Darling, There Are Wolves in the Woods

by Lydia Russell

  The low rumble of voices stopped me instantly, and I crouched behind a circle of jagged rocks to avoid being seen, my heart threatening to leap from my throat. I cringed against the rock, closing my eyes briefly at the horror before me.

  Six bulbous creatures sat around a fire, huge long heads bent low as they snarled at one another. Thick, curling horns glowed red hot as the flames reached up to lick at them. The remains of wings slouched against the ground, great jutting bone with the barest scraps of flesh hanging between, and as their wings twitched, they thumped their long, long tails.

  Something monstrous hung over the fire, held up by thick sticks that had been rammed through the meat. Its hide had blackened, no longer the deep moss-green of the others surrounding it.

  I flinched at the sudden shriek of laughter, the sounds of ripping flesh drowning everything else out, sickened by the wet, slobbering that followed.

  “It’s tough,” the beast spat, taking another bite, fat slithering down its mouth to dangle at its chin. “But it tastes good.”

  My stomach clenched, fear a blinding force that made everything cold.

  “Wait until you taste the new one,” another growled, slicing a strip of meat with a curling black talon. “Wait for the datura to wear off then I’ll cut his throat.”

  I backed up, my stomach twisting and rolling with the smell of whatever…whoever they were eating. I looked away and spotted Laphaniel, and that sick feeling turned to dread.

  They held him in a cage made of bones, rotten meat still clinging to the yellowing cartilage. His head rested against the grotesque bars, blood seeping from just above his brow to pool over his face. I crept over to him, keeping low, keeping to the shadows and never once taking my eyes off the creatures around the fire.

  “Shh,” I whispered as he stirred, his eyes blinking back at me. “I'm going to get you out… Somehow.”

  Gingerly, he moved a hand to the base of his skull, grimacing as his fingers came away red. “You need to get out of here.”

  His words were slow, deliberate, as if thinking straight was too hard a task. He groaned and his eyes shuttered closed.

  “Have they poisoned you? Look at me!” I hissed the words, fighting panic as I pressed against the bars, cringing as my words echoed. Laphaniel flinched, but the monsters didn’t turn.

  “I think so… Teya, I can barely feel my legs… Everything's moving… Please… Go.”

  “They're going to slit your throat.” I breathed, searching the hideous cage for any signs of weakness, my hands coming back sticky. “What are they?”

  “Trolls,” he said, voice soft. “They’re clever and fast…leave me.”

  “Which one has the key?”

  “I don’t…I don’t know,” he murmured, blood dripping from his head onto the ragged bones holding him.

  “Okay,” I said, my fury dissolving into a frantic need to get him out. “I’m not leaving you, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “Teya, wait!” He made a feeble attempt to grab me through the bars, his fingers brushing over my wrist, causing a spasm of pain to shoot up my arm.

  I shook my head, determined. “You wouldn't have left me.”

  “Don’t…”

  I reached for him, giving his hand what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze. “I'm going to make sure I can point out the irony of this later.”

  He made to say something, but his eyes rolled back instead, and he slumped down with a horrible gagging noise at his lips. I shoved him onto his side just as a thin dribble of bile bubbled out his mouth.

  “I’m coming back,” I said firmly, running a hand over the back of his head, my fingers stopping over the sizeable bump on the back of his skull. “Trust me.”

  Steeling myself, I backed away from Laphaniel and crept closer to the trolls. I kept to the shadows, crawling behind rocks that covered the ground until I could feel the heat of the fire on my face. I looked back only once, but Laphaniel was motionless in his macabre cage, hurt and helpless.

  In that clearing, it didn’t matter what had happened between us, the words that had been said, the wrongs done. I was going to get him out or die trying.

  I could smell them, the reek of sweat and filth drifted from their bodies in a foul smog. The meat they cooked over the flames gave off a greasy odour, like overdone pork and I had to fight not to lose the contents of my stomach.

  Their laughter shook the ground, wicked and cruel, their great tails thumping back and forth as they shoved each other. Claws raked over scaled flesh, spilling black blood that caused the fire to hiss and spit as it dropped down.

