100% Wolf (9 page)

The following morning, a few miles away, Sir Hotspur
was raging over his breakfast.

'Blast that foolster Frederick!' he bellowed. 'He's
ruined everything and now he's disappeared. I've
searched the whole castle. He's a disgrace – a disgrace,
sir! When I find him, I'll chop him into twenty pieces,
make him into a pie and throw it into the sewer. That
I will, sir!' His eyes were wild under his bushy red
eyebrows. He thumped the table and all the plates
jumped up and landed with a crash.

Chariot's piggy eyes opened a little wider. Harriet
however, just smiled as she poured milk on her
cereal.

'I saw him five minutes ago, Daddy.' She smiled
sweetly at her father.

'What's that?' He turned his bloodshot eyes to her.
'Where?'

'I wanted to fetch you, but he tried to bite me.'

'The
animal!'
Sir Hotspur roared. 'And are you hurt,
my precious angel?'

'No, I'm not scared of a
poodle!'
she scoffed.

'Ha! Quite so, madam, quite so.' He slammed his
fist down again.

'I saved her, Dad,' Chariot butted in, not wanting
to be left out.

'No, you didn't.' Harriet kicked him under the
table.

'Yes, I did.' He kicked her back.

'So where is the foolster?' fumed Sir Hotspur.

'He was on his way to the lavatory,' Harriet said
with her nose in the air, giving her brother such a hard
kick that he had to hold his breath.

'The
lavatory?
But I've looked everywhere!' Sir
Hotspur spluttered.

'Not
inside
the castle, Daddy,' she corrected. 'He's
a
dog,
so of course he wanted to poo on your lawn,
just like his friend did last week.'

'Poo?'
Sir Hotspur could barely speak the word.
'On my
lawn?'

This was dangerous ground. The only thing Sir
Hotspur loved more than himself and Sir Rathbone
was his lawn.

'But he's not a dog
now,
Harriet. He'll have
transformed back. He'll be that menace Frederick
again.' The thought gave him some relief.

Chariot looked alarmed. Harriet had nearly given
away their trick with the Moonstone. If their father
realised that they knew he had a Moonstone, they
would be in for it. Worse still, if he knew they had
taken it...

Harriet, however, was calm.

'I know he's a boy, silly Daddy.' She smiled slyly.
'But he said he'd do it on your lawn anyway.'

News of such despicable behaviour was more than
Sir Hotspur could take. He trembled with outrage and
turned a dark shade of purple.

'To think this
creature
has polluted the glory of Sir
Hotspur! I ... I ... mean Sir
Rathbone,
of course.'
With his cheeks wobbling with temper, he stormed
downstairs and outside into the garden.

Sir Hotspur was relieved not to find the dreaded poo
on his lawn after all. He charged back into the castle
to search once more for his troublesome nephew.
As he walked along the corridor that led from the
Great Hall to the Tower, he noticed that his study
door was open. With a grim smile, he walked in,
certain of finding the foolster at last. There was something
wrong. Things had been moved on his desk.
The keys to his drawer were not exactly as he had
left them. Even the heart of Sir Hotspur could beat
a little too quickly at the idea that his secret may
have been discovered. He opened the drawer and
then sat down on his chair in fright. The Moonstone
had gone!

'Where is that foolster?' he cried louder than ever.

There was one man who thought he knew the
answer to that question. Later that afternoon, a man
walked up to the gates of Coldfax Fort. He looked
around nervously as if he didn't want be seen, knocked
on the door and was shown inside.

There was no breakfast served in Coldfax, and by the
time the miserably bad lunch was served, Freddy's
stomach was howling. Straight after lunch, the dogs
were sent down to the Pit for walkies. While they were
there, the door opened and the Commander appeared
with Cerberus.

'Fetch the pink one,' the old lady told the guard
dog. 'He has a visitor.' It was uncanny how the huge
wolfhound seemed to understand the old lady's words.
Freddy understood them only too clearly.

'Batty, he's coming for me!' he yelped.

The two dogs watched in fright as the slavering
hound ran towards them.

'Freddy, what have you done
now?'
Batty yipped.
The poodle seemed to get in trouble no matter what
she did to help him.

'I have a visitor,' he cried. 'It must be Cripp.'

Cerberus ran quickly. The other dogs parted
nervously around him.

'Come with me, pink pong,' he snarled.

'Why?' Freddy whimpered.

'No questions!' Cerberus roared.

'Please, may I come too?' Batty woofed.

'Step back in line!' the great beast snarled at her.

Freddy had no choice but to go with Cerberus.
Batty watched as the little pink poodle hopped up the
stairs. The Commander opened the door without a
word and, with a frightened backward glance, Freddy
left the Pit. Cerberus, however, stayed to watch over
the other dogs.

'Poor little Freddy,' Batty whimpered.

'Come on, lassie,' Hamish whispered as he walked
past. 'It won't help if you make Cerberus mad. Walkies
now, walkies, walkies!'

Reluctantly, Batty started to walk. Her nose pointed
sadly at the ground in front of her, just like the
miserable dogs around her. As they walked with their
heads down, nobody noticed St John walk slyly up
to Cerberus. He began to whisper in the wolfhound's
ear. Cerberus listened, then shook his head and
snarled at the spaniel. St John had to work hard to
convince the guard dog that what he was saying was
true.

