Astyr took off her jacket and handed it to her mother, mentally kicking herself for not thinking to bring some extra clothes. Arianna put her painfully thin arms through the sleeves and wrapped the thick, black material around her emaciated body. Arianna hadn't had more than thin broth or gruel to eat in the nearly sixteen years that she had been held prisoner in the tiny stone cell and her appearance was a clear reflection of that. Her skin was pale and dry; hanging off of the bones that showed clearly through the wasted muscles. Her hair was dingy and hung down her back like a curtain of lifeless threads.

Her large, pale eyes were sunken into her skeletal face but they were the one area that was showing an improvement thanks to the donated blood that Astyr had given her. The energy that she had absorbed from it was lighting her eyes, giving them a shine that radiated through the gloom of the underground stone chamber and brought a smile to Tyr's worried face every time he looked at her. Even in her wasted condition, Tyr could see the woman inside who was full of love.

He couldn't help, in the beginning when they first met, comparing her to his first wife, Isis. Isis had been a cold and calculating woman who looked at life through eyes that were trained to look at the world around her in terms of what she could get out of it. Arianna looked at the world and thought only of what she could do to make it better. Isis was ambitious; she had been born to the ruler of the fertile east bank of the Nile River and she had been raised on adoration and worship, never learning contentment or consequence. Arianna had been born to the queen of the Alfar and had been raised to think of her duty to those around her.

Tyr's marriage with Isis had been an arrangement between their parents to bring the lands of Tyr's father in Syria together with the lands of her father in Egypt. Isis hadn't wanted to move away from the home she had grown up in; she didn't want to go to a land where the humans didn't know her name and wouldn't worship her. So she had done what she had always done best; she schemed. Before she was sent to Tyr for their wedding, she conspired with her cousin, allowing him to get her pregnant so that Tyr would refuse their marriage.

She had gotten what she wanted, in that regard. When Tyr discovered, on their wedding night, that she was already with child, he had sent her back to her father in a rage.

That was where her plot had gone wrong. Her father, incensed at her behavior, locked her away for centuries. She had spent her time raising her daughter, growing her hate and resentment, and plotting.

He cousin Osiris, the father of her child, finally managed to free her from her prison and together they went on a rampage of killing and revenge that left the fledgling Egypt in their power and under their dominion with no one but her younger brother, Set, to stand in her way.

Set fought both bravely and cunningly but he never quite managed to fully overthrow his sister and her powerful consort. What he did do, however, was to keep her occupied with maintaining her position and defending her throne so that she had no time to spare for getting back at Tyr.

The prolonged warfare did give her one advantage. Her need for an army that would implicitly obey her and give her their loyalty led her to the development of an elite corps of fighters made up entirely of her own daughters. She spent her centuries of imprisonment teaching Menha, who had been imprisoned with her, everything she knew just to pass the time. When she was free, she took that idea and expanded it, breeding warriors with the fighters she defeated and training those girls to fight for her. Sons were neither wanted nor tolerated.

Isis had then lived for thousands of years as a goddess. She had encouraged her humans to worship her, building temples in her honor and shedding their blood for her. She had been so well-known that her name was carved in stone and stories of her greatness were carried on to new lands as the boundaries of the world were pushed back and expanded. She would have gone on like that for even more millennia had it not been for the end of paganism.

Monotheism swept through the human populations like a fire, burning away the memories of the Aesir and Vanir who had brought the people to where they were and given them the knowledge and the civilization to be able to form their own ideas about the nature of the earth and the secrets of their creation.

Most Aesir didn't mind; most simply adapted to the changes that took place around them and found ways to live their lives in peace among the new cultures and societies that spread around the world. Isis wasn't one of them.

Isis didn't want to be forgotten. She wanted to be worshipped. She wanted to be loved. Fading away into obscurity was not what she had planned. There was one thing, however, standing between her plans and their realization; the council of elders. The fact that Tyr was the head of the council only made the game that much sweeter to her. Getting rid of Tyr would solve all of her problems in one fell swoop.

It had only been a matter of time and time was something that Isis was ready to spend in making sure she got what she wanted. Fifteen centuries had passed since the last of her cults had openly adored her and she was getting desperate to overthrow the council and shake off their rules that kept her hiding in the shadows like some petty criminal. It made her skin crawl to hide her true nature from the humans who were swarming the earth like a plague of locusts. In her opinion, the council should have done more to keep the livestock under control and in their place.

Teaming up with Loki had been a tactical decision; she couldn't have cared less about his reasons for doing what he did. Now that Loki was out of the picture, Isis was fully prepared to push her own agenda. In fact, not having to work with Loki anymore was a bonus; she wouldn't have to deal with him later when she got back to her rightful throne. At least she still had the little gift he had left her of Arianna. She couldn't have asked for better bait.

Isis had sent Menha into the cell to wait for Tyr to come and rescue Arianna. There wasn't any doubt that he would. Loki hadn't noticed their little visitor to the prisoner, but Isis' daughters had. It wasn't Isis' job to keep Loki informed of things he should have been smart enough to figure out on his own, so she felt no guilt or remorse about whether the information could have saved him. He had been too intent on his own selfish motives to have paid heed to the implications anyway. Isis, however, didn't suffer from the same delusions. Isis was a machine when it came to plotting; she knew right away that with the wolf knowing about the shack, Tyr would be along sometime after. She had already waited a millennia and a half, she wasn't going to mess up her best opportunity by rushing now.

