The 10th Kingdom

by Kathryn Wesley

  “They will come for you.” Apparently that didn’t work. Somehow he saw through her. “Do they have weapons?”

  “Yes,” Virginia lied.

  “They have no weapons,” he said, letting her go. She staggered backwards. “Good.”

  He picked up another rabbit. Virginia leaned against the wooden wall, wondering how she was ever going to escape.

  Tony was hiding behind a tree, peering back into the darkness. He had no idea how far he had run. All he knew was that after a time, he couldn’t hear Virginia behind him. He’d stopped and called for her and she hadn’t answered.

  He wasn’t sure if he should go back for her or try to find Wolf. If only he was still in New York. There, at least, he had half a chance of making the right decision. Here, all bets were off.

  There was a noise behind him. Tony whirled but saw nothing.

  “It’s me,” Wolf spoke in his ear.

  Tony turned, hand over his mouth to stifle a scream. Wolf was standing in front of him, hair slightly mussed, looking winded.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “He’s got Virginia.” The words came out angrier than Tony had planned. “That’s what’s happened.”

  Wolf clutched his hair, pulling at it. He suddenly looked like a panicked child. “Oh, no. We’ll never find her. It’s all my fault. It was my fault.”

  This was not what Tony needed. He needed a big strong Wolf, full of magic and ideas, to save his daughter.

  “We’ve got to find her,” Tony said.

  Wolf nodded. Together they went back to the hiding place. And then they started to search. As they walked, Wolf was looking more and more upset.

  “If you had been kidnapped, it would have been all right,” Wolf said. “But Virginia! I have lost my one true love.” “You can stop all this one-true-love stuff,” Tony snapped. “You’re just some grubby ex-con, and you’ve brought us nothing but trouble.”

  “Don’t you talk to me like that. I’ll bite you in a minute.” “Come on.” Tony was ready for a fight. It was this man’s stupid idea that might have cost his daughter’s life. “I’d like to see you try.”

  Suddenly Wolf stopped and raised a finger to his lips. “Listen.”

  Tony frowned. He heard the faint sound of chopping. He glanced at Wolf, who looked just as surprised as Tony did. They walked toward the sound. It took them only a moment to reach a clearing.

  In the center of it, a tall, solid, redheaded man was standing near a large pile of wood. On a tree stump was a single piece. The man had an axe in his hand and was obviously using the mighty stump as his chopping block.

  “Halt!” the Woodsman said. “Who approaches?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer. He brought his axe down on the bit of wood and cut it clean in half with a single, powerful blow. Some of the wood chips hit his cap, which was upside down by his chopping block.

  “Forgive us, noble Woodsman,” Wolf said, “but have you seen a gorgeous girl with very long hair?”

  “I haven’t seen anything,” the Woodsman said. “I’m blind.”

  He grabbed another block of wood, set it on the stump, raised his axe, and with a mighty thump, chopped the wood in half.

  “You’re a blind Woodsman?” Tony couldn’t believe it.

  “You ever seen a tree move?” The Woodsman’s eyes were clouded over and he wasn’t really looking at either Tony or Wolf.

  “Look at his axe, Tony,” Wolf said. “Is that axe by any remote chance the magic axe that can cut through anything?”

  “Might be,” the Woodsman said.

  “How much do you want for it?” Tony asked.

  “You may have my magic axe if you can guess my name.”

  He split another log.

  “But your friend must kneel down on this block, and if you do not guess my name by the time I have chopped all these logs into firewood, I will cut off his head.”

  “What is it with you people?” Tony asked. “What kind of twisted upbringing do you have? Why can’t you just say it’s a hundred gold coins or something? Why is it always only if you lay a magic egg or pluck the hair off a giant’s ass?”

  “You want the axe or not?” the Woodsman asked.

  “Let’s just carry on looking for Virginia,” Wolf said.

  “No, wait a minute.” They needed the axe for when they found her. And Tony knew that he could get it in a matter of moments. “It’s all right, I know this one. We accept.”

  “Don’t accept on my behalf.” Wolf sounded angry.

