Scarlet Moon (Once Upon a Time) (16 page)

She wanted to scream but forced herself to try
and remain calm. “All is well, William. Be still. It is only I, Ruth, and you know I mean you no harm.”

The creature continued to claw and snap, and despite her best efforts she began to remember what it was like when those same teeth had ripped chunks from her flesh and those same paws had slashed her legs.

“I am not afraid of you,” she whispered, willing it to be true. “You are William, my love. You just need to be still and remember yourself.”

The wolf stopped snarling for a moment and cocked its head, as though considering her words. She held her breath, praying that she had reached him. After a moment, though, he lunged at her again.

Then, just as suddenly, he gave up, turned, and ran the other way. The chain brought him up short again, with a yelp that pained her. He threw himself in that direction for only a moment before repeating the action in other directions.

Ruth watched, fascinated. He didn’t venture near her again, and for that she was very grateful. At long last the wolf lay down and closed its eyes.

“That’s right, my beauty, just go to sleep. Rest and I’ll wait here to keep watch.”

Ruth woke with a start, light shining in her eyes. She sat up slowly, unable to remember where she was. When she saw the chains looped around one of the massive trees, she remembered.

“William!” she cried.

The wolf was gone.

She jumped to her feet and grabbed the end of the chain in her hand. One link had been gnawed clean through. “He’s free,” she whispered, horrified. Above her the trees moaned.

She turned and ran as fast as she could to her grandmother’s house. The path seemed to stretch out forever, and behind her trees whispered, urging her to hurry. Somewhere close by a wolf howled, and she screamed.

Maybe this is it. Maybe we will finish what we started so long ago. Maybe the wolf will kill me, but it wont be easy.
She clutched the dagger even tighter in her fist.

When she reached the cabin she burst inside, panting. “Grandmother, something horrible has happened!”

“It certainly has,” an unfamiliar voice snarled.

She turned and saw Peter, hovering over their grandmothers bed. She could barely recognize him, though. He was hunched over like an animal about to pounce, his face was twisted in a hideous snarl, and his eyes were enormous. In his hand he clutched a wolf’s paw, and there were scratches on Giselle’s face, around the eyes, which must have come from the claws.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

“Peter, what are you doing?” Ruth asked, overwhelmed.

“The old woman knows what I want but she won’t give it to me. She hides secrets, magic, and she won’t teach me.”

“Peter, I’ve told you, there is nothing magic about what Grandmother does. It all revolves around study of the plants and animals.

“Quiet!” he bellowed. “That’s just what you’d like me to think. Maybe you’re hiding the secrets from me too. T
hey
were, you know. They wouldn’t tell me, even when I killed them.”

“Mary and James?” Ruth asked.

“Yes. They died with the lies still in their teeth.”

“I told you,” Giselle wheezed. “There are no secrets, no magic .”

“Liar!” he shrieked. “There must be.”

“Why do you want magic so badly?” Ruth asked, slowly trying to approach him.

“To take it back to Jerusalem and use it to defeat our enemies and avenge us.” Her cousin was drenched in sweat, shaking with rage.

Giselle shook her head weakly. “I could have taught you many things, Peter, but not this.”

Peter raised the paw as though to swipe at her again.

Desperate, Ruth called out, “Peter!”

“What?”

“Your eyes are so big. Have you taken any of Grandmother’s medicines?”

“No,” he snarled. “My eyes help me see in the dark the hidden things people don’t want known. Like your potential husband. My eyes help me see right through him, and I know his secrets.”

Remain calm; he can probably sense fear
, she told herself.

She glanced at his face again, trying to judge what he would do next. His lips were open and pulled slightly back from his teeth.
They look so sharp, like an animal’s teeth. The only way they could look like that was if someone had filed them.

She remembered the files they used in the shop and felt a fresh wave of horror burst through her.
He thinks he’s an animal!

“Put down the wolf’s paw,” Ruth said gently.

“Why? This is the paw of the wolf that we dragged from the forest nine years ago, the one that almost killed you”

“That wasn’t the wolf that attacked me,” Ruth said before she could stop herself.

Just then a great gray ghost slipped into the cabin through the door that Ruth had left open. “
He is
,” she whispered, her mouth dry with fear.

Peter turned to look at the creature, and Ruth took advantage of his momentary distraction to throw herself forward. She knocked the paw from his hand and brought her dagger up. He gripped her wrists and began to wrestle with her. Suddenly he swept his foot behind her ankles and tripped her, sending her crashing to the floor. She landed with a gasp as all the air rushed out of her body. Her knife went sailing into the air.

Peter leaped and managed to grasp it. With a roar he dropped down and brought the dagger to bear on her chest. He tried to plunge the dagger in, but it went only the barest amount and then stopped with a metallic clang.

