The Ice Storm
Chapter Thirteen
Wolf knew he was at a loss, and out of his comfort zone and he didn't like it one bit. Enclosed within the walls of Hooded Castle as he had been for days now, still he had barely ventured from the room they had so obviously set up in a hurry for him. It was a small, stone lined room with a narrow window overlooking one of the lesser courtyards. Nothing as lavish as his and Virginia's rooms at Castle White, and definately no warm mate to drive out the chill gloominess. Wolf tried to shift his position at the window so that he looked out in the direction he knew Wendell's castle lay, but he couldn't quite get there. Not for the first time, he cursed his 'volunteering' to escort Scarlett to and fro on what he still considered a crazy mission. She certainly hadn't needed him so far. The lands had been eerily quiet and deviod of life as they had passed through them. No one, human, wolf or other kind had accosted them. To Wolf's senses it had seemed as if the whole world was asleep, buried deep down, waiting the winter-spell out. He hoped they would wake with the spring, no matter how far away that season seemed now.
The courtyard onto which he looked was paved with slimy cobbles covered with slushy dark snow. Footprints criss crossed it. A half-wolf had passed across it recently. Wolf had scented her easily during the early hours, but they had not spoken. What did she think, scenting himself inside the castle? Did she think him a prisoner? In a sense, he was one, but only in the limitations of his mind. Sleeping with the enemy, no less. Well, not literally, but close enough. Under their roof, partaking of their meat, placing his very life in their hands. Not that he hadn't scouted the nearest escape route from his room to the city, just to be sure. Scarlett was the Queen, and her word law, but Wolf had little doubt the castle was full of young men who could easily be tempted to arrange a little 'accident' for him should he let his guard down.
Someone was loitering outside his door even now, but Wolf knew him for one of the pages that attended the Queen, so he waited for the nervous tap. He opened the door before the man had touched the wood, trying hard to conceal his delight at the man's discomfort. Ah, he was so naughty he was going get himself skewered! But he composed his face into what he knew humans considered a 'polite expectation'.
"My Lady Queen bids you attend her, in her rooms" the man said smoothly enough despite his fear smell coming from every pore in his sweaty skin. Wolf nodded at him, closing the door firmly and gesturing for the servant to lead the way. But having Wolf at his back seemed too much for the servant to bear, despite the fact that Wolf now had at his back an armed guard with what looked like a well used sword. But Wolf was well schooled in hiding his own fears, so he meandered down the corridors oh so casually, stopping every now and then to admire the many paintings and tapestries that lined the way. The decorations became more and more extravagent as they neared the Royal quarters. Two guards leapt to bar the way as they approached Scarlett's private rooms.
"Wolf, to see the Queen" stammered the servant. The guards peered at him with obvious suspicion, and one rubbed at his ear as if the very words had stung them. For a long moment, Wolf thought that they would refuse him the way. Stepping between them was like passing through a furnace of hatred. Great, now he had three armed guards at his back! The servant scuttled inside a pair of doors and Wolf heard him speaking to Scarlett's maids.
"That...wolf is here, as our Lady bid" he whispered. "I like this not, Sara" he added.
"Ah well...you know he was with us all the way from Castle White to home, and most polite he was. Who'd have thought it, eh? Why, just like a normal man at arms. No howling or killin' or runnin' off in the night. Took good care of us, he did. My lady spoke him fair enough, an' her guard respected him well, I saw" the maid Sara replied easily, and Wolf smiled to hear it. He liked the stout little woman and even more he liked her obvious desire to gossip. Perhaps her words were having influence amongst the serving and simpler folk who made up the bulk of the castle population. The doors opened and the page peeped out, beckoning him forward, but as he went to move, Wolf felt a large strong hand grip his shoulder. It was one of the guards.
