Chapter Forty-two

GRIMHILDE

An entire month has passed since Snow White and Adam have completely disappeared. An entire month had passed since she received a grievance letter from the Kingdom of Franca about the death of their precious prince. She sent flowers and other forms of apologies as well as condolences and they've not had contact with each other since. Which for the entirety of the kingdom was good, however, she was beyond bored with the silence in the castle. An entire month has passed, and she has forgone any forms of black magic since her newest toy Grünes came into existence. She tolerated his presence and enjoyed having someone who would listen to her every command without question, but she hated the fact that he could not speak, and she could not carry on a conversation with him. Not that she needed him to speak, or think for that matter, she only needed him to be the loyal servant that he was. An entire month had passed and there had been no hide or hair or even a letter from Frederick since she banished him from the kingdom. She wasn't sure what she really expected; in truth she had hoped his stubborn nature would make him stay. The silence and his lack of presence was deafening and her world around her only seemed to grow darker with each passing day. Even the Mirror spoke less and less to her with each passing day. She wasn't sure if her powers were diminishing or if something had entirely gone wrong.

Her hands had gained wrinkles. Her nails kept growing despite how much she filed them. Her body felt heavier each day she got out of bed and she no longer wanted to take walks but sit down instead; she no longer thirsted for blood and only seemed to stomach juices from prunes. She had discovered a few moles on her neck and one that would not leave her nose. Her nose had been growing, as well as her ears, and certain parts of her skin seemed to be stretched and flabby. The worst, however, was the fact she found a silver hair with each passing day. That alone was to set her off and put her on edge. She was glad she had a cowl to cover her hair, but she had to close curtains or lock herself away in her room to make sure no one saw her in her haggard state. Whatever had happened, whatever had gone wrong with the spell, it was costing her greatly. She lost more and more of her youth with each day and she was growing too exhausted to do anything about it. She hated this.

Gritting her teeth and instilling her resolve, she pushed herself from her throne and forced herself to walk to her vanity mirror. It was the middle of the day and she would have some privacy while Grünes was out making his usual rounds in searching for any signs of the three. Her steps were uneven despite her using the wall and bed posts as a form of support. If this was what getting older was supposed to be like then she wanted none of it.

"Magic Mirror!" She called as she reached her vanity. Her hands were on the counter holding up her weight while her hair draped about her and she could see the crazed look in her green eyes. "Magic Mirror! I summon thee!"

"There's no need to shout, My Queen." The Mirror droned as he suddenly appeared with a bored expression.

"Then come the first time I call you." She pushed herself to stand straighter. Her hair fell around her and finally moved out of her face.

"Are you well, My Queen?" The Mirror raised an eyebrow at her.

"I most certainly am not!" She snapped glaring at the Mirror. "Even though you are a Mirror, even you can see this haggard appearance that has plagued me!"

"You were aware that great magic comes at great costs." The Mirror said unsympathetically, almost looking down his nose as he did so.

"Surely creating Grünes would not have cost me my youth!"

"That is where you would be wrong, My Queen." The Mirror frowned deeply at her. "For as great a witch as you are, sometimes you fail to read the fine print within the spells."

She slammed her fist on the vanity face, "What the hell do you mean?"

"You used your own blood, per requirement of the spell," He sighed as he explained. "The spell should have been a failure, but because your blood, whether it was truly yours or not, was strong enough it provided whatever was necessary for the small amount of success that could be granted to the creation of Grünes."

"How does that explain why I am ageing?"

"Everyone ages, My Queen."

"Not with how quickly I have been!" She snapped. She pulled at her hair. "I have gray hairs! I have wrinkles! With each passing day I am losing my youth!"

"How many fair and pure maidens did you drink from, My Queen?" The Mirror asked, completely disregarding her frantic antics.

Her brow furrowed, "I never kept count."

"I assumed as much." He rolled his eyes. "With the lack of your judgment and the count I kept I would say you drank at least fifty-three maidens dry."

