Wolf! Happily Ever After?

by Nancy Temple Rodrigue

  The three fairies continued to argue as they flew to their brightly decorated sitting room. Merri’s wand tapped out a tea service, and she handed the fragile cups to her waiting companions. Content again, she gave a happy sigh as she glanced around the familiar room. The tapestries on the wall slightly moved in the night air that came in through the open windows. “Oh, you have no idea how I missed this room!” Once finished, the tea set and the remaining biscuits winked out of existence.

  The ladies got down to business. “So, Merri, did you know Prince Phillip disappeared the same time you did? Was he with you?”

  Merri’s small, round mouth fell open. “He did? Oh, that’s terrible!” She shook her head at her memories of the happy days after the Evil One had been vanquished. They had been so few in number. “No, he wasn’t with us. At least, I don’t think so.” With a frown, she fell silent as she thought about Wals and his unknown role in all of this. “I’m not sure.”

  That wasn’t what Flora wanted to hear. “Perhaps you should tell us where you and the princess went. My, even after all this time, I still just want to call her Briar Rose.” With a vision of the happy teenager in her mind, she gave a fond smile.

  “It was your idea.” Merriweather muttered under her breath for a moment, her feathers ruffled by the suggestion that she might not have taken care of her charge as well as she should. She pointed at Flora. “You were the one who said she should go to another castle for safety.”

  “How was I to know the Evil One was still alive? We all saw the dragon fall. But, there’s no use harping on the same old tune. It happened, and we did what we thought was best. Their Majesties agreed with us, if you remember.” Flora refused to take the full blame for whatever it was that had happened to Rose.

  Stepping in between the two, as she had done many times in the past, the gentle green Fairy held up her hands. “Now, there, there. We mustn’t get all upset. All’s well that ends…or something like that!” She turned to the red-faced blue Fairy and eagerly clasped her hands together in expectation. “Now, Merri, dear, tell us where you went. I’m dying to hear the tale!”

  “Hmph.” With a last glare at Flora, Merri settled more comfortably onto her invisible, hovering cushion and prepared to relate her experiences as a human. A patch of embroidery appeared in each of their hands, and they automatically started weaving the colored floss in and out of the white cloth as she spoke. “As I am sure you will remember,” she started, then broke off to change the color of her pink thread to blue. “That’s better. Now, where was I?”

  “Nowhere,” Flora mumbled.

  “Oh, yes, if you remember, you,” she stressed, glancing at the red Fairy, “decided it would be better if Rose went to another castle so she could be protected. King Hubert’s was too obvious, so we needed to find another place that would be safe. Just as we were beginning to weave the spell….”

  “I said she would make a lovely swan.” With a contented sigh, Fauna broke into the narration. When she realized what she had said, her eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, no! Did that make a difference?”

  “And I mentioned what a sleeping beauty she’d been just days earlier,” Flora injected shortly. “What, if anything, does that have to do with our work?”

  Merri crossed her arms over her ample bosom. “You see? It wasn’t just me.” She pointed at Fauna. “You should have just concentrated on where you were sending her. But, no, you both let your minds wander. And look at the mess you got us into!”

  Now chastised, Flora’s embroidery dropped into her lap. “Oh dear. I am so sorry, Merri. Go on, tell us where you went.”

  “It was just awful.” Merriweather gave a dramatic groan. “We came out of the spell inside of a beautiful castle all right, but it wasn’t a real castle!”

  “Not real? How could it not be real?”

  “It was a make-believe castle in a large park. There were trees and flowers and rides and buildings and boats and a snow-covered mountain and people everywhere.” Arms waving this way and that, she tried to describe everything all at once.

  Fauna’s eyes got all dreamy. “It sounds just lovely! But I still don’t understand what you mean by ‘not real’ if there were people all about.”

  “And I had to be a…a human again! The whole time I was there!” she sputtered. “My poor wand almost didn’t forgive me. Did I mention the part about Rose being turned into a swan and having to live in the moat?” Confused at where she was in her story, she broke off and looked at her two companions.

