by Angela Foxxe
“No, I don’t. I enjoy the finer human things in life. This curse our family is under is starting to get old.” Valemon moped.
“Well, that’s your ancestor’s fault. That’s what happens when you jilt the queen of the Iron Woods for a mortal.”
Valemon snorted. “That’s her damn fault for showing up as an ugly troll. If she would have just shown up as her usual self, he might have just gone for it.”
Igor laughed. “And that’s the lesson. You know how those gods can be. Never judge something by their first appearance. Blahblahblah, but because your ancestor decided that beauty was more important, we’re stuck turning into bears, same with your kid back there, if he lives through this.”
“You’re right.” Valemon sighed as he looked out at the dark forest. “We’re stuck with it now. Changing shape does have its advantages, but I would really enjoy going a full month without having to go through the entire painful process. Maybe the Falcon Clan will have some sort of fix for that too,” he said wryly as they sped through the darkness.
“So,” his cousin pried, “do you love her?”
Valemon shot Igor an incredulous look. “Don’t be daft; I’ve only known her a few weeks.” He snorted.
Igor shot a glance at the older man from the corner of his eye and saw all that he needed to see. Concern for Rachel was etched all over Valemon’s bearded face. “Right,” he replied skeptically. He knew his cousin all too well since they had grown up together. Valemon was older by a year, but Igor was the wiser of the two, since he was the one least sheltered. A cry of pain erupted from the back seat as Igor drove through the dark Norwegian night. The motorway was all but deserted as he navigated to their destination. Valemon turned around in his seat to see Rachel contorted in agony and clutching her stomach. She writhed and yelled out as the baby within her underwent another massive growth spurt. Her stomach distended and roiled grotesquely as the child within stretched it once again. After the agonizing process was complete, Rachel looked as if she were six months pregnant.
“Wow,” Valemon muttered. “I think we might need to carry her when we have to hike to the Aerie, if we can locate that rune stone. She’ll be too big to hike the distance.”
“You’re right. We might need to take turns lugging her if she doesn’t come to in time.”
“It’s best if we let her rest for now. We still have a few hours to go yet before we reach the turn off to get to the lake. I hope Hans didn’t remember that I have a house out there. I do think that was one of the holdings my family kept secret from his.”
“Good. Those mutts didn’t need to know all our family’s secrets. I’m kinda hoping that we end this bullshit once and for all. Who knows, the Falcons might be able to mediate this feud.”
“Maybe, but I wouldn’t count on it, they’re notoriously neutral in these kinds of affairs.”
“Soon their neutrality will be tested. They won’t be happy with you, you know. They might just side with the Ironwoods and Rachel be damned.”
“You have a point,” Valemon rumbled as he looked back at the distressed woman. “If it saves her life, though, I’ll do whatever they ask.”
“And you said you weren’t in love with her.”
“Shut up. I just feel bad for dragging her into this mess, that’s all.”
Igor smiled knowingly in the darkness as he kept driving. He knew his cousin too well.
*
Igor noticed the petrol gauge pointing near empty when he saw another rest stop exit. As he pulled off, the sun was dawning in the east and they were almost to the road leading to the lake. “We need to fill up or we won’t get there. The battery will only take us so far after the tank runs out.”
“Yeah. The house, if I recall, is pretty far up the lake, near where the mountains are. We’ll need to off road it for a little bit if the road isn’t maintained,” Valemon explained.
“Don’t worry, this car has some pretty good off road capabilities. That’s why I picked it. Never know where we have to go to get away from those mutts. Anyway, you’re going to have to take the wheel. You slept most of the way; it’s my turn to catch some Z’s.” Igor pulled in to the service station.
Valemon nodded and yawned as the SUV pulled up to the pump. “Let’s hope there are no Ironwoods here.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll pay at the pump. We can live without coffee until we get to the lake house,” Igor said as they exited the vehicle. Valemon crossed over in front of the SUV and entered the driver’s side while Igor filled up the tank. When the tank was full, he pulled a card out of his wallet and tapped it to the card reader. He sighed in relief as the payment went through, since sometimes the card readers on these pumps were sketchy at best. He sat down in the passenger’s seat, buckled in and closed his eyes.
