Having handled Wulfrik’s accommodations and having the Beastmen slaves led away to his private pens to await fair distribution, it was finally time for Erik to reunite with his beloved fiancée and lovers.

Throwing open the heavy wooden doors leading into his main hall Erik, not quite running, swiftly approached the figures of Sigrun and Skadi standing in the middle. The House Thralls were wholly ignored as they kneeled on the ground in respect of their master’s return.

Swooping her up with one arm under her peachy behind, Erik hoisted Sigrun up into the air while Skadi was pulled in close with his other arm as he fervently kissed them in turns.

Out of breath, he let them go after a good five minutes and finally said a few words:

“I’m back! I missed you a lot!”

Then, noticing the figure of Kitten that was previously hidden behind his other women, Erik was immediately lost for words.

Mouth agape, he stared intently at the protrusion on his lover’s belly. Sheepishly going from it to Sigrun and Skadi’s laughing faces it gradually dawned on Erik he was going to be a father soon.

“This is great!” – He excitedly roared as he reached for Kitten.

Softly patting her head with one hand as Kitten lovingly rubbed back, Erik softly stroked her firm belly with the other.

Kitten seemed content just sniffing his pleasantly addictive scent while Erik still couldn’t fully comprehend his child was growing right there under his hand.

‘Protect the child! Must protect my child!’  - The voices suddenly picked up.

‘Need to have more children too and spread my bloodline…’ – A new chant was added on top of the continuous call for slaughter.

‘Kill everything and anyone that threatens My Bloodline!’

‘Aah, I was wondering where that call went…’ – Erik silently thought as he habitually began filtering out and blocking the new whispers as best he could.

After lovingly spoiling the future mother of his firstborn, Erik dismissed the thralls and led his family back to his room.

Tykira had followed Erik into the hall but her timidity caused her awkwardly linger near the door when she saw Erik so happily reunite with his loved ones.

As he made his way over to the fancy doors leading to the inner rooms, Erik turned around and noticed this.

“Tykira!” – He said. “What are you doing over there? Come over here and let me introduce you to Sigrun and Skadi!”

Instantly dispelling the gloominess fogging the cute cow-girl’s mind, Tykira happily skipped over to the group as they entered the rooms beyond.

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Having spent the rest of the day before the feast commenced in bed with his women, Erik felt relieved and content.

Switching between talking about what had happened during their months apart and hard, sweaty sex like he had envisioned in his dreams, everyone quickly caught up to speed on the others’ happenings.

Skadi was especially surprised at the revelation of Tykira previously being a Minotaur and Erik’s ridiculous miracle of turning every one of the otherwise repulsive Beastwomen into good-looking girls with animal characteristics.

‘He really is blessed by the Gods… Maybe those plans of Helles’s can work out even better than we discussed?’ – Her calculating side thought of the possibilities and implications of having such a Gifted lover.

‘And it seems his stamina has greatly improved too, hnngh, and so have his skills. By Slaanesh, he’s railing Sigrun hard! When is it going to be my turn!’ – Her inner lust Daemon also made herself heard in her monologue.

On the other hand, Sigrun had at first tried to intimidate the new arrival, Tykira, but swiftly identified her as a timid and cute new acquisition for her man’s harem. Her verdict being that Tykira was:  ‘Only slightly more threatening than Kitten.’

Erik on his side also gained a few new insights.

‘Damn, seems like Skadi’s influence rubbed off quite a bit on Sigrun! She didn’t use to be this assertive and I don’t remember her being that good with her tongue…’

And apart from the lustful thoughts, he also silently mulled over the events in the tribe.

‘So numerous guests have arrived at the tribe. Skaelling ‘ambassadors’ to discuss the first raiding season of the year and to fairly divide the suitable targets and a number of Aesling and Sarl princelings are also present for some kind of dispute…’

Remembering how Wulfrik got his initial curse, Erik reasoned that the Sarl/Aesling conflict should be in its first stages where the two tribal confederacies were beginning to seek allies for the coming war.

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As Erik immersed himself in his reunion, Wulfrik was surprised to see one of his tribe’s warleaders, Thane Fildur.

Fildur too was surprised to see Wulfrik return together with the young Frost Wolves and upon seeing the small number of Sarls that followed Wulfrik, a sense of dread fell over him.

