The Woodcutter (17 page)

Rumpelstiltskin stopped and his face drained of all color. He turned to the Woodcutter and began screaming and pounding his feet. He pounded so hard that a crack of thunder boomed across the sky. And as the thunder boomed, he split in two and was swallowed up by the earth, never to be heard from again.

For true names in the mouth of an enemy have power.

The Woodcutter walked back over to the fire and shoveled dirt over the logs. Something gold caught his attention. He bent down and found the necklace and the ring in the scorched circle where Rumpelstiltskin had disappeared. He placed them in his pocket and then crawled up into a tree, falling asleep in the safety of his brethren’s branches.

Chapter 48

The Woodcutter found the cave, just as Rumpelstiltskin had said. The entrance hid behind a large boulder covered in ivy and dead leaves. He felt along the rock, looking for a way in, but it kept its mystery.

A sound lifted his head to the sky, the sound of feathers and wings, and then of nails upon rock.

“Hello?” he called out as he backed away.

Above him, a four-legged creature dropped down upon the boulder. She had the head of a woman and the body of a lion and the wings of a mighty eagle and regarded him dangerously.

A sphinx.

Her golden eyes never left the Woodcutter as she paced the ledge above.

The Woodcutter rubbed his forehead wearily.

“You may ask a question and I will answer. And then I will ask a question, and if you do not answer correctly, I shall strangle you,” she purred in her metallic voice.

The Woodcutter folded his arms. He had to construct the question just right.

“Very well,” he said. “How shall I save the girl hidden here by Rumpelstiltskin?”

“You shall answer my question correctly, I shall die, and the rock shall open. Inside the cave, the girl spins gold from hay, and if you escape before the cave collapses, you shall save her,” she replied.

She blinked at the Woodcutter.

“And now my turn.” She picked her teeth with a long curved claw. “Which creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?” she asked.

“Man,” he replied.

She looked at him in shock, in rage, and then she cried a scream that rattled the rocks and caused the ivy to fall away. The sphinx’s scream caused the boulders before him to split. She placed her feet inside her mouth to stop the screaming and began swallowing. She swallowed her feet and then her legs and then her torso and soon had eaten herself until nothing was left.

The Woodcutter brushed the dust from his beard and reflected how sphinxes would live much longer if they asked a different riddle.

Inside was a brightly lit room that housed a girl with honey colored skin and light brown hair. She was chained to a monstrous spinning wheel. Her fingers bled blue as they worked, feeding the straw to the machine. Out the other side came a mountain of coins.

“Maid Maleen?” he asked.

She stopped, her eyes blank and glassy from exhaustion. She blinked and fell off her stool.

The Woodcutter ran to her side. He pulled a water skin from his pack and held it to her lips. She coughed and sputtered, but woke enough to drink a few mouthfuls.

He was contemplating how much time to give her to regain consciousness when a rumbling began shaking the ground.

The sphinx’s cry had split more rock than just the one hiding the girl.

The Woodcutter grabbed the key from off the wall and unlocked the chain that bound Maid Maleen. He scooped her up in his arms and raced out to safety.

Chapter 49

The entrance collapsed behind him as the Woodcutter ran out of the cave. He stood for a moment, looking at the rubble.

He placed Maid Maleen down in a bed of clover far from the cavern’s entrance and shook her gently.

Her eyes fluttered open and fixed upon the Woodcutter.

“Where am I?” she whispered.

“You are in the Woods,” he said as he glanced around. The words of Rumpelstiltskin rang in his mind. The Queen had kidnapped the girl as food for the Beast. He did not know how long it would take for the hellhound to track them.

“We must leave the trees as soon as possible. We are in danger,” he said.

She pushed herself up and swayed on her feet.

The Woodcutter caught her around the waist. She was exhausted and famished.

“Come along,” he said. “Lean upon me for strength.”

She was too tired to even question.

By the time they reached the edge of the trees, the Woodcutter was carrying the girl upon his back, but the Woods were large and the Beast had not appeared.

The Woodcutter stopped by the edge of the road and set the girl down in the tall grass. Maid Maleen had slipped in and out of consciousness the entire journey. He forced her to swallow more water and to eat a few bites of food the Woodcutter had gathered from his time in town, and then allowed her to sleep.

He woke to the sound of marching feet and tinny trumpets blaring. The Woodcutter sat up and shielded his eyes with the back of his hand. The morning sun smiled upon a procession of gaily-clad players.

A large man in green tights held up his hand and halted the group in front of the Woodcutter and the girl.

“Can we be of assistance?” the Lead Player asked.

The Woodcutter rose to his feet as the girl began to wake. “Just resting for the night,” said the Woodcutter. “Where are you headed?”

A scrawny acrobat in turquoise flip-flopped to the side of the Lead Player, “He asks where we’re headed… Why, to the capital city, of course! To play for the King on this most happy occasion!”

“And what happy occasion would that be?” asked the Woodcutter.

The Turquoise Acrobat shook his head, “You would think you had been lost in the Woods, the way you talk. To the marriage ceremony of his only daughter!”

The Woodcutter searched his memory, “The King of the Eleventh Kingdom has no daughter.”

“She has been found!”

The Eleventh Kingdom had its daughter replaced by a changeling some sixteen years before. The real child had never been recovered.

Maid Maleen woke and the Woodcutter took her hands and helped her to stand.

Her fingers were so small against his palm.

