Along Came a Wolf (The Yellow Hoods, #1): Steampunk meets Fairy Tale

by Adam Dreece

  “Go,” said Bore, warmly. His booming voice decided the matter. Bakon nodded.

  As he walked out, he recalled how weird the first date with Egelina-Marie had felt at first. They’d met in the marketplace and just walked for an hour. Bakon had been so nervous he had rubbed his hands together until he had blisters. He hadn’t noticed Egelina-Marie twirling her hair so much that she looked like she had braids.

  To pass the time as he walked down the mountain road, Bakon counted his coins and thought of what he would pick up at the market. This time he planned to have a picnic with Egelina-Marie. It would be simple, but it was all he could afford. Over the past two weeks, he’d done extra work for anyone who needed a hand, to earn the money he needed. His two brothers had insisted on helping but asked for none of the money.

  Egelina-Marie was the captain’s daughter, which weighed on Bakon. He couldn’t imagine they would stay together long because, despite what he’d said to his brothers, deep down he believed that he really was just a low-life. Someone like her shouldn’t stay with someone like me, he thought. He didn’t want her to go—she inspired him and made him feel more solid inside.

  “A man lost in thought,” said LeLoup, startling Bakon. LeLoup stood in the middle of the road with three mounted horsemen, their pistols drawn. “You might not remember me. I’ve healed since our last encounter. But I remember you!”

  Bakon was still a mile or two from the edge of town. He knew few used this mountain road at this time of day, so he was on his own. He stepped side to side, trying to prepare himself for trouble. “What do you want?” he asked.

  LeLoup looked at his horsemen. “Hmm. Ruffians. They are always so rude.” The men laughed. “I suppose we must be vulgar and get to the point immediately. You’re lucky, Monsieur Cochon. I am not interested in lowering myself to your level and giving you the beating you deserve. I have a job to do.”

  LeLoup started to walk around Bakon, keeping a safe distance. “I will have my revenge on you, don’t misunderstand me. On you, on the pretty Mademoiselle Archambault, on Captain Archambault, on Monsieur Klaus, and on those annoying Yellow Hoods who humiliated me. But… one thing at a time. Do you know what the next thing is?” he asked, stopping and glaring at Bakon with his piercing green eyes.

  Bakon looked around quickly. “No. What?”

  “It’s obvious to the trained mind. But, again, you are a ruffian,” LeLoup sneered.

  He looked to his men and commanded, “Seize him!”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Why, Come In, My Dear

  The main room of the house had turned into a staging area, holding the clothes and other items Tee’s family were packing for their trip. Slowly, each item found its way into a large travel trunk or directly onto the horse-drawn cart.

  “How long has it been since we last saw Aunt Gwen?” asked Tee.

  Her dad walked in. “I think about a year and a half. I’m sure your cousin …” He paused, thinking.

  “Elaine?” offered Tee.

  “No, the other one. The little one,” said William.

  “Megan?”

  “No, the younger one …” The name was on the tip of William’s tongue.

  “Honorine? Margo?”

  Just then, Jennifer walked in, arms loaded with more clothes from the bedrooms.

  “Your sister has a lot of kids,” said William.

  Jennifer laughed. “That sister of mine is a baby-making machine. Every time she sneezes, out comes another girl, and if she coughs, a boy! So far she’s had six sneezes and two coughs.”

  “Dad’s trying to remember the youngest one’s name,” said Tee, hastening the conversation.

  Jennifer put her finger to her chin. “That would be… Catherine. Though you’re probably thinking of Giselle.”

  “Wait—there’s a Catherine now?” said William in disbelief.

  “What’s your point, Dad?” asked Tee, flopping backward onto a pile of clothes.

  “I was just going to say she’s probably grown a lot. You know—a lot taller and whatnot. But I got lost in all the names,” he admitted.

  Jennifer pulled a picnic basket out from behind the kitchen counter. “Well, Tee, here’s something to distract you. Since we’re going to be away for a month, I made some of Grandpapa’s favorite foods. We’ll be leaving at dawn, so would you mind heading over there now with this?”

  Tee took hold of the heavy basket. “What’s in here? Wood and rock soup?”

