Little Red Riding Wolf (Book 1 of Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs the Series)

Chapter 3

Arthur

Arthur Pendragon let out a sneeze as the horse drawn wagon he was riding on lumbered along. He covered his nose with his fist as he looked at the contents of the cart, few of them some very pungent herbs. Out of all the wagons on Fairytale Island, this was the one he managed to find that would take him to the nearest town.

This wouldn't have happened if he had the flying broom he got from Whiteburg castle. Luckily, the driver he met before back when he traveled with his fellow team members. Although he asked why Arthur was traveling by himself. Arthur just responded that his friends had other things to do in other kingdoms. Which was the truth, sort of.

"Bless you," said the driver from the front. "Sorry about that I should have warned you about the strong herbs I am delivering to an apothecary coming up."

"Ah, it's ok," said Arthur reassuringly. "I am just happy for the ride." Which he was, despite having to ride in the back.

"So you said you are on your way from Whiteburg," said the driver casually. "You from there?"

"Nope, I'm from here in Camelot actually."

"I thought so," said the driver. "I could tell by your accent, which means you are from there or Cerulea."

"Yup," he said. "I am just asking my way back there from attending my best friend's wedding in Whiteburg."

"Oh what a coincidence," remarked the driver. "The crown princess just recently got married a few ago. To the Prince Merlin of the F7 no less. Can you believe it."

"Oh I can, in fact," he said. In fact, Prince Merlin was the best friend whose wedding he was talking about. However, due to his current situation, he had to keep that part a secret.

"So what brings you back here, if I may ask?"

"Oh, I'm looking for something," he said.

"Oh, what?" asked the driver.

"The most beautiful girl," he replied.

"Don't we all," said the driver with a chuckle. "Although, I think that may be be a bit hard for you, despite making yourself look like the prince."

"I know," Arthur said, annoyed. If only the guy knew the truth about him, as well as friends too. If he did he certainly wouldn't have him ride in the back.

The driver didn't say anything else and just focused on the road ahead. Which Arthur was grateful for, he thought the guy a little annoying with his constant questions.

So he turned and admired the passing countryside. It's been a while since he'd last been in his home kingdom. The last time he was here it was a few months after the "curse" happened and they came here looking for girls to break it. Long story short it didn't go well.

Now he was back and this time he was on his own. However, he wouldn't be going to the capital, where the castle was located. No, if he didn't want to risk of the chance of running into any of his family again. He did not want them finding out about the curse and what he and his friends did to cause it. It would make him a disappointment to his parents. Not like his failure when he first attempted to pull out Excalibur from the stone. 

That was why he was heading to the one of the farthest towns from the capital. He just hoped he would have more luck than last time. Especially now that he was on his own now of the other F7 members here to compete on who would get the kiss.

Back in September after saving the kingdom of Whiteburg from Snow White's witch stepmother, he asked Merlin why his curse broke when Snow (who was pretty, but a far cry from beautiful, he had to admit) kissed him. Merlin told them all that the curse was broken by the most beautiful, just not what they expected. It turned out that the woman the recipient of the curse chose had to love accept them for who they were despite what they looked like and the same went the other way around.

They mostly didn't believe it, Arthur especially. But Merlin did seem happier than he had been before since meeting Snow and he was happy for his friend. To be honest it reminded him of his own parents, who have been married for a long time.

Himself, on the other hand, he was more into breaking his curse than finding true love. However, he had no choice of ever wanted to become human again. This time though, this mission had to be a solo one.

So sometime before the wedding he, Jack, and Hans agreed to leave Whiteburg after that and search for the ones to break their spells. Luckily, they had they found two magic brooms  left behind by Regina and Arthur took one and Hans took the other so they could travel the island faster. Jack just used his invisibility cloak to catch and fly on the wind, saying he didn't want to use a broom used by a witch.

Sometime after leaving the castle, he landed in a field outside Fontaine when he caught sight of a what looked like a little girl with a parasol. He had mistaken her for a young girl, hopefully one with a pretty older sister. To his shock it was a short figure with a fish's head. Scared, he ended up feeling for his life, during which he lost his broom, so he the had to travel by other means. Which was why he was currently riding in a wagon.

"All right," said the driver, stopping the wagon and turning to look at him.  Arthur turned and saw that they were near a small village. "This is far as I can take you, because all I have are a few deliveries here and then I have to head west to another kingdom. I hope that is ok with you little guy."

Normally, the term "little guy" would be the last thing used to describe Arthur, formally known as known as Prince Arthur Pendragon, descendant of King Arthur the First, Heir to the Camelot throne and second in command of the Fearless Seven. Plus, he would have ridden in front for the whole ride. Unfortunately, due to the curse placed on him, whenever a person looked at him he was a short, chubby green-skinned dwarf. When he was alone, he was himself: a tall, muscular man with tan skin. Until the curse was broken he was stuck with the former until then.

"Sure, thanks for the ride," said Arthur, getting out of the wagon.

They exchanged a polite good bye as the driver signaled his horses to go on again and headed into town.

Arthur, human again after the driver was out of sight, looked around and noticed a sign that told him that town's name was Edelweiss.

He remembered this town because he had been here one or two times before due to dating some beautiful girls who lived here. Back then it was so easy to get them to interested in him. Now, he was going to need all the luck he needed just to get one kiss.

Arthur then took a deep breath and headed in the town's direction, hoping that when he left he would be a dwarf no more.