"Watch yerself, wolf scum" he hissed loudly. "One wrong move in there an' I'll have more than yer tail as a trophy on my wall!". Then he released Wolf, pushing him off balance so that he lurched against the door jam. The other guards had wide smirks on their faces and Wolf had to use every effort not to wipe the smiles from them with their own entrails. He half closed his red tinted gaze and smiled sweetly, knowing that his bared canines showed through. He tore the door out of the servant's grip to close it himself in their faces, now white and clabbering.
"You really shouldn't bait them like that, Wolf" Scarlett said from the inner room.
"Me bait them? Huff puff!" Wolf retorted too sharply, rubbing at his arm where the guard had bruised it. Scarlett frowned at him, but turned to dismiss her maids from the room. They withdrew, but not that far that they couldn't listen in if they wanted to. Scarlett rubbed at her forehead.
"My mother has been here all morning"
"Auburn?"
"Yes. She thinks I am a fool. Sometimes I feel I should agree with her. I moved too soon, you know. With the whole 'wolf equality' thing. I should have known what I was up against. So much hatred and misunderstanding, and few care to learn otherwise. But, when you've cheated death and found true love you do feel invincible. It's like a great rush of overwhelming confidence in everything. But I suppose you know about that"
"About the true love part, certainly. Those bits about being a Queen and all, sorry, can't help you there" Wolf replied, faintly amazed at her frankness. She had rarely been so forthcoming with him to date, and he wondered what had happened to the old Scarlett with her measured one line statements and veiled thoughts. The young queen was silent for such a long time that he wondered if he ought to dismiss himself. Only she had not called him here to complain only about her mother.
"Why did you do that...thing?" she asked finally, more to herself than to him. It was a vague question, but Wolf knew instinctively what she was referring to.
"Scarlett, do you truly not know?" he replied softly, watching her closely. "A wolf follows his instincts, and that's what I was doing" he added. Another truth, but one less complex than the former. The rabbit was warm and fresh, and she'd been standing there, with such a look of longing and a fractured understanding just beginning to bloom in her mind. He'd blooded her, a lupine ritual that had been performed on his own cub just a few months ago. Instinct had moved his hand that day. He supposed the implications of that had been swirling through her since then, even if she understood the significance of them. Or not. Maybe she had no idea of what he'd done.
She moved to her chaise, settling upon it for a scant few seconds before rising again. Once more her hands went to her temples, massaging the skin there. Then she met his gaze for the first time. Not the brief acknowledgement he had become used to, nor the wide eyed stare he'd caught her in once or twice. This was a full meeting of minds. Her turmoil washed over him, making his skin prickle. More than anything he wanted to snatch her up and run with her through the corridors, out of the sterile palace and into the woods. Where she belonged. But she was a Queen first and foremost, a leader of her people. So he stood, silent and still, and waited.
"Don't fight us" he whispered in the wolf tongue.
"I am a Riding Hood. It is in our very natures" she spoke. How brittle her voice! Wolf went to her as she stood, rigid and half entranced. Cupping her jaw lightly, he leant forward and kissed her brow where it wrinkled and puckered with tension.
"And so are we" he told her, but it was something she already knew.
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Virginia struggled against the cloying darkness. Wake up, fool! Her minds voice felt as sluggish as the rest of her. She inhaled deeply, vaguely aware of a dampness against her mouth, a sickly sweet smell flooding her senses, dragging her down with it. Visions, both beautiful and strange passed before her. There was a woman somewhere, weeping and cursing equally. A baby wailed with fear and anger, tiny limbs waving helplessly in the bitter cold. She knew that child. Resolutely, Virginia forced her mind away, willing it elsewhere, anywhere. A giant eye peered at her, out of focus behind an endless wall of ice. A tomb for monsters and gods, this is, someone said. The eye shrunk in upon itself, turning pale blue with a bright gold band encircling the iris. Focussing suddenly and sharply, Virginia knew she was awake.
