Little Red Cinderella and the Three Beanstalks

Banner by Hooray Say The Roses

Previously...

The Step Mother feared for her step daughter at first, but then realized that like this, her own lovely daughters would stand a chance at marrying the handsome Prince themselves. So she gathered her skirts about her, and leaving poor Cinderella, now a pumpkin, on her mother's grave, the Step Mother left for the ball.

"Oh no..." I hissed.
"It's not done yet..." Ezu whispered.

There were only a few hours left until midnight fell upon this sad scene. Unless Rikki and her Knights can break the spell upon Cinderella before then, a pumpkin forever she shall remain. And the Witch shall rise again.

"...You've got to be [censored] kidding me."
"My dear!" Alfred gasped, shocked at my language.
"Well." Ezu said grimly, stepping quickly away from the Book and looking as if he was going to be sick. "I guess we'd better start running then, huh?"
"Why didn't I do more cardio?" I lamented, slamming the book shut.

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One of the best parts about being in a fairy tale come-to-life, is that things often turn up conveniently when you need them the most. Of course, this is a double-edged sword, so the very thing you DON'T need--which is usually an angry person who wants you dead-- is always turning up at the worst moment possible.
But lucky for us, THAT unfortunate moment still seemed to be a ways off, so instead of a wicked step mother, we got a man driving a cart full of hay to The Next Kingdom Over who was nice enough to let us hitch a ride for a couple of coins.

"So, Alfred," I said, itching my arm and settling back into the sweet-smelling hay, "You said earlier that you were being chased by children. What did you mean by that?"

Alfred frowned--as much as a wolf can frown, anyways-- and even growled a little bit. "It was these three little rotten children." He huffed. "They couldn't have been older than you three. I don't know who they were, but I remember the one that seemed to be the leader had this cloak. It stood out because it was..." He seemed to choke up a little, "Because it was made out of a wolf pelt." He sniffed.

I made a noncommittal sympathetic noise in the back of my throat and scratched my shoulder.

"Well," Alfred went on after collecting himself, "I and a few other protestors were trying to hand out informative leaflets in the town square of a village not to far from where we met, when suddenly these three children rush at us, waving weapons at us and threatening us! We could hardly believe it! I mean, sure we've been attacked before, but it was always by angry fathers and vengeful woodcutters and whatnot. But children? One of them had tied a knife to a shepherds crook! She was waving it in our face like a little devil. I ask you! What has today's youth come to?" He fell silent, fuming. Ezu, who was pretending to be asleep in the corner, snorted derisively.

"A shepherds crook?" I repeated, struck by a sudden thought. "And a wolf-skin cloak... What was the third kid like?" I asked. Alfred wrinkled up his snout, thinking.

"Erm, blonde, I think. Big blonde ringlets. Almost golden, actually. She might have been pretty if she weren't trying to kill me. She wore a little pink dress and had matching bows in her hair."

"Hm." I mulled over this, thinking hard. I didn't have the book to give me hints anymore, but I'll be damned if I didn't know my fairy tales.

"Wait a second," Ezu grunted suddenly, pushing himself into a sitting position and abandoning all pretense of sleep. "Did you say one of them was wearing a wolf skin cloak?"

"Yes." Alfred said with a furry frown. "The most disgusting thing I've ever seen, too. You don't see wolves going around wearing clothes made out of People skin, not even the Biggest or Baddest wolves!"

"What, do you think you know her?" Jack asked Ezu, who seemed to be thinking hard.

"Maybe." He mulled slowly. "Did she have dark brown hair? And a single freckle, right here?" He pointed at the corner of his mouth.

"Ye-es, I think so..." Alfred replied, uncertainly.

"And let me guess," Ezu went on, a bit sourly. "She was threatening you with a woodcutter's axe?"

"Yes! Yes she was, the little devil!" Alfred said excitedly. Ezu snorted and threw himself back into the hay.

"What? Who is it?" I asked him, itching my ankle.

"Red." He said simply.

"What?" I replied.

"Little Red. I'd put my bottom dollar on it."

