The Wolf You Feed Arc (25 page)

After Kachina accepted all the gifts, she turned to Molega. “What now?”
 

“Now? Now we celebrate a marriage!” Molega shouted.

A loud cheer arose from the crowd. Kachina and Tore were caught up in the mass of bodies pushing them back down to the campsite where the celebrations began in earnest.

***

When the couple emerged from the cabin, late the next day. The huge campground and its occupants had disappeared.
 

Tore packed their things into a rental car and went to search for Kachina.

She was standing in the center of the cabin dressed in her buckskin tunic and leggings. She had the moccasins on her feet and was wearing the sash looped around her waist. The beaded yoke hung at the neck of her tunic and she wore her hair in two braids. The fine white blanket covered her head and wrapped around her shoulders.

His breath was taken away as his eyes feasted on his wife’s beauty. Hardly daring to believe this was real, Tore shyly asked, “Are you ready?”
 

Kachina nodded and slipped her hand into his. Pulling Rune and Kjell to them, Tore walked his new wife the short distance from the cabin to Hania’s door. Her father blessed them with a prayer in his native tongue. He hugged Tore. “Keep my daughter safe, my son.”
 

Tore hugged him back. “Thank you for everything you have done for me. I owe you my life, my boys’ lives, and for the gift of your daughter.”

Hania dabbed the corner of his eyes and waved them on their way. As they climbed into the rental, Hania called, “I will be expecting grandchildren before the year is out, so don’t disappoint me.”
 

Tore chuckled. There was a growing line of people making this request.

 
23

Eight Years Later. Arkansas, Spring 1991.

Rune sat with his back against a tree, his sharp knife working skillfully along a piece of wood. Eyes concentrating, hands shaping and smoothing as he coaxed the animal form into life. He paused, looking over to the tree line. His little sister’s loud squeals distracted him from his work. He tensed and put down his whittling. Eveline came running out of the undergrowth shrieking, her two long dark braids flying behind her.
 

Rune got to his knee, dropping his work to the ground. His eyes scanned the area trying to work out what was happening. A moment later, his seven-year-old brother jumped out from behind a tree. Eveline giggled and let out another high-pitched squeal. She skidded to a halt in front of Johan and, before he could grab her, she turned tail. Kjell leaped out of the undergrowth, opening his arms wide to scoop her up. Eveline dodged around him and fled back into the trees. Seconds later she vanished.

Rune peered after her. Her childish laughter allowed him to track her progress, though he could no longer see where she was. He smiled as he watched the others resume their chase. Content that she was having fun he resumed his whittling.
 

Tore watched the antics of his children with amusement. His tiny daughter, ever the ringleader, had her brothers wrapped around her little finger. It was a wonder that his rough and tumble boys put up with her antics. But there was never a sister more adored.
 

Johan, his seven year old, rushed past him and into the woods. He shouted for his sister to wait, but she ran on, squealing. Tore couldn’t believe how like Kachina these two were. They had inherited her Native American coloring and her serene personality. Johan was a born peacekeeper like his mother; refereeing his cousins and brothers alike. Eveline was the kindest, sweetest natured child he had ever come across. She charmed everyone she met and captured their hearts with her gentleness.
 

Unlike Rune and Kjell, the children Kachina bore were human at birth. In truth, Tore was relieved. Since Annike’s death, he had found it hard to embrace his own culture. For the sake of Rune and Kjell, he continued to shift, and taught them about what they would be, but he did it with a heavy heart. When he saw his and Kachina’s children arrive in human form he had been glad that they wouldn’t have to live a life he now despised.

Kachina had joked that they might be skin walkers like herself, but so far he had seen no signs that this was true. Tore was convinced that both Eveline and Johan were one hundred percent human. He found it hard to believe that with the mixing of their genes that any skin walker or Lycan had slipped through.

Tore’s eyes fell to Rune. He was more serious than usual today. Sometimes he distanced himself from the others, became lost in his own world. “What are you making?”
 

Rune held up the wood for Tore to see. It was far too intricate and delicate a carving for a twelve-year-old boy. Rune’s skill with his hands amazed Tore. Give him a penknife and a stick and the child could create the most unbelievable animals. Kachina had been the first one to notice this talent. He liked to watch her making the jewelry and the inlaid boxes that she sold in the Lodge’s gift shop. She was artistic and encouraged Rune to experiment with cast off pieces of wood. Already, he was making his own simple boxes along with these decorative carvings.

“It’s for Eveline’s ark.” Rune had been working on it for weeks. It was for her fourth birthday. He’d asked for Tore’s help constructing the ship. They’d spent several weekends working on it. In truth, Rune didn’t need any assistance, but it was a chance for them to spend time together.

“You must have dozens of animals now.” Tore picked up the latest piece and turned it over. It was beautiful even in its half-finished state. An owl with its head tucked under its wing.
 

Rune put his hand into his pocket and pulled out its mate. This one completed, sanded smooth. Tore handed him back the unfinished one while he examined the workmanship of the second. “You should make some of these for Jessie to put in the gift shop.”

His eyes widened, pride flickered in them. A rare smile crept across his face. “Do you think I could sell them?”

“For sure. These are better than anything I’ve ever seen in the tourist shops in town. You have a unique talent, Rune. I think they’d fly off the shelves.”

He beamed at Tore. “It’d be cool to sell some. Would you speak to Liam about it?”

