VIKING: THE THRONE OF BEOWULF: The Killing Beast Was Released (Viking, Throne, Legend, Thriller, Beowulf, Murder, Gotland Saga) by Arwen Grim Read Free Book Online Page A

accusation in that familiar gaze that had once looked upon him with such adoration.

Abel shuddered and then went still, breathing his last. Kanin drew his dagger from his dead brother’s chest, tears flowing down his cheeks and hands trembling so hard the dagger fell, cluttering to the floor, even as he fell to his own knees and wept freely. Abel was gone – gone by his hand. Father would turn to him now; ‘twas done.
    ‘Cept that it didn’t end there. Abel’s dying cry had brought their father running to the stables and he watched, as his first born murdered his second born and then fell to the ground and wept. His heart shattered in his chest, his old body giving away to exhaustion and fear.
    “What have you done?!” he roared at his son, “What murder have you wrought, you wretched creature?!”
    Behind him, his wife shrieked at the sight of her elder son weeping over her youngest’s dead form. She raced past him into the stables and clutched Abel to her breast, rocking him even as she had done when he was a baby, sobbing loudly at the loss of her beloved child.
    “What have you done?” the father’s hands shook and his voice broke – he too, fell to the ground and wept.
    Kanin looked up and sneered at his sire. “I did what I must,” he snarled, “What you drove me to do!”
    “You are a monster, Kanin,” the father exclaimed, “A monster… curse you for a fool, you beast! You killed your own flesh and blood!”
    “If I am a monster, Father,” Kanin cried, “’Tis only because you made me one!”
    “Then hear my curse,” was his broken response, “You are no more son of mine! You are a beast and you shall turn into the monster you are. ‘Twas a dagger that you wielded to take the life of your own brother… but you shall know not the sweet release of pain, of death – wander ever alone, not to be killed by any weapon, a monster to be feared and hated and cursed! Because that is what you have become, Kanin – a beast, a killing beast!”
    “NO!” the mother, rocking her dead son cried, “No, not him too… please, Milord, have mercy… I have already lost one child, do not take the other away from me as well!”

The father turned to her with broken eyes, “If you wish to go with him, then leave… he’s a beast and you, Milady, are a hag, if you truly believe that you can forgive this sin… would you rather stay with the killer of your son or would you mourn him as he deserves?”
    “No, no, no,” she pleaded, “please, Milord… Abel is gone, but Kanin…”
    “Kanin is no more!” he roared in response, “I have lost both my sons today! This-this beast… he is no Kanin, he is a monster – he is Grendel , the killing beast.”
    “And if you must choose to go with him,” he proclaimed further, “Then you are no longer my wife… you will only be Grendel’s mother, a hag to be feared and ignored, even as Grendel is ostracized and isolated. Choose wisely.”
    And Kanin’s mother, being a mother first and a foolish woman ruled by sentiment, chose to go with the son who had become the first murderer.
    Transformation came upon Kanin – his skin turned rotten, even as his brother’s corpse rotted. His bone and his flesh tore, and the skin peeled off his eyes so that they were left to be simply two giant balls in sunken sockets. His jaw extended and yellow, broken teeth jutted out of blood-red gums. His voice grew from the rough drawl of a man to the harsh yowl of a beast – he turned from Kanin to Grendel.
    His mother, however, remained the same; she remained beautiful and youthful, her lovely visage a true lie. Kanin’s father ran them both out of their home, leaving them to starve in the woods.
    And ‘twas here that the mother turned into a true hag. She lured innocent men off the roads and into the woods with her beauty and Grendel pounced on them before they could defend themselves, killing them with one quick stroke of his hands. Mother and son would then tear the body