Gabrielle - After Happy Ever After

“Clowns?” Danielle asked. “I hate clowns!”

The Good Guy and Bad Guy Handbook demonstration had led to many over-dramatized examples of the different situations by both Wolf and Danielle. Danielle was happy with her success at getting both their minds off of their problems. And since they were still moving while they “clowned around”, they really weren’t losing any time. Not much anyway.

Danielle had accepted the role of Bad Guy and proceeded with pretending she had a gun (in actuality her hand in gun shape) and pretended she was taking Breena hostage.

“What are you doing?” Breena demanded.

“Quiet, fairy. One move, Wolfie boy, and the fairy gets it!” Danielle said in her best gangster impression.

“Gets what?” Wolf asked, confused.

Danielle stopped. “You don’t know about guns?” she asked.

Wolf shook his head.

“Lucky you,” Danielle said dryly. “I won’t be the one to spread the news. Just forget it.”

“You two are both the most immature, hyper, slightly psychotic people I have ever met!” Breena declared.

“Thank you,” Wolf and Danielle said at the same time.

“Oooohhh,” Breena said, exasperated.

They walked for the next few moments in silence. Danielle finally got bored with silence and started talking again. “You know, it’s really not fair,” she said.

“What’s not?” Wolf asked.

“All the good guys are taken. They’re all either married, gay,…or have a tail!” Danielle said with a grin.

“Thanks. Maybe,” Wolf said, but the comment had reminded him of Virginia and he began to worry again. He frowned and started sniffing again.

“Smell anything?” Danielle asked.

Wolf shook his head. “Not yet. Huff-puff, I will. If there were an actual trail to follow…” he shook his head again and scratched at his temple.

“You did it again,” Danielle said.

“What?”

“You did that thing again. That scratchy thing,” Danielle said, pointing.

Wolf jerked his hand down and pretended it had never happened.

“I’m hungry. You hungry?” Danielle asked, rubbing her stomach. “Breena, you hungry?”

“I already ate, thank you,” Breena said stiffly, landing on Danielle’s shoulder again.

“Wolf?”

“Virginia says I’m always hungry,” Wolf replied.

“Are you?”

“For food? Not always.”

“Ooooookay,” Danielle said, realizing she had approached a subject she didn’t really want to. “So. About food. You got any idea on where to get some?”

Wolf stopped suddenly and held up out his arm to stop Danielle. Danielle opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but Wolf gestured for her to be quiet. He sniffed again, then cocked his head to one side.

“Hello,” Wolf said. “You can show yourselves now.”

There was a rustling from all around them and Danielle spun in a circle, looking to see who it was. They were surrounded in any case. Breena had to leave Danielle’s shoulder or she would fall off.

“Hello,” a male voice replied.

Wolves emerged from the bushes and shadows on all sides. Danielle backed up a step, but realized it wouldn’t help anything.

“I’m surprised you didn’t smell us earlier,” the owner of the voice said. It was a person (or at least, he looked mostly human). He paced slightly, almost circling them.

Danielle didn’t like this one bit. She had read about wolves before. Seen a nature movie or two. It didn’t help to ease her mind.

“I did,” Wolf said. “I didn’t know you were tracking us.”

“All the noise you were making, it wasn’t hard,” he replied, and Danielle winced. That had been her fault. Danielle followed the man with her eyes as he circled them. That’s when she noticed that he had a tail swinging back and forth behind him. Danielle’s eyes widened and she pointed at the man. She opened her mouth to say something, but Wolf clamped a hand over it.

“Your human friend isn’t familiar with this land, is she?” the man said and he grinned.

That was not a good grin, Danielle thought frantically. That was a…a…predatory grin!

“She’s not important,” Wolf said quickly.

At any other time, Danielle might have been insulted, but right now she was inclined to agree. She nodded vigorously.

“Hmmm. A half-wolf, a human, and a fairy. That’s not everyday. What’s to be done?” the man mused out loud.

Danielle pulled Wolf’s hand away from her mouth. “You could let us go,” she suggested.

The man barked a laugh. Danielle didn’t like the way this seemed to be going. She could hear some of the wolves behind her growling.

“Oh, no. I think we should share our hospitality first,” he said and Danielle tried not to wonder what would be second. “Didn’t you speak of being hungry?”

