Macster - The Last Dragon

By midmorning of the third day they were arriving in Incarnadine, the capital, and in spite of the confrontation ahead, Wolf was almost looking forward to it. At least the journey would be over, and the angry faces and raucous voices. At least they could step down out of this infernal wagon. Lifting his head, he gazed with disinterest at the center of the Kingdom, his forehead pressed to the bars. He had seen it many times before, and he despised it as much as ever.

Incarnadine was red, as was to be expected. The houses were all built of brick or sandstone, with crimson shutters and scarlet shingles. The cobblestones were red, the windows held redly-tinted glass, the smoke coming from the chimneys was red, even all the citizens' clothes were red. Most of them had colored their hair as well. But it wasn't their hair he was looking at as the wagon passed through the massive gates and down the broad road. It was their venomous stares, their twisted scowls, their banners and signs screaming for wolven blood and royal murderers.

The city was enormous and sprawling, second in size only to Wendell's capital, and the noise was incredible. Virginia's eyes were wide as they traversed the winding road, but since he knew New York was far, far larger than any city in the Kingdoms, Incarnadine's size couldn't be the reason for her expression. Following her gaze, he saw the towering castle of Red Riding Hood rising from the center of the city--and even after all this time he had to agree it was impressive. Its rough-hewn stones stained the same sanguine hue as everything else, it cast a strange, irregular shadow, battlements and parapets and spires and arching tower bridgewalks producing an unsettling silhouette against the ashen sky. Wolf had heard the word "pile" used in ancient poetry to describe a building, and this structure was one he felt deserved the term. It seemed to crouch above the ground like a blocky giant, ponderous and oppressive, dwarfing every edifice in the city. And it only grew larger the closer they came.

"Burn the wolf! Burn the wolf!" The fervent, hysterical cries swelled and roared, and acrid smoke filled the air as torches were lit and waved about wildly. Some members of the crowd, he saw with disgust and fury, were draped in the ragged pelts of wolves, clotted with dried blood. The soldiers guarding the wagon kept the mob mostly at bay, but several, he noticed, were pointing in his direction, laughing, and motioning with their hands in gestures intended to suggest a tail. Then they exchanged coins with a few of the spectators. Selling shares of his hide, no doubt. His blood boiled.

The awful assaults of fruit and vegetables, rocks and eggs, even rancid meat, continued, with the hellish maelstrom of howling faces, spraying spittle, and fiery brands serving as a frightening backdrop. But finally, mercifully, the citizens were driven back fully as the wagon entered the central square of the city. There, a massive statue, painted red, depicted the demure figure of Red Riding Hood, looking at her sweetest and most innocent as she bore a basket of goodies for her grandmother in one hand and a gathering of flowers in the other. Beyond the statue, the castle loomed ever higher and more daunting, and as they approached the drawbridge over the murky moat, he could see arrowslits dotting the walls, with a crossbow bolt extended from each one.

With the rumbling of timbers the wagon lurched across the bridge, wheeling into the cobblestoned bailey of the castle and coming to a stop before the heavy oak doors of the keep. Before the cart had even fully settled to a stop, the garrison commander was unlocking the small barred door in the side and jerking on Wolf's chains, throwing him off balance so that he fell out face-first onto the hard stones. Even as he stumbled to his feet with a bleeding lip, the Piper landed beside him in a similar heap, and then a soldier lifted up the pregnant Virginia and hoisted her with more care out of the wagon, setting her upright but still more roughly than he would have liked. Seeing one of these Trolls in human skin even laying hands on his beloved was enough to make him snarl and lurch toward the nearest soldier--but all he received for his trouble was a gauntlet smashing into his face, splitting his lip again and bruising his jaw. Dazed, he staggered almost drunkenly, hardly aware when the commander unlocked all of their chains, then jabbed him in the back with the butt of a spear, prodding him forward.

Climbing the four steps to the doorway, he accompanied Virginia and the Piper into the darkened interior of the palace. As he recovered his equilibrium and his vision cleared, he found himself in a long, marbled hallway lighted by guttering torches in infrequent sconces. All along the walls hung portraits of the generations of Hoods, interspersed with magnificent tapestries that, unsurprisingly, depicted in nauseating detail the slaughter of wolves. Most prominent among these was a stylized version of the death of Old Grey at the hands of the woodsman.

