Jozef
had been right. Snow woke up after the dwarves had left the house. Snow
staggered downstairs and found that one of them had left some porridge for her.
Gratefully, Snow scooped it up and ate it. When she was done, she found a stack
of dishes in the sink. At least they had a pump inside their house.
Hoping
they used this pump often, Snow began pumping water into the sink. It ran clear
and Snow quickly found the soap and began washing the dishes. It was clear the
dwarves had let them pile up and Snow found herself scrubbing to get everything
off. Eventually, the dishes were done, dry, and Snow had managed to put them
all away. She looked around the cabin, figuring out what to clean next. As she
looked around, she happened to look up. The rafters were dusty and full of
spiderwebs.
Snow
sighed. It made sense that it would be much more difficult for the dwarves to
reach these ceilings, since the cabin seemed to have been made for humans.
Still, it was going to be a difficult day if she had to reach up for that long.
But, they expected her to clean to earn her place here, and Snow wasn’t one to
take a handout. She walked over to the closet and found a broom and a few rags
to wrap around her hair and her face. This was going to get messy.
She was
stopped by a knock on the door. Wondering who would be out here, Snow answered
it.
An old
woman stood on the doorstep with a basket in her hand. “I’m afraid I’m a little
turned around,” she said. “Can I have a drink of water?”
“Of
course,” Snow said, inviting the old woman in. Maybe the dwarves knew this
woman. Snow didn’t want to make any enemies, even if she wasn’t here for very
long.
The old
woman sat down at the table and Snow got her some water from the pump. The old
woman set her basket on the table and took a big drink.
Curious,
Snow looked in the basket. It was full of ribbons. Immediately, Snow thought
about the ribbons in her bodice. One of the differences in fashion in her kingdom
versus Aurora’s was the closely fitted bodices the women wore. Snow hadn’t
gotten the right size of ribbons for her bodice, and she wasn’t sure how to
lace them up anyway. It was something they were going to fix soon, but Snow
couldn’t be bothered and now she didn’t have the chance.
“Any of
them catch your eye?” the old woman asked, indicating the basket.
Snow
turned away. “I’m afraid I don’t have any money.”
“I can
spare a ribbon for a drink of water. Come, child. Let me lace you up properly.”
It felt
like so long since someone had wanted to take care of Snow like this. Queen
Emilia was far away and Snow hadn’t connected like that with anyone in her
castle. Smiling a little, she turned around and let the old woman fix her bodice.
“Are you
sure they’re supposed to be so tight?” Snow asked, her hand involuntarily going
to her chest.
“Oh yes,”
the old woman reassured her. “They stretch as you wear them, so you have to
start with them laced up tight.”
“Oh.”
Snow didn’t have much breath for more.
“Thank
you for the water,” the old woman said, grabbing her basket. “I think I know
the way back now. Have a good day.”
“You
too,” Snow managed, watching the old woman leave. The ribbons would stretch,
huh? Snow sat down, feeling a little lightheaded. Any minute now, she should be
able to breathe a bit better. Snow started thinking about the old woman. Hadn’t
she looked a little familiar? Maybe not in the way she looked, but in the way
she moved. Snow had seen someone else use those gestures. She was trying to
puzzle it out when everything slowly faded to black and Snow collapsed to the
floor.
~*~
Snow
sucked in a huge breath. She was on the floor of the dwarves’ cottage, laying
on her side, but for a moment, all she could think about was being able to
breathe again.
“I’m
telling you, someone tried to kill her,” Emil snapped.
“And I’m
telling you not to jump to conclusions,” Roman replied.
“How are
you feeling?” Jozef asked Snow.
“Glad to
breathe,” Snow replied. “I didn’t know bodices were so tight in this kingdom.”
“They’re
not,” Jozef replied, confused.
“You
would know,” Emil replied.
Jozef’s
lips thinned and Snow could see him choosing not to reply. “Who told you that?”
he asked Snow instead as he helped her sit up.
“There
was an old woman who had a basket of ribbons. I thought you all might know her,
so I let her come in. She helped me with my bodice.”
Emil
snorted. “Helped you? Girl, she strung you up with wire. We had to cut your
bodice to let you breathe again.”
Snow
looked down and saw the slit up the side of her bodice. It was the only one she
had.
“Is
there anyone who wants you dead?” Jozef asked.
