Homebound: Chapter 5 (Pre Thor)

Chapter 5

Lucy's woke up, and was confused for a moment where she was, and then remembered all the things that had happened the day before. 'So it wasn't a dream', she thought, sitting up on her bed. So much had happened, and the last thing remembered was playing with Loki on the beach and talking with him about everything. It had been fun, better than the other stuff that had happened earlier in the day. She started thinking about her dad, what he was doing, wondering if he was looking for her right now. A wave of homesickness washed over her.

Knock, Knock. Someone was outside her door. "Um, hello?" Lucy called, not sure what to say to the visitor on the outside, though it did distract her from her homesickness. The door opened and a young woman with red, wispy hair in a simple dress and apron came in with a silver tray. It smelled incredible.  Smells of sausage, eggs and other things that Lucy couldn't identify filled the room.  The lady set down the tray on her bed. "Wow, this looks amazing!" exclaimed Lucy as she looked at the tray of beautiful food.

"Will you be needing anything else miss?" asked the lady.

"Oh no! This is more than enough!" said Lucy, trying to figure out what to eat first. "Thank you, um…" she paused. "What's your name?"

The lady looked surprised, as if no one ever asked for her name. "Um… Ericka, miss," she said with a smile.

"Ericka. That's a pretty name," said Lucy starting to eat her breakfast. A bit happier, Ericka left the room, leaving Lucy to eat.

She devoured the food like a little wolf and washing it down with some kind of drink that tasted like a mix of fruits that she couldn't place, but was still amazing. Positive that she would never need to eat again, she slipped off the bed and padded over to the set of new clothes that had been set out for her.  This time the dress was a light blue that laced up in the back and black leggings, leaving her with the shoes from the day before, which Lucy didn't mind, since she had taken a liking to them. Slipping out of the old dress and into the new outfit, she ran into a bit of a snag: Lucy couldn't tie the back herself. Try as she might, the lace tangled around her fingers and got itself into knots that made it even worse for her to tie.

Peaking outside, Lucy looked to see if Ericka was out there or anyone else that could help her. Finding no one, she started wandering down the halls looking for someone to help her with her fashion problem. 'I wonder where everyone is?' she thought to herself. 'Maybe they're all having breakfast. Or maybe no one comes this way very often.' Lost in her thoughts, she accidently bumped into someone as she turned the corner.

"Oh!" exclaimed Lucy, surprised by the lady she had bumped into. She wasn't terribly tall, but had a presence to her of elegancy. Her hair was done up beautifully, as was her gown, and though she was older, her eyes were bright and her had the warmest smile Lucy had ever seen. "I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Oh, it's alright dear, no harm done," said the lady smiling down at her. "Are you having a hard time finding your way around?"

"No, it's just that…" Lucy felt a little embarrassed to say, "I can't tie the back."

The lady continued to smile. "I can see that, from the way you're holding the back of your dress. Here," she said, turning Lucy around and kneeling down. "My, you've got it all tangled now haven't you?" she asked as she went to work untangling the mess of lace and tying up her back.

"I didn't mean too. It's just that, back home I don't have to lace anything expect for my shoes, and that can be hard too sometimes!" Pausing for a moment and looking back at the lady she asked, "Are you someone important here?"

"You might say that. After all, I am married to the king."

Lucy's brain raced as she tried to remember her Norse book. "Wait. So, does that mean…. Are you Frigga?"

"How did you know?" said Frigga standing up straight again. "There, good as new."

"So, you're the queen!" Lucy gushed as she looked up at the lady, the queen, who had just laced up her dress. Looking at her, she wondered if that's what her mother would look like if she had ever met her.

"Right you are," Frigga answered with her warm smile. "You know, Konur is in the library if you'd like to see him. I expect he'd enjoy spending some time with you."

"Alright," said Lucy, now feeling very proud of the fact that she knew a queen.

"If you go down this hall and turn around the corner once and keep on going for a bit, you'll find it easily."

"Thank you!" Giving Frigga a little curtsey, she started down the hall to find her uncle.

