A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

Wolf couldn’t help twitching as he helped his mate down from the carriage. There was no one out on the street, had been no one to see since they entered the town, but he could feel eyes boring into him from every shadow and curtained window. The warning howls along the road had simply told the town that the Royal Coach was coming, not who was inside. Either everyone was gathered somewhere, preparing a royal welcome for Wendell... or, more likely, they were all hiding while they assessed the situation.

The coach horses shifted nervously, reacting to the unseen stares with the wariness of prey surrounded by predators. “Orders, sir?” the coachman grunted as he tried to hold them still.

What to do, what to do... if he sent the coach out of town, it would probably be safe, but he and Virginia would be stuck if there was trouble. On the other hand, if the coach stayed, he couldn’t guarantee that the horses wouldn’t just be eaten; there wasn’t a lot of good hunting in the Disenchanted Forest. Then they’d still be stranded and the driver and footman would be in danger.

“Go back to the last human town and wait. I’ll send a messenger for you if-I mean when!-I need you.” The last town was perhaps three hours’ walk; easy for him and he could carry Virginia if necessary. If the Leader’s Council wasn’t here, then they could still talk to the local Wolf and get back to the coach before nightfall-and it would still have its horses.

Those horses almost trampled him in their eagerness to escape, and the coachman wasn’t much better.

“So now what?” Virginia asked, gingerly sitting on the edge of the center fountain. “Do we wait for them to come to us, or do we go to them?”

“I don’t know where to go,” Wolf admitted. He was about to pick a building at random, when the ominous silence was interrupted by the squeak and bang of a door.

A little girl, no more than six years old, leaned at an odd angle out of the supply entrance to what had been a pub. “Let go!” she shouted at someone behind her. “I want to see the king!” She wriggled, pushed, even bit once or twice, then finally broke free and marched over with all the self-importance of a child on a mission. Stopping squarely in front of Wolf and leaning way back to look up at his face, she asked, “Are you the king?”

Virginia burst into giggles. Wolf squatted down to her level. “No. King Wendell’s back at his palace. He just loaned me his carriage for a while.”

“Oh.” She sucked her thumb solemnly as she thought this over. Behind her, the shadows thickened and blinked wary yellow eyes at them. The message was clear. Nobody wanted to start anything, but if he hurt that girl, it would be the last thing he ever did.

As if any wolf would ever hurt a child! He was about to introduce himself when she pulled her thumb out with a pop and asked the next obvious question.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Wolf. Wolf Lewis, and this woman is my mate, Virginia Lewis.” Pride mixed with anxiety made him add, “Perhaps you’ve heard of our story?”

There was consternation in the shadows as the little girl leaned to one side and then the other, checking him out. “No you’re not!” she said with all the scorn of a child feeling smarter than adults. “You don’t have a tail! I’ve seen the pictures. She isn’t big up front, neither.” The child squinted in the sun, then clarified. “Not big in front on top, I mean.”

Virginia squawked in outrage, and Wolf held up a warning hand. “I have a tail, I keep it tucked in my pants.”

His tiny interrogator pouted. “When I get my tail, I won’t hide it!”

Confused, Wolf took a tentative sniff of her scent. This kid was as human as they came. Had the farmers taken their town back? No, the air was thick with wolf. Who is this?

“Addie! Addie, you bad girl, you come right back here!” A wild wolf might be reclusive, a half-wolf might be shy, but a mother in search of a straying child was the most dangerous creature in all the Nine Kingdoms. This one was out of breath as she exploded out of what looked like the town hall; the building had a tall tower, and Wolf was willing to bet that she’d been up at the top as the lookout... until she looked at her child accosting strangers in the street.

Addie glanced impassively at her mother’s rapid approach, but turned right back to Wolf, determined to solve the big mystery. “Who are you really?”

“I’m Wolf. I really, truly, sincerely, cross-my-heart am Wolf Lewis. I’ve come to town to talk to the other wolves.”

“I’m gonna be a wolf someday,” the little girl announced firmly. “I’m gonna be the biggest, bestest, wolf ever, and I’m gonna lead the whole Council! I am!”

