Wicked Fairy Tales: Red Wolf

Schlecht gave a deep sigh. "I told you that thing would become a problem some day."

Megálos simply growled and said something unintelligible.

"Well aside from that my friend, your judgment has proven right once again. She might be the best one yet. She clearly has brains, if she figured you out and she is tough as nails if she managed to damage your eye and puncture your lung."

"She caught me off guard," Megálos snapped defensively.

"Yes and if it wasn't for the full moon you would still be grasping for breath, luckily you've already healed and as for your eye you'll get full use of it by tomorrow night, the night after at the latest, parts of the body with so many nerve ending always take the longest to recover."

Rouge had to take a second look at Megálos because Schlecht right, his shirt was opened enough to expose the wound she had made on Megálos chest, it looked like an old scar long healed but his shirt still sported the large round stain, from when she first punctured him. Rouge was having trouble understanding what she was seeing, even as she saw the wound, her memory conjured her attack, her knowledge in anatomy reassured her that she had not missed, she had punctured his lung. Yet here he stood, the wound that had been inflicted not that long ago was healed over and his friend was claiming that his eyes was going to heal from what should have been permanent damage. What was going on?

"None the less, she will make us some fine pups," said Schlecht.

"Pups, what the hell are you talking about?"

"You'll see soon enough."

His eyes flashed like the eyes of a cat that reflects the light in the darkness. Rouge felt that primal chill run up her spine before the chill racked her body crawling over his skin, her heart kicked started in her chest shortening her breath. She tried to gain control of herself but the more she tried the more the fear tried to drown her own thoughts She found it odd that she could still analyze herself even in this situation, when the sheer terror of it, was threatening to break her.

"Well can we get started now, she more than ready," Megálos said with a hungry sneer.

"I don't see why not but we still have to get moving by morning, so no complaints afterwards."

"Done," Megálos said as he grabbed Rouge by the collar of her dress and raised her to her feet and bringing her face to face with him. "This is going to be so much fun."

Rouge swiped the stupid sneer off his face, when she smashed her forehead into his nose then brought her knee up into his groin. He was hunched over from the blow, she was about to kick him in the face, when her knees went out from under her and then her hair was pulled back hard forcing her to look up at Schlecht.

"Oooohhh, breaking you is going to be so...much... fun."

Rouge was going to retort something foul at him when she felt it. A pressure in the air, the weight of it sank heavily onto her shoulders; before it seeped into her bones. This pressure filled her with such terror that it squeezed her heart, making her body vibrate in rhythm with its beats. Only one thought seemed to cross her mind and it was being shouted her, as though her head was a full assembly and the members of the assembly were all her and they all said the same thing over and over again. Run!

Though the terror was overwhelming most of her cognitive abilities, some part of her mind was still functioning because it was doing its best to analyze the overflow of information that was coming in. Her ears let her know that both men in the room with her were growling. The kind of soft growling you would normally hear from a dog. Her eyes couldn't seem to focus on a single thing, it kept looking from one thing to another but even so they didn't fail to notice every detail like the men's faces, both of their eyes shined like they were reflecting light, their gazes where focused on the front door of the house. Their bodies were rigid with tension. In that moment Rouge realized something that only seemed to feed the terror within her, the men were afraid of whatever stood on the opposite side of the door.

As if on cue, the blade of an ax broke not only through the wood of the door, but through the wood of the bar that looked it. The blade was pulled from the door splintering the wood. Then the door flew opened so hard that it was left hanging drunkenly by one of its hinges. In the doorway stood a man with steam crawling of his body, most noticeably from his bare chest and back, yet Rouge could still see clumps of ice that had formed on the fine hairs of his chest. Though the ones that clung to his dark hair was most noticeable and numerous. Then recognition finally set in.

"Bardolph!" She managed to exclaim, before she was roughly pulled back onto her feet and she felt Megálos hand wrap around her throat.

"Well, I've got to admit you are one hard son of a bitch to kill," Schlecht said as he squared his shoulders and face off against Bardolph. "I have to know how did you manage to get out of the river? I mean I had you dead to rights; the current was carrying you under."

