Each cell was worse than the others. Tony was beginning to hate prison. This cell was dark and dank and had no windows at all.
It also had mice.
He leaned against a wall and shook his head. He had never suspected Wolf would betray them. He had thought that Wolf loved his daughter. It was clear that Virginia loved Wolf.
And now, poor Virginia was alone with her mother. Tony had no idea how to help her.
Then he heard a clanging from the end of the hall. A moment later, the Huntsman appeared, dragging Virginia. The Huntsman unlocked the cell, and before Tony could rush him, threw Virginia inside.
Without a word, the Huntsman locked the door and went away.
Virginia sprawled on the floor beside Tony. He crouched beside her. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. And then she started to cry. “Oh, Dad, what’s happened to her?”
He put his arm around Virginia’s shoulder. He didn’t know how to comfort her. The truth was not good, but she had to know.
He pulled Virginia close and spoke softly. “In the months before she left, she got worse and worse. She was crazy. I never told anybody what happened the night she left. You didn’t remember anything, so I never wanted to tell you.”
It had been his own personal deep, dark secret, the thing he was both ashamed of and worried about. He had caused it, by forcing Christine to have children. He had almost lost everything he cared about.
“I came home that night and she was trying ..
He shook his head. After being repressed so long, the words wouldn’t come out.
“She didn’t know what she was doing,” Tony said. “She was sick in the head. She was on all kinds of tranquilizers and . .
“What happened?” Virginia asked.
“I came home early and she was giving you a bath,” Tony said. ‘ ‘The bathroom was full of steam. She looked distracted, distant. Her eyes had the craziest look. I didn’t see you for a moment, and I came up to her to find out where you were.” He paused. His heart was pounding as if he had been running.
‘ ‘Then I saw you under the water. Her hands were on your throat. She was trying to ...”
He couldn’t finish the sentence.
“What do you mean?” Virginia was shaking.
He looked at her, and he could see when the realization hit her that her mother—Christine, not the Queen—had been trying to kill her.
“I don’t believe that,” Virginia said. “That’s not true.” “If I had come home a minute later, you would have been dead. And that—”
“No!” Virginia shouted. “That’s not true!”
He finished anyway. “That was the night she left and never came back.”
The Queen led the Dog Prince out of his room. At least he looked the part of the Prince. He was wearing a lovely white uniform, covered in medals. His hair was combed, and she had gotten him to stand up straight. Now if she could only get him to shut up.
“Stop muttering,” the Queen said.
“I’m trying to remember my speech.”
She held him tightly, trying to think how to control him. So many things could go wrong in the ballroom. She wouldn’t be able to watch him all the time.
Finally, she leaned over, kissed him on the cheek, and whispered, “Do this properly tonight and you can have any bitch in town.”
At that moment, the Huntsman rounded the comer. He was leading the real Prince Wendell by a metal chain. Wendell was muzzled. When he saw the Dog Prince, he froze.
“You!” the Dog Prince said.
Wendell strained at his leash and tried to jump forward.
“Don’t let them touch!” the Queen ordered. “Keep them apart!” If they touched, it would ruin everything.
The Huntsman wrenched Wendell’s chain and pulled him
back.
‘ ‘The people in the hall are beginning to become suspicious, milady,” the Huntsman said.
“Let them wait. Take him to my hiding place. I will join you shortly. I have one last thing to do.”
She swept past him, careful to keep the Dog Prince and Wendell apart. Then she went down the back stairs. The Dog Prince followed closely, looking over his shoulder for Wendell.
The Huntsman had taken Wendell away.
The Queen yanked the Dog Prince after her. They hurried to the kitchen.
The kitchen was piled high with rotting plants, rancid roots, acid berries, and sulphurous powders. Every noxious item she had thought of filled the room, from classics like arsenic to rarities like a Dwarf poison.
Wolf held down a white slug while the cook sliced it Then the cook put the pieces, still squirming, into a large, bubbling vat.
