The Death of Bad King Wolf

In some parts of Britain, particularly in Northern England and the Provinces, many of the Forsaken tell a radically different story about the loss of Pangaea. This is how it goes:

“When Father Wolf led his children against the Spinner-Hag and the Plague King, he defeated them and they did not escape, and he claimed victory and the spirits and animals alike declared him King. A great gathering of the animals of the Earth proclaimed his right to the fealty of the mammals and reptiles, to the choice of hunting grounds and the right to eat of their flesh to the King.

Now three of his children were the children of King Wolf’s two Spirit-Wolf Queens. The First Spirit-Wolf Queen was the mother of Dire Wolf. The Second Spirit-Wolf Queen was the mother of Silver Wolf and Rabid Wolf. At the birth of each, Luna, the Moon, gave each of them her blessing as a naming-gift, and they were the first werewolves. And five were the children of Luna herself, and as such were not given the rights of the others, although the gift was theirs, and they became the second werewolves. But the elder wolf-children were Highborn. They would one day rule.

The five children of Luna accepted this as the order of things, for King Wolf was their alpha as much as their King. But the Highborn were impatient and jealous. They decided that they should reign over the world, and that they would speed on the deaths of the King Wolf and his Queens. And so, one night, Dire Wolf stole into the place where the remains of the Spinner-Hag were left and broke away one of Spinner-Hag’s fangs.

Then he crept up to the place where the First Queen Wolf lay, and stabbed it into his mother’s foot. The First Queen Wolf stirred in her sleep, and then awoke in pain and fear as her blood boiled within her and her veins burst open, and a swarm of spiders flooded out of her body. And then Dire Wolf took the fang away and hid it under a stone near where the King Wolf slept.

This was how the Spider Hosts came into the world.

When King Wolf found her corpse, bloodied and violated, he went mad with grief and anger. Alone, he went to the place where the Spinner-Hag lay and saw that a fang had been taken, and saw the footprints of one of his children. He came back and demanded to know who had done this. The children of Luna insisted that they knew nothing, but Dire Wolf said that he had seen Red Wolf and Black Wolf steal the poison fang and kill his mother; Silver Wolf and Rabid Wolf said that they, too, had seen the children of Luna do this. And Father Wolf believed them, for they were his favorite children, and, in a rage, made Red Wolf and Black Wolf eat their own children, and they did so, although they complained that they had been wronged all along.

On a second night, Silver Wolf stole a claw from where the Plague King lay. Silver Wolf found where the Second Wolf Queen lay and stabbed it into her foot, and she died in agony, as her blood boiled within her and her veins burst open, and a swarm of rats flooded out of her body. And then Silver Wolf took the claw away and hid it under a stone near where the King Wolf slept.

This was how the Rat Hosts came into the world.

King Wolf found her corpse and went mad with grief and anger. Alone, he went to the place where the Plague King lay and saw that a claw had been taken, and saw the footprints of one of his children. King Wolf came back and he demanded to know who had done this. The children of Luna insisted that they knew nothing, but Silver Wolf said that he had seen Winter Wolf and Destroyer Wolf steal the poison claw and kill his mother; Dire Wolf and Rabid Wolf said that they, too, had seen the children of Luna do this. And Father Wolf believed them, for they were his favorite children, and, in a rage, made Winter Wolf and Destroyer Wolf eat their own children, and they did so, although they complained that they had been wronged all along.

Now Rabid Wolf was crafty. He wished to see King Wolf dead, but did not wish the blood to be on his own head. So Rabid Wolf came to Death Wolf as a friend, and told Death Wolf that the King was mad, and that he had killed his Two Wolf Queens himself. And Rabid Wolf showed Death Wolf where the claw and the fang was hidden, and he took Death Wolf to the places where the Spinner-Hag and the Plague King lay. And he showed Death Wolf the footprints of the King, which were larger than any others. Through many arguments, Rabid Wolf convinced Death Wolf that the King had to die. And Death Wolf, although wise, was blinded by his anger, and called together the other children of Luna, and told them what he had learned. And they decided that the King had gone mad, and that he could no longer be their alpha.

But the three children of the Wolf Queens hid and would not join their brothers.

And so the children of Luna found King Wolf, and they killed him, and because he was killed unjustly, Pangaea was lost. And the Highborn hated the children of Luna, because in their hypocrisy, the Highborn blamed the children of Luna for taking away their Kingdom.

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