Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

Nearly a week had passed since Wolf and his soldiers had left to join King Wendell. Wolf had sent Virginia a letter by courier almost every day to keep her apprised of what was going on.

“The trolls were driven completely from Kissing Town and back over the border into the Third Kingdom,” Wolf wrote in his first note. “But they’ve tried several times since then to return, charging across first in one place and then another. We’ve been kept real busy trying to keep them on their side of the river. They’ve got to tire of it sooner or later. I certainly have. My only desire is to return to you. Keep my side of the bed warm for me. Your adoring mate, Wolf. P.S., Rose sends her best.”

Virginia was starting to gain weight noticeably now. The dresses King Wendell had given her on the day of her wedding were already too tight. So, she put them in the back of her closet to wear after the baby was born and ordered several new dresses from the Royal Couturier in progressively larger sizes just as Rose had suggested. It was lucky the couturier was still in the castle. Lord Rupert had taken it upon himself to bribe the man handsomely to stay during the conflict.

“There are just some things a civilization needs if it is to stay intact,” Lord Rupert had said. “A good couturier is one of them.

Tony spent most days in his inventor’s workshop, in the company of Lord Rupert and one other helper. The plans for his cannons were finished. And they had started to assemble the needed materials. Lord Rupert had sent word to the Dwarf King as to the metals they would need and they were eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Virginia filled her days walking in the woods in front of the castle. The weather was turning progressively colder and she wore a heavy full-length woolen shawl over the long skirt and loose top that had become her walking outfit. Most of the wolves had left the forest, either to follow Wolf or to find a winter den for their cubs. So, she rarely met anyone else on her walks. But it didn’t matter. Somehow she felt closer to Wolf there among the trees.

She went at all hours. In daylight, she reread the four letters he’d sent her. At night she watched the growing moon. It was half full now. Not bright enough to read her letters by, but bright enough to walk without tripping. She carried her letters with her, fingering them over like magic talismans.

Tony had told her that she shouldn’t go walking in the woods by herself, especially at night. After all, they were at war. He felt she should stay close to the castle. But Virginia ignored him. It was just too hard to face her empty bed.

On the night that Bluebell finally made his way to Wendell’s castle, there were a few clouds below the moon. He had the pouch of fairy dust with him. And he intended to gain entrance to the castle through the same window that he and his siblings had escaped through on the night of Wendell’s coronation.

He didn’t know anything about Virginia’s frequent walks. If he had, he would simply have stayed in deep cover and waited for her. Instead, he followed the edge of the woods where it met the courtyard and headed in the general direction of the castle’s service entrance.

An ancient full-blooded country wolf, by the name of Culpepper, happened to be out also on that evening, searching for rabbits in the underbrush. He caught scent of the troll and followed him. What he should have done was raise the alarm. But it had been a blow to Culpepper’s masculine pride when the wolf army had left him behind. He yearned to prove he was still a wolf to be reckoned with. So, when he caught scent of Bluebell, he thought he would capture him by himself and become a hero.

It was just near the reflecting pool in the courtyard that he made his charge. The first leap was good, full of energy and right on the mark. But in the tussle with the much younger troll, he quickly tired. Bluebell pulled out a long knife and began stabbing the old wolf.

Culpepper yelped pitifully with each blow, till he lay quietly at the foot of the fountain. His cries had been heard by both Virginia, who was just coming out of the castle, and a mother wolf, who had been foraging at the edge of the wood. They both came running.

Virginia was the first to arrive. She didn’t have a weapon. But she positioned herself on one side of Bluebell and started shouting for the guards. The mother wolf bared her teeth and growled threateningly, trying to block Bluebell from returning to the woods.

The troll was a little flustered, but he was ready. The little blue leather bag of fairy dust was tied to his waist by a string. He broke it off and threw the dust over Virginia. “That’s for Dad!” he yelled.

The dust floated up into the air and over its intended victim, glowing eerily as it moved. The mother wolf stopped growling. She knew she was watching some terrible kind of magic, but she didn’t know what. The voices of the castle guards were now getting close. Bluebell turned and ran just as the outline of Virginia’s form disappeared completely from view.

The mother wolf dashed forward and sniffed the spot where Virginia had been standing. Then she howled mournfully.