Macster - The Last Dragon

After several tense minutes in which he heard nothing but the settling of stones and smelled only dust and mold, Wolf nodded to himself and turned back to the door. Shushing the others, he reached out and turned the wrought-iron handle, expecting a rusty creak, but to his relief the door opened without a sound.

Beyond, he could see a long, square corridor extending into the distance, shadowed and ominous in the early hours of the morning. Only his sharp wolven eyes could detect the regal, sumptuous furnishings - an ornate mirror hung above a maple sideboard...a marble bench...a thick red-gold expanse of carpeting...a series of intricate chandeliers suspended from the ceiling, their crystals tinkling and clinking in a ghostly breath of wind...several exquisite paintings of gloomy forest scenes and portraits... At the far end of the hallway, an enormous dormer window draped with muslin curtains (which appeared black in the darkness but were surely some shade of red) allowed the faint light of the stars to bathe the floor in a mullioned patch of silver. It was also the source of the wind, for the sash was raised several inches for a breath of cool night air.

From that end of the hall there came a soft rustle of clothing. Wolf pressed himself against the doorjamb as a faint light appeared. Someone with an oil lamp...! The light grew stronger, then resolved itself into a soft halo shining around the slender form of a woman clutching a thick, velvet brocade robe around herself. It was Red Riding Hood.

Very slowly Wolf reached down to the sheath he had appropriated from one of his guards and removed a very large and incredibly sharp knife. Flexing his fingers around the hilt, he stepped through the doorway into the hall, Virginia and the Piper on his heels.

Closer he crept, his sense of anticipation rising with every step, until he was only a few feet away from the queen. At that moment she stopped, head tilted, a small furrow on her classical forehead. Obviously she had heard his footsteps. After several minutes, she shook her head and turned back toward her bedchamber. Instantly he followed her.

Carmine stopped again and turned back, her silhouette silvered by the starlight. Wolf grinned, knowing she couldn't see him.

"Who's there?" Her voice was crisp and imperious.

Wolf waited as the queen did. Then she shook herself, as if berating herself for imagining things, and started down the corridor again. He followed, picking up his pace.

Red Riding Hood stopped for the third time, clearly spooked. "I repeat, who is there?" Now her voice trembled with fear.

This time, Wolf continued forward, knife raised. The queen shrank back from the sound of the footsteps, but he was moving too quickly, breaking free of Virginia and sprinting rapidly. He leaped at his aunt in a rush, emerging from the vortex of magic without breaking his stride. Seeing a man appear out of thin air, then recognizing him, she opened her mouth to scream.

"Oh no, you don't!" he hissed. In a blur of motion he grabbed her from behind, covered her mouth, and placed the gleaming knife blade to her throat, making her drop the oil lamp. Thanks to the carpet, it did not break, not that he would have cared if the whole palace burned down. He snarled as she bit deeply into his hand, but did not let go, instead dragging her into the nearest room.

It was the queen's boudoir, even more vain and lavish than the hallway, with curtains and tapestries on all the walls, a magnificent chestnut wardrobe, several walk-in closets, and a vanity table large enough for a whole troupe of queens. Snorting, Wolf put his lips to Carmine's ear to whisper, just barely resisting the urge to bite it. "I will uncover your mouth and release you if you promise not to scream. If you do, then you will find out whether your blood is the blue of royalty or the red of your sins." For emphasis he grazed the tender skin of her throat with the edge of the blade.

He could feel the rage and terror conflicting in her frame, making it twitch and shake, as she slowly nodded. Baring his fangs, he let her go, then licked the blood trickling along his hand, hoping fervently she would try something.

Red Riding Hood was attempting to regain her dignity and restore her state of dishabille--her robe had come open during the struggle, revealing a scarlet negligee of silk trimmed with chenille that clung to her every petite and luscious curve--when the door closed and, in a haze of golden light, Virginia and the Piper appeared. They seemed startled, and she still wore the shoes on her feet, so their manifestation had not been planned. The shoes had given out. Wolf had wondered when that would finally happen.