"Fifty-three?" Her brow wrinkled her entire forehead as she stared at him in complete loss of understanding. "What does that have to do with –"

"Since you used your own blood to create Grünes, you now share blood with him." The Mirror frowned, almost glared at her. "Since your own blood was not enough to keep him standing and walking, the blood of those who you drank from, those fifty-three maidens, have been transferred to him and have sucked fifty-three years of your own life away from you to be transferred to him."

"You can't mean –"

"Oh, yes, my Queen." He chuckled, rather darkly. "Yes, you are suffering the costs of black magic with your life, your youth, as you put it."

"There must be a stop to it!"

"Not so long as both Grünes and Adam live." The Mirror snorted. "The two of them alone, though Adam's was from a different time, are part of the black magic you used to create them both. Those spells, which are only breakable by the two of them, will suck you dry."

"I won't allow it!"

"Well, Grünes specifically will only live as long as you do." The Mirror rolled his head as though he shrugged shoulders. "If you were to die this evening or a few days from now, he would more than likely pass along with you."

"And Adam?"

"You, in another time, were actually able to succeed in creating him, so he is a little more concrete." He answered dismissively. "His doing cannot be undone, except by his own hand."

"Blast it all!" She raked her hands through her hair and began to pull at her hair. "This cannot be!"

"I believe I have told you that such temper tantrums are most unbecoming of a queen, My Queen." He rolled his eyes.

"Like I give a damn!"

"Don't worry, My Queen." He chuckled again, knowingly almost. What did this blasted Mirror know? "There is a solution to your constant problem."

"'Constant problem?'" She scoffed and glared at him, her voice was growing frantic, her hands wouldn't stop shaking; whether from the hysteria or the age catching up with her she couldn't tell. "And what is that?"

"Have you already forgotten?" He tutted disapprovingly. "The Fairest Maiden in all the land, Snow White?"

"What about the brat?" She seethed. "What use is she of me now?"

"Much more than you think." The Mirror swirled and a picture of a skull covered apple replaced his face on the mirror.

She eyed the dangerous apple concerningly, "What is this?"

"A Poisoned Apple." The Mirror explained.

"What use do I have of this?" She snorted. "I have made many of these before to kill Snow White and the worst she ever got was being sick for three days; which she survived."

"This is not an ordinary Poisoned Apple spell, My Queen." The Mirror chuckled. "This spell is a sleeping spell. With one bite, the recipient of it will fall into a deep sleep in which they cannot be awakened from on their own, and their youth and magic and very essence will be transferred to the creator of the spell."

"It will not kill her?" Interest was growing and showing evident in her voice.

"It will not kill her." The Mirror's face replaced the face of the mirror. "Snow White will sleep for all eternity."

"This is too perfect. . ." She fell back against her chair and put a hand to her hair. This truly was the answer to her problems! Getting rid of Snow White truly was the answer to her problems!

"However, I will caution you this." The Mirror said grimly. "The spell can be broken by a True Love's Kiss."

The Queen's shoulders shook, and the most maddening of laughter erupted from her. Her hands went to her stomach and her laughs changed from laughter to skin crawling cackling.

"What do you find so amusing, My Queen?" The Mirror asked.

"A True Love's Kiss?" She cackled loudly. "It can never happen! That foolish boy cannot touch her without killing her with his poison!" More cackling, and this time she stood. "The only boy to ever love her, her only hero to even remotely have a chance to save her, cannot because he himself can kill her if he touches her! This is too perfect!"

More laughter and cackling followed as well as booming thunder overhead. "This news pleases me greatly, Mirror." She mused as she calmed her laughter and sat back in her chair. "Do tell me the recipe for this spell. The sooner I can put Snow White to sleep, the better."

"I agree, My Queen." The Mirror smirked. "Before I tell you the spell, there is one more thing that I must tell you."

"What is it?"

"Grünes has found where Snow White and Adam have been hiding."


GRÜNES

Mistress has not been good lately. Angrier than normal. She screams at Grünes less and less, though.

