Loki: Winds of Winter

Chapter 24 - Attention Garnered

It was in the early hours of the morning when Rhaenar felt a magical surge and it made him sit straight up. The sleep had left his mind in an instant and his head tilted from side to side as he tried to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. Ragna was still asleep a few feet away from him on her back, with Brann and Is clutched in her hands, as was her custom whenever she slept in a not perfectly secure location. Frostskader was lying beside her. Rhaenar reached out with his magic to wake her, but withdrew it at the last second. He remembered what had happened the last time he had tried to use his magic on her. It had rebounded and he wound up turning himself into a frog for several days. Instead, he reached out with his finger and poked her. Brann lashed out and Is was raised, but Ragna stopped herself. She glanced at Rhaenar and said calmly, "There had better be a good reason for waking me up."

"A disturbance in the magical aura. They are moving and it is not covert if I can feel it. We have to go!" Rhaenar said. Ragna nodded, springing up and gathering Frostskader to her. Rhaenar conjured up a portal.

"Where did you sense it?" Ragna asked.

"Paris, France," Rhaenar answered as an image through the portal became clear and they saw the Eiffel Tower. 

The people of Paris had a long history of experiencing cataclysmic events: the siege of their city by the Northmen, the bloody slaughter of innocents during the French Revolution, the persecuted occupation by the Germans, and countless terrorist attacks in the 21st century. However, nothing could have prepared them for the sight of the River Seine freezing solid, trapping all the barges and little boats in several feet of ice. The clouds moved in, covering the sun on what had been a bright day. Snowflakes started to fall in the middle of summer. 

A police officer patrolling his normal beat was the first victim of the Wight Walkers. He was passing an alley when he saw storm drain freeze and the metal warp and shatter. He drew his gun and slowly advanced. However, a dart of ice pierced him through the chest and he dropped dead. The Night King stood up from the sewer, his cold eyes glancing around the modern metropolis. This was his distraction. The lure. He would have all eyes on him here, and none looking elsewhere. He knelt down, touched the policeman's face and waited for his eyes to open, blue and controlled. The man got up and the Night King turned to where the rest of his army was crawling out of the sewer. He nodded his head and they started pouring past him and into the city. In other places, the sewers overflowed and they ran into crowded areas.

When Rhaenar's portal released them, Ragna tilted her head to the side. "I can hear them. Follow me," Ragna said as she pulled her mask up to conceal the lower half of her face. Rhaenar lifted his hood and shadowed his eyes, running behind her. Ragna drew one of her Valerian steel daggers and released it, watching as it flew between the eyes of an undead soldier. Bran and Is were released from their sheaths and she split the skull of the next walker she came across. "Rhaenar, try to push them away from populated areas!" Ragna ordered as she flipped herself over the back of one undead man, decapitating him with an easy swing of Is, before bringing Bran into the face of another. Rhaenar closed his eyes and started to wave his hands, incanting in Nordic.

"Blod av gamle strømmer gjennom meg. Blod av is og flamme. Jeg ringer på dragen I (The blood of ancients flows through me. Blood of ice and flame. I call upon the dragon within)" Rhaenar said as he drew in a deep breath and released it a moment later as sizzling flames. Ragna glanced over her shoulder and saw the fire curve around and cut the soldiers off. She looked up and saw Rhaenar standing on the building. 

What I would give for Fenris and Erikar to be here right now, Ragna thought to herself as she did a spin flip, swinging Bran and Is. Heads rolled and limbs went flying. Suddenly, Ragna sensed a presence and dropped her axes in favor of Frostskader. Turning, she was able to block a mighty spear in the hands of the Night King himself. She grinned and he just looked at her. "Did you eat a lemon before this fight? Your face is all pinched," Ragna commented before she pulled Frostskader away, swinging it at him. The Night King parried. Ragna slipped in behind him and tried to aim for slicing his armor in the back. The Night King easily moved his spear so that it blocked her attempt. Ragna found her teeth sinking into her lower lip. Not from concern, but from excitement. A challenge! Ragna thought happily. She twirled lightly on her feet, coming up on his side and he turned his head to look at her. "You're good. I'm fine with that. Makes killing you so much more interesting," she told him. The Night King said nothing. He had no reason to speak. She seemed to be doing all the talking for him. That was when a lick of fire went by them and he raised his gaze to see Rhaenar working his 'magic', incinerating his monsters. The Night King brought the butt of his spear down and sent shards of ice climbing towards where Rhaenar was standing. The High Prince sensed the malevolent force directed at him and was able to teleport out of the way. However, that was when he also conjured up a shield as an array of bullets rained down from above. Ragna easily avoided them as well and they did not even affect the Night King. A few of his followers fell under the hail but rose again a few moments later. Rhaenar looked up and saw that it was some type of aircraft that was more advanced than any he knew Ragna had researched for them since her arrival.