Red Cap

A Story by Aubrey Shay

Set in a world of magic and technology, Red Cap is but one of many other tales based on classic stories. This is just a taste of the world I've been creating. Welcome to Nylith.

“Keep an open stance, and relax your arms. Don’t be so rigid.”

Snow’s words cut through the calm air. She sounded cold, but Katarina knew she was only being honest. The two were on a small hill in a grove of trees. The area was shaded from the sun.

“I’m doing the best I can, okay? I’m no expert,” she retorted.

“That much is obvious. Didn’t you use a bow to kill a Wetchen?”

Katarina scowled a little. She hated to be reminded of her encounter with the ‘fairy godmother’. She felt like a fool for trusting the hag.

“That was five years ago, Snow. I haven’t used a bow since.”

“Not even in the academy?”

“No.”

“Here, try this.”

Snow approached from the side and raised Katarina’s arms a little higher. She kicked her feet apart and pointed at the target far away. The target was on the border of the Evergreen Forest. “All you have to do is aim and release. It’s that easy,” she said.

Katarina took a deep breath, relaxed a little, and released. The arrow whistled through the air until it struck the round target ahead of her. She squinted to see if she had hit her mark.

Snow stepped off the hill they were standing on and ventured forward. She bent down, her short black hair dangling briefly in her face as she inspected the target.

“Did I hit it?”

“Sort of,” said Snow. She turned back toward her, placing her hands on her hips. “How did you manage to kill the Wetchen if you’re this bad?”

Katarina lowered the bow and stepped off the hill. “Maybe I got lucky.”

As she approached, she realized Snow wasn’t joking. The arrow had wedged into the borders of the target, bent at a weird angle.

“I can’t even do that,” said Snow.

“Well, I’m sorry that not everyone is trained at a young age by dwarves like you were. So excuse me if I’m not perfect,” she said.

Snow shrugged, “Fair enough.”

Katarina sat down on a tree stump and stretched her legs. She reached behind her head and wrapped her dirty blonde hair into a ponytail, “I’m not used to being outside like this. I’ve only ever trained in SPEL facilities.”

“That gives you an advantage though. Especially in urban areas.”

“I think the words you’re looking for is ‘civilized society.”

“Right, that. I can’t help it if I’m more of a nature girl myself,” said Snow.

Katarina had known Snow for a few years, ever since they met at the academy. The two didn’t get along at first, but gradually they came to understand one another and each other’s circumstances. Over time, they went on many different assignments for SPEL, an organization that investigated magical and supernatural situations, something that had become all too commonplace in everyday life. Snow herself was the hero who saved the Sixth Realm from the Evil One, which gave her an advantage to being recruited by SPEL. Katarina on the other hand was most notable for vanquishing the Wetchen, an old-age sorceress who misled people into doing the opposite of what they desired. Such was the case with Katarina. She’d never put on silver slippers again.

Snow sat next to her and looked up at the sky. “I think it might rain, Kat. We should head back.”

Katarina nodded and stowed her gear. It had been a long day and she was already looking forward to spending the night relaxing in her apartment.

A scream from deep in the forest echoed around them. Snow and Katarina exchanged a quick glance between the two of them. There was no debate or protestations. In several swift moves, the two women raced out of the grove.

The forest was a blur as they closer and closer to the screaming. It wasn’t long before the screams abated. Snow abruptly halted. She held up a hand as the two listened in silence.

“What is it?” whispered Katarina.

“Do you hear that?”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly. Where are the birds? The sounds of the forest?”

“Maybe they went on vacation?”

Snow ignored the remark. “Something’s wrong,” she said. “Be on your guard.”

Katarina withdrew her dagger. In the beginning of her training, she abhorred the very use of weapons and violence. But when the time called for her to defend her friends and family, she realized it was necessary to use them to protect her loved ones.

Snow crouched down and motioned for Katarina to follow suit. They went along at a slow pace, waiting for the screams to return.

The two waited there for what seemed like hours. Katarina was getting impatient. She stood up slowly. “I get you’re one with the forest and all, but can we go? I think it’s safe to assume whoever it was is gone"”

Katarina stopped short at the look on Snow’s face. Her eyes were wide. She barely moved her lips as she said, “Don’t move.”

Instead of following Snow’s orders, she slowly turned around.

In front of her was an unnaturally large wolf. It snarled at her ferociously.

Snow started to ready her bow, when two wolves appeared on her left side. They were surrounded.

“Got any ideas?” said Katarina.

“Working on it!”

“Could you work on it a little faster? I don’t want to be lunch,” she hissed.

A screeching sound suddenly filled the air. The wolves cowered in fear.

“Why aren’t they running away?” said Katarina.

An arrow whizzed by out of nowhere, piercing the wolf in front of her in the neck. It let out a pitiful moan as it died. The other two wolves bolted into the forest, and out of view. The sound of several more arrows followed.

“Looks like I got here just in time,” said a strange voice.

Snow swiftly turned around and readied her own bow at the new intruder.

A woman in a burgundy hood stood in front of them, about their own age. She had auburn hair and a sly expression. Patches of dirt were on her tunic.

“Woah! Is this anyway to treat the person who just saved your skins?” she said holding up her hands in mock surrender.

“As operatives of SPEL, we are not to be taken lightly,” said Snow harshly.

The woman put down her hands and smirked. “SPEL huh? I’ve heard of you. Supposed to be ‘investigators of the supernatural’ right? Real original by the way,” she replied.

Katarina put her arm over Snow’s bow and lowered it for her. She gave a look of annoyance as she complied. “Relax,” she said. “Thank you for what you did back there. I’m Katarina, and this is Snow.”

The woman smiled at finally being addressed in a friendly tone and held out her hand, “The name’s Raelyn. I’m not a fancy operative or nothing, but I am pretty good at killing wolves if I do say so myself,” she said grinning.

“What was that screeching sound?” asked Katarina.

Snow raised her bow a little bit as Raelyn reached behind her and withdrew a small metal cylinder. Katarina gave Snow a harsh look. “Cut it out,” she said. Snow complied but still kept her bow out at her side.

Raelyn held the tiny object in her hand. “It’s a little invention of mine. I call it a whizzer,” she demonstrated as she raised it to her lips, “pucker your lips and, well, you get the idea.” She stowed it back into her pouch and crossed her arms. “So, how did two SPEL operatives get lost in the forest?”

“We are not lost,” said Snow somewhat angrily as she put her bow away. “We heard screaming and ran into those wolves on the way.”

“Oh, sorry about that. The screaming was all me. I can do a pretty convincing one; here listen.” Raelyn opened her mouth and let out a shrill scream. It went on for what for some time, when all of a sudden she stopped. She kneeled down and withdrew her bow and an arrow from her quiver in the blink of an eye. Snow hurriedly tried to grab hers before Raelyn let loose an arrow that flew past them.

Katarina and Snow swirled around to see another wolf skid in front of them, an arrow in its skull.

“The wolves are attracted to it,” she said stepping forward. She put her hand on the arrow and wrestled it from the wolf’s head. Katarina heard a loud crunch as she took it out. “I didn’t scare you did I?” she asked Snow.

“No,” she said curtly.

“Do you live around here?” asked Katarina.

Raelyn pointed to the east, “A small village not far from here.”

“Mind if we resupply before finding our way back?”

“I don’t see why not. Follow me,” she said.

Snow waited until Raelyn was more than a few yards ahead of them before turning to Katarina. “I don’t trust her,” she said, staring at Raelyn.

Katarina and Snow trailed a little distance as they followed her to the village.

“Give her a chance,” said Katarina. “I mean; she did save us from those wolves.”

“And I would have gotten us out of that situation if it were not for her.”

“Do you have trust issues or something? Just deal with it.”

