Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

Wolf rode through the last hour of daylight and all through the night as well, stopping only once at Kissing Town to change horses. The town was trying hard to get back to normal. Wolf could see the lights in the Lucky-at-Love Casino glittering brightly. It was running once more, separating its visitors from their money and showering windfalls on others. He didn’t stop to remember the first time he’d been there with Virginia or the battle that had happened on Snow White Hill so recently. He had other things on his mind. His business was with the local stable where Wendell kept several horses for the use of his messengers and such. Wolf intended to change horses and get out of there as quickly as possible.

One young stable hand recognized him as he prepared to mount the new horse. “Hey, I know you,” he said eagerly. “You’re that Wolf guy. I saw you and all those wolves go up Snow White Hill on the night the trolls attacked. I was at me mum’s. Hardly anyone stayed in town but us, truth be told. Most of the others high-tailed it. I’d be right honored if you’d stop and have a beer with me at the tavern. I know a lotta the lads would like to meet you. What d’ya say?”

Wolf tried to turn him down politely, but he was so distracted. “Can’t. Thank you,” he said breathlessly. “Family emergency. My wife.” And off he went again, with the pureblooded wolf that had been named as his escort, following close at the horse’s heels. “Who’s that?” An older stableman asked as they raced off into the night.

“Don’t you know?” the eager young man said, “That was Wolf, the half-wolf who helped liberate Kissing Town from the trolls last week. He also helped save the Nine Kingdoms from the Evil Queen. He’s a national hero, he is. He and all the wolves who fought with him.”

“Ah,” the older man said in disgust. He spat on the ground and wiped his dirty hands on his overalls. “Those wolves just did what they do best, kill. We’re just lucky it was the trolls they were fighting and not us.”

The younger man answered with a brusque wave of his hand, thus declaring an end to the discussion. There was no point in arguing. They had a long night of work ahead.

Wolf finally reached Wendell’s castle at daybreak. It was a cool cloudy morning with a growing breeze coming in from the North. When he reached the courtyard, he jumped off his horse and ran to the spot where Virginia had disappeared. A guard was standing watch over it. Most of the fairy dust had blown away by then, but they hadn’t been able to wash away every trace of Culpepper’s blood from the flagstones.

Even if Wolf hadn’t been told the full story of what had happened, he would still have come to this spot. Virginia’s scent led directly here and then drifted off in a direction he didn’t know how to follow. It was as if a giant door had suddenly closed between them. A door that maddeningly seemed to have no entry.

“Virginia?” Wolf called plaintively. “Virginia." He knelt on the ground and desperately began sniffing. He began to whine, scratching at the stones, as if trying to pull them up. There had to be a way to follow her. There had to be. Tears filled his eyes and fell to the dusty ground. His whines got louder until they became great brokenhearted howls.

The pureblooded wolf and the guard, exchanged glances and shuffled their total of six feet in various ways. They had no idea what to do or how to comfort him. Wolf just continued howling.

At last the guard said, “I’ll go get the Chancellor. You stay here.”

The pureblooded wolf nodded and panted slightly. There wasn’t much for him to do but stand by.

As it turned out, the castle had already been alerted to Wolf’s return, even before he’d started howling. Lord Rupert had been watching from a third story window since before first light. He felt his position in the castle quite an important one, perhaps even greater than that of the Chancellor’s. And he had decided to take control in this crisis. Who better? After all, he was the one who worked closest with Lord Lewis and he had been the arranger of Wolf and Virginia’s wedding. He had special ties to this family. And he was sure the King would expect him to take an active role.

“Mr. Wolf has returned!” Rupert yelled to everyone within earshot as he hurried through the upper hallways and down the stairs. “Notify the Chancellor and Lord Lewis at once! Quick, quick! No time to loll about.”

By the time the guard reached the castle door, Lord Rupert was already there to meet him. He roughly turned the man about by the shoulders and pushed him back into the courtyard. “Everyone’s been advised,” Rupert said. “They’ll be here momentarily.”

Wolf was still on the ground, almost incoherent now in his whining and weeping.

“Mr. Wolf,” Rupert said carefully. “You remember me. It’s Lord Rupert. I helped plan your wedding?”

Wolf didn’t answer. He just kept scratching at the ground.

“Dear me,” Rupert said. “The poor man’s lost his mind. I thought they weren’t going to tell him what happened till he got here.”

“It was the king,” the pureblooded wolf replied.

“Just like him,” Rupert said in disgust. “Thinks because he’s king he can say anything and somehow it’ll all come out sounding all right. Doesn’t he realize I’M the one with the sensitivity around here? They should have let me tell him.”

The pureblooded wolf and the guard exchanged looks again, but said nothing.

That’s when the Chancellor and Tony arrived on the scene.

“Mr. Wolf?” the Chancellor said.

