Instead, he went home with his sister, and although they claimed they didn't catch any fish, Edin did say that he had the best time in a very long time. Haniel was bounced on his knee, and Anessa was kissed upon her cheek, and Edin thought he would never stop smiling.
Chapter 10
Edin's smiles ended forever the day lord Tanahn returned. No one knew that he had returned from his travels until the immortal man himself stalked through the town. Edin and his family didn't even know he stalked through the town until they heard the raised voices outside. The women baked and Edin watched his son sleep. The voices made them all look toward the door. Edin went to open the door to find out what the commotion was, but he didn't even make it a few steps before the door slammed open.
Immortal lord Tanahn stood in the doorway. His eyes were dark, angry, and evil.
Annessa screamed, but covered her mouth quickly. Everyone dropped to their knees to show respect to their lord.
Everyone except Edin.
"You." Tanahn pointed at Edin. The man took a step forward and grabbed Edin by the neck. The pressure cut into his throat, and Edin knew that he was going to die right then in front of his family. "Why?" Tanahn growled. "Why you?"
Edin could not answer, but he wouldn't have known what to say anyway.
"Stop it!" Dai, brave, foolish Dai, stood up from her knees and glared at her master.
No one defies the gods.
Tanahn's face turned slightly, and his eyes fell on Dai. His hand remained on Edin's throat, but Edin felt the pressure lighten slightly. He was able to catch a tiny breath. Villagers had gathered outside, some bravely looked inside the open door. Edin recognized faces as friends, but none came to Dai's rescue.
Tanahn's hand released Edin, and he dropped to the floor. He hit the table as he fell, and the sound made Haniel wake and cry.
"Quiet that baby!" Tanahn yelled. Anessa crawled over to Haniel and picked him up. She pressed the baby's face to her shoulder, a face that Tanahn would never see.
Edin tried to reach for the lord Tanahn. He nearly grasped the man's pant leg, but he moved toward Dai much too fast. Edin didn't see Dai's eyes. He would never know if she became afraid or remained defiant. She never screamed.
Edin heard Dai's body hit the floor, but before he could even look at what happened, the angry lord had Edin by the back of his neck. He threw Edin outside without any effort, and Edin fell into the street. Then Edin felt a kick to his side. The kick was so hard it flipped him over once. A hand grabbed his hair and lifted his head so that everyone that had gathered in the street could see his face.
"This is what happens when someone defies me as this man has." Tanahn spoke loud for all to hear. "Be sure he will not die, no, but he will suffer. Long after your families have aged and died, this man will continue to suffer."
The last thing Edin saw was the toe of Tanahn's boot as he struck his head.
Edin would never see his family again, or ever know what happened to Dai.
Chapter 11
When Edin awoke, he was alone. The floor he rested on was cold stone. At first, Edin thought he was within the castle, but the stone was smoother and shinier. He sat up and looked around. The room was round with two floors. The upper floor had many doors. Behind Edin was another door. Was it the exit?
Something was very wrong. Edin was not tied up. He was alone, and with an exit within a few steps. There was no reason to run. Edin knew he would not get very far. He almost ran once he heard the footsteps and voices. One voice was lord Tanahn, but the second was deeper and sounded angry. The two people came into sight and Edin's breath stopped.
The man that walked alongside Tanahn wore a dark gray cloak. His hair was silver and his face looked withered and old. Although Edin had never met the man before, he knew right away, who he was: Odin. Edin looked upon the face of a god. The god of death, and Tanahn's father. He realized that he was within Odin's home, Valhalla, that was far from Edin's island town.
The two stopped once they reached Edin, but all he could do was stare up at Odin and try to breathe.
"You are like a child," Odin said to Tanahn. "I will not grant this man immortality. That would only prove to help."
"I do not want to just kill him." Tanahn gestured at Edin, but kept his face on his father. "I want him to suffer."
"For what?" Odin looked down at Edin for a brief moment. "What has the man done to you?"