"You!" The queen's eyes blazed with hate as she glared at Virginia. "How did you escape? How did all of you escape?" She swept the room with her accusatory gaze.

Virginia hesitated a moment, then smirked. "With magic. And a wolf gave it to us...one of your own guards."

Carmine went deathly still, her eyes bulging from their sockets. With a distinct sense of pleasure, Wolf watched the flush build up her snowy breasts, into her throat, then flooding out across her cheeks, deepening to an unattractive purple. He wondered if she would suffer apoplexy and save them all a lot of trouble. He hadn't had this much fun in years!

"You...you're lying! That's impossible! None of my loyal men could be one of those horrible beasts...I would know!" The queen spluttered and spat, stamping her slippered feet and balling her fists in a temper tantrum, but the panic and fury in her expression revealed she knew it was the truth. Finally, with a shriek of outrage, she leaped toward Virginia.

For a split second Wolf considered throwing the knife directly between Red Riding Hood's shoulderblades, but he knew that would be the coward's way out, and would make all of this for naught. So instead he threw the dagger just ahead of her running feet. Horrified, she drew up short and stumbled, trying to regain her balance.

In her moment of inattention Virginia strode calmly up to her. "Better watch where you're stepping, Your Majesty. Now, if you will permit me, I have something to give you." Without warning she hauled back and slapped the queen across the cheek. "That was for what you did to Wolf." She slapped the other cheek. "And that was for what you did to me."

Flabbergasted and indignant, Red Riding Hood lost her balance completely and fell backwards, landing in an ignominious heap on her royal posterior. Wolf could not help himself--he burst out laughing. Somehow Carmine managed to become even more furious and flushed as she scrambled up onto a leather settee. Rearranging her negligee, she snapped, "How dare you...attacking the royal person, invading my privacy, making a mockery of me...!"

Virginia had her arms crossed over her chest, and she responded in a frigid, bitter tone. "Because you deserved it. And you deserve so much more after what you've done."

In that moment she sounded so much like her mother that Wolf actually took a step back, eyeing her warily. Yet at the same time he was so very proud of her for taking control and being the strong, formidable woman he knew her to be.

Scratching at his temple, he turned on the queen and snarled, emboldened by having the upper hand at last. "And not only that, Auntie Carmine, but you have prevented us from accomplishing a very vital mission for King Wendell. We're going to be on our way now to carry it out, but before we left we thought you should know there are some very pressing matters you must see to in the most western part of your kingdom. I'm certain you've never been there, other than when you burned my father and your sister, so you may not know the way. But never fear, we'll be passing through there on our way to the Sixth Kingdom, and we'd be glad to guide you." He flashed his golden irises. "In fact we insist."

Red Riding Hood's anger faded into disbelief, shock, and horror as the meaning of his words sank in. "You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes, I would!" Wolf crossed the room, knelt down, and plucked the knife from the carpet, bringing it up to her bodice. "You see, we can't be quite sure that your soldiers will allow us to go in peace, and nothing must further hinder our path. You, Auntie, will grant us safe passage. It's the least you can do for your nephew and his mate...and along the way you can, I'm sure, see fit to make a few alterations in my record. Don't worry, once I've been pardoned I'll make sure you're left in a nice, safe place."

The queen stared at him incredulously. "You must be joking, or out of your mind! I would sooner die than help you in any way, shape, or form--let alone pardon you!"

Wolf growled, very softly, and snatched her wrists. She struggled, but he refused to release her. "That can be arranged, Your Majesty. And it will be unless you come with us. It's time for you to live up to your name. You must have a riding dress and hood somewhere in your wardrobe. Let's take them out of mothballs and give them a nice airing out with a spring ride, shall we?"

"No! No, I refuse!" Carmine glared down at him wrathfully, and despite his confidence he was shaken by the level of hatred in her eyes. How could such a beautiful woman be so filled with murderous thoughts? Yet he also detected a note of uncertainty, of self-doubt, in her eyes.

That would be what he would exploit.