Rachel let out a soft moan as she tossed and turned listlessly in the back seat. Her long blonde hair was dark and knotted from the feverish sweating and restless tossing and turning. Her stomach was grotesquely distended from under her button up shirt. Fresh stretch marks marred her fair stomach with angry purple streaks and dark blood soaked her pants. She needed to be seen fast.
“I don’t think she’ll be able to make it to the Aerie,” Igor said glumly. “You might have to go up there alone if we can find out where it is and talk one of them into coming down to the lake house. She won’t survive the trip up there.”
Valemon grunted. “I’m really not looking forward to going up there by myself, but I will if I have to. I don’t want her dying on me.”
“Good call. I’ll stay with her to fend off the dogs if they find us. At least she won’t be left completely alone.” Igor leaned the seat back in an attempt to get comfortable and yawned. “I think I’m going to catch a nap. At least my snoring will keep you awake enough to not steer us into a ditch,” he said as he pulled his cap over his face to shade his eyes from the sunlight.
Valemon drove along the motorway, taking in the scenery. They were in a remote area so there was not much in the way of traffic. Tall mountains loomed to his right with sun peeking over their snow-capped peaks and the dark Norwegian forest was to the left, filled with potential danger. He shivered as he sped past the tall swath of conifers. If he remembered the old family legends correctly, this thick dense forest was the Iron Woods. The last place he wanted to break down was here.
“I’m thirsty,” a small voice piped up from the back.
“Rachel?” Valemon inquired as he looked in the rear view mirror. “How are you doing?”
“I’m real thirsty. And sore. Very, very sore.”
“I think there’s a bottle of water back there. I usually keep a stash in my vehicles so I don’t have to stop when I get thirsty.”
He listened as she shuffled around, searching for the water.
“I found one. Thanks,” Rachel said quietly as she cracked open the top of the plastic water bottle. She tipped it to her lips and chugged it down as fast as she could. The water was luke warm but it was better than the parched feeling at the back of her throat. “Thanks,” she gasped when she had finished draining the water bottle. “I’m still thirsty.”
“We’ll be at my house on the lake in an hour, if you can hang on until then.”
Rachel flopped back down on the back seat. “I’ll try.”
Valemon was shaken by Rachel’s haggard appearance. Her skin was pale and waxy, the dark circles that formed under her eyes looked like two fresh bruises and the healing cut on her forehead looked angry and infected. If there were a zombie movie filming nearby and they needed an extra, Rachel would be the perfect candidate.
“Where are we going again?” Even her usually vibrant voice sounded weak and haggard.
“We’re going to my house up on the lake. I’m going to leave you there with Igor while I go find the Aerie. Hopefully, one of the Falcon Clan will agree to come down because there’s no way that you can make it to whatever peak they live on.”
Rachel looked out the window towards the snowy mountain
peaks. “What if they don’t agree to come? What will happen?”
“You’ll die,” Valemon replied grimly. “The baby will live, until I hand it over to Angrboda, but you...the baby will claw its way out of you, and you will die from massive shock and blood loss, just like Igor’s mother.” Valemon swallowed hard, trying to contain his emotions.
Rachel was feeling so detached from everything. She knew she should feel some form of fear or anger at the news, yet she felt nothing. It was rather disconcerting to say the least. “Oh,” was her reaction to the grim news. “That doesn’t sound good at all.”
“Are you okay?” Valemon asked. “Seriously, that news would cause most people to break down and lose their heads.”
“I’m feeling...nothing,” Rachel replied blandly. “Honestly, I don’t know why. It should bug me but it doesn’t.”
Valemon grunted. “Whatever helps you cope. I think I’d rather have you all detached than hysterical, to tell you the truth.”
“Yeah...” Rachel trailed off as she kept staring at the mountains. Her blue eyes were sunken in their sockets and she shook softly. “I’m so cold and thirsty,” she whispered.