Reflexively,
Snow was about to say no, but she stopped to think. “Well…”
“Your
stepmother, perhaps?” Emil asked.
“What do
you mean?” Snow asked, stammering.
“Look,
we all know you’re the princess who just came back. It’s too much coincidence
that she disappeared the same day you came here and you look like her,” Vit
said.
“I don’t
know what you mean,” Snow said, wondering if she should run.
“No one
here wants to hurt you,” Jozef told her soothingly. “We just want to help you.
Have you seen this old woman before?”
Snow
hesitated. “She reminded me of my stepmother, but they don’t look anything alike.”
“She probably
used magic,” Roman opinioned. The other dwarves began to protest, but Roman
replied, “She can do magic. You all know it. And if that’s true and she wants Snow
dead…”
They all
looked at Snow.
“The
next attack might be something even worse,” Emil finished quietly.
Snow was
frozen. “But I didn’t do anything. I barely even know her.”
“You’re
pretty,” Jozef told her. “That’s all it takes, I guess.”
“Has she
tried to kill anyone else who came here?” Snow asked, desperately.
The
dwarves were quiet. “No,” Vit admitted.
“Then
there’s got to be something else. Something I can explain to her.”
“She’s
mad,” Roman said. “Crazy and with magic. Not a good combination.”
“What do
we do?” Snow asked.
The
dwarves were silent and Snow’s heart dropped.
“Oh,”
she said, standing up. She was a little lightheaded, but she found her balance
after a moment. “Just point me in the direction of Aurora’s castle.”
“You can’t
just leave,” Jozef protested. “We’re charged to take care of everyone who comes
to us looking for shelter.” He glared at the other dwarves and one by one, their
gazes all dropped to the floor. “She may have magic, but we have older magic
still. We can protect you. And we’ve been charged to.”
“She is
the princess of the realm,” Vit pointed out.
The
dwarves all nodded solemnly.
“For
now, take this.” Roman handed Snow a small rock.
“What is
it?” she asked, turning it over and looking at it.
“A
protection spell,” Vit explained. “It guards against most magical attacks. She’ll
have to get in close to hurt you again.”
Snow
shivered. If that really had been her stepmother, she didn’t want to see that
woman again.
“Once
the others get back with the horses, we can get you out of here,” Jozef said. “We
can get you far away from her.”
“How
long until they get back?” Snow asked.
“Two
more days.” Roman kicked the ground. “I told you we shouldn’t have let them
take all of the horses.”
“They
needed them to transport everyone,” Jozef replied. “And that’s neither here nor
there now. We’ll do what we can. This witch won’t get past us a second time.”
~*~
The next
morning, Snow made sure to put her protection stone in her pocket. It really
didn’t look like it was capable of protecting her from anything, but she wanted
all the help she could get. Again, Snow wished Aurora were here. Not that
Aurora would have any better idea of how to protect her from a homicidal witch,
but Snow would feel a lot safer in Aurora’s arms than anywhere else in the
world.
Swallowing
the lump in her throat, Snow headed downstairs. They had managed to find
another set of clothes for her, and Snow planned on fixing her bodice today. At
least Queen Emilia had been patient enough to teach her basic needlework.
When she
came down to breakfast, Snow was surprised to see Vit sitting at the table
waiting for her. “Is everything all right?” Snow asked.
“So far,
yes,” Vit replied. “We’re not leaving you alone today. That protection stone
can do some to help you, but one of us can send that crazy lady packing in a
heartbeat.”
Snow
suddenly teared up. “Am I going to die?” she asked.
“What?
No! Just because some hopped up queen thinks you’re too pretty to live doesn’t
mean she’s going to be able to kill you. You’re with us. We’ll stop her, sure
enough.”
Snow
couldn’t help but smile. “Well thank you. I’m so glad you’re all willing to
help me.”
Vit
grunted. “We’d have to whether we wanted to or not. You’re the princess of the
realm. And we’re in a contract with your dad to help everyone who’s seeking
shelter from his wife. But you’re a nice young lady and we’d hate to see you
get killed.”
“Oh. I
didn’t know it worked that way.” Snow got herself some porridge from the pot
and sat down across from him at the table.
“I knew
you grew up in another kingdom, but didn’t they teach you anything?”
“Of
course they did. I just didn’t know about this.”
Vit
studied her for a moment. “Did they tell you about the curse on Princess
Aurora?”
“No.”
