Chapter 5
As the sun set down, and the hidden cave darkened, the crimson eyes of Ulfvaldr opened. Without ceremony, he stood up, and prepared to leave. He noticed that Tola was already up. After all, she wasn’t nocturnal, so she couldn’t sleep all day. Ulfvaldr walked towards the cave entrance, startling the girl, as she noticed him. Ulfvaldr didn’t make any sounds, as he walked, so she hadn’t noticed him until he directly appeared in her eyesight. However, she didn’t get a chance to say anything, before he disappeared from her vision.
Tola walked over to the entrance, too, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. She let her gaze fall down, to the ground. The height made her a bit nervous, but she wished she had some way to get down. But it wasn’t possible. It was impossible to climb, and it was way too far to jump. She could only forget about it, and go back into the cave.
In the forest, Ulfvaldr was already going at full speeds, towards the village. The sun had already set, and the nocturnal animals came out. Bats flew in the sky, and wolves went out on the hunt. In only a few moments, Ulfvaldr had traversed the few several kilometres, and stood on an overlook, observing the tribe. The atmosphere was heavy, between the tribespeople. Not only had they lost two people yesterday, now they had discovered that a large portion of their food had disappeared. Their fear for this wild animal, was growing ever more apparent.
Ulfvaldr, however, couldn’t care less. He just started observing, looking for a good victim. If possible, he would rather not go between the people again, in case something went wrong. He was very careful. After a short while, a middle aged man separated from the rest, to take care of business. As soon as he was done, Ulfvaldr flew in, and grabbed him, then disappeared, just as quick as he arrived.
The middle aged man didn’t even have enough time to react, before the world started blurring before his eyes. He had to close his eyes, or he felt like they would tear open. He felt sharp pains all over his skin, as the sharp wind covered him. He tried to scream, but the winds prevented him from even breathing.
But it didn’t take long, before the pain stopped, and everything became clearer, again. He noticed that some young man was holding him, and that they were running at impossible speeds. No matter how hard he tried to fight back, he couldn’t budge an inch. It seemed like this young man had monstrous strength. Then he remembered the plight, which had haunted them for two weeks now, and he felt a flash of fear.
He tried to fight back even harder, but it was of no use. Before he knew it, they had arrived at the nearby mountains, and still continued to dash forwards. Soon after, they stood under a cliff, with a small cave entrance around the middle. However, what then happened left the middle aged man speechless. The youngster who had kidnapped him, jumped; in a single leap, he leapt up to the cave. The middle aged man fell to the floor, and stumbled around, then, in panic, he crawled backwards in a hurry.
But when he saw the young girl there too, he got confused. He knew that Tola had been missing for almost two days already, and everyone had expected her to be dead. But here she was. It gave the middle aged man hope that he might not die after all. Tola quickly got over to the man, and helped him up.
“Halfdan, are you alright?” She asked anxiously. She felt bad for him, and somewhat guilty, as it could be considered her fault that he came here. Halfdan grabbed her shoulders, rather violently, and looked into her eyes, with his own, fear stricken, eyes.
“You’re alive? What’s going on?!” He asked with a low shout, demanding answers. However, the next moment, he found himself grounded on the floor, looking up to an angry Ulfvaldr. Tola quickly knelt down to him, and helped him back up, while looking into his eyes, with a look that told him to be careful.
“Halfdan, this man here saved me yesterday, when I got lost,” Tola quickly said. Halfdan suddenly looked at him with a new light.
“He saved you from the monster? But how can he be so strong? I clearly saw him running much faster than any human can,” He asked, with an almost urgent look.
“No, he didn’t quite save me from the monster exactly,” she answered, hesitantly. However, before she could say anything more, Ulfvaldr stepped forwards.
“I am the so called monster you speak of. I’m the one that killed a few of your people, but thanks to the girl, I’ll tone it a bit down, for now. Instead, I kidnapped you, thanks to her suggestion. So I’ll drink some of your blood every day, until you die. Then I’ll grab someone else,” Ulfvaldr said. However, as he finished his words, the look of fear in Halfdan’s eyes, were mixed with hatred, as well.
With a furious expression, he charged at Ulfvaldr, and gave him his strongest punch. However, Ulfvaldr didn’t even step back, a bit. He just let his face follow his fist, then grabbed the fist, and bit. Halfdan suddenly screamed, as he saw the strange man sucking the blood out of his wrist. A while later, he finally stopped, and Halfdan fell to his knees.
