Disaster Ever After [COMPLETED]

Chapter 7 - WOLF

Gabrielle awakened once more, her head pounding. She was laying on the ground, the horse tied to a tree not too far away. It appeared they had stopped for a rest.

She let out a pained groan before attempting to get up, only to realize that her hands were tied to a tree trunk behind her back. Her mouth was also filled with a gag. Her eyes widened as she desperately tried to get out of her restraints.

"Don't bother trying to get away," came the prince's voice from her left.

She looked his way, noticing the lack of armor on him. He was now wearing casual clothes, well, casual clothes for a prince. His hair was wet, so she could only assume he had gone to wash up in a lake or a river somewhere around there to get the blood off.

Cedric's blood.

She glared at the man with all the hatred she could muster, yet that seemed to only amuse him more.

"What's the matter, princess? Don't like being tied up?" he asked with a smirk, knowing full well she could say nothing with the gag. "Well, that's too bad, because this is how you'll be until we reach the castle. I bet your mother would pay anything to get her lovely daughter back, don't you?"

If she could have, she would have laughed out loud. Her mother? Paying anything to get her back? The thought would have been hilarious, had she not been in the current situation. Yet there was nothing she could do. The man would try to get a ransom from the queen for her. Then, the queen would either pay it and take her back before finding another ingenious plan of getting her killed, or she would just state the truth: that she did not want Gabrielle back, in which case the prince would probably take her life himself, out of fury.

But then, color washed away from her face as she remembered something. She desperately tried to speak, but the gag prevented her from letting out anything other than indecipherable groans and mumbles.

After a couple of minutes of her trying to ask him something, the prince finally seemed to get sick of the noise and took off her gag with an exasperated expression on his face.

"Fine, talk!" he snapped at her.

"Where are Chess and Remmy?" she asked, panicked.

"Who?"

"The cat and the rabbit!"

"Oh, you mean your pets." the prince nodded. "Yeah, they're dead."

"They're what?" Gabrielle shrieked, eyes wide in horror.

"I said, they're dead. They kept trying to scratch and jump on me as I was taking you, so I killed them." he shrugged as if he were noting something obvious. "Don't worry, you can get new animals when you get home, of course, after the queen pays for you." he smiled maliciously, showing off his pearly-white teeth.

"She won't give you a single coin," Gabrielle told him, trying to suppress tears as she understood the fact that she was now completely and utterly alone in the world. "She doesn't care about me, please just let me go!"

"A likely story, princess." the man rolled his eyes. "I'm sure the queen doesn't care about the princess, her successor and the only way her kingdom can ever hope to regrow," he stated sarcastically.

"It's true, please, I'm begging you, get me out of these ropes and let me go!"

"If you keep this up, I'll gag you agai-" he started to say but was cut off by a loud howl in the distance.

"Alright, we have to get moving. This forest is not safe," he said, taking out a knife and beginning to cut the restraints that kept Gabrielle tied to the tree, being careful not to rip the ones that attached her hands together.

He finally got her free from the trunk and dragged her towards the horse. Right before he could get her on the animal, a growl made them both look behind him.

There, in the shadows of the trees, stood a huge black wolf, eyes staring right at the prince. The man scrambled to get to his sword, but the beast was too fast. It lunged at him, long sharp fangs bared and claws ready. A loud scream ripped its way out of Alastair's lungs, causing a soft gasp to emerge from Gabrielle's lips.

She closed her eyes at the sound of flesh being torn from bones and horrible cries. The horse next to her was equally disturbed and frightened, as it attempted to escape the ropes that tied him to the tree. Gabrielle quickly took the small dagger that Alastair had dropped and began to cut the restraints loose, in a frantic attempt to mount the horse and gallop her way out of danger.

But the strange voice stopped her.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the wolf spoke.

Gabrielle stared at him and he stared at her.

"Did you just speak?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'm going to ignore the stupid question since you are obviously not thinking straight. Yes, I did speak, no, you aren't crazy, and yes, I am expecting at least a little gratitude for helping you with the guy."

"Thank you?"

"Your welcome." the wolf nodded, licking his bloodied muzzle.

"So, you're not going to eat me?" she inquired carefully.

"I try to make a habit of not eating young maidens. After all, my friend Red is about your age and she would be upset if she found out I killed you."

"Wait, you mean Red Riding Hood?"

"Humans and their stories..." the wolf rolled his eyes. "But to answer your question, yes and no. She is the one the stories were based on, but her story and name aren't that ridiculous. I did not eat her or her grandmother and she likes to be called Red, but her name is actually Renatta. Don't tell her I told you, though, she really hates it."

"I'll keep that in mind." Gabrielle nodded. "So, if you're not going to kill me, am I free to go?"

"As free as a bird."

"Alright. Then thank you for your help. Though murder wouldn't be my first solution for getting rid of someone, it certainly gets the job done. I should get going, I need to go back and see if my friends are..." a small tear escaped her eye. "I-I mean, I just need to see them. Goodbye, mister wolf, it was nice to meet you!"

"Goodbye, child, I hope your friends are fine."

Another tear slid down her cheek. So did she.