Chapter Two

Harold sat by the dustbins trying to sort out the all the smells and sounds.  He could smell the two draugar from where he was but couldn’t see them.  He could also smell two of his pack-mates, their scents were above and to the sides of the draugar.  Harold knew he was the one that would most likely make first contact with the draugar if they went for the flats they were watching and grinned at the thought, his teeth baring.  

There were few sounds, earðkinar sleeping, a couple of jets high above, various animals in the trees near him.  The scents were more prevalent.  There were a lot of earðkin smells around him, some animal smells, dogs, cats, rats, birds, squirrels, a badger too.  There were also the smells of cars that had gone by earlier in the evening with varying engine issues, food and drink spills on the pavement, the unique smells of each building, and…another draug?  Harold’s brow furrowed as he tried to isolate the scent.  The breeze moved the scent around a little, and it was faint.  Closing his eyes he concentrated pin the scent down.   

Just then Alfred came over his headset asking for status.  Harold ignored him and tried to focus.  Again Alfred asked for his status. “Here”, replied Harold curtly and tried to regain his focus.  Alfred asked for his position and status again.  Harold detected a slight tone of displeasure with him.  Ignoring it, Harold replied with his location and that he was going to make the change. He needed his full senses to narrow down the other draug’s scent.  

Harold retreated further into the shadows and quickly removed his clothes and stashed them in the empty backpack he kept under his jacket.  Focusing his mind, he released his Ulfhedinn form while gritting his teeth to keep from making too much noise as the pain of changing worked through his body.  He made a slight whining noise like a hurt dog and muttered a brief prayer to Heimdahl.  His long copper coloured hair and beard seemed to spread over his body and become darker but for his chest and stomach. Now in his full Ulfhedinn form, his senses increased dramatically and he started sifting through all the smells in the area.  He couldn’t tell for sure but it seemed like the third draug’s smell was coming from the flat watched by the two draugar he and his pack had been tracking.  It was too faint to tell much about it, not enough to even determine how old the draug was, or even if it was a third draug.  Harold wondered if perhaps he was just smelling the two draugar they had been tracking.  He thought of telling Alfred, but he wasn’t sure enough to tell him, it was so faint.  There were plenty of smells associated with earðkinar he was sure were going into the building, body odours, cigarettes, deodorants and antiperspirants, take-out food and some pets too.  Some were strong meaning they were recent and frequent, some much weaker and the one he wanted to identify, even weaker.  He would have to pick out each smell, isolate it, and try to determine if the draug smell was really coming from the front entrance and not just wafting around from the two his pack had been tracking.  

Harold spent the night working through the different scents and was becoming more confident there was a third draug that had gone into the flats through the front entrance, when suddenly the front door flung open and a female draug burst out.  She was down the street in a second and running fast. Harold glanced at the two draugar he’d been tracking with his pack, and then back down the street where the female draug was running down.   

Do his job, or follow his curiosity.  Curiosity won and Harold bolted after the female draug.  As he did so he heard Alfred shouting in his headset.  Harold wanted to focus on his quarry and having Alfred yelling in his ear was going to make that difficult.  Yanking the headset off, he headed for the wooded park next to the street with the idea to cut off the draug.  She was heading straight for the Ringway road.   If she reached the motorway before him, she could possibly leap atop a passing lorry and be out of Harold’s reach.   

Pulling his gun as he broke from the trees, he saw the draug running at the pylons supporting the elevated ringway.  She was wearing all black, hooded jacket, jeans, shoes, and a large black backpack which seemed to be bulging with its contents.  Harold fired a shot at the draug as it neared the first pylon.  Aiming at a target dressed all in black, in the shadows under the motorway and while running, he missed.  The .50 bullet made a large hole in the cement and sprayed pieces of concrete several feet in every direction.  The draug didn’t seem to notice the shot as she ran past the pylon and through the trees under the ringway to Quinton Road.   

His prey ran past Park Road, leapt over a brick wall and started running through the backyards between the houses.  Each potted plant, garden tool, piece of yard furniture or any easily picked up item she ran past was thrown backwards at Harold.  She wasn’t aiming at him, but Harold still had to dodge several of them and they made it difficult to take aim.   

Harold would have been enjoying the chase but realized where the chase was leading, Station Square.  If she made it there and ran into the station, Harold would have to take the time to change back into earðkin form and he’d lose her when she caught a train.  Sure enough, toward the end of the block the draug cut across a parking lot, crossed Manor Road and made straight for Station Square. Harold was tempted to take a shot to bring her down, but she didn’t run in a straight line for more than a few feet as she sprinted down the street.  Taking a shot and missing would put a .50 bullet into a building or parked car and he had already made a noticeable hole in a pylon.    

Reaching the station the draug suddenly slowed to a stroll.  She was relatively safe. A few earðkinar were already in the station to catch the first train of the day and even if the station was empty, the security cameras in the building would record the sight of a seven foot tall Ulfhedinn running through the station.  Harold was going to have to take the time to change in order to continue the chase.   

“Damn!!” Harold barked and ducked into a stand of trees on Eaton Road and changed into his earðkin form.  He growled and grunted as the pain of transforming back worked through his body.  Once done he pulled his clothes from his backpack and quickly put them on.  Harold ran to the station entrance and picked up the draug’s scent.  It was stronger now, indistinguishable from any other draug but at least he could determine she was young, somewhere between 50 and 60 years a draug.  There was a smell of blood, but not earðkin blood, it was the smell of sheep blood.  This confused Harold.  Draug didn’t drink animal blood.  They considered it unclean and sacrilegious.  He decided the smell of sheep blood must have been on the clothes or boots of an earðkin that entered the station.  A farmer from out of town, Corley Moor perhaps.   

Following the smell of the draug, Harold walked quickly through the station.  Checking the schedule Harold saw that a train for London had just left at 5:51AM.  Harold swore again.  The draug must have known she was being watched, either by the two draugar or the pack, and timed her dash from the flats to the station to catch the train at the last minute.   

On the remote chance the draug wore perfume or some other product, Harold stood still for a while, trying to find anything distinct or memorable about the draug’s scent, but there was nothing to work with.  Draugar never wore deodorant, and rarely wore perfume or cologne or used hair products.  There was the smell of the clothes she wore, but there was nothing special about them, just off the rack clothing.  There was a smell of money though, a lot of it.  That was interesting.  Harold wonder why a draug needed a backpack full of money.

He considered catching the next train, but the draug would have nearly an hour head start.  The would mean Harold would have to track her through London in his full Ulfhedinn form and even then there was no guarantee he’d find her scent.  Dawn was breaking so that option wasn’t available.  He turned and walked out of the station and as the door closed behind him, he caught the scent of Alfred and two of his pack-mates.  “Damn me”, Harold muttered to himself.  Not for the first time his impulse to do what made sense to him, regardless of what the pack was doing, was going to get him in trouble. This wouldn’t just be a reprimand on his record, this would put him in front of the Jarl and his council.  His career as a warrior was about to end.