The Wolf You Feed Arc (23 page)

 
21

Over night, there had been more snowfall. Nothing heavy, just enough flakes to make everything crisp and white. In the woods beyond Hania’s land, the cold blanket served to dull any sound and made tracking that much more challenging. Though more difficult, it was by no means impossible and Tore’s morning had been successful. Half an hour ago, Kachina had left him with their kill while she went to fetch Hania’s truck.
 

Now in his human form, Tore was thankful for his warm jacket and thick boots. While Kachina and her father picked up the carcass, Tore opted to walk back on foot. After the wedding ceremony, they’d be heading back to Arkansas and he would miss wandering through these woods.
 

Tore took a deep breath. He loved the cold air that came down from the mountains. He lifted his collar. Yes, he’d miss this place. Despite everything that happened here and the misery it had caused, he harbored some fond memories too. He grinned to himself as he thought of that day a few weeks ago. Kachina had taken him to a clearing not far from here, to show him her secret.
 

Low voices drifted through the trees. Tore froze, his acute wolf’s hearing automatically trying to pinpoint the sound. Sniffing the air, he found his senses confused. For several minutes he tried to pick up the scent of who was in the woods but for some reason, he couldn’t find what was creating the noise. The voices disappeared and for a moment he wondered if it was his own paranoia playing tricks on him. He checked one more time, inhaling deeply. All he could sense were animal smells, nothing that he could associate with the sounds he’d heard.

Pulling up his collar higher to stem off the biting wind, Tore strode on. He followed a meandering pathway towards a clearing. On the other side of it, was Hania’s land. As he neared the open space, deep male voices filtered through the snow-laden trees. Tore ducked down and followed the sound instead of relying on his nose.
 

He crept to the edge of the clearing. Carefully keeping himself hidden, he saw two men. Their braided midnight black hair and darker skin told Tore they were guests from the wedding party. Their lack of scent revealed they were not family members. Like Kachina and Hania, the lack of scent meant they had to be skin walkers too. These men must be colleagues of Hania.

The pair was sharpening a set of tools. On the ground lay a long knife that was a few inches short of being a sword. Next to that was a set of three — no four — axes, half a dozen smaller knives and something with a strange curved blade. Tore was curious. They looked more like weapons than tools.
 

Although neither of the men acknowledged his presence, Tore sensed they knew of his presence. One of the men stood to tend the fire. Tore could see he was surreptitiously surveying the perimeter of the clearing. As he watched, the fire suddenly flared, lighting up the space to illuminate their faces. For the first time, he got a clear view of them.
 

Tore was astonished to see that the men were carbon copies of each other. He’d never seen two more identical humans. They wore their hair braided in exactly the same way. Each had matching tan leather leggings, loose fitting linen shirts, and a set of furs draped around their shoulders. Their height and frames mirrored each other. Most unusual of all, they had matching scars across their faces.

Tore stood, he should introduce himself. He slipped out of the undergrowth. As he stepped through the trees, a sudden whirring sound made Tore flinch. A knife glanced past his head, burying itself into the bark behind him. He instinctively ducked, “What the...” He looked back to the fire and saw both men had vanished.
 

Tore scanned the clearing. A low voice called out. The accent was thick, the tone threatening, “Looking for something?”

Tore swung around, surprised to see that one of the men was standing directly behind him. Tore stepped towards him and the man took his own stride forward. The guy was huge. He stood a good five inches taller than Tore, his shoulders broad, his biceps bulging. He looked like a warrior from a movie set. Tore hesitated as he saw the curved blades the man held in each hand.
 

Sensing an attack, Tore shifted. Baring his teeth, a low growl escaped his throat. He backed up, preparing to leap at the armed man. With a speed Tore had never seen before, the giant moved into a fighting stance. They stared each other down, as they slowly circled.
 

Tore growled and snarled. Saliva dripped from his jaw as he weighed up his next move. A twig snapped and, before Tore could react, the second man wrapped an arm around Tore’s neck and pulled his head back, exposing his throat. In a blink of an eye, a cold long blade, rested against his fur and a strong hand clamped tight around his muzzle. With Tore immobilized, the first man relaxed his stance. Before Tore’s eyes, he dissolved into mid-air. Just a silver vapor hovered where he’d once stood.
 

Held in place by the second attacker, Tore had no choice but to watch the vapor reform. As the mist solidified the largest Lycanthrope wolf Tore had ever seen appeared in front of him. Its fangs were eight inches long and its jaws gnashed together as it spat and snarled at him.

“Nodin!” A voice thundered across the forest, bouncing off the bare trees and ricocheting around the clearing. It was impossible to trace where the sound had come from. A second shout followed it, “Nattuel!”

The men threatening him, vanished and Tore sank to the floor. Panting to get his breath back he was relieved his throat was still intact.

“Tore.” He looked towards the fire. Hania’s friend, the one Kachina had called Molega stood flanked by the identical men. Their weapons were gone, no doubt secreted about their person. Tore was relieved the Lycan was nowhere to be seen. The men stood with their arms folded across their chests, their faces unreadable.
 

Molega stepped forwards, beckoning with his hand. “Come, its safe Tore. Shift back so we can talk.”

Tore did as he was told, regretting it immediately as his naked body shivered in the freezing temperatures. With his clothes in shreds, his human form felt even more vulnerable. One of the twin giants removed the fur from his shoulders and tossed it to Tore. The twin indicated a tree stump by the fire. Wrapping the fur around himself Tore made his way to the fire and took a seat.
 

