Death's Mirror
Page 2
The queen raised a lace of colorful silk.
Snow White’s eyes narrowed in on that crimson silk, and I could hear her thoughts even from outside. Surely that is harmless.
She opened the door, disregarding the dwarfs’ instructions to her. Her conscience rap-tap-tapped on the back of her mind. She paid it no heed.
She bought the pretty lace from the queen-turned-peddler.
So innocent, the child. Never suspecting.
“Child,” said the old woman, “how you look! Come; let me lace you up properly.”
Lace you up properly, ha! The queen tied the laces so tightly about Snow White’s waist that she gasped for breath. Her soul cried to be let loose.
In that moment, Snow White looked me in the eyes. The child looked Death in the eyes, fearlessly.
I lingered at her head, staring into the incredible human beauty found within her young frame.
Why?
I cried out in desperation. “Why are you not afraid of me?”
But her soul lingered above her body. She would not answer me now.
The queen fled only moments before a dwarf returned. Shouts echoed from the cottage. Shouts of terror. “Snow White! She’s hurt!”
If only the queen would give up this foolish quest. Not even I could touch Snow White until her Master gave the order.
I watched as the dwarfs stormed into the house, felt for her pulse, at last removed the lace that bound her.
Snow White gasped, drawing fresh air into her lungs.
The dwarfs bustled about her, tending to her, bringing her food, but her eyes met mine alone. Take me, if you want.
I shook my head and floated away from the room.
****
This time, the queen rushed into the palace. Rushed, shedding her ancient form even as she ran. She could not wait even the night before reassuring herself of Snow White’s death.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?
I never understood these humans, let alone their stubborn determination.
You, my queen, are fair; it is true,
But Snow White, beyond the mountains,
With the seven dwarfs,
Is still a thousand times fairer than you.
Blood rushed to the queen’s head and she screamed.
“This time, Snow White,” she growled, “I will destroy you.”
She called upon my power then – thought to manipulate death. Dark forces beyond her comprehension.
Thinking only of beauty, as usual, she fashioned a dazzling comb.
Yet again, the queen took the form of another old woman.
The form of a dwarf would be wiser, I thought. But the queen slunk through the village in this form, mind elsewhere.
“Good wares for sale, for sale!” she called out before the door to the dwarfs’ home.
Once again, Snow White was alone.
“Go on your way.” Snow White opened the window even as she spoke, sitting on the sill in a position very much like her mother, those decades ago. “I may not let anyone in.”
“Surely you may take a look,” the old woman argued, pulling out the beautiful poisoned comb, flashing it in the sunlight.
Snow White purchased the comb.
Master, let me take her soul!
The old woman drew close to her, held out the hand that bore the comb. “Now, let me comb your hair properly.”
Snow White smiled in my direction.
The comb sank its teeth into Snow White’s hair and the poison coursed through her body. It was powerful, this poison, and unlike any I had ever seen before.
Snow White’s soul attempted to launch itself from her body as she struggled for breath. Still, I could not take her.
“You specimen of beauty,” the queen mocked the child, “now you are finished.”
****
The queen stood before her precious mirror, basking in her pride. Mere hours passed since her last attempt on Snow White’s life – attempt, for once again the child had not died.
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?
In my deepest voice, I replied,
You, my queen, are fair; it is true.
But Snow White, beyond the mountains
With the seven dwarfs,
Is still a thousand times fairer than you.
The queen trembled with rage, and let out a shout greater than I thought her capable. “Snow White shall die, if it costs me my life!”
Oh, it would. They would both die, if I had any say in it.
Within that same room, drawing objects from behind hidden doors and within secret drawers, she formed a laboratory advanced for her time.
She set boiling cauldrons over invisible flames - using great powers that forced me to aid her.
With a drop of her own blood, she fashioned a poisoned apple.
The power was so strong that she fell backward, near death herself.
I caught her in my arms. Nay, she may not die yet. It was not time. This is why you do not try to take my powers. This is why you do not meddle in things beyond your comprehension.
Recovering herself, she took the apple in her hand, admiring it. And beautiful it was, second only to the apple from the beginning of time. Half white, half red, the colors were spread evenly. It was frightening, the beauty of its poison.
You cannot touch Snow White unless her Master allows it! If only I could shout the words in her ears, force her to listen and give up this foolish quest. But she was far beyond listening.
Once again, the queen dressed in old woman’s garb, determined this time to take Snow White’s life.
I passed ahead of her, watched Snow White as she went about her chores in the dwarfs’ home.
Somehow, unlike most of mankind, she did not fear me.
“You realize I can see you,” Snow White’s soft voice startled me from my musings. “You could have killed me years ago, you know.”
I sighed. “Child…”
“Come out from your hiding.” She turned in the direction of my voice, her hands resting on her slim waist.
I materialized into my human form. A form she remembered, I might add. There was no more fear in her eyes now than the first time we spoke.
“How many years have you followed me?”
“Since before your birth.”
So close, her beauty. So irritating, her secret. I reached a single finger up to her chin… ah, the touch of human skin. So rarely did I feel anything besides human souls.
“Tell me your secret,” I whispered. “Why do you not fear me?”
Her eyes dropped from my eyes to my lips and returned, voice trembling in earnestness.
