Each day, I got noticeably weaker. Or at least, what I presumed to be a day. With no distinction between night and day, I'd lost track of time. Unfortunately, I'd left the watch Loki had made me at the cottage when Kara, Mist, Suzie, and I had gone visiting castles for the day. I mourned the loss of it keenly. My best guess was I'd been chained in this workshop for about two weeks. It was hard to be sure. Exhaustion plagued me, and I kept falling asleep.

Fjalar had harvested blood from me five more times. Each time, it took longer for the wounds to heal, and I slept longer afterwards. Although they used it sparingly for themselves, it seemed they were selling casks of mead infused with my blood. Disgusting, but I couldn't stop them. Twice now, Galar had left the workshop with a small wagon of infused mead, returning the next day to crow with Fjalar about how much they had made in trade.

My eyelids were so heavy, like weights pulling me down to the ocean's depths. At times, I wondered if I'd fall asleep and not wake again.

"Why are you so tired, girl?" Fjalar demanded. "You should recover faster. Are you a goddess of anything?"

"Ocean, forest," I mumbled. No way would I tell him I was a fertility goddess, too. Given the way they'd treated me thus far, I wasn't willing to risk them getting the idea to use sex to revive me. I was not that liberal with my affections, nor did I trust they wouldn't sell my body in addition to my blood. Especially since Frigga had told me sex wasn't an unusual aspect of Sidhe rituals. Who knew what dwarves thought about such things? I was not having sex with anyone who wasn't Loki.

"Ocean, huh?" He walked into one of the adjoining rooms and brought out a large metal tub. He dropped it beside the bed with a loud clang on the stone floor that had me wincing despite my fatigue. At the workbench with chemistry supplies, he picked up a box and dumped the contents into the tub. Moving down the wall, he uncoiled a hose and started pouring steaming water into the tub.

When it was three-quarters of the way full, he gestured to it, and told me to help myself before he walked away to work at a bench.

Reaching over to feel the water, it was warm, almost hot. Nothing seemed to be even remotely cool this deep in the planet, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Taking a deep breath, I recognized the tang of salt. My nose had gotten used to the sulphuric fumes in this gods-forsaken workshop. 

Eying Fjalar, he seemed occupied with whatever he was working on. Galar had left a while ago and hadn't yet returned.

I couldn't get my armour to recede with as little power as I had since I used every bit to charge the ring. After slipping off my boots and leather pants, I stepped into the tub still wearing my armour, shirt and underwear. Quickly, I sunk down into the water. A deep breath slowly escaped my lips as the energy of the water soaked into me.

My skin tingled. Gods, it was amazing. For the first time in so many days, my heavy exhaustion lifted. Without the overwhelming weight on my chest, I could breathe again. Even my heart felt like it pumped easier, my blood not syrup-like in my veins. Seeming to also enjoy the influx of energy, my son kicked and squirmed. He'd been still of late and his vigorous movements erased the fear that had gripped my heart in unrelenting, icy, talon-tipped clutches.

The tub was large enough that I submerged my body entirely, laying on the bottom and looking up through the water. My arms stopped throbbing as they finally healed from the most recent blood-lettings.

Fjalar's face appeared over the edge of the tub, looking down. I lifted my head out of the water.

"Well, you look more lively and alert. I'll make sure you can have a soak in salt water after we harvest from you each time. It seems to do wonders for you," he mused. "Plus, it will keep you from stinking."

He walked away back to his workbench, and I bit my tongue to not reply to the insult. I didn't ask to get chained up to a wall with no opportunities for personal hygiene, so if I smelled, that was on them, not me. If I could access more of my power, I'd be able to clean myself.

With that thought, something occurred to me that hadn't earlier with my mind in such a fog of exhaustion. I'd been trying to find some way of picking the locks on the cuffs. But, if I could access more of my power, I could use water to freeze the locks and break the cuffs. Perhaps I could reach the dials that controlled the pull on my energy to get more back?

I'd need to wait until neither of them were in the workshop. It wasn't often they left me alone. Usually at least one was in here. They didn't seem to sleep at the same time. Perhaps that was a product of no real night or day down here. They simply slept when they got tired.