After a moment, Wolf noticed the Queen.
He smiled. “All present and correct.”
She turned to the cook.
He bowed his head nervously. “As you commanded, Majesty, the most powerful poison ever created.”
She walked over to the vat and sniffed it. It had a sickly sweet odor with a horribly sour afterscent.
“And it smells divine,” she said. “Have you tasted it?” The cook was shaking. “Of coarse not, Your Majesty.” “Then how do you know it is the most powerful poison ever made?”
The cook looked at her in terror.
“Well?” she asked.
With shaking hands, the cook took a teaspoon and dipped it in the pot. He put the tiniest portion, barely a touch, at the end of the spoon. He was trembling badly as he raised the spoon from the vat.
“Try it!” she commanded, using her magical Power voice. He lowered his tongue to the mixture and took the smallest sip possible. Then his eyes widened. He took a step backwards and fell to the floor, choking. He twitched twice, and then was still.
The Queen smiled. Perfect. She needed a strong poison. If she had anything less, one of the imbeciles might survive.
“I think it’s ready,” the Queen said. “Wolf, you may do the honors.”
He wheeled a silver trolley forward. The trolley had a hundred silver goblets on it.
“My wolf,” the Queen said, watching. “My crafty little wolf. You had me worried for a while.”
“When you freed me from prison, I agreed to serve you,” he said. “A wolf keeps his bargain.”
“After tonight, when I rule the Nine Kingdoms, wolves will be very important. I’ll make them my secret police, and make you chief.”
“Definitely.” He had such an evil smile. “Huff-puff, it won’t be the wolves who are ran out of town this time. The farmers don’t know what’s going to bite them.”
She grabbed the Dog Prince and left the room. She still had a hundred things to do. She led the Dog Prince to his place at the top of the stairs, reminding him to wait until the fanfare played and he was announced. She had practiced this with him a hundred times, giving him a bone after each one. She knew he would be able to do it this time.
Then she joined the real Wendell, who was bound and muzzled, behind the golden curtains at the other end of the hall. From there, she could see everything.
The guests were milling about, and the gossip had started. Worry, worry, that Wendell had not yet arrived. The Queen smiled. Oh, they wouldn’t care about Wendell much longer.
Right about the time she expected, a fanfare silenced the crowd. The Lord Chancellor stepped forward.
‘ ‘Pray silence for the future King of the Fourth Kingdom, Grandson of Snow White, Your Royal Highnesses, Lords and Ladies, all and sundry, I present to you the man of the hour, the hero of the day, he’s Royal Personality of the Year, he’s simply the best, Prince Wendell Winston Walter White!”
All eyes turned toward the entrance at the top of the stairs. No one appeared.
The Queen felt a familiar frustration. She had picked a dog because dogs were supposed to be obedient. Was she going to have to go after him?
Just as she was about to give up, she saw him at the top of the stairs. He was wearing that coat sent over from Little Lamb Village. She had o
pposed that. It smelled of wet wool. Apparently, he had defied her on this one little thing.
He stared down at everyone, and she worried that he had forgotten his lines. Then he grinned and leapt onto the banister. She wanted to close her eyes at this debacle, but couldn’t. He slid all the way down and jumped off at the bottom.
All of the guests applauded. Cinderella stood up, a frown on her ancient face.
The Dog Prince strode across the room and bowed low, with a ridiculous flourish. “A right royal welcome to my Coronation!”
The applause continued as he sat on his throne, flanked on either side by Kings and Queens. So far so good, the Queen thought. Now he only had a little more to get through.
He waved his hand at the musicians, who started playing a waltz. The room was full of dancing couples.
Cinderella leaned toward the Dog Prince. The Queen had to strain to hear what was said.
“We are pleased to see you fit and well,” Cinderella said. “There were rumors that some trouble had befallen you.” “Oh, no,” the Dog Prince said. “I just went for a long walkies around my kingdom, as one does.”