  “Oh, dear.” Fauna now realized that had been her doing.

  “Were you in a different part of the country?”

  Merri shook her head. “No, we ended up in a place called America… No, don’t try so hard to figure out where that is, Fauna, dear. You’ll hurt yourself…. It hasn’t been discovered yet. It was over eight hundred years…,” she drew it out to build the suspense. Fauna looked intrigued. Flora looked as if she wanted to turn her into a toad. “…in the future!” She was pleased by the startled expressions on their faces. “The castle was quite lovely, actually, but humans don’t live in castles then. This one was in the middle of a large place they call an amusement park and it is actually called Sleeping Beauty Castle!” She glanced at the red Fairy to see if the implication sunk in. It had.

  “I…I sent our dear girl into the future!” Flora’s shocked expression slowly changed into one of smugness. “Didn’t know I had it in me!” she declared, smiling as she looked at her two friends.

  Merri was trying to decide if she should include the part about Rose accidentally going through another vortex with the wolf and ending up back in an even more dangerous time period…. No, she figured she would save that story for a stormy winter night when they could use a good yarn.

  “You’ve been gone for a good many years, Merri, dear.” Fauna’s voice brought Merri’s thoughts back to their current situation. “Rose has probably met her brothers about this time.”

  “Brothers! There are princes now?” Now it was Merriweather’s turn to be shocked.

  Fauna sighed as she thought about the handsome lads. “Yes, they helped Her Majesty the Queen with her great loneliness after you left with Rose. They were quite the handfuls until they got bigger.” She lowered her voice before she spoke further. “At least the Evil One didn’t seem interested in them.” They all gave a worried glance at the open windows. You never knew who might be listening.

  “You will meet them later, Merri.” Impatient, Flora cut in, wanting to figure out the rest of the story. “You didn’t seem positive about Phillip. Are you sure he wasn’t there? He’s been missing this entire time.”

  “Perhaps he’s on a quest to find Rose,” the green Fairy suggested, right before she pricked her finger on her sharp needle. “Oww! That happens a lot in this castle.”

  Embroidery forgotten, Merri got off her floating cushion to nervously pace the floor. “I’m not sure about the Prince. The human I was with says his middle name is Phillip.” She could only give a vague shrug. “When we tried coming back the first time, there was the wolf, the man Wals, Rose and myself. Of course, the wolf got it all wrong and we ended up back in Merlin’s time.” She still hadn’t forgiven Wolf for that.

  “A wolf!” Fauna hadn’t understood that part yet. “Oh, they can be such evil creatures! There seems to be so many more of them prowling around in the woods these days!”

  “This one isn’t evil.” The blue Fairy did concede that point, however reluctantly. “He has some kind of power that lets him—and whoever is close to his side—travel through time. He doesn’t understand it any more than I, so don’t ask. He was a human in the time of the pretend castle but turned into a wolf when he travels backward.” She wandered over to the window. The faint pink of dawn had begun to tint the eastern sky. Another day was at hand. What dangers would this one hold? she wondered with a heavy sigh.

  “Where are this wolf and the human you mentioned? Are they close? I think we n
eed to talk to them.”

  “I don’t know where they are, Flora. The wolf told me to bring Rose back home. There was something out there in the darkness, an evil force I could sense.” She broke off and shuddered. “It’s a familiar feeling. I’ve encountered her before,” she ended quietly.

  “The dragon?” whispered Fauna as she hurriedly closed the wooden shutters at the windows and sealed the room.

  Slowly shaking her head, Merriweather didn’t know how to explain it. “She is and she is not,” she began. “There are many layers to this one. She is very ancient. Just as old as the red diamond pendant she follows. The wolf is determined to keep it from her.”

  “And where does your human man fit in with all of this? Does he have any extra abilities that we need to know about?”

  “He is in love with our Rose,” Merri simply stated.

  “Oh, dear.” Fauna gave a distressed sigh. “That is a problem, isn’t it?”

  All three heads nodded slowly in unison.

