Javier’s mouth immediately started watering. There were two massive bowls of a very hearty stew with chunks of meat and big vegetables. There were two whole loaves of bread and a tub or butter and jam.
Javier barely stopped himself before looking up at their host. The blonde woman smiled and nodded. Javier and Huan Li took their bowls and started eating the steaming stew and tearing into the bread after dipping it into the rich broth.
The woman smiled as they tore into their meal. She sat down on a chair that she grabbed from the adjoining room and sat down with them. “My name is Yrsa Magnusson.” The men on the floor were able to get out their names before continuing to eat the yummy stew.
The woman smiled warmly. “I’m glad you are enjoying your meal. You were so light when I carried you here you must have been close to starvation.”
Javier stopped as warm broth dripped down his chin. He looked up at the woman. He had felt how strong she was but…? “Miss, you carried both of us here? At the same time? And you think that we were light?”
Yrsa smiled, “Oh yes, I often carry heavy loads. I have carried whole trees away from my house if it’s close to falling over from age or from the weather. You two were much lighter than I thought you would be.”
Huan Li raised his eyebrows upon hearing this. “You can carry whole trees?”
Yrsa smiled as she blushed. Her face became a very warm rose color and she suddenly tried to hide her face with her hair and hands. “Yes, I… I’m not as strong as my father, but I am almost as strong as my brothers. My mother always said I could be just as strong as they were, all I had to do was try hard.”
“I see” Huan responded quietly.
Javier let the curiosity of her unnatural strength go for a moment. “Yrsa, please, when you carried me and my friend here from where you found us, are you sure that there was no one else there? I had two…uh, sisters hiking with me and my three wolves. I mean… uh, wolf dogs with us. Please if you remember anything at all. I have to find them, Yrsa.” He could feel them off their general direction, he knew they were out there, but he figured keeping that little detail to himself for now was the wisest choice.
The blonde woman shook her head sadly, “No, I’m sorry you two were the only ones in the forest when I carried you here.” She looked over both the men sitting across the room from her. “Why do you now call them, wolf dogs?” she asked quietly. “Before you called them wolves.”
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Javier had no answer. Instead, he placed the remainder of the loaf of bread back onto the tray and looked up in the woman’s cool blue eyes. “They are wolves.” He stated simply, not asking for forgiveness or offering any explanation. “The two women are my friends, and the wolves are our companions.”
Yrsa didn’t move, nor did she speak, she simply returned the darker skinned man’s gaze evenly.
“I can feel them off in the distance. I know they’re alive and I know what direction they can be found in, please.” He folded his hands together in front of him in a pleading gesture. “Please, you must help us if you can.”
Yrsa didn’t move for long moments. The time passed between them slowly. Javier tried to figure out what the woman must think of them. Did she see them as invaders, sent to ruin and uproot her way of life and culture? Did she them as a threat to be disposed of? He didn’t know and right now the blonde woman had all the bargaining power. Even now, after the mostly completed large meal, Javier wasn’t sure he could shift, even if his life depended on it.
“Why do you call those horrible monsters, companions?” Yrsa asked suddenly. “Everyone knows that wolves kill animals, and people if they ever get the chance.” She looked hard at both men with suspicious eyes, “And everyone knows that wolves can’t be trained or tamed. They should all be killed as the wild, unfeeling, beasts that they are. Why call them companions?”
Huan Li responded, “Because they are part of us, as we are part of them.” The old man pushed the remainder of his food away. He stood up slowly and somewhat painfully.
Yrsa eyes widened a little as she too stood up. “What are you doing?” she asked a little startled.
Huan Li smiled weakly and shifted.
Javier looked up at the elder smiling in spite of himself. Huan Li was an elder for a reason. The old man must have reserves of strength that he hadn’t even guessed to be able to shift so easily after what they had been through, and after how hungry they both had been less than an hour ago. Yrsa’s reaction was more dramatic.
After a moment or two of wrestling with the reality of what she was seeing she let out a piercing scream that echoed deep in the enclosed space. Javier half raised his hands to his ears to dull the sudden intense noise. She backed away stumbling into the wall and then turning she tried to bolt from the basement but tripped over the chair that she had just gotten up from.
Huan Li didn’t move, but Javier moved across the room with speed to help the woman get to her feet. As he reached for her, she swatted away his hands, almost clawing at him as she snarled like a wild animal. “Get away from me!” She cried as she picked herself up and ran for the stairs.
Huan Li spoke, “Please calm down Yrsa. We are not here to hurt you or to cause you or your land any harm.” His gruff werewolf voice grated but somehow had a touch of his normal human soothing quality to it. At the very least it did cause Yrsa to hesitate on the stair case, a few steps from the door that had kept them locked in the basement.
Javier stayed where he was. Huan Li hadn’t moved from his original position but continued to speak. “We are the last survivors of our home, the City Under the Mountain. We are here seeking help from your kind.”
Yrsa scoffed, “Why would I want to help monsters and freaks like you?”
“Because we were the first to fall, but we won’t be the last. Soon Grendel will be at your door and there will be no fabled warrior coming to save you. All those who would be your allies in the coming fight will be dead.”