Girl in the Red Hood

by Brittany Fichter

  "His parents died last winter," Kurt explained. "He and his sister live with their grandfather now." As he spoke, he continually nodded greetings to people as they passed. The deeper they went into the heart of the town, the more Liesel felt pity for these strangers, despite her resolve to stay unattached. She knew that the more she saw them as pitiable victims, the more defensible Kurt's actions would be. It was hard not to though.

  For a village of two hundred years, the people were sadly lacking. To begin with, Liesel saw no shops. When pressed, Kurt said that some people sold their services from their homes, like the tanner, the tailor, and the butcher. Others simply did odd jobs, scrimping up a living in whatever way they could.

  "We've tried to build shops," Kurt said, frustration creasing his brow. "We've assigned jobs, organized municipal building projects, such as a bridges, storehouses, even a church. And they listen, doing what they're told, but...," his words trailed off as he came to a stop and stood looking at the saddest market Liesel had ever seen.

  "They don't want to?" Liesel asked in spite of herself.

  "You must want to thrive in order to do so," Kurt said with a frown.

  "They've given up," Liesel whispered, more to herself than Kurt. Most of the villagers' clothes were torn and dirty. Hair, if cut at all, was chopped off roughly, as though with a dull blade the way Kurt's had always been. In the gray light of the forest floor, everyone appeared tired and listless, although it was still barely noon. No work songs were shouted out, as Liesel had grown used to hearing in Tag. Although she had been determined to stay as disinterested as possible in order to fight the pack's plans for her, Liesel could finally stand it no longer.

  "What happens without a Pure Blood?" Liesel remembered something about the magic failing from Mrs. Thull's story, but how much could she have really known? Rumors were often just that...rumors.

  "Without a Pure Blood, everyone here above the age of sixteen would lose every ounce of humanity left, and every child would be left alone and without a guardian." Liesel faltered a moment, and finally looked Kurt straight in the eye.

  "Even you?"

  "Especially me," he answered seriously. "Every pack needs a leader. My wolf blood runs even thicker than everyone else's."

  "Why?" she breathed.

  "The wizard was my ancestor." The look in his golden-brown eyes was so fierce that Liesel chose to stay silent after that, simply following Kurt's lead as he walked them through the remainder of the town. There were a few people that greeted them, but most simply stared with woeful eyes. He eventually moved them to the outskirts of the town, no longer looking at the houses or people but simply walking as they had when they were younger. Inside, Liesel was dying to ask him all the questions that were swirling around in her head, but she stayed silent.

  "Liesel, stay still!" Kurt's voice was strained and low. Liesel suddenly realized she'd wandered off a bit, still following him, but meandering the way she used to. Startled by the urgency in his voice, she turned to see Kurt staring at the ground near her feet. A nest of baby pigs lay just a few feet from where she stood.

  "Walk slowly back to me." Kurt kept a low, tense tone. "Stay quiet." Liesel held her breath as she stepped backwards. When she did, however, a deafening crack echoed through the trees. Too late, she saw the stick she'd snapped, and with its crack came ear-piercing squeals as one of the little pigs awakened. Liesel froze in horror as she heard something much larger begin to run towards them with startling speed.

  For a split second, Liesel saw the beady-eyed sow lock eyes with her. Its fur bristled out as it charged. Before she could react though, a vicious snarl came from behind, and a blur of silver fur streaked past her and dove at the boar. The force of the wolf's blow knocked the sow her over on her side. Without hesitation, the boar leapt back up and bit the wolf's neck. Liesel watched in terror as the two creatures rolled around in the brush, snarls and squeals exchanged ferociously. It seemed as if neither would ever surrender, when they stopped as quickly as they began, the sow in front of its nest and the wolf crouched before her.

  "Kurt," Liesel tried to call to him, her voice nearly inaudible. "Let's go. She was just protecting her nest." She hoped he would hear her, despite being trapped inside the wolf, but she had no idea of how much of the man was left inside the creature. The memory of how he had protected the deer as a boy tugged at her heart, making her hopeful. There was no response though. The wolf and the boar continued to stare one another down. Nearly as tall as her waist, the wolf Kurt was lean and covered in muscle. The gray fur almost glinted like silver in the dim light of the woods. Tentatively, she stretched a hand out and gently laid it on his back.

