A TALE OF TWO SISTERS: THE STORY OF BRIAR ROSE AND SNOW WHITE
Briar Rose slammed the door and stalked off into the forest. "Don't talk to strangers," she muttered, echoing the last bit of advice her three guardians had given her. What a bunch of nonsense. Did the three fairies think she was still a child? Here she was, just two days before her sixteenth birthday, and that was the advice they gave?
Oh, how those three fairies could get on her last nerve. She wanted to hunt, to explore, to learn magic. But all Cherry, Brambles and Ivy ever taught her was how to cook, how to sew, how to sing. What good were any of those things, out in the forest? It was almost as if the fairies were preparing her for a life of servitude somewhere. But that was ridiculous. There wasn't a village or castle within a fortnight's walk of the little water mill. She knew, because she'd walked every footstep of the Enchanted Wood. She knew every path, every creek, every fallen tree and every thicket. Just what did the three fairies think they were doing, teaching her useless spells and parlor tricks? At least they couldv'e taught her some weather magic, or some transmutations. Spells like that would at least be useful- or interesting.
Briar Rose paused to steady her nerves, leaning against a tree. She was tall and statuesque, with high cheekbones and piercing blue eyes. She had long, flowing blond hair. She wore the brown skirts and black bodice of a peasant, the only life she'd ever known, along with shoes and a cape she'd made herself.
"I've got to calm down," she said. "They're only doing what they think is best. It's not their fault they treat me like a child- to them, I still am, and always will be."
More and more, Briar Rose found herself wondering about her own parents. She was a girl, not a fairie, so she MUST have a mother and a father, somewhere. But her guardians never spoke of it, and became very uncomfortable whenever she brought it up. She didn't think the fairies even had parents- if they DID, they'd never mentioned it. She had no idea where the fairies had come from, and doubted they did, either. So how could she expect them to know how to act? "Why do they insist on treating me like a child?"
The girl made her way a little deeper into the forest until she came to a place where she knew she could find berries. She opened the basket in her hand and took out a wand. She'd stolen it. The fairies rarely used their wands anymore, so she didn't think they'd notice. They weren't expecting her back until suppertime, and Briar Rose felt sure she'd be able to slip it back into its hiding place without getting caught. The three fairies would be none the wiser. That still gave her a few good hours to try out the wand.
"I'd rather you were a sword," she told the wand, "or perhaps a bow and arrow. But this will have to do." After all, the fairies had taught her at least the rudiments of magic, and she'd learned a bit more by watching them at unawares, when they thought she was sleeping. The girl had pretty much learned as much as she was able with what the fairies had been willing to teach her. If she was ever going to escape whatever hum-drum life they had in store for her, she'd have to practice on her own. And she knew the fairies. Even if they DID catch her, she didn't think any of them had it in her heart to really punish her severely- even for stealing a magic wand. Briar Rose was old enough to know such things could be perilous, even deadly. That's why she'd come so far out into the forest alone.
She raised the wand in her hand to examine it more closely. It was long and slender, almost supple. Made of hazelwood, it had tiny runes and carvings along the side. Of all the times she'd seen her mystical guardians actually use their wands, she'd never noticed that before. The carvings didn't seem to be writing of any sort she'd seen before. The letters- if that's what they were- spiralled around the wand in a helical fashion. It reminded Briar Rose a little bit of a vine creeping up and around a tree.
"You must be Ivy's," she said. That was fortunate. She wasn't sure she'd even be able to activate the device- many wands were attuned to only one particular magic-user. But Briar Rose felt most comfortable trying Ivy's wand, over either Cherry's or Brambles'. Ivy was the most thoughtful and practical of the three- although calling any fairy those things was always a bit of a stretch.
Briar Rose picked out a suitable blackberry bush and stood facing it. She planted her feet, legs at shoulder width, and took the wand in both hands, pointing it at the bush. She'd try the easiest of spells, first, just to get a feel for the wand- a simple casting to change the bush from green to yellow.
She had the spell clearly in mind and was about to utter the incantation when something moved. She'd only seen it out of the corner of her eye, but there was no doubt. Off in the forest, a shadow moved. She was not alone.
Using every bit of woodcraft and natural lore she possessed, Briar Rose hid herself. She made not a sound as she dropped into the shadow of an old oak. She kept the wand ready. Cautiously, she peered out into the forest.
