The Fenrir Saga - Part I

Chapter 33

Beonnie

I had already packed and prepared the last things when I heard the car honk on the road outside. I was so jittery that I managed to spill the entire content of my tea cup over my new hoodie and deeply exhaled. Catastrophe was probably the wrong word, but I solved the issue by grabbing one of Hild's hoodies from the cleaning basket and putting my own in the laundry machine. We were going to a werewolf gathering after all; if my sweater smelled of a werewolf, it wouldn't be anything anyone cared about. 

I grabbed my stuff and went downstairs to pet Harry goodbye; he would be taken care of by Patty on the days when Hild would be working or at the tournament. I wanted to bring him, but it was best he stayed here for his own safety. Ironically, werewolves weren't known for being dog people.

I jumped inside the car and spent the next couple of hours squished between Toke and Gammal as Vidar was driving, and Jack took the shotgun seat. I didn't mind, though. Their presence was calm, warm, and reassuring. I was on their team now.

"So, how do you feel about the fights? Looking forward to them?" Toke raised an eyebrow at me and Gammal smiled.

"Looking forward is not exactly how I would describe it," I muttered and sighed. 

"It will be great fun, B, you'll see," Gammal nudged me in the side, his wrinkled face telling stories about battles won long before I was born. 

"It doesn't have to be fun, just not.. painful," I said and tried to put on a brave face. 

Arriving at the Gathering did nothing to calm my nerves. The official opening day was not until tomorrow, but as the fights started already then, the warriors from most of the lower Packs arrived today. I was thus met with the sight of men ranging from enormous to gigantic. And against them, I would be standing in my leather bathing suit, trying to whisk them off. Wonderful.

At the entrance, every warrior got a bracelet, a leather-bound tube containing a mix of wolfsbane and liquid silver. This prevented warriors from shifting during a fight, as the tube would break with the growing limbs, making the silver spill, stopping the eventual shift from happening, or at least slowing it down. Not to mention how extremely painful it would be when the silver/wolfsbane mix touched your skin.

It was a short walk from the parking lot to the area for the Gathering. The lake and a stretch of beach were to the right, and beyond that, the arena towered. A long makeshift street was constructed from the left side of the arena and up to the forest, at an almost perpendicular angle toward the beach. Closest to the beach a large training ground was set.

Halfway along the street, there was a large circular area, hosting the main hall and a beer garden of sorts, and I stood there gawking at it all. 

"Come on, B, we are to the left up this street," Gammal placed his hand on my back and guided me toward the areas that were reserved for the different packs. "We are the lowest pack for now, and thus will have to quarter the furthest away from everything."

I glanced over at the towering arena and the pack areas on that side of the circle, closest to the arena. 

"So that is where the Prospect pack is?" Hild would probably be very happy to note that we would be far away from anything funny. Not to mention the Prospect pack. 

"Yes, as well as Dark Mountain Pack, Silver Moon, and number four Green something, I need my glasses," Gammal continued, reading from a paper found in the folder Hild had handed out to everyone. 

I glanced over at the Prospect pack area. It was grander than the other ones, and their main hall was as big as the one in the circle. They could of course stay in their own homes, but it was considered polite for them to also "camp" as the other packs did.