Her fingers were still stained blue from her work at the spinning wheel.

“If we might, we would travel this road with you. That is where we are going, too,” said the Woodcutter.

They walked with the merry troupe and the girl seemed to have gained some strength. Maid Maleen was not the frail sort. Her arms were muscled from work and her body was sturdy from use.

She looked over at the Woodcutter and smiled, “I have not had an opportunity to thank you for saving me.”

“I made a promise to someone to find you,” he replied.

“Who?” she asked.

“There is a Duke in the Kingdom of the Ordinary who said he fell in love with a girl who could spin straw into gold.”

Her face flushed, “I do not ever wish to see him again.”

“Why do you say that?” asked the Woodcutter.

She picked a wildflower that was growing upon the side of the road and picked off its petals one by one, “He locked me in a tower and said if I did not spin straw into gold, he would kill me.”

The Woodcutter stopped. “He did not seem someone who would threaten death for gold.”

“His advisor came and locked the door himself. He said he acted on behalf of the Duke.”

“I promise if what you say is true, justice will be meted,” he said gravely.

The Woodcutter felt his coat pocket become heavy. He reached his hand inside and withdrew the ring and the necklace. “I believe these belong to you,” he said.

The girl took the ring but shrank back from the necklace, “I will not take that. It was a gift from that Duke.”

The necklace glistened in the sun. The Woodcutter placed it in her palm and curled her fingers around the chain, “It may still be of some use.”

She stood for a moment, her hand clasped in the Woodcutter’s, but she did not turn and fling the necklace deep into the forest. Instead, she placed it around her neck and walked on.

Chapter 50

The stage was set and a crowd had gathered. An excited murmur rippled through the shifting bodies.

“Would you look at her!” whistled the Turquoise Acrobat as he peered through the curtains at the audience.

He stepped back and allowed Maid Maleen to take his place.

“That is the King’s daughter?” she asked.

A bony girl with a bulbous nose sat on a chair before the stage. The princess was dressed in purple. Her face was narrow and sharp. Her eyes stuck out of her skull awkwardly and her skin was leathery and webbed with broken, purple veins.

“Just as ugly as everyone has said. Looks like a nasty dust habit, too. You can only stay on the dust for so long before it wrecks your skin. It’s why I never touch the stuff.” The Acrobat stretched, one leg touching the back of his head, “Maybe the King should have kept the changeling.”

“You are awful,” Maid Maleen laughed as she opened the curtain for another look.

The Woodcutter walked up behind her and placed his hand upon her shoulder. She turned and he gave her a cup full water. Maid Maleen gratefully smiled as she took a sip.

The crowd burst into applause as the Lead Player finished his introductions.

Maid Maleen handed the cup back and took a deep breath before stepping out onto the stage.

The Turquoise Player nodded his head as Maid Maleen’s song drifted through the marketplace. “Lovely,” he commented.

When she finished, the audience erupted into rowdy applause. Her face was flushed as she came back behind the curtain.

The Woodcutter smiled. Maid Maleen had insisted upon repaying the troupe for their kindness and this was the arrangement she and the Player had settled upon. It seemed an equitable resolution for all parties.

The show continued on, but as the players made their final bows, the audience became hushed. The Woodcutter walked to the curtain.

A female voice filled the silence. Her words were slurred as she loudly proclaimed, “As Crown Princess, whose royal wedding takes place in…someday soon…”

The Woodcutter felt a chill run through his bones. Her voice sounded familiar. He opened a tear in the curtain with two fingers and peered through.

The princess was turned towards the crowd. She swayed as she continued, “I declare this a fine troupe and they shall entertain us at my wedding. Especially that singing girl. I say so. And so it shall be.”

She flung her body at the aisle and weaved her way towards the castle, retinue falling in line behind her.

Maid Maleen turned to the Woodcutter, “I have been requested at the royal wedding?”

“Not bad for your first day of work,” said the Turquoise Acrobat.

The Woodcutter wondered how the Purple Dancing Lady had become the Crown Princess and how the Queen and the Gentleman had slipped in the imposter.

Chapter 51

The castle was buzzing in preparations for the wedding. Maid Maleen’s eyes looked as if they could not absorb enough of what was going on.

She carried in the last of the players’ costumes when a servant curtsied before her and said, “The Princess sends for you.”

Maid Maleen looked at the Lead Player. He shooed her away with his hand.

The Woodcutter tried to reach for her, to whisper a warning, but the servant had hurried her off down the hall.

He watched her as she went.

The Woodcutter sat upon a chair in a hallway waiting, his pipe lit as he stared at the paintings on the ceiling. He heard Maid Maleen coming, heard the swift swish of her skirts and her pounding feet.

She knelt down beside him and pressed her head into his knee, “Oh Woodcutter, what shall I do?”

He looked down upon her face streaked with tears.

“Now, child,” he said as he smoothed her hair and lifted her chin. “What causes you such sadness?”

“The Princess,” she replied.

“Why?”

He knew why. The rings had spoken, but he waited patiently as she explained.

“She says the Duke will not marry her if he sees her, and so she said I must take her place. She wants me to dress in her clothes and go through the ceremony for her and when I return, we shall switch places again.”

Her eyes filled once more with tears.

“And what did you say?” the Woodcutter asked.

“What could I say? She said she would kill me if I did not. She said that she would kill me if I told anyone. I had to say yes.”