Strange stories

Bjorn iron side and the wolf

Bjorn chewed his dinner slowly as he watched a wolf stare at his food hungrily. It just sat there patiently after being tired from slinking back and forth. It was nearly half starved and Bjorn knew that it wouldn't take any longer than a week before it died.

Bjorn grunted. His good nature gnawed on him. He threw a pack of meat to the wolf and the wolf wasted no time to scruff it down.

It has now been a little more than two weeks and the wolf continually came to Bjorn. Bjorn had more than he could cary back so he just left what he wouldn't take with him on his journey home. He dumped the meat from his sled and went to work disarming the rest of his traps.

He could hear the snow crunching behind him. He turned around and waived a stick at the wolf. "Go home now! You can fend for yourself now." The wolf only pounced away but continued to look at Bjorn patiently. "You take advantage of my good nature," Bjorn muttered. He was happy that once he had entered the woods the wolf didn't follow him, but instead seemed interested in a scent.

He bent down to pick up his last trap when he suddenly heard a snarl. Bjorn looked up to see the wolf bight into a man's fur cloak... Bjorn took a step back. The man was huge with the longest beard he had ever seen. The bearded man swung at the wolf but the wolf was too quick. The man turned and Bjorn pulled out his sword. His chest ached from the bear's scratch, but he had to ignore the pain and fight.

Bjorn dodged the man's axe strategically so that the axe would lay into a tree buying him time for a jab. Instead Bjorn had to jump back. The man took his axe out as if pulling out an easy splinter.

Bjorn ran to a short cliff to climb up and get a better advantage, but the man grabbed his ankle and was about to deliver a fatal blow when the axe was knocked out of his hand. The wolf spun around and dug its teeth deeply into the man's thigh.

The man picked up the wolf by its scruff and Bjorn swiped his dagger into the man's throat. The man let go of the wolf and slumped up against the rocks. Bjorn sat down in disbelief that a wolf had come to save him. The wolf whimpered and limped towards him.

"You are hurt," Bjorn exclaimed. He suddenly felt a gust of wind. He looked up at the gray sky and felt the wind's direction. "Our pain does not end here." The wolf nuzzled against Bjorn's knee. Bjorn laid down and clung to the wolf as a storm of flurries and tumultuous winds tore through the air.

Spring was showing itself in little ways in Kattegat. Ragnar was whittling something to keep his mind off of Bjorn. Out of all of his son's Bjorn was the most promising although too naive for his liking.

Ragnar tried to ignore Aslaug as much as possible as she basked in great satisfaction knowing that Bjorn might be dead. Ragnar's sons followed boisterously behind and Bjorn's daughter followed silently. Ragnar smiled and beckoned the girl to him. "How about I tell you a story about your father, eh?"

The girl quietly sat next to her grandfather. Her uncles showed up looking even more excited than she. Aslaug's displeased face was his reward. As he opened his mouth to spin his tale the movement of the crowd caught his attention. People made way as a wolf trotted through, and behind him... "Bjorn!" Ragnar's sons took a few steps towards him but stopped when they realized that they feared the wolf.

"It looks like you have your own stories to tell us," Ragnar smirked.

"I do," Bjorn sat down and handed his father some bear jerky. He took off a small piece and looked at his daughter. Something about the little girl made him feel afraid. He handed the girl the jerky and patted her head. He feared raising the girl on his own.

The wolf snarled at Aslaug.

"It is good to see you to Aslaug," Bjorn said while petting his wolf.

"The wolf is welcomed to our hall," Ragnar laughed at seeing Aslaug's frightened face.