Little Red

Chapter 3

"Well Drew, don't you think you owe me a thank you at the very least." May asked the boy, now that she finally learned his name she was able to address him properly.

"A thank you? I'd say we're even considering I helped hide you from him." Drew thought as he shuddered slightly in disgust.

"Speaking of him, who is he? And what happened to the wolf, he was…chained up in the same spot you were…" May finished, half knowing the answer to the latter question.

"He is an evil sorcerer who collects people's youth to stay young forever." Drew answered as he began to head for the door. May was aware of the fact that Drew had purposefully ignored the question about the wolf, but she needed to know so she asked again.

"And the wolf…" May said, slightly afraid of the answer. The boy stopped in his path to the door and slowly faced the girl.

Drew sighed, his green eyes filled with sadness, "I…" he muttered, "I'm the wolf." as the words left his mouth May's blue eyes widened in shock as he had acknowledged what she feared was true.

"You-" May said, unable to finish her sentence, she didn't know what to say, she was frightened but curious at the same time, she couldn't move. Seeing the fear that had overtaken the girl and how closely she was clutching the red cloth to her chest Drew decided to explain his situation.

"I…I was cursed by the sorcerer so every full moon I turn into a wolf and follow his orders, and only his orders. I don't know how to break it, but…I hope to find a way or at least destroy the sorcerer before he does this to anyone else." Drew finished. "But in my human form I am free to think and act however I want, that is why he would chain me to the wall at the end of the night to keep me from leaving." he added at the end.

After hearing his explanation, May calmed down a bit, but she was now full of questions. "Why not just tell anyone who the sorcerer is? Are there other wolfs that the sorcerer has cursed, like you? What about the statue busts, can it be reversed?" May asked, bombarding the boy with her curiosity, but he sensed a hint of desperation at the last question.

"Who's bust do you have wrapped up in there?" Drew inquired about the statue that the girl seemed to hold tightly to her.

May looked down at the cloth in her hand sadly, tears began welling up in her eyes. "It's my little brother, Max." she replied softly. Drew looked at her with sad eyes, as if he understood her pain.

"Well, I'll be honest with you, I don't know if it's reversible. But he collects a person every full moon, well he forces me to collect them and then he drains them and turns them into statues and keeps himself youthful." Drew turned to the bookshelf at this point, "All those people there," he said staring the statuettes, "they were all living people, just like your brother, at one point. Who knows how old he really is and how long he's been doing it, or even if this all the people he has." Drew said, not looking at the girl.

"Well, why not just turn him in." May said using her free hand to wipe away the tears from her eyes.

"You can't, he's too powerful, both as a sorcerer and as a person. He's the king's top advisor." Drew explained.

"But I'm sure the king will listen." May pleaded.

"Even so, what are the chances we would be able to talk to the king without him interfering?" Drew countered.

"I don't care, I'm going to the king and explaining the whole situation to him." May said as she walked towards the door, gabbing Drew by the arm along the way. "And you're coming with me." She added.

"Do you know how long it's going to take to get to the main city from this dump?" Drew said arrogantly, the attitude the boy seemed to constantly give off was starting to aggravate the young girl.

"I don't care, if there is a way to save my brother from this spell then I will try. Don't you want to be freed from your curse?" May shot back, she didn't understand why the boy wouldn't want to cooperate with her.

"Fine, let's get going to the main city and talk to the king." Drew said sighing, giving into the girl's plan. So the two youngsters headed out of the castle, Drew had managed to talk some flasks and pieces of papers from the castle before leaving. They had found an old sack they used to carry all the items Drew took from the castle.

"What is all of that?" May asked curiously.

"Don't worry about it, just stop asking so many questions." Drew said in an annoyed voice. The boy was quite mysterious about everything, May wanted to know so much, about how he ended up in this situation, what the flasks contained, about the castle, and much, much more. However the boy would have none of it, he glared at her when she tried to inquire about all these details, he couldn't blame her for wanting to know exactly what she was getting herself into, although by now it was too late to get out.

"Wait," May called out, halting the boy in his tracks. They were heading out of the forest but in the direction away from the village, he turned to look at her with a displeased look on his face.

"What?" he said trying his best to control his anger.

"I need to say goodbye to my parents, and maybe even get some supplies for our journey." May said to the boy as she headed towards the village.

He followed after her, catching up to her rather quickly, "And what exactly are you going to tell your parents?" he asked sharply.

"The truth" was all that she replied.

"Really?" he asked raising an eyebrow, he was skeptical that they would actually believe her.

"Besides we still need supplies, how long is the journey anyway?" May said as she continued to walk.

"About a month's travel, if we walk." This statement made May stop in her tracks, a month's journey.

"A MONTH?" she yelled horrified.

"Yes, a month," the boy said continuing in the direction of the village, May ran to catch up with him.

"Then we will need a lot of supplies." May said calming down finally, what was a month's journey to the girl? She was there in the Dark Forest walking beside the boy cursed to turn into the wolf on every full moon, trying to save her brother who had been turned into a stone bust, and defeat an evil sorcerer. Suddenly her quiet life in the village seemed so far from her.

As they arrived at the village Drew placed the hood of cloak on, May wasn't sure why, but she did not ask. The boy was particularly grouchy whenever she inquired about his strange actions. When they arrived at her parent's house May's mother and father ran and hugged their daughter.

"May, where have you been?" a worried woman asked the girl. She had brown hair, a lighter shad than her daughter's her eyes were a purple tint and full of worry.

"Caroline, give the girl some room to breathe." came a voice from behind the woman. It was deep and strong but there was a slight hint of relief in it.

"Norman, we've already lost one child, I don't want to lose another." the woman said crying into the arms of the man. He had dark hair and eyes to match, a strong jaw and overall a sturdy physique.

"Now, May, please tell us where you've been." Norman said as he comforted his wife.

May began to explain the whole story to Norman and Caroline as the two listened in horror to what their daughter told them. At the end May pulled out the stone bust of her little brother Max which Caroline, tearfully took from her daughter's hands. When May had finished explaining Norman turned to Drew who still had his hood on and was standing behind May.

"And who is this?" he asked, untrusting of the person who's presence he had ignored initially.

May hadn't explained the curse that was cast upon Drew to her parents, and she felt she shouldn't. Her parents would never allow her to travel with him if she did, or worse they might turn him into the authorities. Even if Drew was the wolf, he didn't do any of the terrible things because he had a choice in it, he did it because he was forced, and he too was a victim of the evil sorcerer.

"He…he was captured…like Max." May began, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for Drew's presence , "He would have been the next victim but I helped get out of there. He's the only one who's seen the sorcerer so he can help identify it." May finished, she didn't want to worry her parents so she didn't tell them that the king's advisor was the sorcerer, it was a difficult task that was ahead of her, and accusing such a powerful person of such a treacherous task was not going to be easy.

Caroline and Norman were reluctant to send their young daughter out on such a dangerous quest by herself, and with a boy whom they did not even know. She was only eighteen, she had not experienced the world, how were they to send such a naïve girl out like this. What concerned Norman the most was the boy that she was traveling with, how was he to know the boy wouldn't take advantage of his beautiful young daughter. She was very innocent and boys at this age, at least he figured he was around her age, were not to be trusted, they were almost like wolves.

Finally they caved in to May's reasoning and allowed her to go, they would tell the villagers that she went off to be with her aunt in another town for some time. They provided her with as much provisions as they could afford, they weren't a very wealthy family, and May left the stone bust with her parents. If something were to happen to the statute it would be impossible to reverse the curse on Max, and he would be lost forever. Gathering all that they could, May and Drew went about on their journey to stop the evil sorcerer.