All Micco was doing wasn’t going to be enough. I thought the sickness was going to be a few people, maybe the males of the wolf village. We could contain it and then look for a cure. I could never imagine Grace as a monster. And what would happen when the fence was finished. They would all be trapped with the cursed wolves. What would happen to the women and children? Would they be prey or turn into a cursed wolf like the others?
“Sera,” she said as Sera walked out of her room and into the living space of the cottage. “Your lessons have just ended. Now it’s time to deal with the curse for real. It is back.”
Sera looked at Red, shocked. I don’t think she thought the curse was back either.
“Castiel. You will stay here until we handle this. No seeing the wolves. Not Grace or Nikkan.”
My eyes bulged as I stood up and pushed my chair back.
“Nikkan and Grace are my friends.”
“And wolves,” she pointed out.
“So?”
She had no right to tell me what to do.
“They can hurt you or even curse you with the wolf curse. They won’t be in control of themselves. You have to stay away for their sake. It’s the only way to stay safe. They both would be devastated if they hurt you, and you know it.”
“They could never hurt me. I know that.” I couldn’t help but defy her. She was wrong about the curse and how it could change Nikkan or Grace. They were my friends, not the monsters she was trying to make them out to be.
“They won’t want to, but they will. The curse takes away their free will. You will stay here. That’s an order.”
“I’m not a child,” I spat back. She couldn’t just give me orders. I wasn’t one of her soldiers. “You spent weeks ignoring that something could be wrong with the wolves, and not even seven moons ago, I told you to help Micco, and you turned me away. You don’t have a right to tell me what to do when you spent your time ignoring it. Maybe if you’d helped Micco when he asked for help, the child wouldn’t have been taken.”
Red didn’t stand up but just gave me the stare I dreaded my whole life.
“You aren’t allowed to date wolves. They are dangerous, and you will get hurt.”
“Date?” I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Grace,” Red added at my confusion. “is a wolf no matter how nice she might be.”
I rubbed my hand down my face as I tried not to smile. Some of my anger faded a bit. My mother thought I was dating Grace too. Couldn’t a guy just go someplace with a girl without it being a date?
“Grace is just a friend, mom. Nikkan likes her. There’s nothing to worry about there. Grace and I are just friends.”
That seemed to appease Red a little as relief showed momentarily on her face.
“Glad to hear that, but what I said is true whether you’re dating her or not. You never saw the curse and don’t understand. A cursed wolf can’t control themselves.” Unfortunately, she wasn’t done with her lecture; that started my blood boiling again. “You may be all grown up, but I’m still your mother. If I tell you to stay here, then you stay here. If that doesn’t work for you, how about I’m the Red of Elder, and you will do as I say.”
My anger came back completely. I hated to be ordered around, and I hated her treating me like a child. I was technically an adult and had been since the beginning of winter. It was about time she trusted me and treated me like one.
“That might have worked three winters ago or maybe even two. But I’m done following orders. I can protect myself, and who I choose to be around is my choice. Curse or not, they are still my friends, and I plan to do everything I can to keep all the wolves safe, no matter what you do.”
I didn’t give her time to respond as I stood and left the room. I wasn’t a child, and I wasn’t going to be ordered around. She turned a blind eye to the wolves, but I wouldn’t do that. They needed help, and I’d do anything I could so long as I could walk and breathe. Fight or not, Nikkan was my family, and Grace was my friend.
3
6th March
I returned home in defiance of Red’s order. I understood that the wolves were dangerous. Trust me. It was a lesson she had pounded into me growing up. Wolves are dangerous. Wolves will hurt you. Wolves fight dirty. Wolves can kill you. Always be on guard with wolves. Never be alone at night. Always be ready for a wolf attack. She wanted to bridge the wolves and tree humans together, but even Red didn’t completely trust them. I got all those lessons growing up. I knew what I was dealing with, but I knew my friends.
Nikkan, mad at me or not, would never hurt me. He was my family. Grace couldn’t hurt a fly if she wanted to. She was just that nice. And Micco was like a grandfather to me. The older man didn’t just have a soft spot for Nikkan but also for me. He was there when I needed to talk, and he cared way more than any male in the tree village ever did about me. They weren’t the monsters Red spoke about, or the community believed them to be. They were my friends.
I lost yesterday going to the tree village to see Red, but at least one good thing came from it. She finally understood there was a problem. I wasn’t quite sure what she would see as a way to help the wolves, but, at least, she now admitted they needed help. The first step to solving this was getting Red on board. She was the leader of the kingdom, and the one everyone relied on. If anyone could find a way to help the wolves, it would be Red.
I wasn’t too happy to hear it was likely the curse was back. Red never once told anyone how she broke the curse. I wasn’t sure if it could be done again. The curse returning was a bad sign. Sick wolves were terrible, but the curse was ten times worse. I wasn’t going to be happy to break that news to Micco. I don’t think he wanted to think that was a possibility, but now it was. It was something we would have to face together.
My walk back from my meeting with Red at the tree village yesterday included getting some new supplies and some meat. I already had my kills skinned and drying. There was enough food to last me for a little bit. This freed me up, and I had time today to go back to the wolves and see where I could help.
