Aurendel - Strays

Jack couldn't actually believe that Kate was leaving. After he returned to his house, he fixed himself some coffee so he could shake off the vodka and really think about what had happened. He had no stomach for breakfast, but sat on his back porch sipping coffee and smoking his pipe, trying to take it all in. How could this have happened?

All right, so the wolf was a handsome devil, he supposed. And it and Kate were both young. But... an animal!

There Jack brought himself up short. Perhaps that was his mistake, thinking of the wolf as an animal in human form instead of as a person who was a sapient wolf. Still, it wasn't his brains Kate was interested in, was it?

Now, that was entirely unfair, Jack had to admit. The wolf was smart, a damn good storyteller and musician, and Kate admired that. He knew it was his own stories that had first won Kate's interest in himself, and ruefully thought that, in some ways at least, the ones Kate liked most, the wolf resembled a younger version of himself. He shook his head. If he, like Kate, had first seen the wolf as a man rather than an animal, he could've certainly understood her attraction. Still, it rankled. Perhaps the worst of it was how the whole business reminded him of his age. He didn't like to recall that he was old enough to be Kate's father.

Jack had almost come to terms with the idea of Kate leaving with the wolf when he heard a knock at the door. His pipe had gone out and his coffee had been cold for a long time. As he rose from his seat and went inside to answer the door, he noticed that the sun was past the meridian. It was about time, then--afternoon already.

Kate and the wolf were on the front porch when he opened the door. Kate seemed a little embarassed, but the wolf was unflappable. It--he, damn it!--shook Jack's hand in greeting as if nothing had happened.

"'Afternoon," Jack grunted.

"Before we go into town," the wolf said, "I'd like a look at the mirror."

Jack nodded. Good thinking, make sure it was right. "Help me get it out of the truck."

Jack and the wolf carried the mirror into the house, and at Jack's suggestion, propped it against some boxes in the junk room. The wolf examined the mirror thoughtfully, as Kate stood, restlessly shifting her weight from foot to foot. At length the wolf muttered something under his breath and started running his hands over the mirror frame. There was a click, and a carved circular piece moved. To Jack's astonishment, the mirror rippled, and the reflection changed to a scene of thick dark woods. Kate gasped, and the wolf grinned triumphantly. "That's the Disenchanted Forest," he explained, "where I was when I fell throught the mirror."

Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Isn't that a ways from your home?"

"Yes, but as I was telling Kate earlier, there may well be a way of changing the focus from one place to another. It's a matter of experimenting. First I'll try physical controls, then, failing that, voice commands."

That sounded reasonable. Kate and Jack watched as the wolf tentatively touched various parts of the mirror. The on switch proved merely to toggle the mirror open and closed, producing no other change in the image. When the wolf tried touching the image itself, the result was more like sticking his hand under water than anything else. He shook his head and stepped back, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Then he cleared his throat and said in a commanding tone, "Mirror, show me the den of the Darkfrost Pack of the North Forest in the Eighth Kingdom."

The three waited expectantly, holding their breath. Nothing happened. The wolf's shoulders slumped in disappointment. Jack started to say that it had been worth a shot, but Kate forestalled him.

"Didn't you say that a lot of older mirrors had to be addressed in rhyme?" she asked. "Something like this, maybe:
Abracadabra and hocus pocus,
Mirror, change your image's focus."

After a second or two, Jack noticed that the image was growing fuzzy. At first he thought it was his own eyes, but he quickly realized that the other two were seeing the blurring effect as well.

"No, no, Kate," the wolf remonstrated. "When commanding magic, you must always be extremely specific. Magical things are terribly literal. Let's try again, shall we?"

Slightly annoyed, Kate said, "Well, this is more your line than mine. You try."

The wolf cleared his throat, then spoke to the mirror:
"Mirror, show to me and Kate
An image clear of Kingdom Eight."

Almost instantly an aerial view appeared of a mountainous land, with forests to the south of the glacier-topped peaks.

