Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

From first morning light, Wendell had made it his business to stay by Rose. The rescue plan put together by Queens Leaf Fall and Matilde was straightforward and, if executed well, relatively safe. But he was terrified for his ladylove's safety. As she went her way in and out of the squad of elves, Ice Maidens, humans, and wolves that had been put together the night before, he followed doggedly behind. He kept smiling vaguely at everyone when it was expected and touching her whenever possible.

"You will be careful?" Wendell said for the hundredth time.

"Yes," Rose said, patiently. "We're going in quickly and then disappearing. There shouldn't be much danger. Surprise will be in our favor."

"But you never know," Wendell said.

"No. But if it goes according to plan, it will probably be the safest thing I've done so far in this war." Rose came to a stop next to a bare oak tree and pulled him close. "Now don't worry," she said. And she kissed him sweetly, inviting more. But he wasn't into it. He was much too busy being nervous.

"You’ll come to me as soon as you're back?"

"Yes," Rose said with a growl and a playful scratch at his beard. He hadn't shaved that morning yet, which was highly unusual for him.

Suddenly, Matilde's coach appeared at the edge of the crowd in a whirl of sparkling white dust. The day's fighting had already begun, but they were comfortably behind it. They didn’t want Spider the giant to accidentally see the magic coach appear or notice the crowd milling about it. Queen Leaf Fall stepped out of the carriage. She was the one in charge of this rescue. It had been decided that either she or Matilde could be in the midst of the battle at the same time, but not both. Matilde was president of the Council and Leaf was Vice President. If one of them was killed or captured, the other could go on at the head of the Council and make sure the Nine Kingdoms survived. Since Leaf Fall was a friend of Red Riding Hood the Third's, she was the obvious choice in this instance.

"All right?" Leaf Fall said. "If everyone is ready, we'll form the pattern I sent King Wendell last night. Queen Matilde will be working her crystal to make sure we land in the proper place."

Everyone moved into position except Rose. Wendell had pulled her out of her circle for one last goodbye.

"You will be careful?" he asked for the hundred and first time.

"Yes," she said, pulling his face into her hands and kissing him. This time she got more cooperation.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too."

She started to go, but he tugged her back. "I have a question to ask," he said. He tried to put on a serious expression to match the serious question. "If you're agreeable, I plan to ask your brother Wolf for your hand in marriage."

"Oh!" Rose cried. And she gave him an exuberant hug that almost knocked him off his feet.

"Then I take it your answer would be yes?"

"Of course,” she growled. “The sooner the better."

"I just wanted to ask before you went off to certain death."

"I'll be all right, I promise."

They didn’t realize that the entire rescue squad was now watching them. Some looked amused, others impatient. But Queen Leaf Fall was decidedly irritated.

"Uh, excuse me, Princess Rose," Leaf said in a loud voice. "If you've finished saying goodbye, we have a rescue to undertake."

"Sorry," Rose said, running off.

"Young people," Leaf said under her breath. Had she been like that at their age? If she had, she didn't remember it. "All right. On my count at three. One ... Two ... Three!"

Each human or wolf member of the unit had been paired with either an elf or an Ice Queen. It was the duty of the magical half of the pair to sprinkle traveling dust at the appointed time and steer them both in and out of danger. At Leaf's signal, the entire crew disappeared in a sparkle of white dust.

Wendell sighed deeply, determined to stay in that spot no matter what happened till Rose returned.

Many of Queen Red's people had been forced to come and watch the burning in front of the castle. They stood back as far as they could, intending to look away from the horrible sight. The trolls would have liked to be farther down to watch the fun, but Burly had insisted his men stay close to the peasants to make sure no one tried to escape or interfere. He wanted lots of witnesses to the Queen's death and his assumption of the King-ship.

Burly himself didn't mingle with the crowd. He didn't think kings should mix with commoners except when necessary in battle or for fun during a torture. He was watching from the same parapet that Queen Red had used not long ago to watch her red clad soldiers march into battle. If he'd known the parapet's history maybe he would have avoided it on principal, just in case of bad luck. But he didn't. It afforded him a great view of the courtyard.

He hadn't told anyone except for a very few henchman that he intended to declare himself King of the Trolls that morning. He wanted to keep it a secret from his siblings until after it was done. Then he figured his people would rise up and endorse him. And there would be nothing his brother and sister could do but accept it.