  “I know it. I swear, I know it.”

  “Very well,” the Woodsman said. “Put your head on the block while your friend guesses.”

  Wolf shot a dark look at Tony, then crouched beside the chopping block. Slowly Wolf put his head on the far end, as far from the axe as he could get.

  The Woodsman flipped over another hinged block of wood attached to the chopping block and with a loud slam, trapped Wolf ’s head in a crude version of a stock.

  Or, Tony thought, the thing that held the neck in place for the guillotine.

  “Cripes,” Wolf said. He looked helpless.

  “Just making you secure,” the Woodsman said.

  Tony’s heart was pounding. “Don’t worry, Wolf.” He didn’t sound as reassuring as he had hoped to. Tony took a deep breath and said, “Okay, white stick merchant, your name is Rumpelstiltskin.”

  “Nope.”

  The Woodsman split another log. Wolf winced.

  “I said Rumpelstiltskin.” Tony spoke louder, just in case the guy hadn’t heard.

  “Guess again,” the Woodsman said.

  It had to be Rumpelstiltskin. ‘ ‘Rumpelstiltskin Junior? Rumpelstiltskin the Fourth!”

  The Woodsman shattered another log. “No.”

  “Does it have a Rumple in it?”

  “This was your big idea, was it?” Wolf said.

  Tony looked at him and tried not to let his fear show. But he had the funny feeling that he had failed.

  This time, the Huntsman held Virginia’s arm as he dragged her up a circular staircase cut into the center of the tree. Her hair, getting heavier by the minute, dragged behind her. They climbed for what seemed like forever, and they finally emerged into a small tower room. The room had light, though, and Virginia was relieved to see a small hole cut into the wall.

  A window large enough for her to escape from.

  He dragged her over to it, and her momentary hope disappeared.

  They were at least fifty feet above the forest floor.

  “I was bom in this forest,” he said softly, “a hundred miles north of here.”

  She looked out. There were trees everywhere. She could actually see the extent of the forest. It seemed to go on forever. The view was breathtaking and depressing at the same time.

  “When I saw the Queen for the first time, I was still a Forester. She came to my village. It was a cruel winter and

  everyone was starving, children grubbing in the snow for roots to eat. She stopped her hunting party to water the horses. The Queen called me forward. She saw something in me. She showed me this.”

  He took out his crossbow. Virginia had seen it before, but not up close. It was made of wood and silver. In its leather harness, were many razor-sharp silver bolts. Virginia had never seen a crossbow up close before. She had no idea how terrifying they really were.

  “When this crossbow is fired,” he said, “the bolt will not fall until it has found the heart of a living creature. It cannot miss. In one day I could kill enough food to keep the whole village alive all winter. I said, ‘What must I do to win this magic crossbow?’ And she said, ‘Just close your eyes and fire it wherever you wish, and it shall be yours.’ ”

  He plucked a bolt and placed it in position. Now the crossbow looked even more fearsome.

  “I turned away from the village and all the people and fired deep into the thick of the forest. The bolt left the bow like gossamer. It sped a mile through the trees and killed a child
playing in the forest.”

  He stared at Virginia. It seemed as if his eyes were even more intense than they had been before.

  “I remember the Queen’s face as I pulled the bolt from my son’s heart. She looked at me and said, ‘You will be my Huntsman.’ ”

  Virginia held her breath in horror.

  “So you understand,” he said softly. “I have no interest in mercy. The hunt is the only thing that interests me. Life and death are simply matters of sport.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  The blind Woodsman had cut through more wood than Tony wanted to think about. And Wolf was beginning to look panicked.

  “Dick?” Tony asked. “As in Van Dyke?”

  “No,” the Woodsman said and split another log.

  “Bill? Ben? Jerry? Haagen-Dazs?”

  “Cold,” the Woodsman said, continuing to chop the wood. “Elvis? Sammy? Frank? John? Paul? George? Ringo?” “Ringo?” Wolf asked.

  “Colder,” the Woodsman said. “Way off.”

  “Does it begin with A?”

  “I’m not playing that game.”

