“Yes,” Virginia said. “He’s not feeling at all well. That’s why we’re leaving now. Good night.”
She took Wolf’s arm and led him to the door. Her grip was harder than she’d planned. She wanted to bruise him, she really did.
“Oh, Virginia,” Wolf said, “when you said I was your husband, I went all hard and soft at the same time.”
“I only said it to get you out of trouble,” she snapped.
She looked for her father and finally saw him, in a corner, playing darts with the Judge and two other men. She hoped her father’s ploy worked because hers certainly hadn’t.
Then she shoved Wolf through the front door and followed him into the cool night.
The moon was full and beautiful, a solid oval against the darkness of the sky. It filled the streets with almost as much light as day and cast eerie silver shadows between the buildings.
Wolf shook free of Virginia’s grasp, and she tried to catch him again. Whatever this sickness was, it was making him act very strange.
“I feel so alive! I can see everything for miles around.” Wolf raised his arms and looked skyward. ‘ ‘Look at the moon. Doesn’t it make you want to howl, it’s so beautiful?”
“Not really,” Virginia said.
Wolf grabbed a nearby fence post and leaned against it. Something about his face was different—harsher, narrower. He looked dangerous, just as he had when they first met. Virginia was intrigued and more than a little bit frightened.
“My mama was obsessed with the moon,” Wolf said. “She used to drag us all out to watch it when we were cubs. The moon makes me hungry for everything.”
He stared at it the way he had stared at the yodeling milkmaids.
Virginia took his arm and pried him away from the fence post. ‘ ‘Time for bed,” she said softly, and this time she managed to get him to the bam.
Tony pulled Prince out of the bar, along with the last of the patrons. The ale had been as good as the food, maybe better, and had certainly affected his dart play. Tony wished the Judge would listen to him, but the old man was bent on not discussing work when he was out of court.
Tony gazed down the empty streets. “You want to go walkies?” Tony asked Prince Wendell.
The golden dog, of course, didn’t move. His face was permanently locked in a look of determination mixed with just a hint of anger.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Tony said as he started down the street. “You can’t blame me. This kind of stuff probably happens all the time in your world. I mean, you were a dog when I met you.”
He got to the wishing well. The village idiot was peering down its sides.
“Ever hopeful?” Tony asked.
“Oh, yes,” the idiot said. “Your dog really reminds me of somebody, you know.”
Tony had no response to that. He shook his head and continued walking.
The full moon cast a beautiful silver light over the entire town. The place actually looked magical. Tony never saw vistas like this in New York. The cool air was clearing his head and making him relax. All those adventures had tied both his stomach and his back up in knots. He was relieved to have just a bit of time to himself before he returned to Virginia and Wolf.
Tony reached the village limits and was just about to turn back when he saw an old wooden sign.
Peep Farm Keep Out Dogs Loose
He peered over the fence. Across the field was a forbidding farmhouse. It wasn’t pleasant-looking at all, not like the other buildings around. Tony thought that odd in and of itself, especially considering what wonderful food the Peeps grew.
But what was odder was the procession of Peeps walking from the house to the barn, holding lanterns but keeping their light carefully shaded from the road.
“Wait here.” Tony patted Prince on the head and climbed over the fence. Then he carefully crept across the field toward the bam.
It didn’t take him long to get there. The barn was poorly built, and there were cracks separating the boards. Tony peered through one of them.
The barn was lit like the middle of the day. All of the adult Peeps were gathered there, and all of them were holding baskets filled with produce. Only this produce was nothing like the magnificent stuff he’d seen at the Baa-Bar. This was the kind of stuff he’d seen grown in window-box gardens in Manhattan— wretched thin carrots, spindly potatoes, dull, worm-eaten tomatoes.
Tony felt his stomach turn. He looked at the rest of the barn, and realized it was the strangest place he’d seen yet on this trip. Rubble, rocks, and dirt were piled throughout, as if some major excavation had gone on. Wooden posts and supports stopped the huge bank of dirt from collapsing—but just barely.
