Sleeping Princesses Part 4 of 5

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              “We did it! She’s awake!” Roman said.

               Snow blinked her eyes open.

“Have you got a death wish?!” Emil yelled at her.

“No,” Snow said carefully. “What happened?” She was inside the cabin, lying on the table with candles around and her hair was wet. There were strange, thick smells in the air.

“The comb that little boy gave you was poisoned,” Jozef said quietly.

“What?” Snow was fully awake now. “Why would a little boy want to poison me?”

“It’s the queen’s magic,” Vit said.

Jozef sighed. “It seems like the queen gave it to him to give to you.”

“But how could she be sure he would come here?” Snow asked.

Emil shrugged. “All she had to do was follow some kid from the castle into the forest, get him lost, and give him the comb to give to you. Easy enough to do with her magic. What I don’t understand is why you put it in your hair.”

“I thought it was fine,” Snow said. “What happened after that?”

“We had to cleanse the poison out of you,” Vit supplied. “We had to wash your hair.”

“You just washed it?” Snow asked.

“We did a lot more than that!” Emil snapped. “You almost died! Think before you take anything else from a stranger, girl. This queen is dead set on killing you.”

“I know,” Snow said, slowly sitting up. “I still don’t understand why. I barely know her.”

“Maybe it’s political,” Vit offered.

“No, can’t be,” Emil snapped back. “Since when has this queen taken any interest in politics? She’s been far too busy trying to be the most beautiful in the kingdom.”

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” Snow said, standing up.

“Do you want supper first?” Jozef asked.

“Oh. Right. Yes, please.” Snow sat in one of the chairs and she wiped away the intricate salt designs that were on the table to make some space. She barely tasted the food, but she ate everything in front of her before standing up and heading to her room. This was twice in two days she’d nearly been killed. Out of nowhere, Snow remembered the old gardener at Aurora’s castle. He’d been so worried they were going to die climbing the little trees in the garden. “If he could see me now,” Snow thought, laughing.

She laid down in bed, her laughter quickly replaced by fear. She wished Aurora was there to cuddle with. Snow’s stepmother might try to kill her again tomorrow, and she might keep trying until she succeeded. It was a long night for Snow, but eventually, she fell asleep.

~*~

               The next morning, Snow woke up, found her protection stone and put it back in her pocket, and headed downstairs. Vit was waiting for her again.

               “So, what should I do?” Snow asked.

               “The others should be back with the horses tomorrow,” Vit answered her. “Jozef will take you the next day to Aurora’s castle and get you out of this kingdom. That should stop your stepmother.”

               Snow nodded. “Thank you for taking me to Aurora.”

               Vit looked away. “It’s the least we could do. And it’s obvious you’re going to go there wherever we try to take you.”

               “I’m glad you figured that out,” Snow replied. She sighed. “Have you eaten yet?”

               Vit nodded, so Snow got herself some breakfast and settled at the table with him.

               “I guess I’m not talking to any strangers today,” Snow said after a moment.

               Vit nodded again. “That would probably be for the best. Also, you should stay inside the house.”

               Snow smiled a little. “I can do that. Is there anything upstairs I should clean?”

               “Oh. You still want to clean?”

               Snow shrugged. “It’s going to be a very long day if I’m just sitting here with nothing to do. And I promised to clean while I was here.”

               “I suppose that’s true,” Vit replied slowly. “Well, as long as you stay in the house, I think it will be fine.”

               Snow nodded. “Is your house protected?”

               “Oh yes. That was one of the first things we did when we moved out here.”

               “How did you all come to be out here, anyway?”

               Vit hesitated. “We tried to make our way in the world, but we found out quickly that the world didn’t want us there. So we ended up here and we went back to mining. Stick with what you know, right?”

               “There’s more to the story than that,” Snow objected.

               Vit shrugged. “Surely.”

               After a moment, Snow sighed and shook her head. “Well, I may as well start out by cleaning the dishes again.”

               Snow tried to keep herself busy all morning while Vit was replaced by Roman. Then they had lunch. Lunch was tense and quiet and three of the dwarves seemed to run away once it was done, leaving Snow with Jozef.

               “So what exactly did you all do yesterday after I passed out?” Snow asked.

               Jozef looked at her for a moment. “I called the others back here and I got you inside as quickly as I could. I didn’t know if the queen was going to come by and try something.”

               “You called the others? How?”

               “We have an emergency communication system set up between here and the mine,” Jozef answered. “We haven’t always been welcome, so we’ve taken a few precautions out here.”

               “Oh.”