Tore laughed and ruffled Rune’s hair. “I won’t need to persuade him. You just show him the ones you’ve made for Eveline. When he sees them, he’ll want as many as you can make. You could make a tidy sum with this artwork. Those hands of yours could be your future.”

Rune looked over his carving, his face intense once more. “I dunno. There are lots of people who make this stuff. What if mine aren’t good enough?”

Tore crouched next to him. “Son, you can do whatever you put your mind to. It’s up to you to take the talent you have and develop it. Share it with the world or keep it hidden, you decide. You can do what you want, reach whatever goals you want. Follow your passion, have faith in yourself.”

Rune ran his blade over the surface of the wood once more. He worked by instinct, adding pressure here and there to the knife. The wood told him what to do, where to gouge, where to shape.
 

Rune looked thoughtful. “Why do you call me that?” Tore frowned, not understanding his question. “Call me son. I’m not yours.” He looked towards the woods where Tore’s flesh and blood had gone.

“Rune, you may not have my DNA but in every other way, you are my son. There’s no difference between you and Kjell or Johan and Eva. Despite who carries what genes, you’re all my children and Kachina feels the same way.” Rune swallowed hard at Tore’s words. “You all have my heart, I cannot help the love I have for you or your siblings. Whatever you think, we are family. My love for you, Rune, is unconditional.”

Rune turned to face Tore, his dark blue eyes reflecting an old soul within. His lips parted but he hesitated in his reply. Tore patted him on the back. For all of his tough exterior, insecurities ran through the boy. It worried Tore that Rune sometimes felt he was an outsider. Tore had always tried to make him understand that he loved him the same as the others.

“Thanks, Dad.”
 

Rune calling him Dad, made Tore’s heart ache. Rune rarely used it and usually opted to call him Tore. But sometimes, when it was just the two of them, he’d say the word and Tore knew he didn’t use it lightly.

A scream and a thud made them both look towards the tree line. Rune was up and running. He leaped over fallen branches and crashed through the undergrowth towards his sister’s cries. When Tore arrived on the scene moments later, Rune had Eveline wrapped in his arms. She’d turned her head to his chest, her shoulders heaving up and down as she wept.

“What happened?” He held his sister tight and glared at his brothers, demanding information. Kjell and Johan stood shoulder-to-shoulder, heads bent, sheepish faces.
 

Johan found his voice, “We were just chasing her. She was hiding and she fell.”

“Fell from where?” Tore asked, kneeling down beside Rune so he could take a look at his daughter. Kjell pointed upwards at a gnarled tree with a branch jutting out about ten feet up. “She was up there?” Tore lifted her from Rune. He stood her up and began to examine her tiny limbs. Eveline was so tiny. He had no idea how she had managed to climb so high. “Well, there doesn’t seem to be any broken bones. Why didn’t you stop her? She’s too young to be climbing up trees.”

“We didn’t see her do it,” Kjell said.

“Eveline, how’d you get up there?” Rune asked, stroking her hair.

“I magicked myself.” She had dirt streaked across her cheeks. Her wavy hair had pulled itself from the confines of her pigtails and was sticking out in all directions.
 

Before Tore could learn more, Johan jumped in, “She always says that.” He put his arms around her. “Eva, it’s too high. Don’t go climbing trees again, d’ya hear.” He pulled her to him and gave her a hug.
 

Eveline nodded, “Was I bad?”

“Not bad,” said Rune, unwinding her hair, running his fingers through it, combing out leaves and grasses as he did. “But Johan is right, it’s too high. You could hurt yourself.” She looked at him. Her lip trembled. Tears pricked at her eyes.

Kjell knelt down next to her. “You’ll be careful next time, won’t you, Eveline? If you want to climb, you have to ask one of us to help you, okay?”

She looked from one brother to the next and nodded. Rune retied her hair and Kjell produced a handkerchief. He set about dabbing at the dirt on her face while Johan pulled twigs and strands of grass from her sweater. Tore watched as the boys fussed over her. They were too old to bother with babies but they couldn’t do enough for Eveline. The boys never pushed her away and never grew tired of her incessant chatter. They adored her, always watching over her, keeping her safe.

When they’d finished tidying her up, Rune hoisted Eveline onto his shoulders and walked back to the clearing. He bent and picked up his carvings, shoving them into his pocket. “Let’s get you home, missy. You’ve had enough adventures for today.” He strode off. Kjell fell into stride with him and they took turns amusing their sister. Johan skipped along next to Tore, slipping his hand into his father’s.
 

Tore surveyed his brood. He couldn’t imagine a wedge coming between them. He sighed. He had once thought the same about himself and his brothers. Even though the connection was still there with Liam, Otto and Björn, it saddened him to think he’d lost his other kin. There was no way he’d allow his children to grow apart like that.
 

A few hundred feet from their cabin, Kachina came to meet them. Tore pulled her into a huddle with the kids and embraced his family. The boys beamed at her. Eveline threw out her arms to her mom and Kachina lifted her from Rune’s shoulders. She kissed him on the forehead and he blushed. She laughed and pulled Johan to her side. As she wrapped her arms around her son, she reached for Kjell and he stooped to kiss her on the cheek. When each of them had greeted her, Tore kissed her on the forehead and then the lips.

Tore loved Kachina more than he could have ever imagined. After Annike’s death, he thought there was no future. But then this kind woman blessed him with her love. Not only did she love him and his children, but she was also the glue that held this family together.