Bardolph didn't answer, he stood in the doorway staring at them. Rouge tried to look him in the eyes but she just couldn't do so, his eyes were like the darkness of the night. You couldn't see anything but you knew something was there, that something had her instincts yelling at her telling her to run. But she could feel his eyes on her, and she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"I see you've noticed our guest," Said Schlecht "and she seems to know you. So this will make things much easier. You put down your ax and let us through once were at the next village we'll let her go and you can come get her."

Bardolph still said nothing, he just stood in the doorway as another gust of wind blew in through the open door snuffing out the few candles near the door and covering Bardolph in shadow. The silvery light of the moon flowing in behind him deepened the darkness. The light also illuminated the vapor that poured from his mouth as he breathed.

"Well what do you say friend."

"We're wasting our time" Megálos snapped. "Get out of the way hunter and the girls won't get hurt."

"When two lupine walked onto my mountain, I was ready to let you be if you were simply passing through my territory," Bardolph said calmly as he stretch his neck his bones popping as he did so, "but I soon realized that you were both unschooled in the lupine ways of life; Berserker, skin walker." Though the shadows made Bardolph face invisible to them they could still feel his eyes as he looked from Megálos to Schlecht.

"So you know what we are hunter. Then you know you won't stand a chance against us."

Rouge heard Bardolph chuckle. "Keep telling yourself that, if you honestly believed that, then he wouldn't need the woman as a human shield."Bardolph nodded his head toward Megálos, "I feel a little sorry for you if someone had taken the time to teach maybe you wouldn't be in this situation. But you put hands on my mate."Two lights suddenly pierced the darkness that coalesced around Bardolph's face, it took Rouge a second to release that the lights shining at them weren't lights but eyes, bright golden eyes. "Now you must die."

Faster than any of them could react, he flung his ax at the floor between Schlecht feet. They were all shocked by the sudden attack that they failed to see his next one. Rouge only became aware of it because Megálos behind her cursed; even as she felt his grip on her throat slacken, she looked down and saw a knife buried to the hilt in Megálos forearm. Rouge barely had a moment to register the knife, when she saw something move in the corner of her eye. Apparently Schlecht had turned to see why his comrade had cursed and was barely turning back toward his enemy but it was too late, he was knocked off of his feet by the crook of Bardolph's extended arm. Bardloph was moving like a charging bull, knocking Schlecht over, didn't even slow him down. Rouge blinked and when she opened her eyes, he was standing before her. She felt the brush of the air against her at his sudden appearance, before she heard the sound of flesh striking on flesh then.

In another moment, Rouge would hear the sound of breaking wood and porcelain. But between those two moments she had a instant to see him. She looked at Bardolph, but what she saw was so different from what she usually saw. His beard was now fully grown and was at least four inches long. His forehead was broader and his cheekbones were sharper but perhaps the most surprising change was the fangs that protruded from his mouth. These changes were enough to have her instincts screaming as though they were on high alert.

He suddenly turned his glowing eyes on her and all of her instincts went into a full panic screaming, that they were all going to die. Before she could even give voice to these feelings, she was no longer facing him. She had a moment to feel his hands on her shoulders before they disappeared. Then her hands swung forward as her arms had become free of their bindings. Rouge was barely noticing the freedom of her arms, when she felt him maneuvering her, well pushing her really toward her grandmother's room. The moment they reached the threshold, he pushed her forward making her take a step or two to regain her balance. Rouge turned to look at Bardolph in the light that fell into the room she could see his skin squirming as though there were hundreds of worms beneath it.

"Don't open this door," He said commanding her attention forcing her to look into his eyes "No matter what."

Before Bardolph could even close the door a creatures slammed into him and raked its claws across his chest leaving bloody strips.

"You didn't think it would be that easy did you," Schlecht garbled in his new monstrous form.