The few short months that she had been waiting now had actually passed too quickly for her. She had plotted and planned for this moment and reworked those plans over again trying to decide the best way to handle the situation; she was so intent on the plotting that the news of Tyr's arrival in the woods had taken her by surprise. That didn't matter, Menha was already in place and the rest of the girls were so well-trained that they were ready at a moment's notice.

Now they were spaced out in the trees that surrounded the clearing. The only snag to the plan was that Tyr had two little watch-boys waiting outside the front door. It crossed her mind that Tyr must think rather highly of his position now to bring guards with him. It wasn't that big of a hurdle, though. Two boys and Tyr against Isis and her twelve daughters didn't offer very promising odds to the less feminine side of the equation. The girls were more than just taught well; they had been bred well, too.

Isis focused her attention on the front door as she saw it just begin to open. Her lips curled up in a cruel smile as she stepped from the shadows into the open space in front of the ramshackle house. There was just enough moonlight for her to see Tyr coming out the door with his hands behind his back. He stopped in the doorway and looked around until he found Isis and his brows drew together in a deep scowl as their eyes met.

Glin and Hakon were caught in surprise at the sight of the starkly pretty woman in dark clothes standing in the clearing. Even though they hadn't known what to expect, they had assumed that any crony of Loki's would be just as rough and crude as he had been. There was nothing rough about the appealing figure who stood in the moonlight; her long, glossy hair thickly framing her heart-shaped face and emphasizing her slightly slanted dark eyes and her full lips. If it weren't for the vicious look she had she could have been considered beautiful. They were both too young to really know much about Isis and it wasn't surprising that neither of them recognized her, until Tyr started talking.

"Isis," he barked out. It was clear that he had neither warmth nor regard to spare for the woman who had for one brief moment been his wife. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked loudly.

She moved forward with the liquid grace of a large cat, feeling triumphant at having caught the great Tyr unawares. As she approached the shack, a few black-clad figures detached themselves from the darkness of the woods and entered the clearing with her, moving as if they were all walking with one set of legs, perfectly timed.

Hakon immediately raised his bow and pulled back on the string, aiming at the nearest of the mysterious women. The leather garments they were wearing made it all too easy to know that they were of the fairer sex despite their faces being almost completely concealed. Tyr made a soft grunt to indicate to him not to shoot. There was no way he could explain to either Glin or Hakon about Menha, who was being held by Arianna right behind Tyr's back. They needed to keep Isis thinking that Menha had succeeded and that things were going according to her plans until the last possible moment.

Hakon gave a slight nod but didn't lower his weapon.

Isis gave a laugh that sounded like a clap of thunder; it shouldn't have been possible for a woman to have made that noise but Isis wasn't human, or sane much, so it wasn't too shocking.

"Tyr, my dear husband," she drawled out, "How very kind of you to come and visit after all these centuries. I was beginning to think you didn't like me."

"Skip the remarks, Isis," Tyr said to her levelly, "You never could pull off wit."

Isis let her amused expression dissolve into a sneer of distaste. "I won't need to be witty once I get rid of you," she told him, "Soon, I'll have humans bowing and scraping, serving me or paying the price for disobedience. You never should have let them get this bad. They think they own this planet!"

Tyr narrowed his eyes as the full impact of her delusion was revealed. It wasn't possible to go back to the way things used to be. The population of humans had been less than one million in those days. The humans had been little more than animals, living off the land and knowing nothing of the world around them or their place in it. It had been a simple matter for the Aesir and the Vanir to gather them up and control them through the use of new technology and education; but that was far from the case now. Humans now were capable of doing great damage to the immortals that lived quietly among them. There were several countries that already had very secret departments that were dedicated to hunting immortals and getting rid of them. Tyr felt a rising tide of frustration threaten to overwhelm him as he quickly imagined just how much damage would be done if Isis was allowed to get what she wanted this time.

Isis obviously either didn't know about the true nature of the threat humans posed to them, or she carelessly disregarded it in favor of believing herself completely invincible. Tyr tried his best to explain it all to her, trying to make her see how foolish it would be of her to expose herself and the rest of their species but Isis didn't want to hear it.

"That is exactly why I need to do this!" she shouted angrily. "You have allowed us all to be backed into a corner from which we are forced to attempt to live our lives like some kind of outcasts. We are the dominant species on this planet! Every animal alive today owes its very existence to the fact that we are benevolent enough to let them live. They should be bowing down in thanks and worship to us, not forcing us into the shadows like fugitives. You aren't fit to rule our people! You should have been removed from your position a long time ago. I'm doing a favor to our people by getting rid of you tonight. Once you're gone, we'll be able to rise up and take back our name and our honor."

Tyr shook his head in amazement and disbelief. He really couldn't understand how she could believe that.

"Isis, you're wrong. Getting rid of me won't turn back the clock and give you back the life you were born to. Those times are passed and the world is very different now. You have to see that."

