Snow White and the Queen
By;
MJay
Prologue
Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived a king and his beautiful queen. Every day, they walked in the garden together; looking at the beauty of nature surrounding them. One heavy winter, the queen went walking alone late in the evening. As she was walking along the garden path, she spotted the last rose on a vine climbing the gate. She walked over andd reached out her hand to touch the soft petals, but pricked her finger on a thorn; three drops of blood fell into the snow. The queen marveled at the way the red of her blood blossomed against the bright white of the snow, and wished that she had a daughter with skin as white as the snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as a raven's wing so that she might teach her to be the queen that her people deserved after she herself had passed on.
One year later, the queen brought into the world a beautiful daughter and they called her Snow White. Over the years, Snow White grew more and more beautiful and more and more loved by her people and her parents. But one day, the beautiful queen fell ill and lay dying. Snow White sat by her bedside, tears flowing down her perfect face. She was the last person to hear her mother's voice. She never forgot her last words to her, "You have goodness in your heart Snow White, don't ever lose that. It will serve you well when you're queen."
Over the next year, the king tried to raise his beautiful daughter alone, but soon realized that there some things that could not be taught by a father. So, he set out in search of a new queen and mother for his daughter. He traveled the kingdom endlessly searching for the kind soul who could be nurturing to his beloved daughter. Finally, he found a woman hidden away as a servant at the edge of the kingdom. He was entranced by her beauty and quickly made her his wife and Snow White's stepmother. Things were wonderful and the kingdom rejoiced for the next year.
One night, while lying in bed, the king began to gasp for air. His queen smiled with an evil grin as he fought for every breath. She walked slowly to his bedside and sat down next to his writhing body.
"Oh my dear, sweet Alden, you've fallen right into my trap. You honestly thought I would give you my heart, but the truth is I can't give you what you don't deserve. All men steal the hearts of women and then break them once they get bored. Well my dear, you won't have the chance." Slowly she pulled a knife from underneath her skirt. "Just like your dear, sweet, Adelecia, you will die at my hand." The king gasped not only from his need for air, but from the shock of his wife's confession. "That's right, I killed her. Aw, what is it? Oh, you thought she was ill didn't you? Well, she was, but due to my dark magic. And now, Alden, I will take your life and then I will take your crown." She raised the dagger high but stopped suddenly. "Oh, and don't worry about Snow White, in time she will do what snow does best; she too will fall." The quickly thrust her dagger through her husband's heart and as he took his last breath, a single tear escaped his eye and Aldora, the new queen, heard a tiny sniffle from the doorway.
She turned slowly, her hands covered in Alden's blood, to see his innocent daughter standing at the door. He eyes grew wide at the sight of her stepmother covered in her father's blood. Aldora rose slowly and approached her stepdaughter, but Snow White didn't give her the chance, she darted down the hallway and into the kitchen running straight into her best friend Andrew who stayed in the castle when his father, the Duke, was away on business.
"Snow! What is it? What's wrong?"
"The queen, my stepmother, she's killed my father! She's killed the king! And she wants to kill me! Please Andrew, if you care anything about me, you'll raise the alarm, get the guards, something! Please!"
"Okay, go and find Mary, she'll hide you until I can get help. Do not come out until morning, no matter what." Snow White hesitated. "Go!"
Doing as she was told, Snow White ran. When she emerged from her hiding place the next morning, the tears welled up in her eyes. The castle, her home, was silent. All around her the servants laid slain, except Mary and her three sisters huddled in the corner. She made her way over to them and got down on her knees, pulling Mary's face to look at her. "Mary, where is Andrew? Where is the prince?"
"I don't know Princess, after he ran out of here last night, he never came back in." Over the next ten years, the kingdom fell into a pitiful despair. Everything that King Alden and Queen Adelecia had worked so hard to protect fell away and Queen Aldora, known all over the kingdom as The Evil Queen, spent the kingdom into destitution. All hope seemed lost, but Snow White continued to live and her eighteenth birthday was fast approaching. Aldora's days were numbered, and she knew it.
She ran quickly to the room that contained her most prized possession, a magic mirror. She approached it without delay and asked the question she had asked for the past ten years.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall; who's the fairest of them all?" Promptly the room filled with a thick mist and a figure appeared in the mirror.
"My dearest Queen Aldora, for the past ten years you have asked me the same question, but I must confess, I have never been truthful with my answers. I have always told you that you were the fairest, but my queen, I can lie no more. There is one, who lives within these very walls who is fairer than you can ever be, and she will be your downfall. Your spell was cast in dark blood, and by her blood as pure as the fresh fallen snow, it will be undone." The mist cleared and the mirror became simply a reflection of Aldora's shocked expression.
