A Whisper to the North

Chapter XIX ✠ The White Wolf

Una's tears quickly turned to fear when she saw the expression on Yvar's face. His horse had fallen, his animal friend who had carried him through hell and back. Una bit her lip and looked away. She couldn't watch Yvar become so upset. His eyes sweltered with tears and his eyes furrowed in anger. Yvar had never seemed so terrifying to Una. Even on the battlefield, he had men die in his arms, but he barely knew them, not like his horse. This horse had been by his side for more than a decade. Balder was his last link to the happy days of his childhood.

"Yvar," Una said softly but hesitated.

Yvar ignored her and bent down to touch the long neck of the dead horse. As he pets the horse down its neck, he lifted his hand, and dark crimson blood was smeared across his hand. He brought it up to his face, staring at it. His soft pale-yellow hair flowed gently in the wind coming up the bank. The smell of death was here now, the pungent tannic smell of blood looming like a fog.

"Yvar, I..." Una hesitated.

What could she say during a time like this? Yvar was devastated. It was apparent from him shutting down. He ignored Una, he didn't speak, and his tears dried up. He was in shock, and devastation was an understatement. Suddenly Una felt a presence behind her. She turned around and saw Frey walking up slowly. He stood far away, staring at Una and then at the beached horse. As he walked closer, he stepped on a branch. Yvar snapped his head around and looked at Frey with the evilest eyes Una had ever seen on him.

"Yvar?" Una said breathlessly, her fear growing.

Before Una could react, Yvar sprang up and hurled himself at Frey. Frey whipped around and ran as fast as he could, back towards the forest.

"Yvar!" Una screamed, running after him.

"Stop!" She shouted as Yvar caught up to Frey and tackled him to the ground.

"You bastard!" Yvar cried as he crawled on top of Frey and began to choke him.

"Stop it!" Una screamed again as she tried to pull Yvar away.

Yvar was hell-bent on breaking Frey's neck. He knows that no one else would ever do such a thing to his beloved Balder. He knew Frey must have done this to him. If Yvar couldn't continue his journey, Una would be vulnerable, and he would kill her as he planned early on to get her sword. Yvar couldn't allow this. Yvar wasn't thinking clearly, how he could ride with Una or Frey with them on their horses. He didn't even consider the fact that a Saxon could have impaled his horse. All Yvar saw was death, and all he wanted Frey to do was die like his horse. The reason was not with him, only rage.

Una panicked. Yvar was squeezing and pushing into Frey's neck so hard that his face was turning purple and white. Yvar was trying to kill Frey, but if he hadn't had his neck snapped by now, Una knew that he was hesitating. Frey was much too frail to have his neck withstand such strength from Yvar's grasp. There was something in Yvar's mind telling him not to do it. Una took this hesitation as her cue to come in and separate them. Una ran up and reached over, trying to pull Yvar off of Frey again, but it was no use.

"Yvar, you're killing him!" Una cried.

Una could wait no longer. Pulling Yvar away from Frey was like pulling out a wolf devouring the flesh of a wounded lamb. If Una didn't stop him, he would surely kill Frey. This was something that would end their journey and potentially Una's life if Frey's father knew of Frey's murder. This was in the back of Yvar's mind too. He thought this through as he wanted to crush Frey's windpipe and break his neckbones. Yvar knew, though, that if he killed him, he would inadvertently kill Una too.

Una could not watch this come to pass. She had to do what was best, and she jumped on Yvar's back and locked her arms around his neck. She pulled back as hard as she could in that chokehold. Una was amazed that Yvar would not let up. Finally, after a few seconds of him fighting it, she felt Yvar go limp, and she quickly released him. If she held on too long, he would die. She slowly set Yvar down on his side, and Una rushed next to Frey. Frey laid limply on the ground. Una was terrified that he had been passed out for too long, and death was at his door.