Sohna and Vivian - My Brother's Keeper

Samantha had mutely joined the others to trail after Wolf as he followed his brother's scent. She'd been as shocked as the rest of them at his revelation, more so by the accusation he'd flung at them all afterwards: She should have realized herself that their petty bickering was not a natural occurrence. Yet it had taken his wolf-like powers to get her (and everyone's) attention. She wouldn't soon forget the way his eyes had changed and the mesmerizing hold they'd cast over her. Like Gwendolyn, she'd never actually met a wolf before to know she'd met one. It was all too easy to forget that Wolf was anything but the rather excitable human he appeared to be on the surface. And he was able to notice what was happening when I couldn't, she thought. No wonder he was invited to join the guild. But the stronger his ability, the greater the danger to his child from someone like Laura.

Guiltily, Samantha thought about what she'd done to determine the baby's sex. None of it was at all harmful, but doing what she'd done without the parents' permission was as against guild policy as interfering in political matters. Virginia had a perfect right to be angry with her, and even the rationalization that the guild would need to know as much as possible about a possible host for Laura couldn't excuse what she'd done.

She wondered if maybe she hadn't risen to Tony's bait after all: She knew what she'd thought when he'd said that about her not being able to really cast a spell: A very smug You wouldn't necessarily know it if I had! And though she didn't think she'd done it as a retort, she hadn't noticed the argument being artificial either. Somehow it made it worse that Tony hadn't said a word since Wolf had gotten it through to them that they were being encouraged to argue.

The six of them followed Wolf in silence as he led them through the maze of corridors in the dungeon to a little-used access door that gave onto the service courtyard. Without missing a beat, he unlatched it and stepped outside.

"You mean to tell me this has been unlocked this entire time?" Wendell demanded, outraged.

His voice fell on silence. Wolf didn't answer, just continued out across the grounds.

"How far are we going?" Samantha heard Helen finally ask. "You know, we didn't bring coats or anything."

Ordinarily, she would have offered to cast a spell to keep them all warm, but felt it would be inappropriate to mention it now. And, even though she was freezing, she felt too guilty to use it only on herself. Her arms folded, she followed Wolf's unwavering trail in brisk silence.

At last Virginia quietly said, "Wolf ..." and he stopped.

"Oh, Virginia!" he exclaimed as if he'd just seen her. "You have no coat! Are you cold?" He gave her a bear hug and didn't let go. "Oh, I'm so bad! Why didn't I think about how cold this would make you?"

Any other time, Samantha would have been amused to see how Virginia alone could get Wolf's attention. Now, however, she was just plain irritated. The castle was already a good distance behind them. How far was Wolf planning to track his brother's scent, she wondered? For all they knew, he might decide to follow it all the way into the village. Moodily, she glanced over at Tony to find him regarding her. He no longer looked at all angry, just uncomfortable. It made her feel worse.

"I don't suppose you've got any kind of portable furnace spell?" he asked.

She nodded slowly. "Yes," she said.

He stared a moment more. "Oh," he said then, and looked away.

"Do you want me to ...?" she began.

"Yes!" he exclaimed quickly, then made a face, adding, "No, I prefer freezing my ass off. What a thing to ask when we're all freezing to death."

"Oh, okay," she said. It took all of two seconds to implement; it wasn't as if she hadn't been thinking about it constantly since they'd first stepped outside.

"Wow!" exclaimed Tony. "That was quick. Don't you have to wave your arms and chant something?"

"No, that's just blowing smoke," she replied. Careful! That's something else you're too ridiculously proud of.

Tony might have pressed her for an explanation, but Wendell cut in. "You mean you have some method of keeping us all warm?" he asked, and she was forced to admit once again that yes, she did, but hadn't wanted to intrude.

Virginia hastily apologized for any quick words she'd said about the spell Samantha had used before. That set off a round of apologies which threatened to become as intense as their previous argument, but was interrupted by an epithet from Wolf:

"Huff, puff!" he exclaimed, stopping abruptly.

"What?" Virginia asked him.

"It just stops."

"What?"

He didn't reply, walked a few steps back the way they'd come and sniffed the air.

"You mean the trail stops?" asked Wendell.

"Yes!"

"Well where could he have gone?" asked Virginia.

