The Wolf

by Alaric Longward

  “Perhaps he shall be governed by his father, finally,” Balderich said, and I got up to walk with them. “How will we make sure they find their place amongst us? Indeed, how will we make sure they choose us at all? And I have one daughter who has not married. The southern gau is held in check with Gunhild and her marriage, but Sigilind still lingers. She could bear them beautiful sons and, for us, leaders and a bright future.”

  “Marriages will bind them to us, indeed,” the vitka said. “Long have they sought a home. A home needs a woman. Bero is married to the Cherusci. It will be useful for us. With Cynefirth and his marriage to the Semnones, and the riches they may still bring Quadi, we, too, need men who are so connected. Hulderic is married to a nothing. Yet, he seems smitten by her. So, their sons are the key. Listen. I saw a dream, when I sang Galdr in the Flowery Meadows. We had sacrificed a Matticati raider, and the gods listened to me. It was a fine, beautiful dream-spell, and I saw it clearly. I saw you should, on the next moon, wait by the Red Hall, during the final day of the Thing at midnight. The one who marries Sigilind will ride up with a white horse. I am sure it is this Maino. I think it is.”

  Balderich nodded. “I will find place for both. But let my daughter go to the man in your dreams, the man with a white horse, riding up to us at midnight.”

  CHAPTER 21

  The lands of the Marcomanni were rich with deep woods and excellent hunting ground. Hidden in the depths of those woods the Romans call the Black Woods, there were plenty of halls, rich homesteads, and people living in valleys. There were rivers, lakes, and the one great river that ran all the way to the Hermanduri, and Chatti lands, separating Quadi from Marcomanni, the Romans call River Moenus.

  The Quadi lived to the north of it, the Matticati did as well, and the Chatti were a constant danger. That summer, we met with no more enemies. The Quadi settled back in their lands one by one, mourning their dead, and Cynefirth with his guards followed us, coming all the way to the Hard Hill, keen on making Antius an ally and me a slave.

  The Marcomanni, men of their eastern lands, also went back to their crops and families, heroes, and brought with them many slaves, and stories. We rode the river for the west until we turned south where the Quadi Tudrus left us for his home.

  After days of riding, we found a village of sprawling houses filled with horse traders and people traveling for Freyrsblot, the feast of harvest thanksgiving to the god of the earth and fertility, Freyr, the Boar Lord, prince of Aldheim. Hordes of men were walking the roads for Hard Hill, and Balderich showed us around the village.

  “Come,” he said. “I shall buy you new gear. You shall wash and groom yourself. Horses you shall buy, the best ones, and shields, new and sturdy, cloaks and tunics, all the best for the best of men. This is how it shall be. None shall call me greedy or too greedy to share my wealth. Dare not say so!”

  He was happy. So very happy. The Hermanduri had been stopped. Rome was being negotiated with, and he had found mighty allies. His vitka, the bastard Wulf, had made him believe in the power of the Marcomanni, in their golden future. A grandson of the failed Aristovistus, he had ever struggled to find one for the Marcomanni.

  Maino, Bero, and Hulderic was also happy. Ingulf was frowning with the unhappy love he had found, and I kept my face calm. We washed and ate, and then, we found a horse trader.

  I saw Bero buying horses with Balderich’s money, and he bought Maino a white one, which he took away, as fast as he could, and hired a man to ride it somewhere out of sight. I bought myself a black horse, and that evening, we settled to wait. Balderich left with his retinue and wanted us to come into his village, the Hard Hill, that very evening, and we were to have our own halls below the hill, in two separate villages.

  Hulderic found me sitting still that evening, looking at my Roman sword.

  He put a hand on my shoulder. “We shall be shown halls around Hard Hill. Ours is waiting, and Bero is going to his. We are expected after midnight in the Red Hall.” He hesitated. “Did you hear Bero’s wife is pregnant?”

  I smiled and nodded. I had.

  He pushed me. “Make sure, Maroboodus, that you remember what we are. Just wolves amongst wolves. Be patient. Maino will make a mess of his things without you. I know. You do know it as well. We must make sacrifices.” He showed me his hand. There was no ring.

