Nice and Naughty (2 page)

It was rare that she had a chance to rummage through the elf database, but she did it now, learning about the men that she had just sent out to bring her team back.

She was giggling and tears were running down her cheeks when Santa returned.

“What has tweaked your funny bone, Rudolph?”

“I am desperately glad that I sent them off with the snowflake magic. They would be hopelessly outclassed if there hadn’t been an info-dump involved.”

Santa sat down and rubbed his forehead. “Is there a cup of tea around for me?”

Ru smiled and waved her hand. A pot appeared between them, just like in the old days.

“I don’t understand why, Ru. I don’t understand why they chose now?”

“I will tell you later. Well, I suppose that I should return to the archive. Is Rin still around?” She set her cup down and made to get up to her feet.

“You aren’t going anywhere. You are staying in the tower for the next week.”

That was surprising. “Why?”

“You can pull the sleigh by yourself if you have to. I want to make sure you are where I can find you.” Santa scowled.

She leaned back in her chair. “You were a lot more fun before you became a living avatar of Christmas.”

He sighed. “And you were much more obliging when you were fresh out of the forest. The world moves and times change.”

Ru wrinkled her nose. “Fine. If I am going back to the tower, has it been made ready for me? I am not in the mood for housekeeping.”

Santa scowled. “I sent Rin to clean up.”

“Is my wardrobe up there?”

Santa smiled slightly. “Just like you left it.”

“I thought I was leaving it forever when we collected the others. I am pretty sure I left some laundry on the floor.” She dismissed her tea set with a wave of her hand.

She was amazed at how calm he was considering that she had just endangered Christmas.

Santa sighed. “I was enjoying that.”

“Tough. Today is a stress point for both of us. If you want to know what is going on, meet me for dinner tomorrow. Oh, and bring an update on how the girls are doing. I want to make sure that my team is enjoying themselves.”

She got to her feet and left the office without his dismissal. In the old days, there would have been roaring and yelling, but now, the door swung shut behind her.

She crossed the main floor and headed to an ancient and ornate wooden door on the north side of the building.

The handle of the door tingled as she pulled on the gateway to her old home. Centuries had come and gone since she had been alone in the tower.

Time magic was a fickle thing, but with careful management, it could be manipulated into getting what you wanted. Rudolph had studied the cause and effect of all the possibilities that her team would face. She hoped she had accounted for everything. A life alone was no proper life at all for a reindeer.

It was all exactly where she had left it. Her wardrobe was full of gowns that she and Kresida had chosen over the centuries.

Ru sighed and walked to the window, pushing it open with a hard shove. The icy air swirled in and pulled at her hair, ruffled her bed and cleared the feeling of sadness from the room.

Time had stood still in this chamber. When Dasher was recruited, Ru had moved to the archive to be near her new teammate. Things had been so different then. Kresida was around and laughter rang through the tower daily.

It had been a different time...

* * * *

She stepped through the winter wonderland of her forest. She knew the name of each and every leaf and the pitch and tone of the brooks burbling under their cover of ice. This was her home, and she enjoyed spending time with the sleeping trees of her domain.

The soft footsteps of a stranger in her home thundered in her ears with the crash of discord. She pressed herself into the trees and used the shadows to conceal herself, and she crept toward the interloper.

Her paws dug into the snow as she crept along, and in a few minutes, her path intersected with that of the invading being.

She could smell the ancient magic on him. He looked nearly human, but the twist of power around him wasn’t. She blinked at him from under a heavily snow-bowed pine tree and watched.

He was wearing a tunic and leather leggings. A wide belt held his daggers in place and a thick and furred cloak covered his shoulders. His belt had a heavy red buckle that glowed with a strange light.

The hair on his head denoted age, but his face was youthful and unlined, the sparkling blue eyes showed a wisdom that she was unused to seeing in those who walked on two legs.

His head turned to look at her, and he smiled. “Am I in the presence of the famous wolf who guards these woods?”

Being addressed directly in a language that she could understand was definitely unusual. She crept forward cautiously, and her intruder went down on one knee with peculiar grace.

She stepped forward until she was ten feet from him.

“Forest spirit, I have a boon to ask of you. I would speak to you in a form more conducive to communication.”

She sat and cocked her head.

“A form similar to my own would suffice.”

Sighing, she shifted from her comfortable and four-footed wolf shape into something he could speak with. Her human shape, kneeling in the snow.

His wise eyes looked surprised. “You are so young!”

She held up her hands and looked at the naked and pink skin that she was wearing. “I do not age as humans age.”

He removed his cloak and wrapped it around her.

She smiled at him. “I also do not get cold. Now, who are you, and why are you in my forest?”

“Well, Rudolph, I am in dire need of help.”

She cocked her head. “Who are you?”

“Have you heard of the gods of the Norse folk?”

She shook her head. “I cannot say that any have crossed my path.”

He looked perplexed, but he continued. “I am Odin. The gods have left this world, but I retain their power. I do not wish to drift off into the ether. I wish to make a place for myself in this world.”

She blinked and nodded. “Congratulations. Why have you come here?”

“I have heard of the wolf who walks these woods, the wolf who helps guide travellers home. No matter the weather, you always guide them home. I need you to help me to find a place where the last power of the fading gods has taken refuge.”

She rose to her feet. “Is it nearby?”

He cocked his head. “Not really. It is through the sky and nestled between the aurora borealis and the stars.”

“I cannot walk there in this form. Certainly, not carry you there. I have another shape for the purpose of carrying those who need help, but I cannot speak to you while in that form.”

He smiled slightly. “So, you can take me there? You can sense it?”

“You have described it, and the world is not so full of wonders that such power can hide. I can see it.” She looked up toward the distant horizon.

“Will you take me there? I cannot get there alone.”

