First off would love to thank all those who reviewed, it gave me fantastic reviews!
Also, I had no idea there was a book! (Durrr) and actually read it to help me out a bit so for those of you who have read it, certain parts will sound familiar as I am trying to incorporate it all together.
Anyway, I tried to follow the advice given and hopefully this is better! I enjoyed writing this one :) I tried to develop their relationship and create a dynamic between them, so hopefully it was a success.
It was a miserable day. Much more miserable than usual with rain coming down steadily, in heavy, cold droplets that seeped into the skin. The sky was a darker grey, and clouds hung heavy in the sky giving the impression of looming disaster. Snow White concentrated on her boots as they sunk into what was now mud as the wet hem of her gown slapped against her ankles.
A slight wind had picked up from behind them as if urging them forward, but it only made walking more difficult as her hair was constantly undoing itself from its braid and getting in her face. Eric remained silent as he moved, water dripping off his face and clothing as he had given Snow White his coat earlier that day.
She was thankful for it now when he announced rain was coming though upon inspection there were only a few clouds littering the sky. It was overly large on her, reaching mid calf and needing the sleeves rolled up a few turns. But it was warm and kept the rain from soaking through when it had finally began spattering on them, a light drizzle at first but now to this downpour they found themselves in.
She had offered the huntsman his coat back to at the very least give him a bit of warmth back into his body. He declined naturally, and gave no explanation and secretly she was grateful; if she were to be perfectly honest the idea of being exposed to the elements did not thrill her. But he took it in stride, not complaining except to curse once when he thought he had found relief in the form of shelter only to have his hope dashed.
When they did finally find shelter; two large jutted rocks that stood straight up from the earth with a couple of trees grown crookedly over, forming a type of awning and providing a small, dry crevice. The huntsman ushered her in before sitting down heavily, his back against the stone. He was tired and cold and miserable enough to match the weather. The girl sat next to him, undoing her braid and wringing the water from it then allowing it to hang loose, small strands sticking to her face.
He glanced away. She was sitting close to him, closer than they ever had, but it was all they could do in the small space and he was not inclined to go out in the downpour in search of another, if another existed. Her fair skin almost glowed in the shaded space, her lips redder from being bitten throughout the day as he had caught her doing multiple times before. They were fuller, redder and slightly parted her breathing audible and sounding louder than it really was.
They sat in silence; the huntsman wiping the water from his face while Snow White gazed out at the rain. Her voice startled him slightly, being unusually close to his ear.
"Do you hear that?" she questioned, brow furrowed in concentration.
"Pay it no mind." he grumbled having had trouble keeping the voices out of his own mind. She looked at him sharply.
"So you hear it as well. What are they?"
The huntsman instinctively went for the flask at his side before remembering it had been drained long ago, not so much to his belly but to disinfect the wounds they had sustained along the way.
"Lost souls." her frown grew deeper so he began to elaborate. "The souls of those who have entered the forest and have never left. They linger here still, caught in some type of darkness. If you look about you, you can still see them."
Snow White stared harder at the forest in front of her, her eyes flickering quickly over each shape trying to piece together what he meant; when suddenly she saw it. A tree almost directly across from them had grown misshapen, its trunk bent in the middle slightly with odd rivets that spanned a foot in length, branches outstretched as if reaching out for her.
It looked like a man. Its face contorted and nearly covered in a sickly, brown moss, the rivets resembling ribs and its branches looked like gnarled fingers trying to get her. It was terrifying to think that, that had been a person once and that they still spoke in their half death.
"I had thought it was my mind tricking me...What do they want?" she had noticed the figures in the dark nature about them during their journey but thought it was due to an over active imagination driven on fear.
"Us, to join them in their hell."
Snow White remained quiet for a few more moments before shifting. He watched with curiosity as she removed his coat, the shoulder of her gown slipping off as it had done a hundred times before, exposing more of her skin and the top slopes of her breasts. He hated this dress, it was too big for her and was constantly slipping free. He could gladly say that he was a man, but it was that fact that was crux of their current situation. He was as easily driven to temptation as the next man.
What also made him clench his jaw in frustration, was the fact that she was so unaware of these little things. Would leave her dress the way it was, not aware of what possible affect it had on him, or lifting her gown to examine a sore part of her leg. It would only be a couple of inches of exposed skin, but it was enough.
If he had been his old self, and she less innocent to the ways of the world he would of had his arm draped over her shoulders by now, fingers grazing the exposed skin, consoling her as he shifted closer...
