I talked to Ken after the Morrigan left. It helped put my mind somewhat at ease, I guess. The situation is not any less dire, but she seems to be somewhat more at ease than she was on the way over. Which certainly counts for something. I guess seeing her so worried made me more anxious.
I could see the Lycanthropy starting to affect her too. She was noticeably feverish…her skin hot to the touch, beginning to ramble a bit, I could see the cracks forming in her composure. She said the Morrigan said it was just her body adjusting to the change, that it wasn’t much to worry about. I still did, and wished there was more I could do then than just let her know I’d be behind her every step of the way through this upcoming duel.
But there wasn’t, so I let her rest.
My Mother sent me a text later. The forest, an hour after sunrise. I came prepared. I mean, I know she wouldn’t send me there if she suspected it was an ambush. But my Uncle is supremely dangerous, and I don’t know how practiced he is at subterfuge. He’s had incentive to learn it, no doubt, since he was bound. And there were the werewolves to worry about too. I’m sure they’d love the opportunity to pick one of us off away from the others.
The lone comfort was that I was at least fairly certain that none of the opponents we faced were capable of flight as I am.
All told, it ended up going about as well as I could’ve expected. Not that that’s saying much. He sent a representative, and though the Fenrir wolf was more openly hostile than I might have liked things remained civil enough…in other words; no blood, no bruises, no broken bones. And I did get some information; insight as to Krieger’s views and likely methods, a bit about what we can and can’t do within the boundaries fate set for the challenge. It may not be all that much, we’ll see. But it could also prove crucial, and I wasn’t expecting much.
Ken’s change came later that night. In werewolf form she was even bigger than I am, did a pretty good job of tearing a hotel room to pieces before we could get there, too. She shifted back to human form not long after we arrived…but I could still feel her muscles twitching, shifting beneath her skin. Her finger s seemed to be on the verge of turning to claws, she seemed to be fighting for control. And it was taking a lot out of her. She was exhausted, soaked in sweat, and ravenous. I sent the Einherjar out to get food for her, meat and beer.
At which point Cindy and Claire insisted that I should go with them for some reason...
Given everything that was going on I was understandably reluctant to. You know, like everyone else in the band. Which is when Claire called me clingy and Cindy said I was borderline overprotective. Because it was fine if all the other of the band members stayed in the room with her but if I did I was getting carried away? And Ken didn’t even say or indicate anything about not wanting me there. I mean, am I the only one who doesn’t understand where the fuck those two are coming from?
Afterwards, since we were all up and alert anyway, we sat down and tried to do some planning. Tried being the operative word given how are options are limited. Because as much as I’d like to storm the castle and crush Krieger’s skull beneath my fist our agreements do reflect on Ken and would reverberate through the threads of fate tied to this duel. If we attack Krieger before he breaks his end of the bargain there’s no telling what could happen.
And as if we didn’t need any more bad news Andrew talked to Leger. Apparently Krieger was telling the truth when he mentioned having some sort of mental influence over the pack, and he’ll have it over her during the duel. As if the odds needed to be stacked any higher.
We’ve been here twenty-four hours, and I’ve already had more than enough of this damn place to last me a lifetime.
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