Ulfvaldr had been drinking a full person’s worth of blood every day, but in actuality, after the two weeks, he could settle with a much smaller amount. It seemed as the days passed, he didn’t have to drink as much. His control over bats had also increased greatly. If he wanted, he could control a whole swarm of them.
As he was finished drinking, he grabbed the weakened Halfdan, and dragged him further into the cave. The cave had several smaller tunnels in it, and one in particular, led into a small room, with just enough room, so that Halfdan could lie down. Ulfvaldr threw him inside, then flashed away, out of the cave. A moment later, he came back, with a small boulder, which he used to block the small tunnel. He could still see inside, but the opening was too small for Halfdan to be able to get out.
And even if he managed to get out of the tunnel, he wouldn’t get out of the cave. Thus, he let him to his own devices, and went back to Tola, whom he looked at with a stern look.
“You are not allowed to see him,” he said with a tone that allowed for no discussion. Tola nodded her head, without objection. She really didn’t dare to anger Ulfvaldr, as she knew how primal he was. She had already resolved her mind on her new life. She knew that she would probably spend the rest of her life here, with him. It was very common for girls to get kidnapped by another tribe, anyway. Here, she at least would have an easy life.
A bit later, Tola was sitting against the wall, minding her own business. She had to admit, it was dreadfully boring here. However, as she had those thoughts, Ulfvaldr made his way over to her.
“Are there other tribes nearby?” He asked, nonchalantly. Tola immediately proceeded to tell him about the other tribes in the area. Even if she didn’t want him to know, she found it hard to lie to him. She felt entranced by those crimson eyes.
“There are others, of course. The biggest tribe is a bit away from our tribe. It would probably take a day or two to get there. I think they number around a hundred or so people. There are also several other tribes around. Like on the other side of this mountain, I believe there should be a small tribe, a bit smaller than our current tribe,” she explained. Ulfvaldr nodded his head, and replied,
“I am going to go. I want to see the other tribes,” He said, which caused Tola to get a bit worried. Not for Ulfvaldr, but for the other tribes.
“A-are you going t-to kill them?” She asked with a stutter, showing how nervous she was to ask the question. Ulfvaldr made a small smile for the first time, at least that Tola knew of.
“I only kill if I get hungry,” he replied, thinking it was a good answer, and would please Tola. Then he turned around, and disappeared, leaving a flabbergasted Tola.
“He’s really going to kill someone,” she said, to no one in particular, but a bit sad that someone might lose their life to him again. She really wanted to try to see if she could get him to only drink animal blood. She wanted to help him get redemption. In her mind, she had never seen any being even close to as sad as Ulfvaldr. She couldn’t quite place a finger on it, but she felt that something really bad must have happened to that tortured soul.
Meanwhile, Ulfvaldr was going towards the tribes, which Tola told him about. First he headed behind the mountain, where a small tribe lived. They didn’t have any walls, but they were surrounded by boulders and hills, so they were well hidden. Then he tried to find that large tribe she talked about. And when he found it, it was indeed much larger than the other tribes.
Thus, he spent three days, locating all the tribes he could. When the sun rose, he would either hide in the shade of the forest, or seek refuge in a cave. In the end, he was confident that he had located all the tribes, in a rather large area. He had used his tracking skills and heightened senses, to locate them. In these three days, he had killed three people for their blood, but these tribes knew nothing about the struggles of their neighbour. Thus, they only thought it was a wandering animal, since it didn’t happen again.
As for the first tribe, they were rejoicing, after no one else had died, in several days. They could only hope that it would last, and that the beast had moved on. Since Ulfvaldr was already finished, he returned back home. The trip home took quite a bit of time, since he had wandered a big distance, but on the fourth night, he finally returned. Tola was relieved, when he finally returned. Four days with barely any human contact, had been quite excruciating. She had only met Halfdan, when she went to give him some food. However, she didn’t dare speak with him. She knew that Ulfvaldr had some weird connection with the bats, and it wouldn’t surprise her, if they could tell him if she talked with Halfdan.
Thus, several days passed. These days, he would always drink the blood from Halfdan’s wrist, and never go to the tribe. Ulfvaldr and Tola would speak together a lot, and Tola would even approach him on her own. She spoke about her people, her friends, stories from her life. She spoke about humans as much as possible. She wanted him to gain some connection to them, and she also wanted to get closer to him. Getting him to trust her, was the first step in redeeming him.