Her hands automatically leapt out to strike the pale face that hovered so close to her own. But they swept through open air. He had retreated. From across the other side of a small fire, he squatted easily on his haunches. Virginia's surroundings became clearer. The floor she lay on was cold, but the air was warm and slightly stifling. A snow cave, she realised, seeing the enclosing white walls. Her eyes went straight to the narrow opening half way around the cave from where she lay. The sky was dark outside, but there was no way to tell immediately if it were night or day. Or even which day. She tried to sit up, but felt giddy and sick.
"Drink this" rumbled a deep voice. "It will help clear your head". His long arm reached over the coals, a small flask proffered in a gloved hand. Virginia stared at it suspiciously. "It is not drugged. Take it, please" he continued, in a tone that suggested he was actually offended that she had doubted it. Eventually, when Virginia refused to move an inch in his direction, he sighed at placed it on the floor at her feet.
"I am Yacobe..." he began
"I know who you are" Virginia interupted.
"...pack leader and alpha of the..."
"Ice Queen"
"...Bitterfire clan in the Northern Eighth Kingdom" he continued as if she had never spoken. Virginia thought hard on his introduction. Months ago he had announced himself the envoy of the Ice Queen and had been accepted as such. Had he been lying then, or was he lying now? Her head had begun to ache, the coals dancing before her eyes. "Sleep now" he said.
Sometime later, when she awoke, the snow cave was empty but for herself. The flask was still where Yacobe had placed it earlier. Thirst raged within her, but Virginia knew better than to try and eat snow. She picked up the bottle, sniffing warily. A faint tang of herbs. On her tongue it tasted like fresh water, chilled from sitting in the snow as it had been. She took only enough to slake her dry throat, although commonsense told her that there was little reason for him to drug her again. That had served it's purpose in getting her quietly out of Castle White. What a fool she had been, to not even turn and see who had come through the back kitchen door. She wondered how far she was from Wendell's castle. Had anyone even realised she was gone yet? Caelum would know, she thought angrily, imagining him whining in the darkness of their room, the one Virginia had carefully locked the door of before she'd left it. Someone would hear him, she counselled herself. Someone, in the morning, would walk past and hear him, surely. Worry overcame her momentarily and she gouged her fingers into the cold floor.
Only a rustle of falling snow gave his return away, slipping in through the hole so quietly that Virginia barely had time to muffle her yelp of surprise. He looked her over, obviously and carefully. "Good" he grunted, dumping a bundle of old wood on the floor. As he busied himself with tending the fire, Virginia had an opportunity to observe him just as closely. He was dressed simply in handmade leathers with tall boots and gloves. A long greatcoat reached almost to the floor, and a rough shaped hat covered his pale hair. In profile his face seemed angular and harsh, long planes giving him an almost feline look. But his tail, hanging free and full, along with his eyes, gave his origins away. A wolf indeed, and not just any, but a ghost wolf, the long sundered kin of Wolf's own people. Virginia tried to remember what Wolf had told her about them. Strong, quick and dangerous was the opinion he had left on her, mostly. Just as likely to attack their own kind as anyone else. Probably considered themselves superior to their southern cousins. Not the this Yacobe couldn't claim that aspect at least. He was impressive, as Virginia had first thought when he's appeared in Wendell's hall that evening.
But now he was an obstacle, between her and freedom. And more.
"My...my son, he needs me..." she began awkwardly in the silence.
"The cub is weaned, is he not?" Yacobe answered, staring quite pointedly at her breasts, which had begun to swell again with the new pregnancy. Virginia crossed her arms across herself, cursing inwardly the sudden heat in her face. Would she ever get used to the embarassing directness of wolf folk? But she nodded weakly, feeling sure that he would have known that anyway. "The new cub is well, within you" he added, as if he thought she needed to be told. Her anger crested suddenly.
"I know that. I am not a fool" she snapped.
Yacobe's eyes widened for a second, a hint of a smile playing about his mouth. "No, you are not. For a human". He reached for a thick branch, breaking it easily between his hands. "Get some rest, Blessed of Lucine. We will travel faster that way. And do not think to try and escape me. You are far from your home, and to do so would make you a fool indeed"