming the floor began to hiss and bubble.

'It was a witch. One of the women from the Bradi clan!' Baugi called out over the crackling fire.

Loki snuffed out the flames and inhaled deeply. After a few moments, when his vision stopped swimming and the tremors in his hands calmed, he motioned for Baugi to continue. 'What else?'

'My prince commanded us to go with him, so we did.' Baugi wiped off the rivulets of sweat running down his face. 'I don't know anything more.'

'Your prince?' Thor asked.

'Helblindi.'

Odin's eye narrowed. 'Laufey's boy?'

'Yes.'

Laufey's son? His brother? Loki had heard of Helblindi before. In the last years before Ragnarok, news seldom had come from Jotunheim. Since the realm remained hostile to Asgard and neither Loki nor anyone else among the Asgardians hungered to interfere in frost giant politics, Loki had never paid much attention, but Helblindi had featured frequently in those snippets of information. He had led a number of influential tribes in the civil war that Laufey's death had instigated.

Yet Loki never realised they were related. Were the poor sources or his own inattention to blame? Or had Helblindi himself chosen to forsake his father's name?

You can never know now, can you?

'Did the prince escape?' Odin asked, inching towards Baugi.

'No,' came Baugi's sullen reply.

Odin's shoulders sunk and in that moment the long centuries of his life seemed to catch up with him. 'And now Laufey has cause for fury beyond measure,' he sighed. 'Allfathers give us strength.'

'Or perhaps this is settled. Helblindi made an assault on Asgard and paid for it. Laufey now knows for certain that our strength outmatches his,' Loki said.

He hoped his words sounded sincere, because they certainly weren't. This whole affair felt like a beginning of something, not an ending. In the muddled swirl of thoughts in his mind, one drew forth again and again: This isn't what fixed looks like.

'No, the frost giants have violated the peace between our realms,' Thor said. 'How can I let that go unpunished? They walked right into the palace; they got to the Casket itself.'

'Do not allow your anger to forget the profits diplomacy can bring,' Odin replied.

'It is too late for diplomacy.' Tyr half-heartedly kicked Baugi in the side. 'They have already declared war.'

Odin shook his head. 'Too ha --'

'No,' Thor cut in, 'the frost giants have no respect for peace treaties; they only came to heel because you and Tyr made them. Now you're king no longer and they think I'm a weakling. They don't know me and they don't respect me, so they try their luck. The only way we can have peace is to show them I'll not hesitate to strike them down whenever they give me cause to do so.'

Loki bit down on the inside of his cheek; this was all too familiar. Worse yet, this time Tyr beamed an encouraging smile at his young king. Chances were, any arguments Odin could make against war, Tyr would counter. The old war hound itched for another chance at glory.

'How do you plan to strike them down then?' Loki asked, then paused. 'We have what we need from the frost giant, don't we? Best not have him listening in on this.'

'Quite right.' Tyr whistled, then hollered so loudly he likely woke half the palace servants. 'Guards! Attend to the prisoner and take him down to the cells!'

Four guards rushed in. Two grabbed Baugi's arms and dragged him out, while the other two trailed behind, their spears pointed at Baugi's back. They moved quickly, but Loki still caught the fear in their eyes. It had been centuries since frost giants had last been seen in Asgard.

'Well, Thor, have you a plan?' Loki pressed. 'Or do you simply intend to march out to Jotunheim and hammer them into submission?'

Thor jerked his head towards Mjolnir. 'The Einherjar and my hammer should more than suffice.'

'I could have a regiment ready by tomorrow,' Tyr said.

'Oh, good,' Loki replied dryly. 'Thor, declare war if you so wish, you are the king now and we have a duty to obey. However, don't act like a child and stomp about because someone dared to displease you. Think as a king and as a warrior. Once you do, the matter is quite clear -- it is dangerous to leave your rear vulnerable to further attack.'

Odin nodded to his youngest. 'A witch has opened a portal almost directly into the Weapons Vault, which holds the most valuable collection of relics in this half of the galaxy. Who is to say she cannot open another portal into Asgard, either in the same location or elsewhere. It would be unwise to take the Einherjar into Jotunheim and leave Asgard unprotected.'

'What was this portal then, Loki? I don't recount frost giants being able to enter the palace so freely before.' Thor said.

'The spell is common enough. The location, as you said, less so.' Loki paused to weigh up how much he wanted to reveal. 'It isn't easy to open a portal between the realms ordinarily. I think, and this is the roughest of theories only, I think this is the first sign of the approaching Convergence. The boundaries between the realms have begun to weaken, making portals easier to create. It may be this area down by the vault is a particularly sensitive fracture point. How many more there are, I have no clue.'

