"Y…yours?" She stammered. Saoirse was only ten. This man wanted her? But he wanted her mother, he said so!
The evil king smiled. His fangs elongated. He seemed very entertained by her fear.
"I will have you betrothed to Sirius. Don't worry yourself, you're too young for me." He laughed a bit when he said this.
"But I'm too young! I have to get home!" She screamed. She had been kneeling, but stood up to run away. Alastor grabbed her.
"Child you are mine now!!!" His hand slapped her face hard, nearly throwing her to the floor. "Do as I say and you will see less of my wrath!"
"And don't think of running away! "No one takes my things away from me ever!!!"
Alastor had always hated when things were taken from him, even from a very young age. It reminded him of the start of the war, the moment he had lost everything, including the defeat of his father Fenrir, the first werewolf. Rage filled him and he walked out of the room.
(Now I believe we've reached the point where you're probably wondering how Saoirse got here in the grasp of this tyrant from another realm.)
For Saoirse, it all began in the mountains of North Banes, a northern country near Norway.
A man in the form of a wolf stood up contentedly. He turned toward his shivering children and smiled, "Ok kids, the last trap is set, let's go home and have some dinner!"
He turned around and his blood ran cold. One, two, three, four, five….one was missing.
His kids all stood in a line covered in fur under their coats shivering. They were in their human form most of the time, so they were just wearing their fur to stay warm.
One of them complained, "Dad why do we have to eat wild animals, I like chicken nuggets better."
Dad looked around and realized that Saoirse who had just been there a minute ago had disappeared. "Kids where is Saoirse?"
He looked around him with growing concern at the endless white forest that showed no signs of footprints. Gentle snowflakes had been falling steadily and would have covered them up anyway.
Saoirse's sister spoke up, "I told her she would get into trouble, I tried to tell her not to but she was following a weird white rabbit." Then she folded her arms, "Saoirse is so weird, she said it wanted her to follow it."
(This is where it all began. If only Saoirse's dad paid more attention, he would have seen her Fylgia cross her path. He would have known the weight of that one act. In fact, I crossed all of their paths, but I had to do what I did or we wouldn't have this story now would we? Seriously though I am that rabbit. And I'm breaking the fourth wall just for a minute right here to tell you that today I'll be telling my parent's story. It will be a story of war and loss, as well as love and - lets just say it will be epic. Don't worry, I'll tell you what a Fylgia is later.)
"Saoirse!" he called, his voice breaking through the stillness of the forest. He sniffed the air frantically, his sharp senses searching for any trace of her—but there was nothing. Just snow. Fear crept into his chest; this silence wasn't normal. Saoirse always left a trail. She always stayed close. This silence felt… wrong.
"Saoirse!" Dad repeated "It's time to go home! Come back here!" He yelled into the forest again with urgency.
Still no response. His worry grew. He hastily took his other children home and called for an emergency search. Within minutes, a hundred werewolves searched every inch of the forest, only to come back with nothing. She was simply gone as if she had never been there at all.
——————-
Saoirse's footsteps sunk into the undisturbed snow as she quietly followed the rabbit that had crossed her path hours ago. It hopped lightly on top of the snow, not breaking the surface, nor even leaving footprints. It paused and looked around urgently and then she felt a slight tug to her chest as if it was beckoning her to hurry with some invisible string.
For Saoirse, who was only 10 years old, she didn't see the possible danger of easy prey that was in the mood to be followed. 'Such a silly rabbit, I wonder where it is going off to anyways.' She thought to herself.
Once again it looked up at her and then continued forward as she inched even closer to it. A frozen dead branch caught on her fur as she crouched low in her wolf cub form under the underbrush. She batted it away and adjusted her muscles. She shifted, inching even closer to the rabbit.
Its small beedy eyes once again glance at her; lured her closer, giving her a sense that it was taking her somewhere deliberately. Now she was only a yard away.
Then it darted into a burrow.
She let out a frustrated breath that seemed to swirl around in the air a bit. She would have to try digging for it or look for the other opening.
Her coat caught on another branch as if it were a bony hand warning her not to get so close, but she shook out of its grasp exasperated. She took off her coat which persistently got in her way and left it on the ground as she went further into the trees, determined to find another opening.
Snow was up to her chest now, but she pushed on, ignoring the cold that clung to her fur. As she found what she was looking for, she leaned on a tree that clung to the edge of the embankment and began digging.
Inevitabley, the frozen ground gave way. And with it so did the tree.
Suddenly she was falling, the earth itself swallowing her up as she fell into a deep hidden chasm in the snow. She felt her blood run cold as the feeling of falling engulfed her, and just as she wondered how far she would fall, she heard the crunch of bone and her vision went black.
(You're probably wondering how she survived the fall. But life sometimes has its way of keeping you alive just long enough to get you into more trouble. Of course I wasn't leading her to a cliff on purpose; I was taking her to my burrow so I could give her something. The fall was just inevitable really. Again it's because I am her Fylgia.)
Several hours later she woke up and the world had gone still. Her muscles were numb from the cold and her body wouldn't move.This cliff had never been here before, where had it come from? She had heard of the dangers of going out into the snow where unexpected obstacles could lay hidden, but it truly had come out of nowhere.
"Dad!" She tried to yell, "help me!" Speaking caused her to gasp in pain and her voice wouldn't reach up far enough to achieve anything.
Silence answered her back; no one even knew where to look for her. She hadn't even told her dad that she was leaving, so he wouldn't know which direction she had gone anyways.
The sudden urge to cry at the predicament she had found herself in overcame her. She blinked and tears streamed from the corners of her eyes and dripped into her mouth, giving her frozen lips a taste of salt. When she opened her eyes again, the rabbit had once again appeared.
(That's right! I, the rabbit wasn't done with her yet. I hadn't done the task I had come here to do.)