Kimberly - Our Little Chop

"It’s time," she nodded. "We’re going to have to start."

Wolf knew that if they started now there was little chance that his child would not be a lamb. He sensed that it was nearly impossible for Virginia to survive the birth if that were the case. He howled mournfully, giving in to his worst fears, when Tony came running to the door. He rushed into the room, the scrap of cloth in his hand. He hadn’t wasted any time listening to the old man babble on. He had headed straight for his daughter and Wolf.

"We’ve got it!" he cried, waving the cloth at Wolf. "The old geezer’s cracked and we have his blessing!"

Wolf leapt across the room, throwing himself onto Tony and ripping the cloth from his hands. Running to the cupboard where he had found the clean linens, he tore through its remaining contents until he found a knife. Sliding it carelessly across his arm, he smeared the dribble of blood that emerged onto the cloth and ran to Virginia’s side. He touched her face and looked her in the eye. "You’re going to be fine now and the baby is too. Don’t worry about anything."

She nodded and held out her hand to him. His hand shook as he tried to draw blood without hurting her. He steadied it and allowed the point of the knife to cut ever so slightly into her finger. She bit her lip as he squeezed a drop of blood from her finger and quickly pressed the cloth to it, then kissed her fingertip gently.

Lia insisted that it was time to push. As Virginia began to try, Wolf ran to the wood stove in the corner that was trying, but failing, to heat the whole room. He yelped in pain as the heat from the handle seared his hand, but he pulled the door open just the same and poked the cloth inside. He heard Virginia cry out in pain as the cloth ignited and began to burn. The flame was tinged with green as it released its magic.

King Wendell tried to be patient as he old man puzzled out to him what he’d been piecing together. It was clear that it was not remorse that had changed his tune, but the realization that these were national heroes that he’d been toying with. Wendell could tell by the look of horror in his eyes that he suspected that, should word get out of what he had done, even the thick stone walls of the prison wouldn’t protect him from the mob that would surely come.

Wendell had sent the guards to fetch the old witch and by the time he heard them coming he’d finally gotten the gist of what Peep was trying to tell him. It was clear from what she had done back at the gingerbread cottage that she’d wanted to capture Wolf. Hansel had said she spoke of enslaving him but they had all assumed that was a spur of the moment decision. It appeared, however, that that was not the case after all, and Wendell began to wonder if that hadn’t been the witch’s plan all along. After all, Wolf had all the physical characteristics that would make him useful to her. He was strong and fast and cunning. He could track better than anyone, and he was smart and charming, which made him a good con. Sure, he was easily tempted, but as the hero who saved the Nine Kingdoms he was above reproach. He was trusted implicitly by the leaders and the people alike. Had she found a way to control him he’d have been able to do terrible damage on her behalf as he had the ears of the rulers and the hearts of the people. That must be it! That must be what she had planned.

"Sorry it took so long, Your Majesty," the guard said, interrupting his thoughts as he dragged the old woman into the room. "There was a bit of a commotion down the corridor."

Wendell waved the apology away and turned his attention to the witch. Her smile told him that she still had something planned, and that she was reasonably certain she would succeed.

In the dispensary the mood had improved considerably as the curse was lifted, but it was still very tough going. The doctor had been right when he said that the baby hadn’t had time to turn and it was coming breach. Virginia’s pain was excruciating, and Wolf howled in sympathy each time she cried out. He held her hand and stroked her hair and muttered sweet reassurances to her between times. Tony ran crazily back and forth, fetching this and that for the doctor and the midwife, trying to be useful and stay busy. But each time he heard his daughter cry, he wanted to howl right along with Wolf.

"He’s coming," the doctor said. "It won’t be much longer now, Virginia, I promise."

Virginia was having a hard time catching her breath. She tried to breath like she remembered seeing in the movies when people were giving birth. She really wished they’d had enough time to take those classes. She felt weak, and the pain was constant now. It beat through her body with a pulse of its own, and she felt herself living to that rhythm alone. She was sure her heart was beating to it, and she was definitely breathing to it, and as it became faster and more urgent, she began to hyperventilate. The doctor tried to tell her to calm down, and the midwife sent Tony to get a calming tea-soaked towel she’d had him prepare, but none of this helped. She couldn’t control her breathing and it was putting her and the baby both in danger. Finally Wolf reached out, and laid a hand on her chest, close to her heart. He began a slower, rhythmic panting, followed by a slow, steady wolf whine. He took in a breath, and let it out with a soft, low whine. Virginia understood, and began mimicking him. They found a natural rhythm together, of panting and whining, and when it came time to push again, they howled together - two short and one long. It made Tony think of the background sounds in an old monster movie, but it calmed Virginia, and helped her to cope, so he loved it.