Thankfully the soldiers propelled them along the hall so quickly there was no time to view all the horrific weavings, and it was in fact quite easy to avoid looking at them. Wolf was extremely glad he had not been forced to see a tapestry of his father's burning. Ahead, he saw a pair of wine-red doors set into a Gothic arch, each half adorned with golden fixtures, including heavy knockers, and divided into five panels. Wolf trembled. Those were the doors to the queen's throne room. There was no turning back now, no escape. It was as if Death's cold hands carried him onward.

At the doors they were jerked to a halt as the soldiers escorting them consulted with the two burly sentinels at watch. Then, with a smirk, the guards threw open the doors and closed ranks behind them, pushing them into the room. At the same moment a silk-clothed herald with a ridiculous floppy hat and pointed shoes raised a high ringing voice into the vast throne room. "The prisoners to be interrogated: Prince Colin, the Pied Piper; Lady Virginia the Fair; and Wolf, great-grandson of Old Grey."

Murmuring and whispering flooded the room with an echoey susurration that made his flesh crawl as the gossip and judgment began, its source being the countless courtiers thronging the hall. But Wolf noticed none of them. Instead he let his eyes unerringly follow the scarlet carpet, like an unfurled tongue, all the way to the throne of rubies and garnets--and there she was. The face he would never forget, the face burned into his memory by an oath of vengeance. At once his lips writhered back, exposing his fangs, and a vicious, low-pitched growl throbbed in his throat. Even this far away he could see her throat fluttering with a fear he remembered well. It was her. It was Red Riding Hood III.

The moment she laid eyes on the queen of the Second Kingdom, Virginia felt an intense loathing like none she had ever felt before. Instantly she knew that, even if she had known nothing of the woman's history, had not just been told three days ago of her heinous sins, she would have taken an instant dislike to her on sight. In the arrogant set of the auburn-haired monarch's jaw and eyebrows, in the haughty shape of her cheekbones and nose, were signs of Red Riding Hood's inner cruelty and darkness, a cold and emotionless heart epitomized by her fiery eyes, which were the exact shade of ruby, the hardest mineral save for diamond. But because Virginia did know the truth about Carmine's character, because she did know what awful atrocities she had committed, her estimation of the queen was lowered even further. Truly beauty only was skin deep; underneath that creamy powdered skin and flawless complexion lay the twisted soul and wart-strewn countenance of a Troll, as far as Virginia was concerned.

Driven by her desire to give this horrible queen a piece of her mind, Virginia strode down the carpet even before the soldiers could urge her to move. Wolf and the Piper followed, the former still snarling and growling, the latter tense and pale with fear, but she only spared them a glance; all her attention was on Red Riding Hood III and the room around her. It was as splendorous and ornate as she had expected it to be, a tasteless show of wealth and power that did not impress her in the slightest, as she knew that at its core was only vanity. The room's floor and ceiling were expanses of marble with rows of pillars on either side, each set upon massive plinths at least as tall as her father. Alternating between the pillars were Gothic windows set into ebony casements, draped with heavy red velvet curtains. In fact red was the predominant color, from the tapestries and gaily decorated banners suspended from the ceiling and the minstrels' gallery, to the baldachin over the throne, to the fine silks and satins worn by the courtiers clustered along the walls. She wondered how the queen and the rest of her court could keep from growing sick of the hue. Thanks to the windows and the torches the throne room was filled with light, yet it still somehow seemed dark and sinister in its mood.

At last the three of them reached the dais on which the throne was raised and stood before Carmine. For a long time the queen only stared down at them with a bored, disinterested expression, and a faint hint of contempt. Then the garrison commander approached the throne and handed her a scroll of parchment. Reading over it with only a perfunctory glance, she handed it back almost immediately and returned to looking at the prisoners. Her eyes were now calculating, assessing. Virginia met her gaze with open defiance and confidence. She was not about to grant respect and superiority to such a woman, no matter what title she had been born to. And what with her crimson gown of layered ruffles and tight bodice, the golden crown perched on her brow, and the overall surroundings of red, she matched precisely a figure Virginia held in very low esteem, the infamous Queen of Hearts. She half expected Red Riding Hood III to shout, "Off with their heads!" at any moment.

Virginia bit her lip anxiously. Considering their predicament, that had not been a good thought at all.

"Well, well, well." Her voice was light, lilting, almost conversational, interrupting Virginia's reverie. "It's been a long time, Wolf. How...fortunate that you could join me. I am most pleased you accepted my...invitation." The corner of the queen's mouth twitched.