"Of course I see that the world is different!" she shouted at him, "That's what I'm going to change."

"I wonder why you haven't tried before to simply take over the humans if you're so adamant about this," Tyr said logically. "If you're so determined to rule, why did you bother obeying my laws all this time?"

She raised her hand and shook her finger at him angrily as she answered, "It's not just your laws! You have the entire council behind you, enforcing your every nonsense decision. Your council and their allies are nothing but a noose around the neck of anyone who tries to speak against you. I'm simply taking the opportunity to change the leadership of the Council of Elders. Once they are following me, the rest of the world will fall into place."

Behind him, Tyr felt a light touch on his hand, the hand that wasn't holding the seax. This was his signal that Elianna and Astyr had finished their job.

While they were still down in the basement, they had interrogated Menha to discover what Isis was planning. That information had led them to agree to an unusual plan to counter her attack.

Tyr had come out as Isis had expected in order to draw her attention and stall for time. While he was blocking the front door, Elianna and Astyr slipped through the back wall and out through the trees that grew close to the back of the shack to find the rest of their party. Grima and Laure heard what was going on and quickly found Frey and Gunnar to share the news. When they were all ready, Elianna went with the other four around to the front, moving silently through the forest until they were in concealed positions behind the spaced-out warrior daughters of Isis. It wasn't a perfectly closed net, but it gave them the element of surprise and the shelter of the trees for protection.

Astyr went back through the back wall of the shack and stealthily moved up the darkened hallway to give her mother, who was keeping Menha restrained with the touch of one hand, the signal that all was ready. Arianna passed that on to Tyr with a light touch and then they were ready to put their strategy to the test.

Tyr took a large step forward, revealing the captive Menha and the free Arianna who was controlling her. Arianna pushed Menha forward and they came to stand beside Tyr. Glin and Hakon were shocked, but they were both smart enough to hide that and take up positions beside Tyr, Arianna and their prisoner.

Astyr was reluctantly staying back in the doorway. It had been decided that as the only mortal in the group, she would have to try to avoid the fighting unless it was absolutely necessary. Astyr wasn't happy about it, but she understood her parents' fear enough to do as they asked.

Isis took a half-step back as she saw her daughter, her most beloved daughter, being held by Arianna. Isis had been keeping Arianna in the tiny cell for so long, and under such harsh conditions, that Isis was surprised that Arianna hadn't started to take revenge already by killing Menha. Menha had certainly earned such treatment if Arianna was the kind to give back what she had suffered through the years.

Tyr decided they were now in a fair position to begin negotiating.

"Isis," he started, "I really don't want to kill anyone tonight. You and Menha must face punishment, but it will be fair and proportional to the crimes you have committed. If you give up now, I will make sure that your trial before the council is swift. As soon as justice has been served, you will be able to start over and live your life properly."

Isis stared at him, dumbfounded, for a moment before throwing her head back and making more of those hideous laughing noises.

"You think I'm just going to let you take me in?" she said loudly, "You think I'm just going to throw away fifteen hundred years of my life because you say so? You are the one here who is delusional. I came here tonight to do away with you and that's exactly what I intend to do."

"Don't force my hand," Tyr said ominously, "I don't want to kill anyone, but I'll do what I have to in order to protect my family. You are throwing away your best chance at survival right now."

Isis' eyes flashed in anger. "Do you really believe that you are in a position to threaten me? Do you think that you, your scrawny little woman, and these two lapdogs have any chance of getting past my girls? Can you not count, Tyr? We're twelve over here and you are just a pathetic group of soon-to-be corpses."

She raised one hand and snapped her fingers and the eleven of her daughters who were free started to advance.

Arianna pushed Menha forward and called out to Isis, "Stop! If you want to keep this one alive, you'd better call the rest back!"

Isis laughed at that. "Don't threaten me, Arianna. We both know you're too weak to do anything."

The leather-clad women continued to approach. Hakon drew back the string of his bow yet again and aimed. Glin raised his hand in preparation for the attack, but the attack stopped as Menha collapsed to the ground. Arianna was still holding onto her hand and she stared straight into Isis' eyes.

"What have you done!" Isis screamed in panic.

"As you said," Arianna answered her calmly, "I'm too weak to do anything. So I'm taking energy from Menha to make me strong enough for you to take me seriously."

Isis looked at Menha's lifeless form in confusion and disbelief. "That's not possible! You can't draw energy out of a person except through their blood. What are you doing to her?"

"No," Arianna corrected her, "You can't. I'm an Alfar; I can absorb energy through skin quite easily. Now, it's up to you if you want me to stop. You'd better make up your mind quickly, though; I don't think Menha has much left. Once it gets too low, you won't be able to save her."

Isis wasted no time in stopping her daughters and Tyr immediately stepped forward. He was glad that he wouldn't have to fight his way out of this, but Isis was still a danger that needed to be brought under control.

Isis looked away from Menha as she noticed Tyr's movement and took a quick step back.

"I'm not going to let you arrest me!" she shouted, "I'm not going to let you and your puppet council pass judgment on me for just trying to live my life!"