'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.'
Ranveig clearly wasn't the type who spent his time thinking about the intricacies of palace politics. He furrowed his brows and through the next several turns of their game, seemed to be mulling over his friend's words instead of focusing on his cards.
'Agnar's a good man,' he said finally. 'We had a traitor on the throne and he found a way to be rid of him.'
Geir leant back, sending his chair creaking. 'I'm sure he thought only of Asgard when he had the prince thrown down here.'
'You aren't one of those who think he's innocent, are you?'
'Of course not. Only an idiot would trust a frost giant.'
'True, but... I don't know, he never seemed so bad to me, even with his magic and his petty tricks. It must be shite growing up the little brother to the future king. You know, they say he was as shocked as anyone else when they revealed what he was.'
'He's always been a good liar.' Geir's face twisted into a grimace. 'Besides, he hardly need to have known he's not Asgardian to betray us. Sometimes blood will just win out.'
Loki clung onto the edge of his blanket and forced himself to take slow, even breaths. In his younger days, he would have leapt out of bed already and would be at the bars at this very moment, making sure Geir knew what Loki thought of him. The urge was certainly there even now - Geir's words stung as much as a physical strike would have. He had a lot of things to say to the man in return, but if he revealed he had listened in on their conversation now, Loki would forgo the chance of scraping information from their future conversations. There were times where you have to swallow pride in order to secure future advantages.
'It's your turn.' Ranveig gestured towards the sprawl of cards at the centre of the table.
'No. Bor's wrinkled ball-sack, is it so hard to pay attention? I just put down my card.'
'Right, sorry.'
Geir snorted when Ranveig set down his card. 'You can't blame your shoddy playing on my shuffling this time.'
'Shut it,' Ranveig replied. He froze for a moment, as if listening out for something in the distance before he went on. 'You know, I don't think it's as simple as what people are saying. The old king brought the prince to Asgard for a reason.'
'Kings make stupid decisions too. The fact he's half-dead from an arrow wound and his son's been captured by frost giant just proves that that's so.'
A thunderous bang swallowed Geir's reply.
By the time the two guards were on their feet, the hallway had begun to fill with viscous smoke. Loki ignored their panicked exchanges. He pulled his blanket over the lower half of his face and scrambled out of bed. He hadn't been permitted any weapons inside the cell, of course, so he grabbed the best available alternate - his table lamp.
'I can't...' someone muttered.
The smoke had become so thick, only vague outlines of people remained distinguishable. Loki thought the speaker might have been Geir. Whether through panic or due to the smoke, his voice had climbed an octave.
Moments later, when both silhouettes swayed and slumped to the ground, taking a chair down with them, Loki decided the smoke had been the culprit. He pressed the blanket tighter around his nose and mouth. His eyes had begun to sting too, but he didn't dare deprive himself of his vision when he understood so little of what was happening around him.
Metal clinked further up the hallway. Hurried footsteps.
A new silhouette emerged from the cloud smoke. As it drew closer, it took a more solid shape, but it was the swagger in Fandral's walk that Loki recognised first.
'The sergeant had the keys,' Loki called out. The blanket garbled his words, but Fandral seemed to understand the gist of it.
'I'm glad you're conscious, I didn't relish the thought of having to drag you out of here,' he responded, his words similarly muffled by the scarf drawn over the lower half of his face. He flung a ball of wet fabric through the cell bars and turned his attention to Geir and Ranveig.
Loki pulled the ball apart and found it was a thin scarf. Tossing the blanket aside, he secured it over his face. The scarf had been soaked in a potion that reeked of yerba and spearmint. Loki grinned. This was his mother's work.
After a bit of rough handling, Fandral extracted a set of old-fashioned keys from Geir's pocket.
'No reason to dawdle, is there?' he said as he quickly worked to get the cell door open. Typical of Fandral, he appeared nonchalant about the clandestine activities he was carrying out this night. Or at least he hadn't been until Loki slipped out of his cell and stood close enough for Fandral to see him clearly. His jaw slacked and he produced a strangled half-wince, before he recovered the use of his speech. 'Pardon me. I'd heard, but it's different to actually see you.'
'Yes, Fandral,' Loki replied. 'I can tell by how your face has turned the same shade as the smoke. Hearten yourself, just think of how many pranks there could have been had I known about this.'
Fandral cleared his throat. 'I, for one, always thought Kronans were much scarier than frost giants.'
Loki shrugged and let this trail of conversation peter out. There was no sense stirring up trouble with a man who had just stuck out his neck for you. Instead, he grabbed Geir's legs and dragged him inside the cell. Fandral was quick to shift Renveig into the cell also. The smoke's effects were unlikely to linger; it would be foolish to leave guards free to raise alarm about Loki's escape.
'Let's go,' Fandral said, already heading towards the stairs at the end of the corridor. 'Your mother will be waiting for us by now.'
Loki started after them, but a stray thought stopped him in his tracks.
'Baugi?' he called out. 'Are you there?'
The frost giant's cell wasn't lit half as well as Loki's had been. Loki only spotted Baugi when he turned onto his back and sat up in his rickety bed. He had pulled up his shirt to help him breathe, which suggested he was cognizant of what had just transpired, although Loki doubted that Baugi had cause to be worried that the potion would overcome him. He was larger than an Asgardian and further away from the source of the smoke.
'Stopped by to say farewell?' Baugi asked sourly.
Loki slid his hand along the cell bars. 'A trade. I get you out of here, you help me in return.'
'Help you?'
'This is a deal you want to take, Baugi. When they find out I've escaped, they will be angry and they will take it out on you.' Before Baugi had a chance to reply, Loki called out to Fandral. 'Hold on! Get this cell open first.'
Fandral retraced his steps and came to stand beside Loki. His brows knitted together as he understood what Loki was asking.
'Why would this be a good -'
Loki pulled Fandral closer and hissed into his ear. 'For your sake, if nothing else. He'll be questioned when my escape is discovered. Even if he didn't see you clearly, he heard you.'
Fandral nodded, but even with half his face covered, Loki could tell he pouted like a spoiled child as he unlocked Baugi's cell.
Loki grabbed Baugi's arm. 'Time to get out of here.'