Once Upon a Time

by C J Preece

  The Family had all risen, roaring and tearing their ragged robes away. They crashed heavily to the ground and stalked around the fire towards the Ass. Every guard the Ass had leapt in front of them, cats and hunting dogs, snakes and tigers all crowding between the bears and Goldilocks.

  Papa rose, spreading his arms and out and roaring loud enough to make everyone flinch. He slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the stone at his feet. “We would tear through an army to kill her,” he bellowed.

  “Please, my lord, I meant no disrespect. I only mean to claim a fair price for this most generous offering.”

  The Hawk had lifted his talon from her back, and as she looked back she saw the predators and guards move to the front of the pack. She looked up and saw the Hawk give the tiniest nod of his head. She gathered her knees up underneath herself, pushing at the cuffs until they were hanging on her wrists almost fully open.

  “What is your price ass?”

  “I want Hawk. Dead.”

  “What?” The Hawk was doing a good job of his acting. “Treachery! I offer a kingdom and you would throw me aside?”

  A horrible calm settled over the congregation suddenly. Red felt it in her bones, as a dull weight on her chest, a drip of cold sweat on her spine. It was seconds away now. Papa turned his head slowly to regard the Hawk, his eyes steely grey. “For her death we would kill a thousand. Goodbye old friend.”

  The lion stepped to the front and roared, the signal for all hell to break loose.

  Red slipped out of her chains with ease and raced for the bull, grabbing her bag and pulling the long metal tube out. It was already beginning to heat in anticipation of battle. She unscrewed the cap almost all the way, then handed it to a gorilla, who threw it like a javelin, aiming for the Goose’s tower. Red was already moving though, drawing her shotgun and a knife from the bag and following the Hawk’s forces as they charged to battle. They were outnumbered, but they were prepared for a fight. The Ass’ forces weren’t expecting an attack, too concerned by the Family, and most of the Family’s forces were still sitting to one side. The advantage wouldn’t last, but it was enough for Red. She pulled the bag onto her back properly, putting on a burst of speed.

  She ducked under a swipe from a shape to her left, not sure whether it was friend or foe. She had Goldilocks’ location fixed in her head, and was taking the most direct route. Ahead she saw a cart horse kicking out viciously at anyone who came close. She used a body in front of him as a springboard, launching herself up and planting a boot on the horse’s back, ready to leap forward. He bucked before she could jump, propelling her above the crowd and down into the mass of bodies. Her fall was cushioned by something big and furry, and as she rolled to a halt on the ground she could see Goldilocks just ahead of her.

  The problem was she could also see a big cat rushing towards Goldie, who had no idea of the danger. Blindfolded and chained she had decided to curl into a ball, sensible enough to avoid being trampled, but now every Beast in there would be looking for her, trying to claim the prize. Red brought the shotgun up and fired a single shell, catching the cat in the shoulder and knocking him to the floor. She scrabbled to her feet and sprinted forwards, jamming her knife hard into a bull’s flank. She didn’t know if it was the Hawk’s bull or not, but it was in her way.

  She left the knife, drawing a revolver out of the bag. She emptied it into a bloodhound that was heading for Goldilocks, kicking a snake that tried to snap at her heels. “Goldie!” she shouted.

  There was no reaction, the roar of the battle was drowning her out. The fire had been scattered, putting flaming logs in amongst the fighters. There was a screech from above and she glanced up to see the Hawk snatching a raven out of the air. Dozens of birds wheeled in the sky, swooping down to strike at animals on the ground.

  From ahead there was a deafening roar and she watched half a dozen cats go flying back, Papa appearing from beneath them. He was only a few feet away from Goldilocks now, and he bared every one of his teeth when he spotted her. Red snapped her shotgun up and fired, but the shot went wild. Papa pounced forwards, his paws coming down on either side of Goldie, hiding her from view. Red racked the action and fired again, peppering Papa’s flank with buckshot. He snarled and turned to her, but he didn’t move from Goldie.

  “Fight me,” she shouted at him.