Wolf didn't answer. Samantha suspected he didn't have one.

"There's not much point in us all standing out here if you've lost the trail," announced Wendell.

"I didn't lose it, it just stops," Wolf spat back.

"Wolf ..." she and Virginia said at once.

He put his arm around Virginia and pulled her close. "I'm sorry, Virginia."

"How could it just stop?" Tony wanted to know. "Magic?"

For a moment, no one said anything, then Samantha said, "Yes, that's certainly a possibility."

"He's right, you know," Helen piped up, oblivious to (or maybe deliberately ignoring) her son-in-law's question. "We may be warm enough now, but it's not doing any good for us to be out here standing around in the dark."

They'd walked back in relative silence, until about fifty feet from the door, Tony said, "I'm sorry about what I said."

She hadn't expected him to apologize and had no immediate reply.

"I mean," he went on, as if her silence meant she needed further clarification, "I should – I suppose I did – realize that if you could have done something, you would have a long time ago."

Does he mean about his wife - the queen - Christine? she wondered. And would I have? Living at the Guild, she hadn't been terribly interested in what went on in the world. It was only now, experiencing the results first hand, that she felt at all connected to it.

But Tony's words made her think of something else, too; the obvious connection between what she'd come here to study and the prisoner who had escaped: Wolf's brother Rafe. If Gwendolyn were correct, and he had incited her brother towards hatred of wolfs, then she had to face the possibility that the curse had been invoked with Rafe somehow at its center. Stopping him wouldn't stop the effect of the curse - Rafe was its tool, not the other way around - but finding him would at least lead to a clearer understanding of what they were dealing with. And the only way to find him was to face the undead Laura.

"All right," said Wendell, taking charge after they had returned to the relative coziness of the palace. The warmth spell Samantha had cast for them had been short-term. It had also not provided any light. "Obviously we can't put off ignoring the threat from my grandmother's stepmother any longer. We need a plan of action which we can implement immediately."

Samantha transferred the bulk of Lucent's weight to one arm and raised her hand.

"Yes," Wendell acknowledged her, "I realize you cannot involve yourself in any professional capacity, however ..."

"That's just it," she informed him, interrupting. "I believe I can."

"What?!" Tony demanded, suddenly irritated again. "Now you can? What suddenly changed your mind? Some kind of magical whim?"

"Antony ..." Wendell began once again, tiredly, only to be interrupted by Wolf this time, who paused long enough in eating a small pheasant he'd taken from the remains of the feast still lying out in the banquet hall to say, "Oh, shut up, Tony! What difference does it make why she'll help us?"

"What's to say that she won't change her mind again as soon as we get there?" his father-in-law demanded.

Which is really a fair question, she thought. And she should answer it, too, if only she knew ...

"WOLF! ANTONY!" shouted Wendell, interrupting her thoughts. "STOP IT THIS INSTANT!"

Both men quieted and looked at the king, Tony somewhat sheepishly, Wolf full of defiance.

"But ..." he said.

"Quiet!" ordered Wendell, glaring at the half-wolf. He waited a moment. "All right," he finally said. "Now, Samantha, would you please explain what caused you to change your mind?"

She half-expected Tony to renew his criticism, but he remained silent, whether from politeness or from Wendell's look of 'I dare you to make a sound' she couldn't tell.

The king's sudden outburst had surprised her. She cleared her throat to stall for time, although she didn't dare hesitate too long - they would only start in arguing again. The trouble was, she had no idea how to phrase what she needed to say. How do you tell someone their brother has been cursed?

"I've ‘changed my mind' because it appears that this incident is related to the prophecy and to the curse it mentions," she began.

"How?" demanded Tony.

"Antony!" came the king's sharp voice, "Let her speak!"

Samantha would have preferred to answer questions rather than give a speech, and wished Wendell would be quiet himself now.

"Because Wolf's brother is somehow involved," she answered.

"What does my brother have to do with ..."

"Wolf!" snapped Wendell, obviously expecting to render Wolf as silent as he had Tony, but to Samantha's satisfaction, the half-wolf just growled at him.

"Huff puff! How are we supposed to find anything out if we can't ask a question?! I want to know what Rafe has to do with the prophecy."

