Wolf and Red strolled through the barren forest side-by-side, their steps in the lush snow the sole evidence of their saunter. Winter threw the dead wood in a grip of ice and snow, the trees now devoid of life, encased in the throes of sharp icicles.
"Do you think he loves me, Wolf?" asked Red as she held a dried flower pressed between the pages of her journal. "He wrapped me a wedding wreath the night before and offered me a marriage ring once held by his grandmother before she passed."
Wolf sighed. "I am unfamiliar with how your males express their feelings. We wolves are—"
"Yes?"
"We are different. Our bonds to one another are stronger than among you humans. We do not need to make formal declarations of choosing a mate."
"How come you are not with your own kind? You've been with me ever since you first found me upon my fifth celebration stride alone and lost. I've naught seen you with any other wolves," she said before she raised the journal up to her nose, sniffing gently. She hugged the journal and smiled to herself.
"I am all that remains of this land. Your ax-man, the man you profess your love for, logs my home, his brothers hunted my people, driving many of my pack away to other forests. I am alone, tasked by the Moon, my Goddess and Mother, to never leave this wood."
Red stopped, gazed at the sky. She said, "I ask for your forgiveness. I don't know what else to say. The people from my village need the timber to pay the king's taxes."
"You carry no blood on your hands with me. There is nothing to say though I wish I could…" Wolf's words died in his throat.
"I'm listening."
"Nothing." He sighed as he couldn't face her. "Come, I must return you back to the trail before your village sends men in droves to seek you out. The sun sets soon during these winter strides. Our…friendship is forbidden."
Red's eyes shot wide, "Yes, the ball! I will journey to the summer keep for an actual ball! There will be dancing, food, drink though…"
"What is the matter?" asked Wolf.
"My betrothed will not be attending. He said fools gather to placate the our lord and lady. He forbade me to go. I wish he wasn't so harsh, his words so full of the spirits he drinks, his hands..."
Red paused for a moment. "Yes, I will be his love whom he shall mend his ways. When we are married, all will be well under the blessed light of the Lord Justice."
"You speak foolishness. A man is bound by his nature. He obeys it."
"And you, my lovely Wolf? What are you bound by?" asked Red.
"I have ascended. I feel…" He shook his head. "I am a fool is what I am. But if I could attend such a function, I would attend with you."
Red smiled and touched his snout with her fine leather-gloved hand. "You are indeed a sweet creature. You will always be my special protector to me." She cast her gaze across the bubbling brook. "I know the way back home from here. Good hunting and I'll tell you how the gala went tomorrow!"
She dashed off with a skip and a dance through the snow, her long red cape flapping in the chilling wind, humming a kind tune.
"The bastard does not deserve you…"
Wolf left.
…
Wolf brooded in his fury as the sun's journey neared its end, now touching the horizon. The ax-man and his ilk have once again laid unbridled devastation across a swath of the forest. The locusts!
Yet...the lupine imagined her face, those beautiful crimson cheeks, the honey-mead eyes and flowing rich auburn hair. He growled, pawing at the ground.
"Why are you angry, Child of the Moon?" asked a mellifluous voice from behind him, catching him by surprise.
Wolf turned, facing a woman dressed in white with pale skin like the restless spirits. His jaw nearly dropped and he bowed, his snout pointed into the snow. "Mother!"
"You have kept your oaths, and every night I have watched you. I am here to grant you your desire for I am pleased."
"My desire?" asked Wolf, daring to meet her gaze.
She smiled. "I know your heart. To be with the human who is known in the logging village as Red. You are in love with her."
"I am not—"
The goddess scowled. "Do not lie to me. Nothing escapes my sight. The Moon sees all and as your Mother, I have heard enough of your somber songs to know your heart beats for another. Have I not always provided for you? Why her, this human? Why have you replaced me?"
Wolf did not answer, his insides churning as his thoughts and songs have not dwelled on the Moon.
The pale goddess bent down and touched Wolf's chin, gently lifting his muzzle up. "Your silence speaks much, but I forgive you. How would you like for one night to be with her? It will be my gift to you. I must warn you, the magic I will perform will change you only for one night and then you return as the wolf."
"Yes! Anything to be with my beloved! Please change me into one of these humans. I beg of you!"
The goddess chuckled. "So quick for her love. For this night, I shall give you all the abilities as a confident noble lord. All such knowledge will be yours, but," she raised a single finger, "you have until the toll of the twelfth ring of witchingbell to depart. Fail to do so, you will change and all will see your true self."
"I accept."
"Only one night, dearest child. Understand that. I shall grant your wish so that upon the rise of the morrow's sun, you shall be the wolf you were always meant to be—mine."
…
The hall loomed grand, lavish, and decadent. Wolf took in the many sights and wonders. Such things these humans possessed, he carried no idea! Many women dressed in brilliant colored dresses and gowns, most with their own retinue of servants adorned in white foppish wigs. Men dressed in grays and blacks with white cravats, some armed with ornamental long swords at their waist. A few wore their military uniforms bedecked with many medals pinned to their chests and medallions around their necks. Music played and already many guests danced as they swirled, touched hands, and swirled again. Wolf knew the dance as if he practiced it all his life, the goddess true to her word as he possessed knowledge of a warrior, scholar, bard, and lover.
Luscious women batted their desiring eyes at Wolf and men offered a salute and jovial, "Excellent evening to you, Good sir!"
He returned an unspoken wave of his own, searching for his target.
The evening bell struck not once, not twice, but eight times.
Wolf glanced up at the large grandfather clock set on a double-splitting stairway ascending to the next level.