  The problem was becoming more apparent as day after day passed. At Rose’s insistent urging, the three fairies finally went looking for Wals when he failed to show up at the castle.

  Struggling to fit in this foreign environment, he had taken a room in the small village just outside the castle walls. Pushed back near the edge of the encroaching forest, this secluded establishment allowed Wolf to come and go without being noticed and alarming the inhabitants.

  It was in these dismal rooms that the three ladies found Wals. Looking around, it was obvious they were comparing it to the opulence of the nearby castle. Silently gritting his teeth at their displeasure, still dressed in his now-shabby Prince costume, Wals waited. Unused to the harsh conditions of the time, his patience was growing thin.

  The red Fairy, whom he instinctively pegged to be the leader, looked him over when she was done inspecting his sparse furnishings. “You have been missed at court.” Fauna’s words were laced with annoyance when she was done with her scrutiny. “Our lady has been awaiting you.”

  Knowing he had fallen short in their estimations, Wals held back from growling—a habit he picked up from the missing Wolf. “I haven’t been able to get to court. I seem to be barred from the king’s and queen’s presence.”

  Walking around him, the green Fairy asked in a kind tone, “Is that what you were wearing when you tried, dear?”

  Liking this gentle one, he smiled at her. “It is all I have. I didn’t figure I’d be here this long.”

  This brought up three sets of eyebrows. “Oh? And what were you planning on doing?”

  He stammered and ran a hand through his brown, messy hair that was overdue for a trim. “I…I don’t know. I didn’t have any plans! We just wanted to get Rose home safe. I didn’t think past that part.”

  When they saw his actions had been only to protect Rose, the fairies relented a little. “She wants to see you.” Merri’s tone told him it was obvious she wished he would just go back to his own time and leave the princess be.

  Ignoring the inflection in her voice, Wals’ eyes brightened. “You’ll take me into court? Will I finally get to meet her family?”

  The three visitors glanced at each other. He suddenly seemed so happy, so optimistic that they hated to dash his hopes. Flora shook her head slowly. “No, I don’t think that will happen. You see, you might be dressed…somewhat…like a prince, but that doesn’t make you one. You would not be let near a princess. Surely that hasn’t changed so much in your time.”

  Not knowing much about royalty and their doings, Wals shrugged. “It wasn’t part of my life.”

  “There is another problem we need to relate.” Merri decided it was best to lay it all out in front of the human before any decisions were made.

  “Go on.” Wals leaned back in the plain wooden chair when he found he had been perched on its edge. His excitement to see Rose was beginning to fade as the discussion continued.

  The blue Fairy mouthed the words, “The pendant.”

  Steadily holding her gaze, Wals didn’t even so much as glance down at the boot that hid the precious stone. “What about it?”

  Looking to see if anyone was listening at the open window, Merri lowered her voice before she spoke. “It is whispered that you hold an item of great value.”

  Wals held out his empty hands. “Who would know to start that rumor? I surely haven’t told anyone about it. I doubt that Rose would, either.” He looked plainly at the blue Fairy, his meaning obvious.

  At his insinuation, she began to sputter. “I…I…would not! How dare you, boy!”

  Always the calming influence, the green Fairy stepped in again before Merri thought to pull out her wand and do something they…well, Wals…would surely regret later. “Now, I am sure that isn’t what he meant.” She broke off and looked to Wals for confirmation. He folded his arms stubbornly over his chest, and silently frowned at her. “Oh, dear. Well…I’m sure he meant it in the nicest of ways.”

  “We are getting nowhere.” Fauna threw her hands up as she stepped into the fray. “Merri, we know you didn’t utter a word. We also know Rose would not place this…man in danger,” waving a vague hand in his direction. “Who do you think that leaves, Merri?”

  Merriweather relented, her glare at Wals softened. “The Evil One. It has to be her.” She stopped and shook her head sadly. “Merlin had no idea what he created.”

  “Do you mean the pendant or his apprentice?”

  “Yes.”