'You can tell from his smell,' he woofed at last.

The truth seemed obvious to Cerberus now. He
gave a nasty laugh, nodded, and left the Pit. The door
closed behind him as he bounded down the corridor
after Freddy.

With trembling legs, Freddy followed the Commander
down the stone corridor towards her office.

'Heel, heel, won't you? Keep up,' the old lady
snapped as they walked.

Freddy had no wish to heel. He didn't want to meet
Cripp but was powerless to escape him. At last the
Commander reached the door and opened it, shoving
the reluctant poodle inside with her foot.

Freddy jumped with surprise and relief. Before
him stood not Dr Cripp but Uncle Hotspur, the very
wolf he needed to talk to.

'Here is Dripsy-Wimpsy,' the Commander said as
they entered. 'I called you when I saw his medal.'

Sir Hotspur had received the Commander's call
just after he discovered that the Moonstone had
been taken. He had raced over to Coldfax Fort as
quickly as he could. When he saw Freddy he almost
exploded.

'Pink, sir?
Pink?
What is the meaning of it?' he
huffed with purple cheeks.

'He's certainly a most absurd creature,' the Commander
agreed.

'He is a disgrace, madam!' Sir Hotspur interrupted.
'A disgrace.'

Freddy looked down at his clawed toes in sorrow.
For a moment he had almost forgotten how ridiculous
he looked.

'I want a word with my nephew alone, madam, if
you would be so kind,' Sir Hotspur smiled.

'Your
nephew?
Sir Hotspur?' The old lady turned in
amazement.

'Just a pet name, madam. No relation really. No!'

The Mayor shuddered his shoulders at the
thought.

'As if such a great man could be related to such a
ridiculous little dog,' the old lady laughed.

Sir Hotspur puffed his cheeks at the flattery.

'Quite so, madam! The boy is a foolster.' As soon
as the Commander left the room, Freddy ran forward
and began to jump up around his uncle's knees.

'Dr Cripp is in Milford,' he yipped loudly.

Sir Hotspur, of course, understood none of this,
but he did spot the Moonstone around his nephew's
neck. He grasped the chain and lifted him into the
air.

'What is the meaning of this, sir? How could
you plan such infamy? To actually wish to remain a
poodle! Who helped you? You could not fasten this
chain yourself. How could any Lupin wish to be a
dog?
Impossible. Let me think ...'

Sir Hotspur did think. He looked at his nephew's
ridiculous pink fur cut into vest, shorts and socks.
No boy would ever do this to himself, he was sure.
Besides, Freddy was too stupid to find the Moonstone.

'Harriet,
of course.' He gave a chuckle of pride at
his daughter's genius.

Freddy's furious yaps confirmed his suspicion.

'My clever girl,' Sir Hotspur smiled. 'More clever
than she knows. Now, let me see that chain,' he said,
ignoring the barks and changing his grip on Freddy,
so the unfortunate dog was left dangling by his hind
legs. Lupin gave the chain a pull, then he dropped the
furious poodle back on the floor.

'That'll hold, sir! It would take my fangs to break
that chain. No hound here will do it.' Uncle Hotspur's
voice dropped to a nasty growl, 'You'll stay here, sir,
until the Great Pack has forgotten you ever existed.
Until the stain upon Sir Rathbone's memory has faded,
and until I am Grand Growler once more!' He gave a
cold laugh.

'You're not leaving me in this place?' Freddy howled
with horror at the dreadful news.

Sir Hotspur only laughed once more.

'But Cripp's here! It's not funny. It's ... it's ...
scarifyingly ... totally ... gggrrrrr!' He couldn't make
his uncle understand. The whole of the Moonlight
Gathering was in grave peril. All Sir Hotspur could
hear, of course, was a series of noisy barks and yips.
The Commander returned with tea and buns.

'What a hideous noise,' she wailed. 'I'm afraid I
don't like this dog much, Mayor.'

'Never could stand a dog, madam,' he replied.
'Poodles are the worst of the lot. As for a pink one?
Disgraceful,
sir.'

'But you have to listen to me!' Freddy woofed in
vain.

'So you aren't taking Dripsy-Wimpsy back to
Farfang then?' the Commander asked joyfully.

'No, madam. He'll be staying here for a long time,'
Sir Hotspur replied with a nasty gleam in his eye.

'I know exactly what you mean, Mayor.' The
Commander gave a knowing look.

'Quite so. And how is the other matter?' he asked
with a glance at Freddy, who continued to bark madly
at him.

'Oh, everything is under control!' She gave a cruel
smile. 'And this ugly little beast isn't going anywhere,
either.'

Poor old Freddy wailed in fury and frustration
at his plight. Not only had Sir Hotspur betrayed
him, but he was blind to the danger the werefolk
were in. There was only one thing for it: somehow
Freddy must stop Cripp himself. And whether he was
a wolf, a poodle or a boy, that was exactly what he
was determined to do. Freddy Lupin had 100 per cent
hero's blood in his veins and he meant to use it!