Don't Fall Asleep: Chapter 10

Loki's pain was impossibly intense.  His father had even gagged him, making it impossible for him to murmur a spell to make the snake stop.  The guards outside were deaf to his muffled screams as excruciating pain shot through his nerves, blinding him with its intensity.  He felt as if he would die, and that feeling had started on the first day.  It was now the fifth.  

Loki's eyes were locked on the door as he thought of a way to make the pain less intense.  The scars from where the venom ate into his skin were constantly being reopened and singeing him with a newfound pain to his tender flesh.

"I was ordered to see the prisoner," came a soft female voice.  Loki was shaken from his reverie as he focused on the voice.  He flinched as a drop touched his scalp and felt his skin evaporate as it ate away at his hair and skin.

The god wiggled, trying to shy away and make the venom hit where it hadn't before.  It hurt less than reopening old scabs.

The door of Loki's cell swung open and a woman stepped in.  She had long, wavy brown hair and wore a baby blue, gold-lined tunic with black leggings, a belt that ran across her chest, black knee-high buckled boots, and a black jacket that reached down to her knees.  She carried a bowl filled with water and a washcloth.  Loki recognized the garb as one of his father's servants.       

Loki smiled through his gag.  Such a person was to dress his wounds?  

Wordlessly, she dropped to her knees and reached behind his head, untying the gag.  She gently worked it out of Loki's torn mouth and was almost immediately assaulted with the god's harsh words.

"You think someone as yourself has the right to even touch me?  My father thinks someone like you will change my ways?  He sends me a little whore."

She smacked him without a word, bursting his already-dry lips open.  He spat blood onto her boots.  He looked back up to her, his eyes blazing.  She retained eye contact for a while, but then firmly broke it to do her task.  She dipped a cloth into the bowl and dabbed a particularly nasty cut on Loki's forehead.  It felt sweet and good and warm.  The god restrained the urge to close his eyes and enjoy the sensation.  Instead, he stared the girl down.  

She was about average looking.  Nothing was too defining in her face.  Her lips were pursed together and her brows knitted in concentration.  She seemed a little detached, as if she wanted to do the best job possible.  

Loki screamed as another drop of venom dripped onto the back of his head, drawing up his knees and kicking the girl in the shin.  The girl flinched, but continued her work.  

"You have a heart," he said, smiling through the pain that lingered.  

She remained quiet.  Loki wondered if she could speak at all.  

"I command you to speak to me!"  Loki's voice was still a little raspy and sounded strange with all the blood in his mouth.  

She looked at him as if he were crazy.  That annoyed him.  He sighed.  "I would have ruled earth so well.  People would respect me.  They would learn to understand me."

She snorted.  

"You will respect me!"  He thundered, lurching up to her and getting a swift knee to the chest for it.  

"How dare you--"

"Shut up."  She dabbed at him again and the skin near his eye contracted with her touch.

"I will burn you."

"No, you won't.  I'm tired of your babbling about being misunderstood and how wonderful of a leader you'd be.  You sound just like your brother."  She pulled away from him and pulled out a needle and thread.

"He is no brother of mine."  Loki was indignant.  How dare this girl speak to him like this?  He was technically royalty, after all.  "What, you're going to sew my mouth shut?  They've already tried that."

"My God, do you ever have a good day?  You sound like you never get anything you want.  You have the protection of Asgard behind you.  You're just too selfish to make something productive out of it.  I pity you."
    "You speak like a Midgard," he said, spitting blood in her face.

"Really?  Are you five?"

"You are!  You sound just like a man I once met."

"Yeah?  And how'd that work out for you?"  She smiled sardonically.

"Mewling quim!  You don't know what it was like!  Your world is full of chaos."

"That was unnecessary.  You think swearing at me will intimidate me.  Maybe I will sew your lips shut."  Roughly, she poked the needle into his flesh, sewing together a bad cut.  "So much for that silver tongue.  I thought you were supposed to be eloquent.  At least, that's what they told me."

Loki smiled.  "What they tell you is hardly ever the truth."

"Says the king of liars.  Anyway, a man once said that we love chaos because we adore making order.  You're just making chaos out of chaos."

"See, that's where you're wrong," Loki said.  "I would do it better than anyone."

"You didn't pay attention in history," she said, cutting the string.  "The last time anyone tried to take over the world, they ended up just like you; miserable useless people left alone to be tended by people who have something better to do other than listen to them babble about how close they were.  You're just like everyone else.  Get an attitude adjustment and I might consider asking your father to let you go.  Until then," she said, standing up and brushing off her pants, "Have a nice day."

She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, bloody bowl in hand and Loki's screams of agony at her back.