Break off here
One day, Tola decided to approach Ulfvaldr, just after he finished feeding on Halfdan. It had already been several days since Halfdan was brought here, and she would always be the one to bring him food. That’s why, every time she saw the ever weaker Halfdan, she would feel guilty. After all, it had been her idea to bring here in the first place, even though that’s not really what she meant. So, she approached Ulfvaldr with the goal of trying to talk him into letting Halfdan go, and maybe even get him to try some animal blood.
“Hey Valdr,” she began, as she approached him. Ulfvaldr looked at her, with his usual expressionless face.
“Do you need anything?” He asked her
“I’d like to talk to you, about, about Halfdan,” she said rather nervously. She wasn’t quite sure how she should go about this. In fact, she didn’t have the slightest idea on how to convince him, but never the less, she felt like she had to try. She felt like she was the only person that could make Ulfvaldr redeem himself.
“Is that so,” Ulfvaldr said, almost as if he didn’t even hear her.
“I’d like you to let him go. Is there really no way you can start drinking animal blood?” she asked him, while making sure to keep eye contact. Secretly, she was actually extremely nervous. She didn’t believe that Ulfvaldr would hurt her, but deep inside, she was still somewhat scared of him.
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“This again? Seriously, why should I drink animal blood? I don’t see you tribe’s people eating grass and plants all day, so why should I go down to animal blood?” He asked back to her, slightly annoyed by this repeated question.
“That’s not the same! One are animals, the other plants! But for you it’s either living, breathing human beings, or animals, the same that we eat. So can’t you just try at least? Halfdan is pain, and if you keep him there, he’ll go crazy eventually. It’s cruel to keep him like that,” she said with a pleading expression. However, Ulfvaldr just sighed at her attempts.
“You were the one who suggested me bringing him here, you know,” he answered.
“That wasn’t what I meant. What I meant, is that you should just sneak up on them, and just some of their blood, leaving them alive. Not to kidnap them, and bring them here,” she said.
“Hmm. It’s still easier to just keep him here. That way I don’t have to risk getting discovered,” he said.
“Is that what you’re worried about? I’ve seen how quick you are, when you run I can’t even see you,” she pleaded.
“Even then, I still have to stand still when drinking. Let’s stop this discussion, I’m not going to let him go,” Ulfvaldr said, then disappeared from Tola’s vision.
He was getting tired from that discussion, so he decided to go outside, and thus landed a short distance away from the cave.
Tola ran to the entrance of the cave, but by the time she made it there, he was already gone. She sighed in frustration, and went back into the cave.
‘There must be some way to change him,’ she thought. But no matter how much she racked her brain, she couldn’t think of anything, and by the time Ulfvaldr got back, she had already fallen asleep. As he saw the girl lying in her dark corner, he, too, began thinking. In contrast to Tola, he just couldn’t understand by she cared so much. In his eyes, it was completely natural for him to drink the blood of humans, like humans ate the meat of animals. After all, he was above humans, like they were above animals. That’s just how the pecking order went. It was simply weird for her to complain.
But she still didn’t give up. The next day, when she woke up, she immediately started racking her brain once more, as she walked throughout the cave, as if that would boost her thinking capabilities. But, as hateful as she was to admit it, she wasn’t very smart. She just couldn’t get any ideas. Thus, she decided to try the same strategy again, but this time she would drop the matter of Halfdan. Instead, she wanted to try and make Ulfvaldr taste some animal blood.
She would be satisfied as long as he just tried. As soon as the sun went down, she immediately made her way over to Ulfvaldr, who was just waking up. As he saw her face staring into his, he was a bit surprised.
“What now? Is something wrong?” He asked, making Tola a bit happy that he was worried for her. Or at least that’s how she understood it.
“Okay, I won’t ask you to release Halfdan again, but can’t at least just try some animal blood? I mean, you’ve never tried it right?” She asked him. Ulfvaldr looked back at her with his expressionless face, not revealing his thoughts in the slightest.
“No, I haven’t,” he answered.
“Then it might be delicious! I mean, you’ve never tried it, so who knows? You won’t know until you try, so don’t you think it’d at least be worth a try?” She continued.
“Tola, we’ve been over this already. Animals simply don’t look appetizing in the slightest. There’s no way they’d taste any good,” he said.
“Hey, that’s not true you know. This one day, they made some sort of gruel in the tribe, and trust me, it looked disgusting, but when I reluctantly tasted it, it was delicious! You should at least try,” she said. She was really adamant this time, and she wouldn’t give up no matter what, even if she had to bother him the entire night.
She was even somewhat surer that he wouldn’t hurt her. I mean, he even said her name, that must be some sort of sign, right? And Ulfvaldr certainly saw how determined she was, so he finally gave in.
