Ruby was awakened by the sound of running water. It took her a second to realize that she wasn't lying on the cold hardwood floor of her grandmother-the witch's-cabin. Instead, she was on soft springy grass. Slowly, carefully, she sat up. She was in a small clearing, bordered on all sides by ancient oaks. Running through the center of the clearing, was a small, (but not tiny) stream.
"I see you're finally awake. 1 and 2/3 hours exactly if I'm correct." A voice said from behind her. Ruby jumped. Standing behind her was an unfamiliar man (well old teenager, 19ish) he had long brown hair that looked like it hadn't been combed in about a year. And it hadn't.
"Your voice sounds familiar, but you for some reason are not." Ruby looked perplexed. She had the feeling she could trust him, still, he was a stranger….
"You forgot me already? You just met me 2 hour ago!" he sounded genuinely surprised.
Ruby turned pale. "The wolf? But how, the spell..." Ruby stopped short as her memory of the immediate past returned, and along with it the realization of what her own grandmother had tried to do. She started to stand all the way to her feet but her knees buckled halfway through so it seemed logical to sit down again. It was more comfortable anyway she justified herself out loud.
"You know, talking to yourself is a sign of mental disorder." Dyral remarked grinning cheekily at her.
"How old are you? 2?" Ruby grumbled, crawling over to the stream.
"Dunno, I can't remember." He sounded serious and she glanced at him, startled. He laughed at her, "You are so easy to tease, that there's almost no sport in it."
"There's certainly no sport in having a broken nose." Ruby said crossly under her breath. She found a rather long stick lying across the stream. She gingerly lifted it out; there were several frog like things clinging to it. She grimaced and plucked them off. "Eew."
"What's that for?"
"To walk dummy, what did you think it's for?"
"The reason I asked what it was for was because I did not know what it was for-"
Ruby ignored him. But he didn't notice and kept talking.
"-Apparently know what things are for though or else you wouldn't have broken the spell. Though you're probably not as smart as you think you are-"
Ruby decided that her grandmother turning him into a wolf had nothing to do with wickedness at all. All at once, something he said caught her attention. "What."
"I said that it was smart to burn the spell book but dumb to miss the page you're spell…"
"My spell?"
"Of course!" he had an aura of arrogance that made Ruby want to slap him. "You don't think you slept exactly 100 minutes just because…oh my…. you do. Here, I have the paper." He dug in his pocket and drew it out, holding it between thumb and forefinger. Gingerly, Ruby stepped forward and took it from him. She spread it out to get a better light.
"Curse the…oh no…" she dropped the paper and stumbled backwards in horror. "She cursed me to be a bird? But why am I…" her sentence remained unfinished for at that exact moment, the paper hit the ground. The instant the scrap of parchment hit the ground, it burst into flames. As the two humans watched in horror, the flames gradually changed from a normal orange and red to a menacing green. Just as suddenly as the flames appeared, a cruel cackling filled the air. Ruby covered her ears with her hand and tried to kick out the fire. To her shock, as soon as she got within a foot of them, a tendril of flame licked out and touched her ankle. Instead of boiling searing pain however, she felt a cold prickly feeling travel up her leg. Ruby-Rose tried to back up but as she did so, her numb leg buckled under her weight and she crashed to the ground.
Dyral, seeing this event, dragged Ruby out of reach, (which was more difficult than he thought considering she was screaming obscenities and kicking him.
"you know, if you stopped kicking me, I could put out the fire faster."
"And if you put me down you stupid arrogant jerk I could put it out too." With that last comment. She kicked him where no male should be kicked and dodged around his whimpering form to the emerald blaze.
This time as she got near them (she didn't go closer than a foot and a half.) she lifted her forgotten stick that was still wet from river and began beating at the fire. Any normal fire would have gone out considering the stick was wider than it was, but instead of doing that, it emitted a foul black smoke that soon enveloped the entire clearing.
"Brilliant!" Dyral choked, "you take a fire that was two inches by three inches long and manage to get a clearing full of smoke. Just marvelous I say."
There was no answer. The reason for this was Ruby was bound and gagged hand and foot by smoke.
Ruby was getting sick of this. She struggled to free herself as the smoke seemed to get tighter and tighter around her, like a snake.
Flashback8-year-old Ruby sat playing with her new kitten. Her parents had gone to the market to pick up some fresh fruit, at least that's where they said they were going. Why they both were going, she didn't know and had no interest in finding out. She was so lost in her thinking, she forgot to watch her kitten. Garnet, the cat, with a baleful look back at her mistress, scampered into the trees that bordered the cottage where Ruby lived.
"Garnet! Come back!" Ruby yelled. She wasn't allowed to leave the yard unless it was an emergency. "GARNET!"
Further in the woods, the ginger cat sat washing ignoring the frantic calls, a shadow fell over her.