But still Wolf didn’t react.

“The poor chap has lost his mind,” Lord Rupert repeated. “Heavens knows what kind of horror story they told him. He was probably beside himself the whole ride out.”

“We really ought to get him inside,” the Chancellor said. “We can’t leave him sitting here in the cold. That wind is picking up every minute.”

Tony pulled his coat closer around him. It was true. The Northern breeze had suddenly turned into a determined wind. He knew he couldn’t just leave his son-in-law sitting in a heap on the flagstones. What would Virginia say? He stepped forward and touched Wolf lightly on the shoulder. “Wolf?” he said gently. “It’s Tony. It’s cold out here. Don’t you think you’d better come inside?” He moved his hand from Wolf’s shoulder to his arm and tried to draw him up from the ground.

Wolf pulled back with a growl, baring his teeth. “No!” he said.

“You can’t stay here.”

“Go away!” Wolf snarled.

Tony was wondering what to do next, what line of argument to use.

That’s when the full-blooded wolf spoke. “You don’t understand,” he said, reaching his snout up into the air to get a better look at the taller beings around him, “this isn’t unusual behavior for a wolf.”

All human eyes turned to look at the furry member of their group. They’d almost forgotten he was there.

“When a wolf loses his mate,” the large gray wolf said, “he often stays by her body for days, protecting and watching over her. He’ll only leave if he feels a strong sense of danger. Even then he often stays. He’ll go without food or water until he's finally ready to accept her death. Only then will he leave.”

“But my daughter’s body isn’t here,” Tony said.

“It’s the last place she existed,” the wolf replied. "It's the closest thing."

“Well, I’m sorry,” Tony said. He wasn’t really interested in wolf lore right then.

“I can’t just leave him here. Virginia would never forgive me. Wolf. Wolf, we are going to find her. I promise you.”

Wolf looked up at Tony, his eyes narrowed. “Promise,” he snapped. “You promised to take care of her!”

“I tried. I really tried. You know how willful Virginia is. I told her not to go walking in the woods by herself.”

“This isn’t the woods,” Wolf pointed out.

“No,” Tony admitted weakly. “But she was on her way there.”

Wolf growled again and went back to pawing the ground.

All at once the wind broke over them like a giant wave, causing everyone standing to counter back under its force.

“It’s a north wind!” Lord Rupert yelled. “Queen Matilde must be coming.”

And so she was.

A large carriage, pulled by four white horses flew magically into the courtyard, scattering bits of sparkling white dust in its wake. It came to rest on the other side of the fountain.

“Is that the fairy queen you guys were talking about?” Tony shouted into the wind. “The one you think can help Virginia?”

“That’s her,” Rupert shouted back.

A footman jumped off the top of the carriage and opened the door. A woman dressed in white with white blond hair curled close to her face stepped out, followed by the young wolf that had been sent to bring her. She looked to be about middle-aged. In her hand she carried a cane of white wood that looked as if it had been cut from some kind of heavy petrified vine. It was all twisted around on itself, over and over again. She used it as a walking stick, though it was clear she didn’t need it to get around.

She moved quickly to the group of males gathered around Wolf, her gown sparkling with every move she made. In a no-nonsense voice she said, “All right, who’s in charge here?”

“I am, your Highness,” the Chancellor said with a deep bow.

Lord Rupert, the guard, and the full-blooded wolf also bowed. So, Tony followed their lead. After all, he was a lord of the realm now and he had to get the royal pleasantries down right.

“You’re King Wendell’s Chancellor, I take it,” the woman said, “And this young man grieving on the ground I take it is the young lady’s husband.” She pointed at Wolf with her cane. “Wolf, his name is. I’ve heard a lot about him.” The woman’s eyes took in the rest of the crew. The guard in uniform was obviously a guard. It was also pretty easy to guess who the full-blooded wolf was. He stood back as if he were an underling. So she figured he was either a soldier that had arrived with Wolf or a castle servant. Her eyes continued around the group. “Lord Rupert. I remember you.”

“Indeed, your Highness?” Rupert said bowing again.

“Haven’t seen you recently, but I remember you as a young man. You still have the same sloppy posture.”

“Sorry, your Highness,” Rupert said, trying to stand straighter.

“Haven’t been to this castle since Wendell was a baby. There’s been quite a lot of excitement here lately, I hear. I didn’t come to the coronation because when you’ve reached the age of five hundred like I have, you’ve seen quite enough of them.”

Tony’s mouth dropped open. Five hundred? She didn’t look any older than he was. First a two hundred-year-old Cinderella and now this. The Nine Kingdoms was certainly the right place to grow old.

“And you,” the woman said, pointing at Tony with her cane. “You with the open mouth. Who are you?”

“This is Lord Lewis,” the Chancellor answered. “He’s the Inventor to the King and Miss Virginia’s father.”