  “Do that again and I’ll spit and eat you!” snarled one, forked tongue lashing out to lick at his wound. “I’ll skin you before I skin the boy-elf!”

  “Ha! I’d like to see you try,” replied the other, bearing its teeth, huge and monstrous in its wide jaw. “What are you waiting for then, you little runt? I’d carve your skin off before you could blink, I would…”

  I pressed my hands over my mouth, as the smaller troll lashed out with surprising speed, slashing a handful of claws across the other’s throat in a spray of blood. It splattered on my face, hot and foul, stinging my eyes.

  Blinded, I cowered in my hiding place, hands still at my mouth as roars erupted from around the firepit. I dared a glance, wiping at my eyes, my heart a jackhammer in my chest. They hurled themselves at the body, barely waiting for the flames to lick at it before tearing it to pieces. They ripped at it with a fervour, sending the scent of blood and ravished flesh into the air, turning the mist around them red.

  Shards of rock dug into my hand as I gripped it hard, but I caught sight of what I was looking for and barely acknowledged the stinging pain. Hanging from a rough belt around the waist on one of the trolls, was the key.

  They were lost within a frenzied bloodlust, seemingly blinded to anything but the fresh carcass in front of them. I took a breath. Another. Desperately forcing my body to move when every nerve, every instinct was screaming at me to run…to leave Laphaniel and live.

  With a strangled cry I pitched forward, keeping low, not daring to think what would happen if it all went wrong. If I would be swallowed whole…or skinned alive…or watch as Laphaniel was first…

  My fingers curled around the crude handle of the key and it snapped off its binding with barely a tug, and for a moment I simply had it in my hand. It was made of bone, foul and old, with fragments of mummified flesh wrapped around the smooth handle.

  I backed away slowly, gripping it tight to my chest as the trolls continued their frenzy, digging into the carcass until there was nothing left. I took three steps before I was thrown to my knees, a blinding pain shooting up my spine where one of the tails had whipped back. I rolled and froze, sucking in breaths as I lay winded out in the open.

  I couldn’t move, couldn’t force enough air into my lungs to do anything but gasp like a landed fish. The tail came down again, cleaving earth just shy of my head, and again, as I forced my body into a ball, muffling my cries as it whipped into my shoulder.

  They didn’t turn away from their feast, drunk on bloodlust…consumed by it. I sucked in another breath and crawled, clinging to the key as I dragged myself forwards, feeling the warmth of blood seep over my back.

  With the sounds of snarls and snapping of bone behind me I struggled to get the key into the lock, my hands shaking uncontrollably as panic flooded me. My hands were slick, my eyes burning with black blood, sweat, and tears.

  I dropped the key…

  Thick mud instantly swallowed it up and I fell to my knees, digging through the sludge, my fingers brushing over fragments of bone and skulls that were all useless. A broken cry slipped past my lips, and behind the rotten bones Laphaniel stirred, wide eyes meeting mine.

  “It’s gone…I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

  “Run,” he hissed, giving me a weak push. “Teya, go!”

  I slipped back, my hand brushing over something solid and large as I landed, and I dragged the ke
y up with a barely concealed yelp of relief. Shoving it into the lock, I twisted hard, nearly weeping at the sound of the lock releasing.

  “You need to move!” I said, flinging open the door to yank him out, slipping down beside him as he sank to his knees. “Get up.”

  I hauled him to his feet, taking most of his weight as he swayed, his knees buckling. He took a staggering breath as he moved his feet, watching them closely as if he weren’t sure they were touching the floor or not.

  “Move faster,” I urged, practically dragging him. “Please.”

  The roars behind us changed, a rage seeping in that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. The fury shook the trees around us, and I dared a quick look back as five huge beasts turned their heads as one, ruined wings snapping in rage behind them

  “Go!” I shoved Laphaniel, grabbing at his shirt as he pitched forwards, screaming at him as the trolls leapt to their haunches.

  He moved faster, sweat trickling over his face as he forced himself onward, his hand a vice against mine as we fought for the trees.