Frigga watched as the little girl went down the hall. "What an interesting child." She smiled, enjoying the fact that there was a little one in the halls once again, at least for the moment. And a girl no less! Now, she loved her boys very much, but she had never gotten the opportunity to have a little girl to raise. She hadn't minded picking out a little wardrobe for her, and she enjoyed the fact that she seemed to be taking a liking to her younger son. 'Enjoy it while it lasts Frigga,' she thought as she headed to her room. 'It may not last for long.'
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Annar knew he was in deep water now. His wrist was shackled to a long chain that was attached to the wall. His general would not be pleased when he found him, not pleased at all. The Asgardians had taken his communication portal that he used to stay in contact with Massnordore, and he just knew that he was trying to contact him.

If he were to have his way he would have snapped that little wretch's neck when he had had the chance. What was Massnordore thinking? How could he not see that the little brat would never come with him willingly and fight with him.

He had always questioned Massnordore's motives, but he was the one who had kept Konur from being jailed on Asgard for his rebellion and look where he was now. He heard rats scurrying across the floor and one run across his leg. Disgusted, he wondered if he could sink any lower.
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Lucy had never seen so many books in one place. The library was in the public part of the palace, with students and scholars and interested readers were all around, looking for books, reading at one of the tables or chairs, and some of them writing on parchment. The shelves that were about nine feet tall were stuffed with hundreds, maybe even thousands of different colors of leather bound books, with ladders that swirled around so that you could climb up to reach the high up books. She got a few curious looks from some of the people, but most were too busy with their task to notice her.

She looked around the library for her uncle, and after a few minutes of wandering, she found Konur sitting at a table with a little stack of books and a roll of parchment that he had written some notes on.

"Hi." Konur jumped a little, as if she had appeared from thin air.

"Oh, hello Lucy," he said, looking up from his work.

"What are you doing?" she asked, peering over his shoulder.

"Studying how to defend from magical attacks."

"Why?"

"Well, Massnordore is a master of magic, and I didn't really inherit the magic gene," he said, looking at a another book.

"Oh. Are you going to be here all day?"

Konur laughed. "No, not all day, but for a little longer. Here, why don't you go over to that shelf over there and find one of the story books and look at that for a bit and we'll do something once I finish." He pointed her in the right direction, and Lucy went off to look.

All of the books that were for children were beautifully bound and had pictures on the front etched in with gold or silver. There were also books that had odd symbols and large words in the front that were hard to read and were thicker than any book Lucy had ever read. 'Must be the ones for grown-up,' she thought as she tried to find a book to read.

"Looking for something?" Lucy spun around to find Loki standing behind her, once again sneaking up on her without her knowing.

"Well, I was trying to find something to read until you snuck up on me again!" she said, half exasperated and half happy for seeing her new friend.
"I didn't sneak, I came here to return this book," he said, holding up an old looking brown book. Lucy was a bit surprised to see him wearing more casual attire than what he had more the day before. After all, he was a prince!

"Um, what are you wearing?"

"Oh this? Thor has decided that we are going to be sparring and training today, so I decided to wear something that I could move in. Why? Is there something wrong with it?"

"No, it's just…" Lucy laughed. "Oh, never mind."

"Here, this was one of my favorites when I was younger," he said, and with a touch to the bookshelf, a new book appeared. Handing her the thin that Lucy thought it looked a bit out of place from the rest of the books, since it was written in English and had an actual printed picture on the front of a girl with jet black hair that held a sword and shield and was wearing well-crafted armor.

"This wasn't made here was it?" asked Lucy, flipping through the book. It had lovely pictures in it and Lucy could tell that she would be able to read most of it herself.

"Not that one. That one was written on Midgard by a mortal. They like to write tales about us, some of them true, some of them they make up. This one is only partly true, though it makes me laugh when I read it, as it is about me and a sort of friend of mine."

"Sort of friend?"

"Well, she doesn't care much for me," he said with a shrug. "But she is very good friends with Thor."

"Where did it come from?" she asked, since he had somehow brought it here with his magic.

"It was from our private library. Most of the books from Midgard are kept in a private wing for the royal family, though I'm the one who uses it the most." He placed his book back on the shelf above her. "Well, I'm off. Can't keep my brother waiting," as he started off.

