The Burns
The cottage of the seven dwarfs and Eric, the Huntsman, turned to flame behind Gus's still body. This sight in front of Snow White's eyes pierced her humble heart as Finn violently pulled at her silky hair. With these violent images and anger-filled thoughts, Snow White's fury grew within her like a great ball of energy on the brink of explosion. She could feel it pulsing through her veins as her heart beat faster and faster. Finn angrily murmured something to her which her mind had concealed. Only one thought crowded her head as her throbbing fury turned into adrenaline.
Snow White's elbow moved forward and then back against Finn's feeble ribs. He let out a sweeping shriek as his grip on Snow White's hair weakened. As she lurched forward, Finn wrenched strands of hair from her head, but she managed to set free from his grip. Almost immediately, the two pitch-black guards began to charge towards her determined body. Snow White began to sprint with all her might, falling and sliding beneath the first guard's outstretched arms. Her feet seamlessly became stable on the ground once again as the next guard grasped at her legs. Without a single thought, Snow White hurled her body into the air, and for a mere second it felt as though her body floated in the sultry sky. The second guard stumbled forward beneath her, having nothing ahead of him to seize. Snow White landed on her feet, stumbling before storming towards the blazing house.
The entire circumference of the cottage was covered in flame, so that it was nearly impossible to enter or exit without burning. From the force of the powerful fire, the main entryway's door had descended to the ground, it's clasps disintegrating into ash. Above the house, a great collection of smoke soared like an immense number of flies travelling together in a cluster. It wouldn't be much longer before the roof fell into the smoky cottage beneath, crushing every living soul that it inhabited and that looked upon it for shelter. Snow White didn't have long to act as she bellowed another aching scream, terror trembling through her voice, and leaped through the barricade of fire that had filled the space of the door. Her body moved faster than the flame was able to burn.
Inside the small cottage, the air was completely consumed by smoke, making it nearly impossible to see a single thing. The sound of falling wood to Snow White's side thrashed her ears as the smoke infused her lungs. She coughed with a rugged harshness as two small creatures bumped into her numb body. Nion and Duir.
"Snow White, is that you?" Nion coughed from within the smoky haze. "We're getting all the dwarves out immediately. Get outside, it isn't safe for you in here." Through the daze of smoke, Snow White could make out the bodies of seven small dwarfs emerging from their rooms with a ruckus, and heading towards the fiery exit to the refreshing outside air. Snow White examined the bodies of the seven, tiny dwarves, until the realization hit her that Eric was not among them. Snow White wondered if he had more of his daily rum to knock him out cold before going back to bed that evening. His habitual escape was going to kill him now and she wouldn't have anyone but herself to blame for it. She ran towards the tiny room that occupied his colossal body.
Managing to make way through the smoke, Snow White stood facing the door of Eric's bedroom. Her breath was becoming shorter with each inhale and her head was becoming lighter. She knew she didn't have much longer before she would get buried within the ashes of her home. Snow White pushed against the door with all her might to unlatch it from the walls, until realizing that a panel of wood had fallen from the ceiling, barricading entry. She struggled to move the scorching wood with her hands, but her arms failed her – her body only growing weaker each second. Behind her, she heard the loud collapse of dense wood falling to the ground. She dropped her delicate body to the floor beneath her, covering her head as she did. The air near the ground was much clearer, giving Snow White more oxygen to breath more easily and regain some of her strength.
Beneath the fallen panel was a small space which revealed the door to Eric's survival. Snow White shoved it until the door swung wide open with ease. She began to crawl beneath the panel of wood that was as tight as the compressed crevices of a cave. Only in a cave, the air was not permeated with smoke. She struggled to crawl through the small gap, feeling it get tighter with each motion. It fell lower and lower until she managed to squeeze her entire body through the small gap and it collapsed after her. Snow White pulled herself from the ground, coughing up the intoxicating smoke, and jumped to the side of Eric's too small cot.
"Eric!" She screamed, her voice, raspy and dry. Beneath the thin layer of smoke she could make out Eric's peaceful complexion and relaxed demeanour. He would soon be waking up in the very pit of hell itself, if he woke up at all. Snow White thrashed at his tranquil body, Eric remaining motionless, as she continued to scream his name. He wouldn't budge, as if he had already died and she was too late. With her final attempts, she mustered up all her might and swung back her hand. She flung it back forward, slapping Eric cold in the face, before collapsing to the ground with her smoke filled lungs. The last thing she heard was the riot outside of the dwarfs fighting Finn and his two lethal guards. Eric remained without even a twitch from his hefty body.
The dwarfs had scurried out of the burning house one after another when Gort awoke to the sound of Snow White's piercing scream in a room filled of smoke. He poked the other dwarfs awake immediately after and led them outdoors to even more commotion yet. Finn, along with his two guards, remained outside the cottage, ready to kill anyone who made it out alive. And when the dwarfs made themselves visible, the guards attacked immediately.