"That's incredible!" Kate exclaimed.

Jack was speechless. He'd seen odd things in his time, but this was real magic.

"That won't do," the wolf said. Then after a moment's thought, he tried again.
"Mirror, show where can be found
The pack of Darkfrost's hunting ground."
The image in the mirror zoomed toward the forest, but still remained less close up than the original view.

"This is absurd," the wolf muttered. He huffed a bit, then recited:
"Mirror, show a closer view
A safe place for us to step through."

As the mirror's image shifted, the wolf seemed to have second thoughts. "I ought not have said that. The mirror might have odd notions of what's safe." He seemed relieved when it showed a peaceful forest glade, with ferns and bracken growing under old oak and maple trees. "I know exactly where that is," he announced, smiling broadly. "That's within howling distance of my den."

He turned to look at Kate. She smiled at him and said, "I guess we go on a shopping trip."

Jack rolled his eyes. Just as well he'd soon be rid of these two. He hated shopping.

The three of them piled into Kate's car, with Jack in the driver's seat. He looked over his shoulder to Kate where she sat in the back seat and asked, "Where to first?"

"The bank, I think. There's a notary public there, so we can add your name to my accounts and set up your power of attorney for me."

Jack nodded, then drove off for Okachula's branch of First Union, just across from the town hall on Main Street. The buildings there were mostly brick pseudofederal style from the late1940s, with a few tacky concrete boxes from the late 1960s. Jack snorted at how easily the wolf was impressed by the white columns and bronzed cupola of the town hall, and the little fountain in the central square. Well, he guessed a wolf would be as provinicial as possible--really from the backwoods middle of nowhere.

Jack turned to the wolf and said, "You wait here and stay out of trouble while Kate and I take care of business."

"But I... "

Kate placed a restraining hand on Jack's arm. "I have a better idea." She turned to the wolf. "Why don't you go look around in the hardware store," she suggested, pointing to the Crowley Brothers on the corner, "and decide what we should buy to take with us? We'll join you there shortly."

The wolf nodded enthusiastically, gave Kate a quick peck on the cheek and Jack a friendly wave, and hurried across the street toward the store. Jack felt the unfairness of it. The only place in town he actually liked shopping, and he was stuck with bank duty. With a sigh, he followed Kate into her bank.

In fact, taking care of business took longer than they expected. Kate was vexed by the barrage of questions and advice from the bank employees, who didn't seem to find the proceedings at all proper, and appeared reluctant to do what she wanted. Finally, after reams of paperwork were signed, stamped, and sealed, Kate and Jack were free to go.

The wolf spotted Kate and Jack as soon as they entered Crowley Brothers, and rushed over to them, pushing a small shopping cart overflowing with stuff. Kate immediately realized that turning loose a male of any species in a hardware store was a serious mistake. Worse, Crowley Bros., though a small shop, contained unusual old-fashioned and nifty items not generally carried by large chain stores. She groaned quietly to herself as her mate started showing her all the wonderful things he'd found, then she deliberately stepped on Jack's toes as he began to chuckle at her vexation.

Truth be told, Kate couldn't actually blame her mate. She herself had succumbed to temptation a few times before and purchased gadgets for her kitchen. After some discussion, she managed to help weed down the purchases to really practical things, including an ax, a saw, extra blades, a woodcarving set, and other such straightforward items. Due to the lack of electricity in the kingdoms, the power circular saw was right out, much to her mate's dismay. He argued in favor of the cordless drill, until she pointed out that they couldn't recharge it. Jack was less than no help. When he actually suggested they could pass the batteries back and forth through the mirror to recharge the drill, Kate thought she would scream. Instead, she managed to distract the wolf with a complicatedly multiple-tooled swiss army knife, and while his back was turned, she shelved the drill. Then, to forestall any further purchases, she suggested they pay for their selections and head for Fabric World.

