Chapter 9: Negotiation

The knife being held close to my throat had caused me to breathe faster. I was quite obviously getting nervous. I asked him, as my voice trembled, "Why are you here?" He chuckled, "Oh, boyo, you know why I'm here. But why I'm at your uncle's house, you mean?" I nodded. He continued. "Your uncle and I go way back. Yaknow, he used to be a fighter. I did too. We always brought in the big bucks. When I saw you that first time, I thought about the resemblance to him you have. So, I crawled back with all of my men, all of us hurting in some ways. I'm pretty sure you broke my nose, but it's nothing different for me here. So, now I assume you're gonna ask why I'm holding this knife to your throat, eh?" I nodded again.

"Well, once we got back to Corona, the other guys started taking the piss out of me. Yaknow, making fun of me for being manhandled by a woman. Now, I know your agenda is to neutralize, not kill, but I think you would have been better off killing me at that point. Since I saw your family with you as you were riding up here, I assume they're here with you. Well, where are they, eh?" I kept my mouth shut. He started poking my shoulder again. "Well, eh? You know, this knife is pretty sharp." He diverted his attention for a second, looking out the window, but from my vantage point, there was nothing outside. He chuckled, and looked back at me. "Ah, might as well tell you who I am. I'm Wolfgang Frei, also known as the Wolf. I've been out of contact with your uncle for years, but I remembered him. What you saw here was a reunion of sorts."

All of a sudden, the door kicked open, and we heard footsteps at a fast pace. Rejnar was running in with an axe from outside. However, the Wolf kept his gaze on me, with a sinister smile. I silently wondered what was going on, when Rejnar reached a few footsteps behind the Wolf. In a sudden movement, the Wolf ducked the shot, which I narrowly avoided on my own, and stabbed Rejnar right in the stomach. As Rejnar slumped to the ground, the Wolf turned back to me. "See why they call me the Wolf?" Uncle Jer stepped out of a room that he must have entered as Wolfgang and I were talking, and checked the noise. Rejnar crawled over to the wall, and sat against it. The wound was producing a large amount of blood. My uncle took one look at Rejnar, took a glance at the knife Wolfgang was holding, and immediately grabbed him from the back, and slugged him in the face. The Wolf dropped the knife, which slid along the floor, and returned the slug. I ran past the two. Jer seemed to be getting a grasp on the Wolf's throat, trying to choke him, but the Wolf was not having any of it. I opened the door to the guest bedroom, looking for my bag containing my crossbow and my bolts. I grabbed the crossbow, already loaded with a bolt. I grabbed my bag as well, and also made sure to reach into Norma's bag for the knife she had stolen from the Wolf.

I ran back into the kitchen, both were slugging it out, both bleeding heavily from the nose. I aimed very carefully, and took a shot. As the Wolf took a shot, it stabbed his forearm, and was quite obviously sticking out. This allowed Uncle Jer to throw a powerful punch, and then grasp his throat. Uncle Jer threw him against the wall, and then asked, "Hey, Jer, hand me a knife." I reached into my bag, and handed him the knife. He held one arm against the Wolf's throat, and said to him, "Say your last words, Wolfy." Uncle Jer let up for a second, and the Wolf said, "Think about this before you kill me. I am connected to the King of Corona. You know you can't kill me without consequences." As the Wolf was talking, I reached over for the blood splattered knife on the ground. I grabbed it, looked at Rejnar, he was barely concious. He nodded at me, with a sneer on his face. Uncle Jer held the knife close to the Wolf's face. Looking at the knife, I tapped on Uncle Jer's shoulder, handed him the other knife, which he held in the same hand as the other knife, and turned away. As much as I seem violent, I still can't bear to see anyone die. I walked over to Rejnar, and tried covering the wound with him. As I was helping Rej out, I heard a scream from the Wolf, and then a thump on the ground.

Uncle Jer then ran over to Rejnar, and asked him a few questions. "I've seen a couple of stab wounds. Uh, this ain't unusual..." He was stumbling over his words, and obviously very nervous. "Uh, Jer, go into the bathroom, there should be some towels in there." As I left the room, Rej started to cough, heavily. I rushed to the bathroom and grabbed a few towels from the bar behind the door. I hurried back to the kitchen, and threw the towels to my uncle. "Jer, go back and tell Norma and the kids what has happened. I know how to deal with this." I started to protest, but was interrupted with a, "Just go! Now!" I sped out of the front door, and sprinted to Norma and the kids, who were at the barber's place. Norma had gotten a haircut for Belinde, which she had been meaning to do for awhile. I stepped in, and then Mr. Raun noticed me. "Ah, it's you! Need touching up on your mustache?" I shook my head, and then grabbed Norma. Norma then said, "Watch the kids for a second, Mr. Raun!" He nodded with a large smile as we stepped outside.

