Well, it seems the Wilhelm has finally started working on getting out of the tower is earnest, eh? Oh, don't worry, you will find out what happens to him a bit later. Now, if you think Jakob and his friends were in trouble with all those spiders, just wait until I tell about what the old witch has in store for them next! The days may be becoming colder, but as you will see, they will have no trouble keeping the...
Pease Porridge Hot!
The next few days proved to be unproductive. The trio wandered through the forest trying to find their way either to the cottage, the castle or home, but it was starting to look like a lost cause. Jake and Kate had to rescue Frederick from himself more than a few times. He always seemed to be falling over, into or off of something even though they were walking a fairly straight and safe path through the woods. In between rescues, Jakob and Katherine were getting to know each other a bit better. They chattered on about all sorts of things; their past, their daily lives and their families.
At night Jakob would read them the stories he had written in his journal by the firelight. Sometimes Kate would sit near him and read silently over his shoulder as he told the story, but her interest wasn't the story itself, but the other bits in between, the footnotes and little things he scribbled in the margins. Things that Jakob had never meant anyone else to read. Oddly he kept the book away from Fred, but it seemed he didn't mind her reading his private notes and thoughts except for one. He called the story "The Sleeping Princess" and he guarded the book fiercely when he told it. All she could catch was a name written in the margin near the description of the Princess. It read "Lottie" with a bracket around the description. She decided it was best just to leave it alone and if he wanted to tell her someday he would.
On the morning of the fifth day they spotted smoke rising over the trees and made for it. It turned out to be from a small village slightly smaller than Marbaden nestled between two rolling hills. Finally they would be able to find out where they were and how far off the trail they had really gone. Jakob had started to become worried about all the wasted time as the thirty days was quickly passing.
There was a small inn in the village with four small rooms, so they knew they couldn't be too far off the beaten path to somewhere.
"I'm sure the innkeeper can give us proper directions", said Jakob sounding confident.
"A hot meal and a soft bed for the night couldn't hurt much either", whined Frederick, "I'm tired of sleeping in the woods."
"Agreed", added Katherine.
'Some hero on a quest he turned out to be', thought Jake.
They took two rooms at the inn, Kate in one room, Jakob and Frederick in the other. They spent the day talking to the townsfolk and refurbishing their supplies. When the innkeeper's wife found out she had Jakob Grimm, the "Hero of Marbaben" at her table that night at dinner, she overfed them quite a bit and then refused to take payment for the meal, despite her husband's and Jake's protests to the contrary.
As they settled in for the night, Jakob discovered he would have to share a bed with Frederick. As he laid there he found that he was missing Kate's being there. He had grown used to watching her fall asleep by the firelight. Jakob thought back to the night she had slept snuggled up against his back. It wasn't all that bad really and he could get used to that as well. He was also feeling a bit foolish for running from her the way he did. 'Will is right, I am an idiot!' he thought. Fred began snoring loudly beside him, breaking his mood and he fell asleep feeling exhausted and disgruntled.
The next morning they went about getting directions from the innkeeper and gathering more information from the townsfolk about the witch and her whereabouts. It seems that they were a long way off from Frederick and Katherine's town, they had been moving away from it the whole time. This also meant a long way off from the cottage as well, although due to the type of magic the witch was using, Jakob suspected the cottage never existed at all.
The innkeeper told them to go and see Frau Holunder, an old and rather rotund woman with a round face, pleasant smile and no teeth. Her nephew traveled quite a bit and if anyone had heard any news about the location of the witch's castle, it would be her. When Jakob knocked on her door, she greeted them with a wide toothless grin.
"Come in children, come in!" she said merrily, "I don't get many visitors. Please come in and sit down. Would you like some nice hot porridge dears, it's good for you?"
The three of them came in and sat down, but politely declined her offer. Jakob told her what they knew and asked if she had ever heard of such a place as the castle they sought.
