‘Wake me up when you’ve brought it,’ I said, and lay down for another nap.

Ten minutes later, the servants returned, carrying the target. I could see Heimdall’s strike now, the rose-red signature of Madr stamped right in the bullseye. The Aesir and the Vanir all clapped. It was a fairly impressive shot.

‘Hawkeye Heimdall wins,’ said Frey, another handsome, athletic type all gleaming with silver armour. The others seemed inclined to agree. I guess Frey was too popular for them to contradict him – or maybe it was the runesword balanced suggestively at his hip that made them want to stay friends with him. An elegant piece, that runesword. Even at that early stage I found myself wondering if he would be as popular without it.

Odin turned his one eye upon Your Humble Narrator. ‘Well?’

‘Well – not bad. Bird-Brain can shoot,’ I said. ‘But I can beat him.’

‘It’s Hawkeye, actually,’ said Heimdall, between clenched teeth. ‘And if you think you’re going to win by standing right next to the target—’

‘Now we turn it round,’ I said.

Once more, Heimdall looked confused. ‘But that would—’

‘Yes. That’s right,’ I said.

Heimdall shrugged and gestured to the two servants, who obediently turned the target around so that the bullseye was on the back.

‘Now try to hit the bullseye,’ I said.

Heimdall sneered. ‘That’s impossible.’

‘You’re saying you couldn’t?’

‘No one could.’

I grinned and summoned the rune Kaen. A fiery rune, a quick rune, a shapeshifting, clever, crooked rune. And instead of shooting it straight at the target, as Heimdall had done, I flicked the rune to one side, sending it into a wide curve to double back on itself, ricochet, then strike the bullseye from behind, obliterating Madr in a blaze of violet. A trick shot, but a nice one.

I looked at the Old Man. ‘Well?’ I said.

Odin laughed. ‘An impossible shot.’

Heimdall snarled. ‘A trick,’ he said.

‘Nevertheless, Loki wins.’

The other gods were forced to agree, with varying degrees of grace. Odin clapped me on the back. Thor did too – so hard, in fact, that he nearly knocked me over. Someone poured me a cup of wine, and from the first mouthful I realized that this was one of the few things that made my corporeal Aspect worthwhile.