Scarlet Moon (Once Upon a Time) Read online

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure what I can do to help her.”

  William knelt by her grandmother and laid his ear to her chest. “Her heartbeat is slow, erratic,” he said after a moment. He glanced up. “Could she have been poisoned with something here?” he asked.

  “I’m sure she was, but I don’t know with what,” Ruth said, cursing herself for not being able to think clearly.

  “We can take her to the village healer.”

  “No!” Ruth exclaimed. “She is not welcome in the village. Also, she and the healer never saw eye to eye. She would rather die than have him treat her.”

  “Well, she might just do that,” William said grimly, rising to his feet. “Tell me what I can do”

  “Go tell my father what has happened,” she begged.

  Her father came, but there was nothing he could do other than look helplessly at the still body of his mother. At last he went home, tired and upset. Peter didn’t come, but sent word that he would help out her father while she took care of their grandmother.

  For Ruth, it was a long, sleepless night filled with worry. The next morning she sat by her grandmother’s bed, grateful that Peter had offered to help her father in the shop for a few days. She was surprised that he hadn’t offered instead to come and keep watch over Giselle, though. Maybe he’s seen too much death and illness, she thought.

  Ruth continued to work on finding a cure for the one woman who could have told her what to use. “Come on, Grandmother, wake up. I need another lecture,” she pleaded softly.

  It’s not fair that the one person who could fix all this is the one person who can’t, she thought.

  She had racked her brain time and again thinking of all the poisons her grandmother had warned her about. None of them seemed to match Giselle’s symptoms.

  She rose and walked about the room, stopping to look again at each jar, each potted plant, and each drying herb. The answer is here, I know it, she thought, frustrated.

  She sat again and took a deep breath. Mentally she ticked off once more all the poisons she knew. Then, at last, it came to her. The day I came to tell her Stephen was dead. What was she talking about?

  Monkshood.

  That is it!

  “God, please let me remember how to treat it,” she prayed.

  Grandmother said it was incredibly deadly. A small amount could cause numbing, a tiny bit more death. She also went on to say something about slowing the heart, causing paralysis….

  She struck her fist into her open palm. If it could do that, surely it could render someone unconscious.

  With renewed purpose she made the rounds of the cottage, searching for the cure. I don’t remember what it was, but hopefully something will jog my memory.

  When she came across the digitalis, she remembered, “I have to fight poison with poison,” she said out loud, beginning to feel sick with anxiety. “I could kill her, but if I do nothing, she will die anyway.”

  She turned, determined, and crossed back to her grandmother. She placed a piece of the poison plant in her grandmother’s mouth and washed it down with a small sip of wine. She said something about alcohol being good for treating both of them. Let’s hope she was right.

  Ruth waited anxiously for some sign. Nothing happened for nearly an hour, and then, suddenly, Giselle began to vomit.

  Ruth panicked but quickly rolled her grandmother onto her side and helped clean out her mouth. The older woman’s chest began to heave and her skin grew warm to the touch, a marked difference from her clamminess that morning.

  Suddenly her eyes flew open, the blue almost totally obscured by the black orbs in the centers. They were enormous, but some part of Ruth told her that this was right.

  Giselle reached up and grasped Ruth’s hand for a moment. She squeezed it hard before her own hand fell back to her side and her eyes closed. Her body slumped again and Ruth feared the worst. Giselle’s chest still rose and fell steadily, though.

  Ruth put her ear to her grandmother’s chest and cried for joy when she could hear her heart beat, steady and strong. It is working! Hold on, Grandmother, you’re going to be okay after all, Ruth thought.

  She sat back up with an overwhelming sense of relief. As she stared at her grandmother’s body, however, she realized that they weren’t out of the woods yet.

  Over the next several days her grandmother awoke off and on, usually just long enough to take a sip of water. She still couldn’t speak, but she smiled up at Ruth, her eyes expressive, before she would slip back into her slumber.

  Ruth longed to ask her what had happened, who had attacked her, but her grandmother was never conscious for long enough. Not that she could answer me anyway.

  The days passed and Ruth’s anxiety grew. William visited several times, always accompanied by her father. Ruth managed to joke that her grandmother wasn’t much of a chaperone in her state, but it was hard to feel cheerful.

  Still, the wedding plans were laid, and her father managed to get work done at his shop. The world moved on without Ruth. But as the full moon drew near again Ruth began to fear. She had never been able to discuss with her grandmother what to do to help William.

  At last, the night before William was to transform, Giselle awoke and was able to stay conscious. She tried to speak but could not yet, her throat still raw from her ordeal. The next afternoon Ruth felt she could leave her alone, at least for a few hours, while she tended to the wolf.

  Chapter Ten

  The trees were anxious. They looked down upon the man and woman in the woods and watched as she chained him up with great and mighty chains. One of the trees volunteered his trunk as an anchor for the chains, but he did not believe they would hold.

  The trees had seen the man before, and they knew what he was capable of They knew that in his other form he had hurt the woman twice. They fretted for her, but there was nothing they could do. Her course was set and she would not be swayed. The trees sighed mournfully.

