Tales of the Big Bad Wolf: The Red Riding Hood Arc (A Fairy Tale)

Chapter Fourteen: Old Wounds

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Old Wounds

A stone lion sat on its pedestal in the Wolfram estate courtyard diligently scratching itself.  With the master no longer in sight, it had given up its pretense of being in an “inactive” state.  

For a while, the thing dozed sloppily on its side and waited for the girl to come back outside.  However, when yet another hour had passed, the stone creature blinked its eyes open and looked about vigorously.   It called out a faint “hallooooo;” to the untrained ear its cries sounded like a cold blast of wind. When no response came, it hopped off the pedestal and up towards the road. 

At the gate, the lion sniffed the air vigorously, searching for the girl. It did not smell her but something else outside beyond the gate.  And so with a swipe of its paw, the gate was forced open and the creature pranced to its left in order to look at the Big Lion, the guardian statue on the bridge.

Fortunately for the creature and its master, there were no travelers on the road.  The servant left at guard in the watchtower sat dozing while the lion bounded down the bridge and tumbled flat at the feet of the statue.

The stone lion roared a nice friendly hello, generating another gust of wind.  The guardian of the bridge did not roar back.  Not discouraged, the lion began to sniff about its feet.  Its nose uncovered several faint scents about the great guardian beast.  There was the smell of the void -- the blackness that it instinctively hated.  The lion shook its mane, thinking it would like to go find that black thing, bat it about within its paws, and then smash it to pieces.  It paused, however, to consider another fresher scent that intrigued it greatly. 

However the stone lion was created to prioritize danger before fun, so it ran here and there, over the bridge, under the bridge, and in the water, searching out any stray shadows that might have gone undetected.  Not finding any thing of concern, the lion yawned and padded over to inspect an interesting mess of prints on the ground.

There the other scent appeared again and the creature circled about ecstatically for a minute before it stopped, dizzied by its efforts.  Then it began to follow this scent north towards the town.

                                                               * * * 

Edmund roused with a start, abruptly sitting up in his bed.  He shoved his covers aside, for he was hot and sweating. 

Whatever vivid terror or nightmare had gripped him was already fading quickly, leaving him only fragments of images and sounds. What had been left behind in his mind was the sight of blood running red on the snow and the sound of wailing ringing in his ears.

For a long time he sat still, wondering why the dream had returned after so many years.

He looked down at his hand once before washing up and lumbering along to the kitchen. He found himself alone, save for a few notes and a plate of food on the table.  

Edmund scanned the first note and felt uneasy.  He ran his fingers repeatedly through his shorn hair, wondering why his parents had wandered off this morning to see Mrs. Winchester.   But he did not follow for his father wanted him to watch the shop.

He had idled here too long at home, sick and useless.  He knew that the guildmaster would not wait; he would likely be already tracking the wolves he had determined had been in the area.  And the friar might have already left to make his rounds.  And Elanore… 

She was the first one he wanted to see.  She had cried in his arms the other day, heartbroken over the realization that her mother had lied to her about the past.   The sight of her tear-stained eyes had affected him deeply.