Bardolph gripped Schlecht throat with his free hand and shoved him away from him, before he gripped the door handle and pulled it closed. Rouge just barely had enough time to see another monstrous shape, this one even larger than the one before appear behind Bardolph before the darkness of the room left her blind. She heard the bar barely fall into place before the door shuttered and cracked from the force of the impact.

Rouge stood in the darkness her body unwilling to move to find a light. She just stood in the same spot he had left her and listened to the battle beyond the door. She could hear the grunts, snarls, and yelps that followed, along with the concussive beat of bodies hitting the floor and walls and the sharp crack of breaking wood. She could tell when they struck the wall because, they struck it with such force that the wood would crack allowing hair thin rays of light to shine in the darkness. Rouge listened to the brutality of the fight though she could not see a moment of it she could imagine it in her mind's eye. Suddenly a loud snap filled the room. Before the she heard the grunt of pain and the whoops of celebration.

"See what did I tell you Megálos, he is strong but he is still breakable," she heard Schlecht garbled voice. "Now let's finish this."

A deep throaty chuckle suddenly filled the house seeming to vibrate even the darkness she stood in. "thanks for that boys the first break is always the hardest." Responded Bardolph voice though it was much darker and deeper.

She heard his grunt of pain, before she heard another snap then a hoarse roar before the sounds of chaos reined through the darkness once more. There were more grunts, snarls and yelps that were punctuated by the sudden sharp snaps but as the snaps became more common. There were less snarls and more grunts and yelps. Then suddenly the house began to groan and creak as though a great weight had suddenly settled upon it. The sound grew louder as the wood of the house protest its displeasure. Then the wood made a long eerie sound like the bellows of a dying animal before a sharp crack filled the room along with the sound of wood striking wood.

The cracks on the walls were suddenly more visible to Rouge, thanks to the large cracks in the ceiling that allowed the silver light of the moon to shine within, before the houses final death throws could even settle. A piercing howl filled the air and amongst the chaos, the sound was somehow beautiful. Once the howl died down the world was filled with silence not even the smallest creature made a sound. Not that Rouge really noticed she could barely hear anything over the thrumming of her own heart.

The silence was finally broken, by the rumbling that softly vibrated the floorboards beneath her feet. There was a sudden simultaneous yelp before the sound of movement could be heard. Rouge saw the flash of the shadow, as it disturbed the moon's light that was pouring in, before she heard a sickening crunch that made her stomach flip. Then the sound changed to soft thuds that thundered by the house before fading away. The sound of yelping like that of an injured dog reached her, before she heard the deep growl and the sickening crunching sound, only this time it was followed by the sound of tearing and more crunching. Rouge covered her ears, tried not to hear, she hummed to herself as she fell to her knees, and rocked herself.

Rouge awoke unsure of the moment she had fallen asleep. She rose from the floor feeling all of the aches and pains from her body, though she knew it was more do to the fear than any actual physical pain. Except for the bruise on the back of her head, that was actually from a physical blow. Though sore, she was glad to feel something different from the terror that had driven beyond her limit. She looked to the ceiling were the dim light of the outside filtered through the cracks. Her eyes were accustomed to the darkness now. So she could see her grandmother's room including the blood stains that coated the wall furthest from her.

Rouge felt the tears well into her eyes as she covered her mouth to stop the sob that wanted to escape from her throat. She didn't dare let it, for she didn't know if the dangers still persisted outside. She swallowed her sobs, but could not stop the tears from flowing.

"I'm so sorry grandmother," she whispered to the empty room. Though her tears had yet to dry, Rouge knew that she could no longer stay within this room. She went to the door and as quietly as she could manage, she lifted the bar from the door. Opening the door quietly proved to be the greater challenge, seeing how the door now hung limply on its hinges, at last she cautiously opened the door and peered at the world outside.

