Thor and Loki peeked around the corner to see if anyone was watching. All of the men were gone off to fight the Frost Giants except for Heimdal who was standing guard at the end of the Bifrost. Their mother was laying down in her bed with a tummy ache from eating too much and upsetting their baby brother so that he kicked her. Their Aunt Freya had fallen asleep after rocking Sif to sleep who was scared for her father, Uncle Mani, off fighting with their father. Her mother Sunna was with him — many of the women had gone with the armies. Asgard was practically empty except for a handful of women, children, and the elderly. Where once it had been filled with a humming din of joyful noise, the realm was filled with a ringing, echoing, eerie silence. The war had dragged everyone away and seemed to have drained all of the life and fun out of Asgard and no one knew when things would get back to normal.
Which, of course, was why Thor and Loki were on their current mission. The brothers knew that Heimdal could see everything that was currently happening. However, Loki had learned that the guardian could be distracted, his sight temporarily “blinded” as it were, by magic. Illusion, actually. Thor had his misgivings about their quest but Loki would not be denied. He couldn’t do both parts himself. The plan was simple enough. They all wanted to know how the war was going and when Father and the others would be returning home. If either of them tried to sit on Hlidskjalf, they’d be found out before they could figure out anything since the throne room was warded and watched. However, the Bifrost was only watched by Heimdal and a few guards. The pair of them could walk down it openly enough (provided they could sneak out of the palace) pretending to be playing at guards themselves. Once they got close enough to Heimdal, Loki could cast an illusion that would cloud his sight so that Thor could move to the edge of the bridge between realms, take a peek, see how things were going, and then slip back and they’d go back to their playing and no one would ever know.
It was a perfect plan. Provided, of course, that they ever got out of the palace without getting caught. They were supposed to be at their lessons with Vor learning how the dwarves of Nidavellir divided into clans and castes and how each one specialized in different methods of working with stone, metals, gems, magic, or laws. Thor found the lessons incredibly tedious though Loki thought they were interesting enough — especially the ways dwarves used magic to enhance their crafted handiworks. Today, though, it wasn’t fear of Vor’s thumping their backsides that had them constantly looking over their shoulders — it was the fear that he would report their absence to their mother. The brothers had skipped lessons before and taken their punishments dutifully enough — albeit Thor far more frequently than Loki — but since the war had taken their father away, they had been punctual attendants at their lessons ever since Vor had threatened to speak to Frigga if they went missing again. Neither of them wanted to place a single iota of worry on their mother now that their father was off fighting. However, curiosity outweighed the desire to be obedient and Loki thought that if they could just be quick enough, they could get back to their studies without being missed at all.
“It’s clear!” he hissed to his brother. “Let’s go!”
Thor rolled his eyes but followed his brother’s commands and darted out of the shadows cast by the palace’s massive double entryway. Their leather-clad feet trod silently through the open and abandoned courtyard and over the causeway that separated the palace from the rest of the city. They crept through the shadows of the buildings, keeping to the main road so they wouldn’t get lost. The realm of Asgard was normally home to close to one hundred billion people and its main city housed over a million. But now scarcely more than a thousand people remained. Onward they crept stealthily and quickly until the cobbled street turned to varied-colored metal that appeared rainbow sheen in the light from Aeternia. The metal road hovered with no apparent support over the placid waters that flowed from the edge of the city to where the realm dropped off into space. The road was the Bifrost and near the end of it were the guards who were stationed behind to ensure that no Frost Giants managed to invade Asgard. When the princes came in range of them, they slowed down and began to walk openly, marching as if they were guards themselves. They rolled their shoulders back, held their heads high, backs straight, swinging their arms and picking up their feet. The guards spotted them and smiled with the benevolent condescension that adults reserved for children playing at being adults. Heimdal saw them coming, of course, but gave them a welcome grin full of warmth that set his eyes glowing. He had always liked the two sons of Odin — even if one of them was a son only by adoption.
