Chapter 7: Crossroads
"I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above "Have mercy, now save poor Bob, if you please"
Crossroad Blues by Robert Johnson
Rosedale, Mississippi - 1930
The black-furred wolf staggered before he stumbled to his knees onto the old dirt road, but even as he knelt in the dust, Fenrisúlfr glanced around into the surrounding darkness, his eyes searching for danger. All he saw was an old dead tree with its bare branches reaching up towards the starlit sky above as if mocking mighty Yggdrasil, the holy tree of life which cradles the nine realms within its branches and roots. He saw that they were at the intersection of two hard-packed dirt roads and surrounded by fields of some kind of plants he did not recognize. Although he didn't see anything, there was an odd smell of sulfur which made his hackles rise in fear.
"How did I missed where I was going?" Jude exclaimed out loud in a surprised tone. "Well, it must be from carrying you around with me, you must have dis…" the vixen paused before she turned to look at the tree and growled.
"I believe you were going to say distracted?" a deep male voice mockingly called out from near the dark trunk. A figure in an expensive-looking black business suit stepped out of the shadows and stood there grinning, the newcomer appeared to be a handsome, but elderly, dark-skinned human. "May I ask why the goddess of time and her pet wolf have come to the crossroads in the middle of the night, are you seeking to make a deal with the devil?"
"I am not her pet!" Fenrisúlfr growled. "I am…"
"Hush!" the vixen commanded as she put a paw on his arm and surprisingly the large canine actually stopped talking much to the newcomer's amusement. "You really do love the old classic deal with the devil stunt don't you Eshu? I'm just taking my friend with me to hear some good Blues music."
"Well if you had popped in here about an hour ago, at midnight, you would have met Robert Johnson," the African god laughed. "I tuned his guitar for him for a price and now he thinks that he sold his soul for the gift of music, the funny part is that the talent was already within him."
"You seem to be a long way from home?" the vixen asked.
"I came to this land when they brought my followers here in chains," Eshu bitterly answered. "Where they go, I follow."
"I don't like you!" the wolf growled out as he bared his teeth.
"You should keep your pet on a leash!" Eshu scoffed even as he seemed to lazily lean against the tree. "But if you two are going to town, you might want to change. I don't think any of the mortals around here would be too happy if a fox and wolf wandered into one of their juke joints, they might take their guns to you."
"You are right," the fox sighed.
"Don't!" Fenrisúlfr said as the vixen put her paw on his arm again. "I do not want to be a human again, the last time you turned me into one, I was hurt by that slaver's whip just like any mortal. Why can't we go someplace where I can just be myself?
There was laughter from near the tree.
"Fine!" Jude huffed as she cast an angry look at Eshu, who was still grinning back at her. "Let's go someplace else, someplace far from this godling."
The human-looking god chuckled when the fox and wolf disappeared. Then he loudly whistled a merry tune while he strolled down the dirt road towards the sounds of music playing in the far distance.
"Now let me find something to put on," Jude said as they stood in the middle of yet another dirt road.
"It seems to me that you should plan these trips of yours better," the wolf grumbled. "I mean, why don't you just come back in time and stash clothing which we can wear somewhere nearby? His eyes narrowed when he saw some markings on an old stone. "Well, maybe you took my advice, for those are runes scratched on the bolder telling me to dig here."
Within moments the wolf had dug up a chest and pulled it out of the hole, inside was a black suit and white dress shirt which would fit him and a simple brown dress for her. She slipped the dress on and he had to admire how it made her look. He grumbled about wearing clothes again as he stood up and pulled on his suit. "There! Jude proclaimed. "Now we are ready for a night on the town!"
"Except there isn't a town anywhere near here," the wolf chuckled. "We are all dressed up with no place to go."
"Oh, there is, we just have to walk a few miles down this road and there will be a juke joint with food, drink, and dancing."
"It would have been easier if you had told me that before I changed. I could have made better time on all four of my paws and not just my hindpaws."
The wolf and fox arrived after a long walk and as promised there was a ramshackle building crammed with mostly predators eating, drinking, and dancing to a loud and enthusiastic type of music Fenrisúlfr had never heard before. "By Odin's beard, what is that music?" the wolf said in surprise.
"That my dear Fenny is the blues!" the fox goddess giggled as she swayed down the road towards the building. She had drawn the attention of several of the males whose ears shot up and grinned as she approached.
"Don't call me Fenny," he protested.
A fox in overalls loudly yelled something crude when he saw the vixen and then he paused to take a sip of liquid from a jar.
There were other words called out, but then they saw her companion. The look the large wolf was giving the other males was one of displeasure and it made their ears droop and their tails curl under their legs. He followed her past them and into the weather-beaten ramshackle barn, inside were tables around the wall and a crowd of wolves, foxes, coyotes, and a few weasels danced in the middle while a group of foxes played musical instruments from a corner. There was a plank set up like a table along another wall where other animals drank from an assortment of glasses, mugs, and other vessels.
"Find us a table, Fenny, while I get us something to drink!" Jude called out as she walked toward an old boar behind the plank table.
Fenrisúlfr found a mostly empty table, there was a coyote slumbering in a chair, seemingly passed out and snoring, and no one objected when the large wolf effortlessly picked him up and dumped him in a corner before he sat in the now empty chair. The music was loud, but he was beginning to enjoy the rhythm. At least here he understood most of their words, for they were much like archaic lupus.
