Blood Red (51 page)

Vivi Anna

wrung out her shirt.

“You are kidding?”

“Nope.”

Rapunzel watched as Wolf peed on the rock. He finished and tucked himself back into his pants.

“Why?”

Wolf turned, his eyes ablaze in the warm sunshine.

“So I can come back.”

“To what end?”

“Revenge,” Wolf and Red said in unison.

“I have never know two people more alike,”

Rapunzel commented as she wrung the water from her skirts.

Wolf smirked. Red frowned.

“We need to move. We are not safe here. They will not let us go so easily.” Wolf walked to Rapunzel. He picked up her sopping skirts and ripped them away.

She was left with only a bodice and a thin cotton petticoat. Rapunzel gasped in shock. “The heavy fabric will only slow you down.”

He grasped her long braid that nearly brushed the ground.

She pulled it away. “Not my hair.”

“It will get in the way.”

She took her braid and wrapped it around itself.

She tied it together with the rawhide string. It was secure behind her neck. Wolf nodded his approval.

He took the skirt material and wrapped it around a large rock. He tossed it into the lake. “Let’s go.”

They ran into the woods. Wolf led them, his nose raised in the air, scenting for their direction. They came upon a well-used roadway, the weeds and dirt 100

Blood Red

trampled on by horse and man.

“We must keep off this path. We will follow its trail, but from a camouflaged distance.”

They crept across the trail and into the thick woods. Wolf led them through the dense forest quickly. Rapunzel followed. Red brought up the rear.

As they pushed through brush and stepped over rotting logs, Red kept glancing behind her. She had a distinct feeling of being followed.

“Wolf?” She whispered, knowing he could hear her.

He stopped and turned. He nodded. “I feel it, too.”

“What do you feel?” Rapunzel asked glancing about her nervously. A chill had set across her body, and she was shivering.

“Something approaches.”

They stood still, listening. The woods quieted.

Chirping birds ceased. The breeze froze in midstream.

“Get down!” Wolf yelled.

They dropped to the dirt floor, hiding behind thick bushes.

As if created from thin air, men on horseback galloped onto the trail. They stopped on the path.

There were five in total, dressed in armor and carrying swords. Upon their shields was the brand of their Lord and Master; a black dragon brandished the metal like a scar burned into flesh. They positioned themselves into a circle, protecting their flanks from all directions.

Red looked to Wolf. “Where did they come from?”

“I do not know. I could hear them, though.”

“More magic,” Rapunzel said as she rubbed her 101