“I am new to this region of the kingdom, so what is it like?” Prince Alex asked.
“It is a harsh land with many monsters and fearsome blizzards that can freeze a man to death if he is not careful,” Eric explained. “The tribe are used to fighting these things head on and having there own way. Being able to survive on your own is good, but it makes it hard to help the assistance of others. My worry is the tribes will never work together because they only trust their own clans and any insult to honor is seen as a reason to go to war with each other. Fighting is often the first resort up here as it usually what keeps you alive. I went to your Father to see if I could find another way of doing things, but I found a great deal of fighting there as well though it is of a more subtle kind. Even this would be better for us because it usually involves less death, because producing life can be hard up here.”
“You told me you were under some sort of curse, what was it?”
“The curse of the wolverine, the spirit of the wolverine lived within me. Long ago my tribe made a deal that the spirit would lend it’s strength to us in exchange for us providing a warrior’s body for it to reside within to feed it the blood it craves. There was a serious danger I could hurt those I love if I didn’t feed it enough death or if I lost myself to the blood lust.”
“Well, your new body is certainly built for things other than fighting,” Baron Wilcox teased causing Eric to blush.
“Enough, we have heard a long trip in the morning,” Vincent growled. “We have a long trip in the morning. I suggest everyone get some sleep.”
The Prince didn’t say anything but he did give a nasty look at the Baron before giving whispering an apology to Eric. Eric pulled her armor over her body and moved a little closer to the fire before curling up to sleep. She wondered if she had really lost the spirit of the wolverine from her body, and where it would go. Would it find another of the tribe to inhabit, she prayed it wouldn’t be one of her children, or had it been insulted and left the tribe completely. The thoughts plagued her as she drifted off to sleep.