Briefly, his eyes met those of a pretty she-wolf and she smiled at him, for a moment this made him sad because she did not recognize who he was, but only saw him as yet another mortal wolf. He had once been a god to her ancestors when he had roamed Midgard, for he was the Alpha of all alphas. In his youth, he had hunted in the dense woods with them in lands as far away as Vínland and they worshipped him as much as any freedom-loving wolf would do. Within one of their packs, he had even found love and his lover had borne him two sons, Hati and Skol. Still, no matter where he roamed, he would ultimately always cross back over the Bifrost to take his place amongst the gods. He convinced himself that he too had every right to be in the great hall of Asgard, just as much as the Æsir and the Vanir around him. This pride had led to his downfall and he often wondered, as he lay bound upon the great rock if he had remained in the forests of Midgard with his followers, instead of among the gods, would he have remained free? "Wyrd bið ful aræd" he muttered an old saying softly to himself. "Fate is wholly inexorable."
Jude returned with a crock of something and two ceramic mugs, which she placed on the table. She seemed enthralled with the fox playing a musical instrument that the wolf assumed from its shape was a type of mandolin, but he had never before heard any other mortal nor any god play music as he did. The vixen poured a clear liquid into his mug, and then hers before she took a sip. The wolf sniffed the drink before he gave it a small lap, immediately choked from the taste. "Surely you drank in Asgard?" the vixen asked in surprise.
"Only a little mead," Fenrisúlfr admitted. "I cared not for the ale, which Thor drank, and Odin drank his magical mead of wisdom called Odhroerir from his famous Triple Horn."
"Well this drink is called moonshine and it won't give you any wisdom."
"That I would believe," he muttered as he watched her continue to drink the liquid in her mug as she swayed her head to the music. "I want to dance!" she finally proclaimed as she took his paw and tried to get him to stand.
"Dance?" he muttered in surprise.
"Where is Jack?" someone asked and the wolf looked up to see five coyotes standing there angrily looking at him. "This is Jack's table, wolf!"
"Jack didn't need it," Fenrisúlfr said as he gave the newcomers a slight grin. "So we borrowed it."
"We want our table back," the largest of the coyotes snarled. He stood there looking down at the wolf as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small black object, which he slapped into his other paw. "Now you and that saucy vixen need to get!"
"Fenny, no!" Jude called out as the black wolf stood up. Several of the coyotes were startled by his size for he was clearly a few feet taller than they were and very muscular.
"I warned ya!" the coyote growled as he lunged forward swinging the blackjack at the wolf's face, but Fenrisúlfr was faster and seized his arm, twisting it down as he swung his other paw's claws towards the surprise canine's throat.
"Not your claws!" the vixen cried out and at the last second, the wolf closed his paw before his blow hit the coyote under his chin. The gray-colored canine's head snapped back as he staggered and then collapsed onto the wooden floor.
The other coyotes launched themselves at Fenrisúlfr who merrily laughed as he grabbed one and threw him into a wall. "Come, let us do battle!" the wolf snarled in delight. "Let us test each other's warrior mettle!" There were screams and yells from the others in the room and the band had stopped playing.
One of the smaller coyotes had grabbed at his arm even as another punched him in the stomach with his clenched paw. His antagonist gave a surprised yelp when he hit the wolf's solid muscle for it was as if he had punched a brick wall. With a grin, Fenrisúlfr swung his paw upwards and shoved the coyote aside.
"STOP IT!" Jude growled and all around the fox and the wolf, everyone had ceased moving for they were now all frozen in time.
"I came here to have a good time!" the vixen snarled. "You have ruined everything! All I wanted is to have some time to enjoy myself with someone and you…you…" There were tears forming in her eyes and she wiped them off in anger.
"But…?" he asked in confusion. "Isn't this fun?"
"No, fighting is not fun!" she cried out. "What is wrong with you?"
"The gods always sought battle, Thor's duel with Hrungnir the giant is a tale of legendary renown…"
"No, he killed Hrungnir in anger."
"They say that their battle was so great that the mountains shook and rocks smashed," Fenrisúlfr continued. "The heavens above burned. I wish I had seen it, for it was truly epic!"
"Why do you alpha males always have to fight?" she snapped in anger.
"It's our way?" he meekly answered and then his tail drooped behind him when he saw the tears in her eyes. The vixen standing across from him looked so vulnerable and his ears wilted when he saw that she was disappointed in him. Why should I, the god of the wolves, care about what she thinks about me? he pondered. Does she really care about me as a friend? Can I ever trust having a friend again, after what the gods did to me? What if she is just using me? But, what if she is not? With a sigh, he lowered his arms to his side and softly added. "I'm sorry."
"Come on," she said as her paw slipped into his much larger paw. "Let's go somewhere else."
With that they blinked from sight, leaving a roomful of confused animals looking around before the music slowly began once again.
Robert Leroy Johnson was a legendary blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his time on this earth was short, he died at the age of 27, his influence on the evolution of the Delta Blues was extraordinary. The story is that he was a mediocre guitarist at best until he made a deal with the devil at the crossroads.