43

Maerwen let out a cough and barely registered Rika rushing to her side and helping her sit up. She winced from the movement.

The two women looked up at the two men standing in front of them. There was a difference between the two, not just the class which they were in. But in disposition, Tedyrnir stood arrogant and straight backed. Whereas the other elf stood with his arms crossed and was leaning his weight on one leg.

Despite obviously being a warrior, he didn't hold himself like one.

"What is it? Are you just going to stand there gawking at me?" Tedyrnir said, his harsh tone pulled the other elf out of his thoughts.

Shaking his head, which caused his dark curls to sway from side to side he looked at his leader. "There's been a breech."

"A breech you say?"

"Yes sire."

"Where abouts?"

"The southern entrance sire, six of 'em to be exact."

"That's all? Well the way you burst in here I thought the whole bloody army were spilling through our gateways!" Tedyrnir spoke exasperated.

"Sire-"

"Leave."

"But sire! You-"

"Leave now," Tedyrnir's pale brown eyes darkened drastically and pierced through the elf standing in front of him.

Nodding slowly he quickly bowed and exited the room, Rika watched him leave and looked up at Tedyrnir.

"You were going to tell me where I went wrong, please do explain."

"You went wrong as soon as you attacked Asgard." A familiar voice spoke. "Although some may argue it all went wrong when you attacked Alfheim."

With huge irritation Tedyrnir turned back to look at the messenger elf from moments ago.

"Wow thank you for telling me the obvious-" Tedyrnir's sentence got cut off when the man charged forward and slashed at him. The small attack managed to succeed and the small knife the elf was clutching onto ripped across the temporary King's dark blue attire.

Tedyrnir let out a startled noise yet didn't look wholly surprised. "I was expecting this sooner or later ya know? I mean after all...look what I've done. I did what I did because I thought I could make a good difference-"

"Listen I honestly do not care what you do to this realm." The elf spoke simply, Tedyrnir's speech got cut off and he stared confused.

"But-"

"I don't care." The curly haired man repeated seriously while twirling the small knives in his hands. "I do care however when you drag anyone into this pointless fighting for a woman who would most likely kill you as soon as you set her free. Be careful; she has a brilliant aim." The elf winked a dark eye at Tedyrnir and charged forward again.

Tedyrnir being the warrior he was used his surroundings to his advantage and leapt up and over the desks and made his way to the one where Maerwen's weapons laid.

Unsheathing her sword he pointed it in the direction of where he last saw his attacker.

The only problem was he was not there anymore.

Looking at Rika, who had a similar look of confusion, he lowered his weapon. His eyes slid to look at Maerwen, who was barely able to keep her eyes open from the assault a few moments ago.

"Do you not get told as a guard and as a fighter to never lower your weapons?"

"I don't think that rule applies when I am fighting an invisible foe."

"I'm in plain sight," said a voice behind him.

Turning on his heels quickly Tedyrnir was to slow to lift and block the attack which was dealt to him. Falling backwards slowly, the sword fell out of his hands and clattered to the floor.

Tedyrnir let out a groan and put a hand over the wound on his chest, there was a hilt of a knife sticking out, this caused an annoyed groan to escape his lips.

Rika tensed and clutched onto Maerwen more when the elf which had fought against Tedyrnir walked slowly over to them.

"Foolish Queen why are you clutching onto an unconscious woman for? She's not going to provide much protection for you." The elf crouched down and reached out and put a hand on Maerwen's shoulder.

Rika's eyes widened as the image of the Svartalfheim elf flickered and the image of one of the sons of Odin replaced it.

"...You..." Rika trailed off, ignoring her stunned disposition Loki reached out and took Maerwen from her arms.

"Keep an eye on him," Loki nodded backwards to where Tedyrnir was laying. "If he tries to move...well use your imagination, all I'm going to say is there is a table of weapons right next to his body." Loki smiled and watched Rika move away from him and over to Tedyrnir.

Looking over his shoulder quickly, Loki nodded slowly. Rika and himself admittedly never managed to get along when she was staying in Asgard. But it seemed for this one moment in time they coincided well.

Reaching to his side Loki pulled out one of the small silver knives and reached down to cut away the restraints around Maerwen's arms. Hearing annoyed mumbling he looked over his shoulder again.

"Can you be quiet over there?" Loki questioned, Tedyrnir lifted his head up slightly and shot him a glare. Shrugging off the glare Loki pulled away the restraints and threw them to the side. Maerwen was now able to lay properly on her back.

"You said there was six of you who breeched the gateways." Rika said while shuffling back, training a arrow precisely at Tedyrnir's head.

Loki rolled his eyes and looked up at her, Rika looked at him confused and then lowered the bow slightly. "You lied?" She whispered, Loki nodded slowly and looked down at the woman laying in front of him.

Maerwen's eyes squeezed shut more before they slowly opened. But when they did it was clear she was having trouble focussing on things. Blinking several times she tilted her head to the side and looked up at him.

Confusion and a light frown flitted onto her face. Loki just sat looking down at her waiting for her to compose herself.

"Loki!" Maerwen exclaimed with sheer happiness. She shot up and wrapped her arms around his neck. She buried her face in his shoulder and tightened her grip on him.

"I am so happy to see you again." She said while leaning back and looking at him.

"I would never had guessed." Loki answered, his eyes skimmed over her appearance. Despite the rather vicious kicks she got earlier on, Maerwen didn't look in to bad shape.

Pulling the sleeve of his shirt more over his hand he reached up and wiped it across her lip. That was the only thing which was out of place with her appearance, the blood which was trickling from her lip and down her chin.

"You are on your own?"

"You know how Thor gets when there's a fight to be had." Loki explained, Maerwen shrugged and nodded agreeing with his words. "The Warriors Three and Sif are slowly making there way here, I think."

"So you do not know where everyone is?" Maerwen questioned, Loki shook his head slowly. "Well," she smiled and clapped her hands together. "At least we know where we are."

"Some consolation!"

"He's still alive?" Maerwen winced and pointed over to Tedyrnir, who had earlier exclaimed those two words.

"He's a war criminal now," Loki said while standing up. Holding out his hands he helped Maerwen stand up, she almost fell over but he caught her. "He needs to pay for his crimes against Alfheim, Asgard and Svartalfheim."

"Can't I just kill him?" Maerwen questioned while looking up at him. The two of them were slowly walking over to where Rika was standing still holding onto the bow with the arrow trained at his head.