“Oh, yes. The inventor. I’ve heard about you. You’re the one who steals ideas from his own dimension and sells them here as his own.”

Tony opened his mouth to defend himself.

“Now, now, don’t get excited,” the woman said. “Doesn’t matter to me where your ideas come from, as long as they work here. And actually, I thought the cotton gin was a good thing to start with. In case no one has told you yet, I’m Queen Matilde. Queen of both the fairies and the frozen Eighth Kingdom in the north. I am also the acting president of the Council of the Nine Kingdoms. But don’t let that impress you. I got the job mostly because of my age and the prestige of my late husband.”

Matilde looked down at Wolf. He wasn’t scratching at the ground anymore, but he was still crying softly. He hadn’t been listening to any of the conversations going on around him because he was too lost in his own pain.

Matilde put her hand under his chin and gently raised his face so she could look into his reddened eyes. “Young man, did you hear me? My name is Matilde. I’m here to help you.” She softly brushed back the hair from his face and smoothed it as if he were a child. “We’re going inside now and see if we can’t do something about finding your wife. All right?”

Wolf nodded.

“Good. You just put your hand on my cane. And we’ll get up.”

Matilde took one of Wolf’s hands and put it on the head of her cane. Then, she drew him up from the ground. Slowly, they moved toward the castle.

“Did you save a bit of that fairy dust for me?” Matilde asked.

“Yes,” the Chancellor said. “It’s in a vial in the King’s office.

“I’ll get it,” Lord Rupert said, getting ready to run.

“Don’t bother,” Matilde said. “The King’s office sounds like a good place to speak in private.”

“Of course, your Highness,” the Chancellor said. He led the way with Matilde following close behind, still holding Wolf by the arm.

When they got to the office, Matilde sat Wolf down at the King’s desk and left him there, still holding her cane. “He’s in a great deal of pain,” she said, “The shock was hard for him. But the touch of my cane will bring him back to himself shortly.”

As the Chancellor closed the door, Lord Rupert presented Queen Matilde with the clear glass vial that held the fairy dust.

“Thank you,” she said. She opened it and sniffed its contents. Then she dipped one of her fingers into it and tasted just the tiniest bit of the dust. “It’s old. Very old. The troll who threw this probably inherited it or maybe stole it from someone who did. It’s definitely traveling dust.”

She looked at Tony, knowing he’d be the one who’d need the most explanation. “We fairies use magic dust to travel from place to place, you see. Just like some people use mirrors. Did you see the dust that scattered from my carriage as it landed? That dust, combined with the magic from my cane, allowed me to travel here.”

“So, where did my daughter travel to?” Tony asked. “Another dimension?”

“Not in this case. Besides using magic dust to go from place to place, fairies also use it to travel through time. But we don’t do that much anymore. The problem with traveling into the past is you can’t change anything. And if you travel into the future, it doesn’t do much either because the present and the past control the future. So, at some point during the last two hundred years, we fairies decided to stay mostly within our own time. This dust here, is about two hundred years old. And it has the distinct odor of violets. That means it was designed for traveling to the past. Future dust tends to have more of a lemony scent.”

“Then my daughter has gone back to the past?” This was pretty hard for Tony to accept, even in a place as crazy as the Nine Kingdoms.

“Our past?” Wolf asked. He had pulled out of his stupor and was now very aware of the conversation around him. “I mean, the past of the Nine Kingdoms? Or the past of some other dimension?”

“Good,” Matilde said. “You’re coming around.”

“So which is it?” Tony asked.

“You mean what past is she in? I really have very little way of knowing. We use dust to travel, as I said. But we use a magic talisman like my cane to steer by. We need both. This troll threw traveling dust at your daughter that had the capability of taking her into the past. But unless she was carrying something that could steer her, she could really be anywhere. Still, she’s probably somewhere in the Nine Kingdoms. It takes a lot of additional magic to travel to different times in other dimensions.”

“So, how do we find her?” Tony asked.

“Yeah,” Wolf said, getting to his feet.

“I’m afraid it might take awhile,” Matilde said. “I’ve brought my crystal ball and that should help. But I’ll have to comb each time individually. That could take weeks or months.”

“That’s not good enough,” Tony said angrily. “You’re supposed to be some all powerful Queen!”

“I’m a fairy, young man,” Matilde answered back coldly. “I am NOT God.”

Tony was turning red with anger, trying to think of a snappy comeback when there was a knock on the door.

“Enter,” the Chancellor said, glad for the interruption.

It was one of the downstairs butlers, a very formal man with starched clothing and unbelievably shined shoes. “Excuse me. But the King of the Dwarves is here. He says it’s very important. He saw Queen Matilde’s carriage out front and he says you should all meet him in the special room where King Wendell keeps the Mirror of Truth. It’s about Miss Virginia.”