Macster - The Last Dragon

At last, after about an hour (as far as she could tell from her watch), the tunnel ahead began to vaguely lighten. Heartened, she and Wolf hurried after the Piper, who had quickened his darting steps. Soon the light grew to the brightness of the sun at dawn, spilling into the tunnel from around a bend. Turning the corner, they discovered another shaft leading away at an angle. It was from here that the light came--far ahead, they could see the circular egress from the mountain. And with it came the pounding sound of churning water.

Rushing forward without any further caution, the three travelers dashed down the new tunnel, the light brightening cheerfully and drawing them on, until finally they burst out of the cave mouth on a ledge overlooking a breathtaking sight. A mountain valley spread before them, narrow and V-shaped and filled with forests of pine, spruce, and fir climbing the slopes of the granite peaks, until they faded out at the tree line, where caps of pristine snow towered into the welkin. A massive waterfall spewed and foamed at the far side of the valley, pouring down the slopes and rushing madly into a wide river that raced downhill toward the distant forests of the Second Kingdom. The waterway followed the edges of a pass, barely visible through the trunks as it descended from a ledge somewhere just out of sight.

Spreading his arms to encompass the view, the Piper smiled and gestured theatrically at the landscape. "And here we are! Did I not tell you I would lead you truly? Yonder pass is the secret route to Red Riding Hood's Kingdom. By twilight we should be in the forest, with no one the wiser."

Virginia groaned under her breath; she was already sick of trees. Wolf only glared sullenly at the Piper's back, growling audibly. When she elbowed him forcefully, he turned and mouthed, "I could have found the way all by myself." Even though she suspected he might be right, she felt like throwing one of the magic shoes at him.

That thought reminded her of an explanation she needed to give. So as Colin led them along the ledge, winding around the valley's rim, and then disembarking from the descending path into the pass, Virginia quietly explained to Wolf how and where she had found the shoes. He did not seem too surprised, but he did act very concerned for her welfare--overly so. She supposed that was because he feared the return of her addiction, as she first had. But she did not feel even a twinge, and proved it by offering to let him carry the shoes for the rest of the journey. When he was actually able to lay hands on the golden footware without her so much as whining about their theft, let alone clutching them close, he was satisfied and let her keep them. The look he gave her was inordinately proud and pleased, and somehow his hug seemed more warm and loving than usual.

Virginia was proud of herself too.

For the rest of the afternoon the three travelers picked their way down the rock-strewn slopes, gripping stray roots and holding onto each other to stay upright, with Wolf flashing his golden irises at the Piper whenever he held onto Virginia a second too long or gave her a grateful look that seemed to be too emotional. Feeling rather like a leash holding back a furious Doberman from a trespasser, she was quite relieved when they finally reached the base of the mountain and passed into the forested foothills.

Just as the sun's golden disk hung over the boughs, as if suspended among them, the land leveled out and the forest enclosed them, flooding the air with the familiar woodsy fragrances. Virginia could see little difference from the trees of the Disenchanted Forest, except for the lack of crowding and looming, nebulous shadows, and the overabundance of conifers; otherwise she felt just as uneasy and worried, and if not for the demarcation of the mountains, she would not have known they had crossed a border.

A few yards into the forest, a path appeared, overgrown and barely visible in the gloom, its narrow length weaving around and under tree roots before splitting in two and vanishing from sight. There were no signposts, and nothing else to indicate which route to take; both were equally untraveled.

The Piper paused in the middle of the crossroads and peered along each path before turning to face them. "Well now, both directions appear equally safe, so--"

Wolf's snarl cut him off. "And what would you know about it, Princey? I should be the one leading and deciding where we go!"

Drawing himself up to his full height, the Piper looked down his nose at Wolf. "I will have you know I have crossed these mountains many times to hunt in the forest, so I have an excellent knowledge of the terrain."

Stalking with lithe grace, Wolf hunched his shoulders and approached the young man, skewering him with the full force of his blazing golden eyes. "And I'll have you know that I have lived in this very forest for most of my life, so I know it far better than you ever will. Now are you going to step aside, and let me choose our path, or are you ready for that pipe lesson yet?"

Fingering his pipe nervously, Colin acquiesced, scurrying out of the way and lowering his gaze submissively as it is best to do around wolves. As Wolf crouched in the crossroads, sniffing the air, Virginia regarded him thoughtfully. She hadn't known that he lived in the Second Kingdom prior to serving time in prison; for some reason all his talk of shepherds and farmers had given her the impression the Fourth Kingdom had always been his home. To know he had dwelt in the very den of the wolves' number-one enemy shed new light on his life, and on his reluctance to enter Riding Hood's realm. It also reminded her pointedly that she really didn't know much of anything about Wolf's past. She had respected his privacy, not pushing to know more about him, both because of Wolf's discomfort whenever the subject came up, and because she herself wanted to be left alone quite often about her past. It would be sheer hypocrisy to ask questions of Wolf on the same subject she refused to let him probe.

But now that they were here, in a place so openly hostile to wolves, a place Wolf knew like the back of his hand, it was imperative she stop pussyfooting around. Knowing what happened to Wolf and his family wasn't important when they were settling into life in New York, but it might mean life or death when they were traveling through a Kingdom where at any moment someone could assault them with fire, axe, or crossbow. Fighting prejudice would be hard enough; if there were some dark, horrible crime she didn't know about...

Nodding decisively to himself, Wolf rose from his crouch and turned northward. "This way," he said simply, breaking Virginia from her reverie.

Even as she wondered what made that path the better one, the Piper frowned and put his hands on his hips. "Are you certain? That way lies Riding Hood's palace, the worst possible place for a wolf..."

Wolf scratched at his temple and snorted. "Every place in this infernal Kingdom is the worst place for a wolf. In any case, we must go north. That is the quickest way to get to the Sixth Kingdom. I don't want to stay here any longer than is necessary, so it is best that we take the shortest route. Going south would take us out of our way. Not to mention all the gingerbread cottages down there...we don't need to meet another witch."

Rolling his eyes, the Piper threw up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Oh, have it your way..."

As he turned away to stow his pipe in a leather satchel hanging from his shoulder, Wolf smirked. "I always do."

The three set off without further preamble along the chosen path. The Piper was whistling nervously, habitually twisting a large sapphire ring on his right hand as he walked. Wolf was eyeing him as if he longed to rip out his larynx, but Virginia sensed there was another source to his anger and discomfort. Being in the Second Kingdom probably had something to do with it...but was it more than simple fear at what would happen if one of Riding Hood's patrols discovered them? Unobtrusively she slipped a hand in the pocket of her jeans, cradling the weight of Lord Rupert's signet ring. Surely that would take care of any problems with wayward soldiers--or even Red Riding Hood, should they encounter her, although Virginia had every intention of staying far away from the queen and she knew Wolf did too.

So what did they have to worry about?

Plenty, it seemed. Only a few yards farther, they entered a broad clearing that, despite its welcome openness and the late afternoon sunlight shining down through the canopy, seemed dark and menacing. Clutching her shoulders and shivering instinctively, Virginia tried not to imagine what could be lurking in the concealment of the shadows...and then Wolf let out a guttural cry that she had never heard before except during his cycle in Little Lamb Village. Turning to follow his gaze, she saw it then, at the same time the stench of death assailed her nostrils. Her gorge rose.

On the far side of the clearing, a wooden sign was nailed on the trunk of a tree, fashioned from redwood and bearing charred lettering, as if the words had been branded in. It read: DEATH TO ALL WOLVES! REMEMBER RED RIDING HOOD! Beneath it, crucified on the branches of the tree, was a rotting corpse, the remnants of its tattered clothing covered with rusty brown stains. The exposed bones seemed wrenched out of position, twisted and broken, as if frozen in the middle of some contorted transformation. But the canine skull made the body unmistakeable.

As did the long gray tail.

Wolf howled in anguish, his nails turning to claws as he clenched his fists, but Virginia quickly grabbed his shoulder and dragged him away. At first he resisted, whirling to glare hatefully at her, but when he realized who she was, his eyes returned to their normal green and he suffered himself to be guided by her. In moments they were farther along the path, leaving the grisly scene behind.

As Wolf's breathing slowly subsided, the Piper bit his lip. "Well, that warning was clear enough."

"Yeah...and they'll only get worse as we go along." Wolf wiped trailing saliva from his mouth and glanced back over his shoulder, his hands still flexing as if he longed to rip the murderer of that wolf to shreds. Virginia stared at him in shock. How could they possibly get any worse? Yet she only feared that they would.

From that point on the three of them clustered protectively together in the middle of the path as they proceeded, peering furtively and fearfully at the encroaching darkness around them. Red Riding Hood Forest was becoming decidedly more ominous and frightening as the sun sank past the horizon and twilight settled into night. Virginia found herself listening avidly to every creak of a limb, every rustle of the underbrush, every animal grunt and moan, until she was certain that her ears had grown as large and pointed as a wolf's. Wolf himself never stayed upright, always crouching and circling until she grew dizzy watching him, and his eyes never ceased glowing that brilliant gold. The Piper brought out his pipe again and started playing it softly to provide enough light to see by, as the clouded sky masked the gibbous moon and the few stars that had appeared.

Virginia would just as well have stayed in darkness, for the silvery light only extended the shadows and made the forest more eerie. It also bathed in stark relief the horrendous "markers" that appeared every five miles or so--and Wolf had been right, they only increased in cruelty and viciousness. The bodies of the wolves became fresher, riper, more bloody and mutilated, and the signs bore even more vindictive messages, like THE ONLY GOOD WOLF IS A DEAD WOLF! and A WOLF IS GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT! Finally they came upon a body that, according to Wolf, had been dead only a matter of hours, with injuries calculated to ensure he would never father cubs. The accompanying sign was so vulgar Virginia had to look away at once. The Piper was deathly pale and Wolf...Wolf was snarling and whining constantly, his nails now drawing blood from his palms.

Hurriedly she grabbed his arm and dragged him from this clearing too, the deja vu making her feel she had been forever propelling Wolf from one place to another. As they stumbled through the darkness, she could hear him muttering and mumbling under his breath and leaned close to hear him. "What did you say?"

"I'll kill her for this," he growled. "I'll kill her! It's been bad before, but huff-puff, nothing like this. I'll kill her!"

"Who?"

"Red!"

She stiffened and pulled back, horrified. "You don't mean Red Riding Hood?"

"Of course I do! How many other wolf-murdering trollop queens do you know?" Wolf ripped free of her hold and stalked ahead into the forest, swearing profusely and clawing unerringly at the tree trunks, not even having to look.