A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

Red’s blood ran cold. Her pet? Her darling, precious pet? She didn’t want to believe it. She refused to believe it. There had to be a rational explanation. Benjamin would set it all straight.

Just as soon as she found him.

She had not laid eyes on Benjamin since she had arrived. She knew he was around; a message had been slipped to her soon after her arrival begging her not to openly contact him, as he was hiding from the virulent anti-wolf faction. Relieved to know that he was still all right and worried for his continued safety, she’d followed his wishes, but scanned the crowds looking for him anyway. She hadn’t seen him yet.

Oh, it looked bad for him. He had done wrong, and he had to be punished for the lie if nothing else. But he hadn’t done anything really evil, she was sure of it! All she had to do was get him in front of the mirror and anything he could be accused of would evaporate in a magical glitter, just as Elizabeth and Wolf had been cleared.

Lucy nudged her, and Red snapped back to the present. Wendell cleared his throat with the attitude of someone who had been ignored once already and said, “So this is the criminal you attacked me to reclaim?”

“Only one of many,” Red responded frigidly. Between anger at Wendell and embarrassment at being proved wrong-in front of Cinderella and all those wolves yet!-it was harder to be gracious to Elizabeth, but noblesse oblige and all that. “I am glad,” she said, not managing to sound anywhere near happy, “that the mirror shows you to be innocent after all. Of course, I immediately pardon you and lift the sentences for theft and flight.”

“Can you give her tail back?” someone muttered. Red ignored them.

This time when Wendell nodded to his guard, Red didn’t stop the unchaining. She couldn’t resist pointing out, “However, there are still many other fugitives here, many of them guilty of far worse crimes.”

“If they’re guilty at all,” Cinderella pointed out snidely.

Red glared at her. “Are you really that confident that all your verdicts would be supported by that mirror?” Cinderella sniffed at her, but Red could see the trace of doubt in her eyes. Ha! The venomous old bitch had kept her stepsisters in captivity long after they should have been peacefully dead. Anyone nasty enough to demand over 230 years of servitude in revenge for a mere 10 years of forced scullery work had no right to be spouting moral platitudes. What would the mirror say about those two right next to you, huh? Do you dare ask? You’re not a heroine to everyone, you know.

She tossed her head as she turned away from Cinderella, looking out over the crowd. Some of her fugitives were probably here, if she just knew who they were. But the only faces she would recognize would be castle staff, and precious few of them had gone wrong. Elizabeth, an old guard who’d tried to pass for human, her murdering herbalist, and others of the sort. Most of them were probably well away from here-except that herbalist, she’d seen her! Red twisted in her chair. Where would I be if I wanted to see what was going on but not be seen? Behind the podium, possibly half behind a tree. Yes! There she was! And there, like the vengeful ghosts in the mirror, was the shape of the groundskeeper she’d murdered. Was she cursed to be haunted as well?

Then the avenging ghost smiled on the herbalist, putting a possessive arm around her and planting a quick kiss on her temple. A breeze shook the leaves of the tree, letting light through to illuminate the happy couple. That was no ghost.

Red began to tremble. Benjamin had lied! Benjamin had deliberately lied to her-twice!

She could feel tears welling up hot in her eyes, but refused to let them fall. Years of trying to hold a failing kingdom together made her mind race forward, searching out solutions even while her heart broke. Her pet had lied to her, and probably far more than twice. She didn’t know the game he was playing, and until she did, until she got him in front of that mirror and found out exactly what was going on, everything he said had to be suspect.

Inside, she mourned and fretted for her beloved Benjamin. Outside, she imperiously beckoned her chief guardsman out of the ring that surrounded the royal platform. “Find Benjamin!” she hissed quietly. “Take several men, find him, and bring him to me immediately!”

The chains fell away. Littlebit turned to go, then hesitated at the edge of the platform. She wanted to rejoin her pack, but she’d seen the look on Wolf’s face. Just because he’d defended her to Great Wolf didn’t mean he would accept what she had done.

It seemed like an eternity that Littlebit and Wolf looked at each other over the crowd, until Virginia smiled and waved her over. Slowly, tentatively, Littlebit climbed down off the platform.

The wolves in the crowd by the platform stumbled away from her as if she were rabid and might bite. “Cub killer!” a part-wolf hissed at her.

A friend next to him dragged him away instantly. “Don’t! She’ll call the ghosts down on you!”

Littlebit fought down the wild urge to laugh. Was her only remaining status going to turn out to be the fear of her curse?

All three of the Lewises were standing, waiting for her as she dragged unwilling feet to their section of the royal viewing platform. The guards gripped their swords a little bit tighter; not quite challenging her, not letting her through.

Surprisingly, it was Lord Anthony who spoke first. “C’mon up, Littlebit. It’s okay.”

“Is it?” she blurted.

Anthony looked at Wolf and Virginia. Wolf stared back, expressionless, his arms still wrapped around Dell. Virginia, however, nodded with an encouraging smile, coming to the edge of the platform. The guards, having learned their lesson, made way for her at once. “Yeah,” Anthony said. “It is. I... I think I understand why you did it.” His next words were laid down like a challenge to the rulers and the listening crowd. “I still think you’re a good person.”