The three loaded the tools into the car trunk, the wolf releasing his purchases with a show of reluctance. Then they drove several blocks to the sewing supplies store. As soon as they walked in--Jack under protest--the wolf's jaw dropped as he surveyed the warehouse full of bolts of cloth.

"My mother would go wild in here!" he exclaimed.

Jack waited in a chair near the front of the store while Kate and the wolf shopped. Kate noticed that her mate preferred natural fibers to man-made. He huffed indignantly over flimsy rayons and coarse polyesters. He eyed brightly dyed and vividly patterned fabrics longingly, but sighed and settled for practical, sturdy stuff. He selected a rich green lightweight wool and an undyed muslin, then, with a furtive glance at Kate, snatched up a red and black plaid flannel. Somehow, the idea of a wolf in a plaid shirt amused Kate, and she burst out laughing, to his dismay. "You don't like it?" he asked plaintively.

"It's fine," she reassured him, and directed him toward the needles and thread.

At the last minute, as the saleslady was ringing up their purchases, he snagged up a length of green velveteen ribbon. "For my sister," he explained. Kate thought that was sweet.

They collected Jack, who'd dozed off in his seat, and drove to the Okachula Animal Clinic. It didn't take much for Kate to convince the men to wait in the car for her. It was with a touch of trepidation that she entered the clinic, sneaking in through the back door. Hoping to avoid meeting anyone, she crept into her small office and grabbed her bag. She carefully slipped into the supply room where she filled her kit with surgical tools, medicines--any small essential items that she couldn't get in the kingdoms. Then she tiptoed toward her partner's office, hoping he was in an examining room. As she listened at his office door to determine whether he was there, the clinic's receptionist emerged from the restroom at the end of the hall and immediately spotted her.

"Hi, Crystal," she said to the receptionist.

"Dr. Sheppard!" Crystal exclaimed. "Are you okay? I thought you seemed under the weather yesterday, and then cancelling today..."

"I'm okay. I've just had a lot going on personally," Kate replied. What an understatement on her part, she thought. "Listen, Crystal," she continued, "I've got a letter here for Terry." She pulled the envelope out of her purse and handed it to the receptionist.

"He's not gone for the day yet," Crystal said. "Do you want to speak to him?"

Somewhat shamefacedly, Kate said, "Not really. You see, I'm getting married--"

Crystal interrupted her. "Oh, wow! You finally wore Jack down?"

"No, no, it's not like that. He's not the family type." Crystal looked disappointed, but Kate forged ahead. "No, it's this guy I met, kind of a whirlwind romance, and he wants me to go away with him. For good."

"Oh, no!" wailed Crystal. "Will you keep in touch?"

Kate shook her head. "I doubt it. It's kind of a fairy tale thing, and I'll be off into the sunset."

Crystal sighed. "We'll miss you. Good luck."

"I hope Terry won't be too put out," Kate said.

"He'll get over it. You take care. I hope this guy knows how lucky he is."

Kate waved to Crystal as she left, thinking how lucky she was not to have run into her erstwhile business partner. When she got back to her car, though, the men weren't waiting for her. She looked around in confusion, and spotted Jack and her mate across the street, waving to her. She crossed over and asked, "What's up?"

"Kate, look at this!" the wolf exclaimed, pointing in the shop window. Kate glanced idly at the shop's name painted on the glass, "World of Wonder Fine Jewelry and Crafts." Then she saw what had her mate so excited. Displayed on a green velvet mat was a necklace of small hematite beads, with a beautifully carved pendant in the shape of a running wolf.

"It's the perfect gift for my Packmother," he whined. At her assent, the three entered the store. While she bought the necklace, Jack browsed idly. She lost track of him for a moment, realizing only when she and the wolf got to the car that Jack was missing. He emerged from the shop a second later, jogging across the street and glaring at them for leaving him behind. "Done shopping yet?" he asked crossly.

"I think so," she said, looking to her mate, who nodded agreement.

"Then let's go," said Jack.

As they drove off, the wolf's stomach growled audibly. "Sorry," he said, embarrassed.

