Unbroken

Chapter 5

Chapter 5
It was the middle of the night, maybe one o'clock in the morning when Frigga woke up. She didn't know why she was awake but she felt a sense of urgency. She sat up in bed and listened, the palace was silent, but someone was wrong, something was- she stopping thinking when she heard a pounding sound. It was distant and muffled, like the sound was going through walls and floors. She heard the pounding again, she knew what it was right away, it wasn't a sound like metal on metal, it was something soft being hit with something hard, she's been around Wars and battles long enough to recognize the sound of someone being beaten. She looked over and saw that Odin was still asleep, she stayed sitting in bed for a few more minutes, but she could still hear that awful sound, she wouldn't be able to sleep with that going on. She got out of bed and got dressed in clothes for the cold, the palace was freezing and she'd have to do some sneaking around. After she got dressed she left the room, being very quiet. She still heard that sound so she followed it, it was coming from below her so she found the stairs and crept down to the floor below her, the sound was closer now but still a bit muffled, though now she could hear someone's voice, it sounded like... Laufey.
.
Let's backtrack a little bit.
It was one in the morning, Laufeys son was being beaten as usual, but was told to go do work in he library. Laufey had been there earlier that night and wasn't happy with the way his son had cleaned it before, so he interrupted the beatings (which had been going on all night) and dragged him to he library to redo his work. But his son was broken and weak as always,  he hadn't gotten any sleep because he was being whipped and cut and burned all night, he hadn't gotten any meals during the day because he had been doing work Laufey had given him, and now Laufey wanted him to do even more hard work, he could barely keep himself standing, normally he got at least an hour of rest during the night, but not this time, he hadn't slept in more than a full day and he was in mind numbing pain.
so when Laufey brought him to the library and threw him inside he wasn't able to keep himself on his feet, he stumbled and fell and ended up knocking over a stack of books, a mistake like that earned him yet another beating.
That's when Frigga woke up. 
She had made her way down to the level of the library and she could hear where the sound was coming from. She approached the library and stood close to the door, she didn't want to be seen but she wanted to find whoever the victim of laufeys anger was and help them.
"If I hear any noise out of you I'll cut out your tongue" frigga heard Laufey say after he stopped beating whoever was in there.
Frigga was a shapeshifter and a magic user, so she was able to make herself unseen. As Laufey was storming out of the room she vanished from sight, he had no idea she was right there. As soon as Laufey was gone she became visible again. She turned and went into the library, closing the door behind her. The library was huge, just like the one on Asgard, she didn't know why Laufey was hurting someone here but she didn't really care, she just wanted to help whoever it was. She went down an aisle of bookcases before she saw laufeys son. She couldn't see him very well, he was laying curled up on the ground and had his back to her, the only thing she could see was that he was very bruised and very skinny. She took a step closer but laufeys son heard her, he sat up quickly and turned around too see her there. She was surprised he could move, he was in such bad shape she would've thought he was dead if he had stayed still.
"What has he done to you?" She said aloud, but it was more to herself, she had never seen anyone who looked so mistreated as this young man. He was covered in dirt and grime and dried up blood, he had many open wounds and he was covered in bruises, he was so skinny she could clearly see the outline of his bones,
he was hardly clothed, he had no shirt and she guessed that what he was wearing probably used to be pants, but they were so ripped up and torn that they barely covered him. She also noticed that he wasn't a giant, he was smaller than her own son on Asgard, and his skin wasn't blue.
"Who are you?" She asked as she took another step closer to him. He panicked. He tried to get up but he couldn't, he ended up fumbling around on the floor as he quickly tried to back away from her, his face was filled with terror and fear. Frigga didn't know him but her heart broke for him.
"It's okay, I won't hurt you" she said, Laufey had been beating him before she came in and just by looking at him she could tell it wasn't the first time he had been abused. She couldn't see very well because it was so dark but she knew he was the victim of an outrageous amount of abuse and torture, and he was probably afraid she was bringing more of that with her. "It's okay, I'm going to help you" she said as she got closer to him. He didn't seem to understand her because he scurried away frantically until he was backed up against a wall. She felt so terrible for him, she didn't want to scare him but she wanted to help him and she cant do that if she isn't close to him. "It's okay" she said as she got down on the ground in front of him. He was breathing hard, he had pushed himself against the wall and brought his knees to his chest, as she got down he put his head on his knees and his shaking hands up near his face, guarding himself from her.
"Hey... i won't hurt you" she said gently as she put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched at her touch but she didn't move her hand. His skin was freezing cold and she could feel his whole body shivering. She sat down and moved her hand to his face, cupping his cheek.
"Look at me sweetheart.." she said as she brought his eyes to meet hers, she tried to smile sweetly but he just looked frightened and scared.
"Why.... why does he do this to you? Who are you?" She asked him softly. He was silent, his breathing became a bit more panicked and he was obviously freaking out inside.
"He-" he was about to speak but the library door opened again, and to the young jotuns horror it was Laufey who entered.
"I forgot to warn you-" Laufey stopped talking when he saw Frigga there, she pulled her hands away from the young man. "What are you doing here?" He asked her. She stood up.
"I couldn't sleep so I came to find something to read" she lied "I was concerned when I saw him" she added, looking at the young man on the floor.
"Don't think about him. He's nothing" Laufey said coldly "and he's not allowed to speak to people, what did he say?" He asked her.
"Nothing, he's been silent. I was just trying to-" Laufey cut her off.
"Don't interfere with him again, he's a slave and he'll be flogged for speaking with you" she looked down at the small frost giant and saw that he was panicking again.
"No, please, don't hurt him. It was my fault, he tried to get away to do his work and I forced him to stop. He didn't do anything wrong" she told Laufey, trying to spare the young man some pain. Laufey was quiet for a moment and looked down at his son.
"If you leave now and don't talk to him again I won't have him beaten" Laufey said. Frigga nodded.
"Of course" she said. She gave the young jotun one more look, she didn't want to just leave him here, but it was his best shot at not getting whipped. After a moment she turned and left, Going back to her chambers. She got back into bed and tried to sleep, But it wasn't long before she heard the sound of the young man being beaten again.