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This is a short tale from Roman times and tells us of how the ancient Elder
of our Clan, Morrigan, who called the valley in which Sheffield would later
thrive her own, came to first form an "understanding" with the Garou of the
Pennine Protectorate (at that time known as the Protectorate of Mercia).
The son of Mercia's Ahroun was called Penda and he was an Elder in his own
right. After leading a war party of Fianna to destroy a Black Spiral Caern
to the North, the weakened group headed back to Mercia.
As nighttime approached they followed the outskirts of the valley of sheaf,
fearful of the great wolf that they knew dwelled there. Darkness fell and
they stopped to make camp at what they at first thought to be an abandoned
farm for the buildings there had no light lit. They made camp under a huge
barn and as they built a camp fire a young woman appeared from out of the
darkness. She was slight with long straggly hair and the clothes she wore
were old and dirty. When Penda asked her who she was she answered "Morrigan"
but offered no further information. When they asked her where she was from
she gestured all around her and said "Mine". The Fianna assumed that she
referred to the farm and that her reluctance to speak was due to her being a
simpleton. Still, she smiled when they offered for her to join their camp
side and, though she seemed wary of getting too close to the fire, she
smiled and seemed to be content purely to have some company.
As they sat by the fire and recounted the glories of the battle just gone,
the girl Morrigan seemed to become more wary and cocked her head to one side
as though listening for something. Penda asked her what ailed her as she
sniffed at the air. Her response was "Beware" and suddenly she was on her
feet and had disappeared into the shadows. Almost immediately after this,
before the Fianna could register how fast she had moved they found
themselves fighting for their lives. A band of Black Spiral Dancers, almost
twice the size in number to that of their own, had surrounded them and
attacked from the cover of darkness. The Wyrm tainted Howlers were remnants
of the Caern that the Fianna had destroyed and they had tracked Penda's
group down in order to exact vengeance.
The Dancers quickly took the lead in the fight, their superior numbers
providing them with simply too great an advantage for the Fianna to negate.
As Penda and his followers were hemmed back into the barn they received
wound after wound and it would soon come to pass that the first of the
Fianna would fall dead.
Suddenly, the darkness behind the Black Spiral Dancers was pierced by a
terrifying howl. Before the Dancers knew what was happening an enormous gray
wolf leapt amongst them and started to tear them limb from limb. Even though
the Dancers were in the form known as Crinos (as were the Fianna), the
wolf's jaw and teeth were so powerful and long that one bite from them could
tear a Dancer in half. Her pelt was so hard that the claws of the Black
Spirals shattered when they attempted to strike her and her claws flashed
back and forth so quickly that hardly a blur could be seen.
The Fianna, rallied by this turn of events, began to fight back with renewed
strength and vigor. Assailed in this fashion from both sides the Black
Spiral Dancers were soon overwhelmed and it soon followed that all of them
were slain.
Returning to man form, Penda looked at the wolf, which now stood in a pool
of gore and stared back at him. "My thanks great wolf, we are indebted to
you" he said in the Garou tongue. The wolf stared back at him before
replying. Turning its gaze upon the surrounding countryside it simply said
"Mine".
Penda realized then that the wolf and the girl were one and the same and
that it had not been the farmland she had referred to earlier but the entire
valley. "We shall respect your territory, great wolf" said Penda and after
several moments of further scrutiny from the wolf, it turned and loped into
the darkness.
From that night the Fianna of the Protectorate of Mercia stayed out of the
wolf's valley. The valley of sheaf was hers and they valued her as a
neighbor. Their enemies were her enemies.
From that night forth a great alliance was forged...
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