Red

A torn red cape surrounded by flowers, hid the child. Samuel Klaus Meriwether could see the small frame beneath it and wondered if the child had died. There was dried blood on the little leg that peaked out from underneath the cape. A long healing scratch adorned the skin above the ankle.

He reached toward the hood believing it best that he check. Children were his weakness after all. He noticed the entire picnic basket she carried was full of banana bread and wine. It was a reasonable deduction that she had strayed off the path and into the poppies by accident and that she had been alive during the past twelve hours.

He pulled the hood off and sprung backwards. The child to his surprise stayed asleep. He now had the chance to study her. Being of darker hair and skin tone than Klaus, he imagined she was from one of the western villages. She was too light of coloring to be from the east, and too dark to be from the north. Her brown hair was cropped in a style Klaus didn’t recognize. It had been some time since he had been to the west, he did not travel much anymore. While studying her Klaus breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that the minute girl was breathing, and her complexion was healthy.

“Hey,” he called loudly.

The girl didn’t move.

“Hey.”

She groaned, her large honey eyes opened, and blinked twice, “huh?”
“Do not sleep there,” Klaus offered the child a willowy hand. The dainty girl tilted her head like a confused puppy as she allowed Klaus to help her to her feet. Her fingers grasped his as he lifted. Smiling he imagined if he had put any force into the pull he could have shot her into the air. Now that she was standing he could see she was older than he originally thought probably around nine or ten, instead of six. Her face just beginning to loose it’s baby-like roundness, but not enough for her to look like an older child.

“What are you doing here forest man?”

 “I am here for ingrediants for a sleep potion.”

The little girl looked confused.

He pointed, “For the poppies.”

“Oh,” she looked at the flowers and grinned, “They are pretty aren’t they.”

Klaus studied the orange red poppies and nodded, “Yes.”

The child smiled at him, “Well I thought I would pick a few but then I got sleepy.”

He shook his head did parents not warn their children about the forest? He sighed, “The flowers are a sleep aid. Sometimes when they grow wild like this they cause sudden drowsiness.”

“Oh,” she looked intrigued. Her cape flapped in the wind, “I was going to pick a few for grandma.”

“Here,” Klaus handed her a few pre-plucked poppies out of his bag. They were not specimens he could use.

The little girl’s face lit up as she took the flowers, then it fell as she seemed to realize something, “Oh no! I told mother I’d go straight to grandma’s house!”

Klaus’ black eyes twitched as the little girl left without so much as a ‘thank you’. Watching her run down the right fork in the path made him nervous, but he could not say why. He turned back to the bed of poppies, systematically plucking the ones that looked more red than orange. They would be the main ingredient in a sleeping potion he was working on, the seeds and red petals of the plant were useful in spells having to do with sleep. Hands working furiously, Klaus looked up. The sky had turned black; the wind’s breath carried with it the scent of rain.

Klaus let his mind drift for a minute before caution won. Standing this close to the Tanglewood was not a good place to let a wandering mind travel; it also was not a habit to develop around poppy plants. He stood up, stretched and checked his inventory. The thought that he may have to come back for more poppies annoyed him. After counting, he decided he definitely had enough for now. He may have to come back in a week but he had enough to experiment right now.

Looking both left and right as he stepped onto the path, he began to walk. The forest folded around him, the Briarwood faded away, the Tanglewood behind them, and he made it through the Hollywood, and stumbled through the Sleuthwood. When he reached the point in the path where the four woods converged he let himself relax. There, a little past the cross roads, was his cottage. His cottage was too large to be a normal cottage but too small to be a house, most days. Today the cottage had made itself into a rather large home with vaulting doors and huge windows. The magic of the cottage would allow it to accommodate any person. Klaus did wonder why he had a cottage that was tailored to visitors but it had not occurred to him to change the magic. Thus the home changed more frequently than he would like. The cottages tall appearance now, meant either he was going to be entertaining a giant, or a certain somebody had waltzed in and began to raid his ice box. As of recently he knew no giants in the area, he walked up the two steps. A canine of undetermined breed and lineage stared at him and barked. Klaus shook his head. Apparently his visitor was already inside his home. He patted the large black and tan mix absently as he reached for the door knob, “I assume that your master tangoed his way into my home and is determined to raid my ice chest before I catch him in the act.”

