The Girl and the Wolf

by Nicole Yek

  "Atticus," Hywel started. "Might you have anything which you’d like to share with us about this?"

  "I do actually," he hopped onto a stone and glanced in the squirrel's direction. "Mathis, I think you might've missed a very important part of the witch's hint."

  The squirrel gave him a surprised look. "Really? And what might that be?"

  "When the right person comes, follow the path of blood red roses and you will all be freed." Rutherford recited the hint as he made his way over to the frog's side.

  "Oops, looks like I've forgotten quite a bit of it." Mathis smiled sheepishly.

  "I'm not surprised that you did." Hywel commented nonchalantly.

  Mathis sucked in a deep breath, clenching his small paws into fists at his sides. "Once again, I will ignore your rude remark."

  Hywel rolled his sapphire-blue eyes and returned his attention to the frog and tortoise. "So what you're implying, Atticus, is that Garnet might be this ‘right person' whom the witch had spoken of?"

  "I'm not completely certain of it, but yes, that is my speculation." The frog gave a light nod.

  The wolf boy cocked an eyebrow at him and asked, "Is that why you'd decided to tell her about the curse?"

  "You're as keen as always I see." Atticus smirked slightly.

  "We've been best friends for more than six years, there is no way that you could possibly go through with a plan without me seeing pass it." Hywel smirked back.

  Mathis watched this short exchange between the two in vague amusement and he felt somewhat jealous that he didn't have a comrade of his own whom he could share his joy and worries with like these two did.

  "Alright, now that we have that cleared up, all that's left is to wait until little miss chosen over there wakes up from her sweet delirious slumber and we shall set off to find this path of blood red roses which will free us from this terrible curse once and for all!" the squirrel chirped.

  "But did the witch mean that we'll be freed from both the Wood and the curse or only the Wood?" Rutherford questioned. "That has always been what confuses me the most about that hint."

  "That is a very intriguing notion," Atticus mused. "I surmise that she meant both, but it could be either one really."

  "Well, either we'd be freed from the Wood alone or from both that and the curse, it's still better than being trapped in this infuriating maze for the rest of our lives." Mathis said.

  Just then, Garnet stirred in her sleep, letting out a soft groan. "And look," the squirrel's eyes landed on the brunette. "Sleeping beauty has awoken and ready to rescue us from this dreaded forest!"

  Hywel was the first one to reach her side. "Garnet," he called out when the girl's green eyes fluttered open.

  "Hywel…?" she asked, her voice uncertain as she looked up at the boy.

  "I think we should leave and give the two some privacy." Mathis whispered to Atticus and Rutherford who both nodded their heads in agreement and quietly retreated back to where they came.

  "Are you alright? Do you feel ill?" the silver-haired boy inquired the girl lying on the grass.

  She gave a slow shake of her head. "No, I feel fine." She reached a hand out to touch his cheek. The boy instantly blushed at the unexpected contact but he refrained himself from pushing her hand away. He gulped and stared down wide-eyed at her as though she was a monster ready to swallow him whole.

  "You have such pretty eyes, Hywel…" she murmured and he nearly fainted from her compliment. "I'm so jealous… I want pretty eyes like you, Hywel…"

  The wolf boy was having a difficult time efficiently getting air into his burning lungs and he was about to respond when the girl abruptly tackled him onto the ground. "Give them to me!" she screamed while trying to claw at his shocked blue eyes.

  "N-no, Garnet, stop!" he cried out in alarm as he endeavored to push the brunette off of him. "What on earth are you doing?"

  Mathis, Atticus, and Rutherford were hiding behind some tall grasses, watching the two in secret. The old tortoise couldn't help but chuckle, the frog shook his head in shame, and the squirrel smiled sheepishly.

  "Well, not exactly what I had in mind but at least they're bonding." Mathis gave a sheepish shrug of his shoulders.