Valemon spotted the exit to the lake. “We’ll be there in around an hour. Don’t worry,” he assured her as he exited the motorway onto the main road that led them into town. “My lake house is a little bit off the beaten track, so it might get a bit bumpy in spots if the town hasn’t kept the road up. I haven’t been up there in years.”
Igor grunted from under his ball cap. “I have. At least twice a year to fix things up and keep the place maintained. You know, in case you wanted to go off on holiday or something. You never did.”
“Heh,” Valemon grunted. “Never really had a reason to go out there until now. Anyway, thanks for keeping it up.”
“Not a problem...” Igor replied as he went back to snoring under his ball cap.
“So anyway...” Valemon trailed off as he noticed that Rachel had fallen asleep again. This one seemed a bit more restful than the fitful one she had experienced for most of their journey.
He sighed as he kept driving down the winding country road. He had to admit, he did feel very protective about Rachel. Maybe it was his instinct, since she was pregnant with his child, or something more. He didn’t know at that time, nor did he want to admit to himself that it could be more.
If he didn’t care for her, why was he taking a dangerous trek to a secretive clan of shape shifters? He could just let her die and take the baby, and find another woman to mate with for life without siring any young on her. But that thought filled him with a sharp emotional pain. He sighed with resignation. He had to admit to himself that yes, he did have feelings for Rachel, that it was beyond the protective urge to keep the offspring within her safe. Now, he just had to probe as to how deep these feelings were.
Valemon turned off the one-lane paved country road onto a gravel one. He pushed the button on the dash to adjust the vehicle’s suspension for the rougher ride, and glanced at Rachel in the rear view mirror as she slept.
Since he had not been to the lake house since he was a child, he nudged Igor in the ribs to wake him up. “Hey bucket head; am I going the right way, or not?”
“Huh? What?” Igor stammered as he was rudely woken from his slumber. He pushed the cap back up onto his head and looked around. “Seems about right. There should be a small wooden bridge up ahead. It can take the weight of one vehicle at a time, so if you see someone coming try to pull over so they can pass.”
Valemon saw the bridge, or what was left of it. The rapidly moving river, overflowing from the thawing of the record snows they received that winter, had washed it away. “Well fuck.” He stopped the vehicle. “Looks like this is where we get off and walk.”
“Really?” Igor cried out incredulously. “We still have a good ten miles to go, if not more. There has to be a way to get across with the car. I don’t want to carry her.”
“Assuming we can get across ourselves,” Valemon replied wryly as he surveyed the area. He noticed a couple of old trees leaning off to the side of the trail and pointed at one. “See that tree over there? We can shove it down and move it over to the river. It’s big enough to hold us as we make our way across.”
Igor looked at the large pine tree dubiously. “Are you sure? You’ll have to drape her across your back somehow and with that gut I don’t think it’ll work very well.”
“We’ll find a way. First we should knock this tree down.” Valemon stepped out of the SUV and towards the towering pine tree that was leaning to one side. He put his large hands against the massive trunk and gave a few test shoves. “I doubt I can do it this way, and neither can you.”
Igor rolled his eyes. “Come on, you know I hate changing, let’s walk up river and see if there’s another way.”
“Nope, there isn’t another way and you know it. This is the only spot narrow enough for a bridge,” Valemon replied with a grin.
Igor heaved a huge sigh. “Okay, I suppose. But if I get stuck...” he moped as he started to take off his clothes.
“Don’t worry. You won’t get stuck,” Valemon said as he peeled his shirt off his muscular torso. “You don’t have to worry about it, I do. You know, the whole heir to the Bjornson name and all that crap.”
“True,” Igor replied as he folded up his clothes and put them in the SUV. “We can walk to the lake house as bears. I make sure I keep a few sets of clothes handy when I’m over there working. You and I are the same size so it’s all good.” He closed the SUV door. “Well, let’s get this over with. This sucks, you know that?”
“It hurts me as much as it hurts you, so stop your bitching and let’s get Rachel across.” He said as he began to concentrate hard on changing shape.
