Padding silently onto the smooth wooden bar high in the air, I peaked down at Goddess Freya. Radiant in slumber, the comely goddess rested on her back in the middle of her large canopy bed. "Her beauty is enough to curl your whiskers," I smiled to myself. With her long golden hair spread out over the pillows, she looked sort of like an upside down sunrise. I twisted my head around to get a better angle, leaning out for a clearer view. Perhaps a bit too far…

"MEOW!" I shrieked, scrabbling at the rounded wood of the top retaining bar over the bed. My front claws found purchase on one of the long silk streamers decorating the canopy. For a moment, I felt almost safe as my bottom dangled in the open air, my long, fluffy tail kinked for balance. Unfortunately, the pale yellow silk began ripping.

With a yelp, I swung down on the silk streamer, tugging frantically to free my claws. Like a furry pendulum, I swung out over the bed, my gyrations increasingly frantic. In the middle of the swing back over my recumbent mistress, the silk bunting tore completely free, landing my full weight in an uncoordinated sprawl squarely in the middle of Freya’s stomach.

The Goddess jerked gracelessly from a sound sleep as the breath whooshed from her. Frantically untangling myself from the torn silk streamer, I scrambled off her spasming nude body; taking extra care my claws were completely retracted. Freya sputtered breathlessly, "Misty! By Thor’s thunderous thighs, I’ll…" Then her threat was cut off when she resumed coughing and gasping. The lovely woman collapsed back on the bed, clutching her stomach just below her rib cage.

I made a mad dash across the comforter and leapt for the open window ledge by her bed. Skidding to a stop on the wide polished wood, I paused and looked back at the panting Goddess meekly, my smoke-colored fur fluffed out to show my distress. Freya’s hair looked sort of distressed at the moment too as we looked into each other’s eyes. The Goddess gestured magically in my direction and I flew through the air with a startled mew. For the second time in as many minutes, I landed with an awkward thud, this time skidding across the grass outside Freya’s bedroom. Checking my limbs quickly, I pawed at the ground to make sure my magical ride was over. I scampered across the lawn and up the closest oak tree, pausing on the third branch of the big old tree to lick at the dark fur on my shoulder quickly three times. When I looked over, the Goddess was glaring at me through her open window.

"Tonight, you clumsy fur ball, you’ll be sleeping in the forest!" Freya rubbed her stomach self-consciously. "And maybe for the rest of the month…" She leaned out to swing her ornately carved wooden shutters closed, her long blonde tresses hiding her nakedness elegantly.

Sighing to myself, I sat on the tree limb with a practiced nonchalance I didn’t actually feel. Freya couldn’t really be that mad at me, could she? I could see her through the slats in her shutters as she stormed around her room. When she stopped by the window again, she was idly fondling an apple from the basket she kept beside her bed. When she noticed me staring at her, I ducked my head in my best ‘pitiful kitty’ look. She glared at me and motioned imperiously towards the forest in clear dismissal.

Drat! She was really mad. I gazed inside longingly at the soft bed for another moment, then jumped from branch to branch until I landed gracefully in the grass. Turning obediently, I ran into the deepening twilight. Skirting the deep fishpond Goddess Freya had conjured a few months ago, I dashed towards the dark forest across the wide grass field. The grass, dotted with multicolored flowers, extended almost a quarter-mile before the wildness of the forest stretched above me.

Roving amongst the trees, I slipped silently through the undergrowth until I found my secret hiding spot, a half-hollowed log propped up by some rocks. Crawling inside after checking for interlopers, I curled up to sleep the night away, hoping Freya wouldn’t still be angry with me at breakfast tomorrow. If I got breakfast tomorrow, I sighed again.

Some time later, I awoke in complete darkness, shivering from the cold. Blinking into the inky blackness, I looked around for the opening, but it was completely gone. I knew I hadn’t been moved because the wood I rested on was the same, so I unstretched from my napping position and felt gingerly towards the opening of the log with one trembling paw.

COLD! Icy cold snow blocked the exit from my hiding space. Shaking my head in disbelief, I tried to figure out what had happened. Goddess Freya wouldn’t do something like this, no matter how mad she was at me. And there’s no way there should be snow this close to the eternal springtime of Folkvang.