  I looked up at him in shock. “You didn’t give it back to Bero?”

  He shook his head and smiled. “I let Erse hold it. Out of Bero’s sight. It is better that way for both Bero and me. And Erse has not been happy with me. I hope she sees I still trust her.”

  I chuckled.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You still trust her?” I asked. “Not the other way around?”

  He said nothing and shook his head. “Shut up, boy.”

  I smiled. “Of course, Father. When shall I prostrate myself for the Thiuda Cynefirth?”

  He shook his head again, still thinking about Erse. “He is busy with Antius. They are in this village and have the hall in the middle. I suppose he will allow you to make your oaths to him soon. There is a tree, I heard, north of the village we shall settle in. It is white, and men hang gifts to Woden on it. There, you can give him your oaths.” He shook me. “One year. One year of service. That is all you promise.”

  I smiled. “One year. Of service. I agree.”

  “Come, then. Let us see our new home,” he said tiredly.

  I nodded and followed him. Erse, Ingulf, Harmod, and I rode after one of Balderich’s men, and we saw a huge, wide hill lit with lights and revelry. We were led to a village just below the hill and passed men and women dancing and laughing and preparing for the sacrifices and prayers. We were shown a great hall of white-gray wood, with a stable, and a generous gift of cows and horses. Inside, meal and baths were ready.

  Father was talking with Harmod, and Erse and Ingulf were sitting down to eat, looking away from each other uncomfortably.

  I hesitated and left the hall.

  I found the man who had guided us and stopped him from leaving. He looked startled and bowed.

  I closed my eyes. I thought of the happiness I had found with Father.

  I thought of Saxa. And of Maino.

  And I heard Lok laughing.

  “Do you,” I asked him, “know where Bero’s, my uncle’s, hall is? I forgot to thank him for his patience and kindness.”

  The man, a warrior, nodded. “I hear you have had trouble with him.”

  I bowed. “I am a man in great debt. I can hardly rest, if I have not told him how much I appreciate his patience.”

  He smiled and got on his horse. “Come, then.”

  He led me off, and we took a road to a village south of ours. It was just a field away. “The Thiuda will give you these villages. There will be a hundred heads of cows and a hundred men each. Many families will be yours to command. He must love you well.”

  “Balderich is very generous,” I said, and pulled up a hood on my tunic. “See, that must be it?”

  He nodded.

  There was a hall richer than ours, and I saw the vitka Wulf riding out of the yard. Bero was seen on the doorstep, and Maino was walking in, bare-chested, drinking mead.

  “Bath, son,” Bero yelled happily. “You must prepare for your marriage. Bring us great fortune! You must give her a boy this very night!”

  “Indeed!” the man celebrated with an oafish voice. “That I must!”

  I walked my horse after my guide, and when he opened his mouth to announce me, I shook my head. He frowned, as if anticipating trouble, but I shifted my chain and looked at him, willing him to make a choice.

  He looked down and rode up the hill. I dismounted and watched the end of their hall. There, the stables stood, and I tied my horse to a tree and walked for the doors.

  Lok’s luck was with me.

  There was nobody at the stable.

  There was only an open door to the main hall, where Maino was singing crudely and splashing in a bath. There, Be
ro was speaking.

  He was happy. “Ride to the hall and bow to Balderich. His daughter will be with him,” he was saying. “You will be married immediately. Then, you shall live with her and pay respect and mind Balderich. Speak to him with reverence, always so.”

  “Of course, Father,” he said. “I think he is a bit of a fool, but I won’t bite the hand that so blesses us. I cannot wait to see Maroboodus suffering. I will make him—”

  “You will not ruin our lives by invoking the beast in that one,” Bero hissed. “I like him no more than you, but we must make sure he ruins nothing for us. He has Lok’s own curse rushing in his blood. You must not—”

  Maino was singing so loudly, I heard little else.

  I walked to Maino’s white horse, opened the stall, and jumped on the horse. I backed it out of the stall and rode calmly to the night. I turned for the Hard Hill and rode up the hill. I passed its hundreds of halls, and then, when the night was deepest and Mani shone with pale light from the sky, I arrived at the Red Hall.

  A great fire was burning before it.

