Now I don’t do well with prisons. A free spirit like Yours Truly was never made to be caged like this. Once more, I sweated and starved, listening to the muffled sounds of voices from the outside. Seven days later, once again, my captor opened the iron-bound chest.

‘Well? What do you say?’ he said.

I blinked at the sudden sunlight and took a desperate gasp of air. I was very weak by now. Hunger and thirst tore at my guts; my feathers were broken and covered with dust.

‘I’m counting to three,’ said Geirrod. ‘Then you can rot for another week. One. Two—’

‘Mercy,’ I said, resuming my current Aspect. I didn’t need to fake this: I was in a bad way. Naked, starving, on my knees; my throat so dry I could hardly speak. ‘Mercy, please,’ I repeated.

Geirrod’s dark eyes opened wide. ‘I know you,’ he said slowly. ‘You’re that weasel Loki.’

I tried to get up, but couldn’t. Changing Aspect was out of the question. ‘You don’t want me,’ I told him. ‘I’m worth nothing. Look at me. No one will offer a ransom for me, or even notice that I’m gone. Let me go, and I’ll make sure you’re paid. Whatever you want, I can find it.’

Geirrod thought about that for a while. ‘Anything?’

‘I swear it,’ I said. ‘Money, girls, power – revenge – you name it, you’ve got it.’

Geirrod looked even more thoughtful. ‘Revenge, eh?’

‘Absolutely.’ I hid a smile. ‘My word on it.’

‘All right,’ said Geirrod. ‘Revenge it is. I want you to bring Thor to my hall, without his hammer Mjølnir.’

I gave him a look of anguished appeal. Inside, I was grinning. ‘But Thor’s my friend,’ I protested.

‘You gave your word,’ said Geirrod.

‘I know. But does it have to be Thor?’

‘Thor killed my kinsman Hrugnir. I want him to pay. In full. In blood.’

Yes, I know. I’m that good. Geirrod had taken the bait, and I had provided myself with an alibi, so that if things went wrong and I was found out, Geirrod and his daughters would swear that I’d given my oath under torture.

And so we agreed I’d deliver Thor, unarmed and unsuspecting. Then Geirrod’s daughters saw to my needs; fed me and clothed me; gave me a bed. And in the morning, tired and sore, but secretly still grinning inside, I flew off back to Asgard.