“Exactly thirty gold Wendells,” Virginia said. “How can we turn thirty coins into five thousand by tomorrow morning?”
Wendell sighed. Wolf frowned. Virginia stared at the money. Tony thought. How did they increase their holdings? Finding a job that paid that well would be as difficult as winning the lottery.
Then he sat up straighter. “I’ve got an idea,” he said. “Follow me.”
They went to the other side of the town square. As they walked, he told them his plan. Virginia didn’t like it. Wolf shrugged. Wendell had no opinion at all, which wasn’t like him. But Tony was determined.
Tony stopped them in front of the building that he had only barely noticed before. The Lucky-in-Love Casino. Outside, people were selling lucky charms—literally. A rabbit’s foot for one gold Wendell. Four-leaf clovers for four gold Wendells.
Virginia shook her head and mumbled something about the only people who made money being the charm sellers.
Tony ignored that. He made sure that Wolf and Virginia got ten gold coins. He kept ten for himself.
“Okay,” he said. “One of us has to make a fortune before daybreak.”
“I’ve had an idea for Prince.” Virginia knelt beside the royal dog. Tony couldn’t see what she was doing, but he could tell that Prince Wendell was getting quite agitated.
“No, Tony,” Prince said. “Tell her I refuse. I absolutely refuse. It’s so humiliating.”
“Every little bit helps.” Virginia stood. Tony peered down. She had placed a sign around Wendell’s neck. It read:
Lucky Gambling Dog Please Split Winnings 50/50
Prince Wendell looked completely humiliated, and somehow that added to the charm. Tony smiled. This just might work.
In the open bell tower that overlooked the square, the Huntsman leaned back and let the pain run through him. His leg was nearly ruined, and he was losing too much blood. But he had to finish this job for the Queen. Somehow he had not expected these incompetents to be as much trouble as they had been.
His crossbow was beside him. His other weapons were laid out and ready for use. He could see most of the town from up here.
He could see Virginia and Tony and their Wolf go into the casino, along with Prince Wendell.
He had time to rest before he did the work he had been hired for.
Carefully he unwrapped the bandages around his injured leg. The trap had ripped through the muscle down to the bone. It had been an efficient trap. He had just never expected to be caught in it. Fortunately, he knew how to release the lever and set himself free.
Which was more than those he chased knew. From now on, he took any advantage he could. They would die quickly and silently. He would finish this work, even if it killed him.
The torches and oil lamps made this casino darker than any other Wolf had ever been in. Perhaps it was the small space. He was used to outdoor casinos, not one like this, where the games were played in semi-darkness.
All around were people throwing dice and laughing or putting coins into machines. The chink-chink-chink of winnings was intoxicating.
Tony had just come from the window where he had converted the coins to chips. “Okay, team,” he said. “Let’s make money.”
Virginia went in one direction, Tony in another, with Wendell at his heels. Wolf frowned, looking for something that interested him. Finally he saw his favorite, the Wheel of Fortune.
He walked over to it and asked the croupier who ran the wheel, “Miss, what is the highest return possible from one gold Wendell bet?”
“Well, sir,” the croupier said, “you’d want to bet on (he grand Jack Rabbit Jackpot at ten-thousand-to-one odds. But it’s only ever come up once.”
“That’s the one for me.”
Wolf put one of his coins on the jackpot square but didn’t watch as the wheel turned. Instead he looked over at Virginia, who was playing racing rabbits. She was completely into it, shouting and waving her fist. She looked so relaxed.
He crossed his fingers as the wheel clicked around him. If he won, Virginia would love him even more. But if he won too much, she’d buy the mirror and go home. She would leave him....
“Bad luck, sir,” the croupier said.
Wolf looked at the wheel. He had lost. “Oh, thank you,” he said, relieved.
“Do you wish to bet again?”
Wolf glanced at Virginia. If he lost it all, she would at least know he tried.
“Sir? Again?”
He smiled at the croupier. “Absolutely,” he said.
