Ted the tubby

The Red Wolf

A woman crept along a darkened stream. Her green eyes trailed the water and the silver haired wolf that walked beside her. Her hands loosely gripped a large double edged sword that left a groove in the earth. The woman was beautiful in a inhuman way. Her knees were bent backwards like a dog's and her entire body was covered in a film of red fur. Huge round topped ears peaked out from her dark red braids. The tip a thick tail swayed from under the skirt of her chain mail.

The stream that the woman followed was not an ordinary one. It was a witch stream. When a witch dies she becomes her essence, fire, water, or earth. Clarissa was or had been water, hence the stream. The red haired woman, who's name was Thursday, considered herself to be Clarissa's guardian. And the wolf beside her had sensed something.

Ted woke up around one in the morning. His dark blue eyes slid open, for no reason at all. Perhaps, like the wolf, he sensed something was wrong. Ted sat up and stared at the silver moon light filtering through the trees. And then something huge and black covered the light. It moved slowly and gracefully like it was being cautious. Fear gripped Ted's heart. The fear changed to panic, but Ted didn't dare move, it was almost as if the...the thing was just waiting for him to move, just anticipating the moment when Ted startled it.

The thing started to get closer to Ted's face. He could hear its breath. It was a a unreal moment, like a nightmare. The face loomed into Ted's view, human green eyes in a sharp-chinned face, covered in red fur. The nose twitched, like it- she, was smelling him. Ted held his breath. The eyes narrowed and a claw reached out as if to touch his face. "You've been drinking from Cassie's stream, naughty." That's when Sylvia woke up.

"TED!" The night exploded in motion. The wolf woman growled and jerked backwards, her claw scrapping Ted's cheek. Ted grabbed for his sword, fumbling in the dark. The wolf woman lunged for Sylvia, claws outstretched ... and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Sylvia? Is that you?" She asked.

Sylvia squinted at the wolf woman who's face suddenly lit up. "Thursday?" Ted didn't know what happened. Suddenly the wolf woman was laughing and hugging Sylvia. Ted's maiden looked kind of shocked, like a deer in headlights. "You started to look so old! Say, why are you glamoured Sylvie?" Sylvia gave a long look at Ted, and then changed. Feathers grew from every pore, large elegant black wings sprouted from her back. Her nose grew pointed and her slim hands twisted and curled into talons. Ted stepped away from her. This was strange magic. His hands tightened around the hilt of his sword, and he ran.

"Ted. I can explain. Please stop." Ted stopped and swished his sword in front of him. Sylvia, the monster, stepped back. "What's going on? You... You lied to me!" "I couldn't tell you Ted." Sylvia sounded close to tears. "Witches, we... we help the maidens to find love. We give them towers so knights will save them and...and they can be happy. But what about us? What about us, Ted? What about our dreams? Our hopes for love? I reversed it Ted. I locked myself up and I found love. And it was you." Ted lowered his sword. His scraped cheek was hurting, but he didn't even raise a hand to wipe away the blood. "Well, fall out of love with me. Because... I can't- I don't-" Ted stammered into silence. Sylvia's eyes sparkled with tears. "I can't. Don't you see, Ted." Magic has side effects. I have to be in love with you. It's the spell."

"Do you see now Henry?" Jessica asked. "Sir Bryan the Brave saved me from my tower. I can't love you Henry. I can only love Sir Bryan the Brave. Forever."

Henry took Jessica's hand. "No Jessica. I will fix this." Henry stood up. "Who imprisoned you? I shall destroy the evil witch and free you of your prison." Jessica stared into Henry's eyes like they were windows. She didn't love him, she couldn't, but Jessica could imagine herself loving him, and that was enough. She stood up to join Henry, like they were making a promise. "My witch's name was Sylvia." She said.