Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

Demetrius had been fighting at the border of the Fourth Kingdom for two days now and his help had made things a lot easier. This unusual member of the giants had a short curly beard the color of light coffee and a rather Zen approach to life. Basically, he left the world above the beanstalks because he was disgusted with his fellow giants. He wanted to live alone and meditate. Of course, that was easy to do in the frozen north because the winters were so long and neighbors were a rarity. Matilde was the only visitor he ever got. Since he’d chosen her kingdom to settle in, she’d made it her business to get to know him. But mind you, she didn’t interfere with his austere lifestyle. She just checked in on him from time to time.

On the morning Demetrius came to join the fight, he wore no armor and carried no weapon except for a long pole. During the night before, the trolls had started to move into the Fourth Kingdom. Burly had told Spider that if he pushed hard enough they would make serious headway during the day’s fighting.

So, Spider strode confidently onto the battleground. He was in a mood to stomp and squish. Instead of knocking the wolves out of the way that day, he thought he would try and crush them underfoot. It might take some doing because they moved so fast. But it would be fun to see them rush out of his way. He had no doubt that Burly would yell at him for playing around too much. But what did he care what the little troll wanted?

As he approached the lines of the Fourth Kingdom, however, no humans or wolves stepped forward. And no elves flew down on him from the air. He wondered why for a moment. Then he heard the thundering footsteps of another giant. Spider looked behind him, thinking it was Hoban the blond bearded giant, coming to join him. But there was no one there except for Burly and his troops. They all gestured for him to turn around. When he did, he saw Demetrius step out from behind a blind of hundred foot white pines, his pole in his hand.

Spider had to shake his head and squeeze his eyes shut for a moment. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was Demetrius, clad in what looked like a brown wool jumpsuit and vest.

“Fee, fi, fo, fum!” Demetrius laughed. “Spider, today you look so glum. Have you no remark for an old friend? No? Then how about a little sport?” And with that he stepped forward with his pole raised.

The trolls and Wendell’s forces, all stepped back. No one in their right mind wanted to be caught in the midst of two battling giants.

Spider decided to do the bravado thing. He hunched over and growled ferociously, grinding his teeth and swinging his battle-ax.

Demetrius laughed. “Is that the best you’ve got? Come. I don’t have time for theatre.”

Spider came forward swinging wildly. But Demetrius made no move until he was almost upon him. Then he blocked the swing of his opponent’s battle-ax with one end of his pole and knocked him off-balance with the other. Spider didn’t fall. But he learned to attempt less obvious blows.

By the end of the day, Demetrius had pushed back the enemy lines somewhat, but he couldn’t reclaim all the lost territory. Still, by occupying Spider, Wendell’s troops only had to worry about Burly’s small group of trolls. Wendell was able to send additional forces south to Major Burke to fight Hoban the blond giant. And his night troops were able to get a well-deserved rest.

Wendell had looked for Rose on the morning Demetrius joined them. But when he didn’t see her, he didn’t worry. He merely sent her word through one of the other wolves that the night troops could go off duty while their new giant ally was on. He thought she might try and seek him out during the day. But when she didn’t, he figured she was just taking his advice about getting some much-needed rest. Then night came and he looked for her again. Still he didn’t find her. When Demetrius started his second day on the job and she was still not in sight, Wendell began to see what was going on. She was avoiding him. Rose had said she was very aware of his scent. No doubt she could smell him coming and nip off before he saw her. He didn’t know why she was avoiding him. But confound it, he was her King. If he wanted her to come to him, then she would come. He would command it.

At lunchtime, he gave the order to his aide to notify every wolf within site that they should find Major Rose and tell her to come to him at once. “Tell her it’s an order,” Wendell told his aide. “No excuses!”

“Yes, your Majesty,” the aide said. And off he went, wondering what had suddenly made the King so disgruntled with the Major. They usually got along so well.

Of course, the wolves didn’t have any trouble finding Rose. In fact several of them did. And they all gave her the same message. And she was irritated at every single one of them for bringing it.

When Rose finally appeared in the sunny clearing where Wendell was waiting, it just so happened that he was giving battle instructions to his aide. Wendell’s blue eyes touched on her quickly. But he didn’t acknowledge her. He saw that she was breathing heavily with aggravation and he thought he was entitled to a little aggravation too.

The King handed his aide the map they’d been discussing and said, “Bring this to Captain Gates.” He was one of Cole’s better Captains, a man Wendell thought he could trust. “Tell him this is the attack plan I want him to follow. If he has any questions, he can come see me.”

“Yes, your Majesty,” the aide said. And he started away. As he passed Rose he saw how brightly her green eyes were blazing. Usually he would have given her some pleasantry. But the expression on her face made him afraid to say anything.

Wendell drew himself up coolly and put his hands properly at his back. “Rose, it seems like you’ve been avoiding me. Is that true?”

Rose preferred to look at the brown grass at her feet rather than at him. She couldn’t lie. So she decided to say nothing.

“Do you want to tell me why?”

Still she gave no answer.

“Well, then. I shall speak first. About the other night. I just want to apologize.”

“You don’t have to,” Rose said, sharply.

“But I do.”

“Look,” she said, shifting impatiently. “This is what I was trying to avoid. I’ve had enough of these speeches. I know exactly what comes next.”

“You do?” Wendell said, looking puzzled.

“Oh, yes. You’re going to tell me how very nice and attractive I am. Unfortunately, you can’t get involved with me because of what I am. You’re going to say that you got carried away the other night and didn’t mean to. So, please, spare me the speech because this one will hurt!” With that she turned and started marching away.

“Major!” Wendell shouted. But she didn’t stop. “Major!” he repeated, “I COMMAND you to stop at once!”

Rose growled to a stop, but kept her back to him.

“Now,” he said, in a calm voice as he walked up to her. “You’ve had your say, I will have mine. What happened the other night, was not an accident. I meant it to happen. And I would have made that clear to you if the blasted war hadn’t intervened.”

Rose looked up from the ground.

“What I wanted to apologize for,” he continued, “is the unforgivable way I’ve treated you. If nothing else, those boorish men of King Cole’s made it quite obvious. During this time we’ve served together, I’ve gone beyond thinking that you’re all those surface things you mentioned. I’ve come to see you as noble, brave, and loyal against all odds. Do you know I was attracted to you from the first day you began visiting the castle looking for Wolf?”

Rose shook her head softly and Wendell gently brushed back a lock of hair that had strayed too far into her face.

“I just happened to see you from my study window. And I watched for you every day after that. When I saw you talk to Wolf, I had to come and find out who you were. You’re right. I was exactly like those other men who gave you that speech. I acted like a cad. Pretending I felt nothing for you, even urging you to leave here. But I was wrong. Very wrong. Can you forgive me for being such a fool? Because, you see, I’ve fallen rather madly and irrevocably in love you.”

“Oh,” Rose said. “I love you too.” And she threw her arms around his neck.

Wendell pulled her close and kissed her the way he’d wanted to the night before. He felt lost in the softness of her body and the woodsy smell of her hair and the delicious taste of her mouth. When his aide approached with Captain Gates, the aide had to clear his throat several times before he heard. But this time Wendell had no intention of letting the war interfere. He held up one hand and waved them away. Then, he continued kissing his ladylove.

“Well,” the aide said as he led Captain Gates away, “I guess they worked out their differences.”