Above All Shadows [Loki Timetravel fic - Completed]

14. Smoke Bombs

'Another?' Geir asked as he gathered up the cards on the table. 'I guess if we keep playing, there's a chance you'll get better at this game. How many is it in a row now?'

Ranveig huffed. 'There's only so much I can do with the shite cards you deal me.'

'You deal then.'

Curled up in bed, Loki gritted his teeth at the inane chatter drifting into his cell.

Four days had passed since Agnar and Tyr had staged their coup. He had received no further visits from his mother nor any messages from her. The cell itself wasn't a hardship in the grand scale of things. He was given food whenever he requested it and some of his personal belongings had been brought down. He was well-fed, clothed and moderately entertained, but as much as it heartened him that Asgardians still remembered that he was the king's brother, his anxiety over the lack of news from the outside gnawed at him.

The only thing to change in the past days were the uniforms of the men stationed outside his cell. As Loki understood it, more Einherjari troops had been called to the front, which left the palace guard to manage more of the emergency tasks inside the palace.

Ranveig and Geir weren't half as attentive to their duties as their Einherjari counterparts had been. They had set up a table in the middle of the corridor and occupied themselves with lewd jokes, complaints about their superiors, and card games. Loki had initially thought their relaxed attitude would be a boon, but now that it was two in the morning and their conversation continued to keep him awake, he wasn't so sure.

As Ranveig finished shuffling the cards, however, Geir dropped the volume of his voice a notch. 'Have you heard from your brother-in-law?' he asked. 'There's not much news coming from the fighting.'

'Not since his company went in. Not that he expected anything good. Last time he was at my house, he spent half the night ranting about how they prepped for the last war against Jotunheim, not today's.'

'Should he be talking like that about what happens in the planning room?'

'Drink loosens his tongue,' Ranveig replied. 'I've told him often enough he needs to contain himself, but he doesn't give a fig about what I've got to say. Whatever's happening out there, I hope the old king wakens soon and sets things aright. Clearly, the queen can't do much.'

I wish father would wake too. If only to shut up the two of you.

Moving slowly so he wouldn't draw the guards' attention, Loki pulled his blanket down and turned so he could see them seated at the table.

'I thought she was really something,' Ranveig added, dealing out the cards for the next round. 'No joking, I did. Except, what's she doing now? Hiding out in her room, weeping. She's the queen! We all have family problems and we still come in to do our work.'

'I'm a card short.'

'Oh, sorry.' Ranveig slapped one more card onto the table. 'I suppose I hardly know what the queen does. Maybe she's just supposed to sit by her husband and look pretty.'

Geir took a glance at his cards and shook his head. 'Use your brain, Veig. The queen's quarters are as well-guarded right now as the Treasury vaults. Sure, she's confined in there by her own choosing.'

Loki sighed. Now he had his explanation and it was exactly what he had feared.

'What are you saying?' Ranveig asked.

'Well, don't go repeating this, yeah? But it seems to me everything worked out neatly in Lord Agnar's favour. Everyone can see he's getting on in age and rumours were, the new king disliked him, so it was only a matter of time until he was thrown out of the king's council. Now he rules Asgard. If he manages to get rid of the king's family properly and keeps Tyr occupied with the frost giants, he could probably proclaim himself king by the end of the year and no one will do anything about it.'