Violet Riding Hood

Chapter 3

Vallery could smell smoke coming from a chimney as they finally arrived at a small clearing in the forest of Swordhorn, the sun was not visible anymore in the gray and snowy sky and then she finally saw her grandmother, happy to see that the old lady was collecting a variety of frozen berries from her bushes.

"Grandmother!" Vallery called, leaving Catherine behind as she hurried to hug her grandmother- "Grandma Julie!"

Julie was a frail and sweet-looking lady with gray hair that was long to her waist, a thin face that expressed wisdom and experience and pale purple eyes. She was about the same height as Vallery, and everyone in the village said that she had been the most beautiful woman in town many years ago.

She was wearing a long, silvery cloak on top of her blue and green dress, and she looked really happy to see Vallery that morning...

"Vallery, darling!" Julie called, opening her arms- "I am sorry, so sorry about Lucy..."

Catherine sighed as she witnessed Vallery crying in the arms of her grandmother, sure that it would take her friend many years to recover from her loss. Grandma Julie comforted her granddaughter as best as she could, and then she turned her head and stared at the Woodcutter girl as she drew closer to them.

"Hello Catherine, how have you been?"

Julie's house was indeed a curious and unusual design that featured sharp angles, a very high, triangular roof and stained glass windows in every wooden wall. The structure was partially hidden by the trees and it was surrounded by bushes and gardens that used to be full of flowers every Summer, a charming place where Vallery and Catherine would play everyday when they were little girls.

There was a wooden staircase that led from the ground to the elevated entrance of the house, a wise precaution against the many dangerous animals that lived in the forest...

"Cold?" Catherine replied- "I have spent all night looking for your nutcase of a granddaughter in the forest..."

"Thank you" Julie said, leaving Vallery to hug Catherine instead- "I have made lentils soup and bread for breakfast, please come inside with us..."

"Excellent!"

Vallery beamed at Catherine as she began to climb the staircase, Julie laughed, Catherine could already detect the delicious smell coming from the kitchen and then, all of a sudden, they could hear a sound that caused the three of them to stop and look towards the trail that connected the clearing with the village:

It was the sound of a multitude of voices, hundreds of angry people drawing closer to the house with torches in their hands...

8-

Vallery feared that the villagers were on their way to arrest her grandmother, perhaps believing that the Witch was responsible for the attacks of the Wolf or maybe even blaming her of being the Wolf itself... she was ready to stand on their way and give her time to escape, but after all, that was not exactly what was happening.

The villagers carried climbing equipment that included ice axes, crampons and rope, so their final destination was somewhere far beyond Grandma Julie's house in the forest...

"Let's kill the Wolf!" the leaders were calling, spears and bows ready in their hands- "We have to kill it! Let's kill it at last, before it strikes again!"

"What is happening?" Vallery asked, and she joined Catherine and Julie in the middle of the clearing.

Within a minute, the clearing was full of armed and climbing-equipped villagers of all ages and trades. Vallery could see the town's famous baker accompanied by his wife and daughter, the carpenters, almost all of the Woodcutters and even the owners of the Swordhorn Pub carrying their entire collection of knives.