Gratefully he was not, and he had promised to get her to Hammond's safely which in turn meant no one was to touch her, including himself. Which caused him to think back to their previous conversation about her not knowing her face. It was an odd thought, to not know one's own features and when she had said it with that distracted look on her face he wanted to tell her what she looked like.
But he was sure that his description of her once said aloud would result in a slap that he would certainly deserve. Oblivious to his thoughts, she moved the coat length wise and draped it over the both of them, returning the generosity he had shown earlier. She shifted closer in order to cover them both properly, their shoulders brushing but thankfully his coat tucked up under her chin leaving only her face exposed.
"Why do you want to go to the Duke's? Have you family there?"
His question surprised him even. He was not one for speaking freely with others, preferring solitude and the company of grog over that of people. But he found himself talking more and more with the girl, curious about her history; about her.
"No. My parents died when I was a young girl. My mother had become ill and passed away, she had been for quite some time though none of us knew. My father died weeks later, the very day the queen took control of the kingdom and it was that day she imprisoned me."
There was a pause as she remembered, and the nagging voice in the back of her mind that criticized her for not speaking the whole truth. But the princess no longer had a place here and it made no difference to her. Ravenna continued to rule the land, and the only thing she could do was find the Duke and begin life anew, perhaps even continue a life as Rose. She hadn't thought that far in advance.
"I had no brothers or sisters. Or aunts, or uncles. There was no one, and I was alone. But I escaped." she said the part sharply, the determination heavy in her voice as if to remind herself of her strength and will.
"I hurt him, the queen's brother,when he came for me that day."
"Good girl." was all he said and they fell into silence once more.
The rain fell harder as if in disagreement, that or it was attempting to drown those lost souls reaching out for them, inching their way slowly into their minds.
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Eric needed to get them out of this forest as soon as possible. The voices would be silent for a time before whispering yet again; calling out to him. It was worse when it was Sara's voice. It would catch him off guard, nearly tripping him up on the rough terrain. He had accepted her death, knew she was gone but her voice alarmed him and although he missed her with every fiber in his being - he wanted to forget.
There were times in the middle of the night when he was asleep and he would wake with a start; she would be screaming for him to help her. There was always that moment when he was prepared to spring up and go to her, when his brain to begin to work its way out of the sleepy fog it was in, disoriented and forehead beaded with sweat. He would cover his ears to try and keep it out but that was the trouble, the screams were in his mind. This place was slowly driving him mad.
At times, it would be the girl, Rose, asking for help and that would take a moment longer to distinguish, since there was real danger with her. He was becoming paranoid and that was causing him to be sloppy, something they could not afford.
That and there were greater dangers now that they were deep in the forest. The extra precautions they had to take slowed them to a pace he was not comfortable with. There had been a creature that they had come across while resting, made of some kind of black tar that served as skin. It pulled itself from a dark pool of unnatural looking water, using its arms to drag itself out. There was no face, just the shape of a person's torso as it dug its fingers in the earth, its belly dragging on the dirt floor - it seemed to be made from the dark slush that it had emerged from.
This creature, the work of the devil himself he was sure, had literally knocked the air from out of him when he first spotted it. He had never seen anything as hideous or bone chilling His hatchet had removed its head from its body, sending the thing twitching and convulsing back into the pool. The huntsman began to wonder if these creatures would dare to emerge when they slept, possibly drag them into those pools with them.
To add to his troubles, there were the roots and vines which seemed to favor the girl. Three times he had to cut her free from them as they wrapped around her, pulling her back to envelop the girl in a knot trying to suffocate her. The first time it had happened quickly, so fast that had he not looked behind him to check on the girl he would of lost her.
During thicker patches of growth he had her hold onto the back of the belts he wore that held his knives and axes. There were sink holes, where the sand dragged you down the more you tried to escape, snakes that were poisonous and made you delirious. Too many hidden dangers he was not convinced they would survive.
But Snow White had made improvements, she could skin and assist the huntsman in cleaning and cooking whatever game he caught. Slowly learning the small signs of danger; which plants were harmful, what part of the forest floor was safe to step on. He would show her whenever an animal had been around recently, showing her how he knew, teaching her patiently. He answered her endless questions, did not get upset whenever she did something wrong and continued to show her small ways to defend herself.
It was during one of these impromptu lessons that he tried to pry more information from her.
"So, this friend of yours. You're certain they are at Hammond's hold? Watch your arm, keep it lower."
Snow White concentrated on his movements as he had been steadily increasing his speed of attack with each lesson.
