Girl in the Red Hood (29 page)

"What do you see in him?" His voice rose to
match his eyes. His sudden change of manner was not lost on
her.

"He's a good man," she said, suddenly
defensive. She couldn't help but wonder how much of Manny's
boldness was due to the drinks he'd been consuming. It was one
thing to catch up with an old friend, but it was quite another to
try and steal another man's betrothed when he wasn't there to
defend himself. "He cares for his family and works hard to protect
them."

"I could be a good family man if you gave me
the chance," Manny grumbled.

"I think I'm going back inside to find my
family," Liesel turned, an uneasy feeling boiling in her
stomach.

"Wait, Liesel." He tried to take her hand,
but she pulled free. Not to be deterred, however, Manny grabbed her
arm just above the elbow and held fast. "Just listen to me!" His
face was open, pleading, but his meaty hand gripped her arm so
tightly it hurt. Pulling her close, his whisper grated on her ear.
"I could love you if you gave me a chance!" For the first time,
Liesel smelled the ale on his breath. Memories of her father's
drunken nights on the floor flared in her mind, and with the
memories, her temper flared as well.

"Get off me!" Liesel brought her free hand
around in a fist and bloodied his nose upon contact. Without
hesitating, she followed the first blow by bringing her knee up as
hard as she could. The large man doubled over in pain. Liesel
whirled around to run, but before she got three steps, he'd reached
out and twisted her arm. She let out a cry of pain as he yanked her
back towards him.

A snarl ripped the air as a gray blur
launched itself between them. Liesel was knocked to the ground, but
not nearly as hard as her attacker. Manny screamed as the wolf
stood over him with hackles raised and teeth barred. Manny was
drunk and cruel, but he wasn't a boar, and if Kurt killed him,
Liesel knew it would haunt him for life. She tried desperately to
find her voice.

"Kurt." Not loud enough. She wet her lips
and tried again. "Kurt!" The wolf continued to growl down at the
man it held pinned, but the man flipped his head to stare in
disbelief.

"This is him?" His voice cracked with
incredulity. The wolf snapped his jaws just an inch from Manny's
face, returning the drunk man's attention back to himself.
Unfortunately, he drew the attention of others as well. Those
milling in the garden who hadn't heard Liesel's cries of pain now
heard the snarls of the wolf.

"Quick! Bring a light!" Someone yelled.
Liesel could hear others begin to echo him, and knew they only had
moments before the entire wedding was after them.

"Kurt! Leave him be! We have to go!" She
shouted now. The voices of men shouting grew closer as they
searched the trees and bushes for the animal. Upon her shout,
however, Kurt did not run, but instead, turned to her and snarled.
Liesel froze. Slowly, he stepped off of the man and began to make
his way towards her. Liesel began to crawl backwards, pleading as
she went, praying for him to remember. But his eyes remained glazed
and his fur bristled as he crept towards her. Inches from her face,
Liesel could feel the heat from his muzzle. His growls vibrated in
her chest, and his red gums seemed to grow larger as he curled his
lips back even further. "Please," Liesel whimpered. "Remember who I
am."

A howl interrupted her pleas. Liesel turned
to see Johan hidden in the shadow of the house, still howling at
his friend. To her great relief, Kurt began to retreat, slowly at
first, and then he broke into a run, following Johan. As soon as
she could get her legs to work, Liesel was up and chasing after
them.

"So that's what it is!" Manny yelled from
behind her. She could hear the people gather around him as he still
sat on the ground. "She's cursed! That wolf has cursed her!" Liesel
rounded the corner of the building to find Johan and Kurt. Kurt was
breathing hard, back bent with his hands on his knees. Johan was
already taking off in the direction of the stable where they'd left
their horses. Liesel nearly collapsed with relief when she saw that
they were in human form, but the look Kurt gave her when their eyes
met was doleful. She couldn't think of anything to say as Johan
returned with the horses.

"How much did they see, Johan?" Kurt asked,
still not breaking his gaze with Liesel.