She's very sad too. She's changed so much since Grünes was born. She still doesn't like Grünes, but the way she looks keeps changing. She almost looks as though she's dying.

She sent Grünes out on the same task every day since Grünes brought her the heart of the man who killed Grünes's former body. It felt good to take revenge, but now Grünes has no choice but to listen to Mistress. No matter how hard Grünes tries to disobey, or even just run away, Grünes has to obey the orders that Mistress gave.

Everyday Grünes goes into town, looks for Prince Adam and Princess Snow White, even the man named Frederick; but everyday is the same. Grünes doesn't find anyone, until recently, anyways.

A week ago Grünes caught the scent of the man named Frederick. It was hard to sniff him out because he's covered in the black stuff that burns Grünes's nose. Not to mention he doesn't smell the same as the clean shirt that Mistress kept in a drawer. However, Grünes found him! Grünes found him and followed him home! Even camped outside of the house to see when he leaves, when he comes back; always leaves out the back early morning, always comes late in the evening in the back.

Why doesn't he leave or enter the front? Grünes tried to get in once through a window, but that didn't work; nor the back door nor the front door. Frederick must have seen Grünes or was waiting in the shadows because he finally spoke to Grünes. Asked all these questions that Grünes could not answer. Grünes wants to answer, but cannot because Grünes cannot talk. Now every time Frederick sees Grünes, he chases Grünes away.

It was fun at first, but now it's boring, and Grünes still can't find Adam nor Snow White. This morning Grünes waited until after Frederick left his house and picked the lock of the front door to get in. It was much easier than Grünes thought, though, the pick broke in the lock. Grünes hoped that Frederick wouldn't notice, if the front door stayed shut, then maybe Grünes could come back later to investigate the house, sniff out something of Adam or Snow White's to track them to their hiding spot.

Grünes was really upset and went to the bakery to get the food that tasted so good. Grünes had enough money to get a few things that Grünes liked to eat. Grünes bought four loaves of bread and sat on the usual bench. Just as Grünes was finally going to taste the deliciousness of the bread, a new smell was in the air. Not just one, but two!

Stuffing Grünes mouth with a bread loaf, he tried to follow his nose, but there were so many people around that Grünes couldn't even move. It wasn't until they were leaving the bakery that Grünes found them; Adam and Snow White. It was kinda scary how much Adam looked like Grünes, only with scary black eyes. Snow White was very very pretty and smelled very very sweet.

Eating bread along the way, Grünes followed them around the market and all the way back to the house where Frederick lived. Adam was suspicious the whole time, he kept his hand on Snow White everywhere they went and kept searching through the crowd, as if he knew Grünes was watching him. It was a little scary, actually. Grünes was very very careful and very very quiet, yet Adam still looked for Grünes. It was only when they went in through the front door that Grünes unlocked this morning that Grünes didn't know what to do from there; Frederick would definitely know about the door now.

Still being quiet as could be, Grünes walked many circles around the house, straining ears to hear and nose to smell. They were still inside, but they weren't talking, which was weird since so many people in the village don't know how to stop talking. Grünes could smell something delicious from the kitchen, though. Grünes tiptoed to the window and peeked through the recently opened curtains.

Snow White was humming as she moved around and did something in the kitchen. Suddenly the stench of smoke burned Grünes's nostrils and Grünes knew that the stove had been turned on. There was the creaking of wood and Grünes could see Snow White very clearly in the window. She was very very pretty; too bad he was going to have to kill her. Grünes tried to think of a plan on how to get Snow White out of there without Adam noticing when pretty brown eyes locked with him. He ducked under the window and could only hear his heart pounding in his chest.

Mistress will not be happy if Grünes is caught, but Mistress will be happy to know that Grünes found the three she wanted! Grünes felt as though his luck was turning around when suddenly he smelled Frederick. Not wanting to get caught so soon, Grünes went into the neighbor's yard and hid in the pile of hay. It was so itchy! But Frederick came and went and went into Frederick's house, so Grünes was not caught. Moving from the itchy hiding spot, Grünes went back to the window to see if anything important would be revealed. Grünes could hear Snow White humming very prettily, but had to strain his ears to hear what Frederick and Adam talked about.

