Black Forest: Kingdoms Fall (41 page)

Motioning the dwarves to split up, Big Papa watched them silently distribute themselves around the clearing.

"Let us at least let her breathe," one voice said, and Big Papa recognized the scrape of the lid being slid from Snow White's coffin.

"Now!" Big Papa charged forward into the clearing, and the rest of the dwarves stormed in after him, surrounding the intruders. Their hands clutching tools
lifted from passing travelers, or looted from unwatched abodes, they were mismatched in their weaponry, but quite serious in their intention, and the three
tall folk looked up in surprise.

"Hold it right there!" Big Papa ordered, incensed when the strangers' expressions broke into jovial grins, instead of fright.

"You must be the dwarves." One with dark hair and a royal air stepped forward.

"Why must we be? Because we are short?" Chauncy asked.

"Chauncy, right?" the young man with light hair questioned, and Chauncy took a step in retreat as Baby G rushed forward, brandishing his silver fork
wildly.

Stepping aside, the near-black-haired man who wore the leather britches let him go by, and the fair one behind him did the same, so Baby G cut only through
air, falling to the ground with a flail on the other side of the clearing.

"Baby G?" the man in leather questioned the fair man, and the fair man nodded with a grin.

"Who are you?" Big Papa asked, small knife shaking in his hand, as the one with the royal air stepped forward.

"Now, just stop right there." Big Papa gesticulated in a harried fashion. "Do not come any closer."

"My apology." The man put his hands up in surrender, ceasing his advancement. "I mean only to introduce myself. I am Sawyer, of the kingdom of Ceres. This
is Christophe and Jack."

At their introductions, the fair-haired one and the one with the leather pants gave nods all around.

"That is all very well," Big Papa said sharply. "But what are you doing here?"

"Yes," Esteban shouted. "I know you do not think you will kiss my Snow White!"

The man who introduced himself as Sawyer glanced toward Snow White's coffin, before returning humored eyes to Esteban. "You must be Esteban," he said. "We
were told much of you."

"Clearly," Big Papa returned. "Now, why are you here?"

"As your friend suggests," Sawyer replied. "We have come to wake the maiden from the spell."

"Have you now?" Big Papa shot back. "All three of you? Do you think her a harlot?"

"What? No!" Sawyer exclaimed. "We met Cinderella and Rapunzel in the forest. They asked us to come, and for one of us, and only one of us, to wake Snow
White."

"If Cinderella and Rapunzel want you here, why are they not with you?" Tater questioned, and the eyes of the strangers turned to each other, holding a
secret between them. When they returned to him, Big Papa saw the sadness in each set, and at last the one with the leather pants named Jack stepped
forward.

"Rapunzel was taken," he said. "Cinderella went in search."

"Taken?" Baby G uttered, wandering a few paces toward the strangers. "Taken by who?"

"That is a very lengthy story," the fair-haired one declared.

"How do we know you tell us the truth?" Big Papa huffed, keeping his eyes upon Sawyer, who seemed most interested in Snow White by the way his eyes kept
darting her way and holding upon her. "You could have done something to them, left them in the forest to come take Snow White for yourself."

"We would do no such thing," Sawyer replied, eyes honest as they returned to Big Papa's once more. "They are our friends."

The rapid beat of a forthcoming gallop breaking into the clearing, everyone turned toward the trees where the rider came on strong.

"That will probably be the prince." Mo nervously shook his head, and Big Papa turned his eyes uncertainly to Sawyer.

"You swear on your soul you tell the truth?"

"Yes, on my soul," Sawyer replied.

Knowing he could not take the time to fully trust the man, Big Papa decided he knew enough. "Wake her up," he directed.

"But..." Esteban breathed sadly, and Big Papa waved off his objections.

Rushing around the open coffin, the three young men seemed to be doing far more discussing of the situation than kissing.

"One of you just kiss her," Big Papa commanded, and Sawyer hopped to the task, leaning over Snow White, lips a breath away.

"Wait!" Baby G cried eagerly. "It is not the prince. It is Cinderella and Rapunzel!"

"And two fur balls!" Tater added, rushing up beside Baby G, and the entire assembly forgot the task at hand and rushed into the trees.

Dwarves pouring from the brush and low branches, Cinderella had to give a hard pull of the reins to keep from trampling them.

