Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

Virginia woke up late that morning. With her eyes still closed, she reached out across the deliciously soft sheets for her husband. But he wasn't there. "Wolf?" she said, still groggy. She raised her head with difficulty. Her body was still exhausted from all the terrors of the night before. "Wolf?"

He was perched on the windowsill near her side of the bed, looking out hypnotically. He didn't answer her or even look around.

Virginia pulled herself out of bed and slipped into a robe. She rubbed her face sleepily as she padded over to him. "How long have you been up?" she asked.

Still Wolf didn’t answer.

She threaded her arms around him and rubbed her face against his scratchy beard. "You want some breakfast?"

Again no answer.

Now Virginia was concerned. Wolf always responded to the idea of breakfast. She looked at his face. His eyes were staring, but they didn't seem to see anything. She said his name again. Then she turned his face toward her, to try and get him to look at her. He turned his head easily enough, but his eyes would not focus on her.

"Oh, my God," she said. This was obviously way beyond her. She reached for the bell cord and rang it.

The maid for that corridor had been expecting them to ring for breakfast at any time. Everyone else in that section had been taken care of. So, she was ready and waiting for their call. "Yes, princess," the maid asked with a deep curtsy.

"Please," Virginia said. "My husband is very sick. He just sits there and doesn't respond. Go and fetch the doctor at once."

The young girl, glanced quickly at Wolf, who was now looking down aimlessly at the floor. He certainly didn't seem himself. He was usually such an animated chap. "I'll go immediately, princess," the girl said. And with another curtsy, she exited.

Virginia returned immediately to her husband's side. She rubbed his back and said, "It'll be all right. I've sent for the doctor. He'll take care of you." Then she put her head on his shoulder and it suddenly occurred to her. Princess? That girl had called her “princess.”

After Queen Red was safely in Wendell's castle, Matilde joined Eranthis, Rupert, and Tony in the workshop. "Good morning, gentlemen," she said. Her voice was very tired. The night and morning had been trying. Now there was the war to think of.

Tony jumped up from his seat respectfully the minute she walked in. Rupert did too but for a different reason. He was anxious for gossip.

"Well, did you save her?" Rupert asked. "You know who I mean. Red Riding Hood the Third. Did you save her?"

"Nothing's safe from you, is it Lord Rupert?" Matilde said. "Did you guess or did someone tell you?"

"I guessed, of course," Rupert said, quite proud of himself.

"It's a good thing the trolls did not." Tony gestured Matilde toward his chair and she accepted it gratefully. "Our people managed to save her from being burned in the courtyard in front of her castle."

"Oh, my word!" Rupert said, his face filled with shock.

"There were only three casualties. All of them wolves. They gave their lives valiantly so no one else would be hurt."

"Yes, that was very valiant," Rupert agreed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be here before. But I had to be sure Red was taken care of. She's in with the Royal Physician now. I think she's been suffering a great deal." Matilde looked at Eranthis. "Leaf is with her. She'll be taking care of her so I can concentrate on this."

Eranthis gave a nod of understanding. Each member of the Council of Truth now had other duties to attend to. The cannons were theirs. Leaf Fall's was Red and the elves fighting at the front. Queen Cinderella and King Cole had left that morning for their own countries but would be in daily contact. Cole had pledged himself to back up the soldiers at the front in whatever way he could, with supplies and more troops.

"I looked for you this morning to give you this," Tony said, handing Matilde her cane. "But they told me you had other business."

"Well. That's all settled now. We can move onto other things."

"It bowed to me, you know," Tony said. "Your cane, I mean. I saw it standing on its own and then it bowed to me."

"Yes. It does have a mind of its own. And there are even certain people it doesn't like."

"Well, thank you for lending it to me. I feel like a new man."

"Good," Matilde said, smiling up at him. "You look much better than last night. The cane won't work on serious physical injuries like the ones Queen Red has. I suspect that if we hadn't rescued her today, she wouldn't have lasted much longer. My cane can only cure light injuries and soothe pain like it did last night with the Mirror of Truth. Its real talent is with the mind and the soul."

"The Royal Physician mentioned something about that," Tony said.

"He knows my cane well. It's quite legendary in some circles."

