Red Guardian

By Rose Q. Addams

“Remember, Scarlet, you’re a predator. The alpha. Responsible for protecting your territory.”

I grip my axe tighter and squeeze my eyes shut, fully centered on the low rumble of Rufus’s voice.

“A successful Guardian strikes first. So no threat reaches your pack. Now…” His footsteps pad away. “Strike!”

My eyes fly open, and I hurl the axe straight for the circle on the tree. It lands in the center with a satisfying thud.

I turn to the huge red wolf—my mentor—with a smirk. “Better this time?”

He snorts. “If I were you, I’d worry less about celebrating. Follow-up is a necessary part of your work, as well. Did you really hit the target square and true?”

I examine my work and frown. “No. It’s off-center.”

“Then you’ve only wounded the enemy. And while you boasted, they ate three villagers.”

One of the “sleeping” pack members nearby snorts a chuckle, and my face heats.

“Come on!” I fight to wrestle the axe out from the wood, refusing to meet Rufus’s eyes. I should know better than to let down my guard so quickly. But it’s hard; the only threat against the village that I’ve faced so far was Rufus and his pack, and for some reason, he doesn’t seem inclined to harm people. Why sharpen my skills against a threat that doesn’t even exist?

“Many threats exist. Just because you don’t know about them yet doesn’t mean they’re not out there.” Rufus always seems to know what I’m thinking. “You’re still a pup.”

I bristle, and my frustrated energy is enough to pull the axe free. “I’m sorry.” I’m having trouble meaning it. He flattens an ear skeptically.

“You miss your grandfather, don’t you?” He tactfully changes the subject.

I swallow. Where did that come from? Not that he’s wrong. “Somewhat. It’s been a full turn of seasons. He’s old, you know.”

“You’ve been faithfully training. I’m pleased with how far you’ve come for a female.”

From Rufus, this is high praise indeed; getting even the slightest compliment is like pulling teeth.

“An apprentice can go home to see their family once in a blue moon. Why shouldn’t a Guardian-in-training?” He kneels so I can mount, and the pack stirs.

“Really?”

Rufus sighs. “If you are going to continue this, we may as well waste our time in games of Twenty Questions. Is it alive? Does it have two heads?”

“Nothing alive has two heads.” I laugh, climbing on.

“So you think,” he murmurs. We fly through the trees, the pack at our heels. It’s exhilarating, the air rushing my face as he pounds across the ground at top speed, the baying and panting of the pack ringing through the crisp air.

Then the feeling starts. A gnawing, twisting pang in my gut. I grip Rufus’s fur so tight he growls at me, but I can’t stop. Then it clicks.

“Something’s wrong.”

He responds instantly, the joy of running disappearing in a burst of adrenaline and speed.

Worry and fear pulse through my veins. I must get there. Now. I am Guardian. My duty awaits.

I force myself to release his fur with one hand and seize my axe. If I’m reacting this violently, it can’t be pretty. If it’s a large crew of bandits, I don’t know if I can do much against them. I’m still in training.

“Almost there,” Rufus grunts. “Take heart.”

Easy for him to say. He has an army.

We burst through the foliage that rings my village, only to see… peace. I gape as the only smoke in sight drifts placidly from chimneys. The only sounds to meet my puzzled ears are that of birdsong, the distant chopping of wood, and faint singing.

Rufus cocks an ear back at me.

I slip off his back and take a half-step forward. “I don’t understand.”

Then the nausea sweeps me again, and my knees buckle as I pick out raised voices. The door to the Cutters’s cottage flies open, and Lenora Cutter stamps out, dragging her stepdaughter, Lisa, by one braid. Connant, her brother, flies after the pair. “Let her go, you—!”

“What’s that, you disrespectful whelp?”

She turns to slap him. Lenora is the threat I felt. Something just outside my vision wisps about her, and her lips are drawn back in an eerie snarl. When she strikes Connant, my feet move of their own accord.

“Lenora!”

She looks up, and I see, for the first time, what she has become as her body changes to match her heart.

Yellow eyes. Long fangs. Malice rising visibly like noxious smoke. Reddish-black scales.

“Drop Lisa!” I whirl the axe above my head. The bolt of shock I just felt at seeing my neighbor—hateful as she is—transformed into that monster, fizzles out as I face my foe.

You are responsible for protecting your territory.

“What are you doing here?” The dragon-woman speaks, and I see the smoke waver. Billows of fear and shame rise, and I almost falter. Perhaps…

Lisa whimpers, and the hum of my axe pierces the air.

“This has continued for too long, Lenora. You have a choice. Drop her and leave, or find out what a Guardian can do.”

She roars with laughter, eyes growing flint-like. “Stupid child. You really think—”

I let it fly, knowing the weapon will strike true, and I dart after it. The axe lands. Lisa falls amid a rain of sizzling green blood. I dive and throw my cloak over her with one arm as I clutch her to me with the other.

“Scarlet!” Rufus howls.

The dragon’s second, newly grown head prepares to strike, but I’m ready. I fling my boot knife, and it arcs straight into the dragon’s eye. The beast screams, shudders, and falls heavily, never to rise again.

Connant snatches his sister from me in a hug, and Rufus approaches and nudges my shoulder.

“Good work, pup,” he murmurs.

I am the alpha. And my territory is safe.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rose Q. Addams loves cheesecake, hats, and her family, who she blames for her love of reading. Some of her best memories are hearing tales of Heidi, Winnie the Pooh, Beauty and The Beast, and the prophet Ehud— which explains how her taste runs wildly throughout genres. She can be found scribbling madly on any paper she gets, or sneezing in the dust of the curious shop where she pretends she’s sane.

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