All over the Snow White Memorial Prison that night, inmates heard the howling and speculated. Was one of the convicts being tortured? Had someone finally gone mad? Theories flew from cell to cell until those whose cells Wolf and Virginia had passed on their way to the dispensary were able to spread their version of the story to the others.

"What is it that you have planned?" Wendell demanded of the witch. "What do you think you’re going to do? You’re in prison, after all."

The witch simply smiled back at him. "So I am," she said. "I suppose there’s nothing I can do, now is there?"

"Don’t be smug with me!" he yelled back at her. "I know what you had planned. I think you went along with helping Peep with an agenda of your own from the start. Admit it!"

"If you’re so smart," she said slyly, "why don’t you tell me? What agenda do you think I had?"

"I think," said Wendell precisely, "that you were trying to capture Wolf. You knew he’d be distraught over what you’d done, and that he’d come. It was a trap for him, wasn’t it?" Still the old woman just stared at him, so Wendell continued, "You wanted to capture him, break his spirit and enchant him somehow into doing your bidding. That’s right, isn’t it?"

"You’ve got me," the old woman said, still smiling. "I have all the magical power I need, but he has the kind of power I could never have - the kind that can get me everything I want. He has influence - not just political, but personal influence over a lot of people in very powerful positions. Take you, for instance. Would you be here for just any half-breed child? I think not. Of course I wanted that power."

King Wendell looked at the old crone, puzzled. "What made you think you could pull it off when the queen had tried and failed to enslave him?"

She laughed in disgust. "The queen and her predecessor before her were fools. They made elaborate plans but were unprepared for contingencies. You cannot foresee every possibility. You have to be able to think on the run. When their plans failed they gave up. You must be able to think quickly and do whatever is necessary to achieve your goal if you are going to succeed. Use whatever is at hand to get what you need. That is the key. They were used to things being handed to them and it made them weak."

Wendell saw that the old woman was still smiling, and from her words he knew that she was still working under that same philosophy. She still felt she had a chance at achieving her goal.

"So then you’re scheming even now?" he asked, knowing that she wouldn’t answer. "What do you think you can do here? You’re in prison, and you’re surrounded by guards."

She sat looking up at him smugly, but in truth she was afraid that she’d said too much. Her pride had gotten the best of her. She couldn’t stand for him to think he’d won, so she’d boasted and now his suspicions were up again. She watched his face carefully. She could tell he was trying to puzzle it all out. Suddenly a look of realization came over his face. This was quickly replaced by one of horror.

"Oh for pity’s sake, how could I have been so stupid?" he said to himself. Then, turning from the witch to the guards and back again, he asked, "Where is the bloody cat?"

Several corridors away the howling continued. In nearby cells, those inmates who knew of the deeds of these two and felt a loyalty to their king began joining in the chorus, lending their support to the tired pair. But as time went on Virginia grew weaker, despite everyone’s efforts to support her. She felt faint again and began drifting in and out of consciousness. The doctor urged her on, trying to force her to stay awake. Wolf sat by her side looking lost and afraid and Tony yelled at the midwife.

"Can’t you do something?" he cried. "All of this stuff you brought with you - isn’t any of it of any use?"

Lia suppressed the urge to react. Instead she took a deep breath and thought for a moment. She knew Tony was distraught and he only wanted to help, so she decided to give him another project.

"Tony, when this baby arrives, he’s going to need milk, and Virginia can’t produce it herself. I’m going to need you to do something about this right away." Tony nodded and she knew she had his attention. "Go find one of the king’s guards and send him into the village. Tell him not to come back without a goat. The baby should be able to handle goat’s milk."

Tony seized on the opportunity to do something useful. "Goat. Milk. Got it!" he said and headed down the hall. Rounding the corner at top speed, he ran smack into the larger of Wendell’s two guards. The impact sent him sprawling. Was he confused from the collision, or had he heard the guard saying "Here kitty" just before they hit? He shook his head and took the hand the guard offered him. He was promptly lifted back onto his feet. He opened his mouth to tell the guard about the goat, but stopped when he saw Wendell and the remaining guard, who was holding onto the witch and talking.

"Yes Your Majesty, that was the commotion we mentioned earlier. I’m sorry, Your Majesty, it never occurred to us that the cat might really be a magic cat. I mean what would be the odds after the whole dog incident? I assure you, Your Majesty, had we known we would never have let the cat run out of the cell like that."

Wendell simply raised a hand palm-up toward the ceiling as if questioning God on His wisdom in choosing such a man to be Wendell’s guard.

