Fox O' Nine Tales: Larissa Of Foxwood

Chapter Twelve : The Fugitives Reach Sanctuary

A Fox O'Nine Tale

By R.W. Slavin

Book One: Larissa of Foxwood

Chapter Twelve : The Fugitives Reach Sanctuary

"We are halfway to our destination. You rode very well last night."

Dr. Gwen looked up into the great wolf's face, which fairly glowed, its frame of sleek wolf-hair looking like glistening flames in the illumination of the setting sun's last rays. She attempted a small smile at the compliment. But even the muscles in her face were still sore from the exhausting ride, even after she had slept almost the entire day away. She had awakened only an hour earlier to find a meal left warming for her over a nearby campfire. There was also in the near distance a small makeshift teepee-like tent which she discovered was equipped to provide everything needed for a quick ladylike clean-up, including privacy. But Knight Nathaniel was missing. It was as she was finishing the surprisingly sweet and tasty tea he had left prepared for her that the wolfen guardian reappeared, leading the two freshly watered horses, Havoc and Sirocco.

"What is our destination?" asked Gwen.

Knight Nathaniel knelt down on one knee to address the doctor who sat cross-legged on the ground.

"We have to hide you, at least for a short time, in a safe haven out on the Wolf Steppes. You will be staying for a while in the Den of Graywolf. It is not only the great wolf den closest to Foxwood proper, but it's people are most loyal to the Council of the Princesses and most ready to obey my commands and instructions unquestioningly. You will be safe there."

Gwen sensed in the way the knight then looked away that he wasn't telling her everything.

"Why was I not safe in the castle?"

The great wolf held his gaze on the glimmering coals of the dying campfire.

"It's a complicated and dangerous time. Our King is returning soon. In weeks, perhaps. And there are those - those who thought him only a myth from olden times - who would launch their long-simmering plot to seize power over the Princesses - seize it now, before the King's arrival. Rumors and conspiracy theories abound. Anything strange or unusual - like your appearance - is only more grist for the plotters' mad mills."

Gwen detected a frightening glint of savagery in Nathaniel's momentarily narrowed eyes as he regarded the red coals in the campfire and the black hearts of those he spoke of. She shivered to think of having such a powerful and fierce wolf less than happy with her for any reason. But then his voice just as quickly softened as he turned his head to look at her.

"You will be safe. You have my most solemn word on that. I will protect your life and well-being with the same ardor as I do that of any of my charges here in Foxwood."

As he turned his head away and rose to his feet, Gwen thought she heard him add one last word just under his breath:

"More."

Knight Nathaniel motioned for Gwen to rise. As she did so, he handed her the reins to the two horses and he walked off in the early evening gloaming to the edge of the forest clearing, to just where the high grasses of the immense plain beyond the forest began. Again, Nathaniel went down to one knee. And then she saw them. Wolves. Massively large wolves. A dozen or so of them, emerging from the tall grasses to encircle Nathaniel - but not in menace; obviously, more in greeting. These were not wolves like Nathaniel - not wolf-men or wolf-beings, but "regular" wild animal wolves like the wolves back in Dr. Gwen's waking world ... only maybe bigger. And they seemed most deferential to Nathaniel, as if he were their commander, too, as much as he was commander of his horseback cavalry of werewolf Wolfen Guards.