Black Forest: Kingdoms Fall (40 page)

"You are in the forest of Naxos," Cinderella returned, clicking her tongue at the stallion. "Start walking at your back, and you shall hit town
eventually."

"No!" the prince wailed from behind them. "Please do not leave me here! I want to go home to my father. I want to make amends. I want to sleep in my old
bed. I want to eat meat. I want to see my mother." Pausing for a moment, his face went red. "Oh, I cannot see," he howled, falling to his knees.

Pivoting the horse to watch the dramatic display, Cinderella found herself devoid of sympathy. "We have not time to lead you home," she said. "Trust, if
you are meant to get there, you will." Then, she cut the horse toward Aulis and started at a trot.

"Wait!" the prince cried out again. "Could she at least cry in my eyes? I was told the tears would restore my sight."

"Crying in your eyes will make you see?" Cinderella turned skeptically back to him.

"The tears will heal me," the prince nodded. "It was foretold."

Hands tightening on the reins, Cinderella knew he should be left, knew he could not be trusted. Yet, she also knew his plight, and even his behavior, was
not all his doing. For, like Queen Ino's, the sorceress' and even her own, the prince's nature was largely of Grimm's making.

"All right," she agreed, stroking her hand over Rapunzel's where it rested across her waist, before dismounting. "Do not touch. Do not try anything defiant
or mutinous. Do not speak unless you have something important to say. Do you understand?"

"I only want to see," the prince returned.

As she met Norco's gaze, he seemed to understand Cinderella's intent, and flew to meet her as she pushed the prince to his knees and yanked his royal head
back by the hair. Eyes tearing, Norco blinked a drop into each of the prince's blankly-staring eyes, and, watching them close, Cinderella waited to see the
great healing power of a cry. Before the prince opened his eyes again, though, he reached out, drawing Norco down to him and laid a big kiss against
Norco's unhappy mouth.

Eyes opening at last, the prince released Norco at once, looking up into Cinderella's ill-humored gaze and swallowing nervously.

"There. You can see," Cinderella announced, holding her hand out to the prince in offering.

When he took it with reservation, Cinderella pulled Prince Salimen rapidly to his feet, unclasping his belt with her free hand and ripping it from his
waist as he flailed unsuccessfully for it.

"What are you doing?" he asked, watching Cinderella buckle the belt around her waist and slide the sword from its sheath to inspect its condition.

"I am disarming you," she responded. Stepping forward suddenly, one foot on the prince's to hold him in place, one hand on the sword's hilt, clenching in
temptation, she fisted Prince Salimen's fine shirt in her hand and yanked him close. "After what you just tried..." Her voice shook with her desire to hurt
him in ways he had never imagined. "And some very vivid hallucinations I was forced to suffer in the Gulf of Broken Dreams, you are lucky it is the only
weapon I take."

With a shove, she returned Prince Salimen to the forest floor, and Norco fell into pace at her shoulder. "Sorry, Norco," she whispered.

"Norco did not care for that at all," Norco uttered. "Norco finds Prince to be a bad kisser."

"I cannot say I am terribly surprised," Cinderella replied, pushing off a boulder to mount in front of Rapunzel once more.

"Are you all right?" Rapunzel asked, her arms sliding around Cinderella's waist alleviating the hold of the Gulf's memory.

"If you are all right, I am all right," Cinderella replied, hand holding on to Rapunzel's leg, ensuring she stayed where she belonged, as she turned the
mount and they trotted away.

L
eagues away, Cinderella could still feel the frequent shifts of Rapunzel behind her and knew she anticipated chase. As did Cinderella. Not that of Prince
Alluring necessarily, but of anyone Grimm could spur to his cause.

It was not until Rapunzel finally slumped against her back, long after they edged around the black wall of the Gulf of Broken Dreams, that Cinderella felt
her own measure of ease, believing, at last, they were safe, even if it was only transitory.

"That is one slimy royal jerk," Rapunzel sighed across the fabric of Cinderella's dress as Cinderella slowed the horse to a walk, giving them all a chance
to breathe.

