Ali - Seven For a Secret

Two days later, Wolf was still confined to bed and becoming very grumpy about it.

“Wolfs heal fast,” he complained. “Why, I could chase down a whole herd of sheep right now.”

Virginia looked at him steadily. After blood loss and the enforced change, he was still pale and slept most of the day. At his insistence she had shared his bed, but for the last two nights she had simply lain awake holding him tightly, watching him sleep, pale and worn out, still astonished at how she had sent him away. Love isn’t something that’s done to you, she had thought then. It’s a challenge you accept or reject. It’s a dare against the world. Well, I accept. I take responsibility for myself. I dare.

Now, she said, “Well, humour your poor mate, Wolf. I’m tired out. At least I know where you are when you stay in bed.” She patted her swollen stomach. “I really don’t want to go mountain climbing to find you again. Strenuous exercise is out for awhile.”

He grinned, and patted the pillow beside him. “Not even a little bit?” he asked slyly.

In the end, he just fell asleep in her arms again. Virginia didn’t mind. She watched him breathe: in, out, in, out. What a marvellous thing breathing is, and I‘ve never really noticed before. When he wakes up, we can talk about the baby. I’ll tell him how scared it makes me, how unready I feel. I wonder if he feels the same way. Maybe I should talk to Dad too. Maybe everyone feels like this.

Wendell watched Silver drift into the ruined bar of the hotel and sit in a darkened corner. It was full of townspeople toasting his success in slaying the dragon. Wendell felt like a first-class fraud, and massively uncomfortable to be accepting toasts to dragon slaying in front of Silver. For someone who looked so distinctive, she could really blend in. He never knew when he might catch a gleam from those pale eyes. I know it was a spell; I know I was bewitched, he thought, unable to take his eyes off her. But I still feel it, the fascination...

Tony said, in his ear, “Why don’t we go talk to that poor woman?”

They seated themselves at the same charred table on a couple of chairs Wendell devoutly hoped would hold their weight.

“Um. Hello,” he said. She just looked at him. He thought back two days, to when she had woken up on the mountain, for the first time in centuries back in her human form, only to discover the magpies had taken her heart away after everything she had suffered. They had learned then how the Fairest of them All, who had become the Swamp Witch, had trapped the dragon Silver with promises of riches, and then promptly enchanted her to do the witch’s bidding. It was only the dragonish custom of hiding one’s heart that had saved Silver from falling under the witch’s total domination.

“But making it a person, Silver, wasn’t that a bit risky?” Wendell had asked her.

Silver had looked at him as if he were stupid. “Much less so than if it were hidden in a duck egg, inside a bronze casket underneath a mountain. Can you believe my grandfather thought that was a safe place to hide his heart? The first tuppence-ha’penny hero that came along killed him.” She had sniffed disdainfully. “Now giving my heart the power to think for and protect itself, well it worked, didn’t it?”

He couldn’t argue with her logic. It had worked, to a degree, till the magpies had stolen it. “How are you, then?” he asked her now with fake cheer.

She stared at him. “Well, let me see, your Majesty.” She tapped the rickety tabletop with one fingernail. “I’ve gone from hibernation, to being trapped in my were-form, to being imprisoned in my human form. I’m sitting in a wrecked hotel bar listening to your subjects compose songs about my spurious demise. I don’t know where I’m going to go or what I’m going to do. The magpies stole my heart while I was unconscious, so I am still without most of my power. And you’re asking me stupid questions.” She ran her hands though the remnants of her gorgeous hair. “I’m just wonderful, your Majesty, thank you for asking.”

Wendell cleared his throat and stood up to leave, flushing with embarrassment. “Marvellous,” he said, feeling his own heart sink like a lead weight. “Carry on.”

Tony stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Sit down Wendell.”

He squinted meaningfully at Silver, and rubbed his nose. “Stop feeling so sorry for yourself, young lady.” Wendell sat down helplessly back in his chair, hoping desperately that Tony wasn’t going to embarrass him.

Silver raised a scornful brow, “I think, human man, I have lived at least a few centuries long enough to escape being patronised by you.”

