Running Ember: Wolf Shifters of Norse Lore

Chapter Eight

Sk?ll lay in his Vargrform and watched three soldiers and a hiker sit and mumble to themselves, sometimes twitching and rubbing their eyes, while the other two uninjured travel companions sat by a small fire and gorged themselves on meat. It wasn’t just a midnight snack but a midnight meal of plenty. If they hadn’t really eaten for days, no wonder.

But Draugr? He’d read about them when studying Norse Lore as being undead and pale blue—maybe just corpse pale—warriors who protected buried treasure. At first, he’d of course figured it to be a scary story to tell in a time when people were superstitious and would thus leave treasure alone from fear of the ghost.

But then he’d learned that he was a werewolf, and his outlook of the world had shifted quite a lot since. Then he’d learned about the angry magic in his chest that he could influence others with. The instance that had really thrown him for a loop was seeing shading billow up from the ground, swirl around Marisol and in her eyes, and when Sleipnir Stallions could hammer and shake the world so hard the sky answered.

Elakdon’s retelling of the last Chaos Stallion, Harro’s dad, had seemed an added touch of fantasy to make a good story even better until Sk?ll had experienced it himself.

Lying there, watching Rigr battle a Draugr’s curse, he was sure he wasn’t capable of imagining the magic a V?lve could possess, and he wondered what else from lore was real. And other lore? What was out there?

He knew bookish stuff about a lot of it, but there was no longer any doubt in his mind that there was also so much he couldn’t even imagine—especially considering so much from history turned out to be warped by one political and/or religious reason or another and handed down by humans, mainly. Humans who forgot they weren’t alone in the world. Of course that muddied the waters, too.

The fevers that Randr had warned about had started up, and their medic soldier was the first to go down. Two Guards with training in human health stayed close to the four and tended to them. Sleipnir and the Cubi Guards would tend to the humans and bring them on the route cutting across, so their presence and condition shouldn’t interfere with the run.

Steffen and Tristan sat with Elakdon, Randr, the sick Incubus, and Steffen’s son and mate, yet the two were pretty quiet, and Steffen seemed...off. Sk?ll would be shocked after a zombie attack, too, he guessed, but the embers joining the running bond had been off, too. Like their focus had shifted. Tristan’s less so. In fact, it seemed a lot more adamant about fulfilling its purpose of fairness.

Well, there was nothing more Sk?ll could do for the humans, and Steffen and Tristan were tended to by Elakdon and Randr, so Sk?ll got up and padded through the running bond—sleeping, relaxing, or feeding Cubi—in search of Hati and Rasmus. He found both sitting with Marisol, Bjark, and a few others, pouring over papers. Rasmus was in human form, so he was drawing again.

“Hey.” Sk?ll plopped down behind Rasmus and scooted close to his back.

Rasmus half-turned and smiled, reached back, and scratched Sk?ll under the ear. Uh, good spot. “Hey. I went back to draw the stone, but we couldn’t read any of it, so now we’re trying to piece together what Marisol said when she found it.”

“Awesome plan. We should have brought your sketchbook.”

“Yeah. It was a tough decision to leave it, but I didn’t figure it an important item to ask someone else to carry, considering I have no pockets in Vargr form.”

“And I disagree,” Bjark said. “I would happily have carried it.”

“Ela got me one. We’ll pick it up when we cross the next Cubi House.”

“Which is the one he moved to when he got Empowered,” Hati said. “It’s where Guard Lord Foldon was born.”

“Too bad he’s not here to see home, then.”

“Well, his mom’s not there anymore. She died many years ago.”

Sk?ll nodded, looking over the papers. “What’s the one with the swan?”

“I’m drawing Marisol’s visions,” Rasmus said. “When I’m done with the stone, I figured I’d ask Uncle Tris and Stef to describe the Draugr experience. Except they didn’t see them.” Rasmus looked at Marisol. “Why can only Rigr?”

“I dunno.” She shrugged. “When we got there, I could see a bubble. It was pale blue. Not a perfectly round bubble but this weird flowy...it looked like silk had been attached to the ground in a haphazard line, and the wind threw the silk about straight toward the sky.”

Sk?ll tried to picture that. Rasmus apparently had an idea because the pencil soon scratched across the blank page, leaving soft graphite lines. It was too dark for even Vargr vision to make out much detail, and their little fire offered up too little—only enough to change the hue of the night—so Rasmus was sketching rough ideas to be tinkered with later.

“And you could see through it?” Rasmus asked.

“Yes. It was like that pale blue color existed behind the veil, and not the veil being pale blue. Does that make sense?”