Norco and Togo fluttered at once to the ground as Cinderella slid from the saddle, turning to help Rapunzel down. The moment both their feet touched land,
Cinderella found herself on her back next to Rapunzel, a gaggle of dwarves embracing them about their necks and waists.

Having suffered its share of exertion and hard knocks, Cinderella's body felt their unprecedented affection with some pain, and knew Rapunzel must feel the
same. Yet, she could imagine nowhere else she wanted to be.

"I do not recall leaving on such good terms," she said, and Rapunzel shrugged within her laughter.

"They said you were gone!" Baby G cried, stretching beyond comfort in an effort to hug them both at once.

"We were," Rapunzel responded.

"And now we are not," Cinderella added, wrangling the dwarves enough to sit.

Standing off to the side, acting uninterested in the display, Esteban snorted. "Look at you," he said to Cinderella. "All sweaty and ugly."

"Well, you should know, Esteban," Cinderella returned with a smile. "It is, after all, your natural state."

"What are these things?" Big Papa tugged his thumb toward Norco and Togo.

"That is rude," Norco said. "These dwarves are rude."

"It talks." Mo lifted his head in awe.

"Not the brightest lot, either, are they?" Togo questioned, and Cinderella smirked at the dwarves' shocked expressions.

Coming over to meet them, Christophe, Sawyer and Jack cast them into shadow as they hauled Cinderella and Rapunzel up with wide grins. The smiles fading as
they took in their ragged conditions, they looked scared to touch them.

"Come now," Cinderella assured them. "We will not break."

And Christophe, Sawyer and Jack rushed forward to hug them at once, their new friends far more gentle than their old, conscious of the bruises and
scratches they wore.

"How did you..." Christophe began to ask.

"Ah," Cinderella sighed, patting him on the chest. "There is much to tell. Let us first check on Snow White."

Hand wrapping around hers as they headed for the clearing, Cinderella pulled her hand free. "Go on," she encouraged, adding when Rapunzel hesitated. "I
need only tie him up."

Then, taking the horse's reins, Cinderella watched Rapunzel turn toward the clearing and tossed the leather around a nearby tree.

"Halt there!" Esteban's voice carried back to her, and Rapunzel rushed forward with the others as a stranger she could only assume was the rumored Prince
Marvelous glanced up halfway to Snow White's lips.

"Oh, it is you," he stated upon seeing the dwarves. "You have come to collect your due, I take it. There it is." He pointed to a tiny brown bag at the foot
of Snow White's coffin. "Give or take some. Now, if you will pardon me, this is my destiny."

"Not anymore, it isn't," Rapunzel replied, and Jack moved with an amazing swiftness to face off with the prince, knife sliding from its sheath into his
hand in one seamless motion.

"You are going to try to stop me?" the prince asked. "And before you answer, I think it only fair to warn you I have a royal guard within range. A single
call, and they shall kill you all."

"No, he has not," a voice husked, and Rapunzel whirled, heart stopping in her chest when she saw Cinderella appear through the trees, locked in the arms of
the woman from her dream. Far from wicked, the embrace looked most intimate, but for the dagger that moved up and down Cinderella's throat. Sobbing at the
sight, she drifted toward Cinderella, until the tip of the blade made a nick that matched the one on the opposite side of her throat, and she froze as
blood ran down fragile skin.

"That is right," the stranger calmly whispered. "Stay where you are, Love, and no one need get hurt."

"Do not call her that," Cinderella said, and the stranger seemed most amused by the order.

"Now, now." Lips at Cinderella's ear, she spoke with volume enough to be heard. "No need to be jealous. You know I do not want from her what you want. Do
learn to share."

Tip of the dagger dragging down Cinderella's chest, Rapunzel watched it snag the fabric to rip downward, exposing a good deal more of Cinderella's fair
skin to everyone in the clearing.

"You." The stranger lifted the dagger away suddenly, pointing it past Rapunzel's shoulder. "Get away from my stepdaughter."

Instantly sick at the knowledge of who the woman was, Rapunzel's eyes met Cinderella's, which tried to comfort her, even when Cinderella should have been
more concerned with her own safety.

"Guard!" the prince screamed. "Guard!"

With a delighted laugh, Snow White's stepmother, the queen, returned the dagger to Cinderella, the smooth edge of its blade sliding against a clenched
cheek. "Keep calling for them," she said. "They are not coming."