“I am surprised to find you here, Wulfrik! How come you followed the Winter Hunters from our host to their home? Is everything well with the others?” – Fildur asked.

Taking a short moment to choose his words, Wulfrik shrugged and told the truth plainly and simply:

“All but those that are here with me fell at the hands of wild beasts and the Beastmen onslaught.

We were forced to run in dishonour but with the help of Erik and his men we managed to take our revenge and regain our honour.

Erik then graciously invited us to come with him so we could safeguard the remains of our Sarl tribesmen and get them home safely.”

This revelation caused a visible shock on the weathered old Thane’s face. Losing half the Hunters during a Winter Hunt was not uncommon, but the quality of the survivors was guaranteed and made up for the loss. But losing well over a thousand young, capable warriors was a heavy blow for any tribe.

The Sarls could take the loss with a heavy heart, having sent a total of 4 similar groups out in the wild to perform the trial. But for smaller tribes like the Frost Wolf tribe, losing one thousand young men left a large gap in the population and would cause a steep drop in their overall fighting strength.

But Fildur wasn’t a Thane for nothing and quickly recomposed himself.

“Come with me to my quarters. I need to hear the details of this matter and you need to know what happened back home while you were out.”

Catching on to Fildur stressing that he needed to know rather than would like to know, Wulfrik silently nodded and followed the Thane into the Hall.

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Back out on the square, the triumphant young Marauders were excitedly sharing their stories with their friends and families. They told of how Erik organised them and led them to many and great successes all throughout the Winter Hunt.

They even spoke about the miserable ends of those Captains that blatantly undermined Erik’s authority or challenged his orders at the beginning, even going as far as to curse those former-Captains for being moronic imbeciles.

The families didn’t quite know what to make of their scions’ almost zealous fervour with which they spoke about their Chief Erik. Still, everyone was excited about the massive profits and plentiful glory of this exemplary Winter Hunt.

But the overall happiness quickly soured, the mood swinging into a dreadfully tense atmosphere after a gruff but young and petulant voice carried over the square in a nagging tone filled with complaint and grievance.

“What do you mean you won’t give me that slave?! It’s your good fortune I fancy this exotic female piece of meat!

Do you even know who I am? I am a prince of the Aeslings! The tribe closest to the God of Blood and his most loyal subjects!”

The tall, blond haired man was shouting at one of Erik’s most loyal Captains, Gunnar. And obviously having taken a fancy to one of Gunnar’s beautiful Beastgirls, this princeling expected to simply be given one of the unique girls for free.

Angered at the behaviour of this stranger, Gunnar had simply replied that even though these Beastgirl were with him, they didn’t belong to him but to his exalted Chief Erik. And even if they did, there was no way he would just give them away to a stranger for no apparent reason.

In turn, the Aesling prince erupted in indignation and ordered the enormous guard that stood with him to take the Beastgirl to him as he loudly began insulting Gunnar’s ‘Chief Erik’. He even went as far as to say Erik was a weakling not worth mentioning and that the young Frost Wolves had no right whatsoever to possess such unique things like the Beastgirls.

At this point, when the princeling noticed his bodyguard hadn’t moved, he also noticed the pindrop silence on the square and felt the bloodthirsty eyes of 300 young and loyal Marauders directly aimed at him.

Unfazed, he brazenly continued his unscrupulous behaviour.

“What are you all looking at? I haven’t said a single untrue word!”

Luckily, Sven was still talking with his father, the Jarl, near the Great Hall and Jarl Ingolf quickly caught wind of the irregularity.

Sending one of his Huskarls over to invite the belligerent princeling back into the Great Hall, Ingolf hoped to diffuse the situation for now.

Sadly, when the problem causer walked past the Jarl, he loudly made a final remark before leaving the scene:

“Jarl Ingolf! I expect numerous of those unique women in my chambers as a gift tonight! If not, you are insulting me and My Father The High King of the Aesling Confederacy!”

The tension had already been high, but hearing the princeling continue making wanton claims and even threaten their tribe, not only Erik’s men but every Frost Wolf on the square followed the arrogant Aesling with murder in their eyes.

Feeling a bad headache coming up, Ingolf motioned for Sven to follow him inside to continue their talks.

‘Seems like Helles’s insight and my decisions were right all along… But now we will be inextricably involved in the coming turmoil and I’m uncertain of how the Frost Wolves will come out of it…’ – The angered Jarl silently mused.