Well, it seems that Katherine and Jakob like each other well enough after all doesn't it? Will they live happily ever after? Oh well, that remains to be seen I fear. The old witch had failed to get rid of dear Jakob, so you well know she will try again don't you. The next part of the story is rather sad I'm afraid. You see Jakob and Katherine had just found each other, but Jakob will very shortly find himself lost and alone again right after they come upon...
The Little Gingerbread House
The three travelers made their way back to the little village to collect their things and hopefully get back on their way again. They were more than a bit apprehensive about what damage that may have been done. When they arrived they found that the porridge was gone and the village looked much the same as it did before, except it was deserted.
After hurriedly collecting their packs from their rooms, Jakob left a few coins on the table for the master of the house and they left the inn talking about how they would go about getting to the Castle of the Birds. Upon walking out the front door, they came face to face with a group of very angry and frightened villagers. The looks on their faces told everything. The array of sharp and blunt farm implements in their hands made Fred and Kate take a step backward behind Jake, effectively using him as a barrier.
Jakob put his hands up in front of him, scrunched up his nose and gave them a very puzzled look. "What?" he asked, confused by the disgruntled looking mob in front of him.
The old Frau whose house they had been in when the porridge pot boiled over pointed at them yelling, "There are the cursed ones! This is all their doing! This place was a quiet little village until they came! They're witches, I say!"
The villagers shouted in agreement as they raised their hands armed with pitchforks, rakes and anything else that was at hand, shaking them in the trio's direction.
"Get them!" yelled one of the men as he poked his pitchfork forward, leading the charge.
"Oh no…" said Jakob despondently. He turned and saw the other two were already making for the forest, leaving him behind to deal with the angry mob. Turning back toward the oncoming wave of villagers he let out a little shriek and bolted off after Fred and Kate. They all ran for their lives into the woods with all the villagers right behind them.
It took some time dodging around in the wood and hiding until they finally lost them. After waiting to make sure the villagers had given up their chase, Jakob got his bearings and they made off in the direction he reckoned would take them to the witch's castle.
*********
As the old witch looked out the window of her tower, she spit in anger! The troublemaker had escaped his doom she had set for him in the swamp. In a fit of resolve she was now quite ready to see to his end personally.
"I will have to snatch the girl now, I have no choice! The equinox is but two weeks away and that troublemaker has been a thorn in my side for the last time! I will personally see to his death with my own two hands!"
She turned and headed down the stairs so quickly, her long white hair billowed out behind her as she flew. "This time my plan will be fool proof, despite the good intentions of one fool in particular."
*********
Wilhelm looked out the window of the tower into the dark night studying the stars above thinking about how beautiful they looked. He wished he could see them from the outside, but knew that as long as he remained locked inside this horrid tower, he never would.
The eastern horizon was slowly turning a faint, pale blue, he knew it would be light soon and the castle occupants were still in their enchanted sleep. Picking up his knife from the food tray he began working on the door's hinges once again. Having already loosened the top hinge, he had been going about working on the bottom one.
It had been two weeks and he was actually getting sick of the sight and smell of all the rich food. 'Perhaps I was better off in that little cottage starving with my brother.' he thought. He had learned to sleep through the music and the noise in order to spend his nights working on his escape. One thing was for sure, Jakob's habit of talking in his sleep would never bother him again. In fact, right now, he would welcome that disturbance with open arms.
The knife slipped out of the hinge and Will pinched his fingers soundly. "Fat Christ!" he swore as he stuck his fingers in his mouth and sucked on them for a few minutes. He leaned back against the cold stone wall in exhaustion and irritation at his own incompetence. The sky outside his window had begun to lighten as the morning crept in. 'Another day in this god-awful tower', he thought.
Leaving his task behind, he went to the window to watch the light spreading over the landscape in the cold, crisp morning. The fall leaves were picking up their blazing color as the sun slowly washed over them. He grasped the bars in his hands that kept him from the outside world. "Jakob, where are you?" he said quietly scanning the landscape as far as he could see. Will had never felt as alone as he did on this cold, clear morning.
He began working on the hinge once again and in just a few short moments, the second hinge popped loose. 'Yes! Finally success!' he thought as shear joy rushed through him, but now he would have to wait just a bit longer. He would have to time this just right. If he left the room too soon, he would get caught the spell and end up sleeping where he falls with the rest of them. Too late and he would run the risk of getting caught by the guards and all his work would be wasted. He knew he had only a few minutes to get out of the castle when the clock struck the eleventh hour. Just a few hours more and he would have his freedom, but whatever that meant for him now, he didn't quite know.
*********
The trio had made good time traveling through the woods towards the castle. Jakob reckoned that it would only be two more days travel until they reached their destination. It was a bright, cold and crisp morning and the sun warmed them as they walked. A light breeze made the red, yellow and purple-brown leaves rustle overhead and swirl around the ground beneath their feet.
As they walked along Frederick asked, "so tell me Jakob, what is your plan for defeating the witch once we arrive at her castle?'
"Plan? There is no plan really", he replied.
"Well you must have some idea what we're going to do, don't you?"
"Not the foggiest. I'm just sort of going to play it by ear and see what happens. These things can be a bit dicey at best and each ones a bit different, so there you have it" Jake hurried away to catch up to Katherine leaving Fred to ponder what was said.
Fred thought for a moment with a very puzzled look on his face, "Wait…what? Jake, wait up!"
He tried in vain to get Jake to give him some sort of hint, but none was forthcoming.
In truth Jakob really didn't have any idea what he was going to do when he got there. He would just have to work things out the best way he could when the time came. He had only really done something like this once after all.
Jakob stopped, pushed his glasses up on his nose and looked around. Something about this place just felt wrong.
"What is it Jakob?" asked Katherine.
"I can't put my finger on it, but it feels like we've been here before", he said with a deep frown on his face.
Kate looked around; scanned the area closely and a look of surprise came over her face. "Your right", she replied, "It does seem like we've been here before. Those rocks over there and that thicket of gooseberry bushes…oh no, we have been here before. At the very least twice as I recall. Now what do we do?"
"Saints in hell!" swore Frederick as he plopped down on the ground tiredly, "I am sick of this whole thing! I wish I had never agreed to come on this fool's quest!" He grabbed up a handful of leaves and sticks and flung them away in disgust.
"Frederick! Get up this instant!" scolded Kate, "You were the one who couldn't wait to run off and rescue the Princess and if it wasn't for you, she wouldn't have been taken in the first place! You and your "pining heart". You just couldn't leave well enough alone as I told you to do and now poor Jakob and his brother are in trouble because of you as well!"
"Kate really", began Jake trying to defend him, "He didn't have anything to do with…"
"No! He has to be told! He has to take responsibility for his foolish daydreaming notions once and for all. This time he has gotten others in trouble as well as himself." She turned to Frederick once again, "Now get up and get moving! You will finish this and I will see to it if it's the last thing I do!"
Frederick reluctantly got up off the ground and as they moved off he followed behind them, sulking all the way.
A short time later, Fred looked around as a familiar odor filled his nostrils, but considering where they were, it seems very out of place. "Do you smell cookies?" asked Fred.
"What, in the middle of the forest?" said Kate looking at him oddly "Are you going daft?"
"No Kate, he's right. I do smell cookies", Jakob sniffed the air cautiously.
As they kept walking, the forest had begun to thin quite a bit and through the trees they could see a small cottage just ahead of them nestled in the wood. There was a garden in the front with all sorts of beautiful flowers blooming. It was painted warm shades of brown and the shutters had tiny heart shapes cut into them. To the left stood a stone well and a bucket with a long rope attached sat on the ground beside it. It was quite a charming and inviting little house, one that any weary traveler would welcome the sight of.
Jakob could just feel that there was something wrong about this whole thing, but he wasn't sure what as yet. "I don't think we really should go near that cottage. I think we should just keep moving."
Frederick's stomach growled loudly. "Ah, I'm starving!" he declared, "The smell of those cookies is driving me mad!"
"I can smell it now too", said Katherine, her mouth beginning to water.
Just then it all made sense. Jake knew why this odd little cottage appeared in the middle of the woods from nowhere. "The cottage, it's like the one before. It has to be the witch! We can't go near it!"
He waved his hands around pleading for their attention, but it did no good. Frederick had already bolted off towards the house followed by Kate. Jakob threw his hands up in frustration and took off after them, trying in vain to stop them.
Fred ran up the cobblestone walkway and ran his hands over the window shutter. "I was right!" he shouted, "It's Lebkuchen! The whole house is made of it!"
"Well now I know you have lost your mind", chided Kate, "A whole house made of Lebkuchen in the middle of the forest?"
"Kate" called Jakob panting as he caught up to her, "We have to leave here now. This is the witch's cottage!"
A sense of panic welled up inside Kate at hearing Jakob's words, but the smell of the cookies made her feel a bit dazed and confused. She knew they had to get out of there, but at the same time she felt almost compelled to stay rooted to the spot where she stood.
Frederick broke of a piece of the shutter with his hands and brought it to Kate waving it under her nose. "See I told you. It's gingerbread!" He broke off a small piece and crammed it in his mouth and as he chewed a wide smile came over his face. "This is the best gingerbread I have ever tasted!"
"Fred, No!" shouted Jake and Kate at the same time, but it was too late. He had already swallowed it. He broke off another piece and handed it to Katherine. She couldn't help what she did next, the smell was so overpowering. Popping the piece of gingerbread in her mouth she declared, "Your right. This is the best gingerbread I've ever had!" Fred tried to hand a piece of it to Jake, but he refused and stepped back making a disgusted face as he tried to hold his breath so as not to smell the fragrance of the gingerbread.
"No, we can't be doing this", he said nervously, "this has to stop now and we have to get away from here as fast as we can. Please listen to me! Fred, Kate, Please!"
Frederick and Katherine didn't hear a word he'd said. They just stood there like a couple of children munching away happily. The door to the cottage opened and Jake, startled, jumped back. His hands shot up in a defensive gesture.
Out of the door of the cottage strode a woman like Jakob had never seen before. She was of incomparable beauty. He was immediately stricken by her, his arms slowly falling to his sides and causing him to forget his companions for the moment. Tall and lithe, yet quite buxom, she moved like a willow in the wind in a gown the color of deep blue sapphires. Her pale skin was offset by long dark hair the color of ebony that fell in tiny ringlets all the way down to her hips, her eyes were a deep brown like a young doe in the forest and her full lips were as luscious as the morning dew on a deep red rose. She never took her eyes off Jake and it made him shiver inside as if she had looked directly into this eyes.
"Well what is this? Looks like I have two little mice nibbling at my house", her voice was just as enticing as the rest of her.
Jakob suddenly came to as if splashed by cold water in his sleep, "Oh, no no no! They meant harm really. I am so sorry about this…about your house, I mean. Um well, I…we were just on our way. Just passing through and um…I uh, we should really be going…yes."
He tried in vain to grab each of them by the arm and lead them away from the house, but they protested that they didn't want to go and it would be rude of them to leave just yet and so on, working themselves free of his grasp.
"Oh, it's quite alright", said the raven-haired beauty, "If you are so hungry as to take a bite of my house, why not come inside. I have delicacies beyond compare inside that I am most willing to share and I wouldn't want travelers in my land to go hungry."
Jakob tried once again to get Katherine and Frederick to leave, but they continued to resist him as if they had completely forgotten what they were on their way to do. Nothing seemed to matter to them but food.
"Oh come on", chided Fred, "A good meal and then we can go on our way with a renewed vigor. What do you say, eh?"
"Oh, please", plead Kate, "it couldn't hurt to rest for just a bit. Please?"
"We have to get to the castle", mumbled Jakob out of the side of his mouth at them, while keeping his eye on the woman and a rather stupid smile on his face in an effort to seem to remain polite.
"Oh forget him. He's no fun at all", Fred laughed and he and his sister turned to enter the cottage.
"Wait, no!" called Jake as he tried to follow after them.
He had only gotten a few steps when he was cut off by the charming enchantress. Gliding up to him as if she were floating on air, she looked into his soft brown eyes that were now tinged with fear and cooed as him softly, "Please do come inside. After all, a big strapping man like you must be starving after wandering around lost in the forest all day."
She slowly ran her fingers up the side of his chest as she leaned in toward him. Her fingers lightly traced the hollow of his cheek as she looked deeply into his eyes, her body pressing firmly up against his. Jakob had begun to sweat despite the coolness of the day and he could feel his knees begin to tremble just as any man's would who was faced with such a beauty softly caressing him. He couldn't help but be drawn to her, her eyes locked to his looking deep into his soul, her body moving against his.
"Come on Jakob. You know you want it", he felt her breath on his cheek as her lips brushed past his, teasing. "You know you want to taste it"
Her other hand came up between their faces stopping right under Jake's nose and in the palm of it rested a piece of the gingerbread. Jakob's mouth had begun to water; the smell was overwhelmingly enticing now. He swallowed hard as he stared down at the small, brown, heart-shaped cookie in her hand.
"Just one little taste Jakob and you can anything you wish for." she said seductively as she held the piece of gingerbread in her fingers and waved it under his nose.
Letting out a soft sigh and weaving back and forth, following the bit of cookie in her fingers, Jakob was nearly under her spell. Yes, a wish would be perfect! He could put an end to this whole thing with just one wish. He wanted that bit of cookie now more than anything in the world. Except maybe her! How could he not help but want her as well? She was beautiful, she was exciting and she was a liar!
Common sense had just rudely invaded his fantasy. How did she know his name? How did she know they had been lost in the forest and wandering about that day? Something was wrong, dead wrong.
"Beans", he said matter-of-factly.
"What was that my love?" the enchantress asked smoothly.
"Beans!" Jake shouted in her face.
Grabbing her by the shoulders he pushed her away while at the same time backing up a few steps into the garden tripping over the flowers as he went. He was sweating with fear now. Nervous and shaking he raised his hands and pointed at her, stammering, "How do you know my name, witch? Hm? Hm? Ha…How did you know we were lost? No wait, I can tell you. You're the witch aren't you? Hm?"
For some reason he would never be able to comprehend, even years later, he loosely crossed his arms and a smug look came over his face as he guessed her identity. However a small voice in the back of his mind literally screamed at him, 'Don't taunt the witch, you fool. Don't taunt the witch!'
"You weren't as easy as I thought you'd be" she said smoothly, "You must really care for the girl more than I had anticipated."
Jakob tilted his head and gave her a bit of a confused look.
"But no matter", she continued, "they're mine now and you will never see her again!"
"The girl has nothing to do with it!" he protested, "What made you think you could get away with this? Did you really think I would fall for this and for you?"
He was getting a little too cocky for his own good now. "I could never be charmed into doing anything by such a vile creature as you! Now let them go or I'll…I'll…"
Jake looked around desperately for something, anything he could use. He was woefully unprepared the this encounter and it occurred to him that this time there was no enchanted axe, no magic mirror, nothing he could use to stop her no matter how much he wished it.
"Or you'll do what?!" she screamed. The scream became a twisted ear-piercing shriek.
The witch shrieked so loudly, Jakob had to cover his ears for fear they would bleed. Where those words he spoke had come from, he wasn't quite sure, but he immediately regretted saying them. The witch slowly raised her arms above her head as a foul wind came rushing up out of the very ground on which she stood. With another earsplitting shriek she transformed to her real appearance.
'Dammit Jake, you've taunted the witch!' he thought. Balling up his fists and shaking them, he squeezed his eyes shut and scolded himself, "Stupid! Stupid!"
The old witch's eyes flashed with anger, "The girl you care for so much has now completed my collection and her foolish brother will serve as the centerpiece of my celebration feast!"
Jakob's stomach felt a little queasy at the thought, adding to his already existent disgust at letting that old hag get that close to him. The thought that he almost…well, it was just too much to think about in one sitting.
"However, I have no use for you! You're much too tall and too thin. You would probably cook up much too stringy for my tastes!"
Jakob started to protest that statement, but realized he would be only talking himself into being the main course. Instead he took one last shot at getting Fred and Kate out of there. He shouted their names knowing it would do no good, but he had to try all the while keeping his eye on the witch.
'I could really use Will's help right now', he thought. If only for one of them to serve as a distraction while the other fetched Fred and Kate from the house. In desperation he bolted for the front door hoping if he got inside, he might be able to at least find a clue to the source of her power or perhaps a weakness he could exploit like the Queen's mirror in Marbaden.
It was not to be however, the witch raised her hands and Jakob found himself frozen in his tracks.
"It's time to say goodbye to your friend and your lost love! You will cry for the loss of her, but it won't be for very long, I've made sure of that! Take this one final thought to the grave with you Jakob Grimm, you've failed!!"
Jakob suddenly felt himself being shot straight up into the air. He couldn't move, he could barely breathe.
"Ding dong bell, Pussy's in the well!" shouted the witch as she shoved her hands forward in the air toward Jake.
Just as suddenly he was thrown backward at high speed. He never heard the rest of the rhyme. His world blurred as he flew like a rag doll and his chest burned from the impact of the witch's magical blow that felt like he had been kicked by a wild horse. The back of his head made contact with something hard and as a wave of horrible pain shot through him, he mercifully blacked out.
The witch had thrown Jakob into the dry well next to the cottage and he had slammed the back of his head into the inside wall of the well as he fell. She laughed to herself knowing that at the bottom of that well the little troublemaker would surely die and trouble her no more.
When Jakob came to a few moments later, he was lying on his back looking upward; his head and back throbbing with pain. He knew he had failed, his friends were now gone and there was nothing he could do. The thought crossed his mind that he may die at the bottom of this well as he stared up at the small circle of blue far above him.
It was done and over now. He had let down Katherine and Frederick and they had been captured. As the thought of Katherine trapped forever in a golden cage weighed on his heart, tears began to well up in his eyes. He sobbed at the thought of never seeing her again however short a time that might be for him now.
His thoughts turned to his brother Will and Kate's words to her brother came back to him. "He has to take responsibility for his foolish daydreaming notions once and for all. This time he has gotten others in trouble as well as himself!" He sobbed again at the thought and as one lone tear escaped down his cheek he whispered, "Forgive me Will."
Poor Jake. This is not how he would have had things end up at all. Now what will happen to them all? Thanks for the reviews. It always nice to hear from readers what they think of the story. Please keep reading and reviewing. Thanks.