Blood for Wolves

chapter 2

“Psst.”

I jerked upright, looking around in a panic.

“Down here.”

The voice was soft, scared. I relaxed when I realized it was the little girl’s. I searched for the origin of her voice and found her hiding in a hollowed out log. I let out a long sigh.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She nodded and sniffed, still teary-eyed.

“He didn’t hurt you?”

She shook her head.

“Will you come out? I think I beat him up pretty good back there.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she crawled out of the log. I couldn’t believe how clean her dress was even after shuffling through a rotted out log. An image of bluebells popped into my mind.

“Is he gone for good?” she asked.

I put my hand on her head. “No honey, I don’t think he is. We need to get out of the woods and call the police on him.”

“We can’t get out of the woods. The forest is everywhere.”

“No it’s not sweetie. All forests end somewhere.”

This didn’t seem to register with her, though she said, “Oh.” Then she paused. “What are police?”

What kind of question was that? She had to be at least eight years old, certainly her parents had told her about the safety of police. I took her hand and together we started walking.

“Police are the men in blue uniforms that help people. Haven’t you ever seen them?”

“I’ve seen the men in black uniforms, but they’re kind of mean.”

“Well, sometimes police do wear black uniforms, but they still help people. Do you really not know any of this?”

She shook her head again, her golden curls bouncing.

I let out a long breath. “Don’t worry. We’ll get out of here and call someone and tell them where that man is so he can get arrested.”

“He’s not a man.”

“Yes he is. He just thinks he’s a wolf. He’s sick in the head, honey.”

“No, he’s a wolf.”

Fine. Whatever. I wasn’t going to argue with her. I was too tired. I’d woken up at 4 am, sat in the dew and the dark for two hours, then waited another three for Isabeau to finally get her cubs out of the den. I was damp, I’d fought off a wacko, and now I had mean little cuts all over from the window and it wasn’t even eleven o’clock.

“What’s your name?” I asked the girl.

“Marianne Greta Gertrude West. What’s yours?”

“Caroline McKenna.”

“Just two names?”

I laughed. “Yes, just two. My parents never gave me a middle name.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I think they couldn’t decide on one.”

“That’s sad.” She kicked at a small pile of leaves.

“Why is that sad? It’s just a name.”

“More names are better.”

“Ah,” I said, grinning, “I see.”

We trekked on for a while. I wasn’t familiar with the terrain, but I knew that if we kept heading due-north we’d bump into a trail. There weren’t many roads in the backcountry of Wyoming, but there were a healthy amount of trails. I knew how far the trail I’d used was, and several more intersected with it after cutting a path in the north. Going the other way would be too dangerous, what with insane wolf-man behind us. I wondered if he was conscious yet. Probably. I hoped I’d at least broken his nose or something.

“I’m not sure this is the right way,” Marianne said after a few hours.

“It is, don’t worry. I may not have my compass, but I know where the trails are. We should bump into one any time. Then we can follow that out.” I wasn’t worried about shelter. It was a warm spring season, and the campsites filled up fast in this part of the wilderness. We could meet up with some campers and share a tent and then hike out with them. If anyone saw our would-be killer, a little bear spray would sure as hell do the trick.

“No,” Marianne persisted, sounding more frightened now. “I don’t think it is.”

“It’s okay.” I patted her hand. “I’ve done a lot of work out here in the field; I know how to take care of us. Trust me.”

I decided maybe if I got her talking she might calm down. Kids tended to forget their worries when they got on a chatting spree. That and I might find out more about her and how she ended up lost.

“I like your dress, Marianne.”

“Thank you,” she said, her voice soft.

“It makes me think of bluebells.”

“That’s what everyone says. But it’s not my dress, it’s me.”

“You?”

She nodded emphatically. “It’s because I was born in a fairy ring.”

I played along. “Really? Does that make you special?”

“I don’t know.” She pondered the thought. “Maybe that’s why the wolves all want to eat me.”

Great. Now we were back to the wolves again.

“Wolves aren’t all that dangerous,” I told her.

She made a face. “Yes they are.”

I tried not to let my frustration show. Who kept telling kids that crap? Probably from all those stupid bedtime stories where wolves ate up grandmothers and little girls.

“You know,” I said, “when I was a little girl a wolf once saved my life.”

“Really?” Then she wrinkled her nose. “Why?”