Rasmus nodded, sketching more. “Did you see the Draugr?”

She nodded slowly. “Zombie really is a fitting word. So...haggard to look at.”

“Okay, so...ugly.”

“No, no, just...I can’t explain it. It comes through as this...pretty people can become Draugr, too. What’s ugly is the glow of their soul. Like...beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Marisol turned and looked for someone but apparently couldn’t see them, so she turned back to stare at the tiny flames for a moment. “Beauty unseen will be seen.” Her body slowly began to rock, and they all paid attention. “I had a vision of Randr when I first met him. Of a beautiful man caressing his scarred face and saying that. Now I’ve met the man. Nol-Beaudon. But he’s not the only one now caressing Randr’s cheek.”

“Who is?” Hati asked.

She looked up, troubled. “Sir Navidon.”

Rasmus shivered. “I’ll keep an extra eye on him when riding with them,” he growled.

Marisol shook her head. “He won’t take Randr. He won’t take him because he finds him beautiful. That’s what teases the image. The...understanding of beauty.”

“What did Ela say to that vision?” Sk?ll asked.

“Haven’t told him yet. I saw it as we arrived at the pale blue wall. And Draugr bowed to Randr as he charged through it.”

Sk?ll mulled that over. He’d seen shadows as they neared the valley. Shadow wolves, too, yet they stayed away from where...that feeling came from. The human in him had shuddered, unwilling to go. The Vargr had felt trepidant and cautious. The V?lsung? Charge!

Sleipnir? Well, all but Isbait had slowed down, too. Isbait had fired up and staggered around, agitated and ready to work.

Freki had bristled and lowered his head for a fight.

The pull full of fear and worry from Steffen and Tristan had been so potent yet leaving them with no sense of what could turn a small rescue mission of four human hikers into that. Then that blue lightning shot from the ground when Isbait kicked it.

My Boy,Randr had growled. And charged. Man, his horse had not been happy, but Isbait followed Randr, and that made all the difference for the horses. Sk?ll and Freki followed with a band of wolves, Vargr and V?lsung alike, and then shit got weird. Everything had felt so frightening, and Sk?ll had seen bright glowing eyes on huge shadow wolves by their sides. But not the pale blue described by Marisol or Randr. Only the lightning could be described as pale blue. He’d met Thorleif’s shading once they’d crossed into the valley, telling him how far they had to go, and Sk?ll had summoned up all the power of the running bond to help display their power to push back at...what caused the human in him to shiver.

Marisol kept rocking, and her eyes glazed over.

“What treasure does Draugr hide?” Sk?ll asked, seeing if he could prompt her to see or hear something since he’d noticed Elakdon would do that. He didn’t always get an answer, but sometimes she answered the topic.

“Thrall kings and queens, deep burrows for their pride they dig. Hide away for safe keeping, but those who save for the night only save for the cat. Ever watchful, never rest, fear of loss takes away their beauty sleep. Never share and only hoard. The richest Earl is naked.”

“Write that down,” Hati said.

“On it...” Rasmus scribbled away in the corner of the paper. “Should we ask Ela what he thinks about this?”

“Yes.” Sk?ll stood, and Rasmus packed up. They all went to where Elakdon sat with Randr, Steffen, Tristan, Navidon, Warlord Magnus, a few Guards, and a few soldiers. General Madsen was one of them.

The two hikers had finished eating and sat with Geri, Freki, Isbait, and Warlord Thorleif about thirty feet away, closer to the four rambling Rigr. They were all ready to sleep, it seemed.

“Marisol said something,” Rasmus declared as he plopped down on the grass and handed Elakdon a piece of paper.

Elakdon held it up and shone a flashlight at it, reminding Sk?ll that not everybody could see in the dimming summer evening. He read it out loud, then looked at the young V?lve. “Any other visions that fit here?”

“Just Nol-Beaudon telling Randr that beauty unseen will be seen.” She looked at Navidon. “And he says the same.”

Navidon’s brows shot up. “Me?”

The startled look Elakdon sent the red-eye did not hold kindness, but then confusion bled into it.

“I’ve actually wanted to ask you for a while...” Hati studied the Incubus. “Who makes you hungry here?”

Navidon shrank a bit. “I’m not sure how it works because sometimes it doesn’t feel like actual hunger, but...” He grunted in frustration. “It doesn’t even last sometimes. Like...” He looked up. “The hiker? The one over there?” He pointed to the one ready to fall over from having eaten too much. “Constant burning hunger. Those four?” He pointed to the mumbling Rigr. “Sometimes, but then it goes away and returns and...fluctuates. Most human men here? Soldiers? No.”

“And Vargr?”

Navidon shook his head, slowly. “That’s where it becomes weird. There’s...an attraction but not hunger. But hunger, just like...one I know I can’t feed from. Like a regular Cubus feeding on one gender still wanting the other because we’re bi, I guess. It’s not the burning hunger. Hunger can rise around Vargr, just not here. Except female Vargr.” A sexy smile shimmied across Navidon’s lips, and his eyes lit up. “So raw, pure, and delicious,” he whispered.

“And Randr?” Elakdon asked.

“Nothing’s burning. Just...desire? I don’t know.” Navidon exhaled hard and covered his head for a moment, then looked up at Elakdon again. “I admire him.”

The way Elakdon looked at his ugly husband always made Sk?ll’s heart pitter-patter. It was so sweet. The look had also begun to poke at a guilty conscience because Sk?ll wanted to give Rasmus what he needed.

“What is it you admire?” Elakdon asked, still looking at Randr, who...blushed? He seemed a bit awkward about the attention. Which of course didn’t become an Incubus.

“Our race is so vain, so what kind of man must he be in order to be loved and cherished by the King whose word is known far and wide to be as golden as his eyes? One whose honor has earned him the nickname Son of V?r?”

“Of V?r?” Elakdon perked up. “I didn’t know that.”

Sk?ll smiled. The goddess V?r was the one people swore to when promising something important. And if they broke their word, she’d turn their swords against them in battle.

Elakdon looked at Randr again. “But yeah. Randr showed me what kind of man I wanted to be, and I hung my head in shame and confessed to my people that I was not yet the King they deserved. Because I’d seen what an honorable man looked like. And with his love, I rose stronger. To be more like him. To be more for my people.”

Randr blushed harder. “You sell yourself short, my King. I loved the potential for it in you then, too. So young and weighed down by such heavy responsibility and power. But that you saw me...” He put a hand over his heart. “That made me fall in love with you.”

Sk?ll noticed Guards slowly and discretely stepping closer. “Guys, they’re going to dose everywhere in a second.”

“Sk?ll!” Tristan exclaimed. “Don’t ruin such a beautiful moment.”

“But he’s totally right, and I just want to elope with you now.” Elakdon flashed a sweet smile at Randr.

“Maybe hold that thought, my King.” Randr took Elakdon’s hand and squeezed it. “Your romantic heart conquered your brain for long enough to miss something interesting.”

“Which is?” Elakdon looked around.

“Until the Rigr met Draugr, Navidon didn’t want them. Now he wants some of them sometimes, and the not-Rigr hiker burningly.”

Elakdon looked at Navidon. “What changed?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced at Steffen. “Didn’t want you, either, but...after you returned, you sometimes smell...”

“Different,” Sk?ll said. “Your ember feels different.” What did this have to do with the sour-feeding Incubus, and what did that have to do with Draugr?

Tristan’s ember rose hard, and Steffen’s sparked all over the place. They finally synched and settled down. The look on Steffen’s face was new. He’d seemed guarded, which was strange in that company. Except when he looked at Navidon just now. Not angry, but...defensive? Then pensive as Tristan’s ember rose. Now he relaxed into his mate and closed his eyes.

“And now I don’t want you.” Navidon looked at the flames. “But none provoke that burning as much as the man sitting with the woman. In fact, I want her with me to make sure he can’t get to her. And her? Her I want to dose. Taste when dosed. I think...she would taste pure, unlike any human woman I’ve ever tasted in the House.”

Elakdon gaped. Then he groaned and slapped his hands over his face and rubbed it callously. “And we need to learn how this works so badly I’m inclined to let that happen.”

“I won’t harm her, Nol,” Navidon stated harshly.

“I know!” Elakdon looked at him. “I’ve learned that much. It’s not what I meant. It’s the rest I’m unsure about because she’s just been hauled out of the wilderness to be aided, and if she doesn’t willingly take the dose, then...well, then it’s just an antidote to sour.”

Navidon looked toward the woman, but he probably couldn’t really see her as they’d turned in now.

“As I promised to aid in guarding this one, what will my task there be, Nol?” Warlord Magnus asked.

Elakdon sighed and thought for a moment, poking at the fire and dropping a few smaller logs onto it.

“Sir Navidon, you may seduce her. Try pure first and offer the dose as an escape from the horrors of the past week. Offer her aphrodisiac and pleasure found in your company. If your own dose isn’t strong enough, I have a few Guards in training with me. Masters and Mistresses and a Dame. Theirs should be strong enough. Warlord Magnus, please help keep that other man away from her and especially from Sir Navidon.”