  “That would still taste better than your Aunt’s meat pie,” said William, making his best yuck face.

  “William!” snapped Jennifer, while trying to hide her smile of agreement. She believed strongly in respect of family and elders, especially in front of Tee.

  “Sorry,” he replied, chuckling.

  “Hey, mom? Do you think one day we’ll have a cart like the one Grandpapa made?” asked Tee.

  “Oh, I have no doubt. I bet it’ll go faster than a horse within a year,” her mother replied.

  “Alright. I’ll be back for dinner.” Tee donned her yellow cloak, checked her pockets, and headed out the door, basket in hand.

  “Stay out of trouble,” said her dad out of habit.

  Nikolas arrived at the guard administration building, a simple stone structure that housed Captain Archambault’s office.

  He opened the front door and walked through the rich, dark wood hallway to the reception desk.

  The attendant’s workday consisted of checking if people had an appointment, asking them to write their name down, verifying he could read it, and replacing the signature book when full. Unsurprisingly, he was asleep at his post.

  Nikolas knocked hard on the desk, startling the man awake.

  “Huh? Do you have a—oh, Monsieur Klaus. Can I help you?” said the man, rubbing his eyes and chubby face. He stood up to stretch his back.

  “Yes,” said Nikolas. “I’m here to see the Captain. I have an appointment.”

  The man seemed troubled. “Hmm, well… I’m sorry to inform you, Monsieur Klaus, but no one has seen the Captain since this morning.”

  “Oh,” replied Nikolas, concerned. Gabriel had rarely missed an appointment with him. It was rarer still that Gabriel’s staff didn’t know his whereabouts.

  “Thank you. I’ll check at his home. Maybe, once again, he is sick, yes?” said Nikolas, turning to go.

  “Actually, Monsieur Klaus, there is no need. We’ve had a guardsman drop by his home already. He’s not there,” said the man. “I’m sure he’ll show up soon. If not, the Magistrate will have his head! Haha.”

  “The Magistrate? Wasn’t LeLoup to be judged today?” asked Nikolas.

  The man couldn’t see the connection. “Yes, but according to one of the clerks who came by earlier, they never brought LeLoup over to be judged. But”—the man settled back into his chair while yawning—“that’s not my problem.”

  Nikolas knew one thing Gabriel would never do is miss an appointment with the Magistrate.

  “Which jail was LeLoup in?” asked Nikolas.

  The man looked annoyed. “The north one. Why?”

  Nikolas raced out of the building. He arrived out of breath and immediately noticed that neither the north nor south jail, on opposite sides of the street, had a guard posted outside. He’d never seen that before. He banged on the door of the north jail and it swung open. He stepped in cautiously.

  “Hello!” he yelled. “Is there anyone here?” He listened carefully. He heard something down the corridor, toward the cells. “Gabriel, is that you?” he called loudly.

  “MMMMMM!” came a muffled reply.

  “Gabriel!” yelled Nikolas, rushing toward the cells.

  He found Gabriel bound and gagged in one of the cells, and a guardsman face down and tied up in the next cell over. Nikolas raced over to free his friend.

  “That wretch!” boomed Gabriel, rubbing his wrists. “We’ve got to go after him!”

  Nikolas hastily went to make sure the other man was alive, and
then untied him as well. He then returned to his friend. “Why hasn’t anyone noticed you here?”

  Gabriel’s mood worsened. “Do you want the truth—that my people are lazy and deserters? Or, that for the past three years the Magistrate has refused to give anyone a raise or pay for proper equipment? There are so many reasons why they just sit on their behinds unless the proverbial bear comes right up to bite it.”

  Nikolas laughed. “Better I not ask?”

  “Mmm,” grumbled Gabriel. He took the hand Nikolas offered, and stood up. “What time is it?” he asked.

  “Late afternoon. Why?” replied Nikolas.

  Gabriel dusted himself off. “LeLoup got out this morning. He’s planning revenge on everyone involved. Especially some ‘yellow hood’ character.”

  Tee usually took one of two routes for getting to her grandfather’s house. The shortest way was through the forest and took about twenty minutes on foot. The other route went past Elly’s house and was much longer.

  “Hey guys!” yelled Tee as she came down the road.