  Without warning, huge jaws snapped down less than an inch from her hand. Though the golden-brown eyes were still human, they were flat and dangerous with none of the warmth she knew. It took Liesel a moment to realize that Kurt had very nearly just bitten her. Panic filled her as the wolf continued to snarl, this time at her. Without knowing what she was doing, Liesel began to slowly move backwards. Once she was a stone's throw away, she turned and ran as hard as she could. She had imagined a hundred ways to escape during the night before, but none of them had involved running from Kurt as a wolf, and she ran aimlessly, driven on solely by fear.

  After crashing and tumbling through the woods for several hundred yards, Liesel was spent. Despair took her as she heard her pursuer closing in from behind. Able to run no further, Liesel dove behind a large tree. Sure enough, the footsteps continued to grow closer. It wasn't until Kurt found her huddled on the ground with tears running down her face and her arms wrapped around her head that she realized the wolf was no longer in charge.

  "Liesel, I'm so sorry!" His voice was filled with angst as he hovered over her. When she didn't respond, he gently knelt beside her and tried to lay a hand on her face, but she flinched. The heartbreak was evident in his expression as he slowly withdrew his hand, but it couldn't erase what she had witnessed. After seeing what he was capable of in his wolf form, she wasn't yet ready to accept both human and creature as the same being, nor was she ready for his touch. "We can find somewhere more comfortable...," he stammered, but she shook her head and kept it tucked in her arms. She heard him give a resigned sigh and sit further down the way. With a little space to herself, she took a deep breath and tried to gather her thoughts.

  It shouldn't have been such a surprise. But even as the knowledge had set in the night before, she hadn't been able to reconcile man and beast in her mind. Kurt had plainly told her he was a wolf, and yet, she hadn't been able to picture it until he was standing right there before her. Liesel had never forgotten the way the people of Ward had looked at him. Now she understood why. And she hated it because that was how she saw him now, too.

  Opening her eyes, Liesel warily studied him. He was sitting on a boulder, his eyes distant, and his body hunched over. His stare was like that of a blind man, unseeing and lifeless. For the first time, she noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes. It seemed he'd slept even less than she had lately. His face had become more angular since she'd last seen him. Still the color of bark, his unruly hair was as badly cut as ever, but it looked as if he'd actually attempted to tame it that day. The clothes he wore were patched in several places, but they were slightly nicer than the ones he'd always run around in as a boy. He was still wiry, as he'd always been, but she could distinctly see the powerful frame beneath the ragged, ill-fitted attire. It made her heart beat in ways she wanted to ignore. To distract herself, she asked,

  "Is that why so many die?"

  But Kurt didn't respond, just continued to stare dully out into the woods.

  "Kurt!"

  "What?" Kurt startled.

  "You said your mother was your father's fourth wife." Liesel tried to keep her voice calm and deliberate. "Do they die because of...incidents like that?" Shame and understanding filled Kurt's face before he lowered his gaze to the ground.

  "There have been some. Unfortunately, no Pure Blood is c
ompletely safe until she's married. Once she's wed to the pack leader, the magic protects her from any harm we might cause her in wolf form. That's why the wedding happens so quickly. We have one month before the magic dies, but for the sake of the woman, we try not to wait."

  "Only some die of accidents?" Liesel raised her eyebrows, and Kurt shifted uncomfortably.

  "My father's first three wives were all here for a short time before they died." Kurt stood and gazed out at the ocean of treetops before them. "My father called it a weak constitution, but I always thought it was something else." He turned to Liesel with large, troubled eyes.

  "So when you turn, you can't control it?"

