Post by Heidi on Feb 7, 2006 0:56:21 GMT
(This turned out to be way longer than I expected, so I'm posting it in parts. It dips very slightly into a PG-13 rating here and there; probably not enough to merit a warning, but just in case, you're warned.)
Part I -- The Conquering
The German nights were cold. Even in the summertime, they were cold; the mountains were forever capped with snow. She remembers little, now, of her German days, but she always remembers the cold of night.
She was sixteen when Bjorn came to her father. Jakob had been expecting it, he told his wife and daughter. His own father and Bjorn's grandfather had been brothers, and almost since the day Heidi was born, he and his cousin, Bjorn's father, had talked of their children one day marrying. Bjorn had a promising future ahead of him; in the waning years of the 14th century, a goatherd was no small catch in the German highlands, and Jakob felt that his daughter would have difficulty finding a better. She submitted without argument -- she liked Bjorn well enough -- and after the marriage they settled into a small house on his parents' farm.
Heidi's life, as it would be for seven years, was not unsatisfying. She had been raised as a farm girl, and had strength and health; she enjoyed her chores and had a companionable relationship with her kinsman turned husband. He was kind to her, boyishly gentle and affectionate, and she liked him even if she did not love him as a wife ought to love her husband. Perhaps, she often thought, that might have had a chance to grow if not for her omnipresent mother-in-law. Anna Fischer had never liked Heidi, even as a child, though if asked for a reason she would protest that this was simply not true.
Heidi could have guessed at one reason, however, as her marriage progressed, for with each passing year she continued to fail to provide her husband with a son -- or with any children at all. She had no explanation for it, herself, for she was not remiss in her marital duties. In all other ways, their partnership was successful; the goats thrived, the few crops they raised did tolerably well, and they lacked for nothing except das Kinder.
Autumn was drawing to a close in her twenty-third year when she and Bjorn ventured into the woods. There were still some wild nuts and berries to be found, if the squirrels hadn't stripped the branches bare, and it never hurt to supplement the winter stores with what nature had to offer. Daylight was still well upon them, and Heidi was industriously gathering blackberries, when she heard a strange thundering noise. She glanced around wildly; Bjorn was at a bush not far away, looking just as puzzled. The ground shook as though several horses were tearing through the forest.
From the treeline burst what she thought, initially, was a large bear. But Heidi had never seen any bear quite like this. It was huge and black, but the face was more like that of a dog or a wolf. The coat was shaggy and unkempt, and it had a long tail. The teeth it bared as it growled at them were very long, almost fangish, and the young couple were both rooted to the spot in their terror.
The beast launched itself at Heidi first, knocking her backward to the ground and sinking those terrible fangs into her shoulder. She screamed, and for a moment, she thought that had driven the creature away; it released her, turning its attention toward Bjorn, who was trying valiantly to divert it while ordering her to run. As she struggled to get up, one shoulder torn and bleeding, she screamed again as the beast lunged, tearing out her husband's throat. He was dead before he hit the ground, and Heidi, shaken and wounded, blacked out entirely.
She awoke sometime later in a completely unfamiliar cabin, where she lay on the floor in front of a fire. Her shoulder, mysteriously, had healed, and as she sat up, she looked around for some sign of how she had come to be where she was. How had she survived?
"Sie sind wach," grunted a deep male voice, and she spun on the hearth.
"Wo bist mich? Wer Sie sind?" she demanded, and he laughed.
"Sie sind in mein Haus, und ich bin Ihr Meister," he chortled. "Sie sind meine Eroberung."
So it began. He offered, mockingly, to set her free; indeed, he marched her to the door of the cabin and pushed her out into the darkness of night. They were in the mountains, that much she could guess by scent, but beyond that she had not a clue as to where she was.
Even worse, he claimed, pulling her back inside by her long golden braids, he had bitten her, and in so doing had changed her into what he himself was -- a werewolf. Should she chance to find her way back to her own people, she would undoubtedly tear them to shreds at the next full moon. Her only hope of sparing them was to stay where she was. He would look after her, would teach her to survive, would keep her alive....would keep her. She was, as he stated, his Eroberung -- his conquest. She saw what he had done to Bjorn; the idea that she might do the same to the people she loved was horrifying. Reluctantly, seeing no other way, she submitted to fate.
She was not his mate. Later, when she learned more about the nature of werewolves, she would vehemently cling to that fact. To have been his mate would have implied that they were equals, and that they cared for one another. Neither was the case, and he made sure she knew it from the first. It would have been difficult for Heidi to decide which was more painful -- submitting to him for the first time, that night, or submitting to the moon for the first time, a week later.