"Jer, what's wrong? Did something go down between you and the big bad wolf?" How coincidential it is that she said that. I then explained to her, in very short terms, "Rejnar was stabbed, the Wolf is dead." She gasped, and then immediately went inside the barber's with the kids again. I rushed back to the house, and Rejnar was still propped up against the wall, as Uncle Jer was moving the corpse of the Wolf. "Help me get this out of here." I grabbed the Wolf's legs. He was a heavy man. Uncle Jer directed me to the backyard of the house. We took a break for a second, and then continued, bringing his body to a lake found behind the house. Beautiful view, but wasn't the best when you're carrying a body over there. He and I threw him into the water, regained our bearings, and walked back to the house.

Norma and the kids were waiting in front. I greeted them, as Uncle Jer wearily walked into the house. I whispered to Norma, "Get your things ready, we're leaving tomorrow." I walked inside, and slowly stepped over to the kitchen. I crouched down next to Rejnar, and asked him, "How are you feeling?" He opened his mouth, coughed, and then responded, "I feel like trash, cousin. I..." Tears started to gather up in his eyes. "I... don't think I'm going to..." He coughed again, "I don't think I'm going to make it, cousin..." As tears started to well up in my eyes as well, I shook my head. "You're going to, when things look bleak, look on the bright side." Uncle Jer stepped back out of the bathroom, and then walked over to Rejnar. "Son, I... don't say this to you often enough..." He was obviously disheveled. "Son, I love you... with all of my heart. You are the reason I get up every morning. You know that..." Rejnar nodded, and then they embraced. "Father... I love you too..." Uncle Jer wiped the tears away from his eyes. Rejnar then looked over at me. "Cousin..." He coughed once more. "Take care of Norma and your children. The amount of love you have for them is... amazing." Uncle Jer hugged Rejnar again. "Dad... take care of yourself, okay?"

Uncle Jer nodded. Rejnar laid his head on Uncle Jer's leg, and finally closed his eyes. "I'll say hi to ma for you, father..." And with that, he passed on.

Immediately, Uncle Jer started sobbing. "Son... no!" He sobbed and screamed "No!" out multiple times, and sat there, holding Rejnar on his lap. I stood up and walked over to Norma. Norma looked at me in the eye. I shook my head, and then, I embraced her. I cried into her shoulder, as she patted my head. "There, there..." She hugged me as I was crying. Rejnar was the only one who was not involved with the Wolf. All of us had encountered him before, except for him. And he tried to save me.

As I was crying into Norma's shoulder, I thought about all of the fun times we had had as children. One day, when we had both lived in Denmark, we were running around the docks, playing tag. As I was running around with him, I had accidentally bumped into a stranger. Instead of getting angry at me, the stranger decided to play along, and he tagged Rejnar. We spent hours playing tag that day, with the stranger. Another time, we were trying to convince his mother to get a pet for him, and she simply had no idea what she would get him. As we were walking around our neighborhood, a dog ran up to us, and sat in front of Rejnar. Talk about luck. The times ended when he, Uncle Jer, and Aunt Bertha had moved here to Corona. We visited every year, but we didn't have as fun of times as we did in Blavand.

Uncle Jer walked in, and asked to speak to me. Trying to keep up his best stoic face, even though it was obvious he was very depressed. "Nephew, before you leave, I just want you to do one thing. I had a dream last night. It was of Blavand, the smells. I want you to go up there, and see your father. Last time he came down here, he missed you terribly, and was wanting you to visit. Could you just, visit him?" I nodded, and then talked to him a little bit more about how Norma and I were planning to go up there. We stood for a second, and then we embraced as well. "I love you, nephew." I reciprocated the feelings. "If you are going to leave, well, goodbye then. It's too dangerous here in Corona for you anyways. But I only have one question." I asked, "What?"

He responded with his question. "Can you take me with you?"