Luckily, it was an easy trip back to my place after Red tried to keep me with her. I was glad she didn’t try to physically restrain me. I don’t recall the last time I fought with her as it had been many winters. I still don’t know if I could beat her or not. If she wanted to keep me there, between Red and Sera, I’m pretty sure I would be doomed, but, at least, Red understood she couldn’t do that. Even if she locked me in her cottage, I would find a way out. She didn’t have a say in how I lived my life or what dangers I chose to face.
The sun had been up for a while when I finally made it out of the house after prepping and putting my food away. It was strange not to start my day with the run around the woods to check for wolves. I figured I had more important things to do; it was fine to miss a few days. And it wasn’t like the wolves were out during the daylight anyway. They attacked at night; that was part of the curse. The remaining non-sick wolves were busy building the fence, so I really didn’t need to be patrolling.
As I made my way out of my house and onto the pathway that headed north to the wolf village, someone was waiting for me. I nodded to the older man as he stepped beside me to walk. It wasn’t going to be a quick jog to the wolf village.
“Did Red finally come to her senses?” Micco asked as he walked slowly beside me.
It wasn’t just Red that had aged many winters in the course of only a few moons. Micco was looking older too. He walked with a limp, which was beyond strange also because even though wolves aged, they always stayed in good health.
“If you include telling me I wasn’t allowed to see you, then I guess yes.”
Micco gave me a sad smile.
“You should listen to her. She knows what she’s talking about,” Micco replied as he slowed further.
I wasn’t sure what to say to the older wolf. Right now, Elder was in trouble. I didn’t have a solution. Red didn’t seem to have a solution, and neither did Micco. We needed
to all sit down and talk together, but I wasn’t sure how or when that would happen. I doubted I could contain my anger if she treated me like a kid any further. And where could we all meet? I was more than sure Micco wasn’t welcome in the tree village any longer, and Red wouldn’t be welcome at the wolf village. The two people that had pretty much raised me were on opposite sides, and I was caught in the middle trying to help everyone.
“I’m here to help you guys. I don’t care about the danger. Red made it her mission to make sure I know how to protect myself. I can handle myself, even if she doesn’t think so. The wolves don’t scare me.”
“They should.” Micco found a fallen tree and sat down on it. His clothing had seen better days, and his ragged brown pants had more holes than I could count. He was doing about as well as the rest of the wolves. “They scare the hell outta me.”
Not possible. Micco was alpha. He was at the top of the food chain. There was nothing that should make him think twice, let alone a wolf that was under him. I looked at the older man, and he wasn’t kidding. He was telling the truth.
“I scare me,” Micco continued.
He looked into the woods at the sound of something small digging under the leaves. I was pretty sure it was a mouse, not worth trying to catch or eat, but then again, Micco, along with the rest of the wolves, was going hungry. We shouldn’t have been sitting in the woods, and it would have been better to go back to my place. I didn’t have much, but I could always get more. I was about to ask him when he spoke again.
“I didn’t mean to kill Nathan. I was supposed to be protecting him. Instead, he ends up dead at my hands.”
“That wasn’t your fault,” I told him. And it wasn’t. Nathan had to be stopped, and we couldn’t let one wolf start a war that would result in all the wolves being hunted.
“I think I’m too old for all this. I survived one curse only to have to deal with sick wolves bringing us all back to the place we’d be better off not going. I don’t know if I can fight the tree people a second time.”
I sat down beside Micco. It was time to tell him the truth.
“Red said it isn’t a sickness. The curse is back.”
Micco nodded as he tried to smile like he was expecting that news.
“I figured.”
He looked out into the woods and sighed. Here, by my place, it was still the ordinary woods of Elder. Animals roamed around, though most stayed clear of Micco. There were chirping birds and skittering chipmunks. Squirrels chatted in the trees, and the green buds on the trees indicated spring was coming. It was a time for growth and new life, and Micco was dealing with death. I understood why he was tired, but he couldn’t give up. The wolves needed him.
“You had to stop Nathan. He was going to kill the baby. No one blames you, and I bet he doesn’t either. Just think what would have happened not only to the wolves and tree people if you hadn’t stopped him. But what about him if he had awakened the next morning from the curse and found he had killed a child. It would have devastated him. You stopped him from being a monster, and I think if he were here now, he’d thank you. You can’t give up over Nathan.”
Micco nodded as he continued to stare into the woods. He didn’t seem convinced by my words, no matter how true they were.
Being the leader of an entire breed of people was taking its toll on him. I could see it in Red now, but I could also see it in Micco. He was feeling the winters of being a wolf and alpha. I wasn’t sure there was anyone qualified or strong enough to take his place if he was done. He didn’t have a choice. Without Micco, the wolves would possibly go extinct.
“I just don’t know if I can continue to lead them.”
The wolves without Micco was just too hard for me to comprehend. Micco was the wolves. He’d been the leader as long as I had been alive and would be for many winters to come. They didn’t exist without him. They needed him.
“You are the best chance the wolves have of surviving this.”
