The Child And The Beast
Chapter 2: Wolves At Midnight And Cats In The Morning
A/N: I see you liked the first chapter, thank you so much for reviewing! Anyways, I hope this will be good too. Please review!
An older man in his later twenties sat quietly in his massive castle at the top of a small little hill in a large forest that thankfully kept people out, especially since there were so many wolves... speaking of wolves...
"Dickie, its okay, the wolves wouldn't hurt you." Slade promised as he rocked the struggling baby boy who seemed rather persistent to get out of Slade's arms.
It was truly unusual even for Slade, he knew Dickie was most certainly and odd child but he had never expected to have to keep his boy from... what WAS Dickie doing even? Slade wasn't perfectly sure, he knew that the wolves in the forest were currently barking and howling at the castle, as if possessed or called to do so. Did Slade believe this was magic, of course he did! Anyone in this land knew better then to doubt the existence of witches, magic or monsters, after all, this world was famous for multiple forms of ancient magic being engrained into its soil covered surface. However, as time went on, much of those spells and curses were lost in an ancient scripture that no one knew of except for a choice few. This was, however, odd. So, Slade had sent Wintergreen into the library to find information in Slade's many books for information on wolves and demon curses, the sooner he found out what spell was on his child, the better.
"Have you found anything, Will?" Slade asked over Dick's struggles.
William sighed heavily as he walked into the fireplace hall where Slade sat in a large red armchair with Dickie in his lap, whimpering loudly as he tried to get out of Slade's lap desperately. The older man quickly handed a book to Slade labeled 'Wolves And Demons'.
"How convenient." Slade mumbled as he opened the book and started to search through it.
Will sighed, slumping into an armchair beside Slade. "Yes, it quite convenient that that book would be on the highest shelf in the library, Slade."
Slade chuckled, keeping his one eye on the book while holding it with one hand while the other hand held Dickie down gently. "Hm, odd."
"Slade, might I ask what is so odd?" Wintergreen asked as he poured himself some tea from a pitcher on the table between the chairs. "Might it be an answer to are problem."
Slade nodded. "Possibly, wait here."
With that, Slade lifted Dick and carried him outside, the baby was wrapped heavily in a blanket and Slade approached the massive gate that separated the castle and the forest carefully, being slow to not startle the already wild acting wolves. Upon seeing Dickie, the wolves silenced and sat like obedient dogs would for there master. Dick started making odd noises that Slade understood as mere baby talk, but the wolves were fascinated by this and all at once, howled to the moon. Dick mimicked them and giggled as he seemed to have a decent amount of control over the wild animals. Slade stared at the actions of the wolves, completely fascinated. He had heard that wolves were pack animals and would take in abandoned infants, but he had never once in his long life heard of wolves being commanded by a baby. Soon, Slade carried Dick inside. With that, the wolves scattered back to there original packs and disappeared into the forest once more.
Wintergreen stared at Slade with wide eyes as he came inside with the baby. "What in the world was all that, those wolves were oddly obedient for wild animals." He exclaimed.
Slade nodded as he dried some fallen snow off of Dickie. "It seems so, but I read that wolves can sense demons and will sometimes approach a cursed being and do as told. The demon curse must be strong if a mere baby can command all of the wolves in the forest."
"I agree, this will definitely need to be looked into further." Will said before going to work on dinner. "Well, its dinner time."
THE NEXT MORNING
"HISS!"
Slade jumped as he was awoken with a very upset cat hissing at Dickie's crib, before he could move though, the cat whimpered and ran off as Dick awoke and babbled his strange baby talk at the cat who now seemed far less angry and far more afraid. The ex-soldier sighed heavily as he took Dick out of his crib and changed him before carrying him down the stairs to the kitchen where Wintergreen sat waiting with a small cup to be used to feed Dickie his milk and some bread and tea for Slade that morning. As Slade set Dick up in a highchair and fed him, Wintergreen smiled at him.
"Whats so funny?" Slade asked as he fed the newborn.
Will waved his hand and chuckled. "Oh, nothing. Its just... its so odd to see you with a baby and caring for it so much." He explained.
Slade shrugged. "Well, with my 'Job' I was sure to find someone eventually to marry or find a child to care for."
"I doubt many woman wish to marry and sleep with a mercenary who murders for a living... most don't expect them to exactly be 'Loving Husbands'." Wintergreen said as he sipped tea in-between bites. "By the way, have you heard the news?"
Slade gave Will a blank look. "Will, we live twenty miles from the nearest town and rarely get papers from there on the latest events, do you really think I'd know?" He asked sarcastically.
Will shrugged as he held up the paper. "It says here that the main city of are fair kingdom is on a witch hunt again."
"Again? Those only kill innocent people, is the king doing anything about it?" Slade asked.
Will shook his head. "Nope, he's just going to watch and see what happens as usual." He deadpanned.
Slade turned to Dick, who smiled at Slade for no real reason. "Are king is awful, isn't he Dickie?" He asked the baby.
Dickie tilted his head and merely clapped his hands happily as he finished drinking his milk. Slade smirked at the infant. "I'll take that as a yes." He decided.
A/N: Sorry its so short, I got really tired in the middle but wanted to post something anyways. Please review!