Avalin's eyes widened and she shook her head quickly, trying to talk through the gag with no success. The man grinned as well, "You won't try to escape or fight? I can't promise that you'll be back here any time soon though, since the beings that I made the bets with are known to travel quite a lot."
He narrowed his eyes and shook his head "no I won't fight or try to escape. I'll give you three days to make the bet and get your money. Only if she walks out of here unharmed and alive. After the three days, they'll come looking for me."
"We have a deal prince," The man took the dagger away from her side and spun it between his fingers, tucking it away quickly. He kept a firm hand on her shoulder to make sure she couldn't go just yet as he removed the hat that she was wearing as well as the cloak, pulling it over his shoulders and shoving the hat onto his head.
He nodded "can I have 5 minutes with her before we go?" He request as he breathed a sigh of relief, seeing she was unharmed
The man nodded, "No funny business prince," He said, releasing her. Avalin took the gag out of her mouth as she ran to him, wrapping him in a hug and burying her head in his chest, "My wonderful, stupid, idiotic prince," She mumbled, her "Why would you offer to take my place? I'm much more expendable than you if he doesn't bring you back."
He smiled and shook his head as he hugged her close "my love, you forget I've been in worse situations. I don't expect him to hold up any part of his bargain but I'll be ok." He said gently as he stroked her hair "if it gets you out of harm's way, then I'd happily and willingly go anywhere to drive that danger away." He pulled her away and kissed her lips, pouring the same love and passion had when they got married the day before. "Don't do anything I would do while I'm gone, don't come looking for me and don't get in trouble. I know you have a reckless side Avalin, don't look for me." He touched his forehead with hers an smiled "we should've stayed home."
"I can't promise that I won't look for you, it would kill me if I knew I could've done something to help you come back." She looked into his eyes and chuckled lightly, "I told you we should've stayed home."
"Hurry up prince." The man called, tapping his foot expectantly, "Finish talking to your beloved quickly." He crossed his arms and watched them.
Avalin shook her head and kissed Loki again, pulling him into one more strong and hopeful hug, "Be safe and come back."
He hugged her back "I will, I promise." He whispered before agonizingly breaking away and walking over to the man "ready when you are." He glanced at Avalin and nodded, assuring everything would be back to normal soon
The man grinned and nodded, "Let's get going then, do you care if we travel by magic?" He didn't wait for an answer before putting a hand on his shoulder and snapping his fingers, a swirl or purple surrounding them.
Avalin nodded weakly at Loki, not sure if she should head back to the palace or if she should stay and wait.
Loki flicked his gaze to the castle then back to Avalin, and nodded before they dissapeared. "Exactly where are we off to?" He asked the man
"Not a friendly place, that's for sure." The man grinned, "The first being that I made a deal with is always at this club of sorts." The purple swirling mist continued to surround them as they traveled through space to different planet.
She sighed and shook her head as they disappeared, already worried more than ever for her husband. She started to walk back to the castle, planning out how she was going to break the news to Thor.
"fantastic." Loki said sarcastically "so no restrains or anything? At least to make it believable that you captured me and not that I came willingly," he asked
He raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know that you were that eager to have restraints put on, I was going to wait a little bit longer." He snapped his fingers again and a gag and rope appeared in his hands. "We're almost there," He said, tossing him the gag, "I'll tie your hands behind your back, but I think you can manage that."
He looked in disgust at the gag, "last time I put anything like this on my brother was exporting me off Earth to a high security prison ," he pulled it on and turned so he could have his hands tied
The man chuckled and tied Loki's hands together, "I do see why he did it, you're much less of a pest when you can't talk." He looked around and nodded as the purple mist dissipated and they could see a very high tech and futuristic planet, full of lights and tall buildings. They appeared on the top of one of the taller buildings and the man smiled, starting to walk towards a small door near the middle of the building, "Hurry." Was all he said.
Loki struggled to keep up as the man walked faster but managed. He glanced around, not recognizing the area around him. He focused on Avalin and the fact that he was doing this for her ensured safety.
Avalin arrived at the castle quickly, immediately starting to look for Thor. She shook her head, knowing that she had to do something to help Loki.
The man arrived at the door and rolled his neck, pulling off the cloak from around his shoulders and leaving it by the door along with the hat. "Act like you were beat up, it'll help it become more believable and we can get out of this place faster." He said, opening the door before grabbing his arm roughly and shoving him inside, following right behind him. It was clear that this was a club of sorts, with loud music and hundreds of people dancing. The middle of the floor was just empty space, a hole cut out of the floor of each level so that you could see the DJ at the bottom, surrounded by hundreds of multicolored lights that lit up the whole building.
