Snow White and the Huntsman (19 page)

Duke Hammond gestured to a wooden chair. “You must rest—”

“I have rested long enough,” she said. She looked out on the thick crowd. A woman was crying, her face in her hands as she told her children how Snow White had been brought
back from the dead. “It’s a miracle,” everyone kept whispering. That word hung the air.

Snow White looked into the duke’s gray eyes. His face was covered in wrinkles. “I am ready to ride by your side, my lord,” she said, “when you face the Queen in battle.”

William stared at the dirt. The duke looked down at his hands on hers, his face full of concern. “There will be no battle, Your Highness. The best thing you can do for your people is stay safe behind these walls.”

Snow White looked at the emaciated children behind him. They looked at her with the same sad, desperate eyes she’d seen in the ruined village. “That is all I thought to do when I escaped. But I have come to learn there is no peace while others suffer.”

The duke squeezed her hands. “The Queen cannot be defeated,” he said loudly. The soldiers around him nodded. “She cannot be killed. There can be no victory.”

Snow White turned to the group of generals behind him, remembering Ravenna’s words. “I can defeat her. I am the only one—she told me so herself.”

She pulled away from Duke Hammond and started into the courtyard to address the hundreds of refugees who’d gathered around them. Soldiers looked on, clutching their helmets in their hands. The dwarves held their hats over their hearts.

“I have been told that I represent you,” Snow White called out, the words coming easily. She felt nothing but peace. Never had she been so certain of anything. “I have
been told my place is not to fight but to stay here, safely behind these walls. I will not.” She looked at Muir, who was staring in her direction, his eyes glittering.

“I hold life sacred, even more since I’ve tasted freedom,” Snow White continued. “But I’ve lost my fear of death. If Ravenna comes for me, I will ride to meet her. And if she doesn’t come for me, I will ride to meet her. Alone, if I must.” Snow White turned to the generals standing outside a massive tent. “But if you join me, I will gladly give my life for you. Because this land and its people have lost too much.”

Her heart pounded in her chest. She stood before them, her shoulders back, waiting for their support. Duke Hammond studied her carefully, taking in her pale pink funeral robes and the hair that cascaded down her back. She waited, listening to the sound of the birds crying out in the distance. She wondered if she would have to leave tonight on horseback, alone, and face Ravenna herself. Then, slowly, the duke bowed his head in reverence. William got down on one knee, following his father’s lead. The knights and generals followed.

She met the Huntsman’s gaze. There was a tenderness in his eyes as he smiled, then bowed down before her. The dwarves followed. Soon the entire courtyard was kneeling, showing their respect. She was their leader, just as her father had been. She swore she would end Ravenna’s reign, or lose her life trying.

Snow White stood before them, tears welling in her
eyes. She could almost feel their victory already—it seemed so close. She imagined the kingdom again, as it had been under her father’s rule. She saw the green pastures and the village fairs, the children dancing around the maypole. The fields would be fruitful again, the farms sending out full carts every day in every direction. No one would go hungry. And every child would be safe.

There was only one more thing to say now that they were here, waiting to fight. They had shown the courage she knew they’d always possessed.

“Then it is done,” she announced, signaling for the people—
her
people—to rise. “We will leave tonight.”

S
now White rode out in front. The chain mail was heavy on her back, its cold metal stinging her skin. She held her shield by her side, enjoying how natural it felt on her arm. It was just like the one her father had ridden with. Their family crest was inlaid on the front. She remembered how he had shown it to her as a child, letting her trace her fingers over the gold branches of the oak tree. Its roots sunk into the earth. The top of the trunk was pointed in a cross, just like the crown. “It’s a symbol of strength,” he’d said, showing her the roots. “It’s held so firmly in place, connected to the earth by all that’s unseen. It grows tall and proud.”

She held it out, comforted by the weight of it. She felt him now as she listened to the steady hoofbeats behind her. Her father was everywhere she looked—in the crescent moon, the shifting trees and crashing waves. As they crested
the hill by the beach, less than ten miles from Ravenna’s castle, she could nearly feel him by her side.

She turned back, looking to the duke, William, and Eric, who rode behind her. There were hundreds of men and women following them, their faces glowing in the torchlight. The army—
her
army—extended well into the woods. She was taken aback by the bravery of those who had volunteered. Boys no older than fifteen. Mothers and fathers, peasants and rebels. Some had been at Carmathan, surviving all these years at the duke’s stronghold, and still others had come out of hiding in the woods, taking their meager supplies and joining the fight. With every mile they covered, their army grew. Now she stood on the hill above the beach, looking out on Ravenna’s castle, a few hundred soldiers behind her.

As Snow White and the duke pulled out front, a general rode up beside them. “My lord,” he said, pointing down at the rocky shore, “we only have an hour or two before the tide comes in. Not long enough to breach the castle walls. We’ll either be completely exposed or drowned by the ocean.”

The duke shook his head. “Is there any other way in? Tunnels? Caves?”