  Hywel was about to call for help when the brunette on top of him suddenly ceased her thrashing and clawing and her petite body became limp almost instantly. Stunned and confused, the boy slowly looked down to find that the girl had fallen asleep… during an attempt to claw out his eyes.

  He let his head fall back onto the soft grass and shut his eyes, feeling exhausted both physically and mentally. "I never want to see those cursed berries ever again." He grumbled under his breath.

  ***

  Hywel walked through the Wood. Dried leaves that were scattered over the ground crackled under his paws as he moved. He would stroll through the forest once darkness had fallen onto the land, patrolling the area outside of where his aides inhabited in fear that an unknown creature might come out of its hiding place in the shadows and attack them. He made it his duty to protect his aides who had been turned into small, helpless animals after having been cursed himself.

  He glanced up at the moon that hung round and luminous in the raven night sky and let out a howl. He would always do that at least once after transforming into a complete wolf at night, he didn't exactly know why, but he surmised that it was most probably his animal instincts taking over. When he had made certain that there were no signs of any threat lurking around, he retreated back into the serene place hidden behind the leafy vines between the two large trees.

  Everyone was asleep by the time he returned, but he was used to it since he often came back considerably late in the middle of the night. He had made a small fire next to the log before he left to Change in order to provide the brunette some form of warmth in the chilliness of the forest nights. Garnet was still sleeping like she had been throughout the whole afternoon, not moving an inch nor waking up after the eye-clawing incident from earlier that day. Hywel shook his head, pushing the horrible memory aside. Those cursed berries were certainly to be feared.

  As the wolf neared the fire and where the brunette laid with her back against the log, he noticed that she was shivering. He couldn't feel the cold weather very much at night due to his thick fur coat, but he supposed that that specific night was chillier than the others. Feeling sympathetic towards the girl, he made his way over to her and crawled onto the log behind her, gently lifting her head up from it to allow it to rest on his warm and furry back. He swung his fluffy tail over her like a blanket and rested his head under her hand. He would never admit it to anyone, but he truly did enjoy being petted by the girl. It was a rather pleasant feeling that soothed his weary soul after a difficult day.

  With one last glance up at the brunette whose body had stopped its incessant shivering and whose lips were curled up into a faint smile, Hywel closed his own eyes and waited for sleep to come and whisk him off to a place where he wasn't a wolf-boy hybrid, wasn't cursed, and wasn't a prince.

  But into a place where he was just a normal boy and where he was simply… free.

  Chapter Ten

  The bright rays of the morning sun were the first thing to greet Garnet when she opened her heavy eyes from her long and deep slumber. She balled her hands into fists and rubbed her eyes, letting out a big yawn.

  "Well, good morning, sleeping beauty." Hywel's abrupt voice made her jump in surprise. Her head instantly snapped towards the source of his voice to find him sitting next to her on the verdant grass with his back leaning against the log and his arms behind his head. "How are you feeling?"

  The brunette placed a hand on her chest, letting out a faint sigh of relief. "You scared me, Hywel." She said, lightly shaking her head. "And I feel… a bit hazy to be honest."

  "I wouldn't be surprised," the boy removed his arms from behind his head and rested his hands on the grass on either side of him as he looked at her. "You've been asleep since noon yesterday, which means that you've been asl
eep for almost an entire day."

  "Wait, what?" she gaped at him, appalled. "What time is it right now?"

  "I'd say about noon or a little past it." The boy replied, looking up at the sky.

  Garnet shook her head, not wanting to face the truth. "So you're telling me that I basically wasted a day that I could've used to search for a way out of the Wood?"

  "Yes, I suppose." Hywel said nonchalantly.

  "What happened?" she asked, running her hands through her messy brown hair.

  The silver-haired boy's eyebrows furrowed at her. "You mean you don't remember?"

  "No." she gave a shake of her head, her long tangled brown locks swaying back and forth with the action.

