Chapter 4: A Thing Called Trespassing

Hey guys! I am so sorry this chapter took so long! I won't take up too much of your time because I know you've been waiting for this, so without any further ado, let's get right to it! Thankfully, this chapter gets into the meat of the story! Enjoy, read and review!

Snow and Heidi were awoken quite abruptly from their slumber. When she looked up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and saw seven very irritated little men. They were middle-aged at least, but they were no taller than a small child. "So they must be the ones who live here…" Snow thought. Seven little dwarves.

"Whaddya think you're doing here?" one of them asked angrily.

"Why… Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's rude to wake someone when they're sleeping?!" Snow chided in a cranky manner.

"You're gonna talk about rude? It's rude to trespass onto someone else's property, drag in wild animals and sleep under their blankets while using their fireplace!" The dwarf ranted.

"How dare you address Heidi in that manner?" Snow said, standing up.

"Heidi? You named the blasted thing?"

"Heidi is not a thing! She's a baby! And if you keep shouting, you'll wake her!"

"Good! Then that thing can find it's way back to the wild where wild animals belong!"

"Why are you so grouchy?"

"You trespassed onto our property! You want me to sing you a happy song?"

"Well, I'm sorry!" Snow yelled as her voice began to crack. "I didn't have too many options! I had to get away and Heidi was injured and she already figured out I was alive and sent someone after me!" Her words became less intelligible as tears began to fall from her eyes. "I had to take cover from—" The remainder of her sentence was cut off by her sobbing.

"Oh no! We're not buying that bilge!" The ornery dwarf said warningly.

"Now now, Rufus," a much more calm dwarf started. "Let's hear her story before we call her a liar."

"Klaus, it's pretty obvious that she—"

"Rufus," Klaus began sternly, effectively silencing him. "Now, young lady, tell me how you got here," he said, offering a handkerchief.

"I was in the garden picking fruits for a pie," Snow started, dabbing her face to dry the tears. "When the huntsman came in and told me that I was going for a walk with him. He seemed like he wasn't gonna take no for an answer. I didn't know what this was about, so I just went with him. Before we knew it, we were well on our way into the forest when he pulled a knife on me. He said my stepmother had sent him to do away with me. Then, I guess he didn't have the heart to do it, so he let me go. Then I found Heidi and before I knew it, I was here."

"Well," Klaus said, "It sounds like you've had quite the day today."

"I have," Snow said, handing back the handkerchief once her face was dry.

"Well, if you're going to stay here, we'd best get on a first name basis."

"Klaus, you aren't seriously going to—"

"What choice do we have, Rufus? There are people after her!" Rufus fell silent and Klaus continued. "Anyway, I'm Klaus. The ornery one is Rufus."

The other five dwarves lined up from tallest to smallest and introduced themselves left to right.

"I'm Franz."

"I'm Julius."

"I'm Marcus."

"I'm Winston."

"I'm Charlie."

Charlie tripped onto the floor, making Snow giggle.

"He's the goofy one," Klaus said as he sighed heavily.

"I like him," Snow said with a glowing smile.

Rufus finally sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine," he relented. "She can stay. But the deer sleeps outside!"

"How could you? Heidi is injured! She won't last the night out there!" Snow exclaimed.

"The young miss is right. The deer will have to sleep inside at least until we can find a stable for her. Err… What was your name again?" Klaus asked.

"I'm Snow White, and this is my friend, Heidi."

"Well, yes, you are quite pale but what's your name?" Klaus repeated.

"Snow White is my name," Snow insisted with a slight amusement in her voice.

"Ah, I see. Unusual name, you've got."

Heidi bleated and licked Snow's face.

"Someone's awake," Snow said with a chuckle, petting Heidi's face.

Heidi bleated and laid her head down on Snow's lap.

"You said she was injured," Klaus started. "Let me have a look at it," he said holding out his hand.

Snow took Heidi's injured leg by the paw and presented it to Klaus.

"That's a nasty one," he said, clicking his tongue. "But you definitely handled it well."

"Wait a minute!" Rufus said, looking at the wound. "How do you know how to mend a wound like that?"

"Well, I'm not some sort of idiot! I know basic first aid!" Snow said, giggling.

"Well, I'll be. You're just a total saint, aren't you?" he asked rhetorically.

Snow looked confused at this question and Rufus simply rolled his eyes.

"Well, anyway, it looks like we're stuck with you, so I'd better get used to it, I suppose."

Snow ignored that sideways remark and nuzzled Heidi's snout and gently scratched under her chin. Heidi responded by licking her nose and squeaking gently.

"I'm starving!" Franz said, breaking the awkward silence.

"You're always starving," Rufus complained. "You're a bottomless pit!"

"I'd be more than happy to remedy that," Snow said, inching herself into the conversation.

"Oh yeah?" Rufus asked, irritably. "How do you plan to do that, hmm?"

Snow got up and picked up the basket of fruit that she had collected earlier. She began to unpack the basket. There were all sorts of delicious ripe fruits in there. Strawberries, cherries, boysenberries, blackberries, a few other wilds fruits and berries and other things that made Franz's mouth water.

"I could make you a pie!" she finally said.

"Oh can you?" Rufus asked, his voice laden with scepticism.

"Oh that would be wonderful!" Franz declared. "Please do!"

