Chapter 108 - Civil Discourse

Chapter 108: Chapter 108 - Civil Discourse

Thor noticed the silence. Asgard’s palace was not built for it.

The clash of steel had followed him through the outer halls, sometimes near enough to rattle the gold beneath his boots. The Warriors had shouted warnings from one junction to the next. Civilians had fled toward guarded chambers while the palace shook under impacts. Then Thor crossed an inner arch and heard only the distant groan of damaged stone.

Odin stopped beside him at the same instant. His gaze moved over the empty passage, the abandoned spears beside fallen shields, dead Asgardians and Dark Elves, and the doors that should have been under attack.

The absence of an enemy did not mean the danger had passed. It meant the enemy had found somewhere more useful to be.

"The dungeons." Odin pointed toward the nearest stair. "The fighting continues below. See that the prisoners are contained and your brother remains in his cell."

Thor turned toward the nearest stair, then paused when his father’s last command settled properly.

Odin’s expression hardened before Thor could answer the thought neither of them wished to voice. Loki had been left behind when the other prisoners escaped, but neither of them knew that yet. A son should not have needed to wonder whether his brother was safe from an invading army or helping it. A father should not have needed to order the question investigated.

That uncertainty wounded Odin more than any Dark Elf blade could have managed.

"I will find him."

Thor descended with Mjolnir in hand.

The prison offered him noise again. A pair of Asgardian guards held the foot of the stairs while escaped captives fought among broken barriers and scattered weapons. Some prisoners had fled deeper into the dungeon. Others had mistaken an alien invasion for a promise that no one would object if they murdered their way out.

Jane had recently begun teaching Thor the virtues of restraint. She called the effort taming, usually while looking pleased with herself and sitting in a position that made the argument difficult. Thor had accepted the challenge. A warrior who could command storms ought to be capable of ending a prison riot with civil discourse.

He lifted Mjolnir without throwing it.

"Return to your cells, and I shall accept that you were confused by the attack. Continue, and I shall remove the confusion by force."

Three prisoners looked toward him. One dropped a stolen sword and backed through the nearest open barrier.

The other two charged.

Thor struck the first with the flat of Mjolnir and sent him through the doorway he had refused to use. The second reached Thor’s side, discovered that an elbow could be as persuasive as an enchanted hammer, and folded around the lesson. Two more captives surrendered after witnessing the exchange.

For several heartbeats, Thor believed Jane’s civil approach might work.

A Kronan tore a section of railing from the upper walk and hurled it at the guards.

Thor caught the metal across one forearm. The impact drove his boots through loose stone and pushed him half a foot, but it kept the jagged end from entering a guard’s chest. He tossed the railing aside and looked up at the rock-skinned prisoner.

"You have rejected the peaceful option."

The Kronan thumped both fists against his mineral chest. "Come and move me, little prince."

Jane’s plan met reality and was shattered. Thor could hardly resent it. Reality had met Mjolnir before and fared no better.

He rose to the upper walk in one leap. The Kronan braced for a blow to the head, protecting the heavy plates that made blunt force a poor choice. Thor adjusted his swing toward the vulnerable space between the prisoner’s legs.

The Kronan’s confidence cracked before the hammer reached him.

Thor smirked. His oldest method remained sound. Smash a problem until it complied, or fuck Jane until she did. The second solution had proven particularly reliable, although Jane’s habit of losing consciousness before admitting defeat made formal victory difficult to establish.

Mjolnir stopped an inch from the Kronan’s stone crotch.

The prisoner raised both hands. "I surrender."

"Civil discourse." Thor lowered the hammer. "Jane will be delighted."

He drove the Kronan into the open cell with one hand and bent the damaged barrier back across the entrance. The surviving guards advanced behind him, forcing the remaining captives away from the stairs and into whatever cells still functioned.

Loki remained where Odin had put him.

Thor found his brother seated behind the glowing barrier with an open book in his hands. The floor beyond the cell was marked by the riot. Loki’s barrier had been damaged enough to flicker, but it still held, and Loki wore the bored expression of a man inconvenienced by everyone else’s escape.

"Father feared you might be involved."

Loki turned a page. "How moving. He remembered I exist and immediately assumed treason."

"Are you secure?"

"I am imprisoned during an invasion while every creature with half my intelligence has been released. I have never been more secure."

Thor tested the barrier with Mjolnir’s head. It remained firm. He disliked leaving Loki in the dungeon with armed prisoners loose nearby, but breaking the cell would solve one danger by releasing another, and Odin’s order had been plain.

Armoured footsteps reached the stair. Odin appeared at the top with two warriors behind him.

"The Queen’s chambers have been breached."

Thor was already moving. Odin followed.

--

Queen Frigga’s illusion wore Jane Foster’s frightened face.

Kurse held Frigga herself by the throat while Malekith examined the false woman from several feet away. The disguise trembled convincingly. It breathed too quickly, watched the Dark Elf with wide eyes, and drew its hands protectively against its chest. Frigga maintained every detail without allowing a trace of fear into her own face.