“How are you strapping young lads doing?” he asked. “Shouldn’t you be at your lessons with Vor?”
“We finished our lessons and decided to do our part to keep Asgard safe by helping the guards,” Loki said brightly. “We’re going to be brave warriors like you and our father.”
“I’m already a great warrior and Loki is a great magician,” Thor said. “Want us to show you?”
“I’d love to see a demonstration of your skills, lads. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Loki could have let out a cry of excitement. Their plan was working! Thor pulled out his wooden sword and nodded at his brother. Loki nodded back and unsheathed his own wooden sword. The two of them began to fight, falling into the standard moves they knew from their few practice sessions. Thor was clearly more skilled and more enthusiastic at swordplay but Loki supplemented his attacks with spells that kept his brother slightly off-balance. Using several different illusion spells cast on himself and on his blade, Loki tricked everyone who was watching into thinking that he wielded a sword of varying lengths or that his blade was in a different place or a different shape. He also had doppelgangers of himself spring up all around so that no one could be quite certain which Loki was the real one.
Everyone was so focused on the fight that they never realized that the Thor who was fighting was no longer the real Thor but a cleverly crafted illusion. Instead, the real Thor was concealed by a trick of bent light so that he seemed invisible as he moved to the edge of the Bifrost and gazed out over the cosmos. He searched for his father and found him in Midgard. The armies of Asgard were battling the Frost Giants on a trio of worlds orbiting a small yellow star. Only one of those worlds had any inhabitants still alive — the other two worlds were lifeless except for the armies still doing battle. Odin was rallying the humans who were natives of the third planet. The Frost Giants had nearly covered half the planet in ice and were well on their way to killing most of the population. The tribes living near the glaciers were used to the bitter cold and the unforgiving climate. They were also used to foraging and hunting, living close to the land, and were fierce warriors in their own right. Thor could tell that this was a race that would be worthy of respect in the years to come.
Then, as he was watching, the Frost Giants launched a sudden attack on the Asgardian and human forces where Odin was speaking. Thor’s concentration lapsed and he couldn’t find his father again. He glanced back over his shoulder to see that Loki’s distraction was beginning to collapse. Moving back to where his brother was, he took his illusionary self’s place and let Loki drop the spell. Heimdal seemed none the wiser as the two boys bowed to him, sheathed their wooden blades, and then stood as if waiting for further orders. Heimdal smiled indulgently at them. “Well, my lads, I am impressed. I order you to return to the palace and keep guard there. We need more men keeping an eye on the palace where we are stretched far too thin.”
“Aye, sir!” they said in unison, saluting him as they would any superior officer. Turning on their heels, the pair of them began marching back down the Bifrost towards the city. Once they were out of eyeshot of the guards, they started running towards the city and the palace hoping to make their way back to the room where they were supposed to be studying without being detected.
Heimdal chuckled to himself as he used his sight to watch the boys slip back into the chamber where they were supposed to be working diligently at their lessons. Unbeknownst to them, Vor had contacted him telepathically when he had discovered the lads missing asking him if he knew where the erstwhile scholars were. Heimdal saw that they were sneaking out towards the Bifrost and let Vor know. He deduced that they wanted to use the Bifrost to see what their father was doing and how the war was faring — a not unusual desire these days. So, he allowed them to think their ruse had worked. Indeed, he had been impressed. Loki’s skill in illusion had grown beyond anything he’d expected from a child of his years and Thor’s skill with weapons showed that he would be every inch the mighty warrior he hoped to be. Perhaps one day the two brothers would fight side-by-side in the Asgardian armies keeping the Jotuns from overrunning the cosmos, providing justice where there was injustice, serving the cause of righteousness, and enforcing the peace. The Watcher knew that was his king’s dearest hope — to see the two brothers working side-by-side to help each other. And, after today’s demonstration it looked like Loki and Thor would always be a force to be reckoned with.