A sardonic laugh was her reply, and then Wolf snarled softly. "Oh, but the way you had it delivered, how could I possibly say no? And I would never miss an opportunity to meet you, Auntie Carmine."

Red Riding Hood stiffened and skewered him with a scathing stare. "How dare you call me that! I refuse to accept we share a single drop of blood in common. You are nothing but a mongrel, one I have brought here to be summarily done away with." A satisfied smile curled her lips.

Wolf narrowed his golden eyes, half-crouching. "I'd like to see you try!"

Virginia put a hand over her face. However much she despised the queen and wished she could unleash Wolf on her, she knew he would only earn injury or death at the hands of the guards protecting the monarch. Diplomacy and tact were needed, however much she loathed using them in this case.

Reining Wolf in with a steady glare, she stepped forward. "Your Majesty, I am well aware that you have, shall we say, a turbulent history with Wolf. But none of that matters right now, because there are events that must be dealt with, events that will affect all the Kingdoms if they are not handled swiftly and efficiently. You must let us go."

The startled expression on the queen's face showed how taken by surprise she was by this unexpected tactic. But in moments she had recovered and was laughing mockingly. "Oh really? I must? And who are you to demand I do anything? I am the queen here, and you are nothing but an ordinary girl, naive and foolish. And I will not allow you to deny me justice."

The words were ones she had heard before, cast in other phrasings but with essentially the same thrust as those of her mother. But Virginia was stronger now than she was then, and she succeeded in quelling the old feelings of insecurity and inadequacy.

She was about to make a remark about revenge disguised as justice, however impolitic it might be, when the Piper surprisingly moved to her side, assuming his most aloof posture. "I will have you know, Your Majesty, that I myself am a prince of the Fourth Kingdom and deserve all the rights appertaining thereto. You have no call to imprison me, and I kindly suggest you release us all unless you wish an international incident. Do not forget the Nine Kingdoms Treaty." He crossed his arms over his chest.

When he finally lapsed into silence, Virginia stepped smoothly into the breach. "Prince Colin is correct. And he is not the only one with important connections. However much you may not want to accept it, Wolf is one of the Four Who Saved the Nine Kingdoms, as am I. So we are due respect and authority. I know you have laws you wish to uphold, but our journey supersedes those laws, if you will allow me to explain."

She was rather proud of that speech, but the queen did not appear at all impressed. Looking down her nose first at Colin, she smirked. "Oh yes...a prince who is the great-grandson of the Pied Piper who stole the children of Hamelin. Now there is a lineage I should be wishing to wave around and claim as a mark of legitimacy. I rather think few would care if you remained in my custody." Turning away from the chagrined prince, Red Riding Hood III looked then at Virginia, and the sneer she gave made Virginia grit her teeth. "As for you...I am well aware of your supposedly glorious exploits against the Evil Queen. But I am not a doddering old fool like Cinderella, nor am I ignorant and easily awed like Wendell. You cannot pull the wool over my eyes, Lady Virginia." The way she said "Lady" made it obvious she considered the title a misnomer.

"What do you mean?" Virginia replied coldly.

Carmine blinked with exaggerated care. "Do not play games with me. You have put on airs ever since the coronation. You think you are a heroine, a savior, come to us in our hour of need. But what salvation did you bring? The Huntsman died by his own bolt, victim of his own magic. None of your doing. The Queen died by luck and circumstance, again felled by an ancient spell, the Wicked Stepmother's own poisoned comb. You were simply in the position to take advantage of the situation. All you are, my dear, is an opportunist, a foreigner, a visitor from a mysterious land. You do not belong here; you are not wanted here, and frankly I wish you had remained in the Tenth Kingdom. You think you are great, like Snow White, Cinderella, or my grandmother? Hardly. You cannot compare with them. Not in the slightest."

The courtiers in the throne room burst into applause at this, and the queen inclined her head graciously in acknowledgement of the adulation. But Virginia was clenching her jaws, cheeks flaming with fury and shame. I cannot compare with Cinderella or Snow White? she thought. And I suppose you can? Which of us is the one who has spoken with Snow White, and been told she was standing on the edge of greatness? Which of us, by contrast, persecutes the innocent under the guise of protecting her people, and acts out of jealousy and spite to get her own way?