Klaus opened the door. The dog tried to follow him inside but Klaus successfully maneuvered the “squish self to keep dog out trick” and managed to not harm either of the participating parties.

“How did ‘ya know?” The huge man’s beard was covered in crumbs, some were darker than others and Klaus had to wonder whether the man had found the chocolate too.

Walking around to the workroom, Klaus dropped his inventory bag, “You are the only person who would let themselves in to a magician’s cottage uninvited.”
The good natured giant laughed, “Only magicians I know!”

“What do you want Rip?”

“Can’t a man say hello to an old companion without raising suspicion?” Rip asked taking a bite of what appeared to be bread.

“Normally,” Klaus turned back to view the quiet man.

Rip sighed, “Well there’s something.”

Klaus stare hardened.

“Have ya noticed any wolves around recently?”
Klaus proceeded to get the tea kettle out of the kitchen, “I live in the Enchanted Woods. There are always wolves.”

 “Not like the one that the Village of Tears has seen.”
Klaus put the kettle on, “Hmm?”
Rip’s body grew tense, “It’s not a pretty thing Klaus. With ya living here I thought the villagers would be safe from stuff such as this.”

Klaus waited for the story patiently, and got cups and saucers out of the cupboard, “Stuff?”

Rip was silent, which was a strange occurrence. Klaus stared.

“Sorry, just recalling,” Rip’s face paled, “Yester eve, I went to see a friend of my wife’s –“

“The wife that thinks you are a no good, lazy, thieving –“

“Shut up and let me talk,” Rip growled, “I went to see my wife’s friend Maeve in the Village of Tears because I heard there was a wolf problem. I thought that me and Bo could handle it. I walked up to Maeve’s door and a neighbor, shaky thing, stopped me. Told me not to go inside if I wanted to keep my sanity –“
“Of course due to the need to feel like a contrary genius you opened the door.”
“Shut up,” Rip’s hands clenched, “Bo started barking and that’s always a sign of nothing good. So I opened the door just a crack and a smell something foul blows out the door. I know that smell so I opened the door all the way.”

The kettle whistled and Klaus got up to grab it. He brought two cups of earl gray back with him, “Continue.”

“I don’t want to,” Rip shook his head, “It was bad Klaus.  What happened there was bad. I found Maeve, what was left anyway, but her little girl, Scarlet, was nowhere. It looked like she might have made it out but…”
Klaus watched Rip’s face turn from pale to green. A flash of a crimson cape entered Klaus’ mind. A sleeping little girl in a poppy field grinned at him, “Forest man?”

“Did she wear a crimson cape?” Klaus asked, knowing the way of visions.

“She got it from ‘er ma on her seventh birthday,” Rip looked up from his tea, “How’d ya know?”

“I saw her. Less, than two hours ago,” Klaus stood up and took his cup to the sink, “I was collecting poppies for a sleep potion that would work for up to seventy hours. It is a terribly easy potion but it is hard to find poppies the right shade and age.”
Rips’ face regained color, and he sloshed tea out of his cup in excitement, “Was Scarlet alright? How’d she look? Why was she out in the woods?”

Klaus took the tea cup from Rip afraid it was going to get damaged, “Fine, just like any other child. A little scratched up but from what you saw I say she looked like she got away without whatever it was noticing.She said she was on her way to grandma’s house.”

Rip nodded and stood, “Her maternal grandmother lives in the Briarwood. I’ll go see if she got there safely.”

“Do that,” Klaus took Rip’s tea cup to the sink and said lightly, “Stay on the path.”

