Other Fan Fiction ❯ LRRH: The Wolf and the Huntsman ❯ LRRH: The Wolf and the Huntsman ( One-Shot )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

~~~Disclaimer and author's note. Skip to the next squiggles for the real story.

This is another take on the fairytale "Little Red Cap" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The other version by another author was called "Little Red Riding Hood" if you don't recognize the first title. The character are not my own but I have given then similar personalities to what is shown in the book, or close enough to it at some part. There are some things in all fairytales that can be different than it seems to once person or many. I chose to believe that the wolf in the story wasn't just a hungry wolf but was someone who really did care about the lives of other things and was slowly being tortured inside by all the lives he took and the growing instincts of a wolf taking over his mind. If this situation sounds familiar, which I hope it does not since I spent the whole night and part of a headache trying to figure out and write this, I apologise.

The type of take on this story is has influence from "Across the Wall" by Garth Nix, "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire, and the "Mordant's Need" saga by Stephen R. Donaldson. Those should be the only things the might seem a bit similar, namely the sarcastic comedy from Garth Nix (or perhaps you won't find mine funny at all), telling the story from the 'evil' point of view from Gregory Maguire, and seeing the future from Stephan R Donaldson. I have no intention of making fun or copying their work and I don't believe I am but if you disagree then I will try to work something out.

Please take the time to point out any mistakes or make any suggestions. If you hate it, maybe give at least one real reason it was bad so that I can try to improve. Don't just say "I hate it", or "It was stupid". I can't fix the problems I don't know about.

~~~



This is a tale of a man, no scratch that, two boys who were chosen for the path of grief even before their birth, as is often the case with this type of thing. They were twins born on the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh.... well, you get the idea. Most would cheer, as did the parents, thinking that so very many sevens could be nothing but good. Oh how very wrong they were indeed.


Now every time a child was born in this town they were taken to a very, very old and wise witch that could surprisingly see the future. You were surprised, right? Well anyway, the parents took the twins to the old witch in order to hear about what grand things their sons would become. Now the boys were crying as most babies do, but upon entering the house they became silent and almost fearful. The parents took no notice as they were also drawn into the strange feeling of the house. It was hardly light enough for them to see, and mostly avoid, the old cobweb covered boxes that were strewn across the hallway. After only a few short minutes that had felt to the family like several long hours they reached a room with slightly better lighting and a soft warm carpet. In front of them sat the old wise witch in an equally old but not nearly as wise chair. In fact, one might even go as far to say that the chair had no intelligence at all, although those that dared to voice it aloud usually received a rather nasty bite mark on their leg when they sat on one of the chair's brethren.


However the family was still stuck in an oddly silent state and they just took their seats after a quick sweeping motion from the witch's hand. The boys, who were not to be named until their futures were read, had been set on the table in front of the witch. The silence remained even as the witch draw a small amount of blood from each boy and dropped it into two pots of what appeared to be a thick tea with chucks of moldy… moldy.. well whatever it was it was moldy and smelled like a dead corpse.


The blood swirled and mixed before swirling and mixing again and again and, is anyone else getting dizzy here? Suddenly the pots shattered and the foul liquids ran together into one big nasty pile of goop. No one moved an inch throughout all of this. Slowly images began to form in the puddle and soon a pre technological film was set up to watch bits of the twins' futures. Sadly enough, the mixing of the two potions had messed up the images and now the viewers were forced to read the prophecy that shown the predetermined life the boys would have. Unfortunately the parents were illiterate so the witch has to speak the prophecy in her raspy, crackling voice.


'The lives of these two are now entwined in blood, despair, and misery. Upon the eve of the 16th birthday for the eldest boy, who shall now bare the name of Loup, a great and powerful change will take place. From skin to fur and hands to claws, Loup shall be transformed into a wolf. On the same day the younger boy, who shall now bare the name of Gallimar, will grow strong muscles and the foresight to forever be able to know where his elder brother is. Each life lies in the other's hands, or in one case, claws. Loup will be cursed with the need to feed on the lives of others in order to for his brother Gallimar to go on living. The month Loup stops feeding will be the month Gallimar dies. Gallimar on the other hand will also be cursed with control over his brother’s life. In his dreams he will be forced to watch all the lives his brother takes and see what good their lives could have done if they were able to go on living. He has the power and knowledge to kill his brother at anytime, but I will remind you that Gallimar will die as well at the end of the month. Once Gallimar is dead and his soul is going through the torture of always reliving the deaths of Loup's victims, Loup's soul will be cleansed and he will be reborn into a happy life filled with love, good deeds, and no recollection of his previous life.'


Both parents gasped at the thought of the horrors Gallimar would have to go through but were slightly relieved at the thought that Loup could eventually live a normal life. The old witch smiled then and waved her bony little index finger. "Ah ah dear souls. There is an exception!" and she went on to tell of another possible ending.


'But, if Gallimar was to take the wolf pelt of his dead brother Loup and offer it to the sea, then Gallimar's memory of his life so far would be erased and he would be able to go on and live the good life Loup would have had. Meanwhile Loup will be forced to relive all the deaths of his victims for all of eternity.'


The family suddenly snapped out of the silent and alluring trance they had been in and ran out of the witch's hut, never stopping to rest until they were safely back in their own home. Over the years the parents were torn as to how to raise their sons. All too quickly the boys turned 10 years old. The still nameless parents could no longer handle the horror and sent the boys deep into the woods, hoping they would be killed quickly and not have to deal with their already grim future.


The day after the boys left, their mother found out she was going to have a baby girl a few weeks due to a magical gift from the tree sprites, or something of the sort, in return for offering up their two sons to the forest. The little girl was as pretty as her forsaken brothers’ lives were doomed to death. The father was driven mad at the thought of giving up the boys and having to return to the old witch to learn of their daughter's future. He left later that night and was never heard from again. The mother, who had also feared learning her daughter's future, moved a small woods length away from her mother-in-law, to a place where they wouldn't be required to have the girl's future told. The little girl grew up filled with the love of both her mother and grandmother, becoming prettier every year. On one of her birthdays her grandmother gave her a little red velvet hat that got stuck to her head because it was too small. Embarrassed, the family told everyone the little girl wore the hat all the time because she loved it so much, and not that the remove the hat she would have to go through a long life threatening surgery. Soon the little girl became known as Little Red Hat or Red for short.


I'll bet you're curious as to what happened to Loup and Gallimar? Well, I'm going to tell you whether you want me to or not. Both boys traveled through the woods together for a lovely four years, living off of nuts, berries, leaves, and the occasional roasted squirrel ninja. One day while the boys were gathering wood for the fire, Gallimar smelled something truly delicious. Thinking his brother might eat it all, Gallima ran off towards the smell without telling his brother about it. At the end of the scented trail Gallimar found a small hut that a well known single huntsman lived. Gallimar would live there as an apprentice and eventually move on to become a huntsman as well. What Gallimar didn't know was that Loup had in fact found the scent first but had gone back looking for his brother. Loup was worried for his now 'lost' brother and searched for two years before he was tragically bitten by a stray wolf and turned into one himself. But he wasn't just any wolf, he could talk and think like a human! Once they both reached their designated position in life, they recalled a day sixteen years ago when they had their fortune told. They were both horrified at their sudden flood of memories and went on to do what they thought would be best. Loup, who cared very much for his brother, decided that his brother's life was well worth the lives of people he didn't know and sadly forgot that his brother would be tormented by all the deaths every night. Gallimar was about to go kill his brother right away but he held back. He realized that his brother might actually mean more to him than his own death. Unfortunately, he changed his mind once the dreams started coming. He then began the hunt for his older brother.


Neither boy ever knew that they had a younger sister now or that she would end up as Loup's very next target. It is also to be noted that they didn't know their father had left, their mother and sister moved, and they never ever had met their grandmother before. The reason for that was their parents' fear that the news of the two boys and their tragic lives would shred the old lady's heart and bring about her death. This is also why the grandmother would never know that she really had three grandkids instead of just one.


Loup sat on a tree branch not to far from the ground and stared around him. He noted, as he scratched some flees off his ear, that most of the plants and flowers here had been killed off by that year's harsh sun and even fiercer winds. The saddened him because all those years living in the woods had given him a strong love of the earth. His choice to take human life tore at his heart so instead he became even closer to the plants and animals of the forest. The only truly good thing that happened in his life was the magic he gained after devouring a particularly powerful mage. Loup was now able to cast minor spells of healing and reviving on the plants and trees around him. He used his love of plants as the source for the spell, for in this world magic was real and it fed off of the caster's emotions to work. This love was strong enough to create a wonderful field of flowers and even give rise to some birds. Loup sat in the flowers, smiling and soaking up the sunlight.


It wasn't long before Loup's happiness was taken away in the form of a sharp pain in his stomach and an even sharper pain in his heart. He knew the end of the month was coming and that he would need to feed soon in order to keep Gallimar alive. His sense of smell was very keen now that he was a wolf and he could smell sweet sugar and wine not to far off. "That sugar can only mean a child is coming. This should be an easy target. I only sense one person but yet I also know they do have wine. If it truly is a child than the world outside this forest has become worse than I thought!" With a slight shake of his head, Loup set off towards the path through the woods where he knew he would meet up with the child.


He at once saw it was only a pretty little girl, a girl that seemed so familiar, yet he knew for a fact that he had never met her before. Shrugging, Loup walked up to her and was surprised that she didn't wince or even try to run away. He quickly cast a mind reading spell to learn of her name before he spoke. "Hello Little Red. Having a good day so far?"


The child was very polite and since she was so well known she didn't think anything more about the wolf knowing her name. "It is going very well thank you."


Frowning at the girl's obviously carefree and trusting attitude, he figured that it would be okay to kill her because she would most likely wind up dead or worse in the near future. Nevertheless he was curious as to why she would be in the forest, carrying wine with her all the while. "These woods are dangerous to little girls like you. Do you think it's alright to be wandering around like this?"


Red nodded and cheerily responded to Loup, "Oh yes, I'm fine because I am going to my grandmother's house!"


'Oh, going to the grandmother's house,' Loup thought. 'Of course you'll be fine because you're going to your bloody grandmother's house!' Except for blinking at the evil thoughts that had recently started to occur more often, Loup showed no outer appearances of being mad and instead decided that he might as well take out the grandmother to save her from the grief over the loss of her granddaughter. In a calm tone he asked, "And how far away is your grandmother's house?"


"It's not far at all. She lives in the woods and has the biggest oak trees and the greenest hedges! I really love it there," Red smiled and was about to leave in renewed desire to see the plants.


Loup genuinely smiled at Red's love of plants. Quickly, that knowledge formed into a plan to catch both the grandmother and the little girl named Red. "I bet you didn't know of the amazing field of flowers just beyond the bushes. Even the animals from all over the woods stop by to see them."


Red ran over to peer over the bushes and gasped at the sight before her. "It's just so pretty. I bet some of these flowers would really cheer my grandmother up!" As Red ran off to collect flowers, Loup went over to the grandmother's house to begin the day's feast.


Casting spell to mask his voice, Loup knocked on the door and called out the grandmother to let him in. The grandmother was very old fashioned and had no skill at telling apart her granddaughter's voice from the spelled voice Loup was using. She invited Loup inside still thinking that her beloved granddaughter came to visit her while she was stuck sick in bed.


Being hasty and not wanting to cause too much noise, Loup cast a spell of binding and silence on the grandmother and devoured her whole. He would spit her out and drain her life force later. For now he needed to prepare for Red's arrival.


Gallimar was not to far away at the time and could feel a lot of magic from one area of the woods. He walked until he found the tale-tell signs that his brother had been through there. The overabundance of healthy plants and flowers in an otherwise unhealthy forest gave it away instantly. Grinning with malice he quickened his pace and soon saw a young girl up ahead. His grin turned to a frown as he realized that there was a perfectly defenseless girl standing right there in that field and Loup was nowhere to be found. Gallimar was so puzzled that he failed to notice the girl run off with an armful of flowers. It was only by a streak of luck unique to Gallimar that he absent mindedly went off in the same direction of the girl, still puzzling over the strangeness of the situation.


Red may not have been a mage herself but she still felt something was wrong at her grandmother's, what with all the spells Loup had cast there. "My! I have no reason to be afraid of my own grandmother's house. She would never let something happen to me." At that Red shrugged off the weird feeling and happily went inside. She wasn't greeted like she normally was by her grandmother. In fact she could hardly see anything of her grandmother, who was lying in the bed with the covers pulled so very far up and her nightcap pulled so very far down. 'It must just be because se's sick,' Red though. 'But still...'


"Grandmother! Your ears look so big, are they swollen?"


"It just lets me hear you better dear."


"Grandmother! Your eyes are so wide, are you frightened?"


"It just lets me see you better dear."


"Grandmother! Are your hands swollen too? And the hair..." It's true that as the time wore on it was beginning to look less and less like her grandmother. Loup mentally cursed at himself for being so carefree with his spells lately. Now he barely had the energy to hold a simple transformation spell.


"Oh, my dear it just lets me hold you better."


"Grandmother!" Red cried out in alarm. "You... your mouth! And those teeth!" Red took a step back suddenly feeling that this was very wrong indeed.


"My dear… dear child," Loup’s voice was neither sweet nor smooth as it had been to match the grandmother's. It was now back to being low and very rough with a hint of a growl every so often. "It just lets me eat you better!”


With that Loup bounded out of the bed and ate poor Red before she had a chance to even blink. Loup's energy was so low from all the magic and his stomach was so full that he could hardly stand at this point. "Maybe… I shall just take a quick nap," and with that Loup crawled back the increasingly soft and warm bed. Little did he know that his brother was close enough to sense the mass amount of magic in the grandmother's house and hear Loup as he ate Little Red.


Creeping inside he found his brother fast asleep on the bed. He too knew some magic and cast a spell for deeper sleep on Loup, although it was hardly needed since Loup was so worn out already. Gallimar was fairly smart and could tell that Loup hadn't drained the life force from his victims yet. "The victim may already be dead but I cannot allow another innocent person to die along with Loup." He grabbed a sharp knife from his belt and tried in vain to cut open his brother's stomach. Sure Gallimar wanted to kill Loup but cutting him open like that still seemed very wrong. Instead, Gallimar cast a spell on the knife so that it would do the cutting itself while Gallimar looked elsewhere. His attention was brought back to Loup when he heard Red and the grandmother climbing out of the wolf. Gallimar's relief was balanced out by the disgust he felt at cutting his brother open like that.


Gallimar spoke first out of the group, "My friends this wolf must die. If that is not alright with you then please leave."


Red recognized Loup as the wolf that helped her in the forest but was still angered that he had eaten her grandmother so she agreed that he should die. The grandmother was about to agree but then she caught a better look at Loup's face. 'How strange,' she thought. 'How strange that this wolf slightly resembles my son. The huntsman too! But I must still be weak from the sickness and being eaten. This cannot possibly be true.' The grandmother then added her consent to killing Loup.


They all filled up the current hole in Loup's stomach with the number of stones Gallimar specified. It didn't take long before Loup woke up. His last thoughts were happy ones that Gallimar would finally be able to live in piece, for he was sure that his brother would skin him and offer the pelt to the sea. All he heard before his internal organs gave out under the pressure of the stones was his brother muttering, "Maybe the lives of all you took be reflected by these stones." Sadly, Loup failed to see one final tear run down Gallimar's face and Loup fell to the floor dead.


The grandmother and Little Red were very happy to be together and celebrated with the cake in another room. Gallimar refused to celebrate with them and instead went to work taking the pelt from the wolf. As he left he heard the grandmother tell Red to be careful heading back home to her mother, Linda. A vague memory of Gallimar's life as a child left him to realize that his mother was also named Linda. He soon knew that Loup hadn't only been killed by his brother but possibly by his own sister and grandmother too. Knowing this, Gallimar could no longer feel right living on, even if he was told he wouldn't remember and he returned to the field of now wilting flowers so that he could die wrapped up in his brother's pelt.



The moral of the story is: Don't trust others to decide your life for you. Loup and Gallimar would have lived happy normal lives if their parents hadn't have been so fearful of the future and sent them off to be killed in the woods. It cost them their two sons and almost their daughter as well.