Chapter Thirteen
Thanks to his little run in with the two savages and having to clean their mess up, Adam was nearly late for dinner. And in all honesty he did not care that he was late. Mr. V offered little to no help to him since there was no information about Snow White's story or Queen Grimhildes story anywhere in the library. His mind was still in a whirl from what the two savage idiots told him.
"The Queen paid us to fuck her up! . . .And I did!"
"My pretty carving skills~"
He grit his teeth and shook his head to keep himself from giving into the bloodlust that lingered with the thoughts. He couldn't help but think of Snow White and realize that behind that pretty little smile was a girl wanting nothing more than to cry and be shown a little kindness in such a cruel world that she lived in.
"They ensured that my title as a princess meant nothing. . ."
"You'll get punished if you're caught talking to me!"
"Any time I talk to the other servants disappears and are severely punished!"
He had not realized why she had ostracized herself from practically all of society, though he should have. He was no stupid he simply had not paid attention to all of the facts that were laid out before him. Everything the old hag had told him through his upbringing was a lie! Snow White would never have manipulated her way into men's beds or to get her way or to even cause an uprising with the people! She was a scared young woman who had literally everything taken away from her that could have possibly been hers. Her innocence, her education, her father, her position in society - she was left with nothing and still the old hag wanted to make sure that she would not rise to any sort of power.
Adam could not understand it. What purpose did the old hag to drag such an innocent girl down into such a living hell? What could Snow White possibly have done to even remotely bring so much misfortune to not only her own life, but also those around her?
Why did the old hag hate Snow White so much?
Adam was relieved to walk in the stained glass hallway in the Door Between Realms because of how dark and quiet it was. His head had so many questions in it his brain was swimming in a sea of doubt and confusion and ached terribly with so much going on inside his head. He hissed as he reached the Anti-World and had to be in the candlelight of the Anti-Castle.
Varuo was draped on the bench recording the hour and minute to which he had arrived and Frederick was waiting right outside the Wardrobe for him as he returned to the Anti-Realm.
"Welcome back, Master Adam," Frederick greeted with an odd wrinkly smile. "May I take your. . .bundle of clothes?"
Adam had forgotten that he had brought the clothes with him. He had had so much on his mind in his furious cleaning that he had completely forgotten the clothes of the idiots he had brought with him.
"Ah, I'll take them." He cleared his throat and held his head. "They have my poison on them; it'd be bad for you to touch them unless you're wanting an early retirement."
"Very well, Master Adam." Frederick bowed respectfully. "Shall you be joining the others for dinner this evening?"
"What-?" He didn't even know that he had the option to not have to join the others for dinner. "No. I think I'd rather not this evening. . . I have too much on my mind and I desperately need to be cleaned. . ."
"As you wish, Master Adam." He shuffled forward and grabbed the door for Adam. "I shall have your tea and meal brought to your room."
"Thank you." Adam replied as he went on his way to escape to his room. He would take every moment of silence that he could if it meant that he could sort out everything that was in his head. He climbed the stairs to the second floor and made his way to the West Wing. He could hear the laughter from the other Recruits in the dining hall and despite his stomach aching for food, he did not want to join them. There would be too many distractions and he needed a clear head to reformulate a new plan.
He continued down the long hall that was lined with doors on either side and entered the last one at the very end of the hall. He was almost surprised to see that the room was covered in mostly darkness and only had the candle lights around the room as a source of light. For a small hiccup of a moment he thought he had returned to Apfel and had entered his room in the West Wing. He was actually relieved to be in the darkness after being in Apfel all day. He had come to really enjoy the light of the sun, but the day's events had really taken a toll on him. It had only been the second day and he already had to kill two people; thankfully they weren't innocent people.
Still the day's events have definitely made him reconsider his goals and options though. He looked at the clothes in his hands and tossed them in the hamper beside the bathroom door. He would personally scrub out the blood stains later. There was no need in wasting good quality clothes; even if they did come from the scum of the Realm. He sighed heavily and went to his writing desk where he pulled out his field journal and began to write.
February 10
Field Mission Two:
Examine the area and learn more of the people.
Find Snow White and her weakness.
Discuss goals and intentions of the Queen.