I couldn’t help hissing in displeasure as I dug my front paws into the frosty snow. It was bitterly cold and my pads were sore in moments. Digging as fast as I could through the packed white, I clawed a narrow tunnel towards freedom. Writhing through the makeshift snow channel, I squirmed into the frigid night air.

Like a snow leopard, I crouched in the shadow of the pile of snow that had covered my log. Glittering colorless ice covered the forest. Mounds of frozen white were heaped everywhere. I sat silent and alone, my breath a frosty plume in front of me. Gazing up through the branches into the night, I saw the almost full moon was shrouded in clouds. As I sat there, snow began falling again in large flakes. The wind was impossibly cold, slicing through my dark fur.

This unnatural weather couldn’t possibly be a good thing. Fluffing myself up as best I could, I started back towards Sessrumnir, Freya’s hall. Warily, I crept from shadow to shadow, pausing often to listen and sniff the breeze. Reaching the edge of the woods, I saw the snow crusted over the grassy field I’d crossed only hours before. The snow seemed to get deeper around Sessrumnir, piling up around the great house. Whatever was causing the snow couldn’t mean the Goddess any good.

Rallying my waning bravery, I slipped out of the comforting shadow of the forest into the open field of glittering snow. I trotted silently, my paws dancing lightly over the thin ice crust that had formed on top of the snow. Nervously scanning left and right, I was a tiny dark shadow on a vast field of white. I felt very alone and frightened.

When the ululating wolf howl raised behind me, I was almost grateful for the surge of adrenaline, the focus to my terror. Almost. I ran full out over the ice, still three hundred yards from the suddenly dubious safety of Sessrumnir. Glancing back over my shoulder, I saw the slavering jaws of a hulking white wolf bearing down on me. The bristling, drooling beast was only 20 yards or so behind me and he was gaining fast. His massive paws broke through the ice crust with each stride, so he foundered a bit, but the wolf was much more powerful than me and 30 times my size at least.

In all too short a time, I could feel his hot breath on my tail. He was gathering himself for last a mighty lunge, to devour me whole. Skittering left, I slipped and slid down a small hill as he plunged face-first into a snowdrift. Unable to help myself, I chattered deep in my throat at the snarling monster. Gaining precious seconds while he squirmed loose, I tore off at top speed, bearing a bit south of the Hall. The wolf gathered himself and stormed after me as I skidded to a halt on the flat, open area I’d chosen for what I prayed to Freya wouldn’t be my last stand.

Turning, I faced the wolf with what tiny shreds of courage I could muster. The powerful brute charged right at me, reckless in his victory. He lunged and pounced, and at that moment I sprang upwards as high as I could manage, landing on his back and immediately leaping past his bushy tail. His weight and that powerful lunge broke through the ice under the wolf, plunging him into the icy waters of the fishpond.

Pausing for a moment to watch the wolf scrambling frantically at the swiftly refreezing ice, I gratefully watched him sink beneath the black water, I smiled as only a cat can smile and swished my tail at him. I think he swore at me as the frigid water closed over him. I ran towards Sessrumnir, the wolf thrashing weakly in the glacial water behind me.

Straight to the oak I ran and up onto the third limb. Goddess Freya’s window was still shuttered closed and I couldn’t see her through the slats. Up higher I climbed and out along the frosty limb reaching over the great hall. Padding softly forward, I dug in my claws to keep some traction on the ice-glazed wood. The snow about the hall had blown to eight feet deep at least, sealing all the doors. Carefully I crept over the roof, keeping to my branch until I made it to a flat spot. Then I jumped down onto the hall itself, with only the smallest thump.

The roof was like frozen death, even colder than the snow I’d been running over! I shivered and not entirely from the arctic wind. I needed to find out what happened to the Goddess. Looking around, I found the only skylight with light streaming through it was the one over the Great Hall.