In the long run, she preferred the moon. At least, with time, it became a gentler master; with patience and practice it grew easier to transform, and then to prevent herself from transforming. Not so the brute who owned her. He never called her by name, even when she told him what it was; nor did he give her any name by which she could call him. He was always to be Meister; she was always Eroberung. It was humiliating; but at least, she told herself, there was no one else to witness it, and most of the time she could get away with not calling him anything at all. He would hunt, and bring back his prey -- sometimes bear, sometimes deer, but always something large and difficult, as though he needed to prove his superiority. She would cook it, or preserve it in the little smokehouse behind the cabin, and spent her days cutting firewood and fetching water from the mountain stream and keeping the cabin decently clean. By day, he was more or less tolerable. At night, her only defense against his brutal and demanding nature was to submit to whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. He would have her either way, so what was the point of fighting?
"Meine Eroberung," he would taunt her, looming over her in the bed. "Mein Preis. Ich töte Sie, wenn Sie mich herausfordern."
One shining bit of hope gleamed in the darkness of her first century, as from day to day she obeyed his orders and submitted to his lust. She was growing stronger, and so was her wolf -- the silvery-blonde creature she had glimpsed by moonlight in the mountain stream was growing larger and more powerful. But the beast was also growing more docile, easier to control, as the years went by. And she, carefully, allowed her "Meister" to think the same of herself, that she was becoming continually meeker and more broken down. It would not have been difficult for her to become so; his cruelty would certainly have beaten a weaker person. Had she remained human, he doubtless could have destroyed her spirit, but the wolf gave Heidi strength when her own failed. Together, they waited.
One day, he came home from his hunt with a freshly killed buck draped across his shoulders. He stopped, and sniffed; something was wrong. She was not there. Growling, he made to set down his kill and hunt her down like the errant beast she was, but she gave him no time. Before he understood fully what was happening, she was there in the doorway, fully transformed and salivating. She charged him, burdened as he was with the deer, and just as she had watched him tear out the throat of her young husband more than a century before, she tore his out. The dirt floor of the cabin was deeply stained with his blood before she was finished, and with a howl of satisfaction, she changed back into her human form.
"Jetzt habe ich Sie erobert," she hissed. She dressed herself, collected what few valuables the cabin contained, and left forever.
Das Kinder -- the children
Sie sind wach -- You're awake.
Wo bist mich? Wer Sie sind? -- Where am I? Who are you?
Sie sind in mein Haus, und ich bin Ihr Meister -- You are in my house, and I am your master.
Sie sind meine Eroberung -- You are my conquest.
Mein Preis -- My prize
Ich töte Sie, wenn Sie mich herausfordern -- I will kill you, if you defy me.
Jetzt habe ich Sie erobert -- Now I have conquered you.
Part I -- The Conquering
The German nights were cold. Even in the summertime, they were cold; the mountains were forever capped with snow. She remembers little, now, of her German days, but she always remembers the cold of night.
She was sixteen when Bjorn came to her father. Jakob had been expecting it, he told his wife and daughter. His own father and Bjorn's grandfather had been brothers, and almost since the day Heidi was born, he and his cousin, Bjorn's father, had talked of their children one day marrying. Bjorn had a promising future ahead of him; in the waning years of the 14th century, a goatherd was no small catch in the German highlands, and Jakob felt that his daughter would have difficulty finding a better. She submitted without argument -- she liked Bjorn well enough -- and after the marriage they settled into a small house on his parents' farm.
Heidi's life, as it would be for seven years, was not unsatisfying. She had been raised as a farm girl, and had strength and health; she enjoyed her chores and had a companionable relationship with her kinsman turned husband. He was kind to her, boyishly gentle and affectionate, and she liked him even if she did not love him as a wife ought to love her husband. Perhaps, she often thought, that might have had a chance to grow if not for her omnipresent mother-in-law. Anna Fischer had never liked Heidi, even as a child, though if asked for a reason she would protest that this was simply not true.
Heidi could have guessed at one reason, however, as her marriage progressed, for with each passing year she continued to fail to provide her husband with a son -- or with any children at all. She had no explanation for it, herself, for she was not remiss in her marital duties. In all other ways, their partnership was successful; the goats thrived, the few crops they raised did tolerably well, and they lacked for nothing except das Kinder.
Autumn was drawing to a close in her twenty-third year when she and Bjorn ventured into the woods. There were still some wild nuts and berries to be found, if the squirrels hadn't stripped the branches bare, and it never hurt to supplement the winter stores with what nature had to offer. Daylight was still well upon them, and Heidi was industriously gathering blackberries, when she heard a strange thundering noise. She glanced around wildly; Bjorn was at a bush not far away, looking just as puzzled. The ground shook as though several horses were tearing through the forest.
From the treeline burst what she thought, initially, was a large bear. But Heidi had never seen any bear quite like this. It was huge and black, but the face was more like that of a dog or a wolf. The coat was shaggy and unkempt, and it had a long tail. The teeth it bared as it growled at them were very long, almost fangish, and the young couple were both rooted to the spot in their terror.