Cinderella’s frown grew. The Dog Prince turned away from her and smiled at the young Princess beside him. She smiled back until she realized he was sniffing her.
The Queen longed to slap him on his pert little nose, but that would have to wait.
Her plan was nearly finished.
Virginia could hear the music high above them. A lovely waltz, the shuffle of feet. They were going to make the Dog Prince King tonight, which would give her mother too much power.
“There has to be a way to stop this,” Virginia said. “I can’t believe we’ve come all this way only to fail now.” “Look what I found while you were out,” her father said. “It’ll really blow your mind.”
He pointed to the wall. Another prisoner with too much time on his hands had carved his name in stone.
Wilhelm Grimm, 1805
“Grimm,” Virginia said. “Do you think that’s—?”
“Of course it is,” Tony said.
“What does it say underneath?” Virginia asked.
“It’s written in German,” Tony said. “I’ve no idea. ‘Wenn Sie fliehen wollen, mtissen Sie den Hebei drehen. ’ ’ ’
“I can speak German,” a little voice said from behind them. “So can I,” another voice said. “Cheese is Kase.”
Virginia looked down. Two mice had crawled into their cell through a small mousehole.
“Oh, great,” Tony said. “German-speaking mice.”
“What does this mean?” she asked, pointing at the inscription.
“If you to escape wish to, must you the lever turn,” one mouse said.
They didn’t speak German very well.
“Escape?” her father said.
“The lever?” Virginia asked.
She examined the cell. There were no levers. Then she saw the iron rings screwed into the walls to suspend prisoners from. Her father reached for one at the same time she saw them. He twisted it, but nothing happened.
“Try the other one,” her father said.
Virginia grabbed the other iron ring and twisted it to the left. Nothing happened either.
“Turn it the other way,” her father said.
As she twisted it to the right, a tiny secret door opened in the cell, no bigger than a garbage can lid. The stone bricks appeared to be on concealed hinges. They stopped finally, and dust poured out.
“You owe us a big piece of Kdse, ” the mouse said.
For a few moments, Virginia stared at the hole. It led to a long passageway. Then she pushed her father forward violently.
“Hurry. Hurry,” she said. “We still may have time.”
They ducked into the tunnel and crawled toward freedom.
Chapter Forty-Five
How many balls had she attended? Cinderella had lost ' count at a hundred. Of course, she always remembered the first. It had been the best. From that point on, the rest had been predictable. Occasionally, something would liven things up, but that was rare.
She had a feeling, though, that this would be one of those rare occasions.
The music stopped and the Lord Chancellor, fatuous as Lord Chancellors always were, banged a ceremonial stave on the floor.
Cinderella suppressed a sigh. If she couldn’t remember how many balls she’d been to, she certainly couldn’t remember how many speeches she’d heard.
That part was probably a blessing.
“Until his twenty-first birthday,” the Lord Chancellor said, “the throne has lain in trust for him. But before the Prince becomes King, he must first show us he has learnt the three values of courage, wisdom, and humility.”
The Lord Chancellor looked up. Cinderella followed his gaze. For a moment she thought she saw a Huntsman, but that wasn’t possible. There was no Huntsman in her story and never would be.
Still, the Lord Chancellor seemed nervous. Perhaps he thought that good Prince Wendell would fail his tests. That would certainly make things interesting.
Cinderella smiled slightly.
The Lord Chancellor continued. “Let the first challenger step forward.”
Leaf Fall, the Elf Queen, rose and approached the Prince. Leaf Fall was a delicate Elf. Cinderella always made certain she stayed as far away from the Elves as possible, especially now that she was over two hundred. Elves always looked like adolescent girls, and they had that pearlescent skin. The comparison simply wasn’t pretty.
“It is a very great responsibility that you take upon your young shoulders today,” Leaf Fall said, “and I wonder if you are brave enough to join us?”
Cinderella raised a single eyebrow. Who would have expected such a question from an Elf?
The Lord Chancellor banged his stave three times. “His bravery is questioned.”
