By the time Angus returned from hooking up the wagon, Margaret had managed to bandage up the worst of the damage the wolves had created. The girl had looked on, mesmerized and frightened, if the expression on her face was any indication of her thoughts. When Angus picked up her mother to take her out, the girl stood to go with them.
“No. I think it might be best if you stay here,” he told her.
Both she and Margaret looked at him curiously. Why would he not want her to go with him to take her mother to the doctor? He looked at Margaret as if to tell her not to question him and she knew he had his reasons. Turning to the girl, she motioned for her to sit back down.
“Let him get her tended to while you stay here and rest. You can stretch out on the sofa and get a bit of sleep while you wait if you can see fit to do so. There is nothing you can do beyond what you already have. You got her help. Angus will take good care of her.”
“I don’t want her to be alone,” the girl protested.
“There are wolves out there that are apparently not afraid to take on humans and your mother has the scent of blood on her. It is going to be enough for me to protect her if they decide to come back. I don’t need two of you to worry about if that happens,” he told her curtly.
Margaret knew that there was more to it than that, but she had been married to Angus long enough to realize she shouldn’t ask. He would explain when he could. In the meantime, perhaps,s she could calm the daughter and get her to sleep while he did what he needed to in order to save her mother. When the girl continued to protest, Angus lost his patience with her, catching even Margaret by surprise.
“Listen. I don’t have time to stand here and argue with you. Your mother is hurt. She is in pain and she is in danger of not making it if I don’t get her some help soon. You need to stay here with my wife and rest. I will come back for you once I have your mother taken care of and daylight removes the threat of night creatures that seem to have crossed the line between staying in the shadows and making themselves very much apparent.”
He didn’t wait for an answer, lifting her mother up and carrying her to the door. Margaret stood and opened it for him, kissing him quietly on the cheek and telling him to be careful before he disappeared into the night. She watched out the window as the wagon pulled away, carrying him and the woman into the darkness that fell in their shadow and swallowed them whole.
After a bit more cajoling and a bit of hot tea, she managed to settle the young girl down and get her to sleep for a bit. With her snoring lightly on the sofa, Margaret busied herself in the kitchen getting things ready for breakfast. The sun would be coming up soon and Angus would return to have breakfast and get on with their day, which would now probably include taking the young woman back into town.
It didn’t seem like much time had passed when she heard the sound of footsteps on the front porch. Thinking it was Angus, she rushed to the front door and opened it, only to find herself staring into the large bared teeth of an extraordinarily large wolf. Margaret gasped and attempted to slam the front door, but the beast threw his weight against it, pushing back against her as she struggled to get it closed. She was surprised when she found herself joined by the girl, who as pushing with all her might to get it shut. Between the two of them, they managed to get it closed, protecting them from the wolf on the other side.
Then, the howls began. They seemed to be all around them as they huddled together in the center of the room. After a few minutes, the banging of the door began as the wolf seemed to be throwing its weight against it repeatedly, trying to get inside. The girl began to cry again as they feared the worst. Margaret stood frozen in fear as the howling increased and the door shook on its frame, then she snapped out of it, realizing she had to do something.
“Come on,” she told the girl, grabbing a nearby kerosene lantern and heading toward the cellar door.
They hurriedly descended the steps, pushing the dogs inside the door and closing themselves up before the crack of the front door sounded above them. Margaret could hear the sound of feet running about the houses. Growls filled the air above them as they cowered behind the cellar door. It was only a matter of time before the demon dogs burst through that one, as well. Their own dogs hid in a corner, knowing their barking would only bring more trouble, apparently. Margaret was grateful for their silence, as barking would have been bound to bring them to the door much faster. The longer it took the dogs to realize they were there, the longer they had to survive and hope for help.
Margaret listened closely as the four legged creatures seemed to stop. There was silence for a bit and then she could hear voices. Was Angus home? And if so, who was he talking to up there? Where had the wolves gone? She continued to listen, cautioning the girl to remain quiet as the voices came closer to the door. Someone was jiggling the handle.
“Are you in there, witch?” the man said.
Margaret glanced at the girl, puzzled. The girl looked more terrified than ever as someone continued to try to break into the door.
“I know you are in there. We saw the man leave with your mother, but you didn’t leave. Are you hiding from us in there? Do you think hiding in a cellar will save you?”
Tears were falling down the girl’s face as the door began to rattle again, someone still attempting to force their way in. After a while, it stopped and voices could be heard outside again.
“The sun is coming up. We need to get out of here before we are seen. Burn everything. She can stay in there and die in the blaze.”
Margaret’s blood ran cold. They were going to burn them out! This was crazy. She had no idea what was going on. She could hear their footsteps as they walked away from the door. Turning toward the girl, she whispered to her.
“What do they want? Why did they call you a witch?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know who they are. I thought there were wolves up there, not men.”
