1360, THE IRON WOODS
Gisela Fontenay paced nervously, she turned thirteen today and as promised she was to be paired with one of Gerard's sons and when she turned eighteen they'd be mates. She had met with all the alpha's sons over the last eight years and was on friendly terms with them, but that aside, she had already made up her mind on who she wanted to be her mate. Each time she heard footsteps she grew a little more anxious.
SCION WALL
Fifteen year old Fenrir Ulfsson sat atop the great wall. It was at the edge of Ulfenheim and overlooked the holy land of man. He'd been over this wall countless times and should have already crossed into the holy land but for some reason he felt like he needed to be in Ulfenheim. Needed to stop something from happening. He shook his head, where were these thoughts coming from? Today was the day he and Theobald had been preparing for. He'd schemed and worked tirelessly for the past eight years to get here and finally all those nights on the run had paid off. He had played his cards right with the humans and the vampires: the humans had enlisted his help to deal with vampires hiding in the holy land and feeding off the people and as luck would have it the vampires had approached him to help eliminate the hunters who persecuted them.
He'd bid his time, carefully trimming the numbers on both sides and finally about two years ago, man and vampire engaged each other in an all out war, still he waited carefully manipulating both sides and bringing them to a stalemate where they'd sustain irreparable damages. Throughout these eight years he'd purchased all the fields between Ulfenheim and the holy land, as well as the lands besides the train railroad.
After the war, the holy land was left infertile, crops couldn't grow and the humans starved, the vampires were so greatly reduced that they faced possible annihilation and returned to their homeland deprived of human blood. Then Fenrir stepped in to reap the rewards, he sold the produce of his fields to the holy land in exchange for slaves, the slaves worked his lands and when they had children, some were given to the vampires as livestock. Theobald had been horrified, but said nothing. He'd accumulated more wealth than everyone else put together and now the humans were offering their own lands in exchange for more supplies. He quite literally owned them; humans and vampires, their very existence hinging on him.
All this for what?. It was a question he kept asking himself but could never quite answer. He felt empty but at the same time he was well aware that whatever it was that would fill that hole was out there, he just had to get it. What"It" was, he didn't know, so he decided to get everything. "It" would be somewhere amongst everything. Once he crossed the wall and entered the holy land, he'd have a little more of everything.
Fenrir stood up and walked the breadth of the wall, the train would soon go by, his train, his rail his wall. He looked at the holy land, soon as he met with the rulers there it'd be his land. One day even all of Ulfenheim would be his, and maybe then the emptiness that kept him awake at night and drove him to possess everything around him, would finally let him be.
He crossed into the holy land.
THE IRON WOODS
Gisela couldn't stop smiling, she had been promised to Renard Faire as his mate. There was a little banquet to celebrate the day and she'd even danced with Renard. Everything should have been perfect so why did she feel abandoned, the last eight years had felt like she was holding her breath for something and suddenly it was denied her. She felt sad, very sad. Boris wasn't helping either, it was as though the spirit was angry with her.
She let her long brown hair loose from the pin and sat on her bed. There was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
The door swung open and Renard Faire walked in, he turned fifteen at the stroke of midnight and Gisela had promised to spend time with him until then. She'd forgotten. Renard smiled at her.
"You looked really beautiful today."
Gisela's heart sank, seeing him did nothing to improve her mood.
"Thank you Ren, come sit with me." She patted the bed.
Renard gracefully walked over to her and sat, taking her hand in his.
" It'll be the longest five years of my life," he smiled as he spoke.
Gisela wanted to kick herself, of all the people around her Ren was easily her favorite. Hadn't she been hoping and praying that he'd be chosen as her mate? And now that the object of her fancy was placed on a silver platter and handed to her, here she was, whining.
The clock over the fireplace showed it was twenty minutes past eleven o'clock. She sighed and rested her head against Renard's shoulder. Aunt Mally wasn't happy about this, neither was Boris, but that didn't matter. It was her life. She remembered the song her aunt always sang for her, the one about a lonely bird starving in the winter. She never liked the second part, the happy ending felt too unrealistic. She sang the first half to Renard. Soon they fell to talking about the times they'd shared together and Gisela forgot all about her unhappiness.
***
The hunter refused to stay down, she charged repeatedly at Fenrir and each time he effortlessly disarmed her, then she'd pick up her sword again and rush blindly at him. Fenrir was in a foul mood and this did nothing to improve it, he'd love nothing more than to snap the humans frail neck and be on his way but he'd promised Theobald, there'd be no killing tonight.
The persistent hunter grazed his face with her sword and although the wound healed instantly the sheer fact that he'd been wounded seemed to rekindle her morale. Fenrir grabbed her sword by the blade and snapped it in half, he drove a part of the broken blade into her knee and was rewarded with a scream. The human pain seemed to distract him from the sadness that seemed to grow worse by the hour so he proceeded to break her right arm. She barely screamed this time and that made the boy all the more frustrated so he yanked her up by her hair and would have gouged out an eye had Theobald not arrived in time to yank the human out of the boys grasp.
"Get a hold of yourself Fenrir"
The boy scuffed, his grey eyes lingered on the human for a second before the bored expression he always wore returned. He slowly walked away. Theobald watched him go, then turned his attention to the human.
"How bad are your injuries?"
She didn't reply. Theobald brought his face to hers so their noses were almost touching.
"If you value your life you'd cooperate"
Her brown eyes sparked with defiance.
"I value my life dog, but no more than the countless lives that were lost to vidar's schemes."
To her surprise, Theobald actually looked remorseful.
"I am the child's guardian, the blame lies with me for letting him run wild and I will carry that guilt with me for the rest of my life. However, I have also sworn by the name of the moon to ensure that the boy kills no more. If you continue to pursue him, he will kill you. And what then would become of my oath?."
The human scoffed. Theobald continued.
"What is your name?"
She did not reply.
"We must hurry, I'd rather not leave my ward to wander alone in the forest at night."
In one smooth motion, he lifted her into his arms, careful not to apply pressure on her many wounds and rushed to catch up with Fenrir. The human spoke to him as he fell into strude with the boy.
"Where are you taking me dog?"
"To a place where I can tend to your wounds"
"Put me down, now. I didn't ask for your help and would never lower myself to the mercy of your kind"
"If I leave you as you are, you will surely die." He didn't even look at her as he spoke.
The human realized she wasn't getting to him so she sighed and let him do whatever he wanted, besides she had to admit that of all the men she had met; werewolf, human or vampire, he was easily the most likeable.
"My name is Bertille Gavras"
Theobald nodded " I'm Theobald and that is Fenrir"
"Does the vidar not speak?" She asked
"Fenrir is mute"
She smiled, the dog had stressed on the name. Obviously he disliked it when the boy was called vidar. Then fainted from blood loss soon after.
The clock struck twelve and Gisela summoned all her courage and kissed Renard.
"Happy birthday Ren."
The boy blushed heavily and ran out of the room. Gisela wanted to cry, she felt like she'd just done something wrong.
***
Why?
Fenrir slammed his fist into a nearby tree trunk, the entire tree crashed into the snow. He knew he had no reason to feel so irritated, but for some reason he just did.