A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

Wendell cleared his throat. Here goes nothing!

“First Item of Business for this Council Meeting-the wolf petition. As you know, last night Lord Wolf returned from his fact-finding mission to his people. He asks that we deed the Disenchanted Forest and everything in it to the wolves and part-wolves in perpetuity.”

Griswold, of course, had the first objection. “They plan on using the evil magic there to their own ends!”

Rupert wasn’t as convinced. “That curse is just silly nonsense. The Royal Hunting Lodge has been there for generations, and there have been no problems associated with it.” He turned to Wendell, frowning. “Are they planning on taking over the lodge?”

“No, I have been guaranteed that they will not encroach on that land and that their hunting parties will ignore mine, if I show them the same courtesy.”

“Then what do they plan on doing?” an old lord quavered from the other end of the table.

Wendell crossed his fingers firmly under the table. “They hope to offer a tourist attraction.”

He’d never seen an entire table of dignitaries having a belly-laugh before.

“What could they possibly have to lure people there?” Griswold gasped through chuckles.

Wendell crossed the fingers of his other hand. After a split second’s thought, he crossed his toes as well. “There was a village in the heart of the forest in my grandmother’s time, they’re going to rebuild that. And there are several items of interest from the great adventure of my companions. The site of the gypsy camp where the Lady Virginia freed the magic birds, the tree where she was held captive, that kind of thing.” He could feel his knuckles going as white as his gloves. Would they buy it or keep prying?

Griswold snorted. “I can see where those sites would be of moderate interest. You wouldn’t want to give wolves anything of great value, of course.”

The hook was baited, the trap set... “Since I was frozen in gold for most of the trip through the Disenchanted Forest, I don’t know of all the places they might consider a possible tourist trap. Therefore, I am going to give them an open-ended deed to exploit anything found in the woods, with the aforementioned stipulation regarding the Royal Hunting Lodge.” To his great relief, heads nodded around the table. They went for it! Once I’ve signed over the deed they can’t take your cottage away from the wolves, and they can’t blame me for giving it to the keeping of “vermin.” I hope this is what you wanted, Grandmother!

Tony was up on the roof pounding in shingles when the delicious smell of bacon frying wafted up. The only problem with this was that the wolf party had left that morning and he was supposed to be once more alone. He poked his head warily over the edge. “Who are you?”

The teenager cooking at his campfire jumped up with an animal yelp. “I-I-I-I’m Fred. Sir. M’lord.” He bobbed a bow and almost spilled the bacon into the fire. In rescuing it, he singed the tail that stuck out of the back of his pants.

“I thought you people left hours ago.”

“I asked to stay. Please?” he whined, pawing nervously at the side of his face.

“Why?”

“You’re my hero! You’re the greatest of the Four Who Saved The Nine Kingdoms! I’ll do anything for you! I’ll paint! I’ll saw wood! I’ll -”

Tony hesitated. This kid seemed like a danger to everything he touched. And to be proper penance, he had to be doing this alone. But... who could resist a fan? “I have to do this myself. I’m trying to make up for something.”

“I understand, sir! But I can still help! I can hunt for you, I can bring you firewood, I can cook your meals...” he gestured into the pan, which held enough bacon for six dinners. Or one human-sized dinner and one wolf dinner, as Tony remembered from his journey.

“I really don’t need....” His train of thought suddenly switched to new rails. “Why am I the greatest?”

“Oh, because you were so lowly, you were so far down in status, nobody listened to you!”

“I really don’t need help if you’re going to be like that!”

“Oh, oh, oh, but don’t you see? You rose right up to the top of the pack! You went from being the lowest to the leader, you’re a king’s advisor, you’re a lord! You’re an, an, an inspiration to all of us last wolves! Please! Please let me stay?”

“I... the greatest? You really think I’m the greatest?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Don’t burn my lunch. And after you clean the dishes, run to town. I need more whitewash.”

The dwarves liked to stay to themselves deep inside Dragon Mountain, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t interested in the other eight Kingdoms, particularly when the break with a traditional ally was so fresh and so painful. Warwick strode up and down in front of their oldest, most powerful mirror, his council waiting respectfully behind him.

“Gustav! Tell me of the world above! Is everything still all right with our allies, the House of White?”

“Lord Anthony, all contrite
Labors all the day and night
Working to remove the blight
That took the cottage of Snow White.”

The council exploded into questions. “What? What did he say?”

“Something about our cottage.”

“Something about Lord Anthony and the cottage!” Warwick gasped in horror. “Murdering mirrors isn’t enough for him? Gustav! This is cause for great alarm-does he do the sacred cottage harm?”

“He does no harm, he plays no tricks
He labors hard the cottage to fix
Where once he broke the great taboo
Now he seeks to appease you
To earn his peace to remain a lord
He does what he can for she all adored.”

“That’s fine for him, but this is too important to be left to a human. Call a general meeting. I’m going to send a delegation up to the Fourth Kingdom to be sure that this great treasure is handled properly!”