Chapter 4 – On a field in Asgard
30 days have now passed since the party left Helheim, and they are just coming up to the wide field spread before the single hill, upon which the great wolf Fenrir stands. Son of Loki, brother of Hel, and destined to swallow Odin in the great battle of Ragnarök. But the sight is not entirely what they had expected, because next to Fenrir stands none other than Hel herself, lovingly stroking the fur of the wolf so big it could rest its jaw on top of her head without lifting its chin. Ian and Max join hands before beginning the climb up the slope, but Loki is back in snake form and hidden once more around Sigyn’s arm. Two out of three of his bastard children are there. Even they have each other. Somehow, that kiss in the forest has left Sigyn feeling even more alone than before. Why in the world did Loki ever marry her? What was in it for him?
The kiss had been nice, exciting even, but exciting wasn’t enough to feel loved. Exciting wasn’t what she wanted from him – he was plenty capable of that, everyone knew that, but to actually love, to actually give his heart to someone…
He had done it once, trusted another completely. It was ages ago now, eons, but he had once trusted Odin enough to mix blood with him. Was it that trust, that brotherhood, between him and Odin, that had left him like this? Unable to commit even to his children? Unable to choose any side but his own?
He had never opened up to her about it, never told her what possessed him to do it in the first place. In fact, he hadn’t really opened up about much of any importance. Sure, he had told her stuff, but always about the adventures he had had, like when he dressed up as a bridesmaid back when Thor dressed up as Freya to get Mjolnir back. Stories like that were great, they were entertaining, and anyone who listened to him tell them were enchanted, but the stories themselves weren’t revealing. Sure, they revealed his brilliant mind, but they never touched his heart.
Her heart and wrist heavy with those thoughts, Sigyn marches slowly up the hill, ready to face the outcomes of her husbands lack of loyalty.
“So,” Hel initiates the interaction. “What is your plan? The humans might have been able to untie Loki, but they won’t get this one up. The sons of Ivaldi made it themselves, from the roots of the mountains and the breath of a fish. You can’t unlock it, Fenrir can’t break it, what is your plan?” Sigyn doesn’t answer, but rather kneels down and lets Loki out of her sleeve.
“I see you changed your mind,” Sigyn says quietly.
“Baldur,” Hel states, almost annoyed at the name itself. “He can be… persuasive.” It takes every ounce of will power Max has left in him to not laugh at this, the idea that pure and innocent Baldur could wrap the goddess of death around his finger like that. Ian, however, doesn’t quite manage to keep the snigger in, and for his trouble he receives a deadly cold stare from Hel. Sigyn ignores them all, rather reaching out and taking a hold of the chain that bind Fenrir. With her hands clasped firmly around the chain she pulls to each side. Now it is Hel’s turn to laugh.
“If Fenrir can’t break it, what makes you think you can?” But the chain breaks between Sigyn’s hands. Both Hel and Fenrir look down in astonishment. Max and Ian look towards each other again, and this time they actually are thinking the same thing: They bet on the right horse.
“One thousand years,” Sigyn says. “I held that bowl up in stretched arms for one thousand years.” And that explains everything – or at least she seems to think so.
“No one has strength like Sigyn,” Loki says behind her. The sad thing is, everyone except Sigyn can hear the pride in his voice. All Sigyn hears is the smile. It is a charming smile, to be sure, and one that has persuaded a hundred gods a hundred times to listen to that voice, but charming, like exciting, is not what she is looking for. Loki smiles to himself, but the smile is forced and uncommonly sad for his face. She doesn’t look at him with those big, bright eyes anymore. She doesn’t light up when he tells her stories. Even before the whole ordeal with Baldur. But she was too loyal to leave, even in the cave. Too loyal to leave, and yet no longer in love with him. It was plain for all to see, she wasn’t here today to save her love, she was here because her unique sense of loyalty and justice told her this was the only way she could leave him. At this moment, he wants nothing more than to reach out and touch her, just to assure himself that she is still there, still real, for now at least, that he didn’t dream her up. But he doesn’t reach out, and she doesn’t turn around.
“Eh, guys,” Max says unsurely. Loki looks away from his wife with a heavy heart and sees the flock of Asgardians coming towards them, weapons raised. At the very front is Thor in his wagon, pulling steadily ahead of the others. Loki recognizes the glint in his eyes, even from this distance, and before Mjolnir has even left Thor’s gloved hand, Loki has changed into an eagle and is soaring towards the skies, Mjolnir headed straight for him.
“Typical,” Sigyn thinks to herself. “I get him out of the cave, I get him to Idun, and first chance he gets, he abandons me all over again.” Her heart hardens as she watches him soar above her. “This is it. Once we are done here, once Odin has gotten what is coming to him, I am leaving. Hel will give me back Vali and Nari, and I will take them far away from here, far away from any Asgardians, far away from any Jotuns, and far, far away from Loki.” She grits her teeth in determination. But right now, there is work to do. Once again, she takes a firm grip on Fenrir’s chain, this time at his neck where the chain parts into the three strands. With every ounce of strength the years in the cave have given her, and every milligram of energy the apple infused back into her body, she tears the chain once more. Fenrir crouches down and snarls at the Asgardian party coming towards them.
“Don’t,” Sigyn says, her voice sounding almost bored, as if fighting them is beneath her. “No bloodshed, not if we can avoid it.” The wolf turns its giant head and stares at her.
“No bloodshed? Do you have any idea how long I have been standing here, tied up like a beast? Barely able to stretch my legs?”
“Slightly longer than I was in that cave,” she replies without a hint of emotion in her voice. “But if we shed blood now, it will turn into Ragnarök in no time. You do know what happens if Ragnarök breaks loose, don’t you?” The wolf hangs its head and sulks.
“I die,” he says, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“You, your brother, half of everyone else. Bloodshed turns to bloodbath, and the world ends.” Fenrir looks down and mumbles to himself.
“Be worth it, it would,” he says.
“To you, maybe, but I have other plans. You can always take comfort that one day, eventually, you will get to kill Odin once and for all.” She looks up at Loki flying in acrobatic figures to dodge Mjolnir which is in fast pursuit of him. “Just. Not. Today.” As she speaks, she takes careful aim, and when the timing is just right, she throws the chain up in the air, holding on to only one end. The chain wraps itself around Mjolnir, which was still trying to stay true to its promise of never missing its target. As the hammer feels the pull of the chain it resists. Sigyn digs in her heels to stand her ground. The struggle is real, but in the end, her thousand years of none stop weightlifting grants her the victory. Mjolnir falls to the ground at her feet. Thor stops midtrack. This has never happened before. Sure, Mjolnir has been stolen before, but never in active battle. The rest of the Asgardians stop up too, staring wonderingly at the scene before them. It looks like Sigyn, but she is with Loki, Hel, and Fenrir. Loki, who was supposed to be tied up in his cave until Ragnarök where he will attack Asgard with an army of Jotuns. But there is no Jotun army there, not unless you count Hel and Fenrir as an army in and of their own. Of course, Heimdall also hasn’t blown his horn yet, so no Jotun’s have walked across the Bifrost. The strangest of it all though, is the figure of Sigyn. For one, what is she doing standing side by side with Hel? For another, how did she stop Mjolnir midflight? Something is really wrong here, eerily wrong.
