Authors: Nicole Taft
He pointed to a lump beside the
fire. “You left it in the cottage when you ran out like a wild woman.”
My daypack. He’d scared me so much
standing over Marianne I’d just dropped it then and there. “You went back and
got it?”
“I bought it with me when I
followed you. You had some tasty things in there.” His eyes glittered in the
firelight—or did they do that on their own?
“You ate everything?”
“Of course not, my heart. I saved
some for you.”
I hoped so. The last thing I needed
was for this guy to be running on power bars and Snickers.
“How do you know my name, anyway?”
“I found a thing in your pack with
your name on it. You look delicious in the picture, but not as delicious as you
are in the flesh. Your hair was much shorter then.”
My driver’s license. Then I
remembered. I had bear mace in that pack. Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier?
“Could I have my pack please?”
“Yes, of course, my sweet
Caroline.”
I half waited for him to start
singing the song, but he’d called me sweet Caroline in earnest, not some stupid
joke like so many other guys did. He crawled over and dragged the pack to me.
Good
boy,
I thought involuntarily. I opened it up to rifle through it.
“So,” I said, hoping to distract
him, “why exactly were you attacking Marianne? You’ve never given me a straight
answer.”
He huffed and made quiet growling
noises, looking into the fire and scratching at his neck. “I wasn’t attacking
her. I was…” His mouth twitched. “Someone made a request for me regarding that
girl. But I wasn’t going to eat her. That knife was all for show. Scared kids
do what they’re told right? Although she did look every bit the succulent meal
like a fresh lamb playing in the fields, those delicate curls of hers bouncing
in the sunshine and her dainty dress like bluebells swaying in the meadow.”
He’d gone somewhere off the deep
end I suspected, gazing into the distance with a dreamy grin on his face, all
his teeth showing—including those abnormally sharp canines. Then he seemed to
catch himself and regroup.
“Not that I eat young girls—or any
girls for that matter. I only attacked you because you attacked me. I don’t eat
people at all, no matter what all the stories say. It only invites trouble and
makes a wolf more worse off than he already is.”
He sounded like he was trying to
convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince me. Hopefully he had
more luck on himself, because I certainly wasn’t going to buy it. And where the
hell was my bear spray?
“So who wanted Marianne and what
for? If you resorted to using a knife, it doesn’t sound like anything good.” I
managed to keep my voice level. Where was that damn mace? Sure, he’d helped me,
but I couldn’t stick around with someone this neurotic. Who knew when he might
snap again?
He scratched at his neck again and
blew air out through his nose like an aggravated dog. “I don’t know the reason.
As for who, I can’t say.”
“Why not?”
“I’m force-bound not to.”
“Uh huh.” I savagely pushed at my
daypack. “God! Wolf? Did you see a small can in here at any point in time?”
“I most certainly did. Awful
smelling stuff. I got rid of it immediately. Why did you have such a thing in
your pack?”
I let out an exasperated sigh. Might
as well tell him. “For protection. It’s especially good against bears.” And
crazy people.
“Bears hmm? They’re no worry. Too
busy eating honey porridge and going on outings.”
Oh joy. “Wolf, where am I?”
He smiled, and this time it wasn’t
scary. It was soft and happy. “You’re right here, with me.”
“No, I mean, this place. This
forest. What’s this place called?”
“Oh. You’re in the Kingdom of Red. It’s
a very big place. Home to all the wolves in all the lands.”
“How many ‘lands’ are there?”
“Three. Would you like to see a
map?”
“I would, very much so.”
He sat up enough to pull a worn
piece of leather out of a pocket. Then he flopped back on his stomach by me and
held it out.
“This is the land of Arglesia,
though we all know it by the name of King Thrushbeard’s Land, even though he
and his queen have been dead for generations. Above it is King Lute’s realm. And
this is the Kingdom of Red. See? We can’t leave here because the mountains
border it, and they’re much too high for any of us to scale and half-wolves
aren’t allowed through the human passageways.”
