Lone Wolf

By Bella Lamounier

Prologue

In the great Circle of Life, people are bound to look for what they think will bring them happiness before their time has ended. Many yearn for power and wealth and try to take it through war; they often go mad for the riches they can never steal. Others spend their lives searching, learning, acquiring a baggage of knowledge that is enviable wherever one goes. For many of those, it never seems to be enough to bring them the Wisdom they long for.

Then, there are those that only want to know what they are meant to do in this life and to find the place where they truly belong. Most never realize that they don’t really belong to a land in particular, but some do find that precious feeling of belonging WITH someone, of calling home whatever places that someone happens to be. The bards that sang of it called it Love and the poets have been writing about it for thousands of years. You will now hear a tale that is not only about love, but also about the obstacles that true love strongly stands against as it tries to stay alive in the smitten hearts.

This story took place in a time when men had already been fighting for power for thousands of years. And while powerful lords fought over the throne of her mother land, England, a young girl only hoped for a life in peace in the lands that her family had called home for generations. But she never expected to find the peace she longed for in the form of a cold Norman lord that changed everything she knew and turned her life upside down… In my old age, many memories are already lost from my mind, but I can still remember as if it were yesterday the first time I saw them together and the way they always tried to make each other’s lives a living hell. Heh. And it still makes me grin like a fool.

From the Year of 1042 to 1066, England was under the reign of King Edward, the Confessor. In his time, Edward had to deal with the problem of succession to the English throne, which was claimed by Normans, Saxons and Norwegians. So, to solve the problem, he gave the right of succession to William, the Duke of Normandy, who was also called “the Conqueror” for his great reputation as a warrior and “the Bastard” for his illegitimate birth. But, in January of 1066, the king died and the throne was taken by Harold Godwinson, a Saxon lord who swore that the king had changed his will on his deathbed.

William didn’t accept Harold’s claims and so started the preparations for the war between Normandy and England. Only in the end of September of the same year did William manage to land in England, near the town of Hastings. Due to Harold’s being in the battle of Stamford Bridge, fighting off the Vikings that had taken over the city of York, William had no difficulties to gain control of Hastings.

Soon, Harold arrived with his army and the Battle of Hastings took place. It lasted a whole day and for a long time it was a balanced fight, but the Norman forces managed to defeat the Saxons and Harold was killed by an arrow, though only after the battle was clearly lost.

But, even though William, the Conqueror, had won the Battle of Hastings, he knew well enough that he had a long path ahead of him before he could truly win England.

And as this tale will show you, despite this context of conflict and hate, it was right in the middle of battle that love flourished, like a flower that grows among rocks, but shows the persistence of a special blossom that refuses to perish. It all started right after the Battle of Hastings, as the Norman army moved to take the holdings that still wouldn’t submit to the Conqueror.

On November 1st of 1066, in the land of West Sussex and very near Hastings, the Norman baron called Lone Wolf by his subordinates laid siege on the Arundel Castle, property of Alden Ethelstan, Earl of Arundel. And in the figure of Lady Sakura of Arundel, Lord Sasuke Uchiha found his fate.