Notes:
Dwarves live in the mountain and are all rather focused on their work with the exception of the deaf one they call Dopey. Crude name for a dwarf with a disability.
Need to cast a portal spell for easy transportation between the castle, the town, and the mountains.
Need to cover every mirror that is placed in rooms, or find a way of removing them.
Need to discover who the Queen really is and what her true intentions are.
Need to find out if the town has noticed the disappearance of people.
Need to find books to help teach Snow White to read.
Today was a beautiful day of sun in a town filled with average peasants and kind souls. The Realm of Apfel is too good for the old Queen Grimhildes. Even in a Realm filled with light the darkness still hides in the shadows. Although I was able to rid that Realm of two shadows known as Jack and Joe, there is still much left in the Apfel Realm to correct and answers that I need.
Goals for Mission Three:
Find out how much education Snow White has received.
Discover why the Dwarves need to mine the diamonds from the mines.
Find out the truth of the Queen Grimhildes.
Find good places to put the portals.
Find out Snow White's true identity.
He closed the journal and set his quill in the small nook above the writing station next to his inkwell. A knock came at his door and Frederick shuffled his way into the room. He announced and shuffled his way over to the desk. "I've brought your tea, Master Adam."
"Thank you Frederick." He scooted his chair to the side and crossed his arms and glared at the field journal.
"Is something the matter, Master Adam?" Frederick asked as he poured the black tea into the grey tea cup.
"Just a minor headache." He waved off the old man and took the cup. He drank long and slow and enjoyed the warmth that filled him.
"Is there anything else that I can help you with, Master Adam?" There was an odd glimmer in his green eyes as he looked at Adam. It was as if he wanted to share something with Adam, but he could not out rightly say it.
"If you have something you want to say, Frederick you best well say it." He took another sip from his tea. "I've got a mind full of questions about Apfel and hardly any answers to ease my mind."
"What is going on in Apfel?" He asked genuinely concerned. "Is Grimhilde causing a fuss?"
Adam nearly choked on his tea. The way he spoke the old hag's name so caringly disgusted Adam.
Adam's nose wrinkled. "You know of the old hag?"
"I have known Queen Grimhilde practically all her life." Frederick frowned in disappointment at Adam, but made no comment on the name Adam had called her.
Adam blinked and set his tea down. "You what?"
"Oh yes," he chuckled fondly. "I have known Grimhilde since she was a girl. She always was the prettiest in the whole Realm. . ."
Adam had no idea what to say. His jaw almost fell open in the realization that Frederick personally knew who the Evil Queen was, and spoke her name in an odd and almost boyish fondness. Adam stood and pulled up a chair for Frederick.
"Please sit." Adam spoke sternly, but respectfully. Frederick looked grateful to be allowed to sit.
"Thank you, Master Adam." He chuckled and poured himself a cup of tea with the second teacup that sat on the tray.
"I do believe that you have a story to tell me." Adam state and crossed his arms and legs.
"Possibly," Frederick chuckled and took a sip of the tea. "It all depends on how you ask the questions, Master Adam. Due to the rules that have bound me to the castle, I will not be able to tell you anything unless you ask the appropriate question."
"Of course there are rules." Adam sighed. "Bloody hell. How do you know the Evil Queen?"
"We were neighbors, so to speak, before her mother married the king in the neighboring country to Apfel." He smiled and set the teacup on the desk. "You see, Grimhilde was never originally from Apfel, no, she was from Hassige Magie. It was a terrible place where hateful magic was born. In our younger days things were both very simple and complicated. Grimhilde lost her father when she was just a few years old and her mother was a widow. She was, however, very beautiful, similarly to Grimhilde."
"Please don't make me think of that woman as beautiful," Adam grimaced and Frederick frowned.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Master Adam. I do not expect you to have the same taste as me, nor I you." He took a long sip of his tea before continuing. "Although she was a widow, Grimhilde's mother was very beautiful and though she was a peasant, it did not take long until the King of Hassige Magie noticed her. She refused multiple times and sought refuge with my family whenever the king would call on her, but after threats of burning down her house and killing her daughter she finally gave in. They were wed and it was the most beautifully sad thing that I ever had to attend. Grimhilde was excited because she liked the idea of living in a castle at least at first. After a month the whole excitement thing wore off and she was itching to go on hunting trips with me and my father again. However, the king refused to allow her out of the castle; no that that truly prevented her from doing anything she wanted. . ."
