‘Wait a minute,’ I said, and explained everything that had happened. Odin listened in silence, while his ravens clicked their beaks and everyone mumbled and dribbled in rage.

‘You see?’ I went on. ‘I had no choice. That eagle was no ordinary bird. It was Thiassi, the Hunter, and he would have killed me if I hadn’t agreed.’

‘We’ll kill you now,’ said Heimdall. ‘Slowly and very painfully.’

‘What? And lose your only chance of getting Idun back?’ I said. ‘Use your brain, Goldie. I know it’s not as sharp as it used to be, but—’

Odin interrupted. ‘You think you can get Idun back?’

I shrugged. ‘Of course. I’m Loki.’

Heimdall protested. ‘Seriously, Allfather, you’re going to let him go again? How can you know if he’ll even come back? He might decide to throw in his lot with Thiassi and the Ice People.’

‘If he’d wanted to do that, don’t you think he’d have done it before?’ said Odin. ‘Besides, we don’t have a choice. Let him go.’

And so, they released me.

I stretched my limbs. ‘Where would you be without me now?’ I grinned at the angry circle of elderly gods and goddesses. ‘I’ll try to be quick,’ I told them. ‘Try not to die of old age while I’m gone.’

Then I looked at Freyja. ‘Lend me your falcon cloak,’ I said. ‘I need to fly to the Northlands.’

‘But you can do that anyway,’ protested Freyja, whose shapeshifting skills were as good as my own, but who rarely shifted Aspects unless she really needed to. Thus the cloak; a marvellous thing of feathers bound together with runes, allowing the wearer to fly like a bird, without arriving naked at his destination.

I have to admit, that appealed to me – it was cold in the Northlands, and I didn’t want to freeze to death. But, more importantly, the cloak would allow me to carry the apples home; plus I couldn’t cast runes while I was in bird Aspect, which would make me extremely vulnerable if Thiassi were to come after me.

‘Are you going to argue?’ I said, giving Freyja my broadest smile. ‘Or shall we wait another few days, till your hair falls out and your teeth go black?’

Freyja handed over the cloak.

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Now, the rest of you. Keep watch. Look for my signature in the sky. Collect all the firewood you can – dry wood, shavings. You’ll know what that’s for if the time comes. And try to stay awake, won’t you? I might be in a hurry.’

Odin said nothing, but nodded. I pulled on Freyja’s feather cloak. An interesting sensation, though I had no time to enjoy it just then. I took flight at once, leaving them to watch me, open-mouthed, as I flew, and made my way back to the Northlands, shielding myself with runes all the way.