“Tell me, Death, do you decide what souls you take?”
What did she intend to say? What answer does she seek from me?
I shook my head. “No. My Master does.”
“Your Master chooses who will die and when.” She said lowly, not in question but rather as though answering my question. “If your Mastert – and my Master too – wants me to die, I will die. That is the end of it.”
“All other humans are afraid.” I held on to the last thread of hope, the last explanation I might have for her fearlessness. She was human. She could not be different than the rest of them.
She shrugged, meeting my eyes. “I have taken your Master as my own. I will be going to the castle in the sky. What is there to fear about that?”
A knock sounded on the door.
Snow White met my eyes.
I could not hide what is about to happen. We both suspected she was about to die. Could it be the Master’s silence? Or the knowledge that she could not live forever...
“I would guess that is my stepmother.”
I nodded, and disappeared into my ghostly form.
’Snow White stuck her head out the window as she did the last two times. “I cannot let you in.”
“Very well, then,” the queen answered.
“I shall easily sell my apples elsewhere. Here, I shall give you one. ‘Tis a gift.”
“No. I cannot accept anything,” Snow White argued. Her hand rested on the window, ready to slam it shut.
Here it came. She would die.
“What are you afraid of, poison?” the old woman asked. “Look, I’ll cut the apple in two. You eat the red half, and I shall eat the white half.”
“Better yet, cut it the opposite way.” Snow White’s eyes met the queen’s with frightening determination. “Who is to say that the red is not poisoned, and the white clean?”
“Very well.” The queen sliced the apple as Snow White said. Each one held their portion of the apple, half red, half white.
The queen’s desperation echoed through her tone. “What do you fear, my dear? See, I shall eat as well.”
The queen took a bite from the white side of the apple. Of course, the white. Snow White was smarter than she appeared. She may not fear me, but she did not seek me out intentionally.
Snow White took a bite of the white side of her own apple.
The queen’s face grew more desperate. Somehow, she must persuade Snow White to take even the smallest of bites from the red side of the apple.
But how, without telling her that it was poisoned?
Yet one more bite, the queen took from the white side of the apple. Only the red side remained.
Snow White did the same.
Their eyes met, daring one another. Both knew that it was poisoned, yet the queen would not back down, would not admit what she had done.
The queen sighed, took another bite from the red side of the apple. She feigned chewing it, gulping it down.
Snow White smiled, as though laughing at her own folly. If the old woman took a bite of the red side of the apple, and survived… of course, she was being overly suspicious.
Snow White bit into the red side of her own apple. Her teeth crunched on the firm skin. She chewed, swallowed, and instantly collapsed.
Snow White’s soul leaped from her body, a filmy white likeness of her, invisible to the queen. She was perfect, without wrinkles, and no sign of her pain, pure and holy. Her soul was as clean as a newborn babe’s, purified by my Master himself.
I lifted her up into my arms.
The queen gasped as she spit out the piece of red apple. The poison burnt her tongue, yet still she spoke,
“White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony wood! This time the dwarfs cannot awaken you.” And she stumbled back to the palace, weak but still determined.
I bore Snow White in my arms, rising through the clouds to the great white castle in the sky. The sun gleamed over the far horizon, casting light against the glorious city that is now to be her home.
As I set her on the golden street outside the city, Snow White looked back at me. “Now do you see?”
“See what?”
“Why would I be afraid of this?” She gestured to the glorious city behind her, and to my Master, who stood at the foot of the stairs, waiting for her. “I needed no fear of death.”
And she leaned over, and kissed me on the cheek.
****
One final task.
Sadness weighed down my soul as I returned to the queen. Dropping through the clouds to her mirror, I beheld her ashen form.
Still more pale, her face, now. Her eyes glowed dark in her skin. She staggered, supporting herself on the wall.
One last time she formed the question that could never satisfy her.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?
Poison opened wounds on her tongue. She bled.
You, my queen, are fairest of all.
In triumph, she straightened, beholding her reflection in the mirror. Her heart swelled with pride. How pleased she was!
But it could not last.
Her own poison coursed through her body. The death she dealt out to another now haunted her as well.
But ‘twas more to my answer than I had yet stated.
You, my queen, are fair; it is true.
But beauty is as beauty does.
And Death makes no exceptions.
The queen’s eyes widened in horror. The poison flooded still further through her body. Mouth, gaping. Body, trembling. She slumped, deathly still, at my feet. Terror reigned in her eyes as she cried out, “No! I cannot die yet!”
Yet her soul rose from her body, odorous, smoky.
There could be no happy ending for her. I cringed as I bore her broken soul into my arms and lowered it beneath the earth.
Darkness and emptiness awaited her, where beauty meant nothing, where pain reigned forever.
****
Two bodies lie near each other on Earth. Snow White, resplendent beauty displayed in a glass coffin in the woods. The queen, in a golden coffin, six feet deep in the cold earth.
No one knows who may die next. Thousands of humans walk the earth to this day, their final paths uncertain.
Every story comes to an end, and not all may live happily ever after.
About the Author
Rebekah DeVall prides herself on being the girl who wrote 200,000 words in 21 days. She’s a Christian author with a penchant for killing characters and a love for writing real female protagonists described as “the example of a Christian hero that young readers need to see”.
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