A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

Humans have newspapers. Wolves rely on their voices. A howl carries a very long way on a still summer night, particularly when there’s important news to carry. The woods outside Wendell’s palace echoed with frantic howls.

“Cripes! Cripes! They got Wolf and father! We have to run! Run!”

“Who?”

“Wolf! Wolf!”

“You said that, who has him? Foolish boy! Answer the question.”

“THE Wolf! The Wolf of Wolves, oh cripes, oh cripes, we were hunting and we almost... she was moving so slowly, so temptingly, easy prey, easy prey... she was Virginia! His mate! The Wolf of Wolves has our Wolf! Run! Run! He wants revenge! The hunted hunts us!”

The next morning the howls were softer, but no less urgent. Not when what every wolf feared was once again under discussion.

“Wendell, you must destroy your pardon! How can you defend the wolves now that they have attacked your hero?”

“Who happens to be a wolf himself, Griswold!”

“We must do something! You’ve invited these animals in, and then written no laws to cover them! You can’t let them continue to run riot with impunity, not when they abuse the pardon to attack the very one who got it for them!”

Unlike the raucous calls near Wendell’s courtyard, the single howl from the gardens of Red’s palace was timid and low, almost as if it feared being overheard.

“Your majesty, your majesty! Wrentree!”

“Lucinda! Stop waving that newspaper in my face and wait until tonight. I’m in the middle of some very important paperwork. And never use that name in public.”

“I had to get your attention, my liege. You won’t believe what they’ve printed in the Fourth Kingdom Gazette!”

“Fine, give it to me if you can’t give me a moment’s peace. What do you want me to… oh, can’t miss that headline! Wolf attacked by wolves? How delightfully ironic! So much for that animal and the pardon it won.”

“Read the article, your majesty.”

“Oh, am I going to be disappointed to discover it lived after all? Let’s see... vicious attack on pregnant heroine-does she expect to have civilized in-laws now that she’s committed bestiality? Pressure mounts for wolf code of law-good luck with that, Wendell! I did offer to send you copies of my Wolf Code, but noooooo... King Wendell announces... What?! This has to be a misprint!”

“No, your majesty. King Wendell announced that the same law covers wolves and humans equally.”

“Suck an elf! He’s just declared that wolves are... people!”

Deeper in the wild woods of the Second Kingdom, the howls were louder and angrier.

“People! He makes us people, and she puts us in collars, leashes us, makes us clean toilets! How long do you intend to stand for this? The Wolf of Wolves came from our Kingdom, and yet only the Fourth Kingdom reaps his benefits. Is this right? Is this fair? Is this really how you intend to live? How you envision your cubs growing up? There’s a new life for us! A brighter future! Why don’t we have this for ourselves? It’s time to do something!”

Farther away, in the woods of the Fourth Kingdom, equally outraged howls echoed back.

“Wendell the Liberator says that we are the same as humans? But we’re not the same as humans! We’re wolves! Proud, free, wolves! Who wants to be like a human?”

“That’s what comes of the king thinking that Wolf speaks for all wolves. How can he, when he isn’t really a wolf himself? He’s already half human! Does he think that he knows what it’s like to really be one of us?”

Farmers drinking in a pub in Little Lamb village heard the howling and responded with protests of their own.

“People! He says those dirty, disgusting animals are as good as people!”

“No!”

“Yes! Does he know what a single wolf can do to a farm like ours? And now we can’t kill them and we can’t run them off and we can’t beat them because they’re people! What does he want us to do, give them jobs and wages?”

“I’ve heard of a wolf in sheep’s clothing-but a wolf shepherd? It’s just not right.”

“First we’re overrun with trolls, now we’re overrun with wolves. He’s not fit to be king, that’s what! Not fit to be king.”

There was no howling in the village outside Lord Anthony’s castle. There, the wolf servants were on their best behavior-for all the good it did them.

“Out of my store! Out! Out!”

“You know me! I come here every week! I’ve come to pick up Lord Anthony’s supplies.”

“And you’ll be waiting for them outside. I don’t want your dirty paws on my goods.”

“How dare you! You know I work for his lordship! What you do to me, you do to him!”

“What I do to you, I do to a wolf!”

“King Wendell-”

“King Wendell lives in the palace, and doesn’t get boycotted by the rest of his customers when he lets an animal have the run of his business. Scat! Scoot! Outside with you, you filthy animal! Do you really think that Wendell’s madness made you worth anything?”