How would I reach the dials? I hadn't tried standing on my bed, but if I climbed onto the frame of the headboard, I should be able to reach. Floating in the water, I strategized how best to reach the dials. If the bed didn't work, could I use the chains to ascend the wall? That might be possible.

Still deep in my thoughts, Fjalar came back to tell me to get out of the water and he tossed a large towel on the bed for me. Standing, I lifted a foot to step out when his shout froze me in place.

"How in the first forge did you hide that?" he yelled.

I didn't know what he meant or how to respond.

"How many months pregnant are you?" he demanded.

Oh. Shit.

In a panic, I felt for the ring and found a bare finger. It had slipped off in the water. Since my capture, I'd lost too much weight.

Damn it to hell. The one thing I was trying so hard to hide was now out in the open. 

Quickly, I reached down into the water, found the ring, and slid it back on my finger.

"Oh no, you don't," Fjalar demanded, wrenching me out of the water. "Answer me!"

"I'm about thirty-one weeks now."

"How long is gestation for you? Forty weeks?" 

"Yes."

"This explains why you have been so tired, despite eating lots, and putting out extra life force energy." He let me go, and I wrapped the towel around me. "Is the kid Loki's?"

Is it better if I tell the truth or not? I wasn't sure. "Yes."

"Well damn. Asgard will never stop looking for you or the kid. You are carrying Odin's forge-be-damned grandchild."

"Yes."

"Oh great! Keeping you is like carrying leaking dynamite on a Jotun road. I'd rather not be present for the eventual explosion. Galar is right. You are trouble."

"If you just let me go, I won't tell them who had me." I was ready to beg or promise almost anything if it meant he'd let me go.

"Yeah right. I'm not that gullible. I'm selling you to Hreidmar. He'll give me a good price and won't care about the trouble you'll bring him. He can use you to get his revenge on your mate. Loki killed his son." Fjalar laughed and gave me a twisted grin before scowling again. "Yeah, he'll like that. Probably torture you and kill your kid just to get back at Loki."

I didn't respond, ducking my head. There was no point. It was clear I needed to escape sooner rather than taking more time to plan. Instead, I focused on drying myself off, then pulling my pants and boots back on. At the first opportunity, I needed to be ready to go.

Fjalar stomped around the workshop, clearly angry as he muttered to himself. When Galar returned several hours later, Fjalar pulled him into another room and soon, angry shouting erupted.

Taking advantage of their distraction, I climbed onto the frame of the headboard up against the wall. Still, I couldn't quite reach the dials. Bracing one foot on the wall and another on the top of the headboard while pulling on the chains, I lifted myself further up the wall. With even more force on the chains, I lifted my foot off the headboard and stepped up the wall.

Carefully leaning, while maintaining pressure against the wall with my feet and pulling on the chains, I reached up, stretching, just able to touch the dial with my fingertips.

When I moved it slightly clockwise, it pulled more energy from me. Quickly, I turned it back counter-clockwise and a surge of energy hit me. Twisting it all the way, I felt lightheaded as my energy returned.

Not wasting any time, I summoned water into the locks on the chain. It took a minute, but I finally sensed the locks were saturated. Focusing, I froze the water.

As the cuffs released my wrists with a loud snap that echoed in the stone-walled workshop, I almost lost my grip on the wall.

I was free!

Moving fast, I scrambled down and wrapped a shield of air around me to bend the light and make myself invisible. I'd been working on the skill with Mist. Although it wasn't perfect, in the low light of the workshop, it should be sufficient.

Fjalar and Galar rushed into the room, searching for the source of the sound. When they spotted the broken cuffs, they swore.

Careful to not bump anything and give myself away, I hid behind a bench as I watched them quickly search, then run out the entrance. They must have assumed I took off right away.

If I was going to make a run for it, I needed some supplies. With an eye on the entrance to make sure they didn't return and spot me, I took a large cloth and filled it with a loaf of bread, fruit, nuts and hard cheese. It was as much as I could easily carry tied to my armour and still keep my hands free. I didn't want to delay any longer.

While focusing on my armour, I visualized throwing knives, my sais and daggers. My breath caught when they appeared, and I almost let out a cheer. I'd assumed I'd lost them for good. After changing my shirt to fighting leathers that better protected my arms, I crept out of the workshop and into the massive cavern.

Unable to remember which way I'd come, I set out, heading to the left. Anywhere had to be better than here.