Thor made a mock swing with Mjolnir. 'Norns be damned. Fine, until we have a solution for these portals, we'll have a regiment of the Einherjar in the palace to supplement the guard and another regiment out patrolling the city. A third will come with me to Jotunheim. I want them ready by tomorrow.'

'I cannot have that many men ready by then,' Tyr replied, 'not without stripping the outer villages --'

'Which we cannot do, because a portal might open up anywhere,' Thor finished for him.

Tyr sighed. 'My king, give me four days and you shall have your soldiers.'

'Fine,' Thor groaned. 'Go then and start your work, Tyr.'

----------------------------------------

'Excuse me?' a guard interjected during the brief pause in Loki and Frigga's discussion.

Once they turned to the guard, however, his courage failed him and Frigga had to prompt the man to continue.

'I-I just thought the king might be found here, your highness,' the guard explained. 'The captain just wanted to report that the vault has been emptied and everything has been relocated to the Treasury.'

The man looked somewhat bewildered, which Loki supposed was justified. It was a rare day when the Council Chamber was filled with sorcerers rather than the king's councillors. But Thor, Tyr and Odin had left to inspect the first contingent of the Einherjar arriving to protect the palace, leaving the chamber vacant. Loki and Frigga saw no reason not to make use of the space in their absence. They were in need of a map and there were none better than the one in this chamber.

'Thank you, Aldur,' Frigga said. 'I will pass on the message to my son. Was there anything else?'

The guard began to shake his head, then thought better of it. 'Do you know what is to happen with the bodies?'

'Prepare them for a warrior's funeral of course.'

'The frost giants too?' The guard's eyes widened.

'Ah, that had --'

Loki rested his hand on his mother's forearm. 'I'll look into the matter.'

In the furore of the night, he hadn't had the chance to spare a thought about the frost giant bodies and apparently, no one else had either. What had his father ordered to be done with the three troublemakers from Thor's coronation the first time around? Loki couldn't recount; he had been too focused on Thor at that moment. What then was the appropriate disposal method? He couldn't well leave it to Thor, not with the mood Thor was in. Nor did Loki want rotting corpses lying about in the palace. On the other hand, Asgardian sensibilities had to be considered.

'Where were the bodies moved to? I would see them before I make a decision,' Loki said, hoping that inspiration would strike soon.

The guard looked somewhat put out at the request, but took Loki down to the dungeons where an unused cell had been repurposed as a morgue. The frost giants, nine in all, were laid out in a row atop sheets of undyed canvas.

As Loki moved along the line of the dead, the guard spoke. 'I'd not trouble yourself overly much about the bodies, your highness. After all, no matter the method we use to be rid of them, it'll never match what their own families would've done.'

'Pardon?'

'I think it was Isinger the Blind who spoke of it.' The man's cheeks flushed; it wasn't the place of a guard to school a prince of Asgard on history. 'But other chronicles too. They feed the dead to their children.'

Loki grimaced. 'Yes, I rather suspect the palace cooks can furnish the dining table with more palatable meat than Jotunn.'

The guard laughed and Loki threw up his hand to dismiss him. Isinger had indeed written about cannibalism among frost giants, but Isinger had also claimed that the old king Bor had bedded ninety-nine virgins in a single night.

'Can't say there's much meat on any of you anyway,' Loki muttered under his breath as he inspected the rest of the bodies.

The last frost giant in the line wore different armour to the rest. It hugged its wearer in a way only custom-made armour could and gleamed in the torchlight, elaborate revealing images of strange animals etched into the chest and shoulder pieces. Their leader then.

Helblindi.

Loki hadn't noticed it back at the Weapons Vault, but Helblindi was shorter than the others. Was short stature the lot of Laufey's line or had Helblindi simply not yet grown to his full height? Loki didn't actually know which of them was older.

Someone had turned Helblindi's head so that the damage to the back of his head wasn't so obvious and his passive, stiff face now stared up at Loki. There didn't seem to be much resemblance between them. Helblindi clearly took after Laufey, while Loki favoured his mother -- whoever she had been. If Odin knew her identity, he had never volunteered the information and Loki had never dared to ask. Now he had to wonder, was he a full-blood brother to Helblindi or merely a half-brother?

Either way, the point was moot. The Norns had decreed a battle between Thor and Helblindi. Thor had won. That was the end of it.

Except that wasn't true. Loki had meddled with history, he had a hand in this.

I traded one brother for another.

Running his hand through his tangled hair, Loki sighed. He was dwelling too long on a dead Jotunn with whom he had never exchanged so much as a word. There were more important issues to deal with.

By the time he caught up to the guard out in the corridor, Loki had an order ready. 'Have their bodies cared for as if they were Asgardian and then kept in stasis,' he said. 'Chances are the king will make use of the bodies later.'