“Maybe,” Wolf allowed.

“I’m hungry, too,” he said and glanced at Danielle. “Come. Follow me.” He turned and started walking back into the forest. Wolf glanced around, then followed. Danielle saw that they didn’t have much of a choice. The wolves were still behind them, almost herding them onward.

“What do we do?” Danielle asked Wolf in a whisper.

“Yes! This is bad. Very bad. I hope you have a plan,” Breena agreed.

“Both of you stay quiet. Do nothing unless I tell you. Stay close,” Wolf replied quickly, glancing back at the wolves behind them.

“But…” Danielle began.

“Shhh,” Wolf cut her off. “Don’t say a word.”

“But couldn’t Breena get us out of here?” Danielle insisted stubbornly.

“Oh!” Breena cried. “Yes, yes…”

“No!” Wolf whispered urgently. “Your magic won’t take us far. They’ll only think we’re running. That’s the worse thing we could do. Now, quiet.”

Danielle nodded. What she wouldn’t give for a weapon. If this were a story, she would have a dagger in her boot and maybe a bow and arrows. Or a sword. Something at least.

The wolves took them farther and farther into the woods. The shadows were getting longer and deeper as the woods got thicker. It was only sometime in the afternoon, but the darkness of the forest made it seem later.

Danielle was usually all up for excitement. Maybe a good fight scene. But not like this. They didn’t stand a chance. Even when the good guys on T.V. had horrible odds, they still had weapons at least. They had a slim chance as opposed to her no chance in heck. It wasn’t fair! How come she had to be the one who got stuck in this? If Ivy’s sitting somewhere eating that stupid jerky of hers, I’m going to kill her, Danielle thought angrily.

The trees finally broke a little, but it was still dark. They entered a clearing. On one side there was a cave. Wolves lounged around the clearing. When they saw their group enter the area, they all come to attention. There were a few half-wolves around, but not as many as there were full-wolves. Danielle gulped.

There was a large fire blazing heartily in the middle of the clearing. Danielle, Wolf, and Breena were deposited next to it. Danielle’s eyes darted back and forth as she tried to keep an eye on everyone. She wondered what happened now.

“Sit,” the man from before said, gesturing. He, himself, took a seat and waited for them to. Wolf glanced around suspiciously before slowly sitting down. He grabbed Danielle’s hand and pulled her down next to him. Danielle dropped down on her butt. Breena hovered close to her.

“My name is Dolphus,” the half-wolf introduced himself.

“Wolf,” Wolf said shortly.

Dolphus raised both eyebrows. He looked around at his companions.

“Wolf? The half-wolf that killed the Huntsman? That got Wendell to give us a royal pardon?” he asked.

Wolf nodded.

Dolphus jumped to his feet. “Cripes! Did you hear that everyone? Huff-puff, Wolf the hero has joined us tonight!” he called. There was murmuring from all around the clearing. Dolphus quickly bounded over to Wolf and pulled him to his feet. He shook his hand vigorously. “Sorry about all that. Didn’t know who you were. It would be an honor for you to share our fire, Wolf,” he said quickly.

Wolf glanced around the clearing. There were no more growls from any of the wolves. A few apologetic whines from the ones that had brought them in. Wolf looked back at Dolphus and nodded. “All right,” he agreed slowly.

Dolphus smiled. He quickly walked over and began speaking with a group of other wolves. Danielle tugged on Wolf’s sleeve to get his attention.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” she asked, remembering the way Dolphus had said he was hungry.

Wolf nodded, sitting down again. “Yes. Wolves never cross another wolf if they owe him a debt. Apparently they think that I’m a hero. They won’t do anything. I’m pretty sure we would have been all right anyway. Wolfies only pretend to do naughty things,” Wolf said, repeating the line he had told Virginia some time ago.

“Sure,” Danielle said, not really buying that. “Just don’t let any of them…eat me.”

“Oh! Don’t worry. Huff-puff, you are perfectly safe! I give you my wolf word,” Wolf said immediately.

That comment made him remember what he had said to Queen Riding Hood. She had meant her threat. There had to be some way of getting out of that. He should never have said what he had. Truth was, he hadn’t really thought about anything he had said beforehand. His only thought had been he had to get free and find Virginia. Wolf growled to himself as he thought. After a few frustrated moments of not coming up with anything, he dismissed it with a small wave of his hand. He would think of something.

