Red Wolfe (4 page)

When Ellena thought she had sc
aled high enough, she stopped. She steadied her feet on the rough bark of the branch below and turned to gaze out along the hills.

The village had vanished. She looked left. She looked right, but all that meet her green eyes was the vast wilderness. How
could she have gotten so far? Even a good twenty miles away she still should have been able to see the tiny village from its perch atop the mountain.

Suddenly
, the wind was whistling through her icy ears. All she could see was the crimson tail of the cape flap around her as she plummeted. She hit one branch, and then another, knocking the breath from her body as she landed, none too gracefully, on a rather large limb at the base of the tree. It didn’t break, but Ellena was so shocked by the sudden fall that all she could do was slide to the side and plop into the white banks below. For some time she didn’t dare move. 

Staring blankly into the gray sky, she watched the flurries
gently dance on the wind. The tree was bearing the carnage of her tumble. Several of its branches had snapped and were dangling at odd angles, some even still gently swaying from the force of her descent.

“My branch broke.” Her voice sounded far away, as if someone else was speaking, but the absurdity of her obvious statement was too much. She began laughing. It was a loud, disturbing sound. The kind of laughter that would send chills down someone’s spine. “I’ll probably die out here!” 

“Janelle?”

She stopped laughing.

The soft flakes were still falling when a face suddenly appeared, hovering over her. It was a man. That much she knew. She couldn’t see his face, but her breath hitched in her throat at what she did see. He was wearing a red cape, the thick hood pulled down and concealing his face.

“Vous n'êtes pas, Janelle
,” he evenly said.

Once he realized that she was not this Janelle woman, he calmly began to walk away.

Ellena scrambled to her feet to follow. “Wait!”

“I will be on my way. Your looks are far too average to hold my attenti
on for very long,” he sniggered, never once offering to help her or see if she was injured.

“You know English!”
she cried in relief.

“Of course I do. I’m not some poor gutter rat,” he sneered. “I’ve been taught by some of the most brilliant
tutors in the world.”

“I’m lost and can’t find the village.” Ellena winched as she felt a slicing pain cut through her ribcage. There would certainly be a nice bruise there tomorrow.

“That’s what they all say.”

“All? Who? I haven’t seen anyone else out in these woods.” She watched his cape dance around his feet as he walked.

“I do apologize,” he suddenly stopped and turned, his face still covered. “Did I give the inclination that I was interested in you? Allow me to put a cease to your whimsical notions. You are far from enticing enough to attract me.”

“Well then I must apologize!” she boldly replied. “You must have misunderstood my intentions. I have somehow given you the inclination that I was interested in you, but rest assured you are very far from meeting my taste in men.”

“Is that so? Then why you are following me?”

“I told you that I am only trying to get back to the village.”

“I am not going to the village.”

“Then could you at least point me in the right direction.”

“I could, but you’ll still die before you can get there. If you don’t freeze to death, the wolves will certainly get you.” That seemed to delight him the most.

He kept walking, his long strides making it hard for her to keep up. “Then what should I do?” she shouted. Now, she was getting angry. This man’s arrogance and utmost disregard for her life was annoying to say the least.

“You can come with me. I may have a use for you
, after all.”

“I think I would rather chance being eaten,” she firmly said.

This only made him grin wider. From what she could barely see of his face, he was handsome. They were standing alone, facing each other in an open meadow as their blood colored capes gently caressed the white snow.

“Women don’t normally turn down an invitation to dine with me,” he smugly said.

“To dine with you? Is that what you’re asking me to do?” she whispered. There was something troubling about his tone.

It was growing darker, the sun setting and enveloping them in a land of shadows. A howl sounded in the distance, echoing through the mountains and Ellena went pale.

“What’s wrong? You’re not afraid of wolves, are you?”

“Who wouldn’t be?
” she barked.

“Well, then. Follow me.”

Left with no other choice, she reluctantly obeyed. As they silently hiked through the forest, she took advantage of this time to fully examine the mysterious stranger.

He was tall and, from what she could tell from under his cape
, strongly built. Perhaps he was an axe man, she thought. However, the more she stared at him the more that theory seemed unlikely. He had no axe and his clothing was not that of a woodsman. In fact, he looked like someone who had come from great wealth. He wore finely made leather hunting boots and although she could see his shirt, she could see that he wore pants that were made of the most luxurious black material that she had ever seen.

“I can feel you staring.”

Ellena could hear the pride in his voice.

“Don’t flatter you
rself,” she muttered. “I’m simply trying to figure out why you’re wandering these woods.”

“This is my land. I am free to come and go as I please.”

“I was under the impression that this land had not been owned for hundreds of years. Isn’t it the property of the French government now?”

“You are an ignorant woman. N
ot even knowing your own lord? ” he scowled.  “I should have known by your attire.”

“What do you mean?”

“Only uneducated peasant women wear farming pants. You are obviously not born into any high standing class.”

She could only stare. Something wasn’t right about this man, the way he talked, the way he walked. It all was testament to someone who
was far removed from reality and she suddenly was considering taking her chances alone in the forest.

“You called me Janelle before,” she began, trying to make conversation. “Was that a friend of yours?”

“No, simply a poor unattractive woman I knew some time ago. She wore a cape similar to yours.”

Finally, they
broke free of the forest and stepped into an open meadow. Ellena blinked, and then blinked again. Surely, the darkness was playing a trick on her eyes. A looming gate had suddenly appeared, rising from the snow and stretching along the field. The mysterious stranger abruptly stopped and then stepped to the side as they reached the entrance.