But she spoke none of this aloud, knowing it would only enrage the queen. Instead she closed her eyes for a few moments and then looked at her levelly. "And what of Wolf? He saved all the rulers of the Kingdoms, including yourself, from being poisoned."

Riding Hood sniffed dismissively. "So he says."

Again Virginia was on the verge of snapping a retort, something on the order of being too proud to admit she had nearly been poisoned because then she could not deny having validated a dog as the next king of the Fourth Kingdom. But no, however much her flaring temper demanded it, she had to stay calm. She had to tell Red Riding Hood what had happened to Wendell. Then maybe she would sit up and take notice.

"Fine, Your Majesty, you can believe whatever you want, I won't debate it with you. There's no time. Wendell, and you, and all the Kingdoms are in terrible danger." Her voice cut through the air sharply, producing a shocked silence in the room.

The queen blinked and raised one arched eyebrow. "Oh? Do tell." Her expression and tone were quite dubious.

Virginia took a deep breath. "The Ice Queen has enchanted Wendell, and taken over the Fourth Kingdom, and she means to cast her spell over all the Kingdoms."

Carmine froze, eyes blazing. "What?"

So Virginia laid out the whole story yet again, wondering how many times she would have to tell the tale even as she related Rupert's story, what she had witnessed using the Spying mirror, what the Seeking mirror had told her, and the plans the Witch of Winter had devised. By the time she finished with the news that only a dragon could intervene on their behalf, the courtiers were once more abuzz with conversation, and this time she could tell they were intensely frightened and horrified.

Riding Hood herself looked troubled and worried for a few minutes, but then she asked a question that filled Virginia with outrage and prompted Wolf to snarl fearsomely. "What proof can you offer that your tale is true? I note Wendell is conveniently unable to corroborate your words."

Placing a hand on Wolf's shoulder to restrain him, she then approached the throne, pulling Lord Rupert's signet ring from her pocket. "Here. This should prove I tell the truth. I trust you recognize it."

The queen examined the crest briefly, then cradled the ring thoughtfully in the palm of her hand. When she regarded Virginia, it was with narrowed eyes that did not inspire confidence. "Oh yes, it is quite familiar. But I wonder, how did you come by this?" Before Virginia could protest that Rupert had given it to her, Riding Hood cut her off. "It seems to me that this ring could just as easily have been stolen."

Again Wolf snarled, but this time one of the soldiers cuffed him. All this happened in the periphery of Virginia's vision; all her attention was fixed on the queen, who was tapping the ring on the arm of her throne. The soft clink of the jewel against the gold was somehow very unnerving and disturbing in the vaulted room.

"Let me tell you a tale now, Lady Virginia--one I am afraid you will not like, as it does not begin with 'once upon a time' or end Happy Ever After. But nevertheless it is, I am certain, quite true." The scarlet-garbed monarch shook her head and frowned, as if she truly regretted what she was about to say. "It is a tale of a young woman, a stranger, who is the daughter of a dangerous and evil witch, and most likely a witch herself. She freely admits not only her background, but also her usage of her mother's magic mirrors, diabolical instruments of evil. She associates with a wolf, a wild and ferocious beast--and not just any wolf, but a known traitor, murderer, and fugitive from the Second Kingdom. She commits acts of bestiality with him...which have clearly borne fruit." Riding Hood gazed pointedly at Virginia's swollen belly, her voice twisted by disgust. "And her only claim to fame, to goodness and right and decency, is having killed her own mother to save the Kingdoms--not only an act of questionable morality, but one whose very nature is uncertain because of the few witnesses to it...a wolf whose word cannot be trusted, a dead Huntsman, the witch herself, and an ensorcelled prince whose mind had gone so canine as to make him unreliable. Even if he were in possession of all his faculties, he could easily have been placed under another spell to cloud his perceptions."

As the soft and malicious words floated across the room, falling matter-of-factly from crimson lips, Virginia's heart thudded against her chest. She felt as if it had become a burning coal being compressed into a diamond, cold and lifeless. At the same time, a wrenching pain flamed in her breast. The queen had latched onto her insecurities yet again, and this time she was hard-pressed to resist the old habit of denying herself. The implied accusation, that she had murdered her mother, was especially telling and haunting. Fighting her growing despair, she balled her fists. No, it wasn't true! How could Carmine be saying such lies and calling them the truth? Did she have the intelligence of a Troll as well as the morals and soul of one? Or could she actually be so blind and hard-hearted as to believe her own words?