"You know what Azurine said. She said a man would give my wife courage and that courage would weaken me. She has never been wrong when she sees the future."
"I was there, my son. But, how has this man given her courage?"
Edin listened to the conversation. His eyes darted back and forth between the two as they spoke. When they mentioned courage, Edin could have answered Odin's question. Instead, he remained silent.
"Serenity was given a gift. A lapis lazuli. This man found it and gave it to her."
The mood in the room changed. It was as if a cloud covered the sun so that it no longer shined down from the open ceiling. Edin looked at Odin after Tanahn spoke, and he shivered. The god's eyes gleamed with a mixture of curiosity and anger. Did he know where Edin obtained the gem? Did he know it was from his wife?
The god closed his eyes a moment and then opened them to look at Edin. He seemed to contemplate his next move while Edin just tried to remain calm. It was impossible to do with the god's eyes boring into his soul.
"I will not make this man immortal so you can torture him forever."
"Why not?" Tanahn pouted like a child.
"I will, however, put him in his place. He is but a dog. A dog that has tried to bite his master's hand, and we will have none of that."
Edin didn't understand anything. All he had wanted was to give Serenity the heaven she asked for, and he thought the lapis would help. He didn't know what would happen to him, but all he could guess was that his punishment was for caring more about Serenity than Tanahn did himself. He did not know the power in that lapis. He did not know the power in his love.
Chapter 12
The wolf followed its master without question. The master ordered him to follow and the wolf obeyed. Simple as that. For the next few days, the wolf ran beside his master as he rode his horse. Then he rested on the deck of the ship, and puked a few times. His master struck him for that. It hurt, but the wolf wanted to please his master, so he did not strike back.
"We are home," the master said. He gestured toward the stone castle, and the wolf looked at it. Home? "Soon, you will meet your other master."
The wolf did not see the master's wicked grin, and even if the wolf had seen it, it never would have understood. The idea of meeting yet another master didn't bother the wolf, but for some reason, it entertained the master.
The new home was vast. The wolf followed behind its master through the halls and up the stairs. When they reached a door, the master opened it and they both entered. The woman in the room looked up at the door, startled at the intrusion, and then down at the wolf. Her eyes grew wide with fear and she jumped from her seat. The wolf watched as the woman hugged the wall. What was she afraid of?
"Isn't it magnificent?" the master asked.
The wolf could sense her fear. It was very strong. Was this woman his other master? If so, why was she afraid? The wolf felt sad that the woman hated it. What had it done wrong?
The woman ran into another room and slammed the door shut.
"Foolish woman." The master looked down at the wolf. "Do you have any bit of consciousness in there, stonemason? How does it feel that she despises you so?"
The wolf cocked its head in confusion. Stonemason? Was that a name? The idea of the woman's hate continued to sadden the wolf. The master opened the door that the woman entered and shoved the wolf inside. The door closed and the wolf found itself sitting awkwardly in front of the door.
The woman looked at the wolf from across the room. The wolf tried to look as solemn as possible so that the woman would not be afraid.
Couldn't she see that the wolf was sad? The woman held out her hand. It shook with fear but her eyes showed determination instead of hate. The wolf slowly moved toward the woman so that its head rested just under the outstretched hand.
With just that light touch, the woman seemed much less afraid. She bade the wolf to rest beside her and it obeyed. The wolf wasn't supposed to obey anyone but the master, but he obeyed the woman. The two of them fell asleep. The wolf listened to the woman's light breathing, and took comfort that she slept so soundly.
Chapter 13
The next day the two masters said harsh words to each other and left. For a while, the wolf just watched the door in wait for the masters to return. They did not. It was some time, the wolf was not sure how long, before the master came to the room to fetch the wolf. It jumped to its feet in excitement, but saw the angry look on the master's face, and stopped.
They went on a hunt.