“I thought the same,” Margaret replied.
The smell of smoke drifting in from somewhere above. Margaret panicked. They really were setting the place ablaze and she was helpless to stop it. She heard the front door open and the sound of Angus’s voice yelling. She was now even more frightened by what they might do to him as he walked in on them unexpectedly. This was a nightmare!
She was still trying to process what was happening when she heard the sounds of the front door slamming and footsteps running through the house toward it, there were shouts at first, followed by a man screaming and then dogs snarling and growling. It all seemed like madness as she and the girl clung to one another in the cellar. They covered their faces with their skirts in an effort to keep out the smoke, but it crept up into their nostrils and their eyes, stinging them with its heat.
“What is happening?” the girl rasped through the thick fabric of her skirt.
Margaret shook her head to indicate that she had no idea either. Then she heard the hideous sound of the dragon’s screech. She realized that Angus had lured the men outside and shifted. It was the only explanation for the noise, but what about the wolves? Where had they come from and why were they with the men? Was it possible that the men were using them to rob? Perhaps they had trained them. It was all not going to matter very shortly as the smoke grew thicker around them.
Margaret reached for the girl’s hands, pulling her down to lie on the floor. She remembered being told that once that if there was a fire you should like flat, try to get under the smoke. It might work for a while, but if Angus didn’t come soon, they would be lost to the fire and not even his dragon could save them. The sounds continued outside for a while and then all fell silent. Her head felt hazy and she could see that the girl was growing weaker, as well.
She was barely aware of what happened next, as the flooring above them seemed to be torn away violently. They fire lapped at the edges as boards were ripped apart from where they had been nailed to the surrounding walls. Margaret blinked upward as she became aware of two large talons reaching into the now open space
and wrapping around her, pulling her free. Her body was floating over the ground for a moment and then she was laying in the grass. A moment later, the girl was being dropped beside her.
“Angus,” she breathed and then he was gone, his powerful dragon disappearing into the night sky.
Margaret collapsed back into the coolness of the grass beneath her. She could see the flicker and feel the heat of a the nearby fire but couldn’t bring herself to look at it. Then she could hear Angus speaking to her. She looked up to find him kneeling beside her to make sure she was okay before picking her up to hold her in his arms. Glancing over his shoulder, she could see the girl, sitting up and staring at something nearby.
Margaret turned toward the house to find it fully engulfed in flames. On the ground, nearby were the forms of several wolves and a man. None of this made any sense to her at all.
“Our home,” she said weakly.
“Is just four walls. We are one another’s home and we will be just fine,” he told her.
“Those men. I don’t know where they came from,” she muttered in her continued confusion.
“Don’t worry about that now. You are safe and that is all that matters, my love. Everything else can be fixed.”
Margaret reached for him, holding onto him for dear life as their home burned to the ground. After some time, neighbors began to show up, whispering among themselves as the flames took everything. One of them knew the girl and wrapped her in a blanket that they had brought, then put her in their carriage as the dawn began to shed more light on the carnage that had unfolded here.
Chapter Thirteen
“I have to say that this is the most bizarre thing I’ve seen in a while,” the sheriff was telling them a short time later. “Tell me one more time what happened.”
“I don’t know. It all happened so fast. First, the girl and her mother showed up claiming they had been attacked by wolves. Angus took her mother to the doctor in town to let him examine her while I stayed here with the daughter. Everything was quiet until someone started trying to get into the house. I thought it was wolves and we were scared so we went to the cellar.”
“But it wasn’t wolves?”
“No. I guess not. Perhaps I just had that in my mind because they had attacked her mother. It was men. We could hear them talking about her and her mother and then they were trying to get into the cellar. When they couldn’t, they set the house on fire to burn us out.”
“You have no idea what they wanted?”
“No. I couldn’t make out most of what they were saying. I was really scared and just remember it in bits and pieces.” Margaret replied.“You don’t think it strange that men just came into your home and tried to kill you and this woman you don’t know?” the sheriff asked.
“What? Of course, I think it is strange, but that doesn’t mean I know why they did it!”
“And what about you, Mr. McCord? Your yard is littered with dead wolves and a human being.”
“I have no idea, Sheriff. I came back from taking the young girl’s mother to the doctor. He kept her there and I was going to bring the girl into town to be with her. Instead, I found my house on fire and my wife lying out in the yard, along with that man, those animals and the girl, Angus added.
“So, you have no idea what killed them?”
“Not a clue. I thank God for it, though. I shudder to think what might have happened if someone hadn’t intervened.”
“Your story is just that you found everything this way and have no idea how it all happened then?”
“Other than the portion my wife has told you about, I really couldn’t say.”
“Well, I guess I have no proof otherwise and, even if I did, it would mostly likely only prove to be self-defense. I’ll have these animals removed, along with the body, and let you know if I have any more questions.”