"Just enough to give spirit back to old
bedtime tales. I set fire to one of the trees to buy us a few extra
minutes though," Johan muttered as he handed them the reins of
their respective horses. "But we need to go now."

"Go?" Liesel looked first at Johan and then
at Kurt as Johan's words sank in. "No...No, I'm not ready to go! I
can't!" Her breaths began to come in and out too fast, and the
world no longer looked exactly level. "I'm not ready to live
without the sun!" Liesel knew her words were hysterical, and her
voice rang with an odd pitch, but all she could think about was the
life she had been pretending didn't exist for the last few
weeks.

"We only have three days," Kurt said
tersely. "I was hoping tonight...," his voice trailed off as he
watched her sink to the ground and fall to pieces.

How had she lost such track of time? Liesel
sat in a daze, tears streaming down her face as Kurt and Johan
gently lifted her onto her horse. Somehow, she managed to stay
upright, though she wasn't sure how exactly. More shouts rang out
as the crowd drew near, but all she could think about was leaving.
She would never see her grandparents again. She would never be able
to tell her grandfather she was sorry. She would never rest in her
grandmother's embrace. She would live a life without sun, watching
Kurt lose himself to the animal, and dying before she was gray.

"Liesel!" Kurt's voice broke through her
reverie. He was calling to her over the din of approaching crowd.
Liesel came to her senses just in time to see the mob encircle
them. Torches had been lit, and weapons of all sorts had been made
out of farming tools, whatever could be found on such short notice.
Liesel winced at the scythes in particular as it dawned on her just
how many people now surrounded them. After frantically searching,
she finally found the distressed face of her grandmother hidden
deep in the rowdy crowd. But where was her grandfather?

"After all these years," one man stepped
forward with a torch. Liesel thought she recognized him as one of
the city council members. She had been good friends with his
daughter when they were little. "You've returned to bring a curse
on us?" Before Liesel could even think of an answer though, a small
popping sound was heard. Immediately, the circle began to fill with
a thick, noxious smoke. People began to cry out as it filled their
eyes and burned their noses. Liesel briefly had time to recall her
grandfather telling her about such oddities he'd found in the east,
when a rough hand grabbed her horse's reins.

"Liesel," her grandfather's voice was
urgent.

"Grandfather!" Liesel's eyes grew even
wetter as she began to cry in earnest. Gently, he laid took her
cheek in his hand.

"Help him find his peace!" His voice was low
and compassionate. "You were right, and I'm sorry for being so hard
on you. You're his only hope now...so go!" With that, he slapped
her horse and she was off.

It was surprising how fast the two horses
and the wolf made their way through the coughing, gagging mob. As
they galloped off into the night, Liesel turned to look behind her
once more, but she could see nothing above the smoke balls her
grandfather had lit and the torches enveloped in the thick cloud of
smoke that continued to cling to the ground.

***

They didn't stop running for a long time,
and then, only long enough for the horses to rest before taking off
again. Thankfully, the moon had come out, and it made the world
around them glow blue. Liesel was aware of the concerned glances
Kurt kept throwing her way, but she didn't meet his eyes. She
couldn't believe they had failed. As much as she'd felt the
pessimism rise up within her during their time at the vineyard, she
only now began to realize how much she had truly still clung to
hope as long as they were away from the forest.

Instead of following the road, they moved
into the wood's fringe as soon as they could see it, continuing the
rest-run pattern even after the sun rose. Liesel knew she was
hungry, but she really didn't care. She drank when Kurt told her to
at brooks and streams, but not of her own choosing. By the time
they finally stopped that night, she still hadn't been able to
speak a word. Kurt built a fire, and Johan took the first watch
while Liesel sat and simply stared at the tongues of flame licking
the darkness. She was aware that Kurt sat across from her, but she
didn't look at him. After a long stretch of silence, Kurt finally
spoke in a low voice.

"I'm aware that I'm being a hypocrite,
saving you from a fate with him only to force you into one with
me." His voice broke a bit. "I just don't know what else to do. I
don't want to hurt you. But I can't let my people die. We tried,
Liesel. We did our best." With that, he stood and walked away. "I'm
going to get some firewood. I'll be back," he mumbled.

