A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

Dawn was such a beautiful time of day. Queen Red had never noticed how lovely it was before. But then, she had never been an insomniac until now.

Repealing the miscegenation law had been a horrible mistake. The remaining wolves insisted that she hadn’t gone far enough to give them what they were now calling their “rights” while at the same time the conservative humans who had always supported her reign were infuriated. They called her soft, they called her weak, they’d called her vacillating-all of that she’d been prepared for.

But she hadn’t been ready for them to call for her to abdicate. Her! Granddaughter of one of the Five Great Women Who Changed History!

Tears blurred the rising sun. What was really awful was that she’d do it, too, if it would save her kingdom. She knew perfectly well that it wasn’t the law people were upset about-nobody cared what laws she passed when their homes were safe and their bellies were full. But the exodus had ruined their always-shaky economy and left vital jobs unfilled. What uncollared wolves remained were the hardened criminal types, and her military was stretched to the breaking point trying to keep the people secure. Everyone had an opinion on how the problems started, but nobody-including her-had a viable solution!

If she didn’t give her people answers soon, they would settle for having someone to blame.

A distant sound reached her through the open bedroom window, and she started, almost falling out. Nights were so silent now; she hadn’t heard a howl in months. The castle wolves were, of course, too well trained to make a racket like that, but it was unusual to not hear a wild wolf skulking around. She almost missed the sound; her kingdom didn’t sound normal without at least the occasional wolf call.

This sound wasn’t a howl; it was more of a pounding. Out of the sunrise a rider in the blue and white of the House of White galloped at top speed up from the Fourth Kingdom. And here she was in her nightgown! Red dived for her closet.

If the messenger was surprised to be greeted by the queen herself, he was too well-trained to say so. She said something vague about having given the servants the night off for a kingdom-wide festival, too embarrassed to tell anyone connected to Wendell that she only had about a third of her staff these days. Wolves and humans had been trickling out for weeks, then a large number of humans had quit en masse in protest of her recent law. She sent him to the kitchens to rest and be fed. Fortunately, there was always a surplus of servants to work in her kitchen-Red noticed that people had no problem putting their politics aside in favor of always having enough to eat!

The message lay in her hands, a large, cream-colored envelope, sealed with Wendell’s ring itself. This wasn’t just a notice, it was a royal invitation!

With my luck, he’ll be announcing his marriage to a wolf, and I’ll have to kill myself! She slid a hairpin under the seal and started reading. “You are invited to be present at a royal reception announcing the grand opening of new Fourth Kingdom Cultural Treasures.” Oh, please! What have you done, added a souvenir shop to Snow White Memorial Prison? “Reception at the palace of King Wendell blah blah blah White on mm-hmmm, at the hour of...” Nine a.m.! A! M! Silly boy, don’t you know that most royalty doesn’t even know there’s something called ‘morning’? “To follow will be a tour of: The Magic Tree where the Huntsman hid the Lady Virginia,” wish he’d left her there “The Glade where Wolf hid Lord Anthony and Prince Wendell,” wish he’d left you there “and the... No! I’m not seeing this, it doesn’t say that, it’s not true!

But no matter how often she blinked at it, it still said “the Long-lost Cottage of Snow White.”

The elegant parchment crumpled in her hand as she stomped up the stairs. Oh, that horrible king and his horrible house! Why does Snow White get all the good things? Snow had a palace! Snow had a coffin! Snow had a cottage! For someone who claimed to the end of her days that she was just a simple girl, Snow had an awful lot of sheer stuff! It was probably a totally cutesy-poo cottage too, with a charmingly crooked roof and a darling little garden; the dwarves didn’t do much above ground, but when they did, it was always just utterly too-too. Spend your life under a mountain, and apparently you just can’t resist gardening just for the novelty. Well, House of Red had a cottage too, a good cottage, the original Grandmother’s House. But it wasn’t cute or cuddly, how could it be? It was a hut in the woods where a sickly little old lady lived; she was too busy trying to get through the winters alive to have time for flowers and frills. The only other symbol of the House of Red was her great-grandfather’s woodcutting axe. For a brief moment, Red indulged in a very satisfying revenge fantasy involving the axe and Snow’s glass coffin. Then she composed herself before knocking on Lord Chancellor’s door. He’d know what to do. He always knew what to do.

She wasn’t surprised that he didn’t answer her knock-he was an old man and a heavy sleeper. But she was surprised that the door shifted under her knuckles. He always locked his door last thing-he told her he never quite trusted the wolves who worked in the castle.

“Lord Chancellor?” She pushed the door open slowly. “Uncle Chancey?”

He didn’t answer her. Worried, she pushed the door open all the way and she saw him, crumpled on the floor, a stiff hand still clutching at his chest. She screamed as she ran to him, shrieking his name over and over, even while she realized that he would never answer her again.

