Black Forest: Kingdoms Fall (Black Forest Trilogy)

by LaShea, Riley

  "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."

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  In the Clearing

  The 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 s
trange 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.

  Motioning the dwarves to split up, Big Papa watched them silently distribute themselves around the clearing.

  "Let us at least let her breathe," one voice said, and Big Papa recognized the scrape of the lid being slid from Snow White's coffin.

  "Now!" Big Papa charged forward into the clearing, and the rest of the dwarves stormed in after him, surrounding the intruders. Their hands clutching tools lifted from passing travelers, or looted from unwatched abodes, they were mismatched in their weaponry, but quite serious in their intention, and the three tall folk looked up in surprise.

  "Hold it right there!" Big Papa ordered, incensed when the strangers' expressions broke into jovial grins, instead of fright.

  "You must be the dwarves." One with dark hair and a royal air stepped forward.

  "Why must we be? Because we are short?" Chauncy asked.

  "Chauncy, right?" the young man with light hair questioned, and Chauncy took a step in retreat as Baby G rushed forward, brandishing his silver fork wildly.

  Stepping aside, the near-black-haired man who wore the leather britches let him go by, and the fair one behind him did the same, so Baby G cut only through air, falling to the ground with a flail on the other side of the clearing.

  "Baby G?" the man in leather questioned the fair man, and the fair man nodded with a grin.

  "Who are you?" Big Papa asked, small knife shaking in his hand, as the one with the royal air stepped forward.

  "Now, just stop right there." Big Papa gesticulated in a harried fashion. "Do not come any closer."

  "My apology." The man put his hands up in surrender, ceasing his advancement. "I mean only to introduce myself. I am Sawyer, of the kingdom of Ceres. This is Christophe and Jack."

  At their introductions, the fair-haired one and the one with the leather pants gave nods all around.

  "That is all very well," Big Papa said sharply. "But what are you doing here?"

  "Yes," Esteban shouted. "I know you do not think you will kiss my Snow White!"

  The man who introduced himself as Sawyer glanced toward Snow White's coffin, before returning humored eyes to Esteban. "You must be Esteban," he said. "We were told much of you."

  "Clearly," Big Papa returned. "Now, why are you here?"

  "As your friend suggests," Sawyer replied. "We have come to wake the maiden from the spell."

  "Have you now?" Big Papa shot back. "All three of you? Do you think her a harlot?"

  "What? No!" Sawyer exclaimed. "We met Cinderella and Rapunzel in the forest. They asked us to come, and for one of us, and only one of us, to wake Snow White."

  "If Cinderella and Rapunzel want you here, why are they not with you?" Tater questioned, and the eyes of the strangers turned to each other, holding a secret between them. When they returned to him, Big Papa saw the sadness in each set, and at last the one with the leather pants named Jack stepped forward.

  "Rapunzel was taken," he said. "Cinderella went in search."

  "Taken?" Baby G uttered, wandering a few paces toward the strangers. "Taken by who?"

  "That is a very lengthy story," the fair-haired one declared.

  "How do we know you tell us the truth?" Big Papa huffed, keeping his eyes upon Sawyer, who seemed most interested in Snow White by the way his eyes kept darting her way and holding upon her. "You could have done something to them, left them in the forest to come take Snow White for yourself."

  "We would do no such thing," Sawyer replied, eyes honest as they returned to Big Papa's once more. "They are our friends."

  The rapid beat of a forthcoming gallop breaking into the clearing, everyone turned toward the trees where the rider came on strong.

  "That will probably be the prince." Mo nervously shook his head, and Big Papa turned his eyes uncertainly to Sawyer.

  "You swear on your soul you tell the truth?"

  "Yes, on my soul," Sawyer replied.

  Knowing he could not take the time to fully trust the man, Big Papa decided he knew enough. "Wake her up," he directed.

  "But..." Esteban breathed sadly, and Big Papa waved off his objections.

  Rushing around the open coffin, the three young men seemed to be doing far more discussing of the situation than kissing.

  "One of you just kiss her," Big Papa commanded, and Sawyer hopped to the task, leaning over Snow White, lips a breath away.

  "Wait!" Baby G cried eagerly. "It is not the prince. It is Cinderella and Rapunzel!"