Rip grinned amiably, “Only for ya.”
Klaus watched the big man exit the house, call to his dog, and begin down the path. He shook his head; the girl was not his problem. The girl was Rip’s problem even if Rip was not the most responsible man, the girl would be fine.  He took the tea cups in hand and began to scrub. His eyes followed the silhouette of the giant man until he could see no more of him. Then Klaus began to count out of habit.

“One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven – “

An elderly man was walking up the path toward the cottage, leaning on a cane, long beard swaying in the wind. Klaus put down the tea cups and towel. The old man did not walk far when Klaus went out to meet him. Giving the elder a friendly pat on the back he asked, “Did you find Scarlet?”
“Who?”

“Scarlet, “Klaus helped the bearded man to the bench that was now in the garden, “The girl who went to her grandma’s after being attacked by the wolf?”
“Ah, did that just happen?”
“Yes.”

“No, I never got there,” the old man’s gums showed when he grinned, “Fell asleep ya know. Ya tell me the story when it’s over.”

Klaus sighed, “If you weren’t an old man, I would toss you out.”
“Well toss me out when ya see me next,” the old man cackled.

“Yes, Rip,” Klaus exited the garden, “I will do that.”

He heard Rip’s laughter as he started down the path, thinking about how his friends were an untrustworthy lot. He grimaced; he was always doing their jobs.

Klaus was not lost; to be lost you had to have a destination to begin with. It also was impossible to get lost in the Enchanted Woods if one stayed on the path. Klaus was just wondering how to get to the grandmother’s cottage the fastest. He was standing at the poppies and trying to remember if the child had taken the left fork or the right one. While he would get there either way the agility of the voyage would be faster if he took the same path the girl had taken. He eventually decided the right one. The path in the Enchanted Woods depended on what forest the person was traveling through. Where Klaus lived the path was cobbled, in the Hollywood it was groomed sand, in the Briarwood it was a dirt path; which didn’t explain why the path had suddenly become pitch black. Klaus grabbed for his bag, and scrambled inside pulling out a necklace with a shield spell, and several vials, he thought he had labeled. The pitch black path signaled he was in the Tanglewood, the darkest parts of the Enchanted Woods. The grandmother’s house should not be there. He followed the dark path, each step making him realize that this was a new part of the Tanglewood, a section that had not been there yesterday. He grimaced, something had happened at the grandmother’s house to allow the Tanglewood entry. He turned the corner and stared.

It looked normal. There was no dark shadows, no worn or shabby paint, nothing decaying. It looked like a perfectly pristine cabin with ranch windows and green shutters. The garden was just passed its height, as most gardens were that late in the summer, and the dirt path leading to it was reminiscent of the Briarwood. Klaus’ paranoia took over. The normalcy of the cabin was the Tanglewood’s way of saying something was happening inside before it could be absorbed into it.

Klaus approached it cautiously. The door was slightly ajar and a window was open, but other than that there were no signs of evil. Then he heard the voices.

“Better to see you with, m’dear.”

“What big hands you have!”
“Better to hug you with, my dear.”

“What big teeth you have.”

“The better to eat you with!”

Klaus did not hear the child’s laugh, as he burst through the cabin door. A sick slurping noise was coming from the bedroom. Klaus pulled the necklace over his head, hoping that whatever was in the room wasn’t powerful enough to shatter his spells. The Tanglewood did have some residents that Klaus feared. Creatures that could back bend spells making the user either unable to attack or defend. He shuddered and drew a vial of, who the hell knew what. He wished he had labeled the bottles.  He slowly pushed open the bedroom door; it got caught on something halfway. Klaus had to put a little weight behind the second shove

The door flung open. Inside was what Klaus’ nightmares did for a living, the smell of death and fear rolled through the doorway. The little girl’s amber eyes were dilated as they stared at Klaus. A wide innocent smile, stained red, made her face the remnant of angelic. Her brown hair dripped with red liquid and pieces of something Klaus imagined had been inside a body. He felt removed at times from humanity, but this carnage was horrifying even to a Magician of his years.  He stared at the tanned delicate fingers that held onto his a few hours earlier; underneath each fingernail was dried blood. In those hands were an arm and a lump of meat. Klaus guessed that the meat was from the headless torso lying sideways across the bed.