Slowly rising until his eyes were level with hers, he pushed her back against the vanity and trained his wolven irises on her human ones, burrowing in, asserting control, gaining dominance over her will. He spoke seductively, firmly, in his voice of Persuasion, as he had done with Virginia's waitress friend Candy nine months before in the storeroom of the Grill on the Green. "Oh no, you are coming with us. You are most certainly coming with us."

It took much longer than it had with that imbecilic blonde to break Red Riding Hood's determination, but after ten minutes she finally went limp in his grip and nodded in acquiescence. Not daring to take his eyes off of her, he spoke to Virginia and Colin without turning his head. "Fetch one of those frilly scarves and the curtain ties...we don't want our traveling companion to run away or call an alarm, now do we?"

As the others complied and then returned to bind and gag the now-docile queen, Wolf finally relaxed and smiled almost amiably at Carmine. "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it? We're going to go down to the stables now, nice and casual, and fetch some horses to speed us on our way. Won't we?"

Red Riding Hood nodded mutely, anger seething and roiling behind the complacency in her eyes--and something else, an emotion that made her eyes glisten and caused tears to trickle down her cheeks...

Clasping her pale hands behind her slim, narrow back, the Ice Queen turned from yet another gloating examination of Wendell's frozen form to stride back toward the throne, a smug expression on her pursed lips. She had taken to observing and circling her ensorcelled prizes at least once a day, rather like a moth attracted to flame or a doctor studying a curious specimen. With a touch here and there, she reveled in the coldness of the ice and the fear she drank in from every countenance.

And she had more victims to delight in, for added now to the ranks of Wendell's advisers were the monarchs of three other Kingdoms, each of which had answered her spurious letters with the alacrity she had expected. The temptations she had offered them had been so obvious, she had to laugh mockingly yet again. To be fair the inducements she had dangled before Olaf and Alberich had been legitimate and plausible--the same lure, in fact, the magic mirrors which had belonged to the Evil Queen. The Elf had wanted them for history and sorcery, while the Dwarf had wanted to seal them in the mines where they could never harm the Kingdoms again. But both of them had been trapped by her spell. The Naked Emperor's Great-Grandson had been even more easily captured; all she'd had to do was suggest Wendell was holding a Sausage Festival and wanted to consult with his tailor and the cretin had rushed to the Fourth Kingdom so rapidly he almost left his servants and their ostrich feathers behind.

Now there were only three remaining. Leaf Fall had accompanied Olaf, and neither Old King Cole nor Fritz, the grandson of Queen Gretel, were a threat. She could track them down at her leisure, once she had caught the final three and extended the icy grip of her glorious winter across the land. And the letters that would summon her remaining enemies were even now receiving the finishing touches.

With a confident air she turned to the massive desk that had been placed at the foot of the dais, where a trembling, aged servant struggled to control his quivering hand enough to dip his quill in the inkwell. After watching him with amusement for some time, she said, "Have you finished?"

The poor man nearly leaped out of his seat, and his hand just missed overturning the inkwell. Nodding disjointedly, he hunched down over the desk. "Y-yes...w-would you like to read them?"

Smiling maliciously, the Ice Queen strode to his side, gathered the three letters up, and began to peruse their contents. The first two were relatively simple; the idiot children of Relish had been clamoring for their father's body to be returned to the Third Kingdom for proper burial, while Cinderella had long desired her grandson Wendell to choose a wife. A promise for an exhumation on the one hand and another for a royal ball which all eligible maidens would attend would be enough to draw out the wary Trolls and the reclusive monarch of the First Kingdom.

The final letter was her favorite, though, she had to admit. Red Riding Hood III was vain and arrogant, nearly as convinced of her own elitism as the Ice Queen herself. It would take special handling to appeal to her pride without arousing her paranoid suspicions. But an unexpected windfall had allowed the Witch of Winter access to the inner workings of Red's mind. When her demons had combed the palace, they had discovered Lord Rupert in the Evil Queen's hidden alcove, attempting to use her magic mirrors. The Ice Queen had not believed for a second his story that he was acting alone, he was far too much a coward to take such initiative. So she had appropriated the Spying mirror and, after compelling Rupert to give her the proper command, had sought out the one who had last used it.