A knock sounded at the door of the workshop and the perfect butler came in. "Your Highness," he said addressing himself to Matilde with a sharp bow. "You asked to be notified if Princess Virginia requested the Royal Physician again."

"What’s the matter?"

"The Prince is no better this morning. In fact, he seems to have moved further into depression and shock."

"I'll go at once."

The butler clicked his heels and bowed silently out.

"It seems my cane has more work to do," Matilde said.

"I assume that Wolf is the Prince he was talking about," Tony said. "They're using their new titles already. Can your cane do more for him than the doctor can?"

"Oh, yes. A doctor from your world could cure him too. But it would take much more time and effort. My cane can reach Wolf on levels no one else can. And she can do it much quicker."

"She?"

"Yes. It's very definitely a she. Lord Lewis, shall we go? I’m sure you gentlemen won't mind if we go to see Lord Lewis's daughter and son-in-law."

Eranthis nodded properly.

And Rupert said, "Oh, no. Of course not, your Highness!"

When Virginia heard the knock at her door, she assumed it was the doctor. "It's about time," she said, as she opened the door. But it wasn't the funny little doctor with the funny pointed beard. It was her father and a strange women in a glittery white gown with platinum blond hair.

"We heard that something was wrong with Wolf," Tony explained.

"Yes, Virginia said, leading the way into the room. "I asked for the doctor, but he still hasn’t arrived. Look at Wolf," she said gesturing. He was in the same position that he'd been in when the maid had come. "He's in some kind of shock. I can't get him to respond to anything."

"Remember after your mother died? How you slept for so long?" Tony said. "Maybe this is his way of dealing."

"That's exactly it," Matilde said, closing the door.

"Virginia, this is Queen Matilde," Tony said. "I've told you about her."

"Yes." Virginia said, distractedly. She wasn't really in the mood to meet strangers just then. She wanted a doctor and she wanted one now.

"Matilde can take care of Wolf better than the doctor can," Tony said.

Virginia looked at Matilde doubtfully. But she was ready to try anything.

The first thing Matilde did was to approach Wolf. She ran her hand through his hair and said, "Do you remember me, Child? It's Queen Matilde. I know you can hear me. I want you to come and lie down on your bed. You can't stay here by the window. You need rest." She put her hand under his arm and pulled him gently up from the window. "That's it. Come along now." She walked him to the bed and then said, "Lie down now. Can you do that for me?"

Wolf sat himself on the bed. Then he swung his legs up and rolled into a ball like a frightened child. All the while, his eyes remained unseeing.

"That's right," Matilde said. She covered Wolf with the thick brown and red comforter on the bed. Then she took her cane and placed it in his hands. "You hold onto this now," she said. "You remember it from before, don't you? Hold it and let its power flow into you. Now relax. Don't hold yourself so tightly. . . Good. Close your eyes. And don't open them again, till you've worked all this out." She petted Wolf's hair again. "Sleep Child, sleep."

As Wolf began to drop off, his hands wrapped around the cane, Matilde pulled Virginia and Tony toward the door. "You don't have to worry about waking him. He'll sleep till he's worked things out. Virginia, you should ring the maid again and order some food. You need to keep up your strength in your condition. My cane will take care of your husband."

"It worked wonders for me," Tony said.

Virginia looked at her father. He appeared alert and energetic, as if none of last night had happened. "Well, thank you Queen Matilde," Virginia said.

"There are a few other things you need to know," Matilde said. And she told Virginia about the two rulings that the Council of Truth had made and their new titles.

"So that's why that maid called me Princess," Virginia said.

"Yes. You'll probably be getting a lot of that from now on."

Virginia rubbed her stomach. "And our son will be a prince?" It seemed almost too much to take in.

"That's right. I know the quest you went on was very hard for all of you. But it righted a great many wrongs." Matilde then told Virginia of the present war and Queen Red's rescue.

"A whole lot has been going on, hasn’t it?" Virginia said. "I guess it wasn't just us going through hard times."

"No. And as we go forward with this war, we'd very much like Wolf to join us as we move your father's cannons into the battle against the giants."

"Oh, I don't think he'll be up to that."

"If he's not, he not. No one will blame him. You don't have to ask him, or explain any of these things I've told you. The cane will do that."

"You're kidding," Virginia said.