“Hello, forest man,” the little girl dropped the arm and lump. It landed with a sickening thud. The lump oozed a bit before becoming solid again, “Have you come to find the big bad wolf?”

Klaus held her gaze; her smile grew wider, showing her canines. Scarlet began to move slowly toward him, leaving rusty handprints across the floor, “The wolf says we should eat the forest man. Do forest men taste good like grandmas?”
Scarlet’s eyes narrowed and she sprung towards Klaus. She bounced backwards; the shield spell did its job as the necklace gleamed. He watched her right herself like an animal. She growled, “Wolf says that you are a Magician not forest men, Magicians are harder to eat.”

“I suppose,” Klaus began to back out of the room, holding a vial in front of him. He now knew that the shield spell worked but he was not certain the vials were going to be any help at all. He thought about the items in the pack, wondering if he had anything useful for this situation. A list that gave him some hope, if the item he thought was in the bag was actually in it.

“Do magicians kill wolves?” the little girl’s voice asked out of the creature stalking him.

“Some,” Klaus took his backpack off his back slowly, keeping eye contact with the predator, “But not little girls.”

Rummaging through the backpack was hard when staring a predator in the face. His hands finally found the long stick he was looking for; he hoped the spell in it would be enough. He tossed the backpack over his shoulder. An empty laugh sounded, a strange noise coming from a child’s throat, “Which are we magician? Are we wolf or girl? Can you decide?”

“You do not need to be either to be a monster,” Klaus replied. He had almost made it to the front door of the cabin.

“Really,” The little girl’s head tilted, amber eyes unglazed, “Do you think we are a monster?”

“Yes,” Klaus drew the stick out in front of him, he was finally outside, “But you are also a child.”

Scarlet tried once again to launch herself at the magician, the stick in Klaus’ hands began to glow and he threw it in front of the door. Scarlet flopped in the air and was held in place by a thorn bush, she snarled biting it in an effort to escape. Klaus watched as the cottage grew dark, both the spell and the Tanglewood’s doing. His spell made thorns, poison ivy, and myrtle grow around the cottage forming a sealing spell, to protect things from inside and out. His sealing spells always took the form of plant life most used in the wood he was in. He also had to craft them from that wood. He was going to have to find some sticks after this ordeal. He watched until the whole house was covered looking like a mismanaged piece of the forest.  Klaus looked at it sadly, and walked down the path to his home. It was a much shorter walk this time, as the woods flew by, he thought of the child’s golden eyes. He shook, thankful that whatever she was, she had not been as powerful as his magic. f

The pitch path turned to cobbled road where all four woods finally collided. He was home. Old Rip Van Winkle still sat on the bench, his long beard flapping against his shoulder. Klaus walked into his garden and sat beside him.

“You knew,” Klaus’ stony gaze held the old mans, “You knew.”
“Aye,” Rip patted Klaus on the back, “But don’t I always?”

“Yes,” Klaus ran his fingers through his long brown hair, “Is she going to die like that?”

Rip’s glance was not reassuring, “No, Miss Scarlet Red Wolf won’t die, she’s a creature of the Tanglewood now, partially due to that sealing spell ya used, and part due to her own choices.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Old Rip stood up and stretched, “Well I’d best be on my way. Hate to be here when young me shows up in twenty years.”

Klaus gave a pitiful chuckle, “Of course twenty years is a long time.”

“No,” Rip grinned, “Not for us folks.”

Klaus’ eyes grew cloudy as he stroked the woodwork on the bench. A realization had come to him, and it was an unpleasant thought. His normal goodbye phrase was no longer a suggestion but a warning. He looked at Rip and said darkly, “Stay on the path.”
Old Van Winkle nodded, “That’s how it’s supposed to sound.”

Klaus counted as Rip walked down the path and disappeared, neither Rip returned

He whispered to himself, “Stay on the path. There are dark things in the woods. Stay on the path.”