“She saw that I was in trouble, so she helped me.” I left out why I was in trouble. Why I’d been out in the woods alone. Forgotten. I shoved the memory to the back of my mind.

Marianne didn’t say anything. My words seemed to have brought up a lot of confusion. After a long time, she finally spoke again.

“A wolf killed my sister.” She said it quietly, in a matter-of-fact tone.

Shit. That was it. I immediately stopped walking.

“Marianne,” I knelt in front of her and held her shoulders. “I am so sorry.”

“I never saw it,” she continued, “but I heard them talking. They said she was ripped to pieces.”

I had absolutely no idea what to say. So I hugged her. Now I wasn’t so sure of what she meant. Did a real wolf kill her sister? Or was wolf the proxy of a murderer, an illusion she’d built up in her mind to handle the pain of losing a sister? Then another thought hit me. Was the crazy guy the same person that killed her sister?

“When did it happen?” I asked.

“Three full moons ago. I think that’s why everyone wanted to move me. They were afraid the wolves would get me next.”

I smoothed her hair. “Well don’t you worry. I’m not letting any wolves get you. I’ll keep you safe. I promise.”

The ground soon became rocky and the trees thinned. Eventually, the trees disappeared altogether and we hiked through boulder fields, mountains reaching up on either side. I held Marianne’s hand a little tighter. I didn’t know these mountains, and I knew my mountains. These were completely unfamiliar, as was the boulder field. I couldn’t panic though. I didn’t want to scare Marianne. But I didn’t remember going up. We were above tree line somehow, or out of it. The ground sloped more, but not by much. Where the hell was this?

Marianne whimpered. “I don’t like it here. I thought that giants lived here.”

Giants? Maybe her issues reached farther than I thought. “Who told you that?”

“My parents. All the people of the village say that giants live in the mountains.”

“Marianne, it’s okay. There aren’t any—”

A low vibration rolled under my feet. I stopped. Marianne whimpered again and grabbed at my waist, hugging me close. Don’t be stupid Caroline. Probably just a falling boulder.

“It’s okay,” I said, trying to pry her off me. “You’re safe with me.”

The entire area suddenly shook violently, boulders and rocks breaking loose and crashing down the mountainside. I crouched low and put my arms around Marianne.

“Hmm.”

A deep voice reverberated through the air. I looked up to find the source, and my mouth fell open in utter shock. Men—huge men—emerged from behind vast boulder piles and out of massive caves. They had to be at least twenty feet tall, each one of them. Their legs and arms were thick, covered in animal skins sewn together with sinewy ties. One of them actually had a club slung over his shoulder. They advanced on us, each step rocking the mountains and then ground.

“What is this? Little villagers trespassing on our mountains?” one of them said.

Giants. Real giants. Where the hell was I? What the hell was this? It was all I could do to hold onto Marianne and not fall over from the shaking or start laughing because I’d actually drowned in that pond and someone had found me and this was some sort of screwed up coma dream. Marianne cried softly against my chest, her little fingers twining in my hair.

“Uh….” I cleared my throat and stood, picking Marianne up. I had to leave. I needed to leave. This was not Wyoming. This was not normal. “We’re…. We were lost. Sorry. We didn’t mean to trespass. We can just go. It’s okay.” I was saying that a lot. It most certainly was not okay. This was so far from okay it was ridiculous.

I started walking backward, keeping the giants—all five of them—in my sights. They seemed amused, and not in a good way.

“Once a trespasser trespasses, there is no returning,” the one with the club said.

“True, true,” said another. “One cannot simply un-trespass by leaving.”

“Yes they can,” I blurted out. I felt like I was losing my mind. “If I’m on the land, I’m trespassing. If I’m off the land, I’m not trespassing. See, I have to be on it to trespass.”

They pondered this, looking at one another. Good enough. I kept edging back, but the tree line was still horrendously far away.

“We don’t agree,” the one with the club said finally. “But you’re still here, so you’re still trespassing. It’s time we took care of you.”

I turned and ran as best I could, carrying Marianne with me. But two violent shakes of the ground toppled the both of us. A club slammed into the ground, blocking the trees from sight. Marianne screamed as one of the giants picked her up.

