Chapter 3 is here with the appearance of the "wolf"! Now what will our Little White Riding Hood face? Lets find out!
3. Little White Riding Hood and the Wolf
The full moon was floating with black clouds on the dark blue sky. Ariane had walked for a long time in the forest. At night, the forest was beautiful, like a maiden in her sweet slumber. The moon shone gracefully on the dark sky, and caressed the forest in her sleep with its soft silvery light. Every single leaf, every blade of grass, every stone on the lone road Ariane walked on was coated with moonlight. The air was fresh and fragrances of night flowers was everywhere in the air.
There were butterflies. Swarms of little white butterflies flew around Ariane. They shone in the moon light, and so did Ariane’s white coat. Her cloak reflected the moon light, and gave off a dreamy, glimmering aura of light. Ariane stopped by a lake near the road. She looked at her own reflection and smiled. In the lake stood a beautiful girl in white, her white skin, and her long elegant silvery hair, smoothly flowed down from under her white hood and softly rested on her chest, were all illuminated by the moon light. And her eyes, red like rubies, shone with happiness, looked straight back to Ariane; her face was of an angel with magnificent beauty; her body was a body of a young beautiful woman that would make the beast inside any man roar wildly. (Author comment: About the last sentence of this part, I was trying to say that she was errr...sexy. I think it could be better, but I need help from you guys for that =/)
Delighted by this, Ariane started to dance. She moved with elegance and grace, she moved like the noble ladies that she had dreamt of being. The coat smoothly flew in the air with her every movement, and shone in the silvery moon light like angel wings.
Then, Ariane heard something. It was footsteps. She heard very fast footsteps of someone...or something coming toward her. Ariane began to panic and ran deeper into the darker part of the forest. The swarms of white little butterflies scattered away behind her like fragments of moon light.
Ariane ran and ran, looked around her as she ran. She could hear footsteps on the fallen leaves on the ground. She could hear the sound of a puddle of rainwater splashed behind her. Whatever it was, it was getting close to her. From time to time, she could see something moving at the corners of her eyes, and lit by some rare thin rays of moon light shone through layers of leaves. It was something large. Ariane was frightened by this, and ran faster into the deep forest.
Then she saw the moon light once again. She had reached a large open area, free from the shadows of the forest, and there was a small hill in the middle, with a gigantic tree on top. The tree was so large that it seemed like it did not come from this world, but from another colossal world. It just quietly stood there on top of the hill, and cast its shadow down on the area. It divided the hill into two parts: one side was soaked with silvery moon light, and the other side drowned in the darkness of the shadow from the tree. Strangely, on both sides, there were flowers. They were no ordinary flowers, though. They shone like burning blue flames, illuminating the hill with their small lights, giving of a strange sweet fragrance. Ariane, exhausted from the running, did not pay attention to this, and she walked slowly to the tree then sat down. There were no more footsteps to be heard, and even if there were, she could not hear them, for her little heart was beating wildly in her frail body. After a while of resting, she looked down at her hand. The basket was gone.
“I must have dropped it somewhere.” she said to herself and frowned “I hope grandma won’t be angry with me.”
A calm voice suddenly came from behind her “Your grandma will be very angry if she knows you were in the forest alone.”
Ariane quickly turned back, and what she saw made her scream: A giant grey wolf stood there in darkness, looking at her with its beastly blue eyes. And to make things even more strange to her, the wolf was standing on two legs, just like a human.
“Quiet!” the wolf shout “Or I will eat you!”
Ariane stopped screaming instantly.
The wolf let out a small laugh, “Better not screaming again, little girl, I don’t like noisy girls. Now can you tell me why you are here alone in the forest at night?”
Ariane could not say anything. She was too scared to say anything anymore, and her small body was trembling. She curled herself inside her coat like a small cat, tried to endure anything that might happen to her, like every time her father hit her. The wolf sigh, turned to the moon and say:
“Beautiful moon, isn’t it?” then it crouched down and howled a howl so loud that it echoed all over the forest.
Ariane had to cover her mouth by her hands to stop another scream, because the wolf was transforming as it howled. It was getting smaller and smaller. Its head, its muscles, its legs, its whole body all shrunk into a normal human size. Its wolf skin and fur melted away, revealed…a human. The “wolf” stood up, and teasingly smiled to Ariane,
“Feel like taking now?”
Ariane could not say anything, but not because of fear. This time, she was so amazed that she was in a loss of words. He was a werewolf. Stood before her then were a handsome young man with blue eyes, blue like the sky. He had fair skin, and light blue hair. He was about 20 years old, wearing leather clothes like a hunter, and a gray wolf-fur coat with a wolf mask attached to it.
“Oh how rude I am!” the “wolf” said, half-joking “A gentleman should introduce himself first, isn’t it? Well, I am Rafe, Rafe Regan, and I am the druid of this forest, a new one actually, I have just come here not long ago. And sorry for scared you, but your angelic beauty had held my mind captive, so I have no choice but to mindlessly chase after you.”
Ariane suddenly forgot her amazement and chuckled; no one has ever told her that she was beautiful before.
“Well my angel, may I ask: what is your name, and why a beautiful girl like you walking alone in the forest at night?” Rafe continued.