"Actually," said Kate, "I'm hungry too. And I'll bet you forgot to eat today, didn't you, Jack?"

He snorted and glanced at the wolf. "If this is your idea of getting an early start on getting home--"

"Jack," the wolf interrupted, "think a moment. When are wolves normally most active?" Getting no response, he continued, "If we head back before dusk, my pack won't be up yet." Grinning, he added, "There's a reason they call the moon the 'wolf's sun'. I think we've got time for a very late lunch." He placed a hand over his stomach and gave Jack a mock-pathetic starved look.

"Oh, all right." Jack pulled off the road at a burger joint. He didn't really feel like eating, but he ought to anyway. Once they had their food, he scarcely noticed what he was eating. He was too busy thinking and watching his companions. Kate picked at her chicken sandwich, and sipped her diet soda as if savoring it to remember. The wolf, naturally, wolfed down two bacon double cheeseburgers (without condiments), and drank a large iced tea into which he'd energetically stirred about half a dozen packets of sugar, enough to turn Jack's stomach just thinking about.

It was funny, Jack mused, how accustomed he'd got to having these two around. Oh, he'd been with Kate a good while, long enough for her to be a habit with him. But the wolf was another matter. Jack shook his head. Kate asked him what was wrong, but he couldn't explain. So he just got up from the table, and the others followed him out to the car.

When they got back to Jack's house and had unloaded the car, Kate ceremoniously cut up her credit cards and gave Jack her keys, wallet, and checkbook.

"I guess that's all," she said. "I've been paying off the cards every month, and I used the money from my parents' estate to pay off my student loans. That leaves just the mortgage, which the sale of the house will take care of. If you have any problems, use the mirror to contact me."

Jack agreed wordlessly. Here he was, a professional writer, and he couldn't come up with a thing to say. It was irritating.

"Look," said the wolf, "I think I should go through first, then the two of you pass the bags through to me. When everything's arranged and out of the way, I'll step back through to get Kate and say goodbye."

"That's fine," Jack agreed. He and Kate watched, fascinated, as the wolf stepped through the mirror. They could see him on the other side, but realized he couldn't see them. He stood in the forest glade, waiting, so they started carefully passing bundles through: one large bag from Fabric World, two very awkward ones from the hardware store, a box of items from Kate's house, her bookbag and duffel bag, the sewing kit, the medical kit, and the guitar case.

"How do you expect to manage all this junk?" Jack growled to Kate.

"His pack will come get it, he told me."

They watched the wolf as he neatly arranged the packages then stepped back through. "Ready," he said with a smile.

Kate looked at Jack. "You take care of yourself, old man," she said, and hugged him. He patted her back awkwardly, mumbling, "You too." Then she stepped back and he turned to the wolf, who extended his hand, saying, "Thank you, Jack."

Jack didn't take the wolf's hand immediately, and the smile faded from the wolf's face. Then Jack pulled a very small "World of Wonders" bag out of his pocket and emptied its contents into the wolf's hand. The startled wolf examined the object, then began smiling again. It was an old fashioned straight razor, its stainless steel blade folded into a handle of stag's antler and silver.

"This is a very valuable gift, Jack," the wolf said, quietly, "and I already owe you a great deal."

Jack shrugged. "Maybe someday I'll call in the iou. In the meantime, use it in good health." To his surprise, the wolf caught him in a back-thumping bear hug (wolf hug?) before turning away and gently handing Kate through the mirror.

Jack watched the two in the mirror for a moment as they walked hand in hand into the forest. Then with a sigh, he closed the mirror. He smiled as he turned away from it. For some reason, he felt like writing a story.

Here endeth the tale of the Packsinger of Darkfrost's visit to the Tenth Kingdom. But many tales are yet to be told and songs to be sung of his and his mate's adventures in the Nine Kingdoms, of how the pack of Darkfrost recieved Kate, and how they met the Four Who Saved the Nine Kingdoms, and many other matters.