“What about the girl, Sheriff? Has she spoken at all?” Margaret asked.
“Afraid not. She seems to be in a bit of shock still. Perhaps when she’s had time to process all of this, she can shed some light.”
“Maybe so,” Angus remarked.
“Come on, Dad. We’ll take you to our place. You can spend the night in the guest room while you sort out what to do with the house,” Aaron Paul told them from where he had been waiting for the sheriff to finish with his questions.
Angus nodded and helped Margaret up from the chair on which she had been sitting. It had been one of a few that had been sitting beneath a tree in the yard where he had placed them for the coat of paint he had recently placed on them to dry. As it turned out, they were the only pieces of furniture they would have left from the fire. Everything was gone. They’d have to start over.
On the way to Aaron’s house, Margaret looked at him with questioning eyes. He nodded and looked out over the fields as they passed them by along the way. It was obvious that whatever the situation was, he wasn’t keen to discuss it in front of Aaron, but she didn’t know why. Later, in the safety of their son’s spare bedroom, he began to tell her what he had found when he returned.
“Wolf shifters. That’s why you thought it was wolves, but it turned out to be men. That is why they went after the girl’s mother. She had something they wanted and it wasn’t meat.”
“They called the girl a witch,” Margaret told him.
“What?” he asked.
“When we were locked in the cellar and they were walking around upstairs. They made comments about her being a witch. She said she didn’t know why they would say such a thing.”
“Do you think she was telling the truth?”
“I don’t know. She seemed sincere, but she might have just been afraid. We all know what is done to women who are accused of being a witch. She would have had good reason to deny it to anyone that asked if she wasn’t sure how they would react.”
“I think she knows more than she said. This was unusual behavior for wolf shifters. They are usually content to live off the land and only shift to run and howl at the moon. They are much like dragon shifters in that they just want to be free and seize on opportunities to do so. They don’t go around bringing attention to themselves by attacking people on the trail. They know that is something that will only do harm to themselves in the long run.”
“We may never know now.”
“Do you think she saw me? My dragon?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. She seemed to be passed out from all the smoke we had breathed in. If she did see you, she probably would just assume you were a hallucination.”
“Perhaps a mystery that may never be solved.”
“It is possible.”
“I guess we will just have to focus on the bigger problem then,” she told him.
“What is that?”
“The fact that we are homeless and have only the clothes on our backs. Nothing that can’t be replaced with what we have in the bank.
“Right. These aren’t even my best clothes. They are some of the ones I keep stashed in the back shed for when I don’t think ahead or don’t have time to remove what I’m wearing before I shift.”
“I’m just lucky I got dressed when we were awakened or I’d be rumbling around in my night clothes.”
“I wouldn’t have complained.”
“Hardly appropriate.”
“Appropriate doesn’t change the fact that I enjoy seeing you in your night clothes…or out of them.”
“Are you getting fresh with me, Mr. McCord?”
“What if I am?”
“Do you really think this is the time for such a thing?”
“There’s always a time for such a thing, Mrs. McCord.”
She giggled as he nuzzled her neck with his now two-day growth of stubble, tickling her delicate skin. They slipped into the guest bed and cuddled together, enjoying that they were okay, despite what they might have lost in the fire. It was barely afternoon, but they had been up all night and were both exhausted. If there was ever a time for a nap, it was now.
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Chapter Fourteen
In the weeks that followed, they began to get things back together, but came no closer to resolving the mystery surrounding what had happened the night the wolves had come to their door. They had accepted that it was some sort of personal beef between the woman and her daughter that they would never know the full truth of and let it go. Instead, they had focused on rebuilding their home and their lives.
“What do you think?” Angus asked as they stood looking over the new house that was being raised on their property.
“It’s lovely, but it isn’t anything like the old one,” she said.
“No. It’s bigger and has a space for you to have a sewing room where you can sew or anything else you want to do there.”
“It’s just a shame that there is nothing left of our old home ,though,” she replied.
“There is. The cellar is still intact. I had to rip out the walls and replace them but the steps were made of rock, so they survived. It’s not much, but it is at least a little of the original place.”
“I guess I can’t complain. We have a lot more blessings than most people who suffer such a great loss. It usually takes them months, if not years to rebuild a home, and that’s if they even are able to at all. At least we have the money to put things back together again,” she said.
“That is very much true. It’s still going to need a lot of things. It is such a shame that all of the beautiful things you’ve sewn and knitted over the years are gone.”
“Yes, I don’t know that I have the energy to replace them all.”
“Nothing says you have to. You can replace what you like and not worry about the rest or just buy thing from the store things instead of making them yourself.”
“We’ll see. I suppose it would be nice to just buy pretty new things that someone else has made. I haven’t done that for a very long time.”
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