               “While I was waiting for them, I took a look at the magic on you and I knew it was that comb. It started putting out poison once you put it in your hair, so we had to be very careful getting it out. Then we had to get all of that poison out of you. We did wash your hair, but there was a lot more to it than that. I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to get it all.” Jozef swallowed and looked at the floor. “Look, Snow, we can’t let you die here.”

               “Because I’m the princess of the realm?” Snow asked.

               “And because of who you are. You’ve taken all of this in stride, even when you were pretending to be a servant. None of us wants to let you die. That’s why Emil was yelling at you as soon as you woke up. He was worried.”

               “Emil gets worried?” Snow joked.

               “We were all worried. I’ve never seen a poison like that and I’m scared about what the queen is going to try next.” Jozef hesitated. Then, in a smaller voice, he admitted, “I’m not sure if we can stop her if she tries again.”

               Snow set down the duster and sat next to Jozef. “I’m not going to die, okay? I’m staying inside the house today and not talking to anyone else. It’ll be fine.” Inside, Snow was shaking, but she didn’t know how to tell Jozef that. She had always been the strong one for Aurora and now she was being the strong one again.

               “I hope so,” Jozef said, patting her knee. He sighed and stood up. “I think I heard Emil downstairs. How about you stay here until I’m sure?”

               Snow knew exactly what he wasn’t saying, but she just nodded. Jozef left the guest room where Snow had been cleaning and shut the door behind him. She heard him walking quietly down the stairs and making it to the first floor. Then she didn’t hear anything.

               Snow tried to convince herself that everything was fine, but it was hard not to be worried. Then she heard someone walking up the steps. Would it be better to stay where she was so she didn’t make any noise, or should she try to grab a weapon? It was probably Emil. They’d said the house was guarded. The doorknob turned and the door opened.

               Snow had never been so glad to see Emil. She sighed in relief and stood up. “Oh, it’s you.”

               “Who did you think it was?” Emil asked.

               Snow shook her head.

               “Jozef got you worried, huh? He does that.” Emil looked around the room. “Anything left to clean in here?”

               “No,” Snow admitted.

               “Good. Let’s head downstairs. I want to keep an eye out for Vlad, Marcel, and Havel. They should be back any minute now.”

               “Sure.”

               They headed downstairs and Snow put all of the cleaning stuff away.

               “Most princesses wouldn’t spend three days cleaning just because someone asked them to,” Emil admitted.

               Snow considered. “Aurora would. You’d barely have to ask her. Sometimes she’s too nice for her own good.”

               “I know all about that,” Emil said. “This whole contract with the king. None of us are against it, but Jozef was ready to jump on board before we even heard the terms. He’d give away the mine if he thought he should.”

               Snow chuckled and nodded. Then something caught her eye out front. There was a motion almost too quick to see and then it resolved into three horses standing in the yard with three dwarves on their backs.

               “Oh good,” Emil said. “They’re back. And they’ve brought a lot with them.” He looked at Snow and made a calculation. “Stay in the house. I’m going to help them unload.”

               “I could help,” Snow offered.

               “I know, but just in case. You’ll be safe inside.”

               Snow sighed, but nodded. “All right.”

               Emil headed outside and Snow watched them through the window. She saw Emil gesturing and pointing into the house. She supposed he was explaining about her. The other three dwarves nodded and didn’t seem too concerned. Really, she was as safe now as she’d ever been out here. Maybe her stepmother wasn’t going to try again today. Snow relaxed and headed to the back of the house. She didn’t want to see Emil explain any more about her.

               Something caught her eye and Snow looked out toward the dwarves’ garden. There was a woman out there. Was she stealing some of their food? Snow debated about confronting the woman or getting the dwarves, but she found herself just standing there and watching. Then the woman drew nearer to the house. It was almost like Snow couldn’t focus on the woman. She couldn’t see anything about her. But she looked pregnant.

               “Hello,” the woman said. Her voice sounded like it should be familiar.

               “Hello,” Snow replied. There couldn’t be any harm in talking.

               “Here.” The woman offered Snow an apple. It was beautiful. A bright red that spoke of how sweet the fruit would be.

               Snow’s mouth watered, but she shook her head. “No.” Why was it so hard to speak?

               “Here.” The woman thrust the apple at Snow.

               Snow shook her head and tried to open her mouth again, but her hand was reaching out through the open window and taking the apple. She opened her mouth to say no, but the apple came closer, and Snow found herself biting into it.

               She pulled the apple away from her face and looked at the bite she had taken. “What did I just do?” she wondered.

               The woman in front of Snow became clear just for a moment. Just long enough for Snow to see her laughing and laughing until everything went dark.