Red Wolf

Ad astra - To The Stars

Ad astra - To The Stars

The strangest thing about the bodies that were found in our village, was that they were all men, that much we could tell. Their bodies were mangled in the way that it seemed wolves had done it to them, and nobody but Railand Arna, the village chief didn't want that to be so. When I had examined the bodies there was only one thing off, despite all of the tears and the wounds in the bodies, on each one there was a thin layer of fur that coated all of the men's hands. That fur had fallen away the day that they were to be buried and after that, nobody paid any heed to the warnings issued by Selena Arna, the second in command and the chief's daughter.

As I stood there, my eyes locked to the wolf's eyes, I felt a sense of terror creep up my back and my hands trembled. My mouth dried out and then I broke the bond that the wolf and I had been sharing, I glanced at Gabe then looked back at the wolf that had taken a step closer. Gabe was as frozen as I was, the only part of him moving was his chest, rising and falling and his hand, reaching slowly for a small dagger he always carried on his person.

The white wolf saw what Gabe was going to do and swung it's head around to stare at Gabe instead. Gabe narrowed his eyes then pulled out his dagger and the blade glinted in the sunlight. "Get back!" Gabe snarled, waving the blade around as the wolf began to circle him.

I watched the strange dance between Gabe and the wolf, each one circling the other, when suddenly the white wolf gave a strange spasm and yelped. Gabe seized the opportunity the dash forward and start slashing at the wolf, but the animal avoided Gabe's attempts to injure it and dashed away into the underbrush, howling in what I thought was pain, loud yelps that went on for more than a few seconds. I peered over the bushes and watched the wolf dance away, it's fur rippling strangely. My eyes squinted against the noontide sun, then I turned around and quietly walked over to where Gabe was sitting.

His head was buried in his hands and he was muttering something to himself. I laid a hand on his shoulder and he looked up, a smile started to spread across his face when he caught it and it turned into a frown. "We had better leave, I'm sure the guards heard the commotion."

I nodded and grabbed the broken wine bottle, it had been stepped on more than a couple times, leaving more than a few jagged edges. I felt a warm wetness trickling down my leg and I looked down, it was blood, there was a jagged scratch where my leg had caught against a thorny branch. Blood dripped down my leg and I wiped away what I could, then followed Gabe as we made our way back to the village.

Not a word was spoken between us on the way back to the village, I supposed Gabe was still angry about what had happened earlier between us. I felt tension crackle in the air between us, sighed, and hurried hid my face and my injury as we neared the gates. Gabe's stormy face changed into a pleasant smile and the gates opened as he yelled out a greeting. He grabbed my by the shoulders, not roughly, and not friendly either and tried to hide my red cloak. We pushed our way past the guards and towards my home.

The sun was high up in his throne when we finally snuck into the back gate of my home, Gabe's hands had long since left my shoulders and when I turned around, he was already starting to walk away. I couldn't yell out for fear my mother would hear me and so I swept my cloak off of my shoulders, tried my best to clean up the blood on my leg with the pail of water by the door and snuck back into the house, careful to not let the door slam.

I tiptoed to my room and fell onto my soft bed, closing my eyes and waiting for sleep to come. It didn't come. I sat up again and walked out into the living room where Emilina was cross-stitching, her fingers pulling the needle through so fast I could barely tell which thread she was using. Sunlight filtered in through the window and fell softly on her peppered hair, creating a halo effect. I looked at her for a moment, seeing how peaceful everything was. I stepped out from behind the wall and scrambled up my hair, trying to make it look like I had been sleeping for a while.

"Hello Emilina." I said and made my way to her rocking chair. She looked up and smiled, "How are you Ariadne?" I nodded and kneeled down by her side, she smoothed back my hair and said, "Did you just get up?"

"Yes, how long was I sleeping?" I asked, knowing fully what the answer was. "A very, very long time. I hope in the future you get up when it is time to work."

"Sorry Emilina." I chewed on my lip, my mother and I owned the small village bakery, only a block away from our home. My father, the original owner had been the best baker in our village until his death when I was five. He had died of the influenza that had struck hard on our village. I too had gotten it but not as bad as many people and so I survived the racking coughs and high fevers.

"It is fine, just for once though." She chided me softly then said, "But you must get ready for tonight's dinner. Remember our dinner tonight with the Alabaery family?"

I nodded slowly, every Sunday my mother and I had dinner with my fianc\u00e9's family, it was a long painful hour that both my mother and I wanted to get over with. Despite all of the awkward silences and conversations, Emilina still believed that Damien - my fianc\u00e9 - and I were I perfect match. I disagreed but never voiced my opinions. Emilina hated that I would hang around Gabe so often, she insisted on calling him "that disgusting woodcutter's son" and every time I would remind her that his name was Gabe not what she had called him. Gabe and I had practically grown up in the same bathtub; I don't know why she would suddenly start to hate him. It wasn't like he had done anything to anybody.

I gave Emilina a quick kiss on her forehead and made my way back to my room. I started to lay out the dresses that I had when I realized that maybe tonight wouldn't be as bad. Regina was back from her apprenticeship to Gordon the village candle maker and I would be allowed to talk and be with her. Even though she was Damien's sister, I had known her far longer than Damien and she understood my reluctance to our arranged marriage. There was nothing that I couldn't complain about to Regina, and tonight, I had far more than all those other nights.