Chapter 4: The Long, Dark Hole
Heat rises from the horse's flanks adding to my fugue. I am pressed against a long bow whose string cuts cruelly into my flesh, I hold on for dear life. I can see now that the trees are thinning. The Queen's road twists alongside the path we have taken. Once we get to the castle, there will be no chance of escape. I look about hoping to spy an opportunity for flight but it is hard to see in the dark. Then a creature lands on my shoulder. I swat it with my hand. But instead of leaving it flies to my ear.
"Get ready to jump!" it says, "now!"
Why I trust this voice in the dark I don't know, but I jump, tumbling off the horse's flank, barely clearing its pounding hooves. I land on an incline and begin to roll picking up speed as I descend, bumping over rocks and roots, stopping only when I crash into the trunk of a tree. The ground begins to tremor then open up to swallow me. Falling down through the dark earth, time is suspended as I twist left, then right, always down until I land with a thump on a mound of dirt. I am a sorry sight! My head pounds, my body aches, I am lost and alone, standing in a hole in a tattered dress. It seems futile even to cry. Then, a humming sound rushes toward me.
"Follow me", says a voice in my ear, taking off down a twisting dark path.
I trail after the noise and find myself in some kind of room. It is circular in nature with many doors standing as guards to its perimeter. A large hat sits in the center. Each door beckons with a swirling scene but I am drawn to one in particular. I reach out to touch the picture on the door and my hand melts through. The humming grows louder and the creature whose been my guide begins diving at my head. I swat wildly, arms wind-milling out of control. Then I lose my footing and begin to fall through the door. The creature comes with me and I hear him say, "Two go in, two go out."
At the Queen's gate the rider pulls up his steed. His armor clanks and grinds as he dismounts, slinging his bow across his back. He is a shadow moving through the great hall, illuminated only by the flicker of torchlight glinting off the metal suit encasing him. As he strides toward the lair of his mistress he knows only one thing, she will not be pleased.
He is not disappointed.
"Your majesty," he says entering, genuflecting. She is clothed in silks of black that outline her beauty in lace and her cruelty in diamond shards and leather. The Queen's face contorts, "Where is she?"
"She got away," the Huntsman replies.
The Queen raises her hand and he is thrown against the wall, slammed mercilessly over and over until his head spins and the fight is knocked from his body. Then the Queen approaches, her fingers stroking his beard before digging into his neck with painted claws, "How could you let her get away!" she demands, her voice cutting slowly like a knife.
"I, I don't know," he says, gasping for breath.
The Queen stokes his beard again, he is so...helpless. "I shall punish you well for this, later," she replies, branding her words on his lips with a searing kiss.