“Open it!” he roughly commanded.

“Pardon?”

“It is your station. Open the gate so that I may pass.”

“You are a grown man. You open it!”

“Such a defiant tongue! You know I could easily have it cut out for talking to me in such a disgraceful manner. I am your lord, after all.”
 

“You are insane,” Ellena
said. “I think I’ll chance the woods.”

“You’ll return,” he replied as she began to walk away and he was right. She had gotten no more than a few paces away when she saw something dart among the trees. It was close, so close that she could hear it breathing. She dashed back to the gate and swung it open. Of course,
he
fled inside first. She slammed the doorway shut just as a wolf leapt at them. The beast collided with the hard iron gate, releasing a fierce cry as the rods shook.

They stared at each other. It’s curling snarl and yellow eyes bore into her and Ellena couldn’t explain it, but she somehow knew the animal had been looking for her. When she finally tore her gaze away from the beast, she found
him
gone.

Ellena slowly trudged through the open field. The snow had accumulated almost to her knees by now and she strained for each step.

“Where did you go?” she shouted. “
Monsieur
…?” It suddenly dawned on her that she had never gotten his name, nor had she given him hers. “I gotta name for him,” she softly muttered. “Jackass.”

She was battling her way through a rather large pile of slush when her feet met the smooth surface of wet stone and not just any stone. It was the same kind of cobbled stone she had seen in the village. It was a road of some sort and she followed it, hoping it would lead her possibly back to the town.

A great towering mansion appeared in the snowy field. It reminded her of an ancient castle with its stone walls and lofty towers covered in dead ivy and snow. It would have been quite lovely back in its heyday, but it obviously had been forgotten many years ago and left alone to rot slowly. For some reason it made her sad. The house seemed to emanate such a great feeling of sorrow that Ellena seemed to feel its loneliness, too.  She could never really understand why beautiful things always had to fade, or was it perhaps she couldn’t understand why they were so easily forgotten?

She then realized that it had stopped snowing and the clouds had vanished, leaving behind a dark, velvet night sky. She had never seen so many bright stars since it was nearly impossible to ever see any in the city. Ellena cautiously approached the great giant oak doors that stood at the top of a flight of several stone steps.

“
Bonjour
?” she said, pulling on the giant golden handles and cracking the door open. It was dark inside and Ellena shivered.

She thought she heard a soft voice echo from somewhere, calling her to enter and she did, the door closing behind her. The moonlight softly crept in through a few stain color windows, casting the walls into a vibrant array of yellows, greens, and reds. Picture frames lined the stone walls and as she stepped closer she did not see the regular pictures of royalty or nobility that one would expect to find. The solemn pictures were portraits of servants and butlers. She passed a picture of two old maids sitting around a small table drinking tea. Another was a stable hand brushing a majestic white stallion and then an image of a jolly faced cook chopping vegetables. Such odd pictures, Ellena thought. Who would have pictures of the staff hanging throughout their home?

“Lord Wolfe is waiting for you.”

She released a small scream when an old butler
slid from the shadows so gnarled and withered that he could barely walk straight. He was holding a candelabrum glowing with seven different candles. What also caught her attention was the black leggings and calf length attire that he wore. He turned as he spoke.

“If you’ll follow me, please.”

The old man shuffled through the dark halls and corridors, lighting candles as they went.

“I’m Ellena,” she whispered. “I was told to—”

“I know,” was his quick reply. “My lord told me to expect you.”

The candles in his hand began to flicker and she watched the yellow light bobble in the night air. The
y entered a great feasting room where a blazing fire roared in the biggest fireplace that had ever seen. A long table sat in the center of the room covered in a glorious banquet of lamb, cheeses, sausages, and wine.

“Allow me to take
your coat,” the old man offered.

“No, thank you,” Ellena hastily said. “I would prefer to keep it on.”

“Please go ahead and sit.”

Only
two chairs where at the table, one on the far left and one on the far right. He escorted her to the plush seat on the far left, the one closet to the fireplace and just as mysteriously as the old man had appeared he vanished and Ellena was left alone. She had just sat down when the old man came shuffling in once more.

“Announcing his lordship
,
Monsieur
John Wolfe.”

“It is customary for a guest to stand when the lord of the manor enters or is that something you were not taught in the in the peasant hole that
probably raised you,” Lord Wolfe spat.

She was too taken back to answer. H
e was strikingly handsome with raven locks and bright blue eyes. Ellena scowled as he came to sit down on the far end of the table. She should have known his nasty personality was probably a consequence of unnaturally good looks. He was smiling in an almost wicked manner as he sat. He must have been very pleased with her reaction from the smug look on his face.

“Impressed?” he asked. “With the dinner, I mean.”

“I know what you meant,” came her heated reply.

The quiet butler placed the burning candelabrums in the center of the table and scurried to Lord Wolfe’s side where his aging fingers carefully put a white napkin in
to his master’s lap. The young man barely took notice of the poor butler’s actions as he struggled to pick up the wine jug and pour it into a glass. This only infuriated Ellena further and she did little to hide her distain. It only fueled her anger more when she discovered the conceited host staring at her, but Ellena’s hard glare softened when the old man made his way down to her end of the table and placed a white laced handkerchief into her lap as well. She wearily eyed the wine.