Rufus simply grumbled and sat down, waiting to see this disaster unfold.

Actually, it was anything but a disaster. After about an hour of time passed, Snow had made 3 pies, a pan of strudel, a few other pastries and some sweetbread. The whole spread looked delicious. Franz had a heart attack just looking at it.

"Well…" Snow started. "Eat up!"

She didn't have to tell Franz twice. You'd better believe that he dug in faster than you could say Bavaria. It wasn't long before the others followed. Rufus just sat there looking at the others until Snow put a big piece of strudel on his plate.

"Don't just stand there looking grumpy," Snow said sweetly. "Come on! Eat up!"

Rufus reluctantly took a bite out of the strudel and may as well have had stars in his eyes. Snow giggled at his reaction and took a seat in between Franz and Klaus. Once Rufus realised that he'd been caught like a little school girl, his whole face turned red.

"Fine," Rufus started, face still red, "You can cook! I'll give you that!" he relented before stuffing his face in embarrassment.

The whole night was a blast. Charlie got more pastry on him than in him, Rufus was caught smiling on more than one occasion and Klaus was more than thrilled with the prospect of a princess living under their roof.

"And then what happened?" Klaus asked as Snow told a story about how she snuck out of the castle with the help of a Royal court guard and nearly got caught.

"Well, I was right at the edge of the gate when I was sure that I had been caught by my father, but then the royal guard shrieked 'Your majesty, watch out!' calling attention to my opposite direction and letting me sneak back in," Snow explained.

"How did the guard explain himself when the king saw nothing there?" Klaus asked.

"He said that he thought he saw a mouse!" Snow said before erupting into laughter as the other dwarves followed.

"Those were the days…" Snow began as the laughter died down. "Back when my father was still here, I mean."

The other dwarves instinctively gave Snow their listening ears as she continued.

"I miss him…" she continued. "I miss my mother… I miss being special to someone… as silly as it sounds."

"Not at all," Klaus said. "From now on, you'll be special to us."

Rufus rolled his eyes as if to ridicule the cheesiness of Klaus' remark.

"All of us." Klaus said firmly, paying special attention to Rufus.

"Right. All of us…" Rufus muttered unwillingly.

Snow smiled and suddenly felt a moist tickling sensation on her cheek.

"Heidi! Come on!" Snow exclaimed with a laugh. Suddenly, Snow remembered that Heidi hadn't eaten, so she gave the baby fawn what remained on her plate.

Heidi bleated happily and consumed the sweets. The atmosphere somehow assured Snow that she was safe now and everything would be okay…

However, the worst had yet to even arrive.

Back at the castle, the huntsman produced the cape. He had torn it up, stomped on it and poured wine on it to emulate blood. He hated doing that. This was the only truly beautiful article of clothing the princess had left and it was completely ruined to satisfy a vain and shallow want.

"Impressive…" The queen remarked, observing the cape critically. "I didn't think you had it in you, to be honest. Did she put up a fight?"

"As much as I imagine she was capable of," the huntsman meekly replied.

"Oh don't feel bad, dear huntsman. Snow White was a stupid, pitiful naïve child. She would have died anyway at some point. And besides, she was a martyr to a very worthy cause, even if I do say so myself. Don't you agree?"

The huntsman wanted to respond by slaying her and mounting her head on a wall. But he had to hold his tongue. "Yes, your majesty."

"Glad we can see eye to eye. You're dismissed."

Not a moment too soon, the huntsman got up and walked to the doorway, but his salvation was delayed once more.

"One more thing!" The queen called.

The huntsman gritted his teeth, turned around and knelt. "Yes, your majesty?"

"What did you do with the body?"

The huntsman was completely caught off guard. He wasn't expecting to have to answer that. Quickly, he thought on his feet. "I don't understand, your majesty," he retorted to stall for time to think.

"I think it's a simple enough question. How did you dispose of the body?" The queen asked, a look of annoyance crossing her face.

"I dumped it in the river," the huntsman said after a moment more of hesitation.

The queen's look of annoyance quickly turned to suspicion. "Very well," she finally said. "You're dismissed."

You'd better believe the huntsman was gone out of that throne room faster than you can say Sneewitchen.

Once he was gone, the queen retired to her chambers, wherethen she consulted her mirror.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" she asked, gearing up to officially be beautiful again.

"The fairest one possesses lips red as the rose and hair black as night. The fairest one is named Snow White."

The sound that erupted from the queen's mouth at that moment rivalled that of even the most ferocious beast.

"LYING NO GOOD TRAITOR!" she bellowed. After her fit of demonic rage, the queen looked darkly into her mirror. "Very well then, looks like if I can't count on my own huntsman, I'll look to someone suited for a job of this very nature!"

The queen stormed out of her chambers and demanded for a group of sword for hires to be brought to her throne room at once.

"Mark my words, Snow. Wherever you are, you are not safe and sound. You can not hide! I will find you! No one stands between I and my title and receives mercy! Not even a child!" The queen erupted into maniacal laughter as her evil plan unfolded before her eyes.

Wow! That was something, huh? Sorry it took me so long to write this! School's been a killer and I had writers block! But I promise it won't take me this long for a chapter ever again! Next chapter will be the first assassination attempt! And perhaps Snow meets again with this mysterious man from the forest? Find out in chapter 5!