  Elly and Richy were racing their new sail-carts. Tee was surprised how fast they were going. Despite it being slightly up hill, they were going at least as fast as she could run, if not faster.

  “Wow, that looks fun!” said Tee, putting her basket down.

  Elly yanked her sail and pulled the brake, quickly coming to a stop.

  Richy, showing off, picked up even more speed.

  “What are you doing, Richy?” asked Elly.

  “Watch this!” he yelled. Richy pulled down the sail and telescoping mast, tucked himself into the body of the sail-cart, turned the steering wheel hard, and pulled his brake. The sail-cart flipped sideways into the air!

  Elly and Tee both watched in horror and amazement. At just the right moment, Richy popped up from inside the sail-cart and landed it expertly. As soon as the sail-cart’s wheels touched the ground, he raised the mast and got it quickly moving again. A couple of seconds later, he came to a decisive stop.

  Richy’s heart was pounding. “Was… awesome? How was …?” he said, trying to catch his breath.

  “Breathe,” said Elly as she and Tee ran up to him.

  Richy took a deep breath. “Wasn’t that awesome? It’s my best one yet!” He got out of the sail-cart and found his legs were wobbly. “I think I’ll sit down for a minute.”

  “That was awesome,” said Tee, grinning.

  Elly leaned over him. “Is that how you got those scratches and bruises on your head and arms? You told me you fell out of a tree,” she said disapprovingly.

  Tee cocked her head, siding with her best friend on this one. “Richy, she’s got her arms crossed and her brow down. You’d better fess up. Come clean,” warned Tee, gesturing for Richy to give up the goods.

  He sported a winning, toothy smile and asked Elly, “So—was that impressive?”

  She thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah, it was,” she admitted, cracking a smile. “Just make sure you don’t hurt that pretty little head of yours, okay? The rocks in there need a nice place to live.”

  Tee and Elly laughed, and Richy smiled.

  “So, Tee, are you guys leaving tomorrow?” asked Richy, standing up and stretching his legs.

  “Yes indeed. We’re off to see my aunt. But first I’m going to Grandpapa’s house to drop off some goodies,” replied Tee.

  “Which aunt—the one with a million kids? The rich one? Or the—” asked Richy.

  “The one with a million kids,” replied Tee. “I know you have no cousins or anything, but if ever you wanted some, just let me know—I’ll give you tons. I’ll give you some too, Elly.”

  “No thanks!” said Elly, waving Tee off. “I have enough cousins. Not too few, not too many.”

  Richy chuckled. “I still remember when your aunt visited a couple of years ago. You could hear her kids all the way down the mountain!”

  Tee sighed. “There are even more of them now. My mom said she has eight kids.”

  “Eight?” said Elly and Richy, stunned.

  “Wow,” Elly continued, “that’s a lot of baby smells… and screaming.”

  Tee knew that, unlike herself, Elly wasn’t a fan of babies. Tee loved playing a big sister role. “Anyway, I’ll be gone for a month.”

  “A month?” asked Elly, never liking it when they were apart.

  Tee paused in thought. “I think that’s what my dad said. About four days there, four days back, and two weeks with my aunt’s family. Add in maybe some bad weather or maybe a side trip to the capital city for some chocolates, and that’s a month.”

  Elly almost leapt on Tee. “Westria? Are you seriously going for chocolates in the holy place of tasty treats?”

  “My mom said we might—she means if I’m really good and everything goes according to plan,” said Tee.

  Richy snorted. “Forget it, then. Nothing ever goes according to plan.”

  Tee looked up to judge where the sun was and how much afternoon she had left. “I’d better get going, guys. I’ve got to drop this basket off at Grandpapa’s so I can get back home before dark.”

  “Hey,” said Elly, “why don’t we sail along beside you?”

  “Actually,” said Richy, “Elly, if you’d let her piggy-back on the back of your sail-cart, I think I can handle the goodies.”

  “Okay,” said Tee, “but no flips please. I smelled an apple pie in there.”

  “Do you know what the best part is?” asked LeLoup, crouched down beside the bound and gagged Bakon. He’d been unceremoniously dumped on the floor near Nikolas’ kitchen doorway, and was now glaring at LeLoup.

