FENRER

Lightning tore barbed sadness through his throat and shadows grew over his skin. Tears dripped down his cheeks as he writhed in the oppression of darkness. Patchwork stone hid him deep in the belly of a castle, out of sight, out of mind — an embarrassment to a looming figure who choked him with words. His recollection shattered when he woke up wrapped in blankets, back in his own room. His little wooden wolves sat on his bedstand beside the lamp.

Reyn cried deep in his soul, for safety, for relief. Father gave him the security the prince begged for.

What... happened? Fenrer sat up and winced when a flash of white-hot fire bounced across his temples. Across the words hanging on the small banner stretching across his wall, the dawn rose along the window frame. He pushed his palm into his eyes to wipe away the last remnants of sleep. When... did I fall asleep? Legs outstretched, he kicked at his woolen blankets. Water droplets rolled down his cheeks, but he pushed them out of the way and fought a yawn behind his hand. Activity from the town grew in noise as animals were released from the pens to awaken everyone else. He shambled out of bed to stretch, taking in the sun when it rose over the treeline.

He jolted when his door creaked open.

Light from the evening came early to caress his cheeks, and he sank into the warmth as Mother approached him with a steaming bowl of soup. "I'm glad to see my Little Wolf awake," she whispered and set it on his small desk, full of magick tomes for learning before she knelt beside the chair, her long, braided brown hair falling across her shoulders. "How are you feeling?"

Fenrer shuffled over to her, into the strongest part of her aura. "I'm okay, why do you ask? What happened?" He tipped his head when her aura shuddered with concern and wrapped around his body, a longing reach, and Mother followed through with the embrace. He wrapped his arms around her neck. "Did I do something bad?" It shimmered the last thing he remembered. "I-I just wanted to help Reyn. He was sad."

"You need to be more careful," Mom said with a tap under his chin. "You don't have a handle on your abilities, and I don't want you to hurt yourself, but it was kind of you to reach out to His Highness. Eat some breakfast, you didn't get dinner last night."

His stomach growled at the reminder, and he tucked his hands against his chest to try and stifle the noise. "Oh, yeah... Dad said he'd give me the big meat portion instead of a pile of cabbage." He grabbed the dish and took in the sweet aroma layered in the broth. He dipped the spoon to take a cautious sip. Honey stuck to his tongue as he tried to smack it down his throat, then resisted the urge to guzzle the entire bowl down the same way Father's housecarls downed mead. Mother grinned at him.

"Good to see you didn't lose your appetite," Mom said. "Yulana thought you'd enjoy a squeeze of honey in your morning broth."

"It's so good!"

Mother ruffled his hair. "Maybe you'll stop stealing her cookies."

"Only if she stops making them." Fenrer took a larger sip, but eyed Mother. "How... How is Reyn? Where's Dad?"

"Reyn, I believe, is still in his room resting from the previous event. Your father is out making his rounds around Sungrove. I believe he mentioned he was going to check on the ancestral crypt and pay his respects before midsummer's harvest." Mother straightened herself out on her feet, but kept a hand on his head. "Your father has a lot on his mind."

"I know."

Mother's brow furrowed, and Fenrer put the finished bowl back on his desk. "He recognizes Reyn."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know how to describe it," Fenrer admitted. "Um..." He bounced along his heels and paced a small circle to draw out his words. "Like when you see something familiar, but it's also unfamiliar? It's the same, but different. Kind of like... how people's auras act when they see me beside Father, does that make sense?" Fenrer tipped his head at her when she blinked at him. "I'm explaining this wrong." He set his hands back at his sides.

"No, I think I understand," Mother assured. "Your father was reminded of something or someone?"

"Yes!"

Mother pinched her chin. "Well, if you want to talk to your father and feel well enough..."

"I feel better!"

"Then try the crypt, but remember to be respectful. Your ancestors are buried there," she reminded him. "Those halls are hallowed — and they protect us as we protect them."

