Edmund straggles his way there eventually. He\u2019s slower than Saul.<\/p>\n
He gets there and his eyes are bloody and his face is gaunt and he looks at Fenris for a very long time. Then he gasps and he throws himself down for the wolf to eat.<\/p>\n
Fenris licks him thoughtfully.<\/p>\n
Edmund closes his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not ripe yet,\u201d Fenris teases.<\/p>\n
Edmund shudders. Then he shakes his head, vigorously. \u201cNo,\u201d he says. He pulls himself to his feet. \u201cNo. You have to eat me. That\u2019s what makes it OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll eat you later!\u201d Fenris assures him. \u201cOr I won\u2019t. That\u2019s up to events and circumstances!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut \u2014\u201d says Edmund.<\/p>\n
He discovers that you cannot actually make <\/em>giant wolves eat you. Fenris utterly ignores him.<\/p>\n The wolf is feeling friskier now. Wolves like him, they heal fast.<\/p>\n He\u2019s been hopping from roof to roof and chewing around in the houses.<\/p>\n \u201cI found a Setter,\u201d he says. This is pretty exciting for the wolf, since there are hardly any people <\/em>around after the initial breakout and the bombs dropping. \u201cIt was all sad because its family had left and you didn\u2019t eat all the bombs properly, Saul, but then I ate it and now it\u2019s happy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t eat Setters,\u201d says Saul. \u201cIt might be catching.\u201d<\/p>\n Fenris gives Saul an eyebrow.<\/p>\n The wolf is coming to eat the world.<\/p>\n There are armies marshalling. Edmund can feel them. There are missiles coming, bombs being loaded, hard men prepping their weaponry for a fight.<\/p>\n Edmund can feel it.<\/p>\n The wolf is coming to eat the world.<\/p>\n There are children being born. There are children playing. There are children who have grown old and grey.<\/p>\n The wolf is coming to eat the world.<\/p>\n Starlight falls on the world, from Sirius, from Barnard\u2019s Star, from Wolf 359, and most certainly from the sun. Plants grow. The ocean surges, rises, falls. Birds sing. Animals rustle in the brush.<\/p>\n The wolf is coming to eat the world.<\/p>\n Saul hops down. He nudges Edmund.<\/p>\n Edmund rolls over. He sits.<\/p>\n He looks at Saul.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat have I done?\u201d he asks Saul. \u201cI let it free. I let it free, and it won\u2019t even eat me. What have I done?\u201d<\/p>\n And Saul holds out the miracle to him.<\/p>\n Saul presses it to Edmund\u2019s mouth. Saul rubs Edmund\u2019s throat. Saul makes him swallow it down.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve set a hurt thing free,\u201d says Saul.<\/p>\n Edmund\u2019s tears are falling now. \u201cI am a monster,\u201d he says. \u201cI am the worst of monsters. I couldn\u2019t control it. I ate people<\/em>, Saul.\u201d<\/p>\n The wolf is coming to eat the world.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve set a hurt thing free.\u201d<\/p>\n Fenris suddenly turns its head. It looks far away. Its ears are practically straight up.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re coming,\u201d he says. \u201cA whole army. Oh, thank God. I didn\u2019t get to eat the last one, Edmund. Saul was so greedy! I didn\u2019t get to! I fell asleep, and when I was awake again, he\u2019d et them all!\u201d<\/p>\n The world is ending.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve set a hurt thing free.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Edmund straggles his way there eventually. He\u2019s slower than Saul. He gets there and his eyes are bloody and his face is gaunt and he looks at Fenris for a very long time. Then he gasps and he throws himself down for the wolf to eat. Fenris licks him thoughtfully. Edmund closes his eyes. \u201cYou\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"series":[50],"class_list":["post-6797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vidars-boot-chapter-19","series-vidars-boot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Icon_Jewel_NoBG.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6798,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6797\/revisions\/6798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6797"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=6797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}