  LeLoup smiled menacingly, his eyes wild. “Shall I continue, or did you want to make a point? No? Nothing to add? Good. I’ll continue.

  “Simon St. Malo will get what he wants, boosting my reputation further and making me a very rich man. I’ll still need to eliminate any rumor I was beaten and jailed in this nowhere-land, but that comes with the territory. Anyone with sense will believe it was all part of my plot to defeat a member of the Tub.

  “The old me wouldn’t accept allowing things to get as messy as they are going to get. I’m free from that now—thanks to you, and Mademoiselle Archambault, and Monsieur Klaus, and that infernal, yellow-hooded granddaughter of his. I do so look forward to your deaths.”

  The front door opened, and two of LeLoup’s horsemen walked in. LeLoup stood to look. His men had Egelina-Marie, tied up and fighting wildly.

  “Ah, here we go,” said LeLoup. “One girlfriend. Slightly scrambled. Drop her beside him. You, guard these two. You, I want you on patrol. I’ve already got your colleague guarding the back.”

  Deciding he had some time on his hands, LeLoup went to the kitchen. “Monsieur Klaus,” he said to himself, “you have such a fine selection of tea. I think I will enjoy some more. I have to say—this cozy kitchen is growing on me.”

  LeLoup made his tea and then sat down. He looked around the kitchen. He looked at the walls. Gradually, he looked up at the ceiling, all the while ignoring the muffled yells and the sounds of futile flailing around by Bakon and Egelina-Marie. Then, it hit him—the crown molding, that wooden trim at the top of the kitchen walls that he’d admired last time, had been removed and replaced with simple, smooth wood.

  LeLoup put down his teacup. He stood up on a chair and rubbed his hand where the crown molding used to be. “So there it was, telling a story. My little story, now where did you go? Hmm?”

  Richy, Elly, and Tee rapidly approached Nikolas’ house in their sail-carts.

  “Tee, I can’t believe you haven’t been able to drive your sail-cart yet,” said Richy.

  “Yeah, what’s the deal with that? It’s been a while. Is he building you a new one?” asked Elly.

  Tee got off the back of Elly’s sail-cart and shrugged. “I don’t know. I would love to have it but I know my grandfather has a good reason… I just don’t know what it is yet.

  “By the way, that was a great wind we
had behind us! It was certainly faster than walking with that big basket.” She accepted the picnic basket back from Richy.

  “When you’re going against the wind, you can use the sail just like on a ship and tack side to side into the wind. It’s really cool,” said Richy.

  “Huh,” said Elly, impressed. “I hadn’t thought of that. How do you know about sailing?”

  Richy smiled. “My dad took me sailing a couple of times this summer. Since this had a sail, I figured it would work the same, and it did.”

  “Hey, look—there’s my sail-cart,” said Tee, pointing. It was sitting just outside the open doors of the large shed.

  After the Cochon brothers had moved to their own house, Nikolas had reclaimed the shed, once again filling it with a million things from rakes, to old cabinets, to things unknown.

  “It doesn’t look any different,” said Richy. “I would have thought he’d at least paint it yellow or something.”

  Tee shrugged. “I’ll have to ask him. I can’t imagine he’s done nothing to it. Anyway, thanks for the ride, guys.”

  Elly raised her sail and her cart immediately started to move. “Richy, I’ll race you home!”

  Tee waved goodbye to her friends then walked up the path. She climbed the steps to the front door. A bad feeling washed over her, and she looked around. Deciding she was being silly, she knocked on the door. A minute passed.

  “Odd,” she said to herself. She went down the steps and reached around underneath them. “Hmm… No big rock, so that means he’s not home.” She looked at the open shed door, confused.

  A decade before, Nikolas had developed a simple system to let his family know whether he was home or not. If he was home, he’d leave a large rock under the first step. Only once had he ever forgotten. Tee knew the door to the shed was always closed when he wasn’t home—without exception.

  She went to the front door and knocked again. Another minute passed. She checked for the rock again, this time on her hands and knees. The bad feeling got stronger.

  She stood up, cleaned herself off, and yelled, “Grandpapa? Are you in there?” She waited, fidgeting nervously.