  "And two fur balls!" Tater added, rushing up beside Baby G, and the entire assembly forgot the task at hand and rushed into the trees.

  · · ·

  Dwarves pouring from the brush and low branches, Cinderella had to give a hard pull of the reins to keep from trampling them.

  Norco and Togo fluttered at once to the ground as Cinderella slid from the saddle, turning to help Rapunzel down. The moment both their feet touched land, Cinderella found herself on her back next to Rapunzel, a gaggle of dwarves embracing them about their necks and waists.

  Having suffered its share of exertion and hard knocks, Cinderella's body felt their unprecedented affection with some pain, and knew Rapunzel must feel the same. Yet, she could imagine nowhere else she wanted to be.

  "I do not recall leaving on such good terms," she said, and Rapunzel shrugged within her laughter.

  "They said you were gone!" Baby G cried, stretching beyond comfort in an effort to hug them both at once.

  "We were," Rapunzel responded.

  "And now we are not," Cinderella added, wrangling the dwarves enough to sit.

  Standing off to the side, acting uninterested in the display, Esteban snorted. "Look at you," he said to Cinderella. "All sweaty and ugly."

  "Well, you should know, Esteban," Cinderella returned with a smile. "It is, after all, your natural state."

  "What are these things?" Big Papa tugged his thumb toward Norco and Togo.

  "That is rude," Norco said. "These dwarves are rude."

  "It talks." Mo lifted his head in awe.

  "Not the brightest lot, either, are they?" Togo questioned, and Cinderella smirked at the dwarves' shocked expressions.

  Coming over to meet them, Christophe, Sawyer and Jack cast them into shadow as they hauled Cinderella and Rapunzel up with wide grins. The smiles fading as they took in their ragged conditions, they looked scared to touch them.

  "Come now," Cinderella assured them. "We will not break."

  And Christophe, Sawyer and Jack rushed forward to hug them at once, their new friends far more gentle than their old, conscious of the bruises and scratches they wore.

  "How did you..." Christophe began to ask.

  "Ah," Cinderella sighed, patting him on the chest. "There is much to tell. Let us first check on Snow White."

  Hand wrapping around hers as they headed for the clearing, Cinderella pulled her hand free. "Go on," she encouraged, adding when Rapunzel hesitated. "I need only tie him up."

  Then, taking the horse's reins,
Cinderella watched Rapunzel turn toward the clearing and tossed the leather around a nearby tree.

  · · ·

  "Halt there!" Esteban's voice carried back to her, and Rapunzel rushed forward with the others as a stranger she could only assume was the rumored Prince Marvelous glanced up halfway to Snow White's lips.

  "Oh, it is you," he stated upon seeing the dwarves. "You have come to collect your due, I take it. There it is." He pointed to a tiny brown bag at the foot of Snow White's coffin. "Give or take some. Now, if you will pardon me, this is my destiny."

  "Not anymore, it isn't," Rapunzel replied, and Jack moved with an amazing swiftness to face off with the prince, knife sliding from its sheath into his hand in one seamless motion.

  "You are going to try to stop me?" the prince asked. "And before you answer, I think it only fair to warn you I have a royal guard within range. A single call, and they shall kill you all."

  "No, he has not," a voice husked, and Rapunzel whirled, heart stopping in her chest when she saw Cinderella appear through the trees, locked in the arms of the woman from her dream. Far from wicked, the embrace looked most intimate, but for the dagger that moved up and down Cinderella's throat. Sobbing at the sight, she drifted toward Cinderella, until the tip of the blade made a nick that matched the one on the opposite side of her throat, and she froze as blood ran down fragile skin.

  "That is right," the stranger calmly whispered. "Stay where you are, Love, and no one need get hurt."

  "Do not call her that," Cinderella said, and the stranger seemed most amused by the order.

  "Now, now." Lips at Cinderella's ear, she spoke with volume enough to be heard. "No need to be jealous. You know I do not want from her what you want. Do learn to share."

  Tip of the dagger dragging down Cinderella's chest, Rapunzel watched it snag the fabric to rip downward, exposing a good deal more of Cinderella's fair skin to everyone in the clearing.

  "You." The stranger lifted the dagger away suddenly, pointing it past Rapunzel's shoulder. "Get away from my stepdaughter."