Her boots were caked with mud. She hated that. Red had always wished to look pristine, though she knew it was near impossible now. Fruitlessly, she knocked the heels of her boots together to try to shake off some of the dried dirt, but her shoes still stayed more brown than black in their coloring. Scowling to herself, she tugged her bright red hood tighter over her dark berry-blue hair and wished for luck and better times. All along the road, she had seen soldiers patrolling. She never should have gotten this close to the castle in the first place, and now she could only hope that it had been long enough since she was last there for people to forget her face. But she was sure there were still a few people that knew of her here. And it did not help that she cloaked herself completely in the bright color of blood and roses, which had given her the easily remember moniker of "The Red Lady".
Finally catching sight of the castle looming in the distance, through the trees, Red cursed to herself. She never should have let that soldier guide her onto the main path towards the castle keep. Yet, she knew she was highly lucky that he had believed her to be a rich merchant's daughter instead of a dangerous rogue. If that was believed, things would have gotten messy. And deep down, Red was curious to know why so many of the king's men were on the road. Of course, it could be some silly reason. She always thought King André to be a fool.
Deciding that she had gone far enough towards the center of the kingdom, she turned at the next road, which lead left into the forest and towards a rather odd gathering of houses, nestled half between trees and half in open space. Another show of the dull-headedness of the royal family was the fact that they had built their castle in the middle of a large wood, with few barriers to keep it from attack. She was surprised the King was still able to keep his small kingdom thriving and in his family's hands. Nonetheless, Red stood observing the small town from the very edge of its limits. Lights were starting to be seen in windows, and she stared straight at the inn, one of the few distinguished buildings gathered at the town's center. Daylight was ending and she had no hope but to find a village to stay the night in. She hoped this one would do.
Straightening her black and red jacket, and then her red cloak, she began to march straight towards the inn. Most people were never that friendly to a traveler that looked like her. She hoped this inskeep would be different. When she entered the inn, she could tell immediately that this was not going to be easy when quite a few eyes turned to her. She could also tell that most people here were residents of the town from the way the volume of chatter lowered just a bit upon seeing an outsider. Red bit the inside of her lip, but marched up to the bar anyways, and to the presumed owner of the establishment. "How much does it cost to stay here?" Her voice was strong and confident. The rest of the voices in the room lowered another notch.
The man behind the counter raised his eyebrow at her. He looked slightly suspicious and not at all worried by her assertiveness. "And who are you?"
She folded her arms. "You can call me Red."
His eyebrow floated higher and he laughed slightly, unamused. "Sorry, but I do not serve nameless travelers."
"Then you can call me Tikki," she sighed, but did not let up. "How much does it cost to stay here?"
The innkeeper still observed her warily, and then after a moment of indecision, he turned away. "Apologies miss, but the inn is full. There is no room for you."
She growled slightly under her breath and retorted sharply. "It is not!"
He turned back around to glare at her. "Yes, it is."
Red's fists gripped together angrily. Before she did anything though; not that she would have; an elderly man got up from a table nearby and came slowly over, smiling at the two of them kindly. "Now Otis, I believe this young woman could do something for us. Tikki, is it? Or do you prefer Red?"
Slightly taken aback, she answered quietly. "Either is fine."
The man continued with a smile. "Well then, I assume you are a highly skilled traveler. And a good fighter too, yes?" She nodded, though she felt slightly suspicious herself.
The elderly man smiled at her still and turned back to the inskeep, Otis. "Well then, I believe this young lady here could assist us with Noir."
Otis raised both his eyebrows at the stooped old man, and Red only just realized that the inn had gone relatively silent because, all of a sudden, people started murmuring again.
She turned her gaze from Otis towards the old man. "Who is Noir? And what do you need done?"
Before the old man could speak, another man, from across the room stood up and spoke in his place. "Noir is a wolf that has been attacking the surrounding villages and killing innocents. He is the reason for the increased amount of soldiers on the roads. And I believe that you have the right to stay here as long as you like if you can hunt him down and kill him for us."
She heard a few more murmurs throughout the crowd across the room; a few of those murmurs sounding like agreement. Quickly, she turned her head first to the elderly man, and then to the innkeeper. Otis frowned at her, then sighed and cast his gaze to the side. "If you kill that beast, I will gladly give you bed and board here. Though it will not come completely free."
Red glanced around the room once again, indecisive. The soldiers would be on the roads for a long time, according to what these villagers said. She did not feel much like hunting down a terrifying beast. But if it was her only option… She nodded to herself and then spoke again. "Alright then. I will hunt this wolf. How much for a room?"
A/N: Hi again guys! Wow, so I'm really excited for this story. I may not be able to update very often, but I promise that this story will definitely be longer chapter-wise than my other short fanfictions on here! I can't wait to share it all with you; I have it all planned out, I just need to find time each week to write it. And I'm happy to say that this will have a complete ending, unlike some of my previous fics (it may even have a sequel, but I'm getting way too ahead of myself right now). I hope you enjoy this, and see you soon! I'd love to hear about any theories you have. ; )
(Oh, and if you do enjoy my writing, it would be a big help to me if you went to my profile page and copied the link to fill out a short poll about my other fanfic that I'm prepping right now. It will help me to write an even longer fanfic in the near future! Thanks, and sorry for the long A/N compared to this short chapter.)