Fortunately for the seven of them, Gort was ahead of the pack and ready to fight. He unlatched the axe that was secured to his belt buckle and swung it at the guard, missing his neck by millimetres. At the same time, Nion and Duir ran to the back of the house to hide. They weren't fighters of the bunch, and weren't expected to attack by the others. If they did, it was almost certain that they would die. Coll and Quert went after the second guard who stood protecting Finn. Finn had not anticipated the dwarfs to survive, as he expected them to burn to the ground with the house. He wasn't prepared for a fight. Coll flung his dagger at the Guard who shielded it back with his own, and threw the tiny dwarf to the ground. Standing next to the dark gaurd, Coll was one-third his size, so it wasn't hard for him to be taken down.
Muir came to Gort's aid who struggled with the first guard. They had continuously swung their weapons simultaneously, so that the metals would clash, but no contact would be made with flesh. Gort was becoming quickly weary as the gaurds strength seemed to grow, and his endurance appeared to fortify. As Gort's strikes became farther apart and weaker, the guards' strikes became faster and stronger. Finally, Muir stood behind the guard as Gort pushed him back, tripping him. He fell to the ground as Gort flung his axe into the Guard's chest, killing him.
As Nion and Duir hid behind the nearly destroyed cottage, shivering and trembling in fear, Coll and Quert grappled with the second guard. He was skilled in his movements, forcing down the two dwarfs without a sweat breaking from his forehead. Even against the blistering heat of the fire. However, before long, Finn noticed Muir, Gort, and Beith approaching to their assistance. He knew that they wouldn't stay alive much longer against the five dwarfs. As Coll and Quert, laid on the ground, bruised and breathless, Finn made his decision.
"Come on," he ordered to the second guard. "We'll die out here. We're completely outnumbered." The second guard nodded his head in acknowledgement as he followed Finn's cowardly sprint through the caves and away from the dwarfs' land. Coll and Quert coughed on the ground as the five other dwarfs approached them, Nion and Duir finally emerging from hiding. The bunch of them were out of breath as they stopped to refill their lungs. Some were badly burned, while others bled through open sores or were covered in bruises. Their night had not went as planned as their house continued to burn behind them.
"We're missing people," Muir noted, registering the smaller number of dwarfs. "Where's Gus?" The other dwarfs looked around, dumbly, dazed from the unprecedented incident that had just occurred. The fumes made them feel high, lighter than they normally would as their home began to turn to ashes in front of their very eyes.
"Not just Gus," Coll informed. "Snow White and the Huntsman aren't around either." Their worried eyes turned to one another and back to the house that was completely covered in flame.
Eric heard Snow White call his name. It was a faint sound, but beautiful nonetheless – as anything about her was beautiful, he thought. He had decided that he would take Muir's words and stop turning a cold shoulder to Snow White before it was too late and she really was dead. In the mean time, while her heart beat remained, he would take advantage of the time he could spend with her. Through those years that had passed, he presumed that she had been dead anyway. It was really a gift, he figured. Another chance to take care of the girl who he had promised to care for those many years ago. She was their hope and salvation for a better life. He only wished that it didn't come at such a pricey cost.
He listened to his name be called many times over, finally noticing that within the beauty of it, there was a panic. Something was wrong. He subconsciously hoped that his dream wouldn't turn to one of terror as it had been doing every night since he had heard of Snow White's fate. His sleep had become an occurrence he no longer looked forward to, but it was a necessary evil nonetheless. He didn't want to relive the same blood-curdling images that filled his mind every night, and he wouldn't have to, as something struck him so hard, his nerves shuddered in pain. He questioned whether what he felt was real or just another hallucination. Finally, he figured it would be best to force open his eyes and make sure all was well. His eyelids drooped heavily over his eyes and it took much of his will-power to finally lift them. And then he saw it all around him. Smoke.
He quickly ascended his body from his bed as though he had all of his strength back once again. He coughed up the smoke in his body that had been slowly penetrating his lungs. Beside him was Snow White's unconscious body that he embraced with his arms. Her body felt light and soft against his rough and scarred skin. He had no time to think about that, he quickly decided, as he ran to the barricaded door. As he pushed with his back against the sizzling door, the heat seared into his skin. A frustrated growl escaped from his mouth as he pushed harder and harder, torturing himself to unlatch the door. He placed Snow White's delicate body on the bed and move to the wall opposite of the door. With a swift but short sprint, Eric charged at the door which descended to the ground. It's wood had grown weaker, burning away from the flame and shrinking like the wax from a candle.