“It’s all right,” Virginia told her, reaching down to help her climb up.

“How can you forgive me after what I’ve done?” Littlebit wrung her hands rather than take the one offered.

“I forgave my mother for what she did-everything she did. I can forgive you.” Virginia clasped one of Littlebit’s wrists, practically towing her up to the platform. “And you know what else,” she breathed in Littlebit’s ear. “She forgave me. After. When her mind was clear, she knew that I had to... the reason why I...” Virginia couldn’t get the words out, so Littlebit hastily nodded to show she understood. “She gave me a sign from beyond the grave. She forgave me.” Virginia leaned in for a brief, sisterly kiss on the cheek, her last words pitched for Littlebit’s ears only. “You’re not alone, you know. We both killed who we most wished to keep with us always. We had no choice. I understand.”

Confused but heartened, Littlebit found herself in front of Wolf, who still cradled Dell in his arms. Her lively, expressive brother was unaccustomedly still and wooden, with no sign of what he would do. Hoping to flatter him, Littlebit curtsied. What he said next would seal her fate forever with their kind; this was not between brother and sister, but between Wolf of Wolves and a subordinate of the pack. Just enough of the boy she grew up with remained for her to realize that he was still trying to make up his mind. The silence stretched out until she was ready to scream from the tension and the weight of all fascinated stares from the crowd.

Finally the impasse was broken not by Wolf, but by Dell.

The baby was as active as his father and didn’t always submit tamely to being held. The relief of being reunited with Wolf must have worn off and left him searching for newer amusements, for he started making a determined effort to get to his aunt. First he sniffed her out, then he squirmed to look for her, and finally he started reaching for her. Wolf ignored him, something the spoiled Dell would not tolerate long. Dell waved one hand at Littlebit, then two, burbling and blowing bubbles. Finally, with a shriek, Dell started kicking out, planting his tiny feet on his father’s chest and stretching as far as he could towards her.

Wolf jumped a bit at the noise, then gave his son a startled glance. That turned into a thoughtful look as Dell continued to fight to get to Littlebit. Finally he nodded.

The crowd sighed like the forest in a gale as Wolf stepped silently forward and gave Dell to Littlebit to hold. The cub promptly seized her hair and pulled it hard, but the tears in her eyes were relief rather than pain. She scuttled quickly to the shelter of her pack, rewarded by the feel of both Virginia’s and Wolf’s arms around her shoulders.

Wendell watched the little family reunion, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Happily ever after? No, not yet. There was still the lesser charge against Wolf-despite Queen Hood’s protests, he had not forgotten that-and the larger question of who had started this entire disaster. Not to mention the entire Red Riding Hood problem. All of her accusations against him could be instantly refuted by the mirror, but should he do it now, so that his citizens and Cinderella could testify to the Kingdom Council? Or was it showing fatal weakness for him to allow an alien queen to put him on trial in his own lands? Should he take the mirror to the Council? Should he just stick to forcing her to prove her case on her own? He owed her no favors.

He also owed her no wolves. Considering the massive flight of wolves from the Second Kingdom, he’d never taken her requests for extradition very seriously. After all, his greatest hero was one of her former convicts! Doubtless others who were equally valuable to his army, his network, and his throne were fleeing some petty conviction or other.

The sun was high and he needed time to think. Wendell stood up. “There will be a recess of two hours for lunch. After that time, we will continue to search for the person who injured Wendell Wolf Anthony Lewis.”

“Oh, good!” Aunt Cindy groaned far louder than she probably meant to. Wendell started guiltily. She was so very old, and was doing him a great, gracious favor. It would not go well with his publicity or his alliances with the First Kingdom if he exhausted her while trying to solve his own problems.

The press corps, whose members had been writing furiously all morning long, scattered to file their stories. Fairies fluttered off clutching scrolls, dwarves read their notes into pocket mirrors, messengers galloped off, and Royal Windhowler headed towards the New Sanctuary signal tower. One of them even tried to bribe one of the fur wolves to howl the story up to the remote Sixth Kingdom.

The last sight Wendell saw as he ducked into out of the square was one of the fur wolves hiking a hind leg next to a tree. They weren’t usually that public about it, and Wendell was startled- until he saw the wolf pawing dirt and grass over the now-sodden, torn pages. “Recipe for-” was still faintly visible.

The Full Moon Pub on the corner of the square wasn’t particularly equipped for royal guests, but it was close and it had three large, if not overly comfortable, private dining rooms that were the temporary embassies for Wendell, Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella. Food had already been set out; not dainty delicacies, but strong, simple pub grub that would give them strength enough to keep going.

“This is going quite well,” Rupert said brightly as soon as the door was shut and they were alone.

Wendell groaned in response. “No it’s not! Someone is trying to start a war and we still don’t know who. And once we go through all this nonsense over the baby, we have to start all over again with the rape and murder charges.”