"Yes," Cinderella tersely agreed. "Perhaps, I should have killed him while I had the chance."

"You could not kill him," Rapunzel murmured.

"Because Grimm made me virtuous," Cinderella uttered.

"No." Rapunzel's hand slid up Cinderella's torso, coming to rest against her heart, and Cinderella felt the rhythmic beats reverberate against Rapunzel's
palm. "Because this does.

"I cannot lie," Cinderella exhaled heavily. "There are times it feels it puts us at a distinct disadvantage."

"And times when it feels most beneficial?" Rapunzel slid her chin onto Cinderella's shoulder, and Cinderella could not help but smile.

"Yes," she acknowledged. "That too. Still holding on, Norco and Togo?" she called back to them, feeling rest had gone on long enough, and they grabbed fast
to the stallion's tail as Cinderella prodded it to a canter.

Before they made it ten strides, a man stepped from the trees lining the cart path without warning. Dressed in black, his hand waved above his head to draw
their attention, but Cinderella dared not stop, prodding the horse to a gallop and driving toward him.

When the man made a call at his back, the entire path filled with soldiers, and the steed drew to a sudden stop, skittering back over the dirt, so the
reins burned Cinderella's hands as they pulled sharply against them and Rapunzel cried out as she struggled to hang on.

"Hold there, by order of the king," the man who attempted to stop them said, pulling a sword with a trained hand. "Who are you, and where have you been?"

"Move aside." Cinderella tried to remain calm, but expecting to be impeded, to be attacked, for death to come for them at any time, it was not an easy
turn.

Seeming to sense her concern, Norco and Togo were suddenly at her sides, looking down upon the soldiers with displeasure.

"What are those things?" The interrogator stumbled back a step.

"They are not your concern," Cinderella uttered. "We have done nothing. Let us pass."

As she let the horse amble forward, the man took another step back. "Stop moving," he ordered. "We do not want to have to hurt you."

"Then move aside," Cinderella said a bit less evenly, hand going to the sword's hilt, despite knowing she could not hold her own against one of the skilled
soldiers before her, let alone the half dozen that blocked the path. If this was Grimm's ending for them, he would have it.

Death did not seem to be on the schedule, though, Cinderella realized, as the man with the questions slid his sword back into its sheath and held out a
hand for the soldiers behind him to lower theirs. Watching the blades retreat, Cinderella felt Rapunzel breathe easier against her.

"We do not mean you harm," the man said, palms exposed as he stepped closer. "King Balten is only searching for his family. He returned from a mission many
years past to find them missing. Have you met up with anyone by the names of Ruth or George in your travels? The child would be only..."

"Ruth's husband!" Rapunzel cried, sitting up in the saddle to look at the soldiers over Cinderella's shoulder. "He ordered her killed. Why does he look for
her now?"

"What do you know of the king's missing wife?"

"What she told us," Rapunzel crossly shot back. "Her husband told his mother to have her and the child killed, and Ruth had to flee to save their lives."

"So, you have seen her then?" the soldier anxiously asked.

"Yes. A time ago," Cinderella responded. "But I shall not tell you where."

"Did your lot do something to bring her harm?" the man asked.

"Us?!" Rapunzel incredulously queried.

"We did nothing to her or her son," Cinderella answered. "They are safe where they are. Now, Sir, we have answered your questions, and we have no more time
to provide information to yet another who means our friends harm."

"I mean them no such thing." A man with a deep baritone timbre stepped from behind the shield of shrubbery lining the path. Straightening from his hunched
position, he stood at royal attention, sliding a jeweled crown atop his head, no less, Cinderella realized, than King Balten himself. "I understand that is
most likely what my beloved wife told you, but she does not know the truth of the account."

"Having death ordered upon me just last night," Cinderella declared, "I am not sure it is something one can misunderstand."

"There was no misunderstanding about it," King Balten explained. "It was deceit, plain and intentional, designed to thwart our love, but I am not the one
who did the deceiving. Perhaps I do hold some blame, for I left my home when my wife was with child, but I left her in the care of my mother, telling her
to write me should my wife go to a birthing bed. A few months on, a messenger came to me with a letter that told me my wife had given birth to a deformed
child.

