The berserker roars within my soul, and I charge.
Blood fills my mouth. Screams tear into my ears. Bone crunches.
Everything fades, leaving nothing but the taste of blood.
I open my eyes and know at once that something is very wrong. I lurch up from the cot I was lying on. Iron bars enclose me in a cell.
Where am I? How did I get here?
Furious snarling nearby turns my blood to ice. I approach the bars, grip onto the metal, and pull as hard as I can. They won’t budge, and it’s then I realize that my furs are gone.
Panic threatens to choke me. How can I shift to defend myself if my furs have been taken?
In the cell opposite me, a gigantic bipedal wolf paces in a circle, ears flat, hackles raised. A berserker, lost to her beast. Still, I hope I can reach her. I need answers.
“Greetings, sister wolf! Where are we?” I hope she’ll shift back and talk to me.
Instead, she hurls herself at the bars, biting and tugging at them.
My heart sinks. She’s too far gone.
In response to her war with the iron bars, furious barking, snarling, and a hideous roar pierce my ears. There’s more of them in here. Wherever we are, it was made to hold ulfhednar who have gone berserk.
Try as I might, I can’t recall how I ended up here. Last I remember, I was at home with my family. Bits and pieces come back to me. Opening a portal using my branch of Yggdrasil. Arriving in Jamie’s time. My brother’s pale face and wide eyes.
And the traitor he had his arms around.
Soren.
The man who’d betrayed our pack to the hunters who’d killed my son and mate.
Fury like nothing I’d ever felt had possessed me and then…
A door slams nearby, and footsteps head my way. I lurch into a corner, arms raised to defend myself, as a woman comes into view. There’s a ring of keys on her belt. Keys to my cell, mayhap?
I want to ask her so many things, but they won’t leave my mouth, only low growls.
She freezes, knuckles white around the keys. “How do you feel, Mr. Erikson?”
“W-where am I?” The words scrape their way out like regurgitated bones.
“You’ve been detained by the Council of Traveler Affairs. You shifted in an unauthorized and public space. You have broken traveler law.”
I nod, chin dropping to my chest. “Aye. Remember that much.” I roll my tongue around in my mouth, trying to find any moisture I can. I’m not hungry, so they must have kept me fed while I was shifted. Judging by the lingering taste, whatever I ate was raw and bloody.
“Is my brother all right?”
There’s a memory of his scream echoing in the back of my mind. I can’t shake it.
“Yes. He and your brothers are waiting for you. Face the wall and put your hands behind your back, Mr. Erikson.”
My heart thuds hard against my chest. “Why would I be foolish enough to turn my back on you?”
“I mean you no harm. Your brother’s trial is about to start, and we’ll need you to testify if you’re able.”
Lyall is being tried? Soren as well, I’d imagine. As angry as I am with Lyall, I need to hear him out and understand why he went behind our backs to meet with that traitor.
Turning, I put my hands behind my back, and the cell door opens.