"Well for obvious reasons I could not be certain, but I remember him escaping with Hammond's men that night I was taken so its safe to assume he's there."
"He?" the huntsman's brow went up in a exaggerated style and his tone hinted at playfulness. Something sorely missing in this expanse of depression and death.
"Yes he is a he." the huntsman came close as she mimicked a defensive maneuver he had shown her.
"Unrequited love, a classic really."
He continued with the banter and she had experienced that she enjoyed his company most when he was this way, perhaps due to its rarity or the fact that it changed his entire appearance. Not that she thought him ugly, just too stoic all of the time.
Her attack was evaded and he quickly stepped into a different maneuver, his own dagger at her throat.
"You know this, do not become overly confident. Try again."
They moved back into positions, him facing her braced to attack. Snow White was always taken aback when she took him all in, by just how much larger than she. There was a day she recalled comparing the huntsman to the various men she had encountered in her life.
Her father was not an overly large man, not as tall as the others though handsome and warm. And she could remember the slight belly he had gained that her mother often lamented about, the two laughing after leaving her confused. There was an undeniable softness to him or it could be her mind recalling how she saw him as a child.
But then there was Finn, who was tall and lean, though he had never shown any hint of sickness he carried a ill pallor. She knew him to be strong, but she had always been afraid of him and for such a long time the only man she had encountered.
The huntsman on the other hand was broad shouldered and what she could only describe as thick. He was strong, she had felt it herself in his hands whenever he grasped her hand to help her and in his arms the few times he had put his arm around her to show her a different attack. Whenever he was closer to her, he seemed to take up all the space and air and she found herself needing to step back and away from him.
She would watch him when he was walking ahead of her, the way he would cut through the underbrush and her eyes would follow the "V" his back made as his shoulders lined up with his waist. Whenever he would turn his head to ask her something her eyes skittered away, a guilty feeling settling in her which confused her.
Why should she be feeling guilt? There was no harm, no crime in observing. The only thing she could even fathom was it perhaps reminded her of Finn on a deeper level, watching her in her cell? That it might just bother him as it had her whenever she would catch Finn's face pressed against the bars, an eerie, empty smile on his face.
The huntsman lunged for her and she evaded.
"William is not my love. In fact we irritated the other to no end as children. We were only friends because our mothers wanted us to be."
"Ah, it would of made for an interesting story though." side step, swipe.
"More interesting than a wrongly imprisoned escapee running from the queen, with the very man set out to bring her back?"
Her tone was mocking and he took advantage of her relaxed stance and knocked the dagger from her hand, swiftly move behind her placing his dagger back at her throat, her chin upturned.
"Suppose not, though I would not mind being less interesting at present."
The same thought that he would not mind her to be less so as well crossed his mind, when he noticed the shoulders of her dress had slipped free once again. He released her roughly and began returning the daggers to their places.
"That's enough for now. We should not exhaust ourselves." he walked away with her watching his back the feeling that she had missed something lingering in the back of her mind.
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Another three days passed them by, the days the same dreary grey as the ones before it. Making it seem as if they had been travelling one long, endless day. The dark forest had finally thinned out, slowly resembling a natural forest, the trees only half poisoned, the fog behind them and the ground solid. They trudged along side by side not a word passed between them for nearly four hours. A rain had begun fall though not as heavily as it had days before, it still managed to leave them sodden.
Eric brought up the point that the lack of queen's men returning to the castle had most most likely alerted her of their escape and he was sure she had sent out more men for them. The days of fearing the forest more than the queen were behind her now, her presence too real once more. The huntsman had manged to find a crude road that did not look heavily traveled, the ground littered with dried twigs and leaves, crunching beneath their feet.
He was not familiar with this road and was not sure where it led but was grateful nonetheless, that they could leave the hell that had found its way to earth. They had walked the road a long while before the huntsman stopped abruptly, his hand grabbing her arm as he turned his head to listen intently. Snow White strained her ears as well, but only hearing the rain hitting the leaves and the trees moving with the wind, until eventually a slight ringing in the ears.
"Go." he told her, his voice low. "Hide behind that mound there and do not come out until I say it is clear to do so, do you understand?" his fingers grasped her arm tighter and a slight panic blossomed in her chest.
"Why? Whats the matter?"
"Someone's on the road. Go. Stay hidden." his tone left no room for argument and he used his hand on her arm to propel her forward.