"Oh my yes, I do believe I have", she began as she stirred the porridge pot on the hearth, "My nephew Deter goes to Bad Kissingen for the mineral baths four or five times a year and he passes by a place that just might be the one your looking for. It's in a desolate place that no one every goes near if they can avoid it. Deter has little choice because the road that passes by there is the shortest route. Most of the people that live near there call it the Castle of the Birds though I don't know why. Are you sure about the porridge then?"
"Oh yes, thank you no", said Jakob shaking his head, "Could you tell me how far it is and in which direction it would be?"
"Why of course dear. It's no more that five days away due east."
Jakob thanked her and was about to take his leave, but the Frau insisted they stay. She didn't get much company and she was disappointed to see three such lovely young people leave. Jake was worried about the time it would take them to get to the castle and even if they immediately freed the Princess, he worried they may not be able to get back to the King in time to save Will. Never-the-less he relented to stay for just a bit longer to make the old woman happy.
*********
The evil witch surveyed the kingdom from her tower window once again. She kept a close eye on the trio of travelers as she plotted the next step in her plan. She had driven them right where she needed them to be and it was now time to cage her last bird.
"Its time to break up this little band and complete my spell", she said gleefully, "as soon as they leave the village I will set them on their various ways."
She watched them carefully as they went about the town and then finally ended up at the old Frau's cottage. "Oh this will not do", she said as her anger began to grow, "I see my little troublemaker as taken a real liking to the girl and she to him as well. I can see by the way they are mooning over each other. I should have taken the chance and separated them sooner, but in my haste to drive them deeper into the forest it seems that I have pushed them closer together. Bah!"
She angrily paced around the room making the birds flap around in their cages and fuss. "He is quickly becoming a real threat to the girl's purity", she ranted, "If that one takes a notion in his head to bed her, it will force me to seek out another girl and delay my plans and that is something I can ill afford!"
The old witch had no way of knowing that Jakob, unlike his brother Wilhelm who had little restraint in such matters, would never do such a thing on just an idle whim. "Perhaps I need to hurry them along out of that village and into my trap!" She was sure she knew just how to do it, "and if I am lucky, my little troublemaker will be out of the way permanently!"
*********
Jakob, Frederick and Katherine sat around the old Frau's table listening to her prattle on about her nephew. Jakob was trying to think of some polite way of getting out of there and on the road. He was getting antsy about how quickly time was passing away. As he was about to say something, the old Frau insisted they stay and have tea before they went on their way. As she went out the door to fetch some water for the kettle, she asked Kate to stir the porridge pot for her so the bottom wouldn't burn. She agreed and began to stir the pot with a large wooden spoon.
Without warning Katherine began to recite loudly, "Pease porridge hot, Pease porridge cold!" Desperately she tried to stops stirring, but she couldn't nor could she pull the spoon from the cast iron pot hanging on the hearth, her hand stuck fast to the spoon. All she could do was turn her head to look at Jakob, her face pale and sweaty, panic welling up her eyes. She couldn't stop now that it had begun, "Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old!"
Frederick and Jakob looked at each other and then back at Kate as their eyes grew wide with the realization of what was happening. "Kate no!" shouted Jake as he bolted up from his chair and headed for her. All she could do was shake her head at him to let him know she couldn't stop; her eyes begging him to help her, frightened of what will happen if she finishes the rhyme. As he came up behind her, Jakob wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and with the other hand he grasped the wrist of the hand holding the spoon. Try as he might he couldn't pull her away from the hearth, nor could he pull her hand holding the spoon out and away from the pot. He might as well have been trying to pull down a stone wall with his bare hands.
All the while she kept reciting, stirring the porridge steadily "Some like it hot, some like it cold!"
"Have to stop the rhyme", thought Jakob desperately, "Have to stop it!"
"Pease porridge in the pot!" In a fit of desperation; still holding her tightly around the waist, Jakob let go of her wrist and clamped his hand over her mouth. Kate stopped and looked over at Fred with a rather doubtful look in her eyes. It had done no good for as she squeezed her eyes shut, muffled through his fingers she said the final words, "Nine days old!"