Her scent! He found her!
Wolf pushed through the throngs and met a servant along the way, handing his cane and top hat to him. There!
Ahead of him, a gathered cluster of ladies in their fine, elegant dresses stood, chatting alone. Red laughed with them, her own gown a brilliant ruby reflecting back the many candles hanging from the crystal chandeliers. She kept a fan to her face, her hair tied in a dark amethyst ribbon.
"Good evening, Sai lady, a dance if you please?" asked Wolf as he formerly bowed, offering a gloved hand to Red.
She turned slowly, her eyes crestfallen, the makeup powdered much of her face, but Wolf smelled it on her.
Violence, he thought.
"Who struck you, Sai lady?" he asked, his voice dangerous. The other women gasped at the bold question and Red stepped back at such an affront.
"Apologies," he bowed again. "I am a visiting lord. I am not accustomed to seeing such a cowardly act from my homeland. Please...may I have your hand for this dance?"
"Thank you for your kind words, my lord," said Red, still hesitant. One of the ladies, dressed in gold, pushed her toward Wolf.
"Go on, Red, take the handsome man's offer. Your betrothed had no right!" whispered Gold.
Red took Wolf's hand, and he led her to the center of the floor.
"Sai Red, is it? You are as ravishing as a blossoming rose on a fresh Spring morning," he said, one arm reaching around her waist, the other hand entwining hers.
"May I have the pleasure of your name, my lord?" she asked, her body drawing closer to his.
"If you find my company pleasant before the witchingbell, I shall bequeath to you my identity."
"Very well. Then, savor this dance from me, for it may be your last."
"I humbly accept your challenge, Sai Red."
…
They danced and laughed the precious hours away, words and heated breaths mixed in with the gyrating movement of embrace...and longing.
Wolf glanced up at the grandfather clock, a pit forming in his stomach.
"Why, dear sweet man, must you feast your eyes upon the hour so often? Are you bewitched by time, bound by its chains?" asked Red as she reached up and caressed Wolf's cheek.
"Beloved, I must speak true words to you, for you are correct. My time draws near. I must depart and you will not..."
They stopped dancing in the midst of twirling ball gowns and black coattails. Wolf captured Red's hands together. "I must confess to you that I am not who you think I am."
Red didn't hesitate. She leaned forward, drawing him in, her lips meeting his.
The bell tolled once.
She still held onto him.
The bell tolled twice. Three times. Four times.
Wolf broke off their embrace, his eyes watering.
Five times.
"Know that I have always loved you, my beautiful Red."
He stepped away, bodies obscuring him except his face and those haunted eyes. Six times. Seven times.
Tears streaked Red's face, her hand covering her quivering mouth.
Eight times.
She held out her arm, her words barely a whisper, "Please, don't leave me."
Nine times.
"I must!"
Ten times.
Wolf disappeared into the crowd.
Eleven times.
"I love you, Wolf. I knew it was you. I knew it as soon as you stood before me."
The witchingbell tolled twelve.
…
The sun long since rose, its warm rays shining upon Wolf's fur, but it provided him no comfort.
"Come here, you dancing, whoring bitch!" screamed a man in the distance, his words slurred. The lack of rhythm of crunching snow beneath his boots indicated he imbibed too much of his own fermented drink.
"Leave me be! I have returned your ring and wedding wreath, you shall not wrap one around me. Not this stride, not ever!" a woman responded, her voice cracked, her words broken.
"The Tri-Headed Queen take your soul, whore. I heard of you dancing with a noble at the yesterstride's ball after I forbade you. I bet he plowed your cunt before the night was finished!"
"Ha! If he offered, I would have gladly—"
A violent crack of a hand against flesh echoed through the trees. Something heavy collapsed in the snow along with an anguished grunt.
"Prepare yourself for a taste of a real man."
Silence.
"Stop! I have you on sight with my flameshot!"
"Leave me alone!" she wailed. "Wolf! Wolf! Protect me!"
Wolf growled, dashing toward the commotion, spotting a man raising a weapon at a fleeing woman dressed in red, cocking back its hammer.
"Die, feller of trees!" screamed the lupine as he leaped into the air, his fangs bared.
The weapon fired, a brief flash of fire followed by a gray cloud of smoke billowing forth from its barrel. The woman howled as she half-spun, knocked off her feet, sprawled on the wintery snow.
Wolf's fangs closed in on his prey, blood exploding from the throat into the lupine's muzzle. The man tried to retrieve his blade at his belt, but the beast used his paw and pinned the man's hand as sharpened teeth punctured bone.
The ax-man no longer struggled and the lupine released him, crimson mixing with the powdery snow across the forest.
She struggled to rise, coughing violently, the wound in her shoulder causing her to wince in pain. She touched her injury, grunting as she examined her scarlet-stained hand. "I will go see the healer."
Wolf turned.
She met his gaze. "Beloved, I know it was you. You took on the form of a man. I came to tell you. We will find a way to be together. We will travel to the cities to find a magi to transform you back into the man I love! If I have to make a pact with the Tri-Headed Queen herself, I will do it for I love you."
Wolf chuckled, his eyes baleful. "I know not what you speak of, succulent maiden. All I see is prey that has trespassed in my forest for the last time."
"You—you don't remember me? How? I AM RED! PLEASE! REMEMBER!" Red screamed as those blood-drenched fangs raced toward her.
…
The Moon in her divine form gazed down from the heavens and laughed, exposing long and sharp canines, her eyes flaring gold.
"I shall suffer no rival! Now, you're the wolf you were always meant to be, my dearest son."