He was standing close to her, and she found his presence calming. “Is it your home?”

“I would like it to be. There are elves here who need a home away from the humans and other species who need to be brought to safety. The first step is to find it.”

She nodded. “Why did you call me Rudolph?”

“It means famous wolf. As you have not ventured a name, I had to give you one.”

She frowned. “Why?”

He chuckled. “It is a human thing. You will get used to them.”

She shrugged. “I doubt it.”

She took off the cloak and handed it to him, taking the shape of the best runner she knew that could also carry a rider.

The reindeer she wore stamped its feet, and he didn’t hesitate. He put his cloak across her back, and with a tremendous leap, he landed on her back.

She took a few steps and noted that his footprints appeared without any other lead in. Whatever he was, he had not needed her for transport.

She took a few steps and launched herself skyward. The energy he had described was hidden in the moment between night and dawn, so she ran across the arc of the sky, seeking that moment.

Her rider held tight to her horns, and when she finally got to that moment and plunged through, he shouted in surprise.

The light of the aurora wrapped around them and clung to them as they passed from the human world into something that had never seen it.

She landed in a world of snow and light. Her hooves stamped on the ground made of magic and ancient power.

Her rider didn’t dismount. He was squirming on her back, and to her shock, he wrapped something around her neck.

She bucked and tried to throw him off. The wrapping around her neck tightened, and the red glow was unmistakably what had been on his belt.

With a tremendous heave, she dislodged her rider and turned on him, her antlers lowered.

She tried to change into her wolf form, and she couldn’t. She was trapped. She ran at him, and he moved out of the way. It was the beginning of a very long fight.

Odin sat with his head bloody, and she was lying exhausted on the ground.

“I am sorry, Rudolph. I needed you. I have been looking for someone like you for centuries, over a thousand years, actually.”

She huffed, blowing hard against the ground.

He stroked her head and scratched between her ears. “It is a new era, Rudolph. The gods of old are fading and gone, the new ones are full of hope and good will. The humans still need us, but we have to take a new form, reshape us for the new age.”

He stroked her muzzle before putting his cloak over her. “You can shift to human now, but your wolf is out of your reach.”

She sighed but shifted to her human form. “Why do you need me? I was content in my forest.”

“The elves need a place to live. We need to bring them here, and while they have steeds that can lead them here, no one can find the place without you.”

She cocked her head. “Elves left the human world centuries ago.”

He grinned. “In your time. This place is out of time. We will come and go as we please until we have things the way we want them. Then, we will nest ourselves into the human mythos, watching for those who have been naughty and rewarding those who are nice.”

She blinked. “You want to watch the humans that closely?”

Odin shrugged. “I feel it when I look at them. I was not only king of the gods, but the all-seeing. I am willing to share that power with elves as humanity expands.”

She touched the heavy collar around her neck. “And so, you bound me to help you?”

“This is an exciting venture, Rudolph. I needed power, guidance and a partner. You fill those requirements. I am sorry for the deception, and I swear to never try and trick you again.”

She looked at him and extended her hand. “If you swear it, I will help you. This is completely insane, but I will do it. I am not sure if Rudolph is a proper name for me.”

He grinned. “I swear to honour you for your efforts and never take you for granted.”

They clasped hands, and a partnership was struck.

* * * *

“What the hell? How long have you been standing there with the window open, Ru?” Santa came in and shut the window, turning her and bustling toward the table and chairs.

“I don’t feel the cold.” She brushed the snow off her tunic, and she shrugged.

Santa grabbed a quilt off her bed and wrapped her in it. “Humour me. Can you summon some tea?”

She waved her hand and shaped a tea service out of the magic of the dimensional bubble. She picked up a cup, filled it and sipped the hot peppermint tea.

Ru sat in the bundle of quilt with her breath still frosting the air.

“What had you so lost in thought?” Santa took her hand.

She looked at him with a small smile. “The day we met. I was remembering your promise not to trick me and to never take me for granted.”

He blushed. “Ah, I suppose that I broke that promise.”

“You did, but she was wonderful.”

“She was. Humans are born to flit through life, but this time of year always reminds me of the night you brought her home.”

Ru smiled and sipped at her tea, remembering a Christmas long past when folks regularly died in the cold and having family meant surviving.

* * * *

“What are you doing, Rudolph?” Odin held the reins of the small sleigh that she was pulling.

Ru lifted her head and sensed the fading life in the forest. She pulled the sleigh through the trees, and she paused next to the form huddled against the thick trunk of an oak. The young woman was shivering wildly, and her life was fading.

“It is a human, Rudolph. Humans die.”

Ru continued to the woman and touched her with her muzzle, pawing at her clothing.

Odin sighed and grumbled, leaving the sleigh to pick up the woman that Ru was insisting on rescuing.

When they were both in the sleigh, she lifted off and flew them back to the workshop. The elves made clothing and essentials to give to the humans to help them through the winter, and Odin had delivered them. The sleigh was much lighter, even with their rescued woman as ballast.

She cruised through the sky and pulled them all home.

Ru kept her windows closed and a fire going. The woman was in her bed, and she slowly stirred. “Where am I?”

Ru smiled. “My home. I am Ru. What is your name?”

“Kresida. I thought I was going to die.” She trembled and tears formed in her eyes.

Ru sat next to her, taking her hand. “You are alive and well. You will have food and clothing and be safe for the rest of your life.”

Kresida sobbed and clung to Ru’s hand. It took her nearly an hour to share her story of being cast out of her home when her parents died and the lord of the manor decided to take over their property. He had cast her out in the cold, and her death had been the expected result.

Ru got Kresida a gown to wear, and the woman had cried again at the rich fabric with the elaborate embroidery. Ru summoned a meal for her and watched while she ate.

“When you are feeling up to it, I will show you around your new home.”