Frederick stood stock still, his fists balled up so tightly his knuckles were turning white and Jakob stood behind Katherine holding her tightly against him afraid to let her go, with his eyes closed as well. Kate could feel his heart racing against her back as he held her close.
After several minutes, nothing happened. Jake opened one eye and looked around, then the other, 'Huh, It couldn't have be that easy', he thought, 'Just keeping her mouth shut?' He let go of the grip he had on her mouth and as he thought this over and waited to see if anything would really happen, he let his hand wander over to her shoulder, in effect wrapping both arms around her tightly. A few more minutes passed and still nothing. Jakob let out a sigh of relief as did Kate and Frederick.
"Oh…Oh!" Jake realized he was still holding Katherine tightly in his arms. He let go of her suddenly and jumped back, putting his hands up in front of him as if to show her he meant no harm.
"Oh, I am so sorry" stammered Jake, his face begging forgiveness and his hands going in all directions, "I wasn't trying to…I mean I was only…the rhyme, it was…I couldn't think of any other way to stop it and I didn't mean…"
At the same time Katherine was stammering back at him, waving her hands around trying to show him it was alright. "Oh, I know you didn't…It's alright, I know you didn't mean…the rhyme was just…you were just helping and I…You…"
In the middle of all this confusion, a rather large bubble was growing on the top of the porridge pot and it burst with a very loud "burp". Everyone snapped to attention and stared at the pot. No one moved in the dead stillness of the room for several seconds. It appeared that it was just a fluke and they were all getting nervous for nothing; however their relief was short lived. Another large bubble came to the top of the pot and after expanding to a very good size burst once again with a loud "burp", but this time it continued to bubble and green porridge began to ooze over the edge of the pot onto the hearth, making the fire spit, sizzle and go out. A small flood of porridge ran down off the hearth and spread out onto the floor as the pot continued to rapidly bubble and spit it contents over the top like a small volcano. Jakob turned a bit pale at the sight and looking at Fred said quietly, "Run."
Without being told twice, Frederick bolted out the door with Jake and Kate right behind him. A now ankle deep flood of green porridge followed, pouring out the door right behind them. The trio ran down the dirt road that cut through the center of the town running as fast as they could. A few seconds later a deluge of porridge came exploding out the door of the cottage like a tidal wave with a roar. The townspeople seeing this huge, fast flowing wall of pea green porridge ran screaming in every direction to escape, emptying out the village.
The green ooze was now hip deep and coming fast. It spread out between the little houses and into the woods beyond. Frederick cut to his left at the first opportunity and ran off into the forest, hopping over logs and bushes to make his escape. Jake and Kate had lost sight of him as they ran straight out of the village and into the woods, dodging tree limbs and underbrush in an effort to outrun the wall of warm, green lava-like ooze roaring up behind them.
Their escape route was cut off however, by a steep drop off. A river that ran near the village had recently flooded its banks after some heavy rains and had begun to recede leaving a mucky, swampy stretch at the bottom of the drop. Jakob saw they had nowhere to go, so thinking quickly, he grabbed onto a good sized sapling, wrapping his legs and arm around it. With the other arm he grabbed onto Katherine holding onto her tightly and braced himself against the impact of the porridge tidal wave that was about to hit. The now six foot high wall of ooze slammed into them and poured over the drop in a huge rush and filled the swamp below making a disgusting glorping sound as it landed.
*********
The old witch smiled with delight at the sight. "Now all you need is just a little more help to make it to your final resting place, my little troublemaker!"
"Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after"
She laughed gleefully as she waved her hand and turned from the window thinking Jakob dead and her plan could now be finished.
*********
As the wall of ooze receded, Jake asked, "Are you alright?", but before Katherine could answer Jakob somehow lost his footing on the edge of the drop off and his grip on the tree and Kate at the same time. It felt like he had been forcefully ripped away from them and he slid backwards down the steep drop on his back heading quickly for the porridge filled swamp. Kate leaned forward grabbing at him trying to stop his fall, but slipped in the oozy mud and landed on her stomach, sliding down the drop right behind him. Jake landed in the mucky mess on his back and immediately went completely under, disappearing from sight. "Jakob!" screamed Kate as slid down hill and landed face first in the muck.
