Warmagic

39 - A helping hand

Freke's hand felt so warm and comforting in mine as we walked down the path I knew so well. Behind me I heard the confident steps of our second maður, who was currently carrying our son on his back and humming a song I had never heard before.

"It's a tale about the first pack of shifters," Freke explained to me. "The song tells of how the Great Mother-Wolf gave us the ability to shift into wolf form."

"So they were humans like me at first?" I asked curiously and it struck me that I might have thought them to be wolves who turned into humans, but the other way around was of course the more sensible.

"Who knows," Freke continued, "It was so long ago, maybe it happened before humans even existed."

"We're not human, Tyr," Vidar called out with a chuckle, "our species are similar to you, but we're not the same, and we never will be."

"Are you sure?" I questioned, "I always thought of you as humans with the magical ability to transform into another form."

"Yes, I'm quite sure," Vidar laughed and walked up quickly on the narrow path to bend down and kiss my cheek.

At the end of the path lay my birthplace, a medium sized village named Bildsfell where my father Halvar was the fourth generation of Jarls in our bloodline.

"Are you ready to meet him?" Freke asked and squeezed my hand as we walked into a busy street filled with merchants and buyers who argued about prices and whatnot.

"I am," I told them both with a smile on my face, "I have missed them all."

Both me and Freke were recognised on our way to my father's hall. We were stopped and asked of our whereabouts and when I insisted I had to talk to my father first, a small crowd had started to form behind us as we proceeded our walk.

Someone must have run forth and proclaimed our whereabouts because my family had stormed out of their home to meet me, with arms wide open and tears flowing down my mother and sister's faces.

"Brother!" Tofa shouted out as she ran across the yard to throw her arms around me. "I thought you were dead, we got no news from Skal after you sent for Noora." Then she let go of me and pulled Freke into a big hug as well. "I knew you would look after him and keep him safe. You always have."

I chuckled and ruffled my sister's hair before I turned to smile at my mother and met my father's eyes, but he turned to greet Vidar instead.

"It is good to see you again, friend, but may I ask what brings you here?"

"You may, and we will explain it all, Jarl Starke. In private," he answered and placed a hand on my shoulder. I noticed how my father's eyes lingered on the hand, then turned to look at me.

"It's good to see you, son, now let's step inside and tell us what happened."

I followed my fathers lead as we stepped into his hall, but as Vidar had asked, no one else was allowed inside but close family.

As we gathered around the big fireplace, I helped Vidar to remove Ari from his back, and was rewarded with a giggle from the boy. "Here, mother," I said, and placed the child in her care. "He's grown, hasn't he?" As soon as my lap was free my ten year old sister made herself comfortable in my lap and I hugged her tight.

"Ari?" My mother asked and smiled at me, "he looks just like you when you were little!" she beamed. "But where is Noora?"

"Noora is still in Skal," Vidar began, "she stayed while your son had to flee for his life and run to me and our husband for safety."

"Our husband?" my mother asked carefully and looked at me with piercing eyes.

"Flee?" my father filled in and raised a brow.

"Yes, I am married to both Freke and Vidar," I told my mother and noticed my sisters' curious eyes on Vidar. "We needed a strong bond to unite the pack with my clan, and it would have worked if Brokk's son had not ruined our plans with his foul magic and curses."

My father's eyes moved back and forth between the three of us. "Brokk's son?"

I could see the puzzled expression in my father's face, so I decided to start from the beginning. How I had killed his brother, because of his lack of honour and how I had become the new Jarl of Skal. The story continued in a more gruesome way, when I retold the events of the sickness that had spread through the crops and how even the people had fallen ill.

Freke continued to speak of his meeting with Brokk's son, how Bjarke had tried to lure him and force him to become one of his tools, a vial of his magic. Freke's body was shaking after the retelling and both me and Vidar held his hands in support of our maður.

"You love each other," my mother gasped as if she just realised what Freke and I meant to one another.

"Whatever feelings the boys have for each other doesn't matter, love," my father sighed, "we need to talk more of this threat."

Thankful for my father's intervention I continued our story. "Bjarke convinced the entire village that the wolves are the source of the evil curse, not him," I said gravely, "even Noora believed him."

"But Noora is kind and sweet!" Tofa cried out.

"Yes, she is," I said and kissed the top of my sister's head, "that's our point. The man is evil and he needs to die."

"Bjarke tried to kill Ari, he weakeded him, but Freke and I managed to save his life. Now Tyr's wife accuses us and raises Bjarke's name to the skies. That's how powerful his magic is," Vidar explained.

"He controls their minds," Freke said with a shiver spreading through their body.

"And how do we kill this monster?" my father muttered, and raised from his chair.

"Me and my wolves will dispel the magic, and while we do that, we need protection from your warriors," Vidar said.

"You will have it," my father agreed without hesitation. "I can not let my nephew rule a whole town with mind tricks and magic, that is not right." He sighed and started to walk towards the door, still speaking to us over his shoulder, "give me two weeks, then we sail for Skal."