Sleeping Princesses Part 2 of 5

Greetings, reader. If we're going to fit 5 parts of this original story in this month, we'll need lots of updates. So, here we go. This story will update on Tuesdays and Saturdays until it's all up. If you haven't read part 1, start there. Otherwise, continue reading.

               The fairy sighed. They had all done their best, but there was only so much they could do about the curse on Princess Aurora. They had tried to convince her parents to put her in a castle alone on her sixteenth birthday, but her parents had both refused to abandon her. Now, the fairy came in and looked on Aurora, crumpled to the floor. Using her magic, she moved Aurora into her bed. At least she would be more comfortable while she slept.

               Then the fairy moved around the castle, putting all of the nobles in their beds and making sure none of the peasants would harm themselves. When she was done, she gave it one last look, but even the spiders were asleep. There was nothing left to do. The fairy cast one more spell to cause a wall of thorns to grow around the whole castle. Only those who loved the princess or wanted to help her would be allowed inside. Otherwise, who knew what could happen? Shedding a tear that this was the best she could do, the fairy left. Hopefully at least one person who cared about the princess was outside the castle somewhere.

~*~

               Snow made it home the day after Aurora’s sixteenth birthday. Her father was waiting in the courtyard to greet her.

               “Snow! Look how much you’ve grown!” he said.

               Snow couldn’t help but smile. He seemed genuinely happy to see her. But if he was, then why hadn’t he come to visit her even once? “Hello, father,” Snow said, gingerly getting off of her horse. She stepped toward him and he swept her up in a hug.

               “I’m so glad to see you,” he said, finally putting her down.

               Snow could only look around her at the unfamiliar courtyard. This was her home now. “Father, why couldn’t I stay for Aurora’s sixteenth birthday? I wanted to wish her well.”

               Her father looked pained. “That’s a bit complicated. Can we talk about that tonight?”

               “We can, but we will talk about it.”

               The king seemed a bit taken aback, but then he smiled. “Yes. You’ve a strong mind, just like your mother.”

               “What was she like?” Snow had never been able to find out much about her mother.

               Her father smiled. “She was-“

               “She was weak,” a woman proclaimed, striding into the courtyard. “Nicholas, you didn’t tell me your daughter was coming home today.”

               Snow was speechless.

               “Hello, Snow. I’m your stepmother, Queen Rebecca.”

               “Pleased to meet you,” Snow said uncertainly. “What did you mean my mother was weak?”

               “She died in childbirth, giving birth to you. Only one heir to the crown and you turned out to be a girl.”

               “Rebecca!” King Nicholas’ eyes blazed. “I will ask you not to talk to my daughter that way.”

               “And I will ask you, once again, to divorce me if you don’t like the way I run this household.”

               The two stared at each other, and Snow could tell this wasn’t the first time they’d had an argument like this.

               After a moment, Queen Rebecca’s lips curved into a smile. “Very well then. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you later, Snow.” Throwing one more contemptuous look at King Nicholas, she sashayed away.

               “Father?” Snow asked.

               King Nicholas sighed. “The laws are different in King Grant’s kingdom, but here we do not have a way to divorce a king and queen.”

               “Why not?” Snow asked.

               King Nicholas sighed. “The political results would be…messy. Particularly for the relationship between her kingdom and this one. If I were to divorce her, it would likely start a war.”

               “Why? They don’t want her around either?” Snow asked.

               King Nicholas laughed. “You’ve got a sharp wit. Just be careful who you use it on. Come. Let me show you around your home.”

~*~

               After a day of King Nicholas trying to be the best father he could and Queen Rebecca being the worst woman she could, Snow was exhausted. Still, she made the time to sit down and write a letter to Aurora about it. She had promised, after all.

               “I can’t wait until you come visit. Promise me you’ll be here for my sixteenth birthday,” Snow wrote. She signed it, “Love, Snow.” She stared at her signature for a moment. Then, shaking her head, Snow sealed her letter up and went to bed.

~*~

               If Queen Rebecca was rude the first day that Snow was there, she was even worse in the next several. King Nicholas had given Snow the run of the seamstresses to make her new dresses in the style of this kingdom. Although Snow hated to give up her old clothes, she knew she had to make an effort to fit in here. This was meant to be her home.

               But the more that Snow allowed her maids to primp her, the more Queen Rebecca found to insult about her appearance. If Snow was too pale with no makeup, then with makeup on her lips were too red. Her hair was too black. There was always something wrong with how she looked. Not wanting to start an argument with the queen, Snow kept her responses in check, but she longed to settle this like she used to settle arguments as a child. Queen Rebecca looked like she wouldn’t be able to fight back very well.