"Yes! Pyren is down there as well, yes? The Wolf of the Silver Dawn." Fenrer bounced at the thought. "He who split the Great Crimson dusk in half to reveal the sun with the blade forged in its light! I know the story!" He hesitated, then sighed. "Nik told me it was just a metaphor and no one can actually split the sky and the dawnblade is just a normal sword and nothing special. Father hasn't shown me it yet, do you think he'll show me it someday?"

Mother widened her eyes. "That blade is very important to the Pyren's, Fenrer. Your father will show it to you when he feels the time is right." She stepped out of his way. "Go on. Go find him. If he's in the crypts the gate into the barrow will be open." Mother grabbed the back of his shirt. "Don't try to slide in if it's not open."

"I understand, Mother! I'll let them sleep." Fenrer bounded out of his room and out of the lord's wing of the estate, but he stopped near the guest hall. Reyn's door was closed to visitors, with a single housecarl on guard at the end of the corridor, evidently enjoying the sun on their face beaming through the window. He continued through the main foyer to the double oak doors into the back gardens.

Runestones surrounded a small, glittering pool. He stopped by one to try and read the old Hanekan cracked along its surface. It proved hard to read the oldest markings, with the most recent ones a mixture of both old and the Hanekan he knew.

In the dawn's light, we are her harbingers.

Fenrer continued alongside the catwalks which protected the garden, and down the steps to the barrow far in the back of Sungrove. It dug deep into the small hill they settled beside. Its iron gate swung open with ease at his approach, which meant Father was within paying respects to the honored dead who tread the Otherworld. He hesitated at the edge, testing the pressure of the dark. Lamps beckoned him down each step, but he kept a hand on the smooth, polished stone of the walls as the ground swallowed him, and he reached the bottom. Burial pots tucked beside some of the tombs, where statues of his family remained strong through ages, unworn by weather. It continued to warm his being at the pleasant, unseen aura of welcome before heading deeper, following the light.

It split into a fork and a staircase went downwards to meet on another level. Urns sat inside crevices on the walls with words stamped on the limestone. Swords tucked underneath them, with the urns resting near the guards, ready for their guardians to come to protect the Sungrove lands for antiquity. He stood in front of the arch. Runes glimmered along the circumference, and guided him through to the center of the mound, dedicated to their progenitor.

Pyren's tomb.

Lamps hung in the braziers and flickered with warmth deep in the tomb of the dead. Father sat in front of a giant sized tomb. Fenrer tipped back to take in Pyren, who stood heads taller than even Father, with his shadow swallowing the entire glyph dug into the floor. It curved into spikes and swept into molten swirls. His legendary marker on the flow — said to shine as bright as the sun, seen from the deepest trenches in the ocean, to the highest peaks of the mountains.

His sword pointed into the ground with both hands resting on the guard in readiness and attention. A wolf slinked from around him, a representation of his ancestor's wolven spirit. Fenrer crept closer. "Dad?"

Father turned around. "Fenrer, what are you doing down here?"

Fenrer headed up to him to sit next to him and continued to stare at Pyren, who looked down upon them both. "Was he really that big? I bet he wasn't afraid of anything!"

Father chuckled. "I believe that statue is as lifelike as we are to get to his likeness." Fenrer frowned when Father put a hand on his head. "How do you feel down here?"

"Warm." Fenrer hummed with the constant flames. "It's so warm down here, like I'm lying in full view of the sun."

Father's eyes widened, then broke into his smile. "Good to hear. I guess that must mean Pyren still watches over us."

"Do... you not feel the warmth?"

"No."

Fenrer gazed up into Pyren's face, half-hidden by a massive wolven headdress with a serious face etched into his stone features. His gambison covered most of his chest, with mighty metal bracers protecting his large forearms. Fenrer stood in the shadow and tried to figure out the rest of his face hidden in the shadows of the light. He touched his own nose, then mumbled, "I think I have his nose."

Father looked between them, then pinched Fenrer's nose instead. "Looks like it." He set his hands back in his lap. "Do you feel any better from yesterday?"