Valemon dropped to all fours, concentrated long and hard as his bones began to grow and shift under his skin. The silver hair on his skin began to change texture, and his face contorted into an inhuman shape as the bones elongated and his skull broadened.
His ears moved upwards to the top of his head and his eyes grew larger. His hands and feet morphed into large flat paws with four-inch claws on each toe. A growl of agony escaped the man’s throat as he finally shifted off the last vestiges of his humanity and settled into his bear form.
While he was changing, Igor did the same, but his fur was bright yellow. Both huge bears ambled towards the leaning tree and reared up onto their hind legs. They looked at each other, placed their huge paws onto the trunk of the unstable tree, and began to use the massive power of their bruin form to shove the tree down across the rushing river.
The two massive bears pushed and pushed with all their might to topple over the towering pine tree. After about fifteen minutes of backbreaking effort, the ground under the tree began to give way. The two bears danced out of the way, as the huge conifer fell across the roiling water of the icy cold river.
Igor looked at Valemon and laboriously shifted back to his human form. “Alright, I’ll get Rachel and put her on your back. I hope she can wake up enough for the ride.” He stooped into the car and grabbed his clothes. He put them on then attempted to wake Rachel. “Hey wake up,” he said as he gently shook her.
Rachel stirred. “Igor? What’s going on?” she asked wanly.
“We need you to stay awake for a bit. You’re going on a bear back ride for a while and we can’t drape you across, face down, because of your pregnancy,” Igor explained.
“Oh, that sounds like fun.” She spoke in a monotone voice. Rachel was still not totally cognizant of what was going on around her. It all seemed like a dream.
Igor caught her as she stumbled out of the SUV. “Come on, now. Valemon is waiting.”
“Ooh, I get to ride Valemon? He’s fun to ride.” She said it with a smirk. The double entendre wasn’t lost on Igor, as he groaned inwardly.
“Yes, you get to ride on him. Not ride him, ride on his back. I’ll be next to you, holding you steady so you don’t have to walk. But please try n
ot to fall while you’re crossing that river over there,” Igor explained.
“Oh, okay.” Rachel was acting drunk. That was the only way Igor could explain it. He knew she wasn’t, but maybe this was how her brain coped with such trauma. Or, he thought, it could be something more sinister. He sure hoped not.
They walked through the scrub to where Valemon was patiently waiting for them. He lay down so Igor could put Rachel on his silvered back easier. Rachel straddled the back of the ursine man as Igor lifted her up, and grabbed a handful of fur to steady herself.
“This is pretty fun!” she exclaimed as she swayed dangerously when Valemon rose from the forest floor. He shot his cousin a forlorn look from over his shoulder.
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to do it this way, so you’re stuck with her on your back. I’ll make sure she doesn’t fall off,” Igor told his cousin. “I doubt you want to carry my fat ass around too so I’ll walk beside you.”
Valemon snorted in acknowledgment as he began to shamble towards the downed tree that would be their bridge. The trunk gleamed in the dappled sunlight of the early afternoon, due to the moisture that splattered it from the rushing water that it bridged.
Igor reached up to steady the swaying woman as Valemon slowly plodded towards the fallen tree so as not to shake off his unsteady passenger. “Easy now.” Igor guided the large bear. “One paw up, then the other.” He then scrambled to steady Rachel as she almost toppled backwards while Valemon climbed up the exposed root system of the makeshift bridge.
As the silver bear hauled his massive rump over the tangled root system, Igor clambered up and stood precariously alongside of the giant bruin. Valemon took up most of the girth of the already massive tree with his immense size, leaving very little room for Igor to walk alongside to keep the heavily pregnant Rachel from falling into the tumultuous river below. To top it off, the trunk was made slippery by the spray from the rushing water below. He was glad he chose to stay barefoot to so he could get a better grip on the slippery bark.
Step by agonizing step, the trio inched across the trunk of the fallen behemoth. A few times, Valemon’s large paws lost purchase, nearly dumping Rachel to her doom, but Igor managed to prevent the disaster. The cold water sprayed up and stung Igor’s tender human feet as they made their way across the precarious bridge.