Snow White didn’t bother looking at them. She kept her eyes on the black ocean, at the very spot where she’d emerged the week before. The tide was still low. Rocks jutted out from underneath the waves. She noticed the opening in the side of the cliff’s ledge—the same sewer she’d crawled out of.

She shifted her eyes to the beach below. The dwarves had already reached the water’s edge and were wading in. They crouched low in the shallows, just as she had directed them to. It wouldn’t take them longer than an hour to reach the sewer entrance. They were already halfway there. “If we are at the portcullis when the sun clears the horizon, it will be open,” she said firmly, guiding her horse down the rocky hill. She turned back, staring into the duke’s and the general’s nervous faces. William and Eric followed her without question, and the entire army spread out along the beach.

They moved down the beach, passing the stone labyrinth Snow White had stumbled into when she came ashore. As the tide rose, the horses and soldiers were pushed up onto the sand. They kept moving as the waves came ever closer, threatening to pin them against the steep rock ledge. “We don’t have much time,” Duke Hammond said.

Snow White stared out at the ocean. She could see the dwarves ducking under each wave. They were nearly at the sewer entrance. The sun was almost at the horizon. As soon as it came up, the riders would be visible on the beach, and they’d lose any chance of a surprise attack. They had to charge and hope the portcullis was up in time. It was their only choice. “We should ride now,” Snow White said, turning to the duke. “They’ll have the portcullis up by the time we arrive.”

As the duke raised his sword, ordering the soldiers forward, Snow White turned back to Eric. He was just behind William and the generals—they’d insisted the military be out front. She met his gaze for only a moment, but he seemed
to sense what she wanted. He rode up beside her, breaking rank, and their horses sped up. Riding together, the salt air stinging her eyes, she felt no fear.

They rode forward, the army speeding up, their eyes on the cliff ledge, where the castle was. Slowly it came into view. Snow White’s heart sped up. The portcullis was still down. The black grate could be seen even from half a mile away. The duke turned to her, his face full of concern, but she didn’t slow down. Coll and Duir—all of them should’ve been in the castle courtyard already. Any minute now, the gate would go up.

She glanced over her shoulder, looking at the massive army on the beach. The tide came up around them, the horses splashing in the waves as they rode forward. The sun had come up, warming the sky. They were completely exposed. “Come on,” Snow White whispered to herself, willing the portcullis to open. “Hurry …”

But then she noticed the tiny flickering lights along the top of the castle wall. The trebuchets were being loaded. The pinpoints of light rose up in the air, and the fiery missiles rained down on them. A fireball exploded just a few feet beside her. But Snow White didn’t stop. She kept her head down, riding faster toward the castle walls.

The army faltered. Some of the troops stalled when they saw the flaming missiles coming at them. One man fell from his horse as the ground blew up beneath him. There was no choice now. If they didn’t keep going to the castle walls, they’d be drowned by the rising tide. It was rushing in, the
ocean flooding over the sand, coming up around the horse’s legs. Snow White held up her shield, urging the soldiers on.

There were screams behind her. She turned, seeing a blond woman who’d been hit by a flaming arrow. The horse whinnied, throwing her off. Her body was trampled as the other soldiers rode on. Snow White swallowed hard, steeling herself against the gore. Two generals fell beside her. One was struck in the neck with an arrow. All around her, there was blood and fire. Every few seconds, she glanced sideways at the Huntsman, thankful that he was still there.

Smoke filled the air. The wind shifted, and she spotted the castle entrance again. The portcullis was still down. She rode at the wall, knowing that they only had a few more minutes. Ten, at most. If it wasn’t up by the time they arrived, they’d be trapped there against the rocks. Ravenna’s soldiers would be above them, the ocean rushing in from the side.

More archers appeared at the castle wall. Snow White held her shield above her head as she rode to protect herself. She heard the arrows hit off the top of it. She could feel their heat against her arm. She didn’t look back. Someone was yelling for help. Bodies floated facedown in the surf. A spotted gray horse had fallen on the rocks. It was crying out, a blistering wound in its side. It writhed in pain as the salt water washed over it. She desperately wished someone would end its life.

William rode out in front of her, his shield above him. “You must turn back!” he yelled. She could barely hear him over the sound of the waves.

“I gave my word I would stand with them!” Snow White called to him. A rider beside her was struck in the shoulder with a flaming arrow. He tried to pull it from his chest, but it was too late. His clothes had caught fire. He twisted and fell into the waves, crying out in pain.

Snow White started up the incline toward the castle, not heeding William’s warning. They didn’t have a choice anymore. The only way to save themselves was to fight. She rode toward the massive iron gate at full speed. Any second, it would come up. Any second, the dwarves would raise it. Flaming arrows rained down all around her as she neared. She kept her shield up, hoping she wasn’t wrong.

When she was only fifty feet away, the giant gate came up. She could just make out Gort and Nion clinging to the ends of the rope, using their bodies as a counterweight. William and Eric rode on either side of her as they galloped under the gate into the castle courtyard, the army right behind them.

The archers high above spun around, aiming at the soldiers who’d made it inside. As more of the army got past the portcullis, they outnumbered Ravenna’s guards three to one.