“Yes, Nol.”

“And keep an eye on him. I fear Sir Navidon’s ability to feed on sour can recognize a human who can poison my people.”

“Yes, Nol. And if that happens?”

Elakdon stared into the flames, and his beautiful face got overshadowed by something dark. “Lure him away at night and...eat him.”

Magnus perked up. “As in...never to be found again?”

Elakdon nodded slowly, then looked at General Madsen. The soldier growled and rubbed his face. “Other ideas to secure a people, General?”

“Other than have him picked up and arrested to stand trial in a split society that can’t even deal with it yet? No. But...” He sighed. “I’d prefer him being detained without trial. I see how our resources are limited, but...”

“Okay.” Elakdon nodded. “I’ll let all Cubi know that he’s off limits. He’ll be guarded by my own.”

“Yes, Nol,” Magnus said.

Sk?ll decided not to use brainpower on it. This was for the old King to figure out. It was too late, anyway, and it was time to get some sleep.

Sk?ll scooted up behind Rasmus, who shifted to his Vargr form and cuddled up. Hati snuggled in, too, and their embers synced.

Sleep followed swiftly.

––––––––

THE RUN STARTED OUTlike normal, except for Steffen’s ember being confused. Once they ran and started putting out the call, Tristan’s thumped harder and worry for his mate flittered through the first bond to Sk?ll.

But they couldn’t stop for one Alpha not having his shit together.

The run finished to no great fanfare just like all the other days, and the Alphas simmered down and mingled with the new ones having responded. The four Alphas of all did their meet and greet and located Elakdon to see if there’d been news from home. Nothing exciting, but pics of the fuzzpups waited on Sk?ll’s phone, which he and Hati had fun with while eating.

Tech made noises around the old King, and Sk?ll noticed that he found it increasingly annoying the more time he spent in wolf form. But that panicked tone from his Pack Mother rang in his ears and heart, so he ditched his meal and phone and ran there. Nol-Beaudon had just called with bad news, and Sk?ll and Hati slid across the ground and into Elakdon to see what went on.

“Perfect timing.” Elakdon shuffled back up to sit and manned the keyboard. “We’re trying to patch Beaudon into the call, too.” The screen went dark sometimes, and Tanja’s voice cut. Beaudon’s beautiful face flickered in, but everything kept crashing. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” Elakdon mumbled. “We don’t have the signal here.” Everything crashed. “We’ll arrive at my old House the day after tomorrow, and it has the connection.”

“What do you know so far?” Hati asked.

His fear for the pack pulled at Sk?ll’s ember, but he hadn’t felt an uproar as if someone in the pack had gotten hurt.

“There’s been attacks on Vargr packs in the States, and the twin fathers to the Vargr Cubi adlis have seen losses in their pack.”

Imdon and Esdin had, as love children between Vargr and Cubi, grown enough bond to the pack that they were pack, and so were their fathers. So much so that Sk?ll felt engaged in aiding them with their problems.

“We’re definitely going there to help out once we’ve managed our objective in Brussels,” Sk?ll growled.

“Maybe start that unity by getting Alphas over here?” Geri suggested as he joined them.

“That’ll leave packs vulnerable,” Hati said.

“Let Beaudon work on this until we have a connection,” Elakdon said. “He’s the allied King over there, and I know for sure they’re on it. I got news that the Cubi have already met Vargr over there and are establishing broader communication. But that’s all I know.”

Sk?ll went back for his phone, and he’d gotten a text from Tanja. Working with State Alphas. Have Tristan on the call, soon. Sk?ll responded that he’d see to that. The Warlord in him stirred, so he left the form to the one needing to strategize and take action.

Again, the phone ended up abandoned on the ground as Warlord Sk?ll sought out his big Warlord pack, calling them over. “On our way home, our objective is to unite Wolf. Humans are attacking Vargr in the States, and we, the Alphas of all, will go there to see to that as soon as we’ve reached our objective in Brussels. I’ll need Warlords with me as we go there to help secure and take that territory as V?lsung’s. Find out who goes. Henning, you coordinate this.”

“Warlord!”

Sk?ll returned to where Elakdon was still fiddling with the computer. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” He didn’t even look up from an email.

“V?lsung will go to the States to aid in securing Vargr territory after we’ve succeeded in Brussels.”

“Good...” Elakdon looked up and smiled. “Thank you, Warlord.”