  She was so focused on getting to Goldilocks she didn’t notice the mass of fur and teeth barrelling down on her until it had already hit her, sending her sprawling to the floor. The shotgun dug into her stomach as she rolled to a stop several feet away, looking up to see Baby facing her down. He was sneering at her, just as arrogant and cocky as he had every right to be. She forced herself up, but stayed in a crouch. She had fought wolves that weren’t much smaller, and those had been honed by years in the wild. Baby was undernourished, used to his food simply being delivered to him. And she had to get to Goldilocks.

  She fired her last two shells for him, hitting him in the shoulder and arm. He charged her, closing the distance in seconds, and rose to his full height, sweeping his gigantic paw for her. She dodged the clumsy blow easily enough, sidestepping him and kicking him hard in the back of the knee. He dropped to the floor, giving her time to drop the bag off her back and onto the ground, drawing a knife and revolver from it. She didn’t give him a moment, putting two bullets into his head and diving out of the way of his retaliatory swipe. His skull was thick enough that he didn’t die, but he had to have a splitting headache now.

  Her next move was one she had perfected on a hundred wolves. Her dive took her into a roll that brought her up right behind him, in perfect position to slice through his knee from behind. But she had miscalculated how deeply she needed to cut, and her knife caught on the muscles in Baby’s leg. She came to a jarring halt, right behind Baby. She let go of the knife and turned to run, but he was faster, spinning round and slashing towards her. His claws bit deeply into her shoulder and she dropped her shotgun, shouting in pain as he dragged her to face him.

  Unfortunately Baby didn’t seem to know how these things usually worked, and instead of gloating at her he brought her straight in for the kill, opening his jaws wide and bringing her head up to meet them. She smelled fetid breath and saw meat still clinging to his teeth, his mouth a gaping red maw that could engulf her to the shoulders with ease. She forced her arm round to her back, where she was able to grab her emergency knife. As her head passed between his teeth she snapped her arm up and around, stabbing blindly and hoping his first reaction wasn’t to clamp down.

  The knife sank in, not deep but enough to make him flinch. Thankfully his arm moved first, dropping her and coming up to cover his face. She landed hard on her shoulder, yelling again as dirt was ground into the wound. She forced herself through it, scrambling towards her bag and ripping it open. Her left arm was almost useless now, but she was able to wrestle her sawn-off shotgun out of the bag and twisted on one knee, firing the second he was in her sights. Both rounds went right into his back leg, just above where she had driven her knife in. He howled and fell backwards, arms flailing for her.

  Calmly, coldly, she drew a sawn-off rifle from the bag. She got low to the ground, one leg beneath her and the other planted solidly in the dirt, giving her a makeshift rest to place the rifle on. As Baby struggled to get onto this front she lined up a careful shot and fired. The gun kicked hard, jarring her wrist as a gout of flame exploded from the end. The bullet flew true, blasting an ugly hole in Baby’s cheek, sending splinters of teeth spiralling through the air. He yelped and fell back, mewling pathetically and pawing at the air. Red stood, working the bolt on the rifle and scooping the bag onto her useless arm, wincing as the strap bit into the deep gouges in her shoulder. As she marched towards Papa she put a bullet through Baby’s forehead, not even breaking stride.

  She could see Papa now, holding Goldilocks high off the ground. She thanked whatever god was watching that he had decided to play with his food. The crowd was beginn
ing to thin as the battle wore out. She had no idea who was winning, and neither did she care. She worked the bolt one-handed and fired at Papa, a perfect target. The bullet caught him in the gut, but hardly fazed him. He looked down at her and snarled, dropping Goldie to the ground. Red loaded a fresh bullet and aimed for him.

  “Your son’s dead,” she shouted over the noise. “Walk away or join him.”

  “My son won’t die at some human slut’s hands.”

  Someone had been teaching him human insults. Instead of retorting she stepped to one side, allowing him to see his son’s body. He screamed in rage and pain and charged her without another word, nearly a full ton of fury. She threw herself aside to escape his wild charge, realising a second too late that she had no chance of winning this fight.