It was a second or so before Katarina realized Snow was no longer beside her. She looked back and saw Snow scowling at her. “There’s a reason I’ve survived this long, Kat. I don’t just trust the first person that saves my hide. They always have a hidden agenda.”

“Oh, come on, not everyone is like that.”

Snow stepped forward, “Let me ask you something. When the Wetchen saved you from that locked room, were you grateful?”

Katarina sighed. “Yes.”

“And, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t that same person turn out to be a fraud and a viscous creature who used you to get into the academy?”

“I get your point.”

“No, I don’t think you do. You’re pretty bold to say I have trust issues when the slippers you were wearing turned out to be portals to another world. Oh, and who gave those to you? That’s right, the ‘fairy godmother’. Did you trust her?”

“I did, yes.”

“You and I have the same story Kat. We both had stepmothers who abandoned us and left us for dead. Someone saved us and we were still the worse for it. So yeah, I’ll try to deal with it.”

There was only silence as the two stood there. Katarina couldn’t look Snow in the eye. “I’m sorry Snow.”

“Problems here?” said Raelyn. They looked up to see her standing on a large tree branch above them, her arms crossed. “I didn’t want to interrupt this intimate moment.”

“We were just finished,” said Snow sauntering forward.

Raelyn jumped down from the branch in front of Snow, landing neatly on the ground.

“Let’s get a couple things straight here,” she said harshly pointing her finger in Snow’s face. “I don’t care if you trust me or not. I don’t really care about the reasons why either. But while you’re in my home, you need to get your act together. The people who live here are a happy folk, and they don’t need your attitude bringing them down. If you act out like this again, you’ll get an arrow in the leg.”

Snow breathed in, “Are you threatening a SPEL operative?”

“No, just stating the facts.”

Katarina rushed in between the two. “How about we get moving?” she said.

“Fine,” said Snow.

Raelyn nodded and they continued forward.

On her missions with SPEL, Katarina had been to many villages, towns and cities before. So naturally, she expected Raelyn’s ‘village’ to be the basic setting. She couldn’t be more wrong. The village was encircled by a stonewall with tall red steel doors. In fact, as they passed the guards stationed at the gate, they too were wearing regal colors.

Raelyn noticed Katarina’s gaze. “The color red keeps the wolves away. They don’t like it,” she said.

The doors opened with a metallic groan as they stepped onto a small platform overlooking the village.

“Welcome to Clifthorn,” said Raelyn.

From what Katarina could surmise, these people lived in secluded peace, unhindered by the world at large and it’s many problems. The twelve realms of Nylith all had different hierarchies, but Clifthorn was a realm all unto it’s own. Children ran past them, giggling and smiling as they played various games. Parent’s sat nearby watching their kids, reading books or playing chess. There was a warmth to the air that Katarina couldn’t explain. Not a temperature, but a feeling. Like she was home. Even Snow couldn’t help but smile. Certainly there was no denying the atmosphere.

“Pretty great huh?” said Raelyn.

“It’s beautiful,” said Snow.

As they passed through a small square, Katarina noticed two large statues in the middle of everything. They were back to back, a young girl in a hood carrying a basket, and behind her a confident young woman who looked surprisingly like Raelyn. She had a determined look on her face as she held a sword above her head.

“My great-grandmother,” said Raelyn. “She’s responsible for all this. Blanchette Hood or her more famous name, Red Cap.”

“Red Cap?” inquired Katarina.

“Yeah, or Red Riding Hood, or sometimes just Red. She had a lot of nicknames.”

“But why the color red?” asked Snow.

“The cap she wore,” she pointed up at the statue, “She always wore a red cap.”

“What did she do?”

Raelyn gave a backward glance. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” said Snow.

They reached a house with a tall spire near the edge of the village. What separated it from the rest was a regal symbol of a red cap adorning the door.

“Welcome to my home,” said Raelyn.

From the outside it looked like a large house, but inside it was a small quaint two-story cottage. To the right was a living room and to the left was a kitchen. Raelyn motioned with her hands, “Hand over your weapons please,” she said warmly. “My grandmother doesn’t like them in the house.”