At the stroke of ten o'clock, Burly gave the signal and the fire was lighted. The fallen Queen stood forlornly in her ragged dress and disheveled hair. She didn't cry or scream as the edges of the wood around her caught fire. She didn't have the energy. The pride that had been the center of her existence was gone. In its place was shame. She was ashamed of what she'd come to and of how easily her kingdom had fallen. She was ashamed that she could do nothing to stop what was about to happen to her and her people. She hung her head and wondered how she had fallen to this.

Suddenly, there was a magic rumble and a white cloud of dust erupted around the stake where the Queen was tied. As it lifted, the unit of rescuers appeared. They were in a series of three circles separated enough so they could avoid whatever flames might be in their way. Immediately the unit went into action. Leaf Fall was at the very center. It was her job to free the Queen and support her away as they all disappeared. The middle circle was made up of elves and pureblooded wolves. The elves took to the air and readied their arrows. It was their job to spot trouble from a distance. The pureblooded wolves poured off of the woodpile to directly attack any trolls who got too close and warn back with their growls everyone else. It was their job to maintain a safe span between the crowd of onlookers and the third circle. The final ring was made up of Ice Maidens, humans, and part-wolves like Rose. They were all equipped with arrows too and they shot them only as needed at any trolls who came forward. They were there in case of heavy fighting. But they didn't want to shoot wildly into the crowd for fear of hitting innocent people.

Burly shouted orders from his parapet for his men to grab the townspeople as shields and push forward. But no one heard him in the pandemonium. If they had, perhaps the rescue wouldn’t have gone so easily. But there were shouts and cheers from the people of the Second Kingdom. And the sloppy rush forward by the surprised trolls was easily pushed back by the rescuers.

Queen Leaf Fall magically removed the ropes that bound her friend and wrapped her arms around her. "Now!" Leaf called.

Even in the uproar, Rose's sharp ears heard Leaf’s signal. She howled and the elves returned to the ground and the wolves returned to their circle. Then, Rose howled again twice. The elves and the Ice Queens threw up their magic dust and everyone vanished in a crack of thunder, just as they had come.

The people of the Second Kingdom roared with excitement. Their Queen had been saved. That means that there was hope that they would be too. The trolls were too dumbfounded to beat the townspeople back into submission. They merely stood around looking confused. And Burly screamed on unnoticed from his parapet. For years afterwards, those who saw the rescue commented on how inspirational and thrilling it was. And how right it had been to see wolves running forward in defense of the Queen.

"Suck an elf!" was finally all that Burly could say. His siblings and his people were not going to be happy with this rescue . . . Or with him. His hope of becoming King of the Trolls had disappeared with Red the Third.

The rescuers, however, were jubilant. They appeared back at Matilde's waiting carriage in a flash of sparkling white dust. Instantly Wendell picked off Rose from her outside circle. The Ice Maiden with her sniffed at his impatience, but said nothing. Ice Maidens were a very serious lot, you see. And maneuvers of war were the thing they were most serious about. But Wendell wasn't alone in his excitement. Except for the Ice Maidens, everyone was shouting and howling and celebrating their success. This was a major victory for their side.

Wendell pulled Rose close and kissed her. "You did it!" he said. "You came back." "Yes, and we also rescued the Queen." Rose gestured with her chin toward Leaf Fall. She and several helpers were gently placing Queen Red in Matilde's carriage. From there, it would take her and Leaf Fall to Wendell's castle. "But," Rose continued, "we lost three of the pureblooded wolves."

"Three?"

"Running into the crowd made them more vulnerable than anyone else."

"But they wanted to do it," Wendell reminded her. "You heard them last night. They thought it was the best way to keep everyone else safe."

"Well, they succeeded. I don't think anyone else except the trolls got hurt. And that includes the townspeople."

"Good."

"They died heroes," Rose said. "But not for the sake of Red Riding Hood the Third. You realize that the wolves that went, went out of loyalty to either you or me. They told me as much last night. They called me Princess and bowed in front of me."

"I understand. Having people loyal to you, willing to give their lives to follow you, that's a great burden, isn't it?"

Rose nodded. "I feel the deaths of those wolves more personally than any of the others who've fallen so far in this war. Before, I thought we were all comrades in arms, fighting for a common cause."

"Now you're the cause." Wendell sighed and kissed her freckled nose. "It will be the same thing after you become Queen, only more so. Though I dare say some will be very offended by your new position."

"That I can bear because I've always borne it. The other feeling is new to me. Those wolves who died today, who went to fight because I went, were little more than strangers."

"You will make a good Queen," Wendell said, pushing back her red hair.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you will appreciate the gravity of your position. That was something I learned only after being turned into a dog."