“And after all this time, I am still on the same mission as I was back then. So, do not cry, old friend. I have called you here for a chance at redemption.”
She walked back to him and gently placed a hand on his cheek. The Huntsman stopped crying and looked up at the queen with huge, sad eyes.
“Redemption?” the Huntsman asked. “You mean, Your Majesty, you’re still giving me a chance to serve you after what I’ve done?” The Huntsman’s tears quadrupled in size, and he continued sobbing. “Curse this world for claiming you to be anything less than the saint that you are! I’d kill every person who’s tarnished your name if I could!”
“That won’t be necessary,” the Evil Queen said. “I have another task for you. It requires a great deal of traveling, and since being the most wanted fugitive alive prevents me from doing it myself, I’ve called you here.”
The Huntsman grew quiet and lowered his head shamefully.
“Your Greatness,” he said. “I have grown too old to travel. I can barely walk as it is.”
The Evil Queen looked down at him with an angry brow.
“You imbecile,” she said, raising her voice. “You mean to tell me you traveled all the way here to tell me you are useless?”
The Huntsman rose to his feet with difficulty.
“Not at all, My Queen,” he said. “Please let me explain. I am far too old to serve you, but my daughter is able and willing to help you complete what I cannot.”
“Daughter?” the Evil Queen asked.
The doors at the end of the hall opened again. This time, a woman entered dragging a large wagon behind her. She was tall and thin with hair so dark red, it seemed to have a violet tint. Her eyes were bright green and her clothing was made entirely of plants and leaves and other greenery.
The wagon she pulled contained a large square object. It was large and flat and was covered in a silk cloth for safety.
After seeing her, the Evil Queen could recall a time many years ago when she had known the Huntsman’s daughter. She had always been a shy little girl and had lived with her father in the palace when the Evil Queen was on the throne.
“You’ve grown up,” the Evil Queen said.
The Huntsman’s daughter nodded in her direction.
“You will speak when I address you!” the Evil Queen demanded.
“My daughter is mute, Your Majesty,” the Huntsman said. “She’s never said a word in her life. However silent she may be, it does not make her any less capable of doing what you ask of her. She’s brought you a gift to prove herself.”
The Huntsman’s daughter carefully removed the object from her wagon and gently placed it beside the queen’s Magic Mirror. Once it was positioned correctly, she removed the silk cloth. It was a mirror, smaller than the Magic Mirror; it was circular, with flowers engraved into a square, golden frame.
The Evil Queen knew exactly what it was the second it was revealed.
“The Mirror of Truth,” she said. The former queen had acquired it during her reign. It was another magic mirror that showed one’s true self when one stood before it.
“How did you get this?” the Evil Queen asked.
“She broke into the palace to retrieve it for you,” the Huntsman said.
The Evil Queen touched the Mirror of Truth’s frame; she had forgotten the detail in the carvings. She turned and faced the Huntsman’s daughter.
“You shall be my Huntress,” the Evil Queen declared.
The Huntress bowed and kissed the queen’s hand.
“What is the task at hand, Your Majesty?” the Huntsman asked.
“Have either of you ever heard of the Wishing Spell?” the Evil Queen asked.
The Huntsman and the Huntress curiously looked to each other.
“No, My Queen,” the Huntsman said. “Unless you are speaking of the old, foolish fable?”
“The very one,” she said. “I never took it seriously until I recently heard a prisoner in the dungeon mumbling about it moments before his execution. According to the ‘foolish fable,’ after a group of select objects are collected and placed together, the collector is granted one wish. It doesn’t matter how great or small, the wish is guaranteed to be granted. And, as you know, I have a wish to be granted.”
“You want my daughter to collect these items for you, then?” the Huntsman asked.
“Precisely,” the Evil Queen said. “From what I’ve learned, the task is very dangerous and may take some time, but if she succeeds, I will consider whatever debt you owe diminished.”
The Huntsman looked to his daughter, and the Huntress nodded.
“Very well,” he said. “She will do it. What are the items you seek, My Queen?”
The Evil Queen took her place before her Magic Mirror, extended her open palms, and gazed deep inside it.
“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, what must we seek for the Wishing Spell that grants all?” she asked.
The ghostly silhouette appeared again.
“Glass that housed a lonely soul up ’til midnight’s final toll.
A saber from the deepest sea, meant for a groom’s mortality.
The bark of a basket held in fright while running from a bark with bite.
A stony crown that’s made to share, found deep within a savage lair.
A needle that pierced the lovely skin of a princess with beauty found within.
A wavy lock of golden rope that once was freedom’s only hope.
Glittering jewels whose value increased after preserving the false deceased.
Teardrops of a maiden fairy feeling neither magical nor merry.”
“There you have it,” the Evil Queen said to the Huntsman and the Huntress. But the Magic Mirror was not finished.
“But listen to this, my fair queen, for I offer you a fair warning.
For one wish you are willing to pay any price, unaware that the Wishing Spell can only happen twice,
And the spell can only happen once more, for it was already used once before.
In this castle, as we stand, a duo move throughout the land.
