Persephone

Chapter 7: Wolf and Snake

Ben Lacy

Copyright © 2009 Ben Lacy

All rights reserved

Lokis Gezücht (Loki's brood), Doepler, Emil. ca. 1905

 Recap: The Olympian Underworld has fallen to the forces of the Norse Goddess Hel.
Persephone successfully escaped to our world, turning the Giant Beli into a tree in the process.
To satisfy Beli’s father Gymir, leader of the Giants and a powerful ally, Hel agreed to send the
most vicious of the Norse monsters to hunt Persephone down.

*************

“I felt powerful vibrations in this area of the forest,” the Snake hissed. “It could have
been a giant’s footsteps.” The snake slithered around the old growth trees of the Smoky
Mountains. He was as wide as a mini-van and his body extended hundreds of feet, disappearing
from view in the trees of the rolling hills below.

“Yes, I smell giant,” the Wolf growled, “this way.” He led the pair up a large hill to a
giant tree with limbs that did in fact look like a person twisted in terror. “That’s him.” The
Wolf’s shoulder was higher then a two story house. He pulled his body up the tree with his
gigantic forepaws until his head was level with the top, taking one more good sniff to be sure.

“Beli was always a moron,” the Wolf added, relieving himself against the tree in
contempt.

“She must have come out from the rocky outcrop on the top of that hill. There must be a
cave that leads back into the Underworld,” the Snake said, slithering uphill to avoid the large
stream the Wolf had created.

“Do you think she could do something like that to us?” the Wolf asked.

The Snake considered this for a moment, “No, no I don’t. But in these reduced forms
we’re forced to wear in Midgard, she might well be able to hold us until the horn of Ragnarok
sounds.”

“Hmm, we’ll just have to sneak up on her and rip her throat out before she knows what
hit her.”

“We?” the Snake asked. “What do you mean, We? I did this as a favor to our sister.”
Eyeing a collar of ribbon around the Wolf’s neck, he added, “I don’t owe her for freeing me from
bondage.”
 The Wolf snarled angrily, “Are you afraid brother? Afraid of some little Godling girl
from the soft South!”

The Snake raised his head up to the Wolf’s eye level, a small portion of his vast body
coiling underneath him. He chuckled, “Don’t be ridiculous. However, my goals do not match
yours, our sister’s, or her allies. I’m not a lovelorn fool, I’m not power mad, and I have no death
wish. The horn of Ragnorok can keep silent ‘til the end of time for all I care. I have nothing to
prove by facing Thor’s hammer or helping along the prophecies of a mad sorceress!”

“Easy for you to say. I’d rather be dead then bound for eternity. I’ll hunt down this little
Goddess, and kill her. If that means I’ll die fighting Odin’s brood, then fine, at least I’ll be out in
the light of day for what time I have left.”

The Snake began to grow larger and larger. As he did, he sank into the ground, which
took on the consistency of mud to let his body pass. In a moment, he was completely buried, the
ground moving back, leaving not a trace of his passage. As it did, his final words could be
heard, “Suit yourself brother, just remember that she’ll be hiding amongst the humans. As you
get closer to them, the Covenant will force you to become smaller and smaller, until you’re little
more then an ordinary wolf.

And with that, now deep below the earth’s surface, the Midgard Serpent extended its
head out, and gently clamped its huge fangs onto its tail, completing its circle of the entire world.

“Ordinary wolf, hah.” The Fenris Wolf laughed grimly, sniffing once then trotting down
the hill to the road, Persephone’s scent already feeling his nostrils.