Lunansholt: The tale of the beginning of the wolves

"Leif! Leif! Where are you boy?" Harald Sigurd, the village chief, bellowed down the hall. "Why is he never here when I need him?" Harald huffs pacing back and forth while rubbing his temples in an attempt to dispel his headache now beginning to form. He is a six-foot light skinned man with long peppered hair adorned with small braids throughout and laying behind his shoulders with a long gray beard hanging to his chest. He's a ruggedly handsome man with battle scars all over his body and face that combined with his commanding aura only added to his appearance. "I can go find him father!" Frida said. "I bet I know where he is! I'll tell him you need to see him right away." Frida exclaimed as she was already exiting the hall. Anything to get out of training she thought. She would much rather spend the afternoon playing in the field picking flowers and hanging out with her friends than being stuck in the hall with her father. Frida starts to run throughout the village looking for Leif, her adopted brother. After searching in the market, the surrounding forest, the longhouse, and his hut, she finally picks up Leif’s scent finding him tucked away in a barn with a thrall. Rolling her eyes, she walks up to them and clears her throat. The moans abruptly stop and both people look over to her. "Father is looking for you and he isn't very happy you weren't in the hall for the meeting." Frida says with her hand on her hip with all the authority of a sixteen-year-old daughter of the Harald. Frida was slim just a few inches over five feet tall with long golden hair that shone like the sun highlighting the natural beauty of a face that already presented itself as a grown woman. She held her head high at all times with shoulders always pushed back as her aura exudes from her demanding respect. Leif looks down at her and smiles, " I'll be right there, systir I am just going to finish up here" he says while moving his hand from beneath the thrall’s skirt and winks at the thrall still in his arms. Frida wants to roll her eyes at him but decided to hold back her irritation. He'll soon get tired of this girl and go to father, she huffs, hopefully he gets back before father decides he needs to clean the stalls for a week for making him wait. Frida smirks as she waves bye and skips off to the field where her friends are waiting. "You better get going before Harald gets even more angry with you" the girl says. Leif smiles and pulls her flush with his body, " he'll be fine, I’m more worried about finishing what we started." He laughs as he starts kissing her and grabbing her breast. She lets out a moan but places her hand on his to stop him, "you should go I don't want to get in trouble when he finds out it was because of me that you weren't there." Leif sighs when he looks at her and notices the fear in her eyes, thinking for a moment on how to convince her to let him stay but finally nods. He kisses her one last time, slaps her ass, and leaves to meet his adoptive father and Harald. Leif is dark skinned, heavily tanned from long days spent in the sun and standing at 6'5" with broad shoulders and muscles that seemed to double in size every time he looked at a weight, a chiseled jaw, straight nose, hazel eyes, and wide lips. A face, women have claimed was sculpted by the Gods. He's the only human in a town blessed to be part wolf and part man. He wasn't born in this village having been brought here by the Harald when he found him hidden in a nearby destroyed village. Leif never felt like part of the pack but always felt like he owed Harald his life, so he has become his strongest warrior and most loyal advisor. "Harald I'm here," Leif says as he walks into the hall grabbing a cup of ale sitting down at the table opposite Harald. Leif looks around at the tall wooden building adorned with furs. He always loved the way the hall felt like home. Where the fireplace always gives off a steady reliable warmth that his life always seemed to lack. " Finally, come closer son we need to talk." Leif moves closer but remains standing as the Harald begins to talk. "Remember the previous Harald I told you about that I killed right before I left and found you?" "Yes" He answers while nodding at the same time then drinks from his cup. "Well, it seems I may not have killed him. I have received information that there was a sighting of him nearby." "What do you mean? I thought you said you cut off his head." Leif seemed bored with the conversation as he sat down on a nearby stool awarding the Harald just enough of his attention so as not to seem disrespectful. "I did." Leif sat up giving his full attention now, "What the f**k are you saying?" Harald grabs the bridge of nose then moves to massage his temples for the second time this morning, another headache already starting to throb. "Leif, you're old enough now to understand the world we live in." He signals Leif to come forward and he does. "You live in a village of werewolves. There are more things in this world than just us and humans. I can only guess that when I challenged the last Harald and killed him in battle that magic was involved and he somehow survived." "Wait, what? What are you trying to tell me right now?" "Leif, there are far scarier beings in this world than you and I. Did you really believe that a world that has shape shifters won't have other magical beings? It's time you knew about them and time I tell you the truth of how I found you." Leif stares at him for a few seconds as if digesting his words then walks to the table pouring another drink and leans back onto the table. He nods at his father when he’s ready for him to continue. He sighs and says, "As you know 20 years ago, I went in search of my sister and instead found her village on fire and everyone gone or dead. While searching for my sister's hut I couldn't find any sign of her, but I did find you. You are my nephew, my sister's son. I don't know what happened to her, but I believe magic was involved." He sighs." I don't know who your father is, but I knew she was with child. When I held you, I knew you were kin." Leif drops his empty cup onto the table, flexing his jaw a few times to calm his emotions as questions begin to fill his mind. He looks up and asks, “What do you mean you don’t know who my father was? Did you allow your sister to marry a man you never met?” Sigurd blinks a few times in quiet shock then a few more times to try to regain control as the disrespect to him has his wolf on edge, wanting to teach the boy in front of him a lesson in respect. He breathes out a calming breath and answers, “my sister was betrothed at a young age to a family friend in a nearby village. She had a falling out with our parents, and we weren’t allowed to attend the wedding.” He breathed another calming breath as this story of his past still haunts him to this day, “I allowed her to go, and I never attempted to reconcile once I took on the title of Harald, but once we were wolf blessed, I went in search of her.” Leif nods but still the anger remained at the loss his mother must have felt at the hands of her own family but continues listening. "I am sorry my boy but that isn't all. There was a necklace placed on top of you, I don’t recognize it, but I know it's meant for you. I think this will tell you more about where you come from and why you survived that night." Sigurd grabs a cloth to pull out the necklace from a box hidden in his throne and holds it out for Leif. Leif goes to grab the necklace and examines it. It's a purple and red swirled pendant wrapped by a wolf carved in silver attached to a silver chain. Nothing about it looks special but it does have a pull to it that Leif can't explain. He can't see anything different about it specifically but with a shrug decides to listen to the pull and puts it on. I haven't got this far by not listening to my instincts, he thought to himself. "Thank you, Harald. Is there anything else you need from me?" Sigurd looks at Leif trying to assess how he is really feeling but decided that Leif could use a distraction from all that he was told tonight. "Actually, my son I need you and your war party to go to a neighboring village that has been attacking anyone who comes near them. I was going to give it to another team, but I believe you may need this mission. I have sent messengers to try and schedule a meeting with the Harald to find out what is happening, but none have returned." He watches Leif for any sign of weakness, but Leif doesn’t let any show. "We’ll leave as soon as we’re ready." Leif answered "A word of advice before you go, remember those stories of made-up creatures and fables you have been taught since you were a child. Those are not just stories. Rely on them as they may just save your life." He finishes just as Leif walks out. Gods watch over him, he thought to himself.