  Hywel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "You've eaten some berries while we were scouring for food yesterday morning, and those berries were most likely cursed. You were hysterical! Laughing at nothing like a madwoman and curling yourself into a ball, unrelenting to get up from the ground. I had to carry you all the way back here and let me tell you that it was not an easy task."

  Garnet gasped. "Are you implying that I'm…fat?"

  He ignored her question, knowing full well from experience that one should never comment on a girl's weight. "And when I brought you back here, you kept pestering me to carry you like a baby."

  This made the girl blush in embarrassment and thankfully, it was enough to make her forget about the fact that he had ignored her question.

  "You even tried clawing my eyes out because you thought that they were pretty and wanted them for yourself!" the boy complained, raking a hand through his vaguely tousled silver hair.

  "Well, you couldn't blame me, you do have very pretty blue eyes." She said, defending her intoxicated self.

  Her words earned a glare from the wolf boy. "Are you trying to get yourself out of trouble by flattering me?"

  The girl shrugged. "Perhaps," she tilted her head to one side and blinked at him with innocent green eyes. "Is it working though?"

  Another sigh escaped from the boy's lips and he shook his head in disbelief. "It's not, and let me just tell you that flattery will get you nowhere."

  "Really? She looked at him, slightly amused. "Then why are you blushing?"

  Indeed, the silver-haired boy had a tinge of pink dusted across his pale cheeks and the color only turned darker at the mention of it. "I-I'm not!" he denied.

  "Of course you aren't…" Garnet said sarcastically. "And Meriana often told me that as well."

  Hywel's eyebrow quirked up in question. "Meriana?"

  "She's my stepmother." she said as a way of clarifying things.

  The boy was silent for a second before asking, "What happened to your real mother?"

  "She died after giving birth to me," she replied without a hint of reluctance. "Apparently she was already quite ill when she had me, and it seemed as though she had given up all the strength that she had left to send me into the world."

  He stared at her in both amazement and admiration. How could a girl who had experienced something as harsh and brutal as losing not one but both parents and still have such a light-hearted personality? If it were him, he would be wallowing in the depths of depression and guilt, waiting for those dreadful emotions to eat at him until there was nothing left except a hollow shell of who he once was.

  "I'm sorry…" he mumbled because he wasn't sure what else that he could possibly say.

  "It's alright," Garnet gave him a warm smile. "It was a fairly long time ago and I've already moved on."

  How did you do it?

  That was what he had desperately wanted to ask but the words felt like a lump lodged in his throat when he was about to speak. The girl raised an inquiring eyebrow at him. "Yes?"

  Unable to get the words out, he simply shook his head. "Never mind, it's nothing important."

  Garnet stared warily at him for a few moments before saying, "Alright then."

  She stood up from the grass and stretched out her arms. "We should better get going now, I can't afford to lose another day by staying cooped up in here despite how relaxing it is."

  Hywel only managed to give her a light nod in response and got up onto his feet. The brunette turned to look at him with her hands placed on her hips and cocked her head to one side with a disapproving expression on her face.

  "What?" the boy asked, slightly confused by her sudden change of mood.

  "You look like a mess." She stated bluntly.

  He couldn't help but crack a small smile at her words. "Look who's calling the kettle black," he said. "You look twice the mess than I am."

  "Well, at least for girls, my disheveled look can be passed off as the newest fashion trend." She gave a swift flip of her tangled locks, making the boy chuckle.

  "Yes, the newest fashion trend for the kingdom's beggars." He smirked.

  The brunette gasped and started throwing weak insults at him that wasn't by any means offensive. She continued to rage at him even after they had proceeded on with their mission to find an escape route out of the Wood. The boy knew that he had complained about how immature and childish the girl in red was, but he realized then that those specific traits of hers were what made her so loveable and were how she had managed to cope with and live through the hardships that she'd faced. There were scars all over her, but they weren't as prominent as others', and Hywel thought that because of this, she might just be wiser than anyone who he had ever met.

  ***

  The air was hot and humid and it clung comfortably onto Garnet's light olive skin. She grimaced and whined. "Why is it so hot?"