Ruby sighed in exasperation. This qualified. She darted into the trees after her precious pet. The thorns scratched at her arms and legs as she pushed through the bushes. Finally, after at least 5 minutes of searching, and becoming utterly lost, Ruby sat on an old log to rest. It was rotten and broke, showering her with bits and pieces of wood. This was too much for her so she buried her face in her hands and began to cry.
Suddenly, she heard a noise in the brush, thinking it was her parents she stopped crying and sat up eagerly. Unfortunately, instead of her mother or father appearing out of the trees, there came an enormous snake. The girl had never seen a snake before nor had she heard of their trickery, but there was something that made her immediately distrust the creature. It was a foot and a half high and at least 10 times that long, but that was not what caught Ruby's attention. Neither was it the strange marking that covered it back, patterns that look uncannily like plaid. Instead of slitted yellow, red, or even black eyes, the serpent had icy, cruel, blue.
"Hhhello child," it hissed in a syrupy voice, "May I assssk wwwhy you're crying?"
Ruby sniffed and replied in a voice quavering in fear, "My kitten's missing and I'm lost."
"Ohhh dear. I'm affffraid I have not ssseen your preccioussss cat, but I can helllp you find your way hooome."
"Oh thank you very much!" The 8-year-old clapped her hands together gleefully but did not forget her distrust.
"Followww meeee." Came the hiss and Ruby set off after the snake.
The snake led her through the trees for what seemed like hours but must have only been about 10 minutes. Finally, they reached the edge of the forest where Ruby's house stood
To her relief, the Ruby-Rose could see that her parents had not arrived home yet.
"Your catttt hassss probably arrrrived hommme by nowwww."
"Maybe, she's a really smart cat." And then she added because it had been bugging her all along, "how come you can talk, are you under a spell?"
The snake rose up until it was about 4 feet off the ground. Ruby's height, as it did so. It grew taller and wider until it was twice the size it had been before. "No my deeaarrr, ii wassss ssssentt."
"sent for what?" Ruby asked, beginning to back away. But it was too late. Almost faster than she could see, the serpent darted forward and seized the child by the back of her dress. As it began to retreat into the forest, Ruby whimpered, "what are you doing? You said you'd take me back home!" she flailed helplessly.
"Ayeee, I ssssaid I'd tttakkke you hommmme, I diddd noooot ssssay you could sssstay."
Strangely enough, it didn't occur to Ruby to scream. No one was around to hear her even if she had. Hers was the only family that lived this close to the woods. All their neighbors insisted that is was cursed and She was beginning to think they were right.
"Where are you taking me?" Ruby asked, maybe if she had some idea what she was facing, she could have a plan.
"To missstresssss." There was an unmistakable longing in the whispery voice as it said the words that filled Ruby with dread.
"Ruby? Ruby!" Dyral sounded frantic.
The smoke was in her nose and mouth, forcing it's way down her lungs. The foulness of it made her gag. Her mind was tingling; a queer buzzing sensation that though it wasn't exactly comfortable wasn't painful. Twisting and turning this way and that, Ruby managed to pull her hands free. Now that that was accomplished she moved to her feet. Now that the clearing was clearing up, Ruby discovered that the smoke that bound her was no longer smoke. Instead, sturdy, thick rope was wrapped around her ankles. She yanked the gag from her mouth, not surprisingly, it was cloth and rather well spun at that.
"Over here." She tried to say, but her voice came out as a rasping squeak, her throat was raw. Ruby tried a second time. "Behind you."
"How in the world…here, let me try." He produced a knife from somewhere, probably a boot, and within seconds had severed the rope. Ruby slowly stood up. All that remained of the smoke was a distant haze and even that was fading quickly. "What was that?" He asked as she gingerly took a few steps toward the pile of ash that had started the whole problem.
"I think it was a spell, one of my grandmothers no doubt." The thought made her bristle with anger. "I don't see any ill effect's other than that momentary unpleasantness."
Dyral snorted "well, do you think we can make it out of this forest without any more…mishaps?"
Ruby raised an eyebrow. "We?"
"Yes, of course we. I have to get you back home because under my protection."
"Under your protection? Why is that?"
Dyral looked confused. "Well, you're a girl of course."
"That's not a reason." Ruby retorted in an all too pleasant voice. "You're a boy, you don't see me insisting on protecting you." Now he looked flustered. Good. He deserved it. Without a backwards glance, She walked off into the trees. Ruby knew she shouldn't have trusted him. She should have just walked out of that blasted clearing before he had said any more than hello.
With an angry sigh, he followed her.
The sun was just beginning to set and the sky was beginning to show pinks and yellows. There was no red in the sunset, but there would be soon.
From a cottage in the woods, an old woman and middle aged man watched to pair walk.
"They're falling in love already Edris," The man said softly, "This could cause a problem. They were supposed to hate each other"
"No worries Reuben, the sun is setting and many things could come to a new light. Or should I say darkness." Her laugh echoed through the trees as the first touches of red began to appear on the horizon.