The guests fell into the ritual. “Tell us the tale!” they shouted. “Once upon a time. Once upon a time.”
The Prince seemed quite odd tonight. He put his face in his hands in mock embarrassment. Then he stood up. The audience oohed and aaahed. Cinderella suppressed a sigh. If she’d been to too many balls and heard too many speeches, she knew that she’d heard even more stories.
She braced herself for more.
“My tale is long and fluffy,” Prince said, forgoing the traditional once-upon-a-time opening. “The Troll King threatened this fair kingdom. I challenged him to a fight, man to mutt, and he was huge and horrible. He drew his sword, and both of us fought, and he forced me back against a tree, and just as he was about to run me through, I wrapped my tail around his sword arm, and then I dropped to all fours. I was growling and snarling, and he lunged at me and then I clawed at him and sank my teeth in him and ripped his throat out.” Cinderella sat up. That was a surprise. She’d never heard a story told in that way.
The story was greeted with silence, and then someone started to applaud. Applause broke out all over the ballroom.
As everyone cheered, Leaf Fall said, ‘ ‘He has passed the first test. Wendell is King of Courage.”
The applause grew and the crowd chanted that the Prince was Brave Wendell, Brave Wendell.
The dancing resumed and the Prince turned his attention back to that pathetically young Princess he’d been hounding.
She moved toward Cinderella, probably hoping for protection, the naive thing. As she did, Cinderella overheard the Prince say to the girl, “Would you be awfully upset if I sniffed your bottom?”
Cinderella raised both eyebrows this time. Young people. What would they think of next?
The tunnel was impossibly narrow. Virginia’s shoulders were scraping the sides. Her father was having even more trouble, but at least he was trying to be cheerful about it.
“I’m getting a lot of experience escaping from prisons,” Tony said.
She did have to get him to move faster, though. “Come on,” she said. “It gets wider as you go along.”
“No, it doesn’t,” one of the talking
mice said from behind them.
She shushed him. She wasn’t sure how long her back would take being in this position. And she was scraping her knees.
Then her father reached the end of the tunnel. It opened into a stone passage. She stood gratefully. Her father had his hand on his back but, to her surprise, he didn’t complain. Instead he went to the wooden door at the end of the tunnel and pulled it open.
She followed him through. They were in some sort of weapons store. Rusting weapons hung on the walls in front of them. Virginia surveyed them and finally chose an axe.
“Take a weapon,” Virginia said to her father.
“Why?” he asked. “We don’t know how to fight. Put it down.”
She gave him a withering look and spoke very slowly. “Take. A. Weapon. Dad.”
She had never spoken to him like that before. He picked a sword off the wall and tried to heft it.
The weight of the sword nearly pulled him over.
The Lord Chancellor’s stave poundings were giving Cinderella a headache. She put a ringed hand to her forehead and pretended this whole event was already over.
“It is time for the Second Challenge,” the Lord Chancellor said. “Queen Riding Hood III, ruler of the Second Kingdom.”
Cinderella’s eyes narrowed. Queen Riding Hood indeed. Queen Riding Hood herself had been a trial. She always thought she was so important. All she had done was save her grandmother from being eaten by a wolf. It wasn’t quite the same as all the hardships Cinderella had endured.
Queen Riding Hood’s granddaughter didn’t even have a real name. She was a lovely young girl, but she wasn’t of the same mettle as her grandmother.
Queen Riding Hood III stood near the Prince. She was wearing the traditional ridiculous red-hooded cloak. At least this one was new and lined with real fur.
“What wisdom have you learnt in your recent journey through your kingdom?” Queen Riding Hood asked.
“That’s a tricky one,” the Prince said. “I have walked every road, I have sniffed every hedgerow, I have roamed the land and found bones.”
Bones? Interesting. Cinderella leaned back in her chair. She longed to pull off her glass slippers, but if she did that, she wouldn’t be able to squeeze back into them.
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