  “Tony,” Wolf said, “I’m starting to lose faith in you.” “Sugar Ray? Cassius? Iron Mike?”

  “Nope.”

  “Give me a clue,” Tony said. He was beginning to hyperventilate. Everything he did in this place turned out wrong. “What fun is it for you just to kill him?”

  “A lot of fun, actually,” the Woodsman said. “You could almost say it was the reason for my existence.”

  He grinned as he brought the axe down on yet another innocent piece of wood.

  “How do we know you won’t lie about your name?” Wolf asked.

  Tony liked that idea. Maybe they could get out of this. “Maybe I’ve already said it,” Tony said.

  “You haven’t guessed my name,” the Woodsman said. “You are nowhere near. My name is written in my cap.” “You sick pervert,” Tony said. “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

  “Hundreds of times,” the Woodsman said.

  “And approximately what was the percentage of correct guesses?” Wolf asked.

  “None have guessed,” the Woodsman said.

  Tony leaned over and peered at the cap. There was a white strip On it that clearly had the Woodsman’s name written on it. Wolf strained to see it, but shook his head.

  Tony inched closer.

  “I may be blind,” the Woodsman said, “but my hearing is excellent. Move any closer to it and I’ll chop your friend’s head off.”

  Virginia was very cold. The Huntsman still had his crossbow in his hands, bolt pointed out the window.

  “Who is this Queen?” Virginia asked. “How can you serve somebody who made you kill your own son?”

  “It was my destiny to kill my son. And hers to ask me.” He spoke so calmly. Then, slowly, he turned the crossbow toward her.

  “You’re crazy,” Virginia said. “Everyone in this whole place is crazy.”

  “Everything that is meant to happen will always happen, no matter what we do,” the Huntsman said. “Just as it is my destiny to kill you now.”

  He put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her until she bent her legs. He kept pushing until she knelt before him. He pressed the crossbow against her forehead. She could feel the coldness of the wood.

  “Who are you?” the Huntsman asked.

  “I am nobody,” Virginia said. “I swear I’m nobody.” “Then I will kill you.”

  He had drawn the string back when suddenly a tiny bell went off. He brought the crossbow down.

  “I have business to attend to,” the Huntsman said.

  He grabbed twine from a nearby table and wrapped it around her wrists, binding her to the railing in one fluid movement. He didn’t make a knot.

  “I will finish your interrogation later. If you attempt to break the twine, it will pull tighter and slice your wrists open and you will bleed to death.”

  Then he left her. Virginia stared at the twine, knowing that he had told her the truth.

  She had no idea how things in this place always went from bad to worse.

  There were only two pieces of wood left, and Tony was out of ideas. Wolf had his eyes closed, apparently so that he wouldn’t see the final blow when it came.

  “Is it the Mad Axeman?” Tony asked.

  “I told you you’d never guess,” the Woodsman said.

  Suddenly Tony noticed one of the magic birds fly onto the chopping block and look at the Woodsman’s cap. Then the bird flew off again. Was the thing just being perverse? Or was it going to help?

  Tony had to stall somehow. “Is it... hang on a minute, a name’s forming in my mind.”

  The Woodsman split the second log. “Running out of logs,” he said. “Hurry up.”

  “No, wait,” Tony said. “Wait just a minute. It’s coming to me.”

  The Woodsman split the final log. “Too late,” he said. “Now I will have your friend’s head.”

  Wolf’s eyes flew open and in them Tony saw a horrible look of hurt and betrayal.

  The magic bird landed on Tony’s shoulder and whispered in his ear. The Woodsman raised his axe over Wolf’s head.

  “Hold on just a minute,” Tony said. “Juliet.”

  The Woodsman froze, and for the first time Tony felt as if the man were actually looking at him.

  Wolf was looking at him as if he were crazy.

  And Tony started to smile.

  Very delicately, Virginia tried to wriggle the twine. If she didn’t move it, maybe it wouldn’t slice her skin. The movement was her only chance. Wolf and her father had no idea where she was. She had to escape on her own.

  She made sure that she barely touched the twine. But it tightened anyway and a sharp pain went through her wrists. She saw a razor-thin line of blood appear on her skin.

