4 The Fenrir and the Witch

Astrid could feel her heart pounding. For a moment she believed that attack could be directed at her. It was the attack that ripped off the head of a Blood Bear, by the Goddess! She would not have been able to call an enchantment in time even if she wanted to.

Astrid was looking at the fallen body of the Blood Bear when she heard the Silver Fenrir's warning growl.

Realizing her situation, Astrid took a deep breath for courage. She had no intention of speaking to the leader of that area of the Black Forest anytime soon, but now there was no turning back.

Even injured the Silver Fenrir had enough power to defeat her or else hurt Astrid in another serious injury. And she just recovered, not wanting to repeat the dose again, Astrid acted with respect to the Fenrir.

Astrid calmly bowed to the Silver Fenrir, showing all her respect to the creature. "I hope you will forgive me, it was not my intention to invade your territory that way, or interfere with your affairs."

After she spoke her apologies, Astrid did not raise her head, so she was not able to see the Silver Fenrir's reaction to her announcement. All the time he lived in this forest, the few humans he encountered tried to get his head the moment they saw him.

It was indeed a pleasant surprise for this great wolf not to have someone hostile toward him. The growl coming from his throat stopped slowly, he was still wary of Astrid, but he could feel she was sincere in his words.

Hearing the snarl stop in his direction, Astrid slowly lifted his head and looked toward the Silver Fenrir. The Black Forest at that moment was silent, as if in anticipation of being able to catch the remains of the battle.

"Please allow me to help you. I swear by the goddess Dianna that I do not have any bad intentions toward you."

The Fenrir's large icy blue eyes were still wary, but he nodded slowly allowing Astrid to approach him. Astrid slowly approached the Silver Fenrir, but in her sense of urgency she soon paid no more attention to the danger and began to check his wounds.

The Fenrir tensed the first time she got close to him, but as soon as she saw that Astrid was genuinely worried about him, he allowed himself to relax a little.

Astrid was relieved to see that the only really deep wound was made by the last blow that the Blood Bear made to the Fenrir. But other than that he was relatively well, with only a few scratches.

She took a deep breath as she realized he was going to be all right and without thinking twice she began to cast the healing spell on the back of the Silver Fenrir. The wound of the Silver Fenrir has reduced considerably in size, until there is only a slight pink line cicatrized.

Astrid stepped away from the Silver Fenrir and smiled widely at him, glad that his spell had been successful. Her smile left the Silver Fenrir equally happy and enchanted, he had never seen a genuinely happy human before, and especially not for helping a creature like him.

"I think it's going to be okay with you now," Astrid said cheerfully. "But I guess this is not the best place to stay, you're still tired, if you can get up, please follow me to where I was hiding."

The Silver Fenrir sniffed the place where his wound was, checking that everything was fine, and then stood up. He wished he could talk to her, but that was only possible if they both had a contract. As this was not the time to think about it, he walked slowly toward the Blood Bear's carcass and caught it with his fangs dragging him with it.

Astrid understood what the Silver Fenrir wanted to do and led the way to the cave. Arriving there she cast the light spell and waited for him to pass with the bear's body before activating the blood matrix back.

Neither of them knew, but that day would mark the beginning of a friendship that would cross the barriers of time.