"I do." He stood at the base of Pyren's feet, and jumped when Father picked him up from underneath his arms to meet Pyren in the stone sockets. Father's height gave him enough to reach out to touch the top of the stone hilt of the legendary dawnblade. Emerald gemstones glinted in the light from the lamps, and he grinned back at Father, who matched his smile. "The dawnblade must be massive." He raised his hands. "How do we wield it?"

Father put him back on the ground and raised a finger to his lips. "You're not quite ready to wield it... but I can show you."

Fenrer stepped out of the way when Father knelt closer to Pyren's tomb, large enough to fit a giant of legend. He opened the long compartment attached to the side of it. An aura of light pulsed in the world when Father stepped out of the way. It stuck itself in a metallic brace, taller than Father's warhammer. Points of balance wrapped around the blade and down the fuller, but Fenrer widened his eyes when Father unlatched it to reveal a longsword. "This is the true core of the dawnblade," Father explained and sat it in his lap, but the warmth dwindled when it sat in his hands. "Time immemorial saw our family wield this blade only in times of great darkness. It has sat in this tomb since I became Lord of Sungrove — and I pray that we may never need to use it in our lifetimes."

Molten sunlight dripped down the fuller, but it had none of the brightness of the sun. Fenrer put a single finger on the guard which circled into the sun. After a few moments of silence, Father placed it back in the compartment and slid it back into the tomb of its original owner. "It has only ever answered us, but it must never fall into another's hands," he said. "When you're Lord of Sungrove... you will understand its importance."

Fenrer bowed to Pyren when Father did, but found himself entranced by the emerald gemstones within the stone sockets until Father wrapped his hand around his forearm, guiding him out of the tomb all the way up to the estate. In the main foyer, Reyn sat and poked his boot against the ground.

"Why don't you go see if Reyn wants to take a walk?" Father asked when Reyn lifted his head. "Just remember to not go past the creek and stay in sight of the walls. Reyn, we'll continue your training once I've settled some business."

Lightning apprehension cracked along the flow, but Fenrer grabbed Reyn's forearm in return to tug him off the floor. "You haven't even seen the best parts of Sungrove!" he explained as Father smiled down at them, shorter than Pyren's statue. "I know the good spots to see deep into the forests!"

"Remember, Fenrer," Father implored as he dragged Reyn along, who clasped his sleeve without another word. "Be careful."

"I will!"

Mother told me kindness always prevailed, I'll help Reyn properly this time!

"The dawn must always return," were the words carved into the plaque at the base of Pyren's feet.

He led Reyn out the front and along the stone barricades which protected them from the beasts of the forest. He pointed at a rock overlooking the rest of the forested hills, but stopped when he caught Nikos and his group of friends sneaking for the back gate.

What's he doing?

Fenrer went to take a step for them, but Reyn dug his heels in.

"Are you sure?" Reyn whispered.

Fenrer tightened his grip. "I'll protect you! It's not scary on the outside of the walls, Your Grace."

Reyn pursed his lips and lowered his head. "You don't have to call me Your Grace, m'lord."

"And... you don't have to call me my lord," Fenrer pointed out, then guided Reyn out the back gate.

It was too easy to mask their presence from his older cousin's slashing through the undergrowth with a sword. Fenrer tipped his head when Nikos sent it into a tree with a grunt of frustration.

I hope they don't run into other creatures of the forest, that sword isn't fit to stab a tree.

Sungrove's activity disappeared with the last clucks of the farm chickens into the breath of the forest. Reyn kept close to his back. Water rushed against eroded stone to denote the presence of the creek which separated their lands from the true wilds of the golden forest. Nikos stomped through the brush without care. Before he could approach his cousin, Reyn tugged him to the level of a mouse, raising his finger to his lips with a point at the teenagers.

Erikur and Glyfi hung back when Nikos hopped into the creek.