The sentiment was nice, but it was a strategic decision and announcement, not a favor. The need in Hati to secure prosperity tugged at Sk?ll, who shifted back to his Vargr form to butt his head against his mate’s. Nothing more needed to be said to promise the backup he needed in order to do that, and Hati responded by leaning into Sk?ll.

“Got an email from Beaudon. He’s in contact with the affected Vargr, and they’re being sent to his House for sanctuary. Open invitation to all Vargr, so he’s gathering them there for safety in numbers.”

“Good,” Hati said. Relief surged through him, while Sk?ll saw his objective getting both easier and harder. To shade it, they needed all those embers gathered, but they’d have to run to get those Alphas invested in territory.

“I wonder...” Elakdon typed away.

“About?” Sk?ll asked.

“Whether Beaudon or any of the Alphas are on good terms with the Wild Forest packs over there.”

“What sets them apart?” Hati asked.

“They live more or less as wolves on Native American land. Vargr did when first arriving in the States with me, and they were very close with a tribe over there. Until the colonization began, and the military moved in.”

Hati’s heart hurt, and he leaned into Sk?ll even harder for comfort.

Sk?ll could understand why because everybody knew how brutal that chapter of US history was in general, and he could easily imagine Vargr to be a target, too. But he needed to know this history. “Then what?”

Elakdon looked up from his uncooperative computer. “I see. Story time. It’ll take my focus off problems I can’t do anything about out here, anyway, so thank you for the distraction.” He closed the lid of his computer.

“I’ll make a bigger fire.” Randr walked off.

––––––––

HALF AN HOUR LATER, Sk?ll, Hati, Geri, Freki, Rasmus, Klaes, Silas, Torben, Isbait, Thorleif, his mom, Thyra, Bjark, Steffen, and Tristan joined Elakdon and Randr around a fire. Sir Navidon sat next to his King, and Warlord Magnus lay behind the red-eye.

“We arrived with the Mayflower,” Elakdon said. “My little sister, Dahlidin, insisted on expanding my Kingdom that way, so I made her Grand Lady of what she’d build over there.” He smiled. “High Alpha Bjárr had set up a pack on my estate, and I went there to see if there were any adventurous Vargr who wanted to come. Nine said yes. Nine Alphas. One of them was of the High Alpha’s bloodline and held the V?lsung form.”

“My aunt,” Thyra added.

Elakdon nodded. “They followed the Cubi for a few years and helped build the first House, then set out to explore the vastness of nature. I met with them every time I went there, which back then wasn’t often. Curiosity let them explore a people they’d never seen, living with nature in ways we no longer did. They saw their balance with it. So they started leaving them fresh kills in a period when many were sick. The natives gave gift for gift, and one day the Vargr dragged a huge bison there. The people looked on in wonder while hunters watched, armed yet curious. And then they shifted to human form.

“To the natives, they were gifted by nature, so they took them in and treated them well. The pack grew to sixteen. Then the soldiers came with more advanced weapons and wanted the land to build their own nation. It was a bloodbath, and the Vargr and single V?lsung form fought until the last one died. Well, almost. Pups and children were hidden away with the Pack Alpha Bitch. And she gave the Bite to a Bitch who rose that winter.

“Her fur was blood-red, and the children of the tribe said it was colored by the blood of the dead who’d been massacred there. She was Alpha, and her ember burned before she rose. It burned for revenge. A Warlord Bitch who didn’t hold the V?lsung form, but she had the instincts for war. And she unleashed it on the humans, who saw their greatest setbacks in those times as she slaughtered. Everybody.

“Once done, she took the few surviving Vargr and children of the Native American tribe into the deep woods and left a note with the natives to get to me. Send Alphas! I passed it on, and thirty-five Alphas and their human and Vargr mates responded to her request. That’s how the Vargr started in the US. To this day, the most powerful Alphas remain in the Wild Forest pack, and they breed for Alphas. As backup.

“Like the tales here of Sk?ll, Hati, Geri, and Freki, they all believe a red wolf will rise again to save the Vargr. A Bitch as red as blood and as fierce a Mother protecting her territory as the first.” Elakdon tightened his lips. “With a human attack on Vargr packs, the signs align for the cycle to repeat.” He looked at the Alphas of all. “She’ll need you.”

The promise of carnage made Sk?ll shiver and shift to his superior form. “I will earn her respect by displaying my power and all I command.”

“Let that include me, Warlord,” Thorleif said, drooling. “My brute force will add plenty to your front lines.”

Sk?ll drooled, too, nodding. He looked at the old King. “Keep me updated.”

Elakdon cocked his head and smiled. “Absolutely, Warlord.”