Snow was surprised at the bitterness in her voice.
“Then
they left out some pretty important things, it seems to me.”
“Do you
know how to break her curse?”
“Me?
Nah. It was set by some pissed off fairy. Their magic and ours don’t mix well. And
I’d have to see it to know if I could do anything about it.”
“Oh.”
“When
all else fails, fairies are always a sucker for true love’s kiss, though,” Vit
offered.
“True
love’s kiss? I don’t even know the fairy that set the spell.”
Vit
laughed. “Well, it’s never true love for the fairy, but for the person affected
by the spell. So in this case it would be Aurora.”
“Do you
think it would work?”
Vit
shrugged. “It usually does, but maybe this fairy sealed up that loophole. Can’t
rightly say without looking at it.”
Snow
sighed and finished her breakfast. Then she set her spoon down. “Well, I guess
I’d better keep cleaning. I was going to start on the rafters yesterday before…”
She trailed off and stood up to do the dishes.
“That
suits me fine,” Vit said. “Roman will be along in a bit to trade places with
me. Then we’ll all come back for lunch and Jozef will stay with you until Emil trades
places with him. Then we’ll all come home from the mine. As long as I can keep
an eye on you, I don’t much care what you do.”
“I did
agree to clean in order to stay here,” Snow reminded him.
“That
you did.”
So, Snow
cleaned the dishes and prepared herself again to clean the rafters. She had
made decent progress on that by the time Roman came along and sent Vit to the
mine. Roman was sneezing and coughing from all of the dust Snow raised, but when
she asked if she should stop, Roman shook his head. “Better get it over with,”
he told her. He tied a cloth over his face and that helped a bit.
By lunch
time, Snow had finished cleaning the rafters and was starting to gather all of
the dust and cobwebs into a pile on the floor. The dwarves tromped into the
house and looked around.
“You didn’t
clean off the table,” Emil said.
Snow
blushed and then got angry. “I didn’t realize what time it was,” she snapped,
walking over and wiping it down with the rag she had been using to cover her
face.
“What he
means to say is that the rafters look great,” Jozef said, stepping inside.
“Would you like to join us for lunch?”
“Thank
you,” Snow replied, trying to master her temper. At least one of these men was
nice. She washed up and joined them at the freshly cleaned table for a thick
stew that had been cooking all day. Over lunch, Snow found out these dwarves
worked in a gem mine. One of them had brought home a sapphire to show the
others and Snow’s eyes about popped out of her head.
“Why do
you live like this when you have something so valuable?” she asked. “You could
live in a castle!”
The
dwarves looked at her and laughed. “And make ourselves a target for every
ruffian in the forest? No thank you,” Vit responded.
“No one
knows how much we really make from those mines,” Roman boasted.
“Or
where they are,” Emil said, cautioning.
Snow got
the hint and didn’t ask. “But you could afford to hire someone to cook and
clean for you.”
“But
then our guests would have nothing to do,” Jozef pointed out. “We must all
contribute.”
“Has
anyone ever asked to stay here?” Snow asked, curious.
The
dwarves all looked at each other.
“Yes,”
Jozef admitted. “But it doesn’t usually work out.”
“Poor
fool fell in love with you,” Emil laughed at Jozef. “Imagine! A human and a
dwarf!”
“Really?”
Snow asked Jozef.
Jozef shrugged,
looking at his plate.
“I don’t
see what’s so odd about it,” Snow said, looking at Emil.
“You
don’t? Are you in love with him too?”
“No,”
Snow replied. “I don’t even know him. I just don’t think there’s anything to
laugh about. If two people love each other, what’s the harm?”
Emil
shook his head. “Not everyone thinks like you, dearie. And there are those who
are violent about it, so maybe don’t go trumpeting something like that.”
Snow had
never seen someone get violent about something like that, but she knew there
was more that Emil wasn’t saying, and she did her best to let it go.
The
atmosphere around the table was tense and uncomfortable and Snow was glad when
she dwarves left to go back to the mine. She was wondering if she’d said the
wrong thing and she was glad Jozef was staying with her so she could apologize.
Snow
walked over to him and started to speak. Before she could get a word out, he
looked at her and said, “Thank you.”
“You’re
welcome,” she managed. “I didn’t mean to bring up anything uncomfortable.”
Jozef
shrugged and looked at the floor. “It was bound to happen sooner or later with
all the pretty girls coming through. I just didn’t think her fiancé would come
looking for her.”