  A bonfire and feast making had been taking place around it, and hundreds of Balderich’s men were gathered there, standing in silence.

  I heard a distant scream of dismay from below and smiled.

  I rode up through a set of better halls, huge ones, those of his war-lords, and saw Balderich by his doorway. With him, there was a tall, beautiful, blonde woman with a noble, brave face. She wore a white robe and a wide belt, and her shoulders were bare. Gold and silver glimmered in her ankles and wrists, and a bronze torc graced her slender neck.

  I stopped the horse and stared at her.

  To this day, I cannot say I loved Sigilind.

  I admired her. I knew immediately she would be a loyal ally, a staunch companion, and a brave mother. It was the best a man like me could ask for.

  She was no Saxa.

  No woman would ever be Saxa. I remembered Saxa’s smile, her face when we married in her brother’s hall, and I wept silently, quivering.

  I shook my head to clear it, but I saw Saxa, and little else. Sigilind was a means to an end. She was the one thing I could take and find a place where to build my vengeance from, to build a future filled with power and conquest. She was the blood of Aristovistus.

  She could free me in so many ways.

  Hulderic would never understand. He would see the Bear. Sigilind could guard me from him.

  I could turn back.

  No.

  I could not shake Maino’s words.

  I rode forward and stopped my horse before them. Balderich was smiling, the vitka was frowning, and Sigilind was looking at me with calm.

  I bowed to Balderich in my saddle and pushed back my hood.

  The vitka Wulf choked. Balderich frowned. He had been warned it would be Maino.

  Sigilind blushed under my scrutiny.

  I jumped down from my horse, just as Bero rode up and Maino after him. I didn’t turn. I took Sigilind’s hand and held it, and Balderich’s face relaxed. He turned to the assembled people. “By Woden’s love, see them together! See the husband and the wife and let there be many new boys in the family! Cheer, celebrate!”

  The vitka stammered, his ugly rodent’s face gleaming, and as I turned, I saw Stick-Wolf, or Adalfuns, looking from the shadows, his face dark.

  He knew what had been, what could have been, and what had happened.

  I turned from him, and from all hope of regaining my life as a wolf, rather than the Bear, and led Sigilind to stand near the fire, and there, the vitka married us.

  “You bastard,” I heard Maino calling out. I didn’t even look his way.

  That night, in Balderich’s hall, I made love to her. It was love, though far less than what had been with Saxa, and after I was done, I rode to find a man and made a deal.

  CHAPTER 22

  Sigilind was serving Hulderic mead. He took the horn and smiled at her politely. He tasted it, but he might have as well had piss in his mouth for he was cursing as he drank.

  “Did you know?” I asked him. “Did you know Maino was supposed to marry her?”

  Sigilind shook her head. “Let us not dwell on it, Maroboodus. Your father and you must be happy together. As we all shall be.”

  I nodded and felt sorry for her.

  Hulderic sat there, playing with his place. He was also drinking and shifted his sword. Balderich came to the hall and smiled at Sigilind with joy. “You will need to go to a hall of your own soon, dear. I shall miss you, even if it is just a stone throw a way.” He gave me a bland look, and I knew he wasn’t sure it was stone throw away. He would be thinking about sending us away, where things could calm.

  She gave him a hug and then left, knowing instinctively something important was taking place, and her presence stopped it from happening. She smiled at me, kissed my cheek, and left, and I let my smile drop.

  Balderich walked inside and sat on his seat.

  He picked on meat that had been set there and pushed away a bowl of steaming gruel. He shook his head and held his face. “I told every chief about Wulf’s vision. I told everyone. They all listened to me. They all saluted the great vision Woden gave him and what would make our house strong.”

  I shrugged. “Wulf’s a liar. He was bought by Bero.”

  He brushed his pants absentmindedly. “Is our house going to be strong?”

  I nodded, keenly aware Father wanted to dash out.

  Balderich waved his hand around the hall. “It was built to accommodate the best of the Suebi kings, of the very best blood. He was a Semnone and the Marcomanni he married into, my grandfather Aristovistus. Caesar beat him, but this hall holds his bravery, his blood, his legacy. I feel like we, you and I, were related, and now, we are. I knew Wulf was bought. He always tries to make me do things by claiming Woden speaks with him. I let him. It was a good idea, even if Bero’s. And your father knew. I spoke to him about it. He agreed.” He gave Hulderic an unhappy look. “He failed to watch you.”