"Oh you’re kidding me!" Tony cried. "Not another magic animal. What is it around here? Is it like survival of the freakiest? Everywhere you look it’s half-wolves and talking birds and enchanted dogs and now we’ve got a magic cat on the loose?!? What does it do?"

"Well," Wendell began, "we’re not sure yet, but -"

"WHAT DOES IT DO?!?" Tony screamed, grabbing the witch by her shoulders and shaking. The woman’s smug smile slid a bit lower on her face, but she said nothing. "Listen, you old hag," Tony spoke slowly and deliberately into her face. "My daughter is in terrible pain right now. She may be dying. That is because of you. Her child - my grandchild - is in danger as well, and has narrowly escaped being born with wool. That also can be attributed to you. Lady, I’ve got forty-five years of pent-up frustration ready to blow, so if you don’t fancy being the sole focus of it when I pull the pin, you’d better tell me what that stupid cat can do - NOW!" He blinked as he realized that his hands were now around her throat, but he did not remove them. He could see she finally realized that he meant business.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound emerged. Sheepishly Tony loosened his grip and she coughed, croaked, and then said, "He’s a magic cat. Much like the dog that stole King Wendell’s body for a time, although there is no switching involved. Once the cat touches the face of his target, the person is simply absorbed."

"WHAT?" Tony cried and wondered how bad he’d feel later if he actually strangled her. "Just what the hell do you mean, absorbed?"

"Into the cat," the old woman stated, as if this were a normal thing to have happen. "The person will be trapped inside the cat. Only I can release them. When my cat has absorbed your grandchild, you’ll no longer be thinking of strangling me."

Tony pulled his hands from the witch’s neck as if burned, and the guards suddenly renewed their search for the cat, but Tony recalled the milk.

"Wait!" he said. "One of you take this old bag and lock her back up. The other will have to go into the village and get a milking goat to feed the baby. Wendell and I will find the cat."

"Of course," Wendell said, trying to adjust to someone else giving the orders. It was somewhat comforting, as long as it was Tony. He remembered vaguely a time when he’d called the older man "Master".

"Prince," Tony said, "you go check the corridors near the cell and I’ll go to the dispensary. If we can’t find the cat the very least we can do is make sure that it doesn’t find Virginia and the baby."

"Right," Wendell said, feeling a little twinge of the dogginess that still occasionally plagued him. He ran off toward the cell, bending low and calling "kitty kitty!"

At any other time Tony would have gotten a kick out of the sight, but today he simply glanced after him, shrugged and headed for the dispensary.

The sight Tony saw when he arrived in the dispensary warmed his heart. The doctor and Lia were crowded around Virginia so he couldn’t see her, but he could see Wolf. He was standing at the head of the bed, covered in sweat, with a blank look on his face. Lia had something in her hands, and was gently ribbing it with a towel. Tony couldn’t see it, as her back was to him, but he could hear it. The baby had arrived, and he was crying a tired, but to Tony’s untrained ear, strong-sounding cry.

Lia turned and handed him to Wolf. He reached out and took the baby with an expression of awe on his face. He held the tiny form close to his heart, and examined his little face. Tony saw him check fingers and toes and then, with a private smile, he rubbed a small fluff of silvery fur against his cheek. Tony had never seen Wolf look so serene.

He walked into the room and quietly approached them. Wolf sensed him immediately and turned, smiling widely, and showed Tony his grandson. The child was perfect, if somewhat red-faced and wrinkly. He reached out and touched the tiny head, feeling the fuzzy soft, dark hair. He turned and looked at Virginia, but she was asleep. He was worried at first, but he could see that she was breathing slowly and steadily, and there was a peaceful look on her face. The doctor and Lia were cleaning up. Lia was smiling a soft smile while the doctor looked more serious, but satisfied in a businesslike manner. Tony breathed a sigh of relief and motioned to Wolf that they needed to talk. Wolf took his little finger out of the baby’s mouth, angering him a little, and handed the now fussing baby back to Lia so that she could check him out more thoroughly.

They took a few steps away and Tony said, "You haven’t seen the witch’s cat, have you?"

"No Tone," Wolf replied, thinking that he was a little hungry… "Did it get away again?"

"Yes, yes it did," Tony said, trying to hurry. "We have to keep it away from the baby! It’s a magic cat. Nobody knows where it is, but the witch sent it after the baby!"

"Cripes!" Wolf said. "What next? My poor Virginia is exhausted, and the baby must be awfully tired too, what with being born and all. Can’t they just leave us alone for one minute?"

"Don’t worry," Tony said, trying to reassure him. "Wendell is searching for the cat now. All we have to do is make sure - OH NO!" Tony interrupted himself as he glanced over to the beds. Virginia had awakened and Lia had lain the baby down on the neighboring bed to tend to the mother for a moment. The cat had just entered the room. It was heading straight for the bed.

