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

Chapter 46

Red

"Well this is a let down," Red said with a sigh. She turned to stare out out the window where it was raining. She thought it would clear after the morning but unfortunately it didn't. It was the afternoon now and there was still going on.

She then turned to Snow who was standing next to her. "I'm sorry Snow," she said. "I was really hoping to show you around town today."

"Oh, that's ok Red," said Snow assuredly. "We can always make the best of it. Do you have any games here?"

"I think so," Red replied with a smile. "Oh, that's right we have some cards around here. You still remember how to play Knave and Fool?"

"Of course," the other girl said with a laugh. "Let's go."

It didn't take long to find the cards and soon the two were playing a fun three rounds of Knave and Fool. Red won the first and third while Snow won the second. After that decided to play Tric-Trac.

"It's bad your husband and Reggie aren't here," said Red as she shuffled the cards. "If they were then we would have enough people to play Karnoffel."

"Oh, so now you want to meet Merlin?" said Snow. "What brought that on?"

"Well we are best friends again," she said. "So I would want to meet the guy who has stolen her heart. That and I want to make sure he will take good of you."

Snow laughed. "You got a point," she said. "I'll see if I can introduce you sometime soon. However, if you want to play Karnoffel why don't you ask Aunt Rosalind and Granny to join us?"

"I would but you know Mom is terrible at that game and Granny is a wizard at it," replied Red. "Neither one of us would stand a chance against her."

"Good point," said Snow.

"Speaking of Reggie," said Red. "He seems to have vanished since this morning. Do you know where he could have gone?"

After making up and talking about her feelings about Arthur, Red brought Snow to the window so she could see Reggie. The princess was happy to see him and the familiar felt the same. Reggie also introduced them to hawk, who it turns out was both a familiar and old friend of his. Apparently, he finished an arrand for his master and was on his way home when he ran into Reggie who then invited him to stay the night.

Red was alright with that since Reggie was friend. However, she felt a little unsure about the hawk. Despite his confirmation she didn't think he was a familiar. Yes, he said so but the way he spoke and acted seemed more human than anything. That and she spent a lot of time around Reggie to know what a familiar smelled like and this guy certainly didn't have the scent. If anything smelled more bird than anything. Well that a touch of magic. Maybe he was actually a hawk who was given the ability to speak by a wizard and was hesitant about it? However, Reggie really seemed to trust the guy so Red decided to put her curiosities aside.

"Beats me," Snow quickly replied with a shrug. "Maybe he went with his friend so he could bid his friend goodbye and probably got lost on his way home. You know him right?"

Red could tell Snow was lying immediately from the nervous way she responded. Which meant that she probably hiding something. The question was, what? Maybe she knew where Reggie and his companion truly were? If so why hide it from Red?

Just as she was about to ask there came a sudden knocking on the door, causing both girls to turn around surprise.

"Can one of you girls get that?" called Red's mother from the kitchen where she was preparing lunch with granny.

"Sure mom," Red called back, wondering who could that possibly be? Probably some traveler passing by on their way through or out of town because not any of their neighbors would be dumb enough to visit her house in the middle of a storm like this!