Glancing sideways, the Ice Queen ran her eyes over the massive oval mirror that stood beside the desk, then shifted her gaze to the other four mirrors that formed a semicircle around the dais. It had felt so invigorating to tap into their immense, ancient power, multiplying her own! And with the Spying mirror, she had discovered the only threat remaining to her rule: the Lady Virginia.

She had heard of the young girl even in the distant reaches of the Eighth Kingdom, a girl from another realm who had almost singlehandedly defeated the Evil Queen and saved all the rulers of the Kingdoms. It boggled her mind, when she first saw Virginia's image in the Disenchanted Forest, that such a slip of a girl could contain such power and ingenuity, but she had learned never to underestimate her enemies. And the longer she watched Virginia's quest, the more she began to grow disturbed, even fearful. As she dealt with every threat assailing her--the Trolls, the Pied Piper--the Ice Queen had realized she might very well have met her match, and if she and her wolven lover were to find the magic they sought (the magic she dreaded), her entire plan could crumble to pieces, and she herself might lose her life.

But to her intense relief, the travelers had been arrested by Red Riding Hood's men, taken to her palace, and imprisoned. And it was then, observing the confrontation between the queen of the Second Kingdom and Virginia the Fair, that the Ice Queen had gained the inspiration for the final letter.

Smirking, the Ice Queen recalled how pitiful the young girl had seemed against Red's prejudice and obstinacy, her words falling on deaf ears, her anger only provoking the queen to greater hatred and fury. When she and her companions had been dragged from the throne room, the Ice Queen had refrained from watching their adventure further--for it had clearly been aborted, declining to its futile end in the depths of a dungeon from which Virginia would never escape. Yet the end to her threat did not excuse Lord Rupert from punishment, for he had aided her enemy and then lied to her.

Peering at Lord Rupert's anguished visage where he stood frozen in ice just to the right of the Spying mirror, the Ice Queen chuckled in brittle satisfaction and then began reading aloud from the final letter, the letter whose words echoed Red Riding Hood's own speech to the Lady Virginia: "Dear Red, I hope this missive reaches you in good health and fortune, for I have disturbing news to relay to you. Certain facts have come to light about the Lady Virginia that have made honoring her as a heroine a grave error. Suffice it to say that, like her mother, she possesses the powers of sorcery and has been weaving her spell for some considerable time, holding sway over my will. Far from saving the Nine Kingdoms, she plans to conquer them all by subterfuge and deceit, double-crossing the Evil Queen so as to gain our trust and then betray it. I have broken free of her enchantment and exiled her from my Kingdom, as well as Wolf, and Lord Anthony has disowned her. Furthermore, I have rescinded the pardon of wolves. Therefore, I would be most grateful if you would visit me at my palace and convey to me a list of all wolves who have fled your Kingdom to take sanctuary in my own, so that we may mete out proper justice. In addition, if you should be approached by Virginia in any capacity, I would suggest you prosecute her to the full extent of your laws. Wolf, of course, is now subject to the treason charge he so rightly deserves. I look forward to our rencounter. With respectful affection, King Wendell the First of the Fourth Kingdom."

Setting the letter down on the desk, the Ice Queen nodded in approval. "Excellent, you have followed my instructions perfectly and earned yourself another day of freedom. Now...seal the letters, and prepare them for delivery."

Almost fainting in gratitude, the scribe quickly began folding the sheets of parchment. Ignoring him completely, the Ice Queen turned back to the Spying mirror and ran her cold hands over the granite and wrought-iron frame, feeling the power dormant inside. "You are mine...yes, you are mine. And so are the Kingdoms. Now nothing stands in my way."

Behind her the scribe finished heating Wendell's signet ring and began sealing the hot wax with horrifying, disconcerting sizzles.

"Mine...all mine..."