  "Fear is what changes us in the first place. It doesn't matter how much we wish to remain human," Kurt sounded annoyed. "If we truly want to rule over the animal mind, we must give up part of our humanity to marry the two. A few, such as my uncles, are willing to give up much of themselves. But most of us," Kurt shivered, "would rather lose control and keep what little humanity resides. When you turn, instinct takes over, and there is very little left of the man to inhibit that raw nature until you settle down again. To control it well, you must accept it, you must be willing to welcome the wolf as part of you, something few are willing to do. There are times that are harder, like back there, that catch me off guard. The only thing that saves us from ourselves overall, however, is that we must listen to my father. As pack leader, he can direct us even when we're in animal form."

  "How was it that you never turned when we were together?" Liesel thought particularly of the evening of the dance. He'd looked terrified.

  "You sacrifice what you must," Kurt's words were nearly inaudible. Liesel frowned.

  "Kurt, tell me the truth," she turned and looked him straight in the eye. "What exactly did you sacrifice to stay human around me?" But he shook his head and simply said,

  "For your sake, it was worth it." Seeing that he wasn't about to go any further, Liesel went in another direction.

  "So why bring me here now?" She didn't have to ask the other obvious questions. Why not just take her when she had arrived in Ward? Why toy with her? Why let her think she had a fighting chance and send her to Tag?

  "I told you that my mother died."

  "I heard that...and I'm sorry." As livid as she was, Liesel meant it. The seven years since her own mother's death had done very little to heal the gaping hole in her heart. Nodding a bit, he simply said,

  "I saw what being chained to this place did to my mother. While I couldn't stop the magic, I wanted to spare you at least a few more years if I could." Liesel considered this. As much as she hated to admit it, it made sense. Kurt was kind, but dutiful. After spending as much time with him as she had, she knew he was telling the truth. And yet, it still hurt to know he had chosen to keep her in the forest when she had the chance to run. Twice.

  "So what happens if the Pure Blood escapes?" Liesel was thinking about the girl named Ilsa. Kurt gave her a hard look.

  "Within one month, the people here would lose themselves to their animal counterparts." Kurt closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "No one likes it, Liesel. No one wants it. But we're stuck, and there's no way out." He nodded back in the direction of the village. "Perhaps you can see now why my mother chose to stay. It's not just my humanity at stake, or even my family's. It's all of them, including the little ones who would be left behind, such as Steffen and his sister. It would be the people of Ward and all the other surrounding towns who would have to deal with hordes of hungry wolves. It would be all those who wish to keep their own selves, and not lose their minds to the animal." He shook his head. "When the one named Ilsa escaped, we had to choose another from Ward, and quickly. If we hadn't, many people would have died."

  "It just doesn't make any sense," Liesel muttered.

  "And why is that?"

  "All curses can be broken."

  "Says who?"

  "Look," Liesel turned to face him. "The curse allows you to keep your humanity as long as there is a Pure Blood within the family. That's already a slight break. In the worst of possibilities, you would all have been wolves from be start. The line would have begun and continued with ordinary wolves. But I think this is the Maker's way of saving a remnant, preventing you all from being lost. The curse is simply waiting to be broken." When she finished, Kurt stared at her with an unreadable expression.

  "There is one more thing I think you should see." Getting up, he headed back towards the town, this walk less eventful than their earlier adventure. Once they were back in the cabin, Kurt instructed Liesel to wait in the front of the house. He disappeared down the hall, leaving Liesel to examine the room she sat in. The walls were a darker wood than the Beckes had in their house, and the beams had been left round, rather than being cut flat and smooth the way they were in houses in Tag. Though the room was sparse, it was oddly warm and friendly. Liesel remembered walking through it that morning to the front door, but it had been dark and the fire had been unlit, so she'd seen very little. A cozy fireplace centered one wall, and a soft, green rug, nicer than anything Liesel had seen since coming to Ward, lay before it. At the other end of the room was a simple wooden table with six stools beneath it. Along that wall, another door was open to what looked like a kitchen, unusual for the people even of Tag. There, only well-to-do citizens, such as the Beckes, had separate kitchens. Everyone else simply cooked over their fireplaces. The only other piece of furniture was a worn wooden writing desk and matching stool a few feet from the door. There were two books that lay on top of it. Liesel stepped closer to see what they were. One was the Holy Writ, and the other, a small, green leather book.