  The floor beneath my feet vanished as I was swept up by my ankle, a screech tearing from my lips as I dangled above a gaping mouth. Vile breath hit my face, the remnants of flesh still hanging from its yellow teeth. A long tongue shot out, trailing thick drool over my body as it laughed. It unhinged its jaws in a grotesque scraping of bone, lowering me down into its maw, so I could see the back of its throat.

  With a sudden, guttural scream, it hauled me back, claws retracting so I plummeted to the floor to crash against Laphaniel. He dragged me up, stumbling into me before shoving me to the side as another claw raked where I had just been standing. Thick, black blood was smeared over his mouth, dripping down his chin.

  I snatched at Laphaniel’s hand as the trolls lunged at us, their great size making them clumsy, and it made me realise there was a reason they poisoned their victims…they weren’t elegant hunters…quick yes…but they lacked the haunting gracefulness of the other fey I had encountered.

  We made it to the trees, though barely. But the roars of fury didn’t stop. The trees creaked and groaned as the creatures followed us through, branches snapping beneath their clawed feet.

  “You bit one?”

  Laphaniel nodded, and I jerked as he stopped walking. His hand went to his mouth, before he doubled over and vomited up a mouthful of black gunk. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

  “Better now…”

  “Hey, don’t slow down,” I urged, as he staggered.

  “I think…”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to pass out…”

  “Laphaniel? Don’t! Keep walking!”

  Behind us I heard a bellow of fury, just as Laphaniel slumped against me forcing me down too. I dragged him into the undergrowth while the thunderous sound of angry trolls reverberated through the trees, shoving him down a sharp incline as I slid behind him.

  I pressed close to him, my head against the dirt as the trolls passed us by, their bellows sending every creature nearby running in terror. Something else screamed, high and helpless, and far too close to us. There was the sound of bones crunching, and the screams fell silent.

  “You’re going to have to walk,” I said, shaking him awake with my good hand. Pain throbbed over my shoulder and down my back, my shirt clinging to my sticky skin. “Please, I can’t carry you.”

  “Give me a minute,” he murmured, pushing himself up again. He closed his eyes as he stood, bracing himself against a tree until he stood steady.

  “We don’t have a minute,” I said, wrapping my arm around his waist and taking most of his weight again. “Come on.”

  He half stumbled, and I half dragged him onwards, my feet crunching over dried bits of wood that lay scattered around the ground. I nearly tripped, taking Laphaniel with me, my feet catching along what looked like a small stone wall. It crumbled, but I managed to keep upright,

  “Hey!” a sudden voice shouted. “Do I come to your house and stomp all over it?”

  I jumped, looking for the source of the voice, finding myself looking down upon a hunched old man with a brown weathered face and snow-white beard trailing right down to his knees.

  “You smell like troll,” he said, coming closer to give us a sniff. “But you’re not trolls, are you?”

  “No…we’re being hunted, my friend’s been poisoned,” I began, tensing as he continued to smell us, his long, pointed ears twitching through his white hair. “They’re still close.”

  The man stepped back, huge black eyes going wide as he scanned the trees, ears pricking up. “Poor dears, you must come in.”

  I glanced at Laphaniel, who was looking at the strange, withered man with what looked like relief on his face.

  “You live close by?” he asked, to which the man gave an impatient snort.

  “Since you’ve just trampled my flower garden, I would say so! My poor dahlias!”

  “I’m sorry…” I began, but the man shook his head, dismissing my apology.

  “No matter that, girl. It will be utterly destroyed if those trolls come this way, and I cannot tend to my garden if I’m nothing but bones. Come, come, quickly now.”

  With no other choice, we followed the little man up his winding path, ducking low to enter his home that stood nestled between two knotted oaks.

  “My name is Aurelius,” the old man said, opening the twisted branches that made his front door. “You are safe with me, my dears.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Aurelius had us follow him deep into his home, the dirt floor beneath our feet sloping slightly as we walked the winding passageway, leading us deeper underground. Torches flickered on the walls, casting a warm glow around the burrow, and scattered over the ground were worn, muddy rugs in various stages of decomposition.