She sat up completely covered in green and black muck. She realized she was sitting right on top of Jake and tried to feel around with her hands to find him, but could find nothing but mud. "Jakob!" she screamed again desperately trying to find him in the depths of the swamp. Tears began to fill her eyes as she felt her way around. She sat back in despair as the tears fell leaving clean streaks on her muddy cheeks, "Oh Jakob, no!"
After what seemed like an eternity, Jake suddenly sat up, spitting muddy green and black muck all over her and he inhaled sharply to catch his breath. Kate yelped at the sight of him popping up covered in ooze, but she was relieved to see him. "Oh Jakob, just look at you", she said half laughing at the sight and half glad to see he was alright. She gently lifted his glasses off of his face and placed them on her head so they wouldn't get lost in the muck and gently began to wipe the gunk off of his face with her fingers.
"Are you alright Kate?" he asked worriedly as he began to wipe the mucky mess away from her face with his hands as well. He could clearly see the clean streaks left by her tears.
"Yes, I'm fine. I was so worried when I couldn't find you", she fussed as she wiped the mud from his beard with her thumbs. Kate stopped moving and realized she was holding his face in her hands. Looking into his soft, brown eyes filled with worry, she realized at that moment how much he cared about her. He had been the one in trouble, but he was more worried about her than anything else.
As Jakob wiped her cheeks gently with his thumbs, he could feel that she had stopped fussing and saw she was smiling at him. He held her face delicately in his large hands, his thumbs gently caressing her cheeks. Looking into her dark eyes, he saw only joy that he was alright and he shyly returned her smile. Just moments ago she had been genuinely frightened that she had lost him forever. As they looked at each other, he felt like butterflies had invaded his stomach, a whole herd of them!
They leaned forward into one another and their lips touched. Their fingers gently exploring each others faces as the kissed deeply. When they finally parted, Jake looked at her and said seriously, "Kate, we can't do this."
Kate felt bewildered, "Why not Jakob? I care for you. Don't you care for me?"
"Yes! No, I mean...we can't do this now…we're sinking!"
Kate let out a shriek as she looked down and saw that the mucky greenish black mud was now up around Jake's chest and as she was basically sitting on his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist, the oozy muck was quickly rising above her waist. Her skirts were soaked with it and the weight of her dress was pulling them both down into the swamp. She tried to get off of his lap, but found she was stuck fast in the mud. If they didn't get out of there now, they would both be sucked down into the swamp together.
Jake looked around trying to find something, anything that would help him free them. Over his left shoulder Jake spied a tree root that was sticking out into the swamp. 'That's it!' he thought. He told Kate exactly what he was going to do and hoped in his heart it would work the way he planned. Given what had just happened moments before, he wasn't ready to die just yet.
"Kate, listen to me", he said quickly, "I am going to roll over now and try to reach that tree root over there. If I can get hold of it, I should be able to pull us both out of here. What I need you to do is put you arms around my neck and hold on tightly and I will pull you out, alright?"
When Kate thought about it, she began to feel panic rising inside her. "No Jakob, if I do that, my weight will push you farther down and you'll drown! There has to be another way! Please, it's too dangerous!"
He gently grasped her shoulders to calm her down and make her focus. Looking directly into her eyes, he begged her, "Kate! Listen to me! I know what I'm doing. This is our only chance and you must trust me!" His pleading eyes searched hers for the answer, "Please…"
Kate nodded and even though the fear was still quite evident, her face told him that she did trust him. A renewed determination rushed through him. Turning slowly to his left, he reached out towards the tree root, trying to keep himself afloat in the mire. Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and held on. As he began to move slowly towards his goal, he sank slowly into the mud up to his chin. Reaching out with the other hand, trying to swim his way through, he sank a little farther. The progress was slow and for every few inches he moved forward, he would sink in just a little bit more.
"I have to let you go Jakob!" shouted Katherine, "I'm just too heavy! Please don't worry about me, save yourself so you can free Will!"