  With a desire to prove himself, Wals pulled his sword. In the small room it seemed overlong. “Well, I have this and find I’m quite good with it.” He threw them a smug smile as the blade swished side to side.

  Unimpressed, the ladies said nothing. They knew it would take more than a fine sword to battle what was about to come.

  “Put that away, dear, before you hurt…someone.” With a kind smile, Fauna patted his arm. “Are you ready to go see Rose?”

  This surprised the man. “Now? You mean it? I thought you’d make me jump through some more hoops first.”

  “Amusing as that sounds,” Merri chuckled at the thought of him dressed with a ruffle around his neck and sitting atop a prancing pony, “Rose is waiting for you in a secret location. One that I hope remains more of a secret than that pendant….”

  “Hey, I….” Wals started to say.

  “Come along before the day is too far spent and Rose is called to her duties.” In an attempt to be the voice of reason, the red Fairy led the way out of the room.

  Not knowing where they were going, Wals had no choice but to follow.

  After losing the men who were following Wals’ every move, the fairies stopped in a brushy area near the curtain wall of the castle that surrounded and protected the bailey within. Releasing a hidden level cleverly concealed in the rockwork of the wall, the wooden door swung inward. Rose immediately rushed out of the doorway, almost knocking Wals over in her excitement to see him.

  “Come, dears, we must get inside.” After a nervous glance around, Fauna led them inside. “The forest has many eyes.”

  As he entered the dark doorway, Wals had the distinct impression that was as far as he would ever be allowed within the castle walls. But, after their lips briefly met and Rose began an excited recital of all that she had been doing since she got back, Wals forgot his displeasure and enjoyed the stolen moments.

  When the three chaperones finally gave them a little privacy, Wals told her of another place where they could meet and have some time together, a place outside the castle walls. With plenty of free time to roam the countryside, Wals had found the perfect spot. Chaffing at the confines of the castle and always ready for another adventure—even one that would incur the hint of impropriety—Rose readily agreed and a date was set for their rendezvous.

  When the fairies came back to escort Wals home, they were a little surprised at the ease of the parting. They had expected a lot of drama and tears from the two frustrated sweethearts. Eyes narrowed, they observed Rose’s
serene face and were suspicious of her calm kiss and wave good-bye. Wals, close-lipped all the way to his lodgings, gave them no further clue.

  After the secret door had closed, Rose turned to ascend the stone steps to her suite of rooms in the tower. She did have a calm heart now that she had finally seen Wals again. Smiling smugly, now all she had to do was lose the vigilance of her brothers and the eyes that watched her every move—for she, too, had heard the whispers about the pendant, and knew there were others who wanted to find it.

  A cold fog had rolled in over the coast, one that dimmed a nearly full moon and obscured the stars that would otherwise be seen in abundance. The sound of the ocean’s waves crashing against the rocky shoreline was muted into a pleasant distant roar. Night sounds from the surrounding dense forest were heard only as ghostly whispers through the swirling vapor.

  The surrounding blanket of gray and its sound-restricting presence was a welcome cloak to the two people nestled together on that small strip of sand. Standing, facing each other on a lichen-covered boulder, their foreheads touched as they whispered. A curved bank of black rocks formed a natural wall, blocking their view to the south and east. The only approach to the young man and woman was from the north, along the stretch of sand that sloped gradually from a forest of pines and vine-covered shrubs down to the foamy waves of the sea. Unless the hunters who sought the pair could somehow miraculously emerge from the waves crashing upon the sandy beach as they themselves had done, the two felt they were safe enough. Should they be wrong, however, he knew they would be able to detect any impending approach in time and be able to melt deeper into the shadows in the boulders behind them. If that failed, he had his sword at his side.

  They talked in low, earnest whispers—the whispers of two who should not be meeting together, nor, as others would righteously insist, should be meeting alone at all. Theirs were quick exchanges of heartfelt desire. They used stolen kisses when words failed, their hands clasped by the necessity to be always touching. Her blue eyes brimmed with happiness at their time together. Their lips murmured promises they hoped they would be able to keep while their hearts filled with contentment.