A Tale of Fur and Flesh Read Online Free PDF Page B

silver creature said, taking heavy strides toward her.
    “You would not think of eating me instead,” Lally
responded with a nervous chuckle.  Awakening her courage, she rooted her heels
into the forest floor.  She was going nowhere without his pelt.  In any case,
Snake said the forest creatures wished to protect her.
    “Nay, lass.  I wouldn’a eat a fish with other
mongers’ hooks in her.”
    Lally’s blood percolated, warming her neck and her
cheeks.  She hadn’t anticipated such insolence.  He was supposed to help her,
and instead he called her a whore!  “How dare you address me thus, wretched
dog?  I am a princess!”
    Wolf issued a throaty cackle.  As Hare and Snake had
done before him, the wolf stretched until he was more man than animal.  All
that remained of his prior form were his silver mane and tail, the pale fur
along his belly, the blue and brown eyes, and his violent demeanour.  The
muscles of his human form were slight and lean, but his height rendered him
imposing in the extreme.  His countenance retained a leathered attractiveness,
which a few more years of exposure to the elements were certain to
disintegrate.
    “Ye’re nothing but a wee doxy,” Wolf maligned,
circling around her.
    Lally opened her mouth to argue, but it was true,
wasn’t it?  She no longer held any power.  By the warmth emanating from the
wolf’s body, she knew where he was with respect to her.  At her back, her
shoulder, her side.  She did not turn her head to look at him.  In fact, she
closed her eyes and took in the musty scent of dark earth.  When she opened her
eyes, he had returned to his starting place in front of her.   If she desired
to caress his fur, Lally would have to walk a good ten paces toward him.
    “And now ye tread through excrement and all manner of
things with my good friend Snake for boots,” Wolf continued.  “How can ye live
with yerself after the crime ye’ve committed?”
    “That was an accident,” Lally replied.  She had to
defend herself, even if she agreed with Wolf.  “I meant no harm against Snake. 
His death is a matter of great regret.”
    “Sure, ye feign to love all God’s creatures, but ye
royals only care for yer own rampant luxury.  Ye’re nothing but a grassback,
wearing Snake for a corset.  Look at ye, using me friend’s skin to press
together yer wee titties.”
    Lally’s rage erupted.  “My titties are not wee! 
Rather, my breasts are not small.  I shall wear your pelt as a loincloth, dirty
dog.”
    “Now, why would a dead easy lass need to shield her
loins?  Better use my skins to hide yer face in shame.  Och, what would yer
mother say of ye, Allerleirauh?”
    Lally’s skin pricked at the mention of her mother. 
“How dare you invoke the name of the good queen?”
    “Yer mother was ten times the woman ye’ll ever be. 
Every life in the village, and every creature of the woods, had value to her. 
And look at yerself, lass.  Made in her image?  Nah.  Ye go ‘round putting a
right fright into everyone in the kingdom.  Ye’re mean and ye’re cruel.  Ye’ll
never be half the leader yer ma was.”
    “You make my blood boil, you filthy dog!” she cried. 
His insults evoked in her the same feelings Offal’s had, long before she knew he
was good at heart.  Picking a rock off the ground, she launched it at Wolf.  He
evaded the stone and it struck the oak tree behind him.
    Allerleirauh braced herself for a stormy reaction,
but the creature said nothing.  He did nothing.  His violent gaze pierced her
like an arrow through her heart.  Then a threatening smile crept across his
face as he revealed sharp canine teeth.  She felt naked before this rough
beast.  No other creature had rendered her so bare, so fragile.  Could Wolf smell
her anticipatory juices?
    The forest floor trembled under the creature’s
forward steps.  His voice was hot and rough.  It was the sound of friction. 
“Nah, I’m no dog, lass.  Ye know well