And that was the truth. Micco was strong and could keep everyone in line, but he also was old enough to remember what it was like over eighteen winters ago. He was perfect for the job even if he didn’t think so right now.
“We don’t have enough food to feed everyone because the cursed wolves ate all the local animals, but now each wolf village has hundreds of new people to feed, house, and clothe.”
“What?”
I would have heard from Red if more people had been bitten and turned into wolves. In fact, I think the tree village would be at the wolf village with guns loaded if that many people had been changed into wolves.’
Micco ran his hands through his dark brown graying hair. Those streaks had been there as long as I could remember but somehow seemed to make him look older now in his defeat. He took a deep breath as I waited for some sort of explanation.
“They kicked them out.”
It hit me. I knew exactly who he was talking about. Since the time the curse was broken, many wolves had decided to move back to the human villages they grew up in. Without the curse, they were safe to be home. Some of them had been wolves less time than they had been human. It made sense for them to go home. With the curse back, that meant they weren’t safe.
It was better than what I was thinking. If Micco turned any more humans into wolves, they would hunt him, and the wolves would lose. My mother might have been singing the whole let's be one people song, but she was stockpiling weapons in the tree village. I had never told Micco, but I’m sure he suspected that she wasn’t going to let the curse be the same as before.
“What am I supposed to do with that many hungry wolves. Yes, spring is coming, and we can plant more food, but our granaries are getting low, and we will need all summer to grow the crops. We need meat to stay healthy. We can’t live on spring crops like spinach and peas alone. We won’t survive.”
“I take it Elder’d farmers also cut off trade?”
The wolves made a living trading with the tree people. They provided meat, animal skins, and wild berries in trade for items like tools and grain from the plains. It was an even trade. But without animals to hunt, they didn’t have anything to trade, and they couldn’t buy on credit for the following season if the people were too afraid to trade with them. It’s impossible to trade with people that won’t come within a hundred saplings of you because they are afraid.
“Yes. We’ve been informed by the farmers of Elder that the wolves are on their own. We have to stay away from the people of Elder, and if one more person gets taken, whether they are hurt or not, the wolves will be hunted.”
I would have argued that Red would never do that, but what I had seen only the day before told me she would. Red wasn’t the same peace-loving leader I had grown used to in the past few winters. She was protecting the tree people.
“What will you do?”
Micco stared into the sky and then at the woods silently for several moments.
“I don’t know.”
Micco was defeated. His wolves were getting sick. Elder didn’t support them, and they had no one to turn to for help. Red’s need to help the people of Elder didn’t extend to the wolves. She was treating them just like everyone else. To say I was disappointed in her wasn’t quite adequate to express what I was feeling. She was supposed to help all the people of Elder, and if they changed into wolves’ part of the time, the wolf villagers were still people of Elder. They needed her help now more than ever.
I sat with him in silence. What was there to do? The wolves were sick and cursed, and we didn’t know what the cure was. Red was against the wolves when she once was their greatest champion. And Micco was forced to kill his friend to save the rest of the wolves. Nothing made sense, and it sure wasn’t fair.
“Legend has it when the first curse hit, a group left and lived completely as wolves. They claim the curse only affects those that transform back and forth. If we live like wolves, maybe we will stay safe.”
“I thought that you said that this could only be passed wolf
to wolf. Isn’t that the opposite of what you’re saying now?”
Micco shrugged. “That was guesswork when I thought it was just an illness. Now we think the curse is back I’ve been forced to reevaluate. The truth is I don’t know for sure either way. Maybe it’s something to do with the transforming between forms. I only know that those living only as wolves didn’t get affected.”
That was hopeful—if it worked.
“But we need to finish the fences first,” he expanded. “We can’t let the sick wolves out of the villages, and we can’t let those that don’t know how to transform any more out either. Some of those wolves that returned to their homes haven’t transformed since they left. I’m not sure they remember how to transform. They will be a liability, and all liabilities need to be locked up.”
“And you need to stay human to make the fence,” I added. That was the real problem. If his idea really would work, then most of the wolves would be fine until we found answers. But if they didn’t cage the ones that were sick, nothing would matter.
Micco stood up.
“Go home, Castiel. I don’t need Red mad at me. Try and talk to her again. Tell her we need help making it safe. The more people that come to build, the quicker the wolves will be separated from everyone.”
I didn’t want to leave him alone, but I understood. He was right. The wolves didn’t stand a chance to get the walls built. They needed help. I had to go back and talk to Red, no matter if I wanted to deal with her right now or not.
Micco rose and patted me on the shoulder. He was a good leader, and I hated to see him giving up. The wolves would never survive without him.
“You’re a good kid, Castiel. Don’t get caught between all this. Do as your mother asks.”
I didn’t say a word as Micco walked back the way he came. I wasn’t about to lie to the older wolf, but I couldn’t just follow what Red wanted blindly. She might not want the wolves killed outright, but she wasn’t helping them stay safe. She was choosing the tree people over the wolves. The women and children of the wolves’ villages were just caught in the crossfire.
Castiel: Son of Red Riding Hood (Kingdom of Fairytales Boxset Book 3) Page 11