  Finally, blessedly, the Vajra exploded, a torrent of fire that engulfed Goose’s tower from base to peak. Lightning bolts blasted from it, vaporising any creatures unlucky enough to be caught in the beam. The fire roiled and twisted, becoming a malformed face, then a great arm that swept down through the fighters, incinerating them. The screams of battle turned to screams of panic, and the crush of fighters became a stampede, rushing to escape the primal force that threatened to destroy them all. Papa turned back to her and growled, baring his teeth. She forced herself to her feet, rifle in hand, and kept him covered. “You will not touch her,” she said in a voice that sounded far braver than she felt.

  There was an explosion behind her and she flinched as blood and bone went flying from Papa’s head, just above the eye. He barely twitched, but the right side of his face slackened, and when he took a step it was unsteady. Red fired, her bullet striking the same wound, burrowing deep into his head with no skull to stop it. He twitched again, went to take a step, but his paw slipped underneath him and he crashed heavily into the mud, breathing, but not for much longer.

  Red turned to face the mystery assailant, but there was no one behind her. She looked to her feet, where Goldilocks was holding a hunting revolver, still bound and gagged but with the blindfold gone. She knelt and took the gag away, brushing tears from Goldilocks’ cheeks.

  “Aiming for the eye,” she sniffled. “Never very good.”

  It had been months since she last heard Goldie’s voice, nearly a year, and hearing it now brought a sob of relief from Red. She threw her arms around the blonde haired girl and squeezed her tight.

  “Uh, Red?”

  She pulled back to see Goldie holding up her manacled hands. Her right arm was trembling and Red realised they had taken her elbow brace from her.

  “Of course, sorry.” She got herself back under control, pulling a skeleton key from her bag and slipping it into the lock. Her hands freed Red moved to open the shackles on Goldie’s legs. The fire of the Vajra was beginning to leave, returning to the sky in a steady spiral plume. The few animals left were battered and defeated. Red looked about in a momentary panic, but spotted her prey with ease. Right on the very edge of the square, cowering against a pile of rubble, was an Ass in a tattered skin.

  “Leaving now?” Goldie asked.

  “One last job,” Red assured her, taking her bag back up.

  They hurried across the battlefield, dodging in between bodies and pieces of bodies left behind. Blood had made the ground slick, and here and there were patches of hard baked earth from where the fire had touched.

  “Hello Ass,” Red said when they reached him. “I think we need to have a talk.”

  “Red Rider, please. I only did what I thought was best for the Farm. I am a leader, I have to make hard choices someti-ARGH!” She had stepped on his hind leg, snapping the flimsy bone in two.

  “Where’s the book Ass?”

  “What book, I don’t know any book, please…”

  She put her boot on his other leg. “Two seconds and I lose my patience.”

  He whimpered a little, twisting his body until a bag was revealed on his back, hidden by the lion skin. “Take it.”

  “Goldie?”

  Mutely she obeyed, taking a small leather bound book out of the bag and slipping it into one of the pockets of her jacket. Red took her boot away and nodded to the Ass. “Pleasure doing business with you.” She turned to leave, pausing as a thought occurred to her. “If you come after Goldilocks again I will flay you alive and hang you from your own tower, understood?”

  He nodded so hard it looked as though his head might come off. She nodded again. “Goodbye Ass.”

  She led the way to the edge of town, ignoring the pitiful cries of those around her. The silent presence at her side felt better than she could imagine, but it was hard to feel any real sense of victory. All she could think of now was how she needed to talk to Belle. There was a lot of explaining to be done. Goldilocks seemed to sense that now was not the time for talk, and stayed mercifully quiet as they reached the edge of town.

  “Rider!”

  Red spun round, gun up in a heartbeat and trained on the broken figure of Mama. She looked awful. Huge patches of her fur were missing, and underneath her skin looked blackened and burned. One of her paws was hanging off her arm and she was barely able to put one foot in front of the other. One ear was missing entirely and there was scratches and deep cuts all over her body. Goldilocks cowered as Mama lurched closer.