Rushing suddenly by Rapunzel, Prince Marvelous drew his sword, and the queen sliced Cinderella's cheek, pulling a small cry of surprise from her, before
flicking the blade of the dagger in the prince's direction.

At the gesture, the prince's sword ripped from his hand and flew across the clearing, narrowly missing a diving Tater as it plunged deep into a tree.

"Now, move aside," Queen Ino directed. "I have no fight with you. Yet."

Without weapon or guard at his disposal, Prince Marvelous slunk into the background, and Queen Ino's fingers violently clutched Cinderella's chin, pulling
her face around so she could lick the blood from her cheek. "So..." She sounded breathless. "Do you still think I do not want to kill you? I promise you,
it is in my nature."

"Grimm's nature for you," Cinderella uttered, and, over her shoulder, Rapunzel watched the queen's eyes narrow.

"Oh, Rapunzel," a voice called suddenly, and even the queen looked surprised.

Eyes swinging to the edge of the clearing, anger set deep in Rapunzel's shoulders as she watched the unwelcome guest appear.

The sorceress.

Her false mother.

"Oh... My Rapunzel." The sorceress gave a broad smile that looked so untrue, Rapunzel despised it on sight.

"What are you doing here?" Queen Ino snapped.

"I followed you," the Sorceress tossed to the queen. "I knew you would lead me to my daughter." Striding toward Rapunzel, she opened her arms. "Hello, My
Sweet Girl."

"Your girl? I am not your girl," Rapunzel countered, stepping back, and surprise shown in the sorceress' eyes. "You locked me away from everyone, alone.
You said it was to protect me, but it was to keep me from escaping you. You are not even my real mother."

A growl resounding in her chest, the sorceress cast an irritated glare toward Cinderella and the queen.

"Did you really think she would not tell me?" Rapunzel questioned.

"When I told her, I was under the impression she would not be getting out to tell anything," the sorceress responded. "But I guess there is no accounting
for another's incompetence. But, Darling, I took care of you. I loved you."

"You loved me? You loved me?" Rapunzel backed, once again, from the sorceress' attempted embrace. "You did not love me. You, you are an evil witch!"

"You wicked, ungrateful child!" The sorceress lunged forward to grab Rapunzel's hair, and Rapunzel's head ached with the pull. "Who are you to say such
things?"

"Rapunzel!" Cinderella screamed when the sorceress raised her staff, and Rapunzel wrenched from the sorceress to see Cinderella spinning in the queen's
arms, sending the dagger from her hand as they fell to the ground together.

Strange chants flowing from the sorceress' mouth, Norco and Togo flew straight at her, knocking her staff aside and sending her into a heap of moss as her
curse hit a tree that promptly shriveled.

Rushing to Cinderella's aid, Rapunzel tripped over the feet of Prince Marvelous, who made a dash for Snow White's coffin. Lifting her head from the grass,
she watched the prince near it, and Sawyer rush to beat him there, too far to make it in time.

Taking in the chaotic scene unfolding, Rapunzel realized there was only one soul who could possibly beat the prince to Snow White.

"Esteban!" she cried out. "Kiss her!"

All eyes going to the coffin, time ceased in the clearing as Esteban grasped the glass edge, hefted himself up, and, with a satisfied smile, bestowed Snow
White with an inspired kiss.

N
othing happened.

Pushing back from Snow White, Esteban cocked his head, confusion pulling his face into a pout. "She didn't wake up."

Before he could state any more of the obvious, Prince Marvelous' sprint toward Snow White's coffin sent him barreling into Esteban, and Esteban called out
a series of expletives that, were she awake, Cinderella was certain would have made Snow White blush as he soared from the edge of the coffin and rolled
across the grass.

Leaning over Snow White with a righteous leer, Prince Marvelous made claim to her lips, lifting his head with an irritated frown when Snow White still did
not wake, and, an instant later, Sawyer was upon the coffin, giving the prince a firm shove aside.

Whether or not his kiss could wake Snow White was of diminishing concern to Cinderella, as she watched the sorceress right herself, staff drawn, a great
green arc of light flowing from its tip, and Prince Marvelous rush to the tree that held his sword, both hands wrapping around the hilt in an effort to
yank it free.