“It was quick, your gracious highness.” The royal physician was settling his potions and tools back into his bag. “I’m sure he didn’t feel a thing.”

Red couldn’t throttle the sound of disbelief. “Did you see the look of terror on his face? Someone attacked him!”

“A normal grimace, your majesty. Very common in heart attacks. I saw no evidence of a physical or magical attack at all.” The physician patted her hand soothingly. “He was an old man, and things like this happen to old men. There was nothing you could do, and no foul play involved.”

Red went through the rest of the day in a fog. She set the state funeral for the traditional four days hence-giving her the perfect opportunity to turn down Wendell’s invitation without making it look like she was deliberately avoiding him. For a brief moment she thought about inviting other royals to the funeral, but decided against it. She could not afford as lavish a ceremony as Uncle Chancy deserved anyway, and she knew that she was not popular enough to counterbalance Wendell’s proposed day of fun and games.

She tried to do work, but couldn’t concentrate. Lucy tried to distract her with gossip, but the frivolity of the doings of the other kingdoms grated on her nerves. Wandering aimlessly through the castle, she found herself out in the garden. The day that had started so terribly was bright and beautiful, another insult to her grief.

Still, that was no reason to punish her pet. It was only kind to let him out of his run on gorgeous days like this one and let him really get some exercise. She went to get a leash, then thought better of it. Benjamin was so well-trained he’d come at her call anyway and he was perfectly tame. They’d be all right just letting him walk with her.

The other wolf servants were out and about their duties, so Benjamin was the only one still locked into his run at the wolf shed. Part of his cage extended out into the yard, so he could see how good the weather was.

As soon as he saw her he started to bounce up and down against the cage walls, forgetting himself enough to bay once. He was often eager, but today he seemed frantic. When she got closer, he dropped obediently to all fours, still pressed to the bars closest to her.

To her shock, he didn’t even wait to be addressed. “My lady! Liege lady, I’m so relieved to see you!”

“Did you think I would forget to take you for your run?”

“How could I think of myself at a time like this? Everyone knows what happened this morning. I’ve been frantic about your safety, gracious lady!”

“Mine?” She unlocked the cage and gestured for him to rise, but he crawled out instead, coming to her rather than bounding out into the sunlight. “I’m not old, I don’t fear a heart attack!”

“There are other attacks to fear, my queen!” He threw himself at her feet with a whine. “They plot against you! I’ve heard them, I’ve heard them! Their voices carried on the wind to my cage as they gathered in the garden!”

“Wolves?”

“Humans!”

“Humans? Humans have no reason to plot against me. You must have misheard.”

He glanced up at her, careful not to meet her eyes. “Not even the ones who are angry that you changed the law? The ones who write to the paper saying you have betrayed your heritage?”

A cold chill struck her. “Shush, you must have misunderstood. They want me to abdicate, but I won’t.”

He shivered as he huddled before her. “I know what I heard. Someone said, ‘if she does not step down, we must bring her down before she destroys this kingdom!’ Then someone else said, ‘What of Lord Chamberlain?’ and the first voice said, ‘We’ll take care of him tonight’.”

Uncle’s face, his anguished face... “You don’t know who this was?”

He groveled harder, now backing away from her as if he expected to be struck. “I recognized one voice and scent, but you will not believe me, I’m only a wolf, my word is nothing!”

“Your word is everything to me. You have advised me well over the years, my pet. You have warned me of so many plots, so many traitors. You have faced wild wolves for me!”

“I was not successful,” he whispered. “They did not do as you wished.”

“But still you faced them. Tell me who you heard, and I will have them investigated. Your word may not be good in a court of law, but it is good enough for me, Benjamin. You’ve never let me down before.”

He gulped and shuddered and whined, and she finally had to pet him until he calmed down long enough to gasp out, “Madeline. Your lady in waiting, Madeline.”

Maddie? “No!”

“I knew you would not believe me!”

She stared at him, practically piddling the ground in fear and contrition. He had no reason to lie. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose with a false accusation. And Madeline had free run of the palace, including the royal chambers, unfettered access to herself...

“Shhhhhhhh... that’s all right, calm down now, shhhhhhhhh... I’ll take care of it...” She petted him until he settled down, then gestured back in the cage. “I’m sorry, I can’t exercise you today. If what you say is true, I must search her rooms before she suspects she was overheard.”

“I understand.” He went back in quickly. “Your safety is everything to me!”

With trembling hands, Red relocked the door. Don’t let it be true, please let him have misunderstood... but I can’t ignore it. Not if Maddie’s killed once already!

Red ran back to the castle, calling for her guards.

She never saw Benjamin smiling after her.