Molega introduced his friends, “Nodin, Nattuel.” Tore nodded, but it was impossible to decide which of them was which. One of them, had a lingering smell of wolf. No doubt he was the one Tore had seen shift to Lycan. He took a steadying breath. How could that be possible? The man’s wolf scent didn’t make sense.

“He’s not Lycan,” Molega said, sensing Tore’s confusion, “but he did shift into one.” 

The man stretched out his hand, “Sorry about the inhospitable welcome. My brothers and I didn’t realize who you were. Hania told us of your family and what your brothers did, he asked us to be on the look out for unwelcome guests. When I sensed you, I didn’t want to take any chances.”

Tore hadn’t even considered that prospect. Surely Erik thought he was dead. “You’re skin walkers like Hania and Kachina?”

The second twin grinned, “Ah, you know all about us?”

Tore laughed, “Not really. Hania hasn’t told me anything about you. In fact, he told me none of our guests knew what you all were and that I should keep my wolf secret.”

Molega slapped him on the shoulder, “It’s best that way. There are a group of us here like Hania, but we keep our identities secret from other humans.”

The others sat down and as Tore warmed himself, they talked about the upcoming wedding. It appeared that the men had known Kachina since she was born and were fond of her. As Tore listened to their tales of her childhood, he found it hard to judge their ages. The twins didn’t look any older than Liam, yet they talked as if they had been adults when Kachina was born.
 

When the conversation lulled, Tore’s curiosity got the better of him. “So, how did you shift to Lycan? Kachina told me you need a token from whatever…” Tore bit his tongue as he remembered what Kachina had told him about how she shifted. He gulped as he recognized the fur that was wrapped around Nodin. Tore had a hunch that the guy didn’t use a tooth or dander.

Nodin’s tone was threatening, “You don’t want to know.” Tore gulped and turned to the twin, “Can you do that turning into an animal thing, too?”

Nattuel vanished and, in his place, an enormous bear towered over Tore. He scrambled backwards as the animal lunged towards him. Before its claws hit the ground, Nattuel stood before him once more. Tore swallowed back the fear in his throat, “A simple, yes or no would have done,” he said.

 Molega laughed, “You know Tore, I like you.”
 

Tore sighed with relief as the other men smiled in agreement. That was good. He needed them on his side. From what he’d seen of their skills, he certainly didn’t want them as an enemy.
 

 
22

Christmas 1983.

When Liam and his family arrived at the end of the week, Kachina’s vast collection of relatives and friends were already set up in the north field. Their daily routines were similar to those that Tore had grown up with in the commune.

The women took charge of the food preparation. As well as cooking the daily meals, they planned the huge feasts that would happen after the ceremonies. The young men and teenagers went out daily to set traps and collect extra fuel for the fires. Tore was glad he’d cut so much firewood for Hania. It gave them a huge store to work from. Even though collecting more wood wasn’t necessary, the guests insisted they pay for what they used in-kind. As the huge stack of cut logs dwindled, a large pile of gathered sticks, branches, and even sections of whole trees, appeared.

To supplement the rabbits and game caught by the guests, Kachina and Tore hunted during the week. They brought back an elk and a huge stag ready for the feasts. The women prepared the meat and hung it. Then they scraped and washed the skins before folding them and giving them to Hania.

The night Liam arrived, the whole throng gathered around the fire in the north field and they shared a hearty meal of rich venison stew. Towards the end of the meal, Molega spoke with Tore. “There are things I need to explain to you and your brother before we begin the ceremony tomorrow.”

The three men walked the perimeter of Hania’s north field. Molega explained what would take place over the next few days. “Normally, a ceremony like this would take several weeks. Hania has asked that we shorten it, to accommodate you and your family. So, we shall do a
quickie
.” Molega went on to describe the intricate proceedings that would occur over the next couple of days. Tore hated to think how complicated the more traditional ceremony would have been if it occupied several weeks!
 

By the time Molega had finished, Tore’s head was reeling from all the details. He could barely remember what he had to do.

“You should have just eloped, gone to Vegas and done a quick drive through wedding.” Liam muttered to Tore.
 

But those thoughts were set aside when he saw Kachina moving around the circle of campers, her face shining and happy.

The next morning, the brothers shared coffee outside the cabins. Jessie was inside, supervising her children in the tiny bathroom.

A soft drumbeat started up in the camp. Tore and Liam watched a procession of guests make their way to Hania’s door. As the throng of people marched, they chanted. Then hand held instruments added rhythm to the sound.

The crowd arrived at Hania’s door and Kachina stepped out wearing a simple three-quarter-length shift dress, which hung down to her buckskin boots. She wore a thick woven blanket around her shoulders. In her arms, she carried a huge sack filled with white corn meal.

“Looks like the show is starting,” Liam said. He slapped Tore on the back and shouted through the cabin door to Jessie to prepare herself.
 

Jessie was Tore’s closest female relative, so she’d been asked to take on what should have been his mother’s role. Tore fidgeted as Hania led Kachina and the crowd across the short distance through the yard. When they arrived, the throng spread out, each person trying to glimpse Tore. The chanting stopped and the music died down. Hania stepped forwards and asked Liam if he could speak with Jessie.