"Wait!" Lucy said, catching him by the sleeve. "Give me a minute." She dashed back over to where Konur was sitting. "Uncle Konur," she started, liking the sound of it, "Can I go watch Loki and Thor spar?"

"I suppose so. I'll actually be heading out with them myself as soon as I finish." Looking to Loki, "Same spot as you usually are?" Loki nodded. "Well then, stay with them, and don't get into trouble. I'll be along as soon as I can."
"Let's go!" she said, clutching the book to her chest and following closely behind Loki. They walked out of the library and out of the public area of the palace to the outside.
Going down a stone path, the two came to a field that had a table of weapons and targets set up, along with a few trees that provided wonderful shade. Thor was already there, and he was dueling a much smaller person, but from what Lucy could tell, the smaller one was winning. When she came closer, she was surprised to see that it was a lady with long, beautiful dark hair and simple yet somewhat elegant armor. After a sloppy thrust from Thor, the lady was able to parry it and knock the hilt of Thor's sword out of his hand. With a quick roll and a sharp kick, the lady grabbed his sword and Thor was on the ground, just inches away from the two tips.

And he started laughing. "You've bested me again with a sword Sif! But you're still so match for me in strength and when I have Mjolnir!"

"That's what you said before we started," said Sif, who dropped both swords and offered Thor a hand. As he stood up, he noticed his brother and Loki.

"Brother! What took you so long?" he asked, coming to meet him.

"I got caught up in the library and found a little bird," Loki answered, sending a small grin Lucy's way.

"So this is Lucy!" said Sif, joining the group. "I've heard a lot about you little one."

"That was so cool, you knocking down Thor and everything," Lucy sad shyly.

Sif burst out laughing. "I knew I would like you!"

Thor frowned. "You think too highly of yourself Sif."

With a mock sweetness, Sif retorted with, "It's not me; it's our little friend here!"

Groaning, Thor pulled his brother away from the group. "Come Loki, let's spar."

"This ought to be good," said Sif. "Come on; let's sit over here so we won't be in the way." The two sat on a patch of grass just far enough so that they were safe from the brother's brawl, but still had a good view of it.
The two brothers were both unarmed, and Lucy could tell that Loki wasn't as skilled with physical combat as his older brother, but he was a lot quicker and was able to dodge and duck under attacks. At one point, Thor had an arm pinned behind Loki, and the young prince used a spark of green flame to make Thor jump back.
'
"No magic brother!" exclaimed Thor, shaking out is scorched hand.

"Where's the fun in that!" Loki replied, now enjoying himself more. Lucy laughed as Thor lunged at Loki but went right through him and Loki reappeared right behind him.

"What's this?" Lucy looked to Sif, who was holding the book that Loki had given Lucy, which she had set down beside her.

"Oh, it's just a book Loki let me borrow to read. Most of the stuff in the library I can't read because it's all in Asgardian."

Examining it, Sif's eyes got wide. "Loki!  Why do you have this?" she shouted at him. Loki glanced over and grinned.

"It's a book from Midgard. I got it around forty years ago from an explorer, " As he said this, Thor grabbed him and lifted him up and threw him to the ground. "They did you justice I should say," trying to catch his breath, "Though they got me all wrong," and he was dragged along the grass by his foot. "Thor! This is ridiculous!" Turning onto his back, he wriggled his foot away and rolled away from his brother's foot. Standing up, a mini army of Loki's suddenly surrounded Thor.

"But it's about you ruining my hair! Why did you keep it from me?" Lucy giggled as she watched this battle of words ensue.

"Well dear Sif," the real Loki said, stepping away from the circle, though Thor didn't notice as he was tackling the decoy Lokis, "Because I knew you would react like this." Finally, after three failed attempts, Thor noticed where Loki was and before Loki could react, Thor tackled him to the ground. Pinning his brother's arms down, Thor grinned triumphantly.

"I have bested you little brother, admit it!" he said laughing.

"Thor, you are behaving like a child," Loki said, annoyed that his brother was sitting on top of him and that he had lost yet another sparring match.

"Admit it!" Thor spat back.