“Addie! You bad girl, how dare you run away from your father and bother people! Say you’re sorry!” The uncontrite Addie tried to duck away, but her mother was as determinedly stubborn as she was, and eventually the wayward girl was hoisted under her mother’s arm. Once the girl was unceremoniously brought under control, her mother turned back to them, gasping apologies. “I’m so sorry-she will just run off-hope she didn’t bother-are you really a royal messenger?”

“I’m Wolf Lewis, and this is Virginia.”

“He’s not! He doesn’t have a tail!” Addie shouted, but her mother was less skeptical.

“Oh my... you’re not really... Huff, Puff, as my brother-in-law would say! Goodness gracious! Come to the pub and tell us all about it. Oh! First time we’ll ever get to hear a story straight from the person who lived it!”

Wolf shook his head. “I really need to find the Council of Lead Wolfs. I was told someone in town might know where they are?”

“Mercy me, everyone in town knows; they’re right here! Not the lead of every pack in the kingdom, of course, but there are at least three dozen packs around here, big important ones. Even the families of the army pack are here-I don’t know of a bigger Wolf Council outside the Second Kingdom!”

She looked up the street, biting a lip and getting a firmer grip on her squirming, protesting child. “They’re meeting right now and I can’t interrupt, you understand, nobody can interrupt, but come! Come! Come to the pub and tell us all about it!” She bustled off from whence her daughter had appeared.

Wolf and Virginia exchanged a look. Virginia shrugged. The darker shapes within the shadows started moving towards the pub, so Wolf held out his hand to his mate to help her back to her feet.

As they followed, Addie squirmed so she could glare at them over her mother’s shoulder. “Remember!” she ordered Wolf. “I get to be Wolf of Wolves after you!”

Virginia blinked in the sudden darkness. Outside the sun was blazing; inside it was cool and black.

“Open the windows, they’re not going to bite if they see you!” their odd guide ordered the shapeless patrons. Curtains were swept aside, shutters pushed open, and suddenly the dark cave turned into a cozy room of slightly-gnawed wooden timbers and whitewash.

The woman clapped her hands sharply. “Make room! These people are Wolf and Virginia Lewis, all the way here to talk to the Council! Set them a table!”

She must have been the proprietress, because several people in aprons appeared out of nowhere, cleared what looked like a barely-begun meal off the center table, and reset it. In the meantime, the woman dropped her daughter behind the bar with a hissed warning to be good and a glare at the man wiping the countertop down. He just shrugged and tousled the girl’s hair.

A split second after the table was cleared it was filled again with plates heaped with food, bread fresh from the oven, and two gigantic tankards. Virginia sniffed hers suspiciously, but it proved to be sweet cider. The baby kicked, and her hopes of being politely diplomatic and talking to the people around them disappeared in a wave of hunger.

Fortunately, Wolf could talk a blue streak, even while eating. A lambchop in his right hand, he gestured broadly with his left, turning descriptions of their life in plain old New York into exciting adventures in a mystical kingdom.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long until the weight of the baby on her bladder and all that good cider made her have to embarrassedly whisper a question to their hostess. Returning from the privy, Virginia was startled to realize that the mood of the room had changed drastically. Wolf was on his feet, teeth bared, staring down some adolescent punk of a wolf whose tail was free and lashing with aggression.

“Yeah, that’s what I said, you don’t look like so much,” the new wolf sneered. “None of your big stories talk about tracking! Or hunting! I think you’re a big faker! I bet you cringed and whined through your adventures and somebody else did the work!”

How dare he! Virginia lunged forward, only to be grabbed by a multitude of hands. She was dragged, squirming and protesting, to a table to the side, still imprisoned in bruising fingers. “Men challenge men,” a voice hissed in her ear. “Do you want the whole town to know that Stephen is right and he needs you to protect him? If he is Wolf of Wolves, let him prove it!”

Agonized, Virginia watched the glaredown. With the exception of the wolves who attacked her, Wolf never did really do well in direct confrontation. Even when they were attacked by trolls, he’d told her to beat them off while he stayed by the rudder.

Wolf’s snarl was answered with a louder one, Stephen snapping his teeth for emphasis. “You’re nothing! You’re no one! You’re as big a lap dog as the Prince was! Roll over and play dead!”

Slowly, terribly, Wolf’s knees began to buckle.