  There is only the wolf now, there is no more me. Killing, fighting, hide who you are, but not forever. She could help him, but she wouldn’t; and for that she was going to pay.

  “Are the chains tight enough?” Ruth asked, testing them one last time.

  “They feel secure now, but I do not know if they will hold once I am transformed.”

  “Its a chance were just going to have to take,” she admitted, even though she didn’t like it.

  “It would be safer if you left,” William urged. “I don’t want you to be hurt.”

  She shook her head emphatically. “We will never know for sure unless I stay and keep watch.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her. “You are as wise as you are brave.”

  “You forgot beautiful,” she teased.

  “Well, that one was a given,” he said, smiling. He looked up at the sky and his smile slowly faded. “The sun is going down.”

  “So it is,” she murmured, looking at the darkening sky. She bent forward and kissed him, and she prayed that it wasn’t for the last time.

  She then moved a little distance away, out of his reach, and sat down with her back to another tree. The first snow of the year had thawed and the ground was dry once more. She carefully wrapped her scarlet cloak around her, grateful for the protection it offered and only slightly saddened by the memory that it was her brother’s armor that lined her cloak and kept her safe. Once seated, she pulled out her dagger and clutched it tightly in her hand.

  Next to her on the ground was an extra change of his clothes. For modesty’s sake he had foregone his usual practice of undressing before transformation.

  “Don’t forget, the wolf can sense fear,” he said by way of a final caution.

  As the last light of the lingering sun left the sky, Ruth felt a shock go through her. She shivered and turned her eyes to William.

  He lay, body contorting and convulsing upon the ground. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming. She heard the sound of rending fabric, and soon gray tufts of fur began
to peer through his clothes.

  “William?” she whispered despite herself.

  She heard the cracking of bones as his body reformed itself Snarling and whimpering sounds that could not be made by a human came from the writhing form. She closed her eyes, unable to bear it any longer.

  When the sounds had subsided, she opened her eyes to find that William was completely gone and in his place stood a large wolf. She shivered and involuntarily pressed her back harder against the tree, her body seeking an escape route.

  When the animal threw back its head and howled at the moon already rising in the sky, it was the most frightening sound she had ever heard. She gasped as a shiver raced up her spine.

  The wolf turned suddenly toward her, its large green eyes on her. William’s eyes. I don’t know why I never realized it before.

  The creature lunged at her, and with a scream she raised her knife up in front of her to protect herself. The chains held, though, and brought him up short. He strained at them, snarling and snapping not four feet from her. His massive paws dug into the ground, tearing it up.

  She wanted to scream but forced herself to try and remain calm. “All is well, William. Be still. It is only I, Ruth, and you know I mean you no harm.”

  The creature continued to claw and snap, and despite her best efforts she began to remember what it was like when those same teeth had ripped chunks from her flesh and those same paws had slashed her legs.

  “I am not afraid of you,” she whispered, willing it to be true. “You are William, my love. You just need to be still and remember yourself.”

  The wolf stopped snarling for a moment and cocked its head, as though considering her words. She held her breath, praying that she had reached him. After a moment, though, he lunged at her again.

  Then, just as suddenly, he gave up, turned, and ran the other way. The chain brought him up short again, with a yelp that pained her. He threw himself in that direction for only a moment before repeating the action in other directions.

  Ruth watched, fascinated. He didn’t venture near her again, and for that she was very grateful. At long last the wolf lay down and closed its eyes.

  “That’s right, my beauty, just go to sleep. Rest and I’ll wait here to keep watch.”

  Ruth woke with a start, light shining in her eyes. She sat up slowly, unable to remember where she was. When she saw the chains looped around one of the massive trees, she remembered.

  “William!” she cried.

  The wolf was gone.

  She jumped to her feet and grabbed the end of the chain in her hand. One link had been gnawed clean through. “He’s free,” she whispered, horrified. Above her the trees moaned.

  She turned and ran as fast as she could to her grandmother’s house. The path seemed to stretch out forever, and behind her trees whispered, urging her to hurry. Somewhere close by a wolf howled, and she screamed.

  Maybe this is it. Maybe we will finish what we started so long ago. Maybe the wolf will kill me, but it wont be easy. She clutched the dagger even tighter in her fist.

  When she reached the cabin she burst inside, panting. “Grandmother, something horrible has happened!”

  “It certainly has,” an unfamiliar voice snarled.

  She turned and saw Peter, hovering over their grandmothers bed. She could barely recognize him, though. He was hunched over like an animal about to pounce, his face was twisted in a hideous snarl, and his eyes were enormous. In his hand he clutched a wolf’s paw, and there were scratches on Giselle’s face, around the eyes, which must have come from the claws.

  “You shouldn’t have come.”

  “Peter, what are you doing?” Ruth asked, overwhelmed.

  “The old woman knows what I want but she won’t give it to me. She hides secrets, magic, and she won’t teach me.”

  “Peter, I’ve told you, there is nothing magic about what Grandmother does. It all revolves around study of the plants and animals.

  “Quiet!” he bellowed. “That’s just what you’d like me to think. Maybe you’re hiding the secrets from me too. They were, you know. They wouldn’t tell me, even when I killed them.”

  “Mary and James?” Ruth asked.

