***Claire***
I sit in the corner of my room, bandaging my new cut. I figured out how to get Sawbones to leave me alone. All I have to do is annoy him long enough, and he leaves. The only bad thing about this is he gets violent when annoyed, resulting in the many bruises and cuts covering me. I found some clean rags in the cupboard, and have been making do with them as bandages. There is hardly anything decent here, I don't understand how Sawbones can live here. The light is dim and orange, like the glow of fire. It is dusty and dirty, with smoke and ash coming in from every crevice. I cough, my lungs longing for the clean air of Asgard.
"Have you decided to be reasonable today?" Sawbones says, opening the door and coming in.
"Dra åt helvete." I say, sitting up and glaring at him.
"Oh Claire, that is not very nice. I will have to teach you manners." He says, and I snort.
"You teach me manners? You are about as polite as a pig!" I say, and he stiffens. I smirk, knowing I have hit a nerve.
"That is enough." He says, his voice trembling in rage.
"Actually, a pig is probably more polite than you. At least they know when they are nearing their end." I stare into his eyes to really drive my words home, but he just chuckles.
"You are alone, with no one coming for you. You have been here 6 days and not one words have I heard from my spies about a rescue party. They have left you for dead, mortal girl, and he will never come. You should just let me kill you so that this is all over." He says, and I give him a smile. Standing up, I walk to him.
"I would sooner burn in fire for all eternity before betraying him. He will come for me, and when he does, you better run and hide." I stand in front of him, and lean towards his ear.
"Because when he does, he will stop at nothing to get to me, and I mean nothing. He will tear this place down rock by rock, and he will leave your carcass amongst the rubble for carrion to eat." I whisper, and he shoves me away from him.
"You are hidden here, this fortress has not been found for hundreds of years." He boasts, but I can see the fear in his eyes. I smirk, and he blasts me against the wall, hard.
"You are mine." He says, and leave the room with a swish of his cape. I sit up, and another coughing fit starts. A metallic taste fills my mouth, and I wipe my mouth. Looking down at my hand, I watch as blood runs down it. Pain stabs me in the side, and I can feel my lungs getting weaker.
"Hurry Loki." I whisper, and another fit of coughing wracks my body. I start to shiver, and cold seeps into my bones. Crawling to the fire, I curl up like a cat in front of it. I pull a blanket from the chair next to me and cover myself, trying to get warm. I hear the stomping of feet and the clang of metal grow closer and closer. No doubt more reinforcements for Sawbones. Harsh voices argue in a language I don't know, but I can recognize his.
"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be patrolling the border!" He shouts, and is answered by hisses.
"What do you mean I told you too? I haven't left the-skit!!" He swears, and I hear something crash.
"The rescue party has come, prepare yourselves! No one gets in or out without my permission!" He transports to my room, and I sit up.
"He is coming, and now you are running around like a scared rabbit." I say, smirking. Without a word, he walks over and picks me up.
"Well then, we can't have Loki dearest reaching you can we?" He says, and carries me out of the room and down several corridors.
"Put me down! Let go of me, you psycho!" I shout, weakly pounding against his back.
"Shhhhh, behave!" He says, entering a dark room. He walks to the middle of the room and puts me down. I stare at the room in awe. The ceiling is impossibly high, I can't even see where it ends. I am sitting on a table that glows red in the torchlight, the light bouncing off of it. Intricate patterns and symbols are carved into the floor, and the whole place gives off an eerie vibe.
"What is this place?" I ask, my voice echoing.
"This is the heart of my castle. That is a shaft to the roof, and that door is a solid 6 feet of stone and iron. Make yourself comfortable, you will not be leaving this room again." He says, and the sinister meaning behind his words makes my hair stand on end.
"He will find me." I say defiantly, and smirk at the flare of annoyance in his eyes.
"He will break through your puny door, and he will take me back to Asgard." I cringe inwardly at how helpless I sound, but the tensing of his shoulders and flick of his eyes show me I am getting to him.
"If I were you, I would remain silent." He says, and I lay down as exhaustion takes over. My eyelids grow heavy, and my last thought is a cry to Loki.