I carefully examined the details of
the map. The continent was like nothing I’d ever seen before, at least, not
where I came from. Lute’s kingdom sat in the upper corner in the northeast, and
if the map keys were anything to go by, looked like farmland as well as forest.
Thrushbeard’s Land was below in the southeast, mostly forest, and appeared to
have two little castles scrawled on the map. The Kingdom of Red was the
largest, at least twice the size of the other two lands, and practically all
forest. A line of mountains separated the Kingdom of Red from the other lands,
stretching from ocean to ocean across the continent. The continents and writing
were scrawled in black and faded with time. The leather was flimsy and careworn
from years of use. I didn’t see how it could be fake.
The pond. Marianne. Wolf. Giants. Now
this map. I finally gave in and fully accepted where I was. Far from home. In
some fairy tale land. I wasn’t sure if I should laugh, cry, or just freak out,
but considering everything I’d gone through already I was too tired to do any
of those things. It was like I’d just gone through the five stages of grieving.
Except I’d skipped the bargaining part. I wondered if I should start.
I handed the map back to Wolf,
watching him as he carefully folded it up and tucked it away in his jacket
pocket. Then he settled down near me, happy. He looked like a regular guy
relaxing fireside. Like we weren’t in some fairy tale land and he and I had
gone camping for the weekend. Then he noticed me looking at him and winked.
“Are you really a half-wolf?” I
asked.
“Oh yes,” he said softly.
I stared at him for a bit before
speaking again. “You seem to have issues.”
He sniffed, the content look fading
from his face. “It’s hard, being half-wolf. No pack to speak of. Feared by
humans. Farmers especially. They hate wolves, half and whole alike, those
farmers. Doesn’t matter which. They catch a wolf, they build a fire and burn it
or stab it with pitchforks and anything else until they reach its heart. No one
loves wolves in the Kingdom of Red.”
He got very quiet as he said the
last part. He plucked at a thread on his coat cuff, sullen.
“I study wolves, you know,” I
finally said.
His gaze fixed on me again. “Study
them?”
“I’m a wolf biologist. I watch
them, follow them. I understand their habits and personalities. I protect them
where I come from. I’m not afraid of wolves.”
“No? Is that why you weren’t afraid
to kiss me?” His eyes glittered again.
I laughed lightly. “I was afraid to
kiss you, trust me. But that was because I thought you were a serial killer. I
didn’t believe you were a wolf in any shape or form. I’m still not sure I trust
you.”
“Because I’m a wolf?”
“No, because I’m still worried you
might be a serial killer.”
He grunted and rolled his eyes.
“I fear humans more than I fear wolves,”
I said. “Where I’m from it’s rare for wolves to attack people. Humans, on the
other hand, don’t always need provocation to hurt someone. Frankly I think
humans are crazier.”
His jovial grin returned. “No
wonder you’re my mate.”
I put a hand over my eyes. “I am
not your mate.”
“What if I make a pledge?”
“A pledge?”
“A pledge to help you. I’m tired of
seeking the girl for
her
.” I wondered who he was talking about. “I just
want to be free. I just want to be near my mate.”
I sighed in exasperation. “I am not
your—”
“Please,” he said, and his serious
expression stopped me. “I know you may not believe me but…I would be very
grateful if you gave me a chance. No one ever gives me a chance.” He touched my
arm and my heart did that weird flip-flop thing again.
I finally relented. “All right. But
that’s quite a sudden turnaround, babe. How do I know you won’t do the same to
me when the time comes?”
“As the moon is my master, I
promise to be by your side no matter what. I will do everything you ask. And a
wolf who promises on the moon does not go back on his vow.”
“What about the girl?”
He held up his hands in surrender.
“I won’t even go near her without your leave.”
I supposed it would have to do. We fell
silent, watching the stars come out while the rest of the world went from blue
to black. The moon hung low in the sky, a little over half of it showing. I
caught Wolf staring at it intently.
“You’re not gonna howl at that, are
you?”
“I might.”
“Wolves don’t howl at the moon
where I’m from. That’s an old wives’ tale. They howl to reinforce pack bonds
and to let other wolves know where their boundaries are.”