Katarina nodded and withdrew her daggers, handing them over. Snow did the same rather reluctantly as she gave her the bow and quiver.

“I’ll be right back,” she said. She left the room with their weapons without another word.

“I don’t like this,” said Snow.

“Oh come on,” said Katarina, “What happened to all that smiling earlier?”

“What’re you talking about?”

“I saw you, Snow. You were actually enjoying yourself for once. I don’t blame you. There’s something about this place. It’s intoxicating.”

“Probably using a spell on us more likely…” she muttered.

There was a shuffle next to them and they turned to see an older woman enter the room. Like Raelyn and the village, she too wore red garments. She smiled at them.

“You know, for over seventy years I’ve lived in this house and not once have I practiced magic.” She wobbled over to a chair in the corner and sat down, “Dreadful business, magic. It always comes with a price.”

“I’m sorry if you overheard, I just"”

“I heard every word my dear. Apologizing won’t solve anything. Be careful of what you say, because words themselves have a magic all their own. They have the power to inflict pain and to heal it. Worse than any spell I’ve ever seen.”

“Right, sorry. I"I mean, well, I don’t know. I guess I have trust issues,” Snow finished.

“You guess? You either know or you don’t my dear. Be confident.”

“I do,” she said exchanging a look with Katarina.

“How fascinating,” she said leaning forward.

There was an awkward silence. Katarina spoke up, “My name is Katarina, ma’am. This is my friend Snow. We are operatives of SPEL.”

“Ah!” exclaimed the Grandmother. “SPEL! So I’m sure you have lots of stories you could tell then hm?”

“Ye"yes. We could.”

Raelyn re-entered the room and seemed surprised to see her grandmother sitting in the chair. “I didn’t realize you’d be back already. Granny, this is"”

“I already know who they are young lady. Keep up.”

“Oh,” she said. “Good.”

The grandmother turned to Snow, who had her head down in embarrassment.

“You strike me as a proud woman. One who has been through many trials and gone through hell and back. Tell me your name again? You seem familiar.”

“Snow, ma’am.”

“Ah, now I recognize you. And so humble I see. You’re careful not to reveal your identity.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said.

“You’re Snow White.”

At this, Raelyn’s eyes grew wide. “The Hero of the Sixth Realm? The one who defeated the Evil One? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know how daft you can be woman,” said the grandmother. “She looks exactly as they say in the story. How did the saying go? ‘white as snow, and hair as black as ebony wood’ I think. Or it could go another way. Who knows, people always change the tale. You truly are the fairest of them all,” she smiled.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

The Grandmother turned her attention on Katarina. “You, on the other hand. I don’t think I’m familiar with your tale.”

“It’s not a very interesting one,” said Katarina. “You don’t want to hear my story.”

Grandmother shook her head. “I disagree. Everyone’s story deserves to be heard.”

“Mine isn’t as heroic as Snow’s I assure you,” she replied.

“She’s being modest. Katarina killed a Wetchen and saved her family from being sucked into another dimension by a pair of silver slippers,” said Snow who said this all very fast.

“There’s a little more to it then that. I just don’t like to talk about it,” said Katarina. “And it was my step-family to be precise. Not that they were very thankful about it,” she muttered.

“A Wetchen? How fascinating. That is certainly an achievement my dear,” said Grandmother.

“Silver Slippers?” said Raelyn. “What kind of shoes open up other dimensions?”

“They came from the First Realm. The Wetchen told me to click my heels twice and everything would go back to normal. Instead it ripped a hole in the world. It was wonderful,” she said sarcastically.

“The First Realm, as in OZ?”

“That’s one of the names for it, yeah.”

“How did you close the portal?”

“Don’t give away the ending!” exclaimed the Grandmother. “Or else the tale loses all it’s magic.”

“Magic?”

“Yes,” she said. “Stories and fairy tales have a magic all their own. It’s what we do here in the village of Clifthorn.”