Dolphus bounded back over, smiling. Danielle had to admit that he did seem like a very different wolf now. But that couldn’t make her forget how he had acted before he knew who Wolf was.

“A hunting party is going out. They’ll bring back some fresh food for us. I suppose your human friend can cook hers,” Dolphus said, frowning a little at the mention of cooking food. “I never saw what humans see in cooked meat.”

Wolf was about to reply, but changed his mind. He looked over at Danielle and made a quick decision. “It’s actually pretty good,” Wolf said quickly. “I think I’ll cook mine, too.”

Dolphus looked very surprised at that, but shrugged. “Whatever you like,” he said. He brightened a little. “There’s some people who’d really like to meet you. Would you…?” Dolphus gestured towards the cave. Wolf rose, wondering who would want to meet him and couldn’t come out to see him. Maybe someone who was hurt?

Danielle coughed. She didn’t want to be left here all alone. The wolves liked Wolf, all right, but that didn’t necessarily apply to her. Wolf gave her a hand and helped her up. Dolphus raised one eyebrow, but didn’t comment as Danielle followed them.

Dolphus led them into the cave. He whined softly, announcing their arrival to whoever was in there. It was kind of dark and it took Danielle a moment for her eyes to adjust. They walked a few strides back into the cave until Dolphus stopped them.

“Fiona?” he asked.

“Yes?” a female voice replied.

“Wolf is here.”

“Fiona?” Wolf asked in surprise. He had a startling suspicion.

A girl half-wolf ran out from the depths of the cave and enveloped Wolf in a huge hug. Wolf’s eyes were wide and he pushed her back so he could look at her.

“Fiona?” he asked in disbelief.

She nodded and there were tears in her eyes. “Yes. It’s me, Wolf,” she said.

This time it was Wolf who initiated the hug. “I thought you were dead!” he exclaimed.

“I practically was! I don’t really know what happened. All I know is that the next thing I remember was waking up in the woods with burns all over me. I thought you were dead! Until just recently when I heard what you’ve done! You’re a hero, Wolf!” Fiona cried.

Danielle looked at the two of them in confusion. She looked over and saw Dolphus was backing off. She did, too. Whoever this lady was, she and Wolf had a history of some kind. Wolf saw her backing up and held out a hand. “No, no. Danielle, meet my sister,” Wolf said, smiling.

“Hi,” Danielle said, shaking hands with Fiona.

“Hello,” she said, smiling so happily that Danielle was sure that her mouth would hurt later.

“Oh, sis! It’s been so long! You have to meet Virginia! Oh, guess what?” Wolf said, then continued before Fiona could reply, “I’m gonna have a little cub!”

“Oh, Wolf that’s so wonderful!” Fiona said, hugging him again. “I’ve got a surprise for you, too. Wait here.” Fiona turned and hurried back into the cave. She returned a moment later with a baby in her arms. “I was going to name him after you, but I remembered how much you hated your name when you were little,” she said with a grin.

“Who? When?” Wolf asked.

“Who’s the father? You met him already,” Fiona said.

“Dolphus?” Wolf asked.

Fiona nodded. “He found me not long after the whole…incident. Little baby is almost a month old now.” She tickled the baby’s stomach as she said that last. “You want to hold him?”

Wolf nodded. Fiona handed him the baby and Wolf held him very carefully. “Hi, little guy. Huff-puff, he looks just like you, sis,” Wolf said, looking up at her.

The baby grabbed Wolf’s hand and made a tiny little growl/gurgle and wagged his little bushy tail. Wolf smiled. “I think you should name him Warren,” he said.

Fiona thought that over, then nodded and smiled. “Warren it is. I always hoped that you would help me name my baby. I’ve never been good with names. I just never thought it would actually happen!”

Danielle had to smile. She was happy for Wolf. Finding a long, lost sister and finding out he was an uncle must be unbelievable for him. This was just like a story after all.

Virginia stopped, perplexed. She had reached the sign at the entrance of the Swamp. She did not want to go through the Swamp, but the other way would take twice as long. Plus, she was pretty sure she couldn’t get through the Swamp alone. She had almost died last time and would have if not for Wolf.

“I guess we don’t have much of a choice, baby. We’d better take the long way,” she said out loud.

Virginia angled along the other path. She had never been this way before, but it led to Wendell’s castle so it shouldn’t matter.

“Almost home, baby. Just a few more days,” Virginia assured herself as well as the baby. Although, a few more days seemed like such a long time.

Maive knelt at the edge of the brook and scooped up some water with a wooden bowl that Cinnamon lent her. She sat on the grassy bank and set the bowl in her lap. She concentrated, doing the mental preparation that they had taught her in her training. A picture appeared in the bowl of Virginia. She was walking along a path. Tony peered over Maive’s shoulder at the picture.

“Is it me or was she not that…ahem…big last time I saw her?” he asked.

“She’s carrying a wolf cub. They go faster than human babies. Or so my mother told me,” Cinnamon supplied.

“Where is she?” Tony asked.

“I know that area! She’s headed this way!” Wendell piped up.

“What? You mean she’s in the Fourth Kingdom?” Tony demanded. “Yes. Or at least, she will be soon if she’s not already. That’s a path to my castle,” Wendell said.

“Okay, we’ve found Virginia. What about Wolf and the girls?” Cinnamon asked.

Maive nodded and waved a hand over the bowl. A few seconds later a picture of Wolf appeared. He was sitting by a fire and Danielle was sitting next to him along with another lady. The lady held a baby in her arms. There were wolves all around the edge of the picture. There was also a fairy sitting on Danielle’s shoulder.

“Where’s that?” Tony asked.

No one answered so Maive concentrated harder, trying to figure out where Wolf and Danielle were. “The Disenchanted Forest,” she said finally.

“So they’re in the Fourth Kingdom, too!” Tony said, happy for that.

“The other girl, Ivy. Where’s she?” Wendell asked.

Maive waved her hand over the bowl again. When the picture reformed, they saw Ivy sitting on the ground next to a young guy. He looked pretty upset. It looked like she was trying to console him.

Tony, Cinnamon, and Wendell looked at Maive. She held up a hand, telling them to wait. “Also the Fourth Kingdom. By the River,” she reported.

Tony sighed. “So at least we’re all in the same kingdom,” he said.

“Yes, but my kingdom is pretty large, Anthony. We need to all be together,” Wendell said.

“So what do we do?” Maive asked, pouring the water back into the brook. Everyone was silent. “We need a plan,” Maive said.

“You got one?” Tony demanded.

“No,” Maive admitted.

“See,” Wendell said with a ribbit, “We’re all going to die.”

“Faolan,” Ivy said, desperate now to fix this situation. “Tell me what I can do to help? Anything.”

Faolan looked at her strangely. “I can’t say,” he said.

Ivy hit the ground hard with her fist in frustration. She started growling herself without realizing it. “Just say it,” she growled.

Faolan had to smile. She was acting like a wolf and didn’t even know it. He laughed quietly.

“What could possibly be funny?” Ivy asked.

“You,” he said. “You’re growling.”

Ivy sat up straight. “I am? I mean, I was not!”

Faolan laughed a little more. “You were, too,” he insisted.

Ivy, glad to find something that made him feel better, decided to play this through as far as she could. “I do not growl,” she said.

“Oh, you were growling alright,” Faolan said, a smile creeping onto his face. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a tail!”

“I would!” Ivy cried, jumping to her feet. She looked over her shoulder, as if checking for a tail. But she couldn’t see. She started spinning in circles. Faolan’s laughter got stronger until he finally got to his feet and forced her to stop. By now, she was pretty dizzy. “Make the ground stop moving,” she said with a little whine.

“Now you’re whimpering,” Faolan told her.

“Oooohhh, okay. You win. Just let me sit down,” Ivy said, putting a hand to her head. She almost fell to the ground, but managed to sit down on her own. She placed both hands on the ground until it stopped moving. “You know, if you spin fast enough, you start seeing things,” she told Faolan.

“Like what?” he asked, dropping down next to her again and propping up his chin on his elbow, which rested on his knee.

“Sometimes spaceships or aliens,” Ivy said, then saw he had no idea what she was talking about. “Different species from another planet.”

Faolan’s eyes widened. “You know people from other planets?” he asked in disbelief.

Ivy shook her head and laughed. “Not personally. Unless you count T.V. Danielle might,” she said.

