Part 9
"Callica," Justin grunted as the wagon trundled down the uneven road. "Why did it have to be Callica? That's Hector's territory, remember? And he don't take kindly to interlopers steering customers away from his underlings." The peddler snorted, "Weren't we clever, though, swiping those trinkets out from under his nose? There they were, plain as day right in front of him on the display, with rich folk running right over to hand me their purses, and there weren't nothin' he could do about it!" Justin threw back his head and laughed, causing Rascal to yip in response to his master's happiness, more than actual comprehension. Red could feel her energy flagging, but she clung to her last few threads of consciousness as Justin kept talking.
"Too bad Lord Brennan was there to spoil our fun--how was I supposed to know that Hector had stolen those things from him in the first place?" He sighed deeply. "And now here we are, headed right back into town, looking for an apothecary that can turn our new wolf friend here into a human." Red felt some of the crimson hoods' effects fading as Justin whistled. "Won't that be a treat? Now, if we can find her before Hector's men get me arrested, maybe this supposed young woman will be so grateful for my assistance and care that she'll do whatever she can to help us," he paused. "Or... if not... Maybe I won't use the remedy right away, and keep it in order to motivate the wolf to do whatever I tell her to do." He let out a dark chuckle. "Either way, we have a skin-changer at our mercy, for sure!"
Red listened, every fiber of her being ready to tear this man to shreds for even thinking that he could command her in any way. She would show him whose mercy he ought to be concerned about!
Right now is not the time, she thought to herself. I am just as desperate to reach the apothecary and find a way to be human again--though my reasons are not for gain, but to return to Queston and to my rightful place as Guardian. She need only comply until she had the remedy in hand--and then it was every man and wolf for him and herself. Full of that knowledge, she let her eyes close and her body relax as she waited for the crimson hood ointment to wear off.
It seemed only a few minutes later she awakened again to something tugging on the tether around her neck. The scent of crimson hoods had given way to the foul reek of Rascal, hesitating just out of her reach as Justin kept urging him to move forward and awaken her himself. Red channeled her wolfish instincts, waiting for the young pup to stir just a hairs-breadth, and she came roaring awake, lunging at him with teeth bared and eyes full of fire. Rascal just about tripped over his own hindquarters in his eagerness to back away from her reach. Justin laughed at his pet's comical reaction, but Red noticed that he did hold her tether like a leash.
"All right you two," he declared. "Fun's over. Now we have to be very stealthy."
He tied another length of rope around Rascal's neck, and the three of them set off down a forest path. Red paused to look back over her shoulder at the wagon. Justin had somehow found a thicket big enough to conceal it completely. If Red hadn't been inside the wagon just a few moments ago, she might not have suspected it was there at all. She reeled back when the peddler knelt in front of her, but the tight collar prevented her from going very far out of his reach.
"Now then, Beauty," Justin crooned, waving the last bit of crimson hood ointment under her sensitive snout, "this is just a precaution, you know. It's not going to hurt you. Just look at Rascal! He knows there's naught to fear."
Red glanced over to the white wolf waiting patiently by the wagon. Rascal blissfully jumped on a bug crawling across the ground in front of them, heedless of the large leather muzzle he now wore. Red twisted this way and that as Justin tried to slip its twin over her mouth.
"Now then!" He kept saying over and over, "Now then!" It took a few tries, but Red did eventually twist the wrong way, and he got the contraption around her snout. It stank of so many other animals, that Red could hardly smell the crimson hoods anymore--though she almost would have preferred it to this reek.
"Like I said," Justin muttered, urging the two wolves onward, "Just a precaution. These folk are a bit skittish around creatures such as you two, so we don't want to cause any undue alarm!"
They took a twisting, winding route out of the forest, stopping every so often to duck behind trees and into bushes, waiting through the absolute silence until Justin deemed it safe to continue. The whole time, Red played the part of a meek and disoriented animal, gladly keeping pace with the stinky, stupid white mutt beside her, willingly following Justin's every move.
The sun was nearing midday when they finally broke through the edge of the forest, and Red saw the short road that led right to a high gate that marked the edge of the city of Callica.
The gate Justin found was small, unkempt, and most of all, unguarded. He prodded the two wolves through it ahead of him, and Red got her first glimpse of Callica--the first city she'd been to outside of Queston.
Her first impression was rather a dull one. She saw a few small thatch-roof cottages, and dirty, unkempt people tending dirty, unkempt yards. As Justin predicted, many of them stopped and gasped at the sight of two vicious creatures slinking down the streets, but they seemed reassured by the presence of the muzzles and leashes, as if everything was all right as long as the human was in control.
Red sneered behind her leather mask. In Queston, no one feared the Red Wolf--they cheered her on, offered any assistance they could, whenever they saw her. Children would cling to her fur, throwing themselves on her neck the moment they saw her. She would soothe their cries, lick away their tears, and bolster their confidence, without there ever needing to be a leash or a constraint of any kind. She wondered what these people might think if, as they shrank back and cowered at the mere sight of her, muzzle and leash and all, a small toddler from Queston happened to toddle over her, cooing and babbling and reaching out for this "vicious animal."
Red felt Justin jerk sideways on the leash, and she stumbled a bit over a stray stone, sending pain shooting up into her injured shoulder. Rascal padded along happily, leaving Red to perform an ungainly, sideways hobble to keep the weight off of her shoulder. Now that the crimson hood salve had worn off, the pain was back and worse than ever--but Justin wasn't worried about tending to the needs of his newest prize anymore. It bothered her that the pain hadn't gone away even though she knew the skin had healed under the bandage--but if what Desiree had said was true, then she hurt because the wound she'd received as a human was infected, and that couldn't be fixed unless she could shift to human form. They needed to find that apothecary before she died of complications from a wound that not even crimson hoods could touch.
"Excuse me," Justin plucked the sleeve of a passerby.
The man took one look at the two leashed and muzzled wolves and backed away several paces with a brief shout.
Justin did his best to put on his biggest salesman smile. "Never fear, these are only my pets, and they mean you no harm. I only mean to ask--I seek the services of the apothecary. Where might I find her place of business?"
"The apothecary?" The man glanced warily at the two animals, but Rascal wasn't even paying any attention to him, while Red made it her mission to be as passively aggressive as possible. She held the man's gaze without moving. The scent of his increasing discomfort rolled off of him in waves she could smell, even through the dirty old leather of the muzzle. He made a conscious effort to tear his eyes away and fix them squarely upon Justin--but she'd accomplished her goal. The man was clearly unsettled.
"The apothecary shop is down two streets, take a left at the milliner's, and go past the bakery. You can't miss it." He fought the urge to glance at Red again, and moved on his way.
Justin shifted his grip on the leashes. "Now then, Beauty," he muttered under his breath. "We're almost there. Just don't do anything to attract--"
"You there!" A whistle split the air. "Stop where you are!"
"--attention..." Justin finished, as the two constables advanced toward him, making as much ruckus as they possibly could.
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