Snow White half ran to the log, the rain making her feel heavy and sluggish or perhaps it was due to lack of breakfast. Rain had meant no fire had which in turn meant no food and since that morning her stomach had been rumbling now accustomed to its new daily source of nutrition. She settled herself down behind the log, the smell of dampness, wet dirt and wood mingling together. Pulling the huntsman's coat tighter around her as she drew her knees up to her chest, straining her ears to listen.
There was nothing at first, just silence safe for the rain falling on the hundreds of leaves covering the ground and on the tall trees. She sat for such a time that her legs began to tingle uncomfortably from her position and she shifted slightly trying to release some pressure. Time seemed to drag on and she wondered if maybe the huntsman had imagined hearing anything, she certainly hadn't.
But then the unmistakable sound of horse's hoofs thudding on soft ground was clear, as was a slight, rhythmic clattering. Eric's voice rang out some type of greeting and the horse's whinnied and the thudding stopped along with the clattering. She could not be sure but there had to be some kind of words exchanged because there was a stretch of silence that brought back that familiar pang of panic.
These were strangers, there was a number of dangers this presented and as much as she knew the huntsman could handle himself she still could not calm her suddenly pounding heart. The silence continued on until Eric's voice called her fabricated name. She stood cautiously, her legs protesting the sudden change of position and she saw him coming towards her, mouth in a tight line, soaked through and none too happy.
She glanced behind him and saw two horses, one black and the other a deep chestnut pulling a crude open wagon. Two men were seated at the front of it too far away for her to make out their faces.
Snow White moved to meet Eric part of the way and grasped her shoulders, speaking in a low voice although they were still a ways from the strangers.
"They will take us to the next village, I told them you were my mute sister and that we lost everything back in the kingdom and are seeking new lodgings. You are to say nothing," he moved an arm behind her back grasping her arm, guiding her towards the carriage. "Do not even look at them for too long a time, assume shyness, and do not leave my side for any reason."
She opened her mouth to whisper a question when the hand holding her arm pinched her slightly and she shut it again, not needing any further reprimanding.
The wagon had no cover, there was sodden straw strewn about the back and the two men at the front filled her with distrust. Their clothing was tattered and their faces were not kind. She could feel their stares burning into her and she kept her face down as Eric had instructed, though she was not completely certain why. She had looked up long enough to see the two distinctly; one bald, the top of his head a reddish pink as if he had been burned.
His eyes were small and his chin formed two large ones spilling over the collar of his shirt. He was as round as a barrel, his lips cracked and unsmiling. The other was taller, darker and had wiry, black hair that could not decide if it wanted to be curly or not. His eyes were black as were his teeth that were not missing. He sat rigidly, like it hurt to be there. His face was lined and spotted with liver marks, large, angry welts on his neck.
They looked sickly, and as if they were plotting something against them this very minute. Probably take them back to the Dark Forest and tie them there to die. Eric helped her into the back of the wagon but stopped at the sound of the bald man's voice.
"Must say, ya sistah looks nuffin' like you." the two men held each others gaze for a couple of beats before Eric relaxed.
"We have different mothers. Mine died from the fevers when I was a lad and my father remarried her mother, but she is my sister all the same, half or whole."
The man nodded and turned his face back to the road as Eric pulled himself up and sat next to her. They rode for the remainder of the day, the drizzle stopping after the second hour of the ride. Snow White was weary, and ached to close her eyes and sleep but the hard wood rocking beneath her prevented it.
They came across the first run down farm before sundown. Snow White scrambled onto her knees to lean over the side to see better. The small village was nothing more than a handful of houses surrounded by mud and an air of hopelessness. Looking sadder still with the grey clouds in the sky and lack of life. The men stopped the horses signalling the end of their journey.
"Is there anyone who would take us in? We have no money but are willing to work in exchange for a place to rest."
The two eyed Eric before pointing to a house in dire need of repair. "Old Magdon, she migh' be able ta give ya a place. No sons an' a near cripple for a husbin' she may be in need of 'elp."
Eric nodded and gave them a quick thanks before putting his arm around Snow White again.
"Remember, mute and shy." and they made their way to the half rotted house, leaning slightly as if tired of holding its own weight upright.
With each step she took towards that house she felt she left strength behind with it. Perhaps if it had been sunny and bright out the house would not seem as hostile as it did. Not as unwelcoming and ugly. But it was a dry place to lay their heads tonight so she would simply follow the huntsman's lead and as him later why he wished her not to speak, a feat seemingly easier said than done.
woot! Finito! That was pretty enjoyable to write, so I hoped you liked it. I tried to add some more detail in so hopefully that came across, as well as the characters and a feel for them. Please review, it really helps!