Even as Virginia struggled to comprehend the queen; tried to quell her growing rage--and distress--as she heard herself accused of the most awful things and reminded of her heritage of evil that had so tempted her in the form of the Seeking mirror, Red Riding Hood continued inexorably, like the procession of the planets. "What actually occurred, you see, was this: the girl and her mother had been in league with one another, plotting the downfall of the Kingdoms. But there had been a double-cross. The daughter had her wolven lover switch Troll dust for poison and together they eliminated the Queen and her Huntsman, thereby being hailed as heroes of the land. In gratitude they were placed in positions of power and trust; awards and pardons were granted. All of this was to impress the various rulers, to lull them into a false sense of security, so that she could grow close, inveigle her way into the councils of the royals--and at the proper moment, betray them. More subtle than her mother's plot, so that it was more likely to succeed...and with her mother dead, there would be no requirement to share the power once it was gained."

Virginia could not say a word in her defense, shocked into a stunned silence by the audacity and cruelty of the woman before her. No, she was far too intelligent to be a Troll; she rescinded that musing. Red Riding Hood had a clever, guileful, and conniving mind, and that made her far far worse than any Troll. What was most frightening of all was, the way the queen told it, her version of events was uncomfortably convincing and realistic. Virginia almost believed it herself, and she had been there to know the truth. As it was she could tell the courtiers, who before had seemed genuinely upset and righteously indignant, were now doubtful and conflicted. Some were looking skeptically at Carmine, but even more were turning that expression to Virginia. And she began to tremble. Between her own history and the incredibility of her tale, it would be far more difficult to gain trust in this chamber than she had first realized. Perhaps impossible.

By now Red Riding Hood III had risen from her throne and was stalking back and forth across the dais, spearing Virginia every now and then with her frigid, infuriating contempt. "But the plot of this young woman has failed. Far from Wendell being entombed in ice, he broke free of her sorcerous grip, realized the truth of who and what she was, and exiled her and her lover from the Fourth Kingdom. That is why he is unavailable in the tale she concocted, because he would deny her words if consulted. So instead she came here...where she invented yet another plot by the vicious Ice Queen as a trap to ensnare me."

"That's a lie!" Wolf finally yelled in a violent fury. "None of it's even close to the truth, you nasty trollop!" He struggled against his captors, baring his fangs and flashing his golden eyes. One of the soldiers struck him in the back of the head, and he went limp in their arms, barely clinging to consciousness.

Virginia let out a soft shriek, which she quickly blocked with a clenched fist. Whirling back to the queen, she was appalled to see Riding Hood smirking in satisfaction. When she saw her looking, Carmine gave her a condescending look. "True, it is possible I may be wrong. But even if I am mistaken about the motive and plans of this young lady, I am not mistaken about the fraudulence of her ridiculous warning. Tell me, Virginia, did you truly think I would believe you? The Ice Queen has always remained aloof and incommunicative, and has not left the Eighth Kingdom for a hundred years or more. Do not insult me; if you wished to gain my assistance, you should have chosen a more plausible story for your web of deceit, my dear."

Finally finding her voice, Virginia could hold back no longer. "It seems to me that Your Majesty is even better at weaving such a web herself. Perhaps it is because she is too timid and arrogant to face the possibility that her realm is in danger yet again, and only I can save it?"

The silence that ensued was most pregnant. Slowly the queen, who had been facing away, turned back. "Am I? An interesting viewpoint, one I would expect you to hold. But how can you maintain it? You claim that a dragon is our salvation. You seem to think we would entrust our fate to one of those firebreathing menaces--which are extinct, no less. Are you that naive, or simply uninformed?"

"I know it sounds hard to believe, but think about it, Your Majesty. What else could have the magic to melt the Ice Queen's spell? And however evil it may be, why would a mirror lie? From what I've been told, mirrors never do."

Riding Hood nodded. "I cannot deny that. But consider what you are asking me to do. If I am to believe that you are not your mother's daughter, that you tell the truth about the Ice Queen, and that you travel on a journey to locate what can truly save us, then I am also to release you and your companions. But this requires me to abrogate my own laws, and to spare the wolf who caused the death of my sister...the wolf who threatened my own life. That is quite impossible for me to do. I rather think that, whatever your motive and plans, your words are meant, at this juncture, only to persuade me to pardon Wolf. And since you have coupled with the beast, your objectivity is clearly compromised. No, no, a thousand times no!" Crossing her arms over her chest, she jutted her chin stubbornly and sat back down on her throne.