Virginia was leaning over the Racin’ Rabbits table, watching as the Rabbit Checker made certain the four bunnies who ran this course were secure in their harnesses. Virginia couldn’t help wondering if this wasn’t just a bit cruel, forcing rabbits to run an obstacle course as if they were horses.
But she couldn’t think of the morality of this now. Not when she had to win enough money to get home.
‘ ‘Racin’ rabbits, racin’ rabbits, pick the winner and win the pot,” said the man in charge of the betting.
Virginia had studied the odds and picked her rabbit. His name was Solvig and he had done well in the past.
The rabbits were lined up, and then a little bell went off. The rabbits shuffled forward.
“Come on, Solvig!” Virginia shouted. “Come on, Solvig. Come on, Solvig.”
The man in charge announced the race like Howard Cosell on speed. “Solvig leading from Tidbit as they approach the last hurdle ...”
Virginia tuned him out. She was watching Solvig. He made it through the final hurdle and had beaten Tidbit in the stretch. And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, Rumpus pulled forward. Rumpus caught up to Solvig and—
“—it’s Rumpus by a whisker.”
Virginia closed her eyes and sighed. Then she ran her fingers over her chips. Only five left.
This was all beginning to seem quite hopeless.
Tony sat in the deep smoke near the back of the casino. The lamps gave everything a faintly oily smell, and Tony wasn’t sure of the safety laws in here. There were too many cigar smokers for his taste.
But he couldn’t concentrate on that. He was in the middle of a high-stakes game with four other players. He had a stack of eighty chips before him, and he was doing well.
Prince Wendell was watching from the floor, but hadn’t yet given any advice.
“I raise you twenty,” said one of the players. Like the rest, he held his cards very close to his face.
“I sneer at your twenty and raise you fifty,” Tony said.
A crowd was gathering. Apparently, high-stakes games like this were rare in the Lucky-in-Love.
“I match your fifty,” the man said. “Call it.”
Tony gave him a malicious smile. “Have you got Mr. Bun The Baker?”
The man cursed and threw the card at Tony. Slowly, Tony laid out a complete set of Happy Families.
“Read ’em and weep,” Tony said, raking in the money.
“Sorry, sir,” the croupier said, “not your lucky night.”
Wolf smiled at her. In fact, he beamed. “Not to worry.”
“I have never seen anyone as happy to lose as you, sir.”
“Ah, but have you ever been in love, miss?”
“Just the once, sir,” she said. “To a knight. But he was married.”
Wolf placed his last chip on the jackpot space. “You see that girl over there? She is the other half of my heart. I would do anything in the world for her.”
The croupier spun the wheel. It click-click-clicked, and Wolf let the sound engulf him.
He looked at Virginia. Apparently she was losing too. She looked so very sad.
“Oh, my goodness! Sir, you’ve won the Jack Rabbit Jackpot.”
It took a moment for the words to register. Wolf turned back to the croupier. “I have?”
He glanced at the wheel. Sure enough, the jackpot had lined up with his coin.
“Oh, yes, sir.” The croupier seemed more excited than he was. “Congrat
ulations. Ten thousand gold coins. If you’d like to go to the cash desk, you can pick up your winnings. Sir?” Suddenly Wolf grinned. “I’ve won! Wait until I tell my girl. Ten thousand gold coins.”
He walked across the casino, past the card players and the dart players and the lucky-charm sellers. Virginia was still at the Racin’ Rabbits table.
“More than enough to buy the mirror,” he said to himself. “Now she will ...”
Wolf slowed down.
“... leave you. Yes. That’s what she’s going to do. She doesn’t really love you—she just wants you to help her go home. She loves you ... not.”
He was almost to the Racin’ Rabbits table. Virginia was only a few feet away.
“No, no, she adores you. Your wolf instincts are never wrong. She loves you.”
Wolf stopped behind her and tapped her on the shoulder as the obnoxious guy running the race said, “Can you believe it? Rumpus romps home for the third time running.”