A small smile played on his lips before he took another sip of his tea. "She snuck out to go on adventures with me until her father caught her, scorned her, then proceeded to take his anger out on her mother. That poor woman had three miscarriages because of the king and would later lose her own life at his angry drunken hands. She did everything in her power to protect Grimhilde, but she failed to protect herself and it left a deep scar on Grimhilde's heart. . . She never got over her mother's death and took her anger out on the king and exacted her revenge and began her long dark road of emptiness."
"What long dark road of emptiness?" Adam took his own cup and sipped from it and held it in his hands. It was still warm, but it would be cold soon.
"The road of dark magic." He growled. "The king was very fascinated by dark and forbidden artifacts and kept them lying around the castle as decoration. But she got interested in one or two spell books, and well, she just kept slipping after that. She tried poisoning the king several times to no avail, he had developed an immunity to several of the poisons she had tried on him because of assassination attempts in his youth. She tried cursing him, but he always wore a rosary and he actually prayed fervently for his own self protection. She got him the third time though, but she had to get a little help from that ridiculous Mirror. . .'' Another growl, then Frederick sipped his tea again. "That blasted Mirror put her on a long path of darkness of which she could not return from."
"You keep saying that," Adam put his hand to his chin. "This road to darkness. What exactly does that matter?"
"Have you ever wondered how that Mirror exists, Master Adam?" Frederick sat back in his chair and looked at him with clear green eyes. "How the Mirror has a face, a voice, a mind? I know we live in a world with magic where there are endless possibilities, but what magic, what science is there in any Realm in which an inanimate object can think for itself? Hmm?"
Adam remained quiet as he did not have an answer.
"The whole reason why it is important and why she fell down that dark road, Master Adam." He set his cup down and leaned forward, "She sold herself to that Mirror. Not all at once, but at separate little moments in her life where she was overly dependent on that blasted piece of glass for help. It started off as a simple mirror in her bedroom that she would whisper her secrets and concerns to, but after the king had well . . . Taking her to bed to make an heir, she lost herself and the Mirror gave her exactly what she wanted. A way to rid that man from her life." His eyes glazed over and he looked as though he began to fade away in his memories. "All she had to do was ask me, and I would have done it regardless. . . But it never was quite good enough for her at such an anxious time in her life. . We were both kids and didn't know that a blood oath had that kind of power. . ."
Adam froze. Blood oaths were a powerful source for any kind of dark magic, but the binding contract that went along with it was very damaging. Great power with great consequences that often resulted in death.
"You enacted a blood oath with the Evil Queen?" Adam asked slowly. Frederick looked at him, but looked as though he were very far away.
"Neither one of us knew what it was going to do at the time, we were merely following the Mirror's instruction." Frederick slumped back in his chair. "Grimhildes killed the king and became the queen. No one questioned his death, and though the advisers in the court tried to argue her legitimacy to the throne, she became the queen. And it was just one domino after the other. She became the queen, promised to do her kingdom good, then the land suffered through a famine and very quickly a plague struck and took lives daily. She did not cope with it very well and went to the Mirror again for guidance, and well, she sold more and more of her humanity and soul to the Mirror to make it more complete while she made herself incomplete as she lost herself."
"What did she do?"
"She was able to stop the plague and pass it off with the black magic and a few cleansings to the people, however the famine was the worst thing that struck the land." He gripped the arms of the chair. "Grimhildes and I were the only ones to survive, really. The people long since passed, those who survived packed up and left, and she survived because of how much she sold herself to the Mirror, while I only lived because of the blood bond. Since she had no structure or clue as to how to fix the land since magic did nothing, she sold her entire land and country to Apfel; not long after the first Queen of Apfel passed in her childbirth with Snow White."
Adam's eyes widened. It had never truly been clear as to how she came to Apfel, but now that he knew, he finally understood why certain people looked at him strangely. Although he was her self-acclaimed nephew of sorts from a sister that was never born in a country that no longer existed, it was no surprise that people thought he had just appeared in thin air.