  “Yes. They died with the lies still in their teeth.”

  “I told you,” Giselle wheezed. “There are no secrets, no magic .”

  “Liar!” he shrieked. “There must be.”

  “Why do you want magic so badly?” Ruth asked, slowly trying to approach him.

  “To take it back to Jerusalem and use it to defeat our enemies and avenge us.” Her cousin was drenched in sweat, shaking with rage.

  Giselle shook her head weakly. “I could have taught you many things, Peter, but not this.”

  Peter raised the paw as though to swipe at her again.

  Desperate, Ruth called out, “Peter!”

  “What?”

  “Your eyes are so big. Have you taken any of Grandmother’s medicines?”

  “No,” he snarled. “My eyes help me see in the dark the hidden things people don’t want known. Like your potential husband. My eyes help me see right through him, and I know his secrets.”

  Remain calm; he can probably sense fear, she told herself.

  She glanced at his face again, trying to judge what he would do next. His lips were open and pulled slightly back from his teeth. They look so sharp, like an animal’s teeth. The only way they could look like that was if someone had filed them.

  She remembered the files they used in the shop and felt a fresh wave of horror burst through her. He thinks he’s an animal!

  “Put down the wolf’s paw,” Ruth said gently.

  “Why? This is the paw of the wolf that we dragged from the forest nine years ago, the one that almost killed you”

  “That wasn’t the wolf that attacked me,” Ruth said before she could stop herself.

  Just then a great gray ghost slipped into the cabin through the door that Ruth had left open. “He is,” she whispered, her mouth dry with fear.

  Peter turned to look at the creature, and Ruth took advantage of his momentary distraction to throw herself forward. She knocked the paw from his hand and brought her dagger up. He gripped her wrists and began to wrestle with her. Suddenly he swept his foot behind her ankles and tripped her, sending her crashing to the floor. She landed with a gasp as all the air rushed out of her body. Her knife went sailing into the air.

  Peter leaped and managed to grasp it. With a roar he dropped down and brought the dagger to bear on her chest. He tried to plunge the dagger in, but it went only the barest amount and then stopped with a metallic clang.

  Stephen’s armor! Ruth thought wildly as she grabbed the hilt of her dagger and kicked upward into Peter’s chest with all her might. Grandmother was right that this cloak would save my life.

  The kick was enough to send him flying, and he lost control of the dagger. Ruth picked it up with a roar and was about to fling herself at him when a gray streak brushed past her.

  She stood and watched in shock as the two fought each other: her William who had been cursed to take the form of a wolf, and her cousin who had taken on the mind of a wolf. With a roar they came together, locked in combat.

  Within moments it was over and the wolf stood above Peter, fangs dripping with blood. Ruth’s knees gave way beneath her and she collapsed onto the floor. The wolf turned to look at her and then stalked over toward her. He stared into her eyes for a long minute and then lay down at her feet, his head resting on her boot.

  Chapter Eleven

  Peter was buried quietly, one last victim of the wolf attacks. Ruth herself told the villagers how Peter had bravely fought the wolf, and that each had mortally wounded the other. Her father took the truth hard, but he understood and accepted it. He also accepted William, though it was clear his fears had only multiplied.

  Her grandmother was fully recovered. Before Ruth had made it back to the cottage, Giselle had managed to drag herself from her bed and treat her remaining inju
ries, including taking something to restore her voice.

  It had been Peter who had attacked her, sure that she was a witch and trying to kill her when she told him she had no secrets to share with him. He had been using the wolf’s paw as a weapon—an extension of himself and a symbol of his slide into madness. In the end Ruth believed he had truly seen himself as an animal.

  It has been a traumatic couple of weeks, but at least Father, Grandmother, William, and I are all together now, and we are all safe.

  She smoothed her hands down the sides of her dress. And through it all my wedding gown even got made. Thought truth be told, I’d rather be wearing trousers. At least I convinced them not to tie it so tightly that I can’t breathe.

  She still couldn’t quite believe everything that was happening. The unknown future stretched out before her like a dark forest. Thanks to William, though, she had gotten over her fear of dark forests. So, although she still felt uncertain, she didn’t feel afraid.

  I don’t know if I’ll ever feel like a lady, she thought as she climbed down the stairs toward the great hall. But I’ve got a lifetime to try.

  It was two hours before the wedding, and she had managed to escape her attendants, at least for a moment. In the great hall she saw her grandmother deep in conversation with William.

  “We may never know who killed the tanner,” Giselle said just as Ruth walked up.

  Her grandmother turned and beamed at her. “There you are, dear, and you look radiant.”

  “Thank you.”

  William reached for her hand. “I was telling your grandmother that I remember everything from the last wolf cycle—the chains, the fight, everything. Now that I can remember, I should be able to slowly start to control myself again.”

  “Does that mean your passion for me is waning already?” Ruth teased.

  “On the contrary,” he said, eyes burning with fire. “My love for you has given me the strength to be a better man, even a better wolf. In time maybe I’ll have more control over the whole process than ever.”

  “Oh no, that will not do at all,” Giselle said with a sly grin. “That is why I have brought you two the perfect wedding present.”