A young brother and sister collect at a quick pace, and may defeat my queen in the Wishing Spell race.”
The man in the mirror faded away, leaving the queen with the worst possible news. Not only was someone else after the objects she needed, but if they were used before she could collect them, the spell could never be used again.
She closed her eyes and thought about what her next move would be; she couldn’t afford to have any more odds stacked against her. After a lifetime of work, she wasn’t about to let two children stand in her way.
“I want you to start retrieving the items,” the Evil Queen said to the Huntress. “I will handle the brother and sister. Now, leave me.”
The Huntsman and the Huntress bowed and left the queen alone in the great hall.
The Evil Queen stood before the Mirror of Truth. Years of being a prisoner had taken its toll on her appearance. It was painful for her to see the aging woman who her reflection had become.
She picked up her heart of stone and examined it closely, lightly stroking its sides. The Evil Queen looked back up at the Mirror of Truth. This time there was no reflection of the disheveled woman she had grown into; this time the face staring back at her was a youthful one.
It belonged to a beautiful young maiden with pale skin and long, dark hair. She wore a long, white dress with a matching ribbon tied around the waist and was also holding the heart of stone.
The girl smiled, but the Evil Queen did not smile back. She knew the girl in the mirror very well, and she was not Snow White….
CHAPTER NINE
THE CHARMING KINGDOM
Alex and Conner woke up on the floor of Rapunzel’s tower just after sunrise. They were snuggled under the blankets Froggy had given them and they’d used their bags as pillows.
“How did you sleep?” Alex asked her brother.
“Like I slept on the floor of a tower,” Conner said, thinking he’d never take
his bed at home for granted again. He stretched his back, and his joints made sounds like firecrackers.
They put away their blankets and decided to get an early start on their day. Alex insisted on tidying up the tower, leaving it in better condition than they had found it in.
“I’d hate for anyone to think we made this mess,” Alex said. Conner rolled his eyes at her and made sure she saw it.
“What’s our next stop?” Conner asked Alex. She looked back and forth from the map in one hand and the journal in the other.
“Well, the Charming Kingdom is just east of here,” Alex said. “I figure it would be wisest to go there and see if we can get ahold of Cinderella’s slipper.”
“And how exactly are we going to do that?” Conner asked.
Alex had to think about it. “We’ll just ask if we can borrow it,” she decided.
“Fat chance,” Conner said. “That’s like walking into the White House and asking for the Declaration of Independence.”
Although Conner was wrong about the whereabouts of the Declaration of Independence, Alex knew he was right to be concerned. How were they going to get their hands on one of Cinderella’s slippers? Surely they must be the most prized possessions of the kingdom.
“We’ll have to try our best,” Alex said. “What other option do we have?”
The twins traveled down the spiral staircase in the core of Rapunzel’s tower and returned to the path. They eventually came to a fork, where a new path splintered off in an eastern direction. The sign above the fork said CHARMING KINGDOM and pointed in the direction the new path was headed.
“Conner, look at the sign!” said Alex, pressing her hands against her cheeks. “Now I really wish I had a camera!”
They traveled down the new path for quite a while without discovering anything new but the same dirt path and evergreen trees they had seen for the last two days. Conner became more anxious the farther he walked, letting out large extended sighs every minute or so.
“Are you sure we aren’t lost? I swear I’ve seen that boulder and that tree about twenty times already,” he said, pointing.
“I’m positive we’re traveling in the right direction. I’ve been watching the map since we left,” Alex said. “We should be approaching a stream very soon, and once we cross it we’ll be in the Charming Kingdom!”
Conner sighed again. It would be his last one for a while, so he made sure it lasted extra long.
A couple of hours later, there was no stream in sight. Conner was starting to lose faith in his sister’s navigational abilities.
“This place must be bigger than we thought,” Alex said. “Or this map is completely off scale.”
Eventually, the twins found the stream Alex had seen on the map. The path went across a small bridge made out of pale stones and then continued on the other side.
“You see, I told you I knew what I was doing,” Alex said with her head held high.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Conner said.
“Honestly, Conner, I’m a little disappointed in your lack of faith,” Alex gloated. “If there’s one place I should know my way around in, it would have to be—”
“Grrrrrrrrrrr!”
Conner heard his sister’s high-pitched scream before he realized what had happened. A large troll had jumped right in front of them on the bridge. He was short and very wide with an enormous head. He was covered in matted fur with large eyes and a snout. His arms and legs were tiny, but his nails and teeth were sharp and long.
“You are on my bridge!” the troll shouted. “How dare you!”
“We’re so sorry!” said Alex, clutching on to her brother like a monkey to a tree. “We had no idea this bridge belonged to anyone!”
“Maybe you should put up a sign or something,” Conner suggested, and then regretted it once it made the troll even angrier.
“What are you doing on my bridge?” the troll demanded.
“Trying to cross into the Charming Kingdom,” Alex said. “We didn’t mean any harm!”
“No one crosses my bridge without answering a riddle!” the troll said.
“A riddle?” Alex asked, letting go of Conner. “Oh! You’re a bridge troll!”