Rouge felt her jaw drop, as she looked upon the destruction wrought upon her grandmother's home. The dim light of the night revealed everything to her. There was no longer a roof on the rest of the house and the remaining walls leaned against one another like a bunch of drunkards. The pieces of furniture that remained were like icebergs in a sea of wooden splinters. Rouge wondered why the house hadn't caught fire during the battle for there was enough kindling for the house to go up like a match. When she looked into the kitchen, she had found the reason; the contents of the cauldron had spilled forth, drowning the flames that had been cooking it. However, the spilled contents of the cauldron forced her to relieve the contents of her stomach. She retched and retched until her stomach muscles ached and the only thing to spew forth from her was dry heaves of air.

It took everything Rouge had to rise to her feet once more, her legs were unsteady as she forced herself to move and not look at the horror again. She needed to leave this nightmare and head for the next village it was a couple miles away and would take some time to get there. As she neared, the large gap in the wall that once housed the front entrance of her grandmother's home. She spotted the russet cloak buried under the debris. She instinctively reached for it but found herself pulling back from it. Though it had been a gift from Bardolph, she found her stomach clenching in fear of the man who she realized she really knew nothing about.

Rouge remembered all of the time she had spent with him, from the moment they had first met, and with those memories came joy. However, the joy was quickly over shadowed by the fear brought on by the pair of bright golden eyes looking back at her. He was a monster a werewolf to be more specific. He was a creature from the stories her parents had told her when she had been a child. She had been willing giving herself up to a monster, and for all she could know he was killing wanders in the forest and devouring their flesh. Perhaps she was even going to be the next meal.

Is he truly as monstrous as you make him out to be? Some part of her asked, before her mind conjured her memories of them together. Whenever they were together he always acted the gentlemen, even when they were in the throes of passion he was always holding back never wanting to push them over the next boundary. Another part of her asked what if that was just a lie, a convenient lure that he cultivated so that when the time came she would following him willingly only to fall into a trap. A sudden gust of wind cold pressed against her making her shiver. This helped her settle her decision. She donned the cloak before she set off into the woods once more.

"There is something you still don't know about me sweet one. Something I'm not ready to share with you yet." Her mind reminded her. That was probably all part of his act another calculated move to keep me distracted with the bait before I had a chance to see the hook. She thought to herself.

Yet her mind couldn't help but flash another memory before her eyes. Bardolph freeing her from her bindings and putting her in her grandmothers room, away from the danger that was the two men who had killed her grandmother. "Don't open this door, no matter what."

Rouge found it harder to argue with herself, because she wasn't only arguing with her own head but she was also arguing with her damned heart. Her heart that only wanted to know what had happened to Bardolph, was he all right? where was he now? It didn't matter to her heart. For as much as she wanted to argue, she had been relieved to see him alive after she thought she had lost him.

Yet she was in love with a monster, and that was the crux of her problem. Could she really love him, all of him, not just the man she had come to know? Could she overcome the sheer terror she had felt, when his golden eyes had locked onto her. She didn't know.

Her lungs full of frigid air she continued to walk in the darkness and snow doing her best to focus on the task at hand but her mind was continuously running in circles. Trying to finding answers to questions she really didn't know how to answer. Yet despite the turmoil in her mind her instincts were working perfectly because the chill ran up her spine stopping her in her tracks she felt it. Felt the eyes that stared at her as though they were trying to bore holes into the back of her head. Doing her best to suppress her fear she took a deep breath and turned around, there was nothing but darkness and trees.

Yet she felt it though, she felt that there was something within the trees something that was watching her. Though she fought to keep her breathing steady, she watched the darkness unwilling to blink. Letting her gaze linger on that which did not want to be seen. Her patience was rewarded, for the clouds parted and allowed the moons light to shine down once more filling the world with its silvery light. There between the trees that stood like sentinels within the silvery white world around them stood the wolf.

Rouge felt her skin vibrate, as her breathing became rapid gasps. Her instincts were filling her with the need to run. Yet even as her instincts screamed this at her, she managed to remain in control of her body because her logical mind whispered to her. We can't out run it. Which was the undeniable truth, the wolf was three times the size of a full-grown man, it's black fur roiled around him as the wind blew through it. It looked as though it were a thundercloud. Though this predatory creature's fur moved, it stood perfectly still.