“Fine. One taste. I’ll give it one taste, and if I don’t like it, then it’s not up for discussion again,” he said, much to the delight of Tola who immediately brightened up.
“Great!” She exclaimed. Then, Ulfvaldr grabbed her by the waist, and directly jumped out of the cave, and landed at least twenty meters away from it, which caused Tola to scream in fright once more, but secretly, she was happy that he was taking her with him. She definitely didn’t think she did it to frighten her.
Thus, as they left the cave, they entered the forest, and quickly found an animal. It was a small deer, sleeping under a tree. It seemed like it had lost the rest of its herd, as it was completely alone. Ulfvaldr looked at the sleeping animal; he was slightly hesitant. Not because he felt sorry or anything, but because he was nervous about how it would taste. As she saw his hesitation, she grabbed his shoulder and gave him a brave nod.
Thus, he walked closer to the animal, and crouched beside it. Slowly, he neared ever closer its neck, baring his fangs. Then, finally, he sank his fangs into the animal’s neck, but the moment some blood entered his mouth, he immediately spat it out in disgust.
“It’s, it’s so bland! This doesn’t taste good at all!” He shouted, immediately waking up the sleeping animal, and causing it to run away.
“Was it really that bad?” The nervous Tola asked.
“It didn’t taste bad in particular, but it was so bland,” he said. Somehow, this actually managed to excite Tola.
“Then, since it doesn’t actually taste bad, can’t you drink it?” She asked excitedly. However, the answer that came, quickly shut down her dreams.
“No way. There’s no way I’ll drink that stuff,” he said, as he started to walk back towards the cave.
After that little event passed, a month flew by them. In the last month, Tola had used several little plans, trying to make Ulfvaldr into a better person, but she would be turned down every single time. Some of her plans didn’t even make sense. She would sneak weird remarks in, like saying she that animal blood is good for your health, or that it makes your skin brighter. She also said it prevents hair loss, but of course, Ulfvaldr never fell for it. If he did, he would be mentally challenged. And in fact, she just said those things for fun, when she didn’t know what else to do.
But in the end, she never succeeded to change him in the slightest, and most of the times she would start talking about animal blood and Halfdan, she wouldn’t even be able to say a single sentence, before Ulfvaldr stopped her. But Ulfvaldr never sent her away, or even yelled at her. Deep inside, he was even somewhat enjoying their banters.
One day, they had sat down together, when Ulfvaldr suddenly asked about her family. He had never asked on his own, about matters pertaining to her personal life, and she had never told him about her parents, even though they talked about a lot of other things, than just changing him. She hesitated for a while, but finally gulped, and decided to tell him,
“Well, my parents are dead,” she said in a low voice. It wasn’t too rare for children to be orphans, as there was a great variety of ways that one could die. However, the death of her parents had always pained her. Ulfvaldr gazed at her with a mystical look; as if it felt familiar, but he couldn’t quite point his finger to it.
“How, how did they die?” He asked with slight hesitation. This was the first time Tola had heard him stutter, or even speak with slight emotion. Whenever he spoke, it would always be in a monotone. He never displayed any emotion, what so ever. This display of emotion, had triggered something in Tola. She decided to tell him the story.
“I wasn’t actually born in my tribe. I don’t remember those days too well, but my original tribe all died. They were attacked by sabre-cats. My parents, as well as many others, fled, but the sabre-cats all took chase. Eventually, they caught up to my parents, and me. All I remember is that they told me to remember them, and that they loved me. They told me to live up to their hopes, and live a full life. That’s all I remember of them. Then, just before the sabre-cat arrived, they pushed me into a small crevice, only big enough to fit me. It really was quite lucky, now that I think about it, a crevice being there. Later, I was discovered by a hunting party from the tribe,” she explained, but she was surprised when Ulfvaldr didn’t display any reaction. He just stared into space, with an empty look; his mouth was agape.
He didn’t move, and Tola didn’t dare touch him, but inside, she was panicking. She had no idea what was going on. Inside Ulfvaldr’s head, however, a series of images were flashing through. Images pertaining to his life; his memories. He saw pictures of a man and woman; his mother and father. Names started flashing through his mind. He remembered being encapsulated by a snow storm; getting trapped in the cave; fighting for his life against the giant bat… Killing all his tribe’s members.
Suddenly the most shocking thing to Tola, happened. Two streams of tears started flowing down his cheeks, down from his eyes. He had finally remembered. The story from Tola had triggered his memories. The last words of her parents, to be specific.