"Don't you dare let go of me!" he shouted back as he struggled through the muck trying desperately to keep his head up to breathe, "don't you dare or I shall have to pull you out by your hair!"
The root was one just inches from his fingertips. With one more stretch his fingers brushed past it. He pushed again and this time he grabbed hold only to have it slip from his muddy grasp. Finally, he was able to grip the root and began pulling them both out of the swamp very slowly. At last, reaching solid ground, they rolled over onto their backs and began to recapture the breath lost to effort, fear and exhaustion.
Katherine sat up and looked down at Jake with a smile on her face, her eyes shining, "That was the most amazing moment of my life!"
"Oh it was nothing really", said Jake as he sat up as well and took his glasses off the top of her head. "I've been in similar situations before and it was actually easier to do than I thought it would be in the beginning."
Jakob tried in vain to clean his glasses, but to no avail. He simply gave up and tucked them into the front pocket of his shirt.
"It was nothing?" snapped Kate, "It was too easy? Just what kind of a man are you, Jakob Grimm?"
Jake was completely puzzled by this. "You did mean the whole porridge, swamp, rescue thing didn't you?"
"What do you think I meant?" she said with an irritated look. With that, she jumped up and stalked off into the woods.
He watched her go and sitting there thinking the whole thing through, it suddenly occurred to him what she had meant. "Oh", he said to himself quietly then, "Oh! Kate wait!" he called to her in surprise as reality sank into his currently very thick head. Bolting up from the ground, he followed her through the wood. "Kate, wait. Where are you going? Kate? I'm sorry! Please wait!"
He cut around in front of her blocking her path and throwing his hands up in front of him, begging her to stop, asked, "Was I?" He swallowed hard, "Was I really amazing?" Looking at her very innocently he bit his bottom lip waiting for a response.
Kate looked at him standing there covered in muck, waiting for her approval and she couldn't help but smile at him. "Yes", she said as she took his hands in hers, "Just amazing."
Jakob blushed shyly and stuttered back, "Thank you."
"Now let's get down to the river and wash this stuff off", she laughed, "It's starting to itch."
As they walked to the river, she never let go of his hand. When they reached the river, they found they had come upon a beautiful clearing with a small waterfall that spilled into a large clear pool. Jake sat on some rocks and pulled off his boots, pouring out the oozy muck that filled them as he watched Kate wading into the water fully clothed to wash the mud from her dress and hair. He dove in after her and came up splashing water at her making her laugh. After they had finished, they sat on the rocks in the warm sun together to dry.
"Oh Kate", Jake apologized, "I never should have brought you along. This work is much too dangerous and it's gotten you into harm's way at least twice. I really…"
"Oh nonsense!" she replied laughing, "I don't regret coming along at all. I absolutely love this and I have never had so much fun in my life, with the exception of the spiders of course."
Jake gave her a wide smile. He was very happy that she enjoyed sharing this crazy life he had chosen. Touching the side of her face, he leaned in to kiss her once again, but was interrupted by shouting coming from near the top of the waterfall. It was Frederick.
"Hello! Hello!" he called to them, "I'm glad to see you're alright! I thought I had lost you. My, that was quite something wasn't …"
Fred promptly walked off the edge of the cliff next to the waterfall and fell with a huge splash into the pool below. Seconds later he popped up out of the water sputtering, "Woo! Well that was most refreshing!" and began wading out of the water.
"You alright?" called Kate.
"Bloody fantastic!" he called back cheerfully. Sloshing over to them, dripping wet, he plopped down on the rocks right between them, forcing them apart and began blathering on about the whole porridge incident, paying little attention to Kate and Jake.
They both leaned backwards and leaning behind Fred's back Jakob quietly said, "He is an idiot." Katherine simply replied, "Indeed."
This was my favorite chapter to write, for obvious reasons. However, in the way of a hint of things to come, this will be the last happy moment they will share together for quite a while. Thanks for reading this far and please leave reviews. I'd love to hear from you.