“Let go of her!” I shouted, picking up rocks and throwing them at the giants’ faces. They failed to reach their targets, and the giants laughed. My eardrums rang painfully. I spotted a sharp branch lying on the ground and grabbed it. I charged at the giant holding Marianne, driving the branch into his leg as deep as it could go. The giant howled, and I let go of the branch to clap my hands over my ears. He kicked his leg to dislodge the bough, and the edge of his foot caught my shoulder to send me sprawling. My head struck a boulder, sending little black stars to dance in my eyes. Something warm trickled down the side of my face, and the world went dark.

When I awoke my head was pounding. First I thought it was due to the cut on my head. Then I thought it was more likely a combination of that and being hung upside down. It took me a few minutes to adjust, trying to figure out where the hell I was as bits and pieces of the day’s events filtered back into my brain.

I wasn’t in Wyoming anymore. That was for damn sure. I was in a cave, or inside somewhere. The walls looked like rock. A big fire burned brightly in the center. The flames warmed my front; ropes tied my hands to my feet, and my feet to something in the ceiling. I grunted and tried to swing around. No good. The movement only served to make my head swim a little. My breath started to come in short little gasps.

Okay. Okay. Don’t panic. Focus. What had they done to Marianne? And what were they going to do to me next? I’d gone from being under the knife by a man claiming to be a half-wolf to hanging in a giant’s larder. The thought made me pause. Man claiming to be a half-wolf? I’d just run into giants and Marianne kept insisting the man was a wolf. Damn.

“Where the hell am I?”

I screamed it, but no one answered. No one came. I shut my eyes for a moment. My head swam. Something had happened. Something—the pond. Marianne had jumped into the pond after saying there were wolves “here” too. Had she meant Wyoming? The woods there? I’d followed after her and ended up…where?

“Hey! HEY! Someone! HELP!”

Nothing. I groaned. My head throbbed. A small pool of blood had formed beneath me. Or was it dripping into a bowl? I squirmed around again, but the ropes held tight. How soon before the giants came back? Was this a Jack and the Beanstalk sort of deal? Were they going to eat me and grind my bones for bread?

I stared at the glowing embers in the fire. The whole situation was just too unreal for me to even cry about. There was no way this could be happening.

Scuffling noises came from the cave opening somewhere to my right. I could still see some of the sunlight sifting in through the mouth. A giant was back. I was about to get eaten. My heart pounded away like a terrified bird trapped in a cage. Except…for a giant, he wasn’t making things shake very much. I heard something that sounded like panting and muffled growly noises. Hooray! Saved by a badger. I snickered to myself. That’s right Caroline, lose your mind. That’ll make it much easier on you when the giants flay you.

The man from the cottage suddenly jumped into the cave.

“There you are my love.”

“Oh my God,” I couldn’t help but say aloud. “My life has just gone from bad to worse.”

“Don’t say that, lovely little thing. I’m here to help. Trust me why don’t you? Or don’t you trust me because I’m half-wolf? An awful thing it is, the way people hate us wolves. Unjust and unfair.”

I was tied up and about to die anyway. What did I have to lose? “Maybe if you didn’t try to kill little girls and rape women and eat all the pieces, people wouldn’t be on your case so much.”

He actually growled. “Don’t be so absurd. Eating up little girls and the like. We didn’t ask to be made like this, mind you. I’ve been good my entire life and where does that get me? I end up locked away for eating a few lambkins. They’re going to get eaten anyway, aren’t they?”

He bounded over to me, and I flinched away from him. His face was way too close to mine. And I had no idea how he managed it, but his breath was surprisingly minty.

“But enough about me. Seems you’ve gotten yourself into trouble. Time to get you down and away from here, my heart.”

He hauled over a large rock with surprising ease and hopped on it to begin working at the knots.

“I can’t believe you found us all the way out here,” I muttered.

My hands fell free. I was tempted to push him off the rock and into the fire, but I was too high off the ground. If I untied my own feet, I’d have a nasty fall and probably hit my head again.

“It’s because I can smell you,” he said, as if that were perfectly natural. “And you, oh, you smell so delightful. I could follow you anywhere, even if it meant out of the forest, and we wolves never travel out of the forest.”

“Smell me? Yeah right. I probably left a blood trail.”

“Ah yes, that was a sweet surprise I must say; there is something very enchanting in your blood. Though perhaps that wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t thrashed around on that window. Really, you should have just let me explain myself to you.”

