Wolves (English)

Chapter 33

Somewhere in the distance, a twig cracks. I strain my ears to catch the sound and hear if there's more to come. But it remains deafeningly quiet. I have absolutely no idea what that was. It must be some rabbit that is startled by something. Or a drunken squirrel. For a moment, a small smile appears on my face as I think back to our shared nonsense story. That was real teamwork.

I nudge Danny. 'Well, are you going to tell me how you came up with that fantastic lie, as I apparently call it?'

He raises his hands with a smile. 'Calm down, you. That will all come soon. First, I give you a history lesson.'

I sit cross-legged next to him and look at him excitedly. I want to know!

'Well, come on,' I encourage him. 'I'm ready!'

First, Danny lets out a deep sigh. Then he looks at me with a serious look in his brown eyes and begins to say, 'You already know that a long time ago there lived a girl who suddenly discovered who she really was when she was sixteen years old. You also know that her parents sent her to Erik with that story because he knew a lot about it and was willing to include her in his pack. Well, Ester, it's very simple. That girl was tested and went through a similar ritual as you. In the end, she passed both and was given a choice: either stay with her parents in the human world – where she would never be safe – or live with Erik and his pack – where no one could ever harm her. It's no wonder she chose the second option, as she was a Human-Wolf who had no control over her transformation. So she stayed with Erik, lived completely in anonymity from then on, and took on a new name so that no one could ever track her down to kill her. I have no idea what her name was before – nobody knows – but I do know that she changed her name to Tyra. That name comes from Iceland – the native homeland of her ancestors – and it means "little flame". And believe me, she really was. With her began the formation of the four packs, and so a small flame started an incredible campfire of Human-Wolves.'

I have to laugh about that. 'You're suddenly poetic.'

'Yes, indeed,' Danny laughs. 'I thought it was a nice comparison. Anyway,' he continues, 'she stayed with Erik and his pack all her life. Tyra was really the apple of his eye. He loved all his wolves, but she was just a little bit more special than the rest. That is why she also received special treatment. She was immediately trained as a Warrior, got many nice tasks, never had to do the dirty work, and it is even rumoured that she and Erik were in love with each other. That would explain why he became so serious and combative after her death. When Tyra was alive, he was a real young wolf. Hunted on everything and everyone, went out with the whole pack to have adventures ... Things that all boys do when they are very young.' Danny pauses before continuing, 'Twenty years after she joined the pack, Tyra fell ill. Nobody knew what she had. The Healers tried everything, ran all kinds of blood and urine tests, and gave her natural medicines that should have cured her. But nothing worked. She was vomiting everything, she got spasms in her arms and legs, and scabs appeared all over her body. After two weeks of dying, she suddenly lay dead in the woods. Her heart had suddenly stopped. Erik was inconsolable, as was the rest of the pack. And still no one knows what caused her illness. There were a number of wolves who didn't like her of course. That's what you get when you are in a pack. You can't get along well with everyone. But after extensive research, Erik was able to determine with certainty that they had not poisoned Tyra or made her sick in any other way.'

'Were there no other packs around who wanted revenge or something?' I ask curiously.

'There is no reason to rule that out,' Danny replies, 'but in Tyra's time, the packs still lived peacefully in the same forest. They may had their own way of living and thinking, but that huge quarrel came years later, when Evil decided to rise.'