"You shouldn't go that far, Nik," Gylfi said with a quick shake of her light brown, braided hair. "You don't want to get in trouble again. What if Lord Soren finds out?"

"My uncle knows I'm old enough." Nikos leaned forward to brush water through his black locks. "I know there's a hunting part out right now. We'll be fine."

Someday, you'll have to watch over the people of Sungrove, Father reminded him.

Fenrer forced himself through the bushes, causing Reyn to squeak. "You know there's wolves nearby, coz," he whispered. "You shouldn't go."

Nikos turned and whisked his small braid off his cheek to consider him with a raised eyebrow. "Ah, baby cousin," he said, then scowled when Reyn revealed himself. "With the prince. Great." He sheathed his sword and folded his arms. "I came out here to avoid babysitting, Fenrer."

Frustration slammed down on his arms as he came closer to the older kids, refusing to allow it to control his tongue flapping, as Father put it during lordly lessons. Kindness prevailed. Anger never helped anything. "I don't need a babysitter."

Nikos scoffed. "Go back home, Fenrer," he said. "Your esteemed lord father wouldn't like it much if he caught you sneaking all the way out here where you don't belong."

Fenrer frowned. "Neither would yours."

Grey spikes expanded off of Nikos' aura. Fenrer held his ground when his older cousin raced for him, but Erikur slid in the way.

"Nik, he's just a kid."

"You should be grateful you still have yours!" Nikos snapped and shoved Erikur to the side. "He knows what he said and what it means, Erik. He is an Aurus, after all."

The armband burned and stung into his skin. "I-I'm sorry," he managed out. "I shouldn't have said that." He came closer to the tears within the aura. "I can help..."

"I don't need or want your stupid help." Nikos returned to the creek. "I don't give you leave to do so."

"But I can make it feel better," Fenrer insisted. "You're my family, Nikos. I can ease—"

"What part of no don't you understand?" Nikos bit. "Go home."

Fenrer clenched his fists and tried to imagine standing among giants. He took each step forward, trying to envision it rocking with his movements. "I don't want you going over that creek, Nikos," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I'll stop you if you keep going."

Reyn stared at him in disbelief, but Fenrer winced when Nikos came to a stop, and burst out into laughter. "Looks like the baby lord thinks he can boss everyone around since he's the perfect son of Lord Soren," he said, though Erikur and Glyfi gave him nervous grins. "You aren't the boss of me yet, Fenrer. Who knows..." He gripped the hilt of his blade. "Once you're old enough, I may even challenge you for the seat of the Pyren's and settle it there. Until then, you're just a little child who doesn't know how good he has it."

Fenrer rushed across the steps to protect his people. Reyn followed, though unease crushed his brow. Nikos guided his friends through the underbrush, and the noise of the creek faded away into the forests of Sungrove. Into small dips and valleys, some small creatures lifted their heads and bounded out of view.

Reyn tugged at his banded arm with a small whimper, but Fenrer refused to bow.

"You are really going to be in a lot of trouble, Fenrer," Nikos said when they stopped in a grove. "To bring the prince so far out here? What would your lord father have to say about that?"

"I'll just tell him I was trying to stop you from doing something reckless," Fenrer said. "I won't get in trouble."

Nikos shook his head and led them along a dirt path along the steep ridge.

Fenrer gripped Reyn's forearm, then scowled. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"If you're so scared, you can go back," Nikos pointed out. "Little Prince seems to be trembling in his boots."

Reyn froze and scrunched his face, lightning tickled his skin. Fenrer got between Reyn and his cousin. "You leave him alone," he said, stronger. "You're scared, and want to feel bigger by fighting. But all it's going to do is make you trip, Nikos." He glared at his older cousin. "If you want the seat of the Pyren's so bad, I don't see you fighting Father." He took a deep breath. "And I'm not scared of you."

It fell silent.

Glyfi tugged on her braid. "Nikos, I think he's right. We shouldn't be out here — didn't you hear them talking yesterday?"

Nikos turned to her. "About?"