"So far as I can tell, he may have somehow caused the curse to be invoked." At their blank stares, she went on, "Gwendolyn mentioned someone you recognized as your brother being the person who incited her brother towards a hatred of half-wolfs. Now, he's responsible for the release of a prisoner who's a known wolf-hater. Tell me - you must know him since he's your brother - is this normal practice for him? To aid in the destruction of his own kind?"

The dwindling remains of bird carcass (his second since they'd returned) in Wolf's hands did not in any way diminish his reaction of anger followed by resignation.

"No," he admitted, though reluctantly,"No, he'd never do that."

Well, there's no love lost there, she thought, trying to keep her thoughts on the subject. It was rather hard to do while watching Wolf eat. She had no idea how he could possibly consume all he was eating right now, not after the immense feast they'd all so recently eaten. Even Lucent was no longer interested in the food, and Lucent loved food. Her mind wanted to go off by itself to comtemplate the metabolism of half-wolfs, to speculate on why Virginia seemed so unaffected by the baby she was carrying (neither eating as her husband did or appearing to be starved). It took an act of will to force herself back on task.

"Would you say it would take something quite powerful to make him behave that way?" she asked.

"He'd never do it," Wolf repeated.

"Not even with Laura's magical influence?" she inquired.

He glanced guiltily at Virginia and then quickly away. His wife took his hand and murmured, "She couldn't make you do anything, remember?"

"But Virginia ..."

"It doesn't matter how difficult it was for you," Samantha interjected. "It was Laura's will that you destroy Virginia and you were able to resist her. I would assume your brother could resist her as well if she called for the destruction of all half-wolfs, or is he weaker than you in this respect?"

"No," he answered quickly. "If anything it would be easier for him."

"Then I am assuming that whatever is controlling him is extremely strong; able to wield far greater magic than can Laura. Not that I suspected Laura was involved in whatever is taking place in the Eighth Kingdom. She's always been rather provincially concerned with the Fourth Kingdom alone. Nor does she care about the affairs of half-wolfs in one way or the other."

"She wanted to take over all the kingdoms, not just mine," Wendell pointed out.

"Yes, but it was an afterthought. What she really wanted was your throne. It was your family she wanted revenge against."

"Well, she might be against half-wolfs suddenly because of the pardon," suggested Wolf.

"It's possible, but that still doesn't explain how she was able to control your brother. No, I suspect the curse is at work here; has been at work for quite some time, in fact."

"Why would the curse want the half-wolfs destroyed?" asked Tony.

She looked up sharply at him.

"I don't know," she admitted. "To sow discord? Having the rest of the prophecy would certainly help."

"Well, we are not going to go back to get it," declared Virginia. "Which reminds me, how could Wolf's brother have set off the curse? I thought we did that ourselves."

"Did you?" she asked. "From what you told me before, it sounded rather like the curse was in effect before you ever arrived at the ruin." She looked up, preparing to support her theory in more detail, but Helen interrupted her.

"Then does Simon's brother have the remainder of the prophecy?" she inquired. Her use of Wolf's proper name made Samantha flinch, though Wolf ignored it equitably enough. Still, the woman had been told more than once that half-wolf names were to be kept strictly within the family. Why was she so intent on flaunting the custom, Samantha wanted to know?

Something about the name-custom itself tugged at her own memory. It was quite ancient, practiced among several peoples. She had been surprised to find the half-wolfs among them, realizing only belatedly that it explained why they always seemed to be referred to as "wolf" in the history books. Still ... NO! I need to stay focused on what we're discussing!

"Wolf's brother in possession of the prophecy?" she repeated. "It's possible. I would presume he was at the ruin in advance of Wolf and Virginia. Wolf, you stated before that you were unable to detect any scent whatsoever there, as if they had all been magically masked."

"But how would he have known ..." Tony began, then slapped himself on the forehead. "He was there! At the wedding! We told him about the prophecy!"

Wolf growled in chagrin.

"Oooh, then he did go there," he moaned. "It's just like him, to have to get there before me. I should have known that would happen!"

The discussion degenerated quickly into Wolf bemoaning his own incompetence, with Virginia and Gwendolyn (and Samantha herself as well, she had to admit), trying to talk him out of it. It was obvious from Wendell's, Tony's, and Helen's reactions that they felt he should have been more careful around his brother, and they hadn't cared to have pointed out to them that they were equally at fault. They spent the next fifteen minutes trying to make excuses for themselves (that didn't include an excuse for Wolf), until Samantha was ready to tear her hair out.