  We ended up in a large circular room, tiny alcoves carved into the walls where dripping candle stubs twinkled cheerfully. Cluttered bookshelves strained with the weight of volumes, globes and compasses. Above us, strung up over the vaulted ceiling were thousands of golden hourglasses, spyglasses and crystal orbs that held swirling black smoke. They clattered against each other as we walked in, the sands within the glasses pooling back and forth, back and forth as if time had no meaning…which in Faerie, I guessed it didn’t.

  “Please sit.” Aurelius gestured to a plump, worn sofa which we both sank into gratefully. “I’ll fetch some tea. Trolls! Hateful bastards, utterly hateful! Ate my wife would you believe?” He wandered off into a back room, igniting more candles as he went, shaking his head to himself.

  “Are we really safe here?” I asked and Laphaniel nodded, leaning heavily against me.

  “He’s a hobgoblin,” he replied, as he rubbed a hand over his face, fighting to keep his eyes open. “They love helping people, usually whether they want it or not.”

  “So not everything around here wants to kill and torment?”

  He gave a little smile. “It’s best to be cautious.”

  Aurelius came back carrying a tray laden with dainty teacups and a steaming teapot, a little flowery plate had been piled with golden biscuits. He placed the tray onto a wooden table, and hopped up into an armchair, reaching over to pour three cups of yellowish tea into the pretty china.

  The tea was strange, bitter and gritty, but as soon as I swallowed, I felt myself stop trembling, a wondrous calm seeping back into my body.

  “Better?” Aurelius smiled, passing me a sugar loaded biscuit.

  “Yes, thank you,” I replied, taking it politely. I nibbled the edges, my stomach not quite ready for food. Laphaniel declined the offer with a quick shake of his head, his tea slopping over the edge of his cup as he slumped against me.

  “Give me that,” I said, taking it away from him. “Before you burn yourself”

  “You’ll need to sleep it off, boy,” the hobgoblin said gently, gesturing to a small bed in the corner, piled high with thick
patchwork quilts. “All the tea in the world won’t make you feel better. Get some rest before you fall asleep on that poor girl’s shoulder.”

  Laphaniel didn’t protest which surprised me, getting up from the sofa without a word to stumble to the bed. He didn’t even climb under the covers but passed out cold on top of them.

  “He’ll be fine,” Aurelius said, sensing my concern. “The trolls won’t risk poisoning the whole body, else they can’t eat them. It’s just enough to stop them fighting back.”

  “He doesn’t look like he’ll be fighting anyone for a while,” I said, taking another biscuit. The hobgoblin smiled, little pointed teeth glinting in the low light. “I’m sorry about your wife.”

  “She was one of the good ones,” he said, closing his eyes. “A rare gem, she would have liked helping you. She always had a soft spot for young lovers.”

  My cheeks heated. “We’re not together…”

  “Oh, right you are,” he said, giving me a wink. “Well, shall we do something about that wrist of yours? Looks painful.”

  “It is.”

  Aurelius narrowed his pitch-black eyes, face darkening. “He didn’t do it, did he?”

  “No!” I answered. “No. He saved my life actually, more than once. He did hold me against my will, and I can’t forgive that…but he’s here now, helping me.”

  I wanted to stop. I should have stopped but the hobgoblin was looking at me with such understanding, his large black eyes patient and kind. There was a quiet reassurance resonating from him that I was in desperate need of, and I just couldn’t hold back the words that poured from my mouth.

  “It’s all so confusing, because he infuriates me, he frightens me. I want to scream at him to leave me alone, but I don’t want to be on my own anymore. He keeps the nightmares away, but he is the reason I have them. I should be running for the hills, but I can’t seem to let him go.” I took a breath, and it caught. “The fact that he is the closest friend I have ever had makes me so sad I could just…”

  I couldn’t finish, I couldn’t do anything except lean forwards and allow my body to shake with sobs. The weight of everything was simply too much, the shock of barely escaping the trolls breaking through a dam I hadn’t realised I had put up. There was a soft thump as Aurelius hopped from his armchair, gently patting my shoulder until I composed myself.