"You see things coming together now, don't you Master Adam?" a sad smile fell over Frederick's face. "Upon selling her land to the king of Apfel, a strange sort of courtship developed between them and instead of giving her money to rebuild her nation for land, she just became his queen. The first few years were fine, she put up with Snow White, but as she had always been an only child, and she did sell part of her humanity she wanted little to nothing to do with the child. It only worsened when the king tried to establish a relationship with them." A frown fully embedded itself onto Frederick's face. "No, a relationship never developed between the Queen and Snow White, despite Snow White's best efforts. And since she wanted nothing to do with Snow White, the king slowly wanted nothing more to do with the Queen. This circle of nothingness put their relation in a twist and she turned to me for things and later the Mirror. . ."
Adam almost asked what sort of things the Queen could have possibly asked him for, but judging by the scar of unrequited love that was stitched through his story of unending faithfulness Adam could guess what it was for.
"When the king fell ill, a weird sort of turn around came about her." His brow furrowed. "She attended to Snow White as mother would, and attended to the king until his last dying breath. . . Though now that I look back on it, she more than likely cursed him and did her best actions to cover her dark secrets."
"She cursed the king?" Adam blinked, though he should not have been surprised. "Simply to be Queen?"
"It was one of her more simple curses, I agree, it was odd." He took a sip from his tea. "Even now, I have no idea what she was thinking. She was more than likely just listening to whatever the Mirror told her to do. And well, once the king was dead she cast Snow White into the role of a servant along with the rest of the staff and commanded the kingdom as a surprisingly fitful queen. The people loved her, praised her, and they all desperately wanted to find some sort of position at the castle. She lived a life of happiness for a time until Snow White became of age and the people began to notice her."
"This is the part that I'm most frequent with." Adam finished the rest of the tea that was in his cup. It was cold, but he still finished it.
"As are most of the Dwellers of Books and Stories." Frederick sighed. "She got jealous of Snow White for whatever reason and it became her goal to rid herself of Snow White, and to regain her youth."
"The vampirism." Adam grimaced. Frederick nodded with the same grimace. He had seen it one too many times of the dried out corpses of young girls that were the poor and stupid prey to the Queen. It was as if she were the Spider and the young girls were the butterflies that had fallen into her web. The only one who she had not succeeded in capturing and killing was Snow White; or so the story is told.
"For whatever reason she herself could not kill Snow White." Frederick sighed and began to stack the cups onto the tray. "So she hired thugs and other low lives to do it, but they all failed. . ."
"Not the ones that I met today." Adam growled. Frederick raised his eyebrow, but made no comment of this.
"In their failure, she hired me to do something about it." Frederick stood and had a firm grip on the desk. His knees and arms shook. "I was her most loyal and faithful subject and I agreed to rid her of Snow White. . . At first I had planned on doing just as the Queen had asked: carve out her heart and bring it to her in the magic box." His wrinkly old hand went to his chest. "When I took her to that thicket in the forest I . . .I . . . I just couldn't do it. I had her run, I scared her off, and I killed a doe and placed its heart in the box instead. Had I known that the heart had been meant for the Mirror, I would have found a pig's heart."
"The heart was for the Mirror?"
"As I have been telling you throughout this story Master Adam." His shaking stopped and he reached for the tea tray. "The Mirror is an existence in the world that should not exist. The longer that it survives in Apfel the stronger it becomes. Had it actually received a human heart there is no telling what sort of destruction would have befallen Apfel!"
"Then what happened to you?" Adam's brow furrowed. "If you failed at your duty then - "
"I was the first test subject to her own poison that she had created." His gaze became soft as he looked at Adam.
"What do you mean?"
"I was the one who rested the strength of the Black Apple Poison that she created you with." He looked Adam up and down. "Though I find it a little unfair that you received life while I received death, I think that it is possibly better this way."
"Did you actually survive?" Adam blinked, and Frederick quietly shook his head. Adam could not help but sink into his own chair.
"No. No I did not." His shoulders slumped as he picked up the tea tray. "I died a horrible death in front of the only woman who I ever loved. . . And she watched me die as if I was a mere stranger to her." His wrinkly mouth rolled into a thin line and Adam did not know what to say to him. "Because I failed her, I ended up here in the Anti-Realm where I am to serve out my death sentence until I have redeemed myself; either here or in my past."
