Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

Wolf went at once to get a consensus from the wolves on their willingness to fight. For the rest of the day, Virginia didn’t see or hear from him. Then, at nightfall, the howling began. There was one voice at first. Virginia thought she recognized it as Wolf’s. It was joined by another and another till there was a great cacophony of howling. It rose to a fever pitch and then broke into a series of organized sound, as if the wolves were practicing a set of signals.

Virginia went down to dinner at eight o’clock and found her father sitting by himself in an almost empty diningroom. “What? No dinner companion tonight?” she snidely.

“Now, don’t start,” Tony said, waving his fork at her. “Who wouldn’t be with all that howling going on.”

Virginia sat down and smiled slightly at the waiter when he came to present her with a plate of lamb chops.

“They only made one dish tonight,” Tony said. “The kitchen staff is small and besides the castle is kind of empty.”

“Lamb is fine.” She barely cared what she ate at that point.

“You don’t look well. Are you all right?”

“I’m just worried.”

“I know how you feel. But I think he’ll be all right. If all that howling unnerves us, just think what it’ll do to the trolls.”

“It sounds like there are more of them now.”

“There are. One of the butlers said more wolves are arriving by the hour. They’re all huddled in the woods in front of the castle. I think Rose is with them too.”

“I wish I was.”

Tony put down his fork and leaned in toward his daughter. This was one area in which he agreed with his son-in-law completely. “Wolf is right. You have a child to think of now. You should stay here. You’ll be safer.”

“Yeah, right.”

“There’ll be other battles and other quests. Something’s always happening here. You’ll see. The wolves will win the day and then some evil wizard will come along tomorrow and curse half the kingdoms or something.”

“I just feel so helpless.”

“I know what you mean,” Tony said. And he did. Except that he would have used the word useless instead. He’d spent the whole day working up plans for a series of cannons. But how soon would they be ready? Would they really do any good? “Wolf’s got a good plan. I think he’s got a good chance of turning back the trolls. We may not like sitting here doing nothing. But I don’t think there’s any other choice right now.”

At eleven o’clock Virginia went to bed alone. Out in the courtyard, she could still hear wolves howling occasionally, but they were much quieter now. Virginia curled up on Wolf’s side of the bed and scrunched his pillow around her face. Then she let out a long agonized groan.

Immediately, her engagement ring began a low hum, like a wordless lullaby. But the soothing sound didn’t give her any comfort. “Is this the dire happenings you warned us about?” she asked the ring.

“One by one they will all fall,” it sang,
“Unless they hear your bugle call.”

A chorus of howling started again out in front of the castle. It wasn’t loud, but it was long.

“Is that the call you were talking about?” Virginia asked. “Cause if I’d known what you were talking about, I don’t think I would’ve come back. That’s Wolf’s bugle call, not mine. I’m just gonna be sitting here like an old dwarf housewife, waiting for my man to come home. Hoping he doesn’t get himself killed.”

“There are secrets from of old,
And its time they should be told,” the ring sang.

“Yeah, yeah. I remember that.” Virginia held her hand up in front of her face. It was dark in the room, but she could still see the little pearl in her ring. It always glowed with a pale light. “And there was something about a queen too, right? What queen? I haven’t seen any queen.”

“There is a Queen, proud and vain,
Her kingdom she will not maintain.
The light of truth will change her fate
And with it yours, if not too late.

“The stain of blood has touched her throne,
Although the stain is not her own.
The crimes now stand at number three,
But only one the world does see.”

“Though she may never credit you,
Others, though, will see what’s true.
Return to light this secret wrong
And stand together to be strong.”

“Oh, great. So you want us to help somebody who doesn’t give a huff-puff. Who is this chick anyway?”

“Listen to just what I’ve said,
And you will see the House of Red.
For in the past the blood did flow,
Its secrets now you ought to know.

“A giant threat will come its way,
And if it falls, no one can say,
Just how long this too will stand.
The fate of all is in your hand.”

“The House of Red? Red Riding Hood? There’s nothing wrong with her. It’s not her kingdom that’s under attack. As far as I know, the trolls are only after us.”

“A giant threat will come its way,
And if it falls, no one can say,
Just how long this too will stand.
The fate of all is in your hand.”

“You know. I think I liked you better when you just sang about how you’d like to ‘linger on my finger.’”

It was very late when Wolf finally came in. Virginia was still wide awake, sitting thoughtfully in the dark. The wolves outside were silent now.

Wolf thought Virginia might be asleep, so he opened the door to their room as quietly as he could and tried closing it with the same stealth.

But just before he pushed it to, Virginia said, “I guess everybody agreed.”

“You’re up.”

“You didn’t really expect me to sleep, did you? So what great plans did you make?”

“We’re leaving at first light. The Chancellor told me the trolls have been attacking mostly at night. They don’t mind fighting at that time of the day as much as humans do. So, it gives them an advantage. If we push hard tomorrow we can get close to Kissing Town before dusk. Then we can take a short rest and join the fight when it gets dark.”

“Does Wendell know you’re coming?”

“The Chancellor is sending word. I’m leading the main force in the center. Rose is taking the right flank and an old pure-blooded gray wolf by the name of Carpathian, is taking the left.”

“So Rose is going?”

“Yes. Would you be happier if I asked her to stay?”

“No. I’d be happier if you were the one staying.”

“You think I want to be away from you?”

“No,” Virginia admitted weakly. “But what a rotten honeymoon.”

Wolf sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. “I know. But it’s for Wendy. And our son.”

“Be careful.”

“I will. And we’ll be back soon. You’ll see.”

“Better be.”

They were silent for a moment, just snuggling close to each other.

Then Virginia said, “Oh, our friend the ring made some new predictions tonight.”

He was afraid to ask. “About what?”

“I don’t know. Something about the House of Red, a giant threat, and some old secrets.”

“Secrets?”

“Yeah, I think it has to do with Red Riding Hood. The ring wants us to uncover the truth.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know. He’s not real good on details. Go on, Ring, tell Wolf what you told me.”

The ring glowed a little brighter and started to sing,

“First, you sing your bugle call,
Or one by one they all will fall.
Then you’ll see the House of Red,
And all will hear what has been said.

“Lastly, come to fight the foe,
And the rest, you then will know.
The ground will shake, if you succeed,
And then no more will have to bleed.”

“That’s not exactly what he told me,” Virginia said. “I think that was the shortened version. Like I said, he’s not much on details.” She also wanted to say that she didn’t care much for his rhymes, but she didn’t want to insult the ring.

“Well, there’s not much more we can do tonight anyway.”

“You sound tired,” Virginia said, stroking the lengthing beard on his cheek. His beard seemed to grow so much faster than the average man’s. No matter how often he shaved, he seemed to have a perpetual five o’clock shadow.

“Very. I need all the sleep I can get. We have a long march tomorrow.”

Virginia helped Wolf out of his clothes and tucked him into bed. Then, she lay by his side listening to his steady breathing and holding him close, savoring every minute she had with him before he went away.