Peaking in, I gasped and fell back. Three great colossal figures dressed all in white were ringed around the feast table. They were like men, except they were at least 18 feet tall, with rocky muscles and long, shaggy hair. Their skin was snow white and they scowled fierce, evil grimaces. Frost giants! Sessrumnir was filled with frost giants. I hate frost giants – they’re evil and mean and not at all nice. I lay on the roof and hid my head. This is so very bad.

But what had happened to Goddess Freya? Why hadn’t she sent those frozen meanies packing? Whimpering low in my throat, I snuck forward again to peek through the skylight. The biggest giant was just laying Freya out on the wooden feast table. I could hear their booming voices through the pane as I crouched and watched helplessly.

"Your trick worked," laughed the second, slapping the biggest one on the shoulder roughly. "Only the mighty Utgard, master of illusion, could trick Freya-slut with a poisoned apple."

"Is she truly dead?" wailed the third. "I likes my whores with some spark of life in them."

"I told you, Numbhead, the apple makes her sleep while the piece she bit off is lodged in her throat," snarled Utgard, clouting the third giant on the head. "I’m not so great a simpleton as you, fool."

"But we need her awake to be our toy and our slattern. How can we hold her, Utgard? She’s pretty fierce."

"A binding spell for her wrists and ankles that saps her strength and will, formed from the secret magic of the great North Wind. Then we’ll have our jolly romp with the strumpet, just you wait." Utgard began muttering something I couldn’t hear and waving his hands like Goddess Freya did before working a great spell. A spark of blue-white magic began to build between his palms as he focused on the Goddess in front of him.

The Goddess looked so small and helpless, spread-eagled naked on the feast table in the midst of her mammoth enemies. She looked dead to me, and I wept, hoping Utgard was right about the apple. I had to do something – but what could I do? I’m just a little cat, after all.

Edging out a bit further, I noticed the glass of the skylight bowed a little under my weight. I trembled with a brilliantly terrifying idea. Before I lost my nerve, I crept back a few paces and stamped my paws to ready my torpid muscles. I sprang forward and pounced on the glass just as the wolf had on the frozen ice of the lake.

With a deafening crash, I fell in a shower of broken glass, twisting lithely in the air. I only had one try to get this right and I prayed it would work. I writhed around in the air to reach my target and struck Goddess Freya as hard as I could, landing on her stomach. I felt her convulse under my paws and heard the painful exhalation, but I didn’t dare stop yet. Springing upward, I ran up Utgard’s vest and latched onto his enormous, bulbous nose with four paws worth of claws and started gnawing and tearing at the cold, bitter flesh.

The bluish-white light of his magic went out abruptly as he bellowed his rage and pain. The other two giants had fallen back to avoid the glass, and Utgard was slapping his meaty hands at me. I was torn lose by his second blow and hurled into the wall like a plaything. I heard a wet, meaty snap and I meowed in agony. Tumbling down, I sprawled panting on the floor.

Glorious golden light filled the Great Hall. The giants fell back cowering before the terrible rage of the Goddess Freya. She spat out the piece of apple with disgust and rose majestically. Standing on the table only brought her to a fraction of Utgard’s height but she seemed more commanding and powerful, surrounded as she was in a nimbus of crackling power. He began frantically gesturing and bleating out words I couldn’t understand. I saw that all three of the giants were withering, seeming to melt in the bright golden light of the Goddess. Wrath consumed her as she held out her hands, casting fire at the two lesser giants. Utgard himself vanished in a burst of white-blue magic, although he looked much smaller to me. I was pleased to note his nose was bleeding quite a lot.

The other two giants melted to water then and there. Goddess Freya calmed down a bit after that, although she seemed to be breathing a little funny I thought. She jumped down from the table and ran nimbly to where I lay. When I tried to stand, I realized my back paw had been broken when I’d slammed into the wall, and I mewed in pain. The Goddess carefully lifted me and held me to her breasts, kissing me on top of my head. I could feel her warm healing touch easing away my aches and she stroked my leg with warmth and golden light.

I purred as loud as I could, happy she was safe. Her voice sounded a little droll as she murmured, "This leaping on my stomach and knocking the wind out of me really has to stop, Misty." Then she laughed and ruffled my ears and I licked the tip of her nose.