Stephen’s armor!
Ruth thought wildly as she grabbed the hilt of her dagger and kicked upward into Peter’s chest with all her might.
Grandmother was right that this cloak would save my life.

The kick was enough to send him flying, and he lost control of the dagger. Ruth picked it up with a roar and was about to fling herself at him when a gray streak brushed past her.

She stood and watched in shock as the two fought each other: her William who had been cursed to take the form of a wolf, and her cousin who had taken on the mind of a wolf. With a roar they came together, locked in combat.

Within moments it was over and the wolf stood above Peter, fangs dripping with blood. Ruth’s knees gave way beneath her and she collapsed onto the floor. The wolf turned to look at her and then stalked over toward her. He stared into her eyes for a long minute and then lay down at her feet, his head resting on her boot.

P
eter was buried quietly, one last victim of the wolf attacks. Ruth herself told the villagers how Peter had bravely fought the wolf, and that each had mortally wounded the other. Her father took the truth hard, but he understood and accepted it. He also accepted William, though it was clear his fears had only multiplied.

Her grandmother was fully recovered. Before Ruth had made it back to the cottage, Giselle had managed to drag herself from her bed and treat her remaining injuries, including taking something to restore her voice.

It had been Peter who had attacked her, sure that she was a witch and trying to kill her when she told him she had no secrets to share with him. He had been using the wolf’s paw as a weapon—an extension of himself and a symbol of his slide into madness. In the end Ruth believed he had truly seen himself as an animal.

It has been a traumatic couple of weeks, but at least Father, Grandmother, William, and I are all together now, and we are all safe.

She smoothed her hands down the sides of her dress.
And through it all my wedding gown even got made. Thought truth be told, I’d rather be wearing trousers. At least I convinced them not to tie it so tightly that I can’t breathe.

She still couldn’t quite believe everything that was happening. The unknown future stretched out before her like a dark forest. Thanks to William, though, she had gotten over her fear of dark forests. So, although she still felt uncertain, she didn’t feel afraid.

I don’t know if I’ll ever feel like a lady
, she thought as she climbed down the stairs toward the great hall.
But I’ve got a lifetime to try.

It was two hours before the wedding, and she had managed to escape her attendants, at least for a moment. In the great hall she saw her grandmother deep in conversation with William.

“We may never know who killed the tanner,” Giselle said just as Ruth walked up.

Her grandmother turned and beamed at her. “There you are, dear, and you look radiant.”

“Thank you.”

William reached for her hand. “I was telling your grandmother that I remember everything from the last wolf cycle—the chains, the fight, everything. Now that I can remember, I should be able to slowly start to control myself again.”

“Does that mean your passion for me is waning already?” Ruth teased.

“On the contrary,” he said, eyes burning with fire. “My love for you has given me the strength to be a better man, even a better wolf. In time maybe I’ll have more control over the whole process than ever.”

“Oh no, that will not do at all,” Giselle said with a sly grin. “That is why I have brought you two the perfect wedding present.”

“What is it?” Ruth asked.

Giselle smiled enigmatically and then turned and removed one of the portraits from the wall. Ruth noted with interest that it was the portrait of the man who had brought the curse down upon William’s family.

Ruth and William exchanged puzzled looks as Giselle walked across the room. “Grandmother, what are you going to do?”

Without answering, Giselle suddenly threw the portrait upon the fire. Ruth flew forward with a cry, but William stopped her with a hand on her arm. Together, they watched as the picture burned. At last it was gone, and Ruth turned to look at the wall where it had hung.

“Look!” she gasped.

William spun around, and he saw it too. “They all look different, changed somehow.”

Giselle smiled as she turned back from the fire. “They are, and so are you, William.”

He turned completely white.

“William, what is it?” Ruth demanded, totally bewildered.

“You’re right, I can feel it. The curse is gone,” he whispered fiercely. “The curse is gone!” he shouted, picking her up and spinning her around.

“How do you know?”

“I know. I can feel it.”

A surge of love and joy washed through Ruth. The days stretched ahead of them filled with sunlight, and the shadow was finally gone. She kissed William with all the passion in her heart, and he kissed her back.

“Nothing can ever come between us,” he whispered.

She laughed through tears of joy. At last she turned to her grandmother, who stood watching with a twinkle in her eye.

“Grandmother, how did you do it? How did you break the curse?”

“Magic.”

Debbie Viguié
is the author of
Midnight Pearls
and the coauthor of the Wicked series. When not busy writing, Debbie spends her time visiting theme parks with her husband, Scott, and relaxing with friends and family, Debbie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her Web site is
www.debbieviguie.com.

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