The beast launched itself at Heidi first, knocking her backward to the ground and sinking those terrible fangs into her shoulder. She screamed, and for a moment, she thought that had driven the creature away; it released her, turning its attention toward Bjorn, who was trying valiantly to divert it while ordering her to run. As she struggled to get up, one shoulder torn and bleeding, she screamed again as the beast lunged, tearing out her husband's throat. He was dead before he hit the ground, and Heidi, shaken and wounded, blacked out entirely.
She awoke sometime later in a completely unfamiliar cabin, where she lay on the floor in front of a fire. Her shoulder, mysteriously, had healed, and as she sat up, she looked around for some sign of how she had come to be where she was. How had she survived?
"Sie sind wach," grunted a deep male voice, and she spun on the hearth.
"Wo bist mich? Wer Sie sind?" she demanded, and he laughed.
"Sie sind in mein Haus, und ich bin Ihr Meister," he chortled. "Sie sind meine Eroberung."
So it began. He offered, mockingly, to set her free; indeed, he marched her to the door of the cabin and pushed her out into the darkness of night. They were in the mountains, that much she could guess by scent, but beyond that she had not a clue as to where she was.
Even worse, he claimed, pulling her back inside by her long golden braids, he had bitten her, and in so doing had changed her into what he himself was -- a werewolf. Should she chance to find her way back to her own people, she would undoubtedly tear them to shreds at the next full moon. Her only hope of sparing them was to stay where she was. He would look after her, would teach her to survive, would keep her alive....would keep her. She was, as he stated, his Eroberung -- his conquest. She saw what he had done to Bjorn; the idea that she might do the same to the people she loved was horrifying. Reluctantly, seeing no other way, she submitted to fate.
She was not his mate. Later, when she learned more about the nature of werewolves, she would vehemently cling to that fact. To have been his mate would have implied that they were equals, and that they cared for one another. Neither was the case, and he made sure she knew it from the first. It would have been difficult for Heidi to decide which was more painful -- submitting to him for the first time, that night, or submitting to the moon for the first time, a week later.
In the long run, she preferred the moon. At least, with time, it became a gentler master; with patience and practice it grew easier to transform, and then to prevent herself from transforming. Not so the brute who owned her. He never called her by name, even when she told him what it was; nor did he give her any name by which she could call him. He was always to be Meister; she was always Eroberung. It was humiliating; but at least, she told herself, there was no one else to witness it, and most of the time she could get away with not calling him anything at all. He would hunt, and bring back his prey -- sometimes bear, sometimes deer, but always something large and difficult, as though he needed to prove his superiority. She would cook it, or preserve it in the little smokehouse behind the cabin, and spent her days cutting firewood and fetching water from the mountain stream and keeping the cabin decently clean. By day, he was more or less tolerable. At night, her only defense against his brutal and demanding nature was to submit to whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. He would have her either way, so what was the point of fighting?
"Meine Eroberung," he would taunt her, looming over her in the bed. "Mein Preis. Ich töte Sie, wenn Sie mich herausfordern."
One shining bit of hope gleamed in the darkness of her first century, as from day to day she obeyed his orders and submitted to his lust. She was growing stronger, and so was her wolf -- the silvery-blonde creature she had glimpsed by moonlight in the mountain stream was growing larger and more powerful. But the beast was also growing more docile, easier to control, as the years went by. And she, carefully, allowed her "Meister" to think the same of herself, that she was becoming continually meeker and more broken down. It would not have been difficult for her to become so; his cruelty would certainly have beaten a weaker person. Had she remained human, he doubtless could have destroyed her spirit, but the wolf gave Heidi strength when her own failed. Together, they waited.
One day, he came home from his hunt with a freshly killed buck draped across his shoulders. He stopped, and sniffed; something was wrong. She was not there. Growling, he made to set down his kill and hunt her down like the errant beast she was, but she gave him no time. Before he understood fully what was happening, she was there in the doorway, fully transformed and salivating. She charged him, burdened as he was with the deer, and just as she had watched him tear out the throat of her young husband more than a century before, she tore his out. The dirt floor of the cabin was deeply stained with his blood before she was finished, and with a howl of satisfaction, she changed back into her human form.
"Jetzt habe ich Sie erobert," she hissed. She dressed herself, collected what few valuables the cabin contained, and left forever.
Das Kinder -- the children
Sie sind wach -- You're awake.
Wo bist mich? Wer Sie sind? -- Where am I? Who are you?
Sie sind in mein Haus, und ich bin Ihr Meister -- You are in my house, and I am your master.
Sie sind meine Eroberung -- You are my conquest.
Mein Preis -- My prize
Ich töte Sie, wenn Sie mich herausfordern -- I will kill you, if you defy me.
Jetzt habe ich Sie erobert -- Now I have conquered you.