Ariane smiled, took off her hood, set her long silver hair free. It gently slid on her back, like a stream of pure water from a spring, and then spread out as if it was a flower blooming downward, sparkled under the moon light. She turned to Rafe and said:
“I am Ariane, Ariane Angelus, and I was on my way to my grandmother house before being chased by you. And I have to go at night, because, you see, I…” Ariane looked down to the ground “I am an albino.”
“A thousand times apologize, my angel.” Rafe said, realized that he had hurt Ariane. Then he tried to changed the topic “You said your name is Ariane right? Ariane...An angelic name for an angel.”
Ariane chuckled again. Rafe was acting like a gentleman, but he did not look like one at all, with all of his wolf-fur cloak and leather clothes. Rafe smiled with her. Then their eyes met. Ariane looked deep into Rafe’s calm blue eyes. She felt so peaceful and happy at the same time, just by being by Rafe’s side.
“Is there anything you need from me?”Rafe asked, his smile still on his face. Ariane turned away, hid her redden face. Rafe, although he did not have extravagant clothes like the noble men, somehow, he still had some kind of royalty aura around him, in his words, his voice, and his look, as if he was a prince, and that made Ariane heart racing.
“Well, what should I do now?” Ariane said after she calmed herself down “The moon is high now, so I need to get to my grandmother’s house fast, but I have already lost my basket and the road to my grandmother house is nowhere to be seen.”
Rafe stand there, thought for a second, then take out a basket from under his wolf-fur cloak and said:
“Is this yours? I found it by the lake. I thought this was yours so I picked it up.”
“Oh, yes! Can I have it back please?”Ariane quickly asked.
“My pleasure.” Rafe said as he gave Ariane back her basket, “And about getting back to the road, leave it to me!”
Then he turned to the large full moon and let out another echoing howl. Suddenly his wolf-fur cloak melted to his skin as he growing larger and larger, and then the cloak became his own skin. The wolf mask that covered his head slowly became lively and then became his own head with fangs and beastly eyes. His arm grew as big as twice of an arm of a large man. His hands and feet became paws with sharp claws. Rafe had just transformed back to his wolf form.
“Get on” Rafe said “I could transform to a horse for you, well, I can transform to any animal I want, but I like this wolf form, so please, get on.”
Ariane hesitated. Riding a wolf, especially a giant werewolf, is not something you would like to do, even if you are invited to do so. But in the end, Ariane got on, and held Rafe’s neck tight.
“Ack! Holding…tight…is… good, but...please...not...too...tight! I...can’t...breath!”
“Oh! Sorry” Ariane quickly released Rafe’s neck.
“Thank you.” Rafe said after taking in a deep breath “Now hold tight, but not TOO tight!”
Ariane did what Rafe told her and then Rafe started to run. He ran with many leaps and jumps, and traveled a long distance in a very short time. Ariane looked around as the wolf run, but everything blurred away and passing by so fast that made her eyes tired. So she held Rafe a little tighter, rest her head on Rafe’s neck, felt his fur brushing against her cheek. “He’s so warm…” she thought to herself. But at that moment, Rafe stopped. Ariane looked up, somewhat regretting that the ride was so short. In front of them was the small lone road. The little road with stones coated in silvery moon light. Ariane looked at it. She felt happy and somewhat sad at the same time. Happy, because she now can get to her grandmother’s house in time. Sad, because she had to leave Rafe. Even though they have just met for such a short time, strangely, she felt attached to him. However, she had to go.
“Thank you for the ride.” said Ariane as she got off from Rafe.
Rafe howled again, and transformed back to his human form. Ariane looked at Rafe, smiled softly and said,
“I have to go.” then she turned and started to walk away.
Rafe looked at Ariane as she walked, her silver hair swinging and glittering in the moonlight. He felt sad too, for some unknown reasons. He also felt fear in his heart, as he looking at Ariane walking deeper to the dark forest. His beast instinct told him there would be something wrong. That fear was growing larger and larger, until he could not stand it anymore. He ran after Ariane and shouted,
“Wait!”
Ariane turned back, with a confusion look. Rafe get close to her, took a wood whistle from his pocket, and then gently put it in her hand.
“If you ever need me, use this .This is how we druids communicate to each other; just use it like a normal whistle.”
Ariane held the wood whistle in her hand and looked at it carefully: it was a white whistle with a beautiful blue carving of a wolf on its side.
“Thank you, Rafe.” Ariane said as she put it in her dress pockets. Then she continued to walk on, left Rafe behind looking at her back with a worried look.
Author comments: For those who have played Baldur's gate, you know that the druid have a sub-class as werewolf right? Well Rafe is one of them!(I love Baldur's gate!) But his talent is different, you will know more if you read my other story in the waiting queue about his past, this story is about Ariane!(I want to finish this story fast...but exam is near....=.=) For now, just know that Rafe can transform into many animals other than wolf.
Oh and these are the meanings of name if you are curious: "Ariane" means "silver" or "silver hair"(if you read my ch1&2 you will know), "Angelus" is latin for "Angel"
"Rafe" means "wise wolf" and "Regan" means "child of the King"