Sighing, Loki groaned, "Fine, you win you big oaf. Now let me up before you break something." Still laughing to himself, Thor stood up and pulled Loki up with him.

"Those tricks you did were neat though," called Lucy from her seat.

"See, someone supports my magic," he said to Thor and Sif.

"Whatever you wish to believe Loki," replied Sif.

Mocking sadness, Loki put a hand over his heart. "Your words pain me Sif!"

"And you fire pains me!" exclaimed Thor, clapping his brother on the back, which caused him to fall forward a bit.

"You're just a big bully brother," said Loki with a sly grin.

"Yes, if Loki were bigger he'd have a better chance," added Lucy. Thor and Sif looked at her with quizzical looks and Loki just laughed.

"Finally! Some one that's on my side!" He sat down beside her.

"Yeah," said Lucy, started to feel more included, "If I were as big as Thor I could take him down in three seconds flat!" Loki and Sif burst in to hysterics, Sif falling back onto the grass. Thor raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

"Yep! I could fly circles around you big guy!" The seven year old could really trash talk.

"Well if you're so confident, give it a try!" Lucy was taken back. She knew she didn't stand a chance with Thor, even though she could fly and was getting better with her powers. Before she could say anything though to get her out of it, Loki whispered in her ear.

"Shoot up as fast as you can, come down quickly, and before you crash into him stir right. Then you'll be able to fly your circles around him," he coached. Lucy grinned, thought through everything quickly, then took off into the air. Climbing about ten feet, she dove down fast at Thor. Then, just as Loki said, she moved to the right at the very last second. Flying as fast as she could, Lucy spun around Thor, making little circles that made him unable to move. Finally, added her own little trick, she knocked into one of Thor's legs as hard as she could, which made him loose his balance and fall on his rear. The surprised look on his face made her laugh so much that she fell over in a fit of giggles. Thor rolled up, and before Lucy could take off, he scooped her up in his massive arms. At that moment, Lucy felt very tall yet very small at the same time.

"Put me down!" she said beating his chest, but Thor just smirked.

"It took you longer than three seconds," he said. Lucy pretended to scowl, but a little smile kept poking through.

"Let me down and I'll try again!"

"Hello! Did I miss something?" Since Lucy couldn't turn around, she bent back and saw an upside down Konur.

"Oh, hello Uncle. I just knocked Thor over and now he won't let me down."

"Oh really. Well, you must be quiet a warrior to take Prince Thor down," said Konur, trying to be as serious as possible without smiling.

"Maybe someday she'll join the Warrior Three and myself," said Sif grinning. Lucy grinned back, still upside down, though the blood was rushing to her face, so she pulled herself back up.

Thor and Lucy shared a look, then Lucy sighed. "Fine, I guess I can't knock you to the ground in three seconds. And you are a lot stronger," she said in a mischievous tone. "Though Loki has much better tricks."

"Fair enough," he said, pleased. He set her down and he patted her head. "You put up a good fight little warrior. With some training you could be a formidable ally."

"Which is what we need to try and train her to be," said Konur. All four looked at him, the mood now changed drastically.

"What are you saying Konur?" asked Sif.

"I'm saying that Massnordore is coming, but we don't know when, and we know that he'll be coming for Lucy. We don't know how much time we have, so we must be as prepared as we possibly can. Which means teaching you," he said, looking at his niece, "How to fight."

Lucy let all of this process in her brain. All of it became more real in her mind. Her father was Massnordore, and he was a very bad man who took her away from her dad. And he was coming back to try and take her, and now she was going to learn how to fight from two princes, a lady warrior and her uncle who she had just met the day before.

She nodded, knowing what she had to do. "I'm ready to learn."
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Massnordore was furious. He had been forced to wait on Midgard for a few days to build up his strength again do that he could travel to the wretched Asgard. But that wasn't what was making him angry. What angered him was the fact that Annar hadn't reported to him, which meant either that Annar had broken the communication portal, or he had gotten captured. And Massnordore knew that he hadn't broken it because he could tell by his own that it was intact, just Annar wasn't answering.

