<i>Have you heard of the Ember Lily?</i><br/><br/><br/>Raud had seen his father burn a few fields from here. Egil had told his son the Cindermen had not grown under Egil’s reign because he’d used his time and efforts educating his son. That kind of learning had left everlasting marks on Raud’s body, like gnarled worms. Egil named his son after his wife, and put her braid atop his head, and kept the sides clean with a sharp blade. Nobody called Raudhilde by his full name except his father. That was why Raud didn’t love anyone but Egil. And when Egil patted himself in Ember Dust and snapped his flint rings and became his own pyre, Raud loved no one.<br/><br/><br/>“Raudhilde. You decide everything. I go. I dictate my death at my own whim.” Egil said through the flames as the scent and smoke made the mouths of his men water and their stomach sick at the same time. Raud had burns on his palms from collecting some of his father’s ashes.<br/><br/><br/>That soot was on his cheeks now, coating his head in proud streaks of charcoal fading to bleak. It made the washed out green colors of his eyes fantastically vivid.<br/><br/><br/><i>Lifeblood of Cindermen warfare. It grows out of the ground like a gnarled twig if there are ashes of the dead in the earth. Cindermen Sejders know to harvest this flower before it breathes and its petals incinerate from its flaming veins. Its stem is a fuse and its pollen can make a spark turn into a village fire inside the moment of a gasp.</i><br/><br/><br/><br/>The Cindermen had not faltered in their in their loyalty to the son becoming Bodil. Raud did not hesitate to lead them. His father had instilled different paths to amassing power, and Raud had chosen long ago which way he would take. For a day they marched, recognizing the Wolf Woods as its trees bid them welcome during late summer.<br/><br/><br/>Hunting wolves that are also men had always been a trade of the Cindermen. Raud meant to make it their way of war.<br/><br/><br/>“We need weapons.” He said, waving to his sides. Six men ran and then split to fan out into the forest. The still fruitful bushes welcomed them. There were not paths here but for the ones the animals made. A rich world, filled with river kingdoms and expanses of grass, but mostly this, surroundings of light-lapping greenery. The honed army stood among the trunks like they were made from moss and stone, too.<br/><br/><br/>When there was arson humming through the natural aroma of the fresh world they moved. It was important they moved fast before the circle of fire closed around what the scouts had found to be a gathering place. The bones on the ground, now cast in sadistic gleam from the flames around them were proof enough. The wolves here lived well, claimed caves that lead down to underworld kingdoms, and governed plains larger than cities. Their deer were big and soft and sweet. They snarled soon, through the cracking branches and hissing crowns. The shadows were blushing now.<br/><br/><br/><i>The Cindermen use the Ember Dust, keep it in felt pouches, and harness the partnership of the thrusting, instant clouds to defeat their enemies. It is said the Bodil of the Cindermen cannot be burned but its fire. Like a spring of the Ember Lily, the Cindermen clan take the country, small, but petitioning to be roaring.</i><br/><br/><br/>Raud saw the alpha male, backed up toward a stone where the grass that hadn’t burnt was hairy like a mat. Nostalgic beast. Raud walked, taller than Egil, his shoulders rounded and inflated by the legacy they carried. A long warrior with power in his joints. The Bodil of the Cindermen were not runts.<br/><br/><br/>“This is Fenrir.” He said with a speaking voice that laid ontop of the forest in flames. His men listened, surrounding the scene to keep the wolf in. “Fenrir is big.” He continued and then threw nothing at the wolf beside the alpha. “Fenrir is strong and fast and spears her from the back. Makes little strong Fenrir.” He said as the snarl of the alpha grew into a hyperventilating obsession. Raud put his hand in his Ember pocket and brought up Ember Dust on his fingers. He sat down and hugged his knees and two men lifted the bundle he’d become and threw it at the frightening wolf.<br/><br/><br/>Raud landed in front of the alpha not three paces away, but the beast didn’t attack. When Raud stood at his full length the wolf took a few steps back, into the female. A scare tactic, a tradition when killing wolves of Fenrir class. Everywhere Cindermen were finding the pack. Sometimes men would die, but there were enough of them to eventually cut the wolves. “Fenrir is a friend of the Cindermen!” Raud roared and hunched. It was the final straw for the alpha and father. It launched at the new Bodil of the Cindermen and Raud threw his balled hand at its muzzle, inches away from its clapping jaws. He rolled away from the path of the giant animal before it could push him down.<br/><br/><br/>“Fenrir can’t smell me now.” He stated and hunched again, almost playful as he stepped closer to the sneezing and harking animal. When it tossed its head to one side, Raud leapt, arm in the shape of a crescent to capture the throat of the large beast. Before it could throw him off he’d connected the other arm to the holding hand and was shrinking the leash of limbs around the livid monster. The female wolf tried to come to the aid of her mate, but when Raud flipped the male and stared at her, she couldn’t advance. The cries of her pack, some of them turned human, kept her nailed to the ground. She couldn’t afford to listen as her family were subjected to men’s steel and cocks.<br/><br/><br/>“Fenrir is my friend.” Raud called out and the fire made cavern depths in his face as he let go of the weakened wolf. A quick shift of his own legs, extending one far, broke a front leg of the alpha’s. A howl and a whimper. When the wolf tried to stand and staggered to the side Raud swung at his snout again, and there was a sickening crunch. Its foremost weapons had broken, and its breathing was slow and hindered. Raud turned the animal around on its back, forcing the female to see her leader submitted before an axe sat halfway through her head.<br/><br/><br/>Raud caught the eyes of another wolf when he sat down on his knees to wrap fingers around the soft fur and push his face to the jugular. He clenched his teeth until the airway closed and then shattered. He held until the paws were still. It wasn’t unheard of in their legends that a man should kill a Fenrir. But not even Egil had done it.<br/><br/><br/>As Raud’s men celebrated and started examining the formidable carcass, Raud stood, still staring at the remaining, smaller wolf, her father’s life painting a vast smile on his hungry face.<br/><br/><br/><i>It has become a symbol of threat. Orange light at night have become a mare. The Ember Lily is ugly until blazing, and then it could be the last thing you see.</i>