Fenrir-Kin

“What in Odin’s name is that ?” The choking question from one of her companions wasn’t a strange one, in the circumstances; they’d all fought, bled, died and revived together many times now, and every victory simply gave new shapes to horrors they’d only previously seen in the distance. This was different, though. The first time they’d seen a Fuling, it was in the black forest, casually hamstringing the massive troll before killing it with a couple of well-placed blows. The ease it had dispatched the much larger opponent had shocked them all, and it had taken the whole group much longer than they thought it would to deal with this one small green creature. Past it’s corpse had been the plains, and the particular source of ‘what is that?’ had been the horrifyingly large insects that would run you through in one blow if you weren’t fast enough with your shield. She remembered the moment her companion had fallen, feeling suddenly exposed with his shield downed, and the cursed

"Come on, it's ok!" Dark, soulful eyes stared back at her from where the dog had wedged itself under a fallen house, just out of reach of the outstretched arm. Flowers had come around a corner and startled it while it was scavenging, causing it to yelp in fear and wriggle its way under the concrete away from her. "You don't need to be afraid of me, I'm only small. I bet you're lonely, huh?" "Flowers?" The voice made her jump slightly, and she wriggled backwards out from under the concrete, throwing the dog one last look. Bat was crouched down next to her, one eyebrow raised in question. "What are you doing down there?" She rolled over until she was sitting, brushing the dust off her coat. "There's a dog," she said by way of explanation, and both of Bat's eyebrows shot up. "And it looks hungry, and scared, and I want to make friends with it. Maybe bring it back the way you and Brick brought me back." Bat lay down on their front to stare into the gap Flowers had

The first thing she noticed was the pain. A searing lance stabbing down from the top of her skull, feeling like her head would be crushed if she had to endure it a moment longer – And then just as suddenly, it was gone. She opened her eyes cautiously. The great stone Vegvisir was cool against her back, and she slowly sat up, taking in her surroundings. Her mind was slightly clouded, like it had been when she’d first arrived here, and she struggled to remember how she’d ended up in the stone circle once more. She reached her hand up to her head; the pain had been intense, and she half expected to feel a welt, or even the sticky wetness of blood, but as far as she could tell by touch alone her skull was whole. It was only as she pushed herself to her feet that she realised she was naked. “Well, that could have gone better,” a familiar sarcastic croak sounded behind her and she turned slowly. Hugin was sat atop one of the larger stones, staring down at her with those beady eyes.

“Three People!” “One Nation!” Astrid’s lips were cracked and bleeding as she roared out the response to the General, and she shifted as the weight of the rest of the soldiers pressed in around her. The Jotun leered as they formed up battle lines opposite, and Astrid felt her lips curling in distaste. The warrior behind her jostled her slightly as he positioned his spear over her shoulder, and suddenly she was aware of everything: the way the inside of her gambeson clung to her skin; the way her leather chest plate jabbed her just under her armpit; the way the skin of her lips tore as she snarled a response to the enemy across from her. “Three people!” This was it. One final charge to break their ranks and get the general close enough. She licked her lips again, barely feeling the sting. “One Nation!” They charged. She couldn’t recall how many steps it took her to bridge the gap; couldn’t recall the name of the spearman behind her who kept pace as she set her shield and

When they first arrived, we were overjoyed. Proof that we weren’t alone in the universe, that there were other races to share and exchange technologies with! Their arrival brought about world peace - with other life forms out there, we needed to present a united front. World hunger, poverty, climate change – all was solved within a decade, a demonstration to our new friends that we were worthy of the responsibility of exploring the galaxy. They disagreed. They accessed our histories, they saw everything, and they recoiled in horror. They could not fathom the world we had created, and the solutions we had brought about not because it was the right thing to do, but to impress them. They were not impressed. They told us, regret tinging the translators, that we could not be trusted as keepers of this world. The damage we had done was coming close to being irreparable, and for our own good they’d need to take over. I have to say, I initially agreed – humans are terrible. But the

There’s something about apples and love The fruit of knowledge Depicted in all it’s crisp Mouth-watering glory Eve saying here, are you hungry, too? Adam takes it, and he means I love you Did the bite they shared together help them truly know The depths that love can reach? We’d help to pick the apples Bending to retrieve the ones that hit the ground And that was love as well: Your 60-year old knees and back and hips can’t bend like my 8 year old skeleton can Let me get that for you I love you I’m light enough to reach the tops of the trees Hold the bucket, I’ll get the best ones I love you Later in the kitchen we’d tuck ourselves into a corner And tuck into an apple half the size of our heads Bitter and tart juices running down our faces Thank you for your help; I love you We’d have apples for weeks: Apple pies Apple cakes Apple biscuits Apple crumbles Give the apples to the local priest and get Homemade tablet in return I thought you’d like these, Father Little loves I think