Chapter 60 - Ambush

It was a cloudy day in the eastern parts of the beast wilds. Some rain was pouring down as a large, wolf-like figure dashed through the woods. Beasts in the surroundings would scurry off when this figure came close.

They weren't afraid of the creature itself, however. Instead, they fled from the female figure sitting on the creature's back while hugging a third figure sitting in front of it.

Obviously, these were Hati, Sif and Horny. They were currently on their way back to the Fenrir clan after having said their goodbyes to Belphegor. Only, instead of running next to Hati and Horny as she did a year before, she was now sitting on Horny's back.

This arrangement slowed their travel speed a little, as Horny now had to carry two people, but they still had plenty of time to make it to the Fenrir clan in time for the contest.

The reason they did this was, obviously, so that. Sif could get some much-needed cuddle time with her son. After all, she was aware that, soon, she would have to split from her son and have him face an uncertain future.

They didn't speak much during their travel, as there was simply not much to say; they had had an entire year to talk about anything their hearts desired, and now, the most important thing was physical contact.

She did occasionally spend some time giving him advice about travelling around Asgard, advice born from her own experiences when she was travelling to find her other half.

Eventually, they passed the meandering river where they originally teleported to from inside the Fenrir compound. Once there, they bound another space rune to that place so they could use that to leave the Fenrir clan once again after Hati and Luna had been reunited.

From there, they had to continue travelling normally, as they didn't have a method of teleporting closer to the Fenrir compound. Because of this, they eventually travelled through the Kingdom of Máni, something Hati had not done before.

He was curious about the various villages and cities they passed, but unfortunately, they had to avoid contact with others as best they could. 

After all, if too many people spotted them, especially powerful people, word of their travels might get back to the Fenrir clan, which would create severe problems for them.

They did come across the occasional bandit group or other types of vagabonds, but Sif quickly dispatched them all, somewhat impressing Hati with the insignificance by which she treated the lives of these dregs of society.

After a few weeks of travelling, they arrived in the forest bordering the Fenrir clan just a day before the contest was supposed to start. But as they neared the secret passageways of the Bönd clan they had intended on using to get back, they were intercepted.

Ropes of lightning coiled themselves around Horny's legs and pulled, causing him to fall flat while tossing his two passengers into the air. 

Sif, who had initially been too distracted with grief over Hati's situation to notice anything, quickly caught Hati and activated her bloodline transformation in mid-air.

She landed on her two now-clawed feet, adjusted herself into a defensive posture with Hati behind her and almost snarled like a wolf as she looked around, searching for their attacker.

Unfortunately, she quickly realised the hopelessness of their situation when she recognised the voice that sounded from nearby, "Don't struggle, little girl. There is no point."

Next, five people stepped out into the open. These were the same five elders who were initially assigned to deal with the Sif and Hati situation back when she just returned to the clan.[1]

From left to right, there was Heraldo, Bodil, Steffen, strongest amongst them and the one who just spoke, Drifa and at the end of the line-up stood an ashamed Erik.

Sif looked at her grandfather, hoping to see something, anything, that suggested he wasn't the one to betray them. But the look on his face gave it all away.

Sif, who was already in an emotionally fragile state from the many revelations regarding her son, saw the jaws of an unfair fate closing in on both her and Hati, causing her to snap. She snarled even louder as tears poured out of her eyes.

"Why can you not just let us live in peace?! Why does all of Asgard have to conspire against my son?!"

The elders were confused about why she mentioned all of Asgard but ignored it and continued closing in on her.

Sif knew the likely fate that awaited her son, but she wasn't going to let it happen without a fight. She was about to grab Hati and flee despite knowing it was useless, but as she turned around, she saw the last person she wanted to see right now.

Leif had snuck up behind her at some point, put a hand over Hait's mouth to keep him silent, and now stood right in front of her. He grabbed her shoulder and said, "Sorry, little sis," as he used his superior strength and the lightning element to knock Sif unconscious.

He caught Sif in a princess carry before he turned around and looked at Hati with none of his classic silly uncle demeanour; his expression was apologetic as he said, 

"I'm sorry, Hati. I was no part of this betrayal, but I had to play the hand I was dealt, and if it's between you and Sif, I will always pick my little sister, even if she will hate me for the rest of my life. For what it is worth, Astrid is safe and will remain that way."

After he said this, he disappeared, too fast for Hati's perception to track, likely unwilling to face his nephew.

Hati was now left alone with the five elders and Horny, who seemed to be quivering nearby, afraid of the many powerful presences there.

The elders had different facial expressions; while the leftmost Heraldo looked excited at the prospect of punishing the person ultimately responsible for his son, Ingmar, getting humiliated, the rightmost Erik looked ashamed and seemed unwilling to look Hati in the eye.[2]

The two female elders next to them mainly looked indifferent. But Steffen looked at Hati as if he was impressed with what he saw. He spoke up, "You know when I heard you snuck out of your confinement purely because you fell in love at first sight with that Luna girl, I didn't expect you to be so calm in the face of danger. 

I figured you would be a flake or a weakling. Something I wouldn't be able to blame you for, considering your secluded upbringing, but still, no significant loss for our clan. 

But then, to see you stand straight and face us without a word all this time is a surprise; it almost makes me wish we didn't need to kill you now. Well, no matter, do you have any last words?"

The fact that Steffen seemed unaware of Hati's pride shard suggested that Erik had not told them everything. Not that this lowered the rage boiling under Hati's skin at this betrayal.

Hati snorted inwardly, suddenly not feeling so guilty about possibly calling down the Norns on the Fenrir clan.

Still, despite everything that had happened, Hati remained relatively calm. Part of this was because of his pride shard, forcing him to stay that way, but another part was because he knew he still had a chance to get out of this.

Something that Sif would have realised as well if she hadn't been in an emotionally fragile state already.

Instead of directly answering Steffen's question, Hati unleashed his Fenrir bloodline, using the training from the past year to adjust his physical appearance just enough so that his Fenrir bloodline was obviously more prominent than most other Fenrir clan members, but not so much as to seem improbable.

His hands and feet gained powerful claws, while multiple patches of white fur appeared on his body, focussing mainly on the limbs. He grew somewhat in length, now standing at 2.10 meters (6'11). He even gained a tail and wolf ears as his facial features became sharper.

Hati wasn't sure about the tail and ears, as they felt weird to him. He figured he could leave them out of his transformation in the future if he didn't like it, but for now, they served their purpose in accentuating his powerful bloodline.

His voice came out a little more gravelly than usual as he answered Steffen's question with a question of his own. "No last words per se, but I do wonder if you are sure you want to do this?"

During his entire transformation, the elders went through a plethora of expressions until they were all gawking at his transformed body while feeling the fierce Calamity wolf aura coming out of him.

[1] See chapter 6.

[2] Ingmar was Garth's escort back in chapters 28 through 30.