“Mother!” He finally cried, as he fell to his knees. He finally cried all his frustrations out; all his regrets. Then the memories from the past weeks flooded through his mind. His emotionless slaughter of the tribe’s people. He completely lost it. However, Tola took the chance, and hugged him tightly to comfort him.
“It’s alright, it’s all gonna be alright,” she consoled. She held him close to herself; tightly, while Ulfvaldr let his tears flow down on her shoulder.
“I, I killed, I killed so many people,” he said in a stutter, “my mother, father,” he continued, “I lost all control, I couldn’t help it. But they, they still said they loved me! Why did they have to die like that!” He cried. This was when Tola finally realized that he had regained his memories. She immediately held him tighter,
“Tell me about them. Tell me what happened; maybe it will make you feel better,” she said. If she knew what he had done, then she might be able to console him better. To make him stop killing.
“I, I killed them. Not my parents… But everyone else. I killed the people from my tribe, in, in a frenzy of bloodlust. Then, when I finally regained my mind, it was too late. The thunderstorm came upon us, and triggered an avalanche, burying all of us. I don’t even know how long it has been,” he said. He then continued to tell her the rest of his story. As he talked, she couldn’t help, but tear up.
His story was far more tragic than her own. First, he had lost his home, and been trapped in cave, with no exit. Then he had to fight for his life, against a giant bat. Then, even after all his struggles, he had been cursed by the heavens, unable to ever grace the sun, bound to drink the blood of humans. But then, a certain thought struck Tola.
“You know, the bodies of your tribe’s people; of your parents; they are probably still there. After all, you won’t rot when you’re frozen in ice. They are probably still buried there, considering that you only managed to dig yourself out now,” she said. As Ulfvaldr heard this, his eyes lit up. He was completely heart torn, and had almost lost his will to live, but hearing those words, he gained some small sliver of hope. At least, he’d be able to give them a proper burial.
“Then I’ll go. I’ll find them, and give them a proper burial, according to the ways of our people,” he said, with his still sombre voice. Tola looked at him with a smile, and said,
“Then take me with you. I want to be there, with you,” she said. Ulfvaldr looked at her, with a smile. His smile and the expression in his eyes almost made Tola cry. They were completely imbued with sorrow and despair. But she was also relieved. His human side had finally been recovered. But, there was still one final thought in Tola’s head.
“Valdr, do you think you can let Halfdan go, and live with drinking animal blood,” she asked. Ulfvaldr looked at her, and nodded his head, much to her relief.
“I’ll try to only drink animal blood, and I’ll let him go back home,” he said, and stood back up, then walked towards the prison of Halfdan, with conviction. As the small boulder was cleared away, Halfdan look upon Ulfvaldr with fear. However, when Ulfvaldr shed a tear at the sight, he was instead confused.
“You can go. I’ve regained my memories; my humanity. I truly regret everything I’ve done… I’ll let you go back home, and I hope you can forgive everything I’ve done, however, I won’t ask you to. Instead, all I ask is that you don’t tell anyone about me, or Tola,” Ulfvaldr said. Before Halfdan could say even a word, his vision blurred, and he lost consciousness.
When he woke up again, he found himself outside the village. He was in a daze, as he stumbled weakly back into the village. When they saw him walking in, everyone went into an uproar. Halfdan, however, remained quiet. He was conflicted. He didn’t know what to say, or to even say anything. When he saw Ulfvaldr for the last time, a lot of confusion had built up inside him. He had seen his guilt wrecked expression; his tone of voice. He knew that there was more to this sad ‘monster’, than met the eye.
Back at the cave, Tola looked at Ulfvaldr with a smile. However, Ulfvaldr shed another tear. He couldn’t help himself; he was too emotional right now. He truly hated himself for what he had done. But the warming smile of Tola still calmed him down.
“I’m proud of you,” she said, as she hugged him tightly. He didn’t cry verbally this time, but he couldn’t believe himself. All that he had done. All the evil, the kind, confident boy of the past, had caused. He had killed his closest friends; sown horror into the hearts of the innocent. He didn’t understand how anyone could still care for someone like him. He didn’t understand how Tola didn’t shun him.
“Thank you,” he whispered into her ear, causing Tola to smile again. She just nodded her head in response. Then, as the sun was about to rise again, they went to sleep, Tola holding him tightly in her bosom, as the rays of the sun finally found their way into the dark cave, and the flocks of bats flew in, finding shelter on the roof of the cave. Thus, they slept, until the sun reached its highest point, then settled down, once more, out in the horizon of the world.