"Don't let his duty fool you." Johan, back
in his human form, sat on the log Kurt had just left. "He hasn't
been the same since the first time you left. Tortured himself for
years over what to do about you." Staring down at his pipe as he
lit it, he quietly added, "And don't mistake his sense of duty for
indifference. He could never be indifferent about you."

Liesel didn't reply, simply continued to
look into the flames as though they held the answers she was
seeking. As the hour drew late, though, she began to grow fidgety.
A look at Johan confirmed her suspicions.

"Should've been back by now," Johan stood.
Liesel stood with him, although she wasn't sure why. It wasn't as
if she could be of any help. Johan disappeared into the thick
brush, but Liesel began to pace. The longer they were gone, the
worse she felt. Finally, she heard two sets of human footsteps
approach.

"Thank goodness you're back!" She began to
push through the leaves. Instead of seeing Kurt or Johan on the
other size of the brush, however, Liesel was shocked to find
herself staring right into the face of Lothur.

It was a long moment before either of them
spoke. Liesel thought about running, but dispelled the thought
before it was even complete. She knew all too well how fast the
wolves were.

"Liesel," Lothur took a deep breath. He
seemed almost nervous. "Thank goodness you said something. I might
have turned had I thought you an animal." Liesel was silent. "If
you'll just come with me, I can escort you safely back to the
town." Still, she hesitated. The more she considered it, however,
the more she realized she had no choice. Kurt and Johan were gone,
and she had no way to defend herself. Finally, she nodded and
followed him back through the forest.

It felt like a death march, the way she
imagined a criminal might feel while being walked to the gallows.
Liesel had never seen a hanging. Amala had claimed such events were
no place for young ladies. Still, she'd heard enough from her
friends who had attended to know what one was like. And she could
only feel that her own noose was waiting for her back in that long
log cabin.

Lothur let her stew quietly until they ran
into a few other men who seemed to be acting as guards who had a
disgruntled Johan in tow. He was in wolf form, snarling and
wrenching his body from side to side menacingly, but their ropes
held, and with them, they pulled him like a common, disobedient
pet. But where was Kurt?

She didn't have to wonder for long. Keegan
soon stepped into the clearing followed closely by Kurt. Neither of
the brothers looked very happy. Keegan kept sending his older
brother wary glances, but all Kurt did was glare at his uncle.
Liesel quickly made her way over to Kurt, who hugged her tightly to
his side away from Lothur. As they began to walk, she wondered why
he didn't use his authority to tell his uncle to let them go. From
the looks he kept sending to Keegan, however, all she could guess
was that they weren't simply being escorted back to the town.
Something else was amiss.

After about an hour of walking, the group
reached the southern edge of the town. As they moved, Liesel
decided that something was most definitely different in the
people's reactions to her. Instead of staring at her silently as
they had the first time she'd visited, they now avoided her gaze
completely. Not one person made eye contact as she walked through
the streets. They looked away as though they were...guilty, Liesel
decided. It sent a cold shiver up her spine. They had known she was
being forced to marry their pack leader the last time they'd seen
her. Something had changed. But what that was, she couldn't
tell.

"Where's Father?" Kurt demanded to know as
soon as the door was shut back in the cabin. Lothur excused the
guards before fixing him with an unnerving stare and answering,

"Your father fell sick soon after you left."
Kurt paled.

"I need to see him." Lothur looked as though
he were about to say no, but Keegan interrupted.

"I'll take him." Lothur leveled a suspicious
stare at his youngest nephew.

"Before you go, I need to be sure you won't
be-"

"We've already come this far," Keegan shook
his head. "You needn't worry, Uncle." After studying him carefully
for a long moment, Lothur finally nodded, and Keegan motioned for
his brother to lead the way down the hall. Their uncle turned to
Liesel and Johan finally with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry we had to meet again in this
situation. It's just that...something has changed."