"I returned a message to take good care of Ruth and my son until I returned," the king went on. "It was only when I returned home that I learned my son had
not been deformed, and that my mother had received a letter saying she was to have both Ruth and George killed. She admitted, thankfully, she could not
carry out such an order and sent Ruth and George to the forest to hide. I have searched for them since the day I returned. Seven years now, I have still
not found them."

"Why would your mother tell you the child was deformed?" Rapunzel asked. "And, if you truly wrote to take care of them, why would your mother think you
wanted them killed?"

"It was a forgery," King Balten replied. "Another seized the courier and altered the letters we had written to each other. Neither of us received those
that were sent. Someone wanted us to suffer this horrendous grief."

"Grimm," Cinderella snarled.

"Who?" King Balten stepped forward to her.

"He is the man who caused your grief," Cinderella returned. "No matter what hand was on your letters. He is the man who causes all grief here. He is surely
the one who crossed your information so Ruth and George found themselves alone in the woods and you found yourself alone when you returned home."

"You believe me then?" King Balten asked.

"I believe Grimm is capable of anything," Cinderella said. "And I apologize for thinking you the villain."

"As do I," Rapunzel uttered.

"It is no harm," King Balten replied, face lighting in such a way that Cinderella could see the honesty in it, the real affection that lay beneath the
facade. "You said you have seen them? I will travel however far..."

"You need not travel far," Cinderella interrupted, a small smile coming to her face. "They are not far at all."

T
he dwarves were late in getting back. They had left the cabin with the best of intentions - honestly, they had - to rally help in protecting Snow White.
Once at the pub, though, the other patrons wanted nothing more than to talk about the expansion of the world and to drink, of course, which the dwarves
felt compelled to do out of sheer politeness.

When the pints came 'round, they just kept coming, until there was singing and canoodling and little thought of Snow White. It was only when the friendly
patrons stopped picking up the tab that the dwarves began to sober up, and Sponk leapt suddenly onto the table. "Snow White!" he cried, promptly losing his
balance and grunting as he hit the wood floor.

"Hurry up!" Big Papa called out to the others, despite the fact the younger dwarves were ahead of him, as night fell upon the forest and they made haste
back toward the cabin.

"I knew we should have stayed home to look after Snow White," Mo uttered.

"I did not hear you complaining as you were chugging back the ale," Esteban countered.

Opening his mouth to call out for Chauncy as they neared the clearing where Snow White was entombed, Big Papa closed it at the sound of strange voices.

"What do we do now?" one voice asked, but there was no answer.

They never should have left Chauncy to defend Snow White alone, Big Papa thought, rushing ahead with a burst of speed. Seized around his middle before he
made it to the clearing, he turned to fight, watching Chauncy put his own fists up in the cover of a large shrub.

"What are you doing hiding in there?" Big Papa asked.

"You were supposed to be back before now," Chauncy growled. "Where were you?"

"We were..." Big Papa glanced toward the other dwarves as they closed in around them. "Searching high and low."

"You were searching in a mug," Chauncy snapped.

"Do you hear that?" one of the strange voices said from beyond the shrubbery.

"Shhhh," the dwarves all ordered each other at once, and it made a most loud sound of silence.

Footsteps coming near, the dwarves watched leather britches through the branches, until at last the legs that wore them moved away again.

"Must have been the wind," the stranger said.

"Oh no," Tater whispered. "Is it the prince? He beat us back?"

"It is not the prince," Chauncy snipped. "I do not know who they are, but there are three of them and they are tall folk. Was I supposed to fend them off
alone?"

"You should do it," one of the men said. "You were the first they found."

"I do not feel they would have chosen me," another voice replied.

"Well, we must fend them off now," Big Papa declared, though he would have preferred to do no such thing. Where he might once have let these strange men
have at the girl, though, he found he could not, and it was not just fear of Cinderella and her occasional temper, he discovered, but true affection that
bid him to act.