'That idiot. All of them, idiots.' For one thousand years he had been surrounded by incompetent fools whose only good trait was their loyalty. Their numbers were fewer than when they had left, and even though they were stupid, all were strong and ready to attack.  But it got very droll being around idiots all the time. Even his enemies were foolish. Like that Robert. 'Did he really think he could stand a chance against me?'

He wondered about his daughter. She was a beautiful child, and was strong too, which were both good. The bad thing was that she was too good. It would be very hard to turn her. But if he took more and more, hate would build and consume her, just as it did to him.

Massnordore had felt his power grow stronger over the past few days, and he knew that he was ready to go to Asgard, though he knew that he would need time to build his strength again. 'We'll just have to do some hiding out then.' And with a flash, Massnordore left the pitiful Midgard. After he conquered Asgard, maybe he would go after this realm as well.
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"That's it Lucy, nice and steady," said Konur as he watched her aim a throwing dagger. After five days of training and being on edge for Massnordore to attack, they had found out that Lucy was best with throwing daggers at the moment, though she did have potential with a bow staff, though swords were out of the question at the moment. She threw the dagger and it flew through the air, and landing half way into the target, still not close enough to the center.

"I'm not very good at this," she said plopping down onto the ground in frustration. Loki collected the three daggers in the target and came back with them.

"It takes time to learn how to do this Lucy," said Konur, handing her another dagger.

"Try this," said Loki, coming up with a new approach. "Try lifting them and throw them without holding on to the hilt. The way you twist the hilt when you're throwing it might be why it doesn't hit the center."

"Alright, if you say so," said Lucy. Lifting the dagger with her open palm, she moved it back a front a little to test out the control she had over it.
"Focus on the target. Visualize seeing the dagger pierce the center of it," said Loki quietly to her. Take a breath and visualizing it hitting the center, Lucy launched the weapon toward the target. It hit the center of a tree notch.

"It didn't work!" she exclaimed, now even more frustrated.

"That's because you had your eyes shut," said Loki frankly. Lucy hadn't realized it before, but she could now recall squeezing her eyes shut before throwing the dagger. He handed her another one. "And it wasn't a bad throw; you just didn't hit the right enemy. Keep your eyes open and focus."

Taking another deep breath, she lifted the dagger into the air, and with as much power as she had, she sent it flying towards the target. And this time it didn't hit a tree. "I did it!" she exclaimed jumping up and down. It had taken her five long days of getting close to the center, but she had finally hit the very center of the target. She ran over and hugged Konur and Loki.

"See, I told you it would take time, and now your hard work has paid off!" Konur said, picking her up and spinning her around. They had grown closer together over the past week, training and reading in the library together, and he found that he loved this little girl.

"I want to do it some more!" exclaimed Lucy, running over to the throwing area.

"We'll do some more tomorrow dear," said Konur. "But it's getting late, and I don't know about you but I'm starved."

"Oh, alright," said Lucy, disappointed, but also realizing that she was quiet hungry too. Running ahead, she left Loki and Konur behind.

"Remarkable child isn't she?" said Konur smiling to himself.

"Quite. Mother sure has enjoyed her. She never had a girl to dote on, just two boys," said Loki grinning as well.

"You've seemed to have enjoyed her as well. You are quite the pair. She follows you around whenever she isn't with me or with Lady Sif."

Loki chuckled. "Yes, I do enjoy her company. It is nice to have someone on your side for once other than your brother, even if it is a seven year old. Though I'm still trying to think of a way to get back at her for the sand bit back when she first came here. Do you know long it took me to get all of it off of me?"

Konur smirked, "It's nothing like stealing someone's hair."

"It was a joke! And besides, Sif looks much better with black hair." Laughing now, "Lucy loves that story. She won't get me back the book!"

"It's good to see you've found a friend," said Konur, patting his shoulder.

"Yes, it is good."

As they walked up the palace, Massnordore smirked from his hiding place. Sentiment. After two days of waiting, he felt strong and ready. 'Time to settle things.'
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Annar sat up straight, rudely awakened from his sleep by a very familiar cold presence.

"Hello Annar," said Massnordore. "Let's you and me have a chat."