Wolf saw what Tony saw and he bounded across the room with Tony right behind him. He leapt at the bed just as the cat did. They landed on either end simultaneously. Wolf remembered that the cat had been too fast for him to catch back at the cottage and that was before he’d been injured. The cat was crouched down low, preparing to pounce, and Wolf feared that if he moved, the cat would jump and there was no way to be sure that it would not touch the baby. He let out a low, warning growl that soon escalated into the snarl that had so frightened him at the witch’s house. This snarl was not one he’d ever heard from himself before. He supposed it came from protecting his loved ones. He’d never had anyone to protect before now, being a lone wolf since his parents had been burned. He hadn’t known what it was like to have something you couldn’t bear to lose until now.

He growled again at the cat and it stared straight back at him. He saw Tony approaching from the side and sensed what he wanted to do. Wolf waited until Tony was just close enough, then began moving. He didn’t pounce, but moved to the side to distract the cat’s attention, which he did, for a moment, but the cat quickly realized that it had found its opportunity. It leapt into the air toward the baby.

Tony knew that he had to keep this cat from touching the baby’s face. He inched closer to the bed, trying not to make any sudden moves that would spook the cat. He saw that Wolf had noticed and flashed his eyes at Tony. Tony hoped that meant to go ahead, because he was already in place. As if on a silent count of three, Wolf hopped to the side, flailing his arms wildly, distracting the cat for the merest of moments, but it soon recovered its original intention and leapt toward the baby. Tony did not have enough time to grab the child out of harm’s way. He didn’t have a moment to think. He simply reacted. Grabbing a towel that Lia had been using, he tossed it over the baby, covering him completely. The cat landed gracefully at the baby’s side, but Tony had bought enough time that Wolf was able to grab it from behind, snatching it away from the child just as it started pawing at the towel to get beneath it. Tony grabbed the baby and examined every inch of him to ensure there were no scratch marks. The cat struggled and clawed at Wolf, but he held fast to it, keeping it dangling at arm’s length and growling at it menacingly.

"You’d better knock it off, kitty, he muttered. "I’m hungry and angry. I’ll bite you in a minute!"

Wendell came dashing into the room at just that moment and the three men looked at each other for a moment, each of them breathless from their part in the ordeal. Each man took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Cripes," they all said quietly, realizing what a close call it had been.

Virginia called to Wolf. All of the action had take place behind her and she was frantic, not having seen what had happened, but hearing her child crying. He turned to her, but realizing he was still holding the cat, he handed it to Wendell. Tony gave the baby back to Wolf, who took him to Virginia. The guard entered the room at about the same moment with a makeshift bottle that a lady from the village had prepared from her goat’s milk. The happy, if exhausted, couple set about feeding their baby for the first time.

Tony and Wendell stood off to the side, wanting to give the three a moment to share together. Wendell still held the cat, at arm’s length, just as Wolf had done. It had given up struggling, and even scratching, when it had encountered Wendell’s gloved hands, but the king wasn’t about to risk letting it touch his face. Tony looked from the cat to Wendell and back again, realizing what bad memories this must dredge up. Wendell felt foolish for not considering the eventuality that the cat was really magic of that sort, and he was also more than a little frightened to be in such close proximity to another magic animal. Tony recognized this and reached out, taking the cat from his hands. With a wink over his shoulder, he headed from the room muttering something about "Nine Kingdoms justice," and left the king to watch the warm family scene before him with a glow of love and pride for his friends and a slight pang of envy for what they had that he did not.

The pair were oblivious to anything but their child for the moment, so Wendell alone noticed the scream a few minutes later that was cut off in mid-breath. He wondered momentarily what it could mean but soon found out. Tony came back into the room cuddling the cat in his arms and rubbing his cheek against its fur.

"Have you gone mad?" Wendell asked, seeing his friend allowing the cat to touch his face.

"Oh no," Tony said smiling widely. "I’ve made a house pet of our little kitty. I think I’ll keep him."

Wendell saw the look in his eyes and a realization came over him. They joined Wolf and Virginia, who had just finished feeding the baby. Wolf looked at Tony questioningly, then sniffed the air, smiled, and stepped closer. He sniffed the cat and smiled again. Reaching out, he took the cat and held it up before him, looking into its eyes. He smiled once again and brought the cat forward, rubbing noses with it. The cat began to purr, despite the frantic look in its eyes. Virginia looked at Wolf questioningly, but Wolf just flashed her his best wolfish grin, shook his head and said, "Nothing left to worry about now, my little chop!"