"Please find me soon." I whisper, and slip into darkness.
***Loki***
A sharp pain hits my side as we land, and I double over. The pain passes, and I straighten up again.
"You alright?" Rika asks, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Yes, I just keep getting these random bursts of pain. I am physically fine, but then for no reason I will get a pain in my arm or side." I say, and she frowns.
"Hmm, that is odd." She agrees, and we all walk to the ridge.
"Well, there is plenty of fire and smoke here." Fandril says, and we all silently agree as we survey the landscape. Rivers of fire flow freely and mountains of rock jutt out of the ground, with no order or rule.
"That's a lot of smoke." Volgstagg remarks, and I start to worry. This thick air cannot be good for Claire's lungs, she must be in serious pain.
"Lets go." I say, and we start down the cliff face. We have to duck behind rocks constantly, the place is swarming with fire giants.
"This is going to be tedious." Fandril remarks as we dodge yet another giant.
"We need them to leave! Do you think we could scare them somehow?" Volgstagg asks, and I take a moment to think.
"I have a better idea." I say, and I transform into Skuggad. Sauntering out from behind the rock, the giants stop and bow in respect.
"Come to the castle." I say to them, and they nod. In a matter of minutes the plains are clear, and the others come out from behind the rocks.
"I wish I could do that." Fandril says, and I smirk.
"I'm sure that Rika likes you just the way you are, Fandril." Sif quips, and he hits her over the back of the head.
"Come on, we need to hurry." I say, and we start walking again. After what feels like hours we stumble across a small hut, deserted. The door is falling off its hinges and the roof is filled with holes. I open the door and we all walk in.
"What happened here?" Rika gasps as we take in the destruction. Tables and chairs are overturned, and the entire place is wrecked. Black scorch marks paint the walls, and half charred items lay on the floor.
"Fire Giants." Thor says, and I feel hate build up in me. The man who caused this has taken Claire from me, and my eyes grow cold.
"Over here!" Rika calls, and we all go to the back "porch". She points, and in the distance we see what looks like a random mountain. Looking closer, we see the fire giants camped down by the base of it and coming in and out of tunnels in the bottom.
"His castle." Hogan says, and smoke rolls from crevices in the rock. A pang hits my lungs, causing me to fall to the ground.
"LOKI!" Thor says, but I wave him off.
"All is well, the pain has passed." I say, standing again.
"Have you figured out where it could be coming from?" Sif says, and I shake my head.
"Who cares, lets go." I say, starting down the cliff face. I feel a tugging in my heart leading me to the castle, and I know Claire is in there somewhere. I dodge giants and get closer and closer to the castle, my fury growing.
"Loki!" Thor says, and pulls me behind a rock.
"What?" I hiss, pulling my arm out of his grip. I need to get to Claire, and to kill Skuggad for touching her.
"We cannot just burst through the door and attack. The number of giants here is unimaginable, we would be dead or captured in an instance." His firm voice breaks my fury, and I calm down.
"You are right brother, what is our plan?" I ask as the rest of the warriors catch up with us.
"You mean you don't have one?" Rika asks me, and I grin sheepishly. She rolls her eyes.
"What were you going to do? Blast through the front door?" She says, and my eyes light up.
"That was not a suggestion." Fandril says, and I frown.
"However, if we created a distraction at the front, Loki could sneak in the back." Volgstagg says, and Hogan shakes his head.
"He would expect that. You forget, he is your brother." He says, and I glare at him.
"WAS my brother." I say, and turn to look at the castle. The jagged turrets and walls look like teeth, like the mouth of a foul beast.
"We should get an army, and then return. That way the giants will be occupied and we will have more of a chance to get to Claire in time." Thor says, and looks back.
"I will go retrieve the army, we attack as soon as possible." Thor says, and flies off.
"And what do we do, sit here and wait?" I say sarcastically, watching him leave.
"No, we will be studying the castle. Finding the weak and blind spots, learning the shifts of the guards." Sif says, and we nod.
"Come on, we don't have a lot of time." She says, and we get started.