Persuading Thor to come with me wasn’t as hard as you might expect. I suggested a trip to see a friend, Geirrod, of the Ice Folk; a friend with two lovely daughters. It was still summer, which meant plenty of game, good fishing, and no snow in the valleys. Of course, Sif wouldn’t approve, I said, but if Thor left his hammer behind, and went without his chariot, then we could be there and back before Sif even knew we were gone. It didn’t hurt my case that Sif had been prickly of late, following the little fling Thor had had with Jarnsaxa, a warrior woman from the mountains. Much as he hated the Rock Folk, he had a thing for their slim, dark haired, strong and hot-blooded women (which might account for the number of enemies he’d made over the years), and Sif, never the patient type, was quick to comment when he strayed.

And so we let it be known in Asgard that we were going fishing, and then we crept over Bif-rost, Thor looking as guilty as sin, Yours Truly as innocent as a newborn babe. Which I was, if you think about it; if Thor had been faithful to his wife, my plan would never have got off the ground. Which was why, I told myself, if the Thunderer came to any harm on our adventure, it would not be my fault, but his. It’s the kind of poetic justice that people like Thor tend to overlook, which was why I didn’t mention it to him at the time (or later).

As always, Heimdall watched us go. I would rather he hadn’t seen us, of course, but there was no hiding anything from the sharp-eyed Watchman. We travelled into the Middle Worlds, keeping to the main roads, crossed the realm of the Rock Folk and, as we neared the ring of peaks that marks the approach to the Far North, we stopped to rest by a mountain pass, where an old friend of Odin’s happened to live.

Her name was Grid, and she lived alone in her cabin in the wilds. She was one of those outdoor, sporty types; all hunting and fishing, cropped hair and sensible shoes. She could eat and drink almost as much as Thor could, and with the belt of strength she wore – a present from the Old Man – she could wrestle a bear to the ground. She had a pair of gauntlets, too, fireproof and woven with runes, which looked a lot like the ones that I’d gone to such pains to persuade Thor to leave behind.