“We do that too, but the moon is
our master, especially for us half-wolves because we have no pack and no one to
howl to. The pull is stronger when the moon is full.”
I inched away from him. “You’re not
a werewolf, are you?”
He sat up in disgust. “No. Of
course not. Werewolves are disgusting, vicious creatures. Wolves in human skins
that have indulged in their darker sides and killed too many people. They revel
in their bloodlust. All the werewolves of this country were banished a long
time ago.” Then he settled down again. “Werewolf,” he scoffed.
“But…you could be. As a half-wolf,
right?”
He growled. “I’d eat poisoned meat
before becoming a werewolf.”
Good to know. I shifted my spot in
the leaves, closing my eyes.
“You’re going to help me find Marianne
tomorrow, right?” I asked.
“Yes. A wolf never goes back on his
word, half or whole.”
“Good.”
I woke up in the middle of the
night, a little chilled, and stiff from lying on the hard ground. My head
didn’t hurt at all. I shifted again, turned on my side with my head on my arm. I
opened my eyes a crack and thought I saw Wolf, standing about twenty feet away
amidst the trees. A pack of wolves, full ones on all four paws, surrounded him.
He gestured with his hands from time to time. He paused for a moment and shook
his foot, something gold jangling around his ankle. A weird tingle pulled at
me. He went back to gesturing as though talking. Then several of the wolves
turned to look at me, the fire making their eyes glow in the dark. Wolf did the
same, and his eyes glimmered in the exact same way.
I woke with a start. Panic wrenched
in my chest from my strange surroundings, and for a moment I was six again,
lost in the woods. Then the previous day’s events came rushing back. I relaxed
slightly. Old memories lingered in my mind. I pushed them away. My watch read
six o’clock, though I didn’t know how accurate that was for this place. The
sun’s rays shone through the trees and early morning mist. My body was stiff
but thankfully not too cold even though the fire must have died sometime during
the night. Wolf laid a few feet away, half curled up and whimpering softly in
his sleep. I was surprised I was awake before him. Probably due to his little
late-night wolf powwow, whatever that was about. I thought he had no pack. I’d
have to ask him about that. I shook my head and ran my fingers through my hair,
trying to undo some of the tangles I’d developed during the night. My stomach
gurgled, and I pulled my pack over to get out a power bar for breakfast. I
assumed slave traders slept at night like everyone else here and if they were
weighed down by a lot of people, we could have a good chance at catching them
today.
I stood as quietly as I could,
stretching my arms, legs, and back. I still wasn’t sure what to make of Wolf. I
didn’t know if I could really trust him or not. He’d apologized and explained, and
I wasn’t going to lie to myself—he looked good and smelled good too. But he’d
been after Marianne for a reason. For
her
, whoever she was, and no
matter what he promised, that thought lingered in my mind. He growled at some
phantom dream image.
I snuck off to go to the bathroom,
far out of his potential sight in case he woke up, and then came back,
debating. I could leave him here and set out on my own. But he’d tracked me to
the giants’ lair, so there was a good chance he’d just be able to find me again
without a problem. I figured slavers probably needed a decent road to travel on
at some point, but unless I got lucky and bumped into it, I needed Wolf to find
them too. And what if I did find them? I had no idea what slave traders were
like here, or how I would get Marianne away from them. Whatever the situation,
I needed Wolf to survive. He’d seemed serious enough last night with his
pledge. All he asked for was a chance. Fine. I’d give him one. Then we’d see
how long it would take him to forget. I knelt beside him.
“Time to get up,” I said quietly,
touching his arm. I didn’t want to be too rough in case he woke up snapping or
something.
He rubbed his face into the leaves
and grunted in protest. I frowned. It was still hard to believe he was half
wolf, but after dealing with giants and everything else I didn’t have room to
doubt him. Asleep he looked like just a man. A handsome one too—and I really
wasn’t supposed to be thinking things like that.
“Hey,” I said a little louder this
time. “Let’s get going now.”
Wolf snatched my hand and pulled
hard. I shouted in surprise as he rolled me over, coming to rest on top of me. His
smiling face looked down at me. He took in a deep breath.