"No. I'm quite serious."

"It didn't say anything to me," Tony said.

"You didn't need it to. But Wolf will need a guide as he works things out. Did either of you realize that Wolf's foster parents made him to watch his parents burn?

"No!" Virginia said, in horror. "I didn't see that."

"They held at the edge of the wood, way out of view of everyone," Matilde said. "You were handling your own problems at that point. I'm not surprised you didn't see it. I didn't learn about it myself till sometime after you'd all gone to bed."

"How could they do that to him?" Tony asked. "He was just a little boy."

"They thought they were teaching him an important lesson," Matilde said. “I have no doubt the people who burned Wolf’s parents thought they were teaching the local wolves a lesson as well. Such is the way of hate.”

Virginia looked toward her husband. "No wonder he has so much to work out. He had to live it all over again. Why didn't he tell me."

"Perhaps," Matilde said. "Because if he did, he would have had to remember it himself. It's better this happened. My cane will help him heal. We should be go now, Lord Lewis. We have business to attend to."

"But how long will Wolf stay asleep?" Virginia asked.

"As long as he needs to. But it shouldn't be that long. The coming full moon increases the cane's energy, just as it does your husband's. A night may be all it needs. Actually, the fact that Wolf will have to go through two full moons this month may have made his condition worse. My cane will soften the effects from that as well. And the sleep itself will help. When Wolf gets upset, he tends to do without sleep, as he did when you were staying with Emerald’s. He used to circle her house all night long keeping an eye on things. Did you know that?"

"No, I didn't," Virginia said. "He just said he hung around there a lot."

"It was almost every night, all night. Of course his sleeplessness just increased his nervousness. He'd do far better if he had your ability to sleep things off, Virginia. Your father also seems to sleep more when he’s depressed. I guess it runs in your family."

"How do you know all this about us?" Virginia asked.

"I know all of you very well, because I've been watching over you. Now, order some breakfast and get what rest you can. Don't forget, you have a little one to think of."

"It'll be all right, Honey," Tony said. "I promise." He gave his daughter an encouraging smile and followed Matilde out.

When they were gone, the ring on Virginia's hand started to sing the beginning of the lullaby it had sung so often when she was alone and fearful at Emerald's.

“A fairy queen does watch you sleep,” it sang,
“And will tonight your safety keep.”

"Then, it wasn't just a lullaby?" Virginia said.

"Alone you never were, you see," it continued.
"Her loving eyes were watching thee.
All through the night and through the day,
She never was that far away."

Outside in the hall, Tony hesitated and said, "Maybe I should stay with Virginia."

"Your concern for your daughter is quite admirable," Matilde said. "But she's a grown woman now with her own responsibilities. Hovering over her will only serve to get in the way. It would be nothing less than meddling."

Tony looked at Matilde. If anyone else had said that, he wouldn't have taken it. "Do you always say what you think?"

"Almost always. At my age one grows tired of going the long way round on every issue. Some things need to be said. Your daughter and Wolf have things to work out on their own. They don't need your meddling. And you have a job to do. It's afternoon. We have to finish planning and then test the cannons. They're going to be transported by magic traveling dust so we can surprise the giants. That's why I needed Alicia's father to work up a big supply of it. It's very difficult to make and requires very special ingredients. Not everyone is capable of doing it. But he is. I'm hoping he'll send me the supply we need by tonight. I've sent my carriage to pick it up."

"That's all very fine and good. But who's going to fire the things? We can't just send in untrained men."

"We're not. King Eranthis has a team of dwarves who've been studying the proper ways to handle your weapons. Anything you didn't write out for them, I fetched from your world. I hope you realize the tribute the dwarves are paying you, in both building and operating your machines."

"I do. Believe me, I do. I know how they felt about me after that little disaster I had in Dragon Mountain with the mirrors."

"Well, they haven't quite forgotten about that. They probably won't for a couple of hundred years. But they're a practical people and they know how to move on. Now, come. We have much to do." Matilde started away. But still Tony didn't follow.

"Matilde," he said, "Would you have dinner with me tonight?"

She turned and looked at him. "Yes," she said. "I'll meet you in the dining room at eight o'clock. Now, come. Eranthis and Rupert must be wondering where we are."