To sell the act, when the man shoved Loki, he purposely fell hard on his side. He pulled himself up with a grunt and walked on, casting a slight glamour spell on himself to add bruises and cuts.
Thor was in the throne room going through papers and requests from citizens as well as Valkyrie reports
A few people glanced over at the two of them, though most just kept on dancing and talking. The man walked alongside him, a firm grip on his arm as he led him to a dark door that blended in with the dark walls. He knocked on the door and it was opened by a very tall woman with purple skin and multiple tattoos. "I'm here to see Arrow," He said to the woman, who nodded and closed the door again, opening it a few moments later, handing him a small slip of paper and closing the door once again.
Avalin wandered around the castle finally finding Thor. Her eyes were watering and she knocked on the wall before slowly making her way to him, "Thor..?" She said softly, looking at the ground.
Loki noted the name and the slip of paper in his mind and continued forward when the doors opened
He glanced up "ah Avalin, I thought you and Loki we're going out today?" He stood and walked over to her, his eyes widening as he saw tears "what's wrong?" He asked softly
"I..he…they.." She tried her best to keep from crying, wiping the tears away with her hand and standing up straight. "He's….he took my place and now I don't know where he is, he took my place when they captured me and now the guy took him to win a bet." Her eyes showed no emotion but her mouth gave it away, quivering as she tried to not show how scared and worried she was.
The man put hand in front or Loki, "Not yet," He hissed "We have to go mingle and act normal while Arrow comes to get us." He grabbed his arm again and pulled him away from the door, tucking the slip of paper away before pulling his captive towards one of the few empty tables around.
Thor listened as she spoke, "typical of my brother of course." he shook his head "do you know anything distinguishable about this man?" he asked as he already started forming a plan
Loki rolled his eyes and glared around how in hell was he supposed to mingle? he was tied up and gagged, what were thee people, telepathic he cringed back the thought hell, he was telepathic…
Avalin thought for a moment, "He's pretty tall..and I think his skin has a blue tint.. he knew magic and seemed to know a lot about me and you two.. and I'm pretty sure his clothing was all black besides a white band around on one of the sleeves of his shirt.." She sighed and clasped her hands together behind her neck, "I didn't pay much attention, most of the time I was worried about not getting stabbed with the dagger any more."
The man motioned to one of the chairs, "You, stay here, people might try to talk to you, just ignore them, they're all drunk. I need something to drink." He spun on his heel and walked to the nearest bar, ordering a bright blue drink that didn't look healthy or safe for anyone to drink.
Thor nodded "must be one of the Abandoned Realms then…" he called his most elite Valkyries to the room and explained to them where they all must search "is that understood?" They all nodded and left as fast as they came. He turned back to Avalin "are you coming?" he asked
Loki gave a sharp nod and sat in the chair, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. He closed his eyes and focused on his wife, how he loved her with every inch of his being and the life they would have together once this mess was over
"Yes," She said quickly, "Can I go change into clothes that might be better for searching quick?" She looked at her dress and then back up at Thor.
The man quickly downed part of his drink and started walking back to Loki, stopping to talk to another woman with the same blue tinted skin as his. She had bright orange hair that was braided into hundreds of long and tiny braids and she had a matching blue dress that was only a shade darker than her skin. The man grinned and finished talking, sitting down across from Loki.
Thor nodded "yes, these some extra valkyrie armor in the other room." he said while he headed for the armory to grab some weapons
Loki sighed from his nose and kept his eyes closed concentrating on Avalin
She nodded and headed to the other room, changing into a set of the armor. She pulled her hair back into a braid and headed towards the armory, looking slightly like an actual valkyrie.
Thor waited outside "ready?" he asked, "I told you my brother was a handful"
"It was my fault though, I was the one that went to look at a piece of jewelry alone." She nodded, "Let's go."
"Having fun?" The man asked, sipping the strange colored drink and listening to the overly loud music, "I would offer to buy something to drink, but then you'd need the gag out and your hands untied."
Thor shook his head "Don't say that, Loki would've found trouble either way. Plus if they were after a royal, he would've sacrificed himself in the end anyway." he tried to sound reassuring for Avalin's sake but felt the same dread as she.
Good, less reason to talk, Loki thought. He hadn't drank anything since this morning but he wasn't going to beg anything from his captor