  The weather was quite a contrast from the spine-chilling cold from the night before and the brunette's footsteps were slowing down with every passing step that she took. "It's so hot," she proceeded to grumble. "I'm going to melt!"

  "I agree, Miss, I think I'll turn into a puddle of squirrel juice before evening even comes." Mathis cried out in despair on Button's back as the white rabbit hopped onwards. The two small animals had volunteered to join them in their expedition to search for an exit out of the cursed forest before Garnet and Hywel left that morning.

  "Don't be ridiculous, that is physically impossible," Hywel said without turning around to look at her as he walked on. "And the both of you, stop talking nonsense. Garnet, you're the one who’s in a hurry to get out of the Wood, you should stop complaining about the weather and pay attention to your surroundings. There might be a clue hidden somewhere, either between the trees or their leaves."

  The footsteps of the girl behind him suddenly came to a halt and he ceased his own to crane his neck around to look at her. She was staring at him with her face uncommonly impassive. "Hywel?" she said.

  "Yes?" he replied.

  "I've never asked you this before, but why have you been helping me? Why are you still helping me?" she questioned, her forest green eyes boring into his sapphire-blue ones. "That first night when I came into the Wood and was attacked by the wolves, you didn't know who I was, yet you rescued me anyway. Why?"

  The wolf boy scratched the back of his head. He actually hadn't put much thought into what compelled him to save the girl when during ordinary circumstances, he wouldn't have done it for anyone else besides his aides. He speculated that it was a spur of the moment decision and was most probably due to his animal instincts taking over at the time and had simply left the matter at that conclusion. But animals wouldn't rescue humans whom they had no relations with or memories of, so what was it? What had driven him to risk his life in a fight where he was clearly outnumbered in order to save this unknown girl?

  "Well…" he tried to grasp for a believable explanation but none came to him, so he blurted out the first excuse that came into his mind. "Button was the one who came to me and asked for me to help."

  He glanced down at the white rabbit who kept on hopping forward. "Isn't that so, Button?"

  "Leave me out of this." Button carried on hopping, not bothering to turn around to look at them who were sta
rting to fall behind. Mathis, on the other hand, was watching the scene attentively from his spot on the rabbit's back.

  Hywel muttered a curse at the uncooperative rabbit under his breath and noticing this, Garnet decided to take it easy on him by simply accepting his answer. "Alright," She said. The boy was about to release a sigh of relief when she suddenly thrust another question onto him. "Then tell me why are you still helping me now? Don't you find me irritating? Because it seems to me like you do."

  "Well, I… I…" he trailed off, feeling more frustrated than he had ever been, and when his exasperated mind couldn't conjure up any acceptable excuses, he chose to tell the truth. "I don't hate you." He mumbled bashfully and he felt awkward and oddly out of place in the situation.

  He was about to change the topic of the conversation when out of nowhere, Garnet's hands held onto the back of his head and pulled his face down towards hers so their forehead rested against each other's. With a smile playing on her lips, she rubbed her nose against his before pulling away and letting go of him, leaving him stunned in place with his blue eyes wide and his mouth agape.

  "W-what was that?" he asked, shocked.

  "Isn't that how wolves thank each other? I've seen dogs back in the village do that quite often so I assumed that it's the same with wolves!" She flashed him a grin.

  Without warning, her forehead was struck with a flick of the boy's finger, causing her to wince out in pain and stagger back slightly. Her hands immediately flew over her assaulted forehead and she pouted, looking up at him with big, sad, and hurt eyes. "What did you do that for?"

  "Y-you shouldn't do something like that!" the boy cried out, flustered. He honestly felt like he might have fainted if it weren't for Mathis watching them in the distance. Without another word, he turned on his heels and chased after the hopping rabbit and the squirrel sitting on his back.

  "Don't you even dare, Mathis," Hywel warned the squirrel who had his arms crossed over his chest and a wide smirk plastered on his furry little face.