Tony tapped her on the back of the wrist. “Do I have to pull rank on you, Dragon? Stop pretending you don’t know who I am. You’re trapped in your human form because you deserve to be. Have you thought about what you did while under the witch’s control? Do you have any memory of how many of these people” - Tony waved a hand at the revellers - “you killed? And all because the Fairest offered you gold before she enchanted you? I think that’s taking dragonish love for treasure too far don’t you?”

Silver dropped her fierce, white gaze, shamefaced.

“If you want to have your power back you’re going to have to earn the right to it.”

Virginia eased her hand out of Wolf’s sleeping hold and went to wash her face. It was mid-afternoon, and surprisingly warm for a winter day. She felt clammy and uncomfortable. There was a basin of clean water in one corner and a large fragment of mirror balanced against the wall behind it. She lowered herself carefully down, and washed her face. The mirror fragment was spotted and brown in places. On an impulse she didn’t understand, Virginia reached out to touch it.

It gave slightly under her fingers, sending silvery ripples to the edges, and she snatched her hand back, a lump of fright forming in her throat. She thought she heard a voice saying, “You’ve yet to keep your bargain, dearie.” In her hurry to get away, she overturned the basin and it knocked the mirror fragment face down on the floor. She stood up, breathing heavily.

There was an insistent knocking at the door. Virginia hurried awkwardly to open in. Silver stood outside. Flustered, Virginia let her in.

“Is he awake?” Silver asked seriously.

“He is.”

Virginia jumped, she’d thought Wolf fast asleep. Silver walked to the bedside, her hands clasped tightly together.

“I came to apologise, for what it’s worth. I have ... not been myself lately. I’m sorry I damaged you.”

Wolf listened to her gravely. Virginia saw his nose twitch as he took in Silver’s scent.

“Won’t it be hard for you? Can a Dragon become only a Woman?” Wolf said quietly.

Silver didn’t smile; it was still hard not to think of her as the Wicked Queen. Her angular face was still.

“I should think you could tell me better than I can tell you,” she answered finally. “Can a Wolf become a Man?”

Wolf gave her an indignant stare, “Well, huff-puff, of course he can!”

There was more knocking on the door. Wendell and Tony came in diffidently.

“I’m glad you are here, your Majesty,” Silver said formally. “There’s something I wanted to say to you.”

He’s still infatuated with her, Virginia thought, watching the painful hope rising on Wendell’s face. But Silver was watching Tony as she spoke, almost like a student watches a teacher. “My hoard. I would like you to use it to rebuild this city. I renounce all claim to it. I give it to you.”

Wendell gaped. “That’s errr, very generous Silver. The people of Kissingtown thank you. I thank you.”

Silver inclined her head stiffly and left the room. After an uncomfortable pause, Wendell gasped, “Excuse me,” and hurried after her. Virginia settled herself in the chair next to Wolf’s bed. Wolf captured her hand. These days, he seemed not to want to be out of contact with her for very long.

Tony sat on the edge of the bed and smiled at her. “So, kids,” he said quietly, “how’re you feeling?”

“Who’s asking?” Virginia countered quickly, not wanting to give away anything about her previous disturbing experience.

Tony spread his hands. “Just your good old Dad, nothing sinister or sneaky. No Oracular goings on in any way. I think I may have seen the last of that, actually.” He leaned forward, and hissed in her ear, “But don’t tell Wendell or Silver that.”

Virginia snorted. “You TRICKSTER!” she sniggered. “Is that why Silver is looking at you like that? What have you been trying to pull on those two?”

Tony studied his fingernails. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, Virginia.” He smiled at her fondly. “Are you feeling okay?”

She forced herself to smile. “Never better,” she answered. “Hey Wolf?”

“Oh yes,” he said earnestly, yawning hugely. “Very perky, very bright.”

“Uhuh.” Tony dropped a kiss on her cheek and patted Wolf’s hand where it lay on the blanket. He went to the door. “I’ll leave you two in peace then.”

He shut the door behind him. Virginia bit her lip. Through the shattered window, she thought she could see seven black and white shapes flapping lazily against the bright afternoon sky. But how can the witch claim her bargain when she’s been turned into stone? Virginia scoffed to herself. Far better to concentrate on the here and now. She turned back to Wolf. He was watching her, as usual, as if she were the only thing in the world worth looking at. I take responsibility, she thought. I dare.

“Wolf,” she said slowly, “are you feeling well enough to talk?”