               This continued until King Nicholas received word that a tragedy had happened at King Grant’s castle. He made plans to leave the next day.

               “Take me with you,” Snow begged. “I can keep up on horseback and I know that castle inside and out.”

               King Nicholas smiled and shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t. Besides, I’ll be taking King Grant’s best men with me. The same ones who brought you to me. They know all the land around the castle and the threats it faces.”

               Snow swallowed down her response. She’d been doing more of that lately. “I just want to make sure Aurora is okay,” she said instead.

               King Nicholas’ face softened. “She’s dear to you, isn’t she?”

               Snow nodded.

               King Nicholas nodded slowly. “I see. I will do everything in my power to help her and I will send you word as soon as I know anything.”

               It wasn’t what Snow wanted, but she knew it was the best she would get from him. “Are you sure you can’t take me with you? I won’t be in the way.”

               Before King Nicholas could refuse her again, the steward came in to talk about the provisions they would need for the journey. Snow slipped out. If her father wouldn’t take her with, then she’d just go on her own.

~*~

               The next morning, Snow woke up early. She had packed her own bag and she slid into the peasant’s dress she’d managed to get a few days after coming here. She pulled her hair back with a leather thong and slid out of her room. She knew her father had already left, but she hoped to get another horse and travel just behind them. Hopefully without the stable master seeing her. He didn’t seem to like her much, and Snow couldn’t figure out why. Maybe he hadn’t expected a princess to want to go riding so often.

               Snow stepped into the stable and almost cursed as she saw the stable master recognize her. He stared at her for a moment before approaching her.

               “What do you need?” he asked her.

               “A horse,” she replied. “A fast one.”

               He stared down his nose at her for a moment. Then he turned, “Boy! Saddle a horse!”

               Snow could hardly believe her luck. She didn’t truly believe it until she had mounted the horse, her provisions in the saddle bag behind her, and she was riding out of the palace gates. This was so easy. And it was so nice to be out on a horse. Snow couldn’t help but smile as the castle disappeared behind her. Maybe she could help Aurora sort this whole mess out. It would be wonderful to see her again. As Snow planned what she would do once she finished the journey, she didn’t pay much attention to what was happened around her. So it came as a complete surprise when another horse rammed into hers and unseated her.

               Snow, gasping, stood up as quickly as she could. She looked up into the face of her father’s best tracker.

               “Nice day for a ride,” Snow said, her mind racing to figure out how to get out of this.

               The man’s eyes widened. “Your Highness! When the queen said someone had stolen a horse, I thought…” His eyes narrowed.

               Snow swallowed. For the first time, she realized the stupidity of what she had done. There was no one around if this man decided to attack her. And she was no match for him if he decided to do that. He could just run her down without even getting off of his horse. Slowly, Snow edged backwards.

               The tracker decided something. “You’ve got to get out of here,” he said. “The queen told me to kill you and bring back…” He looked disgusted. “Well, bring back part of you. I thought that was too far for a simple horse thief.”

               “Where…where do I go?” Snow asked, starting back toward her horse.

               “I’m afraid I have to take the horse back with me, but take your saddlebag and go into the woods. There’s a cabin in there where they will help you, but I don’t know where.”

               Snow grabbed her saddle bag. “But-“

               “There are others out after you as well, I can’t take the time to explain more, just go!”

               Shaking, Snow took a step backwards, two, then she turned and ran into the woods.

~*~

               Snow had run until she thought she couldn’t anymore, and then she had kept running. Why had her stepmother wanted to kill her? They barely knew each other. It didn’t make any sense.

               Snow ached, but when she couldn’t run anymore, she started walking, the saddlebag weighing her down with every step. But she knew she needed that. If she couldn’t find this cabin, she would be on her own tonight and her only hope of survival was the contents of this saddlebag. She stopped, briefly to eat, but the noises of the forest around her convinced her to keep walking as soon as she could.

               Mechanically, Snow continued walking, not even she where she was heading anymore. It took her awhile to realize she was seeing lights ahead in the darkness. A cabin! Snow began to run forward, and then she pulled herself up short. What if this were a trick? Or the wrong cabin? There might be people in the forest who would try to hurt her.

               A wolf howled close by. Snow shivered. She would try the cabin. At least she could reason with people. There was no reasoning with the animals who lived in this forest. Snow knocked on the door. It opened almost immediately and Snow found herself looking down until she found the face of a man, but like none she’d ever seen before.

               “Are you from the castle?” he asked curtly.

               Snow hesitated. “Yes,” she decided.

               “Come in, then.”

               Not sure if she’d made the right choice, Snow followed him inside and shut the door behind her. There were four men, all about the height of the first, scattered around the room. They made the room look tall.