  "Everyone else is gone," he said as he walked back in, "so we're safe to talk here." Walking over to the desk, he picked up the little green book and brought it over to the table.

  "Don't tell my father about this," he gave her a smile that was faintly ornery. "Only the pack leaders and their sons are supposed to know this exists." He didn't have to tell her to be careful when he handed it to her. Liesel could tell immediately that the book was ancient. The pages were yellow and stained with time, and brittle to the touch. Gently, she opened the book to discover that it was a journal. The pages were filled with all sorts of drawings and scribblings. There were countless sketches of wolves, detailed enough to make Liesel shiver after her run-in that morning. There were various herbs and flowers, most of which she knew from her many hours spent with Ely in his shop. One flower in particular that was unfamiliar to her, however, appeared again and again. It had long, pointy petals that nearly looked like needles, hundreds of them, and its center was filled with what looked like fuzzy spores. The drawing was so intricate that she could make out the waxy shine of the petals. Liesel was sure she had never seen this flower in her life. She squinted to make out the words beneath it, then looked at Kurt in confusion.

  "What language is this?"

  "This is the journal of the wizard," he answered. "It is all we have left of him, aside from our stories and our unusual second natures."

  "Does it prescribe how to break the spell?" He shook his head ruefully.

  "No one knows how to read the wizard's tongue. We keep it though, if nothing else, as a reminder of what can happen when courage flees us as it fled from him. I pored over it repeatedly as a boy. I thought I could interpret a few words, but never got anything specific. You can sense the magic though, when you hold it close." Liesel held the book up and sniffed. Immediately, a strange dizziness washed over her, the same feeling that she got when Kurt stood too close. He nodded as if he knew what she was thinking. "After years of searching," he turned the book over in his hands, "I simply decided it was better not to know. Not that any of us would be foolish enough to dabble in the dark arts after our ancestor's blunder." A small feather fell out of the book as he closed it, and Kurt frowned as he picked up the place marker. "Except for maybe my uncle," he growled. As he spoke, Liesel had a sudden vision, a memory long stowed away.

  "Wh
at did your uncle mean all those years ago when he said I was the one who believed in magic? And your brother this morning?"

  "You are not to give heed to a single word my uncle says. Do you understand me?" Kurt's voice was suddenly rigid. Liesel was a bit taken aback. He'd never ordered her to do anything like that before. She nodded silently. His eyes softened a bit, however, when he saw her expression. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be harsh. It's just that I've been trying to protect you since we met, believe it or not. My brother has good intentions, but he’s spent too much time with my uncle. And my uncle would not hesitate to sacrifice you or anyone else if it meant breaking the curse. He wants you to believe in magic because he thinks you will be more likely to follow along with his plans. In truth, he does little more than study this book. It irks my father to no end. It's one thing to be interested in the writings, but the investment he has in it is something else entirely." Kurt put the book back on the shelf. Liesel stood too, although she didn't know where she thought she was going. It just felt so natural to follow him the way she had once followed the boy.

  "We need to go now," he mumbled at the floor, suddenly appearing embarrassed. "I'm supposed to take you to the dressmaker's home to get you fitted for the wedding."

  Quietly, they left the cabin. Somewhere down the road, Liesel's shoe caught on rock in the path and she stumbled. Instead of getting up, however, tears filled her eyes and made it impossible to see. She stayed where she was and silently wept. She wasn't ready.

  This would be her life. This dark town without smiles or sunlight would be her home forever. She would never see her grandparents again. She would never again climb her mountain, and she would only ever dream of touching the salty froth of the sea. And not even her children could have such dreams as the ones she was giving up. She was loath to stay, but how could she doom an entire village simply to ensure her own happiness? This was where she would die, just like all the others. Kurt knelt beside her. He placed his forehead against her own and softly cupped her face in one of his rough hands, but she pulled away.