The wolf had never hunted before, but the other dogs seemed to know what to do. The wolf just followed them as they ran and howled. The wolf did not understand, but hoped to learn quickly in order to please its master. It felt good to run through the woods. The breeze felt nice as it rushed through the wolf's dark fur.
Then the master yelled out in pain. Every dog stopped running at the sound and looked to the master. An arrow stuck out of the master's chest and blood poured down. The dogs began to bark but the wolf just stared at the wound. Its eyes pulsed as it watched the blood pour down. The pulsing matched the master's heartbeat.
"Go!" the master screamed, and he pointed up a hill. "Make her suffer. Make her bleed, but do not kill her!"
The dogs ran toward the hill the moment the order was voiced. The wolf cocked its head, its eyes still on the wound. The master looked at the wolf. Their eyes met. Was that fear in the master's eyes?
"Do as I ordered," the master said, but his voice did not seem confident. The wolf glanced one more time at the wound in the master's chest, and then it ran off up the hill.
At the top of the hill, the dogs had caught its prey. They were roughly tearing at the animal, but even the wolf could see they avoided any wound that would kill it immediately. The wolf just watched the scene. He could not tell what the dogs had caught.
The master arrived at the top of the hill and called the dogs off. Only then did the wolf see the prey was his other master, the woman he slept beside. The woman had a bow and she was the one that had wounded the master. The tip of the bow had a blue stone, but the wolf knew nothing of those things. But, he recognized the woman.
Serenity.
The wolf looked at the bleeding wound on the master's chest. Then it looked back at Serenity. Her eyes locked on to the wolf's eyes. Her eyes seemed to beg. The master was about to kill her with her own bow, to finish what the dogs had started.
Tanahn was going to kill Serenity.
These names? What were these names? Why did the wolf remember them? Serenity's eyes. They were dying, but they continued to plead.
Serenity.
Serenity.
Edin.
The wolf remembered it all. It didn't have time to think about it. Instead, the wolf growled at Tanahn so that the man would be distracted from his kill. When the immortal lord turned toward the wolf, it lunged. The wolf pushed Tanahn to the ground. It ripped into the wound on the man's chest. It tore out skin and bone, desperately and angrily, until it reached the heart. The man screamed in pain. He begged, but had no strength to push the wolf away.
The wolf, Edin the wolf, dug teeth into the heart and ripped it out of the immortal man's chest.
Tanahn screamed and breathed no more.
The wolf dropped the heart from its mouth. Serenity was going to die. She was just moments from death. The wolf joined her on the ground, just as it had done that night in her room. Her breath slowed, and she clung to the wolf's fur tighter as death got closer. She was not scared. The wolf could feel that it comforted her. She was not alone.
It wasn't until after Serenity died that Edin fully realized what he had become. The pieces came together in his mind too late, but he knew he could not have saved her even if he had remembered. Odin turned him into a wolf, a dog for a master to control, but, somehow, Serenity had broken the curse on his mind and he was able to kill Tanahn before he killed Serenity. She was able to die of her own free will and not from Tanahn's hand.
Edin might have chosen to go home. Maybe he could have figured out a way to tell his family that he was the wolf. Or maybe someone would have chased him off or killed him if they thought he was in the town to harm the children. It didn't matter. Edin never thought about leaving Serenity. He knew no one would look for her. Her body would remain where it was with the hilltop as her grave. He could not leave her.
Edin cried. He did not cry because he was sad. He cried because Serenity had achieved her goal. She killed an immortal man and would no longer have to suffer.
It was then that Edin decided to go with her. He would follow her wherever her soul went and remain by her side. Edin closed his eyes and slept. He slept until hunger and sorrow finally took his life so he could join Serenity.
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If you enjoyed "Edin," check out the second prequel in the Ilmarinen series, "Serenity." Learn Serenity's side of the story and how she helped to create the prophecy from the Ilmarinen series. "Serenity" is another free ebook! The first book in the Ilmarinen series, "Ilmarinen," will arrive soon!
Edin: An Ilmarinen Prequel Page 4