Bitterness and anger welled up in Virginia, higher and higher, building into a conflagration. It burst out at last, resisting her rationality in a fiery desire to strike out--at the woman who not only refused to see the very real danger that loomed over her, and who had ripped apart Virginia's heart, but who had also destroyed Wolf's life. Grasping at the words of the deceased Sally Peep, she hissed, "Why, you selfish little goblin!"

A collective gasp filled the great hall. In the void of sound that followed, Carmine slowly turned her head to Virginia. Her lip twitched. "What did you say?"

It was too late now, she had crossed the line and she knew it, but she had to brazen it out. Red Riding Hood was impossibly truculent and closed-minded, she could see that now. Nothing she said would ever sway her and earn their freedom. That being the case, there was no reason she should not tell the queen everything that seethed inside her mind.

"You heard me." Lifting her chin in a mirror image of the queen, Virginia raised her voice so it could fill the throne room. "You are selfish and a fool, with a cruel and monstrous heart. You raise yourself up as a paragon of virtue, but you are anything but! You say I am nothing compared to the Five Women Who Changed History, but neither are you. I bet your grandmother is rolling over in her grave as we speak! You will grasp at any straw to ward away the truth. First you claim I am a witch and a liar, a traitor and an exile. Then you insult my integrity and motive. And all the while it is because you are so insecure and uncertain that you cannot accept what is staring you in the face! As for Wolf...that is the biggest travesty of justice I have ever heard. He did not cause your sister's death. Neither did his father. You did, Your Majesty, you did. With your jealousy and need to control, you drove her to her death. She would still be alive today if you had simply let her live her life in peace with the wolf she loved." By the time she had finished her tirade, Virginia was shaking with her emotions.

Every face in the vast chamber was pale with horror and disbelief. The only sound was the occasional shifting of feet, the whispers of cloth, and the soft clink of armor and chain mail. Virginia kept her eyes trained on the queen, who sat ramrod-straight in the throne, her hands clutching the arms so tightly her knuckles were white. A muscle spasmed and jerked in her cheek.

After another five minutes, during which Virginia and Red Riding Hood III looked only at each other, Carmine wrenched herself to her feet and trembled there. "How dare you...how dare you defy me in such a manner!"

"Easily." Virginia was the one to cross her arms now. "I am not your subject; you have no jurisdiction over me except that which you invent for yourself, and certainly none over my opinions."

"Then you have proven yourself to be everything I say that you are!" the queen snarled, her voice rising several octaves. At that moment, she seemed more like the Queen of Hearts than ever. "How could I, or anyone here, ever trust or believe you when you argue for the cause of those mangy, filthy, murdering wolves?"

Raising her voice to the same loudness so as not to be drowned out, Virginia met the beginnings of Carmine's frenzy and mania with cold defiance. "That's what this is all about, isn't it? Your insane prejudice and hate against wolves." She recalled the time, in the Huntsman's hidden treehouse, when she had declared everyone here was crazy. Red Riding Hood was certainly proving her point now; her eyes were positively gleaming with a furor of hate. "Well, if you can let go of those emotions, even for a moment, I have a question for you: have you ever even met a wolf? And I don't mean all the ones you condemned to death and executed. Have you met one in a normal setting, seen how they live and what they do, how they feel? If not, then how can you even claim that you know for a fact that they lack any merit?"

Virginia braced herself for another explosion, shrieks and screams, but surprisingly, the queen was staring at her in a mixture of doubt, despair, and terror. Her fiery eyes darted about, as if seeking some avenue of escape, and her jaw shook. "I...I...I do not need to meet one! I know what they are like, if anyone knows what a wolf is like it is a Hood! My family was very nearly wiped out of existence by Old Grey!"

For a moment she almost felt pity for Carmine; how could anyone be so deluded? But then her own world was plagued by the KKK and others of their ilk, so she should not be surprised at the illusions people erected to block out the world and those who were different. "Yes, Your Majesty. Old Grey. But not Duncan, not Wolf. And not hundreds of other wolves you have murdered to wipe out Old Grey again and again. They are not all the same. They are no more fully evil than we are. And if you would argue that their moon madness and their lust for meat make them a menace...I would contend that they are misunderstood. If you provided meat for them, so that they did not have to steal from farmers' livestock...if you treated them properly, like the sensitive and intelligent, loyal and honorable men and women that they are...if you allowed them to roam free, so that there was no more fear, no more crime, no more death, no more worry...then they would not lose control and run wild. Everyone would live in peace."