“You tell stories?” said Snow.

Raelyn nodded. “It’s not just the color red that keeps the wolves at bay. But the stories as well.”

“I’m sorry,” said Snow. “I don’t understand how stories and fairy tales keep wolves at bay. I pretty much figured it was that giant stonewall around the village.”

“It’s not,” said the Grandmother. “Many years ago, my mother, Blanchette Hood, was taking a walk in the forest to visit her grandfather. She was a young girl at the time and everyone called her Little Red. Along the way, she ran into a Wral.”

“A what?”

“A Wral,” she said. “Like a wolf, but intelligent.”

“What do you mean by intelligent?”

“Exactly what I mean. It could talk, think, and walk. It was smart.”

“Never heard of a Wral before,” said Snow.

“Me either,” replied Katarina.

“It was the first of its kind,” she said. “My mother was brave and wasn’t scared. The Wral asked her where she was going. Red didn’t know this creature but she believed it to be good. She didn’t know that you never trust a wolf.”

“Or strangers in general,” said Snow absently.

The grandmother continued her story in earnest, telling them of the Wral’s betrayal, eating Red’s grandfather, and how Red killed the creature with her grandfather’s bow.

“Wait,” said Snow, “How old was she?”

“About twelve years old. She had never used a bow in her life,” said the Grandmother.

“Sounds like me,” Katarina commented.

“Of course, she may have killed the creature but that wasn’t the end of my mother’s story. The tale of her survival against this creature spread far and wide in Clifthorn. Many people considered it a miracle that she killed it. On my mother’s seventeenth birthday, the village was attacked by a pack of Wral. They had come for revenge on my mother and declared war against us. They rallied the minds of the wolves and made them aggressive, turning them into their own army.”

“Oh wow,” said Snow.

“My mother truly came into her own and for years she defended our village against attacks from the Wral. When I came of age, I too helped my mother defend Clifthorn. Eventually, the Wral broke through our defenses and pinned us down. It seemed like the end, but this was not to be so. Just when we thought they were going to kill us, they proclaimed that they only wanted to come to an agreement.”

“So why go through all the trouble of fighting a war?” asked Snow.

“They wanted to see if we were worthy,” replied the Grandmother. “In exchange for protecting us, the Wral demanded that we tell them fairy tales.”

“Fairy tales?” said Katarina incredulously.

“Yes,” she said. “They claimed it brought the area peace when stories were told and since they themselves were incapable, they wished us to tell them.”

“Interesting,” said Snow. She exchanged a glance with Katarina.

“And ever since then, we have told stories, and Clifthorn has been at peace.”

“What happened to your mother?”

At this, Grandmother’s tone turned grave, “No one knows. She disappeared one day and never came back.” She smiled, “But this is why you must tell your stories my dears. New tales always bring extra peace and I’m sure yours will be no different.”

“Uh huh,” said Snow. “Sure thing.”

“The Wral keep the wolves from the village in exchange for the stories. It truly is a peaceful world we live in,” she said.

“You know,” said Snow suddenly. “Could Katarina and I rest a bit before we tell our stories? It’s been a long journey,” she said.

“Take your time,” said the Grandmother.

“Thank you so much Grandmother, for telling your story,” said Katarina.

“You’re welcome my dear.”

Snow pulled Katarina aside as Raelyn and Grandmother disappeared around the corner. “Something weird is going on here,” she said. “I definitely don’t like it.”

“I don’t either,” said Katarina. “Not sure I believe the Wrals are protecting the village just because they want to hear stories. Everyone always has an agenda.”

Snow nodded. “What should we do?”

Katarina stepped outside, looking over at all the smiling children and parents having a fun time. The area was so peaceful, but it now held a sinister air Katarina didn’t notice before. Katarina knew for certain that something wasn’t right. The Wral were up to something and no one realized the war that Red ended so long ago was still raging.

“What we always do,” she said exchanging a look with Snow. “We stop them.”