Nothing is getting done! she thought furiously. We're going to stand here and argue and argue and argue until the sun comes up and goes down again and Laura gains more and more power!

With that thought, as if to undescore it, the framed portrait of Wendell which hung at the end of the hall abruptly crashed to the floor. Lucent leapt from her arms, where he had been sleeping through the heated chatter of the humans around him, and dived beneath the nearest divan. For a moment no one spoke.

Finally, Tony said, "Tell me that was just an accident."

Wolf scratched his temple and whined.

"Oh, Virginia, you need to go back to New York right away," he said. Suiting action to words, he then tried to drag her towards the door to the dungeons where the mirror was kept.

"No," she said, yanking her arm away from him. "I am not going to go sit somewhere and be 'safe' while you go off and fight some evil witch! You want me to go to New York? Then you have to come with me."

He glanced guiltily at Samantha.

She shrugged. Although she would have liked for Wolf to help her, not only because he'd stood up to Laura before, but because it would be so much easier to counter one half-wolf with another, he was obviously not going to refuse his wife. And I can't blame him, not really, she thought. It was much more important that Virginia return to New York. She would be more difficult for Laura to reach in another dimension, regardless of what Helen had said. For a few moments, as the couple left the room (finally someone is taking some action, at least!) she was a bit irritated with Virginia for being so stubborn. But those few moments were abruptly ended by Helen's cloying voice.

"When shall we leave?" the older woman wanted to know.

"I plan to leave in the morning," Samantha informed her, stressing the singular pronoun.

"Oh, you can't mean alone."

Well, certainly not dragging you along, she thought uncharitably. Out loud she said, "I was going to ask Gwendolyn to accompany me. The effects of the swamp I can handle, but I'd prefer to have the fairies there as my allies - or at least have them remain neutral - and they'll be more likely to help another fairy."

"Certainly I'll help you," the girl agreed, though a bit naively, she thought.

"That's it?" the old woman demanded. "What about the king? Isn't he going?"

"King Wendell must remain here to run his kingdom. His advisors are all away for the holiday."

"Unfortunately true," Wendell agreed. "But you're welcome to take whatever you need. And if you haven't reappeared by the time my advisors return, I shall assume the worst and mount a secondary attack."

Helen pursed her lips as if she tasted something sour.

"Well, I suppose we three women will have to do," she announced, skipping past inquiring if Tony would go. For some reason this irked Samantha even more, though she was hardly surprised at the woman's self-invitation.

"I'm afraid you're not going," she said, bracing herself for the inevitable argument.

"Of course I am. Do you know what that woman did to my daughter?"

Who doesn't?

"Oh, like you really cared," said Tony angrily, beginning what threatened to be a long and heated argument about the evil queen's upbringing and Tony's failings as a husband. With a flash of inspiration, Samantha backed away from it, occupying herself with fishing a protesting Lucent out from under the crushed red velvet settee. Go to bed now, she told herself. With any luck, she'll sleep through your leave-taking.

She nodded silently to Wendell - Gwendolyn was too caught up in listening to the ‘conversation' - and disappeared around a turn in the hallway.

Her rooms had never seemed so far away, but she made herself keep walking. Just a little farther, she told herself. She wanted to talk to Lucent, too, but decided it might be best to remain silent until she was safely behind her own closed door. When it finally snicked shut behind her, she let out a long sigh and leaned back against it, closing her eyes. Not that she could see anything anyway in the pitch black of the room, she thought. It was then that she felt Lucent stiffen.

Her eyes snapped open and she blinked against the candlelight. Wasn't it dark? she wondered, looking around warily. Across the room, seated on the green chaise-lounge, was a red-haired woman of about her own age. She smiled. The hairs on the back of Samantha's neck stood up.

"Oh, do come in, Samantha," the apparition told her, for that was what it was. With her necromantic training, she could see the tell-tale sign, a slight translucency that wasn't immediately noticeable unless one looked for it. Cautiously, she approached, but although Lucent remained alert, he did not appear to be alarmed. She took that for a good sign.

"I need to talk with you," the woman continued. "About my mother."