Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

Tony and Wolf’s arrival in the past was just abrupt as Virginia’s had been. One minute they were standing in Wendell’s palace. The next they were lying face down on some path deep in the woods, trying to remember what had happened. Fortunately for them, they were more prepared.

Tony wiped off his pants and got to his feet. The landing had been easier for him because he was carrying the beaver pelts and their few provisions. Wolf hit the ground hard, but he barely noticed. As soon as he came to himself, he started sniffing around, first at the ground and then at the air. He raced from one side of the path to the other, trying to catch the slightest whiff of Virginia.

“Smell anything?” Tony asked. The woods were very dark and cold. The clouds were covering the moon that night. He could barely make out Wolf’s tall figure.

“Mostly I smell goats. Not a big herd, a small one. But they have such a strong scent. Wait a minute.” He sniffed harder. “I think I’ve found just the trace of her, in there with the goats.”

“She’s living with goats?”

Wolf growled impatiently. “I don’t know if she’s living WITH them. But she’s certainly living around them. Come on. Follow me. It’s this way.”

Wolf proceeded down the path with Tony following close behind. Tony still found it hard to see Wolf, but at least he was easy to hear. He kept making snuffling noises and he rushed forward quickly, making no effort to quiet his footsteps.

They went on for a long way with Wolf saying things like, “This is it. She’s this way. Her scent is stronger now.”

Finally they came to the great clearing in the woods where Emerald’s house was. The sky was still cloudy. But the openness of the space made the house clearly visible.

Wolf took one look at the house and gripped Tony’s arm hard. “Oh, no!” he whimpered.

“What’s the matter?” Tony whispered.

“Virginia’s in that house.”

“So?”

“That’s Red Riding Hood’s grandmother’s house!”

“What? Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Wolf growled. “The place is a national shrine in the Second Kingdom. There aren’t as many woods here in the future and there aren’t any snack or souvenir stands yet. But that’s IT! We’ve gotta get Virginia out of there right now!”

Wolf started to charge forward but Tony pulled him back into the bushes and clapped a hand over his mouth.

“Shush!” Tony said, “Everything’s dark. They’re probably asleep. We can’t just go running in there. Remember what Snow White said, we have to be careful or we could get caught up in the danger here. Now, how many people are in that cottage? Can you smell that?”

Wolf shook Tony’s hand away from his mouth and said, “I smell goats, lots of goats. And Virginia.”

“Fine. Besides them.”

Wolf sniffed again. “I think there’s only one other person there. Oh! It’s probably Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.” Wolf started whimpering again.

“Fine. O.K. Listen. We know it’s before the Second Kingdom got started. So that whole bit with Red Riding Hood and the wolf probably hasn’t happened yet. There’s no reason why Virginia should be in any danger.”

“Oh, yes there is!” Wolf insisted. “She’s the wife a wolf and she’s carrying a wolf cub. That puts her in a whole lot of danger.”

“But nobody can tell that by looking at her. I’m sure if we were warned not to say anything about who we really are, that Virginia was too. And if she doesn’t tell anybody that her husband’s a wolf, how are they gonna know? Hmm?”

Wolf growled. Tony was probably right. But he didn’t like it.

“We’ll camp in the woods tonight. And in the morning, I’ll come back and introduce myself as Virginia’s father. I’ll use the cover story Matilde gave us about being a trapper and I’ll give Virginia her mirror necklace.”

“No! We can’t just leave her there.”

“If Snow White put her there, it’s for a reason. Virginia is probably supposed to point up some deep truth or something.”

“Maybe we could just stay here on the edge of the clearing. Then we’d be close if she needed us.”

“No,” Tony said. “We might get discovered. And I don’t fancy having to worry about anyone noticing that tail of yours.”

“Oh,” Wolf whimpered.

“Now come on. We’ll go back down the path where we landed and make camp somewhere behind the bushes.”

Wolf had a hard time tearing himself away from the clearing. He didn’t want to leave the scent of Virginia. And he certainly didn’t like leaving her in such a dangerous place. In the future, that house would become the ultimate anti-wolf shrine.

Slowly, they wound their way back to where they’d come from and found a cluster of bushes to sleep in just off the path. Tony laid down and went right to sleep, while Wolf kept watch beside him. He couldn’t sleep anyway. And if he kept his held tilted just so, he could catch a whiff of Virginia’s scent. It was much fainter than that of the goats, but it was there all the same. He was concentrating on it so hard, that he didn’t pick up the other approaching scents until it was much too late.

Immediately, Wolf started shaking Tony.

“What?” Tony said, trying to pull away.

“Tony, wake up. We’re not alone.”

“Hmm?”

“There’s a whole pack of wolves headed this way.”

“What?” Tony was awake now. “Where?”

“Unfortunately, I think they’ve been down wind from us. So they probably know we’re here.”

“Indeed we do,” a voice in the darkness said.