“Explain yourself?” I practically shouted. My feet came free from the rope noose. I thought he was going to let me fall, but he caught me in his arms and very gently set me on the ground again. Suddenly being right-side up sent a wave of dizziness over me, and I had to cling to his shoulders a moment longer than I wanted to. He held my waist lightly, giving me time to recover. His tender movements took me aback and for a moment all I could do was stare at him, confused. His hair was surprisingly well groomed now that I had the time to pay attention to it.

Then he frowned. “You’re hurt.” He gently touched my chin and tilted my head to examine the cut. He looked angry about it.

I stepped back and batted his hand away. “Never mind that. What do you mean explain yourself? You had a huge knife and you were about to kill a little girl. Not to mention you started feeling me up and sniffing me. Do you know how creepy that is?”

He cocked an eyebrow, mulling that over. “No, not really. And I wasn’t going to do anything to her. I was just…following her.”

“With a knife?”

He grumbled to himself, looking a bit cowed. “Perhaps that was a bit much. Not like we wolves need knives.” He held up his hands. “See? I don’t even have it now.”

I examined him. I didn’t see it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have it hidden somewhere.

“Would you like to use your hands to find out?” he asked as if he knew what I was thinking.

“No!”

“I hate to rush you my heart, but we really ought to leave before the giants get back.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This was all just too bizarre.

He stared at me as if I were the crazy one. “What?”

“Giants. So they are real?”

He glanced around like I’d just asked a trick question. “Yes. Giants have always been real. Come, we must go before they return to make a meal out of you.” He paused and eyed me in a way that made me shiver. “Not entirely an unappealing idea.”

“Who are you anyway?”

“Just Wolf.”

We made our way out of the cave, picking our path through boulder fields. I was thankful I had my hiking boots. The extra traction and support gave me a better chance of avoiding a broken ankle.

Once we were free of the boulders, he sped toward the tree line. I let him run and turned back to face the boulders. Marianne had to be in there somewhere. No matter how screwed up this whole situation was, I couldn’t let a bunch of giants eat or do whatever it was they did to kids and people they caught. She had to be here. Maybe in a cave, like I was. I crept up behind a boulder to examine the mountains.

“What are you doing?” Wolf snapped in my ear.

I suppressed a yelp, almost tumbling backward. I would have if he hadn’t caught me.

“I can’t just leave Marianne here,” I hissed back, not at all comfortable being this close to him.

He made a noise like a half growl that sounded like “Rrrrr.” He stared at me, obviously displeased. “This is a bad idea. If the giants should catch us they may let me go, but certainly not you, and I might not be able to get you out again.”

“What?” I whispered loudly. “Why would they let you go and not me?”

“Because I’m a wolf. Wolves are supposed to be in the forest. Humans are always sticking their noses where they don’t belong.”

“Well I wouldn’t have been all tied up if you hadn’t tried to kill me!”

He rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “I told you, I wasn’t going to kill you. You’re much too scrumptious.”

“Oh like that makes any goddamn sense.”

“And if I recall correctly, you attacked me first.”

The both of us shut up at the sound of grunting and the ground shaking ever so slightly. The giant with the club sauntered out of one cave to relieve himself against the side of the mountain.

“Oh gross,” I winced, averting my gaze.

Once he was done, he went back into the cave, talking and laughing, hopefully with the other four.

“I have to get up there to see if Marianne’s in that cave,” I said, inching around the boulder.

My would-be killer/rescuer made an aggravated noise in his throat and grabbed my shoulders, dragging me back down.

“No you will not. It’s too dangerous.”

I gawked at him. “Says the man with the twelve-inch knife.”

“I don’t have the knife anymore!” He huffed to himself. Then he lifted his right leg a little and shook his foot. Then he slammed it down again as though aggravated about something else. A weird tingle nagged at me for a moment and then disappeared. “All right. We’ll see if the girl is in there, but you stay out of sight. Let me do all the talking.”

He slunk up the boulder field toward the cave. I stayed right behind him most of the way and then ducked out of sight around the side of the cave.

“And just in case,” he muttered. He pulled out the rope I’d been tied up with and looped it around one boulder beside the cave. Then he crept to the opposite side and tied it off on a second boulder. He paused at the opening, took a deep breath, and then plastered a grin on his face and strolled right into the cave.