Chapter 16: Open and Closed
Arianna had been restless inside her cell all day. All she could think about was seeing Simon and Chandra. Every time a new guard came to change shifts, she would watch them hopefully, until nothing happened and she went back to pacing the room in frustration. At last, early in the evening, a retinue of guards appeared with the special manacles. But her friends were nowhere to be seen.
When they opened the barrier, she waited obediently, but buzzed with anticipation. "Am I going to visit them?" she asked excitedly.
"You're moving to your new cell. Your friends will visit you there."
Her face fell for a half-second. "Alright…" she relented. Still, it was all she could do to match the measured pace of the guards, instead of rushing ahead excitedly.
At last, she was waiting in front of the new room, fidgeting impatiently while a guard looked for the proper key.
But someone's voice spoke up behind her. "Arianna?"
She whirled around to see Simon and Chandra among their own retinue of guards. Without a moment's hesitation, she leaped out from between her guards, barreling straight into the two of them. "I missed you!" she cried, tears already streaming from her eyes. "How have you two been? Have they treated you well?"
"Yes, yes!" Chandra picked her up wholesale, and spun her in the hug. "We've been so worried about you. You and that damned prince."
"Chandra," chided Simon, but he was interrupted by Arianna putting her manacled arms around his neck for a tight hug. He giggled sheepishly. "We're fine. I'm glad to see you're okay."
"He was driving himself mad with worry," chuckled Chandra.
"I'm sure," replied Arianna, extracting herself from her friends. "Come on, let's go into my new…" She stared up at the guards ringing the three of them, who up til this point had simply been watching. "Um, did you get the door open?" she asked doubtfully.
"Oh, uh, right," started one of the guards, obviously surprised. Loki, watching from his scrying mirror, sighed and rubbed his temples. Not that he expected any of the guards to be skilled in the finer arts of deception, but wasn't that a little too obvious?
Regardless, Arianna didn't seem to notice, too enamored with her friends to watch the guards closely. As soon as the door was open, she rushed into the doorway, turning around just long enough to let the guards release the three of them from their manacles.
She pulled the other two onto the bed, all three laughing giddily. They all flopped happily down, breathless with excitement and relief. Immediately Arianna plied them with questions about their time, and Simon related everything while Chandra interrupted with her own point of view. The three of them clung tightly to each other the whole time.
Loki had not intended to let them stay. But the way she gripped their hands, like they were about to disappear, stirred something warm and soft inside his chest. Instead, he watched them from the other side of the wall, telling himself that their conversation might reveal something.
But Simon and Chandra did all of the talking, which made sense considering how much more eventful their time here had been. Loki himself didn't even show up in the conversation.
But Simon trailed off mid-sentence, and Loki turned back to watch. The three traded worried looks, and laid down on the bed. The next moment, it seemed they were fast asleep.
He rose from his seat, intrigued. What did he just witness here? All three of the prisoners had been sleeping more than usual, but that was normal for someone in confinement. If they had kept track of their time asleep...would it have always been aligned?
It may seem overly paranoid, but he knew what he had seen. What did that worried expression mean? He opened the door from his study into the cell, cautiously approaching the bed. They really were asleep. Loki motioned to the guards with a jerk of his head, and they entered as well, looking confused at his unusual brusqueness.
"Wake your prisoners," he commanded. "They have obviously decided their visiting time is over."
The guards tugged Simon and Chandra up by the arms, but neither stirred. They heaved them up roughly, but neither even made a sound. It was less like they were asleep, and more like they were unconscious.
Loki held open an eye on each of them. Sure enough, their irises reacted to the light, but they were otherwise unresponsive. "Take them back," he said, "and tell me exactly when they wake."
"Yes, your Highness," they replied, and hoisted the two prisoners over their shoulders to leave.
Loki turned back to Arianna. Was this some kind of odd trick? Or perhaps a trait of their race?
He spent the next half hour trying to wake her up. Loud noises did nothing. She didn't even grimace at a pinch. Cold water made her body shiver, but she stayed unconscious. He even lifted her whole body with seidr, letting it fall onto the mattress. The way her limp body flopped around on the bed was hilarious, but ultimately pointless.
So Loki settled down to wait with a heavy tome to read. This particular one was on magical contracts, and though he had read it many times before, this time he was sifting through the familiar information for some new perspective. A sharp rap on the door jolted him from his thoughts, and he realized he had stayed inside her room.
The guard peered through the tiny golden window, voice muffled by the heavy wood. "The other prisoners are awake," she reported curtly. Loki nodded graciously and she left.
His green eyes lit on the figure in the bed, still fast asleep. Perhaps she intended to catch him off guard. In that case, he decided to prepare something.
The mistletoe had been brought in as well, so he decided it would work as a trap. Not yet rising from his seat, he held out his arm, plucking the plant from its pointless dirt with his seidr. Silently, he guided it to the bedframe above her head, weaving threads of the drapes through the branches to hold it in place. He closed his eyes to concentrate on crafting the trap itself, modifying its shape a little and its chemistry a lot to make a lovely little trap.
After that was done, he sauntered over to the bed, monitoring Arianna's breathing. It certainly seemed like she was asleep, but perhaps she was simply waiting for him to come close. He leaned over her, close enough that his breath could ruffle her hair, and she still showed no signs of reacting. He blew in her ear. She twitched and turned away with a frown. She really was asleep, then. Well in that case, then…
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone