Beauty and the Magician (Tales of the Red Witch Book 1)

Chapter 15 - A beast on the hunt

Annika paced outside of Mrs. Pender's tavern's two large front bow windows as the sun moved from early morning to mid-morning. She found when she arrived all will to continue on with her mission had promptly fled her like a flock of birds all taking flight at once. Her hands were sweaty and shaking, her heart pounding, her breath short. It didn't feel like her to be afraid and yet she had never faced a challenge like this before.

She straightened her back and returned her attention to the task at hand. Her paw reached for the door handle but stopped.

What if Mrs. Pender was in there and recognized her? What if her appearance was so frightening the villagers decided to band together into an unruly mob and come after her with pitchforks?

Stars, she was beginning to sound like Sofie. She had to get over her fear, she could do this. Logically, she couldn't expect to find the witch without people seeing her, and it was likely no one would even recognize her anyway. She took a deep breath and pulled open the heavy door of the tavern.

The warm air hit her and surrounded her with the scent of spicy cooked sausage and dark bitter coffee. She scanned the room and spotted her father at his usual table in the corner of the room speaking with Valdimir. Their tense body language and expressions spoke of a heated argument though they had managed to keep their voices down. Her father would know of her disobedience by now.

She wrinkled her nose, her whiskers twitching.

She was surprised and happy to know that the magician had turned Valdimir back. He had sounded so adamant about not doing as she asked. Maybe he wasn't quite as bad as she had thought. Just another stubborn fool much like herself. She thought about the handsome magician and frowned. She shook her head. She was a cat on a mission and didn't have time to spare him her thoughts. Magicians are the reason she's in this mess in the first place.

She slid another glance over at Valdimir. She was angry to see him sitting there discussing her life as if she hadn't clearly hit him over the head with her answer just yesterday.

Part of her wanted to march up to them and give them a piece of her mind for what they had put her through. And she swore she would...eventually. To heck with propriety. But now was not the time. She tugged the hood lower.

She made sure to give them a wide berth, holding her hood to shield her face. She walked past a few more tables that had travelers busily eating breakfast and chatting with each other about various things. Her stomach grumbled as the food smells drifted past her reminding her that she had left their little onion-y apartment this morning without breakfast.

There were more important things than breakfast at the moment. She stiffened her back feeling her tail twitch nervously under her skirts and walked up to Mr. Marks who worked the daytime shift behind the counter and looked up at him. When had he become so tall? Well, probably around the time she had become so short.

She cleared her throat.

"Excuse me?"

Mr. Marks looked down at her face and recoiled with a start. Annika told herself that she had better get used to that reaction but it didn't stop her from bristling at it. She sighed releasing her tight hold on the hood so he would hear her better.

She of course, was quite familiar with Charlie Marks. He stood before her looking more like a blacksmith than a bartender with his broad shoulders and thick arms. He was older, in his late-thirties with a pleasant average face and a ready smile. His wife Tora, also helped out around the tavern as did their oldest son.

"Yes?" He asked turning his attention back to wiping the counter though still giving her furtive glances through the corner of his eye. He was trying too hard to not look at her, thinking it more polite than staring. It just made Annika feel more awkward, like someone not addressing the glaring furry elephant in the room.