Saxon Dawn (Wolf Brethren) Read Online Free PDF

fell for a week. The whole of the land was locked in ice and even the wild animals struggled. It was one night when it was so cold that even the furs we had did not seem to keep us warm that the wolves came.  The pack must have been starving in the forests and came to the hill fort for easier pickings. They came silently and, as we had a gate, entered at the far side, over fifteen hundred paces from ours. We heard nothing but the family who lived by the open gate did.  It was a new, young family who had just built a hut there.  Aed was a little older than me and his wife the same age.  They had a young baby and the first we heard was the screams of the young couple as the pack broke through their flimsily constructed door. Thinking it was the Angles my father and I grabbed our weapons and raced out. He shouted to my brothers. “You two, guard the women!”
    With my bow notched we ran to the noise.  Others had left their huts and were hurtling towards the howling, screaming cacophony. The snow was being whipped by the wind and it was difficult to see where the commotion originated but we went unerringly towards the gate.  As soon as my father saw the first wolf he yelled, “Lann! Loose!”
    While he ran towards the hut I loosed an arrow which buried itself in the flank of a wolf. Next to me I heard a growling and saw my dog, Wolf with teeth bared.  It reassured me but I did not want him to take on these half starved beasts.  “Stay!” I commanded.
    My father was hacking his way through the wolves aided by two of the men who had had the wit to bring spears.  I saw the leader crouch and prepare to launch himself at my father’s unprotected back. I pulled back the bow and the arrow caught him in mid flight, crushing through his skull to kill him instantly.  My father turned and saw the wolf and waved his free hand at me. The death of the leader made the others flee.  I loosed two more precious arrows but I heard no yelp and I assumed that I had missed. My father stood at the entrance of the hut with his head bowed.  Before he could stop me I peered in.  The baby was not there but the two dismembered bodies of the couple were.  The man had fought bravely and a dead wolf testified to his heroism but the missing limbs told us that the wolves would have food in the cold winter.
    The men of the fort buried the bodies before the night was over.  None of them wanted the women and children to see the devastation which had been wrought.  I, for one, would be having many sleepless nights with the mutilated mangled bodies haunting my dreams.  It was backbreaking work to dig in the frozen ground but we owed it to the couple to bury them deeply and we placed a layer of stones to prevent the wolves returning to dig up their decaying corpses.
    After we had said the words of the dead my father gave an accusing look at the shamefaced men who surrounded us. “Now do you see why I asked you to work on the entrances? There are three lives which have been lost because you were too idle to build a barrier!” He pointed through the darkness to the gate we had built. Although it could barely be seen against the snow it was visible.  “See what my sons and I did in two days.  All you need to do is block a hole! Think on that!”
    When we returned to the hut the two women watched us as we wiped the blood from our hands.  We had dragged the two wolves I had killed and laid them next to the hut. We would make use of them later. My mother and Monca said not a word but my mother put her arm around me and said, “You may have no beard my son but tonight you became a warrior; you became a man and I am proud of you.”
    As I lay down to try to sleep I thought on her words.  I had not been afraid when I had faced the wolves and yet I had seen what they could do. I had killed when I had to.  The question at the back of my mind was, would I be able to do so with a man?
    Erecura the earth goddess must have decided we had been punished