"Little Red... Little Red Riding Hood?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Who else would I be talking about?" Ezu replied sarcastically.

"Red?" Jack repeated, sounding just as shocked as I felt. "But I've met her before, she's one of the sweetest kids I've ever met!"

"That was before a certain mongrel decided to play house with dear old granny." Ezu snapped, shooting a glare at Alfred.

"Don't associate me with wolves like them." He stated huffily, muzzle in the air. "And besides, if I recall, a passing woodcutter heard the commotion and rescued the girl and her grandmother. The wolf was killed. It was all over the newspapers."

"Just because everything ended up happily ever after doesn't mean the girl doesn't hold a grudge." Ezu growled.

"So if Little Red is the leader, who are the other two?" I wondered aloud, trying the drag the conversation away from these dangerous waters. "A girl in pink with gold hair, and a girl with a shepherd's crook..."

"Figures that they're girls..." Ezu muttered.

"Excuse me?" I shot a deadly glare at him, though it's ferocity was slightly lessened as I desperately tried to scratch a hard-to-reach spot in the small of my back.

"Nothing, nothing," Ezu snorted, rolling his eyes. "Your Highness..." He added sarcastically under his breath. "Oh, come here, you're useless," He added quickly, before I could rip his head off, and he helped me itch the impossible spot.

"Thank you." I said, shortly. "Now the shepherds crook girl, the only person I can think of that that could be would be Little Bo Peep, though I haven't a clue why she'd be attacking wolves... she found her sheep, didn't she?"

"Eh, once." Jack replied, wrinkling his nose. "There was an... incident recently, I think. Someone told my Aunt and Uncle about it while they were staying at the Inn. The whole flock, picked to the bone. The sheep were Bo's livelihood."

I chewed absently on my bottom lip, wondering why things couldn't just be normal for once. "Little Red Riding Hood, Little Bo Peep, and who else..." I muttered.

"Golden hair, you said?" Jack asked Alfred. "With pink ribbons? My best guess would be Goldilocks."

"Who?" Ezu and Alfred said together.

"Don't you remember? A while ago there was this girl that broke into a Bear family's house. There was a huge lawsuit and everything. The Bears claimed that the girl broke into their house while they were out and ravaged their personal belongings, and the girl claimed that she only needed a place to rest after getting lost in the woods and the bears engaged in an unprovoked attack after discovering her. The case was eventually settled, but since then, that Goldilocks girl has been going around giving Anti-Talking Animal protests, public speeches, and seminars." Jack explained. "Her campaign actually came around my town a while back. She gave speeches and stuff in the town square."

"Honestly, it is people like her that make it so difficult for innocent, law abiding animals to gain a little bit of dignity and respect, and why it is so easy for the dangerous, man eating animals to get away with their crimes!" Alfred pounded a furry fist into his paw, impassioned.

"So they've teamed up..." I muttered, miserably. Just what I needed. A bunch of murderous girls with vendettas against animals running around, making my life that much more difficult. I threw myself back into the hay, furiously scratching my upper arms and glaring at the blue sky.

"Erm, Rikki?" Jack asked, tentatively.

"What?" I replied, a little more shortly than usual. I was annoyed by this new turn of events, and there was a spot in the small of my back I couldn't reach to scratch.

"You seem to be... itching a lot. Are you alright?" Jack asked with a sidelong look at me.

"What? I'm fine. I don't know what you are talking about." I scoffed, trying to refrain from gnawing on my arm with my teeth.

"Uh, Rikki?" Ezu sat up, an eyebrow raised to the sky. He leaned forwards and grabbed my arm, holding it out so I could get a good look at it. My skin was red and rashy, as bright as a fresh burn. "Does this look 'fine' to you?"

I tore my arm out of his grasp, flushing as red as my rashes.

"I think you are allergic to hay." Jack added, helpfully.

"I am not!" I protested, making a big show of refusing to scratch. It was very, very difficult.

"Have you ever rolled around in the hay before?" Ezu pointed out.

"I--" I broke off, spluttered for a moment, then glowered. "No." I finally growled.