One of the older Peeps—Wilfred, Tony thought, trying to remember all the names of his dart-playing buddies—peered around at the assembled family. Tony leaned back slightly, unsure whether they could see him through the crack or not.
“Where’s the birthday girl?” Wilfred asked.
Sally Peep came forward, holding a dirty, scrawny sheep. She seemed nervous.
“Why do you think everything the Peeps make tastes so good, Sally Shepherdess?” Wilfred asked.
“I don’t right know,” Sally said. “Used to be that there was a magic well in the town, but the well’s dried up. Everyone knows that.”
“Do they now?” Wilfred grinned. So did the other older Peeps. They seemed to be sharing a joke. “Well, since you’re eighteen, I’m going to let you into the family secret.”
Tony leaned forward. His heart was pounding harder than usual. He had a hunch that if they caught him, he’d be in horrible trouble, but he couldn’t bear to move. This had to be important.
Wilfred Peep was nodding and several younger male Peeps swept straw from the floor. They revealed a wooden hatch at the base of the dirt pile.
“The reason there’s no more magic water in the village well is ’cause me and my brother diverted the stream forty years ago,” Wilfred said, his grin growing. “The Peeps have all the magic now.”
He bent down and lifted the wooden cover, revealing a hole in the ground. Lights, like multicolored fireflies, flew toward the ceiling, and the entire barn grew brighter.
Tony put a hand against the cracked barn wall, intrigued.
“Now, let’s have a look at your sheep,” Wilfred said. “Ugly bugger, isn’t he? Can’t see him winning you the Lovely Shepherdess Competition.”
The other Peeps laughed as Wilfred grabbed the sheep hy the neck. Another familiar male Peep—Filbert? Tony wasn’t sure. They all had such goofy names—grabbed a rope and lowered a bucket that was suspended on a pulley system.
The sheep was struggling. Wilfred hung on tighter. “Help me get him in that bucket.”
It took three men to get that sheep into the bucket. Filbert manned the pulley system and they lowered the poor bleating sheep into the darkness of the well. Finally, Tony heard a splash.
Then an echoey voice came out of the well. ‘ ‘What do you wash in my magic waters?”
Wilfred leaned forward. ‘ ‘Fill this sheep with your goodness and life, oh magic wishing well.”
The waters thrashed—sounding to Tony like waves in the middle of a serious storm—and lights flew all around the barn. Finally Wilfred Peep wound the bucket back up.
Tony gasped. Fortunately, so did everyone else. A gorgeous, golden-fleeced lamb jumped out of the bucket and into Sally Peep’s arms.
She giggled in delight. “Wilf, it’s amazing.”
Wilfred stood over her, and Tony felt his own smile fade. Wilfred looked absolutely terrifying. Who knew that the old guy had it in him?
“Don’t you ever breathe a word to anyone,” Wilfred said, “or I’ll cut your throat, grandchild or no grandchild.”
Okay. That was enough for Tony. He backed away from the crack in the barn, then ran across the field. He couldn’t believe he had left Prince Wendell alone for that long anyway. He bounded over the fence, patted Prince on the head, and then hurried towar
d the village.
If Wilfred Peep was willing to kill his own granddaughter to keep the secret, he certainly wouldn’t have any qualms about executing Tony.
All Tony had to do was make sure he wouldn’t get caught.
* * *
Virginia was ready to pull out what hair she had left. Wolf was not acting normally. He was being completely unreasonable, and she didn’t know what to do with him. She could barely manage to keep him in the bam.
She stood in front of the door. He was careening around the barn like a drunken man, only she knew he hadn’t had much to drink. She wondered if she was this crazy at her time of the month.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” Wolf asked. “You will never know love like mine. I am your mate for life.”
“Wolf,” Virginia said, “you don’t know what you’re saying. I know you’re changing.”