“T.V.?” he asked.

“A box that has moving pictures in it that tell a story,” Ivy explained.

“There must be a lot of magic in your world,” Faolan said with a sigh.

“Actually,” Ivy said, sobering, “not nearly as much as you might think. Not enough.”

Just then, Randal stumbled back into the clearing. Faolan jumped to his feet and bounded over to him. Randal pushed past him and went to Ivy.

“Don’t we have to go to King Wendell’s Castle?” he asked.

“Well, yes. But I’m not gonna go until you’re both ready,” she said with a firm nod.

“I’m ready,” Randal said quietly.

“Uh uh. I don’t think so,” Ivy shook her head. “I think maybe you should talk to your brother first.”

Randal glanced back at Faolan. “I don’t want to talk to him.”

“Why not?” Ivy asked.

“’Cause…well, ‘cause…I just don’t want to!” Randal said angrily.

“Randal…” Faolan started.

Ivy gestured at him not to. She turned her attention back to Randal. “Come here. Sit down, kid,” she said, patting the ground next to her. Randal hesitated a moment, then sat down. Ivy looked up at Faolan. “Could you give us a minute?” she asked.

Faolan looked surprised. He didn’t reply, but backed off.

“You know, your big brother cares about you a lot,” Ivy said to Randal after Faolan had gone.

Randal just huffed.

“But you know, he doesn’t know how to do a lot of things. Truth is, I don’t either. There’s a lot of stuff that only Moms or Dads can do. But he’s trying. You know that, right?”

Randal didn’t respond.

“Randal?” Ivy pressed.

“Yes, I guess,” he admitted.

“And you know that he’s just as sad as you are about your parents?”

Randal opened his mouth to make a loud accusation, but Ivy stopped him. “Uh uh. I know what you think. Just listen. See, Faolan’s like me. He doesn’t know how to cry on the outside too well. So he cries on the inside. Does that make sense?” Ivy asked.

Randal nodded wordlessly. His eyes were wide as if this had never occurred to him.

“And sometimes, you may think that he doesn’t care, but he always will. Always. You never forget someone like your parents. They’re part of who you are, I guess. Although sometimes we don’t like to think that,” Ivy said with a small grin. “Understand?”

Randal nodded again.

“So you forgive him?”

Randal hesitated for a long moment, then nodded slowly.

“Good. Come on, let’s get out of here,” Ivy said, getting to her feet.

Randal followed her as she started walking in the direction Faolan had gone. “Ivy?” he asked.

“Hmmm?”

“How do you know so much?” Randal asked.

Ivy laughed. “Trust me, kid. I don’t know anything. I just read a lot of books,” Ivy said, drawing out the ‘lot’.

“Oh. Okay,” Randal said in the way kids do when they don’t really understand the answer they get.

“You sniff out that brother of yours and we’ll be at Wendell’s castle in no time,” Ivy assured him, messing up his hair.

Randal swatted at her hand and Ivy grinned. He sniffed and pointed in the direction his brother was in. They found him sitting on a tree stump. When he heard them approaching, he jumped to his feet and spun around.

“Hey?” he said uncertainly to his brother.

Ivy gave Randal a shove and he ran over and hugged his brother. Faolan looked at her in surprise, wondering what she had said to him. Ivy shrugged and grinned.

“Should we get a move on?” Ivy asked and winced at the phrase. She was sounding more and more like a cowgirl or something. Oh, well. That’s basically what she was. She grinned to herself. Get along, little doggies, she thought to herself.

They started walking again and again Randal took the lead. Faolan looked at Ivy in amazement. “Whatever you did, thank you,” he said gratefully.

Ivy shrugged again. “No prob. I was glad to help. I owe you two, you know. I’d be stuck with the trolls by now, if it wasn’t for you guys letting me come with you,” she said.

“I’m glad that you let us travel with you,” Faolan said and waved aside her protests, “And you were growling.”

Ivy grinned and growled at him. “Maybe,” she allowed. “But one thing you need to explain to me. Well, actually, a lot of things but we can start with this.”

“What?”

“Why would anyone want to suck an elf?” Ivy asked, remembering back to what the trolls had said in the beanstalks.

Faolan burst out laughing. “I…don’t…know,” he said.