  Hulderic shifted in his seat. “For right, or for wrong, my brother lost his lands in the north. For good, or for the worse, his fault, or not, no matter what he, or his son did, he lost what I had agreed to give him. The oaths were broken by us, by our family. To give him something back, was my agreement with him. I failed. Again. I trusted… I went to relax, to prepare, and I let myself think… You were happy, Maroboodus. You were to be a wolf amongst wolves, and not the Bear.”

  I shifted in my seat and looked at my hands. “I am your wolf, with a wife I love.” I looked at Balderich. “Is it not better to have offspring with a man who is clever than a chunk of meat like Maino?”

  “You are playing with words like Lok would play with them!” Hulderic roared. “Words. Lies.”

  “I was happy,” I said. “I was determined. I thought about it, after what Maino told me of Saxa the other night, before our road here together. I was very happy, indeed. I felt I was home, I felt I was…free. And I still am. I simply…wanted her.”

  “What did he tell you?” Hulderic asked.

  “He broke me,” I said. “He did. I owe him nothing.”

  Balderich looked at his hands, and Hulderic tensed, but the man sighed and waved the hands. “Bero can get power. Your son has her.”

  Hulderic bowed. I did as well.

  Balderich nodded. “You will have your men, Hulderic. You will ride in war for us, and Bero shall command you. You as well, Maroboodus. Do not expect easy time in Hard Hill. When you return from Thiuda Cynefirth’s service, you will find harsh service here. Enjoy yourselves until the feast is over. It shall go on for week and a half yet. Then, you keep your oath to the Quadi, and we’ll see what will happen.”

  I nodded and bowed my head again. “I thank you.”

  “The vitka Wulf does not like you, so do not make trouble,” Balderich added. “A Thing settling feuds will judge in their favor, and I cannot say I am totally against it. A punishment is in order for this foolishness.”

 
I nodded and got up. I left the hall and walked out of the Red Hall. There, I saw Maino walking back and forth. I saw him, and he looked back at me, red-eyed, and then enraged. He walked for me, and I put a hand on my sword’s hilt. He stalked in and stopped before me.

  I squinted. “Are you looking for your horse?”

  His eyes widened, and he looked shocked. “My horse?”

  “The mare I mounted last night, your horse. Are you looking for it?” I said lewdly.

  “I don’t want to see the damned white horse, ever again,” he hissed.

  I shook my head. “All mockery is wasted on you, isn’t that so?”

  He hissed. “My father tells me he shall manage many things in Hard Hill. He says your father will obey him. And I tell him to put you under my command. I will make you suffer. I shall—”

  I smiled and stepped forward. I leaned to his ear. “She wept.”

  “What?”

  “She wept last night,” I told him. “She wept, cried, and cursed me, as I was thrusting inside her. She had expected you. She had been promised the great Maino. Gods cursed her, she thought, for having me. She wished I died, but I laughed at her. She is a noble, regal lady and will keep up the appearance of happiness, but she dreams of you, handsome Maino, my cousin. I will make a child with her, nonetheless. I’ll name the child after you, perhaps? Oh, how she wishes she were a widow.” I chuckled as he staggered back, emotions playing on her face. “But she is not. Not long from now, I shall ride around the land under my own banner. They will tell you what they will, Maino, but a man married and making children on Sigilind will not ride under the shadow of an idiot.” He touched my shoulder, hand trembling, and I pushed him back. “You and Wulf. Both of you are pitiful worms. Let me be as I get to know the land.”

  I walked out of his view and laughed as I went.

  ***

  Weeks later, we had settled into the land.

  We rode through the fields with Sigilind, and our love blossomed. Bero was busy understanding the ways of the land, meeting the great families, and raising his own. His wife was growing heavy with a new child. Sigilind and I made love in the fields, and I enjoyed my life for a moment. Harmod followed us around, but soon stopped, due to the embarrassment of riding in on us.