"Exactly." Ezu snorted. "And it would appear that you are very, very allergic to hay. What are the odds, huh?" He sounded rather cheerful about it. I wondered if you could catch allergies, and if spitting in his food would make him suffer like I was.

Then I figured that even if it didn't, I still spit in his food and that was good enough by itself.

"Well don't just sit there then!" I whined, giving up and rubbing my face furiously with the palms of my hands. "Do something!"

"What do you want me to do?" Ezu shot back. "Kiss it and make it all better?" He scoffed. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?" I snapped at him. He grinned wolfishly.

"Depends. Will you let me?"

"Thank you, but I'd rather scratch myself to death."

"Your loss."

"You're a pig."

"You're easy to upset."

"And you're easy to slap from here. Now help me get rid of this infernal itching, or I'll spit in your food."

"Hey, wait a second, that just seems uncalled for!"

"Don't tempt me."

I glared at him. He blew out heavily through his nose, rolling his eyes, but he grabbed his rucksack and began rifling through it.

"You know," Alfred commented, leaning forwards with interest, "The way you two banter is really quite remarkable."

"What do you mean?" I frowned, only half listening.

"You two verbally abuse eachother, while every sentence you exchange is ripe with sexual tension. Are you sure you aren't mates?"

If we had been drinking water, both Ezu and I would have sprayed it across the metaphorical room. As it was, we had to settle for a lot of over-dramatic scoffing and vehement protests, which mostly consisted of two-word gasps along the lines, "Huh? No!" and "No way!" and "Her? Never!", and then "What? Hey!" and "No offense."

"As a matter of fact, I detest him." I told Alfred with a little bit too much conviction after I found the rest of my vocabulary skulking in the back of my throat.

"And I can't stand her." Ezu accused, pointing at me.

Alfred didn't look convinced. He leaned back into the hay with a knowing look on his canine face, and said "Mm-hm."

Then Ezu threw something at my head.

I was about to throw it back, harder, when he said quickly, "Burn ointment. I don't have anything for hay allergies, but it's better than nothing."

I looked down at the little glass jar in my hands. It was filled with a white lotiony substance, and when I opened the lid, the smell of peppermint and rosemary washed over me.

"I'd give you my thanks, but I don't like you right now." I told Ezu.

"Good, because I wouldn't accept it if you did." He replied, reclining back in the hay, stretching his arms out above his head. I tried to ignore the smooth, bare skin of his lower stomach that was exposed as his shirt rose up ever-so-slightly.
I tentatively applied some of the ointment to my arms, and was immediately washed over by sweet relief. I quickly rubbed it over all the other exposed parts of my skin, making a mental note to be more appreciative of everyday that I wasn't having a violent allergic reaction. People really need to be more thankful for the little things in life.

"Here, take this back before I throw it at your head." I told Ezu, screwing the lid back on the jar and holding it out to him. He groaned, and kicked his feet in the hay a little.

"But I just got comfortable!" He complained, but then sighed and pushed himself up again. He snatched the jar from my hand, shooting me a glare, and stuffed it back into his rucksack. He made to lay back down, but then paused, and leaned forwards towards me.

"What?" I asked, leaning away from his suspiciously. Ezu rolled his eyes.

"Relax. You've just got hay all up in your hair. Seriously, Rikki, you're a mess, you know that?" He commented ever so politely.

"You know Ezu, have I ever told you how sweet and sensitive you are before? How you always know just what to say to lift my spirits?" I remarked with saccharine sweetness.

"I know I am." He replied simply. He reached out, and plucked a piece of hay out of my hair. As he did so, his hand brushed the side of my cheek. I automatically flushed and turned my head away.

"Alfred, how much farther is it?" I asked, clumsily changing the subject.

"Not much." He answered.

"How much is not much?" I pressed. The wolf sat up a little straighter, and looked at something above my head.

"Oh, I'd say about twenty feet."

Jack, Ezu and I all spun around, and were met by the sight of a castle straight out of every little girl's dreams looming marble white against the setting sun.