  “Damn.”

  Then she saw a movement at the window. The magic bird she had saved last from the Gypsies was on the sill.

  “Because you helped us, we will help you again,” the magic bird said. “But this really has to be the last time. You’re such a lot of trouble.”

  “Go find my father and Wolf,” Virginia said. “Tell them where I am. Tell them to come and get me.”

  The bird nodded once and flew off. Virginia tried very hard not to move. She only hoped that they would get there in time.

  Wolf was carrying the axe over his shoulder and heading back toward the place that they had buried Prince Wendell once again. He had no idea where Virginia was, nor how to find her.

  Still, he was very relieved to have his head.

  “Who would have thought it?” Wolf said to Tony. “Juliet the Axeman.”

  “No wonder he turned into such a sick sadist,” Tony said, and then he stopped. Wolf almost ran into him. Tony was looking up at a tree.

  “Look,” Tony said. “It’s another one of those magic birds.”

  Actually it was the same magic bird that had told them about the Woodsman, but Wolf didn’t correct him.

  “I know where Virginia is,” the magic bird said. “She’s in a tree that is not a tree, in a place that is not a—”

  “Cut the rhyming craplet,” Tony said, “and just take us there, all right?”

  For a moment, Wolf thought that the bird was going to fly away. Then it sighed, lifted its wings, and flew at Wolf’s eye level.

  Such temptation. But if he ate the magic bird, he’d never see Virginia again.

  They followed the bird for some time. Then the bird stopped in front of a mighty oak.

  “She’s inside the tree,” the magic bird said. “ ’Bye.” “Wait,” Tony shouted. “How can she be in a tree?” “Virginia!” Wolf shouted at the tree. “Virginia, are you in there?”

  “Wolf?” Virginia shouted back.

  Her voice was very far away. It also came from above them. Wolf looked up. Virginia was looking down from a great height. “How do we get in?” Tony shouted up at her.

  “There’s a door,” Virginia said.r />
  A door. Wolf went around the tree. Tony went around the tree. Neither of them saw a door.

  “No, there isn’t,” Tony said. “There’s no door, that’s for definite.”

  “Oh, dear,” Wolf said. “If he has concealed it with magic, it could take weeks to open.”

  “Why don’t you come down and open it from the inside?” Tony asked Virginia.

  “Because he’s tiedme up,” Virginia said. “Can’t you climb the tree?”

  Wolf looked at the ivy. “There’s no footholds.”

  “Well, get a ladder or something,” Virginia said.

  ‘ ‘A ladder?’ ’ Tony asked. ‘ ‘We’re in the middle of a forest.”

  Wolf looked around, hoping to see something, anything that he might be able to climb.

  “If this axe really cuts through anything,” Tony said, “I could try chopping the tree down.”

  That would hurt Virginia. Besides, if the tree was magic, the pain might rebound on Tony.

  “Virginia,” Wolf said, “how long is your hair now?” “It’s longer than ever,” Virginia said. “It’s ...”

  She paused, and then Wolf knew that she understood. “No!” she shouted.

  “That’s a great idea,” Tony said.

  “No!” Virginia said.

  “I’ve always wanted to say this,” Wolf said. “Love of my life, let down your lustrous locks.”

  A moment later, ten pounds of hair landed in his face. He brushed it off and held it in his hands for a moment. He’d have to use it like a rope and climb the tree as if it were a mountain.

  He started at the base, and then climbed as rapidly as he could. Virginia’s cries of pain were heartbreaking. Wolf was only slightly offended. He wasn’t that heavy.

  “Look out below,” Wolf shouted down to Tony. “Close your eyes.”

  “What is it?” Tony asked.

  “Dandruff,” Wolf said.

  “Ow,” Virginia said. “I don’t have—”

  “Some people can’t take a joke.”

  “Yeah,” Tony said. “Keep your hair on.”

  Wolf tried to put as much weight as possible on his feet, but he knew that he was pulling awfully hard on her head. At least he knew the hair was tougher than steel, and wouldn’t pull out.