Wolf and Tony watched in horror as a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared and came toward them out of the shadows. It was an enormous gray wolf. And he was in the company of at least four others.

“We smelled the scent of another wolf in our forest. And we want to know who you are and why you travel with a human.”

“He’s one of your people,” Tony said, pushing Wolf to his feet. “You talk to them.”

Wolf stood up to his full height and the other wolves gasped.

“You’re not a full-blooded wolf,” the leader said.

“I’m, uh, half-wolf,” Wolf said.

“I didn’t know there were any.”

“Not many. But a few.”

“What are you doing here?”

Wolf considered how much of the truth to tell them. It would be hard to hide their interest in Virginia from the wolves. And if the wolves met her, it wouldn’t be hard for them to tell she was pregnant with a wolf cub and that she was Tony’s daughter. Best to be as honest with them as possible. They would find out a lot of the truth anyway. “I’ve been away fighting the trolls,” Wolf began. “My wife had to leave our village suddenly and we’re trying to find her. This man is my father-in-law. My wife is expecting a child and we’re worried about her. We followed her scent to a house in a big clearing. But all the lights were out and we weren’t sure how to proceed. So, we decided to camp here till morning. Then, Tony, my father-in-law, was going to go and introduce himself while I waited here. We didn’t know how the people in that house would react if they figured out I was half-wolf.”

A laugh escaped from the lead wolf. “You wouldn’t have been welcomed. I can assure you of that.”

“So,” Wolf said breathing hard, “I’m glad we didn’t try knocking at this late hour.”

The yellow eyes of the lead wolf engulfed Wolf and considered him long and hard, as if trying to see into his soul. “You are a wolf,” he said at last. “So, you are family.” He spoke as if he were stating a new law. “And this human is your father-in-law, so he is family also. We will know your wife when we sense the child within her.”

“It’s a son,” Wolf said, trying to sound friendly. “I think it’s a boy-cub.”

“As long as it’s healthy,” the head wolf said. “Come. You will stay in my shelter. If any of the local humans find you, you will not be so warmly welcomed.”

Tony couldn’t imagine being less warmly welcomed but he didn’t say that of course. He was finally learning to hold his tongue.

“Thank you,” Wolf said. “That’s very nice of you.”

The four wolves that had been following the leader turned back into the forest. The lead wolf stood and waited for Tony and Wolf to follow him.

“What are your names?” the lead wolf asked.

“I’m called Wolf,” Wolf said. “You can probably tell why.”

“Yes. And your father-in-law?”

“I’m Anthony Lewis. But my friends call me Tony.”

“And I am called Aesophocles,” the lead wolf said.

Wolf gasped. He didn’t mean to, but it came out before he could stop it.

The lead wolf stopped. “You’ve heard of me?”

“Well, yes,” Wolf said, trying desperately not to ramble. “My parents heard of you. They spoke very highly of you.” His foster parents anyway.

“That’s very flattering,” Aesophocles said. “I’ve tried to do right by our people here. Though my son Scythian is just at that age. An adolescent. He wishes I was more of a firebreathing dragon.”

Wolf was awfully glad that Aesophocles wasn’t looking at him. He hated to think what his expression looked like. This was like a nightmare. Scythian was Wolf’s vengeance obsessed grandfather, who had died when Wolf was barely more than a cub. He hoped Snow White had been right about them not being recognizable in this time.

Aesophocles suddenly came to a stop. “I’ll go on ahead,” he said. “I think I should warn my mate that we’re having guests.”

“Of course,” Wolf said.

“My mate is human like yours. She’ll be glad to have you as guests.”

“What?” Wolf said. He thought he’d heard wrong.

“She’s human like your mate,” Aesophocles repeated. “I’ll run ahead and tell her you’re coming. Follow my scent.” He then leapt over a bush and disappeared.

“Did he say his mate was human?” Tony whispered.

“Yes,” Wolf answered.

“And you said you’d heard of him. Who is he?”

Wolf shook his head. He’d almost forgotten. Tony had been dallying with a lady on the afternoon he and Rose had told Virginia about his family tree. “He’s the wolf that tried to kill Red Riding Hood,” Wolf explained.

“What? You’re kidding. And he has a human mate?”

“Not according to the history books. He’s supposed to have had one pure-blooded wolf mate named Siba who was killed by a trapper when their cub Scythian was still pretty young.”

“So you think maybe the history books are wrong?”

“I guess. But I can’t believe they were this wrong.”

“Maybe this is one of the truths we’re supposed to uncover,” Tony said.

Wolf followed the scent trail of Aesophocles with Tony following, till they reached a tiny trapper’s hut. It was rustic, but well maintained.

Wolf knocked tentatively on the door.

“Come in,” Aesophocles’s strong voice said.

Tony let Wolf lead the way. Their host was standing next to a delicate woman with flaming red hair and green eyes.

“This is my mate, Topaz,” Aesophocles said.