“Oh.” Snow
swept the floor a little. “What happened?”
Jozef
sighed. “He came here to bring her back, saying we’d kidnapped her. It didn’t
matter what she said. He dragged her away.”
“Couldn’t
you stop him?”
Jozef
gave a short, humorless laugh. “A dwarf attack a human? And over his fiancée?
Not a great idea.” He swallowed. “I would have, but she was begging me not to.
Saying she would come back when she could. That was about a year ago.”
“I’m
sorry,” Snow said awkwardly. Aurora was much better at things like this.
Jozef
shook himself. “It’s in the past. And you don’t need to worry about it. I’m
fine.”
Even
Snow could tell he was lying, but she didn’t know what to say next to him.
“What
was it like growing up in that other kingdom?” Jozef asked, searching for a
better topic of conversation.
“It was
great,” Snow replied with a smile. She told him about the adventures she and
Aurora had gone on. About Queen Emilia’s kindness and patience with them. About
how regal King Grant was in court but how silly he could be when it was just
the family. She talked about how different it was here. “It’s weird to say I’m
a stranger in my own kingdom, but it’s the truth,” Snow said with a shrug. “I
know that palace inside and out and I know how to be a princess there, but here…”
“Is that
why you want to go back?” Jozef asked.
“Well,”
Snow stopped sweeping while she considered, “it’s my home and I miss it.” She
didn’t want to tell Jozef that she missed Aurora more than anything else. It
seemed too private.
Jozef
nodded. “Can you excuse me for a moment?”
Snow
nodded as Jozef headed out the back, toward the outhouse. She figured nothing
could happen to her if he was gone for such a short time. Snow had been
sweeping all of the rubbish and cobwebs onto a sheet and now she gathered up
the edges to dump it in the front yard.
Snow
managed to heave the sheet out in front of the house, thought for a moment, and
then headed over to the side to dump it all out. As she was dumping everything
out of the sheet, Snow heard someone crying. Curious, she left the sheet behind
and took a few steps toward the sound. A little boy was sitting on the ground,
crying his eyes out.
“What’s
wrong?” Snow asked.
He
jumped. “I got lost,” he said, still sniffling.
“Oh,”
Snow replied. “There’s a path in front of our house and my friend can help you.
Will you come with me?” She offered her hand.
Wiping
his face with his other hand, the boy took her hand and walked with her back to
the house.
“Now, do
you know which way you came in?” Snow asked, kneeling to get to his level once
they got back to the house.
The boy
shook his head.
“Where
did you come from?” Snow asked.
“From
the castle,” the boy sniffed. “My mom sent me out here to find some berries or
mushrooms we could eat. She told me not to leave the path, but the best berries
were off the path…”
He
trailed off and Jozef came out from inside the house.
“He’s
lost,” Snow said to Jozef. “He came from the castle.”
Jozef
crouched down a little to get on the boy’s level. “Do you want a hug?” he asked
the boy.
The boy
nodded a little and hugged Jozef. Jozef brought out a handkerchief and wiped
the boy’s face. “There we go. Now, you want to get back to the castle?”
The boy
nodded again.
“Take
this path and follow it until it forks. Take the left fork and follow it all
the way out of the forest. Then you’ll see the castle just to the right. Okay?”
“Okay,”
the boy said quietly.
“Can you
make it by yourself?” Jozef asked.
“Yes,”
the boy said. “I found the best berries for my mom, too. See?” He showed them his
bag. Sitting just under the berries was a beautiful hair comb.
“What’s
that?” Jozef asked.
“Oh!
That’s for the pretty lady,” the little boy said, handing it to Snow.
“Thank
you,” Snow said, touched, but wiping little bits of berry off of it.
“You’re
welcome,” the boy said, smiling. “I gotta give these to my mom. Bye!” And he
started walking down the path.
Snow put
the comb in her hair and tried to use one of the windows of the house as a
mirror. “What do you think?” she asked Jozef.
“Are you
sure you should be wearing that?” he asked. “We don’t know who that came from.”
“Nonsense,”
Snow said. “It’s just a gift from a little boy.” Her eyes started to get heavy.
“A poor little boy who should have sold this for food.” She yawned and leaned
against the house. “That’s weird.” She slid down the house and Jozef’s yelling
soon dwindled to nothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment