She was sat in her chamber with sleep evading her now that she was away from Eric.
As her eyes wandered around her room they fell on the chess board that was set up in her morning room where William had been teaching her the rules of the game. She loved the strategy behind it; the idea that you had to play your opponent against themselves but she didn't ever have the patience to sit still and play the game. She walked over to the ancient Ironwood table and looked at how the game was set, she and William had sat down to a new game the previous morning and as she looked at the lay out she realised that once again William was going to simply let her win.
Anger flashed through her, she would like to be beaten at least once or genuinely beat him on her own merits. She picked up her Queen and turned the figure in her hands, it was exquisite; made by the royal craftsmen who were the best in the Kingdom, but it was cold and unfeeling.
The chess board was made for her coronation the white pieces were formed of her, William, Duke Hammond, the generals, the North Tower with the Dwarves as the pawns. On the other side of the board was Ravenna and Finn with the round mirror the supposed seat of her power, her dark knights and the throne with ravens as her pawns to make up the rest of the pieces; there was no Huntsman in sight as if everyone had forgotten he was even there. She felt that this had been William's doing as she had realised he was rather jealous of the older man. The chess set represented light conquering the dark and it should have made her happy that the battle that had taken so many of her people was immortalised so she could always remember it, but all she could think of was the warm soft wood, the care and love that Eric had poured in to his project. She placed the marble version of herself back on the board in the place she had taken her from and sat at the window looking out across her Kingdom a familiar pang of loneliness igniting in the pit of her stomach.
Turning away from the window she found a piece of parchment and hoping that Eric could actually read began to write him a small and compact note. When she had finished she passed it to the guard outside of her door and commanded him to take it to the farmhouse on the coast as soon as the sun rose. The guard gave her an odd look, but knew better than to ask questions of his Queen and agreed that he would do as he was bidden as soon as the sun rose and his watch shift ended.
After closing the door she thought over the uproar that had occurred once she had arrived back at the palace that evening. The Duke almost had a heart attack and William was furious. If she thought she was going to be away from the palace longer than a few hours she was supposed to mention it before she left so as not to cause a commotion. She had apologised and told the truth; that she didn't think she was going to stay away that long and that had she known she would have told both the Duke and William. She told them that time had slipped out of her hands and that no matter what; she was as safe with the person she had gone to meet as she would be in the palace.
Although Eric had left before the portcullis had been opened for her, from the look in William's eyes she knew he had seen Eric riding across the beach back to his house. She also knew that he wasn't happy with her rekindling this relationship. Not that it was any of his business. And it wasn't hurting anyone so what was the harm? Eric had put his life on the line to save her and the least she could do was act like he actually existed and meant something to her. She hadn't sworn the guard outside to secrecy, but she hoped that he would be discreet with her message for Eric as she didn't have enough energy to fight with William about it.
She paced her chambers thinking that maybe she should take the message back; it wasn't right for her to ask something of Eric. She didn't want him brought in to palace life as she had loved his house and the warmth in there. She thought of how he looked after all these months and had to admit to herself that he was indeed very handsome. His long straw coloured hair had been cut and he held it in a clasp at the base of his neck as he worked, his eyes had been crystal clear and the light grey had almost looked sky blue. His clothes were clean not a stain in sight; his leather vest was fitted and his pants just a little too long so they covered his boots.
It was his smile however that had caught her off guard the most. It was the tender look of it that she had only seen a hint of before the coronation. The warmth that resided in the upward turn of his lips made her heart beat just a little faster. The biggest change was how he smelt. Gone was the smell of dirt, grog and sweat; which she had oddly grown accustomed too when they had met and it wasn't as if she smelt any better after all the years locked in the North Tower. Now though he smelt of the earth after the rain, wood chips and wind tossed leaves, he was fresh, exciting and more than a little mysterious. She stopped pacing and picked up her gown that she had been wearing earlier that day it was splashed with sea salt and she could smell its bitter tang without raising the material to her nose, when she did she could smell him and with that she relaxed once more. With his scent fresh in her mind she lay down on her bed and sank in to a deep peaceful sleep.
The sun had barely reached the horizon as Eric saddled Adahy again getting him ready to take the chess board to the old man; he was just getting ready to leave when he saw a figure on the horizon a dark smudge making their way towards him. For a second his heart stopped thinking that it may be Snow White, but he quickly realised that there was no way that she would be leaving the palace this early without some sort of escort. As the rider got closer he saw that the man was in fact one of her banner men and that he must have been sent to see him on her orders.
Knowing that it had something to do with Snow he waited until he approached. The boy couldn't have been much older than the Queen herself and he didn't get off his horse instead he held out a slip of parchment to him; his brow furrowed as he asked,
"You are the Huntsman that lives in this farmhouse?" Eric nodded and the rider gave him the parchment, the script on the velum was beautiful full of curls and grace. He nodded his thanks to the rider who turned on his heels and headed back towards the palace almost echoing Eric's approach last night. He leant against the stable door and opened the parchment. Within the folds was a short and sweet message,
Dearest Eric,
Your Queen commissions you to create a chess board for her amusement, you have free reign as to the theme that you choose. I am willing to pay whatever the going rate is to procure your craftsmanship. If you are willing to take up the commission I will send another messenger in two days to receive your response.
Yours forever,
Snow White.
He laughed at the message, as if he could refuse her? He knew that she wouldn't punish him, but he also knew that he would regret it if he did not take her up the offer that had been given to him. He walked with Adahy across the field to the next village wondering why she would choose him to make her a chess board. He was sure that there were far more skilled craftsmen in the palace itself and he was sure that by now she must have had her fill of chess sets. Since it was a normal gift for a new ruler; they normally received at least one when they took the throne. What could he possibly do with ironwood and oak that the craftsmen at the palace couldn't do with marble and semi precious stones? If she had a chess set he was sure it would have been commissioned by the Duke and his wet faced whelp of a son and he knew that it would represent the battle against Ravenna. He also knew that he would be nowhere to be found on the board. It was best if they forgot the man that had sold the rebels to the Queen and stolen from them when he was desperate enough.
Even though people change, the perceptions of them are far harder to undo. Time heals all wounds, but rarely does it erase them Eric knew that sentiment well enough.
It took an hour for Eric to walk to the hamlet where the old man lived. He would have rode, but after the round trip to the palace the night before Eric thought he would let Adahy rest until he was too tired to walk and he could tell that his horse appreciated it. Eventually he came up to the small squat thatched cottage and knocked on the door; within seconds the old man opened it and bright eyes that hid the owners true age looked up at him from under thick bushy eyebrows.
"It would seem young Huntsman that cupid himself has shot you with his arrow."
"Sorry Thaddeus, I'm not entirely sure I follow." The old man smiled at him knowingly,
"If I am not mistaken young man, that is the face of a love sick pup." Eric felt himself scowl and that only made the old man laugh all the more.
"Do you want your chess board or not Thaddeus?" at that the old man sobered up and stepped backwards from the door, Eric took the satchel off the side of Adahy and bid his horse to stay in view of the cottage before he followed the old man inside.
"No need to get to tetchy," he said as he led Eric to the back of his house. "She must be quite the beauty to catch your eye though eh?" Eric didn't say anything, but from the bark of a laugh that left the old man's lips he didn't need too, his face told the whole story. "Ah to be young again." The old man said softly sitting down at a large table in front of a bay window. "Set it down here would you?" he asked Eric and he did as he was told. He took the board out of the satchel and as he laid it on the table he heard the sharp intake of breath from the old man, "How did you find out about this?" he asked letting his fingers trace across the lines of his family crest,
"Research," Eric said with a shrug, "Not that it was easy. Most of the old crests were lost when Ra... The Dark Queen took power." He had almost called her Ravenna out loud which was taboo. Most of the people in the kingdom thought that if they didn't speak her name out loud then the curse was gone; bringing up her name was only tempting fate, but since he had seen Snow White kill Ravenna himself he didn't feel fear. He also thought the people of the Kingdom were giving Ravenna more power in the afterlife by fearing her name in the way that they did.
"I know," The old man replied laying his hand over one of the squares his eyes brimming with tears of joy, "I never thought I would see this again. Thank you Eric." He said and Eric smiled. Before he started to sell his wares he could never understand how something someone else had made could make someone so happy. Now he understood and it made him proud to be able to give people back something they thought was lost. He took a carved Ironwood box out of the satchel next and placed it close to the board, on the box he had carved a ship tall and majestic like the ones that had once taken to the sea before Ravenna had forbidden sea trade cutting the Kingdom from all of the ones around it. The old man picked up the box and slid back the lid looking at the pieces inside. He took the pieces and set them on the board the tears of joy that he had kept back falling freely down his face. When the board was set he took Eric's hand in his own and squeezed it in gratitude.
"Thank you son," he said around a sob. "This is far more beautiful than anything I could have imagined." He motioned for Eric to sit and play a match with him, "Not even the craftsmen in the palace with all their marble and semi precious stones could have made a thing of this beauty." Eric looked at the older man shrewdly,
"What makes you say that old man?" he asked moving his pawn in response to the old man's first move and Thaddeus laughed,
"There is heart and life in your creations; I can feel it in my fingers as I touch the pieces. You understand the power in the earth and you don't try to tame it you use it. In the palace all they know is technique. They are flawless, but what is the point? People are flawed that is what gives us heart." Eric swallowed hard, he had never thought of it that way. Was Snow asking for a piece of his heart to be forever on display in the palace so that she would be near him even when she was so far away? Hoping against all hope that it was the reason he knew exactly what he was going to create for his queen.
Eric spent the rest of the afternoon at the old man's house being beaten repeatedly at chess; he may be able to make the boards and pieces, but he couldn't play it at all. It had never been something that he had time for or the patience even when he did have time. If he were honest when he did have the time he had been drunk off his ass and anything anyone said to him had riled up his spirit to fight so that he could be knocked unconscious so as to not have to think about Sara. The old man found it amusing that he was beating such a young man and Eric let him amuse himself with the idea it wasn't costing him anything. Eric finally left the old man's house just before dusk and rode Adahy home barely racing ahead of the dying light.