CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

The Bounty War

Night was drawing near at Emerald's cottage and the older woman had been nervously expectant all that day. That morning, she'd had Virginia help her put up a series of good strong pegs along the outside of the barn. Emerald did the hammering while Virginia held the ladder to keep it from slipping in the snow.

"They've got to be strong," Emerald said.

Virginia thought of asking what the pegs were for, but something told her not to. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable around her patroness. She talked to her only when necessary and avoided her whenever possible.

Just before dusk, when Virginia was busily making dinner, some men entered the yard. Their clothes were dirty and torn and mismatched somehow. Their faces were set in an emotionless expression that gave you the feeling they never smiled. As to their ages, they had none. It was as if they were lost in some endless place in time where they were never young and would certainly never grow old. One day, they would just cease to exist. They looked liked soulless ghosts, haunting themselves as well as the rest of the world. Virginia shivered when she was them.

Emerald, however, had the opposite reaction. She had been watching by the window and when she caught sight of them, she smiled eagerly and went out at once. Virginia stopped what she was doing and wiped her hands on her apron, but she didn't go outside. The men were just too unsavory looking. Instead she stayed by the window and counted them. Five men. That's how many bounty hunters there were supposed to be. Was this what being a bounty hunter did to you, she wondered? Or was this simply the kind of men who were drawn to the job?

Two of them carried burlap sacks slung heavily over their shoulders. The other three had bows and arrows and clubs. The men with the sacks dropped them on the ground and opened them. Then they threw the contents roughly into the snow at Emerald's feet. Virginia's mouth opened in horror when she saw the bodies of two young wolves. Their tongues were hanging out and one of them stared unseeing in her direction. But the worst was the sight of the snow beneath their bodies, quickly turning crimson with their blood.

Emerald examined the wolves closely and then pointed to the side of the barn in the direction of the pegs that she and Virginia had put up earlier in the day. While the men hung the wolves on the outside of the barn, Emerald fetched their reward.

The men checked the contents of the little sacks that Emerald handed them. Then they nodded, seemingly satisfied. Their business was now completed. Unceremoniously, without a good night or a good bye on either side, they parted. Emerald returned to the house and the men disappeared back into the forest.

"They didn't get him yet," Emerald said, as she hung up her cloak. "They got two small ones. But they'll catch him. It's only a matter of time."

Virginia didn't answer. She assumed Emerald was talking about Aesophocles, the wolf that had wedded her daughter.

"Child, where's your mind at?" Emerald scolded. "You're letting the porridge burn!"

"Sorry," Virginia said, quickly stirring the pot on the fire with a wooden spoon.

That's when the howling began. It sounded as if the wolves had surrounded the house. Their cries got louder and louder and louder still, till the sound of their loss seemed to echo in the very boards of the cottage itself.

Virginia put her hands to her ears.

Emerald's eyes narrowed and her face filled with fury. She picked up the broom in the corner and opened the door. "Go away!" she shouted, shaking the broom in the air. "Or tomorrow it'll be you hanging there."

Virginia looked hard through the window and saw several lupine figures in the growing darkness. They were still easy to see against the white snow. They continued howling but made no attempt to strike.

Emerald thrust her broom at one of them. "Shoo!" she commanded.

The wolf growled and bared its teeth. Virginia recognized him. It was Scythian.

"Shoo!" Emerald said again.

Scythian grabbed the bristle of the broom and pulled it easily out of Emerald's hands, causing her to cry out in surprise. He held down the broom with his front paws and proceeded to rip it apart with his teeth. It was a fervent demonstration of what he wanted to do to her.

Emerald understood. "You'll die!" she yelled, stepping back into the house. "You'll all die!" She slammed the door shut and leaned against it, breathing heavily.

The wolves continued howling.

Virginia watched as they circled the door. A big gray wolf suddenly leapt out of the forest. He was much larger than the others. He advanced into the circle of wolves and gestured with his head in the direction of the barn. Clearly, he was the leader. Virginia hadn't met him. But she assumed this was Aesophocles.

Two wolves stayed at the door and remained howling. The rest ran toward the barn. Suddenly, the goats started to make noise and run out into the yard.

"The barn!" Emerald said. She pushed Virginia aside from the window so she could get a better look at what was going on. But night was falling rapidly now and the moon hadn't risen yet. It was hard to see that distance. "I forgot to close the barn," she said. "Oh, no. They're killing the goats!"

Virginia listened. She thought the goats sounded more irritated than frightened. She could also make out a couple of them wandering calmly in the snow not far from the two wolves at the door. They were acting as if whatever was going on had nothing to do with them. In the distance, though, were other sounds.

"They're not killing the goats," Virginia said. "They're trashing the barn."

Emerald's lower lip pulled out over the upper one in an expression of intense rage as she listened to the crashing noises that came from the barn. "Let them," she said. "The door to my cheese room is locked and solid, with a buried fence to keep out digging vermin. They won't get in there. And tomorrow I'll give those men twice as much for every wolf carcass they bring me. Now, go! Serve dinner."

Virginia did as she was told.

Neither of them talked as they ate, nor for the rest of the night, for that matter. The howling of the wolves continued unbroken till sunrise. Virginia thought she would go mad from the noise. But Emerald didn't seem to hear it anymore. Her mind was on other things.