“Oh, you know, do you?” Wolf asked. “You know everything. You’re little miss perfect who sticks her hand up and can answer every question but knows nothing. You’re pretending to live, Virginia. You’re doing everything but actually living. You’re driving me crazy.”
He put out a hand. She pushed it away.
“Stop bullying me,” Virginia said. “I don’t like it. Now go to bed.”
He froze and a sly look she had never seen before crossed his face.
“Or what?” he asked. “Will you scream? That’s what most people do when they see a wolf. Scream and scream and scream.”
For the first time since they’d gone through the mirror, she was actually afraid of him. There were green lights in his eyes, and his hair seemed thicker than before. And there was something not-human about him.
Virginia grabbed the nearest thing she could find—a pitchfork—and held it in front of her like a weapon.
Wolf ripped it from her hands. ‘ ‘What are you going to do? Stick it in me? That’s what people do when there’s a wolf about. Stick it, stab it, smoke it out.”
He palled her forward, holding her tight. His eyes wen-glazed.
“They burnt my parents good,” he said. Virginia was horrified. “The good people. The nice farmers. They made a great big fire and burnt them both.”
He snarled, and Virginia thought he would have bitten her except that the barn door banged open and her father walked in.
“Hey,” her father said, “you’ll never guess what I’ve just seen.”
Wolf froze and some life grew in his eyes. Virginia reached toward him.
“I know why the Peeps win everything,” her father was saying. But Wolf thrust Virginia backwards, then pushed past her father and hurried out of the bam.
Both she and her father stared after Wolf for a moment.
“Is he feeling better, then?” her father asked.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Wolf ran until he reached the edge of town. Then he stopped near a fence, breathing hard. He had no idea what he had been about to do to Virginia. He just knew it couldn’t have been good.
He put his hands in his hair and pulled, mumbling to himself. “Fine mess fine mess fine mess now she hates you now she hates you and you deserve it you animal. Animal. You nasty animal.”
It took him a moment to gather himself. He looked down. There was a horse trough near the edge of the fence, filled with water. He could see himself in it, himself and the full moon behind.
The evil moon. It made him like this. He didn’t even recognize himself anymore.
Then the moon smiled. “Hello, Wolf,” it said with the Queen’s voice.
His mouth fell open and he gripped the wooden rail hard. “My mirror will still not show me who you travel with,” the Queen said. “Who are your companions?”
Finally he got enough control of himself to answer. “I’m not telling you.”
“What is their power?” the Queen asked. “Why should they conceal themselves?”
“I’m not telling you anything about her.”
“Her?” the Queen asked, smiling. “What’s she like? Is she tasty?”
“You’re evil,” Wolf said. “Stay away from me.”
“Look at the moon and then tell me what you’d really like to do to her. Let your wildness out. Serve me and let the wolf out.”
Let the wolf out. He looked up. The full moon was beautiful, alluring, right. Let the wolf out.
He wanted to close his eyes, but couldn’t.
Let the wolf out, she had said. So he did.
The hay scratched at her face. Virginia, wanting to sleep some more, brushed it away. She heard footsteps and an odd bleating, but she didn’t want to think of that.
Then there was a musty smell and her father’s voice, somewhere near her.
“Well,” he said, “what do you think?”
Virginia opened her eyes. There was a sheep’s face inches from hers. She screamed and pushed it away.
Her father shushed her. He had the sheep on a string leash. He pulled the sheep away from Virginia and took out a knife. “It took me about three hours to actually catch one. It shouldn’t take long to get the markings off.”
Virginia sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes. “Why have you stolen a sheep?”
Her father shaved the red identifying “P” from the sheep’s wool. “For the competition of course. Beautiful sheep and shepherdess. How else are we going to get the mirror?” Virginia wished she had not woken up. ‘ ‘I’m not a shepherdess. I’m a waitress. I don’t know anything about sheep.” “You don’t have to. That’s the beauty of my plan.” Her father finished shaving the sheep. The smell in the bam had grown.
“This sheep stinks,” Virginia said. “It’s not going to win anything. It looks like it’s going to die any second.”
“It won’t when it’s been down the magic wishing well,” her father said. ‘ ‘Now you get to making your costume while I go and get it dipped.”
“My costume?”
Her father pointed to three large squares of white material hanging in the comer of the bam. “Look at that and tell me anyone could guess it was once curtains. Hurry up and get changed.”
Virginia got up, brushed the remaining hay off herself, and peered at the material. It wasn’t that pretty, and she would have been able to guess it had once been curtains.
She walked over to it and pulled it back—and leapt backwards. Wolf had been hiding behind the material. He had startled her.
“Hello,” Wolf said.
“H-How are you feeling?” Virginia asked. She had been worried about him all night.
He looked at her strangely. Not quite as crazily as the night before, though. But he had cuts and scratches on his hands, and his hair was tangled.
“Not too good,” Wolf said. “Things are very hazy at the moment.”
He tottered toward her. He looked desperate.
“I must fight what I am. I can’t remember what I’ve done. You’d better tie me up. That way I can’t escape.”
“What do you mean, tie you up?” Virginia asked.
“Tie me up!” Wolf shouted at her. “Stop me escaping. Which bit don’t you understand? Tie me up now, while you can.”
“All right, all right.” Virginia didn’t have to be told again. It sounded like the best solution for all of them. She got a rope from the floor of the bam and made Wolf lean against a thick wooden post next to a water trough. Then she tied his hands behind his back.
“Tighter,” Wolf said. “If I struggle, I can get free.”
Virginia pulled the ropes tighter.
“Tighter.”
She pulled again.
Then Wolf smiled at her. “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”
His tone was colder than usual. Virginia made another knot in the ropes.
“Tighter or I’ll eat you up,” Wolf said.
He was still smiling,.and the smile was not a very nice one. Virginia pulled the ropes as tight as she could. Wolf watched her every movement.
She finally backed away, and found herself p
raying that the ropes would hold him.
Tony had to stay to the back roads as he dragged the sheep back to the Peeps’ farm. The Peeps were already at the competition—he’d seen them go by with their magically perfect vegetables and Sally Peep’s unbelievably golden sheep.
But they hadn’t seen him, and that was what counted.
He reached the bam in what he believed to be record time. The door was latched, but he picked up a spade and bashed the door in. The sheep was rolling its eyes and bleating in fright.
He pushed it inside, then followed. The straw was back over the hatch, but he brushed the straw aside, grasped the ring, and yanked the hatch open.
The fireflies floated out of the well. Up close, they looked like tiny stars.
“It’s time for Well of Fortune,” Tony said as he shoved the terrified sheep into the bucket.
Then he lowered the sheep into the dark well, and smiled as he heard the splash.
Virginia had no idea where her father was. She felt awkward in her full shepherdess gear, from her white gown with its smocked bodice to the white bonnet and shepherd’s crook. There was a large crowd around the competition area, but only two other entrants: Sally Peep, who was holding a golden lamb, and Mary Rainley, who was holding an ordinary looking sheep.
The crowd was conversing, the sound carrying over the entire village. Some were admiring the miraculous Peep vegetables. Others were ogling Virginia. Her father would pay for this—if he’d only show up.
The Judge got onto the podium and banged the gavel, silencing the crowd. “Due to the appalling chicken massacre this morning, we are bringing forward the Beautiful Shepherdess competition.”
Chicken massacre? Virginia tried not to look alarmed. Wolf had had scratches all over his hands. Then she glanced over the crowd again. Her father wasn’t here, and the competition had been moved up. Now what was she going to do?
“We have three contestants,” the Judge said. “Goodness gracious me. Well, the more the merrier, I say.”
He seemed a lot cheerier than the man she had met the night before.
Then he peered at Virginia. “Where’s your sheep, miss?”
“It’s on the way,” Virginia said.
“She hasn’t got one,” Sally Peep said.
The 10th Kingdom Page 25