He positioned Snow White in his arms once again as he made his way through the murky, unbearably hot house, coughing as he walked. After coming into contact with open flame, he let out a thundering roar and continued to run. He didn't know which way was which, unable to see through the thick, concealing smog of smoke. His breath was becoming shorter as he made contact with a wall, burns now covering the entirety of his chest and arms. More scars to add to his already blemished body, he thought. And finally without even realizing it, his body fell through the flaming entrance of the house and to the open outside air, as the cottage collapsed into itself, leaving nothing but ashes in its trace. He shielded Snow White's body on the cool grassy ground as the seven dwarfs approached them.
"Is she okay?" Called Duir when he stood alongside Eric.
"I'm not sure," Eric said, defeat in his voice. "She wasn't moving when I awoke." He turned to Snow White's empty face and laid her onto the ground. "Snow White," he gently whispered into her ear. "Please wake up." He anxiously waited for a sign of movement, the dwarfs standing alongside him, until finally Snow White let out an ashy cough. Her cough continued into a choke, striving for fresh air to recharge her lungs. The smoke had done it's damage and it would take time to mend. After some time, she finally caught her breath.
"You saved me," were the first words from her mouth, as she stared into Eric's inebriating eyes.
"No, princess," he replied. "You saved me." Their short moment of relief was quickly disrupted by the dwarfs who stood alongside them.
"Where is Gus?" Gort asked. He stared from Eric to Snow White, watching the grief fill her face. Snow White merely shook her head as tears began to flow down her cheeks. She wished that she didn't have to be the one to break the news to everyone. After a moment of silence, as the realization of Gus' death dawned upon the dwarfs, Snow White explain what had happened. She began from the moment she turned around and saw Gus's frightful face staring into hers, to Finn's demand that she remain quiet or the dwarf would die. Between gulps of air and her quivering voice, she continued to explain how once the guards had set the house on fire, she let out a burst of scream and Finn impaled Gus' innocent body with a dagger, killing him almost instantly. "It's all my fault," She concluded, her eyes burning from the overflow of tears collecting in her eyes. The pain from Gus's death had overpowered everyone's aching burns, leaving their wounds feeling numb. Snow White had not even noticed her blistering hands that swelled like a sponge.
"It's not your fault, Princess," Gort began. "If you had not bellowed, all of us would be nothing but ash right now. Finn killed Gus, not you." She nodded her head, though she couldn't help overpower the weighing guilt.
"You can use this pain, Princess," Muir said. "We all can." He looked to each of the dwarfs then to Eric and Snow White who remained on the ground. "You cannot let the Queen break you down, that is only what she wants. Take the pain that you feel and manifest it into something else – into strength." The dwarfs looked at Muir with blank faces until finally nodding and brushing away their tears. Muir turned to Snow White and reached into the pocket of his pants. He withdrew the shiny dagger that had Purus Sanguinem engraved into it's shaft and gave it to Snow White. "I managed to save this from the fire," he said. "Take it and use it to help you defeat the Queen, and bring this land back to the way it's meant to be." Snow White accepted the dagger and held it tightly in her hands. The pain from her burns finally registering in her mind. She winced in discomfort as she remembered what Finn had told her.
"Finn knows of our plans," Snow White began. "I don't know how long he has been listening to us, but he will tell Ravenna, and our advantage of stealth will be lost." Snow White could see that the dwarfs were disappointed along with her. "At this point, she will be taking any measures she can to kill me. She will be prepared with an army, and there is no way the nine of us will be able to prevail against her." The discouragement of this news was the last thing anyone wanted to hear. They didn't have an army and they weren't close to finding one. They had plunged back even farther from killing Ravenna than they were days ago. And even then, their chances were slim.
"We will find a way," Eric assured her. "We have time."
"Not much," Snow White replied, shaking her head.
Snow White directed Eric and the dwarfs to Gus' cold body. The same expression of fear and torment remained on his face that he revealed before he had died. She couldn't bare to stare at his lifeless eyes which were once so vivid with joy, and lit up as he told her wondrous stories of his past life when the Kingdom remained under the control of her Father, King Magnus. Gus had been the first dwarf Snow White saw since she had lost her memory, as he was with Muir in the depths of the Dark Forest. He had saved her, comforted her, and supported her more than any of the others. And now the small dwarf was gone. Snow White burrowed her face into Eric's chest as he enveloped his arms around her, holding her tight.
"What are we to do with the body," Eric asked.
"I know," Snow White instantly replied. She was never so sure of anything in her life until that very moment. "Gus had always spoke to me of a place he went to many years ago. He described it as magical and luminous, and planned for me to go there with him. I think that we should take his body there. He deserves to be surrounded by beauty." The other dwarfs nodded in agreement.
"We will make our way there now," Muir said, as the nine of them turned to their cottage, their home that had sheltered them for all those many years, the only home that Snow White knew. And before leaving the plains that had inhabited them, Snow White let out a deep sigh. The sun was beginning to rise as the clouds parted in the sky.
With all their possessions burned to a crisp, they could only move forward.