Violet Riding Hood

Chapter 1

Violet Riding Hood

A Fantasy Story by Sheila Wisz Ellayn

We live at the edge of a dark forest...

Very few outsiders know our village by name, but many have heard about the terrible things that happened here. Travelers prefer to stay as far from us as they can, coming to visit just when they need the excellent wood that we cut in the forest and the snowy mountains nearby.

Swordhorn was famous indeed as one of the most cursed villages in this part of the world, since we are plagued by a monster that emerges from the shadows and seeks our blood every Full Moon...

The forest still displayed the last colors of Autumn as a little girl ventured far into the trees, wearing the dirty, worn out clothing that her parents could afford and carrying a small wicker basket.

The girl looked very happy as she collected a few berries from bushes here and there, her long, blond hair would sometimes get tangled in the twigs and then all of a sudden another girl, clearly a few years older, jumped out from a hiding place between the bushes...

"Vallery!" the second girl screamed, and Vallery indeed hopped with surprise.

She was a little taller than Vallery, her long hair was dark brown and she looked harsh and untidy, like she had already started to work in the forest despite her young age. The girl was wearing indeed the black clothing of a traditional woodcutter, and she carried a small axe with her as well.

"Catherine!" Vallery cried, upset and at the same time pleased at the sudden appearance of her friend- "You creeped me out! I see... have you started work already, with your father?"

"It was my first day!" Catherine replied, holding her woodcutter axe with great pride- "What are you doing this far from the village, Vallery?"

"My mother wants to make a wildberries cake for my father..."

Catherine decided to help Vallery collecting all the necessary wildberries, and they walked down the trail together to explore even deeper into the forest. The girls soon collected enough wildberries for a very large cake, and then Catherine realized that she had been to that part of the forest two days ago...

"You know what? My father's rabbit trap is just around that trail- Let's check it out, maybe it has caught something..."

"Oh, alright!"

It was already getting cold and dark when Vallery and Catherine left the basket of wildberries under a tree and carefully drew closer to the well-hidden trap, which was a wooden cage more than large enough to get a good rabbit.

However, there was no rabbit in the trap but something far more dangerous than that...

The wooden cage was broken, and a huge bobcat abandoned a half-devoured rabbit to turn and threaten Catherine and Vallery instead. The lethal cat released a terrible growl at the girls, Catherine grabbed her axe with both hands and then it happened so fast:

"Vallery!"

The bobcat charged and jumped at the precise moment when Vallery drew out a silvery knife, but the lethal claws were coming and perhaps it was already too late...

2-

Ten years later...

Vallery had always liked the sound of the everyday work at the forest, that constant, relaxing sound released by blow after blow of axes against wood... it was peaceful and even poetic to her ears, just like the cold wind that would sometimes whisper between the tallest trees.