“A bridge troll?” Conner asked.
“Yes, just like in ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff ’!” Alex said happily. She was so excited to be witnessing another fairy-tale occurrence, all her fear faded away.
“If you wish to cross my bridge, you must answer my riddle correctly!” the bridge troll said. “Answer incorrectly, and I’ll bite off your head!”
“Excuse me? Bite off our heads?” Conner said. Steam was practically coming from his ears. “What is wrong with everyone in this place? Why does everyone we meet want to eat us? Can someone please explain to me why this keeps happening?”
“Conner, calm down!” Alex insisted. “Let’s just solve the riddle, and then we’ll be on our way.”
“What if we get the riddle wrong?” Conner said. “He’ll kill us! Let’s just find another way across the stream—”
“Conner, don’t be silly! If a simple billy goat can answer a riddle correctly, I’m sure we can, too,” Alex reassured him. “Besides, there isn’t another bridge for miles.”
Conner grunted and crossed his arms.
“How are we so sure that this is actually his bridge?” Conner said. “I’d like to see some ownership identification before we continue.”
Alex ignored this.
“What’s your riddle, Mr. Bridge Troll?” she asked. “May I call you Mr. Bridge Troll?”
The bridge troll eyed the twins and jauntily swayed from side to side as he began the riddle.
“What can be as small as a pea or as large as the sky and is not owned by the person who purchases it?” it asked.
The wheels in Alex’s head began turning immediately. She loved riddles.
“That’s a tricky one!” Alex said, and pressed her index finger against her lips as she thought. “Do you have any guesses, Conner?”
“Nope, you’re on your own,” Conner said.
“You have one guess before I bite off your head, so guess wisely!” the bridge troll said, doing a small dance and clapping his hands.
“That’s it. I’m out of here!” Conner said. He walked off the bridge and slowly made his way down to the stream.
“Conner, what are you doing?” Alex called out.
“I’m crossing the stream!” Conner yelled back. “No bridge is worth that much trouble!”
He slowly stepped into the stream and began traveling across it. The water was freezing, but his frustration kept him warm enough that it didn’t matter. The water rose higher and higher as he traveled farther across it.
“It’s not that deep, Alex!” Conner said. “The current isn’t even that strong!”
He reached the middle of the stream, and at its deepest the water came to just above his waist.
“You’re cheating!” Alex said, and then asked the bridge troll, “Is that even allowed? Can he do that?”
“He isn’t the one who asked for the riddle. You are!” the bridge troll said.
Conner had crossed the stream by now and was soaking wet. Alex continued thinking about the riddle.
“So, it can be as small as a pea and as large as the sky, so basically you’re telling me that it can be any size. And the person who buys it doesn’t own it, so that means someone else owns it,” she thought out loud.
“Hurry up, Alex!” Conner shouted.
“Oh, hush!” Alex said. “I’m going to say that it must be… a gift! A gift can be any size and the receiver is who owns it, not the person who purchases it!”
The bridge troll stopped swaying from side to side and slumped over.
“That is correct,” the bridge troll said disappointedly. “You may pass.”
Alex clapped her hands together and did a small jump. She extended her hand out to offer the troll a handshake, but he ignored it. Instead, he crawled back below to wherever he had jumped out
from.
“See!” Alex said once she’d met up with her brother on the other side of the bridge. “I knew I’d answer it correctly!”
Conner shook his head. “And I’m sure I’ll have to hear about it for the rest of our lives,” he said. “But let’s try to make it to Cinderella’s palace by sundown, okay?”
The twins continued their journey into the Charming Kingdom. They were excited to see different scenery as they traveled. The evergreen trees they had seen so much of became scarce and were slowly replaced by large oak trees. There were also vast fields of tall grass and wildflowers everywhere they looked.
“It’s so beautiful here!” Alex said.
They had been walking for hours and still saw no sign of anything. Conner was practically dry by now.
“Where is everything?” Conner asked.
“The Charming Kingdom is a very big place,” Alex said. “It’s going to take a while to get to the palace.”
It began to get dark, and the twins became very worried; there was no shelter in sight. Soon, the moon was their only source of light.
They walked a short distance off the path and found a grassy area among a few trees that they assumed (and hoped) was safe, and they decided to spend the night there. Conner tried making a fire by rubbing two sticks together but was unsuccessful.
“Now I really wish I had signed up for Boy Scouts,” he said.
It was their first night sleeping outside. Both kept waking up every hour or so to make sure they were still safe, because every sound terrified them.
“What was that?” Alex gasped in the middle of the night.
“That’s an owl,” Conner said. “Or a very inquisitive dove, but either way I think we’re safe.”
The next morning, the sunrise woke them. They restlessly got to their feet and returned to the path.
“We’re running out of food,” Alex said after eating one of their last apples. “We’ll have to stock up as soon as we find a market or something.”
“I’m so tired of rolls and apples. I’m starting to think we should have asked Froggy to pack us some flies,” Conner said. “Gosh, I would kill for a cheeseburger! Maybe that’s why everyone eats each other here; they just haven’t discovered fast food yet.”