"What the hell do you think you're doing bringing her here?" Frederick sounded angry. "Have you gone mad?"

"I'm perfectly sane, Frederick." Adam sounded angry too.

"Then did you forget about the dangers . . .?" Frederick's voice got quiet.

"I could never forget." Adam responded through gritted teeth. "I hadn't planned on . . ."

"Don't even try to lie to me, Adam!" Frederick sounded really really mad. "Your doppelganger has been following me for weeks now, waiting to see if I'm going into the mountains or not."

"Then why was your front door unlocked?" Adam snapped and Grünes's heart stopped. Adam was such a tattletale!

"The door was unlocked?" Frederick walked to the door and opened it, closed it, opened it again before crouching down to see if there was anything wrong with the lock.

"The bastard. . ." Frederick hissed and closed the door tightly. "He's more clever than I thought. . ."

"What?" Adam asked.

"He picked the lock and stuck a piece of metal into it to keep it from locking." Frederick was really mad. Grünes could feel his aura changing drastically.

"This has been going on for a while now?"

"The metal pieces in the lock?" Frederick huffed. "No, but there have been different forms of breaking and entering that he's unsuccessfully tried."

Grünes frowned and felt really silly. He thought he had been unnoticed. Frederick paid too much attention to things.

"Like what?"

Frederick suddenly stopped talking and Grünes felt exposed. He should have just stayed in the itchy hiding spot, or gone to tell the Mistress of what Grünes found!

"Grünes."

And with that Grünes ran away as fast as he could. It was still too early for Grünes to return to the castle, the Mistress would just send him back out again. No, Grünes would have to wait until Adam and Snow White had to leave, then he could follow them home!

So Grünes went to the edge of town and played hide-and-seek with some of the village boys until he saw Adam and Snow White leaving town; the boys weren't as good as Frederick and couldn't find him even after he left. It wasn't hard to follow them, with the sun going down and everyone going home, it was much easier for Grünes to follow, though it certainly was much more difficult to hide from them.

Adam kept searching and searching as they walked, and only once did he come close to finding Grünes, but the piles of hay out in the fields were easy to hide in since there were so many of them. Grünes followed them for a long, long time all the way up the mountain until they got to a fork in the road. Smelling the mountain air, Grünes had a longing in his heart to be in the mountains, but the wretched curse placed on him would not allow him to diverge from his task of finding their hiding spot. That's when the strangest thing happened, they just disappeared!

Grünes stood at the fork in the road, sniffing the air for their scent when the wind picked up and he heard soft talking. The sneaky sneakies went behind the fork in the road! Grünes hopped down and saw many skinny trails, but followed the one that carried their scent. There was something within Grünes that was strangely excited about finding the prey, and another, something Grünes only felt when he took the heart of the man was slightly thirsty. Grünes's throat felt dry, and despite sipping on some of the sprinkling rain, he couldn't be satisfied.

The Dark Forest was very dark, but with the scent of Adam and Snow White on the wind, Grünes followed them all the way to a pretty little area where light touched the earth and rid the world of shadows. Two cottages stood a few yards apart and seven little people came running out the doors to greet them. Grünes stayed in the cover of the hanging trees and was most excited that he had good news for his Mistress.


Author's Note:

Thanks so much for reading, I hope you're enjoying the story!

This was a very difficult chapter to write. Not so much from Grimhilde's perspective, but from Grünes. Since Grünes looks like a man but has the heart of a boar, I wanted to make sure he could still think, but it was considerably childish and unfamiliar to him since he is a being that is not supposed to exist; for now.

Please leave reviews and tell me what you think! We're almost there guys!

Thanks for coming along the journey with me, stay tuned for more!

Ko-fi/SarahtheWriter