To her astonishment, her words seemed to be having a persuasive effect; Red Riding Hood's shoulders were sagging wearily, her eyes were losing some of their fervor, and there was a faint glistening--perhaps of tears? Peace must be something devoutly longed for in this Kingdom; Carmine was not so callous as to wish further suffering on her subjects.

Lowering her voice, keeping it gentle now, Virginia continued. "Just think of what I've said, Your Majesty. Give it consideration. I promise you will not regret it if you do. Just...let us go, pardon Wolf, or commute the sentence to a later date if you must, just give us enough time to stop the Ice Queen. Then we will all be safe again, and you can learn for yourself what wolves are really like. You owe it to Wendell, and your subjects...and also to your sister and Wolf. I know it must have been painful to lose her, but rather then carry on the same vendetta that led to her death, why can't you fulfill her wishes? Wolf is a member of your family...it behooves you to..."

Even as the words passed through her lips, she realized she had pushed the queen too far and trailed off. Reminding her of Cerise's death and Wolf's relationship to the House of Red all in the same breath had put steel back in her spine, cementing her arrogance and pride even more rigidly than before. "Do not presume to tell me what it behooves me to do. I am the queen, not you, no matter what your ancestry, and I know what is good and right for my people. I cannot believe the temerity you display in suggesting I am responsible for my sister's demise. How dare you...no, it was wolves at fault, wolves to blame. And the fact that I am related to one by accident of birth does not entitle them to anything. I am ashamed to have a wolf in my family." She nodded in finality, and an approving murmuring swelled like ocean waves as the courtiers lent their voices in agreement.

Virginia shook her head, her frame once more vibrating with the force of her resurgent anger. She had been so close, she'd thought she'd finally gotten through to Riding Hood--but she knew now, unequivocally, that Carmine was far too vindictive, recalcitrant, and selfish to listen to reason. Nothing short of showing her the truth about wolves would change her mind--and there was no way to do that, even had she the time to delay the quest to do so. It was useless to try anymore; Red Riding Hood III was beyond help.

Rising to her full height, she returned the queen's gaze of contempt and ridicule. "If you truly think that, then you are as mad as the Wicked Stepmother. And I rather think that Wolf should be the one ashamed--ashamed of having in his family a cold, self-righteous bitch like you!"

An even louder gasp filled the throne room, accompanied by angry insults and arguments, but before they could die down, Carmine was already on her feet again, striding down the dais. Even as Virginia hastened to back away, the queen stalked to face her. Eyes blazing, she slapped Virginia hard across the cheek, sending her staggering. "That is quite enough out of you, little girl! I refuse to hear any more of your lies and sad, pathetic ramblings."

Virginia did not even resist as a soldier returned to her side and grabbed her arm, wrenching it painfully behind her. She still held her hand to her cheek, which throbbed redly with the impression of the queen's palm. The physical pain, matched by the emotional, made her want to cry.

Riding Hood paused before the throne and looked back over her shoulder. "I will investigate your claims concerning Wendell and the Ice Queen, and if they prove true perhaps I will spare you and your companion." She gestured at the Piper, who throughout the heated exchange and impassioned pleas had remained stoic and silent, only his eyes betraying his fear and disbelief. "But if you are proven to be the liar and traitor I suspect, then all of you shall burn with Wolf. Either way, he will die for his crimes...and you, my dear, will suffer the fate of all women who have fornicated with a wolf." She smirked and gazed significantly at Virginia's stomach. "Guards, take them to the dungeon."

Complying with a proud alacrity, clearly glad to remove the one who had so insulted their queen, the soldiers dragged her away, back toward the doors. Others seized the Piper and brought him in her wake, while those supporting Wolf jerked him along the carpet as well. But even as Wolf, now fully awake again, looked back and forth between the two angry women with astonishment for one and fury for the other, Virginia could not tear her eyes from Red Riding Hood. As the queen seated herself calmly and sedately on the throne as if nothing at all had happened, she stared vengefully at the woman who wore blood on her soul and conscience as well as on her body. For the first time in her life, Virginia not only truly wished someone dead...she had every intention of carrying out her murder if she had the chance.