Surely, it wasn't a predator. Briar Rose knew their habits, their sounds and scents. No wolf or bear of the forest could ever sneak up on her. For a moment, she feared it was the fairies- that they'd somehow managed to discover her theft and come looking for her. But as she watched, she was able to breathe easier. It wasn't Cherry, Ivy and Bramble. She clearly saw a single figure moving alone through the trees and, unmistakeably, it was another girl.
In all of her not-quite-sixteen years in the forest, Briar Rose could count on one hand all the times she'd met another human in the forest. The fairies lived deep within the Enchanted Wood, far from any path or hunting ground. Once, there had been that old peasant man and his wife, who'd lost their way. The fairies had assumed three matronly forms, helped them, and then sent them on their way. The same with the little lost girl in the red cape, and the undeniably handsome prince and his beautiful stallion who'd gotten separated from his hunting party. And there had been that lone huntsman, just about a year ago, who'd blustered past with a small casket in his hands. The fairies hadn't liked the look of him, and had sent Briar Rose to hide in the cellar until he'd gone.
But this was a girl- no, a young woman, of about her same age. Curious, Briar Rose made her way closer to get a better look. She moved stealthily, without making a sound, almost invisible.
A little shorter than Briar Rose, the other girl wore the clothes of a princess, although they looked a little faded and worn. She could see where the impractical garments had been patched and taken in, to make them a little more practical and comfortable. With lustrous dark hair and big brown eyes, the girl would be considered beautiful in any king's castle. Briar Rose noticed the girl's ample curves and perfect skin with a mixture of jealousy and admiration. But most of all, Briar Rose was intrigued. She noticed that, belted around her narrow waist, the girl was wearing a sword.
Briar Rose stepped out of her hiding place. Mindful that things were not always what they seemed in the forest, she kept a firm grip on her wand. But she didn't want to frighten the other girl, either, so she kept it hidden behind her back. "Hello," she said.
The dark-haired girl spun around, surprised. Her hand went to the hilt of her sword, but she didn't draw it. She looked Briar Rose up and down. "Oh, you startled me."
"Who are you?" Briar Rose asked.
"My name is Snow White." She smiled, and it was the most disarming smile Briar Rose had ever seen.
The Dark Queen Maleficent paced back and forth in her conjuring room, the topmost chamber of the tallest tower of her fortress. With a wave of her hand, she dismissed the spirit from her magic mirror.
"So, Snow White yet lives," she muttered thoughtfully, tapping a long fingernail on a table dark with alchemical stains. "This changes things."
Her plan to eliminate the princess had failed, but to a mighty sorceress like Maleficent, it was only a minor setback. The annoying forces of good were always trying to upset her schemes, and she had many things in motion. She walked over to a dusty shelf and brought down a small casket. Opening it, she peered inside. A dessicated organ lay within. Drawing the thing out, she examined it closely for the first time.
"This is the heart of a deer, not a girl," she said, placing her grisly trophy back in the box. Her eyes narrowed. "It seems I shall have to deal with my Huntsman. But first, I must find out what really happened to the wench."
She suspected the miner dwarves were hiding the princess- those seven little gnomes had always refused to serve her. Perhaps the time for subtlety was past.
Then, there was a flutter of wings at the window, and she went over to open the shutters. Her black raven flew in, and landed on its perch. Maleficent idly stroked its glossy dark feathers. The creature seemed agitated.
"What is it, my pet?"
The raven croaked out a long string of syllables, speaking in a language few could understand. Maleficent grew even more angry as she heard the bird's report. She left her raven on its perch and went to a desk against one wall of her chamber. The Dark Queen opened a thick tome and flipped through several pages of astronomical charts. She planted a finger on one particular diagram, beside a geneological chart of her rival, King Steffan.
"So, the Princess Aurora is living in the Enchanted Wood. And with three of the Fay, no less. This is good news, my pet, and not a moment too soon." In only two days, the princess Aurora would reach her sixteenth birthday. "Not a moment too soon," she repeated, tossing the hungry bird a bit of meat from a jar nearby.
She took her staff from its place by the wall. Both of the princesses in the Wood at once- the Dark Queen could not have asked for a better opportunity. With a wave of her hand, the door flew open. "Summon my goblins! We ride at once!"
Jack sat down on a boulder beside the road, completely dejected. The sun was very hot, and he had nothing to eat, nothing to drink, not a thing to his name save the wretched clothes on his back- and the sackful of magic pebbles in his hand. "Magic pebbles," he muttered, scowling.
He shook the sack, listening to the stones rattle around inside, before raising his hand to hurl the cursed things once and for all into the forest and be rid of them. For the hundredth time, he lowered his arm and hooked the sack back onto his belt. He sighed and put his head in his hands.