"And that is why you're tending to me. . ." Adam spoke slowly.
"Yes, Master Adam," Frederick nodded with a small smile. "That is why I'm attending to you." A moment of silence passed between them before the grandfather clock rang out calling the time of six o'clock. "Oh, that can't be right." His wrinkles screwed up into a frown as he looked at the clock. "They should have brought you your meal an hour ago."
Adam had not even realized that a whole hour had passed in the story telling.
"I shall have someone bring you your dinner immediately, Master Adam." Frederick sounded very displeased as he rearranged the tea items on the tea tray. "The nerve of these people!"
"It's quite all right, Frederick." Adam said thoughtfully as he watched Frederick.
"No it is not all right, Master Adam." He growled. "These people know their place and what they're supposed to do. This is unacceptable!"
Adam, up to this point, had yet to see the old man get in a tizzy about anything. Seeing him riled up about the Staff not doing their job was amusing, but Adam could not help but feel as though it was a farce.
"Did you need anything else, Master Adam?" Frederick cleared his throat and slowly seemed to calm down.
"No, that will be all." Adam shook his head and stood himself. "I'm just going to take a bath while I wait for the food then."
"As you wish, Master Adam." Frederick nodded and creakily bowed. He shuffled out of Adam's room and the door clicked softly behind him. Adam thought for a small moment that he could hear him continuing his rant. A smirk came to his face, but disappeared immediately once he saw the dirty bloody clothes in the hamper.
"Right. . ." He picked them up and took them with him. "To the bath."
He felt rather lonely now that Frederick was gone, but he had learned so much in such a small hour. It was definitely more beneficial than anything he had found in the library, but it still wasn't quite enough. He at least knew enough about the Queen, but he still could not understand why she was so adamant about killing Snow White. Even if she was jealous for so long it made no sense to kill her if she had demoted her to such a low level; doing any further demoting was just out of spite. Although the Queen could be spiteful, there was no reason for it, and although he would not put it past her to still do things just for the power and capability to do it, doing things senselessly and without reason was beneath her.
Adam shook his head and ran cold water in the large sink. He needed to soak the blood stained shirts in the cold water to lift the blood from the shirts. While the shirts soaked, he would soak again to take the aches from his own wounds away. Although he did not suffer the same knife wounds as the two imbeciles that he had to kill, his body ached from all of the poison that he had to use to kill them. Over the years of training and harnessing the levels of poison in his body Adam can control the strengths of the poisons, but he cannot completely rid himself of it. He could only relieve himself of the poison for a few moments in the bath where the water would momentarily remove it, however it only intensified afterwards. He wore three to four layers of clothes to prevent the toxins from leaking out and permeating the air and he could not touch anyone when his skin was exposed or it would cause serious damage or death to the unfortunate victims. There were five levels of toxicity.
The first level was Apple Poison, it often acted as a perfume and could make people sick by breathing in by the sweet scent. It was the least toxic of the three, but it did cause long lasting effects. Oftentimes the victim would fall into a deep and long sleep until they died of dehydration and starvation.
The second level was Black Poison, it was toxic and caused people to go mad, either mentally insane or in a fury. The Black poison would slowly rot the minds of the individual until it melted into mush.
The third level was Black Apple Poison was a combination of the two where it caused the individual who breathed in the scent to break out into a fit of laughter until they laughed to death.
The fourth level was White Poison, it was more of a gas, but it was poisonous and had noxious fumes that caused the individual to choke to death.
The fifth level was Black Death Poison, and it was as extreme as it sounded. This one often required Adam to be in a rage that wanted death and would cause an instant death. Today both Jack and Joe died of the Black Death Poison. His body would radiate an intense heat that could make water boil instantly, it would not only melt the skin off of individuals, but also boil blood and turn bone to ashes.
Adam sunk deeper into the bath and felt most of the tension leave his body. He looked down at his hands and feet and watched as the poison swirled around him in the water. He frowned and sighed. If only he could rid himself of the poison that cursed his very existence.
Author's Note:
Thank you for reading, I hope you're enjoying the story so far!
Leave me a review and let me know what you think of my story! Feedback is very much appreciated and needed.
Thanks for coming along the journey with me so far, stay tuned for more!
Ko-fi/SarahtheWriter