               “Got another one, Emil?”

               “Yup,” the man who had answered the door responded. He turned to Snow. “Girl. What’s your name?”

               She hesitated. “Bethany,” she said, taking the name of one of Aurora’s ladies in waiting.

               “Welcome, Bethany,” one of the men said. “That’s Emil. I’m Jozef. That’s Roman and Vit.”

               Both Roman and Vit waved when their names were said.

               “Where am I?” Snow asked.

               “Ah. I suppose we’re still secret, then,” Jozef said. “The king noticed his new queen had a mind to drive out of the castle anyone prettier than her. Once he noticed this, he asked us to take any of them in and get them set up with new lives.”

               Snow’s head was reeling. Was this really true? “How?” she managed.

               “We may be dwarves, but we’ve got connections with just about every kingdom in riding distance,” Vit boasted. “Some of them only deal with us for what we bring them, and a pox on their households, but others, like King Nicholas, are far more…openminded.”

               Snow saw a chair and sat down, letting her saddle bag drop to the floor. This was so much to take in at once, but she didn’t forget why she had left the castle in the first place. “Get me a placement in King Grant’s castle,” she said. Then, belatedly, “Please.”

               Roman laughed. “Can’t do that. No one’s getting in or out of there.”

               “What?!” Snow was instantly on alert.

               “The fairy’s curse finally came down on them,” Roman told her. “Now there’s a big hedge around the outside and won’t let anyone in or out.”

               “What curse? What happened? Is everyone okay?”

               “Slow down,” Jozef said. “Did you know someone there?”

               “Yes,” Snow said. “I need to know if she’s okay.”

               Jozef put a hand on her shoulder. “No one’s able to go in or out. We don’t know what happened to everyone inside. The fairy’s curse was death, but there was a rumor another fairy countered it.”

               “Death?!” Snow stared at Jozef and felt something wet drop on her hand. She realized she was crying.

               “But they might not be dead!” Jozef said. “We don’t know. They could be fine. Oh, please don’t cry.”

               “With all of the women we’ve had come through here and all of their tales of woe, you’d think you could get used to a few of them crying,” Roman said to Jozef.

               Snow did her best to rein herself in. She wiped her cheeks. “How long does it take to get there from here?”

               “It takes about one day with one of our horses,” Vit boasted.

               “How about on foot?” Snow asked.

               “Impossible,” Roman replied. “The monsters out there would eat you up. Not everyone’s nice like we are.”

               “Besides,” Jozef said, “we’re supposed to make sure you get another job, and there’s no jobs in the castle out there right now.”

               Snow stared at him. “I need to get there. I can find my own way after that, but I need to get there.”

               “Let’s talk about this in the morning,” Jozef said. “You’ve had a long day and so have we.”

               “What job did you have in the castle?” Emil asked.

               “Lady in waiting,” Snow replied. She could probably do that.

               The dwarves sighed. “We never get a cook out here, do we?” Emil complained. “Bethany, do you know how to clean?”

               “Yes,” Snow replied, confused.

               “Great. While we’re out working in the mine, you can clean this place up.”

               “What?” Snow asked.

               “You can’t just stay here for free,” Emil told her. “We’re not a charity.”

               “What he means to say is that we all pitch in,” Jozef said. “If you’re going to be here, we’d like it if you would help us too.”

               “All right,” Snow said. “I can clean tomorrow. And then can I borrow a horse?”

               “We’ll talk about that later,” Jozef replied. “None of us are in a fit state to think it through tonight. Have you eaten?”

               “Not recently,” Snow admitted.

               Roman handed her a bowl of soup and a slice of bread. Snow ate quickly and then she followed Jozef upstairs to her room. There several beds in there. When she hesitated at the door, Jozef hurriedly explained, “Sometimes we have more than one guest at once. A few of us just set out yesterday with the girls to find them new places, so you’re it for the moment. The rest of us have rooms down the hall.”

               Snow relaxed and stepped inside.

               “We get up early around here,” Jozef said, “and I know you might not. Help yourself to whatever you want for breakfast. Our cleaning supplies are in a cabinet just off of the kitchen. Is there anything else you need?”

               Snow shook her head.

               “Then goodnight, Bethany,” Jozef said. He left the room and shut the door behind him.

               Snow sat down on one of the beds and dropped her saddle bag to the ground next to her. Aurora had to be okay. She just had to be. But a small part of Snow wondered if Queen Emilia and King Grant had known. Was that why they were so nervous? And why they had sent Snow away? Didn’t they know that whatever happened to Aurora, Snow wanted to be there to protect her? Snow realized she was crying again, but this time there was no reason to make herself stop, until she was eventually too tired and laid down to sleep.