  “I’ve already killed your husband, and your child,” Red said. “I don’t want to kill you too. Rebuild. Tend to your people. Come after me if you must, but don’t make me kill you now.”

  Mama collapsed to her knees, gesturing helplessly at the carnage around her. She didn’t have to say anything, and as they turned to leave her sobs echoed over the Farm. Just before they crossed the town line Red looked up and saw the Hawk, flying low enough that they could lock eyes. He nodded to her, but she only stared as he began a lazy circle back to his tower.

  “Come on,” she muttered to Goldie. “We’re done here.”

  Chapter Six: The Rising Tide

  Renard was waiting by her bike, just as when she had last left.

  “I saw the fireball from here,” he said by way of greeting. “Most impressive.”

  “It got the job done.”

  “And my book? Did it survive the inferno?”

  “Wait,” Goldilocks grabbed her arm and turned her. “You went in there to get a book for Renard?”

  “I went in there to save you. Renard gave me the information I needed, that was his price.”

  “Since when are you dealing with him again?”

  “Since you got yourself captured by the Ass.”

  “This is all very touching and lovely, but if you wouldn’t mind?” Renard leapt down from the bike and walked up to Goldilocks. She pulled the book out of her pocket and handed it down to him. He stood up on his hind legs and took it in his paw, holding it close to his chest as he dropped back to the floor. “Many thanks. Now if you’ll excuse me I have somewhere else to be.” He began to lope away.

  “Wait,” Red shouted after him. “What’s coming? You owe me answers.”

  He stopped on the very edge of the forest, turning back and smiling with his suddenly human mouth. “I don’t owe you anything cub. I helped you get her back, you got my book back. We’re even.”

  “If I find out you had anything to do with my being here I’ll kill you.”

  He was gone before she even finished speaking. She hadn’t seen him move, but all of a sudden there was only shadow where he had been standing. She kicked a tyre, grunting as the action pulled the bag down on her shoulder.

  “Come on,” Goldie said. “Get that off.”

  “I’m fine,” she snapped.

  “Whatever,” she stepped back, holding her hands up. “I guess it was too much to hope you’d changed.”

  “Just shut up and get on.” Red slipped the bag off and strapped it to the back, stretching her arm out delicately and flexing her fingers to make sure she could still feel them.

  “Shouldn’t I drive?” Goldie asked as she
got on the back of the bike.

  Red got on, still holding her arm close to her chest. “You probably should. But you can’t, so I guess we’re stuck like this.”

  “Let’s just go.” She could hear the hurt in Goldie’s voice. It made her feel awful. But suddenly she was finding it impossible to think of what to say.

  Instead of trying to apologise she revved the engine and spun the bike in a close circle until they were facing away from the Farm. It was still dark, but they had another four hour ride to get back to Ateer. Probably longer if her arm got any more painful. Just before they set off Goldie wrapped her arms round Red’s waist, holding on tightly. Trying to ignore the rush of emotion that brought on, Red roared away.

  *

  They had been driving in silence for nearly a full hour before Goldilocks finally spoke, shouting to be heard over the engine. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

  Red gritted her teeth and accelerated, though that hardly did anything to get away from the question. Goldie was quiet for a moment, then jabbed her in the ribs, hard enough to make her lose control of the bike for a second. They skidded across the road and Red brought the bike to a stop.

  She twisted to look over her shoulder. “What the hell Goldie?”

  “What the hell yourself. Aren’t you going to talk to me at all?”

  Red turned back to the road. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  “Are you still mad at me?”

  “Yes.” She almost heard Goldie’s face fall. “No.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. We’ve got to get back to Ateer. There’s more going on here than just rebellion at the Farm.”

  “Well duh, why do you think I was sent there?”

  “What?” She didn’t remember getting off the bike and grabbing hold of Goldie’s jacket, but that was the position she suddenly found herself in.

  “Why do you think I was sent there?” There wasn’t a trace of fear in Goldie’s eyes. That more than anything snapped her out of it. She stepped away, rubbing her forehead and trying to process what she had just been told.