Malekith reached toward the illusion.

His fingers passed through Jane’s shoulder.

The false body collapsed into pale motes and left Malekith reaching into empty air.

Malekith’s hand rose to the cut across his face, the wound Frigga’s blade had given him before Kurse turned the fight. His fury settled upon the Queen.

"Where is she?"

"Malekith."

The new voice came from the damaged entrance.

Lucius stepped into the chamber at an unhurried pace, as if the breach in the wall had admitted a tedious petitioner rather than the commander of an invading army. He had dismissed the enormous axes from the corridor and carried no weapon. At seven feet three inches, he stood nearly level with Kurse. The difference was that Kurse looked made for violence, while Lucius looked as though violence had become a tailoring decision.

He studied Malekith’s face and smiled.

"That cut looks good on you."

Lucius shifted his attention to Frigga and inclined his head with more care than he had offered the invader. "My compliments, Your Highness. Both to your skill with the blade and your taste in improvements."

Frigga attempted a courteous nod. Kurse’s grip made the gesture smaller than royal dignity deserved.

Lucius’s smile disappeared.

Kurse froze.

Telekinesis caught every joint from his shoulders to the claws at Frigga’s throat. Lucius opened the fingers one by one. The transformed Dark Elf pushed against the invisible hold with enough force to fracture the floor under his feet, but his arms continued spreading until Frigga could step free.

"Appreciation from royalty should not be obstructed. It encourages bad manners among the staff."

Frigga’s blade lifted from where it had fallen. It turned point-down in the air and glided hilt-first toward her. She took it without haste, then crossed the chamber to stand at Lucius’s side.

The balance of the room changed with her first free step. Malekith’s attention shifted from the freed Queen to the man holding Kurse immobile. Lucius looked pleased that everyone had caught up.

Frigga tested her bruised throat with two fingers. "I see Thor has made a friend above his league this time."

Her gaze travelled over Lucius, from the calm posture to the immobilised creature behind him. "His companions are generally more direct in their handling of delicate situations."

Lucius straightened with shameless pride. "Why, thank you, Your Highness. I do believe Lady Sif belongs in my category, though she is burdened by principles and a regrettable preference for armour."

Frigga’s mouth curved. "I was referring to intelligence."

"Then I accept without qualification."

Malekith looked from them to Kurse. His servant remained locked in the position where he had held the Queen, arms forced wide around an absence. Malekith’s pale skin had begun to darken around the wound Frigga had left.

"Where is she?"

Lucius turned his head. "Malekith, correct?"

The Dark Elf’s stare sharpened.

Lucius nodded as if an introduction had been completed. "Excellent. I have a question. Are there any female Dark Elves you might introduce me to? I am a connoisseur of exotic tastes, yet every Dark Elf I have seen so far has been male."

He glanced toward the corridor behind him, where no surviving invader remained to object.

"They are also dead now, which makes the sample both ugly and useless."

Colour spread further beneath Malekith’s pallor. Frigga let out a quiet chuckle.

Lucius raised a hand before Malekith could interrupt. "Surely you preserved a few sorceresses, assassins, or female warriors. I would much rather negotiate with someone exotically beautiful than continue staring at your ugly mug. Queen Frigga did her best to fix it, but if the material is shit, even royal craftsmanship has limits."

Frigga’s quiet amusement broke into genuine laughter.

Malekith moved, but Mjolnir struck him in the face before his first step registered.

The hammer crossed the chamber in a blur, caught Malekith beneath the uninjured cheek, and carried him backwards into the fractured edge of the balcony. The impact cracked the stone and left him hanging above open air for a single breath.

Thor entered at a run with one hand extended. Odin followed behind him, with two royal warriors struggling to keep pace.

Kurse’s armour groaned. Malekith had been struck toward the only open escape, and Lucius felt the transformed creature redirect every measure of strength toward reaching him. Keeping Kurse pinned would end the attack more efficiently. It would also prevent Lucius from learning what else will happen now that he has changed a small bit.

Efficiency had already enjoyed a very generous evening.

Lucius released him.

Kurse crossed the chamber before Mjolnir could return to Thor’s hand. He caught Malekith and jumped from the balcony before Odin could reach them.

Thor reached the broken edge. Far below, one of the Dark Elves’ small vessels swept under the falling pair. Kurse struck its upper surface hard enough to tilt it, but the craft recovered and drove away from the palace before Thor could call lightning through the crowded sky.

Mjolnir returned to his palm.

Odin stopped beside Frigga. His anger did not fade, but his hand found hers and confirmed what he already saw. She was alive. The Queen squeezed once, then looked past him toward Lucius.

She was still chuckling.

Thor turned from his mother to his new shield-brother. Odin did the same, although his expression suggested that the title had not improved with use.

Lucius watched the escaping vessel shrink between the towers of Asgard. His shoulders lowered with profound disappointment.

"I cannot believe he left without telling me where to find them."

Frigga laughed again.