"I overheard Burgen when he came back from the lumber mill while I was collecting some eggs from the coop," she explained quickly.

Dark oranges spread through the leaves which heralded the evening. Fenrer made sure to keep his grip strong on Reyn when Nikos continued walking along the ridge path, the reach of their home.

In the bushes, a twig snapped, and Reyn came closer to him.

Nikos brought out his sword.

"What was that?" Erikur asked.

None of them moved.

Fenrer approached the edge of the ridge and peeked over. He sighed when a bird bounced on the exposed roots before taking flight into the sky with a song. "We should head back," he said and forced a smile on his face. "It'll be dinner soon."

"Can't go without food for a while Lord Fenrer?" Nikos asked, then puffed out his chest. "I'm going to join the hunting patrol."

"They might've gone back already."

Ignored, for he lacked Father's confidence, conviction, and height.

Bushes snapped behind them.

Crimson dread overflowed the world, forcing it to hold its breath under dark water. It sprayed red against the leaves in the sunset, and a faint scent swallowed the last taste of his honey broth — like meat left out in the sun too long to rot and fill with mold. He shivered when it danced on the back of his tongue with sharp, jagged claws.

None of the others reacted or showed a signal they sensed the same.

He stopped Reyn from going forward. "We have to go back," he insisted and tried once more for Father's authority, but it shook with the crimson terror. Pitch swirled in his view and covered the sky in intent.

"Are you scared of a little noise in the forest?" Nikos questioned.

Fenrer winced at his taunt, then scowled. "No."

It grew in strength, powered by the shivering auras of both his cousin and Reyn's. It came closer, slavering, hungering, relentless.

"Nik—!"

Gylfi screeched when a formless mass lunged out of the ground with a guttural groan, yellowing teeth spreading blood. In the commotion, it took a leap into their group. Fenrer gasped when the ground wilted from beneath him, and he found himself letting go of Reyn's arm when a burst of force entered it and sprayed black sludge across the grass.

His foot stuck on a root, and a scream left his mouth. He tumbled down the ridge, covering his hands and ears to wait for the ringing to stop and for the awful, rotting smell to leave.

His legs burned, and sliced pain dug into his chest.

It spun in his eyes when he tried to open them, so he closed them again.

"Fenrer?" Reyn whispered.

Reyn?

He waited until the horrible stench left the wind. He got on his knees with a groan and tested the auras. Dirt smudged his clothes as his dizziness chewed on the forest. "Ow..." He whined out the soreness and brushed his fingers down his back, and jumped when Reyn grabbed him in wide-eyed concern.

It spun, but he dared not call out to the others.

"Are you okay?" Fenrer asked.

Reyn nodded.

Fenrer hauled himself onto his stinging, scraped knees. "Nik?"

Energy drummed through his ears as he stretched his senses through the magick in the air. Whatever... whatever that thing was, it seems to be gone. Maybe the noise spooked it...

"Nik!" he called up the ridge. "Nik!"

His cousin gave no response.

Bushes rustled behind them, and Reyn squeaked and hid behind him. Fenrer held his breath, but released it when a little bunny bounded across the path and into a different bush with a thump.

"Just a baby bunny," Fenrer said and smiled at Reyn, who remained wide-eyed. "Let's just be quiet..." I don't want... that thing to come back.

Legs weighed with metal, he tugged Reyn along the ridge to find a way back up. He winced when his ankle zapped with pain, and he rubbed it. "Ow..." Everything led further into the valley, and he twisted around for a familiar landmark. "Nik?" He refused to cry out. "Nik?"

Reyn remained quiet as a mouse, but tears swam in the stormclouds as he released a small couch and shiver.

I... It'll be okay. I can't leave Nikos and I need to get Reyn out of here. I... I just wanted to protect my people... like Father, like Pyren.

Kindness prevailed, and he ignored the swelling pus on the flow.

The sun disappeared behind the horizon and brought the stretched shadows.

The dawn must always come.

It screeched with the dusk soaked with red.