There were no more chips in front of Virginia. She saw Wolf and sighed. “Well, that’s it. I’ve lost it all.”
He looked at her. She was so beautiful. He really didn’t want her to leave.
Wolves did mate for life. What would he do without her?
“How are you doing?” she asked.
“Yes .. . yes, me too,” Wolf said.
She took his arm. “I have to get some air.”
He nodded, still amazed at the lie that had come out of his mouth. What had he been thinking? He let her lead him to the balcony.
It overlooked the entire town. There were people on the streets but no one else on the balcony. And Virginia had been right. The air smelled much better out here. It was cooler too.
Wolf watched her stare over the city. She was so very beautiful.
“Don’t be sad,” Wolf said.
She shook. “I’m never going to get home. I’m going to end up spending the rest of my life stuck with you here. I can see it all.”
Then she turned to him and caught him looking at her. Her features softened and he knew, suddenly, that she understood. That staying with him was going to be all right.
She asked, “Is it just this place, or ... ?”
He held his breath. He didn’t want to lose the moment.
“I fee! like something ... momentous is happening,” Virginia said. “I can’t describe it. I feel like there’s a huge wall of water coming toward me, but I can’t see it. I feel like it’s going to engulf me.”
She turned away from him and faced the town again. It felt as if the connection broke.
He couldn’t leave the lie between them.
“Virginia,” Wolf said, “I can’t conceal it from you any longer. Something has just happened to me.”
“Me, too,” she said. She sounded both happy and sad al the same time.
“I have just—It has?”
She turned toward him. Her eyes were very soft. “Tell me it’s just this town.”
In this, he told her the truth. “Well, it is a magic love town, but flowers only grow where there are seeds. Fireworks only happen where there is stuff in the rockets already.”
She smiled. And he knew, for the first time, really knew, that she was falling in love with him.
“Maybe there is destiny,” Virginia said.
“There most certainly is,” Wolf said.
Behind him, the lamps turned pink. Tiny birds appeared out of nowhere and started to tweet. It was a sign of his affection for her that he found the sappiness inspiring and didn’t think of the birds as lunch.
“Maybe I am supposed to be with you,” she said.
“You most certainly are.”
He leaned toward her. She closed her eyes and parted her lips slightly. He was actually going to get to kiss her. His lips were almost touching hers when her eyes flew open and she turned away.
“We’d better see how Dad’s getting on.”
The pink light faded. The birds vanished. And Wolf felt a deep disappointment. He didn’t know how to recapture the moment—and then he had no choice. Virginia was leaving the balcony. He stood for a moment, thinking how close he’d been to heaven, and then he followed her inside.
It had taken a few moments to find her father. He was in a dark, smoky room with several difficult characters. A crowd was gathered behind him. Virginia had to push through it to get close to her father. Wolf was right behind her.
“Mrs. Bone The Butcher’s Wife completes the set,” Tony said, as he laid down his cards. Then he chuckled as he pulled
in money. The other players threw down their cards. They left, and so did the crowd. The dealer looked at Tony expectantly. “Dad,” Virginia said, “well done.”
“I think I’m up to nearly six hundred, but it’s no good. I’m not going to break the bank playing Happy Families. I have to move on to the top table.” He pointed at a private table in the corner. It was marked for high rollers. The area was so full of smoke that Virginia could barely see the players. And what she did see, she didn’t like.
“What are they playing there?” Virginia asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Tony said, “there’s no card game in the world scares me. You remember our week in Las Vegas in ’93?”
“When we sold the car?”
“No, no, the year before that.”
She remembered. She helped him pick up his winnings and move to the new table. The players there looked forebidding. There were only three of them: a huge Troll, a mean-looking Dwarf smoking a smelly cigar, and a very rich old lady. They grinned wolfishly as Tony arrived.
Virginia was going to ask Wolf what he thought of them, but when she turned around, he had vanished.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Wolf couldn’t stand being inside the casino a moment longer. He had gotten his winnings and they were hiding in his pocket. He had no idea how he was going to handle this. For the first time, he wished he had someone to talk to, like that doctor back near Virginia’s home.
The only person he had to talk to now was himself.
He paced back and forth in front of the casino, weaving in and among the lucky-charm vendors. Most of them, when they saw the look in his eyes, steered him a wide berth.
“What am I going to do? What am I going to do?” he muttered.
Then he straightened. “Yes, what are you going to do?” He bent over. This felt like a dialogue between his animal self and his good, human self. “I’ll give her the money, even if it means I will lose her. It’s the only honorable thing to do.” He clenched a fist and nodded. “Yes, then she can go home safely and the Queen will not get to her.”
A newlywed couple walked by, giggling and nuzzling. They were so in love. He and Virginia were in love. She was his life’s mate.
“Of course,” he muttered, “you will have to kill yourself the moment she’s gone. Your life won’t be worth living.” The couple stopped and kissed. He had almost kissed Virginia. She had wanted him to before she remembered herself and tamed away.
An idea struck him. He could propose marriage. What did he have to lose? He could give her enough money to buy the mirror, but spend the rest on presents for a marriage proposal. Then he would be fair and she would have a choice.
The idea made him smile. He glanced at the casino door. Tony and Virginia were still inside. They wouldn’t come out for a while. He had time to do some planning.
He hurried across the street, stopping to ask couples for their recommendations. Finally he found the restaurant everyone mentioned.
He pounded on the door, hard, harder still, until he heard footsteps. A man pulled the door open and yawned.
“Is this the best restaurant in town?” Wolf asked.
The man looked at Wolf as if he were crazy. “It’s four o’clock in the morning. Go away.”
“I wish to make a reservation. I need the whole restaurant. It’s for a marriage proposal.”
“Go away!”
He closed the door and Wolf saw him through the window,
heading back to bed. Wolf reached into his pocket and put money against the glass. The man didn’t turn, so Wolf pounded on the window with his fists.
The man whirled; then his mouth opened when he saw the cash.
Wolf returned to the door. The man opened it, obviously wide awake now.
“You have to start work immediately,” Wolf said. “The dishes I have in mind will need obsessive attention and a great deal of marinating and preparing.”
The man let him inside, then went and woke up the rest of the restaurant staff. In a few moments, Wolf was standing in the large kitchen with a lot of sleepy people who were still in their nightclothes. He handed all of them some money.
“I want romantic food, you understand. Food that will sweep her off her feet, but also glue her to her seat. I want her to feel she has had a meal that has changed her life. This must be the finest meal ever cooked.”
The chef, who apparently even slept in his big while hat, glared at Wolf. “I am the greatest chef in the Nine Kingdoms. Folks travel hundreds of miles to eat my food.”
“Yeah?” Wolf was unimpressed. “Well, my date’s from a different dimension, so don’t slip up.”
Relish the Troll King inspected the apple orchard. It was a lovely orchard, with large, fruit-bearing trees. The apples were firm and red and ripe.
He hadn’t been to this part of the Fourth Kingdom in a long time. This orchard, near the Merrypips Cider House, was only thirty miles or so from Little Lamb Village—a place where he had heard Trolls were completely unwelcome.
He smiled. He would show them welcome. As soon as he got rid of the Queen.
Relish turned and beckoned with his right hand. A dozen armed Trolls followed him into the orchard, walking carefully on the grass so that they wouldn’t reveal their presence. He had instructed them in that, just as he had instructed them in many things.
His nearest advisor, at least on this mission, slunk up to Relish. “Why are we here so early, Your Majesty? We are not meeting the Queen for another hour.”
“Shut up!” Relish